Her aura that dominates the air around me grows stronger the moment I lay eyes on her. Threatening to knock me off the wall. This is supposed to be a weakened monster? Are you kidding me?
I’m not sure what I expected Garralosh to look like. Her offspring gained limbs, heads and tails as they evolved, following a strict ‘more is more’ policy. The big momma croc does not follow that pattern. Of all of her different offspring mutations, she most resembles a titan-croc. Long reptilian body, powerful front and back legs that support her when she lays flat, and would allow her to walk when she stands. A second pair of arms below the first to help support her more heavily massed upper body.
Rather than multiple heads or the over-and-under jaws of the commanders, Garralosh simply has the one crocodile head. It’s difficult to make out the smaller details at this distance, but I think she has more than just the two eyes. I’d have to get closer to be sure. Something that’s not going to happen!
One muscular croc tail extends from the back of her body, lazily sweeping back and forth as she rests.
Long ridges extend down her back, almost long enough to be called spines, from her head all the way to the tip of her tail. They’re dark in colour and gleam like obsidian in the light. Her scales are a deep, dark green, and even at this range I get the sense they would be as thick as steel plates.
There’s nothing exceptionally remarkable about Garralosh in monster terms. So long as you discount her size.
She’s huge. It defies physical reality for a crocodile to be this large. What is this, the cretaceous period? Someone get this frickin’ dinosaur out of here! My mind boggles to even look at her. She is to a croca-beast, what a megaladon is to a gummi shark.
From nose to tip of the tail, I estimate her to be over twenty metres. She is a semi-trailer truck, in mass as well as length, since she isn’t just long, she’s built. Her neck, shoulders and body are thick with muscle. Not to mention her enormous jaws which look as if they can shatter a building with one snap. This is ridiculous! Did you pour every ounce of your evolutionary potential into getting massive? Were you a gym junkie in a previous life? Are you the monster equivalent of a steroid addict?
I’m so bewildered by the sheer size of the monster, I fail to focus on what was happening around her until Morrelia mutters something under her breath.
[What is it?] I send over our Mind Bridge.
[Who is that? What are they doing?] she asks, her mind strained with focused intent.
Who is who? Are you seeing this freakin’ crocodile?
I turn my attention back to the area occupied by the enormous crocodile and try to divert my focus away from gawking at Garralosh, to take in what’s happening in the monster’s surroundings. From this distance, it’s hard to make out the small details, but what I see is enough to throw me into confusion.
There are humanoids down there. Something tells me they aren’t human. They’re too tall and too slender, though their physique is difficult to make out, given that they’re covered in long robes with hoods. Basketball playing monks? What the heck is going on down there?
Not for the first time, I curse my poor ant eyesight. I’ve taken huge strides in improving my vision, but long-distance viewing is really biting my thorax right now.
Now that I take a clearer look, the area around Garralosh does look weird. She lies, brooding and massive, in what looks like a crude basin of some kind. The odd robed figures are positioned around her in a loose formation, each wielding a staff tipped by a glowing core.
Something about their positioning tickles my brain, and when I try to connect the vague shape in my mind, it suddenly snaps into place that they’re forming a spell matrix using their bodies as part of the construct! What the heck kind of magic are they trying to cast?
I can’t squint due to my lack of eyelids, but I still strain as hard as I can just to get a glimpse. I get a vague impression that the robed figures are drawing something up through openings in the earth below them, and it seems as if it’s draining down into the basin where Garralosh is resting.
[Are they… condensing Mana for Garralosh?]
69. Flight from Liria
The shape of the basin and the terrain around the robed figure’s feet gives the impression of liquid being brought up and running downhill to be collected. If they’re bringing a liquid up from the Dungeon, what could the liquid be but Mana? I mean, I’ve never seen liquid Mana. But unless they’re bringing up some sweet natural spring water in order to give the biggest crocodile in all the worlds a soothing bath, perhaps followed by an exfoliating scale scrub, then what does the croc need that can be found in the Dungeon?
Mana.
I know it can be condensed. I have the freakin’ Skill to do it! Perhaps I’ve never seen something like this, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
[They’re feeding Garralosh Mana! Using some sort of voodoo technique to compress the Mana in the Dungeon and letting her absorb it. That’s how she’s able to hang about on the surface.]
My minds race, connecting the dots now that I have this information.
[This is why she isn’t dead!] I exclaim to Morrelia. [She was never starving of Mana. Whoever these people are, they’ve been supporting Garralosh within the Dungeon and keeping her alive, feeding her Mana, controlling her.]
Oh snap! If these guys and gals can regulate the flow of Mana to Garralosh, then she’s dependent on them, completely at their mercy. If they decide to turn the tap off, then big momma croc has no choice but to fade slowly away as her core bleeds dry.
[This is insane,] Morrelia grinds out. [Who the hell are they?]
That is the question of the hour. We remain with our heads poked over the top of the city wall, straining to make out any details.
Just then, something new catches my eye. Movement to one side of the basin as something that had buried itself beneath the dirt rises up, shaking itself free of the loose soil. What the heck is this now? Another monster?
When the dirt finally fall away, what’s revealed is not a hideous monster or another deformed croca-beast variant, but a large lizard that appears to be draped in what I can only describe as luxurious robes and golden jewellery.
Although it’s dwarfed next to Garralosh, it’s still a hefty ten metres long from nose to tail, and not nearly as bulky. Something about the creature, perhaps its dull scale colour or wrinkly skin, seems to speak of incredible age. I get the feeling this lizard has been around the block a few times.
I can almost feel the weight of its gaze.
Wait a sec…
[Morrelia? Is that giant lizard staring at us?]
[Ka’armodo!] she hisses and jumps from the wall.
What the heck? We’re like eight metres up!
[Hurry up!] she hollers across our mental link. I watch, stunned, as she neatly rolls on landing and begins sprinting away from the city.
[I’m not up to speed here. Why are you running?] I ask as I hesitate at the top of the wall.
Then I notice something. Inside the wall, not only is the lizard looking at me, but Garralosh herself has turned to face me.
And so has every other monster.
I leap from the wall, legs flailing as I attempt to flap my way to freedom. Why the hell didn’t I give myself wings? I know I live underground 99% of the time, but still, wings!
THUD.
I smack into the ground with a dull thump, the impact sending shockwaves through my carapace. Thankfully, my sturdy exo-skeleton and its inner plating managed to absorb the force without cracking, since I don’t trust my legs to do the job. Not wanting to break any limbs at this critical juncture, I’d wisely tucked them up so my body would hit first. Repairing a broken leg would be a little awkward, to say the least.