Chapter 519 Fight for freedom

Of course they don't want to fight, why would they want to fight? All they have to do is keep us here until more of their stupid triads show up. If I was them, I wouldn't fight me either! Argh! What the heck am I going to do now? My mind spins as another triad of Warriors straightens up behind us, trying to box us in. Two triads are here now, and I don't doubt there are more, including Shaper triads, on their way to track us down. I'm guessing if we try and fight these guys they'll just retreat and delay whilst keeping their eyes on us until enough show up that they can put us down.

I can't afford to wait! I need to force the action to happen right now!

Gravity mana floods my mandibles and they begin to glow an ominous purple. I turn to face the Warriors behind us, blocking us off from the passage Jim has retreated through. They brandish their weapons and ready themselves for battle, but they won't be prepared for what comes next!

YOINK!

I pull the Golgari positioned in the centre and he falls toward me in a rush. Mandibles open wide, I prepare to 'welcome' this guest to the battle but am interrupted when the other two members of the triad dash to their ally and throw themselves bodily at him, weighing him down. Interesting. Perhaps they were told a few things by the Shapers before they came out? If so, they work quickly. Even if they didn't fall into my mandibles, I've still created an opportunity. The three Golgari in front are lying tangled in a heap, unable to protect themselves.

[Tiny! Keep those three of our backs whilst I deal with these punks. Invidia, help me get these three out of action, but no fatalities.]

[Master, are you sssssure?]

[We don't need to give them extra motivation to hunt us down. I want them unable to fight, but still living. That means explody magic is on the shelf.]

[…. Understood.]

He does love a good explosion. Orders transmitted at the speed of thought, we pounce toward the Golgari who are leaping to their feet, but not quickly enough. My mandibles open wide and I snap them shut without activating any Skills. Somehow, my target manages to twist away and I follow as Inivida launches a blizzard of mental strikes against the Warriors. Easily spinning together three separate mind bridges, he packs each of them with dense blocks of mind mana and pummels the Warriors with them while he conjures illusions of monsters attacking from the shadows.

Under that sort of barrage the three have little hope of organising a fighting retreat as I close in. Sorry about this, stone-people, but I can't have you finding the Colony.

CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!

And just like that, three proud Warriors have been shortened. Their tough exteriors cause a bit of trouble, what with the stone skin and all, but ultimately they fall prey to my mandibles. They shouldn't be following us around any time soon.

[Heal them,] I command Invidia, [just not too much. I don't want them to die, but I don't want them to spring up and start dancing, either.]

The eyeball stares at me for a second.

[Isss that likely?]

[… The dancing? No!]

Invidia throws his little arms up in the air and deftly weaves his magic as roars and crashes resound behind me. Tiny appears to be enjoying himself as blades of light slash at his body and he responds with blasts of lightning and stone shattering punches. He's holding on well for now, this might be a good chance to disappear.

[Keep holding them off, Tiny! I'll try and vanish and then we'll get you and Invidia out!]

"ROOAAR!" He bellows, throwing another haymaker.

I think that means he's got the plan. Maybe.

[Invidia, back him up, make sure he doesn't annihilate anyone.]

Time for me to split! I'll get myself out of here, make sure Jim is safe, then extract my pets without drawing down further heat! It's perfect! Things could not be going better!

FWOOSH!

BOOM!

A massive fireball explodes right in front of my face, searing my antennae with heat and causing me to scuttle backwards. Yeeouch! What the heck was that?! I let my guard down for one second and now I'm getting bombarded with spells!?

[More of them, Massster!] Invidia hisses.

Then he does a neat trick which I need to get the hang of myself, he uses our mind bridge to send a snippet of information, much the same way I use it against enemies to distract and deceive. Instead of working against me however, he sends me an image of what he can see, another triad rushing down the tunnel, flinging spells at Tiny. Dammit! Those idiot Shapers have arrived! This makes things much more difficult…

My senses tingle as I detect the early signs of more magic being thrown our way.

[Snuff it out, Invidia!]

Charged balls of fire streak through the air towards us, endangering the wounded Golgari just as much as us. These idiots don't even know they're here! Working together, Invidia and I reach out our minds and seize hold of their magics, ripping them apart at the seams until they failed, falling to pieces and fizzling out in the air. How the heck am I supposed to escape into obscurity now? If I leave Tiny and Invidia to fight these guys on their own, there's no way they'll be able to hold them off, especially if they aren't allowed to utilise lethal tactics.

This situation is rapidly turning against me and I'm not hopeful I'll be able to get out of here with a happy ending. It might be time to start getting rough with these dang Golgari, I'm tired of messing around.

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