78 Not As It Seems (1/2)
The wind rushed past my face as the sand came closer. I reformed my armor, activating the Earth Glider skill. I sliced into the sand like diving into water. I shot through the sand, burning through it. The sand grazed against my sides, collecting heat over my armor. The friction built, my armor scorching me like a rope scraping your hand too fast.
With each stomp of my foot, a telekinetic burst detonated into the sand. Once I neared the surface, waves of sand erupted behind me in time with each stomp. As I flowed through the sand, a near deafening rumble came towards me. Using the unique skill Tactile Cognition, I used the vibrations to visualize my surroundings.
Even with my eyes shut, my sense of touch let me understand where the worm was coming from. Below me, a massive form shot towards me at an explosive speed. It was the King of Drikah. As it neared me, my ascendant mana roared in my bones. Sacrificing a chunk of my health, I empowered myself until my movement crushed the sand to fine powder.
The Drikah shot past me, missing by a few feet. The shockwave of his passing sent me flying. I flipped several times before finding the ground. I angled myself, slipping into the side of a dune. So far, so good. After another minute, the sandworm made another pass at me. Sacrificing a chunk of my health once more, I accelerated past his mad dash.
The Drikah flopped up and out of the ground once more. This time he belly flopped against the sand, detonating a titanic explosion. The shock wave passed through me, rattling my bones and destroying blood vessels. Blood spurted out of my eyes and gushed from my mouth. Even just being near the fucking thing was that dangerous.
Not letting the opportunity slip, I shot towards the monster before flying out of the sand. Like a cannonball, I collided with the monster and unleashed Volatile Carnage at my full strength. Even when I covered my ears, the thundering might of the blow left my ears ringing. The impact shot into the side of the worm, causing the flesh of it to bend.
The monster’s tough hide rippled on the surface of its skin, a heated crater forming in it. The collision ruptured through the hide at the crater’s center, just large enough for my hand to be stuck. Before jerking my hand out of its hide, I dug my armor into the monster. As I jumped away, a chunk of the monster’s flesh ripped out.
The Drikah roared, tossing its head back and forth. Killing it might not be as hard as I imagined it would be. Snapping like lightning, the Drikah whipped its head towards me. I dived into the sand and shot myself away. Before I escaped, another cataclysmic wave of force shot through me. More blood gushed from my mouth, ears, and eyes.
It wouldn’t stop me. I still had 80% of my health left, despite all the damage. My body was made of tough stuff after all. I wasn’t going to fight it head on right now though, so I evaded another of the monster’s dashes. Before it came back, I flopped out of the sand like a dolphin coming out of the water,
I shouted, “Come get me.”
Althea brandished her wings, shooting off the cliff face. Hod leapt forward, gliding on his wings. I drilled towards them, trying to reach the rock wall. I sensed things squirming near it. Thousands of smaller worms writhed there, awakened by my presence. When I focused hard, the way they awakened became clear.
The monsters were stony, solid blocks before reverting to starving grubs. That’s why I hadn’t seen or sensed them prior. They were identical to rocks when hibernating. Now fully awakened, they swarmed towards me. I wasn’t worried. I expected as much from a boss this high level. I needed to keep my head cool and my pace level. Panicking would do me no good.
Easy to think, hard to do. The earth bending sound of the worm coming did me no favors either. The sound of flapping came into focus from overhead, so I shot myself out of the sand right towards the sound. Althea passed by me, gripping her talons into my shoulders like an eagle catching its prey. Behind us, Hod landed onto the sand, facing the worms.
I shouted, “What the fuck are you doing Hod?”
Hod yelled, “Hod killing larva. Less larva, less Drikah. Less Drikah, better world.”
I facepalmed before creating a gravity vortex in front of us. It helped pull Althea and me along, blasting a tunnel of wind at us. I stepped onto telekinetic pads to help turn us around as Althea flapped her wings like a crazed crow. We turned back towards the mountain, aiming to save Hod from his own lunacy. As we approached, Hod removed his gas mask. He spread out his arms and breathed in the toxic air.
The feathers lining his body sharpened and raised off him, puffing him up. His body expanded as his breathing grew rapid. The teeth underneath his jawline elongated and sharpened. The white of his eyes flooded with black energy, along with his talons and teeth, darkening them. The air around him sucked into his chest, slowly building him from a lanky bird and into a brute.
Hod slammed his hands together. In a deep, ragged voice, Hod roared, “Hod now know where you hide, little larva.”
