An uncomfortable tension fell over the group as time ticked by, as the sun slowly slid down in the sky, and the next day came closer. Ghirahim sparred for as long as he could until he started to get in the way of other Gorons preparing for the next day's battle. He slid his sword into its scabbard without a word, collected his things, and returned to the inn to finish up his preparations.
Midna was preparing potions of all kinds for strength and stamina enhancements, handing them out to Gorons who intended to fight. Near midnight, Darunia found her and told her that she no longer needed to supply potions, as they had all that they would need. As the cooking pots, all located near the training grounds, were far from the inn, she decided to instead take a walk in the city to try and calm her nerves. She returned to the inn and practiced her teleporting, giving a still-awake Ghirahim a running commentary on her teleporting experiences and the sensations that went with it.
Link was restless and made his way through the city. His mood was foul due to the impending battle, and only got worse as he spotted Yiga archers wandering the streets, even spotting some of them talking with resident Gorons. At one point on the streets, he ran into a pair of Yiga, who stopped to greet him. His only response was glare at them, getting no obvious response. They only walked off with quiet farewells and wishes of luck in the next day's fight.
The building at which Linebeck and Damien were allowed to work was near the two chieftain's home, just at a lower and more eastern section of the city. The lights were still on, the light streaming from the stone lanterns not flickering or faltering in the slightest. A pair of Gorons talked just outside, one of them missing two fingers, and the other missing an entire arm. Link grimaced at the thought of what such powerful creatures must've faced to have taken so much. Simple bokoblins and lizalfos would certainly pose no threat, and moblins, while powerful, were clumsy. Keese were but annoyances, and things like wolfos and octorocks weren't able to survive in such heat.
Link quietly greeted the Gorons and slipped past them into the small building. There was only one room, but it was large enough to be comfortable and house a decent workshop with tables and assorted parts. Piles of objects and parts were neatly sorted and lined up on the tables. Linebeck had his own tools lined up in front of him, and was in the back of the room, tinkering with whatever machine he was creating. Damien stood behind one of the front tables, drumming his fingers on the tabletop and muttering something under his breath. His eyes lit up when he saw Link. "You're up late. Do you need something?"
Link shrugged. "I'm just taking a walk. You're up late, too?"
"We've got work to do, so I have an excuse. The two guys out there, we're working on their prosthetics already. You can help, if you'd want, but I doubt that Linebeck would actually let you touch anything."
"I don't really want to help," he explained. "What were you saying under your breath?"
"Thinking up decent prices," Damien replied. "Trying to come up with more reasonable prices for this stuff based off of what they already have. Linebeck doesn't have any actual experience with this kind of stuff, so he's leaving it to me."
"That's a bit rude, throwing all that work at you."
Damien laughed good-naturedly. "Not really. He's pretty busy as he is-" he said, pointing back at Linebeck, "-so it's only fair that I'll crunch the numbers. Do you actually need something, or...?"
Link shook his head. "Just trying to loosen up. I'm pretty nervous about tomorrow. I know that Midna, Ghirahim, and Linebeck are offering to help with me. How about you?" He scratched the back of his head, shifting his weight. "I mean, you shouldn't feel like you need to help. You're just tagging along, so none of this is really your business..."
The carefree smile slid off Damien's face. "No, I'll help. This concerns the fate of Hyrule itself, doesn't it? I'll keep an eye on Linebeck tomorrow and give you guys a better chance to fight without much worry. I can hold my own, I've had to fight off a good number of muggers and monsters before."
The carpenter held Link's gaze for a moment longer, then looked down at the table. Link nodded to himself, backing up a step. "I'll expect to see you there tomorrow, then?"
"Probably in a safer, further back part of the battle, yes. Maybe in an elevated spot. Linebeck's been using that map thing to get glimpses of the intended site of the battle whenever you near it."
Link grimaced. He'd almost forgotten about the tracker in the back of his neck. Reaching up and stroking the synthetic skin on his neck, he shuddered. "I keep forgetting that Linebeck could track me down whenever he wants."
"We all do. He forgot, too, until he remembered that you were why the map display kept moving. You should leave now. Get some rest. Tomorrow's gonna be one hell of a day."
Link never understood how he was able to dream when shut off, but he did anyways.
The dream before the day of the fight was the clearest- he stood outside a room, a sword in his hands, the blade pointed downwards with the tip touching the carpeted floor. Blurry people walked by, eyeing him almost nervously, like he was something to be feared. Unlike the other dreams, where he'd felt odd and like someone else, this time, he felt... normal. He felt like he was in his own skin.
From the room behind him came muffled, frantic talking. It sounded like three people- two men and a woman. One of the men sounded frantic, his voice regularly cracking and each of his words lined with misery and despair. The woman's voice was surprisingly harsh, but even though he couldn't make out the words, he knew that she wasn't being harsh with the frantic man. The other man spoke most rarely, his voice gentle and always responding to what the frantic man said. There was a sharp tone at times.
A fourth man spoke- this time talking directly to Link. Telling him to join the others. He hesitated, and the frantic man repeated what the fourth had said. Link turned, sliding that sword into a scabbard on his back, and walked into the room. His surroundings were blurry and distorted like he was under water, and he was unable to pinpoint how the three people looked, and he couldn't see that fourth man anywhere.
