Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 176 (Patreon)

Arwin’s arrow streaked through the sky, cloaked in a twisting shroud of verdant energy. The Crag Lizard ripped itself free of Lillia’s bindings just as another wave of blue energy drove into it, locking the monster in place for a split second.

When an arrow was hurtling straight for it at terrifying speeds, a split second was quite some time. The Crag Lizard finally regained control of itself and attempted to twist out of the way.

It was surprisingly fast, and the movement should have taken it out of the path of the deadly strike. Instead, the arrow changed its course as [Wyrm’s Flight] activated and caused it to seek out an optimal location to strike. The adjustment was small — but it didn’t have to be more.

Instead of just scraping past the Crag Lizard, it slammed straight into the side of the monster’s neck. Scale shattered and black fragments snapped up all around the arrow as it drove deep into the creature’s flesh and wedged itself in place all the way up until just a foot or two of its length emerged.

Several loud cracks rang out an instant later as crystals sprouted from the wound, pressing against the scales around it as they tried to find purchase. The Crag Lizard roared in pain, stumbling and bracing itself against the ground with its tail as blood poured down from the wound.

The crystals were clearly digging deeper into it, but Arwin doubted they’d be enough to finish the huge beast off on their own. The Prism’s power wasn’t what it once had been, and for good reason.

Sure enough, its progress quickly slowed. The crystals jutted out around the sides of the arrow in a ring, having formed into a large growth on the monster’s neck. A shimmer in the crystals told Arwin that they were still trying to drain power from the monster, but they’d probably filled with all the power that they were currently capable of holding.

Rodrick took the monster’s momentary distraction to stagger back over to Arwin and the rest of the backline. He looked exhausted but otherwise unharmed.

There was no time to talk. That would have wasted the precious seconds they’d just bought. Arwin dismissed Prism’s Reach and broke into a sprint toward the Crag Lizard. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another form doing the same.

He ignored the distraction. Arwin drew up to the towering monster just as it directed its baleful gaze down at him — badly injured and furious. It let out a roar and its tail whipped out, aiming to crush Arwin in one blow.

He drew on [Scourge] and leapt. He cleared the tail and slammed into the lizard’s side, clutching onto the rough scales and launching himself up its side like a spider. The Crag Lizard spun in an attempt to fling him off, but his [Scourge] empowered grip wasn’t about to give in easily.

“Too bad you don’t have arms long enough to throw me off with, eh?” Arwin asked as he drew up to his arrow and summoned Verdant Blaze in one hand. He reared back and drove it into the back of the arrow, using it like a chisel.

A resounding clang rang out and the point of the weapon drove deeper into the Crag Lizard. It screamed and thrashed. Twisting shadow leapt from the ground and wrapped around its tail, obstructing its movement.

Another wave of blue energy drove into the lizard. Arwin reared back and struck his arrow again. It reverberated and drove even deeper into the monster, pushing the mass of crystal around it in as well.

Blood sloughed from the huge wound freely, slicking Arwin’s hands and making it harder to keep his grip as the Crag Lizard thrashed furiously beneath him. He slammed his hammer into the arrow one last time.

This time, it sank into the monster’s flesh completely up to its fletching. Arwin’s ears popped as an enraged roar split the air and he was finally thrown from his spot. The lizard’s tail whipped down for him as he fell.

Arwin’s eyes widened and he crossed his arms before his face an instant before it connected. Fortunately, the massive, spiked orb missed him. Less fortunately, the rest of the tail did not.

A wall of muscle and scale slammed into his body and launched him into the ground like a falling star. He hit it with a crash. The air exploded from his lungs and pain ripped through him. The world fluttered for a moment before relief washed over his system.

Arwin felt fractured bones start knit themselves together. Anna had cast her ranged healing magic on him. He didn’t wait around to let it finish its work. Arwin rolled to the side and shot to his feet to face the Lizard’s next attack — only to find that it wasn’t focused on him.

Reya had followed in his and Rodrick’s footsteps and was scaling the lizard’s side. The strategy had clearly grown pretty old for the monster, which was stumbling and roaring in fury as gallons of blood poured out from the wound Arwin had left in its neck.

It twisted and threw itself around, but Reya jabbed Wyrmhunger into its neck every time it moved, holding onto it like a climbing pick and refusing to let go. Every time it was between movements, she dragged herself up once more.

Her motions were sharper and faster than usual, and Wyrmhunger was cutting through the monster’s scales like butter. A flash of worry shot through Arwin, but he pressed it down and forced himself to stand still for a moment longer.

He was close enough to see Reya’s features. And, while there was fear in them, there was also determination. She’d clearly managed to study the Crag Lizard for long enough to activate her new berserker skill — and if she managed to get the killing blow on the monster, it would go much farther for her than it would for him.

