Fated Antagonist

36. Assault on Orpule, Part 12

Thank goodness for amorphous blobs of terror! The tentacles twist through the air beneath me, creating a dense noodle stack that I plunge into like a boulder that fell off a cliff. Everything melds into a blur as I plummet the last fifty metres and then⁠—

BANG!

Oof! In an organ-rattling collision, I smack into the hard stone of the plate with nothing but the tentacles of Crinis to cushion my fall. Predictably, my legs fold like a house of cards before my carapace is rocked by the impact and my head starts spinning. Yikes. Not a fan of that.

[Thanks, Crinis! You’re a life saver…]

[I almost didn’t make it in time!]

[But you did. That’s all that matters.]

I trigger my healing gland and sigh in relief as the cooling fluid rushes throughout my body, mending everything that was damaged in the fall and beginning the process of once again restoring my legs to full usefulness. Luckily, they haven’t been ripped off this time, merely shattered in several places, so I should be good to go before too much time has passed.

BOOM!

I must have been falling slightly faster than the spell, since at this moment a cataclysmic detonation resounds from the side. My antennae scream of danger, and I use my mandibles to sweep as much of Crinis behind me as I can whilst my brains throw out the fastest barriers I’m capable of. They’re flimsy as heck but the best I can do on such short notice, and certainly better than nothing. Thank goodness I already triggered my healing gland.

The heat is immense as the fireball unleashes its remaining payload of doom, except there is more at play than pure Fire Magic. The spell had been miscoloured, flecked with darkness where one would expect Fire Mana to be bright, and I can feel the difference now as the flames eat into my carapace even as it burns me. This must be a combination of Ash and Fire Magic, putting the two most prominent elements of this stratum together into one horrific concentration of death!

How nasty.

My HP drops steadily as the fire rages, and I find myself fighting on two fronts. On one side, I’m trying to utilise my magic to hold off the worst effects of the spell by eating into the mana and countering with renewed barriers once my old ones are shattered, whilst at the same time, I fight against Crinis as she tries to wrap her limbs around to protect me.

[Dammit, Crinis! You’re weak to mana like this, you’ll just melt in an instant! Stay put!]

[I can help protect you, let me go!]

[Absolutely not! Just sit still, will you?]

[Never!]

[I’m ordering you!]

In the face of a direct command, there’s nothing Crinis can do, though even then I see her limbs shivering as she tries with all her being to force herself to disobey my instruction. My heart clenches in my chest in the face of her devotion, and I draw her ever closer to shield her from damage.

[You just saved me, now it’s my turn to save you,] I tell her firmly, even as she refuses to yield in her attempts.

By the time the detonation has finished, the area around me is a smouldering ruin and I am in a not insignificant amount of pain. Checking my HP bar, that I was too scared to look at prior to this point, I see that after everything I just endured, I’ve been chunked down to just under half of my pool. Considering regeneration fluid was making its way throughout my body throughout the explosion, it’s a shocking amount of damage to remain. The carapace on my back has almost entirely been eaten away, and what’s more, it is very slow to regenerate.

Perhaps a lingering effect of Ash Mana? I don’t know enough about the stuff to say for sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion my hunch is correct.

I know that I’m alright, but what about the Colony?! Taking in the sights as my eyes gradually lose the glare, I can see that my siblings have not escaped unscathed. Closer to the centre of the gathered ants, they were safer, having the full benefit of the shields woven overhead, but near the outer edge of that circle, things look much more grim.

Already the healers are picking their way over the wounded, administering desperately needed first aid. Every ant who can be saved will be saved, of that I have no doubt. But the fires of vengeance have been lit in me now. No chance I let them get away unscathed for this!

My sentiment is also echoed by the Colony, who bristle with outrage and determination. The ant tide will not be denied! CANNOT be denied!

My mind constructs spin furiously, bringing yet another mana type to the fore, namely Healing Magic, to get me back on my feet again. Far above our heads, the magic-oriented tier seven demons that Brixin reserved to defend her seat of power float, looking down on the remnants of their failed strategy. Doubtless, they hoped to triumph here in one fell swoop, but it wasn’t to be!

I’m not sure what their next play will be, but I have the utmost confidence we shall sweep that aside also.

“Come down here!” I roar using my pheromones and waggling my broken legs at them. “I’ll bite your ankles off!”

In the distance, I can still hear Sarah’s endless bellow. She must still be tearing through Orpule on a rage-drunk rampage, followed by a squad of ants who are going to try their level best to keep her from wrecking the entire place. I feel sorry for any demon that gets in her way at this point; once she gets wound up, she is absurdly hard to stop.

Speaking of squads following me around.

“Protectant? You lot still alive?”

A short pause.

“Yes. Please don’t jump into shadow portals that we can’t follow you through in future,” comes a clipped reply from thin air.

That’s a relief, I was worried they’d gotten themselves baked in the blast.

“Alright then, it’s time to bring these demons down and show them what’s what. Can someone go and get Tiny for me? I’m going to need him for this.”

“Uhm, are you talking to us?” Protectant asks, again not revealing herself.

“Of course! Who else is here to smell these pheromones?”

“Right…”

I turn my mind to Crinis and connect with her.

[How’s things, Crinis? Did you pull through alright?]

She was badly singed on the extremities, and I don’t doubt she lost a lot of her flesh in the blast, especially before I ordered her to pull back.

[You should have let me protect you,] she mumbles in my mind.

I shake my head.

[No chance. You aren’t allowed to die before me, that’s an order.]

She falls silent, a helpless pile of unshapen shadow goo on the ground beside me. I feel a little bad about ordering her like that. I hate restricting them, but I feel this one with all of my heart. None of them are allowed to die before me.