Chapter 307: Cat and Mouse
A massive sixth-circle array materialized around our small party, a whirling mass of runes and mana. With the initiation of the spell, over half of my mana vanished, leaving me weak and breathless. Korra caught me as I staggered into her, catching my arm with a firm grip. She shouted something, but her voice was lost in the screech of the descending centipede.
The creature loomed over us, venom dripping from its maw, eyes burning with hatred. Its scythe-like blades flashed toward us, leaving blurred afterimages in their wake.
Unable to even catch my breath, I leaned on Korra and cast another spell, losing another quarter of my available mana.
"Blade Ward!"
The fifth-circle spell stacked on top of the still-revolving array, both finishing a split second before the centipede reached us. The Nexus resolved first, drawing a thick line between mine, Fable, and Korra’s souls. The Blade Ward followed on its heels, shimmering into existence around me before racing through the Nexus and appearing around the others.
Before the golden shield had even fully materialized, Fable lunged forward to meet the centipede. He was a small silver streak before a towering mass of rust-colored carapace and snapping jaws, the monster’s legs alone longer than was. Even so, the wolf showed no hesitation, flooding his body with mana and diving headlong into the descending attack.
I cried out and fought the urge to turn away, certain the monstrous centipede would crush right through him. It wasn’t that I lacked faith in my magic, but this creature was at the peak of sixth level. Something of this magnitude and size might even be able to contend with lower seventh-level monsters!
The two met in a clash of red and silver, the impact alone releasing a shockwave that rocked the canyon. The canyons warped and groaned, literally tearing themselves apart in a shower of house-sized boulders. Before I could make out the results of the two monster’s clash, Korra wrapped her arms around me and leaped into the air. We plowed right through the rain of stone, descending rock shattering the moment they met the Blade Ward. My scream was lost in the roar of the earth, and I clung to Korra tightly, my tail lashing in terror.
We landed softly atop one of the few surviving ridges in the area, but I didn’t release Korra, unable to trust myself to my trembling legs. The small hollow, road, and waterfall had vanished, buried in the devastation caused by the attack. I glanced around desperately, searching for any sign of Fable or the centipede, when a flash of silver caught my eye.