Chapter Thirty-Seven: Confronting the Beast

As Tom followed the increasingly frequent drake sign, he began to grow more and more nervous.

He had come far, since he had manifested. Especially so, since training with Val after his exile. He had fought all manner of beasts, in all manner of different situations, and was growing more and more confident.

His teamwork with Sesame was fluid, if not flawless. His newly adapted combat style, the slow grinding down of enemies, the taking of damage to deal it, enforcing his presence on his surroundings to control them, was becoming second nature. He felt at home in the Deep. He was assured that he was a match for its challenges. And yet, he was nervous.

Drakes, the fabled monsters, could not be taken lightly.

Drakes were to dragons as caterpillars were to butterflies. Four legged, enormous lizards, they could almost be considered a separate species, were they not linked by some strange metamorphic process. No one knew exactly how, or why, a drake would eventually evolve into a dragon, only that they did. It was a mystery that Biology-adjacent Ideals had spent centuries trying to unravel.

There were two main differences between a drake and a dragon. The first was their wings: drakes didn’t have them. Once they took to the skies, they became exponentially more dangerous, and that was saying something, for drakes were still among the most dangerous creatures in the Deep. Or anywhere they could be found, and that was most places.

The second difference was that drakes had not yet developed a spatial gland. When a drake became a dragon, a special organ developed in the back of its throat. Via some arcane process, a dragon would use its mana-attunement to draw in the right types of energies, forging, and condensing them into the extra-spatial space contained within the unique organ. From there, they could release it in the massive gouts of attuned energies that they were so infamous for: dragon breath.

Drakes were still incredibly dangerous. Even if they lacked a spatial gland, they would still have a nascent attunement, among other abilities. They were also reputed to be much more intelligent than more mundane creatures, and by the time they became dragons, were exceedingly cunning.

The most common drakes found in the Deep were forest drakes, also known as wood drakes, though soil and grass, and even water drakes, were not overly uncommon. The Lord of Blood had supposedly earned his name killing a newly born blood dragon, although not many believed it, saying it was more likely he had killed a drake. Just enough materials and essences and the like, taken from rarer types of drakes, filtered into Wayrest via the Hunters that it kept the speculation alive though.

Tom thought it likely that they were tracking a wood drake. They trended larger than grass drakes, and soil drakes would have left far more sign behind moving through the forest. He ruled out water drake as an option early, given that they tended to stay close to bodies of water.

Knowing it was likely a wood drake did nothing for his confidence, though.

The beasts were eclectic, and could be massive, stocky brutes, like an oak stump, or long and lithe like a willow branch. They could control wood, to a certain extent, though they mainly used it to gently bend trees out of their way while moving about. Drake scales were already among the toughest materials known to man, and wood drake scales were no exception. In fact, they were extra tough, and usually contained regeneration properties, like bark. Their teeth and claws were strong enough to mulch hundred year old trees, to get at the dense essences growing in their cores.

Tom was communicating with Sesame, trying to come up with a plan of attack. Eventually, they decided the best course of action was the simplest: stick to what they knew. They would try and divide the drake’s attention between them, and then wear it down through attrition. He ran it past Val.

“It’s your fight, Tom,” she replied. “Handle it as you wish. Word of advice though: wood drakes tend to have solid regeneration, and they’re tough. You might find your usual tactics don’t work as well as you hope.”

Tom mulled the advice over as they followed its tracks, deeper and more obvious now than ever. He was limited by his skillset, but he did have some new tools. He hoped they would allow him to make up the difference.

Morning dawned after two more days of tracking, and after an hour or two, he and Val began to hear the cracking, scraping noises of something large moving in the Deep ahead of them. When Tom turned to say something to Val, he found she’d already melted away into the woods.

He was alone. And he was fucking nervous.

With great trepidation, he slowly drew closer to the drake. He no longer bothered searching for tracks, instead able to simply follow the noise it made as it moved. After another hour, he was so close that he could feel the slight tremors in the ground as it stepped. Another few minutes later, he caught his first glimpse of the beast.

