The timer ran out and Vir was ejected from the shadow realm, but he wasn’t worried.
He now had a means to defeat this monster, and he was going to exploit it.
The best part? There wasn’t even a need to place himself in danger to do so. He sunk back into the shadow realm, and this time extended his left arm, gouging the Phantomblade’s belly three times before the prana in his arm ran out.
Luckily, he had two more limbs. He extended his left leg, kicking the Phantomblade’s belly as he lanced out with his prana discharge.
With his leg being far larger than his arms, the discharge was proportionally larger, skewering deep into the Ash Beast.
He got six strikes from his left leg, and another six from his right.
By the time he exited the shadow realm, the Phantomblade lay in a pool of its own inky black blood. The light from its eyes winked out.
“Yeesssss!” Vir roared, pumping his fists.
Arooo! Neel echoed, as the Ash Beast breathed its final breath.
Vir looked upon the corpse and saw only silvers and Brotherhood karma. Refilling his body with prana from the ground, he etched his mark into the beast’s hide, claiming it as his own.
“Let’s go see what else this place has in store for us,” he said, cracking his neck.
Then an enormous roar filled the entire ruin. Vir froze in his tracks, filled with fear.
The confidence Vir had just mustered snuffed out like a candle against a hurricane.
Whatever that was… it scared him nearly as much as the Prana Swarm.
17NARAPAZU
Apart of Vir’s mind told him to run. To flee with all haste. To get as far away from the thing that emitted that bloodcurdling roar as possible.
But another part spurred him on. He ran neither for glory nor Brotherhood karma. He ran because he’d heard another cry—a human cry—and one that sounded awfully familiar.
With Neel in his arms, Vir Leaped through the incredibly tall and wide Imperium hallways, all illuminated by crystal chandeliers that hung from the ceiling, burning with blue-white fire. Chandeliers that had stayed lit for millennia, fueled by prana.
When he saw the enormously long hall before him, he despaired. The distance would cost him several precious seconds. Resolving himself, he stepped into the hall.
Except the ground he stepped on was no mere stone. The moment he entered, the ground shone bright white. Blazing to life, the plate jerked upward, hovering a pace off the ground and nearly throwing Vir off-balance.
Then it shot forth at several times Vir’s prior speed, whisking him across the long hallway with incredible speed. Unwittingly, he’d stepped onto a lift—one that moved sideways instead of up and down. And one that ran off pure prana, rather than men hauling ropes.
The beast roared again, and this time, the sound was much closer. Braced for it, Vir resisted the impulse to freeze up.
Where have I heard that sound before?
It was familiar, yet Vir couldn’t place it. Until he jumped off the moving platform and rounded the final bend.
At first, he couldn’t quite place what he was seeing. Two thick tree trunks stood before him. The sight was highly unusual, seeing as he was in a passage of stone—there wasn’t a single tree around.
Then he looked up… and up. Those weren’t trunks at all, but the rather enormously thick legs of a colossal bipedal beast.
A beast that stood forty paces in height, nearly touching the vast ceiling. When Vir saw its head, he understood why its roar had felt familiar—its head was that of an elephant’s.
An enormous, oversized elephant. Twin ivory tusks ten paces long jutted from its massive trunk, which came nearly to the floor.
That head was attached to a very human-like body, except its legs were that of an elephant’s. Four giant, burly arms were each as thick as tree trunks. A three-fingered hand gripped an oversized ax and the other a noose. The lower two arms remained free to pummel the tiny peons it fought.
Prana Vision showed an immense amount of Ash prana coursing through the beast. And no weaknesses he could exploit. At least, nothing he could get to—its neck and head were far out of reach.
“Param!” Tia shouted, spear and Ember orb in hand, fighting side by side with Vason. Haymi stood several paces back, charging her next spell. All looked haggard and pale.
How… How did they get here? Why were they fighting this beast alone instead of retreating? A dozen questions sped through Vir’s mind, but this was not the time.
Vir scooped Neel up and Leaped over to Tia.
“What’s the situation?” he asked.
“Thank Vera, you’re here!” Tia shouted, rolling out of the way of the beast’s hoof swipe. “We could really use your help.”
She fired off an Ember spell, but the magic merely dissipated against the beast’s leathery gray hide.
“What is that thing?” Vir shouted back, Leaping to avoid the creature’s enormous elephant trunk. Not only was the trunk a danger, but its tusks reached nearly as low. A blow from that—even a glancing one—would be fatal.
Only Neel was safe. His low stature protected him from most of the beast’s attacks.
“A Narapazu! Param, listen. The only way to take it down is—gah!” Tia screamed, activating Haste to barely avoid a tusk. “Is to attack its legs! If we can bring it down, we can kill it.”
Things were happening too quickly for Vir to process it all. His perspective on the ground was extremely limited, and devising a strategy while dodging for his life turned out to be incredibly difficult.
Vir drew a deep breath and sank into the shadow realm. Tia’s eyes bulged, but hiding his powers now would only get them all killed.
Instead of stopping time completely, Vir extended both arms fully out, allowing events to proceed at a fraction of their normal speed. In this way, Vir could stay an entire minute inside the shadows if he chose to.
He saw Tia’s face, her mouth agape at Vir’s disappearing act. Vason and Haymi were too occupied with the beast to have noticed.
Fundamentally, Vir lacked information about this new enemy. What were its powers? What were its weaknesses? All he had was a name: Narapazu. It wasn’t one that had appeared in Daha’s bestiary book, but this creature was clearly in a league of its own compared to the beasts he’d encountered. Attempting to fight such a foe without prior knowledge was suicide. Luckily, Dance of the Shadow Demon allowed him to gain that exact knowledge.
The first thing he noticed was how the Narapazu struggled with its size. The hallway, while tall, wasn’t nearly wide enough to allow the creature to freely wield its ax. It was likely why Spear’s Edge was still alive.
That, and it didn’t appear too bright. Or rather, it behaved as if addled, unable to concentrate on a single task. It would strike with its ax, only for its arm to graze the stone, making it cry in pain. It’d then stomp around, attempting to squash Tia’s party, before trying again with its ax—seemingly forgetting its prior failure just moments before.
Unfortunately, that didn’t make the beast any less lethal.
Vir watched as Haymi fired off a C Grade Water Dart, which splashed harmlessly upon the beast’s face.
That was a waste of an orb, Vir thought, until she fired a C Grade Arc spell right after it. The lightning collided in the same spot the water had. This one did have an effect.
The beast jolted and squeezed its head with its two free hands.
Is that why it’s behaving like that? Because Haymi keeps shocking it?