Soulstream (Rise To Omniscience Book 10), page 48
Both of his Generals were comparable to fighters ranked in the low 60s, putting them a cut well above the rest. With his two Generals in place, there was only a single rank of fighter who Hex had yet to find, though in truth, finding a goblin Champion by this point wasn’t likely. In fact, Hex had never been able to find a human suitable enough to handle that sort of power.
He had thought he’d found someone once, but the human had popped at the massive influx of power, leaving Hex to take the safe route when creating his Generals.
“I want you to gather my forces and begin preparations for an attack,” Hex ordered.
“You wish to leave the dome and attack the outside world?” Rogo asked, sounding surprised.
“No,” Hex said. “I suspect that the dome might be coming down sooner than expected. Those pesky humans are persistent.”
“Do you believe Oval will fall?” Rogo asked, now sounding even more surprised.
“Not to the humans who’ve managed to sneak in here,” Hex replied. “But where they lack strength, they may have cunning. The ability to deactivate the dome does not require that they defeat Oval, merely that they distract her for long enough to do so.
“If I were in their place, that would be exactly my plan. Keep her occupied, then drop the dome, thereby giving my most powerful ally the ability to come to my aid. With the Beast King free to act as he wishes, it would only be a matter of time before Oval meets her end.”
“Should I call for her to retreat?” Rogo asked. “Ask her to come to the city and await the invasion here?”
“She’s too far gone,” Hex said, sounding regretful. “Were she in a calmer state, reasoning with her wouldn’t be too difficult. However, in her current state, you would be lucky to even get a single word from her. Leave her as she is. Perhaps she’ll be fortunate and regain enough of herself to realize what is happening. But we cannot count on that. I want you to gather our forces to prepare for an invasion. I refuse to allow the humans to simply march in here and take what is rightfully mine.”
Rogo stood, giving Hex a salute before turning on his heel and marching from the room.
Hex relaxed back onto the slab, taking deep breaths. It was taxing to communicate in this way, especially in his current state, and although he’d have loved to think Oval would triumph, he was too smart to just blindly believe she would prevail.
He looked up to the ceiling of his cavern then and tried reaching out to the god once more, though this time, he decided to be more provocative. Perhaps he’d been too kind with his words before to elicit a response.
“Divine One, if you really are divine,” Hex began. “You seem to have given up. Whatever is the matter? Have you simply run out of power to give? Is that the extent of your will?”
There was a pause then, making Hex wonder if he were going to be getting an answer at all. Then, just when he thought he might need to call out again, the answer finally came.
“Who do you think you are to question my will?”
The voice boomed in Hex’s mind, and had the beast had the ability, he would have cringed. As it was though, he was bound to a stone slab that limited movement and was stuck full of metal spikes. Plus, he’d gotten what he wanted – the god’s attention.
“Why has the flow of power stopped then?” he asked, trying to keep the conversation going now that he had the god’s attention.
Once, he might not have dared, but now that the god had committed to feeding him power, he was confident enough in his position that he wouldn’t be killed for his impudence.
“I was betrayed,” the voice came back. “Double crossed by one I thought I could trust. But not to worry. One divine being might have escaped, but they forgot one, very important thing. I am a divine being as well!”
Hex’s back arched as a sudden influx of power slammed into him, rushing through the spikes and into his body. This was nothing like the earlier trickle. It felt as though someone were trying to stuff him full of the energy as quickly as possible, regardless of the actual consequences.
It might have been punishment for questioning the god’s ability or commitment, but regardless of why, Hex had gotten what he wanted.
The power rushing into him began to suffuse his core once more, blending with the reiki that had already been gathered. The increased speed might have caused a severe amount of pain, but it would accomplish something else as well. He would be free of this slab far sooner now. All he had to do was endure the pain for just a bit longer.
Though it was hard to concentrate on anything other than his own pain, Hex could still feel a vague awareness of Oval’s battle. He felt the massive power of one of her Ultimate Skills release, and several lights, indicating living humans, went out. But not all of them were gone.
The last thing Hex felt before he was forced to retreat into his own mind was the surviving fighters closing in on the recovering Oval. Then, the world around him seemed to fold in on itself, collapsing into a whirlpool of color and divine retribution.
77
“I don’t know why you had items like these in your pack,” Grace said as she and Ivaldi sprinted across the glowing ground, “but good work being this overprepared.”
“A good dwarf is always prepared,” Ivaldi answered, running alongside her.
Their feet sank nearly an inch into the soft, glowing stone, but neither of them felt even a twinge of discomfort, as the metal boots Ivaldi had provided filtered out the heat, keeping their feet safe.
Additionally, they both had a small circular device strapped to their chests. Grace had no clue how it functioned, but it continuously released a stream of cold air in a bubble around her, keeping the heat from reaching her skin.
“You ready for this?” Ivaldi asked as they drew closer to the trembling beast.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Grace replied, her voice growing serious.
The idea of attacking a Pinnacle King on her own was not one she relished. But the image of Darv and Garrison Blue standing their ground against the beast was still fresh in her mind. She hadn’t exactly been best friends with the man, but they had grown to be quite friendly over their time spent together.
