The ten harpies around the borders of the village pose almost no threat to now. It's almost disconcerting to think about how quickly I've grown and yet I don't know if it's enough.
None of the other kills give a single credit, and it's both disappointing and a relief at the sa ti. Disappointing because the credits will keep alive, of course, but a relief because I do not ever want deaths to an nothing more than a number of points to . Monsters the Elegies might be, but there's very clearly sothing more to them, if the nas are any indication.
Mari hasn't shouted for yet, so presumably things haven't gotten too bad, but I race towards them as soon as I've cleared the tenth Elegy anyway. This is the shakiest part of the plan Tarin and Mari are both very capable fighters, even suppressed, but I'm very conscious of the fact that the harpies were toying with them last loop. The image of Mari, caught in one of the Lant's arms and struggling for breath, flashes in my mind. The thought of Tarin covered in scratches and cuts, black, almost ichor-like blood pooling beneath him...
But they'd been unprepared back then. A little more preparation and foreknowledge and they might be more of a threat to the harpies...
Which ans they might, in turn, push the harpies into being just that little bit more dangerous.
Sure enough, I nearly trip over a hole gouged into the ground as I arrive. ntal Acceleration allows to correct myself before I do, and gives the ti to take in the state of the fight.
It's not going as well as I'd hoped.
The holes gouged into the ground co from the harpies' screams and there are many of them, scattered across the battlefield like pockmarks. Mari and Tarin are holding their own, but it's clearly taxing for them to do so. Without the Firmant sense I have, they have to dodge out of the way the mont either harpy opens their mouths, and it's clearly wearing on them.
Just like before, Mari and Tarin are a little outmatched. The information I was able to share helps, but it's not enough to make the fight a fair fight. The important thing is that they can fight defensively their goal isn't to win, it's to stall long enough for to arrive, so we can fight them together.
It's a strategy that's paid off. Tarin doesn't seem nearly as injured as he was last iteration, and Mari is standing a half-step in front of her husband, protecting him.
"Trialgoer Ethan!" Tarin calls, noticing . "Finally! You ready?"
I'm not. But it's not like life ever waits for you to be ready, does it?
I dash in, flas lighting up my heels. I go for the Lant on the right, and Tarin and Mari go for the Lant on the left.
Crystallized Strength. Barrier.
Firmant floods into my muscles, and Firmant Manipulation guides it specifically into my arm. It explodes into a glowing, fractal pattern, visible underneath my skin.
The Lant's eyes widen.
This ti, when my fist connects with her face, her head snaps back with a powerful crack.
It's not actually enough to break her neck, of course. Her nose is smashed in, though, dark-red blood trickling down around frighteningly sharp teeth. I try to follow up with the scythe, the bladed weapon whistling towards her neck, but she manages to recover surprisingly quickly a powerful kick forces to step back, and the wind it creates is strong enough to blow my hair back.
She grins at . She actually grins, the look in her eyes wild and desperate, and sothing about it twangs against one of my skills.
Temporal Fragnt resonates.
I don't have ti to ponder. I give activating it a try, but the skill resists my attempts and before I can try again, she launches herself at , and I'm forced to throw myself into defense.
Barrier!
A second layer of blue manifests around just as she strikes, and just in ti her kick is powerful enough to shatter the first barrier and crack the second, and the force of it still sends sprawling. I grit my teeth and spring to my feet as quickly as I can, swiping forward at her with my scythe. Without Firmant empowering it, it might as well be a stick but she's cautious of , now, and she jumps out of the way, her eyes tracking warily.
Good.
I can't spare the seconds to track how well Mari and Tarin are doing. Well enough, I think, from the glimpses I catch of their fight it's clear that the two of them are much more practiced fighting together, and as a single unit against another opponent they're absolutely terrifying. Mari covers for Tarin, blocking every move he can't dodge, and Tarin moves with frightening speed, inflicting small but increasing wounds.
The Lant I'm fighting charges at again, and I narrow my focus down to just her. ntal Acceleration slows down the fight just enough that I have ti to process and optimize.
