Unbound

Chapter Sixty Eight - 068

The two Bloodtainted Guardians let out rasping hisses, and Felix felt animosity burn through the air. His Manasight perceived clouds of corrupted Mana steam from the creatures' undulating forms. A croaking yowl sounded from the first Guardian, bronze spikes vibrating unpleasantly. The second answered that call, its glottal thrum a buzzing dissonance that set Felix's teeth on edge.

Then they charged.

Their metallic claws struck sparks from the ground as they loped toward them, and Felix launched himself to the right while Pit ran to the left. In less than a second, the first creature had crossed the intervening distance and slammed its entire body against a hastily erected Force Wall.

Felix tumbled, rolling himself forward onto his feet as the second Guardian peeled off toward him. His leap had taken him quite the distance, so Felix had a moment to inspect the creature before him. The creature was giant, a cross between a serpent and a weasel yet worse than either. They were both, aside from their sheer size and fur patterns, near replicas of the Seven Legged Orit. Sleek muscles rippled beneath their matted, brown and off-white hides, while their faces were gaunt and skeletal, dark pits for eyes and sharp, yellowed teeth longer than his forearm dripped thick drool. The thinning fog revealed a plethora of shattered weapons, swords and blades of all kinds that still remained in its thick hide; all this without even considering the strange bronze spikes through their necks.

But Felix's brief respite was over as the Guardian rushed him.

Reign of Vellus!

Blue light washed forward, lightning crackling up from the ground, but it did little more than flatten the fur on the Guardian's face.

Shit.

Felix shot out a Shadow Whip, securing it against the cobbled flooring before yanking hard. The Guardian leaped into empty space, barely missing his form, while Felix landed in an ungainly roll. His Dexterity and Agility were both high, but he still wasn't as graceful as Evie. The Guardian let out a choking roar, those throat spikes buzzing again.

Felix breathed hard, not tired but more than a little terrified of these creatures. They were nearly thirty levels above him! Felix had dealt with more than a few higher leveled foes, but the last time he'd tangled with someone this high was Grimmar...and that hadn't ended well.

The Guardian twisted, it's long body folding unnaturally as it followed Felix with its dead eyes. Those eyes burned with a crimson illumination, and Felix's Manasight spotted streams of dark vapor gathering between the creature's cadaverous jaws.

Manasight is level 37!

The dark vapor condensed in seconds into a liquid-like ball of crackling energy, dark as night. Felix's instincts screamed at him to get away, and he wasn't stupid enough to ignore them. Jerking a hand upward, Felix raised a stone wall from the floor between them and utilized Reign of Vellus to push himself up and away at an angle. Just in time, as the crackling ball burst into a beam of dark lightning, shearing through the stone wall like a hot knife through butter. It splashed against the massive structure behind him, rebounding off a glittering shield of green-gold light. Felix took note of that.

It has a shield? How do we get in? He ran, pushing his new Body to evade another dark lightning blast. Focus. Kill them first, then the door.

Frost Spears flew past Felix, close enough to feel their bitter energy, as the second Guardian battled against Magda and Pit. Feelings of frustration and increasing aggression poured across the pact, causing Felix to glance over in concern. Magda was getting pummeled on by the beast, the original Force Wall gone, though it hadn't yet gotten through her kite shields. Pit meanwhile circled it and fired off Wingblades and Frost Spears, which it either dodged somehow or were deflected by its hide.

"OOF!"

He paid for his distraction as his opponent surged forward and swiped him with a massive tire-sized paw. Felix sailed through the air before landing in a painful roll on the ground. A flash of bright white light suffused his vision for a moment, the pain blinding before numbing down to tolerable levels.

Pain Resistance is level 34!

Armored Skin is level 28!

"Ugh," Felix pushed himself to his feet, rushing despite several ugly twinges in his legs and lower back. Felix summoned twin streams of acid into his hands and blasted them back at the Guardian.

"KKRRRAAAAAAAAHHH!" It roared in full defiance of his onslaught, bronze spikes rattling with the sound. The acid pattered against the creature, even burned it in many places, but Felix could see those same burns healing over only seconds later.

