SS [63] Only A Thousand More To Go

The screams came from every direction. They weren’t the howls of people. They were hungry and desperate cries that came from monsters starved of corrupted mana. The town smelled of the blood of dwarves, cattle and any other unfortunate soul to encounter a creature wearing skin like a macabre accessory.  

Fires had already spread and the dead piled ever higher as monsters tore into each other as frequently as they hunted people. Tanisha saw things that would give a lesser warrior pause. Monsters unlike anything she had ever seen. Beings that had crawled out of nightmares, impossibilities that reality itself should have rejected. Tanisha was no longer someone that could be shaken by the impossible. 

She was a warrior that had survived Helmforað. She had slain thousands of androids no less threatening than any of these monsters before her now. As she moved between gnashing mouths, razor sharp claws and corrupted magics that could taint the soul, she did not hesitate. She walked the tight rope between life and death like she had done hundreds of times before this moment.

This difference here was only that the person that she trusted more than anyone else was right beside her. Bjorn moved as a force of nature. His mouths were moving faster than the eye could track. They were striking, tearing and ripping, his claws caked in viscera. The acidic tang of his venom permeated the air nearly as thickly as the choking ash that had begun to fall.

Tanisha held her Angel Core staff in her hands. Rose-gold lighting was tainted black from the maya Bjorn exhaled with every breath. She could feel the deep connection to the Infernal Planes strengthen with each of her inhalations of the demonic energy. 

“Where is Ana?” Bjorn asked. “She can close the rift.”

“We didn’t bring her,” Tanisha said. “When we saw the rift I came running without thinking about her.”

Bjorn was right though. They should have turned back to get her. When Tanisha saw the rift all she could think about was getting back to Bjorn as soon as possible. What if it was the Great Serpent’s avatar? What if Bjorn was fighting for his life? So she ran without thinking.

Tanisha had all of her magics active but she was careful not to strike the building as people could be inside. She and Bjorn were distractions for dwarves to escape, not here to demolish the village before those that could be saved were.

The village had a main strip, where the king's road cut through the settlement. The central square was covered in the bodies of dwarves that stood no chance in the initial wave. Tanisha could not think about that, every second she needed to be focused on the monster in front of her, or the one just out of sight.

“Tani, right.” Bjorn said.

Tanisha turned just in time for a monster to slam into her. She raised her staff just in time to stop the monster which was a mound of writhing mouths and eyes. Electricity coursed through the creature as it came into contact with the staff. 

Electric Hand

Seiðr cost: Variable

(I) Low cost, 15 seiðr. Coat your arms and hand in electricity which can be focused into a target upon contact. Weapons wielded will also have the same effect but to a lesser degree than direct contact. (II) Hand of the Electrocutioner kill a target with Electric Hand and absorbs 30% of the target's remaining magic if they use any of the elements that make up your alloy. If the target uses an exotic energy conversion is 10% of the target's remaining mana pool. 

The monster didn’t stop even as the electricity coursed through it. Pain meant little as its vitality stitched it back together just as fast as the damage accumulated. She kicked the monster away sending it tumbling end over end. Before the creature came to a stop she had already teleported herself into its path. She spun the staff around and down onto the creature with enough force to send electrified debris into the air.

The monster was little more than charred flesh, when it was over. She felt energy return to her as Hand of the Electrocutioner siphoned the corpse of its magic. She didn’t watch the process, she had already teleported to the next monster. Orbs of water that orbited around her created wire thin whips that sliced through the weaker monsters on contact and slowed others by hitting joints. Monster vitality meant that many of them would get back up in moments. Or at least they would have if Bjorn was not there. The savagery he brought to bear on the creatures meant there was no second chance for them.

Even so, there was no stopping everything. Monsters would flood the street and the square from every angle. Tanisha felt the sting of claws against her skin, the warm blood flowed from bites she failed to dodge. Her Chain Breaker’s Mantle and mage body mean that she would not be taken out of a fight easily. However, the lack of armor was really beginning to show.

