Hissing grew louder as Nona cut off the spell. His face showed strain and sweat rolled off his brow. Cursing himself for his over spenditure of mana he draws his ordinary blade.
Casting a look at Aquiline who merely nods, they both prepare for a grueling fight.
The stallion finally realizes what is going on and neighs for the other blessed horse to get ready. Fear tinges its eyes, but it is suppressed by the need for vengeance. Everyone got in position just as the first snakes appeared. This time they looked different from basic snakes.
There seemed to be a colored pattern on their scales. It took several seconds to figure out what this pattern was due to them moving so fast. Each one had varying shades of red, and the more intense ones started to look like flames. The ones with noticeable flames were also larger than the ones that did not. They were each about the size of one of the blessed horses beside Nona, this sight forced him to gulp very loudly.
He was certain with his limited training his sword was not going to be of any use here. Gritting his teeth he prepared to die a warrior rather than flee as a coward.
the first wave was the normal sized ones him and Aquiline had fought recently. This time he had no aid of his fire to direct their attacks. Meaning they leapt directly for his main body. Twisting his body he managed to dodge one, but as he was lowering his sword to decapitate it another leapt at him.
He barely managed to swat it aside with the side of his sword. Unfortunately, this did not send the snake flying as it instead wrapped itself around the blade. Losing character Nona tried shaking it off. What actually happened surprised even Nona.
The snake tried to constrict even tighter on the sword to the point that it cut itself on the sharp side. It immediately released itself from the grip, but there were several marks along its body bleeding out. This made the snake to weak to continue fighting.
Heaving a sigh of relief Nona returned his sword to the ready condition just as Skelly had beat into him. The area around him seemed clear of the snakes giving Nona a break until he looked at his companions. The snakes were swarming over them. Several of the horses at already fell to the snakes and was being eaten.
It was only than that he saw the error in his plan. Everything else on this field gave off more heat than he did. Meaning, they were far better looking meals than him. Continuously cursing himself for this critical oversight Nona charged toward Aquiline hoping to save him before the bigger snakes joined in.
Nona had an advantage since he was coming from behind the snakes with their attention on Aquiline. Forcing a calm in his mind Nona walked through them swinging his sword as precisely as he could. Heads began to hit the ground and hope began to bloom in his heart until the hissing went up in volume and he found himself dodging yet again.
Whatever the bigger snakes were waiting on seemed to have happened. The hope the was growing rapidly turned into dread. Dodging one of the small ones and coming to the ready his sword accidentally cut another snake in two.
Thoughts raced through Nona's head as his body went on autopilot trying to maintain his life just has he tried to maintain his sword against Skelly. It seemed that the way the snakes struck resembled the speed and ferociousness of Skelly's attacks during training. The difference was that his sword could actually pass through them unlike Skelly's sword.
Carcasses began to pile up at Nona's feet and the blood of the snakes began to cover him. One of the small ones let out a pained hiss as it was mangled instead of cleanly killed, drawing the eyes of the bigger ones. Nona had lost all direction and sense of the battle tied down to the mere act of survival.
Aquiline had managed to create some space between him and the snakes. Casting a glance at Nona he was pleasantly surprised with the lack of bites and amount of bodies at his feet. He sighed thinking this could turn around.
It was at this time that Nona slipped on some blood on the ground making him do the splits and forcing him to the ground. As he went down he regained some sense as a shadow went over his head. Not sparing a thought to the fact that his head was just there, he drove the sword into that shadow and held on. The forward momentum of the bigger snake dislocated Nona's shoulder, but the snakes guts fell out of him completely covering Nona.
Standing up was a struggle. The horses neither loudly and hoof beats could be felt leaving this place. Wiping the gunk from his eye Nona squared off against five of the big snakes that had stayed. He was exhausted both mentally and physically at this point.
Seeing no other option he tried to mimic the roar the last time he was in such a situation. All that came out though was a loud yell.
The hissing seem to take an amused tone. They began to coil around Nona completely ignoring Aquiline. In fact he tried to pounce while they were turned around. The attempt proved futile as with a simple swipe of a tail sent Aquiline flying.
Nona caught this out of the corner of his eye and gulped hard once again. He knew he was out matched. With as tired as he was he could only think of one way to solve this. Forcing the image of the elementals flower into his mind. With the same amount of force he called on all of the elements to flow through his body.
Pain immediately began to wrack is body. It felt like his blood was boiling. As he let out a scream from the pain it became deeper and louder. The dragon's roar once again left his throat.