Lelith Maledrictx jumped away from the writhing heads of the Abyssal Hydra, lashing out with her poisoned long dagger but failing to seek any purchase. Meanwhile, Myria collapsed, but I caught her before she could fall over.
"Ugh…"
"You've been poisoned," I said, taking note of the ugly colors that her cuts had turned to. Eliza rushed over grimly.
"The dark elves are known for using neurotoxins. They spread venom over their blades, and the splinter rounds they use for their rifles are filled with poisons. A warrior or mage with strong enough mana will be able to resist them, but the pain they cause is tremendous. I'm surprised Myria could fight her for so long."
"I suppressed the toxins with my qi…or mana," Myria explained wearily as she grimaced. "But coupled with expending so much of my spiritual energies to fight an opponent of Lelith Maledictx's caliber, I'm almost out. I don't think I'll be able to hold the poison off any longer."
Eliza nodded as she retrieved a bottle of a potion. "The neurotoxins that the dark elves use isn't lethal. They aren't designed to kill, but rather to incapacitate the victims with excruciating agony, as well as cause paralysis. Once you run out of mana, you'll be crippled by the pain. We should hurry. Drink this, it's an antidote. It'll neutralize whatever toxins it was that the dark elves put into your system."
"Thank you."
Myria accepted the bottle and downed the antidote in one gulp. Of course, the effects weren't instantaneous, but she looked a lot better after a few minutes. Her pallor improved and her breathing stabilized, but she still needed to rest. Her qi hadn't replenished, despite the poison being neutralized. It was an antidote, not an energy elixir or whatever it was called.
"Stay there. I'll handle the rest."
I watched as Lelith lashed out and slashed desperately at the assaulting Abyssal Hydra. Hei Ba took a few cuts, but he didn't seem affected by the poison at all, instead striking relentlessly and gouging out huge chunks of bark from the World Tree branch as he pursued the smaller, agile target. Lelith swung her whip, but the toxin-lathered barbs glanced off the black, armored scales that covered Hei Ba.
"The poison has no effect on Titanic targets or Gargantuan Creatures," Eliza explained. I rolled my eyes at the terms she chose.
"I suppose they only wound Titanic targets or Gargantuan Creatures on a roll of 6+?"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"The rolls of a six-sided dice," I replied, but Eliza still stared at me blankly. Myria sighed and shook her head.
"Stop talking nonsense. I'm sure you know that even your Earth ranked Abyssal Hydra is not guaranteed a victory against that dark elf archoness. She's too cunning for that."
"Yeah," I admitted. "I'll have to go help him out. Eliza, I'll leave Myria to you."
"I've got their backs too," Morten assured me, showing up from nowhere and delivering a spinning kick at a vaulting Gladiatrix. He ducked under her daggers and kicked her in the abdomen, throwing her off. Pivoting on his other foot, he whirled around and rammed the spiked boots into the midriff of another cartwheeling Gladiatrix. If the opponent had been a heavily armored Cabal Knight, his attack wouldn't have penetrated the night-colored plating, but the Gladiatrix's only defense was her speed, and thus when Morten matched her, she couldn't avoid a fatal blow.
"Thanks."
I then ran along a path, weaving through a Kobold that snapped its jaws at me. I flicked my wrist and decapitated it with Azure Dragon, then leaped over a volley of splinters fired from the barrel of a wickedly shaped rifle. A Cabal Knight was aiming his weapon at me, his eyes narrowed behind that hideous helm. While whirling about in midair, I sheathed Azure Dragon with my right hand while simultaneously drawing Obsidian Drake with my left hand. By the time I had completed my stance with my bow, an azure arrow had materialized in my right hand and I fired a barrage of projectiles at the Cabal Knight, countering his volley of splinter rounds.
Several of the arrows blasted through the much smaller splinter rounds and impacted against his breastplate, and though he staggered, he didn't fall. Instead, he righted his aim and kept up with the hail of splinter rounds, determined to shoot me down. I gulped, knowing that even one hit would be deadly to me because of the toxins imbued in each shot.
