Chapter 36

Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

Terra readied her hammer hands as Sreaga’s silk shot out and snagged the lead hippogriff. The teal-feathered monster girls shrieked in shock as Sreaga yanked her out of the sky, The hippogriff hit the roof with a hard impact.

Terra pounced. She slammed her hammering fists in the monster girl’s back. Then Zobens was there, her golden sword lopping off the screaming hippogriff’s head. The enemy monster girl vanished into motes.

“Yes!” Zobens hissed. “First blood!”

Terra felt that same wild exultation. They would win today. They would take down these monster girls and hold the line. Silk fired from Sreaga’s spinnerets and struck a crackling thunderbird. The lightning monster girl screeched as she hurtled for the roof.

“Get her!” Terra shouted.

“Yes!” Briesmoni roared. The orc rammed her sword into the thunderbird’s back. A discharge of lightning shot up the weapon.

The orc screamed and flew back a foot, landing smoking on the ground. The thunderbird vanished into motes, killed. Briesmoni followed a heartbeat later. Terra clenched her jaw. They had killed two monster girls and lost one.

Not a good trade. The sky was full of so many more.

Hagane watched the fight. Gaiste’s webbing yanked down a phoenix. She screamed, firing a ball of fire. The arachne jumped to the side. The phoenix hit hard, snapping her right wing. Before she could even react, Sriblo and Baaghi were on her.

The unicorn slammed a hoof down on the phoenix’s head while Baaghi bit into her side, tearing at her flesh. In moments, she vanished. Hagane nodded and glanced at the other roofs. Briesmoni died killing a thunderbird.

A razor-sharp arrow struck Hagane, leaving a scratch down her arm that throbbed with pain. More arrows fired at her from the hippogriffs in the sky. Their teal pinions rained across the roof, forcing Hagane’s team to dance and dodge.

Hagane ignored them. They scratched her, that didn’t matter. From here, she could watch the entire battle. They had to hold them off for as long as possible. Lord Leo had to get those halflings out of the dungeon.

Ms. Rosa Trueno shouted again.

She struck a hippogriff, ripping feathers off her wings and sending her spinning. At the same time, Damhanalla ripped another hippogriff from the sky. She crashed to the ground between the two basilisks. They breathed their noxious breath.

The hippogriff screamed as she petrified.

The other hippogriffs screeched in the sky. Teal feathers shot down at Ms. Trueno’s roof and Hagane’s. The thunder sprite roared again. Her powerful voice warped the air and destroyed the incoming missiles.

Fire whooshed from above. As Damhanalla shot out her next line of silk, the phoenix’s attack struck the arachne. She burst into flames, a roaring candle of screaming pain before she vanished back to the Void.

Ms. Trueno groaned.

“Breathe in the sky!” she shouted at the two basilisks.

Skamianiela and Vielmi lifted their heads and expelled their breath upward. The roiling fume rose towards the monster girls flying above, engulfing a thunderbird. She burst out of the cloud screeching in fear as her electric body petrified.

She slammed into the side of a building and burst into shards.

Pain exploded in Ms. Trueno’s leg. She gasped and glanced down at a teal feather buried in her thigh. Blood welled around the wound and poured over her copper scales. She threw back her head and snarled her agony.

The air warped from her pain and fury.

Garnet whipped at a phoenix, striking the red-winged bird-girl on the back. The phoenix cawed in pain, her tail fluttering. She swooped around and opened her mouth to breathe fire on the little succubus.

Garnet swung the Penetrator, and struck the phoenix hard in the face with the massive dildo. The impact knocked the phoenix to the side. She screeched, her wings flapping to regain control of her flight. But she struck the side of the building where Damhanalla vanished in flames.

The phoenix vanished from the bone-crushing collision. Garnet flapped her wings hard, soaring over the roof.

A teal feather-arrow flashed by her face. She laughed as she banked, dodging another volley of them. Her wings flapped hard as she held her weapon. She swooped to the right, more sweeping past her.

“Kweh, heh, heh, I am Dark Succubus Naughty Garnet! And you cannot touch me!”

Lana Fulmine and Vaivory swooped down on a hippogriff, firing their lightning. The ball of electricity from the quetzalcoatl and the blast from the movie starlet’s wings struck the enemy monster girl, frying her.

Smoking, she tumbled for the streets below and vanished into motes of mist.

“Yes!” Vaivory cried. “We did—”

A phoenix slammed into Vaivory, talons ripping at the feathered-serpent-girl’s body. Blood spurted from Vaivory’s throat as the phoenix flapped her red wings and launched away. Vaivory spun, clutching at her wounded throat.

She crashed into the street below and died.

“You bitch!” Lana Fulmine snarled, her wings crackling. She fired a blast at the phoenix.

The monster girl dodged it, a ball of fire hurtling back at Lana Fulmine. The movie starlet dove beneath it. The heat crackled over her head. She hissed in fury, catching the phoenix’s eyes. Hatred burned in them.

We’ve fought before, Lana Fulmine realized. I’ve killed you before!

She laughed and turned her body, a new charge building in her lightning wings. Her golden hair swept behind her crackling with static electricity. She flew at the phoenix. The bird fired another ball of fire.

Lana was ready. She twisted to the side, letting it fly past her. The heat kissed her breasts. Then her wings exploded as she soared past the enemy. At point-blank range, there was no chance. She cooked the phoenix.