Unbound

The Janus Hydra flung swamp muck in every direction as it undulated across the terrain like a serpent on stilts. Every time its hundreds of legs slammed into the earth, small geysers of water shot up in its wake while its arms formed into three sets of deadly weapons. Massive clubs of vines wrapped around stone blocks, each bigger than Felix's entire body, and more scythe-like blades that slashed in wild whipping arcs as it rushed to close the distance between their two groups.

Felix met it first.

Stone Shaping!

Wild Threnody!

He slashed with Inheritor’s Will, sending a crescent of writhing earth Mana at the beast, slicing into the ground and the Hydra’s chest. It splashed harmlessly off the construct, but the ground was a different story: a pillar of rock erupted from beneath its armored belly, throwing the Hydra off its feet as it screeched.

"I'm gonna keep its attention centered on me," Felix said as the monster recovered. "Everyone else, go hit hard and fast. Don’t let it touch you!”

“It's healing itself with pieces of the fortress," Pit told them as they surrounded it. "Keep it in the swamp!"

"Got it," Felix said before pitting his Will against the monster's own.

Stone Shaping!

Its legs locked into place as rock flowed around them, briefly destabilizing the beast, and Felix fired off a left hook backed by his over four thousand points of Strength.

The Hydra barely flinched.

Holy shit. Felix hadn’t harmed it, but the attacks had done as intended. The Hydra pivoted and focused entirely on him. Clubs and scythes came whipping from either side in lightning succession.

Storm Shaping!

Water and wind coalesced into a spherical shield around Felix, blocking the hits from the titanic beast. Still, the impacts drove him three inches into the muck and his vision flashed.

"Seismic shatter!" Beef cried out. A cone of erupting earth blasted the Hydra in the side, fouling its footing and throwing water up in its face. Yet before the Minotaur could reset and attack again, the construct smashed into him, and only a desperate parry blunted the blow. Beef was thrown, crashing into—and through—several waist-thick trees.

A stone block from the fortress, one of the last large pieces, shot across the terrain toward the Hydra. From atop of it, Hallow jumped just as it joined with the construct's form, brandishing two crystalline swords. She stabbed at the thing's back as she fell, but the daggers merely trailed sparks where they refused to even dimple its hide. She landed and was immediately kicked away by three legs in tandem.

Golden crescents and explosive ice shards blasted off of the Hydra’s heads as it hammered into Felix’s barrier again and again. Pit’s frustration was palpable, though Felix had little room for anything other than maintaining his shield at the moment. It was clear that Pit’s attacks weren’t harming the Hydra in the least.

Hollow stumbled to her feet, her larger body now missing a huge chunk out of her left torso and hip. "I don't think we're of use here," she said, somewhat drunkenly.

"We gotta be able to do something," Beef groaned.

Felix, however, was already on top of that.

Chthonic Tribute!

He pitted his Will against the Janus Hydra once again, and though pieces of the swamp around them were pulled into his hungry maw, the construct stood firm. It was as if he were grappling with a mountain rather than a being. He cursed through gritted teeth. Should’ve upgraded my Tribute when I had the chance!

Now, they had to do things the hard way.

Dropping his shield, Felix ran into range, hooked sword in one hand and his dagger in the other. Crescian Bronze sliced through roots and moss with ease, though the stone resisted far more than he expected. The Hydra hurtled itself at Felix, striking with an intensity that he couldn’t match. Blood flew as his scales were ripped through as easily as his jacket and shirt, arm and thigh suffering the most as he twisted and dodged as best he could from its Paragon-like speed. At close range, the thing moved fast enough that even Felix’s senses couldn’t keep up.

Blind Fighting is level 90!

…

Blind Fighting is level 98!

Dodge is level 95!

…

Dodge is level 99!

He cycled through all the magic he knew, trying everything he could think of to break the damn monster apart. Storm, stone, and even acid barely dented its Paragon-like Body. The ground around them, though, was a different story.

Stone Shaping is level 101!

…

Stone Shaping is level 105!

A cage of earth burst up around the Hydra, hemming it in as it tried to strike out at Hallow and Beef. The rock did little more than slow the thing, but that was enough as Beef backpedaled and reinforced Felix’s workings with his chitin.

“I dunno what we can do here!” the kid shouted over the boom-splash of the Hydra’s frantic movements. “My hits aren’t doing anything! I feel like I’ve been nerfed!”

“Throw whatever you can at it! Pit!” Without looking, Felix hurled his dagger at his Companion. Pit snatched it easily from the air. “Use that!”

Pit flipped the dagger until he held the hilt in his beak. “It’s kinda small—” Felix felt the moment Pit’s core fed the enchantments on the Skyslaine’s Riposte, and it grew until it was thirty feet long and five feet thick. “Oh right! You’re in for it now, centipede!”

The entire length of the Riposte ignited in a storm of swirling wind and crackling lightning, before Pit raced ahead. The Hydra brought its scythes up, meeting the blade without cracking…but it was shoved by nearly fifteen feet.

“We got it on the ropes!” Beef shouted gleefully.

