The Heavens Shall Fall

As the Prismhide Burrower came out of the ground roaring, it was even larger than the illustrations suggested, or it may have looked like that because of how tall it was, standing on its hind legs. Watching the beast land back down on all six feet, the shockwave it sent forth was the same as the still-thrumming slip was making. Coming out of his dodge, Siu saw seven massive overlapping rows of crystalline plates covering its back and sides. Looking at it through his glasses, he could also notice how the dim light they were using had entered the plates and got fractured, reflecting the surrounding spaces in the beast's armor, even if the reflection itself was behind it. No wonder it could go invisible with enough light... A bit more, maybe one spell from Arya, and it could indeed turn itself invisible.

Luckily, the creature was, at the moment, uninterested in the people around it, as its front claws rose above the Ping Slip, going for it straight, slamming down with all its might. The second impact shook the entire chamber even more than when it appeared, and the paper tag exploded immediately, winking out of existence. Still, the beast was so angry that it bellowed and stamped again, convinced that the territorial intruder was hiding under its feet, and it kept clawing the earth. If there was a body there, cultivator or not, Siu couldn't imagine how someone could survive such a ferocious attack.

Joren knew it best, because as the beast did its thing, he grunted from the far side of the chamber. Because his reinforcements were useless against the bastard, getting broken through and now being clawed at, he felt like he was the one being punched.

“Joren?” Siu called, noticing his flinches.

“Still good!” he shouted back. “But make it stop digging!”

The Burrower struck the place where the Ping Slip was a third time by raising his body before the creature became still, staring down at the broken ground. After a few sniffs, it began stabbing it with its tusks, still searching, clearly confused... because it now realized there was no blood or flesh or scent... Or anything. Instead, there were others around it, surrounding it.

By then, Seloryn was already attacking, and her first note rang out with a loud echo. The sound she created expertly bounced back from the stone and returned from every wall, oscillating and strengthening each other, making the creature suddenly shiver, shaking its head, taking uneven steps back and forth, clearly in pain. By the time her 'music' changed tunes, the Prismhide shook its head violently, trying to close its ears without any success.

Its plates flashed the next moment, causing everyone to instinctively reach for their protective tags, but instead of exploding, it did something different. For one instant, Siu saw three beasts standing in different places, then five, as it used the low light to create illusions of itself. Could it do that? Damn... No matter, Siu thought, as he had an expert of illusions present anyway.

“Middle-left!” Arya's voice answered through their bond before he could ask. “The fat one!”

“They are all fat!”

“The angriest fat one!”

Siu moved without hesitation anyway, as his attention locked onto Seloryn's essence. This time, instead of reacting to others, he was already doing his best mentally, keeping his senses on her, and it seemed it was working. The moment the battle started, he felt locked onto her, and by the time he took his first step, his affinity had already changed into Seloryn's. With it now a recurring copy, he also felt that he managed to do it much more smoothly, and the feeling it gave him was familiar and... controlled. No longer thinking about it when reaching the real beast, Siu dropped beneath it, sliding under its belly, and he drove a vibrating strike into the joint behind the creature’s front left leg. He wanted to immobilize it.

When his fist landed, a strong pulse of bone-rattling resonance burst from his hand. The reaction was immediate: its massive leg buckled at once, and the Burrower stumbled; thanks to the modified ground, one of its hind legs landed lower than expected, furthering its stumble. Siu had just slipped out from under him on the other side when the Burrower's next step struck the raised edge of a reinforced slab, and it finally fell over.

When the beast’s immense body twisted sideways, it was the perfect moment for Ruben to thrust his umbrella forward. From beside him, from the stream, snapping tendrils flew across the ground and coiled themselves around its front ankle. He pulled just as the creature attempted to correct its footing to get back up, and thanks to it, its leg slid out from under him again.

The chamber shook as it crashed down once again, along with its angered roar. It was not a good idea, because just then one of Seloryn’s tones had entered the creature's mouth, like a bullet, further scrambling its senses, making the roaring stop abruptly.

“Behind!” Arya suddenly yelled at Siu, who was rushing to attack the creature once again.

Even as she noticed it from above, Arya’s warning came just a bit late to dodge. Without thinking, Siu activated the Blocking Tag, raising one arm with it, just as the creature's tail hit the appearing, way-too-bright, golden shield spell. The servant didn't lie; it blocked the physical attack before disappearing, but it didn't stop the force from being transmitted over, causing Siu to fly back. The landing was what actually hurt: he hit one of the pillars, causing him to roll twice and force himself up in a hurry, coughing.

“Master!” Arya yelled at him with worry.

“I'm fine,” he answered through their bond, shaking his head, and a quick inhale told him he had no broken bones. That was good enough; the pain could wait until the end of the fight.

