Unbound

Archie parried the piercing attack of a Rootclone, his Fanblade whirling with molten light as it chopped away at its flesh. Not flesh, he corrected, feeling his head swim. It’s a plant…thing.

The thing came at him repeatedly, forcing him to phase through its Body over and over. Each time a pain within his core space intensified, like a migraine in his chest. Archie wiped at his sweaty brow, half afraid it was blood pouring out of his pours and half surprised it wasn’t.

Despite it being a Tier IV creature, analogous to a normal person hitting low Master Tier, Archie could still inflict an incredible amount of damage to the thing. Which would’ve been great, if the damn monster would just. Stop. Regenerating!

“Stupid plant!” he shouted, cutting it in half with a rapid sweep of his Fanblade.

Fanblade is level 80!

Archie took a moment to breathe as the thing twitched and snapped on the muddy ground. He'd already moved all of the villagers away toward the back tunnels, where the Dragoons were evacuating people through the giant water tornado. Then, like an idiot, Archie had come back to the front of the battle.

He could’ve left. He could leave right then. His new Skill meant nothing could stop him—maybe not even Felix.

The Eidolons were nearby, along with Beef, Hallow, and Harn. Even the Eidolons were fighting the Rootclones…and Archie gritted his teeth. The monster at his feet bucked, and Archie rammed his dagger home into its weird rock skull. It went back to sleep.

Back to work.

Orun roared as he smashed a Rootclone with his giant stone fist, obliterating much of its body at once. "Take that," he growled.

All around the Eidolon, Rootclones collapsed, suddenly a lifeless tube of plants and rock. Archie scowled, gripping his daggers as he took in the field. “What just happened?”

Orun inspected his fist. "I've grown stronger."

Harn snorted. "Felix must have killed the primary."

A streak of blinding yellow light streaked across the sky and cataclysmic thunder followed it. Archie felt it in his gut right before he felt it all over his body as a wave of pressure swept across the entire fortress, hurling dozens of soldiers off their feet. The ground beneath them shook as the streak of light smashed into the fortress.

Archie yelped and leaped backwards from collapsing stone as the light burrowed through walls dozens of feet thick, battlements, and the lone turret before impacting the mountain beyond.

"Archie!" Beef gasped. He pointed up to the slowly collapsing turret and Archie spotted a familiar set of chains dangling from the collapsing window frame. "Evie’s in there!”

Shit! Goddamn shit! “Gimme a boost, idiot!” Archie demanded, and Beef bellowed and sent a rampart of chitin exploding beneath him. “FUUU—”

Before he could consider how incredibly stupid it all was, Archie was hurtling through the air. He flipped several times, screaming internally all the while, before he activated his Skill.

Primeval Drift!

He hit the first collapsing block and sank into it like water, his Blindsense flaring to guide him—but it was all chaos.

Blindsense is level 77!

Archie swam up to the surface of the twenty-foot block and found it free falling through the air. Gritting his teeth, he canceled Primeval Drift just as he crested the edge, and the rock beneath his feet shot him up and into the next block. He reactivated his Skill moments before impact and swam through, leaping up a collapsing wave as he climbed the wall.

Primeval Drift is level 76!

…

Primeval Drift is level 79!

Archie surfaced explosively into the tilting turret and barely kept his feet. He spun, taking in everything he could, and spotted not only Evie but Vess and her little Wyrmling fully unconscious on the ground—and sliding toward the open window.

“Shit!” He shot forward, slipping down into the stone again as he shot forward. Archie reached out and grabbed Evie and Vess by a pauldron and vambrace, dropping the both of them into the stone as well. “I’ve got you!”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Yin, the bastard lizard that he was, slid off Vess’ shoulder and tumbled away.

“Gah!” Archie pushed forward and did the only thing he could: he chomped down onto the Wyrmling’s shiny, golden ass.

Just as the entire turret flipped upside-down.

With a muffled curse, Archie threw himself back into the rock, drifting desperately toward the only place he could sense any stability at all. Seconds later, all four of them blew out of the back of the fortress, ejected at speed onto the sloping side of the mountain.

They hit hard. Every bit of breath Archie had in him was slammed out of his small chest, and the others weren’t much better off. They bled and groaned, still unconscious but very clearly alive. Archie spat out the Wyrmling and vomited all over the side of the mountain, his head pounding and his core space aching.

