Jackal Among Snakes

Chapter 693: Horrors of a Foe Given Hope

The bolt of blood magic shot forth with enough speed that all onlookers saw was what had been left in its wake. Its tightly compressed power leaked out in jagged black-red sparks that tainted the land, leaving a tremendous field of coursing maroon power in the line it had travelled. An entire forest had become ash in half a second, and the hue marking the land only barely began to fade.

Argrave stared ahead with steady eyes, recovering from the tremendous burden that spell had put on him. Then, a voice cut across the scar he’d carved in the world.

“The favorite of your rudimentary gambits,” the voice said—a deep, rumbling voice that made one’s ears throb, one’s chest ache. “A cheap trick in your hands, but a suitable weapon in mine.”

Argrave’s bolt of blood thrust out of the crimson vortex, clenched firmly as a spear by a gargantuan hand of the same roiling black sludge he’d been fighting minutes ago. It stabbed directly at him, but Argrave met it without even closing his eyes. Claimed by Gerechtigkeit as his own weapon, the spell seemed liable to deliver its explosive power upon Argrave and all the forces at his back.

Before it could, it tilted upward and burst in a curving line with a destination in the sky. All of the clouds in sight vanished, dispelled by the sheer force of its ascent. That spell was Argrave’s, and it responded to his will as ably as any of his [Electric Eels]. It vanished like a rocket sent to space, but Argrave could firmly feel it connected to his being. He could feel its slow turn, adrift in space… and before long, he could feel its point aimed firmly at his target once more. It descended with the selfsame force it had left this planet.

The arrow of blood split the sky, burning the atmosphere, breaking the sound barrier. Thousands of sludge-like black hands rose into the sky on thin appendages, grasping at the bolt as it fell. Once it reached the heart of Gerechtigkeit’s essence, Argrave unbound the spell. Its power, tightly packed, exploded outward in a blooming spiral. The surge of vitality finally returning to Argrave was evidence that his attack had landed successfully.

Moments later, evidence reached all of them. The earth beneath shifted, the air around attempted to escape from the force, and the world itself reeled from the destructive impact of that single spell. As a wave of undeniable power slammed into Argrave hard enough to send him tumbling backward, he expected they’d feel the impact all the way in the Great Chu.

The one feeling it the most would be Gerechtigkeit.

When the dust cleared, the first thing that Argrave saw was a huge shell attached to an arm like a shield, facing the sky. The shell had been pierced through, and in the writhing mass of body parts that squirmed like a colony of worms in a panic, Argrave could see the lingering effects of his blood magic still eating away at the coalescing form of Gerechtigkeit. At this time, the calamity was at its most mutable, yet also at its most fragile. It was the perfect time to press the attack, breaking past this blockade Jaray had engineered.

back to find Anneliese, but she found him first, crouching beside him. “We’re going,” she said. He could barely hear her over his ringing ears. “Stout Heart Swan

Sophia sitting right in front of her atop the same wolf, and together their small party bolted forth like wind. Sophia seemed less tired, but still markedly so. Despite their speed, Argrave didn’t feel pressed to hold

the attack on Gerechtigkeit, less than half of the essence that he’d expended had returned to him. Such powerful one-shot spells were devastatingly powerful, yet not as energy-efficient as the ones he’d been using on the embryotic tissue. Gerechtigkeit’s consciousness was present, now, and

he created a Domain of Law, strengthening all allies. Their mad charge to break into Blackgard was emboldened further yet. From Gerechtigkeit’s writhing, transformative mass, a black crab’s claw rose to catch the golden sword. Raccomen seemed to appear from empty space, creating a shroud-like portal that enveloped the claw, transferring

been reduced to nothing more than history. None of its

by foes,” Anneliese shouted to Argrave, even as his spell continued to grow in power. “Even if we can lift the siege of the undead and those golems, we don’t want to be funneled into the valley. We can’t fly over the mountains, either—between the golems and the active

Stolen story; please report.

hard to speak, but he shouted back,

declared. “These hounds can traverse

Raccomen and Law fought as able allies. Argrave sought a place his [Bloodfeud Bow] would be used best, yet as he watched, Gerechtigkeit lashed out with a scorpion’s stinger at the god of justice. Raccomen redirected the attack into Law’s swinging golden blade, yet even as he cleaved the stinger in

Law tore into him, it appeared only as though his golden form was being sullied by the corruption of the calamity. Eventually, a hard black hand gripped his neck, and fire erupted

asked. “Must I

his spell still made its mark in this world as it lit up the sky. Both vanguard gods, seeing the coming airstrike, disengaged. As Raccomen attempted to phase away, one of the eye-golems erupted out of his own spatial portal—Argrave didn’t know when, but it must’ve discovered and entered the other side. It seized Raccomen, and before either deity could react, a colossal praying mantis

mantis arm and dealing considerable damage to the undefended calamity. Still, before the unending tide, the attack seemed underwhelming. This explosive charge had at least given them the time they needed to bypass Gerechtigkeit and near the mountains surrounding Blackgard. To Argrave’s right he could see barely see Mateth, under siege by undead giants of the Bloodwoods that’d walked the ocean floor to do battle here. To his

on the ground, legs sprinting full-throttle, and disgusting wings beating all at the same time to produce a horrifyingly face chase. It was only the effort

right,”

of them. These warriors were a twin to the silver

what Orion faced, but more than powerful enough to kill if