Voromir whistled as Zeke swung, harnessing his considerable might, and to full effect. But the swooping aviaki guardian was no ordinary monster, and it moved with lightning quickness, banking to the side just in time to narrowly avoid Zeke’s attack. The hammer’s head clipped a couple of feathers before crashing down on the paving stones, shattering rock as well as the earth beneath.
The impact sent a wave of turf and stone to roll through the courtyard, uprooting the topiary and cracking the central fountain’s base. Water shot into the air, misting from the shockwave before falling like a summer drizzle.
Zeke paid no attention to it, though. Instead, the ongoing battle reserved every ounce of his focus as the guardian lashed out with its wicked talons, slicing deep into his demonic colossus form. Those claws didn’t stop until they hit his metallic bones, and even then, their surface was deeply scored. Zeke lashed out with a backhand that barely connected, but even that comparatively light touch was enough to send the creature spinning away, where it crashed into a copse of bushes.
As he pulsed [Cambion’s Awakening], Zeke pounced, using the influx of physical power that came with his corruption fueled colossal form to cover the distance in an instant. Meanwhile, the monster struggled to untangle itself from the shattered remnants of the shrubbery. It wasn’t a large delay, but it was enough for Zeke to take advantage.
However, just before he reached the huge aviaki, the thing’s body shimmered, then disappeared. Zeke’s hammer crashed down with meteoric force, the impact tearing a crater in the courtyard, but the monster was gone.
A second later, he felt the bite of talons ripping through his back.
But it wasn’t just one attack. There were three, each in different positions. Zeke cried out in surprise, wheeling around a moment later to see three identical aviaki guardians leaping away.
“What the hell…”
“Clone skill,” Eveline provided, having recovered somewhat from the previous room’s enormous pressure. Her mental voice was still strained and far away, but she had attempted to mask it. “Only one of those is real. But the others still pose a significant threat.”
Zeke processed the information quickly, and decided to counter it with a couple of allies of his own. So, he used [Colossal Army], and the air split into a portal, from which three golems appeared. They were still damaged from the previous battle, but they were still functional. The other seven that should have come had not recovered enough to respond to his call.
He'd expected as much, but he’d hoped for more.
The golems rushed forward, wielding cudgels that looked like banded baseball bats. For his part, Zeke held back, wanting to see how the aviaki clones reacted to the new threat. Perhaps he could find some hint as to which one was real and which two were copies.
The trio of aviaki met the golems with predictable fury and unsurprising tactics. They all moved identically, using their superior mobility to harass the golems. Perhaps if they’d been in perfect condition, the [Colossal Army] might have fared better, but due to the damage of the previous battle, their movements were more sluggish than normal. In addition, their javelin attack was clearly unavailable, though Zeke wasn’t certain if that was due to some sort of innate cooldown or if it simply required all ten golems in order to be effective.
Regardless, the golems proved a poor match for the aviaki. They were slower, weaker, and as it turned out, less durable – the results were predictable. Yet, Zeke didn’t immediately lend his weight to the conflict. Instead, he stayed back, watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
It occurred after thirty seconds, which felt like an absolute eternity in the middle of a fight.
The golems had arranged themselves back-to-back in a defensive triangle, the effort intended to prolong the battle as long as possible. The aviaki guardians responded with swooping attacks. They were clearly fully capable of flight, unlike their lower-leveled counterparts, and they used it to their full advantage. The opening came when all three dove, each one at a different target. The timing was such that they hit at the same time.
Zeke stomped his foot, using [Hell Geyser]. Fire and destruction raced across the courtyard, covering the distance between their originator and the triangle of golems in an instant. The aviaki saw the danger and attempted to react, but for once, their speed gave way to simple inertia, and they were delayed just enough that, when the eruption of fire, earth, and corruption came, they could not escape its wrath.
But Zeke knew it wouldn’t be enough. The monster – the original, not the clones – was level seventy-four, and a single use of [Hell Geyser] wouldn’t be enough to destroy a creature of that level. So, even as the explosion of fire and earth dissipated, he used [Shifting Sands], sliding into the ground and darting through the earth with incredible speed.
