The sheer wind of Miina's hurricane blade made it near-impossible for the dragons to stay aloft for long, forcing them to stay grounded and vulnerable for the time being. Galahad and his halberd came screeching down from the sky, the velocity of his dive breaking through the red mage's winds and planting the tip of the halberd straight into the throat of the pack's leader.

Blighted as they were, the dragons still possessed enough animal instinct to understand the death of a packmate, and howled in fury, the two closest rearing back to ready gouts of flame from their mouths. But that was literally cut short as Izayoi blurred into motion, reappearing in front of one dragon to slash its throat open before the collective fire of a half dozen gunshots crashed into the skull of the other, both dragons crumpling to the dirt.

Further incensed, the remaining dragons lunged with flame on the tips of their mouths, unleashing three streams of fire that forced Izayoi to fall back, the flames rushing towards Galahad next, as if attempting to box in him. Two more came lumbering towards Miina, having recognized the source of the wind that was keeping them on foot.

All the while, a figure further up the mountain watched the events below, wisps of sickly green aether at their fingertips.

___



One dog sniffed the air, and began barking incessantly. The rest followed.

"They've got a scent!"

"Must be nearby, I can hardly keep them on the leash-" That particular Valheimr was cut off by the hound he was handling managing to lunge forward with enough force to loosen its master's grip on its leash, letting it free to charge forward. Straight up the hill.

The raid captain swore furiously under her breath, signing for the the rest of her men and the Kirins to ready up. It was evident what she was going to do: engage while they still had the advantage of the high ground, before the Valheimr could make their way up the slope.

With scant few moments before the jig was up regardless, one of the raiders poked his head up over the ridge, sighted the charging hound before the Valheimr could get a handle on what they were seeing, and opened fire.

"AMBUSH!"

"Open fire! For Skael!"

With two dragons now approaching her, there was no way that Miina could keep the suppressing gale up. She'd be forced to keep dodging at best until they could be put down and that would only increase the complexity massively, if she even had the attention to spare.

Ears folded back, the redhead licked her lips. So, she needed to drop it. Fire off normal spells? No. Her repertoire just didn't have enough immediate oomph to drop a pair of dragons. Galahad and Izayoi were too busy. No melee options, and just hasting herself wouldn't help – she'd be able to keep away a while, but it would still be more attrition.

If this vortex was going to go anyway, it could still be useful.

Tighter, tighter, tighter; pull in the spiral and rein it back in, back towards her. Less a hurricane now, and more a literal blade of wind, much longer than she could reach but still dangerously close to the dragons–

A feral grin split her face.

Would this just knock them about? Or was it strong enough to tear into the blighted monsters? Well, there was only one way to find out.