Path of Dragons-Chapter 18Book 9: : Guardians, Monsters, and Treasures

Elijah lanced in, digging his beak into the leviathan’s blubbery side. Fat and blood spewed from the point of impact, and ethera rippled down its body like a rolling shockwave. Before he could turn his attack into a retreat, a dozen water blades slashed into his shell, cutting through the leathery surface, not stopping until they hit bone. His blood joined the leviathan’s in a mingled cloud.

Meanwhile, the crab leaped from its perch within the forest of ice and clamped down on the monster with its oversized claws. Trails of bloody bubbles followed huge hunks of meat and fat as they fell through the water. But the crab couldn’t stay suspended for long.

And even as it fell back to the seafloor, it was forced to endure a handful of water blades. Most glanced harmlessly off its ice-covered shell, but one scored a solid hit on the guardian’s chitin.

Even as Wild Resurgence mended the wound in his shell, Elijah reversed direction and went in for another attack. He hadn’t done much damage with the first – the crab had been far more effective – but he was more than capable of outlasting the creature.

Or so he thought.

That notion died when he saw the location of his previous attack. Fatty flesh knitted itself together before his very eyes, telling Elijah that its Regeneration was off the charts. Or maybe it had access to an ability. Whatever the case, he needed more information. So, in that endeavor, he focused on two things. First, he extended his awareness as far as he could, narrowing his focus on the ripples of ethera that would indicate the impending arrival of more water blades.

And second, he circled the monster to inspect the site of the crab’s attacks.

His heart sank as he saw that even those massive wounds had begun to mend. Certainly, the healing was impeded by thick rime, but the monster’s flesh pulsed with enough ethera to banish any other negative effects.

The situation was obvious.

Mundane attacks weren’t going to work. Instead, Elijah needed to get a little more creative. Luckily, he had plenty of experience in doing just that. So, he swung out wide before putting himself on a collision course with the monster, Along the way, he dodged oncoming water blades, using the form’s dexterity for all it was worth until he got close enough to shift into the Shape of Venom.

He did, making a short stop in his human form to cast Blessing of the Grove even as his momentum took him on a collision course with the blubbery whale-monster. He hit its rubbery flesh hard, feeling it give slightly upon impact. At the same time, his transformation into the Shape of Venom completed, and he immediately cast Wild Resurgence before using Lurking Swam.

The phase spiders manifested, the same as always, but they only managed a single bite each before the pressure crushed their delicate bodies. Hopefully, that would be enough. Elijah bit down, sinking his fangs into the whale-monster and injecting his own ethera-laced venom.

The creature went wild, and water blades descended from above. Elijah skittered away, narrowly avoiding them as he repeatedly bit the thing. As he did, he couldn’t help but notice the pulsing ethera that originated with each bite wound, and he felt the creature’s own vitality go to war with his venom.

It wasn’t enough. Envenom was too powerful, especially when supported by the phase spiders’ toxic attacks. Yet, Elijah got another surprise when a surge of ethera from below rocketed towards the whale and wrapped around its body.

Seconds later, his venom dissipated into nothing.

A moment of frustration nearly got him cut in half by a water blade, but he recovered his senses quickly enough to leap over the oncoming attack. Losing contact with the leviathan’s rubbery skin sent him tumbling backward as it swam toward the crab below, and it took Elijah a few seconds to once again regain his footing. When he did, he resumed his toxic assault, hoping to overwhelm its healing capacity.

That was a dead end.

As soon as the venom built enough momentum, that pulse of ethera would once again overwhelm and smother it. It didn’t matter where Elijah bit it. Nor did it seem to lose any steam as time went on. Along the way, Elijah maintained his own health via continuous casting of Wild Resurgence, and every now and again, a renewal of Blessing of the Grove. It was just enough to keep him on his feet, but the pressure continued to weigh down on him, complicating the entire fight and turning it into an exercise in pain and frustration.

He endured, though. More importantly, he paid attention each time the wave of ethera passed through the monster, and he soon traced it to its source. Or at least he saw enough to make a couple of leaps of intuition that he hoped were accurate.

Seconds before each pulse came a flare of ethera from down below. It lit the forest of ice in bright blue before dissipating. Elijah didn’t feel the flow into the monster, but the fact that its healing ethera came only a moment later was enough to cement the connection in his mind.

Which meant he only had one choice – to get the thing away from the ice forest that seemed to be the source of the energy it required for each pulse of healing.

But Elijah also knew that the thing wouldn’t go willingly. Unnatural though it might have been, it was obviously intelligent enough to recognize a source of power. What’s more, it had attacked the crab for a reason – it wanted its treasure for itself. Getting it to abandon its mission was not going to be easy. ℞АꞐȏꞖЕＳ

Then again, nothing worthwhile ever was.

Elijah went on the attack, administering so much venom that he actually started to feel sick to his own stomach as the stamina cost whittled away his reserves. That was only the first part of his plan, though. Instead, once he’d made a proper nuisance of himself, he threw himself away from the leviathan and once again resumed the Shape of the Sea.

