Aden senses the harpies are not as fierce as they used to be in the village, as if they just toying with them. It was suspicious. The wind started to blow in heavy violence, the rumbling noise made by the wind as if the storm was coming. He vaguely heard someone screaming. He turned his head toward the source of the scream. It was Gilbert. He didn't know what Gilbert was speaking about but the fat acolyte kept pointing up at Aden's head.
Aden turned his head up to the sky. He saw hundreds of harpies flying clockwise up above the sky touching the gloomy clouds. They formed a circle, it seemed different than their usual habit. They flew further above touching the clouds in the sky. They were yanking and shaping the clouds like a painter stroked his brush on canvas.
The wind got more violent as They flew faster and faster and then they started funneling something down from the thick cloud, a huge column of air.
Aden stepped back and happened to see what it was. It was a tornado and they wanted to envelop the rescue party inside the vortex.
The wind blowing fast and sending sand flying obstructing their view.
"Everyone look out! it's a trap!" Aden
"Aden, what is it?" Captain Willem
"Look up, Captain." Aden pointed up.
Captain Willem repelled the harpy engaging him and looked look towards the sky, dozens of harpies coming down with the windwall they brought with them. Dragging with them the vortex of windwall.
"Everyone back to the trees!" Captain Willem shouted at the top of his lungs his order to the rescue party on the beach. The rumbling noise of the wind swallowed the captain's voice. The defenders on the beach barely heard him, they were too busy engaging the harpies on the beach.
Aden is the one closer to the trees of the Monterei descent path. He ran towards the tree line.
Aden saw a harpy coming at him from the windwall, he put down his sword and quickly grabbed his kite shield with his right hand and put it in his left hand then he picked up his sword again.
He felt his left hand numb but he refused to put down his kite shield as it was the only object to protect him from the harpies' razor-sharp talons.
Although Aden couldn't feel his left hand he focused it to follow his command to keep on gripping the shield's handle as tight as it could while his left arm was still strapped in it.
It was what the Jinn referred to as the phantom pain technique. At the extreme level of consciousness, one can even move his body even if one can't feel his entire body parts.
If anything, he can use the little handle inside the shield near the tip below.
Blam!
Aden was slammed down by a charging harpy. His shield protected him from the talons but further injured his left arm.
They were too late. The tornado started enveloping them with windwall, encircling and cutting them off from the rest of the others who were covered by the trees on the Monterei descent path exit. The party was forced to be sucked into the vortex's circle and sent flying if they got the wrong footing.
"What the hell is this?" Hjalmar had to raise his voice when he asked, "Windwall?"
"This is a tornado and we are in the center of it," Aden answered, his voice barely reaching the Vjordic warrior due to the loud buzzing noise made by the violent rotating column of air.
A violently rotating column of air, usually pendant to a cumulonimbus, with circulation reaching the ground. It nearly always starts as a funnel cloud and may be accompanied by a loud roaring noise. On a local scale, it is the most destructive of all atmospheric phenomena.
It was already too late as the harpies already enveloped the retinue party inside the vortex.
"I can't see a shit,"
the harpies made a huge wide rotating column of spiral vortex of air. The rescue party was in the center of the tornado. It's like a storm in the surrounding area but it's like a tornado inside. They can't see clearly as the dust and dirt obstruct their view. They had to cover their eyes and pinch their eyes to keep the dust and dirt from their eyes.
The defenders had to yell at each other. The loud roaring noise almost devoured every other noise into the vortex's rampage.
Inside the windwall, The harpies were flying in unison within the tornado wind wall, circling clockwise to sustain its power.
"Watch out for shrapnel!" Captain Willem, "Round up! Back to back! Make a shield wall!"
"Yes, sir!"
Hjalmar used the trapdoor, Aden with his tip-broken kite shield which was still able to be used as cover, Captain Willem, Corporal Knightly, Ser Cedric, Ser Gareth, and Ser Parcival used a shield.
"Oliver, get behind me." Aden pulled Oliver to get behind him in the center of the shield wall. He should be safe because he is shorter and in the center of the shield wall protected from the sharpnels and harpies surrounding them.
The vortex, the dust and dirt, and the wooden shrapnels are nothing to what the harpies gonna do next.
⁕⁕⁕
The queen harpy was looming ominously above the beach, gliding inside the whirlwind. Her gaze fell upon the shadows of the brave defenders who hunkered down inside the tornado. Her eyes fixed on Phil, and for good reason. He is a Parafin; a circus performer who can breathe fire from his mouth with the use of flame oil.
His Parafin ability was a terrifying force for any harpy to reckon with; his flame breath had already claimed the lives of nearly a dozen of her kin. His fire breath incinerated the harpies as they screamed helplessly to their demise.
The queen harpy could feel the heat radiating from him and knew that the parafin posed the most threat to her kin. He needed to be dealt with first.
The queen harpy knew she needed to act.
"Keeeah!" She screeched loud again. Harpies and villagers alike turn their heads toward her.
The harpies realized the situation and pulled away from the defenders and villagers, flapping their wings to soar away from them.
