Chapter Four Hundred And Fifty Eight – 458
Voracious Eye!
Name: Fathom Depthwurm
Type: Draconic (Manawarped)
Level: 92
HP: 15943/15943
SP: 10003/11248
MP: 8301/8439
Lore: A corrupted version of a true lindwurm, the Depthwurm has been immersed in the warping influence of the Fathom until it has been irrevocably changed. Able to command many of its lesser brethren, a Depthwurm is a dangerous foe to face, especially within range of its Den.
Weakness: More Data Required
Strength: More Data Required
"Hold tight!" The wave washed over his flagship at the same time Voracious Eye's info did, and Felix dropped low as the entire boat was soaked, bow to stern. "Adamant Discord!"
A blast of lightning sang into existence between Felix's outstretched hand and the approaching nightmare. It seared into Felix's vision, slamming through the water and into scaled hide only fifty feet from their deck. The Depthwurm screamed and twisted away from the attack, it's long, serpentine neck lifting entirely from the water as its voice turned from muffled screech to a bone-shaking bellow. It was easily fifty feet tall and twenty wide, and that was just the part of its Body above the water. Not one, but two heads writhed at the ends of that neck, both shaped like arrowheads given sentience and hatred for all things.
"Blind gods, it's a Tier V," Atar said from behind him.
Felix could only nod in mute agreement. If Tier 0 were the same as a Beginner Tier warrior, then Tier V was something like a high Adept or low Master Tier. The comparison wasn't entirely one to one, but Felix could feel a significant well of power in the serpentine horror's Body. Not even his Adamant Discord stopped it, and Felix was shoved back a dozen yards as the Depthwurm continued to advance. "Everyone open fire!"
His Claw, many of them on deck for the approaching Pass, now unleashed a flurry of Skills and spells. Bolts of lightning and shadow and fire and acid arced outward along with a volley of arrows infused with flickering vapor. The Depthwurm reared back at their approach, but the attacks hit and shattered against the its blue-clad hide, doing nothing. It bellowed again, and this time it was like a thousand car horns attached to a squealing speaker, and it sent a burr of Dissonance crawling across Felix's brain. All at once, the waves boiled, churning to reveal the approach of dozens, no hundreds of Human-sized shapes hurtling across the water.
Voracious Eye!
Name: Fathom Hatchling
Type: Draconic (Manawarped)
Level: 45
HP: 1443/1443
SP: 1100/1127
MP: 400/400
Lore: The least of the Fathom spawn, the Hatchlings are fish-like humanoids that are aggressive and cruel. Like all Fathom spawn, they will toy with their food before eating it, often keeping their prey alive for days before consuming them.
Weakness: Vulnerable to heat and fire, Agility and Strength reduced when sufficiently dried
Strength: Agility and Strength increased while in the water, and large eyes see easily in dark, stormy conditions.
Felix had apparently killed enough of them to gather details on their weaknesses and strengths. It was all stuff he'd noticed but didn't actively think on, but Voracious Eye was good at compiling all that information in a useful way.
"Hatchlings! Coming in fast! Pit!" Across their bond, Pit focused on him. He was two ships back, surrounded by shouting sailors and anxious Claw members. "Pit get the ships to move up. We have Hatchling incoming!" He sent the image of them swarming forward through the bond, and he felt his Companion surge into action, shouting out orders to the people around him. "Everyone! Refocus! Take down the Hatchlings!"
The volley of spells and projectiles were redirected into the water, and there was such a mass of monsters that every one hit something. The creatures were strong though, and they did not die easily to even high Apprentice Tiers.
Rain of Cataclysm!
Undulating tides of liquid Mana surged from Felix's channels, invisible to the normal eye, but as viscous as oil to his own senses. It changed from a sparking, fiery blue to a thick, virulent green as it flooded the sky, filling the air around his ship in only a few seconds. The song of it rose in a crescendo, the chords coming faster and tighter, furiously played against his Affinity until the spell hit its height...and burst into sudden violence. Droplets of acid rain fell from the cloud, each one driving downward with all the force of an executioner's axe.
You Have Killed A Fathom Hatchling (x23)!
XP Earned!
Hatchlings died in droves, but the spell took too long to set up; already there were more climbing up the sides of their ship, and others that swam around, rushing at the others in his fleet. The Claw will have to deal with them. Felix couldn't hold the spell too close to the ships, or else he risked killing his own people. Worse, holding Adamant Discord and Rain of Cataclysm pulled at his concentration, not normally an issue for him...except that he was also still holding the storm above them at bay.
