Ar'Kendrithyst

Chapter 62, 1 of 2

Erick crafted a deep lair of [Stoneshape], ten meters down, with air vents to the surface, and [Crystalline Air] layered on the inside. Stone supports held a five meter roof, while [Conjure Item] produced all the beds and chairs and tables they would need for a nice, restful night.

Mostly everyone stayed on the surface, though. Before Erick knew it, someone got a fire going. It was Kiri. She had [Grow]n a dense firewood for fuel, while he was downstairs making sure the place was ready to go. Consequently, they all needed water, because Kiri had used up four canteens to get that plant made, so if he could hurry up please, Rats was thirsty. Erick laughed. Kiri said the platinum water had a funny taste, so Erick obliged the request for water with a quick, concentrated downpour of [Call Lightning]. Clouds laid on the horizon, here and there in the twilight; no one would notice a downpour right on top of their camp.

Night came on, deep and restful, and cold. All the extra moisture in the air certainly didn’t help matters. Chill wind blew down from the north. Erick bundled himself in a thick [Conjure Armor], as did many others. Erick still had yet to decide on his armor, but for now, it was a comfortable, fluffy white thing. Others added fur lining to their usual armors; Erick was the only one in what was basically a blanket. Ophiel, reduced to one body, did not mind the cold. He danced in the wind over the camp. After ten minutes around the fire, Jane popped over to Spur to pick up ‘essential supplies’. She returned with two kegs, much to everyone’s joy. Beer went well with the sausages, cheeses, and breads Teressa and Kiri had packed.

They talked, about unimportant things. About the time of year, and what it meant when water season ended. About the memorable Shade incursions into town. About the hunt for Bulgan, who was still nowhere to be found. He might be dead, but no one really believed that.

Sometimes during the night, Erick played around with [Cleanse] and Mana Altering: Fire, to produce [Cleansing Flame].

Cleansing Flame, instant, medium range, 15 MP

A smokeless flame gradually consumes and transforms a large amount of organic material to naught but air.

Deals no damage.

Kiri laughed, saying it took her a week to get that right. Rats demanded more celebration, for the creation of yet another successful spell, but Erick knew it was half a joke, half self-deprecation, and half whatever reason Rats could find to break open the second keg. Erick might have been a little drunk already, his math was suffering.

Eventually, the group settled around the fire, roasting sausages on metal skewers, telling stories.

Teressa smiled wide into the cold night, her white teeth flashing gold in the light of the fire, as she spoke of the past, “My father— He and my tribe. He took me on my first wyrm hunt when I was 17.” She giggled. “The first wyrm I ever hunted was a [Force Bolt] wyrm. My dad nearly shit his pants when about a hundred bolts flew at me.” She clanged her non-beer holding fist against her chest, saying, “But I had a shield! I blocked all of those bolts. The shield was in tatters afterward, and I was down to a sliver of health. But he said he had never been prouder. We hunted ten wyrms by the end of the month. I got thirty levels by the time we were done.” She stared into the fire, suddenly quiet. “It was a great time.” She reached for more beer, a slight sadness in her eyes.

Kiri picked up the slack, saying, “My first experience with a wyrm was when my grandparents took me to see a Killing.”

Teressa’s bout of melancholy vanished; replaced with subtle anger. “A Killing! They still do that over there, eh?”

“Not all the time, but yes,” Kiri said.

Erick looked to Jane, wondering what a ‘Killing’ was. Jane shrugged at him.

Kiri held her beer with both hands, saying, “The Wyrm Knights had captured their namesake, and trussed the beast up with thick chains and thicker [Binding Ward]s, in a huge pavilion just outside of Tower town. The wyrm was red, but you could hardly see that, through the blood pouring from its open wounds. It was a Vitality wyrm. It couldn’t do anything except bleed more. The stench was awful. I was eight and I puked.” She laughed, saying, “Grandma chastised me. But it didn’t matter. We had arrived just before the Killing. The wyrm’s body had been angled and held to expose the grand-rad area for the chosen noble.” She said, “I don’t remember the kid's name, but he was the son of the magistrate. In front of a crowd of hundreds, this kid was given the opportunity to kill the wyrm. He had just Matriculated, I’m sure. Well! He took this enchanted sword, and started carving. Blood poured.” Kiri paused, then said, “The kid slipped on the blood. The sword went up, and then down.” She sipped her beer. “They couldn’t do anything to save him. The sword had carved right through his head by the time anyone realized what had happened.”

Erick sat, horrified for multiple reasons; he couldn’t decide which was worse.

Teressa said, “Ouch.”

Rats went, “Unpleasant!”

Jane said nothing, while Poi poured himself more beer.

“What happened after that?” Rats asked.

“I fainted.” Kiri paused, then said, “Years later, I heard that four Wyrm Knights lost their heads because that kid couldn’t hold onto a sharp sword.” She frowned, deeply, saying, “Only dragonkin knights executed, though. No human knights, despite the humans being up front and in charge the whole time.” She sarcastically said, “But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.”

The fire crackled. Cold wind blew from the north, stirring across the wet ground.

Jane said, “Shit like that really does happen, huh.”

