With quick thinking, Ian summoned an earth Attuned Wall directly in the path of the flaming dino bird. It smashed straight through the wall, sending earthen debris rocketing out in all directions. The group dodged flying boulders as Ian brought up another wall.
The creature smashed through that one too. This time Ian brought three walls up in succession, essentially tripling the thickness. The Plumed Apocalypse smashed through all three, and promptly smashed beak first into the ground, losing all momentum entirely.
With incredible agility, the monstrosity rolled over into a standing position and swiped its wing at the group, sending a fan of feathers in their direction. They ducked out of the way, letting the feather spikes slam into the canyon walls behind them. The group began fanning out, careful to avoid getting too close to the walls which were now teeming with sawtooth worms.
Amy dropped under cover of her shroud and began circling. Marshall kept near Ian while they fanned out in a different direction. Calvin and Freya stood their ground, keeping the creature’s attention on them as they slowly advanced.
The creature’s feather blades were all over the battlefield and they had to step around them. They were approximately as large as a short sword and skewered throughout the entire environment, creating a barrier to their movement. These blades still had razor-sharp edges and smashing into them would likely be a bad time.
The winged beast let out another shriek and unfurled its wings as if to take off again. Ian was going to put a stop to that shit immediately. A large Stalagmite burst from the ground beneath the dino and skewered its left wing. Obsidian feathers shattered with the impact as the spike drove straight through. With a violent twist of its body, the Quetzelcoatlus tore the spike from the ground and shattered it to dust. Another swipe of its wing sent blades at Ian, who promptly tossed up a Rift Gate. He was burning through mana quickly.
The blades that would have struck them were sucked into the rift, while the others just saturated the ground and walls around them.
Calvin and Freya charged. Their footfalls pounded the dirt as they propelled forward with furious speed. Calvin’s spear crackled with intense energy as they closed the gap.
The big bastard shuffled back continuously, retreating while constantly throwing feather spikes at the approaching targets. Many of them were severely off target, either falling short and slamming into the arena floor or moving straight past them into the walls. By now, there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of spikes littering the arena.
Calvin was close now, just half a dozen more steps and he would ram his charged spear straight down this bird’s beak and be done with it. His heart pounded as the target drew near.
The dinosaur clearly had other plans. With a swift motion, it spun in a complete circle, angling its wings slightly toward the ground. A powerful blast of wind exploded out from the creature and threw Calvin and Freya back. Both of them ended up taking minor wounds after sliding into a series of spikes. Calvin now thought he understood their purpose.
Man, it sucks to be wrong at a time like this.
The Plumed Apocalypse made a serpentine motion with its neck and clucked several short, punctuated clucks toward Calvin. He looked around in confusion, wondering what the creature was doing.
Then he saw the runes on the surrounding spikes begin to glow in a brighter intensity. They were dim at first, and with each cluck, the radiance grew tenfold and now they looked like they would burst with energy.
Oh shit.
“Get away from the spikes!” he shouted.
Calvin withdrew his obsidian spear and hurled it toward the creature. Freya was already sprinting through the spike field.
Ian and Marshall were deep in the spikes and Marshall had no choice but to trace a Shattering Sanctuary and prepare the barriers around him and Ian.
Just as the radiance grew to nearly painful levels, Calvin activated Riftwalk. As his body began shifting through the spatial plane, the spikes exploded in a green fury behind him. He could feel the intense energy bathe his ass end in destruction as he stepped through space and appeared at his spear’s location. His back was singed and he smashed into the ground in an entirely uncoordinated fashion. Calvin rolled over to see the creature’s beak slamming down toward him.
Freya intercepted the strike with Lightning Fang. This blocked much of the damage, however, she still absorbed quite a bit, taking a deep wound in her flank. Undeterred, she snaked her head at the bird and bit down sharply onto its neck. Lightning crackled out from her fangs and dove straight into the enraged creature. It convulsed as it broke away and took several running leaps away from the mad dog.
This fight was going to be a bitch. Getting close to this creature was a nightmare and its control of the battlefield kept them fighting on the back foot entirely.
Amy let several corrosive spikes fly out in a volley at the creature. Unfortunately, the obsidian feathers were too durable, and the spikes shattered on impact. Cursing, Amy quickly thought about her next moves. She noticed that the shattered spikes still left a corrosive goo on the surface of the feathers and they were slowly sizzling away.
