Spellheart 9: Chapter 8 (Patreon)

My previous experience fighting on water hadn’t been particularly pleasant. As an earth cultivator, I was used to having the home field advantage wherever I fought. Sure, earth zeal wasn’t the best for speed or to produce magical effects, but it was second to none regarding utility, at least while on land.

At sea, I lost access to the vast reserves of earth zeal below my feet.

This was an even more frustrating experience. I was sitting on a slowly melting stone raft atop a lake of magma, and I couldn’t lay claim to the zeal beneath me. There was so much fire and heat within it that the zeal only reluctantly obeyed me. And that was only when I grabbed onto a bit of energy that hadn’t already been seized by the Ironclaw Magma Ravager. The thing was so massive that most of the magma supporting my raft was directly adjacent to its body.

On top of that, I was still using my Identity ability to modify the density of the magma around me. That must have been what had drawn the monster’s attention. It didn’t like what I was doing to its home.

All this added together meant that I was in for a rather rough time. I couldn’t stop the process without losing all my progress. But at the same time, I couldn’t take this monster out without taking it seriously.

[I’ve got this, Master!] Minerva promised, though I felt that she was seriously outmatched.

I warned her as much, and my point was proven a moment later when the giant skeleton she manifested immediately dissolved in the lake of magma. The bones caught fire and turned to dust after getting no more than a single stab at the massive metal claw. The clan remained completely undamaged. The Magma Ravager hadn’t even seemed to notice the attack.

[Nevermind, Master. I don't got this.] Minerva blushed sheepishly. She’d been overeager in her desire to take out the thing annoying me.

“It’s the thought that counts, Minerva.”

And so began yet another legendary battle between the Patriarch of the Hearthwood Clan and a giant mangy beast. The claw finally struck my raft, and I reached out with one hand to catch it. I could barely claim enough zeal to transform the magma I was standing on onto a solid platform. That only worked because I’d been doing as much for the past few minutes to keep my raft from melting. That platform gave me the leverage I needed to use my full strength.

Despite the disparity in size, I was stronger than the Magma Ravager. My World Titan Fiendbody was unmatched in terms of power, and with that power, I planned to show this beast why getting in my way was a terrible idea.

“Hey, if there’s any intelligence in there, hear me out!” I shouted. “I just need to do this for a few hours! After that, everything will go back to normal! Promise!”

The monster roared in response, and a giant head like an eel shot out of the water. Its circular maw was lined with millions of teeth the size of my arm, and its eyeless face shattered bits of stone off the ceiling above the magma lake. A moment later, those teeth were coming for me.

“I guess we’re doing this the hard way,” I sighed.

I tried pulling my hand out of the magma in preparation for a solid monster beat down, but the moment I did, so I felt myself lose progress. I had to stay in constant contact with the magma, or all this effort so far would have been completely wasted.

Maybe this was going to be a little harder than I thought.

The monster’s tendrils whipped across the surface of the magma, and I hopped along my pad of solidified magma like a crippled bunny dragging its hand along the ground. I couldn’t dodge like this, so I erected a Stone Obelisk to block the incoming attack.

There was a tremendous boom as metal claws struck magically summoned stone. My temporary raft swayed, feeling unnatural as I rode on the odd ripples. My brain expected the sensation of floating on water, but the magma was far denser, and the sway of the current had an odd feel to it.

I did my best to get my lava legs as fast as possible because I needed to block three more metal claws in short order.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

They cracked against my pillars one after another and one after another. I sprouted more pillars around them to trap the things in place. The beast struggled, but he must not have had a good angle on me because, despite its massive size, it couldn’t simply tear my entire raft under the magma sea. It would destroy my Stone Obelisks eventually, but that was alright. Having them present for a little while helped me rob what control I could over the surrounding area from the beast.

And trapping some of those monstrous limbs in place helped as well. Even hobbled, I stumbled over to the largest of them and produced Spell Eater from my Dimensional Storage. Whatever alloy the beast’s claws were made of was primitive compared to the adamantium I’d made my weapon of choice out of, and I shattered each claw with one swing.

It responded with a mighty roar and a dozen more tendrils, which were blocked and trapped by a dozen more Stone Obelisks. These were further out and a little bigger than before as I devoted an ever-increasing quantity of my power to trapping more of this monster’s limbs.

“I can keep this up all day!” I shouted to the beast, still hoping it would be intelligent like the Shadowblade Beast. The stronger a monster was, the greater the odds were it could understand me. But I detected no semblance of reason or attempt at communication in its actions. No matter what I yelled, it kept throwing more claws at me.

A more rational being would have realized this strategy wasn’t working, suggesting that I was dealing with nothing more than an ordinary unthinking monster, no matter how powerful it was.

We played this little game of cat and mouse a while longer, and I probably looked like an idiot the entire time. I ran around the surface of the magma lake with my hands dragging beneath me like some sort of knuckle-dragging ape.