“Yup.” Kiri quickly wiped her eyes, then said, “I had forgotten about the executions, until now.” She shook her head, saying, “I’m not even sure why grandma took me to the Killing. I think it might have been the only thing happening that weekend.”

Teressa said, “Taking kids on hunts is all well and great. But Killings… These are not good.”

Poi said, “They do it to stack the early levels and prevent easy assassinations. The mortality rates on young human nobles of the Republic is fifty percent to age twenty five.” He added, “I have no doubt that those people found guilty likely did have something to do with the kid’s death.”

Kiri frowned, saying, “Perhaps.”

Poi glared at Kiri, saying, “The Scaled Union was a society for the advancement of dragonkin into positions of power in the Greensoil Republic, where no positions exist for our kind. They came into being fifty years ago, but the whole organization quickly fell in with the incani and the Quiet War. They were radicalized into the Scaled Horns. Where there was once hope for change, now there were Wasteland-influenced radicals hiding in human lands.” Poi said, “It is widely theorized that if it weren’t for the Scaled Horns, we dragonkin would have had positions higher than knighthood in the Republic twenty five years ago, back when forty-five years ago, the kingdom of Odaali was the backbone of a push for equal rights.”

Kiri looked surprised. Her eyes were wide, as she asked, “That almost happened?”

Poi said, “Baron was the title they were aiming for. This would have opened up a great many opportunities, but then the Halls of the Dead got involved… They wanted war, so they planned many smaller attacks to undermine Odaalian influence.” He said, “It worked. Killing a noble’s kid through dragonkin proxies was one of their tactics. I have no idea about your specific experience, but it tracks through what we know of the Scaled Horns. But who knows? Your experience might have even been a normal abuse of power. Those were also rampant. I have no idea, and I don’t think you do either.” He added, “The Scaled Horns still exist, though mostly as chapter houses in the Wasteland Kingdoms. We don’t allow them in Spur, as they have taken a side in the Quiet War.” He stressed, “We take no sides, Kiri.”

Kiri stared into her beer.

The fire crackled.

Rats eradicated the silence with a happy, “My first real experience with a wyrm ended up with half my group dead.”

“Oh my gods.” Erick said, “I’m so sorry, Rats.”

Rats smiled to himself. He started to say, “Don’t worry about—” He paused. He said, “I was six years old. They were necromancers trying to capture a wyrm for experiments. They put a slug [Familiar] on my shoulder and sent me out across the Forest, with a canteen and a pack of meat. They found a wyrm before I did.” He smirked. “The slug vanished from my shoulders, and I wandered the Forest for two days before ‘a child’s assistance’ triggered. I ended up in Spur’s Orphanage, growing up with the priests. It was a lot nicer than what came before.”

Teressa and Poi looked away from Rats, but Jane, Kiri, and Erick looked to him.

Erick said, “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Rats grinned at the fire, saying, “It’s in the past. But thank you, anyway.”

The night turned somber. The fire crackled, providing light and heat to the group, but the air of friendliness had vanished.

Erick tried to revive that air, by saying, “So I’ve gotten some 9-star melee threat monster dossiers from Mog. Anyone want to hear about them?”

Poi said, “Yes. All of them, please.”

“Gods yes,” Rats said.

“Please,” Kiri said.

Teressa nodded, as Jane smirked at the fire.

Erick smiled. He bade Ophiel to fetch his bag, down in the underground bunker. Ophiel returned clutching a bag… But it wasn’t Erick’s. It was Poi’s. Poi just looked at the bag, knowing it was his.

Erick said, “One second.” He took the bag. The bunker was out of [Blink] sight, so with a quick pair of [Teleports], Erick grabbed his bag. He reappeared on the surface with the leather folder. He began with handing the folder to Poi, then said, “So the first and largest problem is a Toxic Hydra. It sticks around the western thousand-kilometer obelisk of Spur, so we don’t have to worry about that. But this far north, we might find a Grand Stone Elementals, or maybe a Blood Cloud...”

The group listened as Erick rattled off what would have been ghost stories on Earth, but were deadly real threats on Veird. Poi handed out dossiers. Kiri and Jane eagerly read, both of them creating small wardlights to read by. Rats and Teressa shook their heads when offered the papers, preferring to listen to Erick.

Jane held the papers for the Toxic Hydra, flipping through them saying, “Wow. This is a monster.”

Teressa looked over, saw the dossier in Jane’s hand, and scrunched her face. “Toxic Hydras are the worst. They originally came from Nergal, you know? Some human introduced them to the Wasteland Kingdoms. They’re one of the primary reasons the Wasteland Kingdoms are the Wasteland Kingdoms.”

Erick frowned, saying, “That’s awful.”

“A lot of things are!” Rats said, smiling, drinking beer.

Erick spoke of monsters, as the night deepened, and the beer kegs were emptied.

Erick turned in first. He walked down the staircase into the ground, spilling solid fractals into the air as he passed through the [Solid Ward] barrier that laid across the top of the steps. Sunlightwards threw light into the underground lair, across the bunkroom setting. Six beds sat out in the open under an arched ceiling made of stone.