This is pointless. Felix dropped Adamant Discord, firming his Intent upon his Authority and the cloud of acid rain. The last thing they needed was for a lightning-infused hailstorm to drop on top of them all. The Depthwurm could dive below the surface, they couldn't. "Beef! Evie!" he shouted as he spotted his friends. "On me!"
As Hatchlings crested the railings to meet sword, club, fist and spell of his people, Felix surged into the sky on a bolt of light. Behind him, he heard a bovine bellow and a harsh, higher-pitched laugh as Evie soared up in his wake. She winked at Felix as she approached, her Body rising atop the winds as if she weighed nothing. Below, Felix saw Beef splash powerfully into the water, smashing his great maul down around him as he did so.
"Evie, lock it up," Felix ordered.
The grin on her face grew wider, and there was murder in her eyes as she uncoiled her chain and suddenly fell like a rock. "Bindings of the White Waste! Chains of the Protector!" she shouted, laughing all the while.
Icy links tore from the water, wrapping around the massive Depthwurm like coiling snakes. White frost climbed across its scales and the water itself began to freeze in large chunks, forcing another shriek from the monster's twin maws. They snapped up at her as she fell, fangs and pink tongues lashing toward her...only to run nose first into a twenty-foot wide shield. It held only a moment before the Depthwurm's Strength, but when it broke it turned into a mess of glowing chains that wrapped themselves around one of its two snouts. It recoiled, wrenching its neck backward in alarm as its jaw was suddenly tied shut, distracting it just long enough for Evie to fall into range.
"Bonds of Dominion! Tooth and Claw! Reap the Maelstrom!" Skills tumbled from her tongue as Evie turned into a whirlwind of motion. Silver, purple, and a deep blue flashed, her chain blades doubling in size and speed as they sliced into and through scales as large as her own Body. Dark ichor poured free and the Depthwurm shrieked in rage and pain, before its free head twisted on itself and darted toward its enemy.
"No you don't! Circle of Slam!" Came a hearty holler, before the Depthwurm was forcefully jerked to one side. Water erupted far below, where Beef clung to the monster's swimming Body. He was soaking wet with sea water and blood in equal measure. "Chitin Construction!"
Spikes of dark horn shot from Beef's maul, embedding themselves into the Depthwurm's hide. It barely flinched...until Beef slammed them home with a second swing of his hammer, piercing scales and flesh alike. The monster screeched and dove its free head down at the bloody Minotaur...only to find a slab of ice rise out of the water and into it's face.
Felix grinned, still hovering a hundred feet in the air. The Rimeshaping had been enough to give Beef a chance to climb up his impromptu spike stairs, slamming more and more into the monster's hide as he climbed it's length. The twin heads chased after the two of them, Evie and Beef, and for the moment they were fine.
Below, the other ships had pulled forward, and surprisingly the horde of Hatchlings was being handled. A shield of bright blue had formed atop the waves, forcing many of the Fathom spawn into attacking one ship, upon which was a man glowing with white fire. Atar stood on the ship's prow, white hair looking like fire itself as he hurled stars of incandescent heat at the monstrosities. The water was now literally boiling, bubbling and steaming as the fire mage's powerful Skills cooked the Hatchlings' alive or burnt through them entirely. Zara and Isla were there, wielding flashy powers like conductors of an orchestra, each hand gesture ending dozens of Fathom spawn. The Frost Giants were out in the water itself on rafts of ice, axes and spears moving with power and precision as they mowed through their foes. Arrows and ranged Skills of many stripes descended, supplementing the damage Felix still continued to do with his Rain of Cataclysm.
The Depthwurm moved, it's huge bulk displacing gargantuan waves that crashed into the ships below. His friends were hurled free, both of them sent spinning into the foaming spray shortly before a thick, spiked tail slashed upward out of the water.
Right toward the ships.
No! Felix dropped with a final burst of Adamant Discord. The Storm Warm surged, fighting against his distracted Authority, squirming to continue functioning as it was designed. Felix couldn't pay it any mind, and instead flared Adamant Discord again and pulled with every ounce of Strength and Willpower he had.
Felix plummeted like a comet, fists outward and hit the Depthwurm with the momentum of a very heavy man falling at above terminal velocity. The creature was tough, so it's scales barely split as Felix hit, but its entire Body was hurled backward, folded in on itself as it was driven backward into the sundered cliffs of the Caleph Pass.
