Rise of the Devourer

Bun Bun didn’t wait for their visitors to arrive, but shot out into the twisted greenery in excited bounds with a very un-rabbit like shriek.

Aurelia had her sword out in a blink, fire gathering around her in a shimmer of heated air.

Abyssal Awareness picked out six of their adversaries right away, vaguely canine forms whose spines were ridged with sharp-edged protrusions that drew in mana like gravity wells. The others were far enough away that it took a moment for his perception to catch up, but within seconds fourteen of the beasts were charging straight at them.

The thick groundcover masked the sound of their movements and their mana surrounded them in an illusory haze that made pinning them down difficult. Thankfully, Truth Sight cut through their protections and left them exposed to Noah’s eyes the moment they bounded into view.

Their white fur glinted like spun glass, refracting rainbows even before the illusion haze around them blurred their forms further. The row of crystals down their backs resembled stegosaurus plates, only made of blade-edged mirrors that flashed sunlight and illusory light in all directions in a blinding display.

[Shardback Shimmerwolf (Rare) - lvl 457]

[Shardback Shimmerwolf (Rare) - lvl 422]

[Shardback Shimmerwolf (Rare) - lvl 419]

[Shardback Shimmerwolf (Rare) - lvl 460]

“If this is the welcoming committee, I’m not sure I want to see what the main event is,” Noah muttered. These were supposed to be the easy monsters, before they even got to the Valley proper, and they were still close to the top of B-Rank? Still, even if the numbers felt overwhelming, everything within him yearned to rise to the occasion. Prove himself the superior predator, the rightful overlord.

He tested at the mana in the air, which was stable apart from the siphon drawing it down toward the shimmerwolves, and popped out several Arcane Spectres to assist him. Each additional Noah came with its own copy of a weapon from his Runeforged Armaments—all but one, who cheekily spun the Spear of Crimson End.

“What?” he asked when he saw Noah looking. “You weren’t using it.”

Noah shrugged and shook his head. With a flick of his arms, his own Chains of Binding appeared in his hands, and he joined the other five Noahs in charging the shimmerwolves.

“Dibs on the Alpha!” shouted his spear-wielding spectre, to which the others all booed.

A simultaneous flicker, and they all Arcane Stepped to a spot just above where the lead wolves would be a moment later. He appeared fifty feet past his target, stumbling into a patch of thorned vegetation that immediately tried to wrap around his legs.

"Son of a—"

The alpha wolf erupted into the open. Light gathered in the crown of crystals sprouting from its skull.

[Shardback Shimmerwolf Alpha (Rare) - lvl 499]

Noah threw an arm over his eyes on instinct, but the flash still seared through his eyelids. White-hot brilliance filled his vision, wiping away everything else. Noah heard the sharp crack of shattering crystal, the yelp of wounded animals, the thud of bodies hitting the ground. He still knew everything happening around him through Abyssal Awareness, but the lack of accompanying visuals was disconcerting.

“We need to practice fighting blind,” his nearest copy noted, and Noah nodded in agreement. While he had everything he needed to do so, he almost had too much to do so effectively. Vision helped focus and concentrate the information he was constantly receiving; without that as an anchor it became harder to orient himself amid the flood of sensations.

Two of his copies bounced off their wolves, the weapons insufficient to pierce their opponents’ glassy fur.

He caught a flash of fire out of the corner of his eye as Aurelia rocketed into the fray, but he was far too occupied to be distracted by how elegantly she fought right now. The heat washed over him, intense enough to make him flinch even with his resistance.

“And we should spend some time upgrading our resistances,” another copy called over from much nearer Aurelia’s location.

His vision began to clear. Shapes resolved from the white blur. Two of his copies were down, but they had taken one of the wolves with them.

One down.

Aurelia had four distracted as she ran a hit-and-run retreat, bursting forward to slash at them with her flaming chain-blade before retreating before they could grab her.

That left four still fighting Noah’s other copies, while the alpha hung back, its crown crystals already beginning to pulse again as it prepared another flash.

