Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Book 3: Chapter 73: Queen(s)

Chapter 73: Queen(s)  A single [Wind Lance] pierced through the chest of a chimera with a head that had a disturbingly dog-like appearance. As Alex rushed forward he felt a bit bad about that one, flashbacks of the family dog from when he was a kid coming to mind in the heat of the battle. But the purple-black blood that sprayed from it’s back on the exit wound reconfirmed to Alex that the creature was indeed not his childhood pet, Chu-chu-train.

Of course, the hard chitin coating, antennae, rock covered back and humanoid bipedal posture should have been more than enough, but Alex hard trouble getting passed the floppy ears and muzzle of its face.

The beast closest to Alex pounced at him, bear claws out and aimed at his face. He ducked under the blow, slamming a fist into the creature’s outstretched arm, and heard a satisfying crack. The chimera stumbled back, only to receive a haymaker to its face, along with an [Aether Burst] which exposed its brain inside its skull, and promptly atomized half its face

[Shield] flickered to life as a snake headed chimera attempted to bite him, only to have a spear ran through its throat by Peter. The creature gurgled then fell over off Peter’s blade and onto the grass. Alex gave a nod and was off again, planting a roundhouse kick in the back of another chimera—which had rather wolverine looking features and boiling toxin dripping from its mouth—stopping it from jumping on a distracted Tom-Tom.

The Kobold’s ladles were at the time occupied, with the ankles and legs of a Lion-headed chimera with writhing spikes for a mane, which was locked in melee with Henry.

Behind the large, stoic middle-eastern man, was Garret. The tank had his shield held high against a descending Chimera with outstretched bird wings, and a wicked sharp lance extending from an arm that looked a lot like a bird’s beak. The same bird-like Chimera that had a flickering black scythe of condensed shadow poised at its neck due to Zach who had repositioned.

The wolverine-headed chimera Alex had kicked, was tossed across the ground and crashed into a tree a dozen yards away. Alex didn’t receive a notification, so it must have been alive, but he doubted that would be the case much longer. He moved on to a humanoid deer beast that was causing Cole some trouble with rapid-fire lasers it looked to be firing from its antlers.

It had been like this for five minutes now, a slog of humanoid chimeras of varying amalgamations of animals and abilities far too numerous for Alex to ever memorize all of them. But each was humanoid in a way, bipedal, intelligent, and each was Adept Tier, meaning things were not looking good.

Peter had helped Alex with the snake chimera, but Peter’s spear arm was already slick with blood from a wound at his shoulder. Zach was assisting Garret, because the tank had a broken arm and couldn’t wield his sword. Tom-Tom was at the ankles of the chimera attacking Henry, because Henry’s chest currently looked like an unrolled ribbon spool of sliced skin. Even Alex himself had various puncture-wounds in his leg from a beast that got a few bites in on him earlier.

All around him it was the same. His friends and teammates were wounded and bleeding, but pushing on against the horde of chimeras on one side, and on the other side, the Empire soldiers (those that had regrouped after the Andreia’s crash) pressed in to fight against them both.

It was a triangle of carnage, Beast, Strider, and Empire blood spread all around.

Where’s the Queen, Obby? We can’t just keep bleeding here, we need to find and kill the Queen. Alex shouted in his mind.

“Scanning, but I’m not finding her. There’s too much going on, too much aether in the air. Pull back and get a better view.”

And leave everyone to die? No, can’t do that.

Obby gave a mental head shake, “Then we will have to wait for her to arrive.”

Fuck!

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Alex didn’t want to leave the ball in their court. The more time they spent fighting, the more things would swing in their enemy’s favor, whether that be the Chimera, or the Empire. He couldn’t imagine them being able to hold out even five more minutes.

Maybe less, a lot less.

A large rhino-headed chimera broke Alex out of his thoughts, its massive frame barreling toward him with horn glowing brightly on its face. He didn’t want to guess what ability this beast was activating with its horn, so he jumped. The Rhino attempted to raise it head to follow his movement, still intent on impaling him clean through his body.