They all spoke to him, and he responded briefly, voicing his opinion on the matter. Finally, as the scene faded, the words became clear.
"I'll do what I can to make sure no charges are pressed against you," the woman promised.
"I'll make a list of people who may want to hurt you," the gentle-voiced man decided.
"If you want, I'll stay as a guard outside your door," Link himself murmured.
The fourth man's voice rang out, "I'll take care of most of your work for the time being."
Finally, the frantic man spoke, his voice quiet and meek, and Link could tell that something within him was broken. "She deserved to die; I don't care. Just keep everyone else away from me."
When Link woke, he stared up at the ceiling, comprehending what had been his clearest memory yet. He groped around in his own memories, reaching the wall in his mind once again but could still feel his past dreams beyond it. The wall itself... it almost felt weak. Link blinked a few times, drawing in a slow breath. He had to tell the others. Link sat up on the stone bed, finding himself alone. He gathered his stuff up and dashed out of the inn.
The streets were practically deserted, but Link didn't stop and ask any remaining Gorons what the time was- his own mind murmured that it was nearly ten in the morning. He'd overslept, and no one bothered to wake him.
After a few frantic minutes of searching, Link found his companions at the entrance of the city, milling around at the edge of a crown of Gorons equipped for battle. He slowed his pace as he neared them. "Some friends, not even bothering to wake me in time!"
"You looked so peaceful," Midna sighed. "I didn't want to rouse you from what looked like a really restful sleep."
Link shot her a halfhearted glare and turned his gaze to Linebeck. He meant to speak but cut himself off as their eyes met and flashed. A cold feeling ran down Link's spine and he scowled. "We really need to figure out what that is."
"I'm working on it." Linebeck reached up and dragged his goggles over his eyes, turning away.
Midna had her currently inactive spear in hand, some makeshift metal graves and bracers secured on her limbs. Ghirahim didn't bother with armor, but he had a golden armband on his right bicep. Link frowned. "When'd you get that?"
Ghirahim blinked and held up his arm. "...This? Darunia offered it to me as a token of thanks for offering to help. Midna got her new armor in the same manner. If I can remember correctly, some magic-users can enchant items made of gold or containing precious gems..." He smiled thinly; his attention now stolen by his new accessory.
Damien offered Link a shrug as the robot shot him a tired look. The carpenter wore no armor and had no weapons aside from what looked to be a hastily lashed-together knife. Linebeck also had no armor to be seen, but he had his bow and a metal quiver of arrows at his hip. The quiver looked newly made, sleek and long and otherwise nondescript.
For a few moments, Link checked over his own equipment, inspecting his sword and armor. "You seemed like you wanted to say something," Bellum drawled, appearing before his eyes and making him jump back.
"Right, right," Link muttered, sheepishly peering back at Linebeck. "I had another one of those dreams, except this one was a lot clearer."
The five of them separated themselves from the crowd of Gorons, afraid of being overheard. Link quietly recounted the events of his dream, putting emphasis on the spoken words and made of a point to remind the others that the details were hazy.
He crossed his arms when finished, and before anyone else could comment, said, "To me, I think the other people are the engineer, magician, and battler from 200 years ago that Zelda told Midna about. I'm not very sure who the fourth person may be."
"It sounded like one of them had just killed someone, a woman," Midna mused. "And that the woman he was with said that she'd prevent anyone from pressing charges, and the gentle-voiced man and Link promised to protect him. The fourth guy was probably a helper or something."
"I don't see how it's relevant," Ghirahim snapped. "Just a conversation between four dead people and a robot hero."
"It hints at my past," Link retorted. "It's important enough. Besides, if I keep having dreams like that, then I might come across what caused Hyrule to be destroyed back then. But now, I'm curious about what appears to be the covering-up of a murder."
"Maybe you're not quite as benevolent as you think," mused Linebeck. "Of course, you're different now than you were back then, but... who knows?"
Link set his jaw. "For now, I just hope I get more of the clear dreams. When are we going to head down to fight?"
"Darunia is doing a head count before we leave, so we've got a few minutes. I'll go and let him know that you're here now," Damien offered.
After a few more minutes, Darunia called out that they were now heading down to fight, and the crowd started moving. Link inhaled slowly, feeling his heartbeat speed up just a little, anxiety worming into his mind. Of all of them, only Ghirahim looked calm- he even had a relaxed smile on his face, his hand on the pommel of his saber. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, walking with a new swagger, like he couldn't wait for the coming battle.
Link himself had to admit that there was a degree of excitement in his mind, but it was overshadowed by dread. He ran multitudes of possible scenarios in his head, wondering how he'd react to injuries, small victories, or even deaths. He had full confidence in his ability to fight off enemies, and ran through preexisting strategies, even thinking up how to deal with a lynel if he even ran into one of those deadly beasts.
Linebeck walked by him, showing him the map tablet and pointing out the canyon that they would be fighting in. It was rather shallow and with a number of raised parts that would be good for archers.
Everyone was anxious, aside from Ghirahim, of course. When Link asked him about it, Ghirahim only shrugged and said, "Well, I'm a demon and a sword spirit, right? As a sword spirit, I was created to do war, even if I can no longer produce proof that I'm a sword spirit, and demons? I doubt I need to explain that."
