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Incursion Empire Ch. 12
🕑 Added 2025-04-10 20:01:44 +0000 UTCTwelve
ARHOOOO!!!! The sound trumpeted through the forest as Dane ducked low and rolled across the forest floor as a tree exploded behind him. Chunks of wood and splinters sprayed across the area and peppered Dane as he got to his feet and looked at his newest target. It was the size of a small house, four legged with monstrous bone white antlers that had snow flurries whipping around its many points. Thick brown fur was coated in mud, slush, and bits of tree.
“I hope this one’s good enough for you,” Dane spat out toward Tolic, the spirit looking on with interest.
“It’s a majestic creature and already quite powerful. Ensure that you try not to damage it anymore than you have,” the spirit responded. Dane looked over toward the deep charred flank where the beast had shrugged off his [Hellfire] spell. His left arm was still smoldering, red and inflamed as Dane tried to keep away from the creature’s sharp antler points and slashing hooves.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Dane grumbled and darted forward as the monstrous beast tried to wrench its antlers out of a tree. Its tramping hooves threw up mounds of mud and snow, splattering across his face as he rammed the long dagger behind the animal’s shoulder. The handle heated up under his hand and a red light began to glow as the creature stumbled and then belted out its cry again, but weaker. Dane could almost see the strength leaving the creature as it staggered to get free.
“Almost weak enough for me to overpower it,” Tolic said helpfully. The four armed phantasm eyes were burning with hunger as it slunk closer to them. Dane pulled the dagger free and the blood red runes were glowing brightly as Dane rammed the knife back in and to the side.
“Good!” Tolic cried and leapt at the monster. Tolic’s four hands dug through flesh, pulling aside the flesh and worming his way inside. The moment all of Tolic was fully enmeshed in the creature the monster’s struggles stopped as its limbs went rigid.
“You can remove that knife from my lung now, thank you,” Tolic’s voice echoed distantly in his mind.
“Are you communicating with me psionically?” Dane asked the possessed animal as he pulled the blade out.
“How else do you want me to talk to you?” Tolic said as he pulled the antlers free of the tree and twisted his newfound wide neck at an angle that caused a series of cracks and pops. The flurries of snow had fallen away from the antlers and Tolic was stamping his hooves around as he settled into his new form.
“Little nervous about telepathy after my run in with the natives,” Dane said as he leaned against the tree.
“Get used to it if you keep summoning from the damned depths. Most of the creature’s down there don’t have vocal chords. Alright, I think I have the feel of this thing down, I can walk at least,” Tolic finished his sentence by walking through a tree.
“Sturdy body, good find. Back legs not working so great. I’ll get at least six hours out of this before its body collapses after I finish consuming its core.”
“Huh?” Dane asked. The fight had taken nearly twenty minutes of leading the monster around as they fought a desperate pitched battle to wear it down enough for Tolic to possess it.
“I needed you to wear it down enough that its natural defenses could be circumvented. I’ll consume its core slowly to level up while I’m piloting the flesh suit around.”
“I thought I had to sacrifice things for you to level?”
“What do you think you did? You stabbed it with the sacrifice dagger.”
“But it’ll fall apart in six hours?”
“Roughly. It’s not like I’ve done this before. The whole body will collapse without the core though.”
“Then you’ll be back to being useless?”
“I resent that assessment. But, yes.” Tolic was striding forward with a long ambling stride, thin legs supporting the massive bulk as Dane followed in its tracks.
“Then we need to level quickly. We should be close to the Aji-Abami incursion site. I’ve already bloodied their nose. Now we need to make them hurt. And gain levels.”
“You’d fit in well in Hell,” Tolic said. Dane grunted in acknowledgement and they kept walking.
“Do you know where we’re going?” Tolic asked after a few minutes of silence.
“Keep moving toward that mountain towards the East. The incursion site was at its base. We’ll likely start encountering their scouts soon.” His memory of the last few days had blurred, the works of Elder having twisted and burned at his short term memory.
Level. Leveling will solve all these problems. Then I can deal with Elder and the rest of the natives.
A seed of hatred had been planted over the day that the natives had held him. Even Meritorious’s rather benign treatment held an edge of rage in his memories. That they had looked down upon him, that they had rummaged through his mind and memories and judged him with nothing more than that. Had condemned him.
“You should work on that mental defense skill. I can feel that hatred a mile away. Like I said, you’d be right at home in Hell,” Tolic said with a laugh that rattled around his mind.
“That’s not as reassuring as you think,” Dane grumbled.
“It’s very pleasant there. Aside from the constant burning and screaming. Demons seem to enjoy it,” Tolic said.
“Quiet, something is up ahead,” Dane hissed as he moved to settle into the roots of a tree. There was little in the way of cover around, but Dane could hear the bark of the Aji-Abami as it echoed over the cold woods.
“I’m speaking in your head. I’m silent,” Tolic grumbled but he settled his meat puppet to the ground, bending those long legs so the massive bulk rested behind a pair of closer together trees.
Then they waited. And waited. The faint yips and barks coming closer and closer until suddenly falling silent. Dane peered around his tree, trying to see where the Aji-Abami were. If it was scouts like he had been fighting or maybe a full sized war party to deal with. The snow wasn’t as thick as it had been, but there was still a decent crust of it across the ground. It would be a good warning for Dane and Tolic.
