Chapter 158: Chapter 157: Manticore

They had been traveling for less than an hour when they heard the sound.

A man’s voice, deep and throaty, shouted out a wordless bellow. He was so loud and his tone was so base that Jadis could feel the reverberations in her chest. The roar echoed among the massive pine trees, causing all the birds to fly away in a panic. The whole squad of mercenaries froze with the sound, heads on a swivel as they tried to determine where exactly the awful noise had come from.

“That way,” Kerr pointed with one of her arrows before nocking it to her bow. “Over the hill.”

At her word, the men of Bernd’s Blades rushed forward and up the hill, their shields and spears at the ready. Jadis and her companions followed closely behind, though she let the other mercs take the lead since this was their hunt. As soon as she crested the rocky outcropping, Jadis spotted the creature that had to have made the noise.

The beast was big. Not a giant monstrosity like the hydra had been, but its lion-like body was twelve or so feet long, not including its thickly muscled tail that was almost as long as the rest of it. It stood five feet tall at the shoulder and had to weigh a thousand pounds. All that weight was muscle, too, since it was clear to see that the beast had little fat on its body. It had no fur, just pale pink skin that looked far too human. It wasn’t completely bare though, as its back and shoulders were covered in quills like a porcupine, their density decreasing the further down the spine they went. The end of its tail was thick with the quills though, the many sharp protrusions sticking out like a spiked club.

All in all, a bizarre creature but nothing Jadis found too unusual compared to some of the demons she’d fought before. Then the manticore turned to face them and her opinion promptly reversed as her three faces involuntarily curled their lips in disgust.

The manticore’s face was nightmarish. Like some kind of crude mockery of a neanderthal, it had a thick, heavy brow overtop heavy-lidded red eyes. Its broad nose and big thin-lipped mouth were all out of proportion, making the face feel stretched. It was hairless, its bald dome shining with reflected light, yet it had more quills on its boulder of a jaw, giving it a parody of a beard. In the brief moment it stared at them, its mouth opened wide in an inhuman smile to reveal rows and rows of sharp needle-like shark teeth.

“Formation A!” the captain of the squad commanded as the manticore let out another wordless bellow.

The dozen mercenaries of Bernd’s Blades quickly moved into a “V” shaped formation with a man Jadis didn’t know in the lead. The tip of the V pointed towards the manticore with the wings fanning out behind the lead. At the same time, the beast charged forward, covering hundreds of feet in seconds as it sprinted with all the speed of a tiger chasing down its prey. Just like a great cat would, the beast leapt through the air at the last moment, pouncing upon the lead man of the group.

Rather than succumbing to the power and weight of the beast as Jadis would have predicted, the lead merc raised his shield and shouted a word. From his shield swirled a hazy aura of dark mist, like a storm cloud had focused all of its presence directly on the man’s arm. As the manticore’s clawed paws struck, the man’s storm shield exploded outwards in a thunderclap of percussive energy, briefly engulfing the beast in fog.

The rest of the mercenaries reacted immediately. The wings collapsed in on the manticore, surrounding it on both sides like the jaws of a bear trap. The stunned monster was pierced by a dozen spears as the men attacked. In the same instant, the soldiers pushed their shields against the beast, holding it down in place as they continued to skewer its twisting, struggling body.

Jadis was impressed. These mercenaries had come prepared for a foe they knew how to handle and their tactics were working perfectly against it. Considering most fighters had far less physical strength than her, Jadis had wondered how small groups could handle larger, stronger enemies. But seeing these trained men work together with efficient tactics and coordination answered that question.

As Bernd’s Blades stabbed at the struggling beast, a question did enter Jadis’ mind, a question that was voiced by Aila who must have had the same thought.

“Where are the bramble fiends the scouts mentioned?”

A movement in the shadowy underbrush to Jadis’ left caught her attention a moment too late as a second manticore leapt out, its huge naked body pouncing towards where Eir and Sabina stood.

