The situation took a drastic turn as the wind began to howl and embers of fire filled the sky. Clouds gathered, turning the noon sky dark, except where it was punctuated with lightning. Then the Hellstorm Vortexes formed, and a keening noise began far above them.
The first Meteors rocketed down through the clouds as Hawk came out to add his own Hellstorm Vortexes to the chaos.
The ethereal blue fire was an odd counterpart to Remi’s bright orange flames, and the Overlord Rank Giants began to swear in their own language.
{Where is the Shaman? Make him cancel that.} They were insisting.
Only, there was no Shaman to be found. Cara had exited her space to a spot at the edge of the trees and had crept up on him, Nullifying his counterspells until she could ambush him amidst the confusion.
One of the Giant Overlords swept his blade towards the sky, dispersing a huge portion of Remi’s spell, and creating a swathe of clear sky.
The Naga Queen was already exhausted from the spell, and had retreated to her space to recover, but half the spell was still going, and the attack had missed Hawk, who was still actively raining fire on the battle.
Niall reappeared to lodge a blade in the back of the unarmoured head of the leader, then Rae vanished, only to reappear in spider form with all eight limbs stabbed through gaps in a Monarch Ranked Giant’s armour.
“Showoff.” Karl heard the Rogue mutter as both assassins vanished again, using their skills and movement to find targets that couldn’t defend against them.
Dana’s Golems marched forward as the Giants tried to reach the core formation, where Karl and Tabitha were forming the front lines with all three of Remi’s bodyguards.
Karl took out his blade in one hand, with the Haint Claw on the other, and prepared to delay the Overlords until someone could deal with them.
Ahmad was a Golem Mage, with four Legionnaire styled golems, and they were standing just behind Karl, waiting for the chance to attack around him.
Ophelia had moved to the back of the group, defending against the attempts to encircle them, but Remi’s initiative had effectively dealt with the majority of the Royal Rank targets that the berserker would normally be responsible for.
[LOOT!] Cara cheered as she made her way through the back of the Giant force.
[Bring some back for me. I need a nap.] Remi pleaded.
This new spell was great, but it was a one and done sort of deal. She could keep it active for a while, but there was no casting it twice. At least not at early Monarch Rank.
Karl was fighting on the defensive, using his enhanced speed to keep a pair of Overlords at bay as Ahmad and his Golems slowly wore them down.
Tabitha was in a similar situation, but with Niall helping her. That left Remi’s bodyguards holding off one more between them. Despite the early casualties, the Giants were beginning to close in on the human force, and even Hawk and Remi’s bombardment wasn’t enough to completely stop them.
“Any brilliant plans, Beast Master?” Tabitha asked as she was nearly knocked to her knees by her opponent.
“Give me a moment, they’re running out of reinforcements.” Karl called back, hoping to distract one of his targets for long enough to take advantage.
Between Rae and Cara, they really were running short on reinforcements. The Giants had no way to deal with an invisible Bloodbath Spider that was incorporeal and immune to brute strength.
They had attack skills that could hurt her, but they had to find her first.
Suddenly, the target to Karl’s left howled in pain, then gurgled as his throat filled with blood.
He downed a healing potion, then turned to attack behind him, looking for Rae. The spider had stabbed him in the throat then run away, giving Karl a chance to attack.
The blade was replaced with his Maul, and five stacks of Monarch Ranked Disintegrate slammed into the Giant’s hip, where the armour was already damaged.
The Overlord collapsed to the ground, missing a leg, and Cara mentally whistled at his durability.
Even on an Overlord, she had expected half his torso to be gone after that strike, but it had only gotten enough of his hip to sever a leg.
However, that made him an easy target for Overlord Ahmad’s Golems, and the creature was decapitated only seconds later.
Then Niall was on the other, and Karl found himself free of an Overlord Rank target for the first time in the battle.
He couldn’t go far, this was his spot on the front line, but he could switch to his bow and fire [Ghostfire] arrows into the remaining Monarch Rank Giants.
It was the lowest energy cost attack ability that he had, and the arrows left a ghostly string back to the Haint Claw, which was adding a soul leech effect to the flames.
It wasn’t immediately fatal, but every bit of bleeding and burning damage added up. The sound of truck horns behind them brought relief to Karl’s group, marking the arrival of reinforcements. However, the truck seemed to have stopped a few kilometres away.
[Hawk, what are they doing?] Karl asked.
[They can’t get close. We’re fighting in a circle, and the shockwaves are travelling most of a kilometre. Then there is Remi’s spell, and my flames.]
That was right. Karl hadn’t thought about the fact that they had barriers to defend against the attacks. The ground did not, nor did the truck bringing the reinforcements.
Reinforcements who had no idea what spell effects would turn on them.
[Remi, you can take down the spell now and get some rest. There will be more fighting soon.]
The horns of the trucks had alerted the Giants as well, and they were beginning to regroup now that the area attacks had ended. They had no intention of fighting to the end. Instead, they would rejoin the rest of their forces and push again.
And, it would be harder than ever to stop them.
Half of the Overlords were still alive, and they were covering for the others as they backed away, forcing Karl and his team to advance to keep pressure on them.
Then, as one, the Giant Overlords used a ground slam ability, sending a wall of stone rushing at Karl’s team. The sides were separated, and by the time that the ability had been blocked and nullified, the Giants were long gone, hundreds of metres away.
That wasn’t dampening the spirits of the Overlords, though.
“That has to be a new record. Three permanent Overlord Kills.” Ahmad cheered, his ears flat against his head in contrast to his happy words.
Rae transformed back to humanoid to give him a confused look.
“Normally, the engagement breaks off earlier than this. Neither nation can afford to lose Overlords at any sort of regular rate. So, if you’re losing, you take your casualties with you and retreat.
Speaking of which, I don’t see the bodies. Did they manage to recover them? I thought that we had them secure behind us.”
Rae gave him a toothy smile.
“That’s my loot. I’m not giving up my bath water.”
Overlord Tabitha gave a very undignified giggle. “Right, Bloodbath Spider. In the most literal sense.”