“No we don’t,” Felix started to say, before the Hydra bursted through Pit’s guard, knocking the Chimera away and coming for the boisterous Minotaur. “Beef!”

Felix flashed forward, shielding his friend with the only thing he knew could withstand the Hydra’s crushing club. His hands caught the blow, but his shoulders screamed in pain and something snapped inside his elbows. His Inheritor’s Will went flying.

Armored Skin is level 99!

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Felix shoved the club into the ankle-deep water and ran up its arm. The Hydra pulled itself free easily, but it wasn’t the only fast one—Felix made it to its shoulder before scythes started impacting the construct's own rocky-flesh, drawing brilliant sparks wherever bone met stone.

Dodge is level 100!

Master Tier!

You Gain:

+100 DEX

+100 AGL

+100 PER

System energy ripped through him, harsh and clarifying, and he slipped just ahead of the construct’s blows.

Dodge is level 101!

Kicking off a thick root, Felix twisted mid-air to avoid a swinging club, his arms flopping uselessly in his wake. Pain screamed up his nerves, but it was muted by concentration and his Skills.

Stolen novel; please report.

Astrum Ascendence!

Hand of Calamity!

Wild Threnody!

A swirl of acid gushed from his right knee and foot, so dark and thick it was like tar as it stretched outward into a hissing, ten foot blade. Felix kicked down, right into the Hydra’s back. Four legs and a car-sized chunk of greenery and stone fell into the swamp with a booming splash.

The Janus Hydra screeched.

Astrum Ascendence is level 94!

Wild Threnody is level 97!Hand of Calamity is level 89!…

Hand of Calamity is level 92!

"Yeah, you did it!" Beef cheered from three dozen feet away. "Now do it again!"

The Hydra was not a fan. It bucked, contorting its centipede length into wild shapes as it tried to throw Felix off of itself. Sovereign of Flesh roared through Felix, burning what remained of his Essence stores to fix his arms, but for now all he had to work with was his feet. He skidded over its body, summoning the tar blade over and over again whenever he could line up a proper shot. Pieces of it clattered to the ground, hissing as acid met water, and Felix felt certainty well up inside of him: if he could get a solid shot at its chest, he could end the fight right then.

Stand Together.

The words boomed through their Minds, and Felix had no doubt it came from the strange stone faces of the Janus Hydra. All around it, wherever a piece of its odd form had been sheared off, the waters began to boil. Chunks of stone, root, and moss writhed, lifting themselves out of the muck and forming into long, segmented Bodies. Legs sprouted, as did scythes and clubs, until they were surrounded by a dozen smaller versions of the Hydra, each the size of a Human on all fours.

Felix flared Voracious Eye. “Rootclones,” he read, his heart sinking. “All Master Tier.”

Fortress Fenwald.

Violators.

Cleanse.

The words resonated through all of their Minds, and the Rootclones sped off.

Back to the fortress.

“Beef! Go after them!” Felix shouted. “Stop them!”

Relentless Charge is level 72!

Beef burned his Relentless Charge with every ounce of Stamina he could afford, but still he didn’t beat the Rootclones back to the fortress. Instead as he arrived, panting and sweating, the mini Hydras were attacking the defenders in force.

Villagers screamed as armored soldiers fought desperately against the creatures, but they stood no chance. Conscripted locals fell, split in half, but no faster than the Dragoons at their sides. None of them were any higher than Journeyman Tier, and the bodies that riddled the floor with missing limbs attested to their weakness.

Hallow!

Concentrate our efforts!

The two of them landed atop the first Rootclone to cross their path, smashing it to the earth before slamming it with hammer and crystalline daggers.

“Stand Together!” a voice shouted, and Beef looked up to see Vess’ aunt Verona, fully armored and wearing her lion-faced helmet. She drove a spear into the nearest Rootclone’s chest and activated some Skill. Thick rivers of white-green air Mana tore it apart from within. “Form on me!”

The two types of soldiers regrouped, pulling toward the armored noblewoman with an almost unnatural speed. She’s using a battlefield Skill!

Hallow tackled a Rootclone that nearly skewered the teen Minotaur from behind, taking it down into the mud. Focus, Beef!

Beef slammed the earth, firing off a wave of concussive force that rippled the ground and threw three Rootclones off their many, many feet.

Circle of Smash is level 74!

Blunt Weapon Mastery is level 73!

Patrim, the stout and affable uncle, landed atop one and started hacking away with two thick swords that discharged waves of piercing water Mana. More Dragoons came up behind him, their spears flashing as they stood and stabbed at the Rootclones, keeping the constructs at bay while the villagers fled behind them.

“They’re all Master Tier!” Hallow warned them, and by the pale faces Beef knew they’d heard.

One of the Rootclones split down the middle, its torso suddenly burning with silver fire as a red axe cut through it. Harn stepped up, his legs shining in the sun, and pulled his weapons free. The Rootclone before him died, screeching and withering.

"We know!" he grunted and slashed sideways with his axes. This time, however, the silver flame that covered them was projected outwards, shot in a crescent into the nearest Rootclone, setting the creature on fire. It screamed.

"I can keep them down, but not for long," Harn said.

