Chapter 289: Two Hundred And Twenty One

Grulgor stomped through the blazing lake, pushing aside the Foehn, heedless of its rapacious burning. Soon his arms and torso were covered in flickering tongues of the hungry flame, but the burning citrine glow was held at bay by the thick, rocky armour he was encased in, motes of ruby light from his body strengthening it. The charred rock was even starting to regenerate, like it was a part of his body.

“Grul says burn, false Duke!” He roared, sweeping his mace-arm through the bubbling water, sending a cascade of clinging fire out, splashing over Myrcolaxriath, who bellowed in rage, massive mushroom fangs within his mouth adding their own cacophony of screams. Wiry arms whipped out to block it, rapidly catching fire, and as dozens of the whips barraged Grulgor, sending chips of dirty rock scattering, I realised this was an opening we could exploit.

“Go full force! It’s a DPS race now.” I shouted. Shaeula nodded, olivine and citrine energies flashing around her as she intensified her bombardment of golden fireballs, while Ixitt and Hyacinth only looked puzzled.

“Dee Pee Ess?” She tilted her head in confusion.

“Never mind what it means.” I laughed, gathering my own energies. “You’ll learn soon enough, when you walk the Material world. It just means we need to pour out all our attacks and bring this bastard down before we are exhausted. It’s his home ground, so we are at a disadvantage the longer this drags out.”

My words were punctuated by angry shouts from the Myconid as he flailed his numerous arms. “Useless, useless, useless! This great I shall use your corpses as seedbeds for many more of I!”

Grulgor was being forced back, step by step, but even so, his massive mace that was now a part of him was striking again and again, and even the steel-hard cables that were the frond-arms were being shattered, greenery raining around him, to sink into the lake, burning. More arms were whipping towards Shaeula, so I leapt in front of her, Twin Fangs ready. Yeah, this is what swords are for. One whipped towards her from the side and I met it, blade held at a perfect angle, all the basics Ulfuric had hammered into me, coupled with my battle experience, coming together beautifully. Using its momentum and force against it, the Fang slid through, severing the tendril. Two more were coming so I spun my other blade, and space shivered, both also being cut apart. A fourth, a fifth, more…

As I entered an enlightened state, only my body, blades and the lashing tentacles in my world, body moving swiftly, long exceeding human limits, I reacted quickly to a sudden attack from a different angle. Jets of putrid water were drawn from the lake and launched at me, but I twisted aside, dodging all but one of them. The last I took with both blades crossed, and the scattered dark water droplets pierced my armour and the rubber beneath, drawing blood and sending toxic spores into my body. Aether responded, neutralising it and making adjustments to my astral body to render it ineffective over time.

Shaeula shot me a grateful look. Yeah, couldn’t dodge that one, or she’d have been hit. Sly fucker. I was continually pulling out what elemental energies we had in storage back in my Territory, and it was definitely helping, but over half if it was being lost, as I was deep in hostile Territory. More earth bullets filled with Foehn slammed into his torso as many of the arms were distracted, and it was then Ixitt, staying well back from the battlefield, near the entrance to the cave that was blocked by the blazing wall of flames, began his own assault. Hurling explosive bombs and firing off blasts of shells from his shotgun, he peppered the body of Myrcolaxriath, the huge pillar of diseased flesh riddled with howling faces almost impossible to miss.

“I shall annihilate you all!” He declared, furious. Withdrawing all his tendril-arms, he took in a deep breath, sucking in a huge amount of lake water, flames and all. He shuddered, a poisonous smell of burning fungal matter filling the chamber. “Rot, declares I!”

“Barriers!” I cried again, dropping low, creating shields of mud and air at an acute angle. Shaeula and Hyacinth were behind them, and Ixitt was hopefully far enough away to avoid… holy shit! Through the shimmering green wall I saw the towering Myconid belch out a stream of the vile water, like it was the breath of a dragon. The water was bubbling and churning, acidic steam rising from it, and as it slammed into the walls, cascading over us, the ground around us started to sizzle.

Using aether to expand my visual range I could see that everyone was largely unhurt, although Ixitt was favouring one leg, having been splashed by some of the venomous water droplets, which had quickly eaten through his suit, before he wasted it off with some crude fungicide we had developed, applying an additional layer of barrier cream and a quick-drying liquid rubber he had developed over the past few days.

