Serpentlord (Rise To Omniscience Book 9), page 10
Wherever you are, Morgan, you’d better be coming for me, she thought as the screams from outside intensified and small streams of red began trickling in under the walls.
She ground her teeth together and closed her eyes, trying unsuccessfully to block out the screams of the dying.
***
“Look out!” Morgan yelled as a boulder the size of a small castle came sailing through the air toward them.
Sarah, who was standing about thirty yards in front of him, braced herself, throwing both arms up and summoning her floating ice arms. Her knees flexed, even as Morgan flashed forward. The boulder slammed into the hands and drove Sarah back, her muscle straining as she fought to stop the boulder’s momentum.
Then Morgan was there, his hand slamming into the oversized stone and slicing it neatly in two. The halves careened to either side of them, smashing through dozens of trees and leaving a swath of destruction in their wake before coming to a stop.
“I had that,” Sarah said, turning to glare at him, then yelped as Morgan snagged her around the waist and leaped into the air.
A gigantic golden body crashed through the spot where they’d been standing, black fire ripping through the ground and burning the entire area in a hundred-yard radius to ash.
Morgan pulled hard to the left, avoiding the two-headed monster as it flashed by, divebombing the beast on the ground and caving it in further. A massive badger tore free a moment later, and boulders the size of mountains pulled themselves from the ground to crush the struggling pair.
The only one that didn’t engage was the oversized serpent, whose eyes were fixed squarely on them.
Ever since arriving here over a day ago, the other World Beasts had pretty much ignored them in favor of fighting one another. All but Strangler, who kept a careful eye on them. Of all the World Beasts, she was the one who was most interested in seeing them die, as it would serve her agenda.
On Morgan’s end, he wanted to see her die as well, as without her support, the cultists would vanish, and the gnomes and trolls would quickly fall. Plus, he had to believe that many in their ranks didn’t want to fight, but were simply going along with what they were told for fear of their lives. If the head of the snake were removed, the body would go along with it.
“Are you alright?” he asked, looking down to Sarah, who dangled from one of his arms.
“Fine,” she replied, looking to the battling beasts below.
The landscape was in ruins. For as far as the eye could see in all directions, the world seemed to be falling apart. There were burning craters where mountains had once stood, strips of ash where forests had previously populated, and rubble and debris marked the cities' locations. The ground itself had split in dozens of places, and even as they watched, the cracks continued to grow larger.
This told Morgan what he’d already suspected. Faeland was falling apart, and before long, the continent itself would collapse into the ocean, taking everyone here along with it. That was, unless they managed to get everyone off the continent, which would require them first to win the war.
They’d pretty much gotten the speed of the World Beasts down by now. Even with occasional bursts, they were moving pretty steadily toward the elven capital. If he guessed correctly, they would be there in less than a week, which meant the armies needed to get moving now.
They couldn’t afford to wait for the civilians to catch up but would need to change their own course and march them eastward toward the sea. To the far west, nothing remained, now a desolate hellscape burning to the ground. Storms churned in the sky, lightning burning vast patches of ground, and tornadoes and hurricanes swamping the western borders of the dwarven homeland.
They needed to make their report, but first, they had something to take care of. He and Sarah had discussed this at length, and with all of the other World Beasts distracted, now was their best chance.
“We’re going after her. You ready?” Morgan asked, tightening his grip on Sarah’s waist.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she said.
The wind kicked up then, the dark clouds starting to rotate in a circle as Breaker soared into the sky, the massive badger clinging to his tail with the two-headed chimera trailing close behind.
“Then here we go,” Morgan said, power flaring around him.
Strangler appeared before them in an instant, and Morgan slammed a fist into her snout. The world warped around them, but the oversized serpent broke his hold just four miles from the battling beasts, ripping them from the tunnel of space and dropping to the ground below.
Morgan released the beast, then tossed Sarah into the open air, catching himself with his skill as Starforged armor cloaked his body.
Sarah tumbled twice, then spread her arms wide. A pair of icy wings burst from her shoulders. They were massive, appearing to be made of feathers and glowed with a soft blue light. They snapped wide, catching her and stopping her fall. Hundreds of blood-colored lances formed around her instantly and death rained from above, whistling down and slamming into Strangler’s body.
“You think you can besssst me, puny weaklingsss?”
Morgan ignored the hissing voice as it pierced into his mind, instead lifting his Starforged lance high and summoning a dense sphere at its tip. The Light Star flashed across the distance, slamming into the beast’s massive body and expanding in a sphere of burning light, even as Sarah’s attack smashed into the serpent, hundreds of bloody ice spikes rattling off the serpent’s scales.
Blood, hot and acidic, sprayed from the monster’s hide, littering the ground below. But wounds like this on a serpent this massive were nothing.
“Die!” Strangler screeched, opening her mouth wide, a bright green light glowing in her throat.
Morgan used Rift, vanishing and appearing before Sarah. He snagged her arm, vanishing again, and appearing hundreds of feet up. Green light poured from Strangler’s mouth, bathing their surroundings in a wave of rolling smoke. Trees withered and died, burning with greenish-white fire as they did, and the very ground rotted away.
