Sandqueen (Rise To Omniscience Book 7)

by Aaron Oster

  Morgan always stressed the importance of gauging an opponent and only then deciding which approach would be best. Had she done so and used her head, she’d have realized that the donkey was probably an opponent she should take at a distance. Instead, she’d rushed in recklessly and nearly broken both arms as a result.

  Well, I’m not gonna let that happen again, she thought as she turned, snapped her fingers and waited.

  The ripple of sound, audible only to her, echoed out over her surroundings. It returned only a moment later, bringing with it all the information within fifty yards. It was a marked increase over the previous version, and once Grace understood what she was facing, she was very glad she had checked.

  “Um, Lumia,” Grace said, lowering her tone. “I think there might be more donkeys up ahead.”

  “Well, best get to it then,” she replied, snagging the core from her fingers and making it vanish into thin air.

  “But, what about…”

  “I never said rush in headlong,” Lumia said before she could protest. “You have a good head on your shoulders, so use it.”

  Grace let out a long sigh, knowing that she was in for even more pain, yet she nodded all the same. The only way to continue growing was to keep facing challenges that she believed were beyond her ability to defeat, yet not so far out that she had no chance. Morgan’s lessons about pushing limits came back to her, and step by step, Grace began forcing herself forward.

  Strength was something she’d lacked all her life, and even now, after seeing how powerful Morgan was compared to her, she knew she had a long way to go. She still had no idea what rank Morgan was currently, though she was dying to find out. Perhaps, if she did well enough on this test, he’d finally tell her.

  She snapped her fingers once again as she approached the donkeys, banishing all thoughts other than those of the fight at hand. She was in a tough spot, but thanks to her second new trait, Sharpen Mind, she could think her way through. One way or another, these donkeys were going down.

  ***

  The air around Morgan immediately began to change as soon as he activated the skill. The wind died down, the air stilling and going an almost deathly silent. The massive turtle beneath him began to stir, as though sensing what was about to come, yet this didn’t seem to be a skill that activated right away.

  Morgan could feel his RP dropping rapidly as it was funneled into the skill, empowering it and beginning to build its massive destructive capabilities. His hand slowly moved out to one side, a small spec of purple forming there and crackling with power. He could feel it, the danger it represented, as the massive destructiveness formed in the palm of his hand.

  The turtle rose, its head coming out of the water some eight feet from the edge of the island. Its large beady-black eyes immediately fixed on him, and in those eyes, Morgan could read more than just anger. He could see fear, which was astonishing in and of itself. Beast Zone beasts never felt fear, which just went to show how little Morgan knew of these places.

  Whenever he visited a Beast Zone, he always learned something new, and this time, he learned that in the face of impending death by a skill as powerful as the one he was about to use, even these beasts could feel fear.

  It bellowed out a loud trumpeting sound, then opened its mouth wide and unleashed a blast of condensed water. It tore through the air at an astonishing speed, but Morgan hadn’t been born yesterday. He flew to one side, nimbly avoiding the blast, then rolled to his left as the blast separated into a dozen tendrils midair, whipping and slicing as they tried to stop him from unleashing the attack.

  He deftly wove between the streams, all of which were now releasing high-pitched whines and letting him know how quickly they were vibrating. If even a single one of those touched him, they would undoubtedly leave a very nasty cut, one that he wouldn’t be able to shrug off.

  Worse than the whipping water tendrils was the approach of the other beasts. Apparently, they could sense the impending destruction and wanted to stop it at all costs. Morgan briefly wondered if unleashing this attack here was a good idea after all, but it was already too late to stop it, as the small ball continued to grow in his hands.

  The crackling sphere only grew to a diameter of several inches, its purple edges tinged in black and releasing small sparks. The attack was almost ready, though it had taken nearly an entire minute – so far – just to charge. The turtle’s attack cut off, and it let out another trumpeting bellow.

  The water in the lake beneath it began to roil and swirl, letting Morgan know that it was preparing for a big attack. Beasts came swarming in from all sides then – frogs, turtles, toads and salamanders all coming for him and entering into the Arc’s territory. This was an action that would typically have gotten them killed. But, in the face of this threat, they ignored the animosity and faced the person who was about to destroy an entire stage all at once.

  Morgan felt a small twinge of admiration for them, watching as all the beasts began launching attacks at once. It was only after he was forced to begin teleporting to avoid them that his admiration turned to annoyance. He did notice one thing, though. Sound was deadening far sooner than it should. It was almost as though the crackling ball of power in his hands was removing sound before it could travel more than a couple of feet.

  The lake exploded then, funneling up in a massive wave and shaping itself into an almost humanoid creature made entirely of water. Morgan had never seen a skill like this before, though he had to assume it was something similar to Sarah’s Ice Golems. All he knew was that he didn’t want anything to do with this thing. Luckily for him, the skill finished activating, and he felt it click in his mind.

  The purple ball let out a light pulse and began to rotate slowly, three small white lights drifting around in a circular pattern and orbiting around the ball as though it were a planet of its own. Although he’d never used the skill before, they always came along with an innate sense of how to use them. Now that the skill had charged – taking a full ninety seconds, no less – Morgan knew exactly what to do.

