CHAPTER 103: OUTRUNNING A HELLCAT

Prince Tyfin couldn’t see a thing, still blinded by the trigger rune’s explosion. Mollis had her back turned to the impact, and knew to close her eyes, sparing her vision as the shield absorbed all the force behind the blast, even as she watched while the one that had saved her was thrown from the pillar.

Neither beast could hear more than muffled speech over the ringing in their ears, making whatever Mollis was screaming to the prince inaudible. The young lion was about to call out his reply, letting the rabbit know he couldn’t hear what she was saying, when he suddenly felt a rumble beneath him, and the sense they were leaning, falling quickly as the great pillar they perched atop tipped further and further over.

What the prince hadn’t been able to see was the Earthwyrm barreling towards the source of the explosion near the surface. It left behind a trail of upheaved soil, disrupting the foundation of the heavy pillar easily and forcing it to collapse into the tunnel sharply carved beneath it.

Mollis had an arm around her prince immediately, holding tight as his footing threatened to fail him as they rode the pillar down a ways. The prince heard more muffled speech and suddenly felt himself rocketed forward, leaping far through the air before the pair landed on something soft and light, but rolling a good ways as the impact jarred them.

The prince heard a loud collision behind them as the pillar crashed into the left handed wall, causing a good portion of the barricade to collapse, dropping archers to their deaths as they were crushed beneath collapsing stone.

Mollis had saved her prince for the time being, but the mage wasn’t sure how long that mercy would hold as the Earthwyrm burrowed back deeply into the ground and out of sight with a roar.

Mollis heard a shout to her left and turned to see Captain Rix, Oust, and Sir Corper running her way, leaping over trenches and carving through fiends quickly. The rabbit was glad she had boosted them so far to the left after all.

Mollis stood and focused herself. She shouted an incantation, and small spears of stone shot forth from her hands, skewering the closer fiends and clearing the path for her captain to reach her. The bull was shouting to the mage again shortly, his overpowering voice cutting through the sharp ringing in the rabbit’s ears as his words reached her.

"WE CANNOT HOLD AGAINST IT! YOU NEED TO GET THE KING OUT OF HERE!"

Mollis opened her eyes wide, glancing over the battlefield as her captain’s words registered with her. The fiends were quickly overtaking them, the front lines that still stood being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. The fiends had cleaved a path through half of their central forces and continued to swarm between the walls, dividing the troops as they had their fill of flesh.

The catlike demon was darting through the battlefield, slicing open orcs with its tails as it jolted through their formations. Mollis watched the demon run passed an orc, and with a flick of one of its whip like tails, slice the head clean off the victim, never slowing as it charged onwards through the ranks, leaving a trail of dismembered and dead orcs in its wake. Prince Tyfin suddenly spoke, shouting his disdain.

"We will not abandon them! We have to find a way!"

Mollis nodded firmly in agreement when she replied, speaking to the bull.

"If we get Aster for a moment, I can do the rest... But I don’t know if he’s even still alive. He was thrown from the pillar when the rune exploded."

Captain Rix grunted, not liking the idea of the prince staying on such an uncertain battlefield with such a revered greater demon lurking below.

"WE CANNOT STAKE EVERYTHING ON THE CHANCE HE LIV-"

Prince Tyfin spoke up once more, cutting off the bull as his vision and hearing slowly returned to him.

"Find him! We have to make this work. I will NOT abandon our allies here."

The bull groaned but gave a small bow to his king. The staunch captain turned to Oust and shouted his orders.

"FIND THE BOY AND BRING HIM HERE! I WILL PROTECT OUR KING!"

Oust nodded decisively and darted off towards the fallen pillar without second thought, finding himself strangely concerned for the human’s unknown fate. Sir Corper followed a bit behind the tiger, unable to keep up in a sprint, but knowing that his student found trouble easily.

The captain turned, facing the approaching fiends stoutly as he tightened the grip on his axe. Mollis took her place beside the bull the same as she had for many years, preparing herself to let loose a bit with the prince at the ready to recharge her. She raised her arms to fight beside her captain and tossed a friendly jest towards the bull.

"You know, Captain, can’t say I’m a fan of the new look. I always did like you best when you were horny though."

Despite the grim situation and the insulting injury to his horn, the jab was aimed at, the bull couldn’t help but crack a smile. The rabbit really did know him better than anyone else. Mollis was the one person who could dish out that type of teasing on the same level the bull could. Well, the one that could get away with it anyway.

She spoke once more before she began chanting, determined to flip this battle back into their favor, determined not to lose anyone else on that day.

"You hold the line, I’ll handle the rest."

The bull snorted, having full trust in the rabbit’s ability. He gave her a mock salute before taking a few paces forward to meet his enemy head on. When Mollis got bossy about something, she was usually right anyway.

The captain had trusted the rabbit with his life a thousand times over. This time was no different. The bovine answered with enthusiasm and a bit of playfulness with his long-time ally as he tore his axe through two fiends with one bone shattering swing.

"YES, MA’AM!"

___

Oust was running near full speed, the nimble feline crossing the battlefield with his impressive agility with ease. The tiger effortlessly leapt over the trenches as they came before him, and was outrunning the smaller fiends with no trouble at all, easily avoiding them all together.

This was the main reason Captain Rix had tasked the tiger with fetching the boy, Oust was always the fastest runner among them. He made it a bit more than halfway to the base of the pillar when something caught his eye on his right side. Between the flashes of bodies, something was running beside him.

Oust turned his head a bit to his right, and quickly realized it was the smaller demon with the three tails. The fiend was moving closer to the tiger, a tactic Oust recognized as a predator running down its prey. It seemed this demon enjoyed the chase.

Oust accelerated, pushing his legs to the max as his vision tunneled and his surroundings blurred in his focus. The beast could hear his heart beating strongly as its pulse cheered his thumping footsteps on. The tiger was occasionally grabbing hold of larger protruding stones as he ran and used the power behind his arms to snatch himself ever forward as he did so, adding the smallest boosts to his speed.

Even still, he heard the crunch of earth from the demon’s steps grow ever closer. When the tiger had neared the goal, in the last part of the field yet to be overrun by the smaller fiends, a whistling sound filled his ear... Oust turned his head just in time to see a flailing tail flick across his field of vision, the bony white spike on the end cracking sharply against his cheek.

Oust had shifted just enough for only the very tip to cut into him as the whip left a small, bleeding mark under his right eye. The tiger ducked back in surprise, not realizing how quickly the demon had chased him down. Oust lost his footing as his attention was demanded elsewhere, and the tiger fell, just in time to avoid another flash of the tails striking towards his midsection.

Oust rolled on his side several times before he could catch himself, leaving a spatter of bruises and smaller abrasions on the beast from the rough terrain.

The demon sped past him, taking a bit to come to a halt. It turned back towards the tiger and began closing the distance once more with ridiculous speed. It seemed to the tiger that the longer this thing ran, the faster it was getting.

Oust knew he was a poor matchup against a demon with such reach on him, so he had tried his best to reach the base of the ruined pillar and simply stay ahead of it. He had almost made it, but the assumption he was faster than the demon had almost cost him his life...

Before the tiger could ever truly recover, the demon was leaping towards him, a tail flicking to either side, preventing him from escaping.

The tiger had been cornered.

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