Jackal Among Snakes

Nikoletta stared down at a head. She had a strong image of Rovostar in her mind—big, brawny, bald, clean-shaven… but his time on the run made him grow both a beard and hair. And his big body was half-buried in the sand, bleeding even now. He hadn’t even been able to mount a defense—the elves were efficient. He and all his servants were dead. All they managed was a scream.

She had been envisioning this as some desperate struggle, but it was a complete slaughter. Most of that result was due to the man next to her. He was a wood elf and an A-rank mage, and he had been particularly zealous in helping her recover her father. Her father, Duke Enrico, was sitting off to the side, a little bloodied, malnourished, and ill-treated…but decidedly alive. And that was what mattered.

“Argrave told me there’d be a woman with them,” she looked at the elf who’d been so helpful thus far. “Georgina. Did you kill anyone like that? She’d be a mage.”

Every single one of the wood elves she’d seen had red eyes, but this man had rich green-blue eyes that danced like a pool of water. When she’d asked him, he said it had something to do with his A-rank ascension.

“I’m afraid not,” the elf said smoothly. “Only men in their number, I’m afraid. Or extremely ugly women. I don’t care to check…”

Nikoletta laughed through her nose quietly.

“I can say firmly no one escaped,” he added.

Nikoletta nodded. “I’ll ask my father about it, then.” She focused on him. “I have to thank you for trying so hard. I’m not sure that my father would have made it if not for you…” she trailed off slowly.

“Perhaps not,” the elf shook his head. “But I think it best that elves and humans cooperate. It’s in their best interest, wouldn’t you agree?”

Nikoletta nodded. “Indeed. And… what’s your name?”

The elf smiled broadly. “Dimocles.”

Nikoletta blinked for a few moments. She didn’t know anyone by that name, but… even still, it drew her attention for some reason. “That name… it’s from Vasquer, isn’t it?”

some coincidence. You can see these on my head, can’t you?” Nikoletta looked at

step back, feeling he might be propositioning her. “No thank you,” she politely refused.

a family heirloom. I can’t very

“…sure, I suppose I can do that. I don’t know how

have friends in high places,” Dimocles smiled. “Anyway… I’ll give you some time

watched briefly as he walked off, and then turned back to her father the duke. She

twisted it in his hand, then stowed it away. Behind a tree out of sight, he retrieved a mirror to watch as he stroked his ears. As he stroked, they stretched a bit further out. After examining them in the mirror, he squashed them back

fine,” he muttered, putting the

######

out a large chunk of the ants, sure

appearance alone. They were quite literally earthen. Fire would not affect them as severely as other insects. It had no true weaknesses—not elemental, at least. And with things like this, it was time for Argrave to

you to focus on watching me, stop me from getting hit or snuck up on. And I… I’m gonna push my head to

put his

rooted both feet down. He held his left hand flat off to the side, while the other faced upward at the giant constructed of ants. Its face seemed terrifying… but after a deep breath, he barely even realized it

again, until they were twenty. Argrave felt a headache developing from focusing on so many things, and if he’d needed to focus on keeping himself safe this would have failed. He barely saw the earthenware titan—instead, there was only himself, his echoes, and their

hand conjured [Electric Eels]. His right called forth [Bloodbriar Bullwhip], and a thorny tendril hundreds of feet long erupted out of his hand.

twenty B-rank spells of devastating power met it, cutting straight into the meat of their constructed body. It endured the power of the attacks ably—it had flinched from S-rank spells, but B-rank blood magic would not

Argrave saw ants fall from where the bullwhips struck in droves, one after the other. And this encouraged him to pull his hand back and try again. Twenty more whips came—crack, they echoed, the sound multiplied by the

to his knees, his concentration broken. All of the blood echoes returned to him. The [Electric Eels] swirled about the air, a small star

blue-white destruction more than capable of killing most anything Argrave had fought before.

they must’ve separated. He had intended for the shock to spread through all of them, but they split apart, and only a large clump was hit. Hundreds burst into blinding light, but hundreds more fell to the ground unharmed. They formed into smaller giants, each perhaps ten feet tall, and continued their