Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4)
Page 21
“Oh, damn it!” I exclaimed, watching the two other guardians suddenly stop moving, a similar sickly green light beginning to form inside their jaws. Realizing that everything hinged on preventing the two mud creatures from getting off their abilities at the raid, I didn’t even hesitate in moving. Ignoring the grating sensation in my hip as I worked myself up into a run, I rapidly built up what speed I could before shouting the all too familiar codeword Amaranth and I used to signal rapid movement.
“Step!”
Feeling the magic grab hold of us, I felt myself shift across the distance separating us and the two guardians, reappearing between both of them. Sizing up the situation in a single glance, I felt my heart sink as I realized the two creatures were just a little too far from one another for my original plan to work.
I hope I have enough health for this, the fleeting thought crossed my mind as I stretched my hand out towards the guardian farthest from me, summoning up the hunger that lurked deep within my core, because this is going to hurt!
Reaching out at the still-forming well of magic in the alligator skull guardian, I focused the growing hunger on it, feeling the mana within bend to my will. With a mental twist, I yanked the energy towards me, seeing the swirling maelstrom vanish. Then, without pausing to acknowledge the searing pain that shot through my body, I called up the hunger for a second time, this time reaching out for every mote of mana around me and finding a single burning source nearby. With a thought, I pulled it inwards, feeling another torrent of burning energy surge through me followed by my stomach threatening to empty itself right where I stood. This time, however, I couldn’t ignore the pain that followed that sensation, the intensity of which forced me down to my knees as my injured hip finally gave way. A series of flashing notifications then appeared in my combat log, followed by a chirping warning sound.
You successfully interrupt [Corrupted Guardian]’s [Corrupted Vomit] with [Mana Leech]!
You have drained 310 points of mana from [Corrupted Guardian]!
You have taken 119 points of damage from using [Mana Leech]!
You have absorbed [Corruption]!
Your Corruption Counter has increased to 8%!
Your [Hunger] devours [Corruption], restoring 100 points of mana!
Your Corruption Counter has decreased to 6%.
You successfully interrupt [Corrupted Guardian]’s [Corrupted Vomit] with [Mana Torrent]!
You have drained 100 points of mana from [Corrupted Guardian]!
You have taken 298 points of damage from using [Mana Torrent]!
You have absorbed [Corruption]!
Your Corruption Counter has increased to 8%!
You are low on Health!
HP: 374/1488
“Ugh,” I groaned weakly as a storm of pain and nausea surged through me, managing a single agonizing breath before Amaranth’s head unexpectedly shoved itself up and under my right arm, his mental voice calling out.
Reacting faster than I could speak, I didn’t waste any time in following my familiar’s instructions, tightening my grip around his neck with my good arm, taking care not to accidentally stab either of us with my sword in the process. An instant afterward, I felt Amaranth’s body lunge forward as he broke into a sprint, charging just under a large shadow that suddenly swept past us which was promptly followed by a loud crash. Struggling to hold onto my familiar as he half carried, half dragged me to safety, I caught a brief sight of the raid as they recovered from the spray of vomit and charged the three guardians. But before I could make any further details out, a sweeping claw filled my vision, and Amaranth put on a burst of speed in an attempt to evade it, barely managing to dodge and twist past the attack.
Then just like that, we were past the guardian and into the heart of the raid, Amaranth coming to a stop near its rear ranks, panting heavily from his rapid exertion.
“Lyrian! Amaranth! Are you two okay?” Theia’s voice was the first to call out as I relaxed my grip on Amaranth and glanced around my surroundings, finding myself in a pocket of healers as they tended to the various wounded from the battle.
“We’ve been better,” I said slowly, wincing as I fully let go of Amaranth and slid off him, taking care to land on my good leg. Mercifully, in our short run across the battlefield, the strange nausea that had been afflicting me had managed to pass, leaving me only with pain to endure. “Our hosts…haven’t been exactly cordial since we arrived. Plus, there’s something strange about them.”
“There’s an understatement for the day!” Theia exclaimed with a snort, her practiced eyes rapidly assessing us both for injuries. Yet as she was in the process of glancing over me, Amaranth’s balance abruptly shifted, the cat falling completely over onto the ground with a heavy thump.
Caught completely by surprise, I glanced down at Amaranth, instantly feeling my heart leap up into my throat as my eyes landed on a deep and bleeding claw wound in his side which ran almost the entire length of his body. Letting out a squeak of surprise, Theia lunged towards the fallen puma planting her hands right on top of the wounds, a soft golden glow filling the air a second later.
“Oh, Amaranth, you’re hurt!” she exclaimed as he let out a gurgling croak. “This will feel better in a moment!”
“Hang on, buddy,” I whispered, having twisted towards Amaranth’s side as quickly as I could and placing a reassuring hand on his head.
Seconds passed as Theia channeled energy into Amaranth, his wounds rapidly beginning to heal and shrink. Shortly after, his breathing began to even out as his deepest injuries clotted and then finally closed, the only mark of the injury remaining being the long, hairless lines that stood out against his blood-soaked fur.