Stone vents on the north side of the room poured cold air into the space, the funnels on the surface catching the wind, while vents on the south side of the room let the air continue on, back to the surface. Erick picked a bed on the edge. Ophiel, just the one, curled up on his own bed, beside the vent. His white feathers fluttered in the draft. He trilled out tiny violin chords, happy as a clam to be in the wind, even underground. Erick smiled at his [Familiar], but still gently shushed him. Ophiel went quiet; the only sounds in the deep room the sound of wind flowing. Sleep came, soon enough.

- - - -

With the bright sun shining in the east, Erick and company blipped onto the sands of the Crystal Forest, along with ten Ophiel, a kilometer east of the grey wyrm pile; not upwind, but not downwind, either, keeping the sun out of their eyes. They had already scouted the pile not ten minutes ago, so they didn’t dare get closer than this. There was a slight problem with the plan. Or. Maybe not a problem. But a complication.

Kiri was the first to discover that the [Scent Ward]s across the decaying flesh were not enough to stop the wildlife from finding the pile. A hundred Crystal Mimics crowded the corpse, like jangling upright chandeliers, their white-blue flesh glittering in the morning sun as they walked upon their food. And two of them were not their normal white-blue color. They were bright red and twice as large as the common variety. All of the other mimics avoided the reds, giving them a wide berth.

“Two mother mimics,” Rats said.

Erick said, “I’ve never seen a red one.”

Teressa said, “They only show themselves as red when they gather like this. They’re still only level 31.” She said, “Kill it with [Withering], before it can turn back to blue. The dried out body of a mother mimic makes powerful healing potions, but only while it’s red.”

Erick said, “That’ll send [Cleanse] into the corpse, though. It’ll vanish?”

Kiri frowned, asking, “Has your [Cleanse] ever cleaned up a mimic corpse?”

“Well. No.” Erick said, “But… The wyrm corpse underneath could vanish, too. That there is more rot to that than flesh.”

Teressa said, “If it cleans the corpse away, don’t worry about it. Mother mimics are worth the lost time and effort.”

Poi said, “I agree. Those kinds of potions heal thousands and thousands of HP.”

“Well… Okay.” Erick looked to the wyrm corpse, and all the swarming mimics. He said. “It’ll certainly get dried out, either way.”

[Domain of the Withering Slime].

A bubble of translucent white formed around Erick, as thick air spilled up from the ground, all around. A shrill vibration cracked across the sky, as the semi-sentient slime crawled up from the wyrm corpse, wrapping around every sparkling mimic, strangling fluids from all hundred or more of the jam-packed plague monsters. The blue ones died. The two red ones launched into the air, rushing to go in any direction that would free them from their attacker, but their attacker covered kilometers of the Crystal Forest. There was no escape. They both managed to get twenty meters outside of the carrion pile before they succumbed to the [Withering].

Automatic [Cleanse]s erupted as mimics died, one after the other, but the wyrm corpse did not vanish. If the [Cleanse]s did anything at all, Erick couldn’t tell.

But both mother mimics spilled across the sands like broken ruby dolls.

Rats said, “Wyrm corpse is still there.”

“Good,” Teressa said, smiling to make her fangs show.

Erick cut his aura as he sent four Ophiel to telekinetically pick up the remains, asking, “What are health potions usually made out of, anyway? And for that matter: what are mana potions?”

Kiri watched Ophiel pick up the ruby corpses, saying, “A combination of rad dust and other materials. Garnet dust and cow’s blood are main ingredients of the lowest level health potions, while Cyan Lilies and heavily diluted water essence make decent mana potions. Don’t want to use too many of them, though. It leads to intestinal rads, and that can lead to monsterfication.”

Erick had Ophiel [Teleport] the red mimic corpses back to their underground base, saying, “Oh?”

Jane said, “I drank so many potions escorting Yetta through Ar’Kendrithyst… I would have had to have surgery, if I couldn’t just turn into a flame slime and spit the rads out.”

Erick stared, wide eyed at Jane, asking, “Really?”

“Yup. But surgery here is easy, Dad. It’s not like it is on Earth.” Jane paused. She corrected herself, “Ah. Well. Not easy. They just drain you to 0 HP in a [Health Drain Ward], then they cut you really fast, yanking out every bad thing. They heal you up afterward, though. It’s considerably more violent, but the recovery is fast.” She flashed her three-meter sword into her right hand, asking, “So? We ready for this? How long will it take before they start showing up?”

Teressa looked south, saying, “We should get one wyrm by noon.”

Erick put the thought of Jane with intestinal rads out of her mind. It was time to clear out some threats to the world. He looked around him, at his group. Everyone wore [Conjure Armor] of their own design. Erick’s own [Conjure Armor] was a plain white cloth suit, like Jane’s; he hadn’t really sat down and tried for a look, yet. Everyone except Teressa had a [Personal Ward] shimmering against their skin. Teressa had her mace and shield. Jane had her long, thin sword. The plan had been made hours ago, and refined based upon yesterday’s performance. They were ready.

Erick asked, “Okay?”

