Serpentlord (Rise To Omniscience Book 9), page 34
“I can assure you that they haven’t had a radical change of heart in the last few weeks,” Gold said, adjusting the lapel on his suit jacket. “They’ve just realized the same thing I have.”
“Which is?” Morgan asked, narrowing his eyes.
“That getting involved in a battle like this is a bad idea all around,” Herald replied evenly. “I’m not telling you not to take your revenge. If I were able, I’d kill the bastard myself for what he did, but this situation is already tenuous. Involving yourselves with beings as chaotic as the World Beasts just wouldn’t be smart or prudent.”
“In other words,” Gold said, his tone oddly jovial, “why do all the hard work when the World Beasts might just finish him off themselves?”
“I don’t want them to finish him off,” Katherine said through gritted teeth. “I want to kill him myself. Grind his bones to dust and crush him with my bare hands until he’s so bloody and broken, he’s barely recognizable as human.”
“Well, he isn’t technically human…” Gold began.
“Can it, Gold!” she snapped. “Before I decide to kill you for your hand in all this!”
“My hand?” Gold asked. “Why, whatever do you mean? All I did was take you out for a lovely dinner to catch up on old times. It isn’t my fault that Sarah decided to go and try to defeat Morgan’s clone on her own.”
Katherine took a threatening step forward, but both Gwendolyn and Morgan threw out an arm to stop her.
“Fighting amongst ourselves will do us no good,” Morgan said. “And I can see that the three of you aren’t willing to budge on this issue. That’s fine. We’ll stay and watch. If he dies, then we’ll be rid of him, and if he doesn’t, this fight will weaken him enough to make him a soft target. Whatever happens, that bastard dies today.”
Gold merely grinned and gave them a mocking bow. Katherine tried to punch him, but he neatly side-stepped the blow, then smoothed the front of his jacket.
“Do try not to get those grubby mitts on these,” Gold said, picking a small hair from the front. “This is vintage Baron Roster, and I will not have it damaged.”
A small tick began in the corner of Katherine’s eye, but before she could say anything, Morgan reappeared in the town where the World Beast Strangler was located. There was a collective narrowing of eyes when they all saw Sarah, the woman bearing a striking resemblance to the dead friend. Everyone turned their eyes on Gold, who simply shrugged.
“We’ll get our answers, one way or another,” Katherine said, slamming a fist into her palm. “But the show is about to begin, and I think I’m going to enjoy watching that bastard getting destroyed, just a little more than I would destroying you.”
Gold just grinned mockingly, as though he almost wanted Katherine to come after him. But thankfully, the woman didn’t rise to the bait, keeping her attention on the battle that was about to begin.
***
The world came into focus once again as Morgan appeared back in Aster. Everything was pretty much as he’d left it. Seeing as he’d only been gone about a minute, one might have expected it to be no different, but with a creature as powerful as Strangler in the mix, one could never know. The gigantic serpent followed him with her eyes as he drifted back down to the ground, but at the moment, his current objective was to assure that the remaining civilians got to the portal on the outskirts of the town.
“Think you’ll be okay getting them out on your own?” he asked as he set Sarah down.
“I’ll come join you as soon as I do,” she said in answer, giving his hand a squeeze. “Now go give that bitch a good walloping. Maybe knock that smug look off her face.”
Morgan nodded, rising back into the air and watching her go start rounding up those who remained. Out at sea, Morgan could see some of the ships were rowing for all they were worth, while others seemed to be listing or sinking. His eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out what was wrong, but his answer came a moment later when a mass of glittering scales rose up from the surface of the water, enclosing all of the ships and preventing their escape.
“You’re really going to do this?” Morgan asked, floating up to the snake’s eye-level.
He stared the serpent directly in the eye, his own power resisting her petrifying gaze.
“I will do what I wish,” Strangler hissed, her voice sounding in his mind. “The sssacrificesss are mine, and I will not let them essscape me.”
