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Grand Game 575: A Battle Between Titans
🕑 Added 2025-01-25 02:57:06 +0000 UTCYou have teleported onto a level 340 young void tree.
The nether toxicity at your current location is tier 30, boosting your health, psi, stamina, and mana regeneration rates to 31% per minute.
I emerged from the aether atop my target—nestled amongst its very branches in fact—and in a cloud of nether that was the thickest I had yet experienced. With my clawed basilisk feet clinging to my slim perch of ash-white and my long snaking tail sweeping aside the nearby clumps of ebon-black thorns, I bent my canine head downward to glare at my foe.
For a split second, the tree did not react to my presence.
Which was not surprising, considering how much I resembled one of the grotesque harbingers. Then, too, I sensed its attention was wholly on what was going on in the valley—on the arrows and spells already raining down on the lesser stygians, on the water sloshing at its trunk, and on the four relatively small figures atop the two overlords.
I wove mana.
That drew an immediate reaction.
A young void tree has failed to pierce your disguise.
The branch beneath me quivered. The void tree suspected. While the stygian Power was not able to penetrate my guise, it nonetheless suspected I was no creature of the void. An attack was incoming, I was certain.
Still, I kept casting.
Attempted mental intrusion detected. A young void tree has failed to enthrall you!
Grimly, I kept weaving my spell.
If the void tree hadn’t known what it was dealing with before, it did now. How would it choose to respond?
All the nearby branches rustled.
Realizing what form the assault was going to take, I tucked my head into my shoulders and wrapped my tail tightly around my body. But I didn’t stop casting.
A moment later, a shower of ebony slivers homed in on my position. There was no dodging them. The range was too short. Besides, there was my spell to think about.
A stygian thorn has failed to injure you. The attack has been blocked by your impregnable mind, consuming 0.1% psi in the process.
A stygian thorn has failed to injure you.
You have evaded a stygian thorn.
You have evaded a stygian thorn.
…
…
Less than half the stygian thorns struck me. The rest—courtesy of Safyre’s buff—simply passed through my wavering physical form. Still, the half of the black shower that did land was enough to wreak significant damage to my mental defenses.
…
…
Your psi is now at 64%.
I weathered the storm though and, more importantly, held onto my concentration. The last weave of my spell fell into place, and without hesitation, I manifested it.
You have cast oblivion.
Warning: your mana reserves are running low. Remaining mana: 25%.
The air around me flashed black, enclosing me in a small bubble of darkness so thick it was almost palpable. Mutely, I waited.
The darkness exploded outward, rolling over the stygian Power first—
A young void tree has passed a magical resistance check!
—and then, its unseen rings of escorts.
A level 4 stygian spore has died.
A level 6 stygian spore has died.
…
…
The darkness didn’t stop there, though. It kept going, expanding into a sphere a hundred yards in radius that overran the two overlords and every creature in between.
Two stygian overlords have passed a magical resistance check.
Ceruvax, Faren, Adriel, and Keros have passed a magical resistance check.
But while the overlords and my allies—who had prepared earlier for the spell—did not disintegrate, many of the lesser stygians caught out by the spell did not fare so well.
A stygian serpent has died.
A stygian hydra has died.
…
…
The death notifications went on and on, but I stopped paying attention. I had accomplished what I’d set out to do, and even though it had cost me nearly all my mana, every spore within range—and perhaps even in the entire sector—was dead.
And no few lesser stygians, I thought with satisfaction, staring at the corpses below, many already half-covered by the heaving water.
My gaze flickered back to the void tree. I could tell from oppressive heaviness gathering around the shields enclosing my mind that I had its attention now.
Wholly and completely.
And while capturing the Power’s regard had certainly been my intention all along, I couldn’t help the ripple of unease that passed over me.
The damnable thing was angry.
Which meant things were about to get interesting—and not in a good way.
Drawing more mana, I readied myself.
✵ ✵ ✵
You have cast seeping shadows (modifying your attacks to deal shadow damage and increase your foe’s shadow affliction by +5%). Duration: 1 minute.