He emerged from below, riding a wave of destructive force as he aimed Voromir at one of the monsters. He had no idea if he was attacking a clone or the original – they all had identical identifiers – so he’d resolved himself to killing each one and hoping he picked correctly. If he didn’t he would just destroy them all.
With that in mind, Zeke aimed a wicked uppercut at his chosen foe. It harnessed his herculean might, as well as the momentum of his emergence, and when it connected to the singed monster, it did so with enough force to rip its beak completely from its face. The stunned creature attempted to let out an agonized screech, yet without a beak, it came out as a gurgling cough.
Zeke followed the attack with a mighty stomp that crushed the aviaki guardian’s talon, then launched himself into a shoulder tackle that knocked it away. Or that was Zeke’s intention. Instead, he felt the creature’s other talon wrap around his thigh, and then he was hefted into the air.
As the monster sped higher – the courtyard had no ceiling, after all – Zeke briefly found himself dangling from its talon. He leveraged himself upright, dismissing his hammer along the way, and grabbed a handful of feathers. Fortunately, they held, and Zeke used them as handholds as he repositioned himself and clamped his arms around the monster’s torso.
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Then, he squeezed.
The beakless bird-man tried once again to screech, but it came out no better than before. Zeke continued to squeeze until, at last, the monster’s bones started to break. Then, they shattered.
But it wasn’t enough.
They continued to soar higher and higher until Zeke changed tactics. The monster needed wings to fly, after all. And Zeke was willing to bet that, without them, the creature would plummet to the ground. So, he reached out, grabbing the upper portion of a wing before wrenching it sideways.
He didn’t do much damage with that first heave, but it was more than enough to interrupt the monster’s flight. It fell, frantically flapping one wing while the other struggled against Zeke’s strength.
It failed.
In fact, once Zeke gained a little leverage, it wasn’t difficult to rip the joint out of its socket. And without that mechanical connection, the flesh followed soon after. And that turned the herky-jerky drop into a freefall.
That was when Zeke saw how far they’d climbed. If it was less than a thousand feet, he would have been surprised, and that was after they’d already lost considerable altitude. But Zeke didn’t think even such a fall would hurt him that much. And if it did, he was well-equipped to deal with any damage it left behind.
So, he reengaged his bear-hug tactic, squeezing with every ounce of strength he could bring to bear. As he did so, he shifted just enough that the frantically flapping aviaki guardian would hit the ground first. When the impact finally came, it was far more explosive than Zeke had expected, and the monster’s bones he hadn’t broken were pulverized.
It exploded with a loud exhale of gas, though its hardy skin didn’t rupture beneath its feathers. Instead, all of its innards liquified, killing it instantly. Apparently, the damage Zeke had already done was enough to tip it over the edge.
For his part, he didn’t escape completely unscathed, and without [Cambion’s Awakening], he might’ve been in trouble. However, with that skill powered by demonic mana summoned by his domain, Zeke’s body mended in seconds. Yet, that was enough for the remaining two aviaki – still smoldering from [Hell Geyser] – to fall upon him with furious attacks.
Talons ripped into his back, healing only instants later, before another flurry of scything strikes tore the wounds anew. Zeke used [Shifting Sands], falling once again into earth, only to emerge a few dozen feet away. He was getting ready to use another attack when, at last, Talia made her presence known.
The aviaki guardians were fast.
Much quicker than Zeke, in fact.
But Talia, free of the oppressive pressure of the other room, was much, much faster. Bloody wounds erupted on the guardians’ bodies, immediately beginning to fester. Zeke could barely perceive the blur of Talia’s passage, but he suspected that the guardian and its remaining clone could see nothing of Talia’s presence.
And she used that to her full advantage, slicing them to ribbons. Eventually, one attempted to fly away, but Zeke used [Center of Gravity] to interrupt its flight. The effect was brief – the thing’s instincts were enough that it could adjust to the change in gravity fairly quickly – but by that point, Zeke was on top of it.
He didn’t bother summoning Voromir.
Instead, he grabbed hold of the creature’s wings, planted his feet on its back, and pulled.
