Bang!
The iron hammer smashed into the monster's head!
The crack of shattering bone was piercing. Foul green blood and bone fragments flew everywhere.
The monster shrieked as the blow knocked it sideways. Its jaws, snapping toward Aegon, were knocked off course, and venomous saliva dripped onto his shoulder armor with a sizzling hiss.
Aegon reacted like lightning!
He surged to his feet and pressed the attack, driving the broken sword in his hand-reduced to half its length by the monster's claws-into the soft flesh beneath its neck.
Squelch! Filthy blood sprayed out!
Aegon nimbly dodged the spray, then sprang up and kicked the monster in the back, where its spine still looked vaguely human.
Before the monster could struggle again, he gripped the broken sword's hilt with both hands and heaved!
"Die!" The word burst through Aegon's clenched teeth.
With a tearing hiss, even the rusted, broken blade sheared straight through the monster's neck under Aegon's brute strength.
Only a scrap of black-scaled skin at the back of its neck still connected its hideous head to its grotesquely twisted body.
Beside him, Henry had been about to swing his hammer at the black-scaled monster, but the sudden display of Aegon's ferocity left him frozen in place.
Seeing the ruthlessness in Aegon's cold purple eyes, he swallowed hard!
"What are you standing around for? Keep up!" Aegon growled, moving toward a dead mercenary nearby. A long blade lay beside the body.
He bent down and snatched up the bloodstained blade, a trace of restrained composure lingering in his fierce gaze.
The road beneath their feet was in utter chaos.
The mercenaries scattered like headless chickens. Some ran screaming and were dragged into fissures by the monsters; others collapsed in terror and waited to die. Only a scattered few still swung their blades wildly.
Elsewhere, the Ironborn stood with their backs to the rock wall, shields braced in front and spears thrusting through the gaps. Their small circle held the monsters off for now, with few casualties.
Most of the new monsters crawling out of the fissures lunged toward the chaotic mob of mercenaries.
Screams and the stench of blood filled the sulfurous smoke.
Aegon scanned his surroundings warily. Amid the chaotic figures, one stood out!
It was Morgor, the mercenary from Myr!
A black-scaled monster shrieked and lunged at him, its claws about to rake down.
In that split second, Morgor grabbed a nearby mercenary who stood petrified with fear and violently hauled him in front of himself!
Squelch!
The monster's claws plunged deep into the unfortunate mercenary's chest!
At that very instant, a vicious gleam flashed in Morgor's eyes. He swung his long blade with savage force, striking precisely at the neck the monster had exposed as it attacked!
Filthy blood sprayed as the monster fell. The mercenary used as a human shield slumped to the ground as well, his eyes still open in death.
Aegon's gaze sharpened, his wariness needle-keen!
This bastard was ruthless-and vicious!
He looked away. For now, he had to deal with the danger on his own side first!
In those few moments, several black-scaled monsters had noticed the two living men and were closing in around them, shrieking!
"Henry, get over here!" Aegon growled.
"Don't let them get behind us!" As he spoke, the long blade in his hand became a streak of cold light, slashing toward a black-scaled monster trying to attack Henry's flank.
"Back to back!" Aegon barked, dragging the still-dazed Henry behind him.
Henry hastily turned, swinging his iron hammer wildly. It whistled through the air toward a charging monster.
He was immensely strong. With a bang, the blow sent the monster staggering and shattered its scales, but he had swung too hard. His footing faltered, leaving him wide open!
Another lurking monster immediately sprang through a gap at his side, its gleaming bone claws plunging toward Henry's unguarded abdomen! It was about to gut him!
"Duck!" Aegon shouted almost as he moved! With a flick of his wrist, his newly acquired blade traced a cold silver arc, precisely deflecting the deadly bone claws in a shower of sparks!
At the same time, he kicked Henry forward, shifting his weight just enough to carry him clear of the claw tips! Aegon reversed his blade and swept it diagonally upward, hacking hard into the ambushing monster's wrist joint!
The monster recoiled in pain, but Aegon had already turned. His blade darted like a serpent's tongue, plunging with a wet squelch into the huge mouth it had opened to shriek!
Only then did Henry regain his footing. Still shaken, his back soaked in cold sweat, he clutched the hammer's handle and panted, pressing his back firmly against Aegon's.
By then, the battlefield had become a hell of slaughter, strewn with blood and torn-out entrails.
Some of those whose bellies had been ripped open were not even dead yet. Black-scaled monsters pinned them to the ground.
They could only watch as those hideous heads burrowed into their abdominal cavities, pulling out their organs to chew and swallow!
Agony! Screams! Despair!
It was hell on earth!
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