Black Magus

With a hand glowing like the heart of a volcano, Roheisa sent out a quick jab to whatever it was that’d dropped behind us. Launching a flaming, molten boulder into the creature and much of the forest behind it. Turning the relatively peaceful environment into a hellscape of magma pools and charred remains.

“Well damn, don’t burn down the forest!” I spat at her, flicking a mass of shadow mana at her collateral in the same motion.

The night dampened in an instant, yet remained illuminated by the blue-violet glow flickering off the Flames of Moil. A bit more mana coupled with a little intent saw me summon the Umbral Iris to examine our surroundings, prompting Roheisa to nearly backpedal into a tree.

“W- What the hell is that?”

“My most-powerful scrying spell," I said, gazing through the multi-faceted shadows. Then chuckled wryly after realizing just what it was calling us out from the canopy. They had long, somewhat shaggy fur that appeared a mottled brownish-gray color. On their backsides and muzzles, however, their fur took on more vibrant hues like golds, blues, and reds. In other words.

“It’s a troop of mandrills.” I turned to the Princess, shaking my head. “They don’t have magic, but they’re strong; and worse, extremely violent. And.” I turned back to my screen with a sigh. “There are hundreds of them.”

“I don't know what those are but I'd rather not fight them if we don’t have to,” Roheisa said. “Still, though, they surely pose a problem.”

“I agree.” I nodded. “That said, we will have to come through here tomorrow. We could bypass them by flying over, but.” I sighed. “Who’s to say they won’t follow us.”

“True. We've clearly encroached on their territory. If we leave now, they may follow us back to camp. I guess we have no choice.” With another sigh, she stepped forward with her weapon at the ready.

“Wait!” I reached out to stop her.

“What!?” She spun with a sudden ferocity that left me a bit taken aback.

I released her at once with my palms bared. Yet my amiable grin was ever firm as I said. “Well, you can fight if you want. But I was going to test the might of the Menagerie. I’m going to observe. Just try not to get hurt.” Before she could say anything else, I opened my Pocket and used a bit of gravity magic and mana infusion to leap high onto the trunk of a tree to sit down, light a smoke, and enjoy the show.

By then, the entirety of the Menagerie had been unleashed. Together, they charged. Spreading to wherever enemies were present like a nightmarish tidal wave. Naturally, Chako, Orpheus, and Jima were the first to close the distance and make contact. They swam through the ever-present darkness in a single file, gracefully skimming past the trees to deliver a swipe from their tail fins powerful enough to split the ancient trunks apart like dry twigs. The mandrills then dropped like giant screaming flies, right into the maw-filled sea of shadow rabbits. Hatchi was close behind the trio. Spinning through the sea of darkness like a black, rubbery, eldritch abomination while his barbed tentacles flailed with wild abandon. They grasped and ripped tore and shredded into whatever leaves, flesh, or bark happened to be in their way.

While the sea of Rogers tended to the feast delivered from on high, Stewie and Kit were on a mad dash between the remaining trees. Running back and forth to any mandrill-holding branch to either gnaw it free from the trunk or create an illusion to taunt the mandrills off their perches. Sending a delivery of fresh opponents for Skoll and Hati to turn their ravenous maws on. Jake announced his presence soon after by coiling up a tree at a nerve-racking pace. Growing in girth with each passing meter while his tail stayed loosely coiled on the ground. He made it halfway to the top before waves of loud, splintering creaks pierced the cacophony of howls and screeches until his weight toppled yet another ancient tree down.

Even with all the chaos, at least a dozen mandrills remained in the back. The three largest of them all were at the rear, watching the battle unfold like a band of seasoned generals while their guards struggled to fend off Pora Bora’s harassment. Through our linked sight, I was given a first-person view of her weaving between the trees at breakneck speeds to bite and claw at eyes and ankles like an armed drone. Still, though, she needed reinforcements. So I pulled shadow mana into my throat and shouted into the darkness. "Gero, Skoll, Hati, with me.”

They dipped into the darkness at once. And so to did I, to swim through the cemetery of rotted trees and hollowed trunks to where the cloud of ghostly apes floated. After emerging on their branch, I simultaneously summoned Gero and sent a pair of bullets at the furthest mandrill’s feet to spawn a flower of Shade Tendrils. While Gero and my spells did their work, I flung another bullet at the branch ahead of them. Allowing Skoll and Hati to rocket out of my pocket and tackle the troop's general into eternal night.

“I swear if you eat that..." I warned the ravenous wolves. And when I turned back, one of the troop chieftains was already deep in Gero’s maw while their compatriot was receding back into the depths with a somehow guilty expression.

By then, the battle was winding down and I had all I wanted out of this battle: three somewhat intelligent and undoubtedly powerful beasts and a measure of my troop's strength. I had a specific purpose for these apes. Unlike the others. More so, I had more variables in my little experiment and the path forward would be clear. In other words, I was pleasantly surprised by this encounter. Roheisa, on the other hand, was so stricken that she hardly acknowledged my arrival after she'd noticed my presence. Instead, her gaze was locked onto the slaughter-fest going on before us.

Whatever mandrills remained were desperately vaulting over the maze of fallen trees to avoid their predators. Yet no matter how much they tried, tail fins larger than houses smashed them into a crimson paste; barbed tentacles ripped them apart; illusions saw them leap onto branches that simply weren't there; or they were simply devoured alive. While my troops had taken damage during the battle, the ambient darkness seemed to not only sustain them but heal them to a minor effect as well. What wasn’t healed was easily made up for by the bountiful feast spread out around them. Though, strangely, none of them seemed to want to eat other than to mend themselves. Instead, they dragged the maimed corpses into the shadows to assumedly store for later.

“Don’t destroy the forest, you said.” Roheisa chided with a dusted sneer written across her face.

“Don't burn down the forest," I said. And, as you can see.” I spread my arms around us with a smug grin. “No fire.”

“And a missing patch of forest.” She snorted.

“Eh.” I shrugged. “Better than a burning mountain- a beacon seen from the Epethian capital.”

“Regardless, I didn’t expect them to be so strong. It was a bit disturbing, though.” She gagged after witnessing my orcas scoop a pile of corpses into their mouths and disappear into the darkness.

"You'll get used to it."

She remained silent for the few minutes it took for my troops to salvage what they could and retreat into my Pocket. Reducing the once chaotic environment to a blood-stained, broken forest plagued with an eerie stillness.

“Shall we continue?” Roheisa whispered with a gesture up the mountain.

“The noise probably scared off any nearby animals, so we may as well go back.” I shrugged.

“Okay then, how about a race?”