Chapter 370 - Working Together (Patreon)

“I think ‘garghoules’ would have been a better name,” said Eveline.

“Not the time!” Zeke grunted as he was sent flying backwards through the air. He hit the ground, kicking up a rooster tail of gravel before skidding to a stop. Before he could recover, one of the ghoulgoyles was on top of him, raking its long, stone claws across his chest. Instinctively, he desperately covered his face as he rolled to the side. With a desperate backhand, he dislodged the monster, sending it stumbling backwards. That was all the opening Zeke needed as he leaped to his feet and used [Center of Gravity] to yank the creature back. As it flew toward him, he summoned his hammer and took a mighty swing. It connected with a thunderous cracking sound that echoed across the plaza. An instant later, the ghoulgoyle shattered into a thousand pieces.

Those shards of stone immediately pulled themselves back together, prompting an exasperated shout from Zeke. “Oh, come on! How is that fair?”

“Coming from you, that’s rich,” said Eveline. “How many times have you pulled yourself back together?”

Zeke didn’t answer because he was already occupied with fending off two of the other ghoulgoyles who didn’t seem to appreciate what he’d done to their fellow. Fortunately, Zeke was not alone, and as he fought, Pudge pounced from behind, using his [Netherclaw] to gouge deep grooves in the creatures’ backs. At the same time, Silik continued to aim sizzling bolts of light at the monsters. They did some damage, but they mostly served as painful distractions for the ghoulgoyles.

Meanwhile, Eta was busy with the final ghoulgoyle, wrapping it up with thorny vines that, when it tried to tear free, tore into its stony hide. For every vine it destroyed, another two took its place, locking it down in a constantly reforming cocoon.

Finally, Sasha continued to mutter as she filled the air with rapid, yet precise gestures. Zeke could feel the mana building with every wave of her hands, but even he could tell that her spell was a long way from completion. That was both good and bad news. Good, because whatever she had in mind was probably extremely powerful. But bad because, with how slowly the spell formed, by the time it reached fruition, the battle would already be won or lost, with no input from her.

But that wasn’t something Zeke could worry much about, because even with Pudge’s help, the two ghoulgoyles were pressing him to his limit.

So, he decided to even the odds by using [Colossal Legion]. As he fended off the ghoulgoyles’ furious attacks, he embraced the skill, let the mana build, and then, finally released it. The moment he did, a black line manifested in mid-air, drawing the ghoulgoyles’ attention. They weren’t intelligent – Zeke could tell that – but they were cunning enough to know that the skill would prove troublesome. So, they tried to attack it.

Their behavior reminded Zeke of a distracted animal.

Whatever the case, it proved a boon because it opened them up to Zeke’s attacks. The distraction freed Zeke to put a little more heft behind his swings, and he managed to pound one into the ground with an overhand blow. At the same time, Pudge tossed a ball of roiling [Hellfire] at the other one, giving the skill time to completely manifest in the form of a spreading door of deepest black.

Once it solidified, a trio of golems stepped out and immediately joined the fight. They wasted no time before falling upon the reforming ghoulgoyle while Zeke and Pudge continued to lay waste to the other two. Eta’s target persisted in trying to escape her vine cocoon, but it only managed to rip itself to shreds in the process. It wasn’t enough to kill – or even appreciably harm – the thing, but her efforts certainly kept the monster busy.

Zeke kicked the one of the ghoulgoyles in the chest, launching it through the air. However, before it could get too far, he used [Center of Gravity] to yank it back in his direction. Once again, he took a baseball swing at it, reversing its trajectory. Then, he repeated the sequence – again and again. Each impact sent a spiderweb of cracks spreading across the ghoulgoyle’s body, and by the sixth iteration, it shattered just like the first.

The resulting sense of relief only lasted a moment before it all came crashing down. He watched in frustration as the scattered shards began to collect themselves into a pile. Zeke pounced on a few, shattering them into even smaller pieces, but it did little good in stopping the ghoulgoyle from reforming.

“Any suggestions?” he asked, continuing to pound the rocky remnants into dust.

Eveline said, “Um…not really? Your usual tactics don’t seem to be working.”

