Chapter 365: The Calm
As Coop absorbed the scenes surrounding Kata Tjuta, letting the profundity sink into his soul, he identified an approaching monster appearing far in the distance. A Field Boss was casting dramatically distorted shadows across the freshly illuminated landscape as it preceded a surge of Primal Constructs from beyond the horizon.
The lead individual was a large biped with an oversized crown that forced it to lean forward under its weight. It had an equally sized tail that acted mostly as a counter balance, though it terminated with a heavy club to match its crown, otherwise it would have been too unbalanced to be viable as a threat. Instead, it ended up with two obvious weapons.
Even with just a glance, Coop could recognize it as a variant of the Ancient Piercers back on Ghost Reef, though rather than spikes and a gorilla-shaped body, it was more bird-like in form with a skull prepared to hammer with blunt force. Coop anticipated that it would charge forward with its head down and leap into its frontal attacks in order to try and bludgeon him to death. If they ended up in a face-off, it would try to circle, so that both its tail and crown could be used. Coop grunted in acceptance, happy to get a little action while he waited for his turn with the Region Boss. If he avoided destroying the skull, he would be able to Scavenge more resources to take home when he was done.
The horde of enemies caused a rumble to gradually build as they stampeded toward the core of the Fallen Zone, with the sun in their faces, but Coop had detected them just as they breached the horizon. It was the largest collection of enemies he had seen in the area since the Region Boss was first challenged, but even then, it barely amounted to half a wave of the original Siege Event. These days, such numbers weren’t nearly enough to cause him to hesitate before deciding to engage, especially since they were upwards of 350 levels below his current status. The invaders were only slightly above the current standard of the assimilation.
To Coop, it seemed like the last gasp of a dying domain, but it still ranked among the largest swarms to form anywhere on the planet outside of a special event or quest. Sila Tupua and his allies were surely on the verge of victory to have generated such a reaction. Coop acknowledged their efforts as he clasped his ethereal spear and prepared to welcome the new Primal Constructs to their official retirement party.
Before the metallic invaders were within miles of their destination, Coop stepped from a veil of mists, directly in their path. He was a lone figure, silhouetted by the sun, positioning himself in front of a sea of alien invaders. They moved like the froth of a tidal wave made of dust and sand, harnessing enough power that it seemed futile to try and stop them.
The monsters climbed over one another, rushing headlong toward the call of the Omega Region Boss, with a single Field Boss slightly ahead of dozens of other equally ranked invaders. Thousands of Elite Primal Constructs trailed behind the pack of larger individuals, forming a throng of spikes and claws and jaws, appearing and disappearing as the dusty froth of debris swallowed them and others burst forth.
While they kicked up a cloud, rushing headlong into battle, Coop took his time shifting his stance and morphing his ethereal spear into a two-handed long sword. The single sharpened edge gleamed with a hint of danger as a gentle haze of mists drifted from the blade, making it seem like it had been freshly pulled out of a forge so that steam was still escaping its form. The sword was only slightly shorter than his spear, but it was almost entirely composed of a deadly edge.
At the same time, Coop formed his own domain, letting Fog of War gently caress the dawn-kissed landscape. The mists generated by Fog of War embraced the dawn light, spreading the ensnaring effect of Awakened Depths across an area wider than the army that approached. The fog bank was a pink and orange cloud that drifted along the ground immediately behind the solitary figure of resistance, mirroring the light that reflected off the sand while capturing the atmospheric glow that was tinged red by always elevating concentrations of activated mana. With Coop at its helm, his domain stood in stark opposition to the wave of dust and sand, poised to absorb the surge of enemies.
The Primal Constructs didn’t slow down, planning on trampling Coop and crashing through the fog on their way to the Fallen Zone. A single individual human, surrounded by gently flowing vapors, failed to capture the intimidation factor that might have been appropriate when facing the Unchosen Champion. They barely recognized him as an obstacle greater than a breakable stone or wild tree.
Once they collided with his stretched aura, there was a noticeable hitch in their steps, but as manifestations, they lacked the necessary impetus of self-preservation to flee. Coop wasn’t aiming to intimidate anyway. His passive presence revealed that he was fully unperturbed in spite of the enemy raid.
He took a slow breath, closing his eyes as he lifted the ethereal long sword into the ready position, feeling loose and relaxed even as the rumbling grew more and more insistent. His feet were shoulder width apart, firmly planted on the ground, feeling the subtle vibration caused by the Primal Constructs. His knees were ever so slightly bent, absorbing the movement so that the rest of him was still. His back was straight, his shoulders were at ease, and his expression was untroubled. The grip of his fingers on the hilt was so gentle, the only friction was from the weight of the blade itself.