The Biter’s friend had no time to react. Vir’s Prana Bladed, Empowered katar drove into its skull.
No amount of Prana Armor could hope to stop a strike with so much force behind it. The armor failed. Its skull caved. Vir didn’t stop.
Using the momentum from his strike, Vir sunk into his own shadow, lashing his katar at the hapless Raptors who’d been watching the show. The spectators turned into mincemeat, destroyed by a strike they had no hope of avoiding.
After all, what creature could dodge its own shadow?
Ten down. Only about ninety more to go.
Vir didn’t dare consider taking them all. He’d fought too many battles to know his initiative wouldn’t last. Even his most successful raids ground to a halt when the stronger beasts engaged. His advantage was his explosive mobility, and his ability to escape from sticky situations.
Luckily, the skies weren’t as cloudy today, allowing Dance of the Shadow Demon to function as it should.
Most of Cirayus’ recent tips focused on how to make his battles more fluid. Rather than a series of individual attacks, Vir picked his targets such that he could flow between them, as he’d just done.
It kept him moving, which kept him safe, and it made it harder for his enemies to react.
Still, he hadn’t progressed to where he could take on a hundred foes in one fluid motion. His body couldn’t sustain the exertion that long, and even if it could, he lacked the skill to pull it off.
So when the Phantomblade Alpha squared off against him, he knew his run was over. A beast in the Balar 200 range, he’d fought a similar one in the depths beneath Avi.
No, it was best not to draw that comparison. That Phantomblade had launched its deadly back spikes one at a time. The Phantomblades of the Ashen Realm weren’t nearly as kind. A barrage of vicious spikes blasted Vir, kicking up a trail of ash in its wake.
Anticipating the strike, Vir Leaped aside, pummeling into a nearby pack of Ash Wolves who clearly hadn’t expected an attack. This, too, was the result of Cirayus’ coaching. Predictability was a weakness, and defensive movements that didn’t also hurt the enemy were wasted opportunities.
Vir’s katar slammed into an Ash Wolf’s ribs, breaking its natural Prana Armor and sending it tumbling end over end into the Ash. Of all the beasts he’d fought, Ash Wolves still gave him the most trouble.
They were neither the strongest nor the fastest of foes, but their intelligence more than made up for it. The deeper he ventured, the greater their intellect grew. As did their suicidal tactics. They acted logically and tactically, yes, but there was a certain madness driving it. That went for all the Ash Beasts, and it only multiplied their lethality.
Because the only thing scarier than a mythological beast was a mythological beast with nothing to lose.
A great shadow eclipsed Vir as two of the wolf’s brethren pounced in a coordinated attack.
He had neither the time nor the skills to deal with them both individually, so he sunk into the shadows.
Not a moment too soon. His fight was over. The lords of this area had arrived.
The Shrike made themselves known by the field of death that lay in the wake of their attack. Balar 400 to 800 avian beasts that enjoyed dive-bombing their prey at speeds that defied imagination, with their razor-bladed beaks, they could pierce any armor, and there was never only one.
Adding to their terror, the acid they dispersed could melt even steel. Vir had seen enough hordes decimated by just a few of those things to know he stood no chance. He had no intention of joining the tragedy that was about to unfold.
Choosing the farthest exit, Vir emerged from the shadows, then Leaped the instant he was out. He jumped a hundred paces and barely cleared the battlefield before the mayhem began.
The acid dropped like rain, sending sizzling steam soaring to the sky where it hit ash, and deathly screams where it touched flesh.
None were spared. Not the Phantomblade, nor the Raptors, nor even the Ash Wolves who’d had the good sense to flee. If the acid didn’t get them, the Raptors’ beaks did. Beasts that weighed a thousand pounds were tossed sky-high, their own weight killing them when they crashed back to the ground.
“You made it!” Cirayus said with all four of his arms crossed.
“Don’t you think we oughta put some distance between us and those Shrikes?” Vir kept both his eyes on the terrifying beasts as they toyed with their prey. Four hundred paces was nothing for them; they could’ve closed the gap in the blink of an eye.
Normally, Cirayus was the one with an abundance of caution, so his behavior struck Vir as off.
“They won’t bother us,” the giant replied. “Not here.”
“Why? What’s here?”
Cirayus pointed up at a sheer vertical cliff that soared hundreds of paces into the sky.
“Our training ground.”
“These cliffs?”
“Aye. They sure look like that, don’t they?”
Cirayus casually placed a hand on the side of the cliff face. “What was that silly scale humans use? The one that attempts to assign a number to one’s power?”
“The Balar Scale?”
“Ah yes, that’s the one. I’m curious. What did it rank a Mahakurma as?”
Mahakurma? Vir thought. The name sounded familiar, though he couldn’t recall exactly why.
“Ah, you might know it by another name. The Colossus.”
“Is that the name of a mountain?” Vir asked.
“Nay. A beast. One that will be our home for the foreseeable future.”
“Beast?”
“Aye. It is, without a doubt, the Emperor of the Ash. The largest Ash Beast, and some say the most powerful.”
Vir fell to his knees. All traces of hope and excitement left him as long-forgotten numbers materialized in his head.
Mahakurma. Balar Rank: 30,000. Threat leveclass="underline" Cataclysmic.
“This is absurd, Cirayus. Why are we—!”
A deep rumble rang the earth. Softly at first, then crescendoing until Vir had to plug his ears. When he thought it couldn’t possibly grow louder, the ground began to shift. Quaking.
“What’s happening?” he shouted.
“Rejoice, lad! We’re about to witness a rare event! I’ve only ever seen the Colossus move once in my life!” Cirayus roared back, barely audible above the din.
The mountain in front of them began to lift off the ground. Dirt and rock tumbled off its sides, smashing the ground where they stood.
It was as if Adinat himself had picked up a mountain and was moving it.
“Well, lad? What are you waiting for? Climb!” Cirayus yelled, jumping and grabbing onto the rapidly rising mountain.
Vir stood a moment longer in a stupor, gaping at what might have been the most surreal sight of his life.
A mountain is moving…
Crouching for a High Jump, he prayed to the gods. To Janak, to Adinat, to Yuma, and even to Badrak.
I’m sorry, Maiya. I won’t be able to keep my promise, because I’m going to die today.
15PERILOUS ASCENT
This was a horrible idea, Vir thought as he soared into the air, waiting for that tiny sliver of an instant where his speed slowed enough to let him grab onto the soaring rock cliff that comprised the Colossus’ flank. That was, of course, only if he got lucky.
If he wasn’t, well, it was a long fall back to the ground. Light Step might save him, but he was more worried about the falling boulders. Nowhere was safe, not as long as flora continued dislodging itself from the great beast’s back.