“I’m aware,” he spat, bringing his foot down on one of the larger chunks of rock. It splintered into a dozen pieces, but before he could corral them, they zipped off to rejoin the rapidly reforming ghoulgoyle.

That’s when Zeke embraced [Weight of Two Worlds], feeding it a veritable torrent of earth mana. The results were mixed. The shards and pebbles slowed down, which allowed him to further shatter them. However, they didn’t stop altogether. Even when he pounded those pieces into dust, they process continued.

But the others were very much affected by his skill.

Zeke had some control over most of his skills, but [Weight of Two Worlds] was the lone exception. Due to their bond, he could exempt Pudge and his golems, but the others weren’t so lucky. Eta and Sasha both crumpled to the ground. Jasper and Silik remained upright, but the strain prevented them from doing much more than that. Thankfully, the already heavy ghoulgoyles were even more affected, so they couldn’t take advantage.

Still, it only took a moment before Zeke realized that he was doing more harm than good, so he released the skill and shouted, “Sorry!”

“Group them up!” Sasha yelled, her voice strained. “I can only do this once!”

That was easier said than done, especially considering that Eta’s ghoulgoyle was separated from all the rest. Still, Zeke mentally commanded his bronze golems to herd their target toward the center of the plaza. Meanwhile, Zeke shot off toward the struggling Eta.

She held her hands aloft, gnarled fists clenched as she shook with effort. When Zeke reached her, he said, “Let it go. When the others get in position, I need you to hold them in place.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Try,” was his only response. “I think you’ll only have to hold it for a second. And the golems will help.”

“Very well. Ready?”

Zeke nodded, and Eta relaxed. For a moment, nothing happened, but then the ghoulgoyle burst through the vines and rocketed toward the dryad. Zeke intercepted it with a shoulder tackle that took it to the ground, shattering the plaza’s paving stones upon impact. The monster raked and clawed at his earthen body, but he ignored the pain as he clapped his arms around it in a bearhug and started dragging it away.

It shrieked in pain and frustrating, kicking and clawing the whole way. But Zeke wouldn’t let himself be denied.

Meanwhile, using [Netherclaw], Pudge had finally managed to slice another of the ghoulgoyles to pieces. As he did, Jasper darted in and kicked the shards to the center of the plaza where they started to reform. Silik, who’d already used his body enhancement skill and was wreathed in bright light, had abandoned his post protecting Sasha so he could push the remaining ghoulgoyle into place.

Zeke was the last one to complete the objective, and he threw the creature into the pile of stone. As he did so, Sasha shouted, “Use that weight thing to keep them there!”

Zeke did just that, once again embracing [Weight of Two Worlds]. Thankfully, everyone but Pudge was out of range, so the only ones affected by the skill were the ghoulgoyles. Zeke dragged great torrents of earth energy from the ground, fueling the skill even as he injected his Will. The results were quite destructive. The lone monster that had not been shattered started to crack.

However, Zeke never got the chance to see the skill reach its fruition as, suddenly, Sasha completed her spell, and a tidal wave of mana washed over the entire plaza before flowing into the center. For Zeke, it felt like he’d been caught in an undertow, and it was all he could do to keep from being swept away. Still, he rooted himself to the ground by increasing his weight. At the same time, he poured more mana into his skill, keeping the ghoulgoyles from recovering.

Then, a peal of thunder rolled through the area, nearly bursting Zeke’s eardrums. The second boom of thunder finished the job. And the third shattered the stone beneath his feet. Still, more came. The sound was more than a sound, and to Zeke, who held onto his skill for all he was worth, the repeated peals of thunder felt more like subaudible shockwaves.

Eveline shouted, “Switch to unattuned mana!”

“What?”

“Just do it, Ezekiel!”

Zeke trusted Eveline enough to follow her directions without any further hesitation, and he shifted [Triune Colossus] to running off of the store of mana infusing his core. It was pure mana, which meant that it was entirely unattuned. As a result, his body shrank by a few feet as its rocky nature smoothed out into something closer to his golems’ appearance.

