Post #2768624 in Assassin's Pledge: Devastation, a roleplay on RPG

Mountains Outside Iyns

Approximately thirty minutes after departing Iyns together Miriam, Taira, and Kyero had advanced into the first layer of the mountain range. The first line of peaks were small. Barely eighty meters in height. But between them was a pathway all caravans had to pass through not because of the size of the mountains, but the sheer ruggedness of the terrain and how hard it was on the horses and the wagon wheels.

As they ascended the slope of the first peak, a roughly 40 degree angle and by no means a cake walk ascent, they crouched by the ridge at the top and analyzed the surrounding area. The rocky terrain and the slopes of the mountains nearby weren’t too bad, but they would definitely make moving at full speed impossible. Around such slopes there was no way to get your footing enough to burst properly like you could on flat ground which remained consistent in its surfacing. Dirt and loose rocks were arguably their greatest enemy here aside form the lizards themselves.

And speaking of Raze Lizards, the first batch were visible up ahead. There were only about eight of them at present with the rest of the den likely slumbering within the small caves dug into the face of the mountain nearby. The lizards were fairly typical in appearance sporting dark green, almost black colored scales along the body with a single bright yellow-orange stripe running along their sides. Their top scales were triangular and overlapped creating a dense armor plate which even serum empowered fists would find difficult to smash through.

But the most dangerous part was the gaping maws as they sunned themselves on the slopes. You could actually see inside their open mouths to see the fang slits in the roof of the mouth which could extend out much like a snake’s fangs and shoot a hemotoxic venom to melt and burn flesh right off the bone. Even for them as serum users, that was an almost certain death sentence. Taira explained for Miriam on the way over that if they were anywhere within about ten to twelve feet of that mouth when the venom was launched they were going to get hit because that’s just how fast the venom was launched. And if they were bitten without the venom being spit, their saliva would paralyze them if it punctured skin. And with as long as their teeth were, punctures were a certainty.

Taira turned to Kyero first.

”Remember you’re the backup. Got it?” She whispered forcefully.

Kyero made a “hmph” sound which earned a small smile from Taira who then looked to Miriam.

”So Miriam. There’s about eight there now with the rest probably inside. Do you know a way to approach this that doesn’t involve kicking the hornet’s nest?” She whispered.

Miriam was silent for a moment as her eyes looked over the lizards. ”Hunting animals is not my forte…” Miriam said as she pulled new new katar which she had dubbed Shark Tooth from under her armor. ”It would be best to hit the things from range and draw them out one at a time… But with the weapons we have now that is off the table.”

Taira considered her words carefully and glanced to the lizards again.

”Hmm… True. Picking them off one at a time would be best. But I don’t know how well they hear either. Trying to get the attention of just one could be tricky.”

Taira glared at Kyero.

”I don’t suppose you have any ideas?”

Kyero had been watching the lizards the whole time and did not turn his eyes away.

”Plenty.” He said quietly.

”Care to share?” Taira muttered.

”No. This will be good experience for you both.”

”… Right.”

She shrugged and turned to Miriam.

”Well, I guess we’re stuck with trying to use the little pebbles to get their attention and hope we don't stir the hornet's nest.”

Kyero scoffed, and Taira shot him a glare over her shoulder.

"I'll see if I can lure one in. If you can, stab through the soft flesh of its bottom jaw and into the brain to kill it right away. If it makes any noise, we're going to attract others." She whispered.

She grabbed a pebble and looked at the nearest lizard. Lining up her throat, she gently tossed it out near the lizard but still in their direction which alerted it instantly. It looked at the pebble, and saw the tip of Taira's finger over the ridge before she retracted her hand. It began walking closer, and thankfully this time it seemed to be on its own. No others approached yet.

The first Raze made it’s way up towards where Miriam lay in wait. As it neared it paused as if looking for something raising it’s head up to look this way then that.

