Chapter 2841: Ancient Fury (part 1)
A wave of Tyris" hand cleared the sky while her mere gaze was enough to disperse the energy that was building up in the tidal wave and restore the sh.o.r.eline. As she walked outside the barrier, the cold gale turned into a gentle spring breeze and the air warmed up.
"If you have something to say to me, younger lizard, you can come here and say it to my face. Try to bully my children again and we are going to have a problem."
Fear disappeared from the hearts and minds of the members of the expedition, replaced by the awe of being in the presence of the Great Mother.
One after the other, merfolk and members of the expedition alike fell onto their knees, bowing their heads as if they were praying.
"What the heck are you guys doing?" Lith asked more puzzled by the sudden gesture of devotion than by the fickle weather.
He, Kamila, Solus, and the babies had been around the Guardian for too long to be fazed by her powers unless she aimed directly at them.
Valeron cooed, mistaking Tyris for Thrud and calling her.
"Mama! Mama!"
"I"m not your mother, child." She looked at him with a sweet smile and eyes veiled by tears.
Then, she turned around and her face became a mask of stone that could barely hide the unbridled rage burning within her.
"Do you dare threaten my blood, Fenagar? Do you?" Her voice was soft and low but even the reef quieted down in wors.h.i.+p, afraid of her fury.
Such was the silence that even the beating of one"s own heart was deafening.
"I"m not threatening them, but you." The Leviathan"s voice, instead, was as loud and violent as the storm that had just subsided. "I felt your arrival hours ago but I let it slide because I didn"t know where that metal toy was going to stop.
"There was still hope that you were going to be someone else"s problem and you were just pa.s.sing by." The Leviathan snarled and growled every word. "But now your people dare to set camp on *my* land and your stench following them has become unbearable.
"Your presence here is a breach of every treaty the Guardians have ever agreed upon. The last time you justified your transgression with my own but this time you stepping foot on Jiera is an act of pure aggression.
"Go away now or suffer my wrath!" n-/--)-(.---(1.-n
"Bold words for someone who lost miserably to me just a while ago." Tyris replied with a peal of silvery laughter that somehow projected in the minds of all those present the image of the Griffon Guardian holding the broken body of the Leviathan in her beak.
Witnessing Fenagar"s defeat and the gap in ability between the two Guardians made the people from both Garlen and Jiera lose respect for the Leviathan who could perceive their fear turning into confidence.
"How dare you humiliate me in front of mere mortals?" He roared. "This is my last warning. This time I had more than a few minutes to prepare for your arrival. The power of this land is with me and I have enough arrays at the ready to kill two of you.
"The only reason I haven"t already kicked you to the curb is that I have no intention of wasting my time looking after your crumbling Kingdom. I have stayed my hand until now not out of mercy or compa.s.sion. Your death is just not worth the effort."
The ground, the ocean, and the sky glowed eerily, resonating with the power and the energy signature of the Leviathan. It was no display of strength, Fenagar was barely releasing a fraction of his power to back his words.
Yet the magic of the Wayfinder faded, cut off from the world energy. The pressure that the psychic equivalent of a glare inflicted upon the people a.s.sembled on the sh.o.r.e brought them to the ground, gasping.
They found themselves covered in a cold sweat and with their hearts pounding so hard that they seemed to be moments away from bursting out of their chests.
Even Lith needed sheer willpower just to not touch the ground with his hands.
He was down on one knee but his back was still straight and his head high. The Leviathan had yet to manifest himself in person but Lith could see Fenagar with Life Vision.
The ma.s.sive body of a snake-like creature big enough to blot out the sky was horizontally coiled around the entire camp. What Lith and the others were experiencing was the pressure exerted by the aura of the Leviathan while he was still far away in the safety of his underwater fortress.
Only five people were completely unaffected by the clash between the Guardians. Tyris, Kamila who was holding Valeron the Second, and Solus who was holding Elysia.
"How cute. That"s the exact reason I let you live the last time." Tyris laughed again, her repeated mockery angering Fenagar enough to activate the arrays that enveloped the entire west coast of Jiera.
They were just at half-strength as a deterrent, but beads of sweat appeared on the Griffon"s forehead as she needed a considerable effort to resist their effects and also protect everyone else.
"I must say that I"m impressed. You prepared well, but so did I!" Bolts of silver lightning coursed through her body, allowing Tyris to push the arrays back effortlessly.
The majesty of her golden aura overpowered Fenagar"s and everyone was able to stand up again. They looked above where the multi-colored energy of the arrays crackled against the golden light, battling for dominance.
"You call that preparing?" Fenagar replied with a sneer. "You are wasting your energy just to stand still. What do you think is going to happen when you run out of Life Maelstrom and I still am at my full strength?"
"Why do you think is going to take me that long to drag you out of the hole that you call home and kick your a.s.s?" Tyris needed but one spell to turn the tables in an instant.
One spell that every single mage on that beach knew like the back of their hand, no matter if they were Awakened or not.
The Warp Steps spell opened a dimensional tunnel leading thousands of kilometers away, straight back to Garlen.
"I don"t know if with age you are getting dementia or if you are just delusional, young lizard." Leegaain stepped out of the wormhole first.
He glanced at the magical formations and then hurled countless bursts of white flames, each one the size of the Wayfinder, that struck at the focus points at the various arrays, cracking them.
"You know that this means war, right?" Salaark came out of the Steps second, throwing a single punch that shattered the magical formations beyond recovery.
Tyris exploited Fenagar"s pointless effort to repair the arrays before it was too late to push her aura forward and reject his. All of the Wayfinder"s operative systems came back online and Lith saw the Leviathan"s spires disappear as his strength returned.
"Foolish finch! Your insane actions have brought destruction to the whole Mogar!" Fenagar roared.