The tangle in the Astral had consumed Hunter. He could no longer see anything but the web of paths twisting into each other, even though they didn’t fill out the horizon. Rather it was a demonstration of what he’d long since figured out, that space was weird in this place. What his senses told him now was that he’d have been completely lost in this jungle but for his two bonds, one guiding him deeper, one remaining as a way out if needed.
The fighting had grown more and more hectic, Hunter having nearly been overwhelmed at one point when he’d stumbled across a knot in the tangle. He’d been forced to flee, only managing it by sustaining a combination of Hunt and Freedom for five seconds to allow him to shake his pursuers.
His determination growing desperate, Hunter had then become confused when the difficulty slackened noticeably. The concentration of pathways was reaching the highest he’d seen, but none of the false men or other perils of this place had assailed him.
Having no option other than to follow the guiding impulse inside of him, Hunter continued down into the dense nest of tendrils and saw a massive intersection of them. Every step increased his connection to Daniel significantly, a sign he was close to where his friend was in the real world. On his side, Hunter could see what he could best describe as a constrained heart overcome with far too many blood vessels. The knot was pulsing occasionally, but the beat stopped prematurely. Hunter could feel energy faintly shift beneath him when this occurred, but it was as if the mana flow of his former body had found a blockage it struggled to move around.
Preparing to react at the first sign of danger, Hunter put one paw on the large ball of reflective surface. As soon as he did there was recognition from his bond, bringing a sense of immediacy he’d been missing for some time. Except, there was more this time. Before, he would put it in terms of looking down at the reflective surface of the astral and seeing Daniel where his image should be. There was no floor here, but that wasn’t the difference.
The fur on Hunter’s neck raised as Hunt was subconsciously activated. With a better insight into Daniel than he’d ever had here before he knew two things. There was terrible danger on the other side of the astral, and something was very wrong with his friend.
…
“The rift!” Daniel shouted, unable to say more considering the continual pressure the elite monster was putting him under. Seeing the culmination of his oath bond so close made the pressure in his mind spike. The danger to the rest of his team weighed on him, but like poison other thoughts crept in to diminish his concern. They’re still alive, Hunter’s dead. He needs me more. I’m not supposed to be a leader. They can handle themselves.
Daniel Flash Jaunted toward the central column, going so far as to use Siphon Mana on what suspiciously looked like Cleave from the elite monster. The partial refund of the expensive ability did nothing in the face of him using it again immediately afterward. What’s worse, not even the willpower the bond was giving him allowed Daniel to brute force his way through the toxic Astral, leaving him overcome with spiritual nausea that left him open for the corrupted avianoid.
Both opponents were on him now that he’d committed to purifying the power core, at least to their eyes. The elite monster was still trying to reach him, but the agent of corruption had broken off from whoever she’d been targeting to welcome him back to reality. She’d remade the short spear with a larger, broader head, forgoing the trident initially used against him.
Daniel blocked with his shield, reacting faster than he ever could as a human, only to discover the reason for the weapon’s change. Nothing the corrupted avianoid could make would overcome level 10 material. However, she wasn’t trying to pierce through it but glance off the hardened core of the Focus shield. The speartip continued forward through the wood of the shield as if it were honey, slower but unarrested by the lower level material.
It ran through his chest, nicking a centimeter into his heart. Don’t-
Every cell in his body began to die as the blood flowing to them ceased moving. The oxygen there could sustain them for seconds, but not for as long as he could otherwise hold his breath. Heart pierced, the muscles tried to contract, relative pressure traitorously driving what did make it there out through the new opening rather than back into his circulatory system. Regeneration could handle much, but organs, especially immediately vital organs, healed slower. Gtoll at level 5 had taken over a minute to regrow his eyes. Through enhanced endurance one could survive much, but not this, not at Daniel’s level.
Where attributes failed, powers overcame. Unyielding Tenacity activated and Daniel felt paradoxical life within him despite the deadness in every vein and artery. Pure magic was all that sustained him now, and it was a threadbare grip suspending him over a chasm of death. He didn’t care.
The corrupted avianoid’s eyes had shown mostly uninterested focus and calculation unburdened by emotion, but they did widen when claws of acid and fire curved upward to reach underneath her chin. Daniel’s other hand clenched onto the spear, preventing her from dodging as she made the mistake of trying to hold onto it. Even so, his attack penetrated just the lower jaw before she retreated, leaving her weapon without having the chance to unmake it.
