The friends you make along the way will become your greatest strength.
And your furthest fall.
-excerpt from Iadaelus’ Journals.
Ingot sprouted from the ground, its claws pushing dirt aside as its entire body came out into the open. It shook the dirt from its metallic hide, its long tail smacking the ground. It carried a dead creature in its mouth, serpentine and blue, with several limbs running down its body. It crackled with bursts of electricity, but a crunch from Ingot’s jaw stopped that.
“Good boy.” Enix limped up to his companion, patting his head. His arm had returned after fighting the Gryphons, an ability he learned he had from changing into his gelatinous form and back again. He had grown much taller, and his hair reached down to his waste despite it being tied back. He held a similar serpent-like creature, slick with blood in one hand. He tossed in unceremoniously down and looked at his companion. Its grey armor was more robust than before and, with its massive jaws, claws, and thick tail, had turned it into quite a deadly companion.
“How many?” &#+$ came over to them, a bow in her hand and a quiver of arrows strapped to her leg. Enix blinked. He was unsure as to why. Perhaps he had gotten hit too hard in the head, but while he was capable of hearing and saying his companion’s names, he was incapable of remembering them.
”Seven.” Enix wiped the blood off his hands on the grass, standing back up to look around. His hand fell on his bracelet.
“How many more until we get the big one?”
”Not sure yet. Did you catch any?”
”They’re not exactly out in the open. Hard to shoot at when they’re underground.”
Enix observed the creatures:
Voltaic Viper
Beithir
Level 7
While young, these creatures cling to the soil, sending out shocks to draw out worms to eat. Their electricity, a defense mechanism, helps them quickly escape predators. Beware the older variants, however, as they are more predatory, able to constrict prey and swallow creatures of similar size to themselves.
HP: 62
SP: 44
STR: 10
DEX: 14
END: 8
VIT: 11
WIS: 3
INT: 8
CHA: 13
“Heads up!” Enix ducked as another body was flung over his head, joining the one Enix had dropped to the ground. Enix turned to see >&@#$%< jogging to meet them.
“How many?” &#+$ asked. Enix sighed.
“Four. I managed to catch them as they were escaping, but I can’t be sure if I caught all of them.” He held up his spear, covered in the Beithir’s blood.
“There’s probably more. We just need to hunt a few more to draw out—" Enix stopped, feeling the ground tremble. Ingot groaned, and without thinking, Enix shoved &#+$ away as the ground erupted below him.
A blur of blue scales encircled Enix and began to constrict around him. He felt the air begin to escape his lungs, concentrating as his skin turned stone gray. He still couldn’t breathe, but the Beithir couldn’t constrict his body further.
He tried to call out to his companions but couldn’t make a sound. This was a limitation, he learned, of his advancing ability. His body was able to solidify further, at the cost of his speech and mobility.
”Hold on!” A moment passed, and the creature hissed angrily, writhing around him. Enix’s bracelet writhed, and Vice sprung out, multiple spikes piercing into the blue hide. A buzzing noise came from around him as the creature used its natural electricity to no avail. Yet the Beithir still held on.
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Enix thought it was lucky he had found this ability. Instead of dying from the creature’s electricity, perhaps he would die from his body collapsing.
Enix began to change, his gray skin morphing into a gelatinous blue. The Beithir closed around him as his amorphous body was squeezed, and Enix slipped through the spaces between its writing body, leaving Vice to stick to multiple parts of the monster’s body.
As Enix rolled away and regained his human body, leg now recovered, he saw that out of the four eyes the Beithir had, two of them on one side had arrows stabbed into them. Enix snapped his fingers, and Ingot launched himself, barreling into the Beithir and sinking its jaws into it. At the same time, >&@#$%< managed a couple thrusts of his spear into the creature’s hide, moving back as both monsters clashed together, the Beithir letting out a horrible sound, a combination of a hiss and bellow, something that Enix felt in his bones.
“Now?”
”Not yet.” &#+$ said, notching another arrow. “Remember what we planned.”
Enix frowned. His adjustment to a team had been rough so far.
