Chapter 35 #3
“Fuck, hold on tight,” Saint warned, digging his daggers deeper between the plates.
The centipede unfurled, aiming straight at the man aiming the harpoon between the plates of her armor, at least fifty feet away from the first rope.
Wind whipped at Elsie’s face, pulling her braid straight back and making her eyes water.
She was still able to catch the moment the second squad’s captain pulled the trigger, blasting himself off his feet as the harpoon punched through her armor and pierced the muscle underneath.
Two beats later, it exploded, chunks of flesh raining down on anyone unfortunate enough to be close enough.
The centipede shrieked in pain and rage, body thrashing violently. More screams erupted, this time from squad eight, near the tail end as they endured the worst of the lashing.
Squad Two worked quickly, securing the new straps and effectively immobilizing a fifty-foot section of the creature’s roughly four-hundred-foot-long body. As the demon streaked toward Squad Two’s captain, she flattened out, giving Elsie and Saint a better hold.
On their feet, they rushed forward as one, swords in hand, the centipede far too focused on attacking the man who’d hurt her to notice that she had company.
Saint took aim at her back, where her heart would be if she were human, but Elsie wasn’t sure that would work.
Insects often had their hearts and brains located in strange places.
Saint’s sword pierced the creature’s back, while Elsie attacked the armor-plated space at the nape of her neck, looking to sever the spine.
The hound demon’s sword plunged a good six inches before hitting something impenetrable.
Elsie’s barely made it a full inch. The armor over the nape was solid metal.
They’d definitely found the demon’s vulnerable spot.
They just had to figure out how to get through it.
The demon hissed in outrage, changing direction so suddenly that both Elsie and Saint lost their footing. Elsie fell, the air rushing around her in a thirty-foot drop to the ground. Bracing herself for impact, she was instead knocked out of the sky with enough force to take her breath away.
Morgan’s air magic hit hard, but the sniper had saved her from more serious injury. He helped her to her feet, a worried expression on his face.
“I’m fine,” she said. “How are we doing down here?”
“Banks is down, and it doesn’t look good, but Marley is with him,” he replied. Elsie’s lips pressed together, but she wasn’t worried. Marley wouldn’t let Banks down.
The centipede thrashed around, and Elsie’s heart leapt into her throat. Saint was still up there, holding tight to the sword he’d pierced the creature’s skin with.
“Why doesn’t he jump?” she muttered.
Then the tank's cannons fired. The demon's size should have made her an easy target, but aiming at a body violently writhing and thrashing through the air proved difficult. Neither round hit, but the concussion from the explosions caught the demon’s attention.
She turned on the tanks as her new target.
“Squad Eight! Where are you with your assignment?” Elsie barked into the comms.
“Only a few stragglers,” their captain answered quickly.
“Send half your squad to assist Squad Two. Containing her is working.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Elsie was already in motion, rushing toward the nearest segment of the centipede’s body. The creature continually regenerated her injured limbs at an alarming rate, but Elsie had a hunch the ability would slow down if she severed enough of the damned things.
Sliding between a pair of tree-trunk-sized legs, she took off one, then the other, pushing magic into her blade.
In less than a minute, she’d taken out six of the legs on one side, grumbling with irritation as she hacked at the seventh.
How much damage would she have to cause before the demon targeted her?
She needed to get Saint down from there before he got seriously hurt.
The cannons fired again, causing no damage for the second time.
Elsie took down a ninth and tenth leg, then shouted up at the demon, demanding her attention, only then noticing that both Saint and his sword were gone.
He’d gotten himself down and was running around somewhere.
She’d allowed them to get separated, and all that served was to piss her off.
“Perrie!” Elsie called into the comms. “There is an armored plate covering the back of the centipede’s neck. We need access to take her head and sever the spine. We’re about to bring her down to our level. Be ready.”
“I’m on it!” the witch replied, then took off running in a wide arc to get behind the demon.
Two more legs came off, and Elsie noticed it was getting easier. Her magic adapted to her needs the more she used it. The answer to how many detached legs it would take to get the demon’s attention was fourteen. The centipede’s belly slumped to the side and hit the ground.
Squad Two took full advantage, successfully landing another exploding harpoon. They got the strap in place, and a fourth of the demon’s body was now pinned to the earth.