It's regenerating! What must its stats be to regenerate damage that fast? Or was that a blood beast thing? He considered his own Health, down now by 15% from that hit alone. I didn't even get the claws, either.

However, his magical assault had one good side effect, it made the Guardian wary of him. Despite the healed damage, Felix had still wounded the beast. It prowled in a slow circle around the Nym, and Felix took the breather to assess their situation.

Magda is holding her beast off, though for how long...? He looked around the room, never quite taking his eyes off the Guardian. This room is huge, but there's nothing really to use here. Stone Shaping could make obstacles, but it's so strong, and that bullshit dark lightning spell shattered my wall. He felt a growl in his core, and smiled despite himself. That'd be a good spell to have...

The Guardian paused, tipping its head like a dog with a scent, before dropping low and snarling at Felix. Those bronze spikes, so painful to look at, buzzed again.

What is the deal with those? Felix peered at the bronze spikes, trying to get a bead on them, but Analyze was slippery and only gave back the Guardians' stats. They're part of it, somehow. A weak point? Or something else?

Then his sharp eyes recognized that the plethora of broken blades in the creature's back held something else. A torn and tattered bag, half pierced by a jagged sword. The Guardian dipped it's head, undulating as it moved, and the bag twisted to reveal a lumpy square shape within.

My satchel!

It was beaten up, nearly beyond recognition, torn and strained by the fall and whatever these monsters had done to it. However, Felix could still see the boxy outline of the lockbox Pit had stolen from the Archon. With a flash of recollection, he checked his Active Quest List.

A Light In The Dark!

0 of 4 Remnants Found

The lockbox had one of the blood remnants, and Felix had tucked the other remnant into one of the satchel's pockets. He frowned as he confirmed that, since losing his bag, he was back to 0% on the Light in the Dark quest.

More sounds of frustration from Magda and the other Guardian, and Felix got an idea. Well, two ideas.

"Magda! Use these!" With a burst of Mana, Felix conjured a series of stone spears around Magda, much as he had against the Risi Commander. He saw her fierce grin as she snapped one of the spears from the ground before hurling it forward.

"Stone Break!"

The spear exploded into razor sharp shards, throwing her Guardian to the side and piercing its thick hide.

Felix spun back to his opponent who, as expected, was nearly on top of him.

Influence of the Wisp!

Shadow Whip!

Stone Shape!

A tendril of shadow snapped outward, tangling with the Guardian's legs. Felix flexed his Willpower and split the whip into four tendrils, each of which tangled with the long creature's powerful limbs. The Shadow Whip barely tripped them up, the Guardian tearing through them in moments, but it paused the beast's charge long enough to become subsumed in blue-white fire.

Enthrall Failed. Target Is Immune.

The Enthrall didn't stick, but the new effect of his spell did: the Guardian began to make croaking screams as the fire ate away at its flesh and fur. Still the beast didn't stop, barrelling forward as it's body went up like a torch.

The last spell was for him.

A platform of stone rocketed Felix upward, mere moments before the monster hit him. Felix leaped from this rising pillar, his Strength and Agility more than enough to send him flying over the head of the Guardian and directly onto its back. The pillar shattered into pieces as the monster charged through it, but Felix had already landed on its back and raced forward among the jagged hilts of doomed weapons.

Ah, shit! That's hot! In retrospect, using his new fire spell then jumping on a creature was not a great idea. But beggars couldn't be choosers.

Fire Resistance is level 19!

Heat Resistance is level 21!

Luckily, his aim hadn't been too far off. He was within a few yards of his satchel.

Felix got a hand around one of the tattered straps when something hit him like a freight train. Something pierced through him, a white hot bar of torment, and then he went flying. He flew so fast that he barely had time to tumble, smashing into the wall forty feet away. The wall cracked and shattered, sheets of rock shearing from the surface as his body was driven a foot into the stone.

"HRUUH!"

Pain Resistance is level 35!

Armored Skin is level 29!

Armored Skin is level 30!

Armored Skin is level 31!