Jadis reacted fast, her bodies flying into motion as they rushed to defend her elven lover and half-elf friend. She wasn’t close enough to interpose her bodies between the beast and her vulnerable backline, but someone else was.

Thea’s shield blocked the monster’s pounce, taking the brunt of the attack. She didn’t have the thunder shield or whatever it was called the other mercenary had, though, so while her action saved Eir and Sabina from being pounced on, she herself was knocked to the ground under the full weight of the manticore. There wasn’t just this second manticore to worry about, either. This one had brought friends.

Dozens of beachball-sized tangles of briar vines launched themselves off of the raging monstrosity, with more coming from the bushes further down the hill. The demonically infested plant creatures hurtled themselves wildly at anyone that was near, their long vine-tendrils seeking to wrap around and strangle the life from their targets like living barbed wire.

A lot of things happened at once then. If Jadis didn’t have three sets of eyes and a partitioned mind, she probably wouldn’t have been able to keep track of everything.

Kerr loosed an arrow from her giant longbow, the projectile slicing through the air with an audible whistle before skewering a bramble fiend midair. The arrow carried the unfortunate demon back and into the shoulder of the second manticore, burying itself so deep into the monster’s flesh that the pierced fiend fell off the end like limp pasta.

Aila’s hand shot up and a spray of ghostly force bolts shot out in a cone. The powerful magic caught multiple bramble fiends in its deadly area of effect, shredding them to pieces along with all the underbrush that was in the way.

More fiends that weren’t caught by Aila’s magic threw themselves at the occupied mercenaries. Their thorny vines wrapped around their arms, legs, and torsos, interfering with their suppression of the still thrashing first manticore.

Sabina, in a surprising move, grabbed hold of Eir and leapt backwards, putting herself between the enemies and the priestess. It was a valiant action to take for the non-combatant, one that Jadis especially appreciated since it meant she could have all three of her bodies focus on the attack.

Syd’s lance caught the manticore in its other shoulder, stabbing deep into the pink flesh. The beast howled in a surprisingly high-pitched screech as it was pierced by both arrow and lance. However, its massive paws and disturbing head remained focused down on Thea as it tried to tear her limb from limb. Thea wasn’t passively letting the possessed monster try to eat her, though. Utilizing one of her skills, the shieldsworn suddenly bashed her shield upwards, knocking the monster’s head upward. It was the perfect timing, too.

Less than a second later Jay’s iron-banded club smashed into the manticore’s face with all the power of a sledgehammer hitting a melon. Jay had swung her weapon like a golf club and the impact sent the monster spinning off of Thea head over heels. Its limp body tumbled several yards down the side of the hill, crushing several bramble fiends as it went.

Dys did not engage the second manticore and instead charged the first. While the mercenaries were still managing to keep the wounded beast skewered, in the few seconds since the fiends had latched onto them they were already starting to lose their control. Two manticores were more than the mercs had bargained for and Jadis meant to put the balance of power back into their favor. Shoving the lead man out of the way, Dys’ eyes met the mad red eyes of the terrible beast that was already managing to shake the soldiers off despite its many wounds. It howled at her, a garbled mess of almost words that chilled her spine.

A giant-sized iron axe head slammed down into the skull of the struggling manticore, splitting it open in a gory mess of blood and brains. Instantly the sound was silenced and the monster went limp. What didn’t happen, however, was any kind of notification.

Jadis paused, confused. Demons always prompted mental notifications from the divinely created system that allowed for levels and experience points. She generally ignored them while in the midst of combat, but she still knew when they appeared, like a tickle in her brain that wasn’t quite bad enough to distract her focus but still noticeable.

With this manticore, however, there was no notification. It was definitely dead, though. She was damn well certain of it with how all life went out of it. If it was dead and hadn’t prompted a notification, then that meant—

A shout from Kerr distracted Jadis from her thoughts, bringing her attention back to the reality of the still active combat situation.

