Unbound

The Hatchlings roamed over the edge of Khasma, prowling the currents that roiled around the Wedges. The massive, rocky protrusions were how they marked their positions, their wide eyes fixed on the water as well as the fronds that rippled like delicious eels off the stone. Those not mounted atop the serpentine Amphitere, the lowest, molting drudges among them, burst forward as they closed with a Wedge. Fish and crustaceans scattered, but they were not fast enough to dodge the spindly claws of the drudges, and were soon speared through and brought back to the mounted spawn on rapid flippers.

Hunt.

The leader, a dark-scaled Broodviper, stared at the drudges as they returned with the swarm's feast. The moment one was within range, it stabbed one of its two tridents outward, spearing the Ironside Crab from the drudge's dull fist. "MINE," it burbled, before the words were eaten—along with the crab—with a tremendous chomp. The drudge kicked away, its eagerness cowed, as the Broodviper intended.

Dominate.

The rest of the riders feasted, stealing the bounty from the drudges while leaving only floating scraps for their wriggling mounts. The Broodviper cared little for the drudges or even the other, brighter-scaled Hatchlings in the swarm. While they bore the scales of their betters, the Hatchlings were not blessed with the majesty of true power. It only cared for its liege, and for the bundle of instincts that drove the Broodviper to lead the swarm.

Patrol. Hunt. Dominate. Kill those that approach.

The Broodviper knew that it had once been weaker, that it had Evolved through their liege's magic, but thought was a dim shadow. It felt a burning Need to obey its instincts, its capacity for malevolent violence only tempered by its liege's Will. The Broodviper wished to stop, to strip the Wedge bare and suck the life from the very stone...but it bugled to the swarm. They advanced as one.

Patrol.

They moved as one, their many Needs blurring into a singular whole, and the dark trenches spread out around them. Eyes wide, they watched in every direction. At the front, they saw a large Pyroclastic Shrimp tear through the water, bolting backward, and six tridents thrust forward. Lightning blasted the creature to bits.

A dark pleasure coursed through the Broodviper's limbs and its Drakin twisted in savage glee beneath it. It was good to follow its Need. The pleasure, the food, all of it was a spur that drove them onward. "Forward. Patrol," it ordered.

"Patrol," the swarm repeated, their voices barely able to fit around the word. "Patrol."

Their Need had them in its grasp, as it always did...and the Broodviper did not see the spear until it was too late.

"Heurk," it managed, before incredible pressure burst from within it, and its frustrated Need was the last thing it felt as the waters turned to inky black.

Hu-unt...

The others took to Felix's plan fairly well, and each patrol of Fathom spawn died by a cavalcade of chitinous spikes, conjured spears, icy spears, crystalline darts, and lances of water. The last was from the War Naga, who, aside from their prodigious Strength for their Tier, had the ability to shape water Mana into wide bolts that increased their range. The bolts couldn't be thrown and were manifested in the Nagas' hands, but the warriors were so fast at swimming that it was a moot point.

The patrols were utterly destroyed in moments, every time.

It was great, thought Felix was slightly worried they'd run out of enemies. It was a silly fear, as each new trench brought new groups into Felix's senses, and he would lead their team forward at a rapid pace while holding Abyssal Skein around them all. Ambush after ambush, silent and undetected save for the brief flashes of their Skills, their Skills began to grow.

Abyssal Skein is level 71!

...

Abyssal Skein is level 73!

After the twentieth patrol, Felix began changing tactics. He would open up a restraining salvo, knotting them in Green Shaped weeds or bands of solid ice or simply lashed them with his split Shadow Whips until they were easy pickings for the team. Hammer blows, spear thrusts, talons and crystal darts would hit almost all of them, and as they drew closer to the center of Khasma the patrols grew in level and durability. Soon a quick ambush wasn't enough to eliminate an entire patrol, requiring Felix to hold them all the tighter as they squirmed with a wild, aggressive madness. Sometimes, he ripped through the monsters himself, his patience for his team's Skills growing thin.

His ice, rigid wooden spears, and even thin needles of light were enough to end them all, time and again.

Rime Shaping is level 67!

...

Rime Shaping is level 69!

Green Shaping is level 66!

...

Green Shaping is level 69!

Auroral Forge is level 30!

...

Auroral Forge is level 35!

