Dao Divinity 2 Chapter 14 (Patreon)

Trapped in the webs, Dar worked to keep himself from panicking. He needed to work his way out of the situation. The town and the world needed him, and if he was going to take down the devils, he needed to be able to handle this group of low level devils. This wasn’t where it all ended.

Relaxing his body, Dar worked to focus his mind. One thought floated to the top; he needed to reach his greater dao.

With adrenaline coursing through his veins, Dar forced himself to focus. He worked to intertwine the lesser daos of hard, strength and heavy. Dar was having trouble breathing through the webs, but he used that as pressure, keeping his mind singularly focused on his task. He ignored the brief yells and noises of battles beyond, continuing to work the lesser daos together.

Like the flicker of a candle wick just catching a spark, Dar sensed the beginning of something more. Dar wasn’t sure if it was going to survive and blaze into a true fire or be blown out by a stray wind, but it was all he had to hold onto.

Keeping his concentration on the character, Dar started to cycle what little fumes of mana he had left into the shape of the complex character that was beginning to flicker to life. Over and over again, he cycled his mana.

This time there was no need to meditate. The sheer determination within him kept him singularly focused on this task. He had to form this dao. Everything depended on it.

But as he cycled, Dar quickly began to acknowledge that the fumes of mana in his channels weren’t enough to complete the character, no matter how quickly he sped up his cycling.

Desperate for success, Dar called out mentally to the world around him, the ground beneath him, calling for his body to pull whatever mana it could find. And in response, he felt the barest trickle of mana reach him.

Renewed hope sparked in Dar, and he began to pull harder. Breathing deeply both through his mouth and with his body he drew in more mana, filling his channels with a faint trickle. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to complete a full cycle.

Focusing again, Dar continued the cycling of the mana. One after another. Sasha’s scream reached him through the webs, but Dar had to work to block it out. He’d be no use to her unless he could finish this.

Dar let the strength of the very earth beneath his feet flow into him. And soon, the cycles became one, the scales tipped in his favor. Granite. It was everything Dar knew it to be and so much more.

Knowledge and power flowed into Dar as the greater dao of granite flowed into him.

Like his first lesser dao, with the new dao came vast amounts of mana. He could even feel trace amounts of the complete dao circling him, as if in this moment of comprehension he drew the attention of the world itself. It brought with it power, allowing him to change himself.

It was like the complete dao was for a moment surrounding him and he grasped all that he could change so he could grow into the next stage of his journey as an immortal.

Dar widened his channels, filling himself to the brim with everything this moment offered and expanding his inner world. He could feel it grow and swell to hold as much mana as he could bear.

And at the same time, he was thickening all of these containers for mana. Dar recognized he needed to be able to pressurize mana to greater extents; he needed to be able to bear the meditation method he’d started upon. Elation spread through Dar; there was so much potential and power in his current path.

As he shifted his body to accommodate the new changes, Dar realized how flexible his inner world seemed at that moment. Smiling, Dar reached deeper, imagining that dark iron gate that had been immobile for so long. He pictured the bars ripping apart, giving him full access to the space.

At first, the image of the bars only seemed to ripple, but soon he was able to bend and mold them, pulling them apart and creating a path for him to enter.

Dar continued to draw upon this moment of enlightenment and further improve his ability to grow along his dao path. Drawing on imagery of gardening, Dar laid down the necessary foundation for the next stage of its growth, establishing his body as a place to nourish the little dao tree further.

The moment of pure elation faded as quickly as it had begun, and Dar came back to himself, still wrapped up in webs. There he was, tied down while his friends and dao companions struggled for their lives.

But this moment was different. Dar was bursting to the brim with mana, and he had a new tool that he didn’t have before.

He could feel granite just a few feet below the hard packed soil beneath him. He had a feeling it was likely connecting all the way back to the cliffs, but he could only feel it in a small field around him.

Calling upon that very stone, Dar roared to the heavens in a new call to war against the ettercap.

The stone rose up against his feet, and he could feel it bending to his will.

Pillars rose up around Dar in a protective cage as he released his dao of heat once more, using his new mana reserves. It took a moment of burning, but soon all the webbing that had encased him was gone once again.

As he was able to see again, Dar spotted spiders and ettercap trying to break through his pillars to once again dog pile him. But they were having trouble getting between the pillars, and Dar was about to make it far harder. The granite pillars bent and spun, transforming the area around Dar into a grinder that would catch and chew up any who entered.

Unfortunately, that left Dar covered with the foul goo as the ettercaps and spiders ground up in the granite pillars.

The tide didn’t stop, as it hadn’t before. The spiders continued their reckless pursuit to reach him. He knew his team needed his help, and not wanting to run down his mana again, Dar prepared to break free.

Holding tightly to his ax, Dar crossed his arms over his chest before falling back. The ground split open for him, welcoming him with a coffin of granite. He fell into the ground and shuttled through it for twenty feet before bursting out of the ground with a gasp.

