Exile fired stun arrows at the Stalkers fighting on the ground to try and bait the flying ones into coming close. However, they ignored his attempts which made Exile grumble in his mind. ‘They can’t care so little for them, right?’ Exile frowned as he watched the players gaining the upper hand thanks to his crowd control spell.
‘They must realise our people will escape if we punch a hole through their ground troops. Which means trying to contain me would be useless if I can get out that way.’ Exile continued to study their reaction, but nothing seemed like it would change. ‘Ok, I guess I can ramp it up a notch.’
Exile spread his hands out wide as two flaming runes appeared in front of his palms. A crackling hissing sound emanated from those runes as two large flaming serpents appeared in the air. Exile noticed that the Stalkers still refused to budge after he revealed that spell.
“Burn them to ashes,” Exile whispered as his eyes narrowed on the Stalkers who were recovering from his stun arrows.
The twin flaming serpents let out an angry hiss before slithering through the air at high speed. The temperature in the air rose by several degrees as the Stalkers looked up in their direction. Angry screeches resounded in the area as they leapt up to clash with the twin serpents.
Exile cocked an eyebrow as his spells coiled around a Stalker each before sinking their fangs into the enemy’s skin. The two Stalkers let out agonising screeches as their skin turned red. That was when the serpents released them and threw them into the crowd of oncoming leaping Stalkers.
The whole process of those serpents’ attacks had only taken a second, but as soon as their victims fell among the crowd, huge fiery explosions occurred with a bang! Some players on the ground paused at that sound and looked up only to see two bright spheres of fire melting away leaves, trees and Stalkers. They gasped as the two fiery serpents shot through those spheres to go after new victims!
‘Burning Venom works quite well too.’ Exile thought as he studied the carnage. ‘But it’s still not enough.’
He sighed as he watched a few more explosions occur before his spells lost power. The players on the ground were cheering since he had given them a much-needed respite from the battle. However, he spotted Clay kneeling with his palm on the ground.
When Clay pointed his blade at the broken earth, Exile understood there were still more of those creatures waiting to ambush them. In another area between the trees, Exile could see Mikari barking orders as he tried to guide a group of players into punching a hole through the Stalkers’ formation.
Parts of the defensive structure broke apart as the Stalkers who had been inside the tree trunks it was built around broke through the walls. ‘I guess the players who were inside haven’t been so lucky.’ Exile groaned as he realised they would all die soon if they could not escape that encirclement.
He glanced from the players below him to the flying Stalkers preventing his escape by air. ‘Screw it!’ He dived toward Mikari’s group before withdrawing his wings!
“What the hell!” Mikari screamed as he watched a fiery barrier surround Exile turning him into a flaming meteor! .
Dirt, debris and Stalker body parts flew everywhere as Exile crashed into the midst. Ashes floated on the wind as those beasts burned to nothing under the prolonged contact with his barrier! ‘Ok, let’s push through!’ Exile clapped his hands together, and a fiery fan exploded outwards, covering a 10m arc in front of him!
A huge amount of Stalkers died in that combo attack, leaving a huge hole in their formation. Of course, Exile did not manage to clear the path entirely but he had broken through more than half of the Stalkers gathered in that small area.
“Go!” Exile roared as he heard angry buzzing diving through the air toward him.
“You should run too!” Mikari replied as he glanced behind him. “They’re as good as gone. We’d lose too much to save the others now.”
Exile looked for the rest of Ragnarok, but Mikari’s words were on point. Winter was ripped apart by several Stalkers, and Clay was surrounded by more than fifty of them. That’s what he saw in the brief moment he looked over the battlefield.
Exile nodded as he stabbed his spear into the air above him. The flying Stalkers had finally begun their attack. Exile’s eyes narrowed as the Stalker he aimed for shot backwards in time to avoid being impaled. ‘So they were content to avoid fighting unless we were going to escape.’ He cursed as he used his shield to block another of those beasts.
He cursed as many of those creatures flew past him to grab the fleeing players before carrying them into the air. He lashed out with his spear in several quick thrusts as he caught sight of Divine Orbs raining down from above. However, the flying beats caught every one of them before retreating with their bounty.
‘They’re harvesting us!’ Exile wore a grim expression as the flying Stalkers continued to float just outside of his range. ‘Damn it!’
Exile fired off hundreds of Stun Arrows now that his opponents were too close to avoid them accurately. He let the ones targeting the centre of the battleground fly freely while he took control of the ones headed for the wall of ground troops.
“Keep running! Exile roared at the players ahead of him as he turned to give escaping all he had.
He carelessly tossed runestones behind him as he raced to catch up with his brother. Fiery explosions and black barriers randomly appeared as the Stalkers triggered those runestones. However, there was no harmony in that last-ditch effort so it only delayed them by several seconds.
But that was enough for Exile’s stun arrows to reach the remainder of the encirclement in that area. A wall of racing lightning appeared as his arrows struck their targets. Blue bolts flashed as they leapt from one to another going around the entire perimeter made of the Stalkers.
Exile grinned as even a few of the flying ones fell victim to that since they were attempting to seize the fleeing players. Mikari leapt onto the pile of thrashing bodies as they suffered from Exile’s attack and raced across them. His eyes scanned their surroundings to make sure there was nothing to worry about once they cleared that threat. It only took a few seconds for Exile to overtake most players and catch up to those in the lead, including his brother.
“What do we do once we get clear? It’s quite a distance to the next fallback position.” Exile shouted above the rushing wind in his ears as he drew up next to his brother.
“We can only split up and try to hide before making our way back to Valheim!” Mikari shouted in reply so all the players in the small group could hear him. “They’ll probably catch up if you try to outrun them, so do your best to lose them!”
Everyone nodded in response as Exile created many levitation runes. “Use these. I’ll carry everyone as far as I can to help you gain some distance.”
Those players nodded gratefully as they leapt onto those runes that raced through the trees at a speed they had never experienced before. ‘This has been an utter mess.’ Exile thought as he glared at the enemies disappearing behind them. ‘Mikari’s plan was solid, but they somehow outwitted him. That’s just not normal.’ Exile sighed as he shook his head. ‘It’s clear we still don’t know enough about them.’
At that moment, a loud buzzing filled a large cavity in the earth somewhere in the forest. Divine Orbs fell from the sky into that hole as the winged Stalkers dropped their harvest into its depths. Those creatures continued to hover over it as they awaited their next orders.
“Not… Enough…” A rough voice tainted with hunger echoed up from the hole. “Bring me more!”
Long screeches filled the air as if the winged Stalkers were replying to that voice. Then, silence descended in the area. The winged Stalkers seemed agitated about that silence as they continued to hover and stare into the darkness.
Suddenly, panicked screeches erupted among them as they tried to fly high into the sky! But it was too late. A huge pair of jaws burst into the sky as ten clawed hands reached out to seize as many of those creatures as possible.
The ground trembled as Nar’Kozz landed before tossing his prey into his mouth and crunching on their carcasses. “If you fail to bring me what I need, then I will simply eat you. Now go, my children, and don’t fail me again! Not a single god should ever escape you! I want them all!”
Nar’Kozz roared at the sky as he watched his children tremble. As they flew away he studied the many tunnels that had been dug through the earth like a giant hive. ‘My children should be nearly done with their task.’ Nar’Kozz growled as he studied what he had been told. ‘It seems there’s an exquisite specimen among these gods.’
Nar’Kozz searched his memories to see if the god responsible for the players’ escape from his trap had been among the invaders of his lair. ‘Hm, it’s that one. He’s changed quite a bit. At least this time he’ll be more filling.’ Nar’Kozz chuckled as his long, black tongue cracked in the air.