System Info: Quest Updated: [Void Diver]
You landed. Sort of. Fell with style? Still counts. Now the locals are eying up you like their next meal.
* Objective : Survive The Void World
* Optional Objective : Slay 10 Lesser Void-Fire Wildlings
Akamori held his blade ready as a lesser voidfire bat wildling flew at him at full speed. His armor struggled to pull details, but what little he saw of it was enough to reside in his nightmares firmly for decades. Obsidian leather like flesh and bits of spiny hair. It lacked eyes, instead it possessed glowing orbs of void magic. Hilariously large ears crowned each side of its head. Its salivating maw opened wide to tear a chunk out of him, and he knew from the size of its stomach churningly large teeth it possessed that it could do that easily. At the last instant, he evaded with the most minimal of effort and whipped his blade.
An AP spent, and a razor thin whip of void and air magic lanced through the wildling. It shrieked a death call even as it split down the middle, the two halves toppling away in a messy tumble of gore and magic. A stampede of feet behind him caused him to spin in place and his sword arm came alive. Possessed of a mind all its own. His body moved purely on instincts that didn’t belong to him. The movements owed themselves to the sword. He instantly regretted neglecting naming it as long as he had.
Air magic sizzled along the blade as a lure and a warning to the wildlings. He had magic, but he was also dangerous. More than that, the void magic within his breast pulsed a warning as well. He might pose a tempting target, but everything with magic senses knew on a basic level he owned destructive magic. Death walking.
Several lesser wildling voidfire spiders pounced. A tangle of limbs all crashed down at him. Again, his sword arm flew into motion. A conductor leading its own symphony of death. Air and void magic blades flew free, projected from his blade that dissolved carapaces and removed twitching legs free of bodies. One particularly zealous spider needed its fangs trimmed down to nubs. It squealed in pain as it coughed viscous black fluid and tried to retreat before it too was sawed in half.
His thrusters flared, and he propelled himself into the air just as the talons of a lesser voidfire bat crashed into the glassy obsidian and stone where he’d once stood. Spinning in the air, he drew up his spell rifle and loosed several blasts that caught the bat in the wings. His shots all converged on the tissue, joining the wings to the body. Flesh, muscle, and bone dissolved until nothing connected the wings and body together. It screeched helplessly as it gnashed its teeth at the air, trying defiantly to devour him until it crashed into the ground, lifeless.
Another pack of spiders slowly prowled on Amara, whose expression grew into one of revulsion and uncertainty. Allowing the moment to develop no further, he channeled several short burst teleports and closed the gap until it landed on the lead spider. His blade plunged down into its carapace between the row of circular, black eyeballs adorning its head. Fangs worked as venom dribbled free of their pointy ends, eagerly awaiting a victim.
He poured on more AP and electricity laced with void magic crackled around his arm. It began a brilliant blue that discolored into a sinister violet black, then plunged down his blade and crashed into the spider’s body, stunning it even as it devoured it. Akamori’s boots crunched into the ground as smoke and motes of magic billowed away, forced aside by his magical aura which he’d now allowed to flow unrestrained. His lips curled into a grin at the hesitation the lesser wildlings now displayed.
Seizing on the hesitation, he channeled void magic into the end of his sword, layering it on thick like an onion skin with each progressive layer of aether. When the spell finished, he hurled it into the mass of creatures and watched as they chittered and screeched. Legs and claws dug deep into the stone for purchase. But his spell offered none. Having developed into a micro singularity, it devoured everything greedily as bats, spiders, and stone alike tumbled into its maw.
System Info: Quest Update: [Void Diver]
Ambushed by the Air Wyrm again, your ship is crashing. But a downed vessel is the least of your worries. Hint: Locals. It’s the locals. Second Hint: If you have issues with bats, you’d best pray to whatever god you place your faith in.
* Objective : Survive The Void World
* Optional Objective : Slay 10 Lesser Void-Fire Wildlings 10/10
He fell to a knee, panting heavily from the exertion. Turning over his shoulder, he saw Amara head for the cave. With a grunt, he forced himself to rise enough to stagger to the mouth of the cave. Once he was inside, Amara cast an illusion spell to conceal their hiding place. Free of eyes and magical scrying. They had a safe space to catch their breath and take stock of the situation. For now.
He placed his blade back on its magical tether at the rear of his armor. It purred, pleased with the violence wrought as he stumbled exhaustedly into an open chamber where Amara had laid the others down. She sighed and wiped sweat free of her brow.
“I’ve healed the worst of their injuries. They should recover shortly, but we’re going to need a plan if we want to reach that black tower without the little critters trying to eat us.”
A blood curdling roar shook the cave so hard it made Akamori’s teeth rattle. He and Amara shared a look of worry as the others stirred softly. All save Arjun, who’d taken the worst of the crash, poor guy. Amara spoke first. “There was magic in that roar.”
“Our scaley friend with a bone to pick with us?”
Amara frowned, folding her arms and adopting what Akamori had come to think of as her thinking face. Morwen groaned as Sirsir helped her up. “Sitrep,” she’d ordered.
“We’re holed up in a cave. The planet has void and flame wildlings. The ship is dead on arrival. And there’s something enormous out there.”
Morwen frowned and nodded, rubbing a bruise on her head that had been a nasty gash prior to their entrance to the cave. “That tracks.” Morwen assumed the thinking face too and at this point Akamori was certain it was some kind of spell weaver pose. Maybe it was some kind of prank everyone couldn’t outgrow? Maybe that was like his constant beatings by Cenin? Just magical hazing? He shivered at the potential revelation.