Teressa nodded. Everyone else kept their eyes either on the grey wyrm corpse, or on the horizon.

The Ophiel who had stored away the red mimics, [Teleport]ed back beside Erick. All of them turned small, and maneuverable. He was ready.

The mimics had done a number on the corpse, eating maybe half of it. The automatic [Cleanse] from the Withering Slime did not fully destroy the corpse, either; but it likely did scrape off another half of the remaining flesh. There was still tons and tons of rotting meat left on the sand. Erick dismissed the [Scent Ward]s across the what was left of the corpse. A virulent, nasty smell, immediately filled the sky. Even though the air blew from the north to the south, and they were all positioned a kilometer to the east, the smell still reached them. Erick almost puked right there.

Rats slapped a hand over his nose, saying, “Holy gods! I thought there was a [Cleanse]!”

Kiri coughed, her eyes watering, saying, “A [Cleanse] should have at least killed some of the smell.”

“I think it made it worse.” Jane uttered, trying to maintain a stoic stare into the distance.

Teressa just smiled wide, breathing in the air, saying, “The [Cleanse] worked fine! They usually smell worse than this.” She chuckled. “It might be six hours till a wyrm shows.”

Kiri offered, “I can make it… make it smell more? If you want?”

Rats exclaimed again, “Holy gods! How could this possibly smell—” He turned to the side, and puked up breakfast.

Teressa patted him on the back as he continued to puke, saying, “There, there. You must go into battle lighter, anyway.” She said to Kiri, “Do it.”

Kiri blipped closer to the corpse, did something, then blipped back. Erick was barely able to keep track of her position, and would have lost her completely, had he not used [Ultrasight]. In the distance, a fire bloomed, dark and green, crawling across the corpse.

Kiri grimaced, saying, “Get ready. It’s gonna be bad.”

Rats puked, while the group prepared.

Erick watched the burning corpse, and then saw a force pulse through the sky, tossing stone and sand inches into the air. The pressure wave passed through the group, and now it was Erick’s turn to lose his breakfast. He turned to the side, and hurled.

Jane said, “Oh gods, Kiri. It smells like a thousand dumpster fires.”

Erick cast a [Scent Ward] across the group and filled the air with his [Cleanse Aura]. In a single moment, the air turned tolerable, then nice. Erick stood, dusting the sand off of his white [Conjure Armor] gambeson.

Rats said, “Thank you.”

Kiri wheezed out, “Thanks.”

Teressa mocked displeasure, smiling as she said, “But how will we smell them coming!”

Rats went ‘blegh’, spitting at the sand.

“What spell is that, Kiri?” Erick asked, as [Cleanse] cleaned out his mouth.

Kiri breathed deep, and easy, saying, “[Adjust Scent] and [Prestidigitation], for—” She glanced at Jane, then said to Erick, “[Dumpster Fire].”

Jane laughed.

“It won’t last long.” Kiri said, “It’s very useful for annoying the hell out of uppity nobles. I also have [Fish Stench] and [Rotten Eggs].”

Jane laughed, as Erick smiled.

Poi said, “Cut the chatter. We have an early arrival.” He sent, ‘Combat silence. Look to the south.’

Poi layered a telepathic network onto the group, as everyone turned south, and tension filled the air.

Far away, a dust cloud rumbled across the Crystal Forest, churning up sand and air alike. A wyrm. Purple and black, the wyrm flowed through its own minor dust storm, like it was riding a wave.

Teressa sent, ‘Variant wyrm. No idea what that spell is— No. Wait. [Stoneshape]. It’s a [Stoneshape] wyrm. Difficult… but… up to you, Poi?’

‘I agree. It’s a [Stoneshape] wyrm.’ Poi sent, ‘We’re not fighting that. Kill it, Erick.’

Erick sent a full-sized Ophiel into the sky, a hundred meters above and in front of the wyrm. Stone swirled in the air around the wyrm, as it saw Ophiel. It blinked into the air, moving faster than Erick thought possible, the very ground turning to long spikes, like the wyrm had dragged the ground up with it.

The wyrm’s maw opened wide. Rotten teeth flashed in the early morning sunlight.

Opheil turned tiny, then created a minor-sized [Crystalline Air] around itself. The purple wyrm swallowed Ophiel, but got stuck on the [Familiar]’s [Solid Ward]. Its body snapped forward, like a snake slapping sideways on a stick. Ophiel’s [Solid Ward] ripped out of the wyrm’s body, but the wyrm was still alive. The [Crystalline Air] did its job; the wyrm’s momentum was gone. It hovered in the sky, spikes of stone breaking up to swirl around the beast, as it tried to eat Ophiel again.

Three more Ophiel, each full sized and covered in eyes, appeared around the wyrm, each of them casting [Force Beam] after [Force beam] from eye after eye, five, then ten white eye beams per Ophiel, the cutting spell trained upon the purple wyrm with perfect precision. The beams did nothing, at first, except piss off the wyrm. But they cut through the wyrm's HP fast enough, and then they began to cut the beast itself.

