Kanae and Rasa hurried back as fast as they could. She left the boar beastman in her dust, flying unimpeded in the sky. Looking ahead, it wasn't just Grahib and Sofisa attacking. The Dervishes were joined by a force of Elusis soldiers made up of harpies and elementals. Rubble buried the entrance into the Burrows. Only a handful of Rasa's tribe, including Kanae's companions, battled them.

Archbishop Patrice, donning a full suit of armor and wielding a spear conjured from Holy Armament, put up a losing fight against Sofisa. The Dancing Dervish sliced the air, sending razor sharp blades of wind at the high elf, who was forced to stay on the defensive and dodge the attacks.

Meanwhile, Kara, Theena, and Seven struggled against a few harpy soldiers. An elemental made of crackling lightning energies was bearing down on Seven. Kanae fired a beam of fire from her Ring of Scorching Ray. The blazing magic seared the elemental in forfeiting pursuit to find cover instead.

"Rasa, I'm going in. keep your eyes peeled for Grahib! He's hidden in the earth somewhere!" Kanae shouted behind herself.

"Empowered by your Bond, I will shatter everything in my way! Uooooogghh!" Rasa shoulder-checked a fire elemental and continued his stampede.

When Kanae returned her attention to the battle, a flying boulder was on a crash course towards her. She dipped underneath, only for another to come barreling. She flew over the next, then stared glassy-eyed at the shower of rocks coming her way.

"Grahib, you're so annoying! Hailstorm!" Kanae channeled her spell through the Blade of the First Temptress, expending every last drop of stored mana and bringing down a blizzard.

Blocks of ice the size of basketballs knocked most of the stones back. Scores of elementals were caught in the blast. The fire elementals were down for the count, but it was just a cold breeze to the rest.

Down below, Grahib stood near the Burrows' collapsed entrance.

"How in Glentir's broken horn did you manage to escape? Grrr. Looks like I'll have to bury everyone inside just to be sure!" Grahib sneered.

"No!" Kanae beelined it for him, but a dozen harpies mobbed her at once.

"I'll grind you under my feet before that happens!" Rasa cried, but the ground beneath his feet gave way to quick sand and earth elementals restrained him.

The Unbreakable Dervish plunged his felmetal glaive into the ground. An earthquake violently shook the entire pass.

Everything around Kanae slowed down. The muffled cries from within the Burrows reached her ears as clear as day. She threw one harpy off just for another to take their place. Casting Mass Charm didn't seize control of them all.

"Grahib, the elf slipped past me!" Sofisa shouted.

"Not while I draw breath!" Archbishop Patrice flew past the Dancing Dervish.

Sofisa gathered the gale that surrounded her as a tornado onto her felmetal curved sword. It seemed as though the winds had stopped blowing for a moment. At least until she performed an upward slash in the direction of the archbishop.

"Archbishop, watch out!" Kanae gasped.

The blade of wind carved into the ground as it surged forth, catching Patrice's right arm when her spear was mere meters from skewering Grahib. Her limb, severed at the shoulder, rolled across the earth. Crimson blood poured down and stained her golden suit of armor.

"Heh. Nice try, high elf. It was a vain attempt anyway. Your spear wouldn't have pierced through my Armor of Stone. Now, you're disarmed and bleeding out!" Grahib guffawed.

"This is certainly… a worse pain than papercuts. Fortunately, I'm ambidextrous. You should have taken both arms! Holy Armament: Big Fucking Hammer!" Archbishop Patrice's other hand, which wielded her staff, transformed into the same gargantuan gavel that killed Steelhide.

"Wait—"

The massive weapon came down hard on Grahib, crushing him into the ground. All at once, the earthquakes stopped.

One of the harpies restraining Kanae tensed up, frosted over, and plummeted. Theena fired a volley of ice-infused arrows. They plunged into the Elusis soldiers with pinpoint precision. Both of them locked eyes, and the girl nodded before several elementals attacked her. Thanks to Theena, Kanae threw off the remaining harpies. She swooped down to catch the archbishop losing balance.

Sofisa angrily slashed a flurry of wind blades at them. Kanae ducked behind a boulder, but not before grabbing the severed arm, too. Archbishop Patrice lost a lot of blood to the point of being pale. She barely stemmed the flow, pressing her hand to the wound.

"I'll heal you right now!" Kanae was about to cast Flash Heal when the archbishop shrugged her off.

"Save your mana for Sofisa. Besides, you will only close the wound, and I'll lose my book-holding arm for good. My healing magic can reattach my arm… provided I do it soon. Go. I'm going to be fine. This chapter of history does not end with the Harpy King winning." Patrice grinned.

"You better not die on me then. Delayn won't let me hear the end of it," she said and earned a chuckle from the archbishop.

