Luckily for the team of young fighters, their opponent appeared to be a support focused enemy, not as capable in close or even long ranged combat, instead relying on his minions to do most of the fighting. However, those minions although physically weak, possessed immense vitality. Upon activating his mana sight, Niko focus shifted from the transformed Therapon to the dark mist, and then eventually to the dozens of reanimated mutants.
“The mist is highly concentrated mana, that’s how that bastard is feeding those things. If he is connected to that source, he can keep feeding mana into these things… that’s the source of their irritating vitality and regeneration.” Niko thrust his spear forward, the aura laden tip penetrating the sludge-like outer membrane and striking the core hidden in its right shoulder. Unlike Apollonius or Mera’s opponents who slowly began to stitch themselves together, Niko’s slowly dissolved into a foul-smelling puddle.
“Look, I can’t keep up the mana sight for very long! The drain and pressure on my mind are far too heavy, in any case taking out the minions won’t solve anything. We need to take out the source, if we kill the tentacled horror, the small ones should fall apart.” This time Niko charged forward thrusting his spear downwards into an enemy’s left foot, before raising his spear upwards in a rising slashing motion that bisected another. Both hit the floor and started to dissolve, their hidden mana cores ruptured in the attacks.
Yet the enemies were non-stop, just as he took two down another three would rise, as there were still plenty of corpses scattered around and the mist continued to rise from the lower deck. Just as the three were pushing forward they heard a loud bestial roar reverberating through the air, originating from the Sawtooth. A quick glance to the rear showed the minimal glow of fire, reminiscent of Salamander’s Breath, indicating that even the fights on their ship were quite intense. The boarding bridge was bathed in blood, with fighters from both sides painting its rails and floor crimson. It was clear that they needed to hurry, they couldn’t tell how the battles were going, only that the losses were mounting, and that eliminating the main threats, specifically the catenarii would likely ensure their victory.
There was a flash of light, a bolt of miniature lightning impacting a nearby minion before hopping to another two, causing the three mutant’s sludgy outer coating to bubble slightly, then the three fell over, unmoving. Apollonius appeared next to Niko, his spear crackling with small blue spark dancing along the edge of the iron tip. “Niko, how do you know that if we kill that disgusting piece of crap, that the rest of these things will drop?” Niko and Apollonius fought back-to-back, with Niko eliminating the ponderous enemies and Apollonius incapacitating them, his thunder spark frying their nerves and neutralizing their ability to move and fight for a minute or two.
“I don’t, that’s the point. We don’t exactly have many options, and we can’t just sit here dealing with the small fry. Look, he’s already raising more of them!” Niko cut down another enemy, then directing Apollonius’s attention toward a dead woman, her body began to swell, change, and return to the battle in the hands of the enemy.
“Enough brother, we don’t have a choice. My poisons are ineffective against these minions, but get me close enough to the main enemy, and maybe my acid flasks can help eliminate some of those tentacles and armor. While brother you can use your ability to neutralize his ability to move. Since Niko can see the core, we can leave the killing blow to him. I think that’s the best course of action right now.” Mera ducked and avoided an enemy’s gnashing tentacle, the fleshy bits covered in misshapen teeth. The young man and youth quickly bringing down their weapons and cutting short yet another enemy.
Up until this point the three youths were doing all the work, with their overseer Timeaus observing the situation. Every so often his bow would sing, and an arrow would cut through the air, taking out or debilitating one or two enemies, just to keep the numbers within manageable levels. However, what might have at first been observed as a learning experience had changed, the evolution of the creature before them threatened to replenish the entirety of the enemy force, forcing them to fight twice the numbers to gain victory. In that time the casualties suffered would undoubtedly mount, and once Timeaus had decided upon his course of action, he moved quickly.
The trio heard the change in the battle before they saw it, the twang of a thick bowstring, followed by the whistling of arrows. Yet before Niko or the others could direct their attention to their rear, a wet thwacking sound reverberated from their right, followed immediately by a rain of black sludge, and fleshy bits. All three witnessed Timeaus proceed to mow the enemy fodder down, his bow would occasionally pin some to the deck of the ship, while his bronze gauntlet would cause their bodies to explode from the impact. This wasn’t the devastating cone shaped shockwave he used earlier, but a minor air burst that was localized in the body of the opponent, which proved effective against the sludge covered creatures.