Fortunately, he was so fixated on me that he didn't notice the Tree Revenant coming from behind him. Raising his branch, the Tree Revenant flattened the Cabal Knight with a wood hammer blow. Even if the armor remained intact, the Cabal Knight's softer body was pulped within his own protective shell.
"Hmm…"
Even as I moved away to support Hei Ba after thanking my Tree Revenant for his intervention, I considered what had just occurred. The splinter rounds were deadly, for sure, but they were pretty weak when compared to conventional bullets or projectile rounds. They incapacitated the target with neurotoxins and sheer pain, but they lacked stopping power. In fact, they didn't have much firepower to begin with, unable to penetrate armor. That was why they were no match for my azure arrows in a head-to-head fight.
In contrast, while my target would survive a single blow from my arrows and continue fighting, albeit with a major injury, I would immediately be incapacitated by the poisons in the splinter rounds. Okay, that was an exaggeration. My qi and superior cultivation realm would allow me to suppress the poisons through brute strength, but I could see how these poisoned rounds could be effective against ordinary warriors such as the elves.
Already, several of the Cabal Knights were dragging a few screaming, frothing elves back to the Raiders, apparently as prisoners of war…or worse. I mentally sent a command to my summoned spirit beasts and directed a massive contingent of Phantom Stumps and Ghost Pumpkins to swarm them, while Collector Crabs seized the immobilized prisoners and carried them to safety. Mud Fishes created a bog that was inimical to the heavily armored Cabal Knights, who found themselves drowning if they attempted to wade through the softened ground.
The Colossal Crabs and King Crab protected their smaller brethren from the more agile Gladiatrixes, who had no difficulty traversing the dangerous terrain. Vaulting, cartwheeling and flipping their bodies nimbly across the area, they landed among the Collector Crabs, only to be caught in pincers or mobbed by ghost type spirit beasts. The Pumpkin Wraiths joined in, exchanging blows with their grass blades or razor leaf scythes, their relative speed allowing them to better match the agile enemies.
To my relief, the dark elves' poison attacks were not very effective against my ghost type spirit beasts, which made sense when I thought about it. Poison was incredible against living organisms, but ghosts were effectively already dead. So toxins wouldn't have much of an effect against their intangible bodies.
The same went for Titanic units or Gargantuan Creatures, depending on which edition you were playing. Um, okay, I should really stop that.
Swinging about, I beheaded a Cabal Knight that tried to stop me, then planted my foot on his spiky shoulder to propel myself forward. Damn, that was painful, but thankfully the sole of my shoe could withstand the sharp protrusion. Launching myself, I eviscerated a screaming Gladiatrix in midair when she tried to pounce on me, evading her dual daggers. This time, she shrieked in pain instead of challenge and fell to the ground, her guts spilling out of her belly. I finished her off with a kick that snapped her neck, and then flung myself toward a struggling Lelith.
On paper, she should be outmatched by the physically much stronger Hei Ba, but her speed allowed her to evade the worst of his blows. She grunted and leaped away from another thrashing, retaliating with an ineffective whip. I tried not to roll my eyes at how she had survived thus far. Did she have a 2+ invulnerable save or something?
Not to worry. As long as I had the ability to deal mortal wounds and smash apart plot armor, it didn't matter what sort of protection the opponent had. First, I sheathed Azure Dragon and drew Obsidian Drake again, but this time, I summoned Azure Frost. Using Calculated Targeting, I fired my spirit sword turned arrow at Lelith while she was still distracted by Hei Ba's relentless assault. She spun around just in time to see my strike, but she wasn't able to avoid it. Instead, she lashed out with her whip to swat it away, but it detonated right in front of her, trapping her in ice. She shrieked for a second before she was completely entombed.
