Path of the Unmentioned: The Missing Piece-Chapter 83: Feathers and Fury [2]

Kyle’s fingers tightened around Zalrielle’s hilt.

The familiar weight of the tachi grounded him as blue-white lightning crackled along its dark steel surface.

Casting flickering shadows across the forest floor.

Sweat trickled down his temple. Stinging his eyes.

But he didn’t dare blink.

Across the clearing. The Vorthal’s talons flexed.

Digging deep furrows into the damp earth.

Black, tar-like blood still oozed from the wound in its shoulder where Kyle’s glacial lance had struck earlier.

Each thick droplet sizzling slightly as it hit the ground.

The moment stretched between them. Taut as a drawn bowstring.

The forest had gone eerily quiet.

No birdsong.

No rustling leaves.

Just the Vorthal’s wet, rasping breaths and the distant drip of water from Sylvie’s earlier spell.

Kyle could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.

Feel the ache in his muscles from constant mana expenditure.

His ribs protested each breath.

Then the movement.

The Vorthal struck first.

Its mangled, featherless wings flared outward in a grotesque mockery of flight as it launched itself across the clearing.

The powerful muscles in its digitigrade legs propelled it forward with terrifying speed.

Covering the ten paces between them in a single, fluid bound.

Kyle barely had time to raise Zalrielle before those hooked talons came slashing downward with enough force to split stone.

CLANG!

Steel met claw in an explosion of sparks that stung Kyle’s face.

The impact rattled his teeth.

Sending painful vibrations up his arms that made his bones ache.

His boots skidded backward through the soft forest soil.

Heels carving twin trenches in the earth.

The creature’s rancid breath washed over him as its beak snapped at his face.

Missing his nose by less than an inch.

The stench was overwhelming.

Rotting meat and something sour. Like curdled milk left in the sun.

"Eat this!" Isolde’s voice cut through the chaos like a knife.

The red-haired swordswoman came in from the side.

Her montante blazing with fire magic.

The slender blade glowed orange-hot flames licking hungrily at the air.

As she brought it down in a perfect diagonal slash aimed at the Vorthal’s ribs.

The creature twisted at the last possible second. But the superheated steel still grazed its side.

HISSSSS

The sound of burning flesh filled the clearing as feathers blackened and curled.

Thick smoke rose from the wound.

Carrying with it an even more putrid version of the creature’s natural stench.

The Vorthal’s screech was deafening at this close range.

A high-pitched, nails-on-slate sound that made Kyle’s ears ring.

It lashed out blindly with one taloned hand. The movement almost too fast to follow.

Isolde ducked. But not quite fast enough.

A claw caught her across the left shoulder. Shredding through the fabric of her academy uniform and the skin beneath with equal ease.

Blood welled instantly. Dark crimson against the already bloodstained material.

Kyle saw her face contort in pain, teeth bared in a grimace.

But she didn’t falter.

Even as blood ran down her arm.

Her montante was already coming around for another strike. The fire along its blade burning brighter in her anger.

"Got you covered!" Roland’s voice came from somewhere behind Kyle.

The archer’s arrow whizzed past Kyle’s ear so close he felt the fletching brush against his hair.

The projectile flew true.

Burying itself deep in the Vorthal’s thigh with a wet...

THUNK.

Black ichor spurted from the wound.

Splattering across the leaf litter in thick droplets that smoked slightly where they landed.

But the creature didn’t even slow.

Its head snapped toward Roland with unnatural speed.

Beady eyes narrowing in recognition of this new threat.

That moment of distraction was all Orion needed.

The massive earth mage brought his warhammer down like a falling star.

[Stonebreaker]

The earth itself seemed to shudder as Orion’s hammer struck.

A visible shockwave rippled outward from the impact point.

Cracking the ground in a spiderweb pattern that raced toward the Vorthal.

The creature staggered as the earth beneath its feet fractured.

Its already injured leg buckling slightly.

Orion didn’t let up.

With a grunt of effort.

He swung again. This time aiming directly for the Vorthal’s spine.

What happened next defied logic.

The Vorthal rolled.

It shouldn’t have been possible for something so large to move like that.

But its body twisted midair with serpentine grace.

Avoiding the hammer’s crushing blow by inches.

Orion overbalanced. His momentum carrying him forward past the creature.

And the Vorthal struck like a viper.

Its talons lashed out toward Orion’s exposed back.

Aiming to shred through cloth and flesh alike.

Kyle didn’t have time to shout a warning. He simply acted.

[Frostbind]

His palm slammed into the ground with enough force to bruise.

Jagged ice erupted in a spreading wave from his fingertips, racing across the forest floor.

The frost encased the Vorthal’s legs up to the knees in an instant.

The sudden cold making the creature shriek in surprise and pain.

Its forward lunge was arrested mid-motion. Talons stopping just inches from Orion’s back.

Orion recovered with the reflexes of a seasoned fighter, spinning on his heel.

His warhammer came around in a brutal backhand swing that clipped the Vorthal’s ribs with a sickening...

CRUNCH.

The creature reeled backward. One wing flapping wildly as it fought to maintain balance.