I’d barely enacted my next spell—the one I’d stolen from Ceruvax—when the void tree struck anew.
A level 340 young void tree has cast psychic scream.
A wave of force, so powerful it left a shimmering haze in its wake, struck me. The attack bore all the hallmarks of a physical assault yet was not that. It wasn’t magical either. No, what I felt was simply the void tree’s seething fury, malice, and wrath, all mixed up in one and given impetus by the strength of its will.
You have partially resisted a psychic scream.
Psychic scream is a tier 7 psi ability that deals psi damage to all hostiles in close proximity to the caster.
My mental shields did nothing to stop the spell. The assault was not one against my mind, but my body. My void armor did nothing to combat it either.
Defenseless and naked against the vicious forces tearing at me, my bones shattered, my limbs crumpled, my eardrums exploded, and my eyes leaked blood.
A young void tree has injured you, inflicting psi damage. You are bleeding, deafened, blinded, and crippled.
If I had not resisted the spell somewhat, I was not sure I would have survived at all. As it was, stripped of all strength, my clawed feet lost their hold on my perch, and I plummeted downward.
But as devastating as the void tree’s attack had been, it was hardly enough to defeat me—or even seriously injure me—and halfway through my fall, my defenses kicked in.
First quick mend triggered, restoring 50% of your health!
You are no longer bleeding, deafened, blinded, or crippled. Health remaining: 98%.
Mid-air, I twisted, and instead of crashing headlong into the choppy water below, I landed on my feet.
I couldn’t say if my startling recovery surprised my foe, but I didn’t wait to see how it would react. Drawing stamina, I sent energy coursing through my body.
You have cast ponderous step. You are now heavy (causing the ground to shake with each step) Duration: 1 minute.
I took a single step forward, my clawed foot plunging through the water to pound against the ground beneath.
Tremors rippled outward and waves danced anew. They extended all the way to my foe, causing its branches to shiver.
A young void tree has passed a physical resistance check. You have failed to stagger or knockdown your target.
I took another step, and the ground quaked anew.
You have staggered a young void tree, disrupting its concentration for 1 second.
Excellent. Surging forward daemon-fast through the knee-high water, and with my every step giving rise to new tremors, I launched myself at the void tree.
I covered the distance in less than a handful of seconds and without falling prey to any further spells. Whether that was due to ponderous step, I couldn’t say for certain. But it didn’t matter—I was within melee range of my foe again.
Lashing out with my right paw, I raked my claws down its ash-white trunk.
You have struck a young void tree with stunning paw. Your target has passed a physical resistance check. You have failed to stun a young void tree.
You have grazed your target (shadow damage partially resisted). Your target has failed a magical resistance check. You have afflicted your foe with shadow. Current affliction: 5%.
My left paw followed suit.
You have struck a young void tree with stunning paw (partially resisted), stunning it for 1 second.
You have grazed your target (shadow damage partially resisted), increasing its shadow affliction to 10%.
Next, my muzzle snapping forward, I bit into the tree’s bark with razor sharp teeth that were brimming with as much shadow as my claws were.
You have attacked a young void tree with lacerating bite but have failed to deal bleeding damage.
You have struck your target a glancing blow (shadow damage partially resisted), increasing its shadow affliction to 15%.
My limbs replete with daemon-energy, I repeated the devastating combo twice more as I circled around the tree’s base.
Step. Right paw. Left paw. Bite.
Step. Right paw. Left paw. Bite.
Most enemies would have been bleeding and dying by this point, but as it was, my attacks barely left a dent in the void tree’s health.
A level 340 young void tree is 45% shadow afflicted. Its health is at 99%, its mana is at 0%, its stamina is at 100%, and its psi is at 50%.
I already knew why the Power’s psi pool was so low. It was the psychic scream that was responsible. Casting the spell had been costly. But it was another facet of my foe’s status that drew my attention—namely, its health. Only a meager one percent was missing.