“Well, that was unpleasant.” He grimaced, looking down at his shotgun, which had likewise suffered corrosion. “Well, I am afraid I’m largely useless now. I’ll see you when this is all over.” He hid behind the cart, overturning it to protect himself and the last precious cargoes it carried, keeping a pistol and a few bombs for self-defence.

“Hyacinth can still fight, master. I shall nooot give up!” Nature energy flared brilliantly, and the fallen, severed limbs twisted together, forming a single large thorny whip several metres across. It suddenly twitched, flicking over to block more jets of water, before slamming forwards, nearly breaking through the large tangle of arms Myrcolaxriath used as a barrier, shattering many of them before being halted. “Though I admit tooo being very weary.” She gasped, her energy reserves hardly inexhaustible.

“Do not ignore Grul!” The troll roared. With the water level only slowly starting to rise again, he was less restricted, and he raced into the body of their enemy, his massive weight, increased by his stony armour, actually staggering the huge Myconid. Vile green slime cascaded down as Grulgor used his mace to smash great bloody craters in the beast. Myconids were spawned, Annihilators and Detonators both, but Grulgor was largely unharmed by the exploding blasts of acid, the rocky armour less vulnerable to acid, and against the Annihilators he crushed them before they could recover from their spawning.

“Argh, you would wound this great I? Such insolence!” Myrcolaxriath bellowed. Still, his arms were pinned by Hyacinth, though he was starting to win the battle against her fading strength. His spawned Myconids were proving ineffective, and the numbers he was creating had diminished significantly.

Even as he roared in response, Grulgor tensed his massive muscles and leapt, soaring four or five metres into the air before slamming his mace arm down in a flare of crimson energies.

“This great I is hurting? Impossible!” The towering Myconid jerked and spasmed as an even more brutal wound was gouged in his body, toadstool-cap faces disintegrating all around the massive impact crater, black ooze spilling. Several teeth in his lower jaw also shattered, the shockwave passing through his flesh to strike deep.

“Grul delights in crushing puny Duke. You disgrace the rank!” He gurgled as he landed heavily. Bursts of water slammed into him, stone cracking and flaking away, acid blood scattering, but he merely continued to strike the lower part of Myrcolaxriath, even as the great Myconid began to draw in more lake water, dropping the level further, which was now sloshing around Grulgor’s thighs.

“An opportunity!” Shaeula continued her onslaught, aiming at the arms holding back Hyacinth’s own lashing vine. Several more vines began to burn, their resistance failing.

Now’s the time to strike. It was just like the battle against the Wyrm where I defeated Grulgor, just on a more massive scale. Drawing in aether, watching as a good third of it was stolen away from me, I formed a glittering lance of energies, the mental image firm. I then poured in Foehn, filling the shimmering spear, and with that, the lance sped outwards, more aether willing it to accelerate. The Territory fought me, but my control of aether was stronger than ever, incomparable to my skills when I slew the white wyrm, so I forced it through, wisps of silver smoke rising from my body, seeping from my chakra network.

The great spear, an order of magnitude larger than the one I wielded before, plunged into the weeping, open crater in the flesh of Myrcolaxriath, the shimmering spearhead piercing, my vision of it intense and focused. I imagined the tip to be sharper than even the deadliest obsidian, which supposedly could be five hundred times sharper than steel. But of course it’s fragile, but with aether, I don’t have to obey those laws…

Myrcolaxriath screamed, the vile surge of watery breath he was prepared to unleash spraying from his mouth wildly, slicing into the walls, chunks of rock falling free and splashing into the shallows of the lake. Tongues of Foehn that had been burning him inside were expelled outwards, and as he shrieked, writhing in agony, the arms defending against Hyacinth wavered, and with the last of her strength Hyacinth roared too.

“Die fooor master, yooou wretch!” She cursed, at the same moment as I clenched my fist, calling out the name of the attack. “Blossom, Shining Sakura!” Names and gestures aren’t necessary, but using aether, anything that strengthens the mental image, the connection, has an impact, so no need to be embarrassed.