Fortunately, Minerva was the only one to witness my rather embarrassing fight against this big lava monster.

More metal claws shot out of the magma, and I blocked and trapped all of them. This continued for half an hour as I desperately hoped the monster would get bored and leave me alone. I figured a little pain would make this creature finally go away, but it only got more aggressive the more claws I snapped off.

Just when I was certain it was going to finally give up, It found a new way to attack.

The giant head I saw before shot out of the magma once again. I waited for it to lean in and bite me. If I could lock that head down, I could kick its skull in and finish it. But instead of trying to bite me, it opened its mouth and sprayed me with a facefull of magma.

This was far worse than getting it with a spray of water. The heavy weight of the molten stone would have crushed a normal human to powder before burning them alive. Fortunately, my body was exceptionally tough, so it only felt like getting sprayed with a hose.

“Piss off already!” I sputtered as I wiped the dripping magma off my face. If I could pull my hands out of the magma, I would have shaken my fist at it in anger.

[Master, I believe that monster just spit on you.]

“And it’s going to pay for that! Mark my words!”

The monster spit at me again.

After wiping my face and cursing once more, I realized now I was the one that needed to come up with a new tactic.

I nodded my head at the Stone Obelisks, and in response, my magic propelled them at high speed toward the monster’s head. But the moment they appeared, the monster ducked its head beneath the magma, and all the obelisks soared uselessly by.

Then, the head popped up a few seconds later and sprayed me in the face again.

“Damn you, you giant worm!” I yelled as I shook the magma out of my hair.

I slung more Stone Obelisks, but once again, they missed. I was sprayed in the face again.

My strategy was ineffective. I needed another plan. You know what they say: if you can’t beat them, join them. So that’s just what I planned to do.

I stooped over and slurped up a big mouthful of magma. When the beast reared its head next, it clearly expected another wave of Stone Obelisks flung at it. It didn’t expect me to spray it in the face with its own trick.

Though my jet of magma was no larger than a finger, it had been propelled with all my strength. The force of the magma cut a deep gash in the monster’s face and dug into the cavern wall behind it.

“Ha! How do you like that, you big, dumb beast?” I laughed as I finally did some real damage to the monster that had been troubling me so much.

That’s when the monster’s other end reared up, and something shot out of it at high speed. Before I could react, I was once again covered in dung.

This wasn’t the first time an enormous and incredibly powerful monster had pooped me on, but it was certainly the most infuriating. The dung hardened in moments, cooling from a liquid into something approximating concrete.

“Oh yeah? That’s the game you want to play! Fine then!” I shouted back at the beast, fully intent on destroying it once and for all.

***

A few hours later, I had judged that I’d sped the planet long enough to accomplish my mission, and I let natural forces resume once more. A lot of elves were going to be confused at why today was a lot shorter than yesterday.

The Ironclaw Magma Ravager had unfortunately gotten away, but I gave it as good as I got. It will be licking its wounds.

“Minerva, you will never speak of this adventure to anyone,” I said sternly.

All I heard in reply was a quiet giggle.

I returned to the underground station once more and slammed the door shut behind me, muttering threats at the monster that had debased me so the entire time.

I found the research chamber surprisingly empty. It hadn’t been stripped bare either, which was odd. The elves had found nothing to their tastes, and now only four figures roamed the room as they listlessly poked the various objects around them.

Sava was one of the few elves remaining, and she jumped to her feet as soon as she saw me.

“Theo! I have a complaint!”

I furrowed my brows. “A what?”

“This book, written by fellow humans just like you! It claims they created an early version of elves. It’s three thousand pages long,” Sava said.

“Bring them home and have someone copy them so you can read them at your leisure.” I shrugged.

“My complaint is that there are only ten pages dedicated to brains, personalities, and senses. The other two thousand nine hundred and ninety are all endless notes and revisions on boobs and butts!”

Sava held up the notebook in question and flipped through a few pages. There were countless diagrams on the subject in question, and not all of them seemed to be of an entirely scientific nature.

“Interesting,” I said as I snatched the papers from her hand. “I completely understand your complaints. I will study these in great detail later.”

“And I have another complaint!” Sava raised a finger to the air. “This ancient ruin doesn’t have any cultivation supplies! There aren’t any hidden spells or techniques! No ancient cultivation manuals! No forgotten herbs or pills long lost to the world! It’s just an ordinary ruin with nothing magical about it!”

“I see... I see...” I said as I flipped through the notebook. There were some incredibly well-drawn diagrams in there. Really impressive artistry. And the scientist within me told me that I should spend the time to transcribe these drawings myself in order to gain a full understanding of what they contained.

“--And so everyone left when we realized there wasn’t anything useful here!” Sava said. I’d only been half paying attention as I looked at the notebook in my hands.