“There!” Theia announced with a deep exhale as she took her bloody hands away from Amaranth’s side, the cat’s legs moving slowly as he picked himself off the ground, all signs of his previous injury gone thanks to the lizardwoman’s healing magic. “Good as new! Now…just don’t go hurting yourself again.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’s up to us,” I replied as Theia turned towards me, her hands reaching out to touch my arm and continue her healing efforts. Yet before she could do anything, the sprinting form of Caius practically crashed into us all while yelling urgently.
“Wait! Wait! Hold the healing!” the warlock shouted as he came to a stop, glancing over at Amaranth and over towards me, his hand darting out to grab me by the shoulder. “Good! Lyr, you’re still injured! Theia, let me take care of this! I need the lifetap boost!”
“You need what?” I asked, confused by the dark elf’s statement as a torrent of life energy suddenly poured into me, healing my wounds even faster than Theia had healed Amaranth’s.
“The boost to my lifetap spell I get from taking someone’s wounds,” Caius explained, a pained shudder going through his body as he spoke. “Spells aren’t affected by whatever damage reduction these things have, and this will let me hit it so much harder!”
“Assuming you can get close enough to do that!” Theia exclaimed as she turned towards the warlock, ready to say more about his chosen tactic, but before she could do so, I beat her to it.
“Wait, no, you can’t do that! You’ll absorb its corruption!” I said to Caius in an urgent tone, recalling what had happened to me earlier in the battle. “I drained mana from it twice this battle and was afflicted by something that made me sick. It’s only because of my hunger that I was able to get rid of it. Until we know more, you definitely shouldn’t lifetap it!”
“Ah, shit. Okay, so much for that idea!” Caius replied with a scowl, his attention shifting over towards Theia who was already reaching out to grasp his arm. “Sorry, looks like we’re going to need that healing after all!”
“Which is a world eas
ier to manage than something I can’t cure!” the lizardwoman replied as she sent a wave of glowing magic into the warlock’s body. “There! That should see you well enough! Now go put an end to those monsters before they wreak even more havoc. I’ve put enough people back together today already!”
“We’ll try!” I called to the woman as Caius and I took our cue to rejoin the battle. “Thanks for the heals!”
Without needing to say anything further, the three of us broke into a run and charged back into battle, which had continued to rage viciously since my desperate interruption of both creatures’ magical attacks. Taking the lead as we ran, I quickly surveyed the battlefield and angled us towards the guardian on the far-right flank, the creature looking far worse for wear since the last time I’d seen it.
Missing a piece of its jaw and bearing several large cracks across it, the alligator skull atop the creature’s body looked ready to fall apart, its body looking no better, with large chunks of mud visibly dripping off it. In fact, so much of the rotting substance had fallen away from it, that I was able to catch a glimpse of what looked like a thick and interwoven collection of roots comprising its core, with rivulets of blood streaming free from deep puncture marks. I still didn’t have any idea why or even how the creature was bleeding, but just the mere sight of it encouraged me and gave me hope that we’d be able to kill it sooner or later.
“I’m going for its head to distract it!” I called out as we closed with the guardian, spotting both Lazarus and Sawyer on either side of the creature with Ransom, Zethus, and a handful of other ranged attackers loosely surrounding it. Judging by the markings on the ground, there’d also been other melee attackers with the group at one point in time, but there was little mystery in my mind to what had happened to them since. “The rest of you take it down when you see a chance!”
Hearing a wordless grunt from the group, I put on a burst of speed as I charged forward, channeling a stream of mana into my hand and shaping it into a Jump spell. An instant later, I lunged forward, the powerful leap sending me bounding straight towards the guardian faster than my feet could take me. Landing just inside the creature’s reach before it could react, I jumped straight upwards, weaving a new spell in my hand as I rose. Feeling the spell twist and roil as I channeled it, I felt it come just shy of disintegrating completely, barely managing to form as I came level with the guardian’s head. Shouting with exertion, I thrust my hand out forward and sent a blast of pure fire towards the creature’s skull, searing it with a torrent of flame and ash.
Lasting for a second, my Flameburst spell ended almost as soon as it began, and I suddenly felt gravity reassert its hold on me, pulling me back down to the ground. Landing lightly on my feet, I didn’t stay to inspect my work and promptly threw myself forward in a roll between the creature’s legs, managing to avoid the grasping claw that slammed into the spot that I’d just been standing in. Finding myself on the opposite side of the guardian, I just had enough time to spin around before a loud roar from Amaranth combined with a shout from Lazarus split the air, the massive mud monster visibly recoiling from our combined attacks by falling to one knee.
Sensing opportunity, I didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the creature’s slip, my body moving seemingly without any conscious thought. Taking a pair of steps back and carefully timing my movements, I used the extra space to rush forward and jump directly onto the creature’s back. This time, however, instead of focusing my attention on stabbing it in the back, I instead angled my leap farther forward so that I landed closer to its shoulders, throwing my arm around the base of its skull to hold me in place.