  His eyes flickered down to the ground, now muddy and bare thanks to all the lake water rising into the air. Attacks flew from all sides, the beasts now growing desperate to stop him, and the massive water creature swung an oversized arm at his head. Morgan dove, streaking toward the ground and avoiding the attacks at the same time.

  It was easy now, thanks to his rapid change in direction, but he knew that they would redirect their attacks immediately to try and stop him from unleashing the attack. None of them were quick enough, though. Morgan slammed into the muddy ground, his hand extended as he shoved the glowing orb directly into it.

  The entire world seemed to freeze, all of the beasts stopping their attacks to stare at the spot where Morgan’s hand was touching the ground. For several long seconds, nothing happened. Then, the ground exploded.

  A blast of power washed out from the point of impact, and the ground caved inward. The earth blasted up in a ring around him, rocketing skyward for almost ten feet before slamming back down. Beasts were sent flying into the air, shards of stone riddling their bodies and tearing them to shreds as the destruction spread outward.

  As he watched, hundreds of the same rings ripped free of the ground, expanding outward in a circle from where he’d launched the attack, before slamming back down into the ground. But that wasn’t nearly enough to kill even a single beast in this zone. Luckily for Morgan, the attack wasn’t close to finishing. The second wave came then, and Morgan could feel it through the ground, a pulse leaving the roiling sphere that he could no longer see.

  The earth all around him blasted away, ripping itself up as it flowed outward. The ground began to shake, cracks appearing. Mud, water and dust flew into the air as the destruction spread, leaving a crater nearly a dozen feet deep as the skill continued outward, ripping the ground to pieces in its wake.

  This time, many of the beasts died. Thrown off their feet or torn to literal pieces by the flying shrapnel from th
e force of the explosion, Morgan watched as pieces of meat fell from the sky and blood rained down on the ground below. The sphere pulsed once more, unleashing yet another wave of destruction, then did so again and again.

  Five more times, the earth was blasted away from him, digging the crater ever deeper. The only beast still left standing by now was the Arc itself, and even the turtle, with its massive Defense, could do nothing to stop the damage. Worse, it seemed that the beast was unable to defend itself, and instead turned and tried to run.

  Morgan wondered what it would take to make a turtle, infamously one of the world’s slowest animals, try to run, but as soon as the skill’s final wave struck, he understood in an instant. The ground underneath him rose suddenly, carrying him out of the fifty-foot crater and nearly a hundred feet into the air.

  From up high, Morgan could briefly see the level of devastation his attack had wreaked upon this stage. The ground, once covered in marshland, grass and water, was now little more than a collection of jumbled rocks, dust and death. That was all he had time to see before the column of stone plunged downward, slamming into the ground and funneling down nearly a hundred feet before coming to an abrupt halt.

  The world around Morgan vanished in a flash of white light as soon as he impacted, followed by the sound of utter silence. For several long seconds, Morgan couldn’t understand what was happening, but when the light faded and sound finally returned, the explosion nearly threw him off his feet.

  He staggered upright, feeling a bit lightheaded but otherwise unhurt, and stared at the wall of dust billowing up into the sky. It was a bit difficult to see anything from down here, so, using his flight skill, Morgan took off into the air, the cracking, crunching and clattering of stone echoing off into the distance.

  As soon as he reached his maximum height of four-hundred-and-fifty-feet, Morgan stopped and turned to survey the damage. He’d been expecting to see some sort of destruction, perhaps on par with what he’d gotten a glimpse of earlier. Maybe even a little worse, after the last plunge into the ground. However, the level of damage was far more devastating than what he could have ever imagined.

  “Holy shit,” Morgan whispered. “This is…” He trailed off, not even sure of what to say.

  The massive hundred-foot-deep crater stretched as far as the eye could see. For miles in all directions, there was nothing left. It was just an empty crater, without even so much as a sign of life. He could still see the columns of red and blue light, showing where the beasts’ cores had ended up. But aside from those, the entire stage had been turned into a crater.

  He continued staring, internalizing well what this attack could do, and picturing the damage it would have in a well-populated city. If it was powerful enough to wipe out a rank 65 Advanced Beast, then there would be little hope for anyone surviving. This skill could kill hundreds of thousands in the blink of an eye, and Morgan shuddered at the very thought of the sort of power he held at his fingertips.

  Of course, he’d known what the skill could do, but the reality hadn’t set in until now, when he’d seen the crater – the barren wasteland of nothing – left in the wake of his attack.

  6

  Grace staggered into the camp as darkness fell, basically collapsing into the convenient tent Morgan had likely left there. She was completely and utterly exhausted. She was also covered in such a wide array of animal innards that she’d simply given up trying to clean herself off. Her entire body ached with a collection of bruises, cuts and a single fractured finger.

  The finger-fracture had happened when she’d tried to stop a chicken with her bare hands and had found it trapped inside its powerful beak. Only a quick blast of sound to the chicken’s head had saved her finger from being torn off entirely, and now, it was a swollen black and blue mess, nearly three times the size of her other fingers.

