Chapter One Hundred and Forty Nine - 149Pit was flying.
Clutched beneath the arm of the Dangerous One, Pit screeched in triumph and anger. They were close now to his Companion, to his desperate battle. They soared above the amassed wrong-beasts, lifted up by the Dangerous One's strange jumping ability. Her shiny weapons floated beside them, bobbing in the air but otherwise unfazed by their speedy ascent.
"It is time! Brace yourself!" The Dangerous One shouted to him, and as they had done twice now, she released the tenku from her grip. Disguise already banished, Pit spread his wings and glided alongside her for a moment.
"Dragon's Descent!"
With a burst of speed, the Dangerous One plummeted. All seven of her spears flashed forward, each embedding into the horde with meaty thunks and tortured screams. She landed an instant later, and the force of her impact sent the wrong-beasts scattering. She stood amid the gory wreckage and twirled her spear among a tiny forest of silver poles and writhing bodies.
"Come and fight, beasties."
The wrong-beasts around her, shocked at her entrance, roared and charged in. From above, Pit crowed again and unleashed a rain of Frost Spears.
Frost Spear is level 27!
More screams from the wrong-beasts, thought this time it was pain rather than rage. Pit knew his attacks would not kill a healthy wrong-beast, but each strike added up. Of those more directly hurt by the Dangerous One, one or two Frost Spears could finish them. And Pit had Mana to spare.
Yet still they swarmed. Pit glided above, keeping to a circling pattern as the Dangerous One engaged the enemy, waiting for her next leap.
"Binding of the White Wastes!"
Icy chains burst from the ground, restraining several wrong-beasts as they rushed her. Their legs simply flash froze to the stone beneath, white fog boiling off of them. The Dangerous One looked up in relief, still whirling the one remaining spear in her hand.
"Watch ouuut! Breaking Wheel!"
Grey metal flashed by Pit's eyes, narrowly missing his pinions as the Pretty Killer dropped her lengthy chain. Somehow she'd joined the ends so that it made a massive, bladed circle that fell with far more force than the slight female should be able to impart. Pit had seen this same move twice before, and it still astonished him.
Pit suddenly felt a wash of icy fear, followed by a sudden spike of rage. A terrible pain tore at his chest. In the distance, Pit could see the writhing Bad Thing, but he could not see Felix.
Pit shrieked in fear. Felix was hurt! And...Pit could hear whispers through their bond. Soft, scratchy sounds that crept along the edges of it. The Enemy. It's awake. They were running out of time.
The chained wheel hit the earth like a thunderbolt. White chains shattered, as did the wrong-beasts beneath as the bladed chain tore through them. Four or five died, while more were ripped open by the oversized blades on the chain wheel. The wrong-beasts didn't scatter, there wasn't enough room on the field to do that, but they hesitated.
That was all they needed.
"Pierce the Sky!"
The Dangerous One rose form the earth like a bird, as if she had grown her own pair of wings. Pit, still circling above them and growing lower and lower with each revolution, was plucked from the air by the female's skilled hands. Together they ascended once more.
Behind them, the Pretty Killer followed, her body somehow lightened so that when she hurled her heavy chain into the sky it yanked her from the earth's grasp. She was flung into the air like a ballista bolt, surging past the both of them with a speed that still surprised the tenku.
"Seven Tribulations." The Dangerous One whispered, so soft only Pit could hear her. Behind them, all seven silver spears exploded, shredding the Revenants and hurling them away.
We're coming, Felix! Pit pushed at their bond, sending his sensations as he felt them. We're coming!
Etheric Concordance is level 32!
Felix spat a stream of blood from his mouth, standing up from the cracked ground once more. A clutch of Revenants rushed him, those rare few still lingering around the Larval Ravager, but Felix didn't have the time.
Influence of the Wisp!
Influence of the Wisp is level 31!
The Revenants froze, each and every one. Wisplight ate at their scales, burning through their muscles and bones.
Reign of Vellus!
A wave of concussive force swept from Felix's right hand, impacting the Enthralled Revenants. Their bodies resisted for a brief instant before they burst into meaty paste.
You Have Killed A Manawarped Revenant x5!
XP Earned!
Dual Casting is level 24!
Panting, Felix let his arm drop. He was bone tired. He had driven off Okar, but Felix had an increasing suspicion that Okar had retreated purposefully. Just not for his own purpose.
Felix looked up, where the Larval Ravager still loomed. Somehow the Ravager was controlling Okar and would have controlled the rest too had they lived. The how of it confounded Felix, and his Mind raced even as he dodged another volley of vicious bone spurs.
Unfettered Volition!
Sliding through the Ravager's offensive, Felix circled it, summoning a blast of concentrated kinetic energy. And lightning, one couldn't forget the incongruous lightning that wreathed Felix's hands.
Dodge is level 29!
Reign of Vellus!
Even as he let it loose at the base of the beast, Felix knew it wouldn't matter. The force of Reign of Vellus tore open a gushing wound in the Larval Ravager's side, but it began to seal back up in seconds. His attacks only functioned as a minor distraction, at best.
The damn thing wouldn't take damage properly. His acid did nothing, neither did his Stone Shaped spikes or freezing Mantle. He'd been bludgeoned and nearly crushed several times. The Larval Ravager's body wasn't fast, but it's mouth tentacles made up for it. In addition, it could grow those bone spurs from its slick flesh.
Not fun.
When he had enough Mana to keep Unfettered Volition up, he could dodge them with relative ease. But early on that meant his Mana kept bottoming out. Armored Skin had increased, of course. It was level 48 now. Closer to Tiering up, which would have been exciting had he even a single Essence Draught on him.
Reign of Vellus was the only skill he had that was even a little effective, but hitting it hard enough to truly damage the thing ate through his Mana fast. Felix's head ached as his Mana dropped low again; too low to keep Unfettered Volition running.
That heat, the radiation in the air, it was providing some sort of regeneration to the beast. Anytime he hit it hard enough to bruise, it's gaping mouth sucked in big gulps of air. To his Manasight, it was like a giant vacuum, sucking up the ambient Mana.
Like in the Vault. With the Maw.
Felix flared Meditation as best he could, but his Mana could only regenerate so fast. And his Health...he was below 50% already. The Nym needed a way to neutralize the beast, but it was a mountain. How did you fight a mountain?
Unbidden, Felix's mind teased at the mystery of the Revenants. Of Okar, Yvette, and Elwick. All of them had turned, transformed somehow into these things. It sent a very particular sort of terror through Felix, one he'd been avoiding thinking about. Dodging around the Larval Ravager though freed up his Mind as his Body acted. What Lies Beneath was very similar to these Revenants. Not in appearance, of course, but the feeling in the air. That heat, that corruption. Somehow the Larval Ravager had latched onto these creatures and turned them. Felix feared it had something to do with the Oathbindings the Guilders were under. But how could the Larval Ravager do that?
The Maw could manipulate the System. Alter it somehow. He mused, tucking into a roll and fetching up against the beast's mucous coated hide. Could this thing do the same?
It's too weak to do that. It exploits the bonds, spreading its warped influence through Siva's damn strings. The Maw's voice was a surprise, though it shouldn't have been. It sounded pissed.