Blake’s earthbound monsters had trouble keeping up with the Scorch Dragon. Once it was in the air, the dragon could move much faster than any of the landbound creatures. The wolf and the Pyrestalker almost managed to keep up, but this heavy Slasher Golem had absolutely no chance at all.
The golem kept falling farther and farther behind until a warning appeared in Blake’s view.
Warning: You can only maintain your monster summons if you remain within a two mile radius of your monsters.
That was the first that Blake had heard of there being a monster summoning radius, which was a little frustrating. It would limit the potential applications of deploying monsters to a certain place at sentries or defenders.
But now that he knew this, he circled back around and tried to keep pace with his Stone Slasher Golem.
Blake landed the Scorch Dragon next to the golem. They walked along a dirt road which led them into a thick forest of old pines. The path was choked by weeds, abandoned since before the apocalypse, but they weren’t far from the second target now.
Blake found, after a few moments, that he really didn’t like being stuck on the ground anymore, even though he was surrounded by his loyal monsters. There was something about being airborne and safe from harm that he had come to enjoy.
As he headed along this road Blake got a sense that something was wrong, like he was about to walk into a trap.
A little later, he heard the sound of flapping wings somewhere above.
Blake commanded his Scorch Dragon to leap into the skies and evade whatever was coming toward him.
Four black clad humanoids, each with a pair of gargoyle-like wings and sharp stone talons on their hands and feet landed in a circle around where Blake had been a moment before. They each wore black domed masks which covered their faces, giving them the look of inhuman robots.
Blake their uniforms. These were Clay Atlas’s soldiers!
Blake had a terrible thought.
Clay Atlas might have found a way to convince Harry Grenfell to give up his card in exchange for his life. Once Clay became aware of the Stone Talons card, and what it could turn into, the City Lord must’ve pulled out all the stops to get multiples of these cards for his own men.
The soldiers took off after Blake as he rose into the sky. The Scorch Dragon had greater maneuverability than the people empowered with Gargoyle’s Fury, but there were four against one.
Blake turned his scorch dragon on the attackers and used its beams to fend them off.
This is it, he realized. Clay Atlas wants me dead.
Why else would he send his soldiers after Blake?
One of the empowered soldiers swooped in toward the scorch dragon with its claws outstretched. Blake commanded his dragon to roll to the side. He held onto the reins and squeezed the saddle between his legs as the dragon did a barrel roll away from the slashing claws of the empowered soldier.
The Scorch Dragon unleashed super-heated beams. The beams of energy slammed into one of the soldiers and cut through from shoulder to hip. He fell to earth in two spiraling pieces.
This sent a shock through the remaining three soldiers, who were diving in and around Blake as he tried to avoid them. They put some distance between themselves and Blake. Their first mistake.
The Scorch Dragon let loose another barrage, which cut through not one, but two of the remaining soldiers.
The last soldier tried to fly away, but Blake rounded on him and chased him down. Blake wanted to capture him and ask some questions.
Second by second the Scorch Dragon gained on the last soldier, until the dragon reached out and grabbed onto the gargoyle wings.
The soldier screamed as the Scorch Dragon went into a free dive.
But Blake commanded his dragon to pull up at the last second and pinned the soldier to the ground.
Blake dismounted and knelt next to the soldier. He pulled back the mask to reveal a forty-something man with a salt and pepper beard whose eyes were wide with fear.
“I’m guessing you know who I am,” Blake said.
“Yeah, of course I do,” the man said through gritted teeth.
“Clay Atlas sent you to kill me,” Blake said matter-of-factly.
The man groaned. He probably thought that Blake was going to kill him.
“I have a use for you,” Blake said in a calm tone of voice. “I didn’t want to kill any of you, I hope you know that. But when I’m backed into a corner like this, I’m left with no choice.”
“I was just doing my work order, man!”
“You have a choice. We all have a choice. You know, my father once said to me that every man is faced with decisions each and every day that separate the good men from the bad. These are little things, but they all add up. You always have a choice, despite what excuses you make for yourself. So this work order came from Clay Atlas?”
