As they made the horses run along the main road, Anika kept on glancing at Pearl Pearson, angry at her not only because she was now another rival for Alex’s love, but mostly because until that day, she didn’t seem interested in him, and Anika was feeling betrayed by her.
After almost two hours of fast runs alternated with trots for the horses to rest, James Macdonald raised his fist, telling everyone behind him to stop. Alex was next to him and looked in front, where, at almost one hundred meters, Sarutahiko Okami was standing on an open field on the left side of the road. In front of her, tall burning mountains surrounded a horde of Monsters with only one exit facing the powerful Spirit.
James Macdonald frowned and even at that distance, he could see a big group of Giant Orcs, with a bunch of Harpies that kept on trying to take off but failed every time because Okami was throwing fireballs above them with her open right palm pointing up, preventing them from escaping to the sky.
James Macdonald asked while facing Alex, “What is she doing? Waiting for us? And she can use Earth and Fire Magic? That’s a strange and powerful combination!”
“Yes, I asked Okami to make sure the Monsters didn’t wander off and attack someone that could be travelling or people in a nearby village. Despite her dubious behaviour sometimes, she has a few tricks up her sleeve.”
James Macdonald grunted, “I don’t know why, but I could swear she doesn’t need our help to get rid of those Monsters.”
“Probably, but if you let her deal with the Monsters all alone, you would lose a great opportunity to gain a bunch of Magical Orbs. You know the value of the Magical Orbs those guys have, right? Together with the payment from the King’s Quest, you are looking at a huge profit. If you let her kill the Monsters all by herself, there is no way she will share the Orbs with you or anyone else. What do you say? Are you up for a fight?”
“Well, if you put things that way… I guess we can work with your plan.”
He then looked back at the others, who were expectantly waiting. “Gabriel, Wenammy, to the front of us. Mister Alex, ahead of them. Everyone else should be at the back and either use arrows or Spells. We need to make sure not even one Monster escapes. Priority is the Harpies. They need to die first, or we will have a lot of trouble fighting them and the Giant Orcs. Since the Orcs are slow, it will take a few seconds for them to reach us, and I hope that gives us time to deal with the Harpies. Let’s go meet Miss Okami before she gets tired of waiting and kills them all alone.”
They all kicked the sides of their horses, and in minutes, they stopped near Okami, who was deeply concentrated, watching the Monsters in front of her, at nearly fifty meters. She spoke without even looking back. “It was about time for you guys to arrive. I was getting fed up with those nasty things. The ugly Giant Orcs keep on throwing rocks at me, and the Harpies are always trying to fly away.”
Alex guided his horse a few metres back from Okami, took a spear from the saddle, and pierced it to the ground. He tied his horse’s reins to it, and the others imitated him, using his spear to hold the horses in place to prevent them from fleeing.
Alex then put the strap of his shield on his left arm and held his sword with his left hand, leaving his right hand free to gather Magic. He looked at the group of Monsters and took a slow deep breath while increasing his Magic.
A faint glow surrounded him, and he spoke without averting his eyes from the Monsters, “I think it’s better if we use Magic to hit the Harpies. Those ugly things have hard skin, and unless we hit them in the face with arrows, they will keep on attacking. A good and strong Spell normally does the trick. Everyone, try not to damage too much the feathers on their wings because they are sellable.”
Pearl Pearson and Anika Wright were getting an arrow ready, but after hearing Alex’s advice, they put the bow and arrows on the ground and gathered Magic in their open palms, pointing at one Harpy each. Alex looked at one grey-feathered Harpy, and he felt a shiver along his spine. He never liked to look at a Harpy, and that one looked older and uglier than the others.
Harpies were strange Monsters. Their lower half resembled an eagle, but with claws on each toe that were the size of daggers. Wings that spread to four metres wide and one metre long near the back, ending on a long last feather, hard as a rock and sharp as a sword.
The upper half was not any better, despite looking Human. It was naked, with beautiful round breasts and pink nipples that contrasted with their ugly faces, which looked like wrinkled melted meat. Their teeth were sharp and thin like razor blades, able to tear flesh apart from any Human they crossed paths with.
Their bite was so fast that they could take a piece of flesh and eat it before the Human had time to feel any pain, and they had stronger arms than an adult Human male, with long fingernails that were hard and sharp.
All that weaponry, together with their hard skin and ability to fly faster than any bird on Azurath or Earth, made them the most dangerous Monster to come from the Magical Voids. At least according to Alex’s research, but that didn’t mean a more powerful Monster couldn’t appear one day.
Another rock came, and Okami pointed at it with her right open palm. Kagu-tsuchi was the one creating the fireballs, but to everyone’s eyes, it seemed like it was Okami doing it.
Alex looked at the Giant Orc that threw the rock and saw him punching the ground, angry because his attack was so easily repealed.
Like the others next to him, he was enormous and his face looked like a grunting boar with a bald head and small ears, a big round nose, four tusks and chubby cheeks.
They were all nearly three metres tall, with arms as thick as logs and torsos so full of muscles that any weightlifter on Earth would be jealous. Their groins were, as usual, covered with fur from an animal, and their muscular thighs and big hairy feet were ready to run ahead.