The entrance to the canyon was wide and craggy. Link squinted through a gap in the Gorons at the cave at end of the canyon. Already, he could see monsters gathered in front of the cave entrance.
The Gorons walked down a fourth of the canyon and then stopped. People started dispersing, and Link did the way, weaving through the crowd to the front, finding that Ghirahim was doing the same. Most of the Gorons had metal clubs or hammers, and Link passed a few with bulky spears. Most of them wore little armor outside bracers or helmets.
He and Ghirahim stopped once they reached the front of the crowd and drew their swords. From the looks of it, the monsters were already rushing down the canyon. A quick glance up and down the front line told Link that Daruk and Darunia had fallen back to the middle of the crowd, amongst the rest of the crowd. He had no idea where Midna, Linebeck, or Damien were. He had little time to continue speculating, and he rushed forward with the line, whipping out and activating his shield. Link ran his sword through the chest of the lizalfos that neared him, and the two sides met in a cacophony of shouting and roaring.
Link was careful not to accidentally hit an ally- he ended up pushing into the crowd of monsters, slashing at anything that moved. A blue bokoblin screeched and bashed at his shield and Link pushed back at the monster, shoving it off balance and cutting into its skull. The ease with which his sword sliced through flesh and metal alike sent a thrill through Link. He felled a moblin that got too close and slammed his shield into a lizalfos' side, allowing for Ghirahim to send knives into its chest.
There wasn't time for Link to slip fancy flourishes in with his movements, hacking and slicing at what came into his vision proved to be extraordinarily effective. He ran into a lizalfos wearing a metal head covering and wasted no time in thrusting his blade up into its throat. Behind him, Gorons were efficiently caving in monsters' skulls or rib cages with their heavy weapons.
Link didn't bother moving side to side, he only advanced with slow and steady steps, cutting a path through the tightly packed monsters. If a blade got too closer, something in his mind shouted at him to move and protect himself. His forearms and his lower legs and feet were safely protected by the gauntlets and greaves, but everything else was in constant danger, forcing himself to keep his shield close to his body while he killed and turned monsters to smoke. It was painfully loud at first, and he was dimly aware of his sense of hearing slowly decreasing until the din was bearable.
Nearby, a Goron shouted in pain, and Link abandoned his path to help. A moblin stood over the Goron, the tip of its spear buried in his stomach. Link quickly slew the moblin and cut off most of the shaft of the spear. "Try not to remove it if you want to keep fighting," Link advised the Goron. "If you remove it, it'll make the bleeding worse. Otherwise, I recommend pulling back." The Goron nodded briefly, and Link left him with his companions.
He crossed paths with Ghirahim a few times. The demon looked calm, almost joyous as he practically danced from monster to monster, sporadically summoning knives and slitting throats with an elegance Link had never seen out of battle. He didn't seem to tire in the least as he slaughtered with ease, his sword practically a blur. At one point, Link struck down a monster that nearly injured Ghirahim. A moment after, Ghirahim regarded him with the briefest of glances and nodded curtly.
Everything started to blend together as time wore on. Link didn't allow his mind to drift far from his current predicament, cutting through monsters and very slowly advancing towards the cave at the end of the canyon. He found that he was thankful that monsters scarcely bled.
Midna skewered another lizalfos through the eye and retracted behind the line of Gorons. She didn't envy those on the front lines but appreciated the bouts of action and battle that occasionally spurred up around her. Her initial plan had been to kill any monsters that got behind the Goron forces, and she'd expected to find Linebeck or Damien helping alongside her.
Of course, they'd disappeared the moment the battle started. Link and Ghirahim had raced off to the front, and Midna spotted them withdrawing into the crowd in the same way that she was. Daruk and Darunia had pulled her aside for a moment, telling her about how Gorons fought, and that she was free to fight however she wanted before joining the battle. Linebeck and Damien were nowhere to be found after that.
Not long after the start of the battle, Midna began spotting crimson clad and masked Yiga archers on ledges that jutted out from the cliff walls, raining arrows down on the besieging monsters. Even with the combined power of the Gorons and the Yiga assistance, progress was slow, and the sun slowly climbed its way halfway across the sky. Sweat dripped down Midna's brow, and she choked down another foul fireproof potion. Many Gorons thanked her when she handed out concoctions to improve stamina and strength. She downed a strength potion herself and rejoined the fray, the fluidly shifting spearhead slicing through anything it came into contact with as if it were made of thin paper.
A bold moblin faced her down, swinging a long broadsword downwards at her shoulder. Midna ducked out of the way with ease and ran the monster through, moving on to other enemies. If the glowing spearhead and blades didn't kill the monsters, it was the breaking of their necks when the sturdy shaft slammed into them. A few times, she was worried that the thin wire along the shaft would break, but it seemed to act as a blade in itself.
She practiced magic as she went, slipping in and out of shadows to attack or dodge, and practiced the range and speed of her teleportation to aid those in danger. Many Gorons thanked her, referring to her as 'brother', and she made no effort to correct them.
A thin smile made its way onto Midna's face the more she killed. She found a morbid glee in destroying the savage monsters, her initial fear melting away. She almost felt like some kind of deity of war, one of the many beings that Hylians or Ritos or the Gerudo or any of the races worshiped. Her cloak fluttered out behind her as she moved, and her fire-orange hair flowing in the hot air- maybe she was as vain as Ghirahim was. At least their vanity was well-founded.
