Felix blinked awake and sat up with a panicked lurch, sweeping his Perception all around himself. There was blessedly little, however. Moss and soil gave beneath his fingers, and a gentle wind played through his hair. They were in a dense forest filled with gargantuan trees and thick swaths of moss and fern-like undergrowth reaching higher than his head.
They had made it.
You Have //// Survived.
The Challenge [[][] Is Incomplete.
Be Wary, Young ???
Harn! Felix gasped, and jumped to his feet. Thankfully, his friends were only a few feet away, similarly knocked on their butts. Felix moved closer, still keeping a wary eye out on the wilderness.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked.
"Just chipper," Evie growled, holding her head. Vess just groaned in response. Harn grunted, and perhaps it was deeper and longer than usual, but he still wore his full helmet. Reading him was a challenge. He seemed fine, at least.
"Feels like I fell outtuva tree and fought every branch on the way down. What happened?" Evie stood on shaky legs, gripping a nearby tree to aid herself.
"I remember...darkness? Then a light..." Vess trailed off and shook her head before coming to her feet smoothly. "That is strange. Whenever I have entered a Domain in the past, it was always an effortless transition between outside and inside. Like walking through a door. This...this felt off."
Felix looked between them. "Do none of you remember crossing through?"
They all shook their heads, and Harn's voice echoed slightly as he spoke. "Like Vess said. We were out there, then in here, and we took a tumble between that."
Felix frowned. "We were in the Void. The Domain's shell was trying to reject all of us, expel us from itself."
"The Void?" Evie asked, confused. "How's that?"
"Domains're like pockets," Harn offered with a grumble as he stood. "Void keeps em separate from the world. No clue how it works, but you shouldn'ta been able ta see that, kid."
Felix shrugged. "Maybe because I've been there already? Or maybe my Voidwalker Title?"
"Maybe," Harn allowed. "Twin's teeth, though. I shouldn't've been rejected. I ain't so close to Adept as to get pushed out. And you lot, none of you should've...exceptin' Felix maybe."
"Yeah, Felix is weird," agreed Evie and Vess nodded.
"Hey," Felix protested, but it was half-hearted. They weren't wrong.
"We need to form up and get a move on. Who knows how long we have before..." Harn paused as a rustling shook the nearby undergrowth. "Damn."
Three monsters prowled out of the nearby ferns. Felix found himself face to face with a large four legged beast easily the size of a cow. Its body was covered in rust-red scales and tufts of black fur at the shoulders and knees. Its face, however, was a blunt oblong without eyes or nose, filled entirely with a large gaping mouth. Yellowed fangs dripped a thick saliva onto the mossy earth as the beasts began to circle, two to the left, one to the right.
Voracious Eye.
Name: Spawn of Hunger
Type: Primordial-Spawn
Level: 36
HP: 645/645
SP: 578/583
MP: 200/200
Lore: Tainted by the Maw's corrupting influence, these creatures possess some of that Primordial's traits, including a prodigious hunger.
Strength: That which they eat gives them strength.
Weakness: Blind, they hunt by sound and are always hungry.
"Kill em fast," Harn shouted. "We got more incoming!"
Like it was a cue, the spawn rushed forward, each of them blurring as the mossy earth exploded beneath them. All three of them headed directly for Felix.
Reign of Vellus!
Familliar blue lightning blasted upward from the ground, hitting all three spawn directly in the chests and threw them backward. Their scales were scorched black in places, but their Health had barely dropped at all.
"They're focused on me!" Felix shouted. "I'll draw them in, everyone focus fire on this one."
Influence of the Wisp!
Primordial-Spawn Has Been Enthralled For 2 Seconds!
Blue wispfire erupted along Felix's limbs as the targeted spawn froze in place and lit up like a bonfire. A heavy spiked chain whipped forward, lashing against the paralyzed creature and tearing it's rusty scales from it's shoulder and ribs like a scourge. Simultaneously, two silver spears shot out, stabbing down and through the beasts back. It's Health dropped like a lead balloon under the assault, but Felix couldn't enjoy it.
He had his own problems.
Unfettered Volition!
Spinning above the charge of one spawn, Felix landed atop the second as it snapped at him. They creatures were large with pot-bellies, but their scales left their bodies smooth, hard, and difficult to grip. Still, the Nym held fast to a protruding bone spur along its frill, steadying himself enough to cast.
Wrack and Ruin!
A dark orb manifested in his palm and he slammed it directly into the spawn's spine. He could feel the creature's scales sizzle and pop as the powerful acid corroded them, and had to grip harder onto its back as it tried to buck him off. The spawn's hide was tough, though, and he hadn't punched through it yet when Felix noticed the second one come back around. Its mouth was open wide, a mess of jagged, mismatched fangs that would nevertheless rip off an entire limb if he let it.
Now!
There was a flash of white light and a winged shape burst into the air. The spawn didn't slow and being blind it didn't even startle, but that was its first mistake. A rain of icy spears pummeled the earth, many of them smashing into the spawn's tough hide. Few did more than shatter, but they did cause the charging creature to rear back and reorient, only to be subjected to a barrage of wingblades as Pit landed.
"CREEEAAAAAWW!!" Pit cried out, and the spawn froze in place.
Pit's Cry Has Frightened A Primordial-Spawn For 3 Seconds!
Grinning to himself, Felix redoubled his Mana, pouring more of it into Wrack and Ruin as he pushed the orb deeper into his foe's back. With a sudden release of tension, his arm burst through its hide, and the orb of condensed acid shot off. Like a bouncy ball in a tiny room, the corrosive spell ricocheted through the Spawn, its own hide keeping the wrecking ball inside as it ate through the beast's innards. Seconds later, Felix rode the beast as it fell to the ground, dead.
You Have Killed A Primordial-Spawn!