Savage Awakening 65. Thunderdome (I) (Patreon)

Eggs were most of it. Giant eggs speckled with black dots, glowing with a creamy inner light. He inspected them.

Galefeather Raven Eggs (C)

These eggs contain the Natal essence of the Galefeather Raven, King of the gale-crows. Exceptionally rich. If left untouched, this egg will spawn a new Boss.

That was one of the least pleasant Boss fights Zane could remember having. He was definitely leaving these touched.

He'd been hurt far worse in past fights. That wasn't how he judged pleasantness, though. Those had been fights. This had been… he wasn't even sure. It was more running than fighting. It got him all eager, ready to give it his all, then let him give almost none of it.

He was still hot, simmering with pent-up battle rage. Splitting that Raven had been nowhere near satisfying enough. It was almost accidental.

He sighed.

He put a hand to an egg and felt the essence simmering within. Nothing held it. Nothing lived in the egg yet. It was easy to draw out into himself, up his arm, dispersing through his body in tendrils of cozy heat. It felt like downing a high-ranked essence elixir.

A few minutes later, the glow went out of the egg. He moved on to the next one. In the next. And the next still. There were seven in total, and on the fifth—

Level Up!

Essence Level 81 -> 82

He took some petty satisfaction in draining the last of them. Speed-type Monsters. He wrinkled his nose.

He scoured the nest and found a crystal big as his palm. A ball of sizzling light was trapped in the middle of it.

Stormheart Crystal (C)

Condensed in the heart of a Storm, this treasure has seen untold lightning strikes and knows their secrets. It holds within it fragments of the Elemental Law of Electricity.

Pretty neat. Kind of like that Volcanic Heart treasure he picked up back in Mount Saint Helens.

He also found a juicy-looking white fruit with an electric-blue stem.

Lightning Law Fruit (C)

Magnifies one's insights into the Laws of the Electricity. Effective until Elemental.

He was hoping for something he could use in his upcoming Law binge. He'd get in a Major Law of Fire and probably one of Steel. But it wasn't like he had any skills to do with Electricity…

Maybe he could start learning. Maybe Electricity Laws might add to his Rising Sun Slash? He wasn't sure how fire and lightning played off each other. Maybe he'd find out.

***

He made for the other Boss.

On the way, he found a Treasure Area—a little cavern built into the wall, sizzling with electricity. He felt it tingling his skin as he walked in. Its walls were pale stone webbed with electric-blue cracks.

Grounding Chamber (C)

The dispersed powers of lightning that flood the ground go here. The shocks here temper the body and leave essence behind. Those who can bear its flow stand to reap great essence benefits.

Zane grunted. For a second, his whole body locked up. A shock cracked through him, then another; he took another step. The shocks got more intense as he drew closer.

It seemed to be a similar class of treasure to the Lava Falls in Saint Helens. Kind of a painful essence geyser. Useful to boost up Luminous Faction warriors, maybe—those who could take it, anyway. He tried walking around a bit, but it was soon clear at his Level, the thing was too slow. He was better off killing things.

He'd let Reina know, though.

He approached the lair of the next Boss cautiously. It was called the Thunderous Beast, which could be anything. This one should have Lightning Spirit minions. Zane just hoped it wasn't another speed type, or he could be in for a very annoying time.

He went in with the same setup as before. Inferno Cyclone to start with. He stoked it to a raging flame. Then he waded down the Gorge, straight into the Beast's lair.

The plan worked. His Cyclone raged into the chamber, swept up all the red dots, and snuffed them out in seconds. The Spirits hardly managed to singe him; he saw them shrieking at him, saw their mouths open in shock as they burned. It kind of amused him. Lighting Spirits in shock.

Then it was just Zane and the Boss, and he let the Skill drop.

He stood in the cavern, the walls of white stone crackling blue light like they were charged up with electricity. And at its center—

Thunderous Beast (Monster)

Essence Level 76

Law: Major Law of Discharge

Key Skills

Horn Charge (Active) [Rare]

The Thunderous Beast charges lightning and charges the enemy, its horn crackling with punishing electric energy. It discharges on contact, immobilizing and devastating the enemy.

Static Shield (Passive) [Rare]

Envelops the body in a swirling vortex of static electricity. Deters foes and repels projectiles, making the Beast an electric powerhouse.

Zane was relieved to find it was not a bird. It didn't look very fast at all—it looked chunky and bulky, with a horn shooting out of its blocky face. Like some kind of rhino. The bulk of it was tempest-gray, but its horn was white, the color of a lightning strike.

It did look pretty angry, though. Its massive feet were dug deep into the ground—probably to resist his Cyclone winds. Now they started glowing—was that the Law of Discharge? Zane watched, fascinated.

Then it bellowed and rushed him, horn blaring crackling white light.

Zane—as had been quite painfully established—was slow.

But it took longer for a several-ton giant Monster to charge the length of a football field toward him than it took for Zane to draw a line with his arm.

… Though it was a little depressing how close it was. The Beast got within ten feet of Zane before his Rising Sun Slash carved it up the face. Zane's flaming Axe struck the sizzling horn. An explosion rocked the air; howling, the Beast was thrown off-course. It nearly fell over. It had to stumble to avoid ramming into the wall.

Growling, shaking its head as though to clear it, it looped for another go. Zane had messed up its face worse than he thought. Everything under the horn was split pretty clean down the middle, halfway to its neck. Slabs of skin hung loose. Strings of black blood poured out.

