EVERNA Ring of Fire

YAMKORA Part 5

Thanks to the warmth from Sthira's hand, Nirya was just a little shaky throughout her escape. Even when he looked up and found the mountain slope as if it had covered the sky as far as the eye could see, the trembling was not getting worse.

But Dhaka protested, "How is this? If we climb this mountain, the pursuers will catch up with us!"

The leader of the group, Sthira Tarunaga, did not immediately answer. He raised his gaze towards his colleagues including Arumi who was already human but still pale.

"We will fight them here" said Sthira, taking the final decision.

"But, isn't this not necessarily where Aswa and Yori can reach their ultimate power?" asked Nirya while frowning.

"Yes, all these situations are indeed uncertain" replied Sthira. "But at least our chance to see the opponent's 'weakness behind strength' is greater here than down there."

Still reeling and putting on a bitter face, perhaps because of the proximity of Nirya and Sthira, Arumi exclaimed, "We should be ready, friends. The enemy has caught up with us sooner than Dhaka expected." He pointed towards the forest.

Sure enough, from behind the trees in the highlands of the Sorendo'reri Mountains the enemies appeared closer. But they only have two people.

Yori Mbeko and Aswa Rakwar.

Yori spoke up in an insinuated tone, "I know, you guys must want to ask 'where are the soldiers', right?"

Sthira, Nirya, Arumi and Dhaka did not answer. They took a standby stance with weapons clasped tightly in hand.

Besides, the opponent doesn't care. "Originally you know, this land you are planting is a holy and forbidden place. I don't want to punish the soldiers who violate the taboo for duty" Yori continued, stretching out both hands.

Turn Aswa said, "So, we let the soldiers stand guard in the forest, just the two of us take care of the four of you here."

Dhaka rebuked back, "Have you spoken enough? Let's just finish it quick!" The commodore stuck out his forked tongue.

"Alright, we won't let you linger in polluting this sacred place anyway" Yori responded. "It's time to use the guard, isn't it, Aswa?"

"Of course, Yori. You bullies, feel the full power of the Yamkora Peak guards!"

After saying so, Aswa followed Yori and simultaneously muttered a complicated spell. Slowly but surely, their bodies seemed to be covered in a clean white membrane, just like the cocoons of silkworms.

Dhaka had moved to crush the enemies he thought were helpless, but the great Mandau of Sthira blocked his steps. Sthira shook her head at Dhaka while pointing with her chin.

Nirya herself looked in the direction she was pointing and only understood Sthira's intentions. A beam of light blue energy emanated from the two cocoons, scattering the freezing cold. The energy cocoon decomposed and opened, displaying two gigantic bird-like figures within.

Seeing the new form of the two enemies, Nirya gasped and exclaimed, "A-astaga! They.. giant cayari!"

The two giant birds did look like cayari, the monster of paradise. Their bodies were twice as big as Dhaka's. One has long, reddish-yellow body and tail feathers, while the cayari is slightly larger than both are bluish-white.

The difference is also with ordinary cayari, webbed horns are beautiful strung on the heads of the two giant cayari like a crown. The shape of the "blue crown" appears to expand, while the "red crown" is somewhat tapered, tight and almost upright. Each cayari spread out wings that span a length of about twice the height of his body when standing upright. They radiated energy as powerful as a pair of worldly rulers.

"A-astaga... Tha-that... Cayari and Kumano... Cayari Aronawa!" The shout turned out to be from a Dhuraga warrior who broke discipline, climbing the mountain slope to satisfy his own curiosity.

Suddenly the voice of Aswa resounded from the beak of Cayari Aronawa, the red giant bird. "Please! Already know it is forbidden to go to the slopes of this sacred mountain, but you are determined to break! Punishment, death!"

The red cayari shot a reddish-white ray of light from its beak. The foolish and poor soldier turned pale and was about to run away, but his body which was not shielded by deep power or any magic was hit by the red light and pecked, not moving anymore. Apparently his entire body was frozen until the surface seemed to crystallize.

This show of strength made Nirya and her friends gasp. But the reaction was because they had only the first time in their lifetime witnessed what "frozen" was like, which is "frozen" in a form that is not stone or just paralyzed as in the influence of ordinary cayari attacks.

This frozen effect is completely new, foreign and how to overcome it has not been known by the four warriors from tropical countries. In fact they may not have heard the word "frozen", "ice", or "snow" all along.

"Well, it's your turn to be sentenced to death!" While saying so, Cayari Yamano shot out four blue streaks of light at once from his beak towards the warriors, about to freeze all four of them at once.