Felix could only stare, eyes bulging, as his body failed to respond. He couldn't even breathe, his lungs unable to move for several long seconds. He saw Magda getting smashed to the ground, her Force Walls shattered. He saw Pit limping, blood trailing on the ground behind him but still managing to fire off a Frost Spear. And directly in front of him, Felix watched as the Bloodtainted Guardian untwisted itself, it's impossible surrealist body contorting and stretching. The blue-white fire of his spell faded, and the damage done began to heal at a visible rate. A sharp, wet coughing sound drifted to Felix's ears, accompanied by a dissonant buzzing. It took him a second to realize that the monster was laughing.

In a whoosh, his breath returned, and Felix panted as he eyeballed his Health. That hit had dropped him to 30% Health. His mind raced as his body pulsed with pain. He couldn't survive another full on strike. His new Body, augmented by Armored Skin and an Endurance stat at 131 were likely the only reason his spine wasn't shattered right then.

With a pained grunt, Felix pulled himself out of the wall and landed heavily onto the ground below. The Guardian still advanced, though it had slowed to a cautious walk; the thing was cunning, that was certain. It started to gather dark vapor in its mouth again.

He didn't have much time.

My spells aren't strong enough to penetrate its defenses for long, and I can't get close enough to pummel it without getting swiped again. Felix wiped sweat and blood from his eyes. Something had cut open his scalp. He needed a stat boost, something to juice up his damage enough to put the hurt on this monstrosity. Aside from somehow earning another Title or gaining a level for no reason, he only had one option. Well, two really.

Apprentice Tier.

He starting running forward.

Shadow Whip!

Shadow Whip!

Two castings, this time both of them tacky tendrils of conjured shadow Mana. With a cry, he flung them forward and up, their length stretching as they did so to bash into the Guardian's triangular snout. With a Strength of 120 behind it, the whips snapped their head back, the dark lightning spell discharging into the air. Spinning around, Felix used his own momentum to increase his attack, bringing the whips across the Guardian's exposed throat.

Croaking in surprised pain, it stumbled backward. And Felix grinned.

I can do this.

Applying his will, both whips split into two, then four, then with a burning stab in his mind he split them again into eight. Something hot and wet rolled down his face, but he ignored it. Felix cast them forward, spreading their ends to tangle the Guardian's limbs. The creature leaped out of the way, but Felix didn't stop. Whip after whip, tendril upon tendril, he threw everything he had into it, burning through his Mana at a prodigious rate. His head felt like it was cracking open, each split of the whips taxing his mind in ways he didn't understand yet flared like white-hot fire. But he was used to pain; it was an old friend at this point.

Pain meant it was working.

Over and over, the whips lashed the Guardian, though they managed to counter and slice many of the tendrils before they hit. Still, wounds accumulated as fast as they healed, and Felix's arms burned with exertion. The Guardian yowled, another orb of liquid darkness forming in its jaws, and Felix wrapped a whip around it's snout. The spell aborted with a resounding thunderclap, sending out gobbets of cheek flesh as the monster's mouth blew from the inside.

Blunt Weapon Mastery is level 10!

Shadow Whip is level 25!

Congratulations! You Have Reached Apprentice Tier in Shadow Whip!

You Gain The Following:

+10 STR

+10 PER

+10 INT

Finally! Mindful of his Spirit damage, Felix let it pass without an essence draught. Still, a stabbing pain jolted from his left ankle, though it was soon lost amid the general flurry of energy the System poured directly into his veins.

The Guardian ripped through his tendrils, shredding their conjured substance with its steel talons and freeing its mouth. Felix watched as flesh began to re-knit across its cheeks, covering the gruesome teeth and tongue with ropes of withered skin. And it looked pissed.

Felix didn't pause, using hands shaky from stat gain to conjure dual orbs of Acid Stream. In a fit of inspiration, he pressed the two orbs together; a moment of tension and resistance, then an audible pop as the acid sloshed and mixed together. He now had a double sized orb of acid, rotating quickly between his two hands. Felix could tell it was stronger than his standard acid, but he felt it would have to be far stronger to do anything to this foe. He also did not miss that the Guardian was starting to move again.