It doesn’t matter, I thought grimly. The damage I inflicted on the void tree would only increase the longer the skirmish dragged on. I only had to survive long enough to bring the fight to a conclusion.
An etheric lash has failed to injure you. 3% psi consumed.
I lifted my head. My foe was reverting to more familiar tactics, and already I spied, three more branches quivering.
Another black thorn shower was about to launch.
Forgoing further maw attacks in favor of keeping a wary eye on the branches in question, I kept up my relentless assault with my forelimbs.
Step. Right paw. Left paw.
Step. Right paw. Left paw.
…
…
The void tree’s branches whipped back, then forward, firing off a long line of black thorns straight at me.
I didn’t wait to meet them.
Digging my clawed feet into the stygian Power, I shot straight up its trunk and out of the way of the deadly barrage.
You have evaded a stygian thorn.
You have evaded a stygian thorn.
…
…
I felt like laughing as the black slivers vanished without a trace into the water below, but the battle had only just begun, and there was no telling what other surprises my foe had in store for me. Dropping back to the ground, I resumed my assault on its trunk.
✵ ✵ ✵
Nearly a minute later, I was still dancing around the void tree while I struck at it with my paws. Thus far, I’d managed to avoid every volley of thorns it had sent my way—except for the first one, of course—and I could sense my foe’s mounting frustration.
Evading the tree’s etheric lashes was impossible, though, and I’d felt their bite repeatedly. But despite this, my psi reserves were growing—not depleting.
And, ludicrously, this was all thanks to the nether itself.
Your health is at 100%, your psi at 68%, your stamina is at 97%, and your mana is at 55%.
A nether regeneration rate of thirty-one percent per minute was nothing to sniff at and meant I gained one percent of my lost psi, stamina, mana, and health back every two seconds!
The mist was assisting the void tree as well, of course.
But either my attacks against the stygian Power were more effective than its own were against me, or its regeneration rates were not as good as mine, because over the course of the minute, the void tree’s health continued to slip downward.
A level 340 young void tree is 100% shadow afflicted and its health is at 95%.
I had the void tree beat, and the stygian Power knew it, too.
Its eventual defeat was only a matter of time, now.
Comments
mark janson
Tftc❤️
Tesset
tftc!
obiwann
I’m surprised that he made it to 15% health. That’s crazy. With his regen… buffs… like damn.
David Brewer
"Note, as a target’s shadow affliction increases, their innate shadow resistance and damage reduction will decrease, causing them to suffer more damage from successive shadow attacks." From the chapter where he "stole" if from Ceruvax.
Alejandro
🫶
David Brewer
He does have the advantage that the tree doesn't likely realize the thick nether cloud has massively boosted his regeneration of everything... as a result the tree doesn't yet realize it needs to hit him hard. And then hit him again.
John Anastacio
I wonder what being 100% shadow afflicted means and does.
David Brewer
The tree likely won't try running until both overlords are dead AND the Harbinger beyond the rift is too. It leaving the sector would probably close the rift and abandon the overlords to be slaughtered. Oh and force the stygians to abandon their designs on that sector and perhaps make it harder for them to attack Draven's Reach again.
Joshua Adams
Something has to. It keeps things interesting lol
Joshua Adams
This is a really good fight. I love reading these chapters. "More! More! More!" - Kylo
Moonsiren10
He jinxed himself, now everything is going to go wrong
CipherFTW
HECK YEAH BROTHERRRRRR
Grady Perry
He stronk
Eriach
TFTC
Eriach
Not when his regeneration is so high
Johnsmith
Alright, now for it to try something. Either to escape or call in reinforcements somehow.
Jason Hornbuckle
I guess I feel like that steals the drama a little bit
Michael valerio
Correct because quick mend is instantaneous and the regeneration is too so he went from 48% to 98% instantly because of both buffs
Jason Hornbuckle
"it was hardly enough to defeat me—or even seriously injure me" Broken bones and ruptured eardrums aren't serious injuries?
Sailesh Kumar Kumar
TFTC