The relief was instant. The pressure that had threatened to turn him to mush disappeared under the weight of his Constitution – and, he suspected, the nature of the Ocean Native trait. The second the transformation completed, he resumed his attacks. However, instead of venomous bites, he used blunt force and the power of his sharp beak to harry the monster.

Elijah pushed his attributes as hard as he could, using many of the same tactics he’d developed for use with Shape of the Sky. He knew that being a turtle the size of a submarine, his maneuvers likely looked a bit odd, but with his increased Dexterity, they were just possible. On top of that, the whale leviathan was much larger than him, so it had difficulty keeping up.

As he fought, he was bombarded with water blades. At first, it was clear that the monster didn’t consider him a primary threat, but as he evaded its attacks, the number of water blades increased, indicating that he’d risen in its hierarchy of threats.

He evaded most of those attacks, but no matter how fast he was, the sheer volume of water blades – especially as they escalated in number – meant that he took more than a few hits. Fortunately, the combination of his high attributes and Wild Resurgence meant that he was able to endure them.

Still, his blood and bits of his shell formed a cloud all around the submerged battlefield. The crab retreated to its spot above the natural treasure, clearly hoping that the fight would be decided without its input. Elijah couldn’t blame it. Guardians were attached to their treasures, and the connection went deeper than he could fathom. The crab clearly valued protecting the treasure far more than it wanted to kill the whale leviathan.

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Besides, the crab wasn’t really part of his plan anyway.

Elijah continued to harass the monster, peppering it with hit-and-run attacks. He did so in a very controlled pattern, though – often targeting its head and forcing it to turn, if only slightly. In that way, he slowly shifted its focus.

It took hours, and in that time, they gradually drifted along the length of the ice forest. Any time the whale leviathan tried to return, Elijah attacked it even more ferociously, enduring its water blades and focusing entirely on doing as much damage as possible. He knew he couldn’t keep that up, but he also knew that no animal would take those kinds of attacks without response.

Inevitably, he’d draw its full attention once again and continue the redirection. freēnovelkiss.com

Elijah lost track of how much time passed. To maintain his focus, he shifted the burden from one facet of his mind to another, letting the others rest. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do, especially because he was accustomed to using them all at once. However, he’d found during the Chimeric Forge – when he wasn’t allowed the opportunity to rest – that it was the best way to combat mental fatigue.

It did make him realize that he needed to stop letting himself get into such situations. It couldn’t have been healthy.

But then again, with the attributes at play, no fight would end quickly. His foes were simply too durable, even without things like the whale’s connection to the ethera-infused ice forest.

When they reached the edge, the whale leviathan briefly refused to go any further, and Elijah knew exactly why. The thing was well aware of the source of its power, and it was reluctant to leave it. However, Elijah knew a few of other factors that gave him hope that his plan would work.

First, the creature had attacked a great many whaling ships, and it made plenty of hunting forays into open water. Second, it clearly hunted the whales, which did not come close to the icy seafloor. And third – it was an animal. Maybe an intelligent creature, but an animal nonetheless. And he knew how to manipulate animals.

So, he continued his harassment, and every time the thing tried to turn back, he made it clear just how bad of an idea that was. The leviathan grew more frustrated with every passing hour until, at last, it chased him into open water. Elijah knew he couldn’t stop there, though. He needed quite a lot of distance before he moved on to the next part of his plan.

But now that the leviathan was fully committed to the battle – instead of continuously trying to head back – it became an entirely different beast. The water blades continued to come in a frenzy, but it moved much more quickly as well. More than once, Elijah found himself bombarded with water blades while narrowly avoiding the thing’s monstrous jaws.

Or more importantly, the jagged teeth inside.

Still, he managed it, and mile by mile, they left the thing’s source of power behind. Its wounds mounted, but there was still enough ethera in it to shield it from most lasting harm.

Elijah redoubled his efforts, harassing the thing until, at last, he judged that they were far enough away. He couldn’t be certain, but if they had gone less than a hundred miles, he would have been surprised. That would have to be enough.

With that in mind, he enacted his plan.

The first step was to rise as high as they could so the pressure wouldn’t be quite as powerful. The leviathan followed without hesitation until Elijah broke through the surface, scattering ice in every direction as he breached the water. At the apex of his leap, he transformed into the Shape of Venom, then hit the leviathan right as it surfaced.

He immediately summoned Lurking Swarm and went to work. The creature reacted quickly, once again submerging itself and diving deep. When the pressure started to get to him, Elijah broke off his attacks and shifted back into the Shape of the Sea. That confused the monster – at least until he resumed his hit-and-run attacks, resuming the pattern that he’d used for the last day-and-a-half.

The leviathan clearly wasn’t certain what to do. With so much venom rushing through it, it was obviously in quite a lot of pain. It wasn’t enough damage to kill it off – far from it – but the creature grew weaker with every passing moment until it realized it needed to return to its source of power.

That put Elijah on a timer.

