Chapter 93: Island Turtle (2)
Our lips met high up in the sky. It was soft and surprisingly warm despite the chaotic wind whipping around us.
Down below the magic went to work.
The silver liquid mercury I had spilled hit the muddy ground and spread out like a living web. It drew a complex magic circle in a matter of seconds. The dozens of glowing butterflies fluttered down and landed exactly on the nodes of the circle.
They were tiny packets of mana. And they found their targets perfectly.
It was not one massive explosion. It was hundreds of tiny localized blasts.
Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.
The sounds echoed across the oxbow lake like a chaotic string of firecrackers at a festival. Every single tiny turtle that had swarmed the earth was hit. The localized spatial magic ruptured right on top of their shells.
Little chunks of green scales and cracked shells flew everywhere in a cloud of smoke and ash. The sheer number of those synchronized explosions created a massive shockwave. It pushed the muddy water back toward the lake and cleared the entire shoreline.
"ZEHAHAHA!" the Island Turtle roared.
The telepathic voice vibrated in my skull one last time.
"YOUR PUNY MAGIC TICKLES!"
It was laughing. It really thought my grand plan was just to blow up the small fries. It completely ignored the real threat. It was so focused on our aerial acrobatics and the tiny explosions on the ground that it missed the small projectile Nea had launched straight at its face earlier.
The Garden Gnome flew through the air like a stoic bald eagle soaring toward its prey.
His little rocky arms were tucked to his sides. His face held no emotion. He soared right past the jagged stone teeth of the Heavenly King.
He carried the glass vial I had slipped into his hands. It was the special potion Weiss had created to water our crops. The rain spell. The very same one she warned us to use sparingly because it sucked moisture straight out of the atmosphere.
The Gnome crashed hard into the back of the giant turtle’s throat.
The glass vial shattered completely upon impact.
The Island Turtle was in the middle of gathering all the water from the oxbow lake. It was pulling moisture from the very air to fire its ultimate attack. But the rain potion had a very specific rule of operation. It aggressively absorbed all surrounding moisture to create a localized rainstorm.
The massive sphere of pressurized water above the turtle suddenly destabilized.
The magic potion inside the beast’s throat sucked the mana and the water right out of the giant attack. The giant floating spheres collapsed inward.
A torrential downpour started immediately. But not in the sky above us.
It started entirely inside the Island Turtle’s mouth.
"GURGLGGH!"
The telepathic voice changed from a booming threat to a desperate drowning gargle.
The massive rainstorm flooded the turtle from the inside out. Thousands of gallons of its own magic water rapidly expanded in its throat and stomach. It had nowhere to go. The creature was choking on its own ultimate spell.
The giant beast coughed violently. Its yellow eyes rolled back into its enormous head.
The mountain of a creature began to tip over. The sheer weight of the internal flood was entirely too much for it to bear. The Island Turtle crashed heavily into the flooded earth.
The impact was deafening. It sent a tsunami of muddy water crashing through the ancient trees and wiping out the shoreline entirely.
Gravity finally caught up with us. We started to fall back down to the earth.
Nea held me tightly in her arms. She twisted her body to take the brunt of the landing. We hit the soft muddy ground and rolled through the shallow puddles left behind by the shockwave.
We finally came to a stop. I ended up lying right on top of her.
The world around us was suddenly very quiet. The deafening roar of the monster was completely gone.
Nea looked up at me. Her cheeks were completely flushed red. Her charming eyes fluttered as she tried to catch her breath. Her silver hair was covered in a bit of mud but she still looked absolutely stunning.
"You actually meant it," she whispered softly.
"I told you I was not lying anymore," I replied.
I leaned down. This time I did not wait for her to make the move. I pressed my lips against hers.
She gasped softly against my mouth but quickly melted into the kiss. Her arms wrapped tightly around my neck and pulled me closer. I ran my fingers through her silver hair. She sighed softly against my skin. It was warm and perfect. It made me completely forget about the wet mud soaking my clothes.
We shared the moment right there in the wreckage. The Witch Queen was not around to ruin it. Keith was not around to stare at us awkwardly. It was just the two of us.
Eventually we had to pull apart. We needed to breathe.
We sat up slowly and looked at the devastation around us.
The entire area was flooded with ankle deep water. The little turtles were completely gone. They were reduced to ash and cracked pieces scattered across the murky puddles.
The Heavenly King was dead silent. The giant shell looked like a fallen hill in the middle of a swamp.
"We actually beat a Heavenly King," Nea muttered in absolute disbelief.
"Of course we did," I smiled. "I am Axel. And you are the terrifying vice captain."
A loud splashing sound suddenly caught our attention.
From the gaping jaws of the fallen giant a tiny figure emerged.
The Garden Gnome walked out confidently. He was completely drenched and covered in slimy turtle saliva. But he held his tiny rocky head up high.
In his hands he held a glowing blue stone. It pulsed with a very heavy aquatic mana.
The Gnome waddled over to us through the puddles. He proudly presented the stone and shoved it right into my face.
Nea and I stood up quickly. The romantic mood was officially broken by the rock golem. We both stared at the magical gem.
"Is that a magic stone?" Nea asked. Her eyes went wide with realization. "The Gryphon did not leave one of those behind."
"The Gryphon got completely obliterated by Arlene," I pointed out. "There was nothing left to drop. This guy just choked on a potion."
I took the stone from the Gnome. It was heavy and cold to the touch. The pure elemental energy inside it was absolutely staggering.
It suddenly made perfect sense. The Four Heavenly Kings were the rulers of the forest precisely because they held these attribute stones. This was the core of their absurd magic power.
"This is a water attribute stone," I said. "Nea do you realize what this means?"
She nodded slowly.
"We can use this for the city. Weiss will not have to waste her mana making rain anymore. We have an endless water supply right here."
We hit the absolute jackpot. The Grim Palace had just solved its plumbing and agriculture issues in one single trip.
I wrapped my arm around Nea’s waist. She leaned her head comfortably against my shoulder.
"Let us go back," she smiled softly. "I think we have done enough for today."
"Wait," I said.
I noticed something very strange out of the corner of my eye.
The giant hill sized shell was trembling. But it was not just shaking in place. It was deflating.
The massive ancient scales rapidly shrank. The giant rocky legs retracted into the shell. The huge trees that had grown on its back withered away and disappeared into dust.
Within seconds the monstrous Heavenly King was no longer a mountain.
It was the size of a large dog.
A tiny pathetic looking turtle with a little island patch of moss on its green shell. An Isle turtle.
It coughed up a small puddle of water. It wobbled on its tiny legs and struggled to stand up in the thick mud. It looked at us with big sad yellow eyes. It no longer had the telepathic voice of a booming angry god. It just let out a very weak little squeak.
Without the magic stone it was just a regular magical beast. A severely weakened one at that.
I looked at the glowing blue stone in my hand. Then I looked down at the tiny shivering Isle turtle.
My lips curled up into a very wide grin.
I’ll use this guy too.