Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Two - 232Aenea gasped as the Bloodmoon's light shone upon the battlefield. The Reforged had grown to twice their size, while the monsters had gone almost insane with bloodlust. Their shield wall was barely holding up, despite the Bronze Rank support.
The little...Felix was right, she thought, almost numb. Vellus' moon returned. How? More than that, her Skill, Medicinal Query spotted a wave of Status Conditions spreading among the enemy:
Status Condition: Dark Murmurs (Modified)
Aenea clenched her jaw. Pushing her abilities further, she could taste a reaction in the air around the Reforged. It was sour and fetid, but wound around something sickly sweet. It smelled of rot and gangrene, but throbbed with vitality nonetheless. It makes no sense!
"Below!" Bodie shouted from ahead, just before one of the ice-armored Reforged fell to the earth. Bodie's magically enhanced mace was stuck fast in its skull. The man himself crashed behind it, his over-muscled frame hitting earth with as much grace as the dead monster. He gripped his mace and yanked it free, sending out a fountain of blue-black blood. "Sorry about that!"
"Please, I've seen far worse," the Alchemist said. Instead she knelt by the Reforged's ruined face and took out one of her specialty blades. Small enough to do delicate surgery, it was still only barely sharp enough to cut its Tempered flesh. Fishing a vial from her bandolier, she quickly dropped the chunk of flesh into a pale yellow liquid and capped it. Even before she shook it, the thin yellow fluid tinged a vibrant green and thickened in the tube. "What is"
The entire vial shattered, spewing a thickened substance that was closer to a solid than liquid. Aenea stepped back from it, wicking it from her skin and clothes with her Repellent Corium Skill. It wasn't effective against weapons or Mana bolts of any sort, but blood and fluids couldn't penetrate. And luckily they didn't, as the thickened substance hit the stone and began to grow onto the cobbles. Tiny veins extended and stretched, grasping onto the cracks and crevices.
"What in the world is that?" Portia asked, pausing between Life Bolts to look over. The illusionist was next to her, quaffing the Alchemist's store of potions.
"An abomination," Aenea hissed. She took a second vial from her bandolier and poured it over the growing lump. Thick, potent acid sizzled as it ate away at the thing. "These...creatures were infected with a modified version of the Dark Murmurs. Their Bodies should have broken down into mush by this point," Aenea did some rapid calculations in her head. "The Bloodmoon was a catalyst."
"What does that mean?" Thangle gasped, finishing another Mana Potion. He limbered up his fingers, cycling his Mana through his channels.
"It means we're all in trouble."
"FIEND!"
Felix spun, just in time to take a series of stone pillars to the gut and chest. His Manasight had flared, but the battlefield was so chaotic he hadn't noticed until it was too late. Felix took the hit and rolled with it, letting his Body and Unfettered Volition move him. He flipped before skidding to a jittery stop on all fours.
"You dare tarnish my Father's glory?!" Mud ran at him, his enlarged steps shaking the earth like tiny, localized earthquakes. "I will destroy you! Utterly!"
Stone Shaping!
Felix sent his Mana speeding into the earth, intending to trip the enraged Arcid, but gaped in surprise. His Mana was ripped entirely from his control, the dusty-brown shade turned yellow-red and twisted. Felix yelped and threw himself to the side, flying nearly fifteen feet as a jagged spike of stone erupted right where he had been.
Holy! Felix landed easily on his feet and stared at the spike of stone, then at the Arcid. He took my Stone Shaping away from me?!
The ground bucked beneath him, and Felix jumped straight up. More spikes burst upward, chasing him.
Shadow Whip!
A tendril snapped outward, snagging onto the ice armor of a passing Reforged. Felix hauled on it and swung around, twisting his body to avoid the sudden rain of rocky projectiles. More than a few hit, dropping his Health by ten or twenty points each time.
Shit! Wrack and Ruin!
Influence of the Wisp!