It made sense. He had six Levels on this thing, a handful of Laws, and some Epic Skills. He felt kind of bad for it. This wasn't really fair, was it? Like a gentleman, it was actually making an effort to fight him. Unlike that bird.

He was still pissed at the bird.

So he stowed his axe and swapped over to his Chains. He'd pay this Beast back—he'd give it a good fight.

Bellowing, it charged him.

And bellowing back, Zane charged it too.

That horn dipped down, angling to gore him through the chest. If it connected it'd mess him up pretty bad.

So he didn't let it. He chucked out a Chain, catching it. The power crashed through the steel, rippled down the length of it, and gave Zane a nasty jolt. He felt muscles seizing up all over his arms and chest. But he'd blunted the bulk of it.

Then Zane and the Beast collided like two fighting bulls.

Zane felt like he'd been hit by a semi-truck. The jolt was so vicious it made him see double for a second.

He saw the heaving masses of muscle rippling under the Beast's thick skin. He felt it snorting, roaring, saw its muscles bunching, straining harder. That massive body, every fiber of it, labored to crush Zane into the ground.

But Zane's body did the very same.

Every single muscle in his body sang with the glorious strain of it, from his thighs to his chest to his back; he burned. He felt the fight in his flesh, in his soul, and grinned viciously.

They were two great machines of flesh then, interlocked, straining mightily, neither giving an inch.

Then Zane planted a foot forward and shoved…

And the Beast fell back. One step. Then another, its massive feet digging furrows into the ground.

The Beast tried desperately. It couldn't hold ground. Each step rattled the earth. The Beast stared at him. Zane met its beady little eyes and saw its pupils shrink with shock.

Zane roared; his grin widened. Veins bulged on his neck.

This. This was a fight!

Step by step, trembling with the effort, Zane beat it back. He felt it as he looked in that Monster's eyes and saw the shock. As a human a quarter its size forced it slowly but surely to its knees. As this mere human took the fight to where it was strongest—and dominated it.

As Zane wrestled the Beast to the ground, he looped a Chain around its throat. And he tightened it.

It shot reams of lightning through the chains; lightning wreaked havoc on Zane's body. He didn't care. He kept pushing, he kept tightening. His Chains were a pure, beautiful expression of his power, and all the Beast could do now was flail, and gasp, and shudder.

Health Warning!

Health under 75%

As far as Zane was concerned, this was the right way to fight. Looking your enemy dead in the eye as you threw out your very best effort. Setting your spirit against theirs, and striving and winning. None of this nonsense, running around and pot-shotting.

The Thunderous Beast slumped.

The Thunderous Beast has been slain!

Clearance objectives 2/2

Zane let out a long, slow sigh. After that, he felt cleansed. He felt good again.

… Now that the battle fervor was slowly trickling out of him, he felt like he was waking from a great dream. He felt proud, and hugely joyful, but also a smidge embarrassed. He'd just gone and wrestled a rhino for no reason other than he wanted to, really.

…He was very glad Avery was not here.

The Thunderous Beast's lair had a fat chest near the back, and Zane looted it before he moved on. Most of the offerings were essence stones. He found another Lightning Law Fruit—lots of Lightning-themed stuff here.

Then there were a set of two scrolls engraved silver at the ends, electric blue in the middle. He inspected them.

The first—

Thunderclaw Manuscript (C)

This Skill Scroll contains the Rare Skill 'Claw,' an immobilizing Claw Technique. Crafted by Elder Yu of the Black Bolt Faction, after a deep study of the defensive habits of the Goldlight Pangolin.

Prerequisite: 1 Major Laws of the Elemental Law of Electricity

Neat, but he didn't use claws. Maybe he could give it to Reina. Have her pawn it off at the Beacon shop.

Thunderfoot Manuscript (C)

This Skill Scroll contains the Rare Skill' Volt Blitz,' an explosive stomping Technique. Crafted by Elder Yu of the Black Bolt Faction, after a meticulous decade-long study of the movement style of the Thunderfoot Zebra.

Prerequisite: 2 Minor Laws of the Elemental Law of Electricity

Now this… this was interesting.

And he had just been miffed by how slow he was, too. This could certainly help. The only problem was he had no Electricity Laws… but with this environment and those Law Fruits, that was a pretty easy fix.

He scratched his chin.

He figured there was a pretty good chance the second floor would have some sort of Electric Law comprehension place. Either that or Wind Law, judging by what he'd seen of these dungeons. Maybe it'd be worth stacking a Lightning Law Fruit or two and sitting down for a few hours before he went to the next Boss?

A rugged stone staircase opened up around the middle of the Gorge, sank deep into the wall. Torches lit the way. He started down into the depths.

***

After a while—lots of spiraling in the dark—the stone staircase opened up into another Gorge. Just underground this time.

The second floor was one straight Gorge. It ran from the edge of the staircase straight down into a chamber. Where the Boss, the Thunder Roc, had to be.

Thunder Roc….

Weren't Rocs… birds?

Zane had a sinking feeling.

The walls were a jagged stone blacker than coal, webbed with electric-yellow lines that pulsed faintly. Zane saw clusters of red dotting the length of it on his mini-map. He looked up.

Perched on the high cliffs, peering down at him, were creatures with spiky yellow plumages crackling with electricity. Their beaks were thin and long, like lances.

Stormtalon (Monster)

Essence Level 63

He watched one flicker down the length of the Gorge in two flaps, like a flash of lightning.

…God damnit.