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Chapter 324 - Transcending Blade
🕑 Added 2024-03-16 23:10:48 +0000 UTCI found this chapter so difficult to write! Pretty pleased with how it turned out though.
The ugly beast loomed closer, pale flesh pink with blood beneath its skin. It was slow, but the chamber was small and the creature giant. It was nearing their company now, its floating body carried forward on six legs of chains. Judging from the acid leaking from its body and the spells raining from its many mouths, Hump didn’t want to find out what happened when it reached them.
But they’d need to kill it eventually. The dungeon node was behind it now—there was no claiming it if they didn’t make it past this thing.
“You have a plan?” Dylan asked him. He was still in his Aspect of the Guardian form, skin more tree than person now, and tall enough that Hump had to tilt his head all the way back to see his face.
“We’re going to kill that thing,” Hump said. “Simple really.”
“That thing is a mind eater,” Dylan said. “It’s going to take more than my vines to bring it down.”
“I know. My Tier 4 spell barely hurt it. But if we can get it to the ground, I have something that might work. Can you do it?”
Dylan studied the giant creature with a frown. “It’s too big for my Grasping Vines alone. If we can get it into my Wrath of the Wild domain, it’s possible.”
“If you’ve got an idea, tell me what to do,” Bud called back.
The knight stood ahead of Hump, holding the line of infantry, and manifesting another shield of ice in the air as more spells bombarded them. Blessings blazed, encompassing the men as bolts of lightning exploded from another of the mind hunter’s heads. The power was enough to resist the attacks for now, but even Chosen wouldn’t be able to sustain such a defence over so many people for long.
“Lure it back,” Hump said to him. “Fake the retreat.”
“You hear that, men?” Bud shouted. “Slow retreat to the tunnel. Hold formation. Leave no one behind. Emilia! Henrietta! We’re falling back.”
The two women were still fighting imps amongst the mushrooms, hovering around the Stonewall Hump had erected to block off the left side. They stayed as far from the mind eater as they could and raced through the foliage along the left flank, hellhounds giving chase. Soon, they burst out and rejoined the company.
The line of soldiers continued steadily back, maintaining formation expertly as fellspawn and bloodhorrors harried them. It left no room for enemies to breach through the centre, but more importantly it meant that the blessings cast over them were interlocked, forming a wall of protective essence. All the while, the mind eater gave chase.
Essence gathering to one of the mind eater’s heads, stronger than usual. Hump readied a spell on his lips as lightning burst forward, streaking through the air in three directions. Hump summoned his Shield over the line, gritting his teeth at the force of the magic behind the attack. This demon was certainly strong and seemed to have no end to its supply of essence.
Hump reached the tunnel entrance, coming to stand beside Celaine and Nishari. Others gathered to them, only Bud and the infantry remaining at the front.
Archers continued to barrage the creature with arrows, but they seemed to do nothing to the giant creature. Even where they pierced its flesh, they were tiny splinters to its great form, and soon even they were pushed out as the wounds healed over.
Silver light shone piercingly bright behind Hump, the shot through the air at the creature—Celaine’s Power Shot. The eyes of the demon all went to it, its skin hardening and turning to stone where the arrow struck.
There was a loud crack as essence exploded at the point of impact, shattering stone and flesh but being far too shallow of a wound to be seriously harmful. The mind eater’s face didn’t even twitch as its mouth tightened and it spat another globule of acid at Celaine. She stepped back gracefully, dodging it, another arrow finding her string and shadow replicas forming around her. She loosed them all, flying straight and true for the creature’s central eye. It closed its eye, its skin thickening once more. The arrows bounced off harmlessly.
Seeing its defences, Hump wondered if his plan would even work.
Emilia arrived at Hump’s side, essence rising from her body and blade like steam. “What’s the plan?”
Trailing behind her was Henrietta. “Why are we retreating?”
Hump told them what he’d come up with. “Do you think it will work?”
“Worth a try,” Emilia said.
“What is this thing?” Celaine asked, joining them. “It shrugged off my attacks like they’re nothing.”
“Mind eaters are powerful demons,” Emilia said. “I’ve heard of a few encounters with them before—they’ve always either escaped or killed enough of the squads to force them to retreat.”
“Then we’d best finish this one off before it has the chance to do either,” Hump said.
“How do we kill it?” Celaine asked.
“Same way you kill any demon,” Dylan said. “Carve out or destroy its heartstone. Only problem is there’s about a dozen feet of skin, flesh, and bone protecting it.”
“My arrows can’t penetrate that deeply,” Celaine said. “It’s too well armoured.”
“I might be able to do something about that,” Emilia said. “If you can keep it still, I can pierce its core.”
“How?” Hump asked.
“‘The Transcending Blade pierces all’,”Emilia said with a smile, speaking of her martial technique. “At least, that’s my family motto.”
“Sounds like we’ll kill it a few times over,” Hump said. “Brilliant.”