Where are they? I should hear them
His own lessons came back to him and he glanced up and into the trees, along the long interwoven branches. Light gleamed off of eyes as figures moved quietly across the limbs, hardly shaking the thick branches.
“Above us,” Dane hissed at Tolic while he started to cast [Hellfire] upwards. His left arm burned as a blast of violet-black flames leapt forth and struck the leading figure. The Aji-Abami was hardly more than a shadow thirty feet away as it raced toward him. An explosion of light burned Dane’s eyes as the dogman exploded into pieces. Burning pieces of wood flew about everywhere to land all around them.
Tolic rose to his full massive height, baying a war cry as Aji-Abami fell out of the trees like leaves in the fall. Dane blinked fast as the glare of the flash went away and he could look at the group as they raced toward him. They were similar to the scouts he had fought earlier, lean and lithe with short swords and bows.
Five ran at him and Tolic while another pair split apart and started to run to flank them. Tolic charged across the distance faster than Dane thought possible, lowering his massive antlers and forcing the wedge of dogmen to break apart and roll away.
Dane charged them with his dagger held low to his side as he crossed to the closest of the Aji-Abami scout. As he looked at the scout he felt a tug on his mind, a gentle pressure as Tolic suddenly whirled and lashed out with his hooves, striking the scout that had been in his blind spot.
The Aji-Abami flew and hit a tree with a crunch, bone breaking as its head slapped the tree with tremendous force. The scout stirred a bit, lifting its head around and looking confused. Dane slid up to the scout and stabbed it in the throat with the dagger, runes lighting up as the scout stiffened and began to wither away.
Unlike the monster Tolic was currently occupying, this was a much faster draining. The scout shuddered and collapsed sideways as Dane jerked the dagger free. An arrow hit the tree right next to his face, the air of its passage cool on his cheek. Dane rolled on his shoulder and used the tree as a shield as he got to his feet to look at the fight going on.
Tolic was surrounded on all sides by Aji-Abami who were cutting the possessed creatures to pieces. Tolic didn’t seem to care, charging and trampling the closest to him before spinning suddenly and raked his head upwards. Metal shrieked as antlers dug across the breastplate, picking the scout up with just the power behind the blow. The scout went flying and landed hard on the ground only a few feet away.
Dane started toward the downed scout but an arrow flew by him and forced him to the side and away from the temporarily disabled scout. Tolic trumpeted again and lashed about with hooves and antlers, keeping the scouts on edge as Dane was forced to look around for the two bowmen.
One was focused on Tolic, firing useless arrow after arrow into the huge creature. Tolic’s vessel was looking like a pincushion, with multiple deep lacerations that had peeled away layers of fat and muscle. Clotted blood dripped from the wounds but it didn’t slow Tolic down as he charged another of the scouting team without fear.
Dane looked around for the second bowman before glancing up again. In the tree he had been hiding behind, the second bowman was sitting crouched in the limbs of the tree with an arrow pulled back. It crossed the distance in a heartbeat, Dane forced to roll across the cold and muddy ground again, before sprinting toward the archer. All the other fighters ignored him, busy as they were, as the archer calmly drew back another arrow.
Inflamed red skin showed as he pointed his casting arm at the scout. The scout flinched as it fired, the arrow slashing by Dane to hit the ground behind him. Dane couldn’t fire another bolt of fire again, not without his arm cooling down a bit. The empty threat gave him a moment to get closer to the scout and throw his dagger with a flick of his wrist.
It tumbled twice before sinking itself in the scout’s eye. The thump of its body was lost in the crash of the fight behind him as Dane reached over and pulled the blade out of the eye.
I was aiming for its throat. Need to practice knife throwing more.
Dane got to his feet to watch as Tolic collapsed to the ground, his vessel little more than strips of flesh wrapped around a broken skeleton. Only two of the scouts were still alive and fighting, along with the bowman. Dane darted forward while they were still staring at Tolic, panting heavily as they forgot about him.
Tolic came weaseling out of the corpse of the monster, all four arms bulging with muscle as he looked at the scouts who had killed his vessel. With a grunt of effort, Tolic flexed all four arms and looked around the torn up ground as he roared as loud as he could.
“YES! LOOK AT ME! THE MIGHTY TOLIC! FEAR! FEAR!”
Dane stabbed the closest one through the back of his skull, the Aji-Abami stiffened and fell, but Dane had already spun away and toward the next scout. He rammed the knife in the scout’s throat and ripped it around as Tolic blitzed toward the bowman who had turned and pointed the bow at Dane.
Four arms pumped and threw fists, each the size of a dinner plate, and connected with the bowman. Each fist passed right through the bowman’s head without slowing or harming the bowman. The bowman fired as he ducked and Dane thanked the spirit in head even as he hit the Aji-Abami around the waist and threw the dogman to the ground.
Talons scraped along the edge of his arms and fangs snapped at his neck. Dane tucked his chin into his chest and felt teeth scrape across his chin as he punched the knife into the Aji-Abami’s shoulder on the outside of the breastplate it wore. The dogman stiffened and then began to wilt away as Dane wiggled the blade before the scout died.
“I lost my ride, Warlock. Other than that, I don’t think that was half bad,” Tolic said out loud as he floated over to where Dane was panting.
“Thank you for the distraction at the end. I don’t think I could have gotten around that last archer without it,” Dane said.
“All in a day's work. You could pay me by giving me a few of those cores you just acquired.” Dane was too busy staring at an alert he had waited nearly his entire life to see.
Warlock level 2!
