What the heck is this!
Dozens of monsters, hundreds even, are charging with mouths gaping and claws rending the air. They aren’t fighting each other at all… this is weird! Gandalf? Any advice!
Dammit, you beardy-faced pile of senility!
[Tiny! This is going to get rough! Go all out!]
Why the hell didn’t I get a Gravity Bomb ready?
I see all sorts of monsters mixed into the onrushing horde. Shadowy monsters, Imps, pigs and even some of the mobile plant types are in the mix. I just can’t understand why they’re all cooperating.
And the formless pressure is still building. Pressing down on us like an unseen hand.
No time to hesitate, let’s do this!
Experience the power of my ant soul!
Gravity Spear! Gravity Bolt! Gravity Bolt!
All three spells are launched simultaneously, streaking through the air like glittering purple arrows. The monsters have no capacity to dodge, as packed together as they are. The leading shadow beast is speared directly through the chest and the creatures around him are instantly wrapped within the expanding circles as the spell activates.
The second the pull is applied, over ten monsters are dragged toward the target. Not expecting the sudden force, they’re thrown off their feet and stumble, only to be smashed into the ground by the pounding feet of the creatures behind them. Other monsters trip and fall, only to meet the same fate. Crushed under the heels and claws of their brethren.
[You have defeated…]
[You have defeated…]
No time for that!
The two Gravity Bolts smack into another two monsters and drag them down. These are also crushed. With five or six monsters dead, the size of the coming monster wave hasn’t even diminished.
Going to need to bring out the big guns!
I spin up the backup singers and task them with preparing the much more complex Gravity Domain. With the two of them working in tandem, they should be able to handle it. I don’t want to chip in with the main mind right now, I need my wits about me.
Tiny is getting increasingly riled up, electricity crackling all over his frame, stinging the air with frequent flashes of light. In the face of the onrushing monsters, he doesn’t flinch, but rather smashes his chest with his mighty fists and roars! His powerful bellows and shrieks are so loud, they even rise above the cacophony of the beasts coming at us.
And he doesn’t stop there. Having issued his challenge, the ape charges in, smashing the tunnel floor with his knuckles as he picks up speed. He’s not content to wait. He’s going to take the fight to the enemy!
Dammit, Tiny!
[“We’re going in with him, hold on!”]
Dash!
I spring forward, hurtling ourselves to the onrushing horde. As I get closer, the thousands of teeth and claws grow larger in my sight until there’s nothing else. This is madness! What is happening here is sheer madness.
How’s that Domain coming?
Still not ready?
CRASH!
Like a cannonball, Tiny smashes into the front ranks of the wave, fists flying. Monsters are catapulted into the air and bashed into the walls. He continues to propel himself, bellowing his challenge.
Tiny is quickly surrounded, the monsters latching onto him with claws, mouths, tentacles and whatever else they have available, lashing the ape again and again.
Oh no you don’t!
SHATTERING BITE!
CRUNCH!
Pouring out my stamina into the bite, I manifest jaws of light over two metres long and rip them closed. The Savage Mandibles display their ferocity, tearing my enemies apart and crushing them in the same breath.
The horde of monsters is endless. Is this the true Wave? I feel like I’m battling the tide!
Shattering Bite! Shattering Bite! Shattering Bite! Shattering Bite!
I lash out relentlessly, but as quickly as I crush them, they’re instantly replaced by more. Tiny doesn’t seem to care. He keeps pushing deeper, sending waves of monsters flying with every lashing of his fists. The electricity on him is still building! It’s started flashing out and lighting up the monsters around him like Christmas trees, and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to stop there.
73. Dire Lightning Storm Kong
Electricity rippling across his body, Tiny’s fists flash out, devastating his opponents. None can stand up to his blows. That doesn’t shock me much. We’re talking about a ten-foot-tall gorilla monster here. If I’d seen a gorilla on Earth that was ten feet tall, I’d have browned my downstairs department. Physical strength is something he has in spades.
What’s really impressive is the lightning strikes flashing from his body without him having to think about it. Blasting any creatures who draw too close. Problem is, they have no choice but to get too close since they’re a mindless mass of monsters pushing forward no matter what.
We’re still taking damage, he and I. It only took a few seconds of following Tiny’s charge for the two of us to be completely surrounded, buried amongst the monsters. They lash at us from all sides, battering me with their limbs, trying to bite through my tough carapace and raising sparks between their teeth and my shell. I’m losing HP here!
Thankfully my defence is holding up pretty well, but Tiny is suffering. He doesn’t have a nice handy outer skeleton and his fur is only a slight protection. His physical stats are likely inordinately slanted toward Might as opposed to Toughness. As the claws and teeth of our foes rain down on him, he’s continuously taking damage.
Not that he slows down any…
Is that Domain ready yet!
My two sub-brains have been frantically working together to weave the far more complex spell but it’s still not done. Unwilling to wait any longer, I focus with my main mind and ignore the rain of blows that fall on me the moment I grow still. With every ounce of my mental strength applied to the task, the spell rapidly takes form, layer after layer of complexity added to the construct until it’s finally complete.
Not hesitating in the slightest, I open the sluice gates and pour in the Gravitational Mana like it’s going out of fashion. Get! This! Spell! Done!
There!
The instant it’s ready I unleash the Domain and the glittering purple dome of energy rapidly expands outward. Encompassing the entire width of the tunnel, the spell expands ten metres out in all directions.
THROOM!
The massive gravitational pull kicks in and the monsters around me are immediately affected.
[Tiny!] I shout.
The ape turns back toward me. These monsters are made of sterner stuff and won’t collapse to the ground just because of the Domain, but their ability to move and contest us has easily halved. The shadow beasts are probably holding up better than the rest. Their strange elastic flesh is far stronger than it appears.
But now we can manage.
“KEEEEEEEEE!”
Tiny opens his mouth wide and unleashes his ultimate bat scream, the Ultrasonic Wave! The ear shattering sound is even stronger than before, piercing straight through my antennae and stabbing into my brain.
That stings!
I manage to resist the stunning effect thanks to my over-tuned Will, but most of the monsters aren’t so lucky. Those caught inside the Domain have it the worst, hit by double debilitating effects. Those on the outside don’t look so good either.
[Get ’em!]
The two of us start flailing about madly, Tiny with his fists and me with my jaws. I use Shattering Bite over and over again until my face aches and exhaustion creeps in. Tiny’s endlessly lashing out with his fists. And even now, the monsters keep coming! They’re walking straight into the Domain and don’t seem to care. What is driving these creatures?