“Well, we can’t have that,” Morgan said as his clothes began rippling and fluttering around him.
He still wasn’t fully recovered from holding the ground with his Earth Mastery, but he was close — close enough for him to empty his RP into one of his Ultimate skills. He spread his arms wide as he floated higher, his body beginning to shimmer with incandescent violet light. Waves of rippling heat seemed to flow out of him, even as the sky above the World Beast seemed to split wide.
The clouds were forced back in a circle, revealing a glowing purple abyss. The sky itself seemed to be on fire, small flares leaping across its surface and reflecting off the serpent below.
Strangler opened her mouth wide, power beginning to collect at the tips of her fangs. It seemed that, unlike Pinnacle Kings, World Beasts could use their most powerful skill as many times as they liked. Morgan wasn’t intimidated. He stared the World Beast down, seeing her for all that she was. Her status stood out to him, clear as day, as did the amount of power radiating out from her body.
Name: Strangler, Titan Serpent of Guile
Classification: World Beast
Rank - 100
Ability Type - Supermage
Strangler started life as nothing more than a common garter snake. Through cunning and deceit, she soon grew to rule her section of the forest. Her trickery and ability to force others to do work for her soon propelled her growth to heights previously unattainable. Her sheer ruthlessness and guile in forcing families apart and turning allies to war was enough to earn her a Classification.
Strangler’s mouth opened wider, green light now boiling at the tips of her fangs. But Morgan was unworried, as his skill was already charged and ready.
“I am the downfall of all,” Morgan said, extending a single, glowing hand. “Eternity Beam.”
There was a single bright flash from up above, and Strangler was driven down into the ocean, a massive wave blasting away from her body and rising over a hundred feet into the air. Morgan saw the ground on the seabed shatter as Strangler’s head was driven nearly fifty feet into the solid stone.
He watched as the wave spread, rising higher and higher as it raced toward the ships. Eternity Beam was a special skill, giving Morgan the ability to target a very specific area all the way up to a massive swath of land. The force from the impact carried through.
Although she’d only been hit in the head, Strangler’s entire body thrashed, her coils whipping and frothing the ocean into a frenzy. Hundreds of ships rose on massive waves, threatening to capsize. But then Sarah was there, her mastery over water giving her the ability to keep the ships from tipping over. More so, she used the gigantic wave rippling out from the force of the Eternity Beam to drive the ships further and further from shore.
In just a handful of seconds, they’d traveled over a quarter mile away from the snake, free of her embrace. Morgan’s eyes flicked to the shore, where the titanic wave washed across buildings, tearing foundations from the ground as it flowed inland.
The remaining civilians had already managed to run a good distance by the time they arrived, and Sarah had gotten them all moving toward the portal. Despite that, several of them were doused by the freezing ocean water, though, by the time the wave reached them, it had lost much of its force.
Several were knocked off their feet, a couple got some scrapes or bruises, but that was the extent of the injuries.
Morgan looked back to Strangler as the water washed in, hiding her body beneath the waves. Several whirlpools formed, leaving a series of twisting areas of water that would definitely be hazardous to ships. However, thanks to Sarah, they were now far enough away that none of this would bother them.
They were speeding away, headed for the Five Kingdoms and far from this doomed continent.
Morgan remained where he was, keeping an eye on the roiling water. Despite the overwhelming power of that skill, he very much doubted it had been enough to take the World Beast down. That was why, as his RP regenerated, he began forging himself pieces of armor using his Starforge.
The eerie green sky, now restored to its earlier color since his skill had run its course, tinted his armor as well, giving the usual black a greenish tinge. An oversized shield formed next, forming over his forearm and latching in place. Finally, a massive lance dropped into his right hand, flaring near the handle and extending to a wicked point at the tip some twelve feet from his body.