My hands are busy I can't cast Shadow Whip again....He had little choice. God I hope this doesn't destroy my stuff.

Influence of the Wisp!

Enthrall Failed. Target Is Immune.

Blue-white fire immolated the creature, and it began screaming in that choking way again. The Guardian was smart, however, and it didn't try to put out the flames, it cut to the chase and simply began running at Felix. Eyes wide, Felix frantically poured more Mana into his spellform, dumping nearly three hundred Mana into it as it ballooned outward, now the size of a beachball and wobbling between his hands.

The ground shook with the Bloodtainted Guardian's loping advance. If he had the attention to spare, Felix would have thrown stone obstacles in its way, but it took everything he had to keep his spell from going haywire. It's not ready! He frantically poured Mana into the unsteady spellform, stretched beyond its intended function. It's not-!

It was too late. Guardian upon him, unable to dodge or else lose the spell entirely, Felix raised the globe of corrosive up into the air and gritted his teeth.

"FORCE WALL!"

With milliseconds to spare, a wall of yellow energy blinked into existence between Felix and the furious Guardian. It crashed into the magical barrier, the yellow Mana flaring red as the behemoth blood beast strained its limits. Blinking in surprise, Felix darted a glance at Magda. She stood, nearly fifty feet away with her arm outflung in two directions. One toward him and one toward the other blood beast, likewise restrained by a Force Wall.

Felix nodded at her, blood and sweat dripping down his face.

"Cast! Quickly!" She shouted at him.

So he did. The acid globule had destabilized further during his lapsed attention, losing about a quarter of its Mana and cohesion before he firmed up its shape with his Willpower. A little less than three hundred Mana invested in the orb, it still wasn't enough and he had plenty to spare. The Guardian strained against the barrier, flaring it orange and red in places as its claws and snout pushed and snapped at the magic. Felix focused, expending his Willpower further by shutting the enormous death beast out of his mind, putting every single iota of attention onto this spell.

It was a giant water balloon of acid, but that would do little to the blood beast. It had to be more. He had to DO more. Sounding out the shape of his Skill, he altered it, tweaked the pattern until the orb grew again, feeding it another two hundred Mana. Then he took a breath...and he tapped his shard, dumping all five hundred stored Mana into the spellform.

The acid orb grew huge until it was nearly six feet in diameter...but still, Felix wasn't done. Sunk deep into the pattern within his core, he knew this wasn't enough. So he lifted his hands, now spread as wide as they could go, and pushed, compressing the conjured magic. The acid steamed, the unsteady orb becoming a furious, boiling shape as Mana was pressed against Mana. Acrid vapor poured outward, falling like green mist as he compressed it, further and further, forcing it smaller with every pass. The Mana fought back, pushing at his hands with a bitter burn, eating away at his flesh until his hands were raw and dripping blood.

Felix gritted his teeth and bore the pain, letting it wash over him as he forced his spell to become something else. Something better.

"IT'S BREAKING THROUGH!"

The sound of thunder blasted across his senses, but Felix couldn't afford to look away from the dizzy lights within his own core; the rhythmic pound of huge feet and Magda's screams crashed against him, a terrible cold and anger blasting across his chest as Pit did something brave and foolish and...Felix tore himself away. There was only the spell. Or else...

Compress!

Mana leaked, boiling around him like a roaring waterfall, the sound like crashing cymbals and rolling timpanis. He pushed, his Strength and Endurance taking the load as much as his Willpower and Intelligence. Making a desperate gamble, Felix took the 10 free points he had saved and put all of them into Intelligence.

Compress!

A rising tremolo of notes came to a terrible crescendo and stuck there, sound stretched and strung between the beats of time. He opened his eyes. It was as if time had slowed down, his Intelligence and Perception working in tandem with something...else, to grant him an impossible snapshot. Green waves of acid and Mana were exploding all around him, expanding in a wave around his body as if he had splashed down in a puddle made of magic and death. Inches in front of him, battered by the corrosive waves, was one of the Bloodtainted Guardians, mouth wide in a snarl of pain while its legs still charged forward. Forward and to his right, only fifteen feet away, the second Guardian was frozen mid-lope, a dark power already gathering in it's jaws.