The purple wyrm struggled, snapping through the air, trying to catch an Ophiel and failing each time. Stone rain swirled around the monster, also trying to pelt the winged [Familiar], but Ophiel [Blink]ed, and dodged, using [Airshape] or [Swift Movement] as necessary.

The purple wyrm snapped lucky, once, chomping down on an Ophiel. But Erick just sent another in, then conjured another Ophiel to replace the one he lost to a lucky strike.

Soon enough, purple wyrm slices and pieces and arms and legs, rained from the sky, as piece after piece was severed from the whole. Eventually, after ten minutes, the wyrm was a five foot section of flesh that covered itself in solid stone, and fell to the ground. But Ophiel kept layering [Force Beam]s onto the monster, forty or fifty beams at a time, cutting through the stone, cutting the beast down to its pulsing core. [Force Beams] glanced against the core once or twice, and flashed wide, but Ophiel easily withstood its own beam. With the monster reduced to a pulsing tumor, four Handy Auras ripped the tumor apart, pulling out two purple grand-rads, finally killing the wyrm for good.

The team watched from the safety, and rather nice smelling, staging area; several hundred meters from the slaughter, and from the scattered piles of purple flesh.

Rats sent, ‘That was terrifying.’

Kiri’s eyes were bright and full of life, as she sent, ‘That was FUCKING AMAZING.’

‘Sure. That, too,’ Rats sent.

Poi sent, ‘A [Stoneshape] wyrm in the Crystal Forest is death for half of all parties. We likely could have handled it, but we are here to hunt wyrms and end threats, not for jollies.’

Teressa reluctantly sent, ‘Right right. We get it, Poi.’

‘What level was it, Dad?’

Erick looked over his Status. He was still level 63, so the wyrm was below him, by quite a bit. ‘Level 50-something.’

Jane frowned into the distance, sending, ‘None of us are going to level from this, are we?’

‘Likely not.’ Kiri sent, ‘Especially if Erick kills them all.’

Teressa sent, ‘There will be more wyrms.’ She added, ‘Though we should get used to the smell since we'll be fighting out there. Might want to kill this [Scent Ward], Erick.’

Rats sent, ‘Uh. Yeah. She’s right.’

Erick looked up at the faint glitter of the [Scent Ward] around them… and dismissed the spell.

“Oh gods!” Rats held his breath, then let it out slowly, saying, “I can smell without breathing!”

Erick laughed loud. Then he puked up one final spat of breakfast. Another [Cleanse] cleaned out his mouth.

Ophiel took the purple wyrm’s cores to the underground hideout, while Erick and everyone else, watched the horizon. Waiting for the next monster to appear.

- - - -

Another two wyrms showed. Each time, Erick stopped them with a [Crystalline Air], ripping thousands of points of initial damage out of their body, as the [Solid Ward] ripped through their flesh and stole their momentum.

The first one was another grey wyrm, but much, much smaller than what came before; maybe only twenty meters long. It cast about ten [Force Bolts] a second, which, while they struck those who they intended to strike, only did 50 damage a pop. Erick held a shield for the first time, blocking many of the bolts before they could reach him. Kiri, Rats, and Poi, each chose Erick’s method of mitigating the bolts, each with a shield of their own. Jane just dodged them, but she did not fight.

Only Teressa and Rats and Poi were up for this fight. Teressa blocked bolts as needed, but mostly she bashed the wyrm, whenever it tried to bite her. Rats healing more than made up for the damage the wyrm tried to inflict, while Teressa caved its skull several times over the course of the five minute fight. Rats ran low on mana; but he did good. Teressa said that her HP never went down below 75%. From Erick’s position, it looked like Rats and Teressa killed this second grey wyrm all on their own.

What did Poi do? He breathed a bit harder, sure, but Erick couldn’t quite tell, and he was too ashamed to ask at the moment.

Jane and Kiri took the second wyrm. It was bright blue, but just as covered in open wounds and rotten flesh as all the rest. Kiri stayed low to the ground, flying fast, left and right, [Blink]ing as needed, avoiding snapping jaws, igniting fire across the blue wyrm, like napalm. Jane kept back, for this wyrm was an [Airshape] wyrm, and it controlled the very sky around its body. She tried to leap onto it, tried to flash her sword through the beast, but a draft held her in the air; a stable and easy target. She [Blink]ed away before the monster could snap its jaws over her.

Erick’s heart almost leapt out of his chest, but he stayed back; this was their show. This wyrm seemed to move a lot faster than the last one.

Three seconds later, Jane found an opening. She sliced the wyrm in half, her sword trailing the barest line of red blood, as a third of the beast flew out of its control, to crash against the ground like so much rotten meat. The blue wyrm turned on itself, racing to the ground, trying to consume its own flesh. From there, it was an easy kill. Kiri burned, while Jane cut.

Eventually, Jane hoisted out a bright blue grand-rad, two foot across, from the center of the beast. Ophiel took the rad, and stuffed it back with the other obvious loot, back in the underground hideout.

Over the course of the day, another two wyrms showed up. A black, and a red; another [Stoneshape] wyrm, and then finally, a [Ward] wyrm. Erick killed the black [Stoneshape] wyrm, netting them a single near-perfect, spherical, head-sized grand-rad.