The thunder continued to build, increasing in volume as well as frequency until Zeke finally saw the effect play out with the ghoulgoyles. The shattered creatures ceased their reformation, and the one that was still whole began to crack. A few seconds – and a half dozen peals of thunder – later, and it shattered entirely. Every boom of thunder further destroyed the resulting shards, eventually rendering the ghoulgoyles into dust. And then, that dust became motes of unattached mana that sank into the ground.

At last, Sasha’s spell ended.

And Zeke collapsed to the ground. The first few seconds of the spell had injured him, and though he’d switched forms, which had lessened the impact, he was not unaffected. He’d held on for as long as he could, but now that the spell had ended the threat, he finally let himself fall.

He hit the ground with a groan.

“Use your healing skill,” said Eveline.

Zeke barely heard her, but non-verbal communication meant that the meaning came through anyway. So, he embraced [Cambion’s Awakening], trying to fuel it with earth mana. However, when he did, he found that there was nothing usable in the area. The mana was there, but it felt disjointed. Almost as if it had been shattered.

So, Zeke used the unattuned version of his skill, and a moment later, blessed relief washed over him.

“What just happened?” he managed to ask.

“That spell. It was based on thunder,” she said. “Sound, really. There are other ways to take care of earth attuned creatures, but that was probably the best. Quick thinking, under the circumstances. The downside is that it completely destroyed the earth mana in the area.”

That explained why he couldn’t fuel [Cambion’s Awakening] with earth attuned mana.

“That’s why your colossal body is so important,” Eveline explained. “Think about it. Right now, you’ve got weaknesses. If someone attacks you with holy attuned mana, then follows up with something like that spell Sasha just cast, you’re down to the unattuned version. I don’t think I need to tell you what a problem that is.”

Indeed, Zeke was grateful for what the pure version of [Cambion’s Awakening] could do. Without it, his soul would be left in tatters after every time he’d used demonic mana. However, its ability to heal his body was marginal at best. It could work in a pinch, but it was far inferior to the other two versions of the skill.

“The more options you have, the better. If you complete the set, you’ll have no weaknesses.”

That sounded great, but he was in a little too much pain to truly appreciate something that may or may not ever happen. So, for a long moment, he just lay there, letting his skill wash over him. Fueling it with pure mana wasn’t ideal, but it still got him back on his feet after only a few minutes. By that point, the others had recovered as well.

It seemed that, while they’d outranged his [Weight of Two Worlds], they’d still caught enough of Sasha’s spell that they were more than a little worse for wear. Pudge looked haggard, with bloody fur and a few misshapen lumps on his torso that suggested he had a few broken ribs. At a glance, Silik looked fine, but Zeke knew the kobold well enough to recognize when he was putting on an act. The big lizard-man was even more injured than Pudge, even if he gave no outward signs.

Eta had also been adversely affected, but she’d already begun to heal herself via a few roots that extended from her hands and into the ground.

The only one who’d escaped unscathed was Jasper, who seemed completely fine. When Zeke raised an eyebrow at the dark elf, Jasper said, “I’m a bard. Sound can’t really hurt me.”

That’s when Zeke noticed Sasha, who hadn’t really moved from the spot where she’d spent most of the fight. Instead, she’d collapsed to her hands and knees. Her breathing came in ragged pants, and she looked as if she could barely stop herself from collapsing.

Pudge and Zeke noticed her at the same time, and the former dire bear wasted no time before racing to her side and wrapping one arm around her. He knelt close and said whispered something into her ear before embracing her with his other arm and hugging her tight. She buried her face in his furry chest.

“Ah, to be young and in love,” said Eveline. “I was in love once. Well, lust, really. But he loved me, so that has to count for something. It ended poorly, though. Most demonic relationships too. We’re almost entirely incapable of caring enough about anyone else to truly love another creature.”

“That’s…that doesn’t bode well for us, does it?”

“Oh, what you and I have is different, Ezekiel. I’m sure you love me, too. But our relationship is pure business. I help you, and in return, you don’t destroy me. Win-win.”

Zeke looked at the others, then said, “I guess that was –”

He never go the chance to finish, because the ground suddenly disappeared, and he soon found himself falling into a black abyss.