His team was far more ungainly in the water than the land, especially Beef and the Homunculus. Thankfully the Multipede was adept at maneuvering through the water and both chitin spikes and crystalline darts had a decent range on them. The teen was also using Hallow Raise to bolster their numbers, and soon they were trailing a long line of half-rotting Fathom spawn. They weren't as fast, which necessitated them to ride atop the War Naga like a bunch of gross zombie-troopers, but it worked. Their claws were sharp enough to deal with their brethren, and there was little need for Agility when Felix held them all for the slaughter.

At least it helped him workout his Void Skill.

Abyssal Skein is level 74!

Vess fought well. Her training in the water showed as she all but flew through the water, each kick and thrust assisted by the conjured silver spears that hovered just below her feet, like tiny platforms. Felix noticed that she never used her other Skills, relying almost entirely on basic movements and her Spear of Tribulation to maneuver and kill the Fathom spawn. He had no doubt it involved her Temper recomposition, but Isla refused to answer his questions even when he choked down his pride and asked a little more nicely. He tried to ignore them, after that.

Felix soon found the patrols growing larger and larger, until the deep undersea canyons were flush with Hatchlings, Amphitere, Broodvipers, and Drakin. Pods of Dractopi swam past them, nearly brushing the edge of his Abyssal Skein. In the murky distance, Felix even sensed larger creatures, things that rivaled the Depthwurms in sheer size. These were creatures that were beyond his team's ability to easily dispatch...but Felix didn't intend to slow down.

Fight? Pit asked across their bond.

Oh you know it, bud. > he ordered aloud.

>

>

Ignoring their protests, Felix and Pit both kicked off a Cloudstep, in perfect tandem. Abyssal Skein followed, leaving his team huddled beneath an outcropping as another pod of Dractopi headed their way. Felix and Pit met it, fist and claw first, tearing through one and then the other, while spears of silent, frozen lightning embedded themselves in the other six. The Draktopi twisted, their eel-like bodies while their goopy, ooze-formed limbs paddled at the water in alarm. Crocodilian maws opened wide, primed to release a bellowing cry into the depths...and were immediately filled with molded blocks of ice. They gagged, writhing in pain and fear, only to have their target among them.

Brimming with acidic Mana.

Rain of Cataclysm!

Some of his Skills worked differently underwater, mostly by nature of physics and the Mana itself. Rain of Cataclysm, which normally produced clouds of acid Mana that rained upon a large area, instead spread out from Felix like a fog bank. The dark water was stained a virulent green as the potent magic flooded outward, enveloping every single Draktopi in an instant. They were strong, durable, higher leveled than the creatures he had faced in the Leviathan Depths...but their hide was no match for the potency of Felix's magic. When the fog bank cleared, there weren't even bones left over.

You Have Killed A Draktopus (x8)!

XP Earned!

Rain of Cataclysm is level 73!

Pit chirruped, happy at the influx of experience. >

Felix nodded. >

The two of them ranged ahead, Abyssal Skein singing its dark chorus over their forms as they hunted the Fathom spawn. Felix had intended on simply clearing the way for his team, and they did follow at a discrete distance—but with each successive grouping of monsters, Felix found new reasons to keep going. Keep pushing toward that next Skill, that next level.

Your Companion Pit Has Gained 1 Level!

He Is Now Level 70!

+10 to STR, +9 to PER, +4 to VIT, +11 to END, +7 to INT, +10 to WIL, +20 to AGL, +20 to DEX Per Level!

+10 to AFI, RES, REI Per Level!

Pit's level up notification came and went, and yet neither of them slowed down. Pit's magic belt had him swimming better than a dolphin, while Felix's Relentless Resolution was just as tireless beneath the waves as above them. Shadow Whips, poisonous flames, conjured vines, weapons of ice, and arrows of blue-gold light all were summoned and expended upon the hordes they conquered. And with each swarm, the Fathom spawn grew more cautious, more fearful. Felix could hear it in the water, a modulated whine among the placid, basso tones all around them. Spirits strained by that foul, noxious ooze were leaking fear into the world like a punctured oil pan, slick and telling.