His RP regenerated at 158 per second. Forging the entire suit of armor and the weapons had taken about half a minute. All the while, he kept watching the ocean, even as it began to calm. Strangler was still down there, still alive and gathering up her power. He could sense that she’d been injured – even a World Beast couldn’t simply shrug off an attack like that – though not enough to put her out of the fight.
A streak of blue flashed in his peripheral vision, and a moment later, Sarah came flapping toward him, her shining blue wings extended and her body now covered in icy armor. It rippled, switching between the dark crimson of frozen blood and the blue of her normal ice.
Though she’d never used this skill before, Morgan knew that this was her self-healing Ice Armor. While wearing this armor, her body’s healing capabilities would be increased by a factor of six. Additionally, the armor was extremely tough and would continually regenerate as it was broken. On top of that, Sarah could control her armor like a second skin, turning it offensive as much as defensive.
Morgan continued watching the waves as she came to a halt beside him.
“The ships?” he asked.
“At a safe distance,” Sarah replied. “Though I’d hold off on using any other big skills for the next five or so minutes to let them get a bit farther.”
“No need to worry there,” Morgan said. “My RP won’t sustain any big skills right now. I’m gonna have to stick with what I’ve got until it regenerates from that last attack.”
“That was one of your Ultimate Skills, right?” Sarah asked, now turning her attention down on the water as well.
The waves were beginning to churn and roil again, lightning flashing in the sky and the waves themselves starting to turn green.
“Yeah,” Morgan replied. “I’ve got a feeling I’m gonna need to use the other one before this is all over.”
The top of Strangler’s head became visible then, slowly rising above the waves. There was a large hole right at its center, burned through her scales as though they hadn’t even been there.
“Holy shit,” Sarah said, her eyes going wide as Strangler’s head rose fully from the water, her glowing yellow orbs burning with rage.
Morgan understood the sentiment well. There was a hole straight through the top of Strangler’s head, running down through the bottom of her lower jaw. His Eternity Beam had blasted a hole through her head, and the World Beast was still alive. Dark blood oozed from the wound, streams winding down through the ridges in her scales and giving the serpent an even more frightening appearance.
The serpent reared up, now towering above them. Her jaws cracked wide, revealing the twin holes Morgan’s attack had left in the roof on her mouth and through her tongue and jaw. The pair of massive fangs extended down from the top of her mouth again, and the World Beast let out a hiss that sent chills running down Morgan’s spine.
“That hurt,” Strangler said, her voice full of rage. “For every drop of my pain, you will pay a thousssand timesss over!”
Her voice rose in pitch and volume as she screamed. Then, she snapped her jaws shut and her body exploded with power, the shockwave so immense that it blasted the water away from her in another enormous wave.
“Get ready,” Morgan said, tightening his grip on his lance. “Here she comes.”
52
Strangler shot forward at an incredible speed, her body moving far too fast for a monster her size. Her mouth opened wide as she drew near, and both Morgan and Sarah dodged in opposite directions.
Morgan streaked right, hurling his lance, which was crackling with lightning and an increased gravity field, and aiming right for the oversized eye.
Strangler slowed as she slammed her jaws shut, the shockwave from that single motion causing the air to crack. Morgan’s lance slammed into her, but Strangler obviously saw it coming, as she blinked, causing the lance to be caught between her eyelids. However, that was a mistake, as a payload of black lightning forked directly into the monster’s eye.
The serpent shrieked, her body listing to one side as the lance was yanked back from her eye, landing back in Morgan’s hand just in time for him to plunge it right back in. Morgan unleashed even more lightning, letting a constant stream course into the serpent’s brain. The beast’s body coiled and thrashed, the many sections of her massive form that showed above the waves writhing right along with her.
Morgan’s eyes flicked to his right as a scale shot from Strangler’s side. His shield came up just as the triangular scale, larger than his torso, slammed into his Starforged shield and tossed him back. He retained his grip on the lance, but the force of the attack ended his assault.
