An Owl's Rise

After leaving the brass jackals\' den Evelyn rose up into the air to the point, she was certain that any attack directed at her would be easily dodged.

She had no intention of taking any part in the battle going further until absolutely necessary and was planning to wait and observe while her allies cleaned up the brass jackals

Soon spells from the six mid-tiered awakened rank brass jackals came flying towards her, and while in a head-on fight she might have had a bit of difficulty dealing with all of them at once, all she was focused on was evasion.

\'Looks like the brass in the name of their species was not just for show. They all seem to have metal magic affinities.\' Evelyn thought as she weaved her way through multiple attacks.

Thankfully she did not have to avoid enemy spells for long, as her backup soon arrived.

Leading the charge, Bylur sent down two dozen large spears of ice that fell down towards the brass jackals that were guarding the entrance.

Leaving deep impact craters, the spears of ice covered the entrance and forced the brass jackals to scatter.

Following Bylur the burrowing owls and Rehni began their attack as well. Flying around to cut off the dispersed jackals and prevent them from forming up.

In only a few moments each of the six brass jackal guards had two or three opponents to deal with and were hopelessly outmatched.

They were not weak by any means, but each of the burrowing owls were at least equal to the brass jackals if not even stronger.

Nevertheless, metal magic was quite powerful when on the defensive and the brass jackals were able to hold off until help arrived.

Sixteen more brass jackals being led by their leader came running out of the base in pursuit of Evelyn and found their home under attack.

Yet despite the numbers advantage being turned in the brass jackals favor, Evelyn saw that there was no need to intervene.

\'Looks like that poison really is quite nasty. Even the leader who is at the peak of the awakened rank already ahs one foot in the grave.\'

With but a glance from her position in the sky Evelyn could see that all of the brass jackals that had left the den were poisoned already.

Their fur was darkening in many places all over their body and falling off, and their veins that would normally be hidden were visible swelling and had taken on a purple tinge from the poison that was destroying them from the inside.

A few of the weaker ones were even already bleeding from the eyes, ears, and mouth and clearly did not have long to live.

The leader that was at the peak of the awakened rank was the only one that was in any fighting shape, and he could actually only use about half his power.

With the brass jackals\' having congregated, Bylur, Rehni, and the burrowing owls flew higher into the sky and fired off a continuous bombardment from the air.

They had not killed a single one of the brass jackals yet, but they could tell that a war of attrition was in their favor.

The majority of their opponents were badly poisoned, and they would die soon enough without them doing anything.

A minute later the first brass jackal that had been poisoned dropped. Unnatural purple colored blood pouring out of their body.

Within a dozen seconds the other brass jackals at the low tier of the awakened rank fell as well cutting the brass jackals ranks by nine.

It was not much longer before the attacks from the sky overwhelmed the poisoned mid-tier brass jackals and they were quickly killed as well. Unable to keep up their defenses as poisoned ravaged their bodies

One by one the brass jackals were killed either by poison or a flurry of attacks from above that they could only barely hold out against until their defenses crumbled.

Eventually only five of the six original guards who had not been affected by the poison and the leader who was about to collapse were left.

\'They put up a better fight than I had expected they would, but it really was just a matter of time.\'

With one last pained howl and a look of pure hatred toward Evelyn, the leader of the brass jackals fell over onto his side and began convulsing.

Despite the poison having spread out over a large area and having only come from one vial, it had still been potent enough to kill a nearly century old beast that ruled one of the powers in the Velinis Desert without them being able to put up any resistance.

This went to show just how deadly the poison that Melisandre had developed from a blight mushroom that was said to leave its surroundings completely devoid of life was.

As their leader died without having been able to do anything against the invaders, the remaining five original guards began to flee.

It was clear that their comrades and leaders had died from some sort of poison and that they could not expect anyone else in their den to be alive.

All they could do was retreat and try to build their strength up again while roaming the desert.

Perhaps as the burrowing owl had after their first defeat, they could eventually try to retake their home.

However, Evelyn was not about to let them get away.

She had already seen what could happen if you did not completely wipe out those that originally held dominion over a treasure.

It was possible that the brass jackals may be able to enlist a powerful helper, or they might even try to lure some of the other powers in the desert and bring them to the magic crystal mine just to harm the burrowing owls.

To prevent these situations from having any chance of happening Evelyn rained down blasts of her heavenly flame and cut off the remaining brass jackal\'s escape.