Serpentlord (Rise To Omniscience Book 9), page 23
His eyes narrowed as they came a bit closer, and although he was supposed to be concentrating on breaking the wall, Morgan had to act. He watched the erratic movements of the flock for a few moments, trying to get a handle on where each individual beast might be in the next couple of seconds. It took a surprisingly short amount of time to figure it out, and when he did, Morgan used his Expanse skill.
Small pockets of air simultaneously appeared, and the beasts flew into them. With a small flex of power, the air pockets expanded, exploding violently and perfectly striking the center of the collars around the falcons’ necks. There was a series of screeching cries as the beasts were caught off-guard, tossed through the air by the powerful, expanding pockets of wind and finally freeing Sarah up.
Without hesitation, she twirled in the air, pulling her arm back and hurling an icy red javelin straight into one of the mana cannons. The weapon slammed into the construct, piercing the barrel and forcing it down just as it was about to fire. The trolls manning the cannons let out cries of alarm as part of the blast shot down the wall, leaving a scorch mark in its wake. The rest backed up and blew out the other side, tearing the metal to pieces and killing several of the Mages standing around it.
Morgan turned his attention back to the walls for a second, realizing that after withdrawing the lances, he’d just let them hover there without doing anything. Silently berating himself, he placed the lances once more, ramming them into the stone and letting them burrow through.
His eyes flicked back up then, as he saw the pack of flacon beasts righting themselves, pieces of sparking metal raining down to the ground below. They looked to Sarah as she flapped over to disarm the next cannon, then, surprisingly, down to him. Morgan stared at the flapping beasts and was unsurprised when they inclined their heads. However, unlike the last beasts he’d freed, these simply turned and flew away, heading into the Arcane Kingdom.
He briefly wondered why they weren’t going the other way, then remembered that the World Beasts were in that direction. Any beast with half a brain had already either made their way into the ocean or headed east, just as they were.
Morgan gave himself a little shake, turning his attention back on the walls. They were nearly there. The lances retracted, then slammed into the wall once more, boring a new series of holes, these lower than the last. He was now about halfway down the wall, approaching Katherine as he worked at the base. Unlike him, she was taking extra time. After all, there was no need to weaken the top as much as the base.
With the bottom of the wall broken, the top would collapse so long as it was weakened enough.
More explosions went off as mana cannons flashed, destroying more ramps, before Sarah dove to destroy them. However, before she could reach them, several more blasts went off, these angled upward to catch her instead of the army below. Morgan watched her tumble and spin through the air as he placed the spinning lances lower, drilling another series of holes. He desperately wished to join the fight, to head up and destroy those cannons himself, but right now, he was needed here.
“I’m ready down here,” Katherine called up to him, stepping away from the wall.
Looking down, Morgan could see a fine line of cracks, slash marks, and punctures lining a twenty-foot span along the bottom of the wall.
“Get back,” Morgan called, moving the lances lower. “I need a couple more minutes to finish up. Then we’ll see how well this wall holds up.”
Katherine did as she was told, stepping back through a portal and exiting back up on the bluff, away from the main fighting. Morgan let out a breath, then set the lances for the last time. One by one, they punched holes in the walls, and Morgan began to see cracks.
They began spreading as soon as the first set of completed holes was made, the weight of the walls pressing down and causing faults to form in the stone. Morgan called the first lance back, the black weapon with shining white motes of light morphing over his chest and forming into a breastplate.
One by one, he called the constructs back as they completed their work, quickly forming his full suit of armor. By the time the last piece – his left gauntlet – formed, Morgan could see a massive web of cracks running up the wall.
He floated back, reaching deep into the earth and summoning a truly massive battering ram. The cylinder of stone was as wide around as the section of wall they were clearing and some ten feet long. Of course, there were no handholds as there would have been on a traditional ram, as Morgan was controlling it with his Earth Mastery.
“Stand clear!” Morgan yelled, though doing so was ultimately pointless, as soldiers had been kept back from their area.
As soon as the ram rose, Morgan found himself facing down around fifteen mana cannons, all they were trained on him.
“Too little, too late,” Morgan muttered, then hurled the ram at the weakened wall.
The mana cannons went off at the same time, but it was fairly easy for him to avoid. Morgan simply teleported a few feet forward, leaving the lances of power to miss, slamming into the ground and carving up trenches in the dirt. At the same time, the ram smashed through the walls, Morgan and Katherine’s work paying off in a big way as the section of wall they’d weakened splintered under the force and began to cave in.