The red [Ward] wyrm was the most difficult wyrm of the day, but only because [Ward] itself was so varied, and the monster absolutely covered the field in [Ward]s of every kind.

The red wyrm cast dozens of what had to be 5000 point [Absorption Ward]s across the battlefield, and itself. It did almost no damage, but it also took no damage. Jane’s sword bounced off of glittering red scales. Kiri’s fire smothered under [Cold Ward]s. It cast [Heat Ward]s, but those didn’t matter; as soon as living flesh touched them, they burned out. The [Drain Wards], a [Ward] Erick had never experimented with yet, were slightly more dangerous; but they didn’t drain very fast. [Gravity Ward]s caused all sorts of trouble, tossing Teressa across the battlefield, and disrupting all coordination, as sand fountained from the ground, or someone flew sideways. [Special Ward]s blinded. [Distortion Ward]s blocked line of sight.

The battlefield moved away from the initial point, just so people could see what they were doing.

This was not a fight for less than the whole team. Soon, everyone, including Erick, was attacking it, burning through countless, endless area [Absorption Ward]s, trying to crack the egg, so to speak; trying to inflict enough damage to enable Jane to cut through the red monster.

The only moment of absolute panic came when the red wyrm managed to snatch Teressa in its jaws, but that was a short lived panic. The wyrm had bitten through its own area [Absorption Ward], chewing Teressa, killing the [Ward] and allowing Jane to slice its head off. Fires covered half the monster’s skin, and every Ophiel was throwing dozens of [Force Beams] at the beast, but it was only just enough for Jane to save Teressa from getting swallowed.

When Teressa was finally clear of the monster, Erick had had enough. This was not a monster to be learning from. This was a monster to kill. He unloaded on the beast… or at least, he tried to. The sky darkened with five [Call Lightning]s. Four Ophiel and Erick drew lines of power through the monster, sending bolt after bolt through the beast, but only five actually managed to get through the [Weather Wards] scattered across the land.

Five out of fifty bolts was not enough. But it created an opening. As the rain barely came down, as the spell was spent from the sky and clouds began to disperse. Jane leapt across the field, [Shadowalk]ing under the monster.

Great spears of darkness pierced up from below, impaling the red wyrm and breaking off from the sands, holding into the body of the beast like Jane had driven telephone poles into its body. It had no hope of its [Absorption Ward]s blocking that sort of constant damage.

Jane finished off the red wyrm, all on her own, with her long sword carving away half of the creature’s flesh, then another half. Then another half. Jane got down to the singular, bright red grand rad, bright as the sun, maybe only half a meter long, and yanked it from the wiggling body, and the body laid still.

Wyrm corpses and body parts laid scattered across the sands of the Crystal Forest. The sun was an hour from setting. They had fought the beast for the better part of an hour.

Erick declared, “Holy shit. Was that the last one?” He yelled out to Jane, who was still walking across the corpse, “What the fuck was that darkness stuff!”

Jane called out, carrying the bright red grand-rad, “I got [Shadowshape] a while ago.”

Erick mumbled, “Well that was a good buy.”

Rats spoke, barely able to stand, “I can’t go on.”

Poi said, “I’m spent, too.”

Erick laughed, then turned to Poi. “Like. No offense. But what did you do?”

Teressa laughed loud.

Erick felt a flush of heat across his face. Did he miss something? He said, “Sorry, Poi. I just—”

“No no.” Poi said, “It’s perfectly reasonable to assume that the Mind Mage did nothing. Even though every time the monsters would have struck, I altered the course enough so that they didn’t.” He turned to Teressa, “Sorry, Teressa. You should never have been chewed on.” He said, “I was low on mana.”

Erick felt like he had been slapped upside the head. “Really? That’s what a Mind Mage does?”

Jane said to Poi, “You’ll have to excuse my father. He’s very ignorant when it comes to magic.”

Rats and Kiri burst out a laugh.

Poi smiled.

Teressa touched the grey armor of her stomach. Five minutes ago, that’s where her intestines were spilling out through the holes in her armor. Now, her wounds were gone, thanks to Jane’s [Greater Treat Wounds]. Teressa had had to remake her armor, but that wasn’t really a problem after the issue of spilled intestines had been fixed.

Teressa said, “Thanks for being there, Poi.”

Erick threw his hands wide, saying, “I didn’t know!” He asked, “Is that part of how you know when people are around?”

Poi almost said something, but he crouched, sending out to the group, ‘We’re under atta—’

A bolt of fire clipped through Rats' stomach, leaving a burning hole where his spine should have been. He collapsed to the ground, as five of Erick’s Ophiels each took burning, straight-through wounds, dispersing their forms into disintegrating feathers. The other five Ophiel managed to dodge.

Hot, rushing panic filled Erick’s mind.

Erick instantly made the surviving Ophiel cast small-sized [Crystalline Air]s in the space around the group, blocking from multiple directions at once. He wasn’t fast enough to stop the burning orb that hit his own stomach. Almost all of his 8800 point [Personal Ward] ripped away, leaving spots of fiery brilliance clinging to his white [Conjure Armor]. Erick turned—

A firebolt went through the air where his head had been.