Dar let out a deep breath, glad it had worked. There was a moment of panic being buried in the ground that he hadn’t been expecting. Being entombed alive in the ground by his own hand was not the type of death he envisioned for himself.

“Dar!” Sasha squealed, and wrapped her arms around him. Her clothing was ragged from fighting, but not as if she’d been directly attacked.

Something else had the ettercap’s attention.

Dar’s eyes immediately scanned for threats, the first one being the largest spider he had ever seen, just beyond Sasha. But the scene didn’t make sense to him... the ettercaps were attacking it?

Dar’s brain and eyes fought over what they were seeing for a moment. It wasn’t piecing together.

But then Dar spotted Cherry behind Sasha, hunched over the ground in concentration, sweat dripping down her face.

Following her line of sight, Dar realized it was woody roots that were swinging down on the crowd of ettercap, crushing dozens of them. The large creature wasn’t a spider at all. Cherry was controlling the stump of the tree they had cut down; using it to stomp the ettercaps into the forest grounds.

She had kept the devils busy and protected Dar during his epiphany.

“Dar, I’m so glad you’re alive.” Sasha squeezed him for all he was worth.

“I love you too, but we need to go.” Dar declared, prying her off of him.

She snapped back to herself. “Of course. I was just so overwhelmed.”

Dar gave her a quick peck and took in the rest of the situation. Frank was unarmed, and Dar cringed. He’d made Frank give up his spear and now the old woodcutter was hanging back by the log with his ax protected by Russ and his girl, who were firing arrows into the never-ending sea of ettercap.

Cherry’s work seemed to be the most effective at keeping them from being overrun, but Dar knew there was only so long that she could keep up with that kind of power.

“Frank, move.” Dar called, pulling on the stone beneath their feet.

The old woodcutter looked at Dar in shock and backed into the felled tree.

“Move.” Dar repeated more forcefully, snapping the man out of his shock as he quickly moved out of the way.

They needed to retreat, but the ettercap now knew what they were after. Dar had no doubt there would be more traps and a larger battle to get access to the large tree. He had to at least try to salvage the mission if he could, although the lives of his crew were more important in the end.

A plan forming in his mind, Dar pulled the granite out of the ground and formed it like clay with his mind into ridiculously oversized ax. Dar let the idea of a sharp blade take form, and between his control over granite and his strength, he lifted it high over his head.

Lining it up with the section they’d already cut away, Dar let it drop, simultaneously using his dao of heavy to make it fall like a meteor strike.

The granite ax blew right through the remaining section of the tree in a messy cut, blowing splinters of wood as big as his forearm everywhere.

Frank and Russ stared, slack jawed, at the destruction he’d just caused. Even the ettercap had paused in battle, startled by the massive display of force. Or maybe it was the vibration along the ground that startled them.

“Come on, push it.” Dar said, before slamming his shoulder into the log.

“You’re kidding.” Frank stared at the massive log. “We can’t budge that. We need to get out of here.”

It wasn’t moving with all Dar’s effort, so he changed tactics. Finding purchase in the rough bark, Dar squatted and strained, trying to get it rolling.

“It’s downhill to the village; we just need to get it started.” Dar grunted between clenched teeth as he pushed.

Russ and his girl joined him, followed by Sasha and Frank.

There was a tense moment while it didn’t shift, but then, ever so slowly, the log rocked away from them.

“That’s it. PUSH.” Dar gave it all he had; it felt like the veins in his neck were going to burst, but the log finally moved.

Once it had momentum, it was ten times easier to move, and Dar walked his hands down the log, pulling their side up and rolling the log.

Sasha ducked back and grabbed Neko, who was motionless and still tangled in webbing. Russ grabbed Cherry and carried her, even as she still focused on her monstrous stump, and continued to wreck the ettercap population.

Continuing to pick up speed, the log started on its own path, becoming harder to control, but moving in the direction they needed.

Dar took Cherry from Russ and kept pace with the log as it continued, heading straight for the ettercaps and spiders who hadn’t realized what was coming yet.

The log rolled right over the smaller trees that had been left by the woodcutters after the previous day’s attack, snapping like twigs and as the log continued to roll forward. Soon Dar had to jog to keep up with it.

It moved like a bull in a china shop, plowing over everything in its way, which included ettercaps that had been working to ambush them further down field. The tree crushed their bodies, and Dar did his best to avoid losing his boots in the goo left in its wake.

Cherry had brought along her massive stump, continuing to use it to block any that were able to dodge the tree and attack from the side. Soon, they’d made their way through the thick of enemies, and Cherry relaxed in Dar’s grip, the giant stump crashing to the ground with an earthshaking thud.

“I got you Cher. We are getting out of here.” Dar managed to squeeze out between panted breaths.

“Dar?” Cherry looked up, clearly confused.

He gave her the best smile he could as he ran. “Later.”