The fight dragged on like an evenly matched game of tug-o-war. Calvin’s group would press the advantage, assaulting the creature with spells and clever positioning, and the creature would respond in kind with showers of spikes and wind blasts to control the battlefield.
Amy had seized a small opportunity. It wouldn’t pay off for a while, but it would certainly pay off. As she passed by one of the worms in the wall, she hurled a Blight Bloom infused blade down its throat. The wound wouldn’t kill it, but it would generate toxin spreading blooms. With the wind whipping around the arena, she expected that the blight would continue to infect the worms all the way around the arena. On one hand, it would slowly weaken and kill them if left to do its thing. On the other, each new infected creature would act as a battery, continuously blooming flowers and releasing toxic spores, refreshing the infection on this cursed bird. It was a small thing, but in a battle such as this, the small things would add up.
She finished up with the worm and activated Death’s Door. In a flash, she appeared beneath the massive creature and stabbed out with fully infused blades. She pierced one leg of the creature deeply and slashed at the other before activating her skill again, returning her to her original position.
Enraged, the creature changed tactics entirely. It crouched low to the ground and surrounded itself with its wings like a shield. Feathers began firing out in rapid succession but they weren’t targeting Calvin’s group. They target the ground just feet away from the bird. Hundreds of the spikes buried themselves in the ground and lit up. Calvin pulled everyone back and instructed them to keep their defensive options ready.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
The monster clearly wasn’t using up all of its cards at once. It stepped up the intensity of the skills it used over time, suggesting a level of intelligence that frightened Calvin a bit. This didn’t act like an unthinking beast. It was planning and adjusting its skill set to the difficulty of its opponents. Was it toying with them?
Calvin knew beasts could level and rank up just the same as he could. They could gain power in the multiverse and become unstoppable godlike beings themselves. Some system seeds even nurtured such beings, seeing them as the pinnacle of powerful creations. Was this Quetzelcoatlus on such a path?
As these thoughts coursed through his mind, the event before them unfolded. Green beams, somewhere between arcs of electricity and lasers, connected each of the spikes. The beams then shot up into the air, forming a sort of geodesic laser dome over the creature. As the moments passed and the tension built within the group, the energy in the dome grew to unprecedented levels. Finally, the dome collapsed in a flash. All the built up energy slammed into the creature and it seemed to absorb it into its feathers.
The Plumed apocalypse now resembled a giant, green, stone monolith. It pulsed with a fearsome energy, and Calvin wondered if this was a fight they should bow out of. He shook his head and banished that thought from existence. The system would not reward them for running from a fight, and it certainly wouldn’t make the future easier on them. They had no choice but to win.
A small ping of energy invaded his preparations. It was strange at first, yet familiar, but it took a few seconds for him to understand what it was. In a panic he summoned the portal grenade from his pouch and examined the runes. They were flashing. Olympus was calling.
“Dammit!!! Guys, we’re getting a call from back home.”
This drew concerned looks from everyone. Olympus would only call if it was important, and they were kind of in the middle of something right now.
“Ian, take cover. Get a doorway open and see what’s up.”
Calvin and Freya exploded in motion. Whatever this bird was about to do, they needed to make sure its attention was fully on them while Ian phoned home.
A massive shockwave burst forth from the monolithic creature. It was a green pulse that made no noise, kicked up no debris, and did no damage to them as it passed through. That was good, because they would have been truly fucked.
The wave slammed into the walls and dispersed in a green, energetic mist. Then nothing. Cracks formed on the creature’s wing shell before the wings burst open, shedding a chrysalis of sorts. What emerged would truly be awe-inspiring if it wasn’t out to kill them.
The once obsidian feathered reptilian, avian creature was now something out of legend. Its entire body was wreathed in a green flame, like a radioactive phoenix. It let out a shrill cry into the air and thrust its wings downward, sending it up about a dozen feet up, where it hovered and scanned the battlefield.
Calvin and Freya were in a full on sprint now. He’s summoned his Arsenal and the two spectral spears were already flying toward the beast. He also fired the Nightclaw spikes. They rocketed straight up into the air and changed direction simultaneously, almost breaking the sound barrier as they accelerated toward their target. Every single spike struck true and punctured straight through the monster. It definitely hurt the creature and it let out a cry of pain and rage before slashing a wing toward Calvin and settling back to the ground. A wall of green flame erupted from the wing and crashed toward him like a magical tsunami of hatred.