Hump surveyed the battlefield. The enemy numbers were dwindling quickly, but there were still enough of them to keep the majority of Bud’s company occupied. Soon, they formed a half circle around the tunnel entrance.
“Stop!” the creature snarled angrily. “You won’t leave here.”
“Try and stop us,” Bud shouted back, provoking it.
The creature lumbered closer, chain legs dragging it forward frantically. Its faces twisted with anger, all eyes furious, its many brows wrinkling.
“You will not leave!” it shouted, its force of will exploding outward in an almost invisible attack.
Hump felt the sudden pain in his mind again, the mind eater trying to inflict its agony once more. This time, the Sorcerers, Kat and Rianne, went undisturbed, protected by Gideon’s blessing nearby.
There was no flash of essence or jet of light, but Hump could sense its intent soaring through the chamber. At first, Hump thought it was another attack directed at him, but then a few soldiers around him stumbled. A man a few paces down fell to the ground entirely and a hellhound locked its jaws around his leg, dragging him away from the line where a bloodhorror waited. The creature was about to plunge its sword into the man’s throat when Celaine’s arrow found the creature.
Hump rushed forward, levelling his staff at the hellhound. “Focused Blast.”
The beam of blue essence struck the creature’s head with such force it flew back, its skull exploding with blood. There, it lay still. Hump grabbed the man by the scruff of his chainmail with his left hand and dragged him back to the line, his dragon blooded strength more than enough for a man in armour.
As he arrived, a handful of warriors amongst the company approached Hump.
“I’ve got him,” Hump said.
He saw a strange movement in the corner of his eye and turned in time to see the closest of them—a woman—stab with her sword. The blade came straight at his stomach. He managed to move aside enough that it caught his side, pain flaring as the point impacted him.
Hump screamed, falling to the ground. His new battle robes had saved him from anything more than a bruise, but it hurt. More than that, he was on the ground and surrounded by five members of the company that had decided he was better off dead.
“What are you—” Hump started.
“Kill him,” came the demon’s voice, filled with such intent Hump almost wanted to die himself. Almost. Not today though.
“Die demon!” the woman snarled.
It was then Hump noticed the purple hue to their eyes.
They raised their weapons and attacked all at once. Hump summoned his Shield, only for a blast of intense power from the mind eater to shatter his spell before it got off. His eyes widened. Time felt like it slowed down as five swords carved at him at once.
Fast as he’d ever moved, he leaned back and launched himself, throwing himself to the ground. The blades whistled past him. Hump hit the ground, landing on his back. He rolled over his side and onto his front, kicking at the leg of the closest warrior and sending him to his knee. Then he pushed himself up as four more charged at him.
A sword stabbed at his stomach. He swung his staff at it, batting it aside before slamming the crystal end into the chest piece of the warrior. The man crashed to the ground; his chest piece crumbled from the force.
Four more came at him, their minds gone, the creature’s magic commanding them.
Nisha rushed at them, snarling like he’d never seen her, fire burning in her mouth.
“Wait!” Hump told her. “Don’t hurt them. Stay there.”
The dragon listened.
Hump dodged a sword, then swung his staff at a leg, connecting and sending the first woman tumbling to the ground. The three remaining on their feet came at him together, standing side by side. He pointed his staff at them.
“Light.” His staff flared brightly, and the three soldiers screamed, turning away. Hump prepared an Essence Blast when he noticed Gideon arrive behind them. The war priest’s essence enveloped the warriors. It was only for a second, and the purple hue was gone from their eyes. They looked around in a daze, their eyes stopping on Hump.
“I’m—I’m so sorry!”
“I thought you were a demon.”
“It’s fine,” Hump said. “It was the mind eater, not you. And we’ll make it pay.”
Gideon looked at the crumbled chest piece of the man on the ground in surprise, then at the man Hump had dragged a dozen paces through the chamber. “You’re strong for a wizard.”
“It’s all the walking,” Hump said. “You wouldn’t believe how much a hedge wizard has to walk.”
Hump turned back to the fight, coming to stand behind Bud. Steel and faces were a blur of movement. Bloodhorrors continued to attack, some of their blades making it through. The wounded of Bud’s company were dragged to the tunnel where Gideon could tend to them while others fought on.
The ground was churned beneath it, torn up by the pointed spikes on the end of each limb of the mind eater’s chain-legs. Suddenly, it struck out with one like a whip. Emilia dashed ahead of the line, swinging with her buckler, bashing it aside with a thundering boom. Spells poured from its mouths, any one powerful enough to kill a man if it snuck through the defensive spells and blessings around the company.
A moment’s lapse in mental strength, and Hump sensed the mind eater would find it. But the plan was working. It was coming closer, lured in by either stupidity or confidence. Perhaps both.
And then it was in Dylan’s domain.