"Excellent." I landed on my feet, but my momentum sent me tumbling to a roll. I got back to my knees quickly, another arrow already summoned and fitted to my bow. However, another tremor sent me swaying and I glanced at the source.
Sigmund and Ardena were still clashing furiously, each of their sword strikes more akin to hammer blows. Thunder almost rolled out, shockwaves rippling from their exchanges and sending yet more warring combatants to their knees or knocking them flat on their backs. That proved more disadvantageous to the dark elves than to us, or at least it was to the lightly armored Gladiatrixes. Bereft of much protection, they weren't able to avoid the omnidirectional shockwaves and were swatted like flies to the ground, allowing my much heavier spirit beasts like the Tree Revenants, Colossal Crabs, Guardian Golems and King Crab to capitalize on their momentary incapacitation to finish them off. Even the Kobolds weren't able to weather much of the shockwaves, their rusty chainmail and very basic armor not offering them much protection when compared to the refined equipment of their more exalted allies.
The Cabal Knights, though, were another story. Like immovable rocks, they continued marching forward, not at all stunned by the sheer violence of the sword users' duel. I had to redirect my summoned spirit beasts toward them to stem their merciless and cruel tide. Pumpkin Wraiths parried and countered with their twirling leaf scythes, blocking vicious slashes from glaives and deflecting lethal blows from dual blades.
While they fought, I sensed an explosion of mana. Lelith had broken out of the ice and retreated hastily. Realizing that she was no match for Hei Ba, and seriously wounded by my arrow, she had opted to withdraw. One of her surviving Raiders swooped low for her to leap onto, its triple dark lances firing beams of oblivion that actually knocked Hei Ba back. Unlike the poisoned rounds from the splinter cannons riveted into the bow of the black ship, these dark lances unleashed exotic beams of destructive energy, capable of blowing even heavily armored tanks up.
Honestly, Hei Ba wasn't going to be killed by anti-tank weapons, but even he had to be wary of them. Already, one of his heads had been blown off and was regenerating rapidly, but he kept his distance, snarling and unleashing a dark pulse to counter the second strobing barrage of dark lances. The volleys of dark energies collided and exploded forcefully, causing the Raider to swerve about almost dangerously. Even so, the pilot skillfully spun his ship to dip below the branch, using the World Tree as cover. Hei Ba hissed furiously and unleashed a couple of his golden beams, but they stabbed blindly into nowhere, completely missing the jinking Raider.
Her retreat was a signal to the rest of the dark elves to melt away into the shadows. As one, they began withdrawing, the Dire Wolves turning tail to run. The Gladiatrixes moved with astonishing speed, either vaulting back to the remaining Raiders or sprinting into the shadows to disappear in the distance. The Cabal Knights formed a ferociously resisting rearguard to cover their comrades' escape, composing a solid wall of black armor that weathered the vengeful spells and arrows from a counterattacking army of elves. They marched backward in lockstep, spinning their glaives about or raising their dual blades to parry, block or cut down the arrows and spells that chased after them, trusting in their well refined armor to preserve their lives.
Even the Kobolds loped away, following the fleeing Dire Wolves and their riders. They howled bitterly at the defeat, almost sounding like they were swearing vengeance for this humiliation. But they weren't stupid enough to throw away their lives.
The final member to leave was Ardena. Cocking her head to the side, as if listening to a private telepathic command, she swung her sword and unleashed another golden wave of mana from her legendary sword, Dainsleif. Sigmund solemnly countered with his Balmung, releasing a blue draconic blast that consumed the golden tide before dissipating. A molten crater was left between them, but other than smoke, nothing of the enemy remained.
Ardena had used the explosion as a smokescreen to cover her withdrawal. Along with the last of the surviving Cabal Knights, the dark elves pulled back into the shadows and slipped away, leaving an exhausted line of elves standing in front of a terrified Viridian Village.
"We did it," Eliza said in disbelief. "We drove them back."
"For now," I replied grimly as I sank to a sitting position, feeling drained. "But I know for sure that they will be back."