Unbound - Chapter Four Hundred And Ninety Five – 495

Chapter Four Hundred And Ninety Five – 495

Voracious Eye!

Name: Moontouched Wickerjak

Type: Plant (Manawarped)

Level: 84

HP: 6844/6844

SP: 26831/26899

MP: 4323/4323

Lore: Born of wood and earth, Wickerjaks are mercurial spirits of nature. Similar to Sprites, they often embody the unconscious Will and Intent of the natural world. Moontouched Wickerjaks have been perverted by an outside source, increasing their aggression and physical stats in equal measure.

Strength: More Data Required

Weakness: More Data Required

The glimpse Felix got of the monsters in the moments before their attack flooded through his Mind, absorbed even as he raised his hands and called upon the Grand Harmony.

Stone Shaping!

A nine-foot wall of smooth rock burst from the earth around them, just in time to be peppered by the explosive impacts of the Wickerjaks. Cracks immediately formed in the stone, and Felix devoted more Mana to shoring them up. “Vess!”

“On it.” The woman leaped up into the air, easily clearing his wall as five silver spears and five discs of burnished bronze unfurled around her like wings. The spears held their place, but the five discs blurred forward and down, out of Felix’s direct sight. He felt the impacts though, pressure against his Perception, and it was far more than five as the discs duplicated themselves. Fourteen concussive, metal-on-wood collisions rang out. “They are strong! I am doing damage, but not enough.”

As the five discs returned to her side, Vess’ Spears shot outward, hitting and exploding with far greater force. Beef growled, chitin already covering his body and weapon. “Open the wall, Felix. We can take ‘em!”

Mind whirling through options, Felix sounded Stone Shaping again. The wall before them melted away leaving their front exposed, while the stone flowed backward to reinforce the wall on their sides and rear. They were surrounded, but he could shape the battlefield.

The impacts behind them decreased yet did not stop, while the sounds of furious rustling rose to a fever pitch. Wickerjaks ripped through the brush before them, heedless of the Spears that rained down, blasting off pieces of their wooden forms. They looked like bundles of sticks, vines, and thorns bound and animated with a dark purple light. It shone from the gaps between their limbs, and from their thorn-lined mouths as they screeched in a primal rage.

“Relentless Charge!” Beef bellowed, zipping forward to intercept the first line. “Seismic Shatter!”

A cone of earth Mana ripped up from the ground, churning vine and frond and root into a malevolent morass. Wickerjaks fell shrieking, torn by their own thorns and bursting debris. They did not stop, however, as many returned to their feet or slipped through the churning strike.

“Uh, Circle of Smash!” Beef brought his hammer down as they advanced, and the area around him for twenty feet was suddenly pressed violently flat. “Circle of Smash! Circle of Smash!”

“Tempest Fugit!” Pit cried out, shedding his puppy form and flapping up into the air with the sound of thunder. Frozen bolts of lightning dropped from his outstretched wings, spearing down into the concentrated mass before bursting free. Although the lightning seemed to do little to harm them, the initial piercing strike was doing significant damage. The plant monsters already smashed by Beef were laid low, no longer possessing the limbs or power to move much at all.

Behind Pit came Hallow in both forms, the Homunculus riding atop the agile Multipede. Crystalline darts sprayed outward, pinning their foes to the ground in places, while the Multipede ran roughshod over them all. Its sword-sharp legs stabbed and sliced with every movement.

The War Nagas roared, rampaging to the fore with tridents and claws bared. Their powerful, sinuous Bodies wove among the scrabbling Wickerjaks, smashing and clawing at the monsters and stopping their advance cold.

Yet more were on their way.

Felix pumped a bit more Mana into the stone wall around them, sounding Green Shaping and Rime Shaping for good measure. The stone turned dark-blue and glassy, with glowing red veins throughout its surface before he cut it off. “That should do the trick for now.”