The centipede finally paid attention to one small, blue-haired woman, who wouldn’t leave her be. She turned and streaked toward Elsie. The blood of her victims was splashed all over her arms, face, and torso.
Elsie adjusted her grip on the sword. How many of her comrades had this damned monstrosity killed? She took a deep breath, forcing her muscles to relax so she could maneuver more freely. Raising the sword, Elsie parried the first of the demon’s direct attacks.
The centipede used her arms like swords, the thick metal skin protecting her from harm while the bony spikes threatened to knock Elsie’s weapon out of her hand.
The mandibles clicked uncomfortably close to her face, and Elsie caught a whiff of centuries-old morning breath mixed with the flesh and blood of the hunters who’d fallen.
Gagging, Elsie fought the urge to vomit while moving her body like the branch of a willow tree. Lithe and flexible, she danced out of the way of attack after attack, barely keeping up.
“We’ve got you.” Morgan flashed past her on one side while Trenton and Trisse rushed forward on the other, all misgivings forgotten in the heat of the moment.
The demon fought them all at once. Her arms blurred as she jabbed at Morgan and hammered at Trenton and Trisse, but the creature was enormous, leaving plenty of room for Elsie.
She shimmied between her cohorts and went on a full barrage of attacks; each swing of her sword sent sparks flying as it was blocked by one of the creature’s huge mandibles.
An explosion from behind had the demon screaming and arching her back, shooting toward the sky. She couldn’t arc as high above them anymore. Teams Two, Eight, and Three had her tied down too well.
“It didn’t work, Elsie,” Perrie said over the comms. “The armor didn’t budge.”
Elsie frowned up at the demon, coming to a horrible realization. “It has to be her mouth. If we’re going to take her down, we’ll have to do it from the inside.”
Saint had come to the same realization. Elsie’s demon handed her a length of rope with a loop tied on each end, and she let out a sharp laugh at the ridiculousness of his idea.
“Perrie, we’re changing sides,” Elsie explained what they were going to have to do to make this work.
She waited until the demon recovered and made another lunge.
Saint braced himself and grabbed one of the creature’s mandibles, yanking her head to the left and giving Elsie enough time to secure the rope around the spiky protrusion on the right.
Once it was secure, she tossed the other end to Saint.
Boosting herself up on one of the demon’s broken legs, Elsie climbed onto the demon’s shoulders while her squad did their best to hold it in place.
“Ready?!”
Saint tossed her the rope, and Elsie hauled it in tight, using every muscle in her body to yank back on the mandibles, holding the demon’s mouth open wide.
“Perrie, now!”
The witch came on the run, hands glowing with magic as she formed what was basically a condensed bomb.
Elsie sent a quick prayer to her mother, begging her to give the witch the strength to pull this off.
She and Saint locked eyes the moment before Perrie reared back and hurled her magic into the demon’s mouth, screaming with the effort.
All eight of the centipede’s eyes bulged as raw power hit the back of her throat, and the magic exploded.
The centipede’s body seized, throwing Elsie backward, but it wasn’t enough to save her from the weight of the blast. Elsie hit the ground hard, bouncing and rolling, landing horribly and breaking an arm.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she cursed through the pain.
Exposed and vulnerable, the demon turned on her. The rope still hung from those mandibles, and her jaw and throat were torn asunder, but still she came directly for Elsie’s face. Saint was at her side in an instant, his sword slicing down and severing the demon’s head from her shoulders.
It hit the ground with a wet slap, and the centipede’s eyes darted around, still searching for her next foe.
Silence stretched as the hunters absorbed the fact that they’d defeated the enormous creature, and then whoops and cheers erupted from all sides. Even in a dazed state, Elsie listened to it all with a stupid grin on her face. They’d done it.
“You’re hurt,” Saint reminded her, hitting his knees to get down to her level. “Holy hell, how are you still functional?”
Elsie blinked at him in surprise, then looked down at herself. The adrenaline had been running too high. She hadn’t even noticed how badly the demon’s armor plating had shredded her skin. Saint wasn’t looking any better.
“Worry about yourself,” she huffed.
All around them, soldiers’ awareness of their own injuries sank in. “We need help over here!” someone shouted, and Trenton went running to their aid, followed by Perrie.