Grace felt that she’d already lost enough people in her life, and then Darv had had to go and do something as stupid as stand in the way of the Pinnacle King’s Ultimate Skill. She felt anger and sadness in equal measure, but right now, there was no time to mourn. She could do so later – that was, if they were still alive later.
“Off you go then,” Ivaldi said, clapping her on her lower back. “And best of luck to you.”
Grace grunted her reply, then tapped into her Soundwave skill, sending small soundwaves from the backs of her feet, center of her back, and shoulder blades at the same time. She used her Body Shaper skill to lighten herself, and within seconds, she was approaching the beast at terrifying speeds.
The beast was still recovering and hadn’t regained any of her earlier size, which meant Grace was free to attack with impunity. Taking a deep breath, she reached for her newest extra skill, Stampede. The RP cost was steep but worth it, and the air around her vibrated. Large disks of sound appeared, looking sort of like portals in shape, but with far more distortion.
Then, the creatures started emerging. When Grace imagined what her constructed projections might look like, only a single beast came to mind –the one she was most familiar with, who’d made the largest impact on her life. They had made her feel loved and cared for in a world that had been cruel to her her entire life.
A silvery drake, roughly twenty feet long, burst from the first disk, streaking across the ground and heading right for the Pinnacle King. The construct’s body shimmered and rippled, the air around it visibly warping and humming. This was likely due to the construct being made of concentrated soundwaves, and Grace couldn’t wait to see what happened when the attack hit.
Oval turned her head as the sound-drake approached, her eyes widening the moment before the creature slammed into her. The drake exploded into a dome of rippling sound as soon as it impacted, sending the massive beast staggering back. Oval screamed, clapping oversized hands to her ears as blood sprayed from between her fingers.
The second, then third construct slammed into her, all coming from different sides, and more blood followed as the beast collapsed to her knees. Blood leaked from the corners of her eyes, mouth, nose, and open wounds. While the damage wasn’t as visible on the surface, Grace knew that the inside of the beast’s body would be a different story.
Grace finally reached the beast as a fourth drake slammed into Oval, sending more blood spraying from her ears. It seemed that using a skill as powerful as she had had really put stress on her body. Oval fell to one knee as the fifth and sixth drakes slammed into her, exploding into domes of damaging sound and finally doing some visible outward damage.
One of the bones in her left arm snapped with an audible crack, causing the beast to howl in pain, but Grace wasn’t just going to allow the constructs to do all of the damage. She used her Partial Transformation and Expand Blows. Her legs transformed, giving her an extra couple of inches of height, while adding the jumping power of the Boil-Frog she’d absorbed.
She leaped into the air, her fist quintupling in size. Then, as the seventh construct hit the beast, Grace punched. Her fist, powered by her skill and all the might she could muster, slammed into the side of the beast’s head with a crack.
Finally, the beast toppled with Grace coming down on top of her, her fists flashing out in a series of powerful blows. The beast’s head was pounded into the softened ground, Grace’s attacks driving it deeper and deeper. She leaped back, her powerful legs carrying her away with incredible speed as Oval swiped at her.
The Pinnacle King seemed to be coming back to herself, but Grace’s constructs weren’t going to let her up that easily. Numbers eight, nine, and ten slammed into the beast at the same time, and more snapping sounds echoed in the dark air as the Pinnacle King roared.
Grace threw a sidelong look to the generator, just in time to see Ivaldi crouch down and climb back into the opening in its side. She silently cursed the dwarf’s short stature and his inability to move faster.
It was only then that she realized that she’d been fighting against the beast for a grand total of about thirty seconds. She landed just as the final two silver drakes attacked Oval, causing more blood to spill from her wounds, but no more broken bones. Though Grace had initially been unimpressed by Stampede, the skill had definitely won her over after that display.
The problem with using such a costly skill though, was that it severely drained her RP. She had a choice now. She could use her Echo skill and use it again, or conserve it just in case it was really needed to get her and Ivaldi out of here in a hurry. In the end, she hesitated too long, giving the Pinnacle King the time to climb back to her feet.
“Weakling!” Oval roared, her body starting to glow violet once more. “I will not be so easily bested.”
“Bring it on,” Grace said, raising her arms. “But from where I’m standing, you don’t look so tough.”
It was true. Oval’s body was covered in wounds – wounds that were not healing. Blood poured from dozens of cuts, as well as from her ears, eyes, nose, and mouth, where Grace’s attack had damaged her. On top of that, she sported more than a few broken bones. If anything, she’d say that her chances of beating this monster on her own were looking pretty good.
“My body may be damaged, but my spirit remains untouched,” Oval bellowed as her entire body began emitting steam.
Her eyes suddenly shifted, from a glowing red to a solid black, and her body began to shrink. The beast rapidly deflated right before Grace’s eyes, dropping to a mere eight feet. Which, considering that at her largest, Oval had stood nearly forty feet tall, was actually tiny in comparison.
People never seemed to realize the sheer scale of a forty-foot-tall monster. It was like trying to fight a literal building, only one that hit back.