The soldier groaned. “Yeah.”
“What did it say, specifically?”
“That you would be out in the Wilds today, somewhere between Shale Ridge and the Pits of Erda. We were to find you, kill you, and we’d all be rich.”
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Blake nodded. “So Clay set these work orders for me today to lure me into a trap. I guess he didn’t expect me to be this strong.”
“My whole family is in the city, man. My wife, and my two kids. I can’t have him eject us from New Meridia. I’m sorry, okay? Would you just let me go back to them?”
“Like I said, I’m not going to kill you. But I am going to use you. I want you to go back to New Meridia and report what’s happened here. Make me sound more dangerous than I am. Tell Clay Atlas that I am relentless, bloodthirsty, and that I know it was him that set me this mission.”
“I-I think he is going to kill me for failing him. Or send me down into his dungeons.”
“I don’t think he will. Not if you spin a good story about how I destroyed the other soldiers without breaking a sweat, and how I let you go. Clay Atlas will want to kill me, not you, because I’m the kind of guy who shows mercy. I know that you’re only doing this because you’re being forced to. You look like a decent guy, who’s been made to do terrible things. I don’t hold you responsible for that. I hold Clay Atlas responsible.”
Blake commanded his Scorch Dragon to let the soldier up, then Blake reached a hand out to the man to haul him back to his feet. The man took Blake’s hand tentatively, then rose.
Blake handed his helmet back, but a look of respect and understanding passed between the two men before he slipped the covering back over his face.
“Thank you,” the soldier said. “I’ll do what you’ve asked. Someone needs to do something about Clay Atlas.”
“I know, and I’m the one who’s going to change things in New Meridia. Keep that quiet, but when the time comes, protect those who need to be protected.”
The soldier nodded, then he lifted off before looping around in the direction of New Meridia.
Blake didn’t want to finish the last monster-killing work order he had that day, but the promise of a potentially powerful card or resource was hard to pass on.
A few moments after the gargoyle-winged soldier disappeared from view, the summon timer on Blake’s Scorch Dragon ran out, and the monster disappeared in a shower of anima motes.
He beckoned his Pyrestalker over, and a saddle appeared on its back. Blake stepped up and together he headed toward the map marker of his last work order for the day.
Riding on the pyrestalker beat walking, and they reached the edge of the massive volcanic pit with the still high.
The pit dominated the landscape ahead. Plumes of smoke rose from the crater, and the faint glow of molten lava illuminated everything around.
As they approached the rim of the crater, the air grew increasingly hot, and the acrid smell of sulfur filled his nostrils. He scanned the area cautiously.
Somewhere within this fiery maw lurked Erda the Cataclysm.
Descending into the volcano’s crater, Blake noticed the walls of the pit were dotted with a network of caves and crevices. They stood atop a rocky outcrop near the edge of the molten lava pool, casting a watchful eye over the bubbling, seething mass below.
Blake’s Stone Slasher Golem and Berserker Wolf appeared beside him. The heat was intense, but his monsters seemed unfazed.
Where was the monster that he had been sent here to slay?
Did it really exist, or did Clay Atlas just send him out here as a means to lure Blake out of the city?
Suddenly, the ground trembled.
A deafening roar echoed through the volcanic caldera.
From the largest of the cave openings, a monstrous centipede-like creature emerged, its enormous body covered in thick, armored plates. Its countless legs clicked and clattered against the stone as it skittered forward, and its mandibles clicked.
Erda the Cataclysm had arrived, and the System marked it as a Level 11 Volcanic Scolopendra.
Blake’s monsters took their positions, ready to engage in battle. The Stone Slasher Golem brandished its powerful swords, while the Berserker Wolf gripped its massive ax in its teeth, and the Pyrestalker lowered its head as the monster approached.
Blake still had three anima left, enough to summon his Crusher Minotaur or his Radiant Colossus, but that would be all he could use for today.
