Chapter 67 - Fear In Its Eyes

  Claw met fist in the ultimate test of strength and magic. Our blows connected with each other with a concussive force that sent both of us flying backward a dozen feet. My entire right arm screamed with agony, and I knew I'd broken bones again.

  But my opponent was far worse off. Where I'd damaged my hand, it looked like his entire claw had just exploded. There was nothing left from the creature's elbow joint on up. It backed away, tucking the injury close to its body and putting the other large claw out in front of it defensively.

  I pushed myself back to my feet. Like the Karabos leader, I had to keep my right arm pinned close to me. My Regeneration was already hard at work, knitting the injuries back together again, but it would take time. I'd broken more than a couple of bones with that strike.

  The pain was a distraction I didn't need. I did what I could to shove it into a corner of my mind, but it was still there, screaming away at me. Back on my feet, I started marching toward the Karabos leader. It was time to finish this.

  The creature saw me coming. I still didn't know how to read the Karabos body language all that well, but I was starting to get the hang of it after so many encounters.

  This one had fear in its eyes.

  I continued my steady march, alert for any tricks or attacks. An Ice Blast shot from the crowd of Karabos gathering around their monarch. I didn't bother dodging. I just let it shatter against my chest. It stung, but not enough to slow me down.

  Then the leader launched another Bolt of lightning my way. I was ready for it and about to shift my body sideways to avoid the attack, but I needn't have bothered. Alex summoned another sphere of water, holding it steady in midair directly in front of me. The bolt slammed into his creation, detonating there. And just like before, the attack spell dissipated.

  Alex landed on the ground two paces behind me.

  "You all right?" Alex asked. "That looked like it hurt."

  I nodded. "I will be. And you're right. It did."

  "You still good for this fight, then?" Alex asked.

  "Yep," I replied.

  Then Alex raised his voice, which was suddenly full of alarm. "Castle, look out!"

  I turned to my left just in time to see a titanic claw sweeping through the air at about the same height as my head. Alex had already flattened himself to the ground, so the swing passed directly above him. I didn't have time to do the same. Instead, I turned to meet its attack. I couldn’t try to use strength against strength, like I had against the Karabos leader. I just wasn’t strong enough to out-muscle something so massive.

  This time, I used my Flight to lift myself into the air and then caught the attack as it swung toward me, flying up against the claw and letting it move me. The impact still knocked the wind out of me and sent me sailing dozens of feet through the air, but because I hadn't been bracing myself on the ground, my Natural Armor prevented most of the damage.

  The titanic crab was back in play again! With me knocked out of the way, it turned its full attention on Alex, both claws stabbing downward like they were knives descending toward a steak. Alex rolled sideways and avoided the first attack, then back the other way to dodge the other. He'd gotten lucky. Alex didn't have my Stamina, Natural Armor, or Agility working for him. He could shield me against those Lightning Bolts and he could hit hard with his own Ice Blasts. He could hit hard, but he was something of a glass cannon in terms of being able to take damage himself.

  I swooped down using my Flight to snatch him off the ground and then streak skyward again until we were out of range of the enemy attacks. Once we were clear, Alex activated his Flight power and glided alongside me until his breathing steadied.

  "Thanks for the save, Cameron," Alex said.

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  "Just returning the favor," I replied. "Listen, with so many enemies down there, we're going to have to do this as a team if we hope to succeed. And I don't just mean us, either. We need to get the Peristera in there too, along with all of the humans we can."

  Alex nodded. "I think you're right. Every time we focus on the giant crab, the leaders shoot at us. If we focus on them, the giant crab comes after us. And all the while, the smaller crabs and their foot soldiers are just getting themselves back together and organized again. If we let them continue delaying us like this, stretching out the fight, eventually they'll wear us down with sheer numbers."

  "Exactly," I said. "That's not how we win this. We need to go all in, put all of our cards on the table, and hit them with everything we've got together."

  We had a few moments to spare. The titanic crab's antics had gotten it spun around entirely. In its haste to go chasing after us, it was facing the opposite direction from the wall now.

