Having been the first to spot the attack, Percy had an easier time dodging. With two swift strides, he sidestepped the torrent of fiends, watching as it soundlessly phased through the smooth surface of the water. Probably even the ground beneath, judging from its momentum.
Doh had a slightly tougher time avoiding it. He rolled out of the way, barely managing to push himself back to his feet using his hands, just before the surface tension gave way under him.
The Yellow’s luck had finally run dry, however. He still evaded the attack, thanks to Percy’s timely warning, but his weakened knees collapsed, causing him to sink in the water. Standing on the wet soil, the surface only reached his chest. Sadly, it didn’t seem like he could pull himself up without help, leaving him exposed to the eels around him.
Fortunately, the creatures didn’t have any time to spare on Latt.
The silver torrents had struck many of them, leaving them disoriented. Both the jackals and the eels were injured, as even the mirror-like surface failed to hide the lake-dwellers from the attack. Everything in the area was used to being assaulted by the fiends all day long, of course, but this was very different.
There were so many of the ethereal pests, and they had attacked from a single direction with unparalleled coordination. Percy still struggled to understand how this had happened, but the damage the attack had dealt was undeniable. It had peeled the outer layer off the beasts’ souls, leaving them vulnerable to whatever fiends had survived the impact.
It was strange, because the fiends weren’t supposed to be smart nor selfless enough to pull off such a stunt by themselves. But was there anything capable of controlling them on this planet?
Alas, there wasn’t much time to think about it, as the swarm was flying upward again, joining the rest, preparing another attack.
Percy’s gaze scanned the battlefield. The remaining eels were swiftly recuperating. Some of them snatched up the carcasses of both the jackals and their own fallen comrades, looking for an easy meal. Based on how quickly the cores and the souls were dispersing, it wouldn’t be long until one of them turned its attention to Latt.
But Percy ignored all that for now, his attention focused on locating the attacker. Whatever means they used to control the fiends, they had to be nearby.
His eyes landed on a faint silhouette, darting along the surface a few hundred metres away. The creature had foolishly betrayed its own position by lifting the fog of fiends obscuring it.
‘It’s so fast!’ Sol exclaimed in shock, the assailant barely registering as a Green blur in their Mana Sense.
‘It doesn’t matter… Green or White, we need to stop it from attacking again, or Latt is dead.’
Percy didn’t care about the other beasts: none of them seemed in the mood to attack him anyway. With his host’s help, he sent the spinning sickles towards the creature, trying to surround it. That was when something strange happened.
The blanket of fiends above their heads shifted again. This time, a thick sheet descended, falling vertically like a curtain, blocking the attacks. The sharp crescents sank violently into the wall of creatures, some of them even piercing through. Still, the defence had robbed them of their momentum, causing them to shatter into harmless motes just metres later.
‘How is it doing this?!’ Sol asked.
It was clear the beast was directing the fiends somehow. Percy hadn’t heard of anyone or anything on Melodia capable of controlling the fiends. Judging from his companions’ shaken expressions, they hadn’t either. But there was no question that it was doing precisely that. Even if the past two moves could be considered coincidental, the fact that no fiends seemed to approach it sealed the deal.
“Doh! Grab Latt and return to shore!” Percy shouted. “We’ll hold it off!”
At the same time, he manifested a new round of sickles, hurling them against the beast, forcing it to defend once more. The half-assed spell didn’t achieve much, other than delaying the creature’s next attack by a few more seconds.
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The Green-born tossed Percy an uncertain look. It only lasted a moment before he nodded, his expression grim. Making his way to his sunken teammate, he grabbed his hand amidst hops, helping him up. The poor guy was too tired to resume dancing, so Doh just flung him over his shoulder, about to bolt away.
“Just leave me here… Escape with Sol... My life is less valuable than either of yours…” Latt muttered, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Everyone knew there was some truth in his words. Not that Latt hadn’t pulled his own weight over the past month: quite the opposite, in fact. There had been plenty of times when his contribution had been undeniable. For example, whenever Doh or Sol had to sleep while the other fought against the beasts, Latt was there to lift some of the pressure off them.