At the same time, a concentrated beam of green energy tore through the forest, ripping a furrow in the ground nearly fifty feet deep. It didn’t take Strangler long to locate them and angle her head upward, the beam following along with her.
“Tuck in those wings!” Morgan yelled, then tossed Sarah away.
The massive wings cloaked her, twisting to encase her body in an icy cocoon and give her incredible speed as she streaked through the air. Morgan went the other way, diving straight down and using his Bestial Might. He felt his muscles bulge as his attributes were increased by a factor of five and impacted with the top of the snake’s head with about a thousand times the force of a falling meteor.
Strangler was driven down, her head slamming into the ground as Morgan forced her mouth shut. Green power exploded through gaps in her scales and Morgan hissed as his Starforged armor melted away, the skin beneath starting to burn and the acidic venom worming into his body. He sprang upward, his lance pointed down as he summoned his Infernal Star.
Darkness coalesced to a single point before slamming into the beast’s head and bursting apart. Scales tore away from the oversized serpent, glittering in the air and trailing green in their wake. Morgan jumped back as the serpent turned and tried to swallow him whole, using his Expanse skill and blowing up a pocket of air, forcing her jaws wide.
He teleported away just as a massive golem made of blue and crimson ice dropped from the sky on top of her, driving the beast’s head back into the ground as she tried to rise. The golem punched down, driving its oversized fist into the beast as Morgan rose, targeting Strangler’s side with his Expanse.
Massive booming explosions sounded as the pockets of wind tore into Strangler’s body. Simultaneously, the golem’s arms transformed into massive spikes, punching deep into the beast’s head.
“How are we doing?” Sarah asked as Morgan ascended to her height – she had clearly recovered from the throw and was back in action.
Morgan watched as Strangler hissed, green acid oozing from between her scales and turning the golem to slag. She glared up at them, and Morgan threw a massive shield up between them just before an invisible force crashed into it, sending a fine line of cracks across the construct.
“We’re not going to be able to beat her like this,” Morgan said, throwing up another shield and peeking around it, watching Strangler rearing up, her mouth opening wide and a gigantic pair of fangs descending from the roof of her mouth.
“Can we defeat her?” Sarah asked as a boiling green light began gathering in her throat.
“Maybe,” Morgan said, grabbing onto her arm. “But not today.”
He used Rift and teleported away, just before the powerful beam of acidic light burned through his Starforged shields, leaving Strangler the victor in this initial skirmish.
14
“Does it hurt?” Sarah asked, pressing cool fingers to the red welts standing out on Morgan’s skin.
“Yes,” Morgan replied, trying to ignore the prickling, burning sensation coming from the wounds Strangler had inflicted. “But my Eternal Soul is already fixing it.”
The two of them had emerged some five miles from the main camp and were making their way back to report to Elyssa. After battling with Strangler, it was clear that neither of them had the power to take her down, at least not yet. The World Beast, while damaged by their attacks, was so massive that the wounds were likely paltry to a creature like her.
Additionally, it wasn’t lost on either of them that the wounds had scabbed over almost immediately, signaling a quick healing trait, much like Morgan’s own. Sarah had a healing trait as well, called Divine Body. It was a fragment of divinity that would restore her to full health over a period of time, so long as her core was undamaged.
In fact, just like the goddess Sarah, she could restore her body much in the same way. Even if her entire lower body was blown off or she lost an arm, leg, or even her head, she would be able to heal herself. Of course, it wouldn’t be nearly as fast as the goddess’ had been, but it was good to know she was effectively immortal, so long as her core remained intact.
However, with a creature like Strangler, core destruction was entirely possible. The skills he and Sarah unleashed would have been enough to level a city, but the World Beast had simply shrugged them off, retaliating with even more powerful skills.
“How about now?” Sarah asked, pressing her hand to one of the larger welts.
Her hand turned pleasantly cool, soothing the burning wound and allowing Morgan to relax a bit.
“That feels nice,” he said, giving her a smile.
“Good, she replied. “I’m glad you…What’s that down there?”
Morgan, who’d been distracted by his wounds and Sarah’s ministrations, cursed as he realized he’d allowed his Perfect Aura Control to slip. Looking down, he could see a force of several hundred enemy fighters moving to surround one of the farther groups of soldiers, who’d been set up as both an early-warning system and relays.
“How could they have missed something like that?” Morgan asked, turning his straight flight into a dive and preparing to go back into battle.
He was still wounded from his fight with Strangler, but all of his limbs were intact and he still had plenty of RP. Though, judging by how weak these soldiers seemed in comparison, he didn’t think it would be much of a challenge. Before he even reached the ground, the earth behind the ambushing cultists shifted and walls of stone flowed upward to cut off their escape.
Morgan hesitated for a moment as he recognized the feeling of that power. A moment later, Elyssa burst from one of the many camp tents, arms outstretched as she hemmed in the enemy combatants.
“Take them out!” she yelled.
Over a hundred soldiers burst from the tents, armed, armored, and apparently readier than Morgan had thought.
