Chapter 128: Champion, Chapter 59: Crimson Cacophony

Aidan

The Realms

Fifthday, 2nd week of the 10th month, Age of the Chosen 1

Mid-Morning

The Labyrinth, First Stratum: Viridescent Treetops

Aidan emerged from Wulfryn's shadow shield and paused a moment to take stock of the situation. His eyes sought Sunnild first, finding her running toward the hulking form of Rakkatorak. Labhruinn and Ysbail still flanked the massive boss, lashing out with their weapons and dodging or deflecting the retaliatory strikes. Wulfryn hovered above Aidan, her hands outstretched, directing dozens of dark whiplike tendrils toward four Devouring Spawns.

"Sunnild, help Wulfryn with the Spawns," Ysbail shouted. "Aidan, focus everything you have on the big guy! The longer this takes, the worse off we will all be!"

Aidan spared a single relieved breath as Sunnild skidded to a stop and hesitated before breaking off and heading toward one of the smaller monsters. She would be in much less danger outside of the boss's reach. Then he directed his thoughts toward his task. The situation still wasn't dire enough for him to break out Soulfire Blast, which meant his offensive options were somewhat limited.

Not for the first time, Aidan regretted investing so heavily into Fire Magic. His only offensive spell that wasn't part fire damage was Electric Arc, and it just didn't deal enough damage to matter to Rakkatorak unless he augmented it heavily with Incantations and Glyphs. And, if he was going to do that, he might as well do it to his Fire Magic spells instead. The boss's resistance was enough to be aggravating but not enough to invalidate fire damage.

Aidan suspected Rakkatorak's fire resistance came not from some inherent property of the creature but rather because it was covered in slime and damp, decaying leaves. If he could dry that out or burn it up with a hot enough fire, he might have better luck with his standard spells. He would need to completely envelop the boss, though, and probably for several seconds.

The best way to do that would be to cook it in an oven.

Aidan didn't have any earthen or stone wall type spells, but he did have something that made rock. It would be the hardest on-the-fly modification he'd performed yet, but his independent study combined with his lessons with Ailis gave him some confidence. And a certain conversation he had with his Chancellor gave him another idea... The only problem was that this would take a while.

"I'm going to try something," Aidan shouted to Ysbail. "Keep it busy and stationary if you can, and back off when the spell finishes!" Then he started to chant in Divine Speech, "<O blood of the earth, I summon thee. Hear my words, deep within the well of thy birth, and come forth...>"

As Aidan spoke, he traced complex diagrams in the air in front of him. Each glyphic device was far more intricate than the ones he'd made for his Chain Electric Arc earlier; the only modification he'd needed for that spell was to extend the range for the secondary arcs. This time, he was taking a projectile-based direct damage spell and trying to turn it into construction-based area crowd control.

While Aidan focused on his magic, his fellow party members were not idle. Labhruinn shifted back into his original role as the group's primary tank, drawing Rakkatorak's attention to himself and bearing the brunt of the boss's aggression. His armor was dented and corroded in at least a dozen places, but the dwarf centaur was in his element. He'd swapped out his two-handed hammer for a smaller weapon and his broad shield, which Labhruinn wielded with deft skill to deflect Rakkatorak's attacks.

The enormous arthropod attempted to catch its much smaller prey in its pincers, but Labhruinn was stronger and more nimble than a casual onlooker might expect. He danced in and out of Rakkatorak's range, prompting the monster to swipe at him, only for the mountain centaur to no longer be there when the attack landed. Whenever a claw did come close, Labhruinn used his shield to bat it away, deflecting the pincer up into the air or down to the ground for him to jump over.

Ysbail, meanwhile, took advantage of Labhruinn's Talent-backed distraction to punish the boss. Her oversized greatsword struck again and again, sending shards of chitin flying through the air. Unfortunately, Rakkatorak had plenty of carapace protecting its vital spots, and so far, Ysbail hadn't been able to land a mortal blow. Every so often, the boss would turn to her, lunging and striking at her with both claws.

