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Chapter 481
🕑 Added 2022-08-02 11:46:38 +0000 UTCSorry for the delay! It was unexpected.
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Days passed.
Felix's team was now well within the Tangle, a forest of massive seaweed fronds and bursts of wild coral. They had passed from the Temple complex on the first day, entering the dense jungle that spread for miles in every direction. The light from the surface did not reach them there, but the fronds visibly glowed with life Mana and the clusters of bright pink and orange coral were filled luminous plants and animals. Sea life was everywhere, and while most fled from their procession, there were schools of dead-eyed fish the size of small cars that ignored them completely.
<<Cattle,>> Toa'ut said, jutting his thick jaw at the big fish. <<Raised for food just as the landfolk fatten their birds and hogs.>>
Felix, astride the big War Naga's back, grunted in acknowledgement. Normally he'd have happily asked more questions, but he was otherwise engaged. Beef rode behind him, the both of them secured with straps connected to a harness made of vines and chitinous buckles. Toa'ut had not complained at all despite their combined weight, and they had covered a ton of distance. The War Naga were fast.
Etched onto the makeshift harness, familiar sigils pulsed rhythmically, each beat dragging a portion of Felix's Mana from his channels and directing it into Beef's own. Felix had cobbled together a miniaturized version of the array he'd used back in Bogfeld. A considerable feat for him. A perfect memory was handy for such things, but the true difficulty laid in reorganizing all the important parts.
Invocation is level 68!
Theurgist of the Rise is level 83!
<<You good, dude?>> Felix asked, his voice tight and warbling as it wafted across his Sunken Ward. The spell allowed for communication between them all, so long as they remained close by, but the tension was from the ward but the array. After hours of it, the sensation was awful, like vomiting in slow motion. Every part of his channels felt battered, and he recognized the symptoms of Spirit strain. <<Holding up?>>
Beef nodded, his orichalcum helmet hung at his belt, and his bare face was slick with moisture. The glow of Felix's Sunken Ward covered them all, outlining their forms in faint shrouds of darkest blue and keeping the water off of them, but it did nothing for sweat. <<I'm good.>> He wobbled slightly, and the harness between the two of them went taut for a moment before he caught himself. The kid shuddered. <<I'm good.>>
<<Your Risen is still intact? In control?>> Felix asked. The array was necessary because Beef was funneling his own power through the now distant Risen that he'd sent through the Shadowgate. The Skill operated on similar fundamentals as Felix's old Oathbinding, establishing a stout connection between Beef and the corpses he raised that allowed him or Hallow to manipulate directly.
<<Yeah. It feels bad, but I've conjured a ton of chitin planks for the others to use.>> Beef's eyes were distant, staring at nothing as he pressed his Perception through the Body of his Risen. <<It's hard. Every once in a while, the Risen just stops responding though. Like they get all slippery. I can't believe Hallow controls so many of these things.>>
<<You're piloting a corpse from across a super continent,>> Felix reminded him. <<The fact that you can do this at all is incredible.>>
Beef did perk up at that, though his eyes were still clouded and distant. <<Thanks.>>
Channeling his magic through his Hallow Rise Skill was incredibly draining, hence the harness to hold them together and on the back of Toa'ut. The ritual fed Felix's Mana into Beef, allowing the kid to continue to provide materials to their distant team as they reconstructed enough Manaships to get them to Haarwatch. According to Karys reports, the ships were almost complete thanks to Beef's efforts as well as the Henaari craftsmen on site—a number of them were remarkably good with the vessels. The original plan was to have Beef make and help assemble the ships through the use of his Chitin Construction and Shipwright Skills, but being able to do it remotely was incredibly useful and allowed the Minotaur to stick by Felix's side. He'd considered refusing Beef's request to stay behind, but honestly Felix wanted to keep an eye on him. Letting an Unbound loose in a potentially chaotic war was probably unwise when they'd spent so much time retrieving the guy. A little Mana drain and Spirit strain was worth it.
<<Levels?>> Felix asked.
<<Chitin Construction is at 55, Hallow Rise is at 58, and Mana Manipulation is almost at Apprentice Tier.>> Beef grunted as he adjusted himself. <<Shipwright is 32 now.>>
Damn. He'd noticed the kid knocking back a few Essence Draughts during the trip, but to have two Skill rise into Journeyman and another hit Apprentice Tier was great. <<You'll catch up to me in no time.>>
<<Ha! Hope so.>>
Aside from Felix's sigaldry Skills, he'd put his Sunken Ward through the ringer the past few days. Keeping the spell constantly engaged was a bit taxing, especially while also draining his Mana into his friend, but it was necessary. The spell had risen from level 3 all the way to level 19 and all of his friends were coated in its dark-blue shroud. Even Pit and Hallow's two forms that both clung to the back of three of the War Nagas.
