Neptune’s beard, Umbra exclaimed in horror as he, Sporus and I stood upon the top of Medusa’s Island, watching the storm/volcano god approach. Sporus backed away in fear, bumping into me by accident.
They had every reason to be afraid.
Typhon loomed like a mountain in the near distance above the choppy waters. He was truly as tall as the sky, his volcanic eyes burning with fire in the dark stormy clouds around him. If not for his bright eyes, he would have appeared headless. Only his masculine and human chest could be seen above the waters, supported by two serpentine legs that hauled him forth. What looked like dark layers of the sky around him turned out to be his wings, each resembling the size of cities. They caused little tsunamis with each terrible flap. As for his hands, each of his fingers were replaced by hundreds of snakes, wriggling around with venomous fury.
With a monstrous roar, Typhon shook Medusa’s Island, sending the waves crashing at the island’s base and activating the first wave of enemies that would descend in less than a minute from the lightning filled skies.
“This is the price for maxing out divine blessings?” Sporus shouted over the pouring rain in amazement.
“Oh don’t worry, there’s greater challenges to come,” I assured him, making Sporus scoff in shock. “And this won’t be the last we see of him.”
Makes me wonder what Venus’ last few trials are like, Umbra said, chuckling to himself while making me blush.
There was a reason few were as powerful as the gods. Jupiter and the others in Olympus ensured only a few men could be heroes with their nearly impossible trials.
“Sporus, you and Umbra will circle the island and take down enemies from the sky,” I said, helping Sporus up onto Umbra’s rain-slicked back and securing him with a chain. “Use arrows from the shadows to keep them at bay. Umbra, do not hover too close to the island, otherwise Typhon will throw volcanic debris and annihilate Cleopatra. Trust me, it will only take him a handful of volcanic stones to wipe out the island.
“I will use my lightning to fly around the base and fend off the waves of enemies with you. It’s going to be a long three days, especially when the Somnia get involved. If you keep away from the base, the shadow demons will have a hard time striking you. You will begin suffering time lapses, so make sure to talk as much as possible with each other to stay awake.”
“The Somnia?” Sporus asked.
I quickly explained these puzzling monsters that would soon emerge. The look of dread in his eyes was mirrored by Umbra’s.
I made sure to hand them a leather bag with some of the fish and coffee potions Cleopatra had prepared for us. I also gave them two of my health and stamina potions, leaving me only two and three respectively. They would need it as the nights wore on.
“Can’t we just assault Typhon?” Sporus said, but the storm god answered it for us. Typhon hurled dozens of lightning bolts around us, frying the air and making our wet hairs stand up straight.
He could easily destroy us if we wanted to.
I shook my head. “If I had to guess, his health is somewhere in the tens of thousands. If we get closer to him, he’ll crush us with his wings or seize us with his serpent hands. His armor is volcanic scales, making his health even more impossible to penetrate. We will surely die if we try. It’s best to fend off his minions here. He will retreat if we endure for three days.”
What did you say? Umbra said, almost yawning as his eyes refocused on me.
It’s already begun, I thought with dread, reexplaining the last part to him. Memory lapses would increase as the days wore on.
“First is harpies, so they should be easy,” I said, waving them off as the first batch of harpies screeched from the clouds.
As they leapt to the stormy skies, I took a deep, shuddering breath, letting the cool rain trickle into my mouth and over my face where my helmet opened. The Café Aeternum pulsed through my veins, keeping my tired eyelids open, but I could feel its lack of potency already starting to wear on me as I entered into my third day without sleep.
You can do this, I told myself. Before I began the dance of death, I quickly spent my remaining skill point on my shield ability, halfway maxing it out.
Shield (+1): lvl 5.
* Protection: Reduces incoming damage by 28%
* Block Chance: 83%
* Stamina Cost: 13.5 per block (10% reduction)
* Additional Effect: Reflects 10% of blocked damage back at attacker
Given the prevalence of lightning from the black and menacing storm clouds around us, I simply reached to the heavens and summoned a bolt to zip me up to the skies.
The futures were like a web of lightning bolts in my mind, each surging with possibilities. I could see from all of them that the lower-level tiered enemies would have virtually zero effect on me as we fended them off. Such was the power of my armor, shield skill, and enchantments that I wouldn’t take any damage unless a monster struck me with over two hundred and ten damage. Even then, if I was struck by something that powerful, it would reflect almost an equal amount of damage to the attacker, killing them in two or three hits. If I simply used my shield, I could demolish every harpy.
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However, I would need to be careful. I would soon have unexpected lapses in time and could easily fall into an unplanned Chrono Loop, which could put me in danger of being swarmed. I would have to work wisely with Sporus and Umbra, the dragon already drenching some harpies in flames nearby while Sporus sniped them.
Time to do some crowd control.
“Come here uglies!” I shouted, flipping around like a monkey from lightning bolt to lightning bolt in an attempt to draw in the harpies.
