Three Voxxian monsters clambered across Elijah’s broad back, biting and clawing for purchase. He’d just used Iron Scales, so they stood no chance of actually harming him. However, the same couldn’t be said for Isaak, who was running in circles as he tried to avoid yet another creature. He was not doing a good job of it, either, because the thing kept catching up and biting him. The only reason he hadn’t already fallen was the ethereal shield that protected his body.

Eljiah couldn’t worry about the boy, though. He had to trust that Isaak could take care of himself, because he was already starting to feel the strain of using Iron Scales too many times in quick succession. If something didn’t change – and soon – he would fall from sheer exhaustion. So, with that in mind, he reached back with one long arm, and snatched at the much-smaller Voxx. It dodged nimbly and continued its gnashing attack.

So, he tipped over and slammed himself into the ground, back-first. Two of the monsters scattered, leaping from his back just in time to avoid being flattened. However, the third wasn’t so lucky. Bones crunched as the full weight of Elijah’s Guardian shape squashed the creature. It didn’t die, but it certainly wasn’t recovering from that anytime soon.

More importantly, Elijah had a brief moment to enact the next part of his hastily-conceived plan. Without hesitation, he shifted back into his human form and cast two spells. The first was Healing Rain, which he hoped would be enough to keep both himself and Isaak healed for the time being. The next was Snaring Roots, which he aimed at the boy’s pursuer. Thick, thorny, and purple vines erupted from the ground, wrapping around the small creature and locking it into place.

Meanwhile, the remaining two Voxx reversed course and made a beeline toward the suddenly vulnerable Elijah. He met the first one with a baseball swing of his staff that sent it skidding to the side, but that opened him for the other’s attack. Elijah raised his arm just in time to keep it from tearing into his torso, but when it crunched down on his forearm, he let out a cry of anger and agony. Without aiming, he used Storm’s Fury, and a bolt of lightning descended from the sky. It hit the creature clinging to his arm, sending it into convulsions, and he used that brief opening to fling it away.

The second it flew free, Elijah cancelled Essence of the Monkey and used Shield of Brambles. After that, he shifted back into his lamellar ape form; the transformation completed just before the two creatures returned to the fight, but this time, Elijah was ready for them. He didn’t even bother keeping them off him. Instead, he was perfectly willing to endure their attacks. With Iron Scales active, they did almost no damage, and every time they bit or clawed – which was quite a lot, considering their favored form of frenzied attacks – they got a sharp thorn for their troubles.

In seconds, they were coated in a dozen rivulets of blood.

At the same time, Elijah stomped on the injured Voxx that was still struggling to rise despite its plethora of broken bones. He ended its life with a generous application of force directed at its vulnerable skull. It couldn’t avoid the blow, so it died after only a few more seconds.

That left three, two of which were covered in their own blood from a hundred reflective thorn attacks. The third was still struggling with the roots as Isaak finally realized that he was no longer being chased. To his credit, the second he had an opening, he took aim at the struggling monster and let loose with one of his balls of soulfire. Even with its limbs wrapped in writhing vines, the creature managed to dodge the oncoming spell.

Mostly.

It still took a glancing blow, which for any other spell, might have been an issue. With soulfire, though, it was more than enough. The monster howled in agony as, in the space of a second, its arm melted entirely. However, the remainder of the ball of soulfire hit the roots, burning them to a crisp and freeing the creature. It stumbled as it tore loose from the remaining tendrils of vegetation.

For his part, Elijah couldn’t afford to watch the unfolding battle between young man and Voxx. He was far too busy with his own opponents. Thankfully, the multitude of wounds – small though they were – had begun to take their toll, and the two Voxxian creatures had slowed considerably. That allowed Elijah to reach back and grab one of them by the loose skin on the back of its neck. His claws dug into its hide as it attempted to wriggle free, but he wasn’t having that. Despite its efforts at escape, Elijah’s grip held, and he proceeded to slam the creature into the rocky ground.

The first instance broke bones, but the second shattered them. The third ruptured organs, and the fourth took its life. He let out a roar as he tossed it away, turning his attention to his remaining attacker. It wasn’t long before it went the way of its partner, broken and dead.

At that moment, Isaak finally finished his target off as well, using a whip of pure soulfire to slice through the creature. It fell into two disgusting halves that squelched when they hit the ground.

“What was that?”

“It’s called Soul Whip,” he said. “I…I’m not good with aiming it, so I can’t use it unless they’re close.”

“You didn’t mention that before,” Elijah accused, his lamellar ape voice low and growly.

The young man shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if I might need it against you,” he admitted self-consciously.

“That…makes a lot of sense.”

“You’re not mad at me?” Isaak asked.