He focused forward, beyond the chaos of battle, to where the Spirit Tree rose above them all. That same purple glow suffuses its trunk, beneath the matted tangle of vines and clinging plants, and it pulses brighter and brighter every second. The light among the Wickerjaks pulses in time, and Felix sees the thin, fishing line threads of connection between them all.

Skein of Fate is level 49!

Is the light in the Tree itself, or in the vines that are choking it out? Felix cannot tell, but he also cannot delay any longer. His friends were fighting a dangerous battle, and while individually the Wickerjaks weren’t overpowering any of them, en masse was another story. He watched as the War Nagas were stopped dead by the onrush of twiggy aggressors, and Beef was having a hard time swinging his hammer as Wickerjaks piled atop his arms.

Rain of Cataclysm!

Streamers of liquid Mana poured from Felix’s Gates, until his hands and elbows were all but consumed in violently green power that shunted upward into the air. He sounded Cardinal Flame at the same time as his AOE acid spell, shaping the torpid cloud that formed far above him into something that kept clear of his allies and focused on the Spirit Tree itself. Much as he didn’t want to destroy it, he would if it meant his friends survived.

As the spell built, Felix kicked and stomped on any Wickerjaks that made it to him, but they were few in number. His team and the semi-circular wall behind them was holding the lot of the monsters at bay, though they all suffered for it. Knife-edged branches sliced bloody gashes in arms and legs and faces, an onslaught of wounds that wouldn’t kill them, but were slowing them all down.

Yet as Felix watched, somewhat helplessly, Beef, Vess, Pit, Hallow, and even the War Nagas suddenly blurred. Their forms bled into one another, hard to pin down and harder to hit, as the Wickerjaks soon found out. More of them tumbled back, struck by weapons and Skills that they never saw coming. Manasight flaring, Felix could spot the augmentation Mana, a shade of purple that was distinct from the virulent light of the monsters. An illusion.

The Mana flowed in liquid streams from a single source: Isla. The Chanter stood back in the safety of the walls, hands outstretched and a song on her lips. Felix couldn’t hear it over the din of battle, but he suspected it was more than that; he shivered as he felt a massive weight shifting in the air, intangible to the physical but immensely vast to the Spirit. She met Felix’s gaze and gave him a small nod…before her eyes widened in alarm.

Felix spun, following her line of sight, and found a new creature entering the fray. His Eye named it a Moontouched Wickerjak Elder, and it was far, far stronger than its lesser brethren. It was also five times their size, reaching somewhere around fifteen feet tall and covered in vicious thorns. A head made of twisted vines and glowing purple eyes swiveled until they landed on him. It stomped through, flowing past its allies in a b-line toward Felix.

Relentless Resolution!

Felix charged forward, zipped past his allies faster than they could track. A wind roared at his back, hurling several Wickerjaks in his wake, and Felix sounded Sovereign of Flesh.

Sovereign of Flesh is level 82!

Bones cracked and flesh swelled, splitting and turning to diamond-hard scales the color of midnight. He expanded in size, muscles ballooning as he grew four feet in a span of moments. Felix’s Garment grew along with him, but still his rapid increase in size was too fast for its magic: he tore it apart at the shoulders, chest, elbows, and knees. Brilliant cyan spikes of bone jutted from his joints, his claws shown with a crackling light that sparked through a spectrum of red-gold and blue-white, while his jaw was overgrown by a half-mask of dark scale and monstrous, massive fangs.

Felix met the Elder fist first. The creature’s thorny hide buckled and snapped, and the monstrosity’s immense momentum was arrested and overcome. It flew backward, smashing sideways into the ground before rolling through the underbrush and dozens of its Wickerjak allies. But the thing wasn’t so easily defeated. New limbs grew from its body, pressing into the earth and shoving it back to standing, before it ran at Felix once again.

Corrosive Strike!

Cardinal Flame!

Sounding his acid punch Skill, Felix didn’t stop there. He grabbed at his semi-complete Rain of Cataclysm, the cloud of liquid Mana that hung among the leaves, and shaped down into his strike. Cardinal Flame burned bright in his core space, its song hauntingly beautiful as Felix wound up and jabbed forward with all of his Strength. Acidic Mana trailed after the punch like a comet’s tail, and the raging Wickerjak Elder met his punch with its own…and was immediately overcome.