“Hey, big stuff! It’s not fucking dead!”

Dys looked down at the motionless manticore in confusion before Jadis realized that wasn’t the one Kerr had meant. Jay and Syd watched in fascinated horror as the second manticore she had sent rolling down the hill rose to its paws, its loose and floppy neck snapping back into place with an audible crunch.

In seconds its smashed face reformed from the pulp it had become back into a horribly distorted approximation of a woman’s face. It resembled the first manticore, but lacked a quill beard and had what Jadis could only describe as distressingly plump, feminine lips on its hideous face.

That awful face looked up the hill at where they stood and met their eyes. Its head tilted to the right, its expression almost inquisitive before its mouth split open into a too-wide shark grin.

“Oh, fuck that!” Kerr cursed before shooting another arrow down at the demonically possessed manticore.

The beast darted to the side, the arrow catching it in the torso instead of the head. It quickly disappeared into the shadowed underbrush, shocking Jadis with how easily such a large monster was able to hide itself from her sight.

“The demon inside is healing it!” Eir called out, her hands raised high as a warm light shone from her palms.

“Destroy its core or exhaust its magic supply!” Aila added while blocking a leaping bramble fiend with her force shield spell.

Jadis began to chase after the fleeing demon, but hesitated. There were still dozens of bramble fiends around them. The Bernd’s Blades mercenaries were handling the ones that had latched onto them well enough now that they didn’t have the first manticore to contend with, but Jadis was loath to leave so many demons still leaping around unchecked. Fortunately, she had a new spell that could help deal with the fiends while also possibly pulling the possessed manticore back towards her.

Mirror Shine was the only active spell Jadis possessed, but it was perfect for a heavy-duty tank like her. With a mental command, she expended the magic energy she needed to activate the spell.

All three of Jadis’ bodies began to shine like their armor was reflecting the sun’s light, even while standing in the shade of the trees. The light wasn’t blinding, nor did it illuminate the area around their bodies, but all the same they became brighter and far more noticeable. At the same time, every one of Jadis’ allies within thirty feet of one of her bodies seemed to dim. They didn’t go invisible, exactly; it was more like they were standing in shadows than anything else. Jadis could still easily see them, they just looked grayer and almost bland.

The effect on the bramble fiends was dramatic. Every fiend that wasn’t already latched onto a person turned on Jadis’ bodies and launched themselves at her. Suddenly, there were dozens of the balls of sharp spikes covering all three of her selves. Their vines wrapped around every available surface and squeezed with all their might, driving their thorns as hard into Jadis as they could while also trying to tangle and restrict her arms and legs.

Jadis almost laughed at how ineffectual the fiends’ attacks were against her. Their wooden spikes couldn’t puncture the thick steel of her armor at all, nor could their vines restrict her movements when matched against her overwhelming strength. With the thorny fiends stuck to her sides, Jadis began slapping her open palms against the demons latched onto her, swatting them like oversized bugs. With Thea and Kerr’s help, they were able to dispatch the majority in many times the speed it would have taken if the demons had been spread out and hurtling themselves at anyone and everyone.

“There!” Aila shouted, catching Jadis’ attention.

She turned just in time to see the definitely possessed manticore streak through a gap between trees and swipe at one of the mercenaries who was still pulling a bramble fiend off of his back.

The man cried out in pain as sharp claws shredded his scale mail and blood poured from the back of his thigh. The manticore didn’t follow up the attack though, instead slipping away into the brush again. It didn’t escape unharmed, though, as another of Kerr’s arrows struck it in the back.

“Why isn’t it attacking me?” Jay demanded of no one in particular.

“It probably has a higher resilience than the bramble fiends!” Aila replied as she began throwing down rune circles around their group.

That made some sense. Bramble fiends were weak and likely had little to no resistance to the power of her eldritch magic. But every possessed magic beast Jadis had fought in the past had been incredibly powerful. It did seem more likely that such a creature would have at least some resistance to her spell’s effects.

