Chapter 22: Manticore

  They were all miles deep into the forest within an hour after separating from the caravan. The merchants and wagons all continued on without them. Only Ghrukk and his team stayed with the worldstriders on their crazy mission. Possibly a mission with no real reward waiting for them at the end.

  They had all spread out, “covering as much ground as possible” being the main theory for best practices. It also meant Alex was near the forefront of the pack as he scanned the area.

  It was Tom-Tom who padded at the very front of the search line, though, hackles raised and ears twitching as the little kobold gave a low growl that rumbled through his chest. The sound wasn’t loud, but Alex had learned enough about the little lizard to know it meant trouble.

  “Tom-Tom doesn’t like this, smells wrong,” the kobold finally muttered, tightening his grip on his shield as he raised his gaze ahead of them and scanned the trees.

  Alex’s eyes shifted to his own energy sight. The world shown in various hues, existence peeled back in shades of blue, green, white and silver. [Aether Sight] opened, and immediately the "wrongness" which Tom-Tom mentioned made itself known. The ambient energy wasn’t drifting and flowing naturally as he was used to seeing in the world. It pulsed and moved in ordered ways, almost artificially instead. The ambient aether was beating like a drum in the air, under the soil and bark, too patterned to be anything nature had shaped.

  “Yeah,” Alex said quietly. “I see it too.”

  The group slowed their march, each of them spreading wider and wider as they crept deeper into the pines. The ground grew rockier as well, roots like black veins threading over densely packed dirt and brush. The mountain loomed above them, shrouded in gray mist, and with each step forward the rhythm that Alex saw in the air only grew stronger.

  A shout suddenly rang out.

  It wasn’t terribly close by, but it carried surprisingly well in the mountain air. Alex’s head whipped to his left up at the sound, his heartbeat spiking instantly.

  “That’s Selka,” Sarson barked out, worry written across his face.

  The group moved as one, feet and weapons hammering through undergrowth and foliage. Branches snapped and leaves whipped past as Alex broke into a run, following the echo of another cry. They burst into a clearing just in time to see the fight that had obviously broken out.

  Doran stood braced, his hammer half-raised, with blood soaking down his leg where a long black barb jutted cruelly from his thigh. Selka danced around him, her blade flashing silver as she deflected a swipe from something massive, a creature of some kind.

  The beast crouched low, its muscles rippling beneath a hide of bristling fur. It had a lion’s body, oversized and sleek, but with cow-like hooves instead of paws on its back legs. Its tail curled high above its back, thick and segmented like a scorpion’s, and was tipped with a wicked looking barb surrounded by a nest of writhing smaller needles that shimmered with venom.

  Obby clicked in Alex’s skull sharply. “Manticore. Adept-tier, early stage. Ugly bastard, too.”

  Alex’s breath caught as he saw the beast, his eyes drinking in the thing’s bulk. It snarled, its yellow irisis narrowing, and with a crack like a bowstring, its tail flicked. A needle hissed through the air and buried itself deeper into Doran’s thigh sinking in right next to the previous one. The dwarf roared, dropping to a knee for half a breath before shoving himself upright again.

  Selka tried to press in, her blade angled for the creature’s ribs, but the Manticore’s paws lashed out in a blur, claws scraping sparks from her dagger as it forced her back step by step.

  Holly appeared bursting into the fight with a gust of air swirling at her heels. She darted in at the beast’s flank, her blade whistling with a gale’s edge, and struck hard into its exposed side. The impact barely cut through its hide. She only left shallow line of blood, but no more.

  The Manticore turned on her with a roar, jaws snapping out at her. Selka dove aside as another tail-needle hissed past her at the same instant, thudding into the dirt where her chest had been a second before.

  Garret thundered in then, his enchanted boots flashing as he landed squarely in front of Selka, shield raised. The Manticore slammed against him instantly, front claws hammering into his guard like drumbeats. Each blow rattled his frame and forced him back, but he gritted his teeth and held his shield up the whole time.

  The beast’s tail moved like a serpent with a mind of its own, independent of its body. Another poisoned needle snapped out from the cluster of barbs at its end, clanging against Garret’s shield so hard it jarred his arm and staggered him. A second streaked toward Selka again, who rolled away just in time.