Without further hesitation, he shifted into his human form, then summoned Eternal Plague. The spell conjured a thousand tiny crustaceans that immediately attacked the monster, delivering their afflictions. Elijah channeled the spell, draining his core with every passing moment.

He didn’t dare use Conduit of the Grove, but even without it, his pool of ethera had grown large enough to conjure a truly gargantuan swarm of plague-bearing pests. They ripped into the thing, and with every passing second, it slowed.

But when Elijah dipped well below the halfway point of his ethera, he knew it wouldn’t be enough. That was as he’d expected, but he’d dared to hope for the best.

And at the speed it could travel – even so grievously injured – it wouldn’t take long for the thing to reach the submerged ice forest. Elijah needed to act quickly, or he’d have no choice but to start all over again – after a significant rest, of course.

By that point, the crab would almost assuredly be dead and the treasure taken.

Elijah refused to let that happen. So, once he let Eternal Plague lapse, he shifted into the Shape of Thorn and activated Domain of Vines. Thick strands of kelp erupted from the monster’s back, wrapping around its body and restricting is fins. Meanwhile, Elijah dug his claws into the blubbery skin and embarked on the arduous journey to its mouth.

The idea was simple enough. Killing a monster from the inside was probably a much better option than doing it from the outside. He’d proved that twice in the Chimeric Forge, and in the back of his mind, he considered the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

He climbed over its head – taking a few seconds to burst a couple of its eyes – then dragged himself into the thing’s mouth. That was where he received some bad news.

Biologically, it made no sense that its throat would be guarded by a thick cage of bone. But there it was, looming over him like the impenetrable obstacle it was. More distressingly, the monster’s mouth was filled with potently caustic saliva that, even in his durable Shape of Thorn, dissolved his scales with ease.

It spelled one, simple fact: the mouth was a no-go.

So, with that, Elijah retreated to the relative safety of the monster’s exterior, and he was horrified to see the subtle glow of the ice forest in the distance. It was still dozens of miles away, but it was near enough to cause Elijah to panic.

He activated Shape of the Master.

The second he was in the small form, two things became apparent. It was not as adept at sticking to surfaces of the Shape of Venom, and because of the monster’s rapid pace, he was quickly swept free. He only managed to stop himself by ramming his scythe into the creature’s rubbery skin.

A moment later, he felt a water blade come his way.

He narrowly avoided it, gaining a charge of Heart of Fire. That brought with it a surge of relief.

Over the next few minutes, he continued to dodge water blades. It wasn’t as easy a task as it might have seemed at first glance. Certainly, the Shape of the Master came with increased reaction speeds, but he was accustomed to blocking at least a few attacks. That wasn’t possible with the water blades. If he tried, they’d simply flow around his staff and hit him anyway. So, dodging was the only option.

Fortunately, he was very good at that.

Using the scythe as an anchor, he flipped and rolled, dipped and ducked until he’d built seventy-five charges. It was less than he wanted – his plan was to build up to a hundred – but they were too close to the ice forest to take it any further. With that in mind, he used Child of Fire.

The surge of attributes hit him like a brick, and he swallowed a gallon of water with the resultant gasp. He ignored it, immediately going to work digging his way through the creature’s flesh.

It started with a simple crater, but it quickly became a massive, gaping hole. Elijah continued on, hacking his way through even after Child of Fire gave out. Once it dissipated, the going was much more difficult, but nestled in the monster’s flesh as he was, the water blades were no longer a problem.

There were other concerns – apparently, it had quite a lot of parasites in its flesh, and they were all hostile. But Elijah had no difficulty killing the little razor-toothed worms as he dug ever deeper.

At some point, the healing pulses that came from the monster’s connection to the ice forest returned. Elijah ignored them. Instead, he continued hacking his way through its body until, at last, he reached its destination.

And he was grateful to find that the thing had an anatomy similar to a whale. Otherwise, he wasn’t sure what he’d have done.

The creature’s heart was the size of a pickup truck, and it was infused with so much ethera that Elijah was singed just being near it – which hurt, but wasn’t a real concern. Having found the thing’s heart, Elijah shifted into the Shape of Thorn, then activated Unchecked Growth as well as a far more expensive Domain of Vines.

Ropey tendrils of kelp burst free of his body and burst through the thing’s flesh, encasing the heart in a cocoon of vegetation. Then, he squeezed. The heart went wild, beating dozens of times a second and sending blood and ethera coursing through the monster’s body. That ethera fostered deep resistance, forcing Elijah to create more and more tendrils of kelp.

Then, the collective weight of that pressure overwhelmed the heart’s defenses.

The monster shook with a potent seizure that felt like an earthquake, killing the parasites that infested its flesh. Elijah was crushed beneath a mountain of contracting muscle, but with his immense Regeneration, his body rebuilt itself as quickly as it was compacted.

The monster tried to use that same tactic against Elijah’s vines.

It failed.

Another huge impact threatened to dislodge Elijah, but he held firm until, at last, the heart collapsed in on itself. He felt a surge of experience, pushing him closer to his next level, even as Unchecked Growth ran its course.

The monster was dead, but the work had just begun.