Depthless Hunger

Chapter 108: The Last Dregs of the City

Had he smashed her with a box?

That was Inafay's first thought as she struggled back to consciousness. All her battle instincts were still blaring and she very nearly took a swipe at the healer who was tending her. It took several seconds for her body to catch up with the fact that Kai had defeated her.

And that he'd been right. When the boxes had started exploding, she'd realized that they were filled with coins and other valuables. Most likely they had been lying to her in order to make her go along, which made her feel a chaotic mix of anger and guilt. There was no time for any of that.

"What's going on with the battle?" she demanded. The woman shrank back and stammered a reply.

"I-I'm sorry, milady, but the barbarian forced us to stay in the city. It looks bad... I know you wanted to escape, but we had no-"

"That's fine, that's fine!" Inafay burst out of the bed and looked around for her gauntlets. Lying just beside her, good. She tugged them on and unlocked the door.

"Please, you took a serious blow! You need to rest."

Inafay checked her head for blood, saw that it had been cleaned off, then shrugged. "I'm healthy enough to fight. Let's go, before everything turns bad."

None of the others stopped her as she pushed her way up to the deck. As soon as she got a look at the city, she realized just how badly things had gone. The largest threat was clearly an absolutely gigantic monster stomping through the lower city. Her wind abilities were always weak against armored opponents, so she had absolutely no chance of doing more than annoying such a beast.

She was more likely to be able to help the main group of defenders, who were fighting just above the wall to the inner city. As she watched, she saw several of her peers defending the entrance. There were even vines flowing over the gate to reinforce it and monsters flying away from hammer blows. So that was what Kai had done with those two.

Since they seemed to be holding, she looked for anywhere else in the city that could use her help. Immediately she saw Kai fighting his way down the central street, alone. But it was nothing like their fight not so long ago. When he swung his hands, she could see the impact of invisible energy like three giant claws tearing through monsters and anything else in his path. If anything did get close, he tore it apart with strength he hadn't shown during their duel.

At first she was furious. Had he been treating her lightly by not using his full power? But as she watched Kai fight his way toward the largest monster, she realized that she had it all wrong.

He had given her a fair fight, human against human. Whatever he had done to change himself, he was unleashing his monstrous powers on opponents who deserved to die.

Inafay couldn't help but grin. Oh, she wanted to try to fight him like this, but she could respect that he hadn't. One more thing they would need to talk about after the battle was won. Surely Hannagan Lantrian couldn't be so stubborn after Kai had helped save all Monskon City. All she needed to do was make sure that the battle was won and everyone could begin rebuilding.

Something flashed underneath the ship and she turned in time to see a monstrous eagle pass over the defenders on the inner wall. One of its four wings had been partially torn off, yet it was still faster than most monsters she'd seen. The hunters didn't seem to have a good counter, because they all flinched or retreated.

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That gave the monsters below time to near the gate. Inafay could see that the gates themselves had been torn off their hinges, which mean that only the single Earthenshield she could feel forming a stone barrier was holding the entrance. Once he ran out of mana, the monsters would tear into the last part of the city and begin slaughtering.

She knew exactly where she needed to go, then.

So far the monstrous eagle had been completely ignoring the airship, but Inafay intended to change that. When it circled around for another pass at the defenders, she sent out a wind burst. Just when she thought it might strike one of the wings, the entire creature rippled and her mana passed through harmlessly.

When the eagle finally turned toward them, Inafay felt the world twist around her. If her clan hadn't forced her through the early Frontier training, she might have collapsed right then. Even though the effect was more intense, she forced her way through it and prepared a more powerful burst.

Before the eagle could dive toward the ship, she thrust out both fists to emit two larger spheres of wind. The eagle twisted sideways to fly through them, but that was when her trap hit. Both spheres began circling around one another, hot and cold air forming a whirlwind that quickly picked up her mana. Soon there was a green tornado burning over the city with the monster caught in its most intense gales.

It wasn't enough. Inafay poured in all the mana she could, but her most intense winds had always been reserved for close proximity. She could maintain the tornado for some time, she just knew it couldn't kill the tainted monster.

Within the slashing mana, it continued to distort itself until it barely resembled a bird of any kind. It couldn't dodge the whirling threads of mana, but it bent along with them. An ordinary monster would have been torn apart, but it was not only surviving, it was regaining strength. When it reformed one wing and attempted to flap out of the tornado, it nearly escaped.

Inafay choked and dropped down to one knee as she struggled to shift the tornado. She had enough mana left for one good blast, but the tornado was her strongest technique from a distance. If that couldn't work...

"Hey!" She shouted toward one of the officials watching the battle in horror. "Don't just stand there, fly toward that thing!"

"W-what?"

"Move the airship closer! Quickly, before I wear down!"

The official she'd yelled at was too stunned, but another one rushed down to the control room. Soon Inafay felt the ship lurch closer to the monster pinned in midair. That possibility gave her the strength to stand again. She didn't need to tear it apart from here, just keep the winds moving fast enough that it couldn't escape.

Even as they got closer, pulling up almost alongside the monster, Inafay could tell that it wasn't enough. She could have poured all her mana into the tornado and still not killed it.

Not that she'd ever been intending to do that.

Inafay sprinted for the side of the ship and leapt off the side, directly into her own tornado. She drew in a deep breath, pulling back in all the mana that still circled in the air. For a brief moment she was suspended in the air in front of the eagle. It was beginning to reform, injured but still strong enough to stretch a talon toward her...

Then she unleashed all the mana she had left into a sphere. The raw power kept her in the air for several seconds as the sphere raged around them with the fiercest winds she could muster. She saw the flying monster finally tear apart, its remnants scattered to the streets below.

After that, she fell herself. She had really been hoping that someone would jump to catch her or something.

With nothing left, Inafay bounced painfully off a rooftop and then hit the street. The impact stunned her and would definitely leave a mark, but that was meaningless compared to the real problem. She'd used up every last drop of her mana and it had left her in the middle of monster-infested territory. Considering how difficult it was for her to get back to her feet, she could only hope that the defenders had seen what she had done.

No such luck. As she limped down the street, Inafay saw monsters pass by. Several noticed her and turned back. Several dogs, a boar, and one of those evil deer... she might have been able to bludgeon the others to death with her gauntlets alone, but those deer were too fast.

It lowered its razor sharp antlers toward her and charged. Inafay took a deep breath and raised her fists for all the good it would do. Only three paces left... two...

A monstrous hand closed around the deer's antlers and jerked it back. Inafay turned blearily toward her savior, then her eyes widened in shock.

"No way..."

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