Chapter 216 (Patreon)

Enjoy. More soon.


* * *


Rock dust and pulped vegetation blasted outward. The sound was deafening so close, and Felix watched as large, horse-sized hunks of stone fell silently into the fog below. Yet before the debris cleared he could feel his eardrums healing. Sound returned with a strange sort of pop and Felix looked up to see the crystal...still there.

"Shit."

The Belais Crystal was hanging at an angle, half attached to the rocky cavern roof by strands of straining purple mineral. They looked like roots, and they were deep in the stone. Felix retracted his talons and dropped from his perch, extending his wings and shooting toward the dangling crystal. But the mages below weren't idle. A veritable storm of Mana bolts launched at him, filling the air. The crystal, now out of alignment, meant he was somewhat in their line of sight. Despite the distance, the barrage was so thick he couldn't avoid them all, even with Unfettered Volition. He took a few hits to the chest and shoulders, knocking him off course.

Reign of Vellus!

He didn't fire at the mages below—he didn't even know if the spell would reach that far—but instead at the stone above the crystal. The lightning bolt of kinetic Mana slammed forward and was immediately absorbed by the crystal. It hadn't even budged.

We'll have to do it the old fashioned way! Felix dove through another volley of arrows, orbs, and sizzling Mana bolts, only taking a few hits to his wide wings. Pit shrieked in anger and encouragement. They banked hard to the left and spun, barrel-rolling over the bright flames of a Mana-wrought bola before he made it. His boots hit the uneven top of the Belais Crystal, but despite it's precarious grip it didn't even budge beneath Felix's significant bulk.

More Mana bolts hit the area, but most were cleanly absorbed by the crystal. Felix ignored them and scrambled up the sloped mineral, which was jagged and precarious, like the exposed roots of a tree. The ceiling was pitted and blown out where his grenades had been placed, but Felix was surprised to see that directly above the crystal there were a series of large glyphs. Felix's eyes raked over them, though they were rendered mostly illegible by the removal of the crystal and explosions.

He reached the edge, where the thing nearly met the stone and placed his claws against it. Below, Felix could sense a wild battle; the fight before was vicious, but this was furious abandon. And in the midst of it all, he could see Cal, Harn, Evie...and Vess.

They're running to the right. This angle, Felix adjusted the placement of his hands and feet. I can make this work. They'll be fine.

They had to be.

Ravenous Tithe!

Taking a huge chunk of Essence from the air around him, Felix flared Sovereign of Flesh. Muscle and scales redoubled along his limbs, refreshed and bulked by the excess of Essence to burn. His scales darkened even further, pushing beyond black and toward a boundless sable, and his talons dug deep into the granite overhead.

He pushed. Up against the granite and down, onto the crystal. He pushed with everything he had.

The granite creaked, a protest so loud it drown out the noise all around him.

Push! Pit cried out, flooding him with surety and faith. Conviction.

He pushed.


* * *


When the explosion came, Eliza flinched. The successive impacts were less surprising, but no less dire. She watched as dozens of her men were slaughtered by falling debris. Their deaths were meaningless, except that they weakened her resistance against the ravenous Revenants. She cast her Perception into the sky, trying to pierce the thick crimson fog, but it was useless; she sensed nothing until the stones had come within a hundred feet.

She returned her attention to the shield. It was at the breaking point. Her crooked sword was tearing it apart, piece by small piece. The ancient weapon was practically vibrating in her hand, and though its secrets were locked away, it's ability to destabilize Mana was her's to command.

"Once we're through, destroy the appendages. The Broodmother doesn't appear mobile, so hit it from a distance until it cannot muster a defense," she ordered the other Inquisitors.

"That Sorcerer is among us still!" hissed Rutger. "We're fools if we focus on another enemy!"

"We'll die if we do not!" countered Daur.

Eliza struck a sweeping, overhanded blow on the aquamarine shield. The Crescian Bronze soaked up the Mana like a dry sponge. Then, like a piece of crockery, the shield shattered.

"Hah!" she cried out and half turned to the Inquisitors. "We fight the Broodmother! That's an order! Get the Acolytes up here to lay on their—"

A louder explosion tore the mists above them asunder, as if a giant had simple wafted away the fog. Far above, DuFont's Perception picked out the purple mass of Belais Crystal. Was it glowing before? Her eyes widened and she hurled herself forward, screaming all the while.

"Move! Take out the beast, now!"


