Path of The Dragon Mage: 69. Demon Nest (1) (Patreon)

Note: Apologies for the wait. These are the most important chapters in this book and I've struggled to tell it properly.  I'm still not entirely happy with it but... I at least wanted to get part 1 out now. Part 2 will be tomorrow. (And there might be a part 3. We'll see!).

Species: Nest Guardian

Level: 31

The nest guardian was about half the size of the demon that Corvus had seen before – approximately the height and length of a medium dog. It was a drab, olive green color with stubby wings and an overside, flattish head with a deeply hinged mouth that made it look frog-like.

And it burst through the glass panel like it didn't expect for it to be there. Unfortunately for the demon, the broken panel triggered a cascade effect. Other panels above and around cracked and fell, shattering to the floor. Bits of flying glass flew everywhere.

Corvus shielded his face with an arm and turned to cover Gwen as best he could. Sharp bits of glass pelted against his jacket.

You have been cut for 1 HP

You have been cut for 2 HP

You have been cut for 1 HP

Only a few cuts, minor enough that he wouldn’t need healing runes for them.

Still, he had stood several feet back in the middle of the room. Roan had put himself right in front of them all.

After the crashing stopped, Corvus back over his shoulder, fully expecting to find his friend a cut-up mess.

But the other boy stood tall. His guard's uniform was cut in a dozen places, but there wasn't a spot of blood on him.

The nest guardian had kept its feet too – if barely. It staggered, bleeding from hundreds of tiny cuts all over its leathery skin. That was a testament to its level 31 strength. Though the glass had fallen right on it, it seemed only stunned.

Roan pulled back his hammer and swung it right for the swaying demon's face...

And missed.

However, the swipe was enough to make the animal stagger back. It spread its stunted wings to catch itself, long sickle claws sliding over the glass and slick floor.

"Run!" Roan yelled.

The force of his voice was enough to kick Corvus into action.

Gripping Gwen's hand, he rushed forward, following Roan through the hole in the broken glass. Starella brought up the rear.

Corvus glanced over his shoulder to see the bleeding nest guardian wasn’t giving chase. Instead, it reared back on its hind legs. As it opened its wide froggy mouth and a ring of linked runes lit up on its neck like a collar. Then it let out an ululating alarm.

"It's calling the others!" Gwen yelled.

Roan pointed to the dark tunnel ahead. "That's the exit!"

As they rushed to it, Corvus caught up with Roan and grabbed his arm. Bits of glass were still falling from his uniform, and it was cut in dozens of places... but there was still no blood.

"Are you hurt?" Corvus demanded.

Roan shook his head. "Special ability," he panted. "I got increased resistance and toughness when I'm defending someone else. I wasn't sure it would work – Glad it did." Then he scowled down at his hammer as if it had betrayed him. "But I can't hit the broadside of a barn right now."

Corvus cursed under his breath. He should have guessed. Roan had been essentially reset to level one in... well, just about everything.

"Same thing happened to me,” he said. He’d basically had to relearn to read again.

They reached the tunnel, but only got a few steps in before Roan, Gwen, and Starella pulled up short. Corvus almost ran into Roan's broad back.

"What?" Corvus demanded, looking back at him.

Starella’s eyes were wide as she stared blindly around. “Do any of you have something to light a fire with?”

Corvus almost asked what she meant. Then he noticed that all his friends had that same wide-eyed, frantic, blind look.

The tunnel was somewhat dark to him. It must be black as pitch to them.

"I can see. I'll lead you," Corvus said. "Gwen, grab my hand. Starella, Gwen's standing just to your right. Roan, you bring up the rear."

Roan grumbled a little and Corvus had the feeling that if the nest guardian weren't still shrieking its alarm, he would have objected to holding hands and being led along like a child.

The tunnel walls leading out were slick with moisture, carved by new roots poking from above. It curved sharply a dozen paces ahead. Corvus got to the corner and stopped.

The walls beyond were badly damaged with one whole side having crumbled outward to reveal a cavernous space beyond.

And that cavern was filled with other nest guardian demons. Some were as small as the one who’d set up the alarm. Most were much larger, topping out at the size of Gwen’s massive stallion NightShade.

Beyond them stood a wall with a circle of runes – the same runes as he’d glimpsed on the first demon’s neck, though they were all unfamiliar to him.

“Why did you stop?” Gwen hissed.

Corvus cursed. Then, "Go back!"

"What do you see-" Gwen started to say.

The collar of runes flashed to life on dozens of demon necks, and all of their frog-like mouths opened to reveal vibrant balls of energy – blue, red, green, and purple. It lit up the cavern in a blaze of clashing, horrific light.

Starella screamed. And with her scream came a wave of force that seemed to warp the air a few paces in front of Corvus.

The demons released their energy balls, but the disruptive wave reached them first. Demons were scattered to the side like children’s toys. The energy blasts were knocked to the side where they slammed into the stone walls and ceiling. Rocks and dust rained down, and rocks tumbled, striking other demons.

Starella wavered where she stood, pale-faced as if that effort had cost her.

"Back to the dungeon!" Roan yelled.