Calvin redirected one of his spectral spears high above the creature and Riftwalked to it only to be met in the air by another wave of flame coming his direction. He quickly activated his boots to send him straight toward the ground as quickly as possible. He slammed into the ground and rolled out of the impact into a sprint. Another wave of flames cascaded toward him. The assaults were relentless. In nearly every fight so far, the opponent would attack and Calvin would respond, then Calvin would attack and the opponent would respond. This time, an unending barrage of attacks came his way, and he was running out of means to avoid them. His Riftwalk was on cooldown for another couple of minutes so he opted to send the other spear on a terminal journey into the bird’s face.
The spear slammed home and the creature’s head snapped back, ending the barrage of attacks momentarily. This allowed Freya to get in close. She slid underneath the recovering avian and slashed out at its legs with her claws. Although it had gone through a complete transformation, Amy’s toxins still seemed to be going to work. The enraged monster lifted its powerful talon into the air and stomped down toward the Aetherwolf beneath her. Freya had planned this because she was the smartest and bestest dog. Storm Hunter activated and Freya disappeared, reappearing behind the creature. She was showing off a bit and a treat popped out of her collar. She chomped on it as she reappeared.
A bolt of lightning ripped from the heavens and struck the bird, passing all the way through to the point on the ground Freya had been previously. The energetic explosion sent the creature slamming backward in a tumble as a water attuned elemental wolf joined the fray.
Freya and her new companion assaulted the creature from two sides, slashing and biting in tandem. When the bird focused on one, the other would go in for a strike. They kept the pressure on.
Calvin and Amy were now side by side and closing in. The noose was closing around this hellish creature. They were determined to end this fast and get back to Ian. Calvin needed to know what was happening at Olympus.
The water wolf lunged into the air, aiming to strike the bird’s neck, only to realize it had fallen into a cleverly set trap. The creature swiftly coiled its head around, impaling the wolf on its beak in mid-air. The elemental disappeared from the battlefield, leaving behind nothing but a lingering mist of steam. A wing flew back and slammed into Freya, throwing her back against the canyon wall, where she scrambled to avoid becoming worm food.
Now free of its aggressors, it looked directly at Calvin and Amy. Drawing in a massive breath, they could see the energies condensing and being pulled into its beak. It was like a black hole, reaching out and snatching every last bit of energy available, and Calvin knew this attack would be punishing. He grabbed Amy, pulled her to the ground and activated Storm Legion.
BOOOM!
BOOOM!
BOOOM!
BOOOM!
Calvin was jolted by the force of the powerful explosions. The ground trembled violently with each impact. The very air appeared to tear apart, yet the storm legionnaires remained unharmed. Calvin was confused at this and peeked around the barrier.
The bird was full of massive cratered wounds and had been slammed into the canyon walls. Worms from the walls had latched on and were furiously tearing pieces off of the monster.
In shock, Calvin looked back toward Ian and Marshall, suspecting them of having concocted some insane plan. What he saw was Tank, standing in an open magical doorway with a large, smoking weapon resembling some sort of handheld cannon. Marshall and Ian, both with huge smiles plastered on their faces, threw Calvin a double thumbs up.
Calvin unsummoned the legionnaires, blasting lightning into the creature as he and Amy swiftly moved in to finish it off.
The worms had gone through a transformation. Their teeth now radiated green as they ripped into the creature. Calvin slashed several wind blades into the creature’s neck, and without it being able to defend he quickly separated it from the bird’s body. Amy quickly set about attacking the worms that were munching on the bird. She didn’t want any of them to abscond with the materials they would get from the corpse of this creature.
The pieces fell into place as Calvin examined the worms. That green wave that erupted from the Quetzelcoatlus after it transformed had corrupted these worms. An analysis of them confirmed it.
Corrupted Subterranean Sawtooth - Level 35
Fortunately, they were all severely weakened by Amy’s Blight Blooms, with many of the weaker ones having succumbed already. She selected a stronger looking worm and applied the rest of her toxics, calling over for Marshall to use Patient Zero. In moments, every worm in the area was suffering the full weight of Amy’s death dealing capabilities.
They were prompted with system notifications but ignored them for the moment and sprinted over to meet up with Ian, Marshall and Tank to find out what the hell had just happened and what was going on with Olympus.