The wind continued to howl as the blizzard mercilessly swirled around them.
Bestial roars and howls echoed from all directions and judging from the multitude of thumping sounds, they were very numerous and had already surrounded them.
"Well...this is pretty bad...and they haven't even started attacking yet..."
Evaline muttered with great anxiety as she vigilantly watched every possible direction the beasts might come from.
"Lady Maria. Sunfire must have already burned away the majority of that weird spell cast on you earlier. Can I ask you to please increase the strength of Snowbane?", Kyrie asked. Her gaze not even turning away from the front.
"Ugh...my head still feels pretty heavy...but...I can do that...", Maria groaned but she touched the cold hard ground and then, "Recast, Guard Skill: Snowbane...", recasting the so-called Skill, the warm air grew even warmer. Warm enough to make Evaline feel comfortably warm.
'I wonder what those Skills are? I sensed no magic spell being used nor mana being consumed...'
Evaline thought so curiously.
The thumping sounds grew louder and this time, Evaline could finally make out large figures running around them right outside the barrier.
"The blizzard is making it hard to discern but I can see some figures right outside your barrier Miss Kyrie. It seems you were not joking about them having horns afterall..."
Evaline commented as she sees the vague shapes of what seems to be horns sticking out of the 'heads' of the beasts.
It was then that she wondered why the beasts were still just outside the barrier.
There are 4 of them inside what Evaline estimates as a barrier that's at least 15 feet wide. It was a narrow enough space that one of those beast could easily jump inside and reach the other side in one great leap. Assuming that it has the physical prowess equal to a full-grown lion.
'One good surprise attack and anyone of us could probably end up skewered or mauled.', readying herself, Evaline held up her sword and proceeded to cast a spell, "Oh Logi, segne meine Klinge mit Sonnenfeuer!"
The handle of her sword grew warmer in Evaline's hands as the blade started to glow orange and a moment later, a scarlet flame started to dance across the length starting from the cross guard.
"Okay...this may not amount to much but -"
Evaline thrust one hand towards Kyrie and the others to her side and proceeded to trace a symbol in the air;
"Oh Njord, lass deinen Atem den Gefährdeten Zuflucht sein."
She proceeded to cast another spell. This time, upon her companions.
Maybe it was by complete coincidence or by fate's decree, as soon as she had finished her spell, something broke through the barrier with a savage roar and went barreling down on Kyrie who was a little late to react but was then immediately repelled by a sudden burst of wind that appeared with a vengeance.
"Thank you, your Highness!"
"Don't mind it! Keep your guard up!"
Evaline quickly cut her off. Her eyes, not even taking the chance to look away from the front.
'That was cloooooose!', she thought so anxiously. She did not expect something to come charging in as soon as she had casted that spell of hers on Kyrie and the others. Shuddering at the thought of what could've happened if she had not done so.
But there was no time to rest for before Evaline could wrap her head around it, another beast went charging into the barrier and was now headed for Evaline who stood a few feet away from Kyrie.
Evaline did not waste a single moment and quickly swung her sword at the approaching beast.
"RRRRAAAAAAA!!"
With a fervent shout, she brought her sword to bear upon the beasts head and no sooner had it made contact upon it did it crack open the head with a sickening squelch.
"Oh Jord, mögen deine Hände meine Füße festhalten!!"
She quickly cast a spell on her to keep herself from being flung away by the dead beast's momentum but was sadly a little to late to do so and was pushed away by a couple feet before she could shove the carcass to the side.
'You mean to say this monstrosity had enough force in its charge to overpower me even if I had already killed it?!'
"They have enough strength to overpower simple spells! Watch out!"
She immediately informs her companions who in turn had their own share of the sudden assault;
Beasts now entered the barrier from both the front and back forcing even Maria who was still in the midst of recovering from some kind of damage to even draw her sword.
"Guard Skill, Force!", Maria shouts with gritted teeth as she makes a pushing gesture towards the approaching beast causing it to be pushed back as if it hit a solid invisible wall, "ORAAA!", and no sooner had the beast hit the ground did Maria immediately brought down her raised sword upon the disoriented beast's exposed neck.
'Now they start attacking at the same time?!'
Evaline exclaimed mentally.
Kyrie on the other hand is currently occupied with dealing with both the monsters that approached her from the front and keeping Rosseweisse from getting mauled by keeping the Saint behind her.
It was a lucky break that Rosseweisse does not seem to be in the mood to be be jumping into the jaws of their enemies. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to last even a minute of this assault.
'White fur, long antlers like a deer's, furry goat-like legs and a human body. Its head looks demonic though...bloody hell...'
Evaline thought so in disgust as she looked at a nearby carcass. Sure enough, it was not a creature she knew or have heard of.
'I apologize to all the Fauns and Satyrs in the world. It was wrong for me to compare you to this ugly monstrosity that looks like an a cross between a troll and a goat...'
She offered a silent apology.