He breathed deep once more, holding his breath as black drool leaked from his mouth. His talons expanded, drawing in the surrounding light as he dashed into the pack of monsters. He swiped towards the first larva, missing it because he attacked too soon. At least I thought he did. His blackened talons left streaks of darkness in the air that lingered like blotches of floating ink.
As the larva jumped towards him, the black streaks stayed afloat. Whenever the larva charged into the streaks, the black marks sliced them apart. The larva offered no resistance to the technique either. The perfect cross sections of the bugs could attest to that.
With grace, Hod weaved around his own black markings, continuing his onslaught. As he sliced again, the old markings disappeared behind him and new ones appeared where he sliced. He chained these formations together, utterly destroying the larva.
Within seconds, he butchered swarm after swarm of the insects. Here I thought we would have to save him. Instead of being a complete idiot, Hod turned into a total badass. As his rampaging continued, the rumbling of the Drikah roared in our ears. Time was running out, so I shouted over the chaos,
“We need to get out of here. He’s got things handled.”
Althea yelled, “Yeah. Let’s let him do his thing.”
Hod tore two larvae apart, drinking the blood as he thundered, “Hod will eat you filthy insects, just as filthy insects eat Hod Parents.”
When we passed by him, he glanced at us then back towards the ground. Around him, a sea of gore and shredded bodies covered him and the sand. With no larva left to kill, Hod nodded in satisfaction before firing a hook into the wall of the mountain. He turned himself around, breathing out all the toxic air he had held in. His awesome, badass form melted into the thin, spindly Hod I was used to seeing.
Combine the blowback from his deformation with the hook’s pull, and he bolted towards us like a racehorse smoking crack. Just as he gained speed, the sandworm cleaved the spot he was standing at. In typical Hod fashion, he ruined the epic performance in one fell swoop.
You see, he hadn’t planned out his landing.
He slapped into the stone wall like a bird slamming into a window. Before he peeled off the wall, Hod lifted his face back and stabbed his beak into the wall. Relaxing himself, one of his arms hung by his side, broken and limp.
Sounding like he was holding his nose shut, he whimpered, “Harbinger, lady friend, please help Hod.”
Althea dived off the cliff before snatching him off the sheer face of the mountain. Once he was up with us, I ripped off a piece of my armor. After straightening it, I carved out a few runes real quick. After charging it with my mana for a few minutes, I took two more strips from my armor and walked over to Hod.
He whimpered, holding his broken arm. Tears of white poured from his circular, blank eyes. They evaporated into a fog as he turned to me, “Hod hurt Hod’s arm.”
He held it up to me, expecting something. Honestly, I don’t know what exactly. Not wanting to betray his expectations for something, I frowned,
“This is going to hurt really, really bad.”
I grabbed his arm and jerked it into place. He howled before I pressed his arm against the straightened armor I made. Using the two other strips, I tied Hod’s arm in place.
The mana ebbed into his skin and bone, healing him through the power of the runes. It would take time, but making the splint out of metal ensured he wasn’t getting rid of it anytime soon. Hod sighed in relief when the aura leaked into his arm. He turned up to me,
“Hod thought Harbinger evil for second there. Hod thankful that Hod wrong.”
I sat down, letting myself fall against the rocky ground. It cracked before I crossed my legs and leaned back. I propped myself up on my arms,
“Alright Hod. First off, that was awesome. Second, what the fuck was it exactly?”
Althea sat down on her legs, folding her wings together. Hod peered down, propping his splinted arm into his stomach. He glanced back up at me,
“Hod sorry. Hod not want Harbinger and lady friend to hate Hod, so Hod hold secrets.”
Hod peeked at the sand dunes, “Hod parents were seekers. Hod mention to throw Harbinger and lady friend off track. Hod fail.”
Althea and I looked at each other in confusion. Both our faces went blank as Hod continued,
“Hod know it hard to believe when looking at Hod…but Hod parents very deformed. Harbinger and lady friend may not believe it, but Hod’s parents even more ugly than Harbinger or lady friend.”
Althea rolled her eyes before Hod gestured at the desert, “Hod born of corruption. Hod born as part of world. Hod draw energy from air that corrupt world. Hod build himself into part monster. Hod hold it in. Hod let it out when job finished.”
He scanned the dunes, “Hod not like other seekers. Hod drink the corruption. Hod use it as strength.” He turned to me, an almost sinister tone in his voice, “Just like Harbinger.”
A tense atmosphere passed. Hod stood, turning to us both. A second later, he shrugged, “Hod think this true. Hod not know for sure.”