Soulstream (Rise To Omniscience Book 10), page 45
“It’s too late,” Herald wheezed, his head drooping even further. “There’s another one.”
“What?” Ivaldi asked. “There’s another generator? Don’t tell me that deranged god has managed to trap another of your kind down here!”
Grace felt herself tense up and her pulse quicken. There couldn’t be another one, could there? They hadn’t seen anything else, so he had to be lying. Grace felt herself calm down a bit, only to go back on high alert when Herald shook his head once more.
“No. Not another…generator,” he wheezed. “Another…”
There was a loud crash from above then that got everyone’s attention. Grace’s eyes went wide as saucers as rubble rained down around them. She, like everyone else here, could now see what the chained god had been referring to. There was another one indeed.
“I think our job just got harder,” Darv muttered as the humanoid beast with red fur landed on the ground between them and their bestial allies.
How? Grace asked herself.
How could they not have seen something like this coming?
“Welcome, strangers,” the beast said, her voice sounding both aloud and in their minds. “I wasn’t expecting company, but I’m so glad you decided to come for a visit. I was getting bored just sitting around here all alone. Now, try not to die too quickly, because that would make me very angry!”
The beast’s voice grew deeper and deeper as she spoke, her body warping and twisting with each word. The crackling of broken bones and tearing muscles echoed through the open chamber as the Pinnacle King began her transformation.
72
Dealing with all of the issues Katherine had mentioned was fairly easy, especially once Morgan used his Beast Soul skill. He had to wait between uses, so the first thing he did was take out the monsters who were trying to scale the cliffs. While that was happening, he deflected any incoming attacks aimed at the base of the wall, while hurling chunks of stone to knock any of the thrown monsters out of the air before they could reach the wall.
Once the monsters there were dealt with, Morgan tore a clean path through their ranks, leading an experienced team of fighters to the dome, where they proceeded to either butcher the attackers or drive them outside the dome, where Morgan could butcher them. This was all accomplished in just a couple of hours, bringing a ceasefire to the fighting. Or at least, it should have.
It seemed that some of the commanders weren’t very happy about their plans being foiled, so they began pushing their monsters toward the wall once more, and this time in a much wilder frenzy than before.
“You don’t see that every day,” Morgan commented as the monsters began swarming over one another, trying to use the sheer number of bodies as steps to climb to the top of the wall.
Boulders began raining down from the defenders, and Morgan began to feel the rush of power as the energy flowed into him. He knew that had he tried this before he hit rank 89, it likely wouldn’t have worked. One, because the influx of power was so rapid and from so many sources that it would have overwhelmed him, and two, because he didn’t think he’d had this sort of range.
While the boulders continued to rain, the number of monsters continued to grow, the creatures climbing higher and higher up. Barrels of flaming oil began falling next, shattering against the horde and setting them ablaze. Oversized crossbows were fired downward, ripping through the enemy, but they would not be stopped.
At this rate, Morgan estimated they would reach the top of the wall in under thirty minutes. Something needed to be done, and fast.
He teleported away, appearing in a much colder spot in the North, where he could see a winged woman flying along a massive ice wall and unleashing a stream of frozen water to stick there. He shot toward her as he reached for the pendant around his neck.
“Katherine, I don’t know what’s going on, but the monsters at the wall have been whipped into some sort of frenzy. They’re sacrificing numbers in the thousands and don’t seem to be keen on giving up. We need every able-bodied fighter there now, or they’ll be over the wall before we can stop them.”
“Sarah!” he shouted as he approached.
Sarah, to her credit, turned around and saw him flying right at her. Instead of asking questions, she merely held out her hand. The moment he touched her, he teleported back to the wall.
“Holy crap!” she exclaimed, mirroring the general sentiment going around everywhere. “What the hell has gotten them so worked up?”
Morgan was about to tell her that he had no idea when he sensed something, a flash of power with his Aura Sense. He whirled just as a woman with long black hair and red lips came sailing through a crack in space.