Ysbail was a veteran monster hunter, however, and had seen it all before. She studied Rakkatorak's movements, dodging several grab attempts, then, the next time it turned to her, she struck. Ysbail's sword carved a gleaming, brilliant arc in the air. Infused with a fraction of her Aura, the blade sheared through the thinner chitin at the pincer's joint, sending one half of the claw sailing away and bringing a screech of rage from the massive beast.

Now that Ysbail had severed two of its body parts, Rakkatorak seemed to reassess its priorities. It scuttled about, spinning in place to face her directly, and its Aura washed over the arena with even more strength. For a moment, Aidan's sight darkened, his peripheral vision fading out until all he could see was the hulking, crablike form of the boss looming over Ysbail. Even though she was one of the very few Starchasers taller than Brighid, the Adventurer seemed tiny just then. Then Ysbail's own Aura burst forth, limning her in golden flames.

In an instant, Aidan's vision returned to normal. Rakkatorak was still huge compared to Ysbail, but it no longer seemed like quite so horrible a match. "You want some of me?" Ysbail sneered. "Come get me, then!"

Meanwhile, Sunnild and Wulfryn tag-teamed the ever-increasing horde of Devouring Spawns. Rather than snaring each individual with her magical attacks, Wulfryn had shifted to funneling them together and herding them toward Sunnild. Two long, narrow bands of pitch-black shadows stretched across the room, each sprouting dozens of tenebrous tentacles. The tentacles, in turn, grabbed Spawns that came too close and either crushed them or flung them toward Sunnild.

Aidan's songbird stood firm amid the swarm, her injured wing wrapped around her like a steel cloak while her other three wove a web of death. Her razor-sharp, metallic feathers cleaved through the unarmored monsters without resistance, leaving bisected bodies and severed limbs in their wake. Every few seconds, Sunnild shifted her position to clear her lines of attack and keep the bodies from piling up too much around her. Although none of the Spawns could get close enough to attack her, Aidan knew that Sunnild couldn't keep fighting forever.

Then again, if this worked, she wouldn't need to.

"<... Thy wrath is slow but sure. I honor thee, the heart that beats within the core of this world. I offer thee a sacrifice, a foul corruptor that seeks to turn thy work to mud and ooze ...>" Aidan's Concentration drained with every word he spoke. Only Phoenix Pyre had ever taken such a toll on his mind. Aidan could feel droplets of sweat pouring down his forehead into his eyes, but he couldn't spare even a second to wipe them away.

Every time he completed an intricate Glyphed circle, Aidan flung it toward the center of the chamber, where it stretched out across the uneven floor. A dozen similar diagrams wove together in a loose ring, but there was still more work to do. If Aidan unleashed his spell now, it would not be contained. At best, it would trap Labhruinn and Ysbail inside with Rakkatorak. At worst, it would turn the entire room into a slice of Hell. No, he had to keep going, had to power through his pounding headache and seizing muscles. Half a minute more... he told himself.

Labhruinn and Ysbail fought side-by-side now, their smooth coordination speaking to their comfort and experience in combat together. The pair moved as one, covering each others' blind spots as they traded off attacks, all without speaking a word aloud. Rakkatorak, however, was no slouch either. Now that its foes were all in front of it, it was able to concentrate its rage.

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Time and again, the massive monster struck out at the pair of centaurs, battering them with its arms, spearing them with its legs, and using its immense bulk to push them around. While both of its targets could dodge or block its attacks, Aidan could see that both Ysbail and Labhruinn were losing Stamina and accumulating minor Health damage at a slow but steady pace. Rakkatorak, meanwhile, showed no sign of slowing down. Indeed, as the acid from its tail continued to eat away at Labhruinn's and Ysbail's armor, the boss seemed to speed up ever so slightly.