This was when Miriam sprang into action darting toward the Raze Lizard. The lizard turned it’s head to the new threat too late. Miriam slammed into the lizard’s side as she punched Shark Tooth though the soft fresh of the creature’s under jaw. The creature tried to call out but Miriam’s blade had silenced the Lizard. It almost looked like a look of shock as the beast’s eyes glazed over and death took it.

”Let’s hope we get this lucky with the rest of them...” Miriam said as she pulled her katar from the now dead creature.

Taira nodded and helped pull the body out of sight of the others.

”Mm. I think we-”

"Should gut this guy, slap on his skin and parade as one of their own," Marcel said in a low, serious voice, crouched behind them with a long sharpened stick.

Taira jumped.

”By the Gods! Marcel! When did you get here?!” She whispered.

Kyero glared at Taira.

”You seriously didn’t smell him coming?”

Taira puffed her cheeks at Kyero.

”How am I supposed to smell him amongst all these lizards?!” She whispered harshly.

Kyero shook his head in disappointment.

”Screw you!” She whispered.

”Marcel! I told you to wait back in the village! It’s too dangerous for you here!” She whispered while flailing her arms about.

"Well, you see..." he began casually, "I'm looking to get my hands on the hide of one of these fellas. Personal purposes." He patted his makeshift spear on the Raze Lizard corpse, "... And I'm not going to just be some vulture. Just let me take down one of them and I'll be out of your silver hair, goddess."

Taira puffed her cheeks at Marcel.

Miriam knew the scent of Marcel quite intimately. She kept quiet though as the others talked though she gave Marcel a glare the whole time. When they stopped she added. ”You have a death wish or are you just stupid?” She asked shaking her head. ”You should have stayed back in town… You are useless here.”

Marcel's eye twitched. "I didn't come here without a strategy," he said, crawling over to hunker down beside Miriam. His beastly eyes trailed one of the smaller lizards. "Raze Lizards, right? Their scales flare when they're threatened. Leaves their backsides vulnerable." He looked back to the serum trio. "I can't push through their scales like you three. I'm thinking of stabbing through the throat while their scales are up." He made a strong thrusting motion with his stick, "... Which means it's gonna have to have something in front of it to be threatened by." He raised a cautious fist to be bumped. "...Teamwork?"

Taira sighed.

”I guess there’s no helping it. You’re already here so we may as well put you to use…”

She gave him his fist bump, but grabbed his wrist afterwards, pulling him in close to her face.

”On one condition: You don’t leave my sight. Deal?”

Marcel's brow raised as he found himself yanked in so close. A light smirk tugged at his lips. "I'll warn you now, I stray," he replied, "... But sure, this time I'll stick with you. If you want to keep your eyes on me that badly~" he finished with a wink.
I can't help myself.

Taira narrowed her eyes and smirked at him.

”You can flirt with me later big fella. For now, just do as I say.”

Taira leaned in and kissed his nose before letting go of him and looking back at the lizards. Marcel jerked his head back with a start, then flashed her a grin while giving her the side-eye.

”Let’s lure one in so you can kill it and get your skin and go back to the village.”

Miriam’s body gave a little twitch as Taira and Marcel flirted. And at the nose kiss she snapped, making a fist.

… From the moment she joined this venture, Taira had kept a close eye on Miriam. Even now Miriam was being kept in her peripheral vision, and she caught everything including the twitch and the fist accompanied by a subtle shift in posture. With these physical ticks, Taira glanced to Miriam out of the corner of her eye wondering what was going on? But it didn’t take more than another few moments to realize what was happening.

”NO! This is bullshit! If you really are here for a skin there is a dead lizard right here! Take it and go! If you are trying to prove something, you are failing. The only thing you are proving to me right now is how stupid you really are Marcel.”

Turning on Taira Miriam added. ”And you, goddess, are not helping by encouraging his stupid!”

… She’s jealous. Taira realized internally.

The entire time Miriam had gone off barking at them, Taira was giving her a shake of her head and hands trying to make her be quiet. But too late. Taira winced as she heard the Raze Lizards over the ridge start crying out to one another.

They heard her.