Still, judging by the intense glow surrounding the beast, Grace could see what was coming next and prepared herself accordingly. Her skin suddenly turned rugged as tough scales cloaked her arms and chest. A long, sinuous tail grew from her back, and a pair of half-formed wings extended from her shoulders.
A pair of catlike amber eyes replaced her own, highlighting the area in stark contrast. Her face grew heavier as plates of bone extended from her cheeks and forehead, mimicking the armor of the Bone Crawler whose energy she’d absorbed. Tapping into all eight of her stored cores at once was not an easy feat, nor was it cheap. But if she were to fight solo against a Pinnacle King, Grace needed every advantage she could get.
With her speed, grace, strength, and mobility greatly enhanced, Grace waited, allowing her RP to recover as the Pinnacle King’s fur began to stand on end. Muscles bulged across her body, the cracking of bone sounding once more.
None of the wounds closed and none of the bones Grace had broken healed, but as the beast’s transformation completed, she could feel a very distinct difference with her Aura Sense. This form was far more dangerous than the massive one had been. Mainly because it compounded and compressed all of that explosive force down into this smaller form, giving her far more power.
The big form was good for fighting groups or on a large scale. This one would excel at one-on-one combat. Worse, the beast wasn’t only using a new form.
“Berserker’s Judgment!” Oval roared.
Her claws lengthened, taking on a reddish hue. Long blades extended from her elbows, while smaller ones grew from her knees. Her shoulders bulged so much that Grace had to wonder how the beast would even be able to move. But move she did.
Oval exploded forward with such tremendous force that the ground beneath her cracked and splintered. The beast was on top of her before Grace could so much as blink, and the battle was once again started.
Grace dodged back, desperately throwing her arms up, while projecting blasts of sound from her chest to give her that little bit of extra movement. It wasn’t nearly enough as the beast’s crushing power slammed into her.
Grace felt her ribs groan under the force of the fist, the breath exiting her lungs in a whoosh as she was launched into the air. She tumbled as she flew upward, but managed to gain her bearings enough to straighten out and face the beast as it came after her.
She crossed her arms as the next blow came, the crushing force driving her further up into the air as pain flared at the point of impact. Still, Grace remained conscious and whole, shockingly enough. She’d expected to cave at the first punch and Grace was pleasantly surprised to realize that she wasn’t the helpless girl she’d been the last time she’d come up against a Pinnacle King.
Even with that in mind, the two blows she’d taken so far were enough to convince her of one thing. There was no way in hell she could hope to beat this monster. This creature outclassed her on a level that she simply would not be able to stand up against at her current level of power. She was still just a Basic Supermage, not even having reached the Evolved stage.
This beast might have been a rank below her, but Oval had many more advantages than she did. Still, it didn’t mean she was helpless or unable to fight back.
Grace opened her mouth as Oval came at her once more, kicking off the air and throwing herself higher. She used her Siren Howl, a wave of piercing sound blasting from her open mouth and hitting the beast as it came into range.
Blood sprayed from Oval’s wounds as she was launched from the sky, slamming into the ground hard enough to leave a second crater right next to the first. Grace used her Soundwave, sending a blast from her back and throwing herself back to the ground. Her feet tripled in size, even as her density increased.
By the time she landed, she was many times heavier than she normally was. That, combined with the momentum of her fall, buried Oval even deeper into the ground. She didn’t stay down for long, grabbing Grace’s foot and trapping her in place. Grace felt the crushing force of the grip increase as the beast rose, squeezing harder and harder.
Gritting her teeth, she used Soundwave once more, sending a shock of sound from her foot directly into Oval’s body. Her grip loosened for an instant, and Grace yanked herself free. Oval was right on top of her again though, hands raking out and claws extending.
This time, Grace’s body couldn’t stand up to the abuse. She screamed as long, jagged tears appeared in her arms as she tried to block again, blood spraying into the air as Oval moved in for a follow-up.
One hand latched onto Grace’s shoulder, while the other slammed right into her face. Grace’s head rang under the force of the impact, causing her to see stars, but thankfully, the bone plating stopped her from taking any severe damage to her brain.
Clutched in the beast’s grip as she was, Grace was in a dire situation. The beast’s knee came up, the sharpened spike there easily tearing through the scales covering her chest and leaving a deep puncture wound when Oval pulled her knee back. Thankfully, the blow had missed her core, and the shock of pain brought her mind back into sharp focus.
Oval being this close was bad for Grace, but it was also not so great for the beast. Grace slammed both hands into the creature’s chest, using Soundwave once more. Twin blasts impacted at the same time, throwing the beast back. Grace didn’t escape unscathed though, as Oval’s claws ripped into her shoulder, snipping the muscles and tendons.
Grace’s right arm dropped to her side, all but useless as Oval regained her balance.
The beast’s rage still burned hot, and the temperature around her continued to increase, along with the outpouring of steam. Oval was only just getting started and Grace had the feeling that she’d be seeing the real power of the Berserker’s Judgement soon.
She just hoped that whenever it came, she would be able to weather the onslaught.
