Chapter 290
“Can you do anything about the miasma?” Kyle called, a constant stream of Repel pushing the gas away.
“I may be able to neutralize it,” Arhades shouted back. “Even without the benefits of stealth, we should proceed with our plan. Go, and be careful.”
Kyle nodded, and charged the hodag. His mana reserves dwindled as fast as Ignition could replace them as he increased the power behind Repel. The hodag raised its staff overhead in preparation to meet Kyle’s charge, only to have a much tighter, focused blast of force slam into the knee of one of its stubby legs.
The creature was forced back a quarter step, the downward slam of the skull staff knocked just slightly off course. The horned hodag skull instead struck just to Kyle’s left, forcing him to jump as the ground around the impact site pulsed with violet energy before it began to rot.
To avoid being pushed back by the constant flow of Repel in front of him, Kyle had to activate two more blasts from his hips to maintain his forward speed. One of the early lessons he’d picked up about staff fighting was that the most dangerous place to stay was at the edge of its range, where its force and speed would be the greatest.
Unfortunately, that meant trying to stay in close against the monstrous hodag. Its face was showing a toothy grin as dozens of violet orbs appeared around it, each shooting toward Kyle in a beam of energy a moment later. With his forward momentum in the air, dodging them all wouldn’t be possible.
Identify didn’t indicate that they were particularly powerful on their own, though they had concepts at play he hadn’t seen before. Kyle made a snap judgment. Instead of using Storm Shelter to block, Kyle twisted in the air, while also expanding the force emitted by Repel. It was a move that would have been impossible for him not that long ago, but his control was reaching ever-higher as he trained.
As a result of the maneuver, the majority of the beams were dodged or disrupted, with only three managing to find strike true. One caught his right shoulder, another his left hip, and the last one struck the C.H.A.D.D. pack directly. The hodag’s grin widened as its wings spread, then flapped. The air pressure from the movement pushed Kyle back into the poisonous miasma as the hodag was lifted up and out of range of Parasitic Resonance.
Kyle took the moment to evaluate the stinging nodules of violet light that seemed to be clinging to his body. The force of the attack was weak, but Identify revealed the mechanics at play. The mana from the bolts of light stuck to him like some sort of adhesive, attempting to draw on his own mana to synthesize more of the toxins present in the miasma.
While the damage was negligible right now, Kyle had no idea how to dispel the clinging light. This thing specializes in prolonged fights, he realized, thinking about how bad a match it would have been for the other C Grade hodags. If it rained down miasma and these bolts, it was no wonder that they died so easily.
On his own, Kyle could see this battle of attrition ending poorly for him. The hodag had more resources, more powerful offensive abilities, and tools to stay away from Parasitic Resonance. With C.H.A.D.D.’s assistance, they had other tools available, but it was not a favorable fight. Unfortunately for the hodag, Kyle wasn’t alone.
In the handful of seconds since the fight began in earnest, Arhades had slipped away into the miasma. The moment the hodag too toward the sky again, the velgian moved. The sky darkened as power coalesced, and a blade of light descended toward the creature. It shrieked and twisted in response as its body began to emanate violet energy. The blade was knocked off-course, just slightly as the hodag moved. So, instead of being bisected, the monster just lost one of its wings.
It shrieked again, the sound full of pain and anger as it crashed into the ground. Before Kyle could even get into range, a wave of light washed over it, dozens of cuts opening up across its body. Endurance is definitely lower than the others, Kyle noted, pushing through the cloud of miasma until he saw the creature stagger to its feet. Oily black blood flowed from the wound on its back; the grin on its face replaced by a mask of snarling rage.
As soon as it saw Kyle, it leveled its skull staff toward him, launching a beam of violet energy in his direction. There was no question about it, this blast was dangerous. Using Repel to shift himself directly sideways, he avoided the attack, then ducked underneath as the hodag swept the staff in an arc in front of it.
From the sound of the explosion behind him, Kyle was really glad he’d decided to dodge. Tendrils of Parasitic Resonance were already reaching out toward the beast, though the moment they connected, Kyle realized the problem. This creature was, at the end of the day, a caster. Identify had given him a good hint about its relative attributes, and while it wasn’t as specialized in Willpower as some would be, it still had a lot. More than any opponent Kyle had tried connecting to before.
He felt like Parasitic Resonance slammed straight into a wall. While there was a connection, for the first time, Kyle found himself utterly outclassed. Even during his fight against the Storm years back, he was still able to do something. So this is what it’s like trying to fight a C Grade in their strength.
He sidestepped as the staff came down, the horns on the skull biting deep into the ground and injecting more of the toxic mana directly. Kyle was forced to use Repel to launch himself upward and to the side as the ground rotted, a geyser of corrupted miasma erupting from where the staff landed.
Before the hodag could follow-up, it was forced to raise its staff defensively, raising a barrier of darkness to meet beams of golden light that threatened to pierce its hide. The hodag’s skill was more than enough to defend against Arhades’ attack, and a storm of barbed fur buffeted Kyle before he could take advantage of the opening.