When Kanae emerged from the hiding spot, the stone they were taking cover behind had been completely cut up by Sofisa's attacks. Grahib was still down for the count underneath the BFH.

"Ah! There you are, warrior! Not running away anymore, I presume? To be honest, I'd much rather face the paladin inside, but the Harpy King doesn't suffer failure." Sofisa showed off by flourishing her blade.

"Before we do this, I want to know something. Does the Harpy King have anything on you? A hostage? Your life?" Kanae asked.

"Oooh. Do you think I'm being forced to do this? I volunteered to be one of the first to let an elemental inhabit them. This power has given me a rush I haven't felt in years. I want to keep feeling it. I have no other desire than the rush of battle. I want to fight, and fight, and fight until the day my body gives out, or someone puts an end to me. I'll not retreat any more, Kanae Toyomi. So, come!" the jackal beastman bellowed.

With the Blade of the First Temptress in one hand and Lust in the other, Kanae met Sofisa head on. She dodged razor sharp winds strong enough to cut rocks. The Dancing Dervish turned into a tornado when she got close.

"Magic Hand!" Kanae conjured a giant fist to punch the unnatural whirlwind. It pushed part-way in before Sofisa unleashed an outward burst that knocked everything back. She hit the ground hard.

"Kanae!" Seven helped her to her feet.

"What are you doing? Get to safety! It's too dangerous here," Kanae warned.

He shook his head. "Theena and Kara are doing all they can to fight the Harpy King's minions. I want to help, too. I know I don't have the kind of enchanted weapons, or an elemental inside me. But you know how hard of a head I have. So, I got a crazy idea for you. Make that big hand again, I'll hide in it, and you punch her again. Then, I pop out!"

The look on Seven's face was full of resolve. He was going to do something reckless even if Kanae shot down his suggestion anyway.

Glancing back up at Sofisa, the protective cyclone was gone. Winds slowly gathered back around her. It must be acting as a shield and attack. But when she used it to blow them away, that barrier needed time to regenerate.

"Okay." Kanae conjured another Magic Hand, this time using the Blade of the First Temptress to expend all stored mana to make it bigger.

Seven hopped onto the palm, and Kanae closed the hand into a fist. But only just enough to form a cavity for him to hide in.

"Whatever you're planning won't work. I'm stronger. Made stronger with this felmetal sword. With it, I can cut through steel!" Sofisa sliced the air, sending more blades of wind that cut up the canyon pass.

Kanae carefully lifted the Magic Hand into the sky, careful not to let it get hit. Together, they avoided the wind blades and attacked Sofisa from two sides. She lashed the Dervish with Lust, passing through the cyclone that surrounded her and lassoed something inside. The Magic Hand impacted Sofisa, and its knuckles gradually pushed in.

"It didn't work last time. It won't work now!" Sofisa blasted them again.

However, the Magic Hand took the initial hit. Its fingers opened up, and Seven jumped out. Without the cyclone to protect her, he slugged her across the face. The briefest moment of Sofisa faltering was all Kanae needed. Lust had lassoed the felmetal curved blade. One hard yank wrenched the weapon from the beastman's hands.

"No—"

"Say hello to my little friend!" Kanae let Lust fall to the ground, pulled Cockcalibur out, and shapeshifted it into Titan's dick empowered by the Cock Ring of Hardening. Sofisa's eyes widened as the giant club of erect meat smashed into her face.

"What the…" Seven gawked. "You were holding a sword and a whip. Where did you even pull that from?" ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novelfire(.)net

"Let's just say I have a sheath between my legs." She smirked.

"Ewwwwww!" He recoiled and backed away.

Kanae faced the harpy soldiers and elementals, who had stopped fighting to witness the battle. Grahib and Sofisa lie defeated on their backs, and many were having second thoughts.

"Leave now before I shove Cockcalibur up your asses. That includes you, elementals. Don't think I won't find a hole," Kanae said.

They didn't waste a second flying away, presumably towards Sala'vir. With any luck, the Harpy King wasn't going to send more this way.

"Rasa, help me with this! You three give us a hand, too!" Kanae beckoned the group to Archbishop Patrice's BFH that was still crushing Grahib.

They lifted the massive weapon off the Dervish, who wasn't so unbreakable after all. His Armor of Stone had been shattered into pieces. One of his hind legs was bent in the wrong direction.

"Bring down the rubble blocking the entrance. Otherwise, your ass is mine. You're in no state to fight back or resist." Kanae activated Futanari.

"Y-You're not serious…" Grahib stammered.

"Do you really want to test whether a succubus wouldn't peg you?" She pulled the Cock Ring of Hardening off Cockcalibur and placed it on herself, enlarging the Futanari-granted dick.

Grahib surrendered. Through his control of the earth, he brought down the boulders blocking the entrance. As soon as it was cleared away, a small army of undead, led by Edina and the shoulder of a death knight came out first. She signalled that it was clear, and people emerged from the Burrows looking beyond relieved. Some kissed the ground, others thanked Glentir or Threcia for saving them.

