The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'-Chapter 305 - The Amorphous Surreality Of Discipline Vs Coordination

Chapter 305: Chapter 305 - The Amorphous Surreality Of Discipline Vs Coordination

Their bodies were coalesced into vaguely humanoid shapes with thin elongated limbs that ended in barbed appendages, which tapped against the alley walls. Forms that seemed to reject the darkness around them made up the small creatures’ amorphous insides - creating voids in reality deeper than mere absence of light.

The edges rippled with unnatural movement... as though the essence their body was composed of struggled to maintain coherence. Proof that their entire being was not designed to exist in permanence. At least on the material plane.

Multiple points of white flame flickered across what might generously be called their heads. Functioning as sensory organs, but looking like ’eyes’ in no conventional sense. They burned with the cold sense of intelligence if stared into.

The little girl whimpered and buried her face against Qatrand’s shoulder as the cultivator instinctively shifted. Her body was angled between the child and the approaching threats.

’Not enough room to draw my weapon, either, even if I wasn’t holding her.’

The relatively narrow alley offered little room to maneuver with a civilian in her arms. The trio of Voidlings paused as the white flames pulsed in unison. Recognizing the behavior, though experiencing it herself for the first time, Qatrand whispered to the child while backing toward the alley entrance.

"Hold tight."

They surged forward with a single purpose as if receiving a command all at once. The lead Voidling especially lunged with unnatural speed. The Yecine pivoted sharply to one side, her trained reflexes allowing her to sidestep the first attack while keeping the girl shielded.

The creature’s barbed limb scraped against the wall where she’d been a moment before, ripping and sending stone fragments scattering across the ground. With a breath and a leap out of the remaining distance, Qat’s bellowed order dwarfed the ambient voices of the evacuation.

"Helace, on me!"

With no hesitation the archer she called for by name turned and fired an arrow. It whistled through the air and struck the second enemy on her heels. The projectile pierced right through what passed for its primary ’organ’.

An eldritch shriek of high-pitched pain was emitted before its form collapsed into a puddle of dissipating, toxic essence. The remaining two Voidlings showed no particular reaction to their companion’s demise, their focus and rush unwavering as they advanced on Qatrand.

"Here!"

A fighter appeared rushing her way with his blade already drawn. He moved with to position himself between Qatrand retreating with the child without taking his eyes off the enemies. Ryder wanted to grumble over how being sent away for such little time already led to their group’s ’leader’ being attacked.

"Get the child to safety."

But the image of a Yecine of all things holding tight to the vulnerable mortal instead of tight to their blade sharpened his focus. As Qat moved past without a word, the distinctive sound of a cultivator’s blade swinging through the air was heard. Followed by that same spine straightening shriek.

Bursting into the group of evacuees, the tall teen quickly located the distraught mother and carefully handed the girl. The woman clutched her child with desperate intensity while starting to sob.

"Thank you... thank you..."

"Move, now!"

The sergeant called while approaching. He had heard the bellow and knew that enemies must have made it close already. The man ushered the pair toward the evacuation route so that the cultivator could return to the fight.

With her hand on the hilt of her heavy blade... the raven-haired swordswoman took a step towards the people out there under her command. Many sounds echoed from multiple directions as the Army pushed to create new defense lines.

Ryder ran to match stride with his blade coated with the viscous, dark substance that seemed to be evaporating even as it dripped to the ground. His voice was tight and annoyed.

"The captain decided I was less useful there than here." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

"Thank you for the assistance. However, I’m not sure about that. They became too coordinated for first-wave. She might be underestimating this."

The Void Defense Society member nodded grimly.

"With a small group like that, it suggests their relatively standard disruption and isolation tactics for softening locations. They shouldn’t be this organized yet, unless..."

A wave of noise rose from the north of town where they headed. The Continental Army soldiers had hurriedly formed a disciplined wall. With a formation three rows deep: front with their shields locked together, next with spears extending through the gaps, and last with crossbows nocked and ready.

Prepared for a normal early assault. The familiar weight of the gifted blade was balanced perfectly in her hands as she assessed the glimpses of Voidlings moving towards the defensive line. Captain Cyera herself took charge of the group.

"Hold formation! Steady!"

"Your chosen archer is providing them good coverage."