In the distance, she spotted the demon as she thought of him- a flash of the stark white of his hair and the red of his cloak. He was always easy to pick out in a crowd.
An arrow whizzed by Midna's ear, burying itself in the throat of a bokoblin. She whipped around and spotted a Yiga- the bow-wielding Yiga general, to be specific. The Yiga waved at Midna as if they knew each other. She stared at the Yiga for a moment longer, then jumped back into the fight. She was grateful for the rebellion's help, even if their intentions were murky. They would be dealt with if their destruction became inevitable.
Being around so many people made Linebeck's skin crawl, but the Gorons were polite enough to avoid touching him. Damien stuck close to him as the battle started, peering around until Linebeck pointed at a ledge halfway up the cliff wall. "That's not too high up, but it should be high enough for what we need, and there's enough room for you, too."
Damien squinted at it. "There's a bit of covering, too, so that'll help so I can switch between being with you and down here. Give me a second... your first time with Yiga teleportation can be pretty disorienting." He wrapped an arm around Linebeck's waist.
"R-right." Linebeck mumbled. He knew that Yiga could take people with them during their teleportation, but he was personally apprehensive of all that. He tightly wrapped an arm around Damien's shoulders and kept quiet as they carefully backed away from most of the action. Damien murmured something, and they disappeared with a puff of smoke.
A few moments later, they re-appeared on the ledge, falling from a few inches above the ground. Linebeck stumbled back and pressed himself against the cliff wall, forcing himself to stop shaking. The process of the teleportation was just a blur of motion, like moving through nothing, though he could still feel Damien. The carpenter was now crouching behind the rock that jutted out enough to shade him. "If you need my help, uh... What's a good signal?"
"Just check in every once in a while," Linebeck said, fumbling with his bow. "I mean, I'll start waving at you or something if I need you." He crept to the edge of the ledge and slowly exhaled, nocking an electric arrow. "Looks like your friends are here," he mumbled, spotting a few Yiga strewn about.
"Yeah, we've had people stationed here since Hyrule City cut most of their ties with them. Like I promised you, I called in some more people to help." Damien peered out from behind the rock, down at the battle. "Try and focus on some stronger enemies, okay? We already have a bunch of archers, so you should focus on the most dangerous stuff." He gave Linebeck a reassuring smile and disappeared in a cloud of paper amulets.
"You should try and improve on that new design of yours," Bellum grumbled as Linebeck drew back the arrow.
"You really need to be more specific," Linebeck grumbled, releasing the arrow and watching it strike a monster's metal shield. The electricity overtook it and sparked out, chaining to every nearby metal item, violently shocking the monsters holding the items. The group of enemies convulsed as the electricity ran through them, and the whole lot of them dropped dead. "I have a lot of things that could be considered new designs."
"You know, the thing you're working on to make it so more people can see and hear me. I bet it'd be nice if you could make something like that for Damien."
"I haven't touched those plans in weeks, and the old prototypes didn't last very long," Linebeck snapped, freezing a trio of monsters with an ice arrow. A nearby troop of Gorons took advantage of the other monsters' confusion and moved to wipe a section of them out. Linebeck let out a low whistle. "Damn. I wouldn't want to be pit against the Gorons."
"Oh, yeah. What they lack in brains they more than make up with brawn." Bellum peered around and then murmured. "Oh, shit. Is that a hinox? Have we even seen one of those before?"
Linebeck shrugged, surveying the battlefield. "There was that time someone made a mini robot version of one, but it was no match for... which robot did I make that month?" Down at the back of the monster crowd, was, indeed, a large hinox. The one-eyed beast stooped and picked up a moblin in one hand like it weighed nothing and flung it over the crowd of monsters. The poor moblin slammed into a group of Gorons, bowling them over. Linebeck flinched, shakily nocking another arrow. "Oh, right."
"How do you miss a monster that big?"
The hinox moved through the crowd of monsters with ease, most of the creatures moving out of the way. "Where did that come from?" Linebeck asked, staring at it. It had makeshift metal greaves wrapped around its short legs to protect against attacks, but Linebeck swapped out his plain arrow for a shock arrow and got to aiming. The Yiga archers had already begun to focus their attacks on the hinox. One of the archers got a clear shot to its eye, disorienting and injuring it, but once it regained its bearings, it held up a hand to over its eye. Minutes dragged by, and not a single arrow managed to reach the eye again.
Waiting for a clear shot, Linebeck briefly spotted Link cutting through swathes of monsters, and Ghirahim tearing through them with an elegant ease. He didn't spot Damien and began to worry until the telltale sound of a rapid fluttering of paper began near him. "We need some help with that hinox," Damien said, stumbling over to Linebeck.
"I'm working on it. The monsters by its feet are protecting it, though. If you could get them out of the way or something..." Linebeck trailed off, looking at Damien. Fresh blood was splashed on his right cheek, seeping from a long cut. His right leg was entirely soaked in blood, a ragged hole ripped in his pants, showing off blackened, burnt skin, the innermost section still leaking blood. It gave off a foul smell, and Damien winced in pain every time he placed the slightest weight on it.