An eerie silence filled the air, the harpies having been dispersed. A dark feeling of dread settled over them; it was as if something unspeakably sinister was on its way. The defenders tightly huddled together, desperate for whatever fate awaited them to arrive quickly.
"Wait, where did she go?" Aden looked around. "Where is the queen harpy?"
He couldn't locate the queen harpy anywhere. No doubt she was plotting another catastrophic attack.
The queen harpy decided to circle around inside the windwall to build momentum. She swooped down,
An insidious whistling filled the air among the rumbling noise, making the defenders feel a chill down his spine. They didn't know what to do.
"Shield wall!" the captain shouted.
Something huge and unspeakably cruel flashed from the shadows, unleashing an unholy shriek.
*SHUCK!
Before Phil even had time to scream, she had already stabbed him with its large talons and dragged him into the darkness.
"Phil!" Aden shouted out, his hand extended forwards in a useless attempt to grab the departing circus performer as Phil's figure was swallowed into the tornado windwall.
Aden's eyes widened in shock as he witnessed Phil being taken away by Queen Harpy. All that was left behind was a trail of fresh blood leading northward.
"Ruhimi!" Hjalmar screamed at Aden. the Vjordic berserker ran towards Aden and grabbed him before Aden was snatched by a passing harpy in the windwall.
"He's gone. There is nothing we can do." Hjalmar pulled Aden back to the huddled defender, "Let's go, don't make his sacrifice went in vain."
There were several defenders left defenseless on the beach, yet they took Phil instead. It was a very strategic decision to take out the most threatening foe they had, the fire element. The one who wields the fire, Phil.
⁕⁕⁕
"What are we going to do now?" Oliver asked with concern hiding at the center behind Ethan and Aden's back.
"I think I can breach their defense," said Hjalmar
Hjalmar squeezed out of the wind wall of the tornado
"Gah," a harpy kicked Hjalmar who tried to breach through and sent him flying back to the center where the defenders huddled.
"Shit,"
"You all right?" Aden asked
"Aye, just a scratch," Hjalmar
"You were lucky they didn't rip you apart," Aden
whoever tried to breach the windwall was met by the harpy talons. They couldn't squeeze out of the eye of the storm because of the sheer number of harpies inside the windwall.
The tornado slowly closes in on the rescue party while they are in the center of the eye of the storm.
"The whirlwind is too strong," Aden informed Captain Willem as the powerful wind dragged his feet.
The party started to shake, their feet couldn't hold any longer, they gonna get blown away by the sheer force of the vortex and shredded in the windwall by the harpies.
"Everyone lock your arms to each other, maintain your shield wall, and get on the ground!"
All of the defenders followed his command.
The whirlwind kept growing closer and stronger, carrying with it a sharp object of shrapnel and debris. It was an onslaught that threatened to engulf the party.
"Shimatta!" Kazama cursed as he deflected a wooden plank flying towards him with his katana. The windwall grazed his median katana. The sound of the sand grazing the blade made ear piercing noise. He covered up his eyes but it was almost no avail because the sand kept getting into his eyes and mouth.
"The whirlwind closing in!" Corporal Knightly had to raise his voice as the buzzing sound of the whirlwind was getting louder.
A sharp wooden stack flew towards the captain, but he barely dodged it, "Keep your heads down, don't let the shrapnels hit you!"
The harpies were spiraling upwards into the whirling vortex, their aim to disperse the gathering below hunkering down for protection. Blow them away into the sky and prey upon them while they are helplessly airborne.
"Ugh, It's like the the mermaids' whirlpool of blood," Hjalmar. The berserker pirate recalled his knowledge of seafaring.
"Is there anything we can do?"
"At this rate, we will be torn to pieces,"
several shrapnels ripped Aden's cloth and lacerated his body. Some of the defenders got stabbed by sharp splinters and stakes.
When all hope seemed lost, a shadow emerged from the other side of the wind wall, a shadow of a man, a plumpy man. The harpies were trying to attack the plump person. He deflected them with his small round shield while squeezing himself inside the whirlwind where the defenders were trapped.
At last, the man emerged from the wind wall.
"Gilbert?" Hjalmar and Aden
It was Gilbert who squeezed into the eye of the storm inside the cyclone of death with his round shield in his right hand and a flail in his left hand.
As Gilbert joined the defenders' shield wall he didn't crouch, he positioned his stance instead.
Gilbert firmly planted himself in the center of the circular shield wall, facing south.
"Get down, everyone!" the robust unlikely person raised his shield, extended his flail, and started swinging it. Though he was not left-handed he believed he could swing the flail without trouble in clockwise.
Gilbert started swinging the flail and his shield protected his upper body while his lower body was protected by the shield wall made by the party encircled his lower body. The harpies couldn't breach his defense. He was in an 'absolute defense' position, a perfect unbreachable defense.
The flail swung following the vortex with faster speed. Haunted the harpies flying inside the windwall from behind. The flail swung faster and faster.
The harpies flew closer as they wanted to rip Gilbert's apart but every time they came closer Gilbert only needed to adjust his swing to meet his flail to the harpies.