The cultivator beside Qat noted. From the tall rooftop, steady shots picked off only Voidlings attempting to flank the formation to conserve his limited ammunition.

"Yes, he knows his business. All of us do."

She rolled her shoulders to loosen them for the coming fight. Diving in now would just get in the way of the mortal crossbowmen. As they loosed bolt after bolt into the wave before it could crash into the shield wall, her feet shifted and Gravity essence gathered to lighten the swordswoman’s form.

Spears thrust forward as the men behind the shield’s held firm. Piercing the amorphous forms of the creatures. Yet for each Voidling that fell in a disconcerting shriek, three more seemed to hop into the space.

"They’re testing the line now. Looking for weaknesses to overwhelm."

A soldier’s cry of pain cut through the night air as a Voidling’s barbed limb slipped through a gap in the formation, ripping the shield from his grip. Before it could buckle and provide a wedge to split the group... Qatrand *moved*.

With a lower physical cultivation and a different method of lowering the resistance than her wife, she was ’slower’. But that did not matter to the mortals, as half the speed of ’no time at all’ was all the same.

Her thick blade cleaved through three of the creatures in a single arc, Void essence dispersing in a cloud sent bursting back from the point of impact. The unstruck Voidlings nearest her body staggered from the directional press of Gravity.

Already wobbling edges unraveled, her Element proving unexpectedly effective at disrupting whatever process they held together their forms with. In the few moments of seeing the cultivator’s intervention, the soldiers to either side of her roared and bolstered their footing.

Returning along the far flank, Kefa danced between groups of the creatures. Her twin blades swiped in many directions - a blur of continuous motion that had her attached lantern swaying and bouncing.

Behind her was the shield bearer who held the rearguard of the retreating outer defenses, his unscalable plank of metal letting the battered soldiers regroup with the others by only pushing forward. For several minutes, the combined forces of mortal and cultivator fought to cover each other.

During a momentary lull, pigeon-blues turned back to verify that the town was emptying. Her eyes narrowed at sighting a new wave of Voidlings emerging into the town from side streets. Their motion felt even more methodical than the initial surge.

Ryder dispatched one of the creatures wailing at the end of a soldier’s spear and turned his head the same way.

"Something’s wrong. They shouldn’t be running out of steam so fast."

"We needed to retreat and collect our forces around the evacuees soon, so this is a positive."

From nearby, Cyera called out her assessment. The old woman looked tired, having the grit but not the vitality of her younger days. Vantablack ichor dripped from the tip of a short spear in her hands.

She would not have her men hold the most dangerous locations without herself being present in the scrum. The Void Defense Society shook his head at her persistence and her evaluation.

"Signs point to a leader-class coordinating them. It must be observing us from somewhere nearby and changing up its plan."

The observation chilled Qatrand. Leader-class Voidlings rarely directed operations this early in a Descent cycle. Their intelligence and solitary power made them far more dangerous than the cannon fodder currently trying to whittle away their defenses and energy.

"We’ll move the formation. Keep it tight as we march. My team will handle any breakthroughs."

The Captain nodded and turned back to her troops, barking orders as she moved. A smiling Kefa strode up and eyed the growing number of Voidlings moving their forces toward and between them and those they were meant to protect.

"Bold promise. I thought we weren’t meant to engage this heavily if things turned strange?"

The Yecine she teased on her adrenaline high only glanced over before walking where she would be needed next. Her low voice rumbled in her chest as she explained her excuse.

"Those orders were given without knowledge of the Continental Army being present. Five of us alone protecting four hundred is a different situation."

"Different how?"

Helace asked as he fell in line. His arrows had gone dry early and - while he’d fought his way over with his axe to retrieve some of them - the fighter was pretty much committed to being part of the up-close infantry. He hated using arrows that had been fired once with no time to check for flaws.

"Because now the risk we take is helping slow the deaths of soldiers in defense of civilians, instead of risking ourselves for the weaker mortals. The Yecine conception of duty is quite so."

Ryder commented drily... despite walking with them right toward that danger. Despite recognizing that the one he criticized had acted a little differently than that, earlier. Qat didn’t mind his tongue this time. After all, it solved one riddle for her.

’So, it’s not me but my family. I am fine with that. As long as he doesn’t make it personal and start pushing at things related to El again...’

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