The moment Drenvar Kors landed, he assessed the situation.
Haverloch's soldiers poured through breaches in the walls, but that wasn't what worried him.
That monster.
The Manticore stood in the courtyard's center, devouring a horse's remains. Blood dripped from its maw, and its glowing eyes scanned the battlefield with unsettling intelligence.
It's the real threat. Once I eliminate it, I can deal with the rest.
The Manticore lifted its head, abandoning its meal.
Their gazes locked.
Then both charged simultaneously.
Drenvar leaped forward, axe raised overhead, his arm muscles bulging with mana surging through him.
The Manticore lunged on all fours, its claws tearing up clumps of earth with each stride.
They met in the courtyard's center.
Drenvar swung his axe diagonally, aiming for the beast's head.
The Manticore raised a massive forepaw, claws extended.
CLANG.
Metal bit into chitinous horn.
Sparks flew like miniature lightning. A shockwave pushed back nearby soldiers, some hurled several meters.
Both combatants staggered back a step, their feet gouging furrows in the dirt.
"You're tough, monster," Drenvar growled, his arms trembling slightly from the impact.
The Manticore snarled in response, a low rumble that resonated in the bones of everyone who heard it.
Drenvar didn't waste time.
He spun his axe overhead, then unleashed a wide two-handed swing. The blade traced a deadly horizontal arc, trailed by a veil of sand that amplified the cut.
The Manticore dodged to the side with surprising agility for its size, the blade missing its flank by inches.
Then its tail whipped like a lash.
SWISH.
Drenvar raised his axe just in time to block.
CLANG.
The impact vibrated through the blade. A jolt ran from his arms to his shoulders. He instinctively summoned a dust cloud around him to cushion the blow, preventing the tail from piercing his guard.
The Manticore didn't stop. It chained into a left paw strike aimed at Drenvar's chest.
Drenvar rolled aside, barely dodging. The claws passed so close they tore his tunic, leaving three shallow red lines across his chest.
A Nazhir soldier, too close to the fight, was swept away by the Manticore's tail. His body slammed into a wall with a sickening crunch.
A Haverloch knight tried to exploit the distraction to attack Drenvar from behind, but Drenvar, pivoting to dodge, accidentally struck him with his axe's handle.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" he roared. "THIS IS MY FIGHT!"
The soldiers got the message and backed away from the duel.
Drenvar slammed his axe into the ground.
Instantly, a thick cloud of dark dust rose, engulfing the area around the Manticore.
Visibility dropped to zero.
The Manticore roared, whipping its head in all directions, its glowing eyes desperately searching for its prey.
Where is he?
The silence was oppressive, broken only by distant combat sounds.
Then, without warning, a razor-sharp ribbon of compacted dust shot from the darkness.
SLASH.
It struck the Manticore's flank, cutting shallowly. Black blood oozed.
The creature growled in pain and rage.
A second ribbon followed, then a third, attacking from different angles.
SLASH. SLASH.
The Manticore spun violently, striking blindly with paws and tail, hitting only air.
There!
It sensed a shift in the mana flow.
It leaped in that direction, claws forward.
And found its target.
The Manticore burst from the dust cloud, jaws gaping to bite.
Drenvar, caught off guard, pivoted and swung his axe with full force.
CLANG.
The Manticore's jaws clamped onto the weapon's handle.
Teeth and steel ground together in a deafening screech. Both pushed with all their strength, vying for dominance.
Drenvar's face was inches from the Manticore's maw. He could see every fang, every detail of its black gums.
"You… won't… get… me…!" he growled through gritted teeth.
The veins in his neck bulged. His muscles trembled with effort.
He summoned a dense ball of dust around his free fist, compacting it until it was hard as stone.
Then he smashed it into the Manticore's face.
BOOM.
Fine particles sprayed into the creature's eyes, nose, and mouth. It coughed, sneezed, shook its head violently.
The Manticore released its grip and staggered back several steps, frantically pawing at its muzzle.
Drenvar seized the moment to catch his breath, wiping the beast's saliva from his face.
This thing is a nightmare.
But the respite was brief.
The Manticore charged again, this time aiming to crush Drenvar under its weight.
Drenvar dodged to the side and countered with an upward lateral swing, aiming to hook the Manticore's foreleg to unbalance it.
Sticky dust filaments clung to the grip, securing the hook.