Taira sighed and peeked over the edge to see the lizards on their way, and then turned to Miriam with a rather peeved expression.

”Well… I did tell you this was going to be training.”

She stood up immediately as the first lizard reached the ridge and peeked its head over to see what was here. Taira grabbed it by the mouth hoisting it up into the air and throwing it down over her shoulder while saying, ”Lesson one,” BAM! It hit the ground and was knocked out cold.

”The serum enhances what you feel. You need to keep yourself under control or you’ll make stupid mistakes like, oh, I don’t know… Alerting your enemy to your presence?”

She turned around as a second lizard reached them, diving at her with mouth agape. She caught it by the upper and lower jaws, her fingers narrowly avoiding its teeth, and held it still.

Taira had determined Miriam needed some tough love, so no better time than now to get it out of the way.

”You already have a girlfriend in that woman, Miranda!” She said as she twisted the lizard violently to spin it onto its back.

”You have no reason to be jealous about a little casual flirting between Marcel and me. Besides,” She jumped onto the lizard’s chest to pin it with her legs and shoved its head down over the ledge to break its neck causing it to go limp.

”Casual flirting is all he’s going to get. My standards are too high for anything more.” She said with a sly smile, glancing to the man.

“Oof,” Marcel said, leaning with one elbow on the blunt end of his stick, “That smarts. Should’ve expected that from the lass who calls herself ‘goddess’.” He glanced between the two lizards Taira had decimated with perhaps 30% of her full effort, gave a discouraging sigh and unstuck his spear from the ground. He spun it around as he started to back up. “So Miss Goddess, how about we keep these lessons of yours battle related, huh? Watch yourself and keep their attention.” His spinning halted and he slunk away to get into position for his ambush.

Taira scoffed and shook her head.

”Yeah, yeah. Fine.”

She hopped onto her feet as the remaining five lizards charged their position.

”Kyero, keep Marcel out of trouble will you please? Miriam and I have lizards to kill!”

Miriam let out a low growl at Taira’s claim of her being jealous but said nothing until she was informed that the other five lizards where incoming.

”I was sick of this sneaking crap anyway.” Miriam spit out. then with a smirk she said. ”And now the fun begins!”

Miriam picked up a rock and threw it at one of the lizards. The lizard growled as the rock hit it and charged at her. ”Yeah come at me ya bastard!”

Miriam let out a crazed giggle as the lizard rushed her. Just as she had planned she jumped to the side stabbing out with Shark Tooth as the lizard passed by. The blade struck the underside of the lizard and the lizard’s own forward motion caused a huge gash to open in the creature’s side.

Miriam crackled madly as she pulled her blade free. ”Who’s next!” she shouted challengingly.

Miriam was answered by a blast of Raze Lizard spit barely missing her face. Miriam turned to the spitter with a glare. ”You Bitch!” She shouted charging the second lizard.

Miriam’s foot smashed into the lizard’s jaw with a sickening crunch. The lizard growled in pain. With the lizard stunned from the kick Miriam finished it with a Stab through the eye into the brain.

Miriam laughed again enjoying this too much. She caught her breath as she glanced over to see how the others were faring.

Taira dashed away from Kyero and Marcel to draw the lizard's attention, making little hoot noises and whistling to draw their eyes to herself. She needed to keep them away from Marcel.

The first lizard scurried to her side and attempted to bite into her shoulder with Taira performing something akin to a dance move to spin out of the way of its bite while jamming her elbow into the beast's neck. However, despite the blow having the intended effect of breaking the neck, in doing so she cut her elbow on its sharp triangular scale armor. Taira flinched back from the blow turning her arm to see the cut which was a big mistake.

Taira was slammed off her feet by a headbutt given her by the second lizard to reach her, and before she could fully recover she felt the sting of its venomous liquids striking her left boot. Taira quickly slid her foot out of it before it ate through the material into her skin and scrambled to her feet just in time to stop the third and final lizard from biting her torso. Catching it by the mouth like she did the first lizard she flipped it over her head and slammed it belly first into the ground. The blow stunned the lizard and Taira used that time to flip it over and slam an elbow into its throat to sever its airways.

