Around Banaikuj there were multiple krukins; there were 2 krukdills, 1 krukspy, 3 kruktopus, and a krukblade had just reached them too.
Vane, Naluri, and Lily were in front of them, in the whole square, and in the whole town, the whole city was slowly getting destroyed by the krukins. There were 2 krukmongbee that, with their huge fists, were destroying buildings all over the town.
Some brave people were helping the crowd evacuate. As small krukins reached them, with their spells they would kill them, but many people would get too distracted and get killed by them.
"Don't stop walking!!" shouted a person. Behind many people there was a small krukspy who was rushing towards them. A brave person with wind magic was able to push the krukin away, and his body smashed against a building.
"It's such a mess…" whispered Tatsy, scared. Darian's group told her that they were here to defend an attack, 'but are they really enough…' she thought. Suddenly something came to her mind.
'Wait, they told me that some allies were about to arrive… they need to be faster… but how…' she thought as she was running in the middle of the crowd. Suddenly something popped up in her mind.
"Wait, if I use my magic to give a message to an animal…" she murmured. She glanced around, hoping to see an animal or at least a bird near her, but most of them were flying away, scared, in the sky.
Tatsy looked up in the sky towards the birds and thought, 'If I'm able to reach them… I can tell them to search around for some people. If I remember correctly, they told me the other city was exactly on the same side we're going…'
Tatsy wanted to use her power to warn an animal about what was really happening in the town. The bird would fly around in the direction of Skar-Zhul. The moment it would find some humans, the bird would make a complete mess and direct the others towards Yalemba.
"It has to work!"
Tatsy rushed towards the front of the crowd. The rain still wasn't ending, but she needed to find an animal to deliver this message. "I'll try to help everyone… I trust you now," said Tatsy as she looked back towards the city, which was slowly getting destroyed.
"Take the foolish humanss…" Banaikuj ordered the other krukins, who immediately rushed towards the humans. Vane turned into a boffalo and immediately rushed towards the enemy.
"I'll help you!" shouted Lily. Roots emerged from the ground and blocked some enemies. The krukdills weren't grabbed by the roots, and the moment they saw the others getting blocked, they immediately decided to help them by charging towards the roots.
'I need to stop the krukdills first!' thought Vane as he noticed they were the only ones who weren't stuck in the roots, but they were in two different directions. Vane decided to rush towards the one who was about to free the bladekruk.
Vane, rushing extremely fast towards the enemy, stepped on him, but the moment he passed next to the bladekruk, he was able to swing his blade and create a scratch over Vane's face. Blood dripped from it.
Vane stopped, breathing heavily. The krukdill had been stepped on and died, but the bladekruk had just been freed from the others.
"Vane, attention!" called out Lily, almost shouting. Vane immediately turned around just to see Banaikuj jumping and swinging his long and powerful claws towards him.
'I need to be fast!' thought Vane. At the last moment, he was able to turn into an eagle and dodge the first hit of the claws. Banaikuj looked up before swinging again his claws towards him. Vane, now more prepared, was able to harden his wings.
The next thing that happened the moment Vane hardened his wings was a clash of hits between Banaikuj's claws and Vane's wings. The other krukins all reached Lily and Naluri.
Lily was shaking, knowing that Vane, someone who hadn't already fought against the krukin, wasn't there anymore made her scared. Naluri noticed the scared look on Lily and reassured her.
"Don't worry, you've been doing great until now. You can keep doing it." Lily nodded her head, and an excitement-filled look slowly returned to her face.
"Right… I've always dreamed about the day I would fight against the krukins… I can't be scared!" shouted Lily. The moment the krukins were close enough, she used another of her spells.
"POISONED CROWN!" shouted Lily. In a radius of 6 inches, multiple small roots emerged from the ground. The moment they walked into this space, the poison in the roots slowly drained their power.
The bladekruk shouted madly and jumped, managing to get out of the space with the roots. The moment he landed on the ground, the street immediately shattered, creating a crater right under him.
The streets were becoming weaker thanks to the rain and the powerful hits they had received, but also thanks to Naluri's power. The moment the bladekruk stepped on it, it shattered, creating a small crater in which the bladekruk lost balance.
Vane was still exchanging hits against Banaikuj. "Foolish human, just surrender, you can't win!!!" shouted Banaikuj as rain fell around them.
"I will kill you, I will get my revenge for what you did to me!!" yelled Vane. Suddenly, he ran away and started going directly up towards the sky.
"I won't let you run away!!" Banaikuj, seeing Vane running away, decided to jump and tried to hit him by swinging his long claws. "I'm not running away," answered Vane. He was able to overcome the strength of the powerful wind and flew towards the clouds.
Banaikuj looked at him, confused. "Right, Garwhole warned me about this…" whispered Banaikuj, looking up in the sky. Right before reaching the clouds, Vane changed direction and immediately dived towards Banaikuj.
'He didn't tell me he was this fast!' Garoo had told him how fast Vane could move without such strong winds, but now that the terrain was extremely favorable for Vane, it was almost impossible to catch him without preparing for the moment he was flying up.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!" shouted Vane. With his strong winds, he dived extremely fast towards Banaikuj, who barely had time to block the attack with his long claws.
Vane was putting as much strength as he could into his body. Banaikuj was doing the same, but it wasn't enough… Vane was able to pierce through his claws and create a huge scratch over his body.
'I can't stop now!' thought Vane. The moment he was far enough from Banaikuj, he turned into a boffalo and rushed towards him.