I guess I shouldn’t have underestimated her, he thought as he slowed his descent and landed atop the wall.
“Morgan,” Elyssa called, immediately spotting his shining Starforged armor as it flowed around him. “Guard the walls, hop in where you’re needed, and make sure none of them get away. Sarah, go join Gilderon’s fighters. They could use someone who has range.”
Elyssa had made sure to get reports on everyone’s overall skills and abilities, so she knew where to place them. She didn’t demand they give up their secrets or nature of their abilities, but so long as she had a basic understanding of what they could do, that was good enough.
“You’ll be fine on your own, right?” Sarah asked, stepping free from his grip and summoning her armor.
“That’s my line,” Morgan said, giving her a weak smile. “But yes, I’ll be fine.”
He did his best to hide the pain from his face as Sarah flashed him a smile and soared from the makeshift walls to go help. Strangler’s venom had done more than he’d realized. He could feel it, even now, worming its way through his body, trying to destroy him from within. His body was fighting it off, his reiki-infused immune system burning the acidic venom away, but it was causing him a great deal of pain.
Focus, he said to himself, teleporting across the wall and punching a retreating troll through the back.
He barely even registered the crunching of bone as the troll’s spine and ribcage collapsed, nor the spray of blood and gore as his upper and lower body spun away in different directions. The pain from the wounds was horrific, and he was extremely grateful that he had been the one to take the brunt of Strangler’s area of effect attack and not Sarah. He could handle the pain.
The screams of battle below continued as Elyssa dodged and weaved her way through the enemy, sucking them into the ground for her soldiers to execute, ripping holes through their bodies with conjured earthen spears, and using liquid stone, hardening it over their faces to smother them.
Things seemed to be going well, even though they were outnumbered. That was, until a green-edged portal began to open and a very familiar-looking cannon began to appear.
“Morgan!” Elyssa yelled, ducking under a burning green sword and launching the offending troll into the air.
Morgan didn’t need to be told twice. He appeared next to the portal in a flash, a glittering, Starforged blade shearing through the edge and destroying its integrity. He teleported away, allowing the explosion to take out a couple more cultists, before darting back to the top of the wall to prevent more of the enemy soldiers – these without Strangler’s mark – from escaping.
That was a peculiarity that Morgan definitely noticed. A cultist would never run from a fight. They would retreat when ordered to, but they never ran in fear as the others would. Perhaps that was as a result of Strangler’s brainwashing or massive overconfidence, maybe loyalty. Whatever the case, the cultists never gave an inch, and he knew from personal experience that even torture wouldn’t get them to talk.
He snagged another troll, flexing his arms as he prepared to rip the woman in half, then paused. Would killing them all get them any information?
Morgan dropped the troll, the wall opening up, then seeming to swallow her whole. Metallic minerals sprang up from the earth, coating the inside of the hollow where he’d trapped her, preventing escape without significant force, which he would definitely notice, were she to try and break free. He made sure to leave a little air hole so she could breathe before turning his attention back on the battle. He could see another portal opening up and brandished his sword, preparing to stop it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sarah, moving with Gilderon’s group and confronting a smaller group over twice their size. He was confident they would win, so he turned his attention back to the opening portal. He stepped from the top of the wall, using his Rift and appearing right by the portal. His glittering sword flashed out, but to his surprise, it was stopped.
A long, burning red spike stood in his sword’s path, and following the arm attached to that spike, Morgan found himself facing a gnome, one whose rank seemed to be a touch higher than the rest here.
“Ha!” the gnome said, grinning widely and shoving back against his sword. “Did you think you could just go around cutting portals away on my watch? I, the mighty- ack…!”
The idiot was cut off midsentence as Morgan simply summoned another blade and stabbed the gnome through the chest.
“Bit of advice,” Morgan said as the gnome stumbled back, his red energy spike fizzling out. “Don’t monologue in the middle of a fight.”
The gnome’s eyes went wide as Morgan swung his sword, decapitating the man and slicing into the portal in a single blow. He jumped back, watching the gnome’s body disintegrate as the unstable portal detonated, spreading its corrosive poison over the area.
Despite them being outnumbered, the battle was over quickly. With their more powerful fighters, they more than made up the difference. Several more portals were thwarted, and with no way to escape or bring in reinforcements, the enemy was soon defeated.
“You have good timing,” Elyssa said as Morgan walked over to her.
The front of her armor and greaves were covered in small flecks of blood, but other than that, she was mostly clean. Elyssa, despite being a supermage, seemed to prefer fighting at a distance when she could.
“Guess we were just lucky,” Morgan said as he watched the stragglers get finished off. “I take it you became aware of this ambush and set this little surprise up for them?”
“More like I baited them into it by setting up these outposts,” Elyssa replied. “I knew they had troops in the area, but we couldn’t seem to flush them out. This was the best way I could think of.”
“I have a prisoner trapped in one of your walls,” Morgan said. “A non-cultist. You might be able to get something out of them.”
Elyssa shot him a grateful smile.
“I take it you have a report on the World Beasts’ movements?”
