Chapter 333
“The shrikes are going to what?” D’Oillelat asked through the chat function of Kyle’s nav bracelet as he crossed the plains toward the forest surrounding the capital city.
“They’re going to join in the assault,” Kyle said matter-of-factly. “They won’t directly attack any of Pall’Eth’s people to avoid any friendly fire, but they’ll be helpful clearing out any blockades, and will keep you protected from any stranglevines left in the trees above.”
“And you can just tell them to do that?” D’Oillelat pressed, bewilderment clear in her voice.
“Not exactly,” Kyle said, suppressing a smile. “I didn’t give them orders last time, either. But they’ve got a pretty good sense of what’s going on, and they’ll be helpful to you. It’d be way too dangerous to take them with me to fight the Scourge, and they want to help.”
“Why do they want to help?” D’Oillelat pressed.
Why do you want to help? Kyle thought toward the shrike alpha, who had fallen in behind him alongside several other alphas.
Told to follow you. You are here to hunt. We want to hunt, too. Want to help. Part of the pack.
“They’re a part of the pack,” Kyle said, his heart oddly warmed by the sentiment. If D’Oillelat was serious about making somewhere for him to stay on Er’Mithren, he just might take her up on it. The shrikes clearly enjoyed having him around, and wanted to support him, even without any direct influence from him. And, if they helped keep things stable while D’OIllelat consolidated power, all the better.
By now, a handful of alphas and their packs had fallen in behind him, and a question crossed Kyle’s mind. Have you just been waiting out here this whole time? He asked, focusing at the brightly colored alpha.
Not waiting. New territory, more hunting. Prey leaves forest. We catch it.
Kyle nodded as a mental image of large birds and other game appeared, which the alpha and other shrikes hunted. I guess the Scourge is driving a lot of the prey animals out, Kyle mused. If it was creeping closer to the forest floor, that would make sense. What animal wouldn’t try to leave the territory if a smothering cloud of stranglevines loomed above?
As they neared the outskirts of the forest, Kyle sent another message. Stay here, and be careful. You’ll know when I started fighting the Scourge, join the others when they attack.
Need help? The alpha offered, cocking its head.
I’ll be okay, Kyle promised, giving C.H.A.D.D. a quick mental nudge.
The drone activated the pack’s propulsion system, lifting Kyle into the air as vines lashed the pack more tightly around Kyle’s body. Taking a deep breath, Kyle did his best to keep his mana suppressed, not even assisting with Repel as C.H.A.D.D. flew them into the air. The element of surprise was crucial to the Resistance’s chances against the fortified city, and the longer he fought against the Scourge, the more risks the attacking forces would face.
So, during the trip back to Er’Mithren, Kyle and C.H.A.D.D. worked on a plan to deliver a decisive opening strike; one that would set the stage for their success. Phaegos was of no help during that discussion, as the Parasitic Devourer simply wanted to absorb all the mana it could from the ancient C Grade, entirely disregarding the tactical components. Kyle found it amusing that, despite the subtle nature of Phaegos’ power, the entity was so simplistic in its view of the world. Then and again, if I thought I had the riftwyrm’s power, maybe I’d be more confident, too.
All in all, the plan was a simple one. For all its power, the Scourge was still a very limited creature. Its time was spent creeping along the upper layers of the forest’s canopy, leaving pods in its wake to catch unsuspecting prey, then reabsorbing them as its main mass came back around again. It didn’t have many of the tools that Kyle saw among other C Grades, with its primary advantages coming in terms of sheer mass and overwhelming Vitality. So, Kyle and C.H.A.D.D. just needed to find some solutions to exploit those factors.
The first and easiest aspect of the plan to form was the angle of attack. Kyle experienced firsthand the smothering force the Scourge could bring to bear as it crashed down on its prey, but that also meant it had a large weakness. It had no solutions to reach skyward. This was why C.H.A.D.D. was silently flying above the treetops. A thin lattice of stonebloom vines wrapped around them as they approached the forest, their mana-rejection properties trying to help shroud them even more.
From their vantage, Kyle looked out at the forest to find his prey. The unmistakable landmarks of the massive lake and towering tree helped him orient, and just moments later, he spotted the unmistakable dark mass shifting beneath the canopy. It was moving faster than Kyle had ever seen it before; clearly agitated by Pall’Eth’s efforts. As he watched it move, he felt Phaegos’ excitement; and even C.H.A.D.D. was giving off a tenor of anticipation through Pack Leader’s Instinct. They slowed their approach, but stayed high up, and were soon directly overhead. If the Scourge noticed them, it didn’t react.
Are you ready C.H.A.D.D.? Kyle asked, feeling a phantom itch in his left shoulder.
[I AM, DR. MAYHEW.]
With that, Kyle focused his attention on the World Tree Seed, withdrawing one of his special projects. At the same time, he felt the twisted knot of wood he’d fused with shift and open where his shoulder had been, while C.H.A.D.D. pushed out a series of vines to stabilize the prosthetic as it snapped into place. The shoulder and upper arm, the humerus, were similar to his right arm, though made entirely of wood. From his elbow down, only a massive gray pod was visible, and the weight of the construct started slowly dropping them toward the ground, despite C.H.A.D.D.’s propulsion.