It was big. Taller than Sesame, who rose to Tom’s shoulders on all fours, it must have been around thirty feet long too. It was sinuous, reminding Tom more of a snake than a lizard, with a long, whip-like tail and a graceful neck. Its head was thin, with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Starting from the crown of its skull, running all the way down its spine, and to to the tip of its overly long tail, was a triple row of large spines. At the very tip of its tail was a single, wickedly barbed spike.

Wood creaked as it manipulated two trees slightly further apart and slipped between them, far more graceful in the cramped environment than one would expect of something its size. Tom was struck, not by the palpable danger of it, but by its beauty.

Its scales perfectly matched the surrounding foliage, glimmering, ever so slightly iridescent, in the morning light. The rich green scales gave way to deep, earthy brown along its underbelly, the gradient so smooth he couldn’t be sure where green began and brown ended.

It was obviously a creature perfectly adapted to its environment. Sovereign amongst the lesser creatures, king of its domain.

Tom readied himself to kill it.

Sesame sent a flurry of messages, impressions, tidbits of information he had picked up. The forest cleared a little, some ways ahead. He could smell more fresh air freely moving. Tom made the decision. If they were to fight it, it had better be where it had as little space to manoeuvre as possible.

He sent the go ahead to engage to Sesame, and then began his casting.

Agony, he thought, then followed it immediately with Misery. The thin pink line sprung into being between them.

The drake didn’t react how Tom expected. He had become used to creatures bellowing in, well, agony, when he began his attacks. The drake let out a long, sibilant hiss, and crouched, its spines flaring and twitching. Its head, perched on its long neck, swept slowly about. Its yellow eyes searched the forest.

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Tom cast Agony again as it came off cooldown, and this time the drake showed no reaction. He began to doubt himself, but checked his mana pool, and found it had cast.

The drake suddenly froze, every muscle going rigid. Tom felt a sinking feeling in his gut, some animal instinct telling him that this was not a good sign. The drake’s tail suddenly whipped out, and only Tom’s heightened Idealist reflexes saved him. But not completely.

He threw himself backwards as he saw minute twitches in its muscles, that animal instinct for danger screaming at him. The barbed tail flickered by, quick as blinking, catching Tom in the gut where it would have run him straight through the chest. He fell to the forest floor, gasping in pain.

A horrible burning sensation began to spread from the wound, but after a moment his wisp blinked pink. The burning sensation stopped, and a pleasant, cool tingling replaced it, retreating towards the wound.

Skill activated: Sweet Suffering (Passive).

Forest Drake Venom - Negated: Extreme buff applied to health regeneration. Extreme buff to health. Duration: Moderate.

Within moments, the hole the drake tail had torn in his gut had closed. Broken links from his hauberk squeezed out of the wound like metal maggots. Tom pushed himself from the soil to the sound of an immense roar shattering the peace of the forest. As he found his feet, he saw an enraged Sesame charging the beast. Their bond was filled with reassurance and rage. The big bear plainly hoped to keep the drake’s attention while Tom recovered.

The drake let out another sharp hiss and flowed to meet the bear. Jagged shards of obsidian stood from its scales in a few places, mostly in its softer underbelly, but disappointingly few had actually managed to pierce its hide. Tom spotted one larger wound in its belly, maybe made by Echo activating as it struck him. He could see the single attack had drawn a few whisper tags, almost intangible, now trailing from the lizard’s tail.

The drake struck out with its long neck, two long fangs at the front of its mouth hinging open. Sesame stood, rearing up, mighty and proud, to meet it.

The drake was bigger than Sesame, longer, with more leverage. And yet when they clashed, Sesame held. With a roar the bear smashed his forepaw into the giant lizard’s skull, drawing lines of blood from it and redirecting the lethal strike just far enough away that the closing jaws missed flesh.

Sesame’s stone-adjacent aspecting was showing its worth. The bear, massive in his own right, though not so large as the drake, was heavy. Tom saw thin lines of blood, down one side of the drake’s head, though they were already starting to close. He thanked Goddess he’d listened to Val’s advice about aspecting his familiar. To be able to hold its own against such a massive creature was incredible. To be able to damage it, however little, when it was only at Complete, was insane.