“This side is clear, we got everyone out!” Aurelius said as he appeared in a flash of speed. “We are moving to the east. Go all out.”

He wasn’t still long enough for Tanisha to get a good sight of him. However with the square clear Bjorn and Tanisha no longer had to hold back. She teleported onto Bjorn’s back as she felt the build up of magical energy behind her. As she landed a wave of Plague Fire roared free from his mouths. 

She breathed in deeply and turned to the opposite direction and exhaled a plume of Hydra Fire of her own. The necrotic flame flowed with an unsettling blackish hue as it burned not only flesh but life force. Monsters screamed in outrage more than pain as they continued their relentless assault.

“Are you ready?” Bjorn asked.

“Of course, Big Man.” Tanisha responded.

She knew exactly what he was talking about. Their fires were powerful but they were also magical. They would act like a beacon gaining the attention of even more monsters in the village. If they were going to be a distraction they were going to be the biggest distraction they could. 

It didn’t take long before she felt the sharp pain of something tearing into her shoulder. She was flung off of Bjorn and crashed into a brick wall and collapsed inside. Sticking out of her shoulder was a javelin sized bone spear. She tried to pull it out but barbs along the shaft made the pain unbearable. 

She dropped her staff which floated around her like usual. She reached behind her for her knife and cut the long end free. Her right arm hung limply to her side but at least she could move. 

She had only moments to orient herself. She was inside a temple. The space was enormous, its vaulted ceiling disappearing into the darkness above. Even this far into the countryside, dwarven craftsmanship had not diminished. 

Massive pillars carved from singular slabs of marble stood along the worship hall, each one etched with intricate patterns and runes that spoke of generations of devotion and skill. No expense had been spared. No corner had been cut. The dwarves had built this place as if their Divine herself might descend upon it.

At the center of the main worship area stood a large dais. Unlike the rest of the temple, however, it rose upward from a marble-lined pit in the center of the hall surrounded by ornate carvings. Decorative tiles covered the sides of the pit, depicting the dwarven Divine, the Deep Mother, in all her glory. 

Tanisha couldn't tell how deep the pit went nor did she have time to find out. The screams outside were getting closer. She could feel the thrum of power coursing through the bone javelin in her shoulder as the creature that impaled her drew closer.

Every movement sent another wave of pain through her body, but she forced herself upright. Her breath came heavy, her muscles screaming in protest. A sanctuary was still a battlefield if something hateful enough crossed its threshold. Lightning curled around her form as she no longer had a reason to hold back.

Without warning monsters broke into the temple. She spoke the words of power as she repositioned with teleportation further inside. She stood on the dais as Voltaic Orb formed at the tip of the blade. The orb shot forward hitting a leading monster squarely before exploding in a violent electric burst. 

The monster was nearly torn in half but that was only the start. The explosion had injured several of the beasts. Her water orbs finished what they started. The whiplike streams of water they controlled sliced through whatever remained. Still it wasn’t enough. Another teleport had her retreat further back. Then monsters started collapsing.

Faux flesh rotted from bone in grotesque heaps. She finally could use an ability that she never could while she was fighting androids underground. It was one of the abilities she had gotten from her communion with Bjorn. 

“That looks way more disgusting than I thought it would.” Tanisha said to herself.

Poison Infusion, it would layer her necrotic toxin with her magic. Every spell was an inexorable death as long as she had time for her toxin to overcome the vitality of these monsters. The problem was the monsters just never stopped coming. Her magic was limited even if she could siphon some from monsters she killed with Electric Hand. 

Another bone javelin burst through the wall beside her. She dodged to her side and the javelin scraped her belly leaving a long cut across her midsection. She didn’t know how the monster was targeting her through the stone wall but after a third javelin nearly struck her she knew it wasn’t lucky shots. She ran to the far end of the temple dodging both monsters that continued to invade the holy site and more of the bones spikes. 