35
Morgan watched in satisfaction as soldiers began pouring into the breach in the wall, floating back to join Katherine on the small bluff.
“Good work,” he said, landing next to her.
“Please,” Katherine said, watching the soldiers going to reinforce their ground troops on the other side. “I barely did anything.”
“You weakened the entire bottom section of the wall,” Morgan said.
“Which you could have done on your own in less than half the time,” Katherine replied. “I honestly don’t understand why I was placed alongside you.”
“Well, I could be wrong,” Morgan said as a massive series of roars went up from within the walls, “but I have a feeling that that might be the reason.”
Katherine’s brows furrowed as she opened a portal for the two of them. They both emerged on the other side of the walls to see something more than a little unexpected. The ground, some hundred yards away, was opening up, and a platform was rising.
A series of beasts, all fitted with harnesses, mana cannons, and a weapon that Morgan didn’t recognize, rose up. His aura control told him these beasts were ranged from the low 50s to 60s, but that wasn’t all. All six of them were Pinnacle beasts, and each contained a twining mark of Strangler clearly outlined in green on their foreheads.
“I don’t think that these are beasts we’ll be able to simply free,” Morgan said, his eyes flicking between the six of them.
“How the hell did the gnomes get creatures like these to fight for them?” Katherine asked, going a bit pale.
“No idea,” Morgan said. “But there’s no way we can let the army anywhere near those things.”
“Do you think we can take them?” Katherine asked, sounding doubtful.
“Probably,” Morgan said, his senses brushing over her.
Katherine was currently at rank 72, a true powerhouse. But unlike him, she was only at the Intermediate stage, so despite her high rank, even a single one of these Pinnacle beasts would be a serious challenge.
“Are you sure?” Katherine asked. “Because, in case you haven’t noticed, those things have weapons mounted on their backs.”
“I’m less worried about the weapons and more concerned by the beasts themselves,” Morgan replied.
He quickly checked over the individual ranks of each beast, then pointed Katherine to the weakest.
“See that one, the wolf thing?” he asked, turning her head to the beast second from the right. “It’s at rank 51, so you’ve got a pretty good chance at beating it. I’ll start with that one over there. It’s the strongest, at 63. We might need some backup, but until we’re sure, I don’t want to have to drag any of our other strong fighters away from battle.”
Katherine nodded, resummoning her Reality Blade and looking less than excited.
“Hey, look at the bright side,” Morgan said, trying to stay positive.
“There’s a bright side?” Katherine asked.
“If you kill it, you get to keep the core of a Pinnacle beast all to yourself.”
Katherine seemed to think about it for a moment, then smiled. It wasn’t the same wild grin she might have worn a few years ago, but one that said she’d still rather not fight this thing alone.
Morgan’s eyes flicked to the other beasts then, realizing another problem. How was he supposed to keep these things from advancing on their armies while he was engaged?
Letting out an annoyed huff, he realized he wasn’t going to get anywhere right now, and the longer he waited around debating, the higher the chance that these beasts would move on to destroying the troops.
Instead of waiting, Morgan activated his Bestial Might, feeling his physical attributes increase by a factor of five. His muscles rippled and bulged beneath his armor. He had thirty seconds with this skill before he would have to wait for it to recharge. With attributes as high as his, he might not even need to tangle with any single one of these beasts for too long. After all, he hadn’t actually fought a Pinnacle beast since his advancement. Seeing as he was at the Pinnacle as well, perhaps the fighting would be easier.
Morgan took off with an explosion of air, the loud boom as he broke the sound barrier echoing behind him. He appeared before the most powerful beast in a flash, slamming an oversized gauntlet into its head and tossing it into the air. The beast, a large wingless lizard with bristling feathers growing along its back, managed to right itself as it tumbled, landing nimbly on its feet a few dozen yards back and shaking its head.
Blood dripped from the area of impact, its skull seeming to have been damaged by the overwhelming force of his attack. However, it was still very much alive, and the weapon harness mounted on its back was still very much intact. Now that he was closer, Morgan could see that there was a gnome sitting there, strapped into a seat and aiming one of the weapons at him.
