Chapter 29: Baiting the Horde.
Iris's wooden shield glowed a vivid green, with its intricate carvings coming to life as it expanded. Giant wooden branches sprouted from the shield like writhing tentacles, twisting and curling under her control.
With a powerful motion, she drove the wooden tendrils into the muddy ground, each impact resonating like a drumbeat. The vibrations spread outward, catching the attention of the Stonelocust swarm. The insectoid creatures screeched, their segmented bodies twitching as they converged on her position, drawn by the taunting rhythm.
Behind her, Cryo crouched low, with his bracers emitting a constant frost that spread across the uneven ground. A shimmering path of ice formed wherever he moved, while the air around him was biting cold. As Iris slammed her shield into the ground, Cryo unleashed bursts of freezing energy, coating advancing Stonelocusts in frost and slowing their charge.
The live stream chat erupted in a flurry of reactions:
[Live Chat – 1.2M Viewers]
Lunatic66: What the hell is that shield? Is it alive?
NeoSpectre: Bro, are those branches growing out of it? That's INSANE.
WarpedPixel: Wait... Cryo just switched to a gauntlet? Last year he was using a STAFF??
Jinxed.exe: This team is so weird. I love it.
Overclocked42: Where did the other three go? They just letting these two handle it alone??
ByteRiot: Nah, no way. They're planning something. I can FEEL IT.