The Lightning Mage

62 | The Last Battle, Part III

ϟ☁ϟ☁ϟ

The next moments were an utter blur.

As Lyn ran through the charred grounds, the swarm of werewolves lunged towards her, a couple at a time, sometimes even a dozen at a time. The wide-open terrain gave her an advantage, however; with a few swings of her hands, she directed streams of lightning towards the wolves, blasting them away.

To her right, Irene was blowing up the giant wolves with her explosive fireballs. On the other side, Clay was controlling what was left of the scorched forest, binding the enemies with vines before stabbing them right in the heart with tree branches. The three of them stood in front, fending off the majority of the attack with their destructive powers.

Behind them, Emily and Freya slashed and hacked away at any werewolves that managed to sneak past the wall of fire, lightning, and vines. Dylan, the illusionist, had also created fake illusions to lure some of the enemies away, while the tigers controlled by Elena were having the time of their lives gnawing at the wolves.

Their defenses were formidable and impenetrable, but it was obvious that everyone was holding back as they fought—they had to be wary of the wolves' teeth, and their cursed venom. Even with healers around, nobody could afford to be bitten and poisoned.

Fighting their way forward and inching slowly towards the castle, Lyn was exhausted by the time they had neared the entrance.

"How many more of these stupid werewolves are there?" she roared as she summoned another streak of lightning from across the sky.

"I don't know, but I'm so sick of them!" Irene shot a bolt of fire towards an approaching werewolf. She was drenched in sweat; beads of perspiration speckled her charcoal face and glistened under the glare of the explosion.

Lyn had never seen Irene this sweaty before. "You exhausted? Burning down the forest took a toll on you, huh?"

The black woman snorted. "I can do this all day. Give me ten more forests to burn."

"Watch out!" Emily appeared between them, slicing through a werewolf that had jumped at Lyn. "Listen, Lyn, we're gonna create an opening for you. Run in with Raph and find Cydney!"

Before Lyn could respond, Emily threw up a few canisters and yelled, "Blast it up, Irene!"

"As you wish!" Irene raised her arms. A large ball of fire hurled into the air and struck the metal cans. They combusted, sending a layer of smoke throughout the entire battlefield.

"Dylan, now!"

At Emily's command, Lyn's vision cleared, along with the path towards the castle entrance. However, no one was beside her, not Irene, not Emily, not Clay. She spun around. Muffled voices and annoyed grunts surrounded her, but she could see no one, except Raph, who was standing behind her and looking as confused as she was.

"What the hell?" Lyn blurted.

"It's an illusion." Raph made his way next to her. "Let's go before the effects wear off."

They exchanged a knowing nod before running into the building. The inside of the castle was deserted and empty—a stark contrast to the Armageddon outside. It seemed that Irene's fire had alerted everyone to their presence, and they had all flocked out to fight them.

The two of them sprinted across corridors after corridors, crashing into every door and looking into every room. Occasionally, a couple of werewolves would appear, but Lyn would easily strike them down before moving on. She had no idea how long they were running for, but Raph was slowly becoming out of breath.