Morgan noticed the glowing red within the mouth of the weapon and teleported to his right just as a powerful beam tore from the mouth of the weapon. He whirled as he heard screams of pain and was shocked to see that the beam had reached all the way to the wall and was carving a line through the advancing soldiers.
Cursing silently, Morgan teleported right up to the weapon, bringing his fist down hard on the metal. There was a loud clang as his attack rebounded, leaving the weapon practically unharmed. However, just because the weapon itself was undamaged didn’t mean the force of his punch was reduced.
With a scream of metal, the entire harness was ripped from around the beast’s back, plowing straight into the ground with the cannon leading the way. The beast buckled as well, its knees and face plowing straight into the ground. Morgan teleported down, reaching into the cage and ripping the gnome out by his head.
The man struggled and kicked in vain as he was dragged free, his eyes blazing with hatred. Morgan was about to question the gnome when he saw the twining serpent tattoo circling his left bicep. With a sigh, Morgan flexed his fingers, crushing the cultist’s head within his powerful grip.
There was a sound of displaced air, along with an odd buzzing, and Morgan whirled to see the other four beasts, those not engaged in battle, unleashing blasts of red power from their mounted cannons. Morgan still had no idea what they were firing, but it seemed far more effective than the mana cannons had, in addition to not needing teams of Mages to supply the power itself.
Additionally, they were sturdier, having repelled his punch without taking so much as a scratch. Whatever these things were, they were dangerous and needed to be captured or destroyed at all costs. However, before he could take off after the beasts, the one he’d knocked to the ground got back up, its small, beady eyes gleaming a bright blue.
Morgan dodged back through the air as it swiped at him, its claws leaving an afterimage as it swung. It continued on, slamming into his chest and driving him back through the air. Morgan could feel his armor struggling to repel whatever it was that the beast had thrown at him, and even as he fought, the beast brought its other paw back.
Morgan quickly extended a hand, the gauntlet there firing off and transforming into a spear as it streaked toward the beast’s head. The creature changed its swing, now aiming for the spear, only to miss entirely as the weapon vanished through a tiny portal, emerging from another right at the back of its neck.
The spear spun as it slammed into the toughened hide there, ripping through the beast’s skin and burrowing into the muscle beneath. The beast roared in pain, flexing its power and trying to eject the spear. Morgan used another aspect of the Starforged construct’s power and channeled his Expanse skill through it.
A pocket of air quickly formed inside the beast’s neck, then rapidly blew apart from within. The beast had time for one final scream before its head was blown clean off, ripped apart by the powerful expansion of wind inside its neck.
The beast didn’t die without letting off a final attack, but Morgan had expected as much from a beast that had reached the Pinnacle. Even as it fell, the feathers from its body burst outward, all glowing with a burning red light. A shield flashed up before Morgan, his second gauntlet forming the new construct in an instant.
The feathers burst into flame, then began streaking toward him at high speeds. They slammed into his shield, one after the next, sticking there as they struck and beginning to melt it down. Morgan was still busy concentrating on extinguishing the first attack, still pressing against his chest as trying to slash through, so he couldn’t teleport away, especially not with his concentration split the way it was.
He had perhaps a few seconds left of his Bestial Might before the timer ran out, so Morgan did what he always did. He used sheer brute force, grabbing ahold of the semi-transparent blades of force trying to rip through his armor with his bare hands. Morgan could feel the vibrations as the thousands of tiny blades tried to rip into his skin. He growled, and with a flex of his fingers, shattered the attack.
Blood streamed from his closed hand, but now that he was free to move, he vanished, teleporting to his left and leaving the shield in place to take the rest of the dead beast’s final attack. As he teleported, his muscle shrank, contracting to their usual size and restarting the timer on his Bestial Might.
That entire fight with the rank 63 Pinnacle Beast had taken him less than 30 seconds, which was absolutely crazy when he thought about it. However, now was not the time to sit and marvel at his own strength. Now was the time for action, especially seeing as four of the beasts were advancing on his allies, their cannons preparing to fire once more.
If taking on one beast had been this simple, did that mean he could take on all four at once? Morgan was oddly excited to find out. Without hesitating for an instant, he flew forward, grabbing one of the protruding harnesses and vanishing, teleporting the beast, rider, and weapons nearly half a mile from the wall.
“I’ll be right back,” he said to the shocked gnome, right before he vanished again.
