Chapter Three Hundred And Fifty Four - 354Okay. Okay, not so bad. You can handle one giant snake, Felix reassured himself. Pit?
Ready. Always. The tenku's feathers rustled, sounding like a hundred papers being shuffled.
Let's take it easy for a moment. Maybe we can avoid a fight, Felix sent. Pit rolled a dubious eye at his back, which Felix promptly ignored.
"Hi there," he said, voice echoing in the expansive chamber. Water streamed from pale Naga's face and neck as it jerked its huge head to look at him. "We're just traveling through, not intending to disturb you."
"Yet disssturb me you did," Jadorak hissed. Ithe?swayed slightly, sloshing water in surprisingly large waves. "Here, in the holiest of lakesss. My lake."
"Haestus is the name of a lake near the Ghreldan border," Zara whispered out of the corner of her mouth. "We are in the right place."
"Who speaksss, but not at me?" Jadorak shouted. Felix wasn't entirely sure how he was forming words with his snake-mouth, but they were perfectly clear if overly sibilant. "I claim dominion over these Halls of Stone. I alone am chosssen by the Godsss above, chosssen in might and purified by their very touch! NONE SHALL IGNORE ME!"
The Naga's voice ripped into the vaulted ceiling, loud enough that even Darius winced. Felix however, watched as light from some ancient source high above lit against Jadorak's scales, illuminating them with a pearlescent brilliance. Then his eyes fixed on the source, and realized it was a crystal fixed in the eye of a statue so massive he hadn't noticed its features in the gloom. Nymean features. He'd noticed the robed figures around the periphery, but not the three huge faces of stone carved into the apex of the chamber, nor the crystal clear gemstone that sat in one of their faces. Belais Crystal, but it's emptied of power.
"Ah, listen, man we're not trying to disrespect you, but you gotta give us a minute. You're coming on hot and heavy here," Felix said without thinking. He snapped his mouth shut, but the damage was done. Jadorak's red eyes flared and his Spirit roiled with a gleeful rage.
"Give me one reason why I should not devour your entire party, little whelp," the Naga hissed, dropping his face low enough that they could feel his hot breath. It smelled of rotten fish and blood. "Ssspeak one word awry, and I will not hesitate to end you, even before the Stone God'sss eye."
Stone God? He thinks that's a god? "We are traveling to the south and had to stop here by necessity. It was not our intention to disturb you or your...gods," Felix said. He wasn't worried about himself, not really, but what of the dozens that followed him? Would they survive an attack by the giant snake monster? He had no clue, and he wasn't interested in finding out. "If you let us pass, we'll gladly go on our way immediately."
"Go? You desssecrate our holy temple, lie to our god'sss chosen, and you wish to simply leave?" Jadorak laughed in the back of his throat. Around him, the waters sloshed and rippled as more Nagafolk rose from the dark depths, all of them dark blues and greens. "I do not care of your intentionsss. My people are not onesss to give up a meal, no matter how pretty they talk."
"Don't do this," Felix warned, feeling his two cores spin within him. The branches of his Vein of Divinity rustled and flexed. "It's not gonna go how you think."
"My brothers! To me!" Jadorak screamed, lunging at the same time.
Sovereign of Flesh!
In a burst of incandescent pain, Felix's fist and arm quadrupled in size, erupting in black scales even as his fist rocketed into the snapping jaws of the albino snake. The impact was an explosion, the force of it sending water hurtling away in a shockwave as Jadorak's entire skull was thrown back and intothrougha set of unattached columns.
"Jadorak! Halt!"
A new voice ripped across the vast chamber, this one far more Human sounding. Another Naga, but with the torso of a massively muscled humanoid and a face that approached something of the sort. He was covered in brown and tan scales, and slithered in atop the water as if it were dry land. "All supplicants are to be brought before the Deepking. You know this, child."
The huge albino serpent wrenched himself free of the tumbled architecture and fixed Felix with a gimlet eye. The scales along his jaw were broken and bleeding. "This one ssstruck me, Garox. I would have sssatisfaction!"
"You are denied," Garox the snakeman said, in a tone that brooked no argument. Jadorak clearly wanted to however, from the way he undulated toward Felix's team. "Jadorak. I shall not say it again. Leave us."