It had to be like that, because the danger didn't pass just yet. Not when the Burrower marked him as the top-most danger and was charging directly at him. Luckily, with the others' constant interventions, it moved with no real sense of coordination. Siu easily managed to dodge and struck it again, now driving his fist into the inner side of its second front leg, with another bone-shaking resonance. Every hit Siu had made land on its body was like hitting a great gong, if the gong could cry out in pain, that is.

“Nokoh!” Siu shouted when the creature's legs buckled again, unable to keep its heavy body upright.

Nokoh came in from the side without question as black smoke emerged from his palms, already crawling along his arms. Sensing the danger, the Burrower snapped its head toward him, its tusks sweeping low as it tried to impale the arriving enemy. Nokoh simply jumped backward, finding his footing with the same momentum, rushing forward once again.

"Stop it from trashing!" He yelled in the meantime.

"Already on it!" Ruben pulled his umbrella across his body, as water surged from the channels and all that he previously sent out. Soon, a massive curtain of water splashed onto the Burrower, acting more like jelly than water, sticking to it, concentrating around its head like a self-waterboarding mask. One tusk pierced straight through it, as it tried to throw it off in a panic, gulping down water, probably even inhaling it. However, Ruben instead used it to twist and drag its head by the tusk, giving Nokoh the perfect opportunity to get close to it and hit it where it hurts... right on the neck.

At the same time, Joren clasped both hands together as the earth rose beneath one of its legs, locking it down, stopping it from standing back up. Sensing the danger, the Prismhide's plates began shining, way differently than before.

“It is preparing something!” Arya yelled, "It is going boom-boom!"

"Not on my watch!" Nokoh yelled back as his hand struck the creature right where its neck was opened and vulnerable, right where it was connected to its prism-covered hide.

His black smoke vanished at the point of contact and, like a faucet opened to its maximum, more smoke poured from his arm, right into its body and brain. In desperation, the beast managed to force its body to move and kicked directly at Nokoh. As he was flung away, there was a flash, activating his Blocking Tag in the last moment, just like Siu, landing after a few rolls, watching the creature while gasping for air.

“Did it work?” Siu asked.

"Oh yeah!" He nodded, clasping his hands together, focusing as the Prismhide’s entire body shuddered.

Its glow began flickering, brightening, then going dim, back to bright again before dimming...

"Keep blocking it!" Seloryn yelled, once again using her notes to keep confusing it, giving the Burrower the ultimate headache, causing it to fall back and roll over.

“Now!” Siu shouted through the bond.

Above them, Marly released the first knot and then launched herself, gliding across the air, her paws striking the second release. A moment later, she was already at the third, kicking off a pillar without ever folding her flaps. Like a net, the harness dropped right onto the struggling beast.

“Pull!” Arya screamed, dropping down as everyone else rushed forward, be it her, Cho'Wa, Joren, or Ruben.

Everyone seized part of the harness, tightening the loop around the now confused, exhausted, and immobilized creature. Only Nokoh stayed put, focusing on circulating his affinity, keeping the Burrower in a state of numbness. Working as a proper team, together, they dragged it sideways as the beast’s six legs became entangled, stopping it from even moving them.

“Again!” Siu shouted, climbing up on the creature, hearing the harness go taut and struggle, but... luckily it was holding, and he couldn't see any tear on them. "We have to do something about the tail!"

Ruben reversed the water around the head, sending it down to the tail just then, while Joren created clamps from the ground, locking around it and stopping it from thrashing. Finally, the beast was going still, but not limp, as it was trying to struggle but was unable to.

"Not good..." Siu hissed, seeing the growing light coming from under the beast, as it was now fully on its back. Clearly, it was still trying to 'explode.'

"On it!" Nokoh climbed onto the creature’s exposed underside and pressed both palms against it, like it was giving it a belly rub.

Once again, thick black smoke poured into its body, and the growing light began flickering, then, finally, dimming. The creature didn't have much control over the essence in its body, as it was doing everything on pure instinct. With an 'intruder' inside its blood, it was defenseless, and its essence circulation broke apart beneath Nokoh’s affinity and its relentless assault.

Finally, the light of the plates had dispersed, and no explosion came. Even the body itself went somewhat... limp. As limp as a hogtied, exploding rock-hog could be. For several breaths, nobody moved, just panted, looking at each other in the darkness and then at the captured creature, before finally Joren let out a relieved laugh.

"Don't jinx it yet!" Seloryn smiled at him with a smile of her own, still holding her flute in one hand.

"Let me be happy for once!" He argued, and even Ruben chortled, while Siu examined the captured beast, furrowing his brows and rubbing the back of his head.

"What?" Seloryn asked, noticing his serious look, tensing up as everyone else fell silent. They were listening intently, wanting to hear any weird noise, but there was only the heavy breathing of the captured Prismhide Burrower.

"How the hell..." Siu asked in the end, still looking at the massive, at least 20 meters long beast, one that was bigger than the data in Quillian's book, "How are we supposed to drag this thing back up, huh?"