“No you don’t…”

Noah concentrated on applying Predator’s Mark. A notification flickered at the edge of his awareness as the mark took hold:

[Predator’s Mark] applied to [Shardback Shimmerwolf Alpha]

The effect was immediate. The alpha's head swung toward Noah, amber gemstone eyes narrowing as it detected his interference. Since it was higher level than him, nothing happened apart from him being able to track its actions more closely, but it sure did get its attention.

“We need to practice not being a dragon,” his spear-wielding copy called over with a laugh, as he transformed mid-strike. “But now isn’t the time to be playing around.”

Noah had to admit, the transformation was striking. He hadn’t quite realized how huge his draconic wings were until now, seeing it from the outside. And his tail was awesome. Even without Tony’s augmentations, the frill down its spine made him look like some abyssal deep-sea drake, while the deep blue stormlit wings seemed to glow with inner light.

“Let’s try this again!” The copy threw itself forward in a dive, then teleported midway to appear directly in front of the Alpha. All its forward momentum was maintained as gravity pulled downward, turning the leap into a flawless skewering attack that met the shimmerwolf head on.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

A brilliant flare of light as its crystal crown shattered under the strike, then it had its teeth in his copy and bit down. The mana siphoning mirrors sticking up from its back flared and flashed. The energy within the Spectre drained away in an instant. Noah’s spear fell to the ground, its wielder nothing more than motes of energy quickly sucked into the Alpha Shimmerwolf’s back.

“Fine, time to stop playing around.” Noah activated his own draconic transformation, and his two remaining copies followed suit. “Back, let them come to us.”

They teleported away in near-perfect unison, clearing space for the wolves to build up momentum again.

He glanced over to where a patch of the tangled vines seemed to be on fire, but the dense flames and resultant smoke from burning damp greenery obscured any sight of what might be happening. He had to trust Aurelia could handle herself.

“Let’s go.”

He and his spectres ran to meet the charging shimmerwolves, three dragonoids in flawless sync. He may be unaccustomed to his new strength in human form, but his dragon form had no difficulty in balancing everything at once.

Noah’s chains wrapped around the forelegs of the wolf on the far right, which tripped it up and sent it toppling tail over snout with a very undignified yelp. The chains twisted around the rest of its body, then anchored themselves to the ground and glowed with piercing blue symbols.

The monster growled and threw itself to one side, then the other, trying to break free, but it couldn’t get up the momentum or leverage to escape. It was one of the weaker shimmerwolves, barely level 400, but the Chains of Binding seemed to be a hard counter to its mana-drain plates. Even in that brief moment, he saw the flow of power reverse as the chains intercepted and drained the energy from the air around them and the wolf alike. Its struggles only weakened, and as long as he left the chains to do their work, that one wouldn’t be a threat.

Two down.

The Alpha launched itself at him, slowed but still dangerous. Crystal spines along its back caught the light, creating disorienting rainbows that made it hard to track the creature's exact position. Its jaws gaped, revealing crystal shards in place of teeth.

Noah teleported over to his fallen spear, snatched it up, then was back in the Alpha’s path before it had time to register his absence. He anchored the spear against the ground just in time to meet its charge. The blade tore deep into the creature’s chest as Noah threw himself upward with a mighty beat of his draconic wings just as it snapped down on where it expected him to be.

The Shimmerwolf Alpha stumbled, its momentum carrying it through the space where Noah had been standing, spear embedded deep into its chest.

Spear of Crimson End has inflicted [Crimson Rot-IV] on [Shardback Shimmerwolf Alpha]

Spear of Crimson End has applied [Bleed-III] to [Shardback Shimmerwolf Alpha]

You’ve applied [Wyrm’s Curse] to [Shardback Shimmerwolf Alpha]

Crimson veins spread out across the Alpha’s chest, darkness twisting through its glassy fur like corrosion. It snarled and bit down on the spear, yanked it out, and threw it to the side, but it was far too late.

[Bleed-III] has increased to [Bleed-IV]

Noah soared higher, out of reach as the infuriated monster leaped and snapped at him, but at this point all he needed to do was survive and watch it bleed out.

Wyrm’s Curse fed its energy back to him in a steady trickle, replenishing the mana he’d expended in rapid succession with his multiple spectres and teleporting.