Felix's gaze sought out Isla. The Chanter sat daintily atop another War Naga, right behind Vess, and the two of them were engrossed in another conversation. Vess wasn't smiling, but then she hadn't since they'd learned about the Fathom being a dragon. Instead she continued to look intense, and Isla seemed to be explaining something to her based on the Heiress' terse nods. Tempted as he was, Felix refused to eavesdrop—an easier task thanks to the water all around them. His Sunken Ward needed a certain amount of proximity for their voices to carry along the spell, and while Felix could have probably pressed his Perception, it wasn't worth it. Isla was...he didn't like the lady, but she wasn't a threat and he refused to treat her like she was one.
With a start, Felix realized both women were staring at him now, and he hurriedly looked away. He pretended to be searching the Tangle around them. The jungle of huge fronds was just as thick and obscuring as the Naga had warned. They swam low, nearer the bottom of the lake, navigating the treacherous seaweed forest to keep out of sight. Felix hadn't seen any Fathom spawn yet, but Toa'ut had warned them many times about the ambushes they often suffered in the Tangle. It was better to be safe than to draw undue attention.
The ground sloped downward and had been since they left the Temple complex. Deeper and deeper they swam, the waters getting darker and colder with every mile they pushed. The sheer size of the lake was incredible to Felix, but then he'd been told that the Ghreldan Hills was filled with lakes and many of them were connected underground. Not to mention the flooding from the south, from him, that had expanded their borders. Toa'ut had spoken a couple times of the strange new currents from the flooding, speaking of eddies of foreign magic that swirled in the waters.
<<Hold.>> Toa'ut commanded his warband, and every Naga frozen among the fronds. <<Den ahead. Lavix.>>
Felix frowned, and this time did press his Perception through the weeds as the most slender of the War Nagas swam ahead. Perhaps a hundred yards away he felt the familiar, resonant hum of a wide cavern filled with a shimmering barrier. It was well-hidden beneath the greenery, and the creatures that prowled just outside of it were almost as well camouflaged.
<<Ten Hatchlings and Amphitere,>> Lavix reported, slipping back into their group. <<The Den appears strong. Do you wish to destroy it?>>
The last was to Felix. He was tempted, but shook his head. <<No. We can't afford the delay. Can we go around them?>>
<<Yes. It will cost us some time, but not as much were we to fight. Lavix, lead the way.>>
<<Understood.>>
They kept moving, less quickly now that they were attempting greater stealth, but still ate up the miles as they carved a wide circle around the Den. Killing a ton of monsters would have been easily done had he been untethered from his siphon array. Felix could likely have soloed the entire Den, and judging by the disgruntled expression on Vess' face, she would have gladly attempted the same.
Felix hadn't had a lot of opportunities to talk to Vess, mostly due to the array, but also because of Isla dominating her time. The two of them were always talking; the contents of their conversations were a mystery, but he didn't doubt the Chanter was still mining for information on him. He still hadn't given her a rundown of his life on Earth, but it was clear she wanted to know more. His relationship to the Primordials was of particular interest to her, and while she knew quite a bit, Felix had refrained from explaining anything.
What could they possibly have to talk about? he wondered as they passed through a narrow defile. Two large coral shelves rose to either side, a passage that led them a bit further from the Den. The oranges and pinks and luminous blues were all beautiful and very eerie in the dark water. He might have been able to see with little issue, but the sheer density of shadow Mana around him was off-putting. By reflex, he flared his Perception...and froze. Just to the west, hiding in the dense coral, were a number of large, sinuous shapes and the glint of sharpened metal.
<<Ambush!>> he cried out.
A great many things happened at once.
From above, sixteen Hatchlings riding thick, web-winged Amphiteres dove onto them with their crude tridents out-thrust. Over half of them kindled with lightning Mana that leaped toward their group. The War Naga brought their own weapons to bear, rushing upward at the same time, while Vess flashed by them all in a storm of bubbles.
<<The Fang of Havoc!>> she howled, and her Partisan of the Blue Eyed Dragon ripped into the lead Hatchling just as Levin Bolts tore up the waters.
