Summoner 19, page 19
part #19 of Summoner Series
“Hey, it’s my job to worry about you guys,” I laughed lightly, but Almasy’s grin faded as he shook his head at me.
“Your job is to go out there and weaken the herd so you can capture Carth,” he reminded me. “The rest of us can handle it down here. We need you to focus on the Archon.”
I knew the pilot was right, but I didn’t want to admit it straight away.
“I need you to call out if you need anything at all,” I instructed my team. “I’m serious. If anything starts to go wrong, get my attention or that of the Archons. I know they’re a little intimidating, but they’re also here to help us.”
“You’ve got it, Captain Gryff.” Orenn mock-saluted me, and I stifled a laugh at the metallogue’s exaggerated enthusiasm.
“Yeah, get up there already and start commanding your monster squad.” Varleth waved me off. “Your human squad knows a thing or two about kicking ass. If we need your help, we’ll tell you, but I think we can manage it.”
“I think you can, too,” I agreed with the surly gypsy, and then I turned my attention to the Archons and their summons. “I can imagine the rest of you can tackle some of these monsters yourselves?”
“We’ve got it all under control,” Sera purred as she slung a long, thin leg over her snapdarner.
“We’ll aid your team as well, Gryff,” Xanrith assured me with a firm nod, and her amethyst eyes glowed with sincerity. “All you need to worry yourself with is taking down Carth and the summons that surround her. If you rip her herd apart, she will have little to command, and if there’s anything Carth hates more than anything, it’s someone taking away her power.”
“Excellent advice, Xan,” I thanked her, and the Archon’s azure wings crackled and spat as their color became more vibrant. “That was the strategy I had in mind as well.”
“So, should we work inward?” Braden wondered as he studied the still-frozen herd. “We can take out the ones at the ends, and you can worry about the ones in the middle?”
“And then once the middle ones are taken down, that’ll leave only Carth and the bear,” I finished the other summoner’s sentence. “Excellent suggestion, Braden.”
“Be warned, the bear is going to be a difficult monster to face,” Xanrith cautioned me with an elegantly raised eyebrow. “That creature is called a tressel, and it’s not just another one of the herd, it’s one of Carth’s three personal summons.”
“Which are the other two?” I inquired. “I just realized I’ve never asked which creatures were actually hers, and which ones are only acting under her influence magic.”
“Carth’s creatures are the tressel, the nimadoe, which is the deer, and the creature made of swamp matter, which is called an erebok,” Xanrith explained, and as the goddess pointed out each monster, I made sure to note which was which. In the grand scheme of things, Carth’s monster’s names didn’t matter much, but the knowledge that those three creatures in particular were her personal summons was an important fact.
“The nimadoe and the erebok are flanking the tressel,” I noted as I tilted my head to the side to get a better view of the motionless creatures. “So, I think the best plan is for the others to go after the millipedes, that skinless monstrosity, and the sea-urchin looking monster while I work on taking down Carth’s three summons--”
My words were suddenly interrupted by a bone chilling screech that rang out through the air and nearly brought me to my knees in surprise.
“Holy shit!” I clamped my hands over my ears. A splitting ache formed at the front of my head at the sheer volume of the sound, and the pain throbbed through me as if it had its own heartbeat.
My friends all stumbled as the sound affected them as well, and Mur crumpled to the ground in agony and threw his hands over his ears. The moment the shapeshifter collapsed, I went straight into leader mode and rushed over to him. Orenn did the same, and together, the metallogue and I helped Mur to his feet.
“Mur, are you okay?” I demanded as the shapeshifter leaned against me.
“I’m okay, I’m okay!” Mur assured me through gritted teeth, and then he switched from Mistral to his native tongue. “My hearing can be quite sensitive, and that sound took me by surprise, that’s all.”