“Yes, fascinating...” I put the notes away for later study. I turned my attention back to Sava. “Well, tell whoever wants to explore the place that they’re free to do so. Just warn them that the only thing they’ll find is forgotten history, not any lost cultivation supplies or grand means to boost their powers. Anything they discover will be purely academic.”

Sava grumbled under her breath, and I joined her as we returned to the Hearthwood. As we walked, I pulled her a little tighter to my side. And then a little tighter again.

“I’m covered in all sorts of grime, and I’m sure you’re sick of being in that environmental suit. How about the two of us head to the castle baths to clean up a little?”

Instead of responding, she led the way. Before long, the two of us were undressed and clean enough to get dirty again, which required another bath. I was debating calling in a few of my other women to join us when I received word that Sam and Dean had arrived in the Hearthwood once again. Apparently, they’d also accomplished their missions. So I kissed Sava goodbye once again and rejoined them to help save the world.

“How did your missions go?” I asked.

“Marginal success,” Sam shrugged. “Someone else was fighting us over control of fate. I only diverted things slightly, and most of that was due to you swinging the planet about faster than it should have.”

I turned to Dean. His clothes were ragged, and his body was covered in cuts. A bite mark as wide as his torso dug into his bare chest.

“The dragons took me for another snack as well,” Dean laughed. “Don’t worry. The wounds aren’t as bad as they look. I’ll be back to full health by the time we have to fight them for real.”

“Good,” Sam said, “because I have the new location where they’ll touch down. We’ll be heading East to the Fimblesea Continent. It’s one of the less populated regions, so that’s for the good. The end of the last golden age hit it hard, and it never really recovered.

“Shame. They used to sell these taco things I loved.” Dean sighed.

“We weren’t able to position them to hit the ocean?” I asked. Even though that would make the dragons harder for me to fight, fighting them there would mean a lot fewer casualties.

“It doesn’t look like it. Whoever was tugging on Fate really wanted these dragons to touch down in Deania. We were lucky to move them away at all, and most of that was due to Theo’s efforts. Whoever it was hadn’t expected us to move the planet to get our way.” Sam chuckled, and I was glad I’d screwed over whoever had been trying to screw us over in turn. I only wished I’d been able to land the dragons on their head instead of targeting an innocent continent of modest means.

“We should get going and scout the area,” I suggested. I was rather eager to see this Fimblesea Continent. I’d seen the other continents on the World of Sanctuary and Serenity from a distance while off-world, but almost all of my time here had been spent on the Groveguard Continent, where the Hearthwood was. This was like seeing a part of my own backyard that I’ve never been to before.

“We’ll take your teleportation array to the capital. Dean set one up on the Fimblesea Continent a century ago,” Sam said.

“That was when I could still get those tacos...” Dean sniffled a little in sorrow.

“Anyway,” Sam continued, “It’s still operational, even though the palace it once led to has been destroyed. Gather up a few minions to help out. We’ll need people on crowd control and maybe even to help fight some of the leaser dragonspawn. Though if we’re lucky, the place will still be as empty as I remember it.”

I brought along my crew. Sava wouldn’t want to stray too far from Segolas lest he run off to get himself killed, so she’d stay to watch things from the rear. She’d have the support of the Whitewood Clan sisters Yavilla and Tavilla, so I wasn’t worried. Illiel also volunteered to stay behind to keep the Hearthwood running smoothly, which freed up some of our children to come without the danger of the clan grinding to a halt without leadership.

Assyrus, Eltiana, Melise, Yorik, and Nela all volunteered, which meant I’d have at least five wizards with me. Tivana would want to go as well, which would be perfect. Having a spare sorcerer of the space aspect would reduce the level of danger for everyone else. Tivana could pull them out of trouble if things started getting too tough. Korra was also coming along. Her cultivation had stagnated since she was off of her world for so long, but she’d restarted from scratch with the elven Spirit Cultivation technique and had reached true mage with a second magic system. She might not be as strong as the others, but I was certain she had tricks the rest of them didn’t.

Quite a few of my children and the clan’s promising warriors wanted to come along as well. Since we were using teleportation arrays, I could only bring true mages and above with me. Otherwise, the promise of traveling to a lost and forgotten continent filled with ancient ruins would have had the same effect as inviting people to explore that underground laboratory.

Comela was coming, of course. There was no way I was keeping her down. With her were a few faces I recognized, like Ullua. There was also Mayatania, who’d been a true mage with some half-forgotten connection to Sava we still hadn’t completely worked out. She was nice and had been living in the Hearthwood Clan, helping out the Whitewood Clan whenever she could. I’d seen her sweeping the palace floors with the Whitewood Clan in an incredibly skimpy maid outfit, and I’d wondered a few times if any of those eggs from the Whitewood Clan waiting to hatch were from her. Kysalian and Shakaran from the Sakaku Clan were coming as well. Their clan was still a fraction of what it had been before being taken over by Tim, but they were determined to earn their keep in the Hearthwood Clan. Besides them, there were a few other veteran members of the Hearthwood Clan, all eager to join me as true mages.