The War Nagas were there instants later, stabbing and thrashing at the nasty fishmen. Pit was close behind, dark-blue glass belt around his middle having transformed his lower half into a powerful fish tail. Rainbow scales glittered on him now, and it was capped by a wide, powerful fin. His wings and forepaws paddled fiercely, providing streamers of bubbles as air Mana was released from his channels. Thunderwing was clearly hampered by the water, but his fish tail more than made up for it—Pit undulated through the weeds, golden light gathering in his pinions.
No flashy spells, Pit!
Irritating flashed across their bond, but the golden light of his spell vanished, replaced by a dark wavering around his paws. Pit slammed hard into two Hatchlings, and his Hurricane Rasp tore straight through their narrow chests. Their mounts bucked, twisting back after him with their wedge-shaped jaws wide. Pit smacked them with his tail, dislocating one of their jaws and sending the other into an evasive dive.
Chaos reigned.
Hallow swam atop herself, the small Homunculus riding on the back of the chitinous Multipede and unleashing pin-point barrages of crystalline needles. The needles weren't enough to kill outright, but they were painful and distracting, allowing the Nagafolk to dispatch the Hatchlings or their mounts with greater ease. Isla fought too from the back of a Naga warrior, casting green-gold bolts at the advancing Fathom spawn. Where they hit, swathes of strange, fungal growths sprouted from their eyes and mouths and gills, causing the Hatchlings to spasm and tear at their own flesh.
As blows were traded back and forth, four more foes slipped from the other side of the reef, and these were far more intimidating. Where the Hatchlings and their fat fish-mounts were Tier III creatures, these others were far more Evolved. Broodvipers riding atop Drakin, according to Felix's Voracious Eye, the former an Evolved form of Hatchling and the latter an Evolved form of the Draktopus. Both were musclebound and dark, mottled to blend into the terrain around them, and possessing a raw, chaotic power that all but crackled around them as they sped into the fray.
<<Watch out!>> Felix shouted, unable to do much but watch. If he moved, Beef would expend all of his Mana and his Risen would crumble to dust. <<Evolved enemies incoming! Tier IV!>>
Without missing a beat, Vess split off from her dwindling foe just as Lavix thundered by her position. She reached out, snagging the edge of the Naga's spine and riding down with her spear held out like a lance. The Broodvipers and Drakin charged, as muscled and brutal as the War Naga, and met Lavix in a furious clash. The odds were in the Fathom spawn's favor, being four against two, but they clearly had never accounted for a Dragoon.
<<Spear of Tribulations!>>
Ten silver Spears manifested around Vess like a kaleidoscope of death, each one manipulated in a different direction. Two sank into a Drakin's side, while three more engaged with the Broodvipers' own crooked weapons. They clanged aside, but not before all five Spears detonated. The Drakin fell, it's gut torn asunder, and Vess followed its rider down.
<<Draconic Stormfall!>>
Vess, her partisan, and her remaining five Spears all dropped onto the injured Drakin and dazed rider. The reef exploded, filing the water with cloud debris as a crackling wave of lightning spread outward from the impact. More furious roars and sloshing thrashes spread upward, until everything went still.
You Have Killed A Manawarped Broodviper!
XP Earned!
You have Killed A Manawarped Drakin!
XP Earned!
Felix felt the tiniest trickle of experience feed into him—apparently just warning people counted as contribution but didn't warrant much in the way of rewards.
Vess rose from the rubble like a rocket, dust, bubbles, and newly conjured Spears riding in her wake. With the aid of Lavix, they fought the last Broodviper and Drakin, though weren't able to surprise it again. It was wary of their tricks, and as the Nagafolk finished off the regular Hatchlings, the Evolved enemy attempted to make a tactical retreat. Before it had swam more than twenty yards, their forms were pierced by frozen lightning, crystalline shards, fungal rot, and two silver Spears apiece.
They did not survive much longer.
<<Finally,>> Beef said with a deep, agonized groan. He reached his arms up, stretching so hard Felix could feel the water ripple with each popping joint. <<Done. Chitin assembled, framework all set. They just gotta hook up the Mana engines and new sails and it should—>> The kid blinked, mouth agape as he stared at the blood, dust, and floating corpses that littered the waters all around them. <<Uh, what happened?>>
Felix almost groaned himself, all too happy to disengage the siphon array. The return of his Mana felt like blood rushing back into numb legs; a painful restoration. <<Ambush.>>
<<Oh damn. I missed the fun stuff?>>
<<The fun is just beginning,>> Toa'ut rumbled. He nodded with his huge, bulbuous head. Beyond the now-broken coral shelf, the large fronds of the Tangle had thinned, and the open waters beckoned beyond. <<We have come to the Mountains That Howl.>>