With the lizard choking and dying, the final lizard was all that remained. But before Taira could reach it the creature let out a shrill cry which forced Taira to cover her ears. Kyero, meanwhile, standing over by Marcel, was brought to his knees in pain from how sensitive his hearing was.

And following the cry, as the seconds passed, more and more lizards began pouring out from the tunnels dug into the mountainside to gang up on and assault them.

So far Taira and Miriam had killed seven lizards out of an estimated thirty... And she could tell this was going to be a long and uncomfortable fight.

”Hey know that hornet’s nest you were talking about… I think it just got stirred…” Miriam said. ”So you take the ones on the left… I take the ones on the right?”

Miriam didn’t wait for an answer but rushed forward towards the nearest lizard. it snapped at her but she jumped back right into another lizard. She ducked down to avoid losing her head.

”Yeah goddess next time you sign us up for a suicide mission do it in a nation that allows weapons ok..” Miriam said as she fell back.

As Miriam retreated a lizard jumped at her from the side. a quick stab stopped the creature in it’s tracks but left her open for a lizard she did not see. Luckily a last second glance gave her enough time to avoid the creature’s bite. But as it’s fangs scraped her armored tummy she felt the lizard’s claw dig into her leg.

”Son of a Bitch!” Miriam exclaimed.

Miriam kicked the lizard sending it flying into it’s fellows. This disoriented them long enough for Miriam to make a makeshift bandage from her skirt and cover her wound. But then they were on her again.

Biting back the pain Miriam let out a growl. Flying into a rage she stabbed, punched and kicked at the lizards that came at her. Despite killing two more the lizards came on. Miriam held on her rage blinding her to the gashes given to her by the lizards. She was holding but it was only a matter of time until her rage could no longer sustain her.

When Kyero came to, he spotted his charge twenty feet away, slinking out of sight from the battle into the bushes. But Kyero wasn’t having that. However, his still ringing ears made him a bit unsteady on his feet for a few seconds. More than long enough for a stray lizard to knock him to the ground and bite into his left forearm which he used to protect himself. Smashing the side of the lizard’s head in with his right fist, Kyero stood up and dashed after Marcel, sliding in front of him with arms outstretched.

”Where do you think you’re going?”

His left arm trembled as it fought the numbing feeling that was quickly building within it.

“Where do you think?” Marcel shot back in a whisper, looking between the cave the lizards were still spilling out of and the two women fighting them off. “The Alpha is gonna come out of that cave any second now, and the ladies can’t take their attention off the swarm or they’ll be overrun. Somebody needs to take care of the Alpha while they're distracted.”

Kyero's eyes narrowed.

"You think you can challenge that creature?"

Marcel cocked his head like he was thinking, before shrugging. "Well, I'll give it a go."

Kyero crossed his arms.

”The hell you are. Get back behind the ridge over there.”

Marcel scoffed, shaking his head with a disbelieving chuckle. “You’re not grounding me from saving our asses. Come off it,” he said, moving to step around Kyero.

Kyero's eyes flashed red and his arm shot out to block Marcel.

"Don't test me, Marcel." He growled.

His eyes began glowing steadily brighter as his hand gripped Marcel's shirts and he yanked Marcel in front of him.

"Talk down to me one more time, and I won't kill you. But I will cripple you."

Marcel couldn’t suppress his grin. “Oh, there he is. Now that’s the face our Maiden remembers.” He didn’t struggle in Kyero’s grip. Instead he looked over his shoulder. “Look. I do reckon I can take the big guy. Not cos I can punch harder than he can.” He gave Kyero a wink. “I’m resourceful.”

He whipped two fingers up to his mouth and gave a shrill whistle. Kyero cringed from the sound and loosened his grip, as three lizards redirected their path from Miriam towards them. Marcel slipped out of Kyero’s grasp and dived out the way, disappearing into the shrubbery. Kyero swiped at him with a growl, but couldn’t retrieve him before he had venom spat at him from three angles.

