Resembling a small mountain, the rubble sloped steeply and was filled with dangerous footholds.
It couldn’t be this simple, could it?
The Phantomblade continued firing its endless barrage as it walked. Until now, Vir had never seen an animal that could present such a ranged danger to everything around it without even concentrating on the attack.
Its tiny spikes pinged and ricocheted off every surface imaginable, forcing Vir to linger in the shadows, popping out for only the briefest instant to fire off Chakram Launch or Katar Launch when he could.
The tactic worked for only a few more moments. The Phantomblade was soon out of range of the nearest shadow, forcing Vir to Blink around the beast, just like the wolves, with Haste active.
It was an odd sight, seeing the wolves appear and disappear continuously. None of the Phantomblade’s attackers lingered for more than a breath in one location. To do so was to die.
Most would take one look at the endless torrent of spikes and shiver in their shoes.
Only the brave would dare attack the thing in that state. The brave, and the foolish. Vir remembered Cirayus’ words from weeks before—that there was a very fine line between ambition and recklessness.
I’ve definitely crossed that line now, Vir thought.
The lumbering beast climbed atop a pile of wreckage. Its rage was palpable—it hadn’t landed a single meaningful hit, and clearly wasn’t used to fighting such intelligent opponents.
For good reason. There were no intelligent opponents in the Mahādi Realm. Their minds had all been corrupted by the prana.
And so, the beast continued to climb, unaware of the trap it was being lured into.
Once again, Vir admired how seamlessly the wolves functioned as a team. As fast as Vir was, he felt like the clumsy, unwelcome addition, ruining their perfect synchrony.
Still, they worked around him, guiding the Phantomblade up to the mound’s steepest slope.
The leader yipped, and the biggest wolf of the pack darted in.
Vir fired Katar Launch one after another, distracting the beast with the other wolves, who darted in and away, swiping, biting, and howling.
The Phantomblade grew agitated, and once again, missed the wolf that bounded for it.
The wolf’s head collided with the Phantomblade’s, leaving it dazed.
Another followed right behind, doing the same.
Then a third, fourth, and finally the leader itself.
The Phantomblade lurched back.
Ordinarily, the action would simply have put more weight on its hind legs. Except, it currently stood on a slope. A steep slope.
The beast lurched back, its forelegs leaving the ground involuntarily. Panic took it, and it flailed wildly.
The wolves were relentless, Blinking at the beast, headbutting it again and again. Only their Prana Armor kept their skulls from caving under the onslaught.
The Phantomblade’s panic only made it stand higher, putting more weight on its hind legs, bringing its forelegs higher off the ground.
Its spike barrage ceased.
Almost there!
It wasn’t enough. But Vir was ready.
He Blinked up to the top of the mound, then ran, and Blinked again, though he refrained from headbutting the creature. Vir couldn’t say if he’d survive such an impact.
There was a better way.
Somersaulting midair, using Haste to guide his actions.
His legs extended… and hit the beast’s stubby head with all the force of his full momentum.
Vir wasn’t done.
Sucking prana through his heels—through the Phantomblade’s body—Vir Blinked away.
He blasted off with such tremendous force, the Phantomblade didn’t merely fall. Its heavy body whipped back, scales slamming the debris as it fell, limbs flailing uselessly.
Spikes flew in all directions. Even the big ones ricocheted off random surfaces, forcing the wolves to Blink to safety. The force of a few spikes wasn’t nearly enough to turn the turtle-like beast over.
Vir motioned for the wolves to stay back. Even flipped upside down, the Phantomblade possessed hundreds of spikes on its belly. Spikes that could impale any one of them. Vir opted to stand atop the mound and rained pranic chakrams on the beast, one after another.
The first one gouged into the Phantomblade’s Prana Armor. The second defeated it. The third tore its hide, and the fourth finally ripped it.
The Ashfire Wolves took care of the rest, clawing into the wound, gouging into it, eliciting wails of pain from the doomed beast.
Vir threw his chakram into the wound and ended its suffering.
The wolves formed up around him, and Vir could swear they regarded him with a new look. One of approval. Of respect.
“Nice work, everyone.” Vir met their gazes, breathing heavily. “Now, let’s reap our reward.”
40DEATHLY DESCENT
Useless. It’s all useless.
Vir rummaged through the rubble of the recently collapsed building, hurling aside rusted pieces of metal one after another. It had barely been a week since they collapsed, and yet, they were hardly any better than the other rubble Vir had come across. Was he wrong about the preservation inscriptions? It was as if the metal aged rapidly once the inscriptions failed. As if the deterioration of all those accumulated years manifested all at once.
If he didn’t know better, he’d have guessed these pieces of metal had been rotting away for thousands of years.
Vir found a piece with comparatively less rust and activated Blade Projection. The panel stopped the blade of prana, but Empowering his attack drove it right through.
Another failure, he thought. If he punctured it so easily, what chance would it stand against an Ash Beast? Or worse, the Yaksha Guardian? Did I just waste our time fighting off that Phantomblade?
Vir descended the mountain of rubble, giving a sidelong glance at the dead Phantomblade.
Its spikes had stopped reforming the moment it died, and its back was bare.
Vir stopped.
The… spikes? he thought. Thousands of its projectiles lay scattered about the street, though whatever process dissolved the ever-falling ash was also going to work on the spikes. Several had already been consumed by the road.
Vir found a good example and braced it with some large rocks, then drove Prana Blade into it.
It failed to penetrate. Empowering his attack fared no better.
This could work… he thought.
The spikes were pointed on one end, but unlike Maiya’s Icicle spell, they widened considerably, resembling a fat arrowhead. The odd shape made sense; the spikes were as much armor as they were deadly offensive weapons.
Each was the size of his palm—far too small to be of use—but that was alright. The Phantomblade had larger spikes, which it likely used to ward off larger, deadlier beasts. As fast as the small ones flew, Vir doubted they’d be much good against a heavily armored foe.
Vir found the spike—more of a plate—lying nearby. Jet black and almost perfectly smooth, it almost looked like crystalized Ash prana.
Whatever it was made of, it was incredibly resilient and surprisingly lightweight.
Handily, the mechanism it used to latch itself onto the Phantomblade’s back left a handhold just large enough for Vir to grip onto.
“Well, not a complete waste, I guess,” Vir muttered, hefting his new shield.