Chapter 85: Low Survival Probability
Mark and his group kept walking, nearing the fork in the road where they separated.
’Wonder how Elle and Lucas are doing,’ he thought, glancing once more over his shoulder and at the spires before the trees swallowed them entirely. ’They’re probably having an easier time. Way easier than we did...’
However, he failed to realize that he was wrong...
Horribly, terribly wrong...
If only he knew how wrong he was....
***
The survival probability still floated in Lucas’s vision, unbothered by the chaos happening before his eyes...
Twenty-nine percent.
He stared at the number while trying to steady himself. The single Avalion Golem circled somewhere above the jagged rocks, as they weren’t able to see it again.
It struck but Iris was fast enough to react, rolling out of the way as her voice cut through the torrents of thoughts flooding his mind.
"Lucas! This is the part where you tell us what to do!"
He shook his head, turned to her where she ran and replied. "I haven’t thought of anything yet."
Why was the survival probability so low?
Against one beast? Something had to be wrong...
The creature came again—same impossible speed, same blur of motion. But this time Lucas was ready. He twisted, [Ignition] flaring bright around both fists, and his right hand closed on something solid and cold.
It was a horn. Thick and sharp enough to punch through him. He planted his feet, roared, and heaved with everything he had.
The Avallion slammed into the path hard enough to crack stone as dust exploded outward.
For the first time they saw it clearly: a mass of interlocking grey plates, four powerful limbs ending in hooked talons, a long neck, and a head that was all jaws and curved horns.
It growled and flapped its wings, preparing to lift off the ground but Pyra was already moving.
She vanished in a burst of displaced air and landed on the creature’s back, claws locked around both horns as she used her weight and the beast’s momentum to drive the Avallion’s head down into the rock in a wet crunch that made even Lucas wince.
It thrashed, wings hammering the ground as it gave a pained shriek.
It was definitely going to feel that in the morning...
Lucas and Lora closed in together.
Pyra’s claws raked deep furrows through the plated hide, peeling stone-like scales away in wet strips. Iris’s arrows punched into the gaps she opened, shaft after shaft, precise and continuously.
Lora darted in low with her daggers, aiming for the softer joints beneath the plates. The Avallion snapped at her but she twisted aside, blade flashing, and scored a shallow cut across its jaw.
The creature lunged again but Lucas stepped in, flaming fist crashing into the side of its skull, buying Lora the moment she needed to disengage.
The Avallion’s head swung toward Pyra as she circled for another strike.
**THWACK**
An arrow hit the creature in the left eye socket and a second one followed into the right.
The Avallion shrieked and crashed fully onto its side as it began to thrash blindly.
They moved in for the finishing blow.
Lucas raised both fists, flames roaring, Lora’s daggers were already descending and Pyra dropped from above, her claws extended for the throat.
The Avallion roared.
The sound so high that they all had to cover their ears and fall back as it only increased in pitch.
It suddenly fell silent...
Then the sky filled with wings.
[Warning: Avallion Horde Approaching.]
Lucas’ head snapped towards the direction of the sound and his eyes widened.
Dozens of them came soaring towards them. Avalions of every size, rushing towards them like a living storm.
The first one dove straight for Pyra and she never even had time to look up.
Talons the size of butcher knives locked around her torso and hauled her into the air in a violent surge.
She screamed once then the creature’s jaws closed on her midsection and tore. There was a wet ripping sound as it tore her open, intestines pouring out of her. One arm came free as it fell, leaving a trail of blood in the air.
Pyra’s upper half went limp as the beast bit into her and cut her into another grotesque half. What remained of her fell in two uneven pieces, hitting the path with heavy thuds.
Lora made a small sound as another Avallion dropped on her from behind. Its talons punched through the top of her skull and out the underside of her jaw in a single motion.
Bone cracked as her body jerked once, daggers falling from dead fingers before going completely still as the creature ripped its claws free in a shower of blood and brain matter.
Iris turned and ran but she was too late.
An Avalion slammed into her back and drove her face first into the stone. Another landed on her legs, pinning them and the first one’s jaws opened wide and closed around the back of her head.
There was a wet crunch, then a long tearing sound as it pulled. Iris’s body convulsed, her hands clawed uselessly at the rock and the Avalion shook its head once and hard, and came away with most of her skull and the soft grey contents still dripping from its teeth. What was left of her head lolled sideways, empty.
Lucas fell to his knees.
The survival probability.... No wonder it was so low... the beast would call a horde when it was cornered and there was no way for them to kill it.
Before he could do anything, all the Avallion came from every direction at once.
Talons punched into his shoulders and thighs. Jaws closed on his left arm and tore it free at the elbow in a single motion.
Pain arrived immediately as another set of teeth found his side and ripped a long strip of muscle and skin away, exposing his rib.
He felt the scrape of stone-hard beak against bone. Something heavy landed on his back and drove him flat, then claws raked down his spine.
Blood poured across the stone beneath him but he didn’t fight. He couldn’t fight.... It was certain. He was going to die here, no point trying to fight it.
The beasts kept tearing into him and the last clear thought he had was that twenty-nine percent had been generous.
The jaws closed around his head, and the world went dark.
[You have died.]