If so, it was an incredibly clever ploy on her part.
Vason jumped in, swiping with his blade. Vir hadn’t seen the warrior use any offensive Talents—it seemed like Parry, Leap, and Bulwark were his only Talents. Still, while Parry and Leap were Common, Bulwark was Uncommon. In addition, Prana Vision showed Vir that his blade was anything but ordinary. It glowed with Haymi’s support magic, and while a normal cut would’ve bounced off the elephant creature’s thick hide, his sword sliced into its legs.
The cut was superficial, and only angered the beast, which swept its enormous trunk at Vason, sending him flying like a rag doll. Vir glimpsed Earth Affinity prana fire just before he was sent flying. The man crashed heavily into a far wall before slumping down.
Without Bulwark, he’d be a dead man, even in his full plate armor. With it, Vir suspected he’d live, albeit with a few broken bones.
Vir had to disagree with Tia’s assessment. Maybe they could get the Narapazu to fall to its knees if they crippled its legs, but at what cost? They were as likely to be trampled as they were to hurt the thing.
No, he had a better plan.
In all this time, the beast hadn’t used any other attacks. It was dangerous to assume it had none, but Vir could work with what he saw. He only hoped his katar was up to the task.
Vir slipped back out of the shadow, and time returned to normal. Vason had just about recovered from his blow, but as Vir feared, the man cradled his left arm.
Losing no time, Vir Leaped into a shadow, then Leaped out, flinging a chakram at the beast’s face. Only his chakrams had the momentum to reach the Narapazu’s face—its only real vulnerability. Chakris were too small, even if he had any to utilize. The problem was, Vir only had three chakrams. He had to conserve each one.
The Narapazu predictably guarded against the flying disk, deflecting it without issue.
But its moment of distraction was all Vir needed. Leveraging his momentum, he dove in, attacking its hooves. This was Tia’s strategy, but it was merely Vir’s opener. A distraction to allow him to execute his true attack.
At the last moment, Vir flared prana out of his arm, cutting into the Narapazu’s thick hide. Unfortunately, this beast’s hide was even tougher than the Phantomblade’s. His attack failed to penetrate. Vir followed up with a swipe of his katar, but that did even less damage.
Vir clucked in irritation, Leaping away just before the Narapazu crushed him to death. Despite having avoided the attack, the tremor of its hooves nearly sent Vir tumbling.
If only the shadows were longer… Vir cursed the bright illumination of the room. The chandeliers cast their light up and down, illuminating the ceiling and the ground.
The most optimal strategy would be to attack the Narapazu’s head. There was no shortage of weak spots in that area—from its large, floppy ears to its eyes. Even its neck would be a target. But getting up there was difficult. High Jump, in conjunction with Dance’s momentum trick, might get him up that high, but to land on the beast’s shoulders? That would be tricky.
He’d hoped to rely on a ceiling shadow to drop onto the Narapazu, or barring that, to get the thing to its knees so he could run up its arms.
Could use a little help here, Shardul. Ekanai. Of course, true to their statement, his past incarnations’ voices remained silent. There would be no help from either until he entered the Ashen Realm.
It was when Vir prepared for his next attack that the tides turned.
“Haymi, look out!” Vason roared, pushing the mejai aside as she was charging another spell. Haymi went tumbling, her orbs spilling out onto the ground… and Vason went flying as the Narapazu’s tusk slammed into him.
“Vason!” Tia shrieked, activating Haste and running off to tend to him. With Haymi down and Vason out of the fight, only Vir and Neel were left to distract the beast.
Vir dove in between the giant’s legs, discharging prana in hopes to penetrate that thick hide.
But it was of no use. He needed more power.
“Param!” Haymi shrieked. The Narapazu steadily moved toward the injured party. Haymi still hadn’t collected her orbs, and Vason was unconscious.
This is bad… Grak it! What can I do? Vir thought frantically.
“Neel!” he shouted, an idea forming in his head. He clapped his hands together and pointed up.
The bandy barked, and he could only hope his friend understood his intent.
The Narapazu was only ten paces away—a single step would put it right at Tia and her group. Just as it was about to take that last step, Neel jumped up onto its thick leg, bounding his way up the monster.
The Narapazu paused, surprised to see a foreign object climbing up its body.
Neel continued up the Narapazu’s legs, deftly avoiding its arms. Up he went, to its chest, and finally, its shoulders.
“That’s my boy!” Vir roared, though he hardly had a moment to spare.
Neel wouldn’t be able to do much other than harass the Narapazu, buying them a few extra seconds. Seconds which Vir intended to put to good use.
Slowing time by entering the shadows, he extended his katar arm. His heart beat frantically and his mind was a hair’s breadth away from panicking, but he wrestled his thoughts under control. Only with a level head would he find a way out of this. Panicking would only spell Spear’s Edge’s doom.
Vir’s mind cleared as he concentrated. The emotions faded away, allowing him to devote his all to the task at hand.
The issue with his Prana Blade was that it wasn’t a blade at all—it was merely a prana discharge. It lacked anything to latch onto. Vir’s will only went so far—will augmented by a physical blade would deal far more damage.
Or so he believed. Rather than allowing his prana discharge to float away, he willed the prana to perfectly contour to his katar’s blade, wreathing the blade with prana.
His first strike failed—guiding the prana after it left his body was useless, as always.
So instead, he angled the prana before it left his body, while he still had control over it. Instead of willing it to do damage, he willed it to augment the metal on his katar blade.
And then he made the opening even smaller, forcing a tiny trickle of prana out of his body at high speed.
The prana stuck to his blade like glue, coating it in a layer of deadly magic.
Vir swiped… and felt his blade penetrate the thick hide as easily as cutting paper.
He could hardly believe it—for so long, he’d striven to unlock Prana Blade, and now, fighting a monster of the Ash, he finally had.
But when Haymi screamed, all of his elation evaporated into thin air.
From the shadows, Vir stared in horror as the Narapazu grabbed the mejai in its massive hand.
Then it squeezed, crushing her.
Haymi’s wail sent shivers down Vir’s back.
She’s going to die.
18WAY OF THE GIANT
When Haymi lost consciousness, her magic ceased powering Tia and Vason’s armor and weapons. The superhuman toughness that had allowed Vason to survive his earlier blow was now gone. The party had reverted to mere mortal strength again.
That was as true for Haymi as it was for the rest of her party. No longer protected by her armor, Vir could hear her bones creak as the Narapazu increased its pressure.
In a few short seconds, she would be dead.
Vir was in motion the instant the Narapazu grabbed her. He ran through the beast’s legs, running his Prana Blade katar across the elephant-beast’s legs.