Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Due to the enhancement spell the javelins shot the short distance through the air with barely an arch. Two of them buried themselves in the belly of the upper moth, making it whine noisily. The other two javelins hit the lower moth and one of them the left eye with a disgusting squelch. A loud pained cry escaped the beast and it thrashed around erratically.

The two moths shyed backwards, bumping into the fourth one that had already caught up to them. Number four chittered angily and aggressively pushed forward, communicating its thoughts regarding flight. While this was enough to get the upper moth back on track, the lower one seemed to be determined that it had enough and continued trying to crawl back. That the swarm drones were taking advantage of the situation and attacked the lower moth vigorously now that the upper one was distracted, only reinforced the hurt beasts need to get away.

Two of Kai’s daughters broke away and made room for her to shoot her javelin. The situation was nearly optimal for them and if they managed to get the second moth to back up too it would give them a lot of the time they needed.

The upper moth slowly began to crawl over its kin and the drones had to evacuate the back of the lower moth or they risked being squished by the large animal. Teresa shot her second last arrow at the lower beast, nearly hitting the other eye, to make sure that it continued to back away.

Kai positioned herself next to her two daughters and they all carefully aimed at the upper and lesser injured moth. Her daughters had already used all their mana so Kai was the only one Brian had to cast the enhancement spell for.

The three of them threw their javelins nearly at the same time and Kai’s projectile shot past the other ones with a whistle and about 3 to 4 times the speed. It was quite interesting to see her higher stats and 168 mana in effect for once.

The javelin hit the upper moth in its lower head, burying itself deep before it came to an abrupt stop with a dull thump that was followed by a crack. A moment later the other two projectiles striked, but didn’t hit anything vital.

The moth opened its mouth and whined in pain. Kai could see the tip of her javelin coming out of the top of the mouth and cringed a bit. That was nasty and the fact that she was the one who did it only empowered that feeling.

The attack was enough to make the beast retreat once more and it began to crawl on the moth that was behind the two. It chittered, outraged by this and tried to force its way on the lower moth and under the upper one. This resulted in a long series of pushing and shuffling until finally the upper moth was free, while the fourth moth was now on top of the lower moth.

The upper moth turned around and let out a burst of webbing, making it difficult to see all the way to the exit of the main street. Then it made a run for it.

Kai had helt the drones back the whole time. Letting them attack would have gotten them into unnecessary danger and they needed them all to distract number four as well as number five.

She looked down the main street and realized that the fifth moth had in fact never gotten behind the fourth one. Instead it was currently busy eating what seemed to be the first one to intrude into the hive. The upper moth reached the corpse and simply ignored it, continuing its flight.

Kai frowned, that was weird. She had seen the moths carry away prey every night, uneaten prey that was, so how come that they were now eating their dead or nearly dead kin right on the spot?

You are reading story Rise of the Antanoid at novel35.com

Not that she was against it, she was all for them to eat their own instead of her children. It made her wonder however if they really needed it or if it was a feature of their race. As far as she was aware cannibalism for large predators such as the moths was normally an act done out of desperation. They were pretty successful though so why would they be that hungry?

Kai didn’t know, but she was quite sure she would find out eventually. Her attention was drawn back to the moths when number four managed to at least get past the lower one and she let the drones attack again.

Teresa shot her last arrow at the thing as a greeting before she retreated into the sidestreet and Kai followed her together with the glaive wielders for a short distance, but made sure to keep in view with the fight.

The moth had now halfway entered the intersection, which gave the drones the opportunity to surround it like a pack of wolves. They were constantly applying pressure on the beast from all sides, even from above and every time they saw an opening they attacked.

Due to this the moth wasn’t able to properly finish any of the drones if it managed to catch them. 

Despite the advantage in numbers and terrain the swarm drones were on the back foot however and  had to slowly retreat further into the sidestreet. They were unable to deal as much damage as a dog might do with its maw, their mandibles and teeth more suited for smaller prey or prey of equal size. The skin of the moth was giving them a hard time and they took longer to inflict wounds, which also made the drones more susceptible to the attacks of the moth.

As the drones were only meant to slow the moth down as much as possible though, Kai was very happy with their performance. It was providing them with the time they needed.

She took a glance over her shoulder towards the ever rising wall that was halfway done. If things continued like this, they wouldn’t be able to finish it, but the last hole should be safely defendable with the glaives. They had to occupy the moths anyway to make sure that they didn’t tear the wall apart.

Like this the drones, Kai and her three daughters slowly retreated further into the sidestreet and towards the tavern. Occasionally the moth would manage to kill one of the drones.

After what felt like an eternity Kai passed the wall through a gap she perfectly fit through. There was a gap between the arched ceiling and the wall where one could slash with the glaive at the moth.

She looked at the moth that was now covered in small wounds and still fought against the drones. Now they only had to keep them busy until the night was over and, thinking of it, maybe built a wall in the other direction too.