When Comela showed up, I was surprised at how many other members of my family were tagging along behind her. She was the strongest of my children, but she wasn’t the only one of them who’d reached true mage. At her side was her younger brother Dulik. He wasn’t a true mage, but his body cultivation had reached the level that I was confident he could take a hit even better than his sister. He might not do as much damage as Comela could on her wyvern’s back, but I trusted him to keep himself alive.

Salura and Saesca had both been trained under their mother Sava as alchemists, and I knew they’d be tasked with bringing home anything Sava might find interesting. The two were only early true mages, and most of their cultivation was the result of drinking potions rather than fighting. Still, I trusted them to support their siblings and keep to the rear. They were less likely to charge headlong into danger than some of my other kids. Their elder sister Salica was coming along and was a little stronger than the two of them. She’d grown up when times were tougher for the Hearthwood, so she looked a little more somber at the thought of battle than her younger sisters. I pulled her aside and asked her to look after her two younger siblings for me.

Pyriana and Darana from Eltiana looked like they were eager to stab some dragons. The pair of them twirled a long whip, and a pair of slender daggers tipped with iron, respectively, and from the way they held them, I could tell they’d been practicing. The two of them hovered around Argona, who was dressed considerably more practical than her sisters. Pyriana and Darana both wore a few skimpy bits of cloth and skin-tight ninja wear. I wanted to complain, but their mother was right next to me wearing a matching outfit which I appreciated very much, so I held my tongue.

Argona, on the other hand, was covered head to toe in plates of enchanted adamantium and would be remotely controlling two dozen powerful golems from a distance. Between that and her plate armor, she’d be as safe as she could be. I was certain was how a child of mind should go into battle. I was a bit worried about her making it through the teleportation array, since she wasn’t a true mage, but the enchantments on her armor allowed me to waive that rule just for her.

Tanela and Lyrela from Nela were both coming as well. The two of them were the most formal of the lot, dressed in military uniforms I didn’t even know the Hearthwood had. The army hadn’t seen much use these days since it was usually faster for me to simply crush anything that threatened the clan with my own two hands than to assemble a squad to take care of the problem. But people like those two had kept the military traditions from our early days alive so if we ever needed them again, they’d be ready.

From Illiel, Aminel and Laminel were both armed and equipped for battle. They weren’t the strongest among their siblings, but they both had good heads on their shoulders, and I knew the rest of the family could rely on them. Which was why I tasked them with protecting Pelise and the rest of Melise’s kids.

Melise’s children had taken after their mother with regards to spirit healing. Between them and the vitality potions, I was confident we could ward off even the heaviest wounds. Pelise, Altease, and Jatese were all coming along, and all of them were skilled in their own kind of healing. Jatese was even hauling along her pet queen from the Rakaren Queendom, a vassal clan under the Hearthwood’s control. Their queen had sworn absolute fealty to my daughter, so I didn’t even have to get my hands dirty showing up in their city. It turned out they had a few more true mages, which supplemented our forces.

Altogether, I had seven of my lovers and fourteen of my children, all coming along for battle. Besides them, I had another thirty true mages from the rest of the clan to draw on. It was a force that would have made the threats that had tried to destroy us before begging for their lives.

When we teleported to the capital, I was proud to note that the forces I was bringing along were roughly equivalent to the two Sam and Dean had each gathered from their own respective factions.

“Looks like we have about two hundred of Deania’s elite all gathered here,” I chuckled as everyone mingled and introduced themselves. We thought it best to build squadrons based on abilities rather than keeping our people to their respective factions. For Dean and I, it didn’t really matter so much, but Sam’s people would be most effective when divided up among the rest of our forces. They weren’t the greatest fighters individually, but Fateweavers were second to none at making predictions about where the next attack would come. The strongest of them could even reverse time to undo lethal wounds. That kind of support would be most effective with more combat-focused warriors to back it up.

Sam had already arranged for travel supplies, so we loaded up. I had people back in the Hearthwood doing the same thing. Only anything we needed would be sent through my Dimensional Storage and delivered in the field. Between both of us, we’d thought of pretty much everything.

“Indeed,” Sam laughed as we looked out over our forces and the rest of the city. “I’m sure the people of the capital are spreading rumors even now. What could so many powerful figures be doing? Where are they going?”

“I’m sure Dean’s daughter will make an announcement to calm everyone down.”

Sam looked doubtful. “If anything, she’ll be the one spreading the rumors. She always was a bit of a troublemaker, that one. Gifted, but always a handful. But I’m glad to have her watching our backs.”

“Come on, it’s almost time to get going.”