Battlefield Reclaimer, Ch 56: Dark Chryso Bloodweaver (Patreon)

As the figure’s hood fell back around his shoulders, its face was revealed. It bore some resemblance to the Grey Shard Stalkers, at least in a basic lizard-like appearance, but there were qualitative differences. All across its visible body, there were diamond-shaped scales made of a dull, dark gold, patterned with lighter and darker bands that resembled certain venomous serpents.

Its skull was a long dome from front to back with flat ear bumps running along both sides. Two gnarled bone curls ran up from its eyebrows, turning into wider ridges that extended to the back of its head. Below those ridges, its eyes were slit-pupiled golden spheres that glowed with mana.

The light from its eyes extended outward in a haze that seemed heavier than air. It drifted downwards, shrouding its shoulders and reminding Sam of what Krana had said about the golden light that was blocking her vision. Beyond that, it was wearing a dark grey cloak that was very similar to the Grey Shards and it was holding a staff in one four-fingered, clawed hand. The staff gleamed with a runic pattern that he didn’t recognize.

The prompt from the World Law had called it a Dark Chryso Bloodweaver. Whatever that was, it was clearly in charge and powerful. A Bloodweaver sounded like a shamanic class or something based on blood sacrifices, which was definitely not good news.

It had the ability to block Krana’s vision, which meant it was probably Wisdom-based, and that meant it was a serious problem. Wisdom-based classes like Seers often had strange attacks that focused on the mind or willpower.

Sam glanced toward the others, his concern deepening, especially for his father. His dad and the guards had the lowest Wisdom of all of them, which meant their defenses against this type of monster would be the worst. His own Wisdom wasn’t that high either, but at least he had essence to use. Ayala, if she had invested enough in Wisdom as a Priestess, might be similar to him. Krana would be the best, but since this monster clearly outleveled her, he wasn’t sure what she would be able to do.

On top of that, this thing was also a Soul Remnant, although Sam could only guess at what that meant. If that was what he thought, it confirmed many of his theories. The flicker of the star on his hand was proof that he was on the right track with that.

Monsters were created from the remnants of Outsiders as the World Law converted their essence into experience, but what if that didn’t always work? Perhaps the soul of the Outsider was too powerful or had absorbed too much aura from Aster Fall and it wasn’t able to be fully converted. That meant this...thing, could be far more powerful or unique than its level suggested.

The Grey Shards moved back across the cavern, assembling behind the Bloodweaver. There were scattered corpses around the cavern, but more than twenty of them were left. They stood there respectfully, their bodies bent toward the Bloodweaver in a silent salute as they waited for its command.

The Bloodweaver’s eyes glowed with golden force as it looked across the cavern, taking in everything in front of it, and then it hissed out a strange laugh. Its gaze moved across each of them until it finally settled on Sam. Its fanged jaw opened wider, showing off two rows of sharp, curved teeth as it hissed out another laugh.

“I can sssense power in you, more than in any of your companionss.”  A moment later, the Bloodweaver spoke, its voice echoing in their minds. It was a form of mental communication that Sam had only heard of and had never experienced before.

The words came with a strong current of the creature’s emotions attached. Some of it was anger and annoyance, but the strongest feeling was the cold detachment of a snake that had finally sensed its prey and was waiting for the right moment to strike. The words carried a hiss along with them, as if even in mental speech, its nature was always present.

“Tell me what that power isss. Where doesss it come from?” it continued, looking directly at Sam. Its eyes were cold and cruel, but a hint of curiosity kept it from attacking. It ignored everyone else as if they weren’t even there. “Why doesss it feel sso familiar?”

There was irritation and desire mixed together in the Bloodweaver’s voice.

Sam stared back at it, delaying his response as he poured more energy into his crystal flame spiral. The only thing the lizard could be talking about was essence, which meant his theories were correct. It must have sensed the essence from the Flaw and been attracted to it, and then it had fixed on him as the next closest thing that felt the same. Perhaps as a Soul Remnant it was attracted to essence even more than most monsters.