Wulfryn and Sunnild did not work together quite as well. They didn't blunder into each others' way—neither was so inexperienced as that—but their coordination was lacking, their timing off. Wulfryn's shadows funneled Spawns toward Sunnild, but they did so in erratic, unpredictable intervals. Sometimes the harpy Sentinel only had one or two of the lesser monsters to handle, only to have four more rain down on her head a few seconds later.

To be fair, Aidan wasn't sure how much control Wulfryn had over her spells once they went active. The barriers could be fire-and-forget for all he knew. And Sunnild wasn't making it any easier on Wulfryn, either; she moved around more than Aidan thought was wise with her injuries, charging toward the nearest Spawns rather than waiting for Wulfryn to feed them to her.

That inefficiency, combined with the ever-increasing numbers of the mini-Devourers, led to some of them slipping past Sunnild and harassing the two centaurs. They were only a nuisance to the two veterans, but even that was dangerous while they held off the enormous Primeval. One of the Spawns blindsided Labhruinn, not managing to deal any real damage but distracting him just long enough for Rakkatorak to strike at him with its half-severed claw. Ysbail got her sword around in time to deflect the blow, but it still glanced off her friend's head, stunning him.

"Aidan, we could use some help here!" Ysbail shouted over her shoulder at him.

"<Emerge and erupt, O deep-rock, world-flame. Bleed forth thy anger upon this realm again and reclaim it for thy home. I have marked thy path to ease thy passage. Come forth! Magma Blast!>"

Aidan staggered as he released the collected power of his modified spell, feeling his headache surge to near-unbearable levels as the magic coursed through him and into the mandala surrounding Rakkatorak. Remembering his earlier warning, Ysbail and Labhruinn fell back even as the glyphic lines started to glow with intense red light.

At first, nothing seemed to be happening. Rakkatorak skittered forward, chasing after the centaurs, perhaps believing them to be weakened. Then it paused as the ground under its hundreds of legs rumbled and shook. A crack formed, then another and another. Then, with a thunderous boom, waves of lava burst forth, shooting high into the air all around the Primeval. Rakkatorak reared back from the sudden sound and heat, turning and seeking an escape path, but it was surrounded. The lava continued to spew forth, building upon itself, forming towering walls imprisoning Rakkatorak within.

Ysbail and Labhruinn retreated further away as the heat grew unbearable. Aidan dropped to his knees, panting and clutching his head. He had enough presence of mind to watch his combat log scroll past, however.

"It's working," Aidan panted.

"Did you kill it?" Labhruinn asked.

"No, but the heat is drying it, reducing its fire resistance. If it stays trapped a little while longer, it might even become vulnerable to fire."

"Are you alright?" Ysbail asked. She flicked her sword out, neatly bisecting an errant Devouring Spawn.

"Just tired and with a raging headache," Aidan replied, levering himself back up onto his feet. "I can keep going."

Just then, another rumble came from the hardening lava prison, followed by a sensation of looming dread so dense that it seemed to take a physical form. A crashing thud sounded from within the obsidian structure, then another, and another.

"Something tells me that the beastie is not going to stay trapped for much longer," Labhruinn muttered. His hands tightened on his weapon and shield.

A blackened claw burst forth with a crunch from the glowing red wall, sending hot shrapnel spraying through the room. Aidan cried out in pain as a three-inch-long shard of rock embedded itself in his shoulder. More stones ricocheted off Labhruinn's armor as the mountain centaur placed himself between Aidan and the arena's center.

"I think you made it mad," Ysbail drawled, turning her head and lifting an arm in front of her eyes protectively.

A roar answered her as Rakkatorak burst free from its confinement, barrelling through the semi-molten wall and coating itself with cooling rock while sending more spraying all around.

Zurai

Aidan's current status screen:

Sunnild's current status sheet:

Pronunciation Guide (infinitesimal spoiler warning, names only without any details)

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