To my own frustration, there were no other enemies that made themselves known as we continued our path into the forest. I bottled that anger, and instead remained as calm as possible as I gave commands to my people on which potential path to pursue. A part of me cursed not bringing Foire, as the best tracker that we had, but I instead stretched my own awareness as far as I could. I wasn't much of a hunter compared to the elite Keel Sik'Tal, but any additional help that I could offer wouldn't ever be turned away, and my strength, of course, lay in my ability to perceive sonic waves in a way that nobody else could.
We set out in the morning, and I maintained the decision that we wouldn't be here any later than an hour or two past high noon. With all five suns beating down with all their ferocity, the strength of light of midday would reinforce our attacks against the shadow-reliant Misti Hawar.
Unfortunately, they seemed just as willing to avoid us while we were at an advantage as we were to avoid them during the dark of night. Despite finding a few more traces of shadow magic as we went, the Misti Hawar remained outside of our grasp. I couldn't say just where they were, but I also didn't want to overcommit on this first excursion, go too deep and end up losing the majority of my hunters just because I wanted faster results. Letting the spawn of Illan'Klli survive, though, was also unacceptable, so I was stuck between two difficult decisions.
I rolled my shoulders and forced myself to be calm as I continued on the path, following the directions of the Sik'Tal hunters. I was taken by surprise just as much as everybody else when, as we passed through a slightly darker thicket, shadows crawled from every direction and wreathed us all in pitch black, a thick curtain of tangible darkness washing over us all and blotting out all light.
"Everyone together!" I commanded as I stepped forward and pulsed reinforcing magic over my people. I'd been stretching myself for so long to be able to dispel every weak shadow that approached and now, for the first time in quite a long while, I felt the beginnings of the limit limits of my Perpetual Sonilphon. I was nowhere near unable to continue, but nearing my halfway point just as the assault from our enemies was only just beginning wasn't comforting.
For the first time, I thought about how I hadn't brought 200 with me on this fight, to be another step forward in Horde Coordination's evolution, but the battle that we had on the second night of the siege had already moved that counter from 0/5 to 1/5. For now, I remained confident in the fact that having these numbers, enough to be a threat, but not enough to frighten off the elites of our enemy forces, was the correct choice. I could only hope that the rest of my people wouldn't come to regret that confidence of mine.
"I had thought that he would give us more trouble than this," an infuriatingly familiar voice spoke, and I felt the scales down my back ripple in anger as my frills stood involuntarily.
"The egg destroyer herself wants to speak with me?" I spoke through gritted teeth. "I can't imagine you've come to offer yourself up as an apology. I'll give you just as much mercy as you showed the unhatched children."
"Let's not pretend that we are more or less than enemies who wish for each other's destruction," she said back, her voice smooth and unbothered. "I wanted to see if you retained your spine. You do. Goodbye."
She didn't engage in any more conversation as the shadows thrashed like so many whips at every one of my people. There were squeals of pain as the magic cut through my people's defenses, and I roared with the influence of my magic to push back the shadow.
The sound was almost hollow, the shadow pressing in and somehow devouring the sound, though the shadows nearest to me were pushed back. I'd already changed my vision to be able to better see my surroundings in tandem with my Tremorsense, and I quickly realized that, though my people were wounded, none had died in that opening assault. Already, the blessing from our goddess was showing its utility and how valuable it would be in battle.
A dozen Misti Hawar drew closer, spears in their hands as they threw a volley of the weapons towards my people, though only two of the attacks hit. Those that were hit, both Kha, were struck only because they were trapped in twisting shadows wrapped around their legs and tails. One survived, the spear catching a solid blow on her arm. She ripped herself free from the shadows, her blood running in hot streaks down her arm as well as both legs. The other took a spear to the throat, and he collapsed, dead.
"Stand strong," I commanded. "We will begin a fighting retreat."
My people stepped back under my advisement, their heads twisting back and forth to keep an eye on any approaching threats, and I cursed the turn of events that brought me here without being able to firmly take advantage of this hunt.
That was when the spawn appeared.
Three from each side burst into existence below the flanks of our formation, tentacles ripping more powerfully than the magic that had begun the assault, and the limbs of my people flew in the aftermath of the devastating ambush attack. Fully half of my fifty were heavily wounded by the spawn's appearance, thrashing tentacles separating limb from body. As my people screamed in pain and terror, I pushed an overwhelming amount of magic into my spear, Spear of the Many and Destructive Wave accompanying me as I threw myself towards the nearest spawn.
Its tentacles formed hooks and blades and carved the flesh from one of my subordinates, her screams filling the air as her limbs were torn apart. I fell from the air into the mass of tentacles, my spear piercing through three tentacles without issue before smashing home in the center of the beast's body. Destructive Wave quickly vibrated the monster's corpse into dissolving particles, and I didn't stay behind to make sure it was dead before throwing myself at the next.
My spear flew from my hand into the furthest of the two remaining spawn on this flank, piercing accurately into its body, but not its core. It continued to thrash, tentacles, striking at my people there, but I left their survival to them with the wounded, trapped enemy as the spear continued to reverberate with Destructive Wave's influence. For now, I ripped with claw and fang into the nearer enemy. Combatant's Bloodlust showed a pair of red dots on the writhing, oily mass that made the beast, and I ripped into its flesh. The taste was off, as if it wasn't made of anything real, but I didn't care. Inky black blood coated my tongue and splashed onto my chest as I ripped three tentacles free with one enraged bite. My claws tore through the other tentacles, and I noted that, in this shadowy field, my attacks were either weaker or the spawn was tougher, and its tentacles regrew much faster.
Despite me ripping several of its limbs off, more burst out in front of me as my jaws and claws sought to rip into its core and end its life. Finally, I pushed more of the dregs of my magic into another use of Destructive Wave as I slashed forward through the spawn's defenses. Though strengthened by the aura they were all in, the spawn couldn't stand up to my attacks and fell, dead. Looking around, the other that'd been stabbed with my spear had been ripped to pieces, though I could see that at least two dozen of the tentacle limbs had been ripped free before it'd been killed, as each of the tentacles was on the ground, dissolving into shadow.
The other flank hadn't fared quite so well as mine, though there were only ten casualties to be found there. A Keel named Oula led the fight there, though only one of the spawn had been slain, while the other two dissolved underfoot and retreated.
"A tougher foe than expected, every time," the Nyust'taa's voice carried over to me. "We'll meet again on the walls, tonight."
She didn't say anything else as the shadows deepened for just long enough for every presence nearby to disappear, and then there was nothing.
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