Erda the Cataclysm rushed across the burning battlefield and lunged forward, its massive body undulating as it crawled with terrifying speed. Blake and his monsters sprang into action, dodging the centipede’s strikes and retaliating with a barrage of their own.
The Stone Slasher Golem hacked at the creature’s legs, the Pyrestalker’s claws and teeth tearing into its flesh, and the Berserker Wolf’s ax clove through its armor in massive rolling strikes.
Erda the Cataclysm thrashed wildly, spewing torrents of molten lava and super-heated gas from its maw. The super-hot cloud of gas enveloped the Pyrestalker, and it recoiled at its touch. It sizzled as it touched the monster’s flesh.
The Slasher Golem remained unaffected, and it kept hacking away at the delicate legs that lined Erda’s body. Blake and his monsters evaded the clouds, weaving through the battlefield while avoiding the enemy and the environmental hazards.
Blake directed his monsters to focus their attacks on the joints between Erda’s armored plates, hoping to find a vulnerable spot in its seemingly impenetrable defenses.
A sudden tremor shook the ground again. The ground split apart beneath Erda the Cataclysm, and it dove into the liquid magma.
The monster dove into the lake of molten rock.
Blake and his monsters scanned their surroundings, trying to keep an eye on every crack of magma around them. Some of them bubbled as the creature swam underneath them.
To his sudden horror, Blake realized that every puddle around and underneath him bubbled. The creature was about to emerge from right underneath him!
Blake reached into his power card deck and pulled out the Radiant Colossus. He played it immediately, and a halo of light appeared above the battlefield before the meteor materialized and hurtled toward the battlefield.
Just as Erda began to rise from the crack in the earth, covered in liquid magma, the meteor slammed down onto the beast and pinned it in place.
With a sudden burst of speed, the Radiant Colossus plunged its massive arms into the searing magma, gripping onto the wriggling body of Erda the Cataclysm. The centipede let out a guttural shriek, its body sizzling and crackling as the Colossus’s powerful grip held it tight.
The centipede’s eyes glowed with a malevolent fury, and its mandibles gnashed as it frothed in fury at the indignity of being squashed like a regular household bug.
With a mighty heave, the Radiant Colossus hauled Erda the Cataclysm out of the molten depths and into the open air. Its colossal arms strained against the weight of the enormous centipede, yet the Colossus held firm.
Blake watched in awe at the pure strength of his colossus.
Waves of healing energy rushed out from the colossus, which healed the wounds of his other monsters, restoring their health.
As the Radiant Colossus held the writhing centipede high above the ground, it worked its massive fingers into the cracks made by Blake’s other monsters. Then, with a deafening roar, the Radiant Colossus tore Erda the Cataclysm in half.
The sound of the monstrous centipede’s exoskeleton cracking and splitting reverberated through the air, sending a shockwave across the battlefield.
Erda’s severed halves fell to the ground with a sickening thud.
Blake exhaled deeply, his heart still racing from the adrenaline of battle.
The Radiant Colossus, victorious and triumphant, stood tall amidst the carnage, its bright light a symbol of hope amidst the destruction.
Nothing would be able to stand against Blake and his Radiant Colossus. Especially now because the Radiant Colossus had leveled up to Level 13.
Monster: Radiant Colossus
Level: 13
Evolution Stage: Card Fusion – Meteor Strike (Meteor Colossus) / Hospital Facility (Healing Cloud)
Affinity: Fire/Earth
Strength: 215
Toughness: 215
Agility: 250
Magic Power: 300
Personality: Stoic, Vigilant, Protector
Traits:
* Colossal Body
* Healing Aura
* Dual Element
* Force For Good
Past Evolutions: Not applicable
Future Evolutions: Not applicable
No cards dropped from Erda, but a valuable looking gem sat in the center of its carapace. It was marked as a flame gem heart, and the last gem Blake had received like this sold for over a thousand credits.
He slipped this into his pack and mounted his Pyrestalker once again.
He had just enough time left to make it back to New Meridia before the monster would disappear.