The Manticore stumbled but quickly recovered.
It retaliated with a horizontal tail sweep, turning the appendage into a giant club.
Drenvar jumped, narrowly avoiding the blow.
The tail struck a stone pillar behind him.
CRACK.
The pillar cracked from top to bottom.
The two combatants locked eyes, panting.
Then the Manticore did something unexpected.
It hurled itself against a nearby building's wall, partially shattering it, then flung the debris with its tail and claws.
A storm of wood, metal, and stone hurtled toward Drenvar like a barrage of projectiles.
"Damn!"
Drenvar raised his axe and summoned a wall of compacted dust in front of him.
The debris slammed into the wall, some partially piercing, others bouncing off.
A splinter of wood broke through and gashed his cheek.
When the onslaught stopped, Drenvar lowered his wall.
The Manticore was already charging straight at him.
Drenvar had no time to react.
The Manticore rammed him full force, sending him crashing through a building's opening.
CRASH.
Drenvar smashed through a wooden wall, rolled across the floor, and slammed into a shelf that collapsed on him.
He staggered to his feet, spitting blood.
Hell.
The Manticore forced its massive body through the opening it had created.
The room was small, cluttered with debris and broken furniture.
The Manticore pushed in, its claws scraping the walls, sparking.
It shoved its maw against the stone, snapping its jaws blindly.
Its roars echoed like in a sealed tomb, amplified by the confined space.
Drenvar backed into an even narrower hallway.
Bad idea. Really bad idea.
He was trapped in a passage so tight he could barely raise his axe halfway.
The Manticore forced its body inside.
Its massive muscles crushed the walls on either side. Chunks of stone fell.
The beast's hot breath grew closer.
Every second, Drenvar saw the maw inch nearer, as if it would crush him.
"GET BACK!"
He summoned the floor's dust, making it surge violently around the Manticore to bury it.
The creature was partially immobilized, its hind legs pinned under tons of compacted debris.
Drenvar seized the chance to run, slipping through the hallway and up a spiral staircase.
The Manticore roared in rage and broke free in an explosion of dust and stone.
It pursued Drenvar up the stairs.
In the tight spiral staircase, the Manticore forced its forelegs between the steps, claws piercing cracks, seeking any scrap of flesh.
Its tail twisted and whipped through the balusters, striking Drenvar from the side.
SMASH.
Drenvar was hurled against the wall, losing his breath momentarily.
The noise was deafening: shattered stone, heavy thuds, bestial growls echoing in the stairwell like a drum.
Drenvar launched a shower of compacted dust droplets, hard as flint, behind him.
PING. PING. PING.
The projectiles pierced the Manticore, causing small, bleeding wounds.
But the beast pressed on, relentless, climbing the steps with terrifying determination.
Drenvar finally emerged from the staircase, bursting onto the building's roof.
He ran to the edge where his bird waited, perched on a nearby tower.
"HERE! COME HERE!"
The bird let out a shrill cry and dove toward him.
Drenvar jumped, grabbing its talons at the last moment.
The bird beat its wings powerfully, climbing into the air.
The Manticore burst from the building just in time to see them take off.
It roared, a sound of pure frustration, then spread its own massive wings.
The bird gained altitude, Drenvar climbing onto its back.
"Climb! Higher!"
But the Manticore was already in pursuit.
Its wings beat with brutal force, creating gusts that made the bird waver.
The bird dove suddenly, skimming just above the Manticore's back.
Drenvar swung his axe, slicing the beast's flesh as they passed, like a scythe reaping a field.
SLASH.
A long gash opened on the Manticore's back, black blood spraying.
The creature howled in pain, its wings faltering momentarily.
But as the bird climbed for altitude, the Manticore pulled an unexpected maneuver.
It feigned a heavy dive toward the ground, as if losing control.
The bird, thinking it had the advantage, dove to attack again.
But mid-course, the Manticore reared sharply and struck with its venomous tail directly at Drenvar.
SWISH.
Drenvar saw the danger at the last second and leaned aside.
The tail missed his head by inches, but a dart grazed his shoulder.
Burning pain spread instantly.
Venom.
"Change tactics!" Drenvar shouted to his bird.
The bird circled the Manticore, trying to disorient it.
Drenvar threw his axe like a projectile.
SWISH.
But the Manticore, instead of dodging normally, slipped into the bird's blind spot.