[WE HAVE A PROBLEM, DR. MAYHEW.]
“What is it, C.H.A.D.D.?” Kyle called back, launching another focused Repel at the knee he struck before.
[THE MIASMA CLINGING TO THE PACK IS WITHERING SEEDS I TRY TO EXPEL FROM THE PACK. UNLESS I USE THE ENERGY DIRECTLY FROM THE WORLD TREE SEED, MY AID HAS BEEN LARGELY NEUTRALIZED.]
Kyle swore. Like many of the others who had seen glimpses of the plant manipulation, Arhades had assumed that Kyle’s healing ability was tied to the concept of growth, pairing well with natural elements. Showing off the signature energy of a World Tree Seed would be opening an entirely different can of worms. However, if they weren’t careful, they might not have much choice.
The miasma flowing around the area was thickening, and despite his efforts, Kyle felt the poison slowly beginning to accumulate in his body. Arhades would have it even worse, lacking powerful tools like Adaptive Regeneration and Tenacious Vigor to resist the effects. They were on a timer, one too short for Parasitic Resonance to turn the tides.
“Get back!”
Kyle heard Arhades’ voice, and felt a huge surge of mana from deeper in the miasma. Kyle obeyed, darting out of the way as fast as he could. A massive blade of golden energy arced out toward the hodag, then a second, and finally a third. The sheer force of the mana expended was incredible, blowing away the miasmic mist as the blades of light flashed toward the hodag.
In response, violet light flashed as a swirling barrier appeared between the hodag and the attacks. The first blade was stopped, but the second broke through, only to be dispelled a moment later by a mighty swing of the bone staff. The final attack caught the bone staff squarely between the hodag’s hands. There was a moment as the blade struggled against the thick spine, and then there was an explosion of light as the bone finally gave way, taking the form of the blade with it.
The hodag was sent reeling backward, a deep cut crossing the entirety of its torso. As it screamed, however, Kyle looked at the barely standing form of Arhades. The velgian was in bad shape. His armor lost much of its luster, its energy dwindling as it constantly fought to protect him against the toxic environment. Even so, deep purple veins pulsed across Arhades’ pale skin, the effects of the miasma plain to see.
He looked at Kyle, offering a weak smile. “It appears as though I overestimated myself. What… a pity.” With that, he collapsed to the ground, sword clattering to the ground next to him as its brilliant edge seemed to dull.
Without thinking, Kyle unslung the C.H.A.D.D. pack, while also extending a tendril of Parasitic Resonance toward his injured comrade in arms. Pushing Healing Impetus through the connection, he saw the veins of miasma recede, if only a bit.
“Take him somewhere safe,” Kyle said.
[AFFIRMATIVE, DR. MAYHEW. SHALL I RETURN AFTER, OR ARE YOU PLANNING TO ESCAPE?]
“Oh, we aren’t running away,” Kyle said with a snarl. “We’re going to kill this thing.”
Kyle felt fierce affirmation through Pack Leader’s Instinct as the drone wrapped Arhades in vines and took off.
[UNDERSTOOD, DR. MAYHEW.]
A moment later, a squadron of chaddlings appeared around him, leafy blades at the ready. With the miasma dispersed, the little soldiers could finally take the field. Even though Kyle was beginning to fatigue, he was confident that the hodag was in even worse condition. It had been blanketing the whole area in toxic miasma for at least a while before he and Arhades showed themselves, and it had used even more energy through the course of the fight. Coupled with the major attacks Arhades was able to land, and there was no doubt it was in dire straits.
Still, as it threw the broken pieces of the staff aside and lowered itself to the ground, Kyle knew that he wasn’t out of the woods. Violet flames surrounded its claws as it charged on all fours, a cloud of noxious fumes billowing around it from its open maw. A chaddling that strayed too close got caught by one of the claws, and it rotted to nothing before it could even hit the ground.
Fortunately, the other chaddlings had more success. Despite the added danger of its mana-based augmentations, this hodag was downright sluggish when compared to the other C Grade variant. It also lacked the long, flexible tail that made the others such a nightmare to fight. So, even though chaddlings were defeated every few seconds, more and more cuts opened up on the hodag’s body as the fight went on.
For his part, Kyle kept up a steady bombardment with Repel against the now heavily injured knee, all the while trying to stay out of the slowly expanding cloud of miasma. The ground beneath his feet squished with every step, and Kyle knew it wouldn’t be too long before larger sinkholes began to open up as the soil itself rotted away.
He dodged two more fearsome swipes from its extended forelimbs, before he spotted a telltale glint in the sky. With a fierce smile, he locked eyes with the monstrous creature. Checkmate. He jumped back as the remaining melee chaddlings got closer, then activated Storm Shelter on all of them at the same time. The hodag had a confused look on its face as the barrier appeared, never having seen the skill get used in their fight. Then, it looked up. Right in time to see a tree falling on it from the sky.