Beef watched the creatures that they’d defeated rise back up, their burned and crushed Bodies drawing sustenance from the swamp and the stones around them. Regenerating.

"God damn it!" Beef swore. "Just like the big one!"

Wards flashed into existence ahead of Beef, impacting the soggy ground in a liquid rush as prismatic ripples rolled up and over them all like a bubble. He turned and saw Laur standing on a fallen stone, arms lifted into the air and singing something he couldn’t make out—he could hear the Elf just fine, but the words split sideways as soon as they left his mouth. The regenerating Rootclones climbed back to their feet and bashed their limbs against the ward, but were unable to enter.

“Ranged attackers, fire on my command,” Tzfell shouted. Geometric shapes of buzzing magic poured from her, launching through the ward and latching onto the dozen Rootclones. The shapes seared themselves into their bodies, not harming them, but leaving trails of metallic colors marked on their backs. “Now!”

“Fire!” Verona called.

The Dragoons launched their Spears, each slightly different, while the conscripts fired literal arrows. Every single projectile found a mark, drawn unerringly by Tzfell’s strange magic, and several fell back to the ground, momentarily dead once again.

“Beef! You’re alive,” Archie said, limping up through the crowd.

“Arch! You—Eugh, you look terrible.”

"Thanks," Archie muttered through gritted teeth. "My insides feel like ten miles of bad road, but I've got more energy than god right now.”

Beef frowned. “What’s that mean?”

“It means I Tempered my Stoneswim and, ugh, and now I’m riding high on System energy,” Archie said. A deep weariness clung to him, so thick that Beef could almost envision it as a puffy winter jacket. “Stoneswim evolved.”

Screams and rippling light flowed over the crowd again, but was soon silenced by hundreds of attacks that once again dropped the undying Rootclones. Beef looked his friend up and down. “And? What’d you get?”

Silently, Archie shoved his hand at Beef and a series of screens rotated into view.

Stoneswim (Epic) Has Evolved Into Primeval Drift (Legendary)!

Level Is Retained!

Primeval Drift (Legendary), Level 79!

Your Skill has touched upon water, earth, air, shadow, light, and flame. The song of Creation is a single note expanded into the infinite, but you have dove headfirst into the hidden melodies and emerged unscathed. The Green Wilds recognizes you, Archibald Ross and sees your dedication to preserving life. Walk among the elemental rhythms and witness wonders. Requires Mana and Stamina to use. Others may be brought along, but physical contact must be maintained or else they will be lost. Speed of movement increases per level.

You Have Unlocked Your Harmonic Intent!

+200 INE

Beef read silently, eyebrows climbing with every word. “Primeval Drift sounds cool as hell!”

“Great. Sure. Except now I got a bunch of weirdness in my core space because of it,” the man complained. “Stupid Pure Essence Draught. Who makes something like that?”

Beef’s eyes widened. “You drank one of Felix’s?”

“It was all I had. Besides, the guy is Unbound just like the rest of us. How come he can take it but I can’t?”

“Felix is different than us. It—it’s complicated,” Beef hedged. “Look, we need to stop all this. Who else can fight?”

“This is almost everyone. Unless you want to pull the villagers out here too.”

“No, just—” Beef looked over the battlefield. It had gotten a lot more organized once Laur set up the ward and the Daynes took command of the fighters. Spears stabbed through the barrier at an even pace, and Skills flew hard and accurately thanks to Tzfell. All together, they were surviving, but Beef had no clue how long that would last. “These are all babies cut off of the bigger construct. It’s called a Janus Hydra, and it's not dead. Felix and Pit are fighting it now. More of these Rootclones could be coming.”

“Are all the villagers inside?" Patrim asked, stepping closer. He looked to Archie. “You were in there last, yes?”

“Yeah. They’re inside the keep, but those walls are shaking apart.” Archie rubbed at his arm like it hurt him. “It’s not safe.”

"We must keep our people safe," Verona insisted. The Dragoons fought on without her, having found a solid pace now. “Where can we go?”

Tzfell shook her head as she approached, Harn and Laur in tow. "Archie is right. The interior is no longer safe, if it ever was,” she said. “That monstrosity is still tearing this place apart somehow. And so are these little ones."

“Regeneration,” Hallow said, then quickly explained what they’d seen.

Harn grunted. "It can't rip up the whole mountain. We need to bring them to the water tunnel in the back."

Verona and Patrim clasped hands. "We shall have the conscripts guide them in.”

“The Eidolons are still in there. They can lead the way,” Tzfell said.

"No, they can help out here," Beef said. "We need them out here."

“I’ll get ‘em,” Harn growled.

“Harn, you’re strong as hell. You can’t leave,” Beef said.

"We must all be quick," Laur warned. "The remnant powers of this fortress are fading quickly. They're diverting to these guardians. I do not know how long the water tunnel will remain functional. And," he added, his voice drawn tight. “I do not know how long I can hold this ward.”

“No more arguing then,” Archie snapped. “I'll gather everyone up and lead the way.”

“Archie, you’re hurt—” Beef started, but the guy held up a hand.

“I’m the fastest.”

Before Beef could say more, the Delven dove headfirst through the ground and vanished.

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