The Elder split and shattered, bark, wood, and resin rendered to mush with a deafening sizzle. Resilient, wooden flesh fought back, but was no match for Felix’s unconquerable Willpower, nor the force of his Mana and control. Cardinal Flame aided him, sending the acidic Mana in spiraling, explosive flows through the Elder’s frame, eating it up from the inside out.

You Have Killed A Moontouched Wickerjak Elder!

XP Earned!

The Elder fell to pieces, still sizzling and popping, but the magic didn’t stop there. It lashed outward in a circle guided by Felix, a spinning storm of acidic Mana that ripped into all of the lesser Wickerjaks that tried to attack him

You Have Killed A Moontouched Wickerjak (x56)!

XP Earned!

They were torn to shreds, instantly.

Skill Evolution!

Felix stood, stock still among the sizzling dead, as the notification overcame him. What’s this?

Due To The Massive Influx Of Acidic Mana, The Influence Of Rain Of Cataclysm, Wild Threnody, Cardinal Flame, And Skein Of Fate Your Skill Corrosive Strike Can Evolve!

WARNING!

This Will Consume An Extreme Amount Of Energy!

Failure To Provide Requisite Energy Will Result in Death Or Worse.

Do You Wish To Evolve Corrosive Strike?

Abso-fucking-lutely.

Stand By.

Essence and Mana fled Felix by the boatload, but he had more than enough. Unlike previous evolutions or combinations, the pain was barely palpable, and existed only as a sharp pressure in his middle for a brief handful of seconds.

Congratulations!

Corrosive Strike Has Become Hand Of Calamity!

Hand of Calamity (Legendary), Level 1!

Your affinity for destruction is only matched by the nature of acid itself. Consumption and corrosion, you hold calamity in the palm of your hand. Beware. Control of acid Mana increases per Skill level, amount of acid Mana controlled increases moderately per Skill level.

“Another shaping Skill,” Felix said, his armored mask grinning with him. “Hell yeah.”

Felix stumbled as he felt the Spirit Tree shake the very earth. It took him a heartbeat to realize that it wasn’t the earth that shook, but his Spirit. A massive, oppressive weight slammed into him. Into all of them. Once he realized that, Felix marshaled his own powerful Adept Spirit and slipped free of its influence, but the Tree’s Spirit was persistent. It wasn’t just an oppressive weight, but a myriad of wild impressions that forced his senses into disarray. Felix’s vision blurred at the edges, while a high, atonal note sheared through his hearing.

Above, Pit shook it off too. He shared in Felix’s Spiritual potency through their bond, but the others were all wincing or had fallen to their knees on the ground. Wickerjaks surrounded them, lashing their flesh with arms of sharpened bramble and thorn. Their offensive was entirely broken, and it was all his team could do to defend themselves.

Without warning, vines tore outward from the Spirit Tree, crisscrossing the air like a net. “Pit!”

“I see it!” His Companion dodged the spearing vines, twisting and spinning through them with an incredible grace born of Agility and Dexterity.

Pit’s Thunderwing is level 72!

Yet he could not avoid it all, and the vines were too restricting. He dropped back to the ground, reverting to his puppy form as he landed. His Mantle of Tumult crackled around him, a tiny, savage storm among the leaves, and he tore into the Wickerjaks with tooth and claw.

Pit’s Mantle of Tumult is level 76!

Pit’s Bloody Gnaw is level 76!

Pit’s Hurricane Rasp is level 76!

Pit’s Howl At The Dark is level 69!

Wickerjaks were frozen in place, stricken with a brief stun status as Pit protected their friends.