The pod was designed by careful use of Infuse on a specially-grown razorpine seed, which C.H.A.D.D. then grafted a condensed wooden spear into, with the usual wrappings of sundew leaves for good measure. Kyle also used Infuse with the concept of Immutability on the wooden spear, and pushed as much of his mana as he safely could into the sundew leaves for maximum impact. The upper part of the arm was designed to absorb the shock of the attack, though this was their first time testing this type of prosthetic. Model: Cannon was making its debut.
Lining up his shot, Kyle activated Repel at the same time he mentally triggered the razorpine pod to explode. The wood of his upper arm splintered as the explosion rang out; he and C.H.A.D.D. sent tumbling by the massive recoil of the shot. Stabilizing himself with a use of Repel across his body, he looked down toward the forest below as a second, louder explosion rang out, a cloud of smoke rising from a hole in the canopy, just a bit left of center of the Scourge.
An entirely inhuman cry rose from the damaged creature, a warbling note that Kyle felt as much as heard. Reabsorbing the remains of the prosthetic, Kyle activated Genesis Engine, then activated Repel, diving straight into the gap left by the attack.
As expected, the Scourge’s body was already trying to knit itself together, moving quickly to absorb as much of its biomass as possible to recover from the grievous injury. That was where the sundew’s acid came into play. The entire area of the forest had been coated with it in the explosion, and the smaller pieces that the Scourge left to feed were simply melted away, unable to stand up to the acid enhanced by C Grade mana.
Still, the Scourge wasn’t out of the fight yet. Thousands of dark vines shot toward Kyle, trying to swat him out of the sky as he approached. Unlike when he’d first escaped the plant monster, these were the vines at the core of the Scourge’s existence, not the weakest stranglevines left behind. Each possessed huge amounts of force and precision, and Kyle was unable to evade them all. Every time he was struck, the vines tried to grasp him, and every time they were rebuffed by a controlled use of Repel, keeping them from getting a tighter grip.
Finally, as he carved toward the center, he activated Parasitic Resonance. When he first got the skill, he struggled to handle more than a dozen or so tendrils from the skill. Now, hundreds erupted from around him. Kyle felt Phaegos’ hunger, and allowed it to consume its fill. All around him the stranglevines withered and fell as he felt a massive influx of mana, some going to the World Tree Seed, and the rest flowing directly into his Center.
Seeming to realize that its tactics weren’t working, the Scourge tried another desperate attack, hurling its entire mass at him in an attempt to smother him under sheer volume. The strategy caught Kyle by surprise, and he activated Storm Shelter, infused with Heart of Creation. Trees around them groaned and snapped under the concentration of weight, and they fell deeper into the forest as more and more of the Scourge’s mass tried to smother him.
However, compared to the massive metal settlements on Kertan Six, the Scourge simply didn’t have sufficient size and weight. All the while, Parasitic Resonance was greedily devouring the creature, destroying it nearly as quickly as it could push its mass toward him.
Their fall came to a stop as a web of trees collapsed against each other, bracing against the mounting weight of the Scourge. By now, another problem emerged. Even though Phaegos was consuming energy from the C Grade and withering its stranglevine pods, the dead remains were being pressed in, limiting Kyle’s access to fresh stranglevines to consume, and threatening to press in on him when the Heart of Creation empowered Storm Shelter ran out of time.
“C.H.A.D.D., we need the-“
[ALREADY ON IT, DR. MAYHEW.]
Vines began to reach out toward the stump on his left shoulder, as Kyle focused on bringing out another prosthetic, one inspired by his first visit to Er’Mithren. This arm, also carved of wood, had myriad leaves jutting out like blades, each infused with the conceptual sharpness found in the native plants from the canyonlands on the other side of Er’Mithren. The vines C.H.A.D.D. drew out of the seed reached out, pulling back on the reverse-joint of the curved implement as the leafy blades began to glow brightly. Model: Shrike was ready for deployment.
The moment Storm Shelter destabilized, Kyle twisted his hips as the vines let go, a crescent wave of energy ripping out as the leaves were shot out in a vertical arc. The encroaching darkness of the Scourge’s body was split in two as Kyle leapt into the gap, blasting Repel on either side to further widen the curve. Daylight broke through as he ascended, emerging above the Scourge once again. A quick glance at his left shoulder revealed that this prosthetic was damaged, too, though not as badly as Model: Cannon. He drew it back into the World Tree Seed, and surveyed his work.
The Scourge was now in two distinct parts, desperately trying to merge back together as trails of gray, withered pods were left behind. It’s stubborn, Kyle thought, feeling the incredible surge of mana within him, courtesy of Parasitic Resonance. Despite everything he’d done, the monstrous creature still held on. The acid from his initial attack had been largely neutralized, and he took a moment to consider his next plan of attack, even as more dark vines whipped up at him from the writhing mass.
Then, they did something altogether unexpected. Each of the surviving halves quivered for a moment, then most of their dark coloration turned gray and fell to the forest floor below. What remained were two pitch-black bundles that looked like tar, resting on a tree branch. Synaptic Barbs warned him of an attack, and it was only thanks to Reflexive Evasion that he managed to tilt his head out of the way of a dark spear in time. The blobs flowed toward him as one, each attack at a level that required his attention.
Kyle felt a fierce grin crossing his face. It had been too long since he had a good fight.