“Are you sure?” I insisted. “If you can’t--”
“I’ve got this!” Mur interjected, and the seriousness of the moose shapeshifter’s ochre eyes told me everything I needed to know. “I want to fight, Gryff. I was just startled”
“Okay…” I said as I studied the shapeshifter with a scrutinous gaze. “If you think you’re fine, who am I to decide otherwise? You’re a man now, Mur, and you’re more than capable of making your own decisions.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Orenn assured me. “Trust me, Gryff, nothing will happen to him under my watch. “
“I trust you, Orenn.” I nodded, and then I turned over to Xanrith. “Xan, which monster made that noise? Was it a defense or just a battle cry?”
The umber-skinned Archon’s arms were crossed against her ample chest, and her violet eyes were transfixed on something beyond us, but she turned her head to address me when I called her name. “The noise came from the tressel. It’s not an attack, but it’s most certainly a warning call. Carth is ready to send forth the herd.”
“Then we have no time to lose,” I declared. “We need to get into position. Is everyone ready?”
“As ready as we can be,” Varleth replied, and he stroked Dio’s soft tawny fur. The saber-toothed tiger was perched right beside the banisher, and while I knew he’d prefer to be with me on the front lines, I also knew he had no trouble accompanying the gypsy.
I winked at my familiar, and Dio’s tongue flopped out of his mouth playfully.
Then the hellish shriek rang out again, but this time we were at least somewhat more prepared for the invasive sound.
“By your lead, summoner.” Gawain nodded at me once the roar died down.
Once I was one hundred percent sure Mur was okay to fight, we splintered off to prepare for the stampede of monsters. Braden mounted his king gryphon and took to the skies while Orenn, Varleth, and Mur took a position further down on the field.
Gawain and Almasy prepared their elemental magics from opposite sides of each other. The fire mage tightened his hands into fists, and his golden skin erupted with a flare of deep orange flames. The earth mage made a similar gesture, but the ground around him twisted and swirled until his position was slightly elevated above the other’s.
While my friends settled in, the Archons took up defensive stances as well. Sera extended a hand to Veopa and helped the succubus Archon mount her snapdarner while Phi stretched out into her giant form, and Miralea and Utuni paired up together with their monsters. Xanrith pumped her azure wings and rose into the air to keep a watchful eye over the group as she’d promised, and a hopeful feeling swelled through my mind.
With this many monsters, mages, and goddesses, there was no way Carth was going to be able to defeat us.
With everyone else taken care of, it was my turn to get ready, and my heart beat like a drum inside my chest as I stabilized my stance on the lunachorn. The starlight-coated unicorn let out a soft exhale that sent a wave of reassurance through me, and I stroked her soft glittering mane.
“Thanks, girl,” I muttered to her. I had yet to really get to know the monster, but something about her presence was soothing to me.
Well, as soothing as a monster could possibly be at a time like this, of course.
The lunachorn let out another huff and then gestured her sleek silver head at the herd. Her metallic tufted ears twitched as the sounds of booming footsteps grew louder, and she inclined her head up. I followed the direction of her snout and realized she wanted to ascend higher into the dark gray sky.
“Let’s go,” I encouraged the winged horse, and without further suggestion, the lunachorn pumped her impressive twenty-foot wings, and we lifted off.
As we flew up into the air, the rumbling sound we’d heard just a short time ago rang out again, and then the herd was still no longer.
The colossal monsters lumbered toward us with a speed that was unexpected from beings of their statures, and the dead and charred ground below us trembled and shook as the creatures hustled across the field. Dirt and ash kicked into the air and gave the field a smoky quality that made my eyes water even from my place in the sky, and I could only imagine how excruciating the dust was down on the field.
Ash and dust aside, the ground quaked and quivered from the footsteps of Carth’s monsters, and I feared for the stability of my teammates down below.
But before I could come up with a plan to secure my squad, the earth suddenly seemed to settle back into place as if nothing had disturbed it in the first place.
I spied Almasy at the head of the group, and the earth mage’s hands were thrust out in front of him and had a strained quality to them.
It was then I realized he’d stabilized the ground with his earth magic.
“Nice job, Almasy!” I called down to the quick-thinking pilot from my place on the lunachorn, and Almasy inclined his head to acknowledge me.
