Champion, Chapter 58: Destruction Begets Decay

AidanThe RealmsFifthday, 2nd week of the 10th month, Age of the Chosen 1Mid-MorningThe Labyrinth, First Stratum: Viridescent Treetops

Explosions bloomed across the enormous monster's carapace, concentrated around its eyes. Aidan cursed as the damage rolled across his combat log.

"It's resistant to fire!" Aidan warned the rest of the party. None of the rest of them dealt any fire damage, of course, but they needed to know that his offensive power was reduced. The problem was solvable thanks to Soulfire Blast, but, having learned what using his soul as fuel meant, Aidan was reluctant to do so outside of a true life-and-death situation. He would have to deal with reduced damage output for now.

He was not alone, however. Wulfryn and Sunnild both sprang into the air; the former hovered above him while the latter raced toward the boss alongside Ysbail and Labhruinn. The two centaurs split to the sides to flank the Primeval, weapons at the ready.

Rakkatorak reared back, screeching in pain or rage, and lunged toward Aidan, enormous pincers outstretched to grab him. Sunnild dove down, landing inside the boss's reach and interposing herself between it and Aidan. "Oh, no, you don't!" she shouted, her wings darting out to slash at Rakkatorak's underbelly.

The boss showed no sign of slowing down, sending Aidan's heart leaping into his throat as it bore down on Sunnild. He watched, helpless, as Sunnild stood her ground before the charging monster, bracing herself for the impact, two wings wrapped around her body as armor while the other pair pointed up and out towards.

The oversized arthropod slammed into Sunnild at full speed—and came to a stop. The impact pushed Sunnild back ten feet, leaving a furrow in the damp soil, but she somehow stayed standing. "Good job!" Ysbail shouted. "Are you alright?"

"I can keep fightin'," Sunnild painted, pain clear in her voice.

"Darkness, hear your sister's call!" Wulfryn chanted from above Aidan. "Shadows flow through my veins and stain my feathers all the shade of midnight. You know me for family, so I ask this boon: take my enemy, drag it into your tenebrous embrace, and bind it so that it might never see the light again!"

As the support mage finished casting, the lighting in the arena changed. The sunbeam's light seemed to grow brighter, starker somehow, and the shadows it cast darkened. From the corners of the room, semi-real tendrils lashed out, wrapping around Rakkatorak's carapace and squeezing. Aidan could hear the creak of chitin under stress as Wulfryn's spell took hold of the boss.

At first, Aidan dared to hope that the binding was successful. Rakkatorak shrieked and thrashed within the tendrils' confines, leaving itself open to strikes from Ysbail and Labhruinn that sheared off a few legs and left a cracked dent in its carapace. Alas, the effect was temporary. With another screeching roar and a surge of oppressive Aura, Rakkatorak tore free of most of the shadowy obstructions, leaving only a handful entangling its limbs and slowing its actions.

"Sorry!" Wulfryn apologized. "It is too strong for me to keep it bound!"

"You are doing well!" Ysbail responded. "Keep it up!"

The crash of a sudden impact on metal armor brought Aidan's attention to Labhruinn on the boss's flank. The sound was similar enough to when a dakhol killed Cai that Aidan's stomach turned, but the mountain centaur was still up and active. The armor around his torso was dented now, and he was covered in glowing, sickly green slime, but he did not seem otherwise worse for wear—until Aidan noticed the steam coming from the goop.

As if that weren't bad enough, Wulfryn called out a warning. "Adds from above!"

Aidan jerked his gaze upward and spotted two smaller versions of the Arboreal Devourers crawling down the sides of the arena toward the party. "Target the Devourers!" he ordered his Salamander summon, then followed his own command by casting a Magma Blast. Molten rock impacted the creature's side, knocking it from the wall, but it twisted and landed on its feet. With a hiss, the ugly monster raced towards Labhruinn, but it was stopped again as Riama appeared from the shadows. She pounced on top of it, latching on with her jaws and raking its back with her claws.

