The treeline exploded inward as the Mist-Gorged Hydra slammed into the forest floor. It rolled over the terrain and trampled anything that stood in its path. The ground shook enough to knock the lighter Zealots off their feet, and the air filled with the scent of something chemical as soon as it stepped foot nearby.
"Formation!" Drecht said. "Shields up! Do not let it breach the center!"
The Hydra didn't care about formations. Its five heads snapped forward, moving with a disturbing, fluid independence. One head lunged for a group of archers on the left flank, spraying a cone of pressurized acid.
Another head slammed into the ground near the center, throwing dirt and stone into the air to disrupt their vision.
"Get behind me!" Lucius roared.
The Captain stepped into the path of the central head. He slammed his towering shield into the mud, activating [Fortress Stance]. The light of his spell flared, creating a barrier that extended ten feet on either side of him.
The Hydra's central head struck the shield. The impact sounded like a bell being struck by a train. Lucius slid back three feet, but the shield held.
"Isadora!" Lucius said, straining against the weight of the monster. "Keep me up!"
"I am trying!" the Battle Priestess said. Her hands were already glowing white; streams of healing magic were pouring into Lucius to counteract the crushing damage he was mitigating with his bare body.
Reidar watched from the cover of the ferns, noting that the Church was reacting well, all things considered. While they hadn't fled, they were clearly panicked, as the sudden introduction of a Level 375 monster had shattered their rhythm and forced them to switch from farming to mere survival.
The battle turned into a grinder, as the Hydra was a chaotic element that refused to be tanked in a traditional sense.
While Lucius held the attention of the two largest heads, the other three wreaked havoc on the support lines.
A Zealot tried to flank the beast with a sword glowing with fire, but even though he scored a shallow cut, the Hydra's tail whipped around faster than a human, even if mutated, could track, shattering his ribs and sending him flying into a tree with a wet crunch.
—[An enemy got killed: Elite Zealot Marek Kovač (Level 312)]—
Reidar saw the notification pop up in his periphery. He wasn't in the party, but his Vorathid Sky-Hunters were close enough to tag the combat log. He didn't receive C.L.A.S.P. points from the kill because he had 0 participation in the fight, albeit, in a sense, he did since he lured the hydra there.
"They're losing," Jake said.
Below, the situation was deteriorating. The Hydra's mist breath was filling the area, creating pockets of poisonous gas that forced the Church forces to reposition. Every time they moved, their formation loosened, and the Hydra exploited the gaps.
Isadora was sweating. She was chugging mana potions, tossing empty vials onto the grass as she wove protective wards around the dwindling number of Elites. She couldn't focus on offense; keeping Lucius and the frontline alive was taking everything she had.
"Drecht is hesitating," Lena said.
The Deacon was standing near the back, firing bolts of magic, but he was looking at the tree line. He was looking for an escape route. He knew this wasn't sustainable. The Hydra was regenerating almost as fast as they could damage it, and his soldiers were dying.
It was a hellish combination of high-tier, impressive skills and gargantuan size. Of course, the level also helped, although Drecht and the big lizard weren't that different in levels.
"He's about to call a retreat. If they retreat, they regroup, and we lose our chance."
He watched Lucius take another hit. The Captain's shield buckled, and a spray of blood flew from his mouth. Isadora screamed a healing chant, her light flashing to knit his internal organs back together.
Reidar watched the enemy stumble and knew they had reached the tipping point. He stepped out from the shadow of the forest, feeling the weight of his baton slide into his hand as he completed his assessment of their ragged breathing and sluggish movements.
"They're at the tipping point," Reidar said, his eyes scanning the exhausted lines. "Their mana is low, their cooldowns are blown, and their stamina is critically low. I think it's our turn."
He looked at Jake and Lena.
"Now."
The other two nodded, and Reidar triggered his summoning skills.
Hundreds of Vorathid Sky-Hunters materialized from the canopy above the Church's rear guard.
[Your Vorathid Sky-Hunter strikes Elite Zealot Henrik Larsen for 840 Piercing Damage.]
[Your Vorathid Sky-Hunter strikes Elite Zealot Tomasz Nowak for 910 Piercing Damage.]
[CRITICAL! Your Vorathid Sky-Hunter strikes Elite Zealot Stefan Müller for 1850 Piercing Damage.]
The back line dissolved into chaos. The Zealots, already exhausted and terrified of the Hydra, weren't ready for an attack from behind. Screams replaced orders as the insects tore into the targets—the archers and the mages.
"Ambush!" a Zealot said, thrashing as a Sky-Hunter latched onto his shoulder.
Jake moved. He activated the Boots of the Eternal Vanguard, blurring across the forest floor. He ignored the dying soldiers. He went straight for Isadora.
She saw him at the last second. Her eyes widened, and she raised a hand, diverting a shield spell meant for Lucius to protect herself.
"Lucius! Flank!" she said.
Jake slammed into the barrier. The impact didn't break it, but it shoved her back five feet, disrupting her casting rhythm. The beam of light healing Lucius flickered and died.
"Get off her!" Lucius roared.
The Captain tried to turn to reach his healer, but he couldn't. The moment his attention wavered, the Hydra slammed one of its heads into him again. Lucius went down to one knee, coughing blood, forced to raise his shield to stop himself from being pasted into the mud.
Lena was there an instant later. She went for the kill, but Lucius was too heavily armored. She tried once again by targeting his knee, but even that was impossibly armored.
Lucius grunted, kicking out and forcing her to retreat.
Drecht stumbled back. The forest felt suffocating now. His army was dying. His Captain was pinned. His healer was fighting for her life against a kid who moved too fast to track.
And walking toward him through the carnage was Reidar.
[Summon: Vorathid Sky-Hunter strikes Elite Zealot for 760 Piercing Damage.]
[Enemy Defeated: Elite Zealot (Level 315)]
Reidar stepped over the corpse of a Zealot. He looked tense.
"You rat," Drecht hissed, gripping his staff until his knuckles turned white. "You actually came."