“Loquin,” Morgan said, feeling his hands curl into fists. “Fancy meeting you here.”
He was already preparing for a fight, but Sarah held out a hand, stopping him from launching the first attack.
“Look at her, Morgan. Does she look like she’s here for a fight?”
Morgan paused, examining the woman as she slowly rose from where she’d crash-landed atop the wall. Normally, she appeared well-kept and was quite the looker. Now, though, she appeared as a shadow of her former self. Her skin was sunken and sallow, her face pale, and eyes haunted. It was almost as though someone had leeched the life right out of her.
“She’s right,” Loquin said, reaching out for the lip on the wall to steady herself. “I’m not here to fight.”
Morgan looked between her and the swarming monsters climbing the wall.
“Whatever it is, spit it out. We don’t exactly have time for idle chit-chat, in case you didn’t realize. In fact, I don’t even know why you’re here when it’s that friend of yours who’s responsible for this situation in the first place.
“Tell you what. Why don’t you go back to your pal Morgan and have him fix whatever the hell happened to you?”
“Morgan has lost his mind,” Loquin wheezed before going into a coughing fit.
That got his attention. He’d have thought that with the way he’d been acting, putting up the dome, killing all those people and everything else that had been going on, his counterpart was thinking ten steps ahead of him. These actions certainly didn’t seem like those of a madman.
“Explain,” Morgan said, crossing his arms. “You have exactly two minutes before I stop listening, so you’d best get it all out quickly.”
“He betrayed us,” Loquin said. “Locked Herald up in his own kingdom, then leeched his power into the machine generating that dome.”
Loquin began coughing again, dropping to one knee before finally being able to continue.
“That’s not all he’s done. He trapped me in a power-siphoning machine, similar to what he did to Herald, but in my case, he was funneling my divine power down into the Pinnacle King of the Central Kingdom.”
“So, that was his grand plan?” Morgan asked. “Use Herald to keep us out, and use your power to enhance the Pinnacle King? Well, now that you’ve managed to escape, I don’t think I’ll have much of a problem killing him once this dome drops.”
“That’s just it,” Loquin said, seeming to regain some of her strength. “There’s more than one.”
“Who else would the other Morgan use to power the dome if not Herald?” Morgan asked, inadvertently making the exact same mistake the other team had.
“No,” Loquin said. “There are two Pinnacle Kings. One is likely guarding Herald’s location to make sure he isn’t set free. All of these monsters you see out here? They all belong to her. You haven’t even seen what the Pinnacle King of Kings can do, especially now that he’s been enhanced.
“His monsters are perfect. They don’t look like the deformed monstrosities of the others. He is cunning, powerful, and wily. There’s a reason he was placed above the others. Compared to him, the other four are a joke.”
“I’ve fought a World Beast, gods, and other Pinnacle Kings, and I’ve come out on top every time,” Morgan said, crossing his arms. “So, he’s a bit stronger and has some divine power now. Doesn’t mean I won’t kick his ass into next week once we meet.”
Loquin shook her head.
“That’s just what I’m saying. You won’t get to meet him, at least not anytime soon. Even though I managed to escape, Morgan still has Herald. He could just use him to supply the Pinnacle King with the rest of the power he needs. I know you fought a lot of different opponents and won. But imagine trying to fight a Pinnacle King with twice the strength of the ones you’ve faced until now.
“Now, add the full might of a god on top of that and tell me that you’ll still have no problem beating him.”
Morgan opened his mouth to retort, then hesitated. When she put it that way, the Pinnacle King suddenly seemed like a much bigger threat.
“I see it’s starting to sink in,” Loquin said. “I don’t imagine whoever you sent will have much luck in defeating Oval the Enraged, not without the help of some real fighters. Once she kills them, she’ll gain even more strength, and her minions will keep advancing.