A shriek of pain from Rakkatorak diverted Aidan's attention for long enough to spot the boss's glowing tail-tip arcing through the air, separated from its body by a swing of Ysbail's oversized sword. She hadn't gotten off unscathed, though; her chain mail was splattered with more of the glowing, acidic goop. The monster's tail whipped back and forth, crashing against Ysbail's flank and forcing her away from Rakkatorak's blind spot.

Aidan started casting Electric Arc but used Ailis's lessons and his self-study in Mist Stalker territory to modify the glyphs used in its construction. He traced a circle in the air, a glowing, crackling line following his fingers and branching out into a sequence of sigils around the inner circumference. From there, he guided additional streaks of color in increasingly intricate geometric patterns, crafting an overlapping series of mandalas. With relief, Aidan felt the power drawn by the chant snap into place in the glyph and released it, casting the spell.

A sharp crack split the air as a blinding bolt of electricity shot from Aidan's outstretched hand, striking Rakkatorak and sending tendrils of lightning coruscating across its body. The lightning gathered on the boss's flanks and, with another paired crack, shot out in a separate bolt to either side, striking the two Devourers with secondary bolts.

The Obsidian Salamander followed up Aidan's attack by lobbing a stream of napalm through the air, bathing the Spawn that Riama wasn't attacking with sticky, burning flames. Both creatures screeched in pain, but the damage wasn't enough to bring either down. Riama continued to shred her target, which rolled around on the ground in an attempt to dislodge her. However, she picked her target well; the Spawn had no way to pull her off its back, and a few seconds later, it shuddered and stilled. Aidan's familiar chomped down on the back of the monster's head one more time, then vanished into the shadows once more.

Meanwhile, the second Spawn ignored the flames covering its slimy body and charged toward Labhruinn. The mountain centaur was busy fending off attacks from Rakkatorak's nearer pincer, leaping and ducking to avoid being grabbed and crushed. Wulfryn shouted out a warning to him as the weakened creature approached. Labhruinn shot a glance over his shoulder, then shifted his position so that the Spawn came from behind him.

The mini-Devourer bunched up, then sprang forward, jumping at the seemingly-distracted centaur—only to be met by his hooves as Labhruinn kicked backward with both rear legs. A sickening crunch sounded throughout the arena as the attack landed dead center in the Spawn's body, followed a split second later by a wet squelch as it slammed into the wall and slid to the floor, unmoving.

"More coming!" Wulfryn warned, and sure enough, three more Spawn climbed over the top of the arena's walls and started down toward the party.

"Gotta finish this fast," Ysbail grunted. "Got a feeling they will keep coming until we win."

Aidan agreed; it seemed like this boss fit the archetype of being a big brick wall with disables and debuffs that relied on a swarm of lesser monsters to finish off its prey. The Devouring Spawns didn't seem like major threats on their own, and weren't as durable as the larger ones elsewhere in the stratum surely were, but enough of them would overwhelm the party. Then again, they had a good party composition for that kind of fight as long as they could keep from accumulating major wounds.

"Wulfryn, d'you think the Spawns are weak enough for your shadows to hold and maybe kill?" Aidan asked, then started casting a quick, basic Burning Barrage.

"On it!" she responded, her hands already weaving through the air as she summoned her magic again. Aidan waited until she finished her spell and the shadows latched on to their targets before launching his barrage. A dozen tiny motes of fire streaked through the air, aiming for four separate points. He sent a pair toward each of the three Devouring Spawns and sent the remaining six at Rakkatorak's eyes.

Unfortunately, Rakkatorak didn't sit still and take his beating the second time. Seeing the explosives hurtling toward it, the boss crouched low and pulled its limbs tight against its body, covering all of its vulnerable spots. Aidan's spell impacted with its carapace, blasting dirt, leaves, and decaying gunk into the air but causing little damage.