“Hurry and take out the mastermind, I will help deal with the trash… and you know what, let’s take out a few of those disgusting appendages while we’re at it!” Timeaus ordered the youngsters forward, before unleashing a rapid-fire volley, with each arrow hitting its mark. Three of the four mist enhanced tentacles were pinned to the deck, the arrow tips penetrating through the rubbery outer skin and then the wooden deck below. The mutated Therapon now possessed only a single tentacle, in addition to his original wing like appendage, both of which were still somewhat dangerous, but less so than with all five.
“Hurry, those won’t hold it for long!” Niko hearing Timeaus’s warning along with the other two rushed to close the gap as quickly as possible. Dodging the errant minion that was quickly sniped by Timeaus, leaving the path open for the youths to eliminate their foe.
Although Niko was the first to arrive, his spear and eyes glowing with bronze light, it was Mera who made the first move. Two flasks of clear liquid with a tinge of green soured through the air towards the misshapen enemy, and like the one the group had fought in the Capital he responded instinctively. Therapon’s wing shot out as if it were acting independently, slicing the incoming object to ribbons. However, instead of soaking up the crimson lifeblood of an unfortunate victim, Therapon let out a hoarse scream as the wing began to melt from the liquid within the first flask.
Meanwhile the second flask reached its target without any impediment, shattering and splashing its contents upon the target area. Luckily Therapon was rooted in place, first by his own will and second by Timeaus’s arrows, which made for a particularly easy target. Therapon’s screams only rose in intensity as the petrified flesh and wooden armor melted, sloughing off and leaving half melted pinkish grey flesh. Neither Niko or Apollonius sought to miss this chance, making their move, and closing the distance before striking out with their spears, one covering the other.
Niko, went for the enemy’s core, located in the center of the belly. Mera had already been made aware of this and thus had targeted the region with her flask, resulting in much of the protective layers still struggling to regenerate and exposing Therapon’s weakness. However, even the inexperienced former noble could sense the inherent danger in Niko’s incoming attack, thus he struck out with his final tentacle in a desperate attempt to impede or destroy the dangerous element.
Yet that as well was doomed to end in failure as Apollonius moved forward, his spear ramming into the side of the appendage. As the iron tip penetrated the outer layer, the blue crackle of energy danced across it and spread quickly, frying the outer skin, and surging into the wound. Whatever control the mutant had stalled, with the burst of lightning moving quickly through his body, causing convulsions, and eliciting a choked scream.
A scream that lasted only a few seconds, just as Niko’s spear entered his gut and shattered his mana core. The effect was immediate, the tentacles began to melt away, unable to maintain their form, as the flesh on Therapon’s body began to disintegrate. While the reanimated creatures lost their momentum, falling to the ground like the empty husks they were.
All seemed well, the battle was over, the enemy defeated, his body shattering before their very eyes. “Always keep your eyes on the enemy! Never underestimate a cornered rat!” The youths were roused from their celebratory mood as Timeaus raced past, roaring at them. He made a beeline for the now smiling Therapon, the magical energies within his body visible to the naked eye. A deep dark purple glow emanating from his bloating corpse, all the while that deathly energy appeared threatening to burst outwards.
Timeaus had seen the danger and acted immediately, using the last remaining charge within his gauntlet he backhanded the suicidal creature. The force of the hit reverberated through its body, the bloated skin rippling across the surface, before being lifted into the air and thrown to the other side of the ship from the force of the impact. It’s flailing body soared through the air toward the officer’s cabin at the aft section of the ship.
Luckily for Timeaus the bloated corpse did not get as far as the cabin, as he was worried whether Maatilani, Malakos, and Caedyrn were still within. The unpredictable purple energies reached their breaking point around five feet away from the cabin, the effect of which was both audible and visible. There was a loud clap like thunder, followed by a blast of air and ichor covered fleshy organs. The officer’s cabin was blown away, with the area below the explosion epicenter a mess of shattered wood and organic goop.
“Dammit! You three hurry to the other side, check for Maatilani and others now!” Timeaus screamed at the three, not allowing them time to comprehend how close they had come to death had he not stepped in. The big man himself was resting on his knee, his left arm lying lifelessly on the ground beside him. That earlier light emanating from his bronze arm had disappeared completely, his face was drained of energy, and his muscles struggled just to remain propped up in his kneeling position.
“Go now! I’ll catch up, I just need a little time.” The trio were already on their way, understanding the importance even a few seconds could play.
Don't forget to check out my new series, I'll be dropping a new chapter today, aptly titled, a Gift.
Alpha-7: Book 1 Foundations