In short order, Morgan had transported the four beasts away from his allies, while Katherine continued to tangle with the fifth.
“You!” one of the cultists shouted from atop his beast. “How dare you interfere with our great god’s plans?”
“Your so-called ‘great god’ is an oversized worm,” Morgan said, lacing his words with as much scorn as he could.
Just because he’d teleported the four of them here didn’t mean they had to stay. These beasts were undoubtedly fast and could probably make a quick return to the battle. But, if he goaded them into attacking him, they would remain here, engaged and away from his friends and allies.
“You’ll pay for that, heathen!” shouted one of the others, turning his cannon on him.
Good, Morgan thought, hiding a smile as all four beasts turned their attentions on him. All lined up neatly in one spot.
He really hated to waste the RP, but with creatures this powerful, he couldn’t afford to take the chance. Still, the bit of the old Morgan that remained rebelled against that idea. After all, how could he just blow all these beasts up without first trying to best them in hand-to-hand combat?
Morgan grinned as the mounted cannons began to glow red.
He wanted a challenge, which meant he would need to get rid of those pesky distractions first. After all, if those beasts were to fight at full capacity, they couldn’t be encumbered by the likes of weakling cultists.
36
Morgan rocketed forward, a new pair of Starforged gauntlets forming around his fists. The first cannon blast scorched through the air headed straight for him. He spun, twisting out of the way and avoiding the blast, slamming straight into and then through the cage on the beast’s back. He ripped the cultist from his seat, then whirled, tossing him straight into the red beam his friend had aimed at him.
He let out a sympathetic wince as the beam first caught the gnome in the groin before ripping his body apart.
But Morgan had no pity for these cultists, grabbing hold of one of the polls and ripping the harness from the beast’s back. He twisted, hurling the jumble of metal and cannons at the gnome to his left, then teleported to the right, kicking a nearly charged cannon out of its moorings, where it blasted straight into the last beast’s back, pulverizing the remaining gnome and killing him instantly.
Morgan noted that while the harness melted away, the cannon remained intact, making him even more curious as to what type of metal it was.
“You’ll pay for that, you ba—!”
The gnome before him was cut off as Morgan’s fist flashed out, shattering his face and killing him instantly. He turned then, looking down to the ground, where the last gnome – a woman – was clawing herself from the wreckage of her own harness, in addition to the one he’d thrown at her.
“So, you feel like talking?” Morgan asked, appearing above her.
Small pockets of air simultaneously appeared, and the beasts flew into them. With a small flex of power, the air pockets expanded, exploding violently and perfectly striking the center of the collars around the falcons’ necks. There was a series of screeching cries as the beasts were caught off-guard, tossed through the air by the powerful, expanding pockets of wind and finally freeing Sarah up.
Without hesitation, she twirled in the air, pulling her arm back and hurling an icy red javelin straight into one of the mana cannons. The weapon slammed into the construct, piercing the barrel and forcing it down just as it was about to fire. The trolls manning the cannons let out cries of alarm as part of the blast shot down the wall, leaving a scorch mark in its wake. The rest backed up and blew out the other side, tearing the metal to pieces and killing several of the Mages standing around it.
Morgan turned his attention back to the walls for a second, realizing that after withdrawing the lances, he’d just let them hover there without doing anything. Silently berating himself, he placed the lances once more, ramming them into the stone and letting them burrow through.
His eyes flicked back up then, as he saw the pack of flacon beasts righting themselves, pieces of sparking metal raining down to the ground below. They looked to Sarah as she flapped over to disarm the next cannon, then, surprisingly, down to him. Morgan stared at the flapping beasts and was unsurprised when they inclined their heads. However, unlike the last beasts he’d freed, these simply turned and flew away, heading into the Arcane Kingdom.
He briefly wondered why they weren’t going the other way, then remembered that the World Beasts were in that direction. Any beast with half a brain had already either made their way into the ocean or headed east, just as they were.
Morgan gave himself a little shake, turning his attention back on the walls. They were nearly there. The lances retracted, then slammed into the wall once more, boring a new series of holes, these lower than the last. He was now about halfway down the wall, approaching Katherine as he worked at the base. Unlike him, she was taking extra time. After all, there was no need to weaken the top as much as the base.
With the bottom of the wall broken, the top would collapse so long as it was weakened enough.