  The Karabos leaders had clearly passed it new orders already, because it was starting a slow, lumbering spin about. The creature was scorched, burned, and missing a leg. It had to be hurting pretty badly, but it wasn't close to being out of the fight. It was still large and strong enough that it would be the death knell for everyone on the other side of our wall, if it got to them.

  While it was still turning, Alex and I flew back to the wall, racing to get there as quickly as we could. I arrived first, landing atop the row of cars I placed there not far from where MacGregor stood.

  He saw me land and turned to me immediately. "What's up, Castle?"

  "New plan," I told him. "Alex and I aren't going to be enough to take that thing down and deal with the Karabos leadership at the same time. We need backup. We need all the backup we can get."

  "That's a quick turnaround," MacGregor said. "Weren't you the one who was just saying that these civilians shouldn't be involved?"

  I shook my head. "I was wrong. This is their fight, too. This is everyone's fight, and it's time to end it. Get them to follow you forward in a charge. Avoid the big guy. Don't worry about him. Alex and I will keep it busy while you rush past it. If you can, get the Peristera to give their assistance as well."

  "We can do that,” MacGregor replied. He turned to the police officers standing near him and issued orders for them to spread the word. They raced off to let the various squad leaders know what they needed to do. Then MacGregor turned back toward me. "When do you want us to hit them?"

  "I'll give you a signal," I said.

  "What sort of signal?" he asked.

  "I'm not sure," I replied with a chuckle. "I'll make sure you know it when you see it, though."

  He hesitated a moment but then snapped me a nod. "That'll do well enough, I guess. Good luck out there." Then he turned back toward his people, shouting a rallying cry, gathering them together for one last attack.

  Alex set down on the car next to me, and we both turned to face the titanic crab. It had gotten itself turned around again and faced back toward us. The flames were all out, thanks to a combination of the gasoline fires burning themselves out and Karabos magic creating water to wash the gasoline away. It was hurt, but it was also clearly furious. As it advanced, it held both massive claws ahead of it, opening and closing them with tremendous clacking sounds that made enough noise to rattle my teeth.

  “That thing is pissed off and it wants a piece of us badly,” I said.

  “No kidding. We can probably use that. You know we're going to have to distract that thing again, right?" Alex asked.

  "Yeah, I'd kind of figured that out," I replied. "I'm open to brilliant ideas."

  "Why do I always have to come up with the ideas?" Alex protested.

  "You're the one with all the Intellect stones," I replied. "Isn't that supposed to be your thing?"

  "I'd rather my thing was being smart enough to avoid situations like this in the first place," Alex muttered. "But yeah, I've got a few ideas."

  “I’m all ears,” I said.

  "Well, I've been thinking about it," Alex replied. "And here's the thing. We don't actually have to kill the creature. We just need to immobilize it so that the rest of our people don't get crushed when they go to engage the Karabos ground forces."

  "That makes total sense. But it’s too large to trap easily," I said.

  “Yup. But the thing about crabs is their limbs are all jointed. Those joints are weak spots," Alex said. "Stab something into the joint and the creature won't be able to move it anymore. You see all of those telephone poles lining the street here?"

  Now I understood what he was getting at. I glanced around and the street was lined with the tall, thick poles on both sides, not to mention a long string of streetlights and all sorts of other heavy, sturdy, pokeable objects.

  "I think I get it," I said. "Why didn't you suggest this earlier?"

  "Dude, I just thought of it," Alex replied. "I'm smart, but I'm not a marine biologist. Crabs aren't my specialty. Until I got up close with the thing, it hadn't occurred to me. If you take those poles and shove them into the joints where its legs meet the body, you ought to be able to immobilize it entirely. Once it's stuck in one place, we can just ignore it."

  It was the perfect plan. Not only could I stop the thing cold, it was a terrific signal for MacGregor, too.

  "I told the captain I'd give him a signal he could recognize," I said. "Alex, I think you've nailed it."

  "Excellent. Go do," Alex replied. "I'll pitch in too. I can hit it with ice blasts. Even my biggest spikes aren't as thick around as the telephone poles, but they ought to help some.”

  “Together, then?" I asked.

  Alex nodded. "Let's do it."

  We both took to the air side by side, flying toward our oversized dinner plate of an enemy.