He was partly surprised by the lizard’s ability to speak, but only a little. Intelligent monsters and even some beasts were able to speak. He’d heard about that before, but he’d never encountered one until now. More than that, he was horrified by what it meant. What level was this thing? It had blown apart the maze he’d collapsed in just a minute or two.

“Be careful!” Krana’s shout carried out across the area as everyone started to pull themselves together.

The group gathered in the center around Sam, facing off against the Bloodweaver opposite them. The lizard just watched them move, its eyes never leaving Sam, as if it didn’t care about them at all.

The Stalker that Sam had frozen in his Crystal Field was still off to the side, and he could feel the small essence drain from it as it struggled against the shield. He wasn’t sure what would happen if he released it at that moment, so he continued to hold it there. The drain wasn’t much and perhaps the thing would suffocate.

Jeric moved up next to Sam, trying to step in front of him, but Sam’s hand on his shoulder held him back. He had the feeling that if his dad blocked the Bloodweaver’s view of him, it would attack. It was like a snake watching its prey.

Ayala’s golem stomped up to the front of the group as well, trying to act as a disposable shield as it moved in front of her and Krana. The guards clustered together on the far right, staring forward as their faces paled. Yeres held his sword in shaking hands as he leaned forward, as if he’d seen his greatest fear, but it looked like his first instinct was to attack. Lesat held him back with a cautious hand.

Everyone was able to hear the Bloodweaver speaking and they must have seen the prompt for its name. They all knew what that meant. They’d also seen it blow apart the maze and how the Grey Shards gathered behind it. This was an enemy that seriously outpowered them.

A high level wasn’t everything, but it was a sign of strength. This Bloodweaver also had a small army behind it. Even if they all got the first attack in, it wasn’t clear if they could win.

“Tell me or I will jusst asssk your corpssse,” the lizard hissed again. At the same time as it spoke, its tongue flickered out of its mouth, tasting the air, before it retreated back between its fangs. Its expression was alien and difficult to read, but there was a heavy thread of impatience in its voice.

All Sam could tell was that it wanted to attack, but its curiosity was holding it back. He had no doubt that if he didn’t answer it in a moment, it would try to find out the answer from his corpse.

“It’s a Soul Remnant,” Krana muttered quickly, out of the side of her mouth. “They’re more powerful than usual monsters of their type and sometimes they have strange skills. They’re fragments left behind after an Outsider dies, sometimes, and its soul is reborn in a monster.”
“Be sssilent,” the Bloodweaver hissed, its anger spiking as it looked toward Krana. Apparently, it didn’t like people talking about it, or perhaps the delay.

Its left hand rose in the air as a burst of golden light left it, heading for the seer. The spell was shaped like a small serpent, its form tumbling as it flew toward her and its fangs widened into a gaping maw that grew larger as it approached.

A bright yellow Earth barrier appeared in front of Krana as the seer reacted, hastily raising a defense. Sam also reached out instinctively with Essence Shield, but he was an instant too slow to help. He was already using one of them to hold the Stalker, and he didn’t have a lot of practice forming two at once.

The golden serpent’s mouth opened wider as two fangs extended from its upper jaw and it ripped directly through Krana’s shield, covering the rest of the distance as it slammed its fangs down on her collarbone, in the gap between her neck and shoulder. Its form dissipated, fading into light flowed into Krana’s body.

The seer’s eyes widened with shock and started to flare silver, but an instant later they turned golden, with slit-pupils showing over her own as she started to shake. Then she let out an angry howl in a deep, guttural tone as she began to claw at her neck, her fingers digging at the area where the snake had bit.

A moment later, she fell to the ground, thrashing as she rolled back and forth, trying desperately to dig at the area, as if the snake were still there and biting her. It had to be some type of curse, but Sam had never seen anything like it before. Crystal flame around him surged, but he hesitated, unsure of how to help.

Ayala dove to her knees beside her, her hands already glowing with white light as she tried to send a healing spell into Krana, but the dwarf only thrashed around harder. Her muscled form rolled across the rock, knocking Ayala back.