The aetheric lance piercing through the trunk-like body of Myrcolaxriath shivered, before converting the wealth of aetheric energy I had compressed within it into a great eruption, which propelled a cascading cloud of glittering petal-shaped blades of aether outwards, though unlike the Aether Sakura version, these petals were far more lethal, as they were dipped in the golden Foehn, leaving comet-like trails of fiery yellow behind then, sowing hungry flames within. Dozens, scores of fragments of aether ripped free from him in multiple directions, at the same moment as Hyacinth’s last strike landed, the arms shattering before her thick tendril, the impact slamming into the darkly-gleaming cap that made up his head, sending him collapsing into the lake like a toppling oak, finally torn down by a gale.

As water splashed over everyone, burning my exposed skin, Grulgor struck out a few more times at the fallen body, crushing in deep gouges, green gore soaking into the shallow water. Another couple of strikes, and Grulgor staggered backwards, his stone armour cracking. “Hah, puny fungi talks big, but I see no corpses.” He gurgled some grinding laughter, matching the crumbling of his rock armour.

“We did it, Akio! We slew-slew a Duke of the Unseelie!” Shaeula cried, stopping her fiery bombardment, sagging in relief.

Wait, have we? I didn’t level-up and there’s no ether? That seems unlikely… wait… I was moving suddenly, a great shining light forming above the lake. Using wind I hurled Hyacinth aside, slamming her into the wall, ignoring her protests and the painful creaking of her bones. I threw up shields of wind around Grulgor and the wagon Ixitt was hiding in, while scooping up Shaeula in my arms. A looming mass surged out of the lake, and brilliant purple and violet light shone down, piercing the ground.

Fuck… that hurts… I landed heavily, still cradling Shaeula. Light had blasted a steaming pit in the ground where Hyacinth was previously, and she was raising her head limply, her mask off and hood down now, purple eyes wide in shock. The wagon Ixitt was hiding under was surrounded by a ring of melted rock, my wind shield dispersing most of the impact, though the bluesteel and alloy undercarriage was shattered. Grulgor was staggering my way, his rock armour steaming and flaking away in places, the first traces of more deadly fungi starting to erupt on his newly-exposed flesh. As for me… Shit, nothing fatal, but I’m burned pretty bad… a blast had skimmed my body, missing me directly, but the radiant energy and heat from it had burned through my ragged defensive gear, searing my skin along my ribs brutally, a vivid burn running from my thigh to my armpit.

“But how-how? Surely those attacks…” Shaeula managed, before angry, growling snarls rang out from above.

“This I underestimated you pests. I have been rooted here many, many long years, drawing in the precious spirit water, growing, becoming more perfect. The light of the moon above has fed I, strengthening my nature energies, allowing I to dominate this land. This I should have been invincible here. None can withstand the spores of I. Yet it seems this I was mistaken.”

We were all momentarily frozen in place, the looming bulk of Myrcolaxriath even more horrifying than before. The cap-head was shattered, dented in and gushing stinking fluids down the torn and burning flesh of the stalk. Most of the many faces that were born within were still, with mixtures of inky gore and burning Foehn spilling from eyes and mouths, the flesh of their virulent caps bubbling and smoking. All but two of his strange, living teeth were gone too, either on fire or severed by the many petal-blades earlier. A mere dozen arms remained, broken and twisted, and they scrabbled at the walls and the shallow lake fitfully, as if unable to remain still.

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Shit, he looks half-dead. No, ninety-percent dead. Who knew there would be a fourth phase? I started assessing my remaining resources. Ixitt and Hyacinth were useless now, Shaeula could still fight, though she had used a large amount of her flame and wind, and Grulgor… well, he still has some rock armour, but his earth energy is running down, and as more and more of his flesh is exposed his regeneration will be overwhelmed by the fungal spores and he’ll die… shit.

“This I has been foolish. Until all is I, there are always those who can threaten I. I thank you for this lesson, and the reward will be I shall grant you a quick death. This I must rest and recover, for most of the water has been drained.” The glowing light that was spilling from his damaged cap intensified, sparkling, casting great shadows behind us. I noticed a shimmering glow behind me, and looking down I could see my silver cord was visible in the illumination, shining with prismatic energies as it ferried aether to me from my own Territory, extending several metres behind me before vanishing into the Boundary in an adjacent space below. “This I shall use this, learn, evolve and become more perfect.”