Vines erupted from the ground with no word of warning, and the lumbering creature was too slow to dodge. Its many eyes went wide, flicking from left to right in sudden alertness as they coiled around its deformed body, wrapping it tightly, adding to the chains that already bound it to the ground like legs. In only a few seconds, it was wrapped in a thick web of vines.
It screamed in fury, somehow turning enough to spit at Dylan but Bud was there with another Aegis of Protection, his icy shield buying time for the druid to step aside before the acid melted through it.
All the while, Dylan directed the vines, twisting them together like strands of rope. They stretched from the top of its body, reaching to the ground.
“Heavy infantry, advance! Push the lesser demons back! Advance!” Bud roared, rushing ahead of the line and swinging wildly with his sword. Frostfire last from his blade in a great blaze.
The heavy infantry pushed forward behind him, driving back the fellspawn and bloodhorrors, creating the space they needed. Archers rained arrows in, along with Celaine and Beatrix, felling many of the weaker creatures.
“Grab the vines!” Hump shouted to the majority of the infantry that remained. “Pull the mind eater toward the left of the chamber.”
All around the chamber, men rushed to grab the vines, five soldiers to every strand. They worked together to heave the creature like a tug-of-war contest, roaring as they yanked.
The creature screamed as the top of its body was pulled off balance. Its chain-legs went slack as it was heaved to the side, toppling until it landed on what would be the cheek of its main face, the mangled flesh of its underside exposed. More vines erupted directly beneath it, wrapping around its body like a snake, trapping it against the ground. Even lying on its side, it towered over all of them like a small building.
Now it was Hump’s turn.
“Everyone stay back!” Hump shouted.
The Book of Infinite Pages whirled in his left hand. Essence soared from it—all power he’d infused it with in preparation for a moment just like this. Utilising his Spell Storage function, he drew upon the magic on the page. It flooded through him, hot and bursting with energy. Hump forced it through his staff and imbued it with his intent. His singular goal.
“Molten Pit.”
The ground quaked. Cracks formed in the chamber, congregating on the mind eater. Red light glowed within, thick black smoke rose, and then the ground opened entirely. Molten rock pressed against the mind eater’s cheek, and it screamed in agony.
Its spells had stopped now. Its flesh hardened and softened, essence surging beneath its skin as it completely lost control. Its chain-legs flailed, trying to break free but Dylan’s vines held it tightly.
Emilia appeared in a red flash at the base of its mangled form. She drew back her rapier, the entire blade turning to pure red, like superheated metal. Before she could stab, the creature managed to spit another globule of acid.
Raising her buckler, Emilia blocked the blow, but the acid clung to the small shield. She scowled, tossing it aside as the acid ate away at even the silver tier artifact.
Not good, Hump thought.
But Emilia refocused, preparing her blade once more, eyes focused on the underside of the creature. She coiled her whole body until she was poised like a spring, then exploded forward, plunging her blade into the mind eater’s flesh. There was a sharp boom. A gust burst from the point of impact, and then silence. The creature’s screams stopped, and Hump spotted the oozing spot of blood from the top of its body as a hole opened up all the way through it.
She’d done it. Cheers filled the chamber. The demons that hadn’t yet fled now turned in full retreat, leaving only the mindless fellspawn to die. Celaine loosed arrows after the stragglers, each one a perfect shot. Dylan released his vines and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, a wide smile on his face.
Emilia gazed at her blade, lost in her thoughts as Hump approached. He looked at her buckler nearby, the shield destroyed beyond repair.
“I... never realized. I always tried to fight like my mother, but it is my father's path that speaks to me.”
Hump said. “Sorry about your buckler.”
Emilia knelt next to the ruined shield, carefully picking it up to examine it.
“It’s a good thing really,” she said. “My family techniques were never really meant to be used with a buckler. I think.... I think this has held me back all this time...”
Almost negligently, Emilia tossed aside the shield and bowed her head in contemplation.
“Past tense?” Hump said, studying her.
She didn’t answer. Hump sensed a new power come over her. Her blade still gleamed with red essence, and it only glowed brighter. Red essence surged beneath her skin, pulsing like a racing heartbeat, the light dancing in her eyes and beneath her skin. There was a crack—not audible, but in the very world. Hump stumbled back, unprepared for the aura of power that radiated from Emilia.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Soul Awakening,” she murmured. “I finally did it.”
She flourished her blade, and Hump sensed the killing power instilled within. She’d called it the Transcending Blade. A power that at its peak could pierce anything.
Comments
Jason Hornbuckle
btw how is the creature laying in lava while also held by vines that are coming out of the ground? That seems a little unclear to me
Jason Hornbuckle
"Fast as he’d ever moved, he leaned back and launched himself, throwing himself to the ground." he's already lying on the ground at this point
George R
Great chapter
Moonspike
Breaks buckler blocking a lethal attack that a rapier had no way of dealing with, "its okay the buckler was holding me back"
Debiruman
Hump flexing his dragon blood.