More explosions went off as mana cannons flashed, destroying more ramps, before Sarah dove to destroy them. However, before she could reach them, several more blasts went off, these angled upward to catch her instead of the army below. Morgan watched her tumble and spin through the air as he placed the spinning lances lower, drilling another series of holes. He desperately wished to join the fight, to head up and destroy those cannons himself, but right now, he was needed here.
“I’m ready down here,” Katherine called up to him, stepping away from the wall.
Looking down, Morgan could see a fine line of cracks, slash marks, and punctures lining a twenty-foot span along the bottom of the wall.
“Get back,” Morgan called, moving the lances lower. “I need a couple more minutes to finish up. Then we’ll see how well this wall holds up.”
Katherine did as she was told, stepping back through a portal and exiting back up on the bluff, away from the main fighting. Morgan let out a breath, then set the lances for the last time. One by one, they punched holes in the walls, and Morgan began to see cracks.
They began spreading as soon as the first set of completed holes was made, the weight of the walls pressing down and causing faults to form in the stone. Morgan called the first lance back, the black weapon with shining white motes of light morphing over his chest and forming into a breastplate.
One by one, he called the constructs back as they completed their work, quickly forming his full suit of armor. By the time the last piece – his left gauntlet – formed, Morgan could see a massive web of cracks running up the wall.
He floated back, reaching deep into the earth and summoning a truly massive battering ram. The cylinder of stone was as wide around as the section of wall they were clearing and some ten feet long. Of course, there were no handholds as there would have been on a traditional ram, as Morgan was controlling it with his Earth Mastery.
“Stand clear!” Morgan yelled, though doing so was ultimately pointless, as soldiers had been kept back from their area.
As soon as the ram rose, Morgan found himself facing down around fifteen mana cannons, all they were trained on him.
“Too little, too late,” Morgan muttered, then hurled the ram at the weakened wall.
The mana cannons went off at the same time, but it was fairly easy for him to avoid. Morgan simply teleported a few feet forward, leaving the lances of power to miss, slamming into the ground and carving up trenches in the dirt. At the same time, the ram smashed through the walls, Morgan and Katherine’s work paying off in a big way as the section of wall they’d weakened splintered under the force and began to cave in.
35
Morgan watched in satisfaction as soldiers began pouring into the breach in the wall, floating back to join Katherine on the small bluff.
“Good work,” he said, landing next to her.
“Please,” Katherine said, watching the soldiers going to reinforce their ground troops on the other side. “I barely did anything.”
“You weakened the entire bottom section of the wall,” Morgan said.
“Which you could have done on your own in less than half the time,” Katherine replied. “I honestly don’t understand why I was placed alongside you.”
“Well, I could be wrong,” Morgan said as a massive series of roars went up from within the walls, “but I have a feeling that that might be the reason.”
Katherine’s brows furrowed as she opened a portal for the two of them. They both emerged on the other side of the walls to see something more than a little unexpected. The ground, some hundred yards away, was opening up, and a platform was rising.
A series of beasts, all fitted with harnesses, mana cannons, and a weapon that Morgan didn’t recognize, rose up. His aura control told him these beasts were ranged from the low 50s to 60s, but that wasn’t all. All six of them were Pinnacle beasts, and each contained a twining mark of Strangler clearly outlined in green on their foreheads.
“I don’t think that these are beasts we’ll be able to simply free,” Morgan said, his eyes flicking between the six of them.
“How the hell did the gnomes get creatures like these to fight for them?” Katherine asked, going a bit pale.
“No idea,” Morgan said. “But there’s no way we can let the army anywhere near those things.”
“Do you think we can take them?” Katherine asked, sounding doubtful.
“Probably,” Morgan said, his senses brushing over her.
Katherine was currently at rank 72, a true powerhouse. But unlike him, she was only at the Intermediate stage, so despite her high rank, even a single one of these Pinnacle beasts would be a serious challenge.
“Are you sure?” Katherine asked. “Because, in case you haven’t noticed, those things have weapons mounted on their backs.”
“I’m less worried about the weapons and more concerned by the beasts themselves,” Morgan replied.
He quickly checked over the individual ranks of each beast, then pointed Katherine to the weakest.
“See that one, the wolf thing?” he asked, turning her head to the beast second from the right. “It’s at rank 51, so you’ve got a pretty good chance at beating it. I’ll start with that one over there. It’s the strongest, at 63. We might need some backup, but until we’re sure, I don’t want to have to drag any of our other strong fighters away from battle.”