“If there are wildlings here, then it stands to reason there might be a full grown void flame dragon out there,” Morwen finally postulated.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
That made his own blood go icy. The prospect of having to deal with two full-blown dragons was unsettling. But, it wasn’t exactly two on one as much as a three way free for all. But maybe they could stack the odds in their favor?
“We know the dragon that’s been hunting us is here somewhere. What if we drew it out and pit the two against each other?”
Amara glanced up and nodded enthusiastically. “All we’d need to do is make a big enough commotion to get their attention.”
“And fade into the darkness when they both notice each other.” Akamori finished.
“Divide and Conquer? I like it.” Sirsir said.
Akamori noted the lack of sir. Guess the uniforms really were off. So why was he so comfortable following orders and leading fights? Had he truly become so subservient? Or did he take to authority better than he realized?
“It’s as good a plan as any we have now.” Morwen said, ending the conversation and approaching Arjun’s unconscious form. “We’ll need someone to carry him.”
“I can see to the tech.” Sirsir said. The bulky sergeant stepped forward and gently lifted Arjun up, and draped him gently over his armor. He gave Morwen a confident nod.
“Now, the distraction.” Morwen said, gesturing to the mouth of the cave.
Amara strode forward this time, her hands already flying through a series of gestures, signs, and sketching glyphs and runes as needed to supplement the spell. With a flourish, the spell finished, and motes of golden and pink light coalesced into Big Blue. The massive leviathan of Hidros reared back his head and roared. It wasn’t as ear shattering as real life, but Akamori had to appreciate Amara’s craftsmanship.
A pair of answering roars issued from the distance. “We’re gonna need to give Big Blue some bite or they’ll see through the illusion.” Akamori said.
“Then you’ll provide the dragon its bite.” Morwen said, nodding to Amara, who already launched into a flurry of illusion spell signs. An instant later, Akamori bubbled out of sight.
“Right. Heading out.” A disembodied Akamori’s voice said.
He rippled through the illusion of Anorax and navigated to the dragon’s jaw. He drew his spell rifle and aimed down the sights at the two targets incoming. The first was a massive white scaled dragon muted to a dull grey. As it drew closer, he could see blue stripes patterning its hide. To the right of it in the opposite direction was a black and red scaled dragon with a crown of horns and fire.
“Just what I need. Sandwiched in the middle of a kaiju throw down.” He smirked and fed the rifle some magic. Well, if he was going to get flattened? He may as well see just how high up the food chain he could go.
He fired off a gravity bomb spell that mirrored the one he used earlier. No… Singularity bomb? He’d have to figure out a name later. He watched as the negative light orb slung out at the white dragon.
He pivoted to fire at the void flame wyrm, but something intercepted again it. Judging by the black-wings, it was the Void Spawn that had now twice saved his life. This was past becoming a habit. He was going to have to buy it a drink at this rate. He chanced a quick perception spell on it.
System Info: Perception Check Results:
Mysterious VoidSpawn
Divinity: ???
Challenge: ???
Opting to trust the void fire wyrm to it, he refocused on the air wyrm. One last spell should do it. He saw a mass of white and blue scales boil away under the crushing power of his gravibomb spell. His sword hissed in disapproval.
“Yeah, I didn’t like it either.” He mused softly.
He aimed for the weak point he’d created and pooled water magic into the rifle, making a bullet of ice. Then he wrapped it in a skin of void magic, and channeled air, sparking a wreath of lightning.
Akamori held the round a little longer and then fired, adding some extra AP to the spell for damage. He watched the round slam into the weak point he carved into the air wyrms chest. Blood gushed freely and the dragon’s advance halted. He watched as it clawed at the wound, desperately trying to extract the ice spike.
Satisfied the lesser creatures would respect Amara’s illusion, he channeled some void magic and teleported several times until he was trailing behind the squad as they made a dash for the black palace. Sweat beaded down his brow, and his chest aches from the heavy spell use. He schooled his breathing under control and pushed harder against gravity to fall in stride with the others.
Akamori glanced back over his shoulder sucking in breaths as he watched Amara’s illusion spell collapse just as the void fire wyrm and the air wyrm crash into each other. The air wyrm snarled angrily and raked massive claws across the void fire wyrms chest. The black and red dragon spun, whipping its tail around into the air wyrm, but the white dragon evaded easily. Satisfied they would keep each other busy, he caught up with the others as they rose towards the large front doors of the black palace.
The path narrowed ahead of them. Walls of jagged rock rose from the ground, channeling the group towards a stone cut stair way that ended at a massive set of doors. The group slowed their frantic retreat and Akamori allowed his boots to contact the ground, slowing to a slow jog. The black palace came into slightly better relief as they neared it.
It looked like a typical castle with many spires and a sprawling foot print. Squinting, Akamori thought the surface texture appeared like crystal. Was it built of void glass and elemental fire? They made the five meter high double doors from jet black metal. An elaborate series of runes ringed the doors.
“You could buy half a galaxy with that castle…” Akamori mused.
“I suspect its financial footprint is incalculable.” Morwen said.
“Shall we see what’s behind door number one?” Akamori said, reaching for the doors. There was a flash of magic, and it plunged the squad into sudden cold before the sensation washed off of them, and they stood before a second set of doors. He glanced back and saw the exterior doors still shut and then looked ahead to a set of smaller. Some kind of magic airlock? Silver mythril steel doors with ornately carved golden knobs stood in their path.
Akamori reached for the large golden knobs, but the doors cracked open, allowing light to spill out. The sudden illumination blinding everyone as the sky blue metallic doors split open, swinging wide. Standing inside the doorway was an adult void fire spider with bats’ wings stood at the entrance of the palace with a golden staff. It adorned one end of the staff with a blue gem in a tear drop cut.
“Greetings. We’ve been expecting you for some time,” the creature chittered to them.