The log was still picking up speed, and Dar realized he had a new issue. Even if they got out of the forest, that log had the potential to steam roll over Hearthway and everyone still there.

A chuckle of self deprecation slipped through his lips at the idea that after all this, he might wreck the village himself. They survived angry nobles, an army of ettercaps, but a big log would be their doom. But that moment was short-lived as Dar pulled himself together.

He needed to change its trajectory. Watching how it moved, Dar decided to try to redirect it a bit.

Pumping his legs for all he was worth, Dar caught up to the log and passed it, drawing upon his new dao and creating small ledges of granite on one side of the log, pushing it into the cliffs and higher ground.

The log bounced off the granite ramps and slowly shifted its direction away from dooming the village and towards the slope of the cliffs that Dar hoped would starve it of its momentum. He could see it slow down and rock back towards them using the rise of the cliffs as a shallow bowl to halt it.

Dar let out a sigh of relief, brought back to the next crisis as the chittering behind him reminded him of their other problem. Their entire group managed to make it past the edge of the forest, all looking exhausted and worse for wear.

Once again, the spiders and ettercap stopped at the edge, angrily pacing and chittering for a minute before sulking back deeper into the treeline.

“Think that’s it, boss?” Russ’ chest heaved as he bent over, placing his hands on his knees. The rest of the group, including Dar, sat down in the grass to catch their breath.

The term boss was a new one for Russ, but Dar didn’t comment on it. Maybe he’d earned a bit of respect from the battle.

“We can hope.” Dar replied, looking over the group once more to assess damage.

“Dar!” Cherry jumped into his arms and smothered him with kisses before he could say anything else. When she finally came up for air, she grabbed his head. “What happened? I thought we lost you.”

He noticed everyone else was watching him closely, wanting to hear the story as well. “I broke through on my greater dao. I am now a greater immortal with the dao of granite.” He couldn’t help but grin as he said it. “I fucking did it!”

“Good for you.” Cherry was all smiles and planted one last kiss on his lips before jumping back.

As Cherry moved away, Dar spotted Neko in Sasha’s arms, unmoving in the webs.

Dar hurried over and pulled some of the webbing free to feel for a pulse at her neck. A sigh of relief escaped him. It was weak, but she had a steady pulse.

Pulling the webbing apart further, he used his dao of heat to burn anywhere his hands touched, working to separate her from the webs.

The first thing Dar saw were two big cuts on her shoulder, and they had an oily sheen on them.

“Poison.” Russ answered, looking over Dar’s shoulder.

“Anything we can do?” Dar asked.

“She’ll need lots of water and time to work it out of her system. That’s the best way. We’ll see if anyone in the village can make a general purpose compress for the wound too.”

Cherry shook her head. “Stupid girl. She should have stayed back in the village.”

“I disagree. If it wasn’t for her, think how much closer they would have gotten before we noticed them.” Dar explained. “She was the one that started fighting them. If not for that noise, it could have been a much worse ambush.”

Russ grunted. “I think she was the one watching us earlier. It would make sense. And for what it is worth, I agree. She saved all of us today. I didn’t sense them until they were already on us. She knows the forest well.”

Dar nodded and scooped up Neko. “Let’s go check on this log and see if this was all worth it”

Everyone got up and Frank hurried ahead to look at the log. The woodcutter was quickly doing circles around it, his hands making motions as he likely strategized the best way to make it into a boat. Dar smiled; the man was back in his element, clearly looking to focus on something other than the near-death experience they’d just had.

Others from the village were now coming out, wanting to see what had created all the commotion.

“What happened?” Shelia asked, holding onto her weapon and looking towards the forest.

“We’ll explain later. For now, everything is okay. Or at least, no worse.” Dar answered for everyone before turning back to Frank. “What’s the damage?”

“Hmmm.” Frank walked along the log’s length again, stroking his chin. “It seems to be in remarkable condition, all things considered. You have a few spots that are going to need to be cut out, and I need it rolled to see the top and bottom, but I’d say it is still fit to make a boat.”

With his words a small cheer came from the village, and Dar turned to see all the children getting excited over what they likely didn’t fully understand.

But the laughter and glee brought a weary smile to everyone’s faces.

“Okay, Shelia. Get as many people as we can spare. We need to try to bring this into the village carefully.” Dar looked at the log with a shake of his head.

It had been so much trouble, but he had a feeling it may just save them with all it could unlock as they got access to the other side of the river.

“Uh, Boss. Do you really think we can move that?” Shelia stared at the massive log.

Sasha nudged him. “I’m taking Neko back to our hut; I’ll have her wounds cleaned and dressed.”

“Take good care of our little savior.” Dar added and gave Neko’s ears a small ruffled before he leaned down and whispered in them. “Stay strong Neko.”

Sasha gave a determined nod before carrying her away.

When he looked back up, Dar found everybody staring at him. “Well come on. We have this massive log to move, and then we need to get started on trimming it. Anyone have a dao that can help?”