Thwack!
first harpy down,
Thwack!
The second harpy bit the sand, and more to come..
"Keep doing that, Neckbeard," Ser Gareth cheered with excitement as Gilbert swung his retractable flail with his right hand in a clockwise motion, successfully hitting several harpies.
"Nice one, he didn't even need to aim!" said Corporal Knightly.
Gilbert's bright idea was able to turn the tide, he used the disadvantage to his favor. If the harpies didn't cease the cyclone of death their numbers would dwindle down as his flail kept smashing them one by one and eventually stopped and cease the cyclone of death.
The cyclone of death is slowly dying out as their numbers dwindle. To prevent this from happening, more and more harpies from the outside have joined in to keep the cyclone circling. With their help, they can make sure that the cyclone does not stop.
The harpies now went for Gilbert's lower body only to be deflected by the party's lower shield wall.
Oliver curled under Aden's feet. Aden saw the trash and junk were all over them, also fish nets among them.
"Captain!" Aden shouted to Captain Willem who held behind Corporal Knightly's back, the captain stabbing his sword into the whirling air in the hope they hit something other than sand and junk. He turned his head toward Aden.
Aden pointed to the objects among the debris and junk in front of him, "The fish nets!"
"Right," The captain order when they charge head first to this very place. "Everyone! It's our chance! Use the fish net!"
"Throw them all, just throw!"
All the defenders threw any fish net they could grab near them to the tornado wall and let the tornado do the job, many harpies entangled in the fishnet.
The whirlwind slowed down and the windwall got thinner until the violent column of air was pulled up to the sky.
The cyclone of death had been stopped, and the tornado lifted up revealing the defenders on the sandy beach stood still and strong.
The Harpy Queen vexed, circled around once and unleashed another windcutter, sending wind blades, driftwood, shrapnels, torn tree branches, and sand along straight to Hjalmar, Aden, and Oliver where they were standing.
Kazama stepped in again, "Kazakiri.."
hands in the katana and saya, "-Ken!"
The two windcutters collided, resulting in a tremendous blast and a sharp, ear-splitting sound. One of them had spent a dozen years mastering the technique while the other had decades of experience.
"Guahh!" The aftershock from the collided windcutters had blasted away everyone. Everyone was scrambled everywhere but still alive. Only a little bit shocked.
If Kazama hadn't intervened, the entire party would have been slaughtered by the direct hit of Queen Harpy's powerful windcutter.
Kazama blocked the queen harpy's windcutter attack with his own windcutter technique. The force of the impact was too strong, and his katana was thrown away from him. His hands trembled in shock from the intensity of the blow.
Kazama never knew it was going to work. All he thought about was to prevent his comrades from taking a direct hit by the queen harpy's powerful windcutter.
The Queen Harpy climbed up the sky once more and circled around. She is about to use windcutter once more. When she spread her wings, Aden heard a cracking sound from her body.
"Ugh," she grunted, It seemed that even the windcutter technique could also take a toll on her body not just on the human body.
The harpy Queen canceled her windcutter and decided to swoop down to get Gilbert, The rotund acolyte who had taken down almost a dozen of her subordinates.
Old Man Jedd stood between Gilbert and the charging queen with his arms outstretched.
"Jedd!" Aden called out the old man.
He didn't look afraid or scared. His face looked relieved, and he was smiling.
"Old Man get out of there!" Corporal Knightly
"Old Man!" Captain Willem
The Queen Harpy swooped in swiftly whistling sound in a flash, and extended her claws open ready to rip apart the old man standing in front of her. The arrow had already loose, she couldn't undo her attack.
"Uhk," THe old man grunted. Everyone watched in horror as the queen buried her claws into the Old man's gut.
Fresh blood flowed out of the stab wound. The queen's claws were still impaled deep inside the old man's abdomen.
Aden grabbed his spear with one hand and rushed toward the old man and the queen harpy only to get tackled by another harpy and sent flying to the side.
Aden didn't take off his eyes. He was still glued to the old man who was still in the grip of the queen harpy's claws.
"Kraahh!" the queen screamed with all the hate on the old man's face. Something was strange. The old man didn't return her hate, he smiled instead. he looked deep into her eyes with the most compassionate gaze Aden could ever see. Very contradictory with the pervy gaze he usually threw at the women in the village.
The old man hugged the queen harpy. Again, with compassion. as if he knew her. As if she was a very close someone to him.
The queen harpy was bewildered.
"Lororis," The Old Man whispered to Queen Harpy. One single word. one name. Able to make the bewildered Queen Harpy stop.
Everything went in slow motion. Somehow Aden could hear what the old man whispered to the queen harpy from a distance.
Lororis? Isn't that? How? Don't tell me..
Aden's mind raced with everything he went through in the village. The Jinn tried to wrap up what he was watching right now. The old man troublesome sleeping. His mysterious lover figure. His pervert behavior. His extensive knowledge of harpies.
Wait, how could I hear him? I'm not supposed to be able to hear what he whispered to the queen harpy.