His foot touched down on its snout just below the shimmering horn, [Aether Burst] flashed from his boots, focused forward in a tight line that rippled into the beast’s face, and detonated the horn’s energy prematurely. He watched numbly as the beast’s entire head exploded, black blood, flesh and bone fragments flew in all directions, splattering against his robes.

The System's kill notification flickered and he swiped it away.

“Alex, we need to fall back!” Eric shouted over the battle. His fists were just as bloody as Alex’s, crimson and purple in equal measure.

“Fuuuck!” He scanned around himself once more, looking for an opening he could make for a retreat. A section on the chimera side had a thin spot, somewhere he might be able to power through and force a gap for the others to follow. “We need suppressive force!”

Eric performed a quick hand movement signal to Ghrukk, the Ork was close by, halberd swinging as he ripped through an Empire Soldier. But he saw the signal and he nodded, before whistling loudly through pursed lips.

The worldstrider’s moved in sync with their allies, a formation shift happening without the need of verbal confirmation. The Tanks surged at the pocket Alex pointed toward, Garret, Henry, Doran and Sarson all taking the lead. The Strikers covered the sides with swift attacks, and their Ranged experts took the back right flank.

The wedge was set, and they had to act before their exposed backside would be collapsed upon by the Empire’s line of of attackers behind them.

“When I break the line we—“

Alex was cut off as a sudden pressure settled over the area. Even those without his or Tom-Tom’s sensitive aether senses felt the shift. Like a smothering blanket thrown over the entire battlefield an aether signature unfolded itself on each of their shoulders.

He looked to the treeline at his left, where he sensed the origin point of the presence. He couldn’t see anything at first. He only felt her; a choking strength that sent Alex’s hairs on end across his entire body.

When Alex and the others had first seen the Chimera Queen, she was just barely at the cusp of Late Stage of Adept. For an Arcane Beast, that meant immense power, enough to take on their entire raid party of twenty, and send them scrambling to escape.

Now, she was different.

She wasn’t a Magus Tier being, not quite. But the concentration of aether that Alex felt packed into her being was as close as one could get. A burning core at the Late stage, the Solid stage of Adept sat at the center of her being. Her power… was huge.

Her physical appearance had changed as well. Her face was almost completely human, beautiful even, except for the sharpened fangs that poked out from her lips and the thin line under her chin hinting at her mandibles hiding away in the humanlike shape. Her “hair”—long strands of feathers that fell past her shoulders—was slicked back. She had insectoid legs, and a long tail ending in a serrated spike. Batlike wings were tucked against her back, the tops poking out above her shoulders. Her eyes were humanoid as well, but where a striking yellow that glowed from within. On her brow, a cluster of horns sprouted in a pattern resembling a five pointed crown.

Fuck…

Alex’s gaze went to his friends, all of whom had stopped in their tracks at the arrival of the Queen. The Chimera too froze, and even the Empire Soldiers had also paused. All looking at the new apex predator that had stepped on to the battlefield.

“Fall Back!” Alex recognized the voice that made this command, Karsali, the Empire’s Knight and the Solid Stage Mage he had fought days prior. Somehoe, someway, she ahd survived the crash of the Andreia. But even she understood the threat standing before them.

“Everyone get back! Retreat!’ Alex added his own orders to the broken silence, startling his friends into action. Weapons were stored away and they began to move toward him when he felt the Queen’s aether shift slightly, sending a pulse out in all directions.

What was—

Four more pulses responded back to the queen. Each were separate aether signatures that all came from the treeline at staggered intervals. Four chimera stepped out from the shadows and the foliage. Each had a similiar humanoid visage, with bat wings and a feminine face. Horns adorned their head, the same as their mother’s, though their “crowns” were smaller.

Each was an Adept chimera beast of Liquid-stage.

Alex’s stomach twisted into knots. They could barely handle one Chimera Queen Arcane Beast, but five? How did this happen?

How are there four more Chimera Queens?! What the fuck is going on?

“Alex run!” Obby scream in his mind.

The four chimera’s all moved in tandem, four meteors rushing forward into the chaos of the battle. Alex only had time to blink once before crimson sprayed into the air.

He heard only blood curdling screams...