Chaos erupted as the first of the many blighted man lunged towards the owlbear, arms wide, fingers elongated like splintered branches.
The owlbear, with its layered feathers that shifted like plates of natural armor, with claw marks and scorch scars covering its body, though none had pierced deeply. Reacted instantly.
It inhaled sharply and let out a roar.
The sound hit the air like a physical force. Leaves ripped off branches, loose stones rattled. Even Loki's ears rang from afar.
The blighted men closest to the owlbear staggered. Some fell, limbs seizing. Others froze mid-step, fungus on their skin pulsing as if confused.
The owlbear already furious, instantly charged towards the still dazed blighted men.
Its claws tore into the first cluster, shredding bark like limbs and fungus coated bodies apart like paper. It crushed one creature under a forepaw, bones and fungus popping with a dull crunch. Another was thrown into a wall so hard half of its body exploded upon impact. At first the owlbear seem to completely overwhelm the dormant and awakened blighted men but it soon became apparent that no matter how many the owlbear killed more seem to appear.
Some climbed the owlbear's legs like leeches. One dug blackened fingers between its feathers. Another latched onto its thigh.
The owlbear roared again this time a shorter, sharper blast.
The shockwave threw several attackers back, but more kept coming.
Meanwhile, The wyvern had also entered the fight with a sudden lash of its tail. The blow ripped through a line of blighted men, killing them instantly.
The skull mask head crowned with curling horns turned towards the approaching ants, then towards the owlbear who was easily crushing the same ants.
The creature rose its head inhaling deeply. Poisonous steam curled from its jaws, the hint of a green flame appearing, then the wyvern exhaled a line of green flame across the street. The fire hissed like acid. A cluster of blighted men caught in the blast collapsed instantly, bodies melting inward as the fungus on them bubbled and shriveled.
The owlbear flinched back from pain. Its feathers darkened where the poisonous heat washed over them.
The wyvern wing's beat once, wind whipping through the street but it couldn't take flight so quickly.
And the blighted men were already reacting. They swarmed towards both the owlbear and the wyvern from all across the town dozens at a time.
One leapt onto the wyvern's tail, teeth sinking into the scales. Another clung to its wing joint, the wyvern jerked violently, whipping its head sideways, crushing a cluster with its horns. Its tail swept through a line of attackers, breaking them apart into pieces. The wyvern opened it's jaw spewing more flames but no matter how many it burned or crushed more kept coming.
The owlbear staggered under its own swarm, claws ripping entire bodies in half only for more to take their place. Its roars shook the ground, stunning dozens each time but the numbers didn't slow.
The wyvern leapt into the air again, trying to fly while dragging three clinging bodies with it. It shook violently one attacker slipped and fell, splattering against a roof. Another crawled toward its throat.
The wyvern rolled in the air, crashing back towards the ground. Green fire erupted from its jaws, splashing blindly.
The battlefield was slowly reaching a critical point.
From the ridge, Loki wiped dirt from his palms and exhaled through his teeth.
Looking at the chaos he felt extremely happy.
Loki had raced through the town minutes earlier just as soon as the battle had started barely avoiding the aftermaths. He had planted explosives wherever structural weaknesses allowed and not normal explosives the hunter had taught him how to make. But far more deadlier ones. Loki had only seen the hunter create these explosives once by refining resin into tar, mixing it with mineral powder and charcoal, packing it inside containers with a string of runes written on them with the blood of an awakened creature along with the core of the same creature.
Loki didn't understand the exact meaning of the runes but he vaguely understood the intent behind them. So while writing the runes Loki had only been thinking about blowing the town and the Tree to hell.
Having already planted the explosives in the town and after nearly being caught by a blighted man Loki now waited for the right time.
Smoke from the wyvern's poisonous fire drifted upward. The owlbear's bellows vibrated through the ground like thunder. One Awakened Devil and one Awakened Demon couldn't hold on forever against a town of awakened and dormant beasts. Loki thought grimly.
Just as the owlbear and the wyvern were about to be completely overwhelmed by the swarm, Loki willed his aspect to ignite the explosives.
The first explosion ripped through the butcher's quarter at the town's edge.
Stone split outward. A shower of wood shards and human bone fragments filled the street. A dozen blighted men vanished in the blast, their fungus igniting into clumps of burning rot.
The spell's sweet voice kept ringing in Loki's head.
Then like a chain reaction more explosions erupted all over the town. The owlbear staggered as the shockwave from an explosion struck its side, it slammed into a house, breaking through the wall some of it's feathers on fire.
The wyvern whipped its head toward a blast, wings rattling.
Another bomb detonated by the old well. The ground sank inward then erupted upward. A geyser of dirt, roots, and burning sap tore through the center of the square. Blighted men were flung directly into the wyvern's wing membrane, slicing it on impact. The wyvern shrieked, the first sign of pain it had shown.
Flame rolled across the town, wind carrying burning fungus through the sky. A blighted man was caught mid leap and disintegrated into pieces before it even hit the ground.
A barn collapsed inward, dragging screaming blighted men with it, though the screams didn't come from pain they came from collapsing wood.
And when the final bomb detonated. A deep, concussive BOOM split the night. A street completely vanished. Stone and soil surged outward like a breaking wave. Fire roared through the open square, the shockwave lifting bodies living or otherwise into the air before slamming them back to earth.
The owlbear toppled, body battered and smoking.
The wyvern crashed into a half-collapsed house, wings trailing steam.
Finally silence spread across the town.
Loki didn't have the time to pay attention to the sound of the spell, he quickly walked into the ruins of the town, Hunter's Fang in hand, his steps were quiet but steady. He had to kill any stranglers that survived the explosions most of all he had to kill the wyvern and the owlbear. Even though they were on the verge of death he didn't want them to be influenced by the tree.
Loki finished any blighted man that still crawled, their bodies cracking like dead roots under his blade.
[You have slain an Awakened beast, Blighted Man]
[You have slain a...]
The cat killed too, appearing and vanishing like a shadow.
[Your Echo has slain an Awakened Beast, Blighted Man]
[Your Echo has slain.....]
Loki found the wyvern first. Its broken form was trapped under rubble. One wing was nearly severed, the deadly fire in its throat smoldered weakly, unable to ignite. Purple light flickered behind the skull mask, dimming slowly.
Loki approached quietly.
The wyvern tried to lift its head, jaws opening slightly a hiss escaping its throat. Loki did not wait and ended its life with a clean thrust into the eye.
[You have slain an Awakened Devil, The Poisonous Wyvern.]
[You have received a Memory.]
Some distance away from Loki the owlbear was still alive but barely. One of its eye was missing its feathers had burned black. Sap mixed blood was leaking from wounds where blighted men had torn at its flesh. It lifted its head weakly.
But at the exact time The cat appeared behind it completely unseen and struck at the base of its skull. The owlbear's head hit the ground instantly it's breath leavings its body too.
Standing in front of the dead wyvern Loki heard the spells voice again.
[You Echo has slain an Awakened Demon, The Demented Owlbear]
[You have received an Echo]
Hearing the notification Loki stood silent for a moment, the burst out laughing like a madman.
"hahahahahahahahahahahah"
His voice echoing through out the ruins.