The guards and Jeric looked toward Krana as everyone was frozen for a moment. Then, Yeres leapt forward, unable to maintain his position any longer. A loud roar ripped out of his throat as Stamina surrounded his sword. The barriers that Sam had enchanted into his armor and shield flared to life, encircling him as he charged at the Bloodweaver.

As if a dam had broken, everyone started to attack at the same time, spells and hammers heading toward the lizard. Jeric rushed toward the Bloodweaver, his hammers rising as his yellow-gold shield flared brighter. The Song of Seven Earths reverberated as it built to a rising crescendo.

Lesat joined Yeres as he charged right after him, his own enchantments flaring. His face was a pale mask as he growled out a defiant shout.

Essence poured out of Sam as he turned forward, his battle spiral growing larger. The Dark Chryso Bloodweaver might be a higher level than them, but that hadn’t stopped him from fighting before. If they waited for it to attack again, there was only disaster ahead. He wasn’t sure what it had done to Krana, but she was down for now. They had to try and seize the advantage back.

Sam’s attention turned to the side, where the Grey Shard Stalker was still stuck in the Crystal Field, and he released his hold, followed by a crystal flame arrow that blew its head apart. At the same time, his battle spiral broke apart into the largest flight of arrows he’d ever created, more than two dozen of them. He sent them flying ahead of him toward the Bloodweaver and the Grey Shards behind it.

As soon as the arrows were released, he grabbed three auras from his storage and combusted them one after the other. His essence was almost completely drained and unless he restored it, he was useless.

It took about two seconds to combust each aura, and in that time, he was able to see exactly what happened as everyone attacked the Bloodweaver and his eyes grew colder with every passing instant.

Yeres was the first to reach him. The guard’s face was a mask of religious fervor as a loud, angry shout burst out from him. He slammed his shield toward the lizard as he charged, his sword swinging down.

The Bloodweaver raised the staff in its right hand, the tip flashing out as it struck against Yeres’s shield and somehow froze him in place as its left hand came up in a slice. The talons on its blunt claws extended, turning to shining gold blades that were patterned with diamond scales that matched its skin. Green light ran along the edges, almost dripping from the blades.

The talons sliced toward Yeres, colliding with the enchanted shields that Sam had made for him. There was a moment of delay as a brilliant shower of sparks appeared, but then the shields bent inwards, exploding under the pressure. The enruned circles on Yeres’ shield and chest warped, the runes shattering as mana exploded away from them and the steel around them blackened from the heat.

It would have been enough to stop a hurled boulder, but it wasn’t enough to stop the lizard’s attack. Its talons sliced through the failing shields and then through the steel armor he wore as if it were tissue paper. They tore four jagged lines across Yeres’s body, one across his legs, one at his waist, one through his chest, and the last through his shoulder and neck.

Yeres’s body exploded apart as the chunks that were left of him flew backwards, tossed across the cavern from the force of the impact.

Lesat was next. He was just behind Yeres as the same talons continued onward. The Bloodweaver’s attack was weaker this time, but it still sliced through his shields in an explosion of overloaded enchantments that released flaring sparks and proceeded through.

He had only an instant to react and he tried to spin out of the way. He was able to move just enough that the attack only ripped off his left arm, tearing through the steel pauldron there like it was tissue paper. The remaining force of the blow was enough to pick him up and hurl him backward, sending him flying fifteen feet away. He fell to the stone and rolled for another few feet before he settled in an unconscious pile.

At that moment, the arrows Sam had summoned arrived. Four of them exploded across the front of the Bloodweaver, leaving shattering cerulean rings that rippled outward as they broke apart on a golden shield that surrounded the lizard. The remaining twenty-odd arrows flew past him, exploding amongst the ranks of the Grey Shards that were watching expectantly.

Some of them tried to dodge, but many of them were too slow, losing arms and heads in the explosions as the arrows ripped through them, but Sam didn't have time to watch all of the effects. His attention was focused on his father, who was closing in on the Bloodweaver.