It sounded like a hundred Fourth of July's all at once, a titanic blast of concussive force that shattered stone and toppled knotted, wizened trees that dotted the peaks. Felix and the Depthwurm rolled, its immense Body crushing and scraping against the cliffs, smashing him into the incredibly hard stone with every frenetic undulation. Rocks tumbled and crashed, scrub tore free, and the Storm Ward crackled in an imitation of anger.
Wild Threnody!
Arrow of Perdition!
Felix yanked out his hooked sword and channeled the power of his Skill through it and his own clawed fist. Both cut into the Depthwurm's scales, sending it rolling with greater ferocity, but Felix didn't pause. He stabbed deep, digging with his left hand until ichor and innards began to fall atop him like a vile, boiling stew. The Fathom spawn scrabbled against the mountains, cracking the rocks even further, but it could not dislodge him. Felix fell, sword and claw tearing a mighty gash into the Depthwurm's neck, until he hit the thicker protrusion of its torso. Flanked by its clawed paws, he immediately could sense the thrumming vibration of its heart...and it's monster core.
He started digging.
Ichor and offal spilled out, drenching Felix and staining the rocks. The Depthwurm went ballistic, heaving its bulk across the cliffs in an effort to shake him free, even clawing at its own chest, but Felix batted its awkward attempts away. He glowed with azure and golden light, a clarion song that drove him ever deeper, even as the flesh began to rapidly heal itself. Regrowing muscle threatened to push Felix out, right into the waiting, dual jaws of the beast...but chains of ice and ghostly light snagged into its limbs and neck, while a huge Multipeded crawled atop its snout and bound it shut once more.
"Where's Felix!"
"Inside, you lummox!"
"What?! GROSS!"
Given respite from the Depthwurm's violent movements, Felix put his friends out of his Mind. With his Strength and Agility, he moved like a wood grinder, going so far as to sheath his Inheritor's Will and focus entirely upon his talons. He burrowed deeper, a sense of dj vu tingling in his memories, of the time he fought and killed the Larval Ravager. And just as then, creatures began to writhe from within the innards of the Depthwurm, parasites that were wurms themselves. Tube-like and filled with teeth, they lunged for him without warning, but Felix burned them all as he switched to channeling his Rain of Cataclysm through his Wild Threnody. Mantle of the Infinite Revolution turned, igniting Felix's form with red-hot flame that cauterized the flesh around him, slowing down its healing as he tore deeper. Deeper. Until it was there. The monster core, shaped as a huge black pearl, lumpy and misshapen and glowing with a brilliant light.
More of the parasites surged, coming from all directions. It was all Felix could do to keep the Depthwurm from regenerating, fight off the parasites, and keep the Storm Ward at bay. His Mind trembled, the weight of Authority far greater than activating a dozen Skills at the same time. It was clear: if he wanted to land the killing blow on the monster's core, he needed to drop his hold on the Storm Ward.
Adamant Discord!
Lightning tore outward, back along the path he'd carved, and wrenched the lot of it wide. Gooey innards parted, newly healed flesh tearing again, until he could see the dark stormclouds above them. Alone, he'd have to choose the death of an enemy over the safety of his people. "Vess!"
But he wasn't alone.
From the sky where he'd felt her presence, a blazing spear of howling wind tore down and into the Depthwurm's guts. Even as the reopened wound tried to heal, Vess tore through it, blasting downward to hit with the impact of a damn bomb. Felix threw up his arms, skin covered now in full scales as her Draconic Stormfall shattered the Depthwurm's core.
You Have Killed A Fathom Depthwurm!
XP Earned!
The parasites all died, the flesh immediately stopped its hectic healing, and Felix dropped every Skill he held before reaching out and claiming it all.
Chthonic Tribute!
Around them, Vess and Felix, the gargantuan creature turned to greasy, light-filled smoke. It streamed into him while his Hunger rumbled in happiness and his Divine Tree blossomed with new, vibrant Essence foliage. Body now gone, the two of them dropped several feet onto a blasted and scraped rock shelf, barely jostled by the transition from monster guts to wind-scoured cliff-face.
"Hm," she started, wiping a bit of smoke from her partisan. It flowed over toward Felix and was pulled into his mouth. "How did you know I was there?"
"How did you know I was?" he asked.
Vess' lips quirked, as if she was fighting down a smile. "Thick of battle, fighting the biggest and worst monster, hip deep in trouble? Where else would you be?"
Felix laughed. "Fair." He ran a hand through his hair and reminded himself again that he needed a haircut. At the very least, his Tribute had removed all the nastiness that had been in it. "I'm glad you showed up, though. Really. That strike was"
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