Chapter 178: Reverie
The last time Akkyst had faced the War Horde, he had won, and he had been broken for it. The stone-wurm had taken his eye, his ear, and the Magelords' home—it had been a victory, but not one he thought fondly of. It had brought him his evolution, and had tried to kill him in the process.
It would not be so this time.
The dungeon had already gone below, their connection lingering with thoughts of another enormous beast drawn to move at the War Horde's command; so this was up to him.
Akkyst bellowed—through the storms and the surge, the sound echoed like a warcry. Every Magelord answered, hands held aloft with mana sparking like lightning overtop; their grey-tipped tails lashed, whipping the stone. Their last home had been lost to them in fire and destruction; this one would stay theirs, no matter the army before them.
It wasn't only goblins. They poured through the entrance, hollering and brandishing spears, but those several heads taller marched alongside them. Still pale green but with cords of grey hair and angular faces, claws akin to daggers, clutching spears and clubs and weapons unfamiliar. Larger, more powerful—an evolution.
And others; filling in the ranks were beasts, slow and lumbering with crystalline growths over their backs and filling in the gaps between limbs. Not taller than him but close enough it was worrying, particularly with a weight that shook the stone as their feet plodded into the ground. And in the far back, slower than all the rest, a twisting, reeking mass of translucent blue-grey, hissing like acid. Stronger than any beast he'd seen in the War Horde's collection.
But they would all fall.
Akkyst pushed off and ran—the entrance was not above on any of the islands, starting right in the underground where the Magelords lived, and he had to hardly move for three heartbeats before the first goblin reached him. One of the evolved variety, up to his shoulder instead of his chest, roaring with black eyes wide.
He ducked under the swing of its club, runes flickering in the corners of his eye, and sprang for it. Its blow glanced off his back as he rammed his bulk into its chest, something cracking under his strength, blood splattered his fur. It reeled back, croaking, and he sank his fangs into the marrow of its neck; heard its spine crunch until its eyes faded.