The axe missed.
As the bird dove for Drenvar to retrieve his weapon, the Manticore was already in position.
It struck the bird's wings with its massive claws.
SLASH. SLASH.
Feathers were torn off. Blood sprayed.
The bird screeched in pain, its wingbeats growing erratic.
"NO! HOLD ON!"
The two creatures closed in again.
The Manticore struck with a double forepaw.
Drenvar, still on the bird's back, spun his axe, forming a circle of dust and metal.
CLANG. CLANG.
Claws and blade clashed midair.
Metal shards flew. The impact made the bird falter.
"Climb! Higher!" Drenvar ordered.
The bird, despite its wounds, obeyed.
They shot upward above the Manticore.
As they passed, Drenvar leaned down and drove his axe deep into the beast's shoulder.
The Manticore roared, its body twisting mid-flight.
But it retaliated instantly.
It seized the bird's wing in its jaws.
CRUNCH.
Bones snapped with a sickening sound.
The bird let out a piercing cry.
"LET GO! LET GO!"
Drenvar struck the Manticore's head with his axe's handle, again and again.
Finally, the Manticore released its grip.
But the damage was done.
The bird's wing hung limp, useless.
They began to plummet.
Drenvar leaped from the falling bird, aiming for a nearby tower.
His bird crashed into the courtyard with a horrific impact.
Drenvar landed on the tower's edge, rolling to cushion his fall.
The Manticore pursued, leaping from a collapsed roof to the tower.
It folded its wings to accelerate, then pivoted midair in an acrobatic half-turn.
It struck the stone wall with its tail to propel itself again, tracing an unpredictable path.
Its massive body twisted with animalistic grace, claws grazing the battlements, sending a shower of stone shards behind it.
Drenvar rolled aside just in time.
The Manticore landed where he'd been a second ago, its claws digging deep into the stone.
On the narrow tower, the two circled each other.
The space was so tight that every move risked a fall.
Drenvar swung a heavy downward strike, aiming for the Manticore's legs.
Dust compacted the ground beneath the target to increase resistance and structural damage.
The Manticore leaped, dodging the blow.
The axe embedded deep in the stone, cracking the entire surface.
Then the Manticore used the wall to whip its tail back.
SWISH.
The tail came like a club straight at Drenvar's head.
SMASH.
Drenvar was hurled against the tower's edge. Blood streamed from his forehead, blurring his vision.
He shook his head, trying to clear his senses.
I… I have to end this…
He summoned his remaining strength.
A massive cylinder of dust rose around him. At its peak, the dust ignited into a shower of shards falling like thousands of blades.
The Manticore roared and charged through the deadly rain.
Dozens of shards pierced it, but it kept coming.
Drenvar raised his axe for the final blow.
But the Manticore was faster.
Both lunged in a desperate final clash.
Drenvar's axe swung in a deadly arc.
The Manticore's clawed paw rose in a cross.
They met at the center.
BOOM.
The impact was titanic.
The tower's floor cracked instantly. A dust cloud exploded around them. The air itself seemed to vibrate with the unleashed power.
Cracks spread rapidly across the entire structure.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
The tower couldn't hold.
It began to collapse.
Both combatants fell with it, surrounded by a deluge of debris.
Massive stones rained around them. The roar of the collapse was deafening.
CRASH.
They landed in a thick cloud of dust and shattered stone.
Silence settled slowly, broken only by the patter of falling debris.
As the dust cleared, the Manticore stood.
Drenvar lay beneath it, pinned under a massive paw.
Blood oozed from multiple wounds across his body. His axe lay several meters away.
He breathed laboriously, each inhale an agony.
The Manticore, by contrast, had only superficial wounds.
Already, they were closing, its flesh regenerating slowly.
The Manticore tilted its head, studying its prey.
Then it opened its maw, revealing rows of bloodstained fangs.
And it spoke.
"Thank you… for the meal."
Its voice was deep, guttural, inhuman. It resonated in the bones of all who heard it. A sound no living throat should produce.
Drenvar, in pain and confusion, widened his eyes.
"It… it talks?"
The Manticore tilted its head the other way, its glowing eyes fixed on him with unsettling intelligence.
"Yes, meat. It talks."
It opened its jaws wider, drooling in anticipation.
Drenvar tried to move, but his body refused.
No… not like this…
The maw descended.