“Kick their ass, bud!” Felix cheered, wincing at the deeply upsetting sound of the Spirit Tree’s offensive. It kicked up a notch, increasing in volume and tempo as more Wickerjak Elders emerged from beneath the Tree’s great roots. Mud squelched and popped, birthing these goliath abominations, flooding them with a sticky liquid light. An ooze.

“Goddamn it. The Fathom’s been here too?” Felix turned to face the approaching horde, staring down over a dozen of the Elders now as they slowly worked themselves into a charge. There were too many for him to handle alone, not if his friends couldn’t evade or properly protect themselves. If he were too slow, they would die.

The tone of the Tree’s Spirit shifted, pitching higher than it ever had before. From behind Felix, Beef screamed out. “It’s the Tree! It’s in my chest! Kill the Tree, Felix! I—I got this!”

Blades of chitin sprang from the earth, shearing through Wickerjaks in great swathes as Beef demolished those that were nearest him. Hallow was just behind him, stampeding the creatures as they were being mowed down by crystalline darts the size of short swords. The teen Minotaur bellowed, his voice a pressure all its own that somehow pushed back the Spirit Tree’s presence. Pit ran to them, ears flopping within his lightning shroud, and the War Nagas were free, their foes scattered by the combined assault.

Felix turned back to the stomping Elders and took a measured breath. Thanks to Beef, the Tree had lost some of its grip, and that atonal buzzing resolved into something he recognized. It was the opposite to the strident melody of Harmony, and a sound he heard with every revolution of his cores. In that song, Dissonance sang strongly, accompanied by additional elements he hadn’t been able to parse out. However, now that he found it, Felix could track the sound through all of the plants around him, back to the Spirit Tree itself…and a spot upon its bole that resonated in distorting whorls of energy.

Adamant Discord is level 84!

Skein of Fate is level 50!

Adept Tier!

You Gain:

+20 RES

+20 REI

+20 FEL

There.

Felix blasted forward, dirt and plants ripping up in his wake. He slammed into and through the lumbering Elders, who were just now getting up to speed. They tried and failed to stop him, but when Felix passed through their grips like oiled smoke, they gave up and continued their charge. Toward his friends.

Felix put it out of his mind, focusing wholly upon his task. More Elders were crawling from the root-muck, and more would keep coming if he failed.

Dissonance was a piercing pain through his ears now, both physical and metaphysical, but Felix did not stop. He kicked off a bulging root, launching himself into mid-air as flowers the color of gold and dark purple split and bloomed, shooting darts the size of javelins at him.

Adamant Discord!

He grabbed at them, their trajectory forming brief connections to his self that Felix could repurpose. Claimed, he swung his arms, still in flight, and hurled the darts into the bark of the Spirit Tree. Lightning snapped, discharging in their wake as they sunk into the bark and Felix landed atop them.

“Can’t stop me so easily, Tree!” Felix grasped the craggy bark and hauled himself upward with a mighty thrust and a blast of Adamant Discord to the ground below. Felix landed among the tangled vines at the curving apex of the trunk, where the first several branches spread outward. He screwed up his nose at the sudden, foul scent. “Eugh. That’s nasty.”

Before him, nestled among the bole, was a reservoir of the Fathom’s bubbling ooze. It felt perhaps a touch weaker than the ooze in the chasms, but his Skein of Fate and Adamant Discord could see thick cables racing into the distance…connecting it to something far greater.

If I absorb it, the Fathom will see us again. It could find us before we’re ready. Felix hesitated, worrying at the possibilities. And, he could admit, a little fearful of the vast presence he had felt the last time he’d attempting consuming the ooze. But if I eat it and then immediately burn the power I take…will that be enough?

It didn’t matter. It had to be.

“Sorry, Abundant Anima. This isn’t going to feel good.” He shoved his arm into the ooze, immediately feeling its vile bite. “Chthonic Tribute!”

Ooze turned to wretched smoke, flooded with purple, and it raced toward Felix so fast that it threw him bodily from the Spirit Tree itself.

He couldn’t speak or scream, because the world flashed and twisted. Shattered.

Unbidden, without even a warning, a Memory consumed him.