“All the while, both she and Hex, the Pinnacle King of Kings, will consolidate their strength and build their armies. The dome will remain in place, and by the time they come out to face you, you won’t have a chance in hell of bringing them down.”
“If we don’t have a chance of winning, why come here at all?” Morgan asked.
“Because that bastard turned on us after all we did for him,” Loquin hissed, the venom clear in her words. “If I can screw him over in any way, then I’ll make it my last act here on this cursed world.”
“You’re wrong, you know,” Sarah said, cutting into their conversation.
“Wrong about what?” Loquin asked, giving her a sardonic smile. “That the original Morgan has lost his mind? I don’t think so.”
“Not about that,” Sarah said. “You’re wrong to think that the Pinnacle King will take the group we sent in so easily. After all, Grace is with them.”
“Who? That child Supermage? Please. She doesn’t stand a chance,” Loquin said, brushing her off. “She might be a bit stronger than the rest, but she’ll die all the same and give Oval a nice power boost in the process.”
“She’s strong,” Morgan said, his resolve firming. “I believe that Grace has what it takes to bring this Pinnacle King down. She’s faced one before and lived to tell about it, and she’s much stronger now than she was back then. I taught her personally, which means that she is far better equipped than I was when I faced Octagon.
“Grace has some powerful allies at her side as well. By now, I’m sure the two Pinnacle beasts we sent have reached her. Along with their numbers added to Garrison Blue’s, they’ll have no issue taking the Oval down.”
Loquin began to laugh, which quickly turned into a wheeze as her cough started up again.
“Your belief in your little apprentice is amusing,” Loquin said to Morgan’s raised eyebrow. “You might have fought and killed the other Pinnacle Kings. Hell, you could probably crush these two as they stand now. As for your apprentice, I wouldn’t be too sure about that.
“You see, Oval is a bit special, even among the other Pinnacle Kings. In her base form, she puts up less fight than even the weakest among them, but once she taps into her anger and rage, she turns into an unstoppable killing machine.
“Aside from Hex, there isn’t a beast who can match her fury and viciousness in battle. Nor could they measure up to her immense power. But I’m sure your little friends will be finding that out right about now.”
“For someone who came here to warn us, you sure seem to want the enemy to win,” Sarah said.
“Truth be told, I want you all to die,” Loquin said with a shrug. “I don’t give a crap about what happens to this world, so long as I’m gone when it goes and that bastard pays for what he did to us.”
“Well, we appreciate your honesty. If that’s all, why don’t you go right ahead and fu-?”
“Young lady,” Gold said, stepping from thin air and shaking his head. “I know you’ve got a bit of a potty mouth, but that is stepping over the line.”
“Oh, great,” Sarah muttered unenthusiastically. “Look who came to join the party.”
“And what a party it will be now that I’m here!” Gold exclaimed, beaming so widely that one might have thought that they weren’t standing on a wall with about a hundred thousand slavering monsters climbing up to rip them limb from limb.
In other words, it was Gold acting as he always did.
73
“Ivaldi,” Darv snapped, reacting before any of the others could even think to begin panicking. “You keep working on getting that thing deactivated. If we can shut it off, we can get the real heavy-hitters in here to take care of this monster for us. Everyone else, form up. We’re about to have the fight of our lives on our hands.
“Our mission is a simple one. Keep the Pinnacle King off the dwarf at all costs, even if it ends up costing you your life. Is that understood?”
There was a chorus of ‘yes sir’ as the soldiers of Garrison Blue fell into formation, putting themselves between the dwarf and the Pinnacle King, who had now tripled in size and looked far more intimidating than Grace remembered Pentagon to be.
Unlike the others here, she had faced a Pinnacle King before and knew just how very dangerous they were. The Pinnacle King was supposed to be in the capital. It was too bad Grace couldn’t will the monster to just go away.