Katherine nodded, resummoning her Reality Blade and looking less than excited.
“Hey, look at the bright side,” Morgan said, trying to stay positive.
“There’s a bright side?” Katherine asked.
“If you kill it, you get to keep the core of a Pinnacle beast all to yourself.”
Katherine seemed to think about it for a moment, then smiled. It wasn’t the same wild grin she might have worn a few years ago, but one that said she’d still rather not fight this thing alone.
Morgan’s eyes flicked to the other beasts then, realizing another problem. How was he supposed to keep these things from advancing on their armies while he was engaged?
Letting out an annoyed huff, he realized he wasn’t going to get anywhere right now, and the longer he waited around debating, the higher the chance that these beasts would move on to destroying the troops.
Instead of waiting, Morgan activated his Bestial Might, feeling his physical attributes increase by a factor of five. His muscles rippled and bulged beneath his armor. He had thirty seconds with this skill before he would have to wait for it to recharge. With attributes as high as his, he might not even need to tangle with any single one of these beasts for too long. After all, he hadn’t actually fought a Pinnacle beast since his advancement. Seeing as he was at the Pinnacle as well, perhaps the fighting would be easier.
Morgan took off with an explosion of air, the loud boom as he broke the sound barrier echoing behind him. He appeared before the most powerful beast in a flash, slamming an oversized gauntlet into its head and tossing it into the air. The beast, a large wingless lizard with bristling feathers growing along its back, managed to right itself as it tumbled, landing nimbly on its feet a few dozen yards back and shaking its head.
Blood dripped from the area of impact, its skull seeming to have been damaged by the overwhelming force of his attack. However, it was still very much alive, and the weapon harness mounted on its back was still very much intact. Now that he was closer, Morgan could see that there was a gnome sitting there, strapped into a seat and aiming one of the weapons at him.
Morgan noticed the glowing red within the mouth of the weapon and teleported to his right just as a powerful beam tore from the mouth of the weapon. He whirled as he heard screams of pain and was shocked to see that the beam had reached all the way to the wall and was carving a line through the advancing soldiers.
Cursing silently, Morgan teleported right up to the weapon, bringing his fist down hard on the metal. There was a loud clang as his attack rebounded, leaving the weapon practically unharmed. However, just because the weapon itself was undamaged didn’t mean the force of his punch was reduced.
With a scream of metal, the entire harness was ripped from around the beast’s back, plowing straight into the ground with the cannon leading the way. The beast buckled as well, its knees and face plowing straight into the ground. Morgan teleported down, reaching into the cage and ripping the gnome out by his head.
The man struggled and kicked in vain as he was dragged free, his eyes blazing with hatred. Morgan was about to question the gnome when he saw the twining serpent tattoo circling his left bicep. With a sigh, Morgan flexed his fingers, crushing the cultist’s head within his powerful grip.
There was a sound of displaced air, along with an odd buzzing, and Morgan whirled to see the other four beasts, those not engaged in battle, unleashing blasts of red power from their mounted cannons. Morgan still had no idea what they were firing, but it seemed far more effective than the mana cannons had, in addition to not needing teams of Mages to supply the power itself.
Additionally, they were sturdier, having repelled his punch without taking so much as a scratch. Whatever these things were, they were dangerous and needed to be captured or destroyed at all costs. However, before he could take off after the beasts, the one he’d knocked to the ground got back up, its small, beady eyes gleaming a bright blue.
Morgan dodged back through the air as it swiped at him, its claws leaving an afterimage as it swung. It continued on, slamming into his chest and driving him back through the air. Morgan could feel his armor struggling to repel whatever it was that the beast had thrown at him, and even as he fought, the beast brought its other paw back.
Morgan quickly extended a hand, the gauntlet there firing off and transforming into a spear as it streaked toward the beast’s head. The creature changed its swing, now aiming for the spear, only to miss entirely as the weapon vanished through a tiny portal, emerging from another right at the back of its neck.
The spear spun as it slammed into the toughened hide there, ripping through the beast’s skin and burrowing into the muscle beneath. The beast roared in pain, flexing its power and trying to eject the spear. Morgan used another aspect of the Starforged construct’s power and channeled his Expanse skill through it.