"Holy shit, Kanae. I thought we were goners!" Edina said, hopping down from her death.

"To think, we were almost done in by these pathetic excuses for soldiers." Petyr spat on the ground near the unconscious Sofisa.

"Amethyst!" Delayn came running over with Camilla close behind. "Where's Archbishop Patrice?"

"Over here!" Kanae led them around the cut up boulder, and the blood drained from their faces.

Patrice sat against the rock hunched over, holding her own severed arm atop her lap. She was still. Too still. Almost as if—

"Archbishop!" Camilla gasped.

Both Saint Priests kneeled down next to Radevic's holy leader.

"What happened? You were supposed to protect her!" Delayn shrieked.

"She… She told me she was going to be fine! Wait… It was Holy Armament! I didn't realize the archbishop used up all of her mana. I-I wanted to help, but she insisted I save my mana to stop Sofisa first!" Kanae explained.

"The elf ain't dead yet!" Edina exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Trust me, I'd know. If she was, my Raise Dead would tell me that's a corpse I can make a minion out of."

Petyr shoved them all aside and drew a dagger to place underneath Archbishop Patrice's nose.

"Edina is right. She's breathing. Barely. We need to act fast. Camilla, hold her arm up to the socket. If we save the archbishop, she isn't going to be happy about a misaligned limb. Delayn and I will use our strongest healing magic possible. Kanae, we're going to need your mana," Petyr explained.

They nodded. Camilla pressed the arm against Archbishop Patrice's shoulder. Delayn with her staff and Petyr with her warhammer, the two muttered an incantation to a healing spell.

"Focused Divinity: Lay on Hands!" The red hue of Petyr's felmetal warhammer glowed with a soft gold energy.

"Empowered Healing Ray of Devotion!" Delayn leveled a channeling beam of warm restorative energy at the archbishop.

With a hand on each of their backs, Kanae repeatedly casted Restore Mana. The Blade of the First Temptress drained out first, and now she was tapping into her reserves. Their healing magic was powerful. It sucked everything out of her. She had to rely on the slow and steady flow from thralls branded with the Cursemark of Horniness back home.

Kanae gave it her all. She wasn't getting any more through the Cursemark. Even they were tapped out. Delayn and Petyr's healing spell eventually subsided. The severed arm had successfully reattached to the shoulder, but Archbishop Patrice…

"My head is killing me, and my arm is incredibly numb," the archbishop croaked.

The group heaved a sigh of relief.

"Welcome back from the dead." Kanae grinned.

"Please. What kind of incompetent scribe would I be if I wasn't alive to record such a fascinating time in history?" Patrice chided.

"Look out!" Rasa shouted as a giant shadow loomed over them.

The ground shuddered. An enormous stone golem formed and peeled itself from the side of the canyon. Sofisa was riding on Grahib's back. They had picked up their weapons.

"A Dervish is not so easily defeated!" Sofisa cackled.

"I won't even need to Divine Smite you to win." Petyr walked forward to meet them in battle, but Kanae threw a hand out to stop her.

That stone golem was just standing there menacingly, so why was the earth still shaking? Rasa shot her a knowing look.

"Grahib, what are you doing? I'll fall off if you continue with the tremors," Sofisa said.

"I'm not the one doing that," Grahib replied in confusion.

A giant sandworm broke through the surface of the earth. Rows upon rows of gnashing teeth bore down on the two Dervishes. Neither had a chance to utter another word before the worm swallowed them whole, then burrowed back into the ground. The stone golem that Grahib had summoned crumbled apart piece by piece until it was just a mound of rocks.

"Tsk. They got off lucky." Petyr scoffed.

The ronoas and carriages came out unscathed. Some of the guards were quick enough to pull them inside before the fight had started. The Burrows' many residents thanked them and wished they had gifts to give. Kanae and the others were fine with their words of gratitude alone.

Their biggest boon from this ordeal, however, was Rasa.

"I've informed my hunters about Steelhide. Thanks to you, my people won't starve. As promised, I will escort you through Serpent's Tail. It is fraught with dangerous beasts, but I know all the adequate routes to take to avoid them," Rasa said, pulling his own stone ram out to ride on.

Everyone climbed into the carriages, but Kanae lingered outside.

"You gonna fly for a bit?" Edina asked.

"I… have a better ride." Kanae closed the carriage door for the squirreling and flew up to Rasa, who was saddling his beast.

"Oh, Kanae! Was there something you wanted to ask about before we left?" Rasa smiled.

"Yeah, actually." Licking her lips, she pulled her g-string aside to reveal a soaking snatch. "How about we go a little farther ahead of the group, and you give me a ride during the journey?"