One firebolt spacked off of a [Crystalline Air], slamming through Kiri’s arm, blowing it away. Another firebolt clipped another [Solid Ward]; the assassin’s spell missed striking Teressa’s head full-on. Fire burned away half of Teressa’s face, while another bolt went through her stomach, burning away flesh and bone. Poi dodged a blow to his head; completely. Jane turned to shadow; the two flaming orbs that would have struck her, passed harmlessly through her body.

Two seconds had passed.

Fire orbs struck the [Crystalline Air] hanging around the group, cracking and breaking through, but deflected enough to allow Erick a second to think.

Jane thought faster, rushing to Rats, her hands glowing with healing magic.

Aurify. [Stoneshape].

As Poi sent out a wild, ‘Down! Down!’

Erick was already casting. A wall of stone, all around Erick, all around everyone, rose up into the sky, ten meters thick. And Erick took the party down, down. Kiri fell to her knees. Jane held tight onto Rats. Poi fell next to Erick. Erick barely stayed upright.

Firebolts followed down the hole, but struck the side of the new tunnel. They were [Fire Bolts] of some kind, but their unerring was minor compared to the pure damage of the spell.

The sky was a dot of light above. Erick moved the group down, and then left, casting a spot of wardlight when the sunlight vanished, illuminating the dome of stone around them, and the expanding puddles of blood, from three different people. Erick dodged their underground stone cart into a twist, curving the tunnel he had made into Veird, hoping that the assassins up top would see a twisting tunnel and decide not to follow. And then he cut off the entrance to the surface all together, locking them into the ground, without easy access to the surface. He stopped the stone cart. Two Ophiel blipped into the air beside him; the others were killed.

A blue box appeared. Erick couldn’t read it right now. Kiri was screaming, holding her stump; she had started screaming up there, and down here it echoed. Jane had one hand on Rats and another on Teressa.

Poi whipped out the rod of [Treat Wounds], sending, ‘Jane. Focus on Rats. Teressa will be fine, now.’

Jane was already on Rats, but she moved all of her focus to the scarlet dragonkin, pumping magic into his body, her face numb, his body…

Not coming back together.

No wait! It was! The hole healed. Rats coughed. He was alive. He had lived.

Everything was okay.

A rush of absolute terror passed Erick by, like he had almost stepped unthinking into traffic. Rats coughed again. Jane kept healing him. Teressa’s face pulled together, the wound in her chest already repairing with the magics Jane cast.

Poi rushed to Kiri, slamming a [Treat Wounds] into the girl. She stopped screaming. She calmed.

Poi said, “We’re not safe here. When we’re stable, we’re running.”

Teressa roared awake, upright, screaming, “We’re killing those fuckers!”

Jane pressed her bloody hands to Rats, still prone on the ground but breathing, now. Tears streamed down her face. “We’re killing them, Poi. Tell me where they are.”

Kiri cried, holding her stump in the wan light of Erick’s single lightward.

Poi said, “I am not arguing. I am commanding.”

Erick felt numb. He breathed hard. He touched his face. Tears had streaked his cheeks, and blood, too.

That firebolt had not completely missed his head. He felt the side of his face. Half of his left ear was gone. He stared at the shine of red wetness on his fingers for a brief second. And then came anger. A cold desire took root in his mind, spreading through his body. Not a hot anger, like usual. But a cold, dark thing. A hatred. A want.

An absolute need.

Erick asked, calm as could be, “Those were hunters, right? They kill people, right?”

Jane looked at Erick, and Erick saw the pain in her eyes.

Her eyes went wide. “Holy fuck you’re—”

“It’s just an ear. I’ll heal it later.” Erick said, “We came here to rid the forest of threats. This is a threat. They could be assassins, from Portal. Or they could be hunters. I need to know. We will take this information from their bodies.”

Poi looked to Erick, and Poi flinched away.

Rats stabilized, he sat up. Jane moved to Kiri, touching Erick with a bright heal along the way. Erick felt a burn on his face, a rapid pain across his ear, as nerves repaired. Soon, the feeling passed; his ear was back.

Erick sent, ‘Will they expect us to come after them?’

Poi sent, ‘I’m low on mana. Everyone is. Maybe… Kiri. Are you a Scion of Focus?’

Kiri sent, ‘I haven’t picked, yet. I can’t do it here, anyway.’

Erick sent to the group, ‘Is there a spell for transferring mana to someone else? Did anyone bring potions?’

Kiri sent, ‘This spell does not exist except—’ She winced, in pain, Jane touched her stump of an arm, applying [Greater Treat Wounds]. ‘Except as a Class feature. Mage Hunter and Font; one to take, one to give.’ She added, ‘They were likely invisible, anyway.’ She groaned a harsh laugh, sending, ‘If you actually had [Invisibility Purge]— It’s [Invisibility] and [Dispel].’

‘I would have noticed [Invisibility]’ Poi sent, ‘It wasn’t that.’

‘What happened out there, Poi?’ Erick asked.

‘… I can only blame myself and combat fatigue.’