A pocket of air quickly formed inside the beast’s neck, then rapidly blew apart from within. The beast had time for one final scream before its head was blown clean off, ripped apart by the powerful expansion of wind inside its neck.
The beast didn’t die without letting off a final attack, but Morgan had expected as much from a beast that had reached the Pinnacle. Even as it fell, the feathers from its body burst outward, all glowing with a burning red light. A shield flashed up before Morgan, his second gauntlet forming the new construct in an instant.
The feathers burst into flame, then began streaking toward him at high speeds. They slammed into his shield, one after the next, sticking there as they struck and beginning to melt it down. Morgan was still busy concentrating on extinguishing the first attack, still pressing against his chest as trying to slash through, so he couldn’t teleport away, especially not with his concentration split the way it was.
He had perhaps a few seconds left of his Bestial Might before the timer ran out, so Morgan did what he always did. He used sheer brute force, grabbing ahold of the semi-transparent blades of force trying to rip through his armor with his bare hands. Morgan could feel the vibrations as the thousands of tiny blades tried to rip into his skin. He growled, and with a flex of his fingers, shattered the attack.
Blood streamed from his closed hand, but now that he was free to move, he vanished, teleporting to his left and leaving the shield in place to take the rest of the dead beast’s final attack. As he teleported, his muscle shrank, contracting to their usual size and restarting the timer on his Bestial Might.
That entire fight with the rank 63 Pinnacle Beast had taken him less than 30 seconds, which was absolutely crazy when he thought about it. However, now was not the time to sit and marvel at his own strength. Now was the time for action, especially seeing as four of the beasts were advancing on his allies, their cannons preparing to fire once more.
If taking on one beast had been this simple, did that mean he could take on all four at once? Morgan was oddly excited to find out. Without hesitating for an instant, he flew forward, grabbing one of the protruding harnesses and vanishing, teleporting the beast, rider, and weapons nearly half a mile from the wall.
“I’ll be right back,” he said to the shocked gnome, right before he vanished again.
In short order, Morgan had transported the four beasts away from his allies, while Katherine continued to tangle with the fifth.
“You!” one of the cultists shouted from atop his beast. “How dare you interfere with our great god’s plans?”
“Your so-called ‘great god’ is an oversized worm,” Morgan said, lacing his words with as much scorn as he could.
Just because he’d teleported the four of them here didn’t mean they had to stay. These beasts were undoubtedly fast and could probably make a quick return to the battle. But, if he goaded them into attacking him, they would remain here, engaged and away from his friends and allies.
“You’ll pay for that, heathen!” shouted one of the others, turning his cannon on him.
Good, Morgan thought, hiding a smile as all four beasts turned their attentions on him. All lined up neatly in one spot.
He really hated to waste the RP, but with creatures this powerful, he couldn’t afford to take the chance. Still, the bit of the old Morgan that remained rebelled against that idea. After all, how could he just blow all these beasts up without first trying to best them in hand-to-hand combat?
Morgan grinned as the mounted cannons began to glow red.
He wanted a challenge, which meant he would need to get rid of those pesky distractions first. After all, if those beasts were to fight at full capacity, they couldn’t be encumbered by the likes of weakling cultists.
36
Morgan rocketed forward, a new pair of Starforged gauntlets forming around his fists. The first cannon blast scorched through the air headed straight for him. He spun, twisting out of the way and avoiding the blast, slamming straight into and then through the cage on the beast’s back. He ripped the cultist from his seat, then whirled, tossing him straight into the red beam his friend had aimed at him.
He let out a sympathetic wince as the beam first caught the gnome in the groin before ripping his body apart.
But Morgan had no pity for these cultists, grabbing hold of one of the polls and ripping the harness from the beast’s back. He twisted, hurling the jumble of metal and cannons at the gnome to his left, then teleported to the right, kicking a nearly charged cannon out of its moorings, where it blasted straight into the last beast’s back, pulverizing the remaining gnome and killing him instantly.
Morgan noted that while the harness melted away, the cannon remained intact, making him even more curious as to what type of metal it was.
“You’ll pay for that, you ba—!”
The gnome before him was cut off as Morgan’s fist flashed out, shattering his face and killing him instantly. He turned then, looking down to the ground, where the last gnome – a woman – was clawing herself from the wreckage of her own harness, in addition to the one he’d thrown at her.
“So, you feel like talking?” Morgan asked, appearing above her.