As a wave of blue-white wisp fire washed outward, Felix pumped his huge stores of Mana into a single, overlarge casting of his acidic spell. The dark green orb grew ten times the size it normally did, but he held its shape steady. With a grunt of effort, Felix hurled it forward as he rotated around the Enthralled Reforged, intercepting the next barrage of projectiles. The acid ate up all of the stone, but detonated in a spectacular splash against a newly erected monolith the Arcid raised.
Enthrall Failed!
Mud hadn't even stopped.
Felix let go of his whip and tumbled to the ground, letting his momentum and Strength carry him forward into a ground-eating run. Mud followed, keeping his distance and twisting the earth to attack him will spikes, columns, or even opening sudden, treacherous holes.
He's better with earth Mana than I am, Felix realized. Whatever was boosting his physique was also enhancing his power. Felix cast his Perception outward, noting that his people were getting closer as they cut through the Arcid's monstrous minions, but they still struggled with the Reforged. Felix sent a pulse of Stone Shaping outward, intending to trip up more of the Reforged for his people, but a wave of yellowed earth Mana hit and diffused his own. Felix cursed.
Mud laughed. "No no! You face me!"
Felix couldn't afford to hurl his acid any which way, not with his people closing in, and he'd lost Reign of Vellus. Influence of the Wisp was useless, as it relied on weak mental defenses to stick, and Mud had a solid Minds, apparently. Though it was nothing compared to their new Bodies. The Bloodmoon and whatever they had done with Dark Murmurs had pushed them beyond their limits. His Voracious Eye could sense that easily.
The Arcid wasn't giving him many options. He had to get in close. Felix grinned, and spat out his human teeth as fangs grew in their place.
"You want to fight?" Felix shouted back. "Let's fight!"
Unfettered Volition!
Monoliths erupted ahead and beside Felix, but he wove between them, too fast for their manifestations to block his advance. He saw a glimpse of fear in the Arcid's eye-fires, potent enough to shiver his Spirit.
"Anointed Barrow!"
In a flash, a series of boulders folded up from the earth, before crashing down onto Felix in tandem. He didn't even have a chance to dodge, this time.
*THOOM!*
"Hah!" Mud cried out, before pushing his Mana into the ground. "You'll not escape me! You...what?"
The stone pile detonated.
Mud fell backward, his metallic frame pelted with boulders as Felix emerged from below. Sovereign of Flesh sang within him, so bright and so loud that even the Arcid flinched in dim understanding. Massive plates of hardened flesh covered Felix's form, across his arms and shoulders and chest, like a suit of armor made of nightmares. Short spikes of thick, white bone stuck from his elbows and knees, while tiny spurs dotted his forearms and shins. Topping it all off, a helm of solid black, marked only with whorls of glowing, ethereal cyan.
"Escape?" Felix asked, and he didn't shout. He didn't have to, as Mud sat staring in undisguised horror. "No. No escape."
Felix charged, shattering the stones beneath his clawed feet. The Archid ran.
He tried to.
Stones flowed from the earth, intercepting Felix's path, but the Primordial smashed through them. No Skill, no technique, just pure, unadulterated Strength, Endurance, and Vitality. He emerged in time to grab hold of the Arcid's trailing foot, and his claws tightened on the metal appendage, sinking deep.
"YEEAAAGGG!" Mud cried, falling to his chest. But he didn't stop there, and the ground parted for him like water. It surprised Felix enough that Mud twisted from his grip, but Felix dove right in after him.
"No you don't!"
Felix tackled the Arcid, landing on the monster's spine. Metal groaned, stressed beyond its temper while Mud continued to holler. "No no no no! Get off of me, you treacherous, useless thing!" They fell through the liquid earth like stones into a pond.
Arrow of Perdition!
Felix's hand surged with golden-blue light and he cocked it back as he aimed for the Arcid's core. But Mud twisted at the last second, and the blow only skittered along his side. A terrible gash was ripped open in the metal, spilling a deep, poisonous looking blood.
Earth Mana swelled, and Felix had just enough time to realize what was happening before it did. The stone where his upper body was moving suddenly solidified, trapping him as Mud fell away.
Shit!