“Fucking great!” Syd shouted. Sure, she understood the logic, but that didn’t mean she had to be happy about it. “Then we turtle up! Bring it in!”

In a few moments, Jadis’ companions and the mercenaries gathered in a circle. Aila, Eir, and Sabina stood in the middle while everyone else made a wall around them with their shields and weapons facing out. With no more bramble fiends to get in the way, they all focused on bringing down the final enemy. Jadis’ three selves each stood facing a different direction, her several sets of eyes on a constant watch for the elusive manticore.

Kerr’s bow twanged as she let loose another arrow into a patch of shrubs. Half a second later Jadis heard the thump of the broad head arrow hitting flesh, followed by rustling leaves.

“Didn’t even see it that time,” Dys growled out next to the archer.

“It’s some kind of stealth skill,” Kerr growled right back. “Manticores don’t have them, at least not this fucking powerful. Has to be coming from the shitstain demon.”

A shout from the other side of the circle prompted a flurry of activity as the soldiers struck back at the manticore as it sprinted by, its claws scraping against shields before disappearing again.

“Fuck this shit,” Syd grumbled, lowering her lance and getting into a sprinter’s stance.

The manticore passed by a few more times, garnering a few more attacks and slashing at more of their group, but never committing to a full-on attack. Eventually, though, it made a mistake.

One big paw stepped inside a wide rune circle Aila had placed, triggering the snare trap. Translucent chains whipped up out of the ground and latched onto the manticore’s front leg. The power of this beast was such that in a second, it had shattered the chains and pulled itself free from the trap. But not without a small delay.

Activating Knight’s Daring Charge, Syd sprinted towards the monster at a speed half-again faster than her normal top speed.

Like a runaway train Syd slammed into the manticore’s left side. Her lance went through and through, lifting the beast up and carrying it down the hill as her charge continued forward several more yards. The beast twisted as it struggled to free itself from Syd’s skewering charge, its meaty tail thwacking her arms and sides in a futile effort. Syd’s armor was as good as a tank’s against the manticore’s attacks.

The ride was brought to an abrupt halt a few seconds later as Syd’s charge met with the broad side of a pine tree. Like many of the trees in the Great Southern Forest, this tree was one of the giant varieties, towering a few hundred feet in the air and with a trunk wide enough around ten men couldn’t encircle it. Jadis’ unstoppable force met the unmovable object, and the possessed manticore was unfortunate enough to be caught in the middle.

Syd’s shoulder and body smashed against the tree like a hammer against an anvil. It was enough force to send her rebounding backwards, while also enough to shake the whole giant pine and bring down branches the size of smaller trees. Syd’s brain was rattled inside her skull from the impact, but it was a far less gruesome fate than that of the manticore.

The beast’s body was literally split in two by the force of the collision. Its upper and lower halves were sent flying in opposite directions as a mess of blood, intestines, and black tentacles were splattered all over the tree trunk, the ground, and on Syd.

Jay and Dys were already halfway down the hill following after, so they saw right away that despite the utterly devastating blow, the damned demon was still alive.

The front half of the manticore was crawling forward, its hideous, oversized head twisting and turning as its mouth opened wide and let out horrific gasping and screeching noises. The gaping open wound that was left where its lower body had once been was trailing both guts and squirming black tentacles.

To Jadis’ disgust, the tentacles were actually pulling the organs back into what remained of the manticore’s torso. Further, she could see the flesh twisting and knitting itself back together. The demon was still pumping magic-fueled life into the corpse of the manticore, keeping it going beyond all that was reasonably possible.

Jay’s boot came down on the back of the possessed beast’s neck, halting it in its tracks through her crushing weight. Dys’ axe came down on the squirming mess a moment later, putting an end to the manticore’s corruption and the demon’s foul magic.

418