Damien cut Linebeck off before he got a chance to speak. "Don't worry about me," he snapped, his voice strained. "I'll be fine, I'll stay away from most of the danger..." He trailed off into a low groan, shifting all of his weight onto his uninjured leg. Initially having been holding his axe resting against his shoulder, he jabbed it against the ground like it was a cane. "I'll come up with a plan to give you an opening, okay? I can have the other Yiga get rid of the monsters by its feet, or get some warriors to lead them away, or..." He was cut off by a roar from the fighters down below, and the two of them inched over to the edge.
The hinox was nearly at the front line of the Goron's forces, and more monsters were still tricking from the cave opening. Based off of the size of the cave's opening, it was a good guess to say that the hinox was just small enough to fit through. Link and Ghirahim were the closest to the monster, darting in and out, dodging the hulking hinox's swipes. Damien let out a shaky breath. "If I get too hurt, I promise to hide out here. The Yiga teleportation spell doesn't draw on very much energy to work, so it's good even if I'm on the verge of death."
Linebeck grimaced. "Just stay out of trouble. If you get into too much danger, I'm a bit worried that the other Yiga might accidentally give your identity away or something like that. Just..." He gritted his teeth, keeping his eyes locked on the hinox. "Don't get done in."
"Thought you had more faith in me than that," Damien retorted with a harsh laugh. He reached over and grabbed a handful of Linebeck's coat, tugging him closer. "Same to you, then. Don't get done in. I love you."
Linebeck grunted in response, not trusting that he would be able to stop if he started to talk. Damien lingered for a moment later, then disappeared in usual Yiga fashion, reappearing near the back of the Goron crowd.
Midna dashed between Gorons as she ran, sometimes resorting to teleportation or shadow-walking in order to get closer to the hinox. It had already put a good dent in the Gorons' numbers- Midna had watched a large crowd of injured Gorons escaping the canyon back to the city and gave them a small sack of stamina potions. Now that the hinox was so close to the Goron forces, she wanted to join Link and Ghirahim as quickly as possible.
Midna slew a number of monsters that got in her way, and stumbled to a stop once she found Link, who was slowly circling the hinox. "What's the problem, why isn't it dead yet?!"
"We've been waiting for you. Your spear has the best reach to deal with something like this. Its legs are plated with metal so there's nothing we can do, even though we've got Yiga scum turning this thing into a walking pincushion."
"What, Ghirahim's daggers aren't doing jack shit?"
"A hinox's skin is really thick, so things like his daggers and arrows from an extended distance won't do very much. Your help will be very appreciated."
Midna nodded and ran past him. The hinox was slowly walking, a group of normal monsters huddled around its legs. She swiftly killed one with a jab to the throat, but another monster quickly filled its spot. Midna hopped back, scowling. So, there was the problem. She glanced back at Link. There were tears in his clothing, a cut across the bridge of his nose, and rips in his chest. Some wires were poking out of one of the holes, and she silently hoped that they weren't too important.
Ghirahim dashed by, pelting monsters with daggers and slashing at any too-close monsters. Midna had rarely seen him injured, but blood stained the ends of his hair, originating from a wide tear in his chest, from his right collarbone to under his armpit. His knees were bleeding profusely, his pants torn, and the skin scraped off the fronts of his thighs, bright red muscle shining through. Still, he ran without falter and sent a volley of daggers into the hinox's chest.
Ghirahim hesitated by Midna, and she darted over and grabbed his arm. "How are things going?"
"Badly," he panted. "We've lost too many Gorons, and if you try and jump up, the damned thing just swats you away like a fly. Nearly tore my kneecaps right out after being slid across the ground post-swat. You're our best chance, for now."
Midna nodded curtly and let him go. Once free, Ghirahim immediately sent knives at the hinox's eyes, only for them to be buried hilt-deep into the back of its hand. Going for its eye wasn't a strategy that would work twice. She sprinted at the monsters at its feet again, dispatching a few of them to give herself a brief opening. She thrust her spear up at the flabby skin hanging off the hinox's body, the spearhead sinking in a few inches. She jerked the spear to the side, opening a long cut in the hinox's side before she had to back up as monsters converged on her.
The cut seemed to irritate the hinox, who let out a low groan. Midna wrinkled her nose at it, glaring at its ugly, pig-like face. She'd never seen one in real life, only in pictures, and holy Hylia, they were uglier than she could have anticipated. She especially hated its thick, chipped and faint yellow nails. It stooped and picked up a squealing bokoblin and chucked it at her. Midna teleported a few feet to the side, wincing as she heard the sharp crack of the bokoblin's spine snapping.
As deadly as the cut she'd made looked, it was nothing to a hinox. She set her jaw, now frustrated. Things would be quickly ended if they could get up to its eye, but that was clearly no longer an option. There were a lot of Yiga archers, but it seemed like most of them were still focused on the surrounding monsters. A quick survey of the ledges on the cliff walls let her know where Linebeck was- one of the ledges closer to the Gorons' side, half hidden by a rock as he crouched and switched between shooting shock arrows and ice arrows.
If he could get a clear shot at the hinox's metal plates with a shock arrow...
