"HUUUAAAAAH!" Shot backward by the counterforce of his Skill, Felix pulled hard on the Whip. The Blight, off balance by rearing up, fell backward and slammed head first into the jagged edge of crystal. Felix slid to a stop on the far side of the crater, hand still holding his Whip taut.
Voracious Eye told him it wasn't over, though.
Unfettered Volition!
Felix yanked hard on the Shadow Whip, letting it's elasticity pull him along as he jumped. Felix zipped up and over the crystal, freeing the Femur of the Envoy from his hip. He fed a stream of Essence into the weapon and swung down with all the Strength he had.
Wild Threnody!
Corrosive Strike!
Corrosive Strike is level 48!
Virulent green Mana bubbled along the weapon and smashed into the Blight's enormous chest. The metallic club had expanded to nearly six feet, and the weight of its blow was enough to savage the earth around them.
The Blight only grunted before shoving it away.
"Damn it," Felix hissed.
The Pride of Blight was High Adept, but Felix had hoped he'd have finished him with that one. The creature wasn't doing well, at least. It's jaw hung oddly and it's back and chest were crushed and torn; it was practically weeping ichor that dripped upon the crystal.
None of that stopped the beast from leaping into Felix and driving the both of them up and through the earth behind him. Stone shattered against their bodies as they fought, tooth and claw against each other, Felix's Strength and Vitality nearly a match for the Blight's. With a devastating eruption, they emerged back into the blood-light of the Essence fog, casually crushing Revenants with their passage.
You Have Killed Manawarped Revenants (x3)!
XP Earned!
Territorial Quest Alert!
You Have Gained Contribution!
Their emergence knocked the both of them loose, and Felix landed twenty yards away, flaring his Unfettered Volition to keep his feet. His Sovereign of Flesh burned at the dregs of his Essence, which stopped his wounds from bleeding out at the very least. But the Revenants were eager for his blood, and they set upon him immediately. Felix had to unleash a ring of kinetic force around himself, sending the Revenant's reeling before following up with a spinning club that ended them all for good.
You Have Killed Manawarped Revenants (x12)!
XP Earned!
Territorial Quest Alert!
You Have Gained Contribution!
Ravenous Tithe!
Essence and a little Mana streamed back into his core, reigniting his Transcendent Skill and setting his skin to itch-crawling as it healed. Fifty feet away, the Blight also got back to it's feet. It's arm was dangling, dislocated in their fight, and a number of rents in its abdomen showed where Felix's talons had found purchase.
"C'mon then," Felix hissed. One of his fangs was loose, but he didn't care. "I'm not done with you yet!"
Abruptly, a horrible, discordant wail filled the air. It was coming from the Broodmother, clearly seen from this angle, several football fields away. It's oozing tentacles wriggled and flexed, somehow producing the dissonant corruption of the Grand Harmony. Felix felt his core recoil, but he'd heard its like before. It wouldn't stop him.
Then the ground around him shook violently, throwing redcloaks and Revenants alike to their knees. Massive Scales of the Ravager Kingeach easily ten feet tallemerged from the earth, shattering the smooth tile and tangled roots around them. Bloody Essence streamed from the Scales, like smoke stacks venting into the atmosphere.
Felix looked back at the Blight, and saw that its arm had rejoined it's socket, and its jaw snapped back into place. It was healing.
Two could play at that game, though.
Ravenous Tithe!
Felix reached out and claimed the lion's share of the nearest Scale. He stole it, breathing its power into him and letting it burn through his channels and into the space above his core. Whatever he couldn't fit, he funneled it into the abyss at the center of his ring. A space of clear air surrounded Felix, startling after getting used to the crimson haze, and the Blight's injuries stopped healing so fast.
"I didn't say you could heal," Felix admonished, resisting the urge to pant. He felt like someone had cut open his veins and shoved hot coals into them. Thousands of Primordial Spawn had turned toward their battle, and hundreds more were racing toward him. He could feel their wanttheir needto devour him. But he focused on the Blight. He had to, or else it'd kill him far faster.
Then he saw it. Just a flash, but it was a tonic in Felix's veins.
The Blight screamed through it's regenerated maw, and little was left of the chorister's human face. Only a single, Human eye peeked above it's fanged mouth. It was strong. Stronger than Felix, all things told. But when it charged at him, Felix only felt anticipation.
After all, he wasn't alone.
"Wind's Embrace!"
"Fulmination!"
"Sparkbolt!"
"Lines of Shadow!"
Elemental Mana surged at the Blight, lightning striking first and spinning the creature around. A nigh invisible blade of wind sliced through it's left arm, severing it completely at the bicep. The Blight screamed, but it's face was suddenly netted by thick, spinning strands of darkness, just in time for a crimson fireball to knock it prone.
In seconds, it was back on it's feet, tearing through the shadow bindings with its ebon claws. But then the others got close.
"Fatal Flurry!"
"Raze!"
"Strength of Many!"
"Dervish!"
"Spear of Tribulation!"
Sepia daggers cut into the monster's legs and thighs, while Bodie rushed forward with a mace the size of a sedan, knocking the Blight back to it's knees. Twin blazing axes followed suit, cutting at it's remaining arm and leaving shallow gashes in its flesh, while a bladed chain and silver spear danced out before it. The latter did little to hurt the creature's Tempered flesh, but Evie and Vess proved an effective distraction.
"Steps of the Drake!"
The Hand appeared from nowhere and avoided the enraged swings of it's deadly right arm. A Revenant that got too close was torn apart by its force, spraying the crowd around them with thick ichor. On its backswing, the Hand caught it's forearm with the blade of his greatsword.
"Couldn't even drop a rock right?" The Hand complained, barely deflecting the High Adept monstrosity. Its swing diverted into the tiled ground, ripping a trench into the roots and stone.
"Eat me," Felix growled, flipping over several Revenants that were still charging him. He broke more of them with his club before re-sheathing it. An idea bloomed. "Just get it to scream at you."
The Hand grunted, taking another blow against the flat of his blade. He was deflecting them expertly, but even his Adept Body clearly felt pressured by the Blight's attack. Even with all of them there, Felix wasn't certain they could destroy it. Not with thousands of Revenants closing in on them.
"Vess!" Felix shouted. The woman spun, easily leaping above a sea of Revenants and sent his Blade of the Fang flying toward him. Felix caught it.
"Kill the burning thing!" she shouted.
Felix grinned and felt his Wild Threnody surge. From his core, Felix sent dual streams of Mana and Essence through his channels. Filtered through Reign of Vellus, the Mana surged with lightning and force, while the Essence tore lines of fire through his Body. The Blade lit up, a mixture of red-yellow and crackling blue-white lightning, until it was more light than fang. Felix all but emptied himself into the weapon.
The Hand spun, driving his massive sword into the beast's side, causing it to bellow in pain.
Felix let loose, launching the blade with all of the Strength and Dexterity he could muster. It accelerated from his grip, a blur of lightning, and kicked out by a secondary discharge of Reign of Vellus. It hit the Blight, dead in its gaping maw.