Morgan twisted his body around, flicking his shield along with the motion and dislodging the massive scale. He whirled back to face the serpent, seeing Sarah in the middle of her attack at the creature’s other side. A hail of icicles pelted the World Beasts’ tough hide, pinging off the scales and not really doing much damage at all.
He shot forward, preparing for another attack with the lance, when a shudder seemed to run down Strangler’s body. Morgan only just got his shield up in time, as hundreds of scales peeled themselves from the serpent’s hide, shooting toward him in a hail of destruction. Morgan was driven back through the air, the force of the impacting scales sending large cracks spreading across his shield.
He slammed into the water, the weight of the impacting scales forcing him to the seabed. His gauntlet vanished, flowing up to repair the cracks in the shield while the scales drove him deeper. There was a splash some fifty feet away and Morgan saw the glowing figure of Sarah hit the bottom, her armor riddled with cracks and blood flowing from several wounds.
Dirt and dust flew all around him, impeding his vision of her as the scales continued to fly. He could sense her and could feel her core pulsing as it worked to restore the cracks in her armor and repair the damage Strangler’s attack was doing to her.
Morgan tried to push back up, only to have another hail of scales drive him down. He jumped back, the water pressure tearing at his armor as he did. But he managed to get back into open air. A massive shape loomed over him and Morgan blinked away the salty water to see Strangler’s open maw blotting out the sky.
Without even thinking, Morgan released his lance, the construct streaking straight down Strangler’s throat and unleashing a blast of lightning. Additionally, having finally restored some RP, he used Expanse, challenging it through the lance. A gigantic pocket of air exploded inside the serpent’s throat, tearing into the sensitive flesh within.
Despite all that, it didn’t stop Strangler from snapping her jaws shut around him. Or at least, she tried. Morgan used Rift, teleporting to the back of the snake’s head and summoning his lance back by punching a hole through the back of the snake’s head.
Strangler hissed again as Morgan caught the lance, then took a moment to assess the damage he’d done so far. Several holes had been punched in the snake’s body and head, and yet she didn’t really seem to be feeling it. A World Beast’s body did seem to be made mostly of reiki, so that was hardly a surprise. What Morgan needed to do was find her core, but in a body as large as hers and with his inability to really sense what was happening in there, it would be more a game of luck than anything else.
Strangler whirled around, trying to lunge at him once more, only for her body to jerk to a halt. She looked confused for a moment, turning to look down and seeing the water around her freezing solid. Sarah exploded up from the ice a moment later, her entire body radiating a mix of blue and crimson.
A pair of oversized fists made of red and blue ice trailed at her sides, both of which flashed out, striking the serpent on the tip of her nose and causing her to reel back once more.
“How are you holding up?” Morgan asked, appearing at her side.
“Fine,” she replied. “Though we don’t really seem to be doing any damage.”
Strangler’s body glowed, the ice encasing her shattering to pieces. Glowing spheres of green gathered around her head, lancing through the air toward them and forcing the two of them apart. Morgan hurled his lance at the beast, while Sarah struck out again with the oversized constructed fists.
Two spheres of green formed in an instant, flashing out and burning them both from existence. The corrosive aspect of the energy was apparent, as Morgan dodged only to run headlong into another. He twisted to the side, mostly avoiding the blast, but his right side was nicked, and the energy burned by his construct disintegrated.
Morgan then found himself dodging, twisting, and whirling through the air as the spheres continuously formed on Strangler’s hide, firing out at incredible speeds. There were so many, that Morgan was having a hard time keeping track of them all, especially as there didn’t seem to be any rhythm of timing to the strikes. They went off at random and never from the exact same spot.
He caught a brief glimpse of the serpent’s full body as he spun higher into the air. The World Beast looked like she was throwing off a massive lightshow, her entire body firing off the corrosive green beams in all directions. Dozens struck land, ripping clean furrows through the ground, buildings and anything else in its path.