Midna was jostled out of her thoughts by the sight of Damien, blood spattered and stumbling, dashing over to her as best as his burnt leg would allow. "M-Midna! Where's Link? And Ghirahim?"
"What happened to your leg?" Midna breathlessly asked, staring at the blackened flesh.
"Fire-breathing lizalfos. That's not important. Where are they?" He suddenly whipped around and swung his axe at a moblin that got too close, nearly cleaving it in half.
"I think that's a third-degree burn-"
"Oh, don't worry, it's pretty close to third-degree, just not quite there," Damien breathed, staring around. "Oh, there's Link! Go get Ghirahim for me." He staggered off without any further explanation, and if they weren't in the middle of a battle, MIdna would've been frozen in bewilderment. Instead, she ran off, quickly spotting Ghirahim again. He was miffed when she stopped him for the second time but agreed to see what Damien wanted.
Link looked just as confused as Midna felt, but all of them huddled off to the side with Damien, panting and leaning on his axe. "T-that hinox is a problem, eh?" He smiled weakly as he was answered with scathing glares. "Yeah, yeah... enough wasting time. Linebeck is the only guy here with shock arrows, and if we can give him a clear shot to that bastard's legs, it should give us enough time to kill or at least fatally injure it. Ghirahim, you'll have to stay out of the way, though, since people who have too much metal on them will most likely get killed if they try and help while it's shocked.
"I've spoken with a few of the Yiga archers- I found some of the foot soldiers to be messengers- so they should be focusing more on the monsters at the hinox's feet by now. We need to help make an opening- it needs to be for a few whole seconds. Once it's shocked, Link and Midna should be able to go up and kill it." He paused. "Probably only Midna. I keep forgetting that you're a robot, Link."
Link frowned. "Oh, right. Damn. What if this fails?"
"Then ignore the hinox and figure out where these monsters are coming from. Our goal here is to try and stop the monsters all together, right?"
Link nodded. "You're not going to help us attack, right? With your leg that messed up, you might only get in the way."
Damien narrowed his eyes but said nothing in response. "We should put the plan into motion. No more wasting time, alright?"
It was clear to them that the Yiga had heard the plan by the time they returned to the hinox. Arrows pelted the monsters at its feet, most of them ending up in an eye or a throat. Ghirahim and Midna got to attacking, but Link held back for a moment. Damien swayed slightly; his pain was more obvious on his face than before. Link walked over to him. "You should probably fall back-"
"I've dealt with worse, leave me alone."
"Seriously, though. With your leg like that, you'll be really vulnerable."
"I'm serious. I'll be fine." Damien practically shoved Link aside, and set off in a lurching run, lopping off the head of the first monster he came near. Link gritted his teeth and decided to stay near Damien for the duration of the battle. Even if he had no problem defending himself from immediate threats, it was now easier for him to be caught off guard or off balance.
The bowstring felt like fluid between Linebeck's fingers while he waited, the shock arrow drawn back and aimed at the hinox. The rapid deaths of a large group of monsters let him know that a plan was in motion, so he kept the arrow at ready, aimed at the hinox's protected legs. He could see Midna and Ghirahim darting about, as well as Link and Damien- Link seemed to be tailing Damien from a distance.
At first, the archers shot at any monsters, but slowly began to focus on the same group that Link and the others were concentrating on. A hole in the group of monsters slowly began to open, and Linebeck forced his arms to quit shaking. Bellum faded into sight beside him, staring intently. "...Now. Shoot now!"
Linebeck loosed the arrow and held his breath. Luckily, no one stumbled into the way, and no monsters refilled the empty spot. The shock arrow sailed through the air, and the crystal arrowhead shattered on impact with the hinox's metal greaves. The sheer electricity stored in the arrowhead burst out, and webs of electricity spread across the beast's entire body. It let out a low roar and trembled in pain.
Within moments, Midna managed buried the head of her spear into its stomach and haphazardly began to climb up its body, to its head and unprotected eye. Ghirahim backed off, killing any bold monsters with hails of knives. Link looked as though he would join Midna, but Damien grabbed his arm, speaking urgently, as if reminding him of something.
While the hinox wasn't that tall of a monster, it's shaking kept Midna from moving too quickly, although she struck at it whenever she had the chance. The electricity began to die down as she reached its head and plunged the glowing blue spearhead deep into its eye. The hinox screamed, and Midna teleported back to the ground and sprinted away. The hinox, now fully in control of its actions and free from the electricity, cried out and lifted its hands to its ruined eye.
A few moments passed, and nothing happened- the hinox remained alive, stumbling about slightly, and Link set off running, dashing past it. Linebeck stared at the hinox in horror. "Why isn't it dead?" he hoarsely asked. It shook its head, eye still a ruined mess, and continued walking through the crowd. "It should be, dead, why isn't it dead?!"
"Hell if I know," Bellum spat. "All we can do now is hope that Link can cut off the source of monsters," he muttered, bringing Linebeck's attention back to the robot. Link was swiftly cutting a path through the monsters, making his way to the cave.
"I'll try another shock arrow," Linebeck growled, groping at the arrows in his quiver. He ripped them out, one after another- Normal, fire, ice, normal, normal, ice...