  Alex’s eyes caught the wind-up of its tail snapping forward for a third needle-shot, and he noticed just barely too late, where it was aiming. A barb flew straight at Holly as she leapt backward, still in the air with no room to dodge.

  Alex moved before his thoughts caught up to him, aura flickering as his hand shot out. He struck the barb mid-flight with the side of his knuckles, the force scraping the skin off his fist and sending a shock up through his arm. The needle spun away harmlessly, embedding into a tree with a sickening crack. Pain erupted hot across his hand as heat raced through his veins, a furnace of venom crawling up his arm. His vision pulsed green at the edges before his [Aether Resilience] caught it, choking down the poison in stuttered gulps.

  He glanced down and saw the shallow cut on his hand was already searing red with venom, his veins burning faintly green. Obby buzzed in his head.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Poison detected. Caustic aether is already handled by your meridian imprint, vitality is handling the rest of it. Neutralization in… fourteen seconds. Give or take if you don’t do something stupid, meatboy.”

  Thanks, Obby.

  Alex flexed his fingers, teeth gritting together as even if it was being handled, the poison still burned like fresh white-hot coals under his skin. Still, he felt the pull of his vitality attribute kicking in, felt his body eating away at the venom. Fourteen seconds? He’d fought through worse for far longer than fourteen seconds. He shook the sting off, his gaze lifting back to the Manticore.

  In the time Alex had protected Holly and assesed his wound, Garret was being battered like a chickenwing under the beast’s onslaught. Each swipe of its claws rattled his shield, driving him back step by step. His boots sparked with faint bursts of green energy to keep his stance, but the Manticore’s physical power was simply greater, overwhelming and crushing.

  “Garret can’t hold it,” Alex yelled out, sliding his feet into a martial stance.

  The beast’s tail reared again. Selka shouted something as she dove to the side, another barb slamming into the dirt where she’d stood. It seemed rather intent on getting her. Doran gave a dwarven-deep roar, dragging his hammer into a defensive grip even as his thigh bled freely. Yet still, the creature’s eyes locked on Garret, lips curling into something like a cruel grin, as if it had decided on its prey and was thinking about how to play with it. Then it lunged with its claws outstretched.

  Alex’s aura ignited. An azure-blue haze sprung up as he surged forward, intercepting the charge.

  The ground cracked under his acceleration and his fist slammed into the beast’s shoulder, the impact sending a shudder through the clearing like a thunderclap. The Manticore snarled, its hooves gouging deep furrows in the dirt as it was shoved half a stride back, but it didn’t fall. Its head snapped toward him, tail twitching like a spear ready to be thrown.

  Alex bared his teeth in a feral grin. “Yeah. Look at me.”

  Behind him, Rynel’s shouted from the treeline before Alex even registered his approach. A snap of bowstring followed, then another, and another. Arrows whistled past his shoulder like streaks of silver light. Each shaft met the whip-crack launch of a Manticore tail-barb, intercepting them midair with perfect precision. The poisoned spikes shattered upon impact, raining splinters before they could touch anyone.

  Ghrukk charged in behind Rynel’s ranged barrage, bellowing so loud the pines themselves seemed to quake. His halberd—now repaired thanks to garret and Doran’s efforts—carved a vicious arc, steel shrieking as it locked against the beast’s massive claws. The Manticore roared back at the Ork, the two competing for most ferocious audible display, and its muscles bulged as it drove back against him, tail writhing to strike. But the Ork did not give ground, he pressed harder, teeth bared, meeting monster for monster.

  The stalemate broke when two streaks of light burst into the clearing. Eric stormed in from one flank, lightning racing across his arm and armor, each electrical discharge flashing bright as a storm. From the other side came Kate, her hair ablaze with firelight as a corona of flames licked from her blade. Fire and thunder crashed in unison, searing and burning across the beast’s hide. The Manticore howled, flinching from the combined assault, its focus wavering.