"Wrong! For the peace of all Antapada, you must die!" Sthira moved as fast as lightning with the Thunderbolt Step, about to stab directly into the belly of the Yamano. However Cayari Yamano had quickly flapped his wings and soared up high.

Nirya who darted with a fast-moving stance Shadow Storm just pierced the air. Cayari Aronawa who is still alert and fit has soared towards the sky.

"Maybe you forgot. Look at our wings, the air is our territory" said the queen cayari.

"You are not aviator creatures, so the absolute superiority is with us" said the king.

Sthira clucked irritably at the behavior of those opponents. He turned to Dhaka while saying, "This time I completely agree with you, Dhaka. They're both indeed the most talkative of all the opponents I've ever faced throughout this mission."

Dhaka nodded. "Yep, worse than Dabongsang Zakuay."

Nirya interjected, "Here we are, we must find a way to defeat a more formidable enemy in the air."

Arumi tries to shoot Cayari Aronawa, but the target instead flies away easily. Again he was angry. What wits? If the mainstay long-range attack alone cannot hit the opponent, what to wait until the opponent dives in and grabs the target on the ground?

Worse, the opponents do not need to jump to attack. Yumano exclaimed, "Take these, Frozen Rain Wings!" He and Aronawa flapped their wings in the air.

That flutter, plus the cold from the top of the mountain instantly lowered the air temperature. The water vapor in the air crystallized into countless needles of ice, all of which were plunged downwards like torrential rain. The flapping force of the wings plus the attraction force of land or gravity accelerates the outpouring of ice needles.

The four warriors on the ground were moving dodging and fending off with their weapons. Unfortunately, there are also many needles that have managed to infiltrate all their defenses that have been tested for toughness. The cries of pain of Nirya, Arumi, Sthira and even Dhaka echoed filled the air.

When the hail of ice finally subsided, the four friends just stood still, motionless. Have they frozen?

It was Nirya who was least exposed to the ice needle who first got up. But he was surprised not kepalang, his eyes were wide because the giant claws were nosediving to finish him off. With reflex Nirya moves very agile to get away. But the claws still continue to point like an eagle about to pounce on a rabbit who is running fast.

Suddenly, the pursuer of Nirya who was apparently Cayari Aronawa shouted in pain with a shrill voice. Reflexes, Nirya stopped her steps and looked back. Apparently the red cayari was slumped on the wall of Yamkora Peak, a line of red looks still burning on one side of her body.

Not wasting this golden opportunity, Nirya ran forward, ready to launch her chain kerambit to finish off the opponent.

But when it almost arrived at the distance of the floor ejection, the giant figure of Cayari Yamano plunged, right towards Nirya. Forced by her reflex Nirya ran away again. The blue one landed, the position of his body covering the red one, blocking the direction of Nirya's attack from the front.

"Don't try and hurt my wife" threatened Yumano.

Nirya then glanced at Arumi, the fire still splashing on the blade of Agninetra. At least now Nirya knows, the moves with fire elements like the Fire Crescent were able to incise serious injuries on the body of Cayari Aronawa.

A conclusion formed in Nirya's mind, but she hesitated to reveal it to Arumi. The reason, Jayandra's girl now looks cold to him.

But actually Arumi himself is serious about his own conclusions, which immediately publish new ideas. A pair of giant cayaris had soared again, so this was Arumi's chance to exclaim, "Dhaka, take me up the mountain! Nirya, Sthira, cover me!"

Of course Dhaka protested, "T-but it's freezing here. If you get to the top, Dhaka will not stand it...!"

"There is no need to reach the top, just up to the cliff!" Arumi pointed up. "Come on, they'll attack us again!" He turned around and began to run towards the mountain.

Dhaka has to follow Arumi. After sheathing a spear on his back, he ran away with his hands on the ground like an animal Komodo dragon in general. Arumi who was followed immediately jumped, then sat on Dhaka's back. The two then began to climb Yamkora Peak.

Nirya and Sthira also run, not too much trouble following an impromptu proposal that has not been negotiated and do not look at the position in this group. Well, what can I do. Since the beginning of the group led by Sthira is indeed a collection of friends in struggle, not troops or the like.

"Huh, climb Yamkora while fighting us?" sergeant Yamano.

"Pity, they're crazy. Come on, let's just finish them off!" While saying so, again Cayari Aronawa with Cayari Yamano flocked the four climbers with ice needles.

Picture reference to Cayari Aronawa, Queen of Ice Cayari is Ice Phoenix.

Image source: IPhone 3D Wallpapers.