Lanek eyed the behemoth, more than a little irritated that something like the Abyssal Kraken would appear in this lake. Was it transported here? They weren’t all that far from the ocean, all things considered, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that there could be a subterranean connection between the lake and the ocean that a baby kraken may have wandered into.
It doesn’t matter how it got here. It needs to die. The fact that it isn’t slaughtering all of the husks outright tells me that it is Void-touched at the very least.
Kazuma looked over and tilted his head. Lanek nodded, giving the cat permission to act. Kazuma shot off toward the lake, mist billowing from his body and obscuring his location. Sanguineus took a moment to seek Lanek’s permission and bolted after the cat to watch his back and enjoy all of the perks that being concealed in the mist provided.
“So, what’s the plan?” Liv asked, having recovered somewhat from her terror. She wasn’t over it entirely, which made sense considering legends of these creatures had likely haunted her since childhood.
“I want Pharaoh to distract the bastard with his illusions while you and I get close enough to launch whatever projectiles we have. I’m really hoping you have something since I really don’t want you to get into melee range.”
“Yeah, I’ve got a few things. I can launch ice spears and Ivan gave me a few of his bombs before we left.” Liv said.
“Gotcha. Let’s try not to use up the bombs quite yet. Use your ice spears and back off when you run out of mana.” Lanek responded, opening up the quiver holding his thorn projectiles. Liv winced at the sight of the nasty pieces of work.
“I’m so glad I’m not on the receiving end of those things.”
“Me too. I just wish that thing’s tentacles weren’t so long. It would have been nice to just take shots at it while not having to worry about it reaching us.” Lanek said regretfully before ordering Maximilian to take off toward their target now that the mist had obscured the area. In the mist, Lanek could hear the screeches and howls as the husks were annihilated by Kazuma and Sanguineus. Neither of them were really at home in the water, so he was happy to have them deal with the husks rather than challenge the kraken.
Pharaoh was already hard at work with his illusion judging from some of the erratic tentacle strikes that were flying about. The closest one of the strikes came to hitting him was several meters above his head, which did make Lanek curious just what the tressym was showing the monster.
However, Lanek focused back on the kraken itself as he came into range and was able to unleash [Splintering Dart]. He knew that something this large would take time to bring down since he had nothing in his arsenal that could one-shot something like this. A moment later, five projectiles were burrowing into the kraken’s flesh. The creature didn’t even acknowledge the impacts, it simply continued flailing at Pharaoh’s illusions while the flying cat itself was very much out of range.
At first, Lanek worried that his projectiles simply hadn’t pierced the creature’s hide, but he watched as his second volley did indeed dig into the monster. Figuring that the damage over time aspect of his thorns simply took longer to do any damage to something this large, Lanek returned to firing off volleys. Dozens of thorns splintered into five shards before burrowing deep, finally resulting in a scream of rage and pain from the kraken.
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Lanek smiled grimly as he looked back and saw his first strikes bearing fruit as the flesh writhed as thorn-studded vines spread within the kraken and broke through in several places. He knew that this attack was incredibly cruel, but he simply didn’t have any other choice as he had no other spells that could affect the monster. He supposed that Lira would have simply kept her distance and dropped lightning into the lake until the thing was thoroughly cooked. Man, I would love to have lightning magic…
Liv whistled at him as she passed him, circling the opposite way around the kraken than Lanek. As he passed her, he was able to make out the damage she had caused. Her ice spears had left patches of frozen flesh.
I wonder… Lanek pulled one of his stone shards out and launched it at the kraken, ordering each of the splinters to target the nearest patch of frozen flesh. The makeshift cannon balls surprised him as the first one shattered the patch of ice and entered the kraken’s body, the other splinters only a second behind. Each splinter caused blood and viscera to erupt from the wound as they devastated the kraken’s insides.
As the monster shrieked in agony, Lanek launched a pair of thorn slivers directly into the wound, all twenty splinters quickly taking root within. The keening wails of the kraken disturbed him, but as he had come within range of the beast, its Void aspect became evident when his quest had triggered and focused on the beast as his next target.
Liv retreated, her mana depleted, and watched the havoc Lanek was wreaking on the monster. He continued to circle the creature, shattering the icy patches of skin and following up with those horrible thorns of his. At this point, she almost felt sorry for the Abyssal Kraken as most of its flesh was now writhing from the growing vines inside its body. A moment later, Lanek joined her and watched the Void-corrupted monster thrash around in agony, Lanek’s supply of thorns having been depleted.
Liv looked at her companion and saw the sick look on his face as he winced with every shriek from the monster. He looked like he was on the verge of vomiting.
“I fucking hate this.” He whispered, so softly that Liv had to strain to hear him. “I would put it out of its misery right now if I could. You know that, right?”
“I know. We didn’t really have much a choice, its just too big to fight it any other way.” She reassured Lanek, trying to ease his guilt and the haunted look in his eyes. She didn’t think it helped as he only looked more miserable by the time the kraken shuddered and collapsed at last. The monster had taken almost a half hour to die.
As Lanek placed his reward into his pack, he approached the lake even as the Abyssal Kraken sank into the water. It was a truly massive amount of reward stones that would likely allow him to afford some of the skills he had been saving for, but that wasn’t his concern at the moment. When the Abyssal Kraken had died, Lanek had felt something from within himself, something ancient.
Unbeknownst to him, his dranrid features were returning as he approached the lake, his horns slowing growing back. Once he reached the shore, he had reverted entirely to his dranrid form. Kneeling down while ignoring Liv’s voice, Lanek reached out and laid his hand on one of the kraken’s tentacles, trusting in his instincts as he did.
Memories began to play within his mind, but they weren’t his own. Instead he saw the creature that the kraken had been many years ago. The creature hadn’t truly been an Abyssal Kraken, instead it had been something that the Void had captured and twisted until its master had created an abomination that it felt was suited for the task of creating and guarding a beachhead into this world.
He watched as this horse-like creature was tortured and violated until the Void was satisfied. Lanek pushed past this and watched the joyous and happy creature it had been in the days prior to the Void’s appearance. Without a second thought, Lanek latched onto those memories and looked into the lake, realizing that unlike the grove’s that had been the heart of the domains in and near Caelis, this domain had been anchored by the lake itself.
That ancient thing within him prompted him to reach out for the essence of the kraken, to draw it to him. This time, Lanek recognized it for what it was, it was his dranrid self trying to guide him. Following its guidance, he gathered the energy to him, but did not absorb it. Rather, he reached out and caught the soul of the creature the kraken had once been, attempting to calm the creature that was desperately trying to hang on to the last vestiges of its original self.
It only relaxed when it felt Lanek push the energy of the kraken toward it, creating a sphere around the soul and gently feeding the energy to it. Lanek did not know how long he maintained this position, he only knew that it was important that he complete this task. At last, his task complete, Lanek felt himself fall forward, only to be caught by a pair of arms emerging from the lake.