29 Dear Brother
Mailee held onto her sheath tightly on one hand and the hilt of the sword on the other. She concentrated onto the many eyes of the scorpion. The scorpions were craving for tender meat for a long time. For far too long they had been consuming dead waste which were often picked by other monsters.
The scorpion in the middle of its pack did not hesitate in its movement when it burrowed out of the sand. If it did not get the petite lady with such smooth mahogany skin, the others would get to it first. Mailee took her stance and ready to take her counterattack when the opportunity arises.
The first scorpion sniped its tail down towards her with a swift pierce. As the venomous barb on its tail was at least a centimetre away from Mailee, the scorpion was preparing its right pincer to scoop her up for the bite. However, she sidestepped the tail's attack with tremendous ease and there was an cerulean aftershadow at the spot, causing the leading scorpion to miss.
Mailee wanted to slash the barbed tail but the scorpion was a desert veteran. It blocked the attack with its right armoured pincer as a reflex from the previous intention. Mailee took a step back and took a deep breath. Her sword fighting abilities and her agility were tested to the limit. The other scorpions are now rushing towards her since the first scorpion missed.
There was nowhere for her to run. The scorpions are the assassin trackers of these vast desert. Once it locks you down, it is either you become its food or it dies trying. "Dear Brother, looks like I am not even close to saving you…"
Mailee teared a little as she deflected the second scorpion's pincers grab maneuver with her sword. She whispered a little and an ice javelin was shot out of a magic circle stopping the third scorpion's advance. The javelin chipped a part of the carapace of the third scorpion which made it enraged.
It threw its tantrum and started bashing its pincers on the sand. The sand ejecta affected Mailee causing her to be distracted and blinded by it. She quickly took a jump backwards to try and gain some form of distance. Yet, the scorpions did not let her a chance to slip away.
The fourth scorpion rushed flurriedly and it managed to grabbed onto Mailee's leg. It took this chance to pull her forward with its might. All it had to do now was to paralyse her with its barbed tail and it can savour the victory spoils.
Mailee thought this was the end for her. Her vision was still affected, her stance was messed up and her left leg was trapped in the scorpion's pincers. and she started to face the the truth of defeat.
"Goodbye Brother." As she was waiting for her death to be realised, a weird sound had been bothering her. It was not the sound of the desert. It was not the sound of a monster she heard before. It was a humming sound and it got louder as time passes.
At the corner of the eye as she was dragged by the pincer of the hungry scorpion, she suddenly saw a blurred vision of a metal box with wheels gliding over her with the exact humming sound coming from it.
It crashed straight into the body of the scorpion and the pain of the crash caused its pincer to release Mailee. She quickly rolled away and wiped the sand out of her eyes. The scorpion hit by the metal box was dead instantaneously.
A black shroud appeared at the side of the the metal box and out came bolts of furious lightning paralysing the other three scorpions. A teenager like her dashed out of the box with a slanted blade and he stabbed the paralysed scorpion through its eyes.
He then pulled his slanted blade sideways creating a large wound and he summoned a black spear to pierce into the wound. As the spear was punctured through the scorpion, multiple black spikes immediately protruded out of the body of the scorpion from various directions forcefully.
The scorpion was thoroughly killed by internal wounds from the black spikes like a pufferfish breaking out of a balloon. In this case, the scorpion was the broken balloon.
Mailee was so shocked by the turn of developments she could barely even react. Another teenager appeared out of the metal box with a blacksmith's hammer glowing azure in colour.
He slammed the hammer down on one of the scorpion causing a great indent on the carapace. The scorpion lost all balance and went flat on the sands. He then took the hammer and gently hit it onto a wooden stick in his other hand.
The wooden stick glowed brightly and a terrifying sound reverberated through Mailee's ears. That scorpion's tail dropped to the ground and soon Mailee realised the scorpion was lifeless. There was some smoke appearing from the end of the wooden stick.
A man now came out of the metal box which was now stuck in the body of the first dead scorpion. The man seem extremely refined and he was wearing clothes that Mailee could not identify. It was formal but yet it feel that it represented power.
With a snap of his fingers, a large focused discharge of electricity flew from his gauntlet and to the remaining scorpion on sight. "Is that the forgotten powers of Indra?!" Mailee exclaimed in her heart. The superior spear of judgement from the days when the ancient king of gods still rule the land. The power of lightning being wield by man himself.
Is he the reincarnation of the King of Gods, Indra? Mailee was so stunned she did not realised she was in fatal danger until she heard and felt sand ejecta from behind. The last scorpion actually burrowed underground and decided to sneak attack on its prey.
Few seconds later, Mailee was still alive and she heard blood dripping.
She slowly turned her head and saw the scorpion hanging behind her like an art portrait. If she squints her eye, she can see that there were semi visible black threads holding the scorpion and the threads had a slight glow of azure as well.
"That was a magnificent combination of Shroud and Strengthen." Raizan gave a nod of approval. The trio started to walk towards Mailee and Sen wanted to ask if she was alright.
On the other hand, Mailee felt the footsteps of her saviours or potential killers extremely frightening. She decided to bet it all and kneel down with her head on the ground towards them. "I beg of you my saviours! Please accede to my lowly request!"
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The wall of fire was an effective deterrent and it started to fend off the intruders from Hongshan Village. Colonel Bao was satisfied with the performance of his Sun Foxes but he felt something was amiss. "Am I thinking too much?" Colonel Bao thought to himself as he stood in the rain to see the progress of the wall of fire.
"Fox Two, retreat from the area even further, do not pursue the enemy. All other mages stand down. Earth Mages from all Fox platoons, stand by defensive spells." The troops under him immediately do what was ordered without questioning Colonel Bao.
They knew their leader might be ridiculous at times with his orders but it is such ridiculous orders that kept most of them alive. Some of the veteran soldiers knew that Bao might start to get paranoid by the immense success of the wall of fire and for good reason.
"Hit the explosives now." Major Felix grinned widely. Twenty soldiers who was preparing the blasting machine was waiting for that command from Black Lynx Commander Major Felix for ages. The soldiers simultaneously pushed the trigger of the blasting machine and the explosives hidden at the middle of a mountain detonated.
A series of explosions at the mountains near the forest was seen from the vantage points of Hongshan village. Massive amounts of sand and rain causes a major landslide towards the forest. The mud from the landslide was similar to a tide from an incoming tsunami and it extinguishes the inferno raging the forest.
Like a prayer being answered by the weeping forest, the rain got even heavier which cause the landslide to move furiously towards Hongshan village.
"Earth Mages, create a ditch as deep as you can in front of the fort walls!" Bao commanded. With spell incantation ready, all the earth mages have to do was to change their wording of their spells a little to get the effect Colonel Bao wanted."
A ditch deep as a valley was created and this allowed the landslide to have little effect against the sturdy fort walls of Hongshan Village.
"This can only be the work of Felix!" Bao cursed. To have the Black Lynx following wherever the Sun Foxes go. Colonel Bao regretted not risking the opportunity to kill Felix when he had the chance.
"Hahah Bao, let the fun begin again~!" Felix laughed heartily in the night rain.