Speaking of spectres…

He swooped lower to get a better view of the battlefield. Three wolves remained on Aurelia’s side, doing a good job of keeping up with her, but she didn’t even look winded yet.

“Want some help?” Noah shouted down to her.

She glanced up at him, then back at the three monsters in close pursuit. “I wouldn’t be opposed, if you have nothing better to do.”

Noah grinned. “I’m at your disposal, Ma’am.” He ran one forefinger’s claw across his other palm, then fed both the energy he was draining from the two dying shimmerwolves and his own into the welling blood.

Bloodwyrm Swarm manifested in moments, a steady stream of snakelike draconids forming in his hand. Each took one moment to bump his hand in acknowledgement, then dove down at one of the shimmerwolves with a vengeance. They slithered between clusters of fur and ridged back plates, then bit down into the shimmerwolves’ unprotected flesh.

He immediately felt the power drain shoot up as each shimmerwolf’s own absorption power fought against Noah’s manifestation strength, and since they were much higher level than him they had a lot more raw power to throw around. But where he lacked in power, he made up for it in versatility and rarity.

[Bloodwyrm Swarm] has inflicted [Haemorrhage] (x17).

[Bloodwyrm Swarm] has inflicted [Malaise] (x22).

[Bloodwyrm Swarm] has inflicted [Wyrm’s Curse] (x31).

Dozens of notifications stacked up, pinging in a steady stream as his handful of Bloodwyrms turned into hundreds. In this, his B-Rank transformation was nothing but a benefit. The power flooding through him made each manifestation easier than the last, until he couldn’t even see a single patch of shimmerwolf fur any color but red.

The shimmerwolves yelped and clawed at themselves, trying to free themselves of the parasitic swarm, but whatever ordinary ability they had to absorb mana was insufficient to defeat the synergy of Noah’s cosmic draconic bloodline and his legendary path abilities. Every time they managed to absorb some of his Bloodwyrms, he already had a dozen more on the way to take their place.

“Too easy,” he gloated, swooping down over Aurelia as his swarm turned her pursuit into a rout.

You’ve killed [Shardback Shimmerwolf (Rare) - lvl 441]

You’ve killed [Shardback Shimmerwolf (Rare) - lvl 422]

You’ve killed [Shardback Shimmerwolf (Rare) - lvl 419]

You’ve killed [Shardback Shimmerwolf (Rare) - lvl 411]

Wyrmblood Guardian has reached level 323.

Runebody Arcanist has reached level 316.

Abyssal Predator has reached level 313.

Aurelia laughed, breathing hard. “Does seem like it should have been harder, doesn’t it?”

“Just goes to show, levels aren’t everything.” He folded his wings and alighted beside her. "You alright?"

Her fires died down and she nodded. "I’m fine.” A cut on her cheek was already closing, her regeneration handling the minor wound, more likely inflicted by the local plantlife than any of the wolves. “Nice timing on the intercept, I’d have run out of mana in another minute. I may make it look easy, but those things can eat a lot of damage."

“Any time.”

“Another twenty like that, and I’ll be at B-Rank in no time.”

“Guess Zax was really underestimating us.” Noah let his dragon transformation end, returning to his human form.

Then they stood there, catching their breath, adrenaline still buzzing through their systems, grinning like lunatics.

Noah became suddenly aware of how close they were standing, barely a foot apart, both still in combat stance, both still running hot from the fight.

Aurelia had ash in her hair and something dark streaked across her jaw. Her eyes were bright, alive, present in a way that made his chest tight.

He reached up without thinking, his thumb brushing the smudge away.

She went still.

"You had—" he started.

"I know," she said, but she didn't pull away.

A corpse slammed into his legs and the moment shattered.

Bun Bun stood proudly atop the Shimmerback Wolf he'd dragged across the battlefield, his crimson eyes gleaming with satisfaction. I killed this one myself. It was larger than the others. Acknowledge my victory.

Aurelia stepped back, her expression cycling through several emotions too fast for Noah to track. "Good job, Bun Bun."

Yes. It was.

Noah stared at his familiar, caught between the urge to laugh and the urge to commit murder. "Your timing is impeccable."

Bun Bun's ears twitchedin smug satisfaction.