* * *


Felix sank his hands into the stone ceiling, the granite creaking around his palms as he strained with every ounce of Strength he had, boosted by every Skill he possessed.

C'mon! FALL!

There was a resounding crack, almost as loud as the grenades, and the stone above him cratered into pieces, and his feet launched the crystal down.

Down.

Down.

+1 STR!

Yes! Felix laughed, holding on now only with his talons. The crystal fell at an angle. Below, the aquamarine shield flickered out completely. It was going to work!

"NOO!" a terrible voice boomed. A figure half as large as the crystal itself burst sideways from the Essence fog: the Pride of Blight. Its hulking body, a mess of muscle and scales, smashed directly into the falling stone. It clung there, its Strength and mass alone enough to divert the crystal's fall into the horde.

Right toward his friends.

Felix didn't stop and consider anything, he simply pulled his wings tight to his body, flipping until his feet pressed hard against the stone above him.

Reign of Vellus!
Reign of Vellus!

He leaped at the same time as he dual casted his favorite spell, and Felix launched like a shot. A bolt of lightning streaking down from the heavens. The ceiling shattered behind him.

You absolute piece of—!

The Blight was too heavy, it was moving too fast.

He wasn't going to make it.

No! Cloudstep!

Felix kicked off of the temporary platforms. They were obliterated by each aerial stomp, but he was going down. This time, the density of his Seed of the Unchained Mountain Body was a boon.

Cloudstep!
Cloudstep!

Cloudstep is level 25!
Apprentice Tier!
+10 AGL, END, DEX

Cloudstep!

Felix hit the Belais Crystal like a comet, his powerful Body and Sovereign of Flesh just barely enough to keep him from splattering against it. Sound boomed around Felix, and within that shuddering impact he could feel the basso howl of the Blight. Then he lost everything as they tumbled, freewheeling wildly in the air.

With a sound ten thousand times louder than his grenades, they hit the ground.


* * *


Teine was nearly thrown from the path as the entire cavern shook. A terrible whining filled his ears until his Body punched through the Dazed Status Condition.

"What in Avet's black teeth was that!?" Piotr shouted, still stumbling.

Mervin, ever watchful, pointed out into the sea of violence, where a plume of dark smoke and bright red mist spewed upward into the air. Teine leaned on his cane and watched the smoke—dust, it appeared—clotted the air.  He looked up.

The crystal was gone.

What is that fool playing at? A commotion sounded from close by, but the Elder was too engrossed in his speculation. He dropped it?

"Sir!"

Without even bothering to look, Teine snapped his good arm outward and caught the Revenant by the throat. It's claws cut at his elbow and bicep, but it barely even scratched his enchanted robes.

Purloined Vision.

The mechanical whirr of his core was nearly audible as rich green Mana was forced through his channels. He hissed inwardly at the pain, but it was over momentarily. A blue screen appeared before the creature before rotating and revealing its secrets to Teine.

TERRITORY-WIDE QUEST ALERT!

Protect the Nest!
The Enemy has arrived! Defend the Broodmother!
Defeat and Devour the Primordial Heir!

Rewards:
x1 Gold Chest
Territorial Authority

The Quest updated.

Teine froze, and his Mind whirled through a thousand rapid permutations. From his spies, he knew the monsters wanted the Fiend; were drawn to him, in fact. He knew that the Revenants gained strength from that which they consumed, but...Primordial. Of course.

They were in far more danger than he had assumed.

Wind Blade.

An errant pulse of Will sent the Revenant's head tumbling off, and Teine dropped it over the side of the path before it even had a chance to bleed on him. Teine eyed his bodyguards, noting how flushed they appeared, and Piotr's coughing fits. They weren't feverish like the rest of the Guilders around him, no shakes. He pondered. Were they immune to the Primordial's influence now?

And what was the reason for the array? He lifted the device at his hip, inspecting the corrosive red Mana that steamed from it, sparked with a deeper yellow. Holding it, Teine was far better able to track the snaking, hidden lines of the array around him. His eyes tracked them along the path, until it hit...

"Blind gods," he breathed. He could see it.

"We stop this array! Now! Whatever the cost!" He pointed at his Guilders and had them pull close as he erected a shield of vital green Mana. "Follow behind me!"


* * *


You Have Killed Manawarped Revenants (x343)!
XP Earned!

Territorial Quest Alert!
You Have Gained Contribution!

You Have Killed Manawarped Ghouls (x42)!
XP Earned!

Territorial Quest Alert!
You Have Gained Extra Contribution!

