Chapter 77: Kill The Damn Bird.
Damien was still slumped over Priesty’s shoulder when the soul-tearing screech shook the frozen world. He instinctively clamped his hands over his ears and tried to slide off the undead priest.
His feet touched the ice.
Damien froze.
"Huh?"
He cautiously shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
The countless fractures running through his body had disappeared without him even noticing. Somehow, his broken bones had finished healing in the middle of the fight.
Even Vincent looked surprised. Under normal circumstances, he would’ve suggested they celebrate. Unfortunately, with the Therizon towering over them, there wasn’t even enough time to offer a simple congratulations.
Damien felt completely reinvigorated. The aching heaviness that had followed him ever since his sabotage of the Eidolon army was finally gone. He looked towards Vincent.
"Vincent, go after Naomi... I’ll deal with the overweight bird."
Vincent actually laughed. Without wasting another second, he planted his cane against the ice and launched himself forward. His figure shot across the frozen landscape, covering hundreds of metres in a single leap as he disappeared in the direction Naomi had fled.
The Therizon slowly turned its head, watching Vincent leave. Oddly enough, it made no attempt to pursue him. Its icy white eyes shifted back towards Damien instead. For reasons Damien neither understood nor appreciated, the creature seemed far more interested in him.
Black miasma quietly spilled from Damien’s body.
It rolled across the frozen ground before rising into the air, spreading through the surrounding ice like a living fog until the once crystal-blue world had been swallowed by darkness. The Therizon hissed, its enormous wings twitching as it scanned the black mist, but it refused to retreat. It was powerful, the undisputed ruler of this underground territory. To a creature like this, retreat simply wasn’t an option.
It lowered its head and leaned into the darkness.
The next instant, a black arrow burst from within the miasma.
It punched cleanly through the creature’s snow-white feathers before burying itself deep beneath its hide.
The Therizon let out an enraged screech, jerking its head backwards as it instinctively retreated several steps, it quickly regained its bearing and followed the direction the arrow came from. Deep within the miasma was Damien, calmly holding a pitch-black bow, another arrow already resting against the string.
The Therizon’s pupils narrowed coldly, it screeched loudly and attacked Damien, it was enraged by the fact that a dormant being injured it and even damaged its pristine white feathers, looks was everything to the Therizon.
"Shit."
Damien cursed as he threw himself into a somersault, narrowly avoiding the Therizon’s enormous beak. It tore through the ice where he’d been standing a heartbeat earlier, the impact sending frozen shards exploding in every direction. Damien rolled back onto his feet and immediately sprinted along the thick wall of ice, refusing to give the creature another clean opportunity.
The black miasma swallowed everything around him.
Hundreds of undead gradually emerged from the darkness, each one standing motionless. The Therizon’s icy white eyes darted between them in visible confusion. It possessed overwhelming strength, but beneath that power was still the mind of a beast. It couldn’t distinguish the real Damien from the countless undead surrounding it.
That hesitation was all Damien needed.
Several black arrows suddenly burst from the miasma, using the darkness as perfect cover. One arrow after the other struck the Therizon’s body, disappearing beneath its snow-white feathers before blood splashed across the frozen ground. The creature screeched furiously, its enormous wings snapping open as the surrounding space suddenly distorted.
Then it vanished.
Damien immediately lowered his bow.
"What’s with the bloody injustice, even the bird got cooler powers than me."
Before he could react, space rippled less than twenty metres away. The Therizon reappeared almost instantly, its gigantic body materialising in midair before its wings spread to their full extent.
SKREEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee!
The soul-shattering cry erupted once again.
Damien screamed as his knees buckled beneath him. It wasn’t simply sound. It invaded his mind, wrapping around his soul like icy chains. The overwhelming sense of death returned with terrifying clarity, almost identical to the despair he’d experienced the moment he first entered the Tower.
Then the Emissary spoke to him once more.
[You’ve Been Cursed By The Therizon]
[Your Soul Is Corrupted]
Black blood slowly seeped from Damien’s eyes.
The pain itself was bearable, but the crushing certainty that death was standing right behind him refused to disappear. Damien grunted through clenched teeth and forced himself back onto his feet.
Priesty was already standing beside him with the ritual staff raised, while more than four hundred undead waited silently throughout the miasma, every one of them awaiting a single command.
Damien didn’t hesitate.
The moment he steadied himself, he pointed towards the Therizon.
"Kill the damn bird".
Hundreds of undead Eidolons roared as one and swarmed the Therizon from every direction. Their claws raked relentlessly across its body, scraping through feathers and carving countless shallow wounds into its flesh.
None of the attacks were deep enough to truly threaten it, but blood gradually stained its once pristine white plumage. The Therizon screeched furiously, thrashing its enormous body in an attempt to throw them off, yet the undead knew neither pain nor fear.
Those flung away simply climbed back onto it again, as relentless and stubborn as the man commanding them.
Damien never took his eyes off the creature. He raised his pitch-black bow and loosed arrow after arrow, each one aimed squarely at the Therizon’s head.
Every shot struck true, but every single one bounced away without leaving so much as a scratch. The feathers protecting its head were denser than the rest of its body, and beneath them, the skull seemed impossibly hard. As far as Damien could tell, that was the creature’s greatest weakness and also its strongest defence.
The Therizon slowly turned its icy white eyes towards him.
It understood exactly what Damien was trying to do.
For a mere Dormant being to repeatedly target its head instead of cowering in fear was an insult it couldn’t tolerate. The creature spread its enormous wings, and the surrounding space immediately began to distort before its colossal body vanished without warning.
Damien’s expression changed, then space rippled overhead.
The Therizon’s gigantic beak descended like a falling mountain, tearing through the air with enough force to split the ice before it had even reached the ground. The undead instinctively looked up, their empty eyes watching death rush towards them.
The frozen ground exploded.
Ancient ice collapsed beneath the impact as enormous fractures raced through the battlefield. Dozens of undead disappeared into the widening chasm before they could react, while others were crushed beneath collapsing slabs of ice.
[Your Undead Has Fallen]
[Your Undead Has Fallen]
[Your Undead Has Fallen]