Still, Felix didn't stop. His primary concern was to get strong enough to handle the Fathom itself. He had a vague grasp of its strength from their aborted connection, and it was crazy powerful. Yet it had only been a glimpse between moments, and Felix did not entirely trust the impression. If the Fathom were a Tidaldrake as Vess assumed, then it would have been at least hundreds of years old to have escaped the extinction of its fellows. A creature so old would surely have gathered a remarkable amount of Skill levels and stats.

Some time later, Felix took a ragged breath, scaled hands coated in dark ichor that just wouldn't wash away. The remnants of another patrol was around them, with Pit tearing through the last Amphitere with a beak that crackled with captured lightning. They had managed to corner this group between the narrow walls of another greenery-filled trench, well out of sight of any passing swarms, but still Felix signaled Pit to disengage his Mantle of Tumult.

Pit's Bloody Gnaw is level 75!

He Gains:

+7 VIT

+7 AGL

+7 STR

Pit's Hurricane Rasp is level 75!

He Gains:

+7 DEX

+7 AGL

+7 STR

Pit's Etheric Concordance is level 84!

Pit's Tempest Fugit is level 78!

Pit's Mantle of Tumult is level 75!

He Gains:

+10 WIL

+10 END

+10 STR

Pit's Thunderwing is level 71!

The distant song of the System thundered through his Companion, sending brief, paralyzing paroxysms across Pit's frame, yet it was over quickly. Such gains barely phased the two of them now. In fact, Felix took the moment to check out his own growth in the hours since beginning their embattled advance.

Dodge is level 74!

Blind Fighting is level 68!

Corrosive Strike is level 75!

Adept Tier!

You Gain:

+10 STR

+10 END

+10 PER

Wild Threnody is level 81!

Armored Skin is level 81!

Relentless Resolution is level 86!

Manifestation of the Coronach is level 72!

Voracious Eye is level 82!

Dual Casting is level 71!

Etheric Concordance is level 84!

Abyssal Skein is level 75!

Adept Tier!

You Gain:

+10 PER

+10 EVA

+10 FEL

Cloudstep is level 66!

Rime Shaping is level 72!

Green Shaping is level 71!

Auroral Forge is level 47!

Sunken Ward is level 32!

Apprentice Tier!

You Gain:

+5 WIL

+5 INT

+5 END

Mantle of the Infinite Revolution is level 55!

Arrow of Perdition is level 49!

Felix grunted. It wasn't that he was unhappy with his Skill levels or even stat gains, but none of his Skills had pushed into an evolution by themselves. He had even finally invested the final points of his last level ups, dividing them equally between Perception and Dexterity. There was growth everywhere, but it didn't feel like enough.

Chthonic Tribute!

The remains of the Fathom spawn reversed course, no longer spreading in dark clouds of viscera but tightening and thickening into a gaseous slurry before pouring into Felix's open maw. Essence and new Mana flooded him, refilling the steadily depleting stores inside his cavernous core space, and fueling the surge of his Sovereign of Flesh. The Skill amplified his healing, allowing all the cuts and scrapes across his Tempered Body to revert to unblemished flesh. The Fathom spawn continued to get stronger the closer to the center of Khasma they traveled, and now the Broodvipers and Drakin were the predominant enemies. They had wicked claws and jaws that could penetrate his skin, even if just a little bit.

Can we do this? he wondered. Felix had fought down the shadow of two Primordials, weaseled out from under the gods, and he'd sucker punched an already weakened Grandmaster. The only true challenge that he'd taken head on was the Archon. If the Fathom was as strong as a Primordial, they were likely done for, but he doubted that was the case. Otherwise, the Naga would be smears of blood across the collapsed ruin of Haestus Temple. No. The Fathom was likely around the Grandmaster Tier, and Felix was all out of tricks.

We can, Pit affirmed, his feather's ruffling and his silver-scaled fish tail waggling. Or we can run. Felix gave his friend a sharp, accusatory look, but Pit only shrugged his fox-like shoulders. It's an option.

It isn't. Not if we're going to live up to our end of the Quest. Felix sighed. Where are—ah. He sensed his team now, perhaps a hundred yards away and advancing on their spot at speed. Felix squared his shoulders. We should keep—

Felix's gaze alighted on one of the stone spires, a sight that had become basically background noise to him by that point. Yet among the normal proliferation of greenery and clustered life, the stone had....

>

> Pit tilted his head, quizzically. >

Felix didn't know.

Why would there be a carved metal door there?

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