Regardless, there was no denying that he was less important to the expedition’s success. If either of them died, it would all be over. Meanwhile, if Latt perished, there would still be hope. They all understood it, but nobody was willing to compromise any more than they already had. To sacrifice another teammate. Even if it meant putting their mission at risk.
“Sol… Percy… You have to make it back at all costs. You know that, right?” Doh asked.
Sol replied by clenching her weapons tightly, her eyes glinting with resolve. Percy was on the same page: more or less: though he did have one last card to play if things went south.
If it looked like his host was about to get killed, he’d open a portal to the Vault, saving her life against her wishes. It would suck for her and her people to essentially sell their entire planet to Metatron. And Percy might also lose access to the Mirror Lake forever. But the Melodians would be screwed anyway without her, and this was better than letting her die, so he wouldn’t rule it out pre-emptively.
‘Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.’
Doh ran away, gathering some mana in his free hand, presumably to defend himself in case another eel tried to attack him. Meanwhile, Percy kept his eyes open for the inevitable retaliation of the mysterious beast, while trying to make out its features.
It was hard because it was quite far and moved extremely fast. Its attacks didn’t help either. Now that most of the other creatures had died or otherwise evacuated the battlefield, it was free to focus exclusively on Percy and Sol. The torrents of fiends were thicker and more frequent, shooting at them from all sorts of insidious angles, forcing them to evade them by the skin of their teeth.
‘It seems to have a symbiotic relationship with the fiends.’
Coordinating with the swarm, it was able to take down pretty much anyone and anything it stumbled upon. The fiends ate the souls, while the monster consumed the cores. Or at least, this was Percy’s guess. He had no idea how the creature had evolved such a treacherous ability, but it made it extremely powerful in this place. Anywhere else, it would probably be weaker than the average Green. It didn’t appear to be that strong physically.
It resembled a praying mantis, but without the claws. Percy caught glimpses of it momentarily squatting on all four of its long legs, but it had to keep hopping to remain afloat. It was only slightly taller than a Melodian, making it the smallest Green beast Percy had ever seen. Its lighter frame coupled with its exceptionally powerful limbs was what allowed it to stay above water.
Whenever it jumped, it sent a single ripple through the water, accompanied by a crisp ting. Ever since Percy arrived at the Mirror Lake, this was the first time he saw anything capable of disturbing its still surface even slightly, demonstrating how much force the creature’s muscles unleashed on the liquid.
Its carapace was a milky white, making it that much harder to spot against the pale backdrop of the Elemental Source. Finally, two large antlers extended above its head. They were jagged and chitinous, and they seemed to click together whenever it gave the spectral fiends a new command.
‘Let’s do this then…’
Pushing the Dance to their current limit, he felt the silver wisps collide against their soul, a fraction of the mana seeping through their pores. At the same time, they expelled some of the mana they had already refined, manifesting several more sickles by their side.
The blanket of fiends above their heads rolled and tumbled, as if brewing a violent storm. The mantis leapt towards them a few times, cutting the distance separating them by half. It was probably easier for it to command its minions from up close.
Was facing the monster alone truly the right move?
Percy didn’t know. He could have tried escaping with Doh, but the beast would have caught up. It was clearly faster than them. The only other option would have been to leave Latt at its mercy, joining forces with the Green-born to fight it together. He and Sol had surpassed their leader, but not by much. With Doh’s help, they would have certainly won, at the cost of their teammate’s life.
But he didn’t regret choosing to stand his ground: or well… his water.
Unlike the time with Rei, there was a way for all three of them to survive this time. And Percy would be damned if he didn’t at least try to grasp it.
He dashed toward the creature, as it hopped back, trying to maintain a fixed distance. At the same time, it ordered the fiends to attack. They descended in all sorts of intricate formations: from dense orbs to thin streams: not unlike a mage’s spells, actually. The sickles, too, spun in every direction, forming numerous silver cyclones.
A beast and a woman were about to clash: to determine the fate of their world, whether they knew it or not. The former wielded a million spectral fiends… As for the latter?