“You can’t get more perfect…” I muttered, as the Myconid continued to rage.

“Now, this I shall eliminate you foolish Fae, who have tried to thwart I, and… wait, what is this?” Myrcolaxriath paused, light flickering. “You are no Fae! A mere mortal, pushing I so? Impossible. This I burns with shame! Still, this I thinks you are foolish indeed. Now all you shall find here is death. I shall sever your lifeline, and you shall die knowing that defying I is pointless, and your Fae companions shall become the fertiliser for the glorious recovery of this Great I!”

Oh, now he’s back to Great I again, for a while he got humble. Still, can he even damage the silver cord? Shaeula said it was rare… I glanced at her and she was squirming out from under me, looking terrified.

“Akio, you must-must retreat!” she cried out, just before a bean of light flared from our enemy, shooting towards the trailing cord. I rolled to the side violently, apologising silently as I knocked Shaeula aside, and my cord moved with me. Even so, the bean nicked it, and for a moment I felt my world rock, a blinding pain tearing at me. I stumbled, feeling violently sick, and saw Shaeula desperately firing back at Myrcolaxriath with her wind-weasels packed full of her remaining flame energies. Still, he merely boomed a vile laugh and drew in more light, flashing bolts showering down around us. Three of her four wind-weasels were shot through, but the fourth did manage to strike, boring into already dying flesh before blowing apart, adding another great rent to his battered body. I had no time to celebrate though, as trying to defend my silver cord I had taken several hits, and my left arm was hanging useless, my shoulder pierced through. Even that was nothing though, as my silver cord had been winged again, and my whole left side, not just my arm, was barely responsive.

“Under the light of the moon, all things are revealed. And what I can see, this Great I can destroy!”

More light gathered, and I forced myself to move, feeling slowly returning to my shocked body. Still, a dozen bolts of light were glittering above him, and if they were all aimed at me I would struggle to dodge him. Grulgor was attacking, heedless of his growing weakness, smashing his smoking and malformed mace into flesh again and again, rocking the grievously injured Myconid repeatedly, the brackish water below filling with stinking goo.

Even with all our preparations it’s come down to this. Did I underestimate our opponent? No, he’s nearly dead as well, his wounds are worse that ours, it’s just we have weaknesses he can exploit… one more powerful attack should do it.

Light flared, and multiple bolts were aimed at me and my trailing silver cord. I waited for pain to come, only to see Hyacinth had managed to move despite her exhaustion and had thrown herself in front of the glowing beams. She was bleeding heavily, red and silver gushing onto the floor, but she had protected me. Her gaze met mine, and she gurgled out a “Master, yooou can win…” before slumping down, coughing more gore.

“If the maid is going to fight so hard, I can do no less!” Ixitt was out from behind the melted wagon, holding a bomb in one hand and another device in the other, a square glass cube with thin threads of bluesteel within, coiled around a small cylinder of it, which was churning with green energies. “This was a prototype, but…” he channelled a drop of aether, before hurling the bomb and the cube, before throwing himself to one side, correctly guessing he would be targeted for his distraction. Bolts were piercing into Grulgor, though his story armour was keeping the worst at bay, and beams whizzed past where Ixitt was standing, burning the ground.

It may be some sort of light element attack, but it isn’t light. If it was a laser, we’d be dead before we could even see it coming.

The bomb Ixitt threw exploded, scattering spheres of mental in all directions, though they were but pinpricks against Myrcolaxriath. The cube was different, it flashed in a prism of green hues, before the glass shattered. “Befuddlement bomb!” Ixitt declared, as the imperfectly-trapped unique wind gushed from the bluesteel battery contained within, blanketing Grulgor and our enemy alike, momentarily freezing their minds.

The light on his crushed cap-head is dulling. Still, it’s only a little, we need to end this now. “Akio, are you well-well?” Shaeula asked me, seeing my body still trembling, painful spasms transmitted to me through my injured cord. “To think he would have an element that could attack you thus…”

“No, I’m not well, not at all.” I shook my head in denial. “So we have to end this now.” I gestured with my good arm to the towering foe who was shaking off the momentary confusion. “Do you have much energy left?”