Daniel removed it, ignoring the pain and other sensations as his mind fought for clarity. The power the Origin Beast had given him raged to be let loose this close to death, but he resisted, knowing that if he reached that state he might not have the presence of mind to return to himself afterward. Part of him reached for an unawakened power to save himself, but the kind of epiphany he needed wouldn’t occur in the state he was in. This was a last stand and Daniel had but one goal: reach the rift.
The spear burned in his grip as he held it, but he knew from Gadriel that you could use stronger weapons for a short time. A tempest from behind told him the elite monster was giving him the chance to. Turning, he saw the monster approaching with another one of its explosively charged attacks building in its taloned hand. Daniel met the charge with a Grounding Roar, which only managed to slightly slow its flight. It was still enough for him to throw the spear, which flew as if an anchor was attached, but still lanced through one of the legs at the thigh.
Threat from behind temporarily averted, Daniel Jumped upward, reaching for one of the walkways. Only the sphere in the center was reflecting Hunter’s light and he knew he had to get there. He was midflight when the corrupted avianoid came at him, accomplishing the same height through pure strength. The trident was back and pointed for him. Daniel was still locked out of other powers due to Jump being active. He could try to shield himself, but the avianoid was coming from below, driving the trident from outside the range of his arm.
The weapon twisted from its intended course as a massive, glowing arrow aimed for the corrupted avianoid. She was forced to use her trident to block, though Daniel still felt the impact of the burst as the arrow detonated with a nova of light. He moved in mid-air, Totem Warrior features giving him some control of his flight, and planted his feet on her shoulders to use as a springboard. The force of the jump put her out of reach of a second attack, buying him more time.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
It would have taken him but seconds to sprint down the length of the catwalk separating him from the rift, but the section in front of Daniel was blasted apart by a slashing gust of wind. Whatever the walkways were made of in this room was far less durable than the walls. The elite monster hovered in the air between Daniel and his target, making it clear it would cut him to pieces if he tried to Jump for it. It easily dodged Khiat’s second sun arrow, and in his peripheral vision Daniel could see the dusker slump over after that one.
Running sideways, Daniel began Growing Feathers and hurling them out at the elite. Its position was somewhat of a disadvantage as if it overcommitted to an attack it would leave the way clear. Unfortunately, it was just too agile for the majority of his attacks to land, and those that did healed rapidly. He was forced to dodge more than attack as it was, the powers the monster had inherited from the former Blessed allowing it to manipulate wind for distance attacks as much as its earlier melee ones.
The arrival of the corrupted avianoid would have meant serious trouble, but as Daniel vaulted from one broken section of the rapidly failing walkways to another, he glimpsed Sigron defending as hard as he could against the corrupted avianoid. Taunt power, Daniel distantly realized. The Knight’s shield arm was holding up slightly better but he could only hold up as long as Daniel had from the looks of it. The hole in his chest attested to what would happen when Sigron’s guard slipped.
Need an opening. “I-asck,” Daniel slipped as he tried to speak, forgetting that it was only magic propping him up. This injury was somehow worse than the one he’d taken from the hulk stomper. Just like he couldn’t move his legs with his spine severed, he needed air in his lungs to speak. One was punctured and the other drowned in blood. The rest of his body was in the process of shutting down, strength leaving him with every step. Assuming he survived this, he would be effectively paralyzed while recovering until enough damage healed to get his blood flowing.
The elite looked tempted to strike toward him while he was downed, but kept guarding the rift. Flash Jaunt. Have to. Daniel stood back up, deflecting another wind blade with the Focus shield. Have to. A second shot from the monster hit one of the supports attached to the domed ceiling and the walkway lurched. Balance couldn’t completely compensate for his growing weakness and he almost slipped, deciding to go at that moment rather than risk a fall he couldn’t get up from.
Daniel pushed off the railing with as much force as he could, still with enough empowered strength to send the section behind him crashing down. The elite rushed for him, gathering another explosive burst in its hand, as Daniel flashed forward and entered the Astral. His weakened mind, already dealing with the strain on his body, endured the torment and-
He opened his eyes in the middle of the fall, coming too after briefly passing out. No, no! The ability had at least saved him from the monster’s attack, but he’d come out of it unconscious and missed his chance to activate the rift. The corrupted avianoid might have run off then at least, and at this point there was no chance of defeating her. Her body was far tougher than it had any right to be based on what he knew of attributes, her mastery of them surprising him.
And overwhelming Sigron. As Daniel’s back hit the ground, troublingly painlessly, there was a sound of wrenching steel as the front of the Knight’s metallic hand was split open, shield breaking. She didn’t even follow up with a lethal strike but just kicked him back dismissively, turning toward Daniel as the taunt power broke.