"WE'RE OUT OF SHOCK ARROWS?!" Bellum screamed, his voice loud enough to trigger screeching feedback in Linebeck's ears. The engineer clapped his hands over his ears and glared angrily at Bellum. The AI barely offered up an apology- he probably wasn't even aware that he could cause feedback like that. "What... what about ice? ...No, that never does anything... Fire won't do shit either... I'd say use an explosive arrow if those things didn't explode the moment this damned hot air touches them..." Bellum mumbled to himself, spinning in circles while the situation down in the canyon became frantic.
Linebeck tore the quiver off his belt and poured all of the remaining arrows onto the group. He fell to his knees and dug through the pile, tossing the normal arrows back into the quiver before they could catch fire. "Link's pretty close to the cave now- Damien's fighting the hinox," Bellum reported. Linebeck blindly grabbed a bunch of arrows and whipped back around to the battlefield. Yiga foot soldiers were now mixed in among the Gorons, racing towards the monsters. Damien circled the hinox, the monster's attention focused on him, blinding swinging its arms.
Linebeck tossed the elemental arrows away until only one of his ancient arrows remained. He stared at it for a moment and ran a finger over the inactive arrowhead. He peered back down at the battle. The hinox slammed a hand into the ground, dangerously close to where Damien was stumbling. Link was almost to the mouth of the cave- he didn't need anyone watching over him. Linebeck shakily nocked the arrow. "Let's see what this does."
His hands shook and made it painfully difficult to aim. He forced the joints in his left arm to lock up and kept his aim on the hinox. Damien continued to run around the hinox's legs, limping and keeping its attention. Linebeck's heart skipped a beat as the hinox managed to land a blow on Damien- swatting him with a hand and sending him tumbling across the rocky ground. The hinox began to lumber over to Damien as he tried to get back to his feet.
Linebeck, breath caught in his throat, and he bit at his bottom lip. "Shoot already," Bellum hissed. Blood ran down Linebeck's chin as he bit through his skin and forced himself to go still. He let the arrow loose and watched it fly through the air as nothing but a blue blur. Linebeck wiped at the blood on his chin, anxiously watching the arrow sink into the hinox's shoulder. The moment it hit, the monster's skin around the arrow began to glow blue- and the blue rapidly began to spread across the hinox's body.
Within moments, the hinox was enveloped in the color, which began to peel up and away in tendrils- where the blue peeled up remained nothing. As the neon tendrils flowed up into nothingness, the hinox simply disappeared. The monsters that had been around the hinox froze, and the Gorons took advantage of their confusion.
Linebeck stared at where the hinox had just been. "What the hell..?"
A triumphant roar rose from the Goron army, and they redoubled their efforts in the fight, practically trampling the monsters. Link flinched at the sudden noise. He glanced over his shoulder. The hinox was nowhere to be seen, so Link allowed himself a deep sigh of relief. He continued to dash at the cave, ignoring the dull ache in his torn leg. He was so close to the cave, now. He'd been ripping through monsters the whole way, and it seemed that there was now a pause between the waves.
As he grew nearer to the cave, he became of a second, quieter set of footsteps following after him. Link glanced over his shoulders and scowled, spotting the bow wielding Yiga general, in their short maroon cloak, black scarf fluttering behind them. "Piss off," Link snapped, skidding to a stop and holding his sword out at them.
The Yiga halted as well and deftly nocked an arrow in their bow, pointed right at Link's throat. The robot faltered. The Yiga had the upper hand- if Link did anything else in a hostile manner, he was done for. He lowered his sword. "What do you want?"
The Yiga lowered their bow and pointed at the cave, then at themselves, then Link. Without a single spoken word, they dashed towards the cave. Link growled and followed. The road to the cave was empty, and they both entered at the same time. Link's eyes adapted to the darkness, but the bow Yiga seemed to have trouble. They stumbled around for a moment, then held out a lantern that looked Sheikah-made, giving off a strong blue glow.
The cave was larger than Link had hoped or expected, and he quickly realized that there was nothing important on the ground- what caught his attention were the things hanging from the roof of the cave. Dim lanterns and crystals of all shapes and sizes, hanging from chains. Link gazed up at them. The Yiga beside him nocked an arrow- they'd wrapped their own lantern's rope around their wrist.
Link swallowed thickly, regarding the black-scarved Yiga. "Destroy any red gems or crystals you see. That's been the trend so far. Destroying a red gem to defeat the evil we come across."
The Yiga slowly nodded, tilting their head back to look up at the crystals. Many of them were blue or purple, the light from the lanterns brightly reflecting off of their smooth surfaces. The Yiga drew back their arrow and carefully aimed. "Hit one of the red ones," Link urgently reminded them. The Yiga gave him no response as they shot the arrow.
It cut through the air, sailing past dozens of crystals and lanterns, flying up, up, up above everything else. Frustration began to build in Link's chest as the arrow missed every single hanging object. Still, he glared up at it, his vision slowly brightening to keep track of it. He then cursed under his breath, realizing that the Yiga had taken the best course of action.
On the roof of the cave itself was a large red gem, circular in shape and roughly ten feet in diameter. The Yiga's arrow struck it and sent cracks webbing across its surface. Crimson fragments rained down on them, and the Yiga bowman nocked and shot another arrow up. This time, a larger chunk fell down and shattered on the other side of the room. A third arrow was shot, and the rest of the gem shattered and fell. A pale mist wafted up from the fragments.