I let out a sigh of relief. Now that that issue had been dealt with, it was time to return my attention to the wall of monsters headed in our direction.
I commanded the lunachorn to take us up high enough into the air for my enhanced monsters to see us at eye-level, and my giant summons all regarded me with excited expressions as I met their gazes.
Then I reached through my bonds with my monsters and began doling out assignments and pairings as I saw fit. With so many mega-sized creatures to face, and so many of my own summoned at once, keeping track of it all was going to be a bit of a struggle, but not enough that I couldn’t handle it.
The maripor, roosa, and the narmonger all had similar venom-based attacks. The roosa was able to paralyze its opponent with a single strike of its scorpion-like tail, the maripor had a deadly bite that led its prey to a quick demise, and much like my kalgori, Veopa’s narmonger had the ability to create multiples of itself, so instead of one poisonous-fanged bat monster, there could be hundreds of them.
The poison types would be instrumental in paralyzing their prey so the other monsters with striking abilities, like the baroquer, Braden’s jaxare, and the kalgori could take them out. Paralyzing the herd would also give the rest of my team the opportunity to strike with their own magic without exhausting all of their mana, which would only be advantageous in the long run.
My eardrums were overwhelmed by the roars of the herd as they reached us, but I encouraged my monsters to reply with similar battle cries to show Carth’s creatures we weren’t intimidated by them. My creatures happily accepted the instruction and let out emphatic roars and grumbles before they slammed their hulking bodies right into their enemies.
The sound of monster against monster was akin to a crash of thunder, and I nearly fell off the lunachorn amidst the chaos, but the unicorn adjusted herself to help keep me stable.
“Thank you,” I said to her, and then I scanned the mass of tangled limbs, fur, and teeth that stood before me.
Braden and his king gryphon flew over to a pair of the monsters I’d faced a few times: the millipedes. The creatures’ exoskeletons were a sickly shade of gray-green, and they had what looked to be a million skittery legs that made my skin crawl. It was a disgusting beast I’d had all too much experience fighting, and I was definitely ready to put it to rest once and for all.
“Both of you, go help Braden corner those bugs,” I instructed the maripor and the roosa. “Don’t let them get away. Once you’re done, go help the others.”
The pair of monsters immediately lumbered after the millipedes, and as the poisonous summons scurried after the insectoid creatures, I reached through the bond and got the attention of my baroquer.
“I’m going to need your help,” I instructed my summons. “You and I need to go after Carth’s three monsters.”
Brute strength was one of the baroquer’s specialties, and it would be instrumental in taking down Carth’s massive monsters. While the immense creatures’ statures would normally indicate Grade A status, I had yet to see the horned goddess’ creatures demonstrate any magical abilities, so I hoped the ones she’d amassed were Grade Bs.
My baroquer raised its sword up into the air, and the flames that flickered over its armored body fanned out further around the monster as it prepared to defend us. The innermost monsters beside Carth’s tressel were the nimadoe and the swamp-thing creature Xan had called the erebok, so I would need to start with them before I took on the horned Archon’s emerald bear.
The monster closest to me was the erebok, so I commanded the baroquer to focus on that particular creature for the time being. My enormous monster fixed its red gaze on the erebok and began to head in the strange monster’s direction with hulking steps. As the baroquer trudged over to the swamp monster, I commanded the lunachorn to follow suit. The baroquer meant business, but if the erebok was one of Carth’s personal monsters, it would put up more of a fight than the others, and my flame-armored summons could use any reinforcements it could muster.
As I flew closer to the immensely huge swamp monster, my lips curled up into a grimace. The monster had an acrid odor about it, and it was so dreadfully intense I could smell it from hundreds of feet away. The stench was like a potion drafted by a sadistic wizard, and the stinky mixture of mold, decay, and sweat made me miss the normal smell of the Shadowscape.
“Maker, that’s fucking rank,” I grumbled to myself, and I placed my gas mask over my face and tightened it firmly to keep at least some of the erebok’s body odor out of my nostrils.