The effect wasn’t immediate. The creature was far more durable than the clone Zeke had already killed, suggesting that it was the original. Yet, his strength was indomitable, and his willpower was undeniable.
In a battle between Zeke’s power and the monster’s durability, the winner was as inevitable as it was predictable. After a few seconds, bones began to crack. Then, they broke altogether. Once the integrity of its wings had been sundered, the creature stood no chance. Its flight had taken it – and its passenger – a hundred or so feet off the ground, but with its wings having been ruined, it fell.
They crashed into the temple’s roof, then tumbled across the surface until they fell outside the building. The aviaki guardian snapped its sharp beak out, trying to rip Zeke apart one bite at a time. Meanwhile, it brought its talons to bear as well, ripping into his colossal flesh with relative ease.
However, if Zeke could do nothing else, he could persist through levels of damage few others could survive. So, he continuously channeled [Cambion’s Awakening], while countering the huge aviaki’s attacks with plenty of his own. There was no subtlety to the battle. No finesse. It was a fight between two ferocious monsters intent on ripping one another apart.
That was the sort of battle in which Zeke excelled.
But the guardian was no weakling. It was powerful, with high durability as well as regenerative properties. So, even though Zeke had the upper hand, it was not a quick fight. Indeed, long minutes passed as he endured the creature’s ripping attacks. Each passing moment saw the thing growing weaker, while Zeke’s powerful healing ability kept him on an even keel.
And eventually, his hand found the thing’s throat. He clamped down with demonic claws that sliced through its hide, then pulled. The monster’s entire throat – and all the necessary bits it held – came free in a shower of blood and feathers.
After a brief burst of panicked ferocity that surprised Zeke, the catastrophic damage took its toll. The creature’s attacks lost their fury, and with every passing second, it weakened until, at last, it could hold on no longer. It died with one of its talons buried in Zeke’s leg.
On his knees and straddling the monster, Zeke pushed himself upright. He let go of [Triune Colossus], returning to his cambion form. The rage that came with his corruption-powered skill faded, and it was replaced by simple fatigue. Covered in blood, sweat, and feathers, he let out a long sigh.
Then, he looted the monster, receiving the Eye of the Guardian, which satisfied one of his quest requirements. Other than that, there was nothing of note. He didn’t even get any meat, though he wasn’t terribly upset about the lack. After all, the aviaki were monsters, but they were close enough to people to make the prospect of using them for sustenance less than attractive.
Perhaps if there was no other choice.
But Zeke’s spatial storage had meat aplenty, especially after looting so much from the roc.
A few moments later, he rose to his feet and looked back to see Talia standing at the entrance to the temple. She was also covered in blood, and the integrity of her armor had clearly been violated, with bits and pieces having fallen free. Still, Zeke was happy to see that she looked completely whole, which just highlighted the necessity of having a skill for healing.
Without that, neither of them would have survived as long as they had. Sure, Zeke’s was easier to use, and especially when fueled by corruption, it was incredibly powerful. However, Talia’s was almost as strong, even if it necessitated a reagent like hearts or the elixir she favored.
She approached, asking, “Did you get it?”
“Yeah,” Zeke answered, assuming she’d gotten the same quest he had. “Did your quest update?”
For a second, her eyes glazed over, then she refocused and answered, “I did. Lucky that the quest works for both of us. Otherwise, we might’ve had trouble.”
Zeke nodded before looking around. “The other parts – what do you think? The ratongi probably have the staff. How much do you want to bet that the other one is related to the turtles?”
“No bet,” Talia answered with a slight smile.
“So, which first? The one we know or the one we only suspect?”
“Let’s check the turtle. It will be the most difficult.”
“Fair enough. First, I need a few minutes, though. Maybe an hour or two. That fight took a lot out of me, and I want to give my golems a chance to repair,” Zeke said.
After that, they returned to the temple courtyard, where they settled down for a few hours until Zeke sensed that his golems were once again functional. He waited another couple of hours before he said, “Alright – are you ready to go?”
Talia said, “I am. We’ve no time to waste. My friend’s life depends on our success.”