Shaeula bit her lip, anxiously. “I have some-some, but not a great deal. I can manage one powerful strike, perhaps two. That-that is all.” I started pulling her towards our foe and Grulgor.

“It’ll have to be enough.” I declared. “If we retreat now…” I looked at the dying flames blocking our exit, charred corpses beyond them flaring into ether which then faded away, absorbed. “You and I might make it. But we’d never get Grulgor, Ixitt and Hyacinth all out as well, not with those light beams. I’d be exposing my silver cord to attack as well. No, we go in hard, and we strike him down.” I could feel a prickling within my mind. It wasn’t Foresight, warning me of something ill, but it was similar, a sensation telling me that our only chance to survive was one final strike. Perhaps I’m imagining it, or…

Reaching Grulgor who was burned, covered in crumbling stone and vile goo, sprouting corrosive mushrooms, I used Ether Healing, clearing his mind. I poured him my remaining earth element, reinforcing his rocky armour and enhancing his regeneration. Even as we did so Myrcolaxriath was howling, insulted by the attack on his mind.

“Halt and cease, remain still and calm-calm!” Shaeula called, burning her first strike on befuddling winds, once more halting him, the enraged state of his mind making him temporarily vulnerable.

“Grulgor, can you keep going?” I asked, and he nodded, lopsided grin showing through the shattered remains of his rocky helm.

“Grul wishes to win. Grul can do it, no matter what.”

“Fine. Well in that case, I’ll let you strike the final blow. Trust me.” I released all the remaining wind energy I had in a cloud around us. “Shaeula, add all yours and use Foehn to devour and strengthen it.”

She nodded, and we were surrounded by a tide of verdant energies. As she grasped them, drawing them all in, I could see her questioning eyes.

“We are going to launch Grulgor like a bullet. Myrcolaxriath is in as bad a shape as us, maybe worse. Aim for the cap and finish it in one blow. Even if it doesn’t kill him instantly, if we destroy the light, we can win.” I glanced up at the pretty beams reflected down the interior of the hill from above, which were focused on his head. “Here…” I poured what flame energy I had left into Foehn, and soon the mangled mace arm was blazing brilliantly, like a star in the darkness.

“All right, ready?” I asked as light began to gather above, our enemy freeing himself from Shaeula’s commands. With that I surged my aether, my mental image on one thing only. Just like when we saved the Rhyming Tree, reduce the weight. Grulgor is not affected by gravity, he weights nothing more than a leaf in the breeze…

“Now, launch!” I cried as I felt my mental image solidify for a second. Grulgor cried out as he soared into the air, aimed directly at our enemy, a massive cyclone of green propelling him. As the strands of aether I was channelling faded away, light flashing down at the oncoming Grulgor, the sudden threat distracting Myrcolaxriath, shattering his focus, I reversed the declaration, resetting his effective weight and more. Light stabbed into the tornado surrounding Grulgor, but the turbulent energies diverted the beams. Grulgor lost a leg, and his guts were pierced, but he still roared with rage and joy as the wind made contact, snapping the cap up, moments before Grulgor hit, his flaming mace propelled by his huge might and the tremendous speed creating a massive explosion. Chunks of flesh soared in all directions, crashing down around us, but Grulgor was still rising, carried on the winds that were now green not with energy, but sickening putrid blood.

“Aaaaarrrrrrrrggggghhhh! I… such pain!” Light beans flashed in all directions, piercing the walls.

“Grul will end you, puny fungi!” He cried, as Shaeula, still in control of the winds, reversed it, the diminishing flows pelting down on the shattered head, burrowing deep, shredding his insides and spreading the Foehn that was still burning within.

“I… am… Eternal…” Grulgor fell like a massive fiery meteorite or moon, his mace that was still ablaze held below him. Rock shattered as he grasped his arm where it had fused and tore it free, heedless of the pain.

“Jupiter Descending…” I croaked, feeling the need to name such an insane move. “Io falls!” The burning mace struck, plunging deep through Myrcolaxriath, followed by Grulgor as he fell. Screams resounded, baleful and agonising, before there was a massive impact, Grulgor striking the diminished lake like the falling moon I named his strike after. Then there was blinding white and silver, a pressure blasting out, striking us like a mighty tsunami…

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