Standing around and waiting while an ally was in mortal danger made his stomach clench, but he wouldn’t always be able to defend Reya. She needed to get stronger to fight for herself. She wanted to get stronger. It wasn’t his place to stand in her way.

Arwin locked eyes with Olive. Her knuckles were white around the hilt of her sword, but she gave him a small nod. She knew it too. Neither of them moved.  

Reya dragged herself all the way up to the back of the Lizard’s skull, keeping her center of gravity low as it whipped its head around and tried to fling her free.

She dug her feet into the namesake craggy scales covering the monster’s body, pressing herself against it and stubbornly refusing to lose her grip. Inch by inch, Reya pulled herself closer to the monster’s eyes.

Arwin’s heart thumped furiously in his chest and he prepared to activate [Scourge] and fling himself at the monster. The slightest misstep would send Reya flying right into the monster’s mouth. Gouts of flame screamed through the air and scorched the treetops, but still she pressed on.

There were a lot of things that Anna could heal — but getting bit by something this size almost certainly wasn’t one of them. Arwin took an unconscious step forward, preparing to rejoin the fight regardless of his previous decision — and froze as he caught a glimpse of Reya’s face.

The fear had changed. It was still there, of course. Reya hadn’t gone insane. She didn’t have much training or experience to fall back on. Anyone scaling the side of a massive lizard monster actively trying to kill them would have been scared.

Fear was logical — but there were many kinds of fear. There was fear that held a warrior back and kept them from achieving their goals. There was the wise fear that kept mankind from the shadows in the darkest nights, that kept people from killing themselves fighting what they had no hope of victory against.

And then there was the fear, not of failure, but of stagnation. The drive that pushed a man to be more than who he was. It was the refusal to accept life as it was and the determination to change it.

Reya lunged. She drove Wyrmhunger into one of the Crag Lizard’s eyes with a scream of her own. The dagger bit deep and the eye burst. Blood poured out of the monster’s body and rushed over Reya, and large swathes of it curled up to flow into the curved blade.

The Crag Lizard’s mouth opened and flame started to gather in its throat. Then it sputtered. The great monster took a staggering step, then pitched forward, the light in its one remaining eye snuffing out.

Reya’s arms pinwheeled as reality suddenly slammed back into its proper position around her. She leapt off the plummeting lizard’s head, but there were still dozens of feet between her and the ground.

Arwin burst into motion, dismissing Verdant Blaze, and jumped with a burst of power from [Scourge]. He caught Reya and crashed down a second later, a tremor racing up through his legs.

“Thanks,” Reya said, the tremor of adrenaline making her voice shake.

“Holy shit,” Rodrick called as Arwin set Reya down on her own feet, keeping a hand around her back to steady her.

Anna hurried over to them, magical energy flowing from her hands and over Reya’s body. She turned her attention to Arwin before he could say anything, sending a wave of light over him as well.

Micro-fractures in his legs that he hadn’t even fully noticed knitted themselves shut and he gave her an appreciative nod. She returned it, then finished checking up on Reya. As she worked, the Mesh’s familiar colors flashed before Arwin’s eyes.

Achievement: [Overly Generous] has been earned.

[Overly Generous] – Awarded for stepping back and letting an ally take the challenge of killing an Overloaded Monster out of desire to see their growth. Power is often found whilst guiding others to it. Effects: A single delivery.  This achievement will be consumed upon your mental request.

Arwin blinked the words away, and he found that the words weren’t the only thing that vanished. The body of the Crag Lizard was gone. There was still blood covering the grass around where it had been, but there was no trace left of the huge monster’s corpse — and Arwin had a feeling he knew what the delivery would be.

The Mesh is helping me get the materials out of the dungeon because there’s no way we’d be able to spend the time and effort stripping this thing down. That’s… surprisingly thoughtful of it. I really hope it’s just the scales, though.

Judging by the look on most of his team’s faces, they hadn’t even noticed that the monster had gone missing yet. They were all staring at their own messages from the Mesh. The only ones that noticed the missing lizard were Olive — who likely hadn’t gotten much from the fight — and the two adventurers that stood slack-jawed at the edge of the clearing.

“Gods above and below,” the blonde woman said, finally finding her words and swallowing heavily before she spoke again. “That was incredible. We owe you our lives. Are you a rescue team?”

“Just some passersby,” Arwin said with a shake of his head.

“Then even thousand thanks are not sufficient,” the warrior beside her said, inclining his head deeply. “This dungeon is far more dangerous than we were led to believe. I’m just sorry we don’t have anything worth all the effort you just spent saving us. It’s a common and meaningless offer, but if there’s anything we can do to be of service of you, please let us know. I doubt there’s much that we can offer, but what we have is yours.”

Despite the pressing nature of their situation, a smile slipped across Arwin’s face. “Don’t sweat about it. As a matter of fact, there is one thing you might be able to help us with.”