He looked down.

In his hands Felix held an orb no bigger than his fist, matte and a green so dark it was nearly black. It spun, quickly even in his enhanced senses, and within that spinning there was a terrible, awful dissonance. As if in a dream, Felix cast it forward, hand thrusting out at the Guardian before him.

The wretched dissonance unraveled the frozen tremolo, time resuming with a furious lethality. The orb blasted forward like a shot and the Guardian...dodged it.

Still, it passed within inches of the blood beast's flesh, and it left a trail of dissolving meat and the monster screamed. It was agony unlike anything it have ever known, and it's body undulated away from the horrid spell's passage. But not fast enough. The orb zipped through several broken swords and impacted Felix's bag, tearing through leather and burst apart the locked box within.

The box exploded.

A fireball as big as a house subsumed the Guardian instantly, so powerful it threw Felix back like a ragdoll and even caught the second Guardian in its radius.

Felix landed hard on his ass, and he came back to his feet haltingly, more than a little woozy from discharging so much Mana at once. He peered into the fire, which twisted around itself and poured thick smoke into the dark sky above. There was no evidence of his opponent, their body entirely engulfed in that fireball, while the second Guardian stumbled painfully out of the flames before half falling to its side. Felix blinked and backed away, the monster entirely too close for comfort, and the wretched blood beast fixed him with a baleful eye.

"You...cannot...kill...us," it wheezed, the bronze spikes rattling and buzzing with every word. "We...cannot...die. She...promised...."

Felix didn't know what to say, so naked was the hate and sorrow on its rat-like face. He'd almost feel pity if it hadn't just tried to kill them.

"We are...chosen!" The blood beast lunged forward, attempting to grab Felix; but he'd learned his lesson from the Orit, and used Relentless Charge to zip backward. It cost him in Mana and Stamina, but it was worth it. The monster fell flat on its face, his legs scrabbling against the hard ground, and it began to roar.

Beyond the Guardian the fireball had died away, instead replaced with a crimson glow, one that began reversing the explosion. The fire and light and air all collapsed upon a single, brilliantly red point. Something bright and blood red ripped from the ground where the first dead Guardian had been, and the second, chattier one began to whine in terror.

"No! No!" It cried, pushing itself away. "We are...one...with the Maw..."

Then a blood red light tore from its chest to join the crimson singularity. It dropped to the ground, dead.

You have defeated a Bloodtainted Guardian (x2)!

You have earned XP!

Felix shook, like a leaf in the wind. His Health, Mana, and Stamina were all critically low and his body was only barely coping. Luckily, his Stamina and Mana began to regenerate quickly...his Health would take far longer.

Acid Stream is level 25!

Congratulations! You Have Reached Apprentice Tier in Acid Stream!

You Gain The Following:

+10 INT

+10 ALA

Rarity of the Skill has upgraded!

Acid Stream (Rare) has become Wrack And Ruin (Epic)!

Wrack And Ruin (Epic), Level 25!

Nothing withstands your calamitous might! Not earth, not stone, not flesh. Potency, density, and speed increases moderately with Skill level.

The thrum of power echoed through him, and he smiled despite the fissure of pain that followed. The undeniable song that for a brief moment overwhelmed the constant concerto that was the Mother's symphonic breath. This was a chorus of life and power and possibility, pouring through him, into him, as he grew past his own limits once again.

The glowing red light slowly grew softer, then floated gently to the ground, landing a few feet away with a soft plink. He glanced at it before a soft whine captured his attention. Magda lay on the ground fifty feet away, and Pit was nearby, nosing her entirely too still hand.

He stumbled toward them, but before he could get very far, two things happened in quick succession. The first, a notification:

Hidden Quest Complete!

Survive The Labyrinth!

You have bested the final guardians of the Labyrinth and are granted your just rewards!

And then, the massive door began to open.