Elijah shrugged his massive shoulders, saying, “Can’t blame you. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. But I’ll tell you this right now – you use that thing on me, and we’re going to have a big problem.”

Isaak swallowed hard. “I’m not…I wouldn’t…”

“Look alive. Next wave is coming soon.”

Just then, a massive rumble shook the ground, and Elijah felt dozens of presences swimming through the earth toward the surface. He knew exactly how to deal with that, so before they could complete their ascent, he shifted back to his human form and cast Calamity. Even as the wind began to blow, he shifted back to his guardian shape and readied himself for the coming struggle.

As it turned out, he needn’t have worried.

The second the creatures – and there were more than ten – surfaced, Calamity descended upon them in all its disastrous fury. The wind howled as it cut them to pieces, and the earth buckled beneath them. And all the while, Elijah stood back, using his massive form to shield the young man.

In the end, all but three of the Voxxian monsters perished in the Calamity, and the trio of survivors were in no shape to fight back when Elijah went in to finish them off. They were much smaller than the previous wave – maybe three feet tall, at most – but they still looked extremely dangerous, with their sharp claws and biting teeth. Elijah pummeled them to death without hesitation.

When he returned to his position in front of Isaak, the curly-haired young man was in awe. “You just…how did you…what level are you?”

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“Don’t worry about that,” Elijah responded. “Besides, levels aren’t everything.”

Before he could elaborate, a deep, resounding roar cut across the landscape, bouncing off the jagged obsidian rocks to make it seem like it was coming from everywhere all at once. But Elijah didn’t need to rely on his aural senses to recognize the source. He could see it coming right for him.

It was big.

Bigger even than the monster that had nearly killed the panther back on his island. It also only had one set of arms, which somehow made it look even more fearsome. Elijah had just enough time to notice a huge sail-like set of spines on its back before it crashed into him. He met its charge with one of his own, though the impact with the twelve-foot tall monster sent him flying backwards like he’d been hit by an eighteen wheeler.

Isaak lashed out with his Soul Whip, though to much lesser effect than against the other monsters. The tendril of blue-white fire wrapped around the Voxxian monster’s leg, setting it to sizzling, yet that was where the damage ended. Still, it must have been quite painful, because the monster let out a shuddering scream of pure agony before it backhanded Isaak. Blood arced, and the young man went flying away.

Elijah’s mind went white with fury, and he sprang to his feet and launched himself at the monster. He hit with the force of a charging bull, knocking the Voxxian monster into a stumble. However, it recovered quickly, raking its claws across Elijah’s back. Even with a hastily activated Iron Scales, Elijah felt his hide part beneath its sharp talons.

But he wasn’t without claws of his own.

He snapped out his fists, ripping and tearing with all the fury he could muster. With the additional potency from his Claws of Gluttony, he managed to do quite a bit of damage before the monster lashed out with its foot, kicking him across the landscape. He tumbled, flipping over three times before hitting an escarpment of jagged, black rock. It shattered, and a few bits lodged between his scales as his momentum took him a few feet further.

Fortunately, he was durable enough that the damage was minor, and he recovered his feet only a second later. As he did, he saw the huge monster’s unhurried approach. It almost looked like it was enjoying it. Or perhaps Elijah was simply anthropomorphizing the macabre smile playing across its semi-reptilian face.

Whatever the case, he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity represented by the distance between them. So, without even pushing himself to his feet, Elijah once again shifted to his natural form and cast Swarm. Then, knowing that he needed all the damage he could get, he cast Essence of the Monkey, willing it to replace Shield of Brambles before he cast Shape of the Predator.

Assuming his draconid form took a lot more mana than taking on the shape of the lamellar ape, but he knew he couldn’t win if he fought on the huge monster’s terms. He needed to change the paradigm, and the Shape of the Predator offered the best chance to do that.

The giant Voxxian monster reached him just as the transformation completed, and he narrowly bounded out of the way of what would have been a devastating slash. Yet, because of Haste and his increased control, he easily dodged it before springing off a nearby shard of jagged stone and leaping onto the monster’s back. There, he dug his foreclaws into its shoulders and raked with his back claws.

Elijah only managed a few good gouges before he saw another attack coming his way. So, he leaped free and sprinted away.

Meanwhile, as the monster followed with its lumbering steps, a swarm of tiny, glowing bugs descended on it, delivering a payload of afflictions as it loped after Elijah. He had no trouble keeping ahead of the creature, but when he got too far away, the scaley monster lost interest and started toward the still-prone Isaak. So, he darted back in, raking his claws across the Voxxian monster’s legs – as much to get the thing’s attention as it was to do damage.