He scooped up Starella in his arms before she fell.

They turned and Corvus heard outraged shrieks and the scrape of claws as nest guardians picked themselves up followed. But their escape was cut off as more demons poured in from behind – froggy jaws parted with a vibrant energy that lit up the tunnel.

They were trapped.

One of the demons ran forward with a boiling hiss, claws out. Dropping Starella back onto her feet, Roan sidestepped to put himself right in between it and Gwen. The demon ran into him and bounced off as if he were a wall. It skittered away, hissing.

Then Roan staggered back in delayed reaction, dropping to one knee.

"Roan!"

Gwen stepped in to cover him, shooting a glowing mana-charged arrow that bounced off of thick hide… but made the demons stay back.

"Can't...," Roan groaned. All the blood had drained from his face. Starella was still wavering too.

Mana exhaustion, Corvus realized.

He drew his bladed dart from his bandolier – one of the few with the mana reservoir carved on. It had worked for the Wild Garden vines… hopefully, it would be good enough for Roan.

“Sorry about this,” he said and stabbed it in Roan’s thigh.

Roan cursed and smacked him away, but the rune had already flashed to life, and he blinked, pulling out the dart as he stood. “Did you just stab me back to health?”

“Mana exhaustion,” Corvus said shortly. “Remember when I fainted after charging your fishhook?”

“Little help here!” Gwen yelled. Even charged, her arrows were having no effect. Her next hit a demon in one bulbous eye – or would have if the demon hadn’t blinked – the thick eyelid functioned like a shield and the arrow bounced off.

Roan moved to cover his sister as Corvus turned to Starella.

He felt bad about slicing her with the dart, but at least she didn’t scream. Her mana restored, she stood and backed until her shoulders hit the wall. The demons were on both sides and though Gwen kept them from rushing in… they seemed to be realizing she couldn’t do them any real damage.

In desperation, Corvus reached for the connection between himself and Charm... only to find it silent.

"What do we do?" Starella yelled. She'd backed until her shoulders hit the wall, but the demons were closing in on either side.

"Tell me you picked a good Path," Corvus said. "What did you do back there?"

Her wide eyes met his own. "Path of Gravity. I–Duck!"

One of the demons had released its energy at Corvus – or tried to. At the last second, several runes around its neck flared into greater brilliance. It coughed, staggered, and fell with blue flames licking out of its mouth as if it were burning from the inside.

At the next moment, another made a lunge for Starella. She screamed and so did the guardian, staggering to the side as if it had been bludgeoned upside the head. It reached up sickle claws to tear at the runes at its neck as if it burned.

They can't touch us, Corvus realized.

A second later, he was proven wrong with Roan ducking another energy blast. It missed him by a hair and splattered against the wall where it burned red fire.

Or... some of us.

And as soon as he made that realization, a piece of the puzzle clicked into place. They were surrounded on three sides by the nest guardians, all of which had destructive ready to unleash held tight in their jaws. But every time they tried against himself or Starella, the runes around their neck stopped them.

Then he grabbed his cousin and yanked her forward, just as a nest guardian was about to unleash an orange glob of magic.

Together, they stumbled in front of Roan just in time. The runes on the demon flared again, causing it to choke and spit the ball to the side where it burst into flame without harming them.

The runes were stopping them. He didn’t know these but had seen the copies on the wall in the cavern. They might be linked, somehow. If he could get to them… if he could disrupt them.

Starella whirled on him. “Corvus, what—“

“There’s no time,” he said. “You scattered the demons earlier?”

“Yes, but—“

“I need you to blast me over there.” He pointed to the dark chamber that had opened beyond the tunnel’s collapse. “Aim high. I need to get over these demons.”

“What? Where?” Gwen demanded, overhearing. “It’s all dark over there.”

“I can see through it,” Corvus said shortly. He looked back at his cousin. “Then I need you to stand in front of Roan and Gwen. The demons can’t fire at you.”

“They can still use those claws and teeth,” Roan said. He warily watched the flank. The nest guardians abandoned the blasts and were instead closing in step by step.

“I’ll be quick — there’s no time to explain.”

Starella gave him a pained look. “I don’t know what I’m doing – it says I’m beginner level two!”

“Do what you can. I trust you, Starella.” He grabbed for his third dart. “Use this on yourself after.”

She inhaled a quick breath then stood an arm’s length away. Then she made a gesture like someone tossing a ball underhanded.

That force that had pushed the solid nest guardians aside like scattered leaves in the wind now centered on him. He was flung up and to the side, end over end — the world a dizzying alternating flip of ceiling and ground. He caught flashes of light as several nest guardians tried to release their energy balls out of shock — choking on them as their runes flared to life.

This, he realized was a bad idea.

Then at the apex, he caught a glimpse of the end of the dark cavern — what the rubble from the tunnel had concealed.

And he knew why they were called ‘Nest Guardians’.

He started to fall, the dark rock rushing up to meet him. All he could do was throw out his arms and try not to break his neck.

He hit, hard.

You have fallen a great height for 50 HP

You have broken your leg

You have dislocated your knee

You have broken a wrist

You have broken fractured three ribs