You Have Gained A Level!
You Are Now Level 46!
+2 to PER! +2 to VIT! +2 to END! +3 to INT! +4 to WIL! +4 to AGL! +5 to DEX!
You Have 7 Unused Stat Points!

Felix pushed himself up on shaking arms. He felt like he'd been pancaked by a Mack truck, and his hand bones were only just snapping back into place, shooting flashes of pain up his forearms. The burgeoning thrum of System power flooding his core helped combat the pain, replacing it with a soft Harmony that shook his bones.

He was atop the crystal still, but all around him was darkness. He looked up, but felt his spine shift painfully at the movement. His Sovereign of Flesh was working hard, putting his pieces back together, but it was a hungry beast. He'd used up almost all of his Essence store healing what it could. He needed more.

Ravenous—!

A claw the size of a dinner plate caught Felix in the chest, flinging him off the crystal and into the darkness...which resolved quickly into a crumbled stone crevasse wall.

"UGH!" Felix hit the wall hard enough that he saw stars flash in his vision. But above him, he could see crimson light. He was in a crater, one made by their impact.

"Death!" bellowed a familiar voice, and Felix saw the Pride of Blight leap atop the crystal. The thing was massive, fifteen feet tall were it not hunching, and strapped with so much muscle it looked ready to pop.

"You first," Felix snarled.

Reign of Vellus!

Felix ripped apart the earth behind him and sent his Body rocketing upward just as the Blight dove for him again. He skipped over the bastard's back, hopping into the air and spinning back toward the mutated chorister.

Shadow Whip!

Reign of Vellus!

Dual Casting is level 46!

Felix fired off another blast, this time directly into the Blight's wide back. Lightning coursed through the creature's flesh, and kinetic force caved in it's shoulder blade. It reared back, screaming. Just in time for Felix's Shadow Whip to catch it around the head.

"HUUUAAAAAH!" Shot backward by the counterforce of his Skill, Felix pulled hard on the Whip. The Blight, off balance by rearing up, fell backward and slammed head first into the jagged edge of crystal. Felix slid to a stop on the far side of the crater, hand still holding his Whip taut.

Voracious Eye told him it wasn't over, though.

Unfettered Volition!

Felix yanked hard on the Shadow Whip, letting it's elasticity pull him along as he jumped. Felix zipped up and over the crystal, freeing the Femur of the Envoy from his hip. He fed a stream of Essence into the weapon and swung down with all the Strength he had.

Wild Threnody!

Corrosive Strike!

Corrosive Strike is level 48!

Virulent green Mana bubbled along the weapon and smashed into the Blight's enormous chest. The metallic club had expanded to nearly six feet, and the weight of its blow was enough to savage the earth around them.

The Blight only grunted before shoving it away.

"Damn it," Felix hissed.

The Pride of Blight was High Adept, but Felix had hoped he'd have finished him with that one. The creature wasn't doing well, at least. It's jaw hung oddly and it's back and chest were crushed and torn; it was practically weeping ichor that dripped upon the crystal.

None of that stopped the beast from leaping into Felix and driving the both of them up and through the earth behind him. Stone shattered against their bodies as they fought, tooth and claw against each other, Felix's Strength and Vitality nearly a match for the Blight's. With a devastating eruption, they emerged back into the blood-light of the Essence fog, casually crushing Revenants with their passage.

You Have Killed Manawarped Revenants (x3)!
XP Earned!

Territorial Quest Alert!
You Have Gained Contribution!

Their emergence knocked the both of them loose, and Felix landed twenty yards away, flaring his Unfettered Volition to keep his feet. His Sovereign of Flesh burned at the dregs of his Essence, which stopped his wounds from bleeding out at the very least. But the Revenants were eager for his blood, and they set upon him immediately. Felix had to unleash a ring of kinetic force around himself, sending the Revenant's reeling before following up with a spinning club that ended them all for good.

You Have Killed Manawarped Revenants (x12)!
XP Earned!

Territorial Quest Alert!
You Have Gained Contribution!

Ravenous Tithe!

Essence and a little Mana streamed back into his core, reigniting his Transcendent Skill and setting his skin to itch-crawling as it healed. Fifty feet away, the Blight also got back to it's feet. It's arm was dangling, dislocated in their fight, and a number of rents in its abdomen showed where Felix's talons had found purchase.

"C'mon then," Felix hissed. One of his fangs was loose, but he didn't care. "I'm not done with you yet!"

