47 - Behemoth (Patreon)

Phoenix was excited for Paul. He seemed so different already, more assured, and relaxed even. However, she was also worried about him, even if it was a bit silly to be with his new level of power. His aura alone was practically suffocating, though the group seemed to manage alright with Paul trying his best to keep it restrained around them. To her heightened aura senses, it was the most obvious indicator to her that he had gone through a dramatic shift of his very soul.

Her worry came from the fact that the normally stoic Paladin seemed completely exhausted and was doing everything with extra care so as not to accidentally break one of them. Based on what the twins had gone through at Sapphire, taking a few days to acclimate to their boosted attributes along with just the base passives getting increased, she wasn’t sure how Paul was even still standing after the threefold jump in power she had just felt.

She could understand now why most people seemed to act deferentially towards Paul if they knew that this was what he would be like now. It was overwhelming, especially when their whole group felt the moment the ascension started as a ripple of pure magical power spread out from him and through them, as though announcing his presence for the entire world to be in awe of.

The Astromancer didn’t think going straight from ascending to unlocking all of his cultivating abilities was the best idea to help his obvious fatigue but she understood that he wanted to be as well equipped as possible to quickly annihilate the enemy threatening all of them. And annihilation is exactly what she expected from the Ruby Caster.

Phoenix smiled as Orebela reappeared in the final ritual circle they would be doing before heading to the front lines. The Familiar looked much the same except now she had a pair of wings seemingly constructed from pure golden light.

“Welcome back, Bela,” Paul said with a grin, “Anything new to share other than the obvious addition?”

“The wings make This One faster in the air and hurt and blind attackers when struck,” her monotone voice said in all of their minds at once, “This One also can teleport a short distance now but it costs a lot of mana.”

“That’s excellent,” Paul said with a wide grin, adding for the benefit of the others, “The [Avatar Spirit Gem] I used bound to my Familiar ability and lets her use her manifested abilities through me.”

“So you can still fly now?” Phoenix asked excitedly.

“I believe so,” he replied then asked Orebela, “Anything new from you when merged?”

The smooth golden head dipped forward as the Familiar answered, “A defensive layer that better protects from Radiant damage and Bludgeoning attacks.”

The Paladin confirmed her words with the scrap of ethereal paper floating within his vision as he focused on her.

Name: Orebela

Species: Child of Theia (Familiar)

Mythical creatures not of this world that are attuned to Light and Radiant magic.

Caste: Ruby

Can speak with anyone and perform rituals telepathically.

Can construct and wield multiple melee weapons imbued with Light magic.

Can empower a weapon, including Construct ones, to inflict additional Light damage.

Can greatly boost your Agility for a moderate mana cost and low cooldown.

Can freely fly through the air when manifested.

Can construct wings that increase flight speed and inflict [Flash Bomb] when struck.

Can teleport a short distance in line of sight for a high mana cost and low cooldown.

• Flash Bomb (bane, magical, light): Inflicts moderate Light damage and hinders vision for a short duration.
  

When merged within the summoner:

• The summoner’s eyes become golden and a third eye guard appears, granting additional resistance against Magical and Elemental damage.

• The Familiar can perceive in a large radius around the summoner.

• Movement abilities have increased effect and reduced cost.

• The summoner gains a slow fall effect and limited control when moving through the air.

• The summoner can conjure malleable golden skin plating that greatly increases resistance to Radiant damage and Bludgeoning physical attacks.

“A nice balance to the extra power the rest of my powers give,” the Wrath Blade postulated then gave a heavy sigh, “While I’d love to keep chatting with you all about everything I just gained, I really just want to sleep for a week and to do that I need to go finish taking care of the Soul Reapers at our door.”

The group of them nodded in understanding and Phoenix asked, “Should I portal us back to the wall or one of my locations on the tundra? You said we could fight now, right?”

“I would prefer if you stayed on the wall but Everin agreed to help watch you all so you can assist and face some decent challenges of your own,” the lord admitted before turning to Dazien and adding, “I can tell how close you are to Sapphire yourself. Hopefully, a few suitable enemies will push you over and we can celebrate your own ascension when we get back?”