  “You really should wash off before going to sleep,” Lumia said as she drifted into the tent. “You should also probably wrap that finger. You don’t want it to get infected, after all.”

  Grace glared at the small drake, then looked around before pointing out the absence of anything she could use to wash herself.

  “Well, if you would only look around the campsite, perhaps you might find that Morgan isn’t as unprepared as you seem to think,” Lumia replied.

  Grace wanted to argue, even if she knew Lumia was right. She was certainly tired enough to be grumpy and pick a fight. She managed to keep her temper in check, though, forcing her tired body into a half-crouch and shuffling out of the tent. It was already dusk, the last signs of sunlight disappearing over the horizon, yet when she walked around the back of the tent, it was hard to miss the shallow pool, perhaps a foot deep, rippling softly in the light breeze.

  As soon as she saw the pool – and more importantly, the brush and soap lying next to it – Grace immediately felt her annoyance fade away. A small choked sob escaped her lips, somewhere between laughing and crying, as she tore off her bloodstained clothes. An hour of washing later found Grace sitting in the small tent, braiding small strands of hair into an intricate knot on the back of her head.

  It wouldn’t flow as nicely as she would have liked, but it would still be quite stylish, and with the interwoven pink and silver strands, it would really stand out. Even if no one else saw her, Grace would know she looked presentable, and that was all that mattered to her.

  “What do you think we’ll be doing in Faeland this time?” she asked Lumia as she lay down to sleep.

  “If I were to guess, we will most likely be going on both a scouting and gathering mission,” Lumia replied. “Remember, you did bring back Ivaldi’s serum, and there are likely ingredients in there that only grow in Faeland.”

  Grace smiled at that, remembering well the pride she’d felt as she produced that single syringe. For just a few minutes, she’d been a hero, someone whose actions would likely save thousands of lives in the years to come. It had felt better than anything she could remember, to have all that love and admiration, and, most of all, the approval of her teacher.

  “Don’t you think it’ll be more dangerous this time, though?” she asked as her mind traveled back to her experience fighting the minions of Strangler, one of the World Beasts.

  She still hadn’t told anyone about that, least of all Morgan, as she hadn’t wanted him to leave her out of this mission. If he found out that she’d been targeted by one of the World Beasts, there was no way in hell he’d let her come along, and Grace wasn’t about to risk being left behind.

  “Without a doubt, child,” Lumia replied. “But you must remember that although the danger grows, so to do you. You are now much stronger than you were just a few weeks ago, and you will continue to grow your strength.”

  “What about Morgan, though?” Grace wondered.

  She remembered the woman with the pink hair, the one that Morgan hadn’t been able to beat until he’d gotten his hands on the spear. Was she going to come back and try to kill him again? Would there be others along with her this time?

  “Morgan can take care of himself,” Lumia replied. “Remember, while you have grown in strength, so has he. He also has many years more experience than you do and has faced many dangerous enemies in his life. In case you’re forgetting, he defeated one of the Pinnacle Kings, the most dangerous beasts in the Five Kingdoms, and that was more than two years ago.”

  Grace nodded along, though internally, she wasn’t so sure he would be fine. As strong as the Pinnacle Kings were supposed to be, Grace had never even heard of them until just a few weeks ago. And even after hearing what the Pinnacle King had done, it was hard to imagine that everyone wasn’t exaggerating just a bit. After all, what kind of beast had the power to destroy an entire world?

  ***

  Morgan sat with his legs crossed, floating in the air some three hundred feet above the crater. The silver spear sat on his lap, glowing softly in the moonlight. Its consciousness was slow to respond to his touch as he reached out and once again tried to make co
ntact. This weapon was the one he understood least. Of all his abilities, it was the single most important in getting Sarah back. Every night, Morgan would diligently try and communicate with the spear, though he’d failed miserably in that account thus far.

  The slow-moving mind brushed up against his, and Morgan tried to ask her a question.

  “Can you hear me?”

  Morgan waited. He could feel the consciousness sharpen a bit for just an instant before it faded back into its slow-moving pattern. No confirmation came forth, and even though he persisted, trying for hours on end, he couldn’t coax so much as a word from the shining silvery weapon. Finally, as the sun began to rise, Morgan had no choice but to give up.

  The landscape beneath began to fill out, and some new beasts started to rise. He needed to get some practice in before they had to leave, and after testing the Continental Crush and obliterating miles of land, he wanted to hit something. He wanted to sharpen his skills and use his bare fists to inflict some damage, not just use the power of his core to wreak untold destruction.

  He landed, and though the swamp was recovering, it was slow to do so. His armor clattered to the ground, followed his shirt and boots. Morgan propped the spear upright, making sure she looked respectful, before he took back off into the air. He knew his possessions would be fine, and even if someone came around and tried to steal them, their hands would be ripped off before they could move the spear so much as an inch.

  Morgan twisted in the air, stretching out tight muscles as he prepared himself for the fight ahead. In this fight, he’d be using only a very specific set of skills. There would be no ranged combat, no constructs and he’d only use two skills – his Earthen Shift and Nature’s Wrath. Both skills would not be used to strengthen his defense, only to stop abilities when the beast used them.