As soon as the danger passed, Rakkatorak rose again. Its eyes focused on the much smaller figure barring its passage: Sunnild, standing solitary, shining steel surrounding her. The boss scuttled backward a few feet then hunched in on itself. A wave of powerful intent burst forth from it, causing everyone except Ysbail to flinch, then the massive arthropod lunged forward. Sunnild braced herself again, but she was still off-balance from the Aura pulse and didn't have enough time to get into a proper stance.

This time, when the Primeval's body struck Sunnild, she went flying through the air. Her wings flared out around her, trying to gain control over her motion, but again there wasn't enough time. She hit the wall to Aidan's right with a thud, then dropped to the floor, unmoving. "Sunnild!" Aidan shouted, legs already moving before his mind finished processing the sight.

"Get her back up if you can!" Ysbail shouted at him as if he needed her to tell him that. "Labhruinn, take over tanking!"

Aidan had no mind for the rest of the fight as he skidded to a stop next to Sunnild, dropping to his knees and chanting the phonemes for Patch Wounds. As the minor healing energy poured into Sunnild's body, she stirred, and her eyes opened. Relief flooded Aidan at that; he was no doctor, but even he could tell that she had taken a severe hit. One of her wings was bent at a nauseating angle, and Sunnild's breath came in short, sharp, pained gasps.

"Sorry," she whimpered. Tears trickled down her cheeks. "I failed ... again."

"Hush," Aidan scolded. "Let me heal you. You did fine; any of us would've been flattened by that hit."

"Is Sunny okay?" Wulfryn asked, having relocated and taken up guard above them.

"She's got a broken wing at least. Probably cracked or broken ribs, too," Aidan guessed.

"I will shield you from perception while you heal her," the black-feathered harpy declared. A few seconds later, a sheet of impenetrable darkness swept up and over them, obscuring Aidan and Sunnild from those outside but also preventing them from seeing or hearing the fight.

"Just hold still, songbird," Aidan told Sunnild. "I'll get you healed up. Here, drink this," he said, pulling a healing potion out of his pack and holding it to her lips. Aidan dribbled the thick, red liquid past Sunnild's lips, making sure not to pour too fast for her to swallow. With his other hand, he cast Pulse of Life. The fatigue built up in him, but Aidan could hear Sunnild's breaths grow less laborious as the potion and his spell healed her.

Soon, Sunnild pushed off the ground, struggling into a seated position with a hiss of pain. Aidan put his hands on her shoulders as she started to stand up, holding her down. Sunnild glared at him. "Let me up!" she commanded.

"No!" Aidan responded. "Your wing's still broken, and I can tell you've still got internal injuries. Your Wounds are still taking a third of your Health! You're in no condition to keep fighting!"

"Can you fix the Wounds?" she asked.

"... No," Aidan sighed, frowning. "I haven't been focusing on my Vivimancy. We'll need to get you out of here and let Ailis or Ceirios look you over."

"Then you need to let me up," Sunnild insisted. "I can still fight, and we need everyone to take down Rakkatorak."

"Sunnild, if it hits you like that again, you'll die!" Aidan could feel his voice rising along with the panic in his chest.

"... I know," Sunnild whispered. She shifted, wrapping her three uninjured wings around Aidan and burying her head against his armored chest. "I need to do this. I can do this! Please, Aidan, trust me, please?"

Aidan stared down at his injured lover for several long seconds, hesitating. He knew that stopping her here could crush her confidence and damage their relationship, but he was terrified of losing her. Seeing her hit the wall and collapse to the floor drove a spike of despair into his heart. He couldn't watch her die, he just couldn't.

But neither could he hold her back when she begged him to trust her. With a voice in the back of his mind screaming that it was a bad idea, he sighed and stroked one hand through Sunnild's crest feathers. "Alright," he told her. "I won't stop you. Just be careful, love. Don't try to block another hit like that. Run away if you have to."

"Mm," she agreed, tilting her head up to look Aidan in the eye. Her skin was pale from holding back the pain, but she stood up and stretched her three good wings. The fourth she cradled against her chest. She looked down at Aidan, flashed him a tremulous smile, then strode out through the inky black wall separating them from the rest of the arena.