The gemite gave a brilliant smile, “I’d like that. My first ascension to Crystal did not go as well as I had hoped so it will be nice to know all of you are there with me.”

“What happened?” Rayna asked, as tactfully as ever.

“It’s not actually that uncommon for gemites to have rough ascensions,” Paul interjected, causing Dazien to look at him in surprise, “Their physical properties are a bit more magical than most species, the hair, eyes, nails, and bones are all infused with Gem or Metal magic, sometimes both, depending on their subspecies and natural talents. That kind of increased base magic can sometimes interfere with the process, it’s why intelligent Avals, like dragons or kitsune, can’t become Casters.”

“I knew that already,” the bard retorted, “Some voxen in the past were like that but we’ve kinda evolved out of it. I did have some basic schooling you know. I’m not actually stupid.”

“Ahem,” Saiya voiced, nodding pointedly towards Phoenix as the Wayfarer quickly turned crimson with embarrassment.

“Ignorance is not stupidity, kit,” Paul said in her defense, “The explanation was for those who might not know, not you specifically.”

“Ah, sorry ‘bout that,” the pugilist replied a bit sheepishly.

“Why don’t you all portal to the first inn on the ET Road, The Snowball’s Chance, and then head eastward from there? I’ll fly back faster than you’ll run, even with the portal advantage, and let Everin know where to find you.”

She nodded in understanding and wasted no more time as she conjured the portal.

King’s Dream had just crested a hill along the ET Road, or East Trading Road if one preferred the mouthful, when they felt what was basically the aura version of the Doppler effect as Paul rocketed past their location high above them. Even with them moving at a brisk pace, the Ruby Caster was scarily fast and did just as he predicted.

Phoenix assumed that Everin wouldn’t be nearly as quick to find them but hoped it would at least be before they met the enemy. Despite her insistence on not being left on the sidelines, she also didn’t want to get her friends killed; especially after having already lost some. She was well aware that this particular enemy would likely be the most dangerous they had faced yet.

Having Everin there, even in the background, at least gave her the sense of security that her friends wouldn’t fall because she wasn’t fast enough to catch them. The voxen might have come off as a bit irresponsible at times, and extremely funny to her especially whenever she saw him with Paul, but having any Emerald Caster there would be a relief.

The Cleric didn’t find them before they found their first monsters, though.

Walking down the road was what appeared to Phoenix as an AT-AT that had been reclaimed by nature. The giant behemoth had long legs that seemed wrapped in vines as it trudged along the road but was covering a vast chunk of ground with each humongous stride. More vines and blankets of ivy seemed to hang off its large barrel-like body and some kind of black flower seemed to fall off of it, slowly dusting the ground in its wake.

“I don’t like the look of those flowers,” Dazien said, the only other one able to see from that distance as Phoenix lowered her [Crystal Spyglass] to look at him.

“A Bane?” she asked curiously.

“Likely. We’ll want to avoid touching them I think, which will make the fighting difficult,” he replied with a nod.

“At that size, it’s gotta at least be Sapphire, if not Emerald,” Rayna noted, a furred hand shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked toward the group of enemies.

“Marsh Walkers are usually Sapphire,” Uriel said confidently while putting his earrings back on before removing his Silencer, “They must have Caged it and transported it here somehow. They definitely don’t show up on the tundra naturally.”

“What are those things around it? I can’t see the details from here,” Saiya complained. Despite the Sapphire Caste sight, it wasn’t naturally better than an item or ability that boosted the visual perception specifically that was only a single Caste lower; maybe in the upper reaches of Sapphire and definitely by Emerald but not quite yet.

“What were those things called, Senesh? The little swampy things that liked to suck brains out through the mouth and nose?” Dazien asked, looking around as if searching for the word in front of him.

“Wait. Please tell me I misheard that,” Phoenix said, turning to look at the gemite in horror.

“Death’s Kiss?” the cinderen asked in equal horror by the look on his face.

The Defender snapped his fingers, “That’s right!” he exclaimed then turned back to Saiya, “They’re Death’s Kiss. Kisses? What’s the plural of those, Senesh?”

“Forget that! I’m blowing those face suckers up,” Phoenix interjected and opened a portal that was within range on a closer hilltop and stepped through, immediately beginning her incantation as she arrived on the other side, “From the depths of the universe I summon forth the shards of annihilation. May the wrath of the cosmos descend upon all who dare to oppose me.”

