CHPT 353: Reptilian Reminiscence.
Ursula's fear of Demons had only grown since she'd awakened in the forest with--a much darker, Claude and his mysterious gardening teacher. And for good reason too. It no longer felt like one big bad Monster from Hell stalking them.....now they were everywhere, taking on the shape and form of everything that lived around them.
Their current shape was the scaled humanoid form of the Kobolds belonging to the desert. They dashed and dodged across her vision in blurs of browns, blacks and reds from behind the wall of dark accented HellFire created by the steady downpour of flames from the Urd's above. Their heavy wingbeats stood at the back of her mind as a constant reminder of their presence.....that is when they weren't divebombing to swipe at her head and back with their swords of course.
She needed to make a move. She didn't have Claude's speed and stamina, Gil's deadly range or the Phantom's potential for combination.
All she had was ice cold defense, and rage. Two things that would never flourish if she continued to fight with her back against the wall. Kind of ironic.
FWOOSH!
Another blast of HellFire came crashing down from the skies, splashing into the sand behind her to create a sound similar to tortured screams. She reflexively moved away from the crash site, immediately feeling how close she'd been pushed to the rest of the pack that accompanied her. They were being closed in. A rather smart mode of combat since the Kobolds running the perimeter of the HellFire circle didn't have to get there hands dirty. All they had to do was wait for them all to burn out of existence.
[Berserker's Rage: 45....46..48%]
The sand beneath her feet froze into solid ground and steam flowed from her bubbling muscles, "Fuck you..."
Following her words, an unmistakably unique roaring howl rumbled across the sands, causing the literal ground to shake with the bundles of power that laced the vocal explosion.
The Lupine roar. The Commander's Howl.
The sound and it's feral magics pushed them into motion, spurring the Kobold outer guard to try and keep her and the others inside their den of flames.
As they approached, Ursula slammed her foot into the already frozen ground beneath her, sending her Elemental Magic bursting forward in a surge of cascading torrents of ice that rose over the wall of HellFire like a glacial ramp.
It's jutting sharp edges caught the first two HellBred Kobolds that jumped to intercept them. With her further enhanced senses and physical might, she could see in greater detail as the humanoid demon-lizards bodies folded over the growing ice ramp. Their sharp black claws scraped and cut at the smooth ice in an attempt to grab hold of the newly made obstacle.
Ursula took advantage of the situation, bounding up the ramp and swinging her axe in an uppercutting motion at the Kobold to the left.
FWOO!
SSRSHH!
The blade of her axe ripped through it's snout and skull, pulling out pieces of bone, brain and razor sharp teeth as the weapon emerged from the top of it's head, knocking it off the iced platform as a corpse.
[+100 EXP]
Before the Demon on the right could try anything, she turned and brought both her axes down on it's exposed neck, removing it's scaled head with one heavy overhanded chop.
SPLSHH!
Another blast of HellFire crashed into the iced grounds to the left of her, causing a portion of the platform to shatter and splinter off as she fell in response. Instead of trying to land on two feet to quickly protect herself, she let herself fall face first into the sand, holding out her arms that glistened with icy blue spirals of energy.
The oncoming Kobolds had no time to react to her (Glacial Smash) that sent them flying out of her sights punctured by the explosion of ice and clouds of unsettled sands.
Behind her, Frosty and the Phantom Wolves scaled the ice platform and leapt over the circle of flames, descending on the downed Demons with brutal efficiency.
Ursula rose to the sounds of flesh tearing and bones crunching as Kobolds roared and Wolves snarled. She couldn't see much due to the surrounding ice spikes and dust clouds, but she could hear and almost feel the presence of the other Kobolds through her connection to the others.
Right when she was about to move towards what her senses told her, something hissed from behind her.
"SHAA!"
She spun around just in time to see a flash of burgundy scales.
FWOO!
SHLCK!
A searing line of pain ran across her upper arm, followed by another slash at her low back that loudly ripped through the fabric of her cloak.
[Berserker's Rage: 60....63...65%]
She spun around again to see a smaller Kobold crouched on one of her frozen spikes. In one hand it held a glistening silver dagger, it's other dagger was held in it's tail that coiled around the handle like a third hand.
The creature opened it's raptor-like jaws and hissed again, allowing her to see the crackle and pop of HellFire at the back of it's throat.