‘That doesn’t matter right now.’ Jane reconstructed Kiri’s arm; it was currently a tendril of thin bone covered in thickening flesh, as she sent, ‘I need cloud cover and shadows, Dad. I can find them.’

Poi sent, ‘They’re likely long gone. But yes. If you want to do this, we will go out there spells blazing.’

Erick summoned another two Ophiel and sent them up. They were instantly shot out of the sky.

‘Fuck.’ Erick sent, ‘Ophiel was shot the second he appeared.’ Erick summoned ten normal [Conjure Force Elemental]s, shaped to look like Ophiel, but basically just flappy, wing-like monstrosities. The real Ophiel whined in flute sounds. Erick imbued his fake-Ophiels with [Teleport], and sent the group up. Checking with [Scry], the fake Ophiels scattered, flying around with a Handy Aura. Five of them were shot out of the sky, before someone noticed the [Scry] orb, and popped it. ‘Fuck.’ Erick sent, ‘Fake ones shot out of the sky, too. What spell is that? Is there more than one of them?’

Jane smiled, as Kiri breathed softer. Her arm was back. Kiri panted as Jane pulled away, tiny flickering fire escaped from the edges of her mouth.

Kiri sent, ‘It’s… [Fireball] on a [Force Bolt]. But condensed. Somehow. I think. It’s unerring, but not perfect. There’s too much power behind the spell to make it properly unerring.’

Jane stood back from the group. She had healed everyone more than enough. She sent, ‘Cloud cover, Dad.’

Jane’s midnight blue [Conjure Armor] vanished. She stood nude for the briefest moment, before her flesh morphed, expanding. Eight legs, blacker than night. Eight brilliant eyes that glittered in the light of the orb on the floor of the room, while her front two eyes, much larger than the other six, were large enough to act as a dark mirror. Erick saw a reflection of himself and his two remaining Ophiel in his daughter’s eyes. And then he looked down, to the blood still there, on the stone.

Erick sent an Ophiel upward.

Before Ophiel died to a dozen firebolts, the sky blackened with a fast triple cast of [Call Lightning].

Erick sent, ‘Wait to see if they [Dispel] it, first.’ He added, ‘And they stuck around after seeing me slam lightning into the [Ward] wyrm. They are either idiots who have lived under rocks, or assassins who know our capabilities.’ He stressed, ‘They know what we can do, Jane.’

Jane nodded with her whole spider body, sending, ‘And that won’t save them.’

Erick sent directly to Jane, and no one else, ‘Tania put you to sleep.’

Jane sent, ‘And right now, Poi is blocking all harmful mind magic.’

Erick instantly turned to Poi.

The sapphire scaled man nodded, sending, ‘We thought shadowspiders were immune to mind magic, anyway; but it turns out they’re just highly resistant, and specialized spells work especially well on them. But we are prepared now, Erick.’

Erick breathed hard, preparing himself. He sent another [Scry] upward, into a different part of the battlefield. It was dark out there, the rain came down in sheets. The [Scry] orb popped.

‘How the FUCK are they noticing my [Scr— They’re still out there. Somewhere.’ He sent, ‘You’re up, Jane. Good hunting.’

Jane sunk into shadow, rippling the cooling blood on the ground as she left the underground room.

Erick flashed a [Cleanse Aura] into the room, and cast a brighter wardlight, onto the ceiling. Blood and char vanished. Erick breathed easier, now. He checked the blue box that had appeared earlier.

Stone Travel, instant, medium range, 50 mana + Variable

A large area of stone stabilizes around you, then quickly moves at your discretion across or through other stone. Lasts 1 hour.

Erick sent a [Scry] orb upward.

Surprise filled his entire being; a monster had joined the fight. A monster the size of a wyrm, but not a wyrm.

A radiant red snake with glowing white feathered wings, flew across the battlefield, burning away the clouds and rain above. It swooped down, quick as a lightning strike, dashing through a group of five humans below, burning one instantly to ash. The other four humans managed to [Blink] away from the monster.

Seeing the beast in person was so much different than seeing it on paper. It was the Flare Couatl, and it was much bigger than the last report indicated.

Jane, still a spider, just stood on the surface, wrapped in deep shadows, watching the carnage.

Erick said, “It’s the Flare Couatl.”

Rats winced out, “Good. Is it killing the assassins?”

“Yes.” Poi said, “And turning them to ash, which means we won’t know who they are.”

Rats said, “That’s okay!” He touched the fresh red scales across his stomach, then moved his feet… Or at least, tried to move his feet. He scowled. “Nerve damage. Not healed enough yet.”

Poi moved over to Rats with the rod of [Treat Wounds], and began healing the redscale.

Rats relaxed after a gentle touch from the rod, saying, “Thank you.”

Erick conjured two more Ophiel, and sent them upward—

“You attacking the couatl, now?” Teressa asked.

“No.” Erick said, “But I am going to kill one of them so that—” Erick looked through Ophiel, and paused. “Uh.” He said, “We need to get out there. No danger right now… maybe.” One small Ophiel each blipped next to Kiri, Rats, Teressa, and Poi. “We’re going up. No spells blazing.”

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