Raven – Reckless Fist
Elesis – Blazing Heart
A chunk of flaming stone landed at Elsword's feet.
He looked up, seeing more deadly missiles raining from the sky. It took him exactly one point five seconds to realize what was happening.
"Ambush! Take cover!" he yelled, spinning around and motioning his group toward the sides of the canyon. There were a myriad of rocky shelves that they could take cover under.
The entire Elgang broke and ran to escape the fire. Raven and Elesis found themselves under the same shelf, watching as the rocks showered outside.
"Don't they understand that the basic principle of an ambush is surprise?" Raven muttered. "Solace, the demons back in Feita were better coordinated than this."
"Maybe they're just trying to hammer away at our defenses," Elesis suggested, and both of them looked up at the sound of scrabbling rocks. This didn't sound like the flaming missiles from groups of Mag Chargers.
"Elesis, Ara, take the Mag Chargers out!" Elsword called from under his own little rocky ledge. Ara's fluffy white tails waved as she yipped her understanding. Elesis glanced at Raven.
"Cover me," she muttered, and Raven nodded and readied his blade as Elesis stepped out into clear space and raised her left hand, flames gathering and circling around her.
"Blaze Wing!" she shouted. Raven knocked a fiery rock away from her as Ara took off in a Flying Kite.
"They're coming down here!" Eve shouted. Moby and Remy hummed at her sides.
"Form up," Elsword yelled. "Rena, Arelinna?"
The Wind Sneaker summoned a nymph, who cast a blessing over the area. Raven instantly felt his aching muscles ease. His arm twitched. The Arelinna's speed enhancement would help a lot with the difficulties of the confined space.
The sounds of hissing and spitting and clicking metal made Raven and Elesis shoot tense glancs at each other, then watch the newly appeared threat. Demons advanced from both sides, cutting off any escape routes save up the steep canyon walls.
"Looks like we'll have to fight our way out," Lu chirped. Out of the corner of his eye, Raven saw Ciel disappear, like he usually did when Lu was fighting.
One line of the demons charged. Elsword, Elesis, Raven, Add, and Rena stepped up to hold them back.
Raven blocked out the battle cries around him, focusing on the demons and the heat of his arm. He could almost feel the Nasod arm as a presence in his mind. Kill them all, it whispered, and Raven smiled as he raised his blade and launched a slash at the first demon.
Happy to oblige.
The four fighters systematically tore through the demons, each person building on the others' attacks. Raven shadow-stepped through a Mag Stone, summoning Nasod javelins and punching it until it fell apart.
Rena ran through the gap with a well-timed Sharp Fall, stunning everything around and giving Elsword a perfect opportunity to sink his sword into the ground and call up a ton of little tiny Conwells. Elesis' fire and Add's drones took care of the stragglers. Raven noted down, then proceeded to ignore, the sounds of the rest of the group fighting back the other line of demons.
A shower of flaming rocks fell from the sky. They all managed to dodge, Raven automatically slapping one away from Elesis with his Nasod arm, and Add aimed and fired a Panzer Buster at the poor Mag Charger that had happened to escape the first attack.
And that was the end of the first wave.
Rhythmic, pounding footsteps from either end told them that it wasn't yet over. Elsword glanced around, seeing how far away they'd gotten from the rest of the group.
"Recover!" he called, and both halves of the Elgang turned and ran back to their original position. Rena sent up another Arelinna. Chung, Eve, Ciel, and Aisha all buffed everyone at the same time to increase their chances.
"Hopefully, they only have two waves planned. It's Mag Stones again, so try and break up their line. Stay back when they've got fire up except for Elesis and Eve."
Elsword talked fast. The entire sequence was delivered in less than ten seconds. The Elgang muttered agreement all around, then stepped forward to fight the advancing lines.
Raven charged up a Wild Charge and let fly, straight into the middle of the Mag Stone line. The rocky monster shuddered, and Raven took the opportunity to summon more Nasod javelins and cut into it.
He heard running footsteps and ducked, making room for Elesis to jump over him with a slash to the demon's face and a follow-up of three fireballs. Raven stepped to the side as she landed on the ground with a blue aura circling around her body.
The Mag Stone rumbled. Raven saw an orange glow seeping out through the cracks of its stony body, felt the searing heat on his face. He wasn't going to go against Elsword's orders for this bit.
With one last look at Elesis, he quickly backpedaled, waiting a good seven feet away with Elsword, Add, and Rena.
Elesis ran to the end of the monsters' line, her clothes smoldering and smoking from the heat. She used Rushing Sword to slash through the line once, twice, three times, more times, until the monsters were all burning with her fire instead of theirs and the Gale aura disappeared in a fizzle of blue sparks. When it did, she paused, lowering her claymore and taking a deep breath in preparation for another skill.
She wasn't expecting one of the Mag Stones to raise a fist and try to smash her. She barely dodged, throwing herself backward and landing hard on the ground.
Raven acted on impulse. "Nuclear!" he called, throwing out his Nasod arm to summon a spear from the sky. The rocky golems were no match for a full-force Nasod nuclear explosion. They were buffeted by the impact, their line broken, and it only took one Violent Attack from Rena to finish them off. Thankfully, there was no backup behind them.
Raven went straight to Elesis. She was on one knee, breathing hard.
"Oy. You okay?" Raven's human hand was occupied with his blade, and he made it a point never to touch Elesis with the Nasod hand, so he gently bumped her with his knee instead.
"Perfectly fine. Just surprised that they dared try and use fire against me." Elesis muttered, pushing herself off the ground and dusting off her coat. "Well, they were dead wrong about that."
And knowing Elesis, the pun was totally intended.