The others began to spread out, drawing weapons and preparing for the fight of their lives. The transformation didn’t take long, as the once humanoid canine now appeared more like a hulking bear than anything else.
Her fur was now a much darker shade, appearing almost purple. The beast’s sclera had turned black, making its red eyes stand out quite prominently. Her muzzle had shortened, pulling back to reveal a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. Her body resembled that of a human woman in shape no more, appearing more like an overly muscled man obsessed with bulking up.
There was so much muscle that Grace had to wonder if this beast would even be able to move, let alone put up a good fight, but she knew from bitter experience not to underestimate a Pinnacle King. Although this beast looked almost uniformly like a single type instead of a mix, she didn’t have a pair of wings.
Massive wings with golden feathers spread from her shoulders. Her tail had lengthened as well, appearing a bit less shaggy and more like a third arm than anything else.
Grace had her Aura Sense active and shuddered internally at the amount of power she could feel radiating off this beast. She was able to get the creature’s basic information, seeing as she was higher-ranked, but she’d have been a total idiot to think that that would give her an edge. This beast was at the Pinnacle of power, meaning that someone twenty ranks higher would have a hard time fighting her.
Name: Oval the Enraged, Pinnacle King of Flames
Rank - 50
Ability Type - Super/Mage
Grace remembered that while these creatures did have the abilities of Supermages, they weren’t actually ranked as Supermages. They would have a finite amount of reiki, and once they ran out, would need to make more. Not that that would really help them in this situation.
Oval took a good look around at the group huddled before her. Her eyes swept across both the humans and beasts as though deciding who she should be killing first. The decision was taken away from her when one of the bears charged, rapidly growing in size as it did.
“Wait!” Grace yelled as the beast suddenly towered above Oval, swiping at her with an oversized paw.
The warning came too late. Oval’s lips pulled up in a grim approximation of a smile as she lunged. A closed fist met the bear’s paw. The poor beast hadn’t stood a chance. The crackling of bone was audible, even above the bear’s roar of pain. It didn’t last long, as Oval slipped inside the bear’s reach, her other hand snapping out.
Her fist burst into flames just before impact. It was both horrifying and fascinating to watch as the closed fist punched clean through the bear’s face. Bone shattered and melted as the overly muscular arm emerged on the other side. The bear slumped, head going up in flames as Oval stood there, a wide grin on her bestial face.
She maintained the pose as the fire spread across the rest of the bear’s body, finally ripping her fist free by jerking upward, straight through the remainder of the skull. The body crashed to the ground, flames quickly engulfing the rest of it. Oval turned to the rest of the group, her chest heaving in excitement.
“That was excellent,” she said, her body practically shuddering in pleasure. “I haven’t been able to hit anything that hard in millennia! Who’s next?”
She looked around as though expecting someone to volunteer. When no one did, she seemed to grow annoyed.
“Come on, don’t anyone be shy now,” she said, turning in a slow circle.
As soon as she had her back to Garrison Blue, Darv signaled the attack. It wasn’t going to be a one-on-one by the beast’s terms. They were going to attack it all at once, and in a way that it couldn’t get to them.
Grace extended both arms, clenching her fists and unleashing a wave of sound. It slammed into the beast’s back, along with a half-dozen other attacks. Oval was tossed clean off her feet and sent careening into the far wall, where it promptly collapsed with a muffled boom. Dust exploded up into the air, only to be pulled away just as quickly by the earth Mages so that they wouldn’t lose sight of the beast.
“I don’t know how you normally fight,” Darv called to the beasts. “But there are no one-on-ones when taking on a monster like this one! We attack as a group and watch each other’s backs. That is the only way we make it out of this alive.”
“That was a dirty trick!”
The wall exploded as the Pinnacle King tore herself free. She was no longer smiling, her body radiating an almost-blinding violet aura. Her muscles, if anything, seemed to have grown larger since she smashed into the wall with veins now clearly visible, even through the fur.