Tom charged in, unwilling to let Sesame bear the full brunt of the drake’s attention. Carefully, he avoided the tail, and struck out at the softer scales behind its hindleg where it met its body. The spear sunk into the softer flesh of the drake, and drew a gratifying hiss from the creature.

Suddenly, it was twisting, shifting, its sinuous body curling around to threaten Tom again. He struck out, quick as he could, anywhere he could reach the softer brown scales. His spear, now encrusted with sharpening and durability enchantments, sank deep with every strike.

Just as the drake had almost turned enough to strike at Tom with its head, Sesame rammed into its unprotected side. The drake rocked towards him as his familiar impacted it from the other side of it, and the drake, for the first time, let out an unbridled roar. It was insanely loud in Tom’s ears, with an almost metallic quality to it.

Tom took advantage of the momentary distraction to stab at it several times, poking more deep wounds into its side. Sesame, he assumed, was raking the other with his claws.

Suddenly the drake thumped to the earth, as if the fight had gone out of it, belly impacting the soft soil beneath it. Tom felt a surge of triumph until the spines on its back began quivering. He sent caution to Sesame, an image of the spines too.

A moment later, the air filled with a green gas, spewing from the spines in a great cloud. Tom was engulfed before he could properly register what was happening. Sesame sent a dozy, confused sounding query before the bond went dark.

Time seemed to slow down, and Tom glanced to his wisp.

Skill activated: Sweet Suffering (Passive).

Forest Drake Miasma - Negated: Major buff applied to reflexes. Major buff applied to alertness. Major buff applied to strength. Duration: Moderate.

Power surged in Tom’s muscles. The miasma made it difficult to see, but his new sense told him exactly where the drake was. It had obviously decided they were too great of a threat, and had moved to incapacitate them so it could finish them off at its leisure. Even now, Tom could sense it twisting to face Sesame’s unconscious form, preparing to strike.

Fear surged in his heart. He had to stop it! Even if Sesame couldn’t truly die, something in him rebelled at the thought of resummoning his familiar. He had grown to rely on the bear, and more, he had grown to love the great lump. The bear provided not just a reliable ally, but a friend. Tom didn’t want to risk resummoning him; who knew if the intelligence The World provided would be the same?

He lashed out with Agony. He cast Hush, in case it would do any good. Still, the drake advanced. It reared its head, aiming, ready to strike down at his helpless friend.

Desperate, Tom reached within him. Time slowed to a crawl, his heightened reflexes and alertness drawing the moment out. He wanted more - no he needed it. Demanded it!

And his wisp flashed brown.

Skill manifested (Survival).

Skill Four (Complete): Wild Strike (Active (Cycle)).

Mana Cost: High.

Cooldown: High.

Wild Boar Strike:

Range: Low.

Damage: Moderate.

Knockback enemies in a cone in front of the caster. Damage only applied to primary target.

Wild Eagle Strike:

Range: High.

Damage: Moderate.

Place a low duration Fear debuff on enemy. Deals damage as fear debuff ends.

Skill manifested (Suffering/Silence/Survival).

Pinnacle Skill (Complete): Wild Hunter (Passive (Aura)).

Suffering (Sorrow):

Caster’s aura causes trivial damage over time to enemies within it. Caster is healed by the same amount.

Silence (Stutter):

Caster’s aura interferes with enemy ability or skill use within its bounds. Enemy ability or skill use within caster’s aura range costs more mana.

Survival (Subdue):

Caster’s aura places periodic stacks of minor slow debuff on enemies within the caster’s aura.

Tom gave the notification the most cursory of glances. The drake struck down at Sesame. He lashed out with his new skill, and mana left him in a rush.

Wild Boar Strike impacted the drake, a cloud of dense brown energy, almost wooden looking, slamming into its unprotected back and staggering it mid-lunge. Its head, aimed at the prone Sesame, slammed into the earth instead. Tom knew he couldn’t give it even a moment’s respite, not if he wanted to make it out with both him and Sesame alive.

And so he charged again, resolute.

One man against a king of the Deep.