Chapter 26: The Players In Place (Patreon)

The stage was set, the players in place. Nerves had been making Dominic’s stomach feel filled with butterflies up until now, but now that they’d actually settled into position, his nerves had vanished. All that mattered was the hunt and keeping his lionesses safe. 

And winning. That was important too. 

‘Now,’ he breathed silently, sending the message through the pride chat. As if one body, the whole pride of lions leapt, their passage through the air almost silent. Almost. 

One of the sentries spotted them, but not in enough time to warn its group. The lions landed, claws and teeth ripping into the sleeping and vulnerable wolves. 

Dominic had both Powerful Swipe and Crushing Bite dialled up to the max for this first strike – go big or go home. And it had results. 

[You have killed Ameshek (Tier 2 Beast level 17)]

[You have earned 15 PP]

[A member of your party has killed Ameshek (Tier 2 Beast level 17)]

[You have earned 16 PP]

[A member of your party has killed Ameshek (Tier 2 Beast level 17)]

[You have earned 16 PP]

Finally, he had a name for the things. Not wasting any time, he grabbed at the ameshek which was half lying on the one he had just killed. It had just awoken, and confusion filled its eyes as it tried to catch up with what had just happened. 

Not giving it any time to regroup, Dominic struck at its head biting off its antennae. It moaned, the sound making his ears and joints ache. It started trying to shift but Dominic pushed through the pain and set his teeth in its throat. Its moan stopped with a gargle and he bit down harder. 

[A member of your party has killed Ameshek (Tier 2 Beast level 17)]

[You have earned 16 PP]

Go girls! Dominic thought even as he bit through the ameshek’s throat and spine with a sharp snap and wet squelch that made him shudder a little inside. 

[You have killed Ameshek (Tier 2 Beast level 18)]

[You have earned 16 PP]

Then their freebies were done. Dominic felt like he was hit by a truck as he was knocked sideways off the dead ameshek bodies. He slid across the ground, barely keeping his feet. Leaping sideways instinctively, he avoided the strike which was aimed for his hindquarters, then bared his teeth at the ameshek. The wolfen creature bared its own teeth at him, its antennae waving furiously. 

One of the patrol wolves had got involved. From further away, Dominic had a better view on the battle, and battle it was indeed. The previously quiet clearing now boiled with activity. It was easy enough to tell lions from wolves – their different coloured fur was clear even in the moonlight. 

It was just as clear that even if they had had the luck of killing three amesheks from the outset, that wasn’t going to win them the battle. Not even ten seconds into the fight and already he could see that the lower level lionesses in particular were heavily disadvantaged. 

Worry filled him as he saw that Mara already had less than half-health – blood covered her flank and she was limping. Two other lionesses had also taken heavy strikes, though he couldn’t tell who they were in the mere glance that he could spare the fight.

Dominic dodged a strike from the ameshek in front of him – he needed to deal with this creature before he could return to the battle and help the beleaguered lionesses. But first, something to help all of them. 

Standing firm, Dominic filled his lungs with air, and then roared. For the long moment of his majestic cry, everyone stood still. Then, as it trailed off, bedlam eventuated. 

The ameshek in front of him leapt for him with a snarl of its own, an ominous vibration already building. Unable to spare any attention for the lionesses, Dominic used Quick Strike to leap at the creature, targeting its antennae. It was quick and avoided his lunge, but he used Rapid Attack to quickly twist himself and launch another attack. 

This time, he was successful. Dominic growled as his paws came into contact with the painfully vibrating antenna, but he struck it with force, ripping it right off the ameshek’s head. The wolven creature moaned and once more the sound ripped right through Dominic. 

However, just as before, he pushed through the pain and struck at the other antenna. With only one of the creatures, it wasn’t powerful enough to paralyse him. The ameshek tried to escape his strike but, perhaps hindered by the loss of the first, didn’t move quite fast enough. The second antenna fell to the ground. 

Exhilaration filling him, Dominic leapt once more towards the wolf, using his bulk to drive it to the ground and ripping out its throat. 

[You have killed Ameshek (Tier 2 Beast level 17)]

[You have earned 15 PP]

He turned to the battle, exhilaration transforming into horror as he saw the mess it had become. 

Three of the lionesses were lying limply on the ground, their bodies messes of blood and flesh. Dominic roared again, running faster than he ever had before to get to them. 

Less than a second later, he slammed into an ameshek which was about to sink its teeth into the belly of one downed lioness. His mind working on overdrive, he dumped all the carcasses he still had in his storage space on top of the lionesses even as he bit and swiped at the ameshek in front of him and the second which had turned to snarl at him. 

‘Consume the bodies!’ he yelled into the chat, biting off one of the ameshek’s antennae. They started moaning softly, the sound biting at his joints, his ears, his gums. 