Kyero was able to bend his body out of the way of one, but the other two both splashed onto his body. The first did so harmlessly against the lower half of his cloak around the backs of his legs. But the second splashed against the top of the cloak near his shoulder which allowed a small portion to splash into his face across his left eye.

Kyero gripped his face in agony as the venom began eating away at his flesh. He had a small flask of water at his side, but it would have to do. Kyero brought out his flask and emptied all of its contents across his face to wash the venom away, but even as the water did its job he was beset upon by the three other lizards.

Kyero’s eyes flashed brilliantly as he let out a horrific and double-toned growl and spun to face them with a vicious snarl on his face. The first lizard to arrive had its head literally punched off, the force of Kyero’s assault tearing the flesh around the base of the neck sending the head rocketing and skipping over the mountain’s sloped surface into the face of it not far from Marcel’s shrubbery. The second met its end when Kyero gripped it by the mouth and wrenched its body left to right a few times at a violent velocity, snapping its neck thrice over inside its body effectively decapitating it like the last one. Tossing the body aside, the third backed away following the display. And as Kyero’s eyes flashed at it, the beast fled towards Taira and Miriam.

Kyero eyed the beast which still had its head with his now one good eye, the left half of his face having since partially melted away including part of his left eye lid from the venom’s effects. He opened the creatures’ mouth and gathered a handful of saliva and smeared it over the wounded half of his face to numb it to the searing pain now flowing freely through it. And thankfully the method worked though it also numbed his hand along with it.

Kyero took out his blindfold and tied it at an angle to cover that side of his face as he tossed the hood of the cloak back and threw a glare at Marcel’s shrubbery. But before he could make any moves towards it, Taira could be heard yelling at him, ”Kyero, what in the name of the Gods are you doing?! Where’s Marcel?”

Kyero ignored her, fighting hard to control his breathing and his elevated heart rate as his fists shook at his sides. He didn’t much care to right now, but he forced himself to relive the pledge he made to the Maiden and grit his teeth as he began a patrol for Marcel starting near the now abandoned shrubbery.

Kyero had to give him credit for one thing though… He was faster and stealthier than he’d been given credit for so far, to slink away without Kyero noticing even if he was combating those stupid lizards.

With Kyero having gotten in trouble for losing Marcel, Taira was distracted just long enough for a lizard to run up and bash her in the lower back with its tail causing a rather nasty bruise to appear almost immediately beneath her clothing. The impact also tore part of the clothing above the small of her back and the rough skin dragged across her flesh left a friction burn behind as well.

Taira slid across the loose dirt and gravel of the mountainside, unable to get proper footing. She was then charged from the front by another lizard which she thankfully jumped to avoid. But its thrashing tail caught her on the side of the face leaving a red tail-shaped mark on her right cheek. She hit the ground hard and was pinned by that same lizard. But before it could bite down into her she kicked it in its soft underbelly sending it into the air. She flipped to her feet and kicked straight up in a near perfect split to slam her heel into its throat to cause its airways to rupture.

With that lizard now choking to death and gasping for air, she turned her attention to the one which lashed at her with its tail. As it charged she slid to the side using the gravel to her advantage and grabbed it by the tail before spinning it around causing its head to slam into two other lizards which had been coming in fast to assist in the kill. They were both knocked away as Kyero slammed the one in her hands to the ground severing its tail in the process. The impact broke its back, and it would not be long for this world.

With two more lizards down, totaling thirteen dead so far given that Miriam had since killed two more and Kyero had killed two of them before losing track of Marcel. They were in fairly good shape. However, Miriam seemed to be struggling to maintain her her composure in this fight with a clear rage building in her eyes.

Taira darted to her side, sliding into one of the lizards about to bite her leg.

"Lesson number two!" She called, grabbing the same lizard and tossing it into a gaggle of others.

