356 Great Golden Lions
The “kill everything that moves” tactic was working well for the spider golems, and the line was actually able to push back the monsters in a few spots, but there was much worse incoming. The smarter monsters hadn’t been completely consumed by rage due to the spell that the Hill Giants had put on the area using the bait, and they had remained behind the area attack spells for as long as they could resist.
But now they were coming forward, charging through the weakened mage spells, intent on tearing the humans apart and sating the magical hunger that was consuming their thoughts. They had resisted as long as they could, but now, their reasoning had been overcome, and they were rampaging the same as the others.
There was a large group of massive feline predators, and for a moment Karl struggled to recall their names from the study books.
Great Golden Lions, that was the name of the species, he realized. Then he realized that there was a much larger problem. Unlike the other monsters in the horde so far, this was a proper magical beast, and it had abilities beyond strengthening and melee attacks.
The Great Golden Lion could breathe fire, and if that pack made it to the front lines, things were going to get brutal for the defenders. The mages’ barriers wouldn’t hold up for long, and the Holy Light blessing that the Clerics cast on the warriors wouldn’t take many hits from the fiery breath.
“Morgana, those things breathe fire. I need to move forward to keep them away from the line.” Karl shouted back to the Witch Doctor.
“Take your ten-person team if you can even get ahead of the lines. We will do what we can to protect your back.” Morgana replied.
Colonel Wilkes’ group wouldn’t be too impressed by that answer, but the extra bodies would help, and when Thor charged, the monsters would spread to avoid being rammed. It was instinctive, and their enraged minds didn’t understand battle tactics.
“Just follow the Cerro. Everything else will back away from our fight when the flames start to fly. But those lions breathe fire, and they will tear apart the warriors who don’t have Thor’s barrier on them.” Karl explained as he prepared to push the group forward.
Seamus still looked terrified, but Tessa pulled him up on the back of Thor, and the bard took out a small pan flute, which he could play with one hand while he held a shield in the other.
That was far better than he had been during the first battle he had seen on this front, and Karl was impressed with his bravery. It took a lot of courage to face that level of fear, and to not only go forward of the line, but to do it on a Cerro with a War Cleric.
Of course, he might not have realized what he had volunteered for yet, so it could be excused if he panicked later, but Karl had a good feeling about him.
Thor smashed the ground with his tail, sending an [Earthquake] forward into the monsters, then charged behind it with Rae’s Golems protecting his flanks.
They didn’t have far to go, not far enough that he would lose the slower moving members of the squad, but the monsters parted around them when they saw that the Cerro had a target in mind.
Karl took up the back of the formation, preventing anything from coming up behind them as Thor parted the monsters in front of them. And the monsters didn’t take long to close ranks behind them, but it was the weaker and more opportunistic ones that came first.
“You go forward, we will hold the back.” Colonel Wilkes instructed as he summoned his Fire Elementals to support Jimmy and Ali at the back of the team. Dana and Rae’s Golems were split between the sides of Thor, so as long as the group stayed close, they only had to cover a small area with actual warriors, leaving Karl and Thor free to fight the Great Golden Lions in front.
The five beasts roared in unison, and a blast of flame washed over the group, causing everyone to glow in an odd combination of blue and gold as the barriers created by Tessa and Thor worked together to prevent the damage from reaching the Elites.
[Give me a boost, big buddy.] Karl instructed as he ran onto Thor’s tail with his maul in his hand.
Thor flipped his tail up, sending Karl flying over the heads of Tessa and Seamus. The startled Golden Lions looked up in shock and send a gout of flames toward Karl as he descended.
The flames washed over [Flame Body] with no noticeable damage, then the maul hit home, crushing a lion’s skull and sending Chain Lightning out through the group.
Tessa’s spear flicked out above Karl’s head, slashing the throat of another Golden Lion before it could recover. Hot golden blood flowed from the wound, setting the grass on fire as Karl switched to the two-handed blade for easier close quarters combat.
The flaming breath came for him again as Karl sidestepped, making use of his enhanced speed to pull the attack away from the rest of the group. That spread it over the monsters on Thor’s right flank, and the stench of burning fur filled the air.
The Golden Lions didn’t care, the other monsters were nothing but competition for food, and they had dared to try to eat the ones who had insulted the Lions by fighting back.
Claws raked down Karl’s barrier as he parried another set with his blade and moved another step away from Thor.
That was the perfect position, and While Karl was burning a lot of energy to keep his barrier up, he now had the closest of the Golden Lions facing away from the Lightning Cerro.
Two massive horns tossed the beast in the air, where it was helplessly impaled by Tessa’s spear before being torn apart by multiple [Magic Missiles] and [Fire bolts].