Once outside again she teleported to a nearby roof to get a birds eye view of the surroundings. It was a poor decision because there was another spike flying towards her faster than she could have reacted. The projectile was intercepted by an arrow exploding midair. 

“Shit!” Tanisha said as she covered her eyes from the debris.

She moved quickly not wanting to be in the same position for long. She looked towards the direction the arrow had flown and saw Soren in the distance. He was the last thing she wanted to think about at the moment. 

Her eyes dropped below. Corpses twitched across the street. Bodies slid across broken stone toward something hidden behind the smoke. Flesh peeled away from bone as if stripped by invisible hands. Only then did she see the creature responsible. The monster that had been such a nuisance for her.

Identify

Name: N/A

Species: Crown of Teeth

+ Level: 105

Vocation: Rip

The crown of teeth was odd. It was a levitating sphere of bone and spikes. As it hovered over the dead, their bodies were pulled into an opening in the monster that was little more than a yawning maw. Whether monster, animal or dwarf, anything caught had their bodies stripped clean from the bone and spat back onto the ground. The bones fed into the monster's mass. Elongating into more spikes or javelins.

She felt the thrum of magic in her shoulder and could feel the attention of the monster turn to her. Then a spike shot forward. She dodged backward teleporting onto a nearby roof only to be tackled by a new monster. Claws already tearing into her side and chest. It bit her and she bit back harder. Her toxic saliva and blood obviously not what it was expecting. Black veins are already spreading across its form. She stabbed it with her electrified knife sending both of them over the edge of the building. 

She saw another bone spike aimed for her with no way to dodge as she fell. Another arrow intercepted. Sending explosive fragments into her and the monster but saving her life. With only one arm she didn’t have as many options for retaliation as she liked but electricity, slicing water and even Hydra Fire barely phased the creature at first. Finally the monster's regeneration started to fail somewhere between the twentieth stab and second Hydra Fire breath attack. 

She seized the monster's corpse just as another bone spike screamed toward her. The projectile punched through the carcass instead of her chest, driving both bodies backward several feet before its momentum finally died.

Her every breath carried the taste of fire. 

She realized how the crown of teeth was targeting her. The bone in her shoulder marked her somehow. This time she reached up, grabbing it and pulling it free regardless of the pain. She had a mage body she wouldn’t bleed out. This monster however, it had to die.

She began saying the words of power as she ran towards the creature. When she saw another spike forming she didn’t stop. At the last second she shifted her stance. With a jump she spun into the VritraVajra midair. She did not grab the spike, she guided it with her spin and as she landed she launched it back towards the monster. It struck with a loud crack. Bone shattered at it pierced deep into whatever strange anatomy the monster possessed. 

Tanisha teleported a moment later. Landing on top of the crown of teeth resting her hand into the open maw of the creature. She finished her words of power and Voltaic Ore charged at the end of her palm. She released the spell inside. She teleported away an instant before the creature erupted beneath her. Bone fragments and black ichor blasted across the street where she had been standing only a heartbeat earlier. 

“Alright. Only a thousand more to go.” Tanisha said to herself.

She felt the heat of fire in the distance. She and Bjorn had gotten separated, but judging by the destruction around her, with whole buildings flattened or burning, whatever he was fighting was going to need help.

She reached down to a pouch on her side for a healing potion only to realize the potions she had were all smashed. She inventoried what she was carrying inside. It was all vital elixirs thankfully. Healing, stamina, and a couple hangover pills. Nothing that would be dangerous mixed together. 

“I miss my storage items.” Tanisha muttered.

She upended the pouch into her mouth, glass and all. She spat the glass shards onto the ground. Mundane glass had little chance of piercing a mage body.  Not enough of the healing or stamina remained to fully rejuvenate her but feeling returned to her limp arm and that was enough. Bjorn was fighting and so was she.