Jeric’s shield was much brighter than that of the guards, fueled by his much deeper reserves of Stamina, and his hammers were surrounded by a resounding echo as he channeled his energy into a Reverberating Blow. He took advantage of the lizard’s attack to charge in closer to him, stepping to the left as his hammers swung in toward its chest and abdomen with a double beat.

The lizard’s staff was still raised where it had blocked Yeres’s shield, and it flicked to the right, trying to swing toward Jeric, but it wasn’t as fast as Sam’s dad. Jeric moved like lightning as the hammers struck home, landing with resounding cracks against the lizard’s chest and stomach.

The Bloodweaver wheezed as it bent forward around the blows. It was a caster, not a warrior, and its Constitution couldn’t be too high. For a moment, Sam thought that might be enough, but an explosion of hazy, golden light ripped outward from the lizard as it finished pulling its staff back in. The long weapon glowed as it slammed against his dad, who was still pulling his hammers back for another blow, and a surge of mana picked him up and threw him to the side.

Jeric’s shield bent inwards, absorbing the force of the blast as he went flying through the air. He landed twenty feet away, rolling as he tried to absorb the force of the blast. There was a long, red streak along his body where the staff had somehow broken through his Earthen Shield, but he was alive.

Ayala was still trying to help Krana as Sam combusted the last aura. A new surge of crystal flame poured out of him, condensing as fast as he could form it. An Essence Blade began to form between his hands, the energy compressing again and then again as the edges of the diamond blade began to appear.

“Fools and prey,” the Bloodweaver hissed in Sam’s mind, its tone barely changed despite the attacks. It sounded only a little irritated by what had just happened. It also seemed to be ignoring the spell he was forming as it continued to speak.

The only upside at that moment was that its curiosity delayed any more attacks as it stared at him. It didn’t bother to look behind it to see what remained of the Grey Shards. Its confidence was absolute.

“Tell me why I am sssso attracted to that power in you and what it issss,” it insisted, its fangs opening in a snarl. “It echoess in my memory, ass if there iss ssomething that sshould be there. I order you to tell me why it iss familiar. I have ruled thiss area for thirty yearss, but I have never ssseen ssomeone like you. You look...familiar.... Why do you have hornsss?”

Its voice fell silent as it studied Sam for a moment, a trace of confusion passing through its eyes. It was clear that it recognized something about Sam, whether it was his essence or his appearance, but its true memory was gone. Only some type of strange, displaced being had been left behind.

Sam stared around the area, his attention dragged toward Yeres’s sudden death and Lesat’s injury, but most of his focus was on his father and on the spell he was still forming. The Essence Blade was almost ready as he continued to compress more mana into it. Maybe the lizard would keep talking just long enough.... His thoughts were interrupted as the monster continued

“Tell me and sssatissfy my curiosssity before you die. You may be interessting, but you are ssstill jusst prey to conssume. I will take your ssstrength and add it to mine. It will be a noble sssacrifice for one asss weak assss you.”

Its thought still hissed at him with a sense like a flickering tongue tasting the air. It was an unpleasant pressure on his mind, carrying with it the taste of blood and cold metal. Something about the voice spoke of uneasy slumber combined with sudden explosions of speed.

At that moment, Sam’s Essence Blade was finally finished and he released it with a growl, sending it directly toward the Bloodweaver. The cerulean wedge shot through the air with a resounding echo as it blasted straight for the lizard, crystal flames peeling away from it.

The Bloodweaver’s staff shot up into the air, a golden barrier forming in front of it again as it scowled, its voice hissing at him as it reached outward.

“Sssince you wissh to ressisst, then you can die. I will find the ansswer from your corpssee!”

The blood that had spilled all over the stone from Yeres and Lesat, as well as from the Grey Shards behind the lizard began to writhe, curling around unnaturally until the lines of it rose from the ground and turned into slithering snakes as it flowed toward the Bloodweaver.

There were dozens of them, each of them a long ribbon of gold-tinged red blood. As they transformed, the snakes became even more lifelike, gaining scales and diamond-shaped heads like vipers. Shining fangs extended from their jaws as they swarmed forward.

They headed for Sam like a bloody tide of venom and hate.