All of them were gonna live.

All of you…owe me…jerks…

Armored Skin is level 101!

The Dragon's Spirit rained a flurry of vicious blows upon Felix, pressing him further into the mountain as rocks tumbled around them in a landslide. Dust choked the air as Felix lifted his scaled arms to block the brilliant yellow spirit flesh of his opponent. The antlered Dragon roared in his face, its emotions and Intent relayed with crystalline clarity. Incredible fury and a profound and ancient sense of duty.

“Get off him, lizard!”

Pit screeched as he tackled the Dragon. He was a blur, crashing into the Spirit and taking it down into the mountain toward the keep. He flapped his wings, driving the Dragon into the surface of the mountain and obliterating a trail nearly fifty feet long. Gleaming yellow power clashed against a crackling aura of blue, green, and white as his Companion's mantle flared. Pit slashed, bit, and tore at the Dragon, cutting through its spirit flesh as if it were a thick liquid.

Felix stood back up and flared Voracious Eye. The Spirit was weaker than the Hydra had been, and certainly more drained. As it fought, Pit and its claws tore holes in the mountainside, bloodying his Companion as much as it had Felix.

For all of that, the Dragon wasn't healing. Each strike it took diminished it substantially.

Pit pinned it to the mountainside, driving attacks into its body with abandon, before trapping its neck to the earth with his paws. It snapped at him, jaws trying and failing to catch Pit’s throat between its teeth.

VIOLATOR.

INTRUDER.

Before the Spirit could buck out of Pit’s pin, Felix tore across the mountain and dove onto it. He impacted hard enough to drive the beast back onto its back and his claws swept wide. Yellow spirit flesh ripped apart in a wave of liquid power, once more exposing its massive core. Felix grasped it between his black talons, and he opened his fanged maw.

Chthonic Tribute!

Will crashed against Will, but the Dragon bore the consequences of his struggle—it had lost whatever strength it had possessed as the Janus Hydra, and Felix overwhelmed it in an instant. Its spirit flesh burst apart into a wave of thick fluid that poured into Felix's channels.

In moments, it was gone.

You Have Killed A Greater Dragon Spirit!

XP Earned!

New Title!

Dragon Exalt (Legendary)!

You have proven yourself against an ancient being bound into service of its own Will. The Dragon recognizes your Strength and has granted you its respect...and a measure of its power.

+500 STR

+500 END

+500 VIT

New Title!

Touch of the Grim (Unique)!

You have devoured a small piece of the Grim Nightshade and it has resonated with the Aria of the Green Wilds within you.

+20 Levels To Aria of the Green Wilds!

Aria of the Green Wilds is level 89!

...

Aria of the Green Wilds is level 108!

Master Tier!

You Gain:

+100 PER

+100 AFI

+100 FEL

Felix bent over, holding onto the mountain as power swept through him in a torrent. System power, the Dragon's, and whatever the hell the Grim Nightshade happened to be. Impressions flitted across his senses, filling his ears with the sound of roaring winds, coating his skin with the feel of a warm summer sun, and tantalizing his tongue with the taste of grass, soil, rainwater...and lemondrops.

Ephemeral Evocation is level 48!

You Have Fully Digested Your Foe!

You Have Received A Memory!

Review?

Y/Y

This again—?

Before he could react, a storm of thoughts pressed through Felix's Mind, like a centuries long movie compressed into seconds that somehow still managed to elicit strange and intense pangs of sorrow, joy, and wonder. His incredible Intelligence and Born Trait caught so much of it, but a large portion remained ineffable despite his grasping Will. Yet through the chaos, he heard it.

The song.

Rhythmic drums rolled through mountains and forest glades, while trilling flutes played among unspoiled grasslands and strings gathered at the cusp of the sea. A song of peace...and a song of war. The Green Wilds played through him in all its glory, Aria and Threnody, until it reverberated through every inch of Felix's skin and soul.

I...Harmony. I can—

Felix fell, head bowing until it cracked into the mountain and his senses all but fled him. Only distantly did he perceive the small creature that hopped onto a rounded stone and regarded him with dark, empty eyes.

"Very interesting, indeed," it said.

Those black eyes swelled, until it was all Felix could perceive. Shadow, and the fading song of the Green Wilds.

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