The white snake's red eyes burned bloody crimson, and hate boiled off him in waves that Felix needed no Affinity to sense. With a frustrated yowl, Jadorak dove back into the dark waters and was gone...as were the dozen or so Nagafolk that had joined him.
"That was new," Vess murmured in surprise. Her eyes tracked the ripples in the water where the Nagafolk had disappeared, hand on her partisan. "I have never witness your Body do such a thing."
"Not new, just haven't had the chance to test it yet," Felix said through deep, steady breaths. He'd shredded the sleeve of his Garment, which was now tugging at more of his Mana to repair itself. "And I don't think I'll get a chance here, either. Looks like diplomacy is still on the table."
Vess flashed him a grin, moving her gaze to the new, calmer enemy. "My favorite. He seems...reasonable."
Garox approached them slowly, both of his hands raised away from the curved blades at his waist. His snake body lashed at the water, moving across it in a winding manner that recalled any number of snakes Felix had encountered back home.
Voracious Eye.
Name: Garox, the Bladeless
Type: Spirit Naga
Level: 297
HP: 15495/15495
SP: 18772/19278
MP: 4569/4569
Lore: Nagafolk are extremely agile swimmers and have the Endurance of a creature an entire Tier above them, no matter their level. Aggressive, territorial, and cruel, these monstrosities kill by crushing their foes or by injecting them with a deadly venom. Garox has evolved beyond the base form of the Naga, to its most common secondary evolution: Spirit Naga. It sacrifices sheer mass for proficiency in Mana Skills, among other changes.
Strength: More Data Required
Weakness: More Data Required
Bladeless? Pit asked. He has two.
Felix sent back the mental equivalent of a shrug.
"Mortals," it said, halting only ten feet away; close enough that Felix could reach it, but its weapons could not reach Felix. Curious. "You are to come with me."
"Whoa, wait, why?" Evie said. She at least had the grace to flush when Zara and Harn both turned frustrated glares on her.
"I have heard your reasons for coming here, and perhaps you speak the truth," Garox said with a calm, measured tone. He sounded nothing like Jadorak, though his face wasn't exactly Human. Enough serpent remained through his jaw and nose that it made more than a few in Felix's company nervous. "But that is not for me to decide. That is the sole domain of my Lord. I shall bring you to him, as guests, to offer you the chance to bow before the Deepking."
"The Fiend don't bow to no one!" someone shouted from behind, and was just as quickly silenced by a whipcrack of air Mana.
Garox looked among them. "The Fiend..." a tongue tested the air and it oriented on Felix. "This is you?"
"Yeah, that's me," Felix admitted. He realized that was the first time he'd ever done so; he was thrilled. "This Deepking...he is Nagafolk, like you?"
"The Deepking is nothing like me," Garox said, and for the first time Felix felt something from his Spirit. It was pure, unadulterated devotion. It hit him with the same intensity as Jadorak's hate, unvarnished and raw. "He is above all but the Stone Gods themselves."
Felix desperately wanted to trade concerned gazes with Zara, but instead held Garox's own. He nodded. "Then let us meet your Lord. I would...like to exchange greetings, for ah, intruding." With Vess so closeno matter how he shuttered his Affinityhe would have felt the wave of approval from her Spirit regardless.
"Very good," Garox said, and Felix got the distinct impression that this Spirit Naga would have dragged them to his king no matter their answer. "Fiend. Allow me to escort you to my Liege Lord. If you would all follow me."
The Naga slid over the water, rippling it but otherwise leaving its depths undisturbed. Felix frowned. "Garox. I will need to use magic to get my people across. Is this acceptable?"
Garox looked behind them, at the arc of ice bridge still visible. He nodded. "This is allowed. But have a care. I would not have you wake my brethren below."
They all looked down into the black depths, most nervously. Pointed out, Felix could distinguish large shapes he'd taken for fallen columns, many of them dozens of feet in length or more. A stressed, mad giggle tried to force its way out of him but Felix shoved it down. "Of course," he said, evenly.
This time, instead of spending a bunch of Mana on a massive pathway, Felix set to work fashioning a set of ships for him and his people. Yet the Mana had barely unfurled from his channels when Zara placed a gentle hand on his wrist.