The ugly half woman, half bird creatures screeched in anger as I taunted them, attempting to swoop at me as I drew them in. Many of them made the mistake of getting too close, getting zapped by my electrical aura, but they persisted in trying to claw out my face and tear my throat with their beaks. It reminded me too much of the harpy I met on my first day of Antiquitus. That one had made me pee in my pants, which was super embarrassing. I dwelled on that memory as I gathered over twenty of the bird demons in the air.
I spun just at the right moment to face them, a look of a half-crazed glee on my face. With a smack of my hands, I unleashed a shockwave that sent them flying back and dealing one hundred damage. Because of their lower health, they perished from the thunderclap.
Strength (+200): lvl 26 (10/270)
Glory (+630): 7,530
Level (+1): 58 (370/600)
Skill Points (+1): 1
Watching them fall lifelessly from one clap was immensely satisfying. The other harpies got the message that I was not to be messed with, and instead swarmed Sporus and Umbra weaving through the rain.
Of course, I thought, snatching a lightning bolt to pursue them. They would pursue the weakest.
Once they saw me approach, they shrieked in terror, knowing their time had come. There was nothing they could do to hurt me since they needed to draw close to use their talons, and that would electrify them because of my armor. Instead, they uselessly resisted mine and Sporus’s attacks while Umbra engulfed those that lived with his flames. My Pilum of Mars made quick work of them, especially with my Piercing Rain and Chain Lightning abilities which lit up the dark night with fried harpies.
Strength (+70): lvl 26 (80/270)
Glory (+240): 7,770
Level: 59 (580/600)
“Nice work,” Sporus said, as Umbra crunched the fiftieth harpy with his teeth.
Disgusting, he said, spitting out the feathers. That wasn’t too bad.
“That was just an appetizer,” I warned, pointing ahead to the churning waves that approached us like a ripple. They would arrive in an hour.
Sirens? Umbra asked.
“Even better: Ichthyocentaurs.”
“Sea centaurs?” Sporus yelled in the rain.
I nodded. “They fight better in the water. They’ve got wicked tridents.”
We remained in the air, battling the freezing rain and dodging the occasional lightning blast from Typhon while we waited. Once they arrived, Typhon relented, watching with hungry eyes to see if we would fall. He had very good reason to think so. While only sending fifty harpies in the first wave, which should have taken a lot longer for normal people to face, this time he sent one hundred Ichthyocentaurs, who were much faster, deadlier, and higher in health than the winged women.
Their tridents were varying displays of gold, silver, and coral, matching some of the jewelry in their jet black hair. As for their build, they resemble translucent Roman gods with their six packs and impressive chests, which all paled in comparison to the shimmering scales of their fish tails.
I don’t see why we can’t go wait in the clouds, Umbra said.
That would be a very bad idea.
I imagined the futures, even taking Cleopatra up while Caesar wrestled for control. We would come face to face with Typhon above the clouds as he rose with his terrible wings. Due to his cosmic size, he would simply flap his wings and seize us with his snake hands, snapping Umbra’s spine and squishing Sporus and I without breaking a sweat.
I quickly explained that future to them. “We need to face his minions. It’s the only way through.”
Individually, the Ichthyocentaurs would be fairly easy to take down. They were fast, yes, but I was faster, and my pilum could take them out in a couple of hits. But together, they would throw their tridents like a horde, making what was once negligible damage into significant pain, or even death if they targeted Sporus. I was instantly grateful for Umbra as I watched the futures. He would take on the brunt of the damage for him.
The first of the almost albino Ichthyocentaurs popped their heads above the water, staring at me with pitch black eyes from afar. Once a few of them had surfaced, they started clicking their tongues, communicating something unintelligible.
One of them, probably the leader given how much bigger his tail was to the rest of them and how his trident hummed with enchantments, clicked his tongue as fast as a motor before throwing his trident at me. It was an easy block, raising my Barnacle Shield to catch his trident, which unleashed sea water and obsidian shards into his face. With my added electrical defenses, I reflected most of the damage back onto him plus electricity. The surge further compounded in the water, frying him and those nearby.
Umbra roared and swooped down to swat and burn as many Ichthyocentaurs as possible while Sporus fired off shadow arrows, puncturing a few of them in the chest but not killing them.
“Time to fry!” I yelled, seizing a lightning bolt to finish off the main Ichthyocentaur and take down a couple more with him in the water. Lightning struck my hand and followed through to electrify a dozen or so Ichthyocentaur. For an unnaturally long time they burned and sizzled in the water, only to repeat.
The worst timing, I thought, inwardly sighing as I endlessly electrocuted them. After a couple dozen times shocking them, I figured out a new approach.
I chose not to seize the lightning this time. Instead, I tucked my knees to my chest and cannonballed onto the leader. The look of utter shock from the Ichthyocentaur leader would have made me laugh on a normal day, but since I was diving into their territory where they would be most lethal, I chose to keep it in. My plated butt smacked the leader in the face, sending us plummeting into the shallow, stormy waters, where I became surrounded by one hundred Ichthyocentaur.