"Anger encourages the release of adrenaline. Learn to focus that burning rage forward rather than letting it run free. The more you focus your rage, the longer it lasts and the more your adrenaline will serve you in conflict."

Taira looked out in time to see that five lizards were heading their way from the front and one more from Miriam's right side.

"I'll take these three! Focus Miriam! Focus your rage into a weapon! Don't let it run free or it will burn out like a weak candle flame!"

Miriam barely heard Taira’s words only gibbers and three words Rage… Focus.. Weapon…

Rage…

Focus…

Weapon…

The words ran over and over in Miriam’s head as she faced the lizards. She waited just long enough for one of the ones in front to charge her just at the same time the one from the side did. With a quick jump back Miriam caused the two lizards to crash into one another. As those two snapped at each other Miriam turned to face the third one.

”Rage… Focus… Weapon” Miriam said unwittingly aloud.

The lizard spit at Miriam but she dodged it. ”Missed” Miriam taunted.

Miriam leapt forward and thrust Shark Tooth through it’s skull. It let out a hiss that alerted the other two that turned from their snapping to charge her. One pulled up letting fly it’s spit. Miriam dodged the deadly spray but she had moved right into the path of the other.

With a crash Miriam fell under the impact of the lizard. The lizard now on top of Miriam snapped at her fangs inches from her face as she held the creature at bay. Get off of me!” Miriam shouted kicking the lizard off.

Miriam hopped to her feet before either lizard could finish her off. ”Rage… Focus... Weapon… I am the weapon..” Miriam whispered.

The lizards made another charge. Miriam sidestepped the first but the second clawed her leg. Letting out a growl she kicked the creature throwing her rage into the kick. A snap was heard as the lizard’s bones snapped.

”Rage...Focus…” Miriam got it now as she looked at the broken lizard.

The last Lizard let out a cry surely calling more as it fled towards the cave. It wasn’t fast enough to outrun Miriam and it’s cry was cut short by Shark Tooth’s cold blade.

But the damage was already done...

Taira's three lizards were smart. They came at her one after the other at awkward angles so that her defense against one did little good against the next. Wether this was dumb luck or something more was open to debate, but regardless it kept her on her heels, literally, as she backpedaled up the slope to keep ahead of their snapping jaws.

The first lizard to go down did so because it slipped on the gravel and gave her a much-needed opening to get in close and pull both of its eyes out. As it screeched and struggled to continue attacking in its rage, Taira slid to the side and caved in the side of its skull with a single mighty punch. But unfortunately for Taira her luck had run out. Her leg was bitten by one of the other two lizards, and the effect of the numbing saliva was almost immediate.

Taira pried its jaws open and twisted it over onto its back to temporarily prevent it attacking. The third lizard rushed in and tried to ram her with its head only to be grabbed and thrown into the air. Grabbing the tail of the one on its back Taira swung it around in circles before throwing it up into the one falling back down. They collided in mid air and came crashing down on top of one another. Taira quickly moved in and slammed their heads together, splitting both of their skulls like watermelons against one another.

But now she was without the use of one of her legs which now hung limp beneath her, and Miriam was still in a blind rage despite the lizards all beginning to flee from her.

”Rrgh… Kyero! Kindly bring her here please!”

Kyero glanced to her from the corner of his eye, as he had been in the middle of searching for the slippery Marcel. However when he saw Taira’s leg hanging limp he sighed and did as she asked.

Kyero slid in front of Miriam, arms outstretched.

”Time to calm down, Miriam.”

”Out of my way!” Miriam growled.

Miriam took a swing at Kyero but missed badly. Her mind raced as she snapped from her rage. Vision blurred she stumbled forward. Then the pain came… All her wounds, the cuts, the bruises. All at once the pain that her rage suppressed came to her.

With a cry of pain Miriam fell to her knees holding her head her brain feeling like mush. Miriam’s rage was spent and now she had to pay for it.

”I could have went on… Miriam muttered as her eyes closed in rest.

Kyero sighed and knelt down, helping her to her feet by giving her his shoulder.

