Its elongated body surged across the terrain toward Rook while enormous claws ripped through the dead grass beneath it with enough momentum to carve visible trenches across the valley floor.
Rook swerved aside barely in time before the creature barreled past them and smashed directly into one of the pale trees nearby, the collision powerful enough to splinter the trunk into fragments.
The second hatchling moved almost immediately afterward.
Crimson spines abruptly erupted outward from its back like barbed lances before hurtling toward Oliver's chest. He responded instantly by sweeping the Imperial Sword through the air in rapid succession, knocking several incoming projectiles away, though one still collided against the Mother's War Attire with enough impact to send him tumbling off Rook's back.
The black garment remained entirely intact.
Yet the sheer momentum behind the strike still jolted Oliver hard enough to leave a dull ache spreading beneath the attire shielding him.