"SHA--"
Without giving the creature another chance to attack, she forced a second spike of ice to erupt from the glacier it stood on, throwing it to her at high speeds.
She charged the thrown creature with a throaty roar, feeling her fist connect with it's lower spine hard enough to hear bones break. The Kobold slammed back into the glacier and bounced, allowing her to catch it and throw the creature behind her.
The combination of her growing rage and transformation left her in a state of something similar to an animal frenzy. Combined with her activated Skill, (Henbane Boost), she was as close to invincible as a Berserker at her level could be for the next minute or more.
She roared again-- sounding less human, and headed for the thrown Kobold.
FWOO!
CRack!
Before she could exit her den of ice another Kobold came flying over the edge and slammed into her, followed by another that landed with her against the hard ice.
She brought her arms up defensively just in time to defend the ferocious assault of the clawed creatures that ripped through the Aura and iced defenses covering her arms. Before they could continue, she shoved away the first creature and swiped at the second, removing it's throat with her fully grown hook-like claws.
SHLCK!
"AAhh.."
[+100 EXP]
The previously shoved Kobold came in for round two baring it's razor sharp teeth as it's muscles bulged beneath it's black scales.
Her freed hands lunged for the creatures exposed throat. At the same time, the Kobold shoved it's dagger at her stomach.
Both got what they came for in a collision of blood and feral strength.
Instead of backing away from the stab-wound, Ursula let the blade slide into her side to get a firm hold on the slippery lizard. She couldn't even feel the cold metal rip through her flesh as her hands closed around the Kobolds throat.
The creature thrashed and roared as it's windpipe slowly crushed. HellFire sparks crackled in it's opened mouth. Ursula felt the air begin to cool and darken as the fires grew. Instinctively, she opened her own slowly transforming mouth, feeling her dark auburn fur covered skin and bone stretch closer and closer to that of a snout that looked capable of swallowing the lizard whole.
Instead of doing that, she met the flaming assault with her own Element, in a blast of cold winds and sharp flakes of ice that ripped into the Lizards face with all the intensity of a focused blizzard.
The icy shards burst from her mouth and ripped into it's eyes, cut it's scaled lips, gums and turned the insides of it's mouth into a torn mess.
None of it mattered. The creature's neck was broken moments before.
[+100 EXP]
She dropped the dead Kobold and was ready to join the war on the outside when the most intense feeling washed over her, nearly sending her to her knees-- even in her rage.
The source of the intensity spilled from the area in front of her. With an effortful grunt, she was on her feet and approaching what lied ahead.
It was Claude and the Uktena. His verdant aura surrounded him and his spears like flames while a ring of tree's and plantlife rose from the sands and grass around the snake in the form of a continually growing barrier and secondary weapon. Somewhere within, Gil and Ashe stalked the shadows.
She was so lost in the sight, she almost missed the Kobold she'd previously thrown crawling towards him.
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Claude moved before the creature could swipe away at his legs.
Her surprise soon faded as the horned head of the Uktena came crashing down into the sands where he once stood, inadvertently smashing the crawling Kobold into an unrecognizable red paste.
As soon as the Uktena's face smashed into the sands, a wooden tendril lead by Claude slithered through the air and interwove itself through the creature's antlers, locking it in place.
In a flash, he flew across her vision towards the stuck snake. His Aura burned so bright she could barely see him within, causing her to notice the odd shape of his green cloak of energy.
It shifted and flowed as he cut through the winds, but it held a vague form. Something snouted, with ears, blazing eyes and open jaws. She couldn't help but notice how similar it looked to the head of a wolf.
SPLSH!
"AAAAACKK!!"
And then, it was gone. As he came crashing into the snake, sending his spear into it's left eye hard enough to shake the creature.
His Aura faded faintly, revealing how violently he was steaming beneath...how horrifying he looked. He was almost entirely transformed. Just barely showing the remnants of his human form.
Before she could see anymore, the aura was back in a burst of light. And the Wolf's head form was now looking at her.
It took her a minute to realize she was covered in cold sweats and her knee's were shaking.
The sudden foreign voice in her head only made it worse because it told her one thing she wasn't aware of before.
There was another presence among them. In the desert. Sharing in the spilling of blood, trying to push one of the members in their pack towards some awakening with a sickening air of enjoyment it cast across the whole desert in a wave of dominance.
".....StAY oUT oF OUr WaY...ChILD!...A bReAKThroUGh iS NeArrrrr!"