With a quick brandish of her sword, she decapitates another beast which had approached from behind and then quick as the wind, she cast another spell, "Futhark!", tracing the air with her finger, she writes a rune that glowed scarlet and immediately, a ball of fire spewed forth from her outstretched hand towards another beast that had tried to lunge at her from a distance.
Surprisingly, the beast quickly dodged the spell by jumping to the side midair.
"Geh?! It can do that?!"
But she quickly shook away her shock and proceeded to get closer but that proved to be a fatal mistake.
"Your Highness!"
Along with the cry of Kyrie, a shadow descended upon Evaline which she was late to react to.
*****
She was too careless and late to react.
She had forgotten that-
'Your Highness!"
-creatures of lore are more dangerous-
"GRRRRROOOOOAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
-when they have human-like bodies.
"ELHA-GAAAA!"
Evaline felt an impact akin to being hit by a truck on her side and then she was quickly flung outside the barrier. Her body rolled across the snowy tundra and came to a stop as one of the beasts wasn't nice enough to just give her time to recover and pounced on her defenseless body.
"Lady Evaline!"
Evaline hears the anxious cry of Rosseweisse but her attention quickly turned to the beast that was now over her ready to bite her throat out. Its breath, emanating a horrid putrid smell of decay.
'As if-!', she tried grasping her sword but, her hand grasped nothing, 'Did I lose my sword when I was flung away?!'
In her mind, she began hearing alarm bells ring since not only would it be hard to protect herself from the beast, but also that it would be very impossible to fight her way back to her companion's side.
But then, she remembers something her father had taught her...
'Like hell I'll die here!!!', quick as a hare, Evaline forced her arms to move and immediately traced the air with her hands to form another rune, "ELHAZ!!!"
Immediately, a white transparent rectangle barrier appeared between Evaline and the beast forcing it to comically face plant itself onto the barrier but Evaline wasn't done yet and right after confirming that the beast was stopped, "TEIWAZ!!!", without tracing the air, Evaline shouts out another spell. This time, upon herself.
She felt the mana in her body surge and permeate her entire body and with that, she clenched her fist and with a roar, she punched the beast with all her might-piercing and shattering through the barrier she had previously erected and then hitting the beast's face.
But her attack did not stop there...
Her fist- empowered by magic, not only shattered the beast's ugly face, but also punched a hole through its large head.
"ORAAAA!!", with a grunt she quickly brushes aside the dead beast and gets up.
"Tsk! I'm outside the barrier!", she clicks her tongue as she sees herself in quite the predicament;
She had been flung out a fair distance from the barrier with an entire horde of the beasts between.
'That's some freaky amount of monsters! I thought they would be only at least around 20....'
Far from her expectation, the beasts that now surround her were more than that. She counted almost close to 50 just from her immediate vicinity alone.
"I can't see them because of all these pests!", she tried to determine how her companions were doing but to no avail. She was too far away and the horde of beasts blocking her view did not help.
The only indication her companions were still alive being the yellowish glow of Kyrie's barrier. But that was enough.
"ROOOOR! ROOOOR!", the beasts takes notice of her and growled.
"Well now...this sure doesn't look good...", Evaline groaned. Her mind racing to find a way out of this predicament.
'Father is still not here...', she thought so worriedly. Confident in her father's abilities, she had expected him to have already caught up to them earlier but it seems he is still held up by that ominous presence from before.
"There is no way father would be dead! I'm sure of it!", she declared, "So that means this time, I have to get out of this myself."
As she roused herself, she sees the beasts warily approach her. This time, it seems the beasts are being very careful. Giving her the impression that they were not as stupid as she thought they were.
'Are they as smart as chimpanzees I wonder?'
If so, Evaline believes that she might just have a chance at getting back to her companions. The question was-
"How?"
Her racked her already pumped up brain for an answer.
'I'm at least around 18 to 22 meters away from the barrier; I did not sustain too much damage from that attack by that large monstrosity earlier but I can feel a slight sting on my side...', she takes a quick glance to her hands, 'My sword is lost somewhere in that horde or I might've dropped it when inside the barrier when I got thrown out. I can still cast magic and I'm not about to run out of mana anytime soon...'
"GROF! GROF!", the beasts howled as they began to change tact.
'Sooner or later, these beasts would swarm me. Even if I run or hide, it's pointless. The blizzard is still going strong and I can barely see through it and these guys are Beast of Winter's Fury. This is their domain. So...'
She looks to the light where she presumes Kyrie is still fighting for her life.
"The only option is to force my way through this horde!"
As soon as she had concluded her thoughts, the beasts roared in unison and rushed her.
If it was her mother, she would've carved a path straight to the barrier or outright blast away the entire horde with some over the top magic.
If it was her father, he would've immediately charged right through the horde, no questions asked and he was a man who cannot use magic.
Sure it was unreasonable to expect something of the same degree from her. She who has yet to earn the approval of her father in terms of magic and skill with a blade.
But she, as the daughter of the Knight King, stood undaunted and with a defiant smile,
"Bring it on! Teiwaz!"
casts magic upon herself once more and with only her fists and magic as her weapons, charges forward to return to her companions.