Banaikuj emitted a strong sound. Vane, not expecting that, slowed down. It was so strong that his ears started to hurt for a moment.
Suddenly, another creature joined their fight. It was a krukmongbee, who launched his stings towards Vane. Banaikuj took a small step forward, dodging the stings.
"I'll leave him to you… I'll go bother the others," said Banaikuj in the language of krukins. The krukmongbee answered by screaming and kept throwing his stings towards Vane.
"Shit!" Vane, scared, was hit by one of the stings. He was fast enough to turn into an eagle. The stings, being as big as an eagle, fell down from his body the moment he transformed. As the krukmongbee launched his stings, they went directly towards the old tree.
The moment the stings entered in contact with the log, they created small craters on the tree's body, not being able to pierce it.
Vane flew towards the sky again. He was able to overcome the strength of the wind, but the moment he landed back down, his body was slowly losing strength.
"I think the sting is having an effect…" he whispered, tired. The moment he landed, he was not able to cut off the krukmongbee's head. It simply created a small scratch on the enemy's neck, who grabbed Vane with his hands and threw him with great strength towards a broken building.
Banaikuj rushed towards Lily and Naluri, dragging his powerful long claws on the ground. The two women had just finished killing the other krukins and were coming to help Vane.
"I'll take you, foolish humanss!" shouted Banaikuj. Suddenly, his claws got stuck in a small hole in the ground and he lost balance.
"Eh?" The confused krukin tried to remove his claws, but the moment he tried to move, roots appeared under his body. "VINE WALK!!" shouted Lily. Without even realizing it, Banaikuj was moving on top of these roots, going in random directions.
"Good job, Lily!" said Naluri, praising her child. Lily looked proud of herself. With the magic Vine Walk, she could not make the roots poisonous, but it was enough to make Banaikuj go crazy.
"MAKE THIS STOPPP!!" shouted Banaikuj in the krukin language. Suddenly, a bladekruk, who was smashing everything he found, rushed towards him, and with perfect precision, he was able to cut the roots, bringing Banaikuj back with perfect control.
The krukin was breathing heavily. 'What was that…' he thought. He had never experienced anything like that before. His head felt dizzy, and he could barely stand on his feet anymore.
Banaikuj whispered something to the bladekruk next to him in their language. Naluri and Lily weren't able to hear it, and what happened after that made their hearts beat faster.
The bladekruk jumped extremely high, almost reaching the top of the tree. With his blade, he cut down a big branch, and it was falling directly over Naluri and Lily.
Lily blocked the branch right before it fell on top of them with some roots. She didn't feel like throwing it away towards the krukin; she simply left it on the ground.
'I could have thrown it… but it's a branch of the tree. It would be too disrespectful for her own city,' thought Lily as she snapped back to reality. The bladekruk was rushing towards them extremely fast.
The moment he rushed towards them, another branch fell right on top of him, smashing his body.
"It wasn't my magic… I think the tree is just becoming weaker." Naluri looked up towards the tree. The wind was so strong that it looked like other branches could fall at any moment.
"I'll kill you, foolish humans!!" shouted Banaikuj. He rushed towards them; his head wasn't feeling dizzy anymore. With that, Naluri and Lily immediately took a few steps back, walking towards the tree.
The thought of the tree falling was making both women lose focus on the battlefield.
"POISONED CROWN!" Suddenly, Banaikuj found himself inside this space, where multiple small roots were slowly draining his power.
As Banaikuj's body trembled in pain, with the little strength remaining, he was able to destroy all the roots around him.
Banaikuj fell on one knee, breathing heavily. "I'm not strong physically… but I've got this!" Suddenly, Banaikuj emitted another strong sound that could be heard across the whole battlefield. The sound even reached the portal.
"Someone else needs to enter!" said Anacreon. He was watching the destruction of the town through the portal. He was having so much fun that having to interrupt it made him sad.
"LET ME GO!" shouted Liztawul as he walked towards the portal. Garwhole stopped him.
"We're sorry, but children aren't allowed in this dangerous mission," said Garwhole. Liztawul looked furious.
"I WANT TO FIGHT FOR MOTHER TOO!! LET ME GO!" Liztawul shouted angrily. Garwhole remained calm.
"I'm sorry, but you aren't strong enough like the others. You would only get hurt. We can't allow that," Garwhole said, looking at Leobruns, who wasn't far away. Leobruns nodded.
"Really? Leobruns is so old. How can we be sure that he is still able to fight?" asked Liztawul, surprised.
"Little child, first bring respect to adults. Second, my katana has just been repaired. I need to see how powerful it can be," said Leobruns calmly. Liztawul looked angry.
"Tch." Liztawul walked away and muttered in a grumpy tone.
"We can't let them get hurt… are you sure you can do this, Leobruns?" asked Garwhole. The other krukin nodded.
"I'm old, yes, but I can still fight without any problem!" said Leobruns proudly. He was almost 8000 years old, which even for a krukin was extremely old.
Leobruns walked towards the portal. "Once you're finished with the humans… promise me you'll destroy everything you find," said Anacreon with a strange look on his face.
It was both excitement and mischief. "I want to see the whole city in ruinss." The smile on Anacreon's face made Leobruns flinch in surprise.
"Yeah, yeah…" he said, annoyed, as he entered the portal.
'He just likes to see everything destroyed… I wonder if he's actually fighting to help us…' thought Leobruns as he joined the battlefield, immediately reaching Banaikuj.