"Now!" Kyle roared.

Sylvie was already moving.

The usually timid water mage stood with her feet planted firmly apart.

Both hands gripping her oversized wand.

Her blue hair. Normally kept neatly tied back, had come partially loose from its ponytail and stuck to her sweat-slicked forehead.

But her eyes, normally so nervous and uncertain, were sharp with focus.

[Torrent Spear]

A spiraling lance of pressurized water shot from her wand.

Rotating so fast it created a high-pitched whine like a sawblade cutting through air.

The water took on an almost solid form as it streaked across the clearing.

Striking the Vorthal square in the chest.

The impact was devastating.

The water spear punched straight through feathers and sinew.

Sending black blood spraying in all directions.

The sheer force lifted the massive creature clean off its feet.

Slamming it backward into a gnarled oak tree ten paces away.

The impact shook the entire tree.

Bark shattering under the force as leaves rained down around them.

For one glorious heartbeat. Everything was still.

Then the Vorthal laughed.

The sound was wrong.

Guttural and wet.

Like a drowning man finding humor in his fate.

It peeled itself away from the shattered bark with jerky.

Unnatural movements.

Black blood dripping from its new wounds to sizzle against the ground.

One wing hung at an unnatural angle.

Clearly broken.

But its remaining eye burned with manic energy.

Kyle’s stomach dropped as realization hit him like a physical blow.

’It’s not slowing down.’

They’d landed solid hits.

Ice through the shoulder.

Arrows in its leg.

Hammer blows to its ribs.

Yet the creature looked more excited than hurt.

Its chest heaved, but not from exhaustion.

It was panting.

The eager, rapid breathing of a predator that had caught the scent of blood.

Then it changed.

The Vorthal’s remaining good wing stretched to its full span.

Every feather standing on end.

Thick black veins bulged beneath its pallid skin.

Pulsing with an unnatural rhythm that made Kyle’s skin crawl.

Its beak opened far too wide.

The jaw unhinging like a snake’s as a guttural clicking filled the air.

"Everyone, shields up!" Kyle barked the warning even as he was already moving.

He barely got his ice wall raised in time.

The Vorthal’s chest swelled grotesquely.

Then contracted with a violent heave.

A stream of viscous black liquid shot from its gaping maw.

Splattering against Kyle’s hastily erected ice barrier.

Where the liquid struck.

The ice melted instantly.

Tendrils of acrid smoke curling upward as the acidic substance ate through his defense.

"Acid!" Sylvie yelped, barely managing to dodge a second spray.

The black liquid struck a young sapling behind her.

Reducing it to smoldering pulp in seconds as the acidic substance ate through bark and wood alike.

Roland nocked another arrow. But his hands shook visibly.

Blood had soaked through his chest.

The dark stain spreading across his shirt with each labored breath.

"We can’t...keep this up..." he gasped.

His face pale from blood loss.

The Vorthal seemed to sense their exhaustion.

It began stalking forward with deliberate steps. Talons clicking against stone.

One wing dragged uselessly behind it.

But its movements were no less deadly for the injury.

Kyle’s mind raced as he searched for any advantage.

’Think, damn it!’

"Sylvie!" he called, never taking his eyes off the advancing creature.

"On my mark, drench its wings!"

The water mage nodded. Adjusting her grip on the wand despite the visible trembling in her arms.

The Vorthal tensed. Muscles coiling as it prepared to pounce—

"NOW!"

[Tidal Wave]

A wall of water crashed over the Vorthal with enough force to knock a grown man off his feet.

The creature’s feathers became thoroughly saturated.

Water streaming down its distorted body in rivulets.

It shrieked in apparent annoyance. Shaking its head violently to clear its one good eye.

Kyle didn’t give it time to recover.

Channeling large amount mana into Zalrielle.

He felt the tachi grow warm in his hands.

The blade became pure energy.

Glowing so brightly it hurt to look at directly.

Blue-white lightning spiderwebbed across his arms as he raised the weapon high.

[Lightning Surge]

The downward slash seemed to happen in slow motion.

CRACK-BOOM!

A bolt of pure lightning arced from steel to water-soaked feathers.

Electricity spiderwebbed across the Vorthal’s entire body.

Making every muscle seize violently.

Its shriek became a choked gurgle as thick smoke rose from its feathers.

The stench of burning flesh filled the clearing. Overwhelming even the creature’s natural rot.

For one glorious moment.

Kyle thought they had won.

Then the impossible happened.

Even paralyzed by the electricity.

The Vorthal’s talons moved.

Its arm lashed out blindly.

The claws finding Kyle’s thigh with uncanny accuracy.

White-hot pain lanced up his leg as the razor-sharp talons shredded through fabric and flesh alike.

Blood soaked his pants instantly. The warm liquid running down into his boot.

The creature wasn’t done.

With a final, shuddering heave.

It broke free of the lightning’s hold.

Its movements were jerky now.

Uncoordinated.

But no less deadly.

One eye had melted shut from the electrical current.

The socket a ruined, smoking mess.

But its remaining eye burned with single-minded hatred.

It fixed that gaze squarely on Kyle.

And charged.

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