Hanging from my newfound perch, I sharply pulled myself upwards as I thrust out with Splinter, guiding the tip of my sword directly under the skull’s jaw and then stabbing upwards. Connecting with a solid crack, I felt bone shatter and give way from under my attack, the blade gliding straight through the guardian’s skull until it pierced through a broken eye socket that had been damaged earlier in the battle. Instantly, I felt the creature recoil from under me as it stood once again, its movements becoming panicked as it twisted from side to side in an attempt to dislodge me.
Holding on as tightly as I could, I began to alternate between draining mana from the guardian and casting Flameburst at point-blank range, accepting the twisting nausea coursing through my stomach while searing the skull completely black. As I did so, I made sure to use the leverage that Splinter provided to violently twist the creature’s head, doing my best to keep its gaze shifted away from the others below. Continuing to scramble, the mud creature began to noticeably weaken as several violent impacts that I couldn’t see slammed into its body, the dark energy burning within its skull growing fainter with each one that landed. Sensing that victory was finally within reach, I planted a knee in the creature’s back and yanked even harder on my sword, this time putting both my full weight and strength behind it.
Feeling my blade bite deep into the skull at first, there was a momentary instant of resistance to my efforts before a sudden cracking sensation shot through Splinter’s hilt, followed by my leverage abruptly vanishing as it came free. Eyes widening at the unexpected motion, I reflexively moved to catch myself on the guardian’s back, but I found my hand passing through nothing but air. Letting out a brief shout of surprise, the next thing I knew I was falling once again as I rode the guardian to the ground, the sudden impact afterward more than enough to knock me off the creature’s back.
Hitting the ground shoulder first, I felt myself bounce twice before coming to a stop, fate mercifully intervening and preventing me from accidentally cutting something important off with Splinter in the process. With adrenaline still coursing through my body, I didn’t dare waste a second lying prone, rolling away from my landing spot and jumping to my feet. It was only when I turned to face the fallen form of the guardian that I realized my haste was in vain, its massive form lying lifelessly on the ground along with the shattered remains of its skull.
“Finally!” Sawyer exclaimed, exhaling a deep breath as he spoke. “I never thought it’d go down!”
“I was starting to think the same too,” I agreed breathing hard as I looked down at the fragmented bone scattered before it, any traces of the darkness that had been housed within now gone. Exhaling a sharp sigh of relief, I prepared myself to start moving again, remembering that there were still two more of the mud creatures to deal with. “Well, that’s one down at least…”
“More than one,” Lazarus corrected, prompting me to look up from the fallen guardian and twist in the half-giant’s direction, seeing him staring in the direction of the raid, his body visibly relaxing. “Actually, on second thought, it looks like the others have things well in hand without us.”
Following his gaze, I turned my body and easily spotted another one of the guardians lying lifelessly on the ground much like ours, save for the fact that there was a large spear protruding directly from its back, its entire length covered in bright red blood. With a blink, I recognized the spear as belonging to Freya, my eyes widening as I searched for her without avail. Feeling a slight spike of panic well up from within, it vanished as fast as it had appeared as I saw her pull herself free from under the guardian in question, the mud that had comprised its body rapidly beginning to disintegrate.
Turning to look towards the third and final mud monster, I barely managed to move my head before the keening wail that had been steadily filling the air since the battle had begun abruptly came to a stop. But before its echoing cry could fully begin to fade from the forest, it was drowned out by an unexpected ringing chime that rang through my ears, followed by a bright notification in the center of my vision.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 24!
“And that makes three,” I announced, temporarily dismissing the newly gained level as the forest fell silent, spotting both Drace and Constantine across the length of what remained of the Dread Crew’s camp, the pair partially blocking the fallen form of the last guardian.
“It does,” Lazarus agreed, side-stepping slightly to stand beside me as everyone surveyed their surroundings and came down from the battle. “Gods, what a mess.”
“You could say that again,” I replied, letting out a deep sigh as I shifted my eyes to look down at the remains of the guardian that we’d killed, noticing that the mud it had been comprised of was rapidly thinning. But as it did, I noticed that there was something buried within its depths that was gradually becoming visible.
Something large.
Staring at the pile of mud as it continued to thin out, I saw a thick and interwoven cluster of roots appear, at first recognizing it as what I’d briefly seen inside the guardian’s body during the battle. However, as more of the object became visible, I realized that I was staring at something akin to a cocoon, its shape stretching little more than half as wide and tall as I was. Yet, for as surprising its appearance was, it wasn’t the cocoon itself that caught my attention.
But rather the blood slowly oozing out of it.
“W-What the hell is that?” I heard Sawyer whisper, his voice sounding nervous as he spoke. “Is that…thing actually bleeding?”
“It sure looks like it…” I started to stay before the cocoon suddenly moved, rocking ever so slightly from side to side, causing me to flinch and raise Splinter. “Oh shit!”
“Hear what?” I demanded, taking a hesitant step forward and seeing the strange object move once again.
Swallowing hard, I decided to put my faith in my familiar and rushed forward towards the cocoon, bending down beside it. It was only then, when I was in close proximity to it, that I finally heard something that caused my blood to go completely cold.