“Right. Well >&@#$%<, ready to get in there?” >&@#$%< gave him a startled look before rolling his eyes.
“Get in there, your statue.”
Enix Focused and moved in as the monster wriggled free of Vice, who became liquid and rolled back to Enix, who picked him up. It formed over his hand, and he struck as Beithir’s head reared to bite at him. Three times, he struck at its body as it reared to strike again.
He moved then, clambering up the beast as it pulled various parts of its body free from Vice. He wrapped his arms around the creature, just below its head, and grabbed at his own elbow with his other hand, flexing. Its bellow sputtered out as it dropped to the ground and began to roll. He locked his legs around its body as it writhed, trying to escape. Enix held tight as the beast attempted to reach a burrow, only to be yanked back.
Ingot held onto its tail, using its weight to keep the Beithir still as it did its best to wriggle free. It began to wrap itself around Enix, trying to find some hold on his body, but Enix did his best to hold tight to it, refusing any opening. The Beithir clambered up before slamming back down, twisting around to slam Enix into the ground. The boy resisted, hearing more thunks as >&@#$%< and &#+$ did their best to wound and distract the creature.
It failed, and instead, it was focusing entirely on Enix. So instead, >&@#$%< and &#+$ chose to target its face when they could, >&@#$%< tossing his spear when it opened its maw wide enough, managing to lodge it inside the creature’s mouth.
Ingot clambered up the creature's length, attempting to gouge its claws into its hide. It struggled, as the Beithir’s scales and constant writhing made it difficult to latch on properly. Eventually, it began to wrap around Ingot, but it remained unfazed.
Enix squeezed as hard as he could, grunting with effort until he heard a muffled snap.
The creature was silenced, and it writhed around in its death throes. When it stopped, Enix let go, standing back up and walking to &#+$ as his stone skin returned to normal. Together, they stared at it for what seemed like ages. A few minutes passed, and >&@#$%< eventually grabbed his spear, removing it from the creature and walking away.
“Okay, this is too gross to watch; I will check our perimeter again.” >&@#$%< said.
“Wait, no, I wanna-” &#+$ tried to protest, but he was already gone. “Damn. I don’t like watching this either.
“You don’t have to.”
“What, I’m just supposed to turn around?” &#+$ saw Enix’s blank expression. “Fine then.”
She turned around as Enix continued to watch.
“How can you look at that? Does it not bother you?”
“You found me with my arm torn off. I’d say I’ve developed a tolerance.”
&#+$ didn’t respond; instead, she took inventory of her arrows. Enix looked her over while she wasn’t looking. Her dark brown hair was tied back, and she had gained impressive muscles on her arms from using her bow, though now she preferred to use her crossbow. He looked back to the corpse, something gnawing at him.
“This seems too easy. This can’t be what we’re looking for.” Enix kicked at the body. “Right?”
“You saw the scars on the bodies. It had to have come from these, right?” Enix looked at his friend. Her expression was cold and analytical, different from when he had first met her. Before her people, the last of the Aeolonians had been hunted.
Enix crossed his arms, unconvinced. “You said your people had lightning scars on them. That might match, but why are they grouped here, so far away from a food source?”
“Please don’t call my people food.”
“I’m only saying that I don’t think these were the creatures that attacked your group.
&#+$ began gathering the smaller Beithir into a pile, glaring at Enix as he stood there. “Do you plan on helping me?”
Enix was about to respond when he saw >&@#$%< running at them, screaming something he couldn’t make out. Enix blinked, suddenly aware of where he was standing.
”A thought occurred.”
”Oh please, do tell while you help.”
”&#+$ why are all these creatures here?”
She stopped what she was doing.
”These are infants, &#+$. I’m not an expert on these things, but look at the size difference.”
&#+$’s eyes went wide. “You think it's a nest?”
”Either that,” Enix said, looking back at the holes he and Ingot had dug, “Or a feeding ground.” >&@#$%< screamed again, &#+$ noticing him as they made out what he was saying.”
“Run!”
Around them, the hill came alive.