She throws a hooked strike at my right, aiming to catch across the face with her claws. I step to the right, pushing her arm to the left and forcing her to overextend; it throws her off-balance. A reinforced swipe with the scythe tears away at one of her wings, cutting deep into muscle and tissue halfway through the cut, the scythe gets stuck, and she simultaneously pivots, throwing a backwards kick at .
I manage to get both arms in the way just in ti, but even with a Barrier in place, it smashes through and then cuts one arm through to the bone. A flare of pain burns through my arm, and I grit my teeth. Barrier.
A new flicker of blue takes the place of the old, broken one.
It's not the best exchange, but one of her wings is half-dismbered. The whole thing is flopped over awkwardly, weighing her down on one side. I take the opportunity to strike, flooding myself with Crystallized Strength again, shaping a Barrier right at the edge of the scythe
I sense the building Firmant at the last second, and twist out of the way, just in ti for a powerful shockwave to gouge another hole in the ground. The impact once again sends the other Lant sprawling, and I make a connection.
Their attacks are more effective on each other.
It happened last iteration, too, but I didn't make the connection before. Mari and Tarin capitalize on it almost imdiately, a flurry of wings and feathers descending on the other harpy I call out a warning as I feel Firmant building up, and they jump back just in ti to avoid the blast of sound that arcs into the sky and then I have to focus on my own fight again.
But I'm calculating. This gives us the opportunity we need. If we can throw them both off at the sa ti, aim their attacks close enough at one another...
"Guys!" I call. "We need to aim them at each other! Their screams"
I have to stop talking to dodge a blow. It barely skates by my barrier, and for a mont I think I see sparks skittering off as talon slides against Firmant. But I can see both Tarin and Mari have gotten the idea they're adjusting, rotating so that the Lant they're fighting is facing , and I do the sa.
With our backs facing each other, I have no way to see what the other Lant is doing, or to track Tarin and Mari's fight I have to rely on my sensitivity to Firmant. I keep the Lant I'm fighting distracted, dancing out of the way of her strikes and fighting defensively for the mont, trying to bait out a scream.
Eventually, frustrated, she opens her mouth. I feel the Firmant building in two places, not one.
"Dodge!"
It's pure instinct that allows to flood my lungs with Firmant in just the right way. It's not necessary Tarin and Mari likely would have heard anyway but the pure urgency in my voice gets them to dive out of the way anyway, and I do the sa. Twin beams of compressed sound strike right in the center of the village, ringing out like a gong.
The resulting shockwave blasts all three of us back, and sends the two harpies flying.
I push myself past the ringing in my head and get up, staring out at the Lant that I'm supposed to kill. Her wings are in tatters. The blast of sound has sohow ripped gashes open in her skin.
I have no doubt that the other Lant is in a similar state. They're already on the verge of death. It would take just a single strike
A sudden spike of Firmant tells to look in the other direction. Mari and Tarin are headed towards their Lant, but not quickly enough.
Dread mounts in my heart as that Lant lets out a defiant screech. Far away as I am, I still see the look in her eyes filled with hatred, anger, and no small amount of grief. I don't get the ti to wonder what that's about, because the screech is filled with Firmant, and it's aid directly at her own chest.
Shit. I start running before I even see the results. I know exactly what she's doing, and it seems like Mari and Tarin get it, too, because both of them pivot and try to catch up to .
Triplestep. Firestep. Crystallized Strength.
I'm faster. I kick off from the ground hard enough to leave a divot in the dirt, speeding towards the second Lant at speeds that ntal Acceleration can barely keep up with. I grip my scythe tight in my hand.
Second Wind.
No reason to hold anything back now. I flood the scythe with Second Wind Firmant, even as I approach her. I can feel the Firmant cloud produced by the death of the first Lant behind , catching up with . Outspeeding .
It's faster, but I'm closer.
We hit the second Lant at almost the sa ti, and my scythe cleaves partway into her neck.
It stops at the bone, right as Firmant flares to life around her, and a shockwave of power forces back.
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