Beasts fell on beasts in a furious melee. Claws answered claws, fangs to fangs. A vast cave echoed the battles of a thousand.
Mad creatures charged as a pack, broke on contact into as many small fights that left them to fend for themselves. There, lit only by burning rocks, they shredded whoever stood against them only to see another rise, and another.
So the pack would turn on itself even if it prevailed.
What made new packs form was then when monsters chased one another, ignoring those on their sides in favor of obstacles ahead. Spontaneous groups formed that way, then shattered not a minute later in sparse waves all across the underground.
The whole lair of Utopia, with its vast caves, was falling to feral fights.
To keep moving in all this and not get overwhelmed, the legged rapt would gather pursuers, have them crash ahead and wait for those fights to clear to push ahead once more.
And to any creature that threatened her or her friends in the meantime she cast earthworks to push them back.
They had left their altar a while ago, lost the other beasts to the mayhem and progressed into the tunnels toward the largest cave Utopia had to offer.
What enemies got through the slabs of rock and projectiles were met with the glassy blades of a humanoid hare, all scrawny, whose horn fumed in the wild lights of fires. After wounding the beast, his fists would give a stunning blow and leave the foe on the ground.
In this brawl it was as good as killing them but he insisted on not giving the lethal blow himself.
With them the fire lizard simply served as a safe spot for the red beak to rest.
"I have set the glyphs." A mocking voice came from below. "Tell your pets to hurry for their own good."
They could not hear that wyvern skeleton, safe for that red beak maybe but if so, he didn't seem to notice. Those words were not for them.
The wyvern would help them reduce all of Utopia to rubbles.
The largest cave would serve as resonance. With the key he had to the humans' haven, that beast would provide the potency. The rest would be to set off a merged spell already imbued in the hare's blades, not that he knew.
But when he would strike, the plains of Alunra above would awaken and provide an earthquake like no other to bury it all.
For now, they still had to reach the cave.
Once more the pack had broken into scattered fights without victors. Feral beasts fled then came back for more and the wounds accrued. For lack of mana they could only exchange blows until one side, exhausted, was forced to yield.
The legged rapt turned around and gestured with her tiny forelegs in meaningless patterns.
The entrance of that vast tunnel they were in collapsed behind them.
It wasn't much, there simply was no way for earthworks to break enough rocks to fill the entire gap but just those piles of rock, by blocking lines of sight and muffling sounds, would push the feral monsters to look elsewhere for opponents.
Stone was flying around her in belts, battering beasts as they came time and again.
For however straining it was, it was working. The group was making steady progress through a horde of mad creatures.
When the fights receded around and too much attention was on them, the small group rushed forward anew, pursued and soon another pack was with them. In that magical moment, even though each beast wished the others dead, they ran together as one.
Primal creatures with deadly intent, after focusing on their prey, could see those silhouettes standing ahead, in their own fights, and their bloodlust turned on them.
Likewise those ahead who weren't in a fight yet could see them approach and, neglecting closer preys, charged to meet that mass, forming a brief pack of their own.
They clashed!
And the whole group stopped once more to huddle closer and let the fighting happen.
"It's at the end of this tunnel, right?" The lizard panted.
All he had done was run along and yet even he could feel the stress and effort taking their toll. This was, after all, why all of Utopia hadn't died yet. Bouts of fights interrupted by wounds and fatigue before resuming the moment those beasts could.
Nobody really had time to answer him, not even the crow monster on his plated back. That bird's senses were overwhelmed, forcing him to cast it all off.
Another stone slab rose, immediately broken and the colport that rushed through got met by two glass blades that tore through his leg and made him trip. A hit on the beast's back and the heavy bear crashed on the ground.
Of all of them the hare was the most exhausted. His body excelled at evasion but could not sustain long engagements. So, after each strike, he had to fall back and count on the rapt to shield them while he tried to recover.
None of this was really a concern. Time was.
Another pack, another rush, another clash. They had made it close enough to see the end of the tunnel. Beyond, on the cave's walls, floated the massive shadows of more furious fights.
And to guard the entrance, several dozens beasts had assembled.
Those were from the cult of Kaele, believers of vengeful humans wishing to be left undisturbed. Their temple had been ravaged but the altar still stood, as well as those outside. They would fight to the death to protect them.
So sects of monsters fought each other with as much zeal as the feral. But while the feral was strong and fighting alone, those were still weak and coalesced, able to offer a common front.
And while their ranks were peeling away to the appeal of black blood, for the most part they offered a ferocious resistance.
This was an obstacle a pack would not so easily break. For hours, after all, those beasts had withstood just such assaults. Realizing that, the legged rapt seized a pause in the fighting to gesture at them as well.