From above, the elite monster descended while the corrupted avianoid ran toward him. Both former Blessed, both twisted by different forces working to destroy the world. For what? At every moment of his life here there had been conflict, be it against monster or man. Any peace he’d found was just an illusion blinding him to the next struggle. It had taken the death of his friend to make him see it. That and whatever torment his soul had gone through, still shrouded to his mind, which had allowed him to make something stronger from the pieces.
It still wasn’t enough. He could barely move, and all that was uncertain was which enemy was about to kill him. Beast Mode was something his other self had qualms about despite it being the undisputed champion in hunts, but there was one card left to play both of them would normally refuse to use. Willow said she could sense me whenever I used this, he thought, time slowing not from any ability but from his mind moving faster. I’m not going into the Astral. It’s breaking me into a spirit. Could he permanently be reduced to a spirit if he used it too many times?
No choice. Fuck, but I can’t-
“Area Denial.” The corrupted avianoid’s sprint was interrupted as a barrier of force appeared in front of her. Standing back up, Sigron had spoken the incantation with defiance. The avianoid struck the barrier and he jerked downward, but kept his knees off the ground.
Above, one bird of prey was met with another as Shuni appeared, losing her stealth. The Rogue dropped her wings and rapidly drew two daggers, plunging them into the back of the elite and turning the flying monster like Gadriel before her. Her hand briefly went to her belt, and Daniel was covered in a thick smoke as one of his smoke bombs detonated nearby.
“Fucking idiot,” the acidic, unpleasant voice said behind him. “Forget you have potions?”
“N-.” Unable to say the debuff from Unyielding Tenacity didn’t allow those to work, Daniel shook his head and struggled to get up. It was all he could manage to prop himself up on his elbows, and he pointed at the rift. There was enough wind thrown off by the elite engaging with Shuni to cause the cloud to begin rapidly dispersing, and Tlara sighed when she saw.
The hexscuttle stalker appeared from stealth behind her and she made several hand signs, gesturing to Daniel at the end. “And don’t stab him.” The back arms of the monster obediently snatched him up but paused for one moment to allow Tlara to lock Daniel’s eyes into a glare. “Don’t know what you’re doing, but it better fucking count. Weren’t listening to us at all, were you? Shuni’s almost out of mana and Sigron’s beat to hell. I’m trusting you here.”
Daniel couldn’t respond, but he could think, First time for everything. She seemed to read it in his gaze and scoffed before sending off her monster and sprinting for cover before the smoke cleared completely. The monster holding him began to run, reaching the bottom of the rift before either enemy could react. It was when it began to climb that they had their last shot at stopping Daniel.
Sigron’s barrier broke as another section of his shield arm was damaged to the point that he couldn’t manipulate the metal, some of his bones likely cracking as well from absorbing the impact. The corrupted avianoid threw the trident at him, impaling one of his legs and keeping him down. On the other side the elite monster attempted to escape from the Rogue, but Shuni took the opportunity to openly teleport onto its back again and begin stabbing its head. Her voice, which had been hazily speaking in the background up until now, did make it through. “Fuck, that’s it for me! Down to my daggers.”
Her move slowed the elite down enough, even if it didn’t kill it. The corrupted avianoid had a shot at Daniel, far faster than the monster holding him, but Khiat had a shot at her. She must have sensed the light behind her from the Sun Arrow and moved her shield back to catch it, confident she could shrug off the impact. To Daniel’s astonished eyes, he saw the second one Khiat had simultaneously fired curve under it and strike at the avianoid’s back, throwing her down.
Dual-channeling? No, that was three of her abilities at once. How? Whatever Khiat had done had been enough. The hexscuttle stalker stopped midway up the column, adjusting its arms to the side so Daniel could face the rift. Limply he brushed one hand to it, the colors inside shifting to denote his control. For what would have been several heartbeats, Daniel waited for Hunter to reappear. Nothing.
Needs his body. It wouldn’t have been a problem to pull out and crush his tooth normally, even while shifted. With no way to control the monster grabbing him and almost no control of his body, there was only one thing Daniel could do.
The rest of Wingcraft watched as, bound in the four arms of the hexscuttle stalker, Daniel’s head reached forward and bit into the astral rift. Everything but the tooth Hunter’s body had been transmuted into glanced off, but that sank through. As it did, Daniel’s body began to glow, and then disappear as if he’d used it to teleport.
Stunned, Tlara could only say, “What the fuck?“