More of the creatures took up the call and with horror Dominic realised that his health bar was dropping. Not a lot, and not fast, but he had Regeneration – the lionesses didn’t. Worse, it felt like the howls were even stronger now than they had been before. He needed to do something! 

Filling his lungs, he roared, the sound melding and then drowning out the sound of the combined ameshek’s howl. His health stopped dropping and the pain stopped too. But he only had so much breath. 

‘Leona, Stunning Roar now!’ he ordered urgently, hoping beyond hope that she wasn’t one of the ones behind him who might very well be already dead. 

Another roar came to join his just as he had to stop to take in air. Leona’s roar was a fraction the strength of his, but it was enough to stave off the worst of the Ability. Even better, it gave Dominic the time to rip the ameshek’s throat out. 

It stopped howling as soon as he set his teeth in the bared flesh, but started vibrating instead; this was one with both antennae intact. Remembering what had happened the first time, Dominic dialled Crushing Bite up to max for a couple of seconds, then yanked with all his strength. 

The ameshek’s throat tore apart like it was made of paper, blood pouring out to spill upon the ground. 

[You have killed Ameshek (Tier 2 Beast level 18)]

[You have earned 17  PP]

The howl faded away, the ameshek obviously running out of breath just as much as Dominic had. Lunging for the injured creature, it managed to avoid his attack – just. 

Another notification flashed up. 

[A member of your party has killed Ameshek (Tier 2 Beast level 17)]

[You have earned 16 PP]

The lionesses were doing well – Dominic hadn’t kept a perfect count, but they must be most of the way there by now, right?

‘Not quite,’ Leo told him grimly even as he managed to land a blow on the ameshek’s flank, its blood spilling out of the glancing slash. ‘Eight down, at least five to go. And from what I’ve seen there are more in the pile than we thought.’

‘Hell,’ Dominic cursed, his frustration mounting as the ameshek managed to avoid another attack. He suspected that their howl attack had some sort of countdown, so it made sense for them to stall. But time was not the lions’ friend. ‘Have we lost anyone?’ he asked, not wanting to know, but needing to. 

‘Yes.’ The knowledge hit him like a cannon ball to the gut. 

‘Who?’

‘Mara,’ Leo told him darkly. ‘And Menhit, Cleo, Leona, and Jenkins are very low on health.’

Dominic bit back another curse. I need to get them out of here! he said to himself frantically. They need space to heal! 

As if hearing his words, the ameshek pulled back for a moment. Dominic didn’t take a moment to wonder why, he sent quick orders for the lionesses to regroup and for Isis to protect them, moving himself to check on the three lionesses who had fallen before he got there.

Two were now moving weakly and he quickly dragged a couple of carcasses closer for them to absorb. The third – Mara – just lay there limply, past all help. Guilt and regret ignited the anger in his heart and he clenched his teeth together as he turned to see the rest of the lionesses limping towards them. 

The ameshek were being surprisingly non-hostile, pulling back to gather at the foot of the massive tree at the centre of the clearing. It allowed even those who were down to the last ten percent of their health – or lower – the space to get to their circle. 

They were all looking very much worse for wear, and dived upon the pile of bodies Dominic had dumped out of his storage space. He was glad that he had packed as many in with the lionesses as he could, even if he’d had to leave some behind with the rest of the pride. He didn’t care if the wolven creatures learned to Consume from watching them – the health of his lionesses came first. 

He kept darting glances around, but nothing tried to attack them, none of the ameshek tried to take advantage of their inattention. The lionesses’ health improved with every carcass they absorbed, Dominic’s heart rate slowing down a little.

Then, wondering what the ameshek were up to, he looked back at them and realised that in fact the situation had just got worse: a new player had arrived on the scene. 

The newcomer was another ameshek, but as comparable to the ones around it as a shark was to tuna. It was bigger for one, much bigger. Sleeker too, like its whole body had some sort of layer of armour on top of it. Its antennae were shorter, but seemed sturdier; its teeth gleaming and sharp. 

For the first time in a long while, Dominic wondered whether the new opponent on the scene might actually be a higher level than him. 

The wolven creature bared its teeth at him and Dominic unconsciously connected to its mind. Why, he didn’t know. 

‘So, you have come to take my domain from me, have you?’

Dominic was caught off guard at just how smooth the lead ameshek’s voice was – since what else could it be but the leader? 

‘Very well. Let us fight.’

[A challenge has been issued: Duel for the Place of Power. This challenge is to death or submission. Submission will give the victor the power to decide the loser’s fate.
Note, no outside intervention is permitted during the challenge. Note also that for reasons of fairness, both participants will be returned to full health at the start of the challenge.

Accept or Decline?]

*****

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Chapter 27: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down