The swamp thing appeared to be just as disgusting as it smelled. The surface of its two-hundred-foot body was covered in every type of moss, grass, and other wetland greenery that was known to man, and each of the various degrees of plants were packed into its enormous frame with what looked like a thick gray-green mud.
That explained the smell, at least.
This was the kind of creature that would’ve blended in entirely if it were hidden away in the marshlands of Mistral, but here in the Shadowscape, it didn’t have as much of a camouflage advantage.
As the baroquer approached the erebok, the repulsive swamp monster let out a garbled sound that reminded me of rushing river water and held a pair of plant-laden arms high in air. Its vines and grasses thrashed around as it stretched out toward the baroquer, and I commanded my monster to duck out of the way before the erebok could grasp onto it.
My enormous summons was able to do just that, and he swung his hulking frame out of the way just as the erebok lashed out against it with a plant-covered appendage. Once it was clear, the baroquer raised its impressively large sword up into the air, and it was about to bring it down on top of the erebok, but the swamp monster managed to stretch out and grabbed the baroquer’s blade as if it were nothing more than a child’s plaything.
“Oh, fuck,” I muttered, and the baroquer let out an intimidating roar as it tried to yank the sword away, but the erebok’s grip around the weapon was stronger than expected. Then my summons growled in irritation as the swamp monster began to absorb his sword into its stench-ridden body.
I had to act fast if I didn’t want the creature to destroy my monster, so I focused on my bond with my kalgori, a butterfly-like summons with blades on the end of its translucent green wings, and used my summoning magic to borrow the creature’s weapon. After a moment of concentration, a tingle raced up my arms, and when I opened my eyes, the sides of my bullet bass armor were outfitted with the deadly sharp blades.
“Stay here,” I commanded the lunachorn as I flexed my arms and admired my new weaponry, and then I reached through to my vingehund and again borrowed its wings. Riding atop the lunachorn was helpful, but I didn’t want to risk accidentally hurting the summons with my kalgori blades, especially with how fast paced I planned to cut into the monster.
The baroquer continued to struggle against the ironclad grip of the erebok, but that wouldn’t be a problem for much longer. I dismounted the lunachorn and then flew at Carth’s swamp monster with my newly-equipped blue wings and armor, and as I came close to body-slamming into the erebok, I maneuvered my body so I would hit the swamp creature blade-first.
Normally, the kalgori’s blades were sharp enough to slash into a surface with ease and minimal effort, but as I swung my arms at the creature, nothing seemed to slice through it. Even though the skin was made of plants, it was impenetrable, and it felt as though I’d sliced at it with a wet sock rather than a deadly blade. Also, each time I tried to hack through the monster’s hide, the mud beneath the surface of the skin bubbled up. I didn’t understand the purpose of it until I slashed too close to the surface, and my elbow grazed the green mud. The viscous material was incredibly sticky, and I struggled to pull my arm away from the goopy mess.
Suddenly, the material began to suck my elbow into it like quick sand.
“Fuck!” I gasped, and it took all of my strength to snatch my armored arm out of the mud. Once I was free, I put some distance between myself and the monster.
The plant creature was tougher than expected.
The creature was too thick to cut through, and the fire from my baroquer’s armor seemed to have no effect on it, so I needed to find a different solution to my problem. There had to be some way to hack into Carth’s monster. Every creature had some form of weakness, I just needed to discover what the erebok’s was.
I recalled the kalgori blades and hopped back onto the lunachorn to take a moment to think. My vingehund wings fell away, and then I ran through some of the other essence crystals in my bandolier and tried to think of a creature that would be helpful against the swampy, earthy mass before me. My heavy-hitters were out on the field already, and I wasn’t certain which of them would be good against a nature creature.
Suddenly, I remembered a creature I hadn’t summoned in a while, one who would be perfect against the erebok, so I retrieved an amber fang-shaped crystal from my bandolier, threw it to the ground, and after the plume of smoke fell away, my sphordrum was revealed.
