Chapter 42

Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

Morana reached the other side of the building and peeked around the corner.

Crystal’s legs kicked as she was held in the air, the treant’s woody branch strangled the ice sprite. The banshee wasn’t about to let that happen. She charged around the corner and rushed down the alley, a scream building in her chest.

The banshee stepped up beside Crystal and wailed.

Her deathly shriek echoed down the alley and struck the treant. But it didn’t kill her like a lesser monster girl. The treant screamed in pain and staggered back. Amber sap burst out of her nose and spilled from her eardrums.

She grabbed her head, branches rustling overhead.

Crystal grabbed the branch choking her with both her hands. Ice spread over the staggering treant. Then, with a hard jerk, she snapped the frozen branch and dropped to her feet. The treant shrieked in pain, injured.

Morana wailed again.

The treant screamed and fell to the ground. She thrashed, the deathly attack blackening parts of her wooden body. Morana smiled. One more, and her foe was killed. The darkness in her swelled. She opened her mouth.

“Life revitalizes and mends, let the restoration of Lord Dumazid mend!” Lord Sulanga cried as he flew over the street.

A burst of green energy, almost like an arrow, fired from him and struck the treant. Her thrashing stopped. The blight vanished. Morana gaped at the more advanced healing magic that the enemy dungeon builder could use.

Ranged healing? screeched through Morana’s mind. “That’s not fair!”

“Right,” Crystal asked as the treant’s branches surged down the alley at her.

Restored to health, a wave of them hurtled at them. Morana shrieked, withering a half-dozen branches, melting them before her. Crystal conjured an icy dagger, but it was pointless. the branches slammed into her, throwing her to the ground.

One thrust into her mouth. It grew down her throat, choking off her screams. It pushed down her esophagus and into her guts. She thrashed on the alley floor. Morana shrieked again. The treant screamed in pain.

The branch reached Crystal’s stomach and burst with smaller twigs that ripped through her guts and burst open her abdomen, killing the ice sprite.

“Sherida, Lady of Light, armor me in your brilliance,” Halia prayed to her goddess, begging for help.

The werewolf leaped at Halia in a blur of gray fur. She swung her sword, but not fast enough. The enemy monster girl slammed into the paladin.

Light exploded.

The werewolf howled as Lady Sherida’s protection threw the beast back. She hit the ground, rolling across it. Her fur smoked from the attack. The werewolf shook her head as Halia charged forward, blade buzzing in her hand.

As the werewolf rose, her blade sang. A blurring arc that cut off the beast’s head. It spun from the werewolf’s body. Then she melted away into motes. A big smile spread on Halia’s face. She glanced behind her. The halflings were almost all gone.

They were close.

The alarm screamed through the dungeon again. Werewolves snarled.

From the stairs that led up to the city, four more gray wolves burst into view and charged down the hallway at Halia. Behind them, came a bigger wolf made of crackling lightning. The raiju. Halia drew in a deep breath, the prayer to Lady Sherida spilling from her mouth.

Ms. Trueno, along with Piaro and Mastab, moved through the building to find a way to ambush Sulanga. They just had to keep him busy. They found a back door that spilled onto an alley. Ms. Trueno looked around, Piaro and Mastab stepping out with her. The three scaled monster girls listened to the sounds of battle.

Morana shrieked with fury.

Snarls echoed then a pair of werewolves bonded from around the building, one on each end of it. Ms. Trueno and the two basilisks were surrounded. The two snarled, hunger in their golden eyes, fangs dripping saliva.

Ms. Trueno roared her defiance at one.

Her shout cracked the stone of both buildings lining the alley as the sound hurtled at the werewolf. She dodged back around the corner, the sonic attack soaring past. Behind her, the other werewolf snarled and charged.

Piaro and Mastab exhaled their noxious breath. It roiled at the werewolf. The beast leaped at the last moment, soaring over their petrifying breath. The two basilisks gasped as the werewolf slammed into Piaro. Jaws clamped down on the basilisk’s head.

Crushed her.

Piaro’s screams cut off with a sickening crunch. The monster girl vanished as the werewolf landed and whirled to attack Mastab. The basilisk slashed her claws at the werewolf, hitting her in the head and knocking her to the ground.

“Lightning arcs and sizzles, let the fury of Lord Enlil spread!” Sulanga cried from above.

Lightning slammed into Mastab, throwing her into the wall and killing the basilisk. Then the bolt sizzled for Ms. Trueno. In the alley, she had nowhere to jump. As it struck her coppery scales, she sent out to her student a final message.

“Keep Static Aura up!”

Ms. Trueno died.

“Keep Static Aura up!” Ms. Trueno cried a moment before I felt her presence vanish. Dead.

It was going bad up there. Morana was the only one left alive on the street. I didn’t know how many of the werewolves they killed, but more were streaming down the tunnel. Terra charged down the tunnel to aid Halia.

“Shit,” I growled and rushed after her.

“No! Lord Leo!” Kassie shouted as I ran by her.

I stopped and glanced at her. “What? I have to help them fight!”

“We’re almost done sending the halflings through!” Kassie cried as she ushered on the next group. She was right. Just a few more had to be sent through. “You have to be here so I can send you to the Void Crystal and close off the dungeon.”