Abruptly, a horrible, discordant wail filled the air. It was coming from the Broodmother, clearly seen from this angle, several football fields away. It's oozing tentacles wriggled and flexed, somehow producing the dissonant corruption of the Grand Harmony. Felix felt his core recoil, but he'd heard its like before. It wouldn't stop him.

Then the ground around him shook violently, throwing redcloaks and Revenants alike to their knees. Massive Scales of the Ravager King—each easily ten feet tall—emerged from the earth, shattering the smooth tile and tangled roots around them. Bloody Essence streamed from the Scales, like smoke stacks venting into the atmosphere.

Felix looked back at the Blight, and saw that its arm had rejoined it's socket, and its jaw snapped back into place. It was healing.

Two could play at that game, though.

Ravenous Tithe!

Felix reached out and claimed the lion's share of the nearest Scale. He stole it, breathing its power into him and letting it burn through his channels and into the space above his core. Whatever he couldn't fit, he funneled it into the abyss at the center of his ring. A space of clear air surrounded Felix, startling after getting used to the crimson haze, and the Blight's injuries stopped healing so fast.

"I didn't say you could heal," Felix admonished, resisting the urge to pant. He felt like someone had cut open his veins and shoved hot coals into them. Thousands of Primordial Spawn had turned toward their battle, and hundreds more were racing toward him. He could feel their want—their need—to devour him. But he focused on the Blight. He had to, or else it'd kill him far faster.

Then he saw it. Just a flash, but it was a tonic in Felix's veins.

The Blight screamed through it's regenerated maw, and little was left of the chorister's human face. Only a single, Human eye peeked above it's fanged mouth. It was strong. Stronger than Felix, all things told. But when it charged at him, Felix only felt anticipation.

After all, he wasn't alone.

"Wind's Embrace!"

"Fulmination!"

"Sparkbolt!"

"Lines of Shadow!"

Elemental Mana surged at the Blight, lightning striking first and spinning the creature around. A nigh invisible blade of wind sliced through it's left arm, severing it completely at the bicep. The Blight screamed, but it's face was suddenly netted by thick, spinning strands of darkness, just in time for a crimson fireball to knock it prone.

In seconds, it was back on it's feet, tearing through the shadow bindings with its ebon claws. But then the others got close.

"Fatal Flurry!"

"Raze!"

"Strength of Many!"

"Dervish!"

"Spear of Tribulation!"

Sepia daggers cut into the monster's legs and thighs, while Bodie rushed forward with a mace the size of a sedan, knocking the Blight back to it's knees. Twin blazing axes followed suit, cutting at it's remaining arm and leaving shallow gashes in its flesh, while a bladed chain and silver spear danced out before it. The latter did little to hurt the creature's Tempered flesh, but Evie and Vess proved an effective distraction.

"Steps of the Drake!"

The Hand appeared from nowhere and avoided the enraged swings of it's deadly right arm. A Revenant that got too close was torn apart by its force, spraying the crowd around them with thick ichor. On its backswing, the Hand caught it's forearm with the blade of his greatsword.

"Couldn't even drop a rock right?" The Hand complained, barely deflecting the High Adept monstrosity. Its swing diverted into the tiled ground, ripping a trench into the roots and stone.

"Eat me," Felix growled, flipping over several Revenants that were still charging him. He broke more of them with his club before re-sheathing it. An idea bloomed. "Just get it to scream at you."

The Hand grunted, taking another blow against the flat of his blade. He was deflecting them expertly, but even his Adept Body clearly felt pressured by the Blight's attack. Even with all of them there, Felix wasn't certain they could destroy it. Not with thousands of Revenants closing in on them.

"Vess!" Felix shouted. The woman spun, easily leaping above a sea of Revenants and sent his Blade of the Fang flying toward him. Felix caught it.

"Kill the burning thing!" she shouted.

Felix grinned and felt his Wild Threnody surge. From his core, Felix sent dual streams of Mana and Essence through his channels. Filtered through Reign of Vellus, the Mana surged with lightning and force, while the Essence tore lines of fire through his Body. The Blade lit up, a mixture of red-yellow and crackling blue-white lightning, until it was more light than fang. Felix all but emptied  himself into the weapon.

The Hand spun, driving his massive sword into the beast's side, causing it to bellow in pain.

Felix let loose, launching the blade with all of the Strength and Dexterity he could muster. It accelerated from his grip, a blur of lightning, and kicked out by a secondary discharge of Reign of Vellus. It hit the Blight, dead in its gaping maw.