Seeing the meteor strike the ground directly in front of the Marsh Walker, devastating the area in a crater that dealt heavy damage to the ones nearest the center point, gave her the oddest sense of satisfaction as she watched the small monsters, which looked like a plant-based octopus slimily crawling along the icy road, ignite into brilliant flames creating an inferno around the behemoth that gave an odd groaning howl at the attack.

“Phoenix!” Dazien scolded in a hushed yell, “Those are Sapphire Caste and not for us to take on!”

“Nope,” she answered, defiantly crossing her arms, “No way am I letting those things live to haunt my nightmares.”

That seemed to make the Defender pause and give her a look of concern as he asked seriously, “You’re still having nightmares?”

She gave an involuntary shiver, “Not as often now but those definitely aren’t going to help,” the Wayfarer explained, nodding towards the weaker swarm creatures that were still flailing among the flames.

Dazien followed her gesture, frowning slightly, before looking back at her with a soft smile, “I guess we’re fighting then. Want to go Dragon-form and [Supernova] on top of them? I think it would be enough to take out the little ones while the rest of us distract the big one till you can recover.”

Phoenix grinned back at him, punching his shoulder playfully, “You are going to make an awesome big brother.”

“Shut up,” he said, shoving her back, “Get going before Rayna catches up to steal your thunder. I told her to run while Saiya and Uriel take the portal if I didn’t return in a minute.”

She gave a mocking salute and slid down the snowy hill towards her targets. Not wanting to waste any of the head start. She used [Push] to increase her momentum followed by [Avatar of Bakunawa] which increased her base speed as well, causing her to kick up even more snow as she charged the enemy. The transformation felt more natural by this point after having used it whenever she could justify the hour cooldown and didn’t think she’d need it within that time frame.

The fifth layer was added to her enhanced aura as [Soul of the Celestial] took effect and boosted her Strength, Mind, and Magic even further; making the next step of her plan even more devastating. She had already dismissed her boots into her collection almost as a sort of magical muscle memory, as her legs shifted and silvery claws extended from where all of her nails once were, gripping the snow almost as well as the boots did.

She still didn’t think she was amazing with the claws as a hand-to-hand weapon, being much more comfortable with her blades, but she was slowly getting acclimated to them to take better advantage of the Dimension damage her [Cosmic Claws] inflicted with every scratch.

“As this star begins to dim, a final burst of light. As my life begins to wane, a final shout of triumph.” She began the incantation before getting in range, now used to working her tongue around the elongated fangs that she still refused to use on a monster. The speed she was moving at made the timing just right as she bent her inverted draconic knees and leaped high into the air in front of the Marsh Walker’s elongated face that bore a couple of large tusks, “In a supernova sacrifice, I offer the hope of victory.”

Her now slightly frilled ears were able to hear the eerie squeals that the tiny face suckers let out in the wake of her explosive attack of brilliant flames and mana and the sound was almost as satisfying as the meteor strike had been; knowing that they wouldn’t get that chance to attach themselves to her face.

Before she could hit the ground, she released her built-up [Starlight Qi] and kick-started regenerating the spent resources she had burnt through, triggering her tattoo as well to give herself enough mana back and downing a [Health Potion] from her collection to heal herself before dying from the short fall to the crater below.

Phoenix heard the arrival of her friends but was distracted from finding them, even with the enhanced vision of her now slitted silver eyes, as long vines wrapped around her torso, shattering her [Sun Shell] in the process, catching her in midair and dragging her towards the behemoth’s now gaping mouth.

“Flame on!” the Wayfarer shouted and Tala manifested as they both triggered their breath weapons with swirling white, black, red, and purple colored flames dancing on the monster's face and vines; The Caster Phoenix using [Eclipse Breath] and the Familiar phoenix using [Star Fire] to burn through the vines.

The spout of Fire, Dimension, Light, and Dark magic didn’t seem to be enough against the Sapphire Caste creature however, and the next thing Phoenix experienced was a darkness she could see through and a wetness she wished she hadn’t seen, as the monster actually ate her.

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