The Giant Orcs were all stomping the ground or taking huge chunks of stone from the rock wall that surrounded them, waiting for the flames in front of the exit to disappear.
Alex took one last look behind to confirm that everyone was ready, and he then faced forward again. “Okami, kill the Orcs as soon as they run. Everyone, point to one Harpy and as soon as that one is dead, aim for the next one. Don’t give them time to fly away, or we will have a lot of trouble hitting them in the sky! On my mark! Get ready… Now, Okami, clear the fire!”
As soon as the flames in front of the exit disappeared, the Harpies and the Giant Orcs pushed each other in a frenzy to be the first out of that rocky trap. A barrage of Water Spears, FireBalls and Rock Balls went against the Harpies, who died one after the other, with a few Orcs in the mix because they were in front of one or two Harpies that were being targeted. In seconds, only ten Orcs were still alive, with Okami throwing Rock Balls at them and Kagu-tsuchi engulfing the balls with fire. When Alex pointed a frozen Water Spear against one Orc, the older Harpy suddenly emerged from the back of the Orcs and went straight to the sky. She hovered at nearly thirty metres high and began screaming at the Orcs as if she was ordering them. Alex saw in terror the Orcs grabbing huge chunks of rock from the rock wall behind them and placing the chunks in front of them, using them as shields. With that, it was impossible to hit them with any type of Spell, because they were all stopped by the rock shields while the Orcs were safely hidden behind them, and they began walking ahead slowly while pushing the improvised shields. Alex looked up and saw the Harpy making a weird screech while looking at him as if she was laughing.
Alex glanced at the powerful Elfian behind him as soon as he felt an increase in her Magic. “Okami, disperse the rock wall! Pearl, absorb those rock shields into the ground while I take care of that smart Harpy! She is acting like their Leader!”
“No need to tell me that twice, Alex! Are you sure you can take care of the Harpy? Maybe Anika can…”
Alex gathered so much Magic in his hands that it looked as if he was holding two tiny suns. He spoke while pointing his palms up, “I am more than able to take down that ugly bird, Pearl! Everyone hit the Orcs! Don’t let them approach! And don’t get spooked because I am about to do a crazy thing!”
The sky started to be covered in dark clouds, and darkness enveloped them. Only the light of Alex’s Magic and the Spells hitting the Orcs let any bright illuminate the fight.
As soon as the ground absorbed the rock shields, the Giant Orcs could only rely on their fists and body resilience to fend off the attacking Spells they were being hit with.
Then, the clouds became thicker and more compact. Lightning jumped from cloud to cloud, and in an instant, the sky was covered in a feast of bolts. To act as a lightning rod, Alex made a five-meter obelisk of rock to appear twenty metres away from them. Three bolts hit the Harpy on their way to the rod, making her explode in a firework of light and feathers.
The smell of roasted meat filled the air, and Alex quickly dispersed the obelisk and made two more in front of the Orcs’ path. Five bolts came from the clouds straight at the new lightning rods, and the light from them blinded the few alive Orcs, making them easy targets for the Spells of James Macdonald, Bethany Mathews, and Sarutahiko Okami.
Alex dispersed the clouds, and slowly, the lightning stopped, and the sky was clear again. The only thing left behind as proof of what he did was the two rock obelisks, which he dispersed right after confirming there were no more Monsters standing. He turned to the others and was looked back at by a bunch of dumbfounded faces.
James Macdonald asked, in a trembling voice, “Mister Alex… What… did you do? Was that a Spell? I never saw or heard anything like that! How did you make lightning appear? And you directed them at Harpy and the Orcs? How is that possible?”
Alex’s brain worked at full speed to find an excuse, and he made a slight smile while trying to sound casual, “Compressed clouds gathered from the moisture around, wind to make the clouds hit one another to create lightning, fire in the centre of the clouds to create a heat zone to gather and compress even more the clouds, and rock obelisks to connect to the earth because lightning always tries to hit the ground. By placing the obelisks at key points, it was just a matter of time until all that lightning hit them. It was dangerous because lightning is uncontrollable, and one of them could accidentally hit us. That’s why I don’t recommend anyone do this without a lot of practice.”
“That’s… more or less easy to understand, but the control of Magic to do that, and the discovery of how to create lightning… That’s… a whole new type of Spell!”
Alex rubbed his head. “Yeah… I call this Spell Lightning Sky. It is dangerous, but extremely powerful. No living creature can come out unscathed from being hit by lightning, and being hit by two or three in a row is a sure kill. I have a few Spells that also use lightning, but those are even more dangerous and way over the top for such a few Monsters.”
James Macdonald pointed to the dead bodies ahead. “A few Monsters? Only five of them would be enough to kill us all, and they were what, twenty or thirty Monsters? Do you have Spells that can kill an even greater horde of Monsters?”
“Yes… As I said, I practised a lot and thought about ways to protect myself and my employers. I was also lucky because my father found the time to teach me some Spells that he used during the war.”