Whatever she wanted to cast: berzerk! Would be the spell.
The cute rapt wanted to avoid a carnage. But the best way to break that formation was to appeal to their instinct. The spell magic circle flared and those ranks of varied beasts felt it, that pulsing strength waiting for wounds to bring it up to the surface.
Some did not even wait for renewed contact to charge ahead and get the thrill of it. The berzerk spell had them turn feral in moments.
The rest saw them and guessed their fate, but stood firm regardless and when the pack formed to charge them they closed ranks, readied themselves and met the wave with the same determined zeal that had saved them so many times.
Berzerk gave them an edge. Potency rose with the strain, allowing them to push back and crush their foes. At the same time it drove them into a frenzy and soon enough their whole formation was gone.
Had they even tried to resist, the ritual that gripped Utopia would have played against them. It drove everyone into that primal urge to hunt.
This time, however, to wait for the fight to recede would be ill-advised. There were simply too many and they were too strong. The group did not even consult each other; instinct chose for them; they all pushed through as best they could.
Earthworks! To practically carve a path through those clashes and mangled bodies leaping on each other. To avoid them all was almost impossible.
And so, inevitably, one beast snatched the rapt's leg.
She shrieked in surprise, fell to the ground and, impale! His opponent got torn in that instant.
But his claws, rather than release her, clutched harder. And his body, instead of weakened, only grew stronger. Berzerk showed all his potency here.
He broke free before the glass blades could hit him. Now his hand had released the rapt to meet the new threat, slash and miss by a hair. One swing grazed the beast's face who charged and blocked both blades with both hands in a lock.
The horned hare faced a humanoid lion.
A lion lord, to be precise. Humans of old preferred horned beasts to manage their cheptel, but lion lords served that role in certain regions. This one's heavy mane ran all the way down to his feline tail. He bore the iron cuirass of a fighter.
"Hurry!" The wyvern's voice commanded. "Your pets have no time to waste!"
"Caline!"
She somehow understood what was going on, even though she didn't understand any of it.
"I'll handle him!" She yelled and rushed between the two beasts.
They were hardly alone here. Monsters lunged and fell all around, causing chaos and confusion. This was the worst place to have a duel.
Her arrival forced the two combatants to break off. Earthworks gave some brief breathing room but the lion lord was charging again, dodging those rocks and bypassing her for the hare.
They clashed once more! Circled each other and the horned hare grinned when those claws nearly cut his neck.
His opponent was simply stronger. When berzerk would wear off, certainly, it would be an even fight again but for now that black lion had speed and strength for him, all the while not being tricked by the hare's evasion.
A tenacl rushed through them, missed the hare and kept going. They were on each other once more! The lion landing a hit on his opponent's chest, cutting shallow wounds in the heavy fur.
"Heal!"
The spell got disrupted, failed and only mended those wounds partly. But it was equal to the horned hare who regained enough stamina to strike back, and miss, and miss!
Again monsters fell on them both and the rapt could not keep up with that melee!
Gravity!
That spell too got disrupted, yet was potent enough and the crowd weakened enough that they all got thrown to the ground for a couple seconds.
Enough for the rapt's voice to change completely, turning cold and indifferent:
"Go to the center of the cave" she ordered the hare "and strike the ground with your blades. Now."
He had already been told what to do before but, hearing those words, understood the urgency. And while fighting this lion lord was all he wanted, he relented.
He was, after all, the self-proclaimed savior of the realm.
The fire lizard and crow followed him into the cave, causing a new pack to form in their wake. The rapt, in turn, saw the beasts around focus on her and turned to flee in the other direction. Serving as bait to drag as many away as possible.
Among them was the lion lord who pushed back the other beasts to chase her and catch up.
He was on her!
Three stone slabs rose from the ground, all bashed by just the lion's shoulder. His claws fell on her from above, to be stopped in mid-air by a powerful shockwave.
His whole arm broke! Flesh bursting, bones cracked!
His muscles had met the frail clay arm of a golem.
He staggered back and could not see that golem standing behind the rapt, but his expression changed all the same and while his arm regenerated, he lost his berzerk rage for another, even deeper fury.
"You cannot be Kaele." He groaned.
I knew that tone and knew how to answer. My arm let metal melt and form the sacred polearm Adipathya. I brandished it and ordered.
"It's a duel."
And just like that, even feral beasts gave way. None realized the order the relic had forced on them.
And yes, I could have done that from the start to help the group move through the caves and tunnels. But this whole saving the realm was their fight, not mine. Here was different. Here that lion was pointing his finger at the cute rapt.
"If I beat you," he promised, "you will summon a human."
"Tell him yes."
And the rapt, in a complete loss: "Wait what?!"