  Ghrukk seized the moment. With a heave of both arms, he wrenched his halberd high and drove it down into the creature’s meaty shoulder. Bone cracked, and flesh tore. The beast staggered, stumbling under the blow.

  Alex was already moving, his veins now cleared of poison, his body light again. He burst forward, aura trailing in a blue streak, and snapped a kick straight into the lion’s snarling head. The impact rang out like the splitting of a boulder, teeth snapping with a wet crunch as the monster was hurled sideways into the dirt.

  Before it could recover, Lance and Peter descended on it. Spear and blade worked as one, stabbing and tearing through the ruin of a shoulder left by Ghrukk’s strike. Blood fountain-ed dark across the stones and grass, the Manticore thrashing in agony as the two warriors carved deeper.

  But it was Doran who ended it.

  The dwarf waddled forward with steady determination, blood soaking his leg but grip firm on his weapon. His stocky frame launched toward the beast with surprising speed, short legs carrying him into striking range. He raised the weapon high, aether gathering in a hot shimmer around its flat face, and brought it down with a loud grunt.

  Steel met bone.

  A flash of raw force surged from the weapon on contact, a spell layered into the swing, something like Alex’s [Flare] but heavier, older, born in stone. The Manticore’s skull caved beneath the blow, split open against the rocky ground. Its body jerked once, then slumped still, the scorpion-tail twitching feebly for a second after, before also falling limp.

  The clearing went quiet but for the heavy breaths of the fighters.

  Then without wasting time, Ghrukk’s squad set to work. Selka hacked the tail free with a single stroke of her daggers, tossing it into a sack. Rynel carved his way into the Manticore’s chest cavity and pried loose the beast’s core, its faintly pulsing gemlike orb, while Sarson instructed Peter on how to cut strips of hide from its flank. They left the rest, as it was too heavy to carry, too much meat to matter.

  Alex crouched near the carcass, brushing blood from his hand on the dew soaked grass. His eyes rose to the mountain’s shrouded peak beyond the trees. Even now, his [Aether Sight] rippled. The unnatural rhythm was still there, steady, pulsing from deeper within the range.

  “This wasn’t it,” Alex muttered.

  The others turned to him, expressions tight, waiting. He gestured upward, toward the mist-wrapped cliffs where the aether beat like a war-drum in his senses.

  “The villagers weren’t afraid of a mere Manticore. Whatever they fear, it’s still ahead. Stronger than this single beast. And it’s waiting for us up there.”

  “That was a Manticore then? Damn, I always wanted to see one. You think she has some babies we can raise and keep as pets?” Lance said, his eyes scanning the surrounding treeline even before finishing his sentence.

  “All Manticores are male. Its a trait of their species. They breed exclusively with Lamia.” Obby interjected into his mind. That was news to Alex, but he relayed the information either way, using himself as a mouth piece for Obby’s monster lesson. “The resulting offspring that are born are either male Manticores, or female Lamia themselves. Though occasionally, there is an exception. Every few litters, one of the offspring are born a Sphinx. Much more powerful than their parents. Though they themselves are infertile.”

  “And you know all this how?” Kate asked, shooting Alex a suspicious eyebrow raise.

  “Ah, I’m sure it was in one of the aether-slates I read… or maybe I saw it in the bestiary Selka pulled out when we were looking up the Basilisk.” He shrugged, trying to play down the information, and the strangeness of he somehow knowing it out of thin air.

  Damn, I got complacent. Aether knowledge and skill stuff makes sense for me to know because of Sylvaris’ scroll, and my senses. Maybe even some minor System knowledge, monster lore is a bit too far though.

  “Or you can just tell them about me?” Obby asked.

  Nah… too late in the game for that. You’re my dirty little secret, Obby, lets keep it that way.

  Ghrukk spat into the dirt. “This mountain treasure waits higher up for us? Good,” he rumbled, tusks gleaming as he grinned. “Let it wait. We’ll go meet it.”

  The others followed his gaze, and slowly, the company’s eyes turned toward the mountain. It rose unto the clouds like a skyscraper, ominous and oppressive. But none of them were afraid, Alex only saw excitement in all of their eyes.

  And he felt it too.