"Pull yourself together, Miriam. Taira needs us."

And it was true. Without the use of one leg Taira was struggling to maintain her ground against the other lizards which had gatheted around her.

"Lesson number three, I believe it is?" Kyero began. "When wounded and in pain, use the serum's enhancement of what you feel to your advantage. Focus your mind on anything that gives you a sense of tranquility. The pain will subside as long as you hold that thought at the forefront of your mind." He said, kicking away and scaring a charging lizard.

"Your injuries won't heal any faster, but the blockage of pain will help see you through this."

Think happy thoughts...feel better…

Miriam thought of Miranda… her kiss… the feel of her skin… it did help a bit but it was hard to keep focus with the sound of incoming lizards.

At last they reached Taira's side, and Kyero let go of her so she could stand on her own two feet.

"Thanks for coming..." Taira said as she collapsed to one knee.

"I was starting to worry about you Miriam." She said through a grimace of pain.

Taira had been gashed on her good leg by three claws. And the cuts ran deep.

”I’m fine…” Miriam muttered in response to Taira. Looking around, she noticed someone was missing ”Where’s Marcel? she asked worriedly.

”Resourceful little bastard slipped away from me.”

Taira chuckled.

”Well, I suppose things could be worse couldn't they?”

No sooner had Taira said that than a horde of lizards began pouring out of the caves in the mountain face… And despite all they’d killed, the number they saw now was a lot more than the initial thirty they expected.

Kyero slowly turned his head to glare at Taira who chuckled nervously.

”In my defense, they only said they saw thirty of them.”

Kyero growled a little as he drew his daggers.

”No! Put those away right now! We can still fight!” She barked as she made a move to stand up after binding her leg with a torn piece of her sleeve.

Her leg buckled and she was forced to sit down, a moment. But she forced herself to her feet shortly thereafter.

What was strange, however, is that the lizards weren’t attacking. They were just pouring out and beginning to surround them. Had to be at least twenty five lizards in the area now. And the answer as to why they didn’t attack yet came a few seconds later as a thundering roar emerged from the caves followed swiftly by the appearance of the Alpha as it burst out the mountain face.

The behemoth stood at least fifteen feet tall, if not more, in a bipedal posture with forelegs resting against its belly. It had much larger scales along its back and had an armored belly making previous strategies of dealing with a softer side null and void. Its teeth were longer, its mouth longer, and its eyes more forward facing like that of a predatory cat.

”Oh boy…”

”So it finally shows itself.”

The Alpha growled and unleashed a horrifically loud roar which shook Kyero’s head and made Taira and Miriam hold their ears. And within seconds the horde of lizards began rushing in to attack the trio. As they engaged, their bipedal leader came down to all fours, its scales flaring in a show of dominance –

When it was stabbed by a stick.

Marcel had darted from behind, jabbing his spear into the left of its neck into the flesh its flared scales exposed. He was quick to yank out his spear but was immediately struck and flung aside by the creature’s tail before he could make a dash for it. He was smacked against a wall of the cave’s entrance and fell down, half cast in shadow. The beast raised up on its hind legs to come to twice Marcel’s size with a pained hiss and squinted around for him, sniffing the air with a growl. Marcel took note of that. When it found its assailant, it let out a high pitched whine and all lizards in the area turned their attention from what they were doing to their leader. Then all charged to protect it.

Senses. Lazy. King. Senses. Lazy. King –

“Keep their attention!” Marcel shouted, his voice carrying poorly from his position, “Red! I need you!”

He sprinted into the dark of the caverns, the Alpha prowling behind.

As the lizards began swarming towards Marcel at the behest of their Alpha, Kyero sprang into action, but not before tossing both Taira and Miriam one of his Orichalcum daggers. He dashed between and around the lizards and halted as the Alpha blocked his path while it crawled into the cavern after Marcel forcing him to choose another entrance with other lizards in hot pursuit behind him.

Snippet #2768624

located in Cre' Est, a part of Assassin's Pledge: Devastation, one of the many universes on RPG.

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