Link crushed a fragment into dust beneath his boot. That was it, then? The Yiga archer lingered, then tore a slip of paper in half. Link whipped his sword out again, but the Yiga only shook their head. A few moments passed, and another Yiga appeared in a cloud of paper amulets. Link immediately recognized the black scarf and hooded tunic, the katana with the blood-red hilt. "What do you want?" he snapped, glaring at the Yiga general that had first attacked him in Hyrule City.
The Yiga barely acknowledged him, kneeling down by an especially large piece of gem. They held it gingerly, the bow Yiga peering at it over their shoulder. With a jolt of surprise, Link spotted the Yiga pocketing the gem shard. "Hey, don't take that-"
The sword Yiga leapt up and slammed the pommel of their sword into Link's temple, and the robot fell, unconscious before he hit the ground.
It didn't take long for the Gorons to do away with the remaining monsters once they realized that they were suddenly weaker. The shift had been jarring for Ghirahim- one moment, the monsters were wielding their weapons with easy and taking a number of hits before going down, and then the next they were sagging and practically disintegrating beneath every blow; it gave Ghirahim a chance to regroup with Damien and Midna.
Since the hinox was killed, the three of them found that they could relax despite their injuries. Ghirahim hadn't gotten hurt any worse while the battle died down, but Midna took a nasty blow to the ribs, leaving a discolored bruise along her side. Damien had the worst injuries though, with his burnt leg and the gash in his cheek, and now with a dislocated arm and a few cracked ribs after the hinox struck him. Damien lay on the ground, his axe nowhere to be seen, while Midna dug through her potion bag.
Ghirahim crouched by Damien. "You're lucky to be alive."
"W-we all are. You saw what that... ancient arrow did, right?"
"...I doubt Linebeck expected that to happen."
"We're lucky that worked," Midna mumbled, setting down a small vial of health potion. "This is all I've got for you, Damien. Ingredients for health potions are hard to come by around here."
Damien craned his head to look at the tiny vial. "I'll take it," he rasped. "Link went for the cave, right? I saw him go. Where's Linebeck?"
"On his way, I'm sure. He was making his way down the cliff when I last saw him," Ghirahim mused, glancing over his shoulder. "Ah, there he is, uninjured, of course..."
Linebeck stumbled over and crouched by Damien, entirely ignoring the others. "Goddesses, I'm so glad you're alive. I don't know what I would've done if that ancient arrow hadn't done what it did... how hurt are you?"
Damien gave him a weak grin, not at all hiding the amount of agony he was clearly in. "Oh, y'know... same as before with a new dislocated arm... some cracked ribs... Midna offered a bit of health potion, except she put it on the side with my dislocated arm..." he shot a quick glance at Midna, who rolled her eyes and set the vial in his left hand.
With difficulty, Damien managed to pop the cap off the vial. "This won't do much, will it," he grumbled, peering at the meager amount of potion.
"It's mostly just numb the pain, but it will heal surface level cuts and the like," Midna admitted. "Again, you'll be pretty numb for about an hour." She glanced at Ghirahim and motioned subtly. He nodded. Midna looked back down at Damien. "Take it whenever, but you might as well do it now."
Damien frowned, but swallowed the potion without any resistance. "Yeah, already feeling a bit numb." He smiled at Linebeck. "But you're not hurt, right? Not hurt getting down from the cliff or anything?"
Damien quickly seemed occupied with talking to Linebeck. Ghirahim placed both hands on Damiens dislocated arm, which got Linebeck's attention- he quickly seemed to understand.
While Damien was distracted, Ghirahim took in a quick breath and roughly shoved the carpenter's arm back in place. Damien immediately dropped what he had been saying to scream and cursed at Ghirahim. "Son of a bitch- I though the damn potion would numb the pain!"
Midna unsympathetically shrugged. "Not large amounts of pain." She stood up, easily dodging a swipe from Damien. "C'mon, your shoulder's back in place. We need to find Link."
Ghirahim stood in a single fluid motion and said, "I'll find Link. It's probably best that you guys get Damien back to Goron City. Don't let him walk; that'll only make any damage the burn did worse."
"Your legs look like hell, too," Midna muttered. "I'll go get Link." She placed a hand on Ghirahim's shoulder. "Seriously, you need your injuries looked at, too." Ghirahim hesitated, then sighed and nodded. Midna smiled and dashed off.
Midna found herself hopping over leftover monster parts, occasionally stooping down to grab some for later. It didn't take long to reach the cave, where she found Link out cold on the ground, surrounded by red shards. She hoisted him up into her arms and peered around. The Yiga swordsman glanced at her from the darkness.
"It's been a while," Midna called. "What, a month or two since you attacked us in Hyrule City?" She paused. "You didn't hurt him, did you?"
"We'll only hurt him if he intends to destroy us," the Yiga softly replied. With that, they disappeared.
A chill ran down Midna's spine. The Yiga spoke with the voice of a woman, sounding like she'd traveled about the world and fought many enemies, but there was still a softness to it. It was vaguely familiar. She peered around the cave one last time and exited with Link in her arms.
Midna could assume, based off of Link's sustained damage, that Linebeck was going to be busy for the next few days.