It worked, and he slowly led the creature away from the hopefully recovering Isaak. Healing Rain was still going, so if he hadn’t already succumbed to his injuries, there was a good chance that he would live. So long as Elijah dealt with the monster. So, he continued like that for a few minutes, darting in every so often to keep the creature’s attention as well as to do whatever damage he could muster.

Meanwhile, every time he attacked the monster, he stacked instances of Contagion as well as Anticoagulant from the Claws of Gluttony. In addition, the afflictions from the Swarm were busy working on the monster as well.

Gradually, Elijah whittled the monster down. It was slow, though. Very, very slow. And he got into trouble more than a few times when he underestimated the monster’s speed. It was so easy to forget that massive Strength – which the monster clearly possessed – translated into explosive, if often short-lived and barely controlled bursts of speed. So, on more than one occasion, Elijah found himself on the wrong end of that equation. Still, each time, he managed to escape with only a few scrapes.

Until, almost twenty minutes later, it caught him with a backhand that crushed his ribs and sent him tumbling across the landscape. As it happened, he ended up near where the battle had begun, but to his shock, Isaak was nowhere to be seen. He couldn’t give that much thought, though, because the moment the monster had sensed even a hint of weakness, it had become rejuvenated. The sluggishness of its many injuries briefly forgotten, it charged Elijah with renewed fury.

Elijah forced himself to his feet, but one of his legs was broken, and Healing Rain had long since run its course. With his mobility cut to almost nothing, he had no choice but to initiate a shift into his lamellar ape form and hope he could endure whatever punishment the creature dished out.

So, he did, noting that his ethera had gotten extremely low due to his constant shifting back and forth as well as the copious use of his spells. He would need to be more cognizant of that going forward.

But for now, he had other things on his mind.

Like the monster bearing down on him.

His transformation completed just in time for him to once again meet the charge. However, in this instance, he was at an even more distinct disadvantage due to his broken leg. Even so, Elijah took the hit as well as possible, rolling with the blow to dissipate the impact. The injured Voxx was still stronger than him, though, and he definitely got the worst of the clash.

He landed flat on his back, his head hitting with enough impact to make everything fuzzy. When he recovered his wits, he saw the massive monster looming over him. It once again wore the disgusting grin upon its face.

It laughed, a sound like clinking glass.

Elijah tried to pick himself up, but the creature stomped down on his chest with its entire weight. Elijah felt his ribs creak as he struggled to breathe. It cocked its arm back, clearly intending to level a fatal blow. Elijah struggled, his claws raking against the monster’s ankle as he tried to free himself.

It was useless.

Every facet of Elijah’s mind whirled with potential solutions. He considered shifting again. He could probably wiggle out from under the monster’s foot if he took on his human form. Yet, with it so close, there was almost no chance he’d win free. And without the increased Constitution that came with his guardian form, there was no way he could endure the monster’s attacks.

For similar reasons, he couldn’t shift into his predator form, either.

Those thoughts – and a hundred others like it – writhed in Elijah’s mind, but he could think of nothing. No clever plans. No new powers. He was going to die.

Then, a flash of white and blue light announced his salvation before a ball of soulfire hit the monster in the back. It sizzled, filling the air with the smell of charred meat. And for the briefest of moments it let up the pressure on Elijah’s chest.

He used that opening – slim though it was – to roll free. Then, with only one leg, he pushed off and threw himself at the off-balance monster. He hit it with a shoulder tackle that drove it backwards. It tripped over the nearby escarpment, then tumbled to its back. Elijah latched onto its chest, riding it to the ground, and when it hit, he pummeled it with every point of Strength he could muster.

Between blows, Isaak – ragged and looking as if he was barely hanging onto life – tossed another ball of soulfire at the monster’s head. It hit the struggling creature and melted its scales. Elijah kept going, and Isaak refused to let up either, though one facet of his mind recognized that Isaak had fallen. Elijah feared the worst, though he couldn’t spare the attention to worry about the young man’s fate.

When Elijah saw that his blows weren’t doing enough damage, he activated the Rage ability of his Silver Bracer of Rage. His mind was flooded with fury as his attributes skyrocketed. He didn’t have the presence of mind to check his Strength, but blows that had once felt completely ineffective were suddenly dislodging scales and breaking bones. The Voxxian monster struggled, yet just as had been the case with Elijah only a few moments before, it couldn’t escape.

He roared in berserk fury as he continued to smash his fists into the monster, not stopping even after it had finally succumbed. In fact, Elijah didn’t let up until, finally, the effect of Rage dissipated, leaving him feeling even more drained than if he’d used Iron Scales a dozen times.

His shoulders sagged as he looked up to see that Isaak’s form had gone unnaturally still. That cut through the last vestiges of his enraged state, and with that clarity, he forced himself back into his human form. Dragging his broken leg, he stumbled toward the fallen young man, hoping that he wasn’t too late to save him.