“On The Wing!” Vess blasted past Felix with all the fury of a hurricane. Spears flashed, all ten at a time, sticking into the monster’s sticky, grasping tendrils. It roared, more in defiance than pain, just in time to catch the woman’s partisan directly to the roof it its alligator-like mouth. “Ten Tribulations,” she hissed, and twisted her spear. Explosions of air and metal rocked the ship, tossing more of the scrambling crew backward as the monster reeled back in mortal pain…before falling limp back into the sea. “Damn, Vess,” Felix said, before the boat shuddered again. “Damnit. They said monsters didn’t they?” “Indeed,” she said with a grim smile. Another oozing tendril of croc-fish slapped up onto the railing of the Manaship, soon followed by six more, all of them hauling up a toothy maw and blank, glowing eyes. Voracious Eye! Name: Fathom Draktopus Type: Draconic (Manawarped) Level: 72 HP: 2003/2003 SP: 1413/1722 MP: 865/865 Lore: The Fathom touches the abyss, and it has answered. Writhe upon the waves, writhe with the rage of dragons. Strength: More Data Required Weakness: More Data Required “Draktopus? Are you serious?” Felix said as they chambered aboard. “Fathom spawn! Tier III! Everyone! Get back from the edge of the ship!” Roughly equal to the strength of a Journeyman Tier warrior, a Tier III monster was extremely dangerous by itself, let alone in a group. The Yttin crew scrambled up the rigging while his Claw brandished their various weapons as if ready to leap into the fight at any second. But they held back, which is all Felix needed. “Lady Dayne, I believe it is my turn.” Her Spears were manifesting around her once again, and her grim smile quirked to the left. “As you wish, Lord Nevarre.” Cardinal Flame! Red-gold fire streamed from his channels, igniting the dark, wet air as the ship continued on its rollercoaster journey. They hit the Draktopi all at once, igniting six of them with the paralyzing, ravenous flame. They froze in place, battling against Felix’s Willpower with no effect. “Ranged attackers! Ready!” While he could kill them quickly with his fists, his people needed the levels. His Claw summoned the glow of their Mana and various Skills, holding crackling lightning, frigid ice, and more burning flame. “Fire!” All at once, they unleashed, thirty different attacks all aimed at six, immobilized targets. The impact was enough to rock the boat yet again, the smell of burning and freezing and charred ozone overcome by the splash of foul ichor. But the croc-fish weren’t even at half health. “Again!” Felix commanded, holding onto their Bodies easily with his Skill. Their attacks hit, but the wounds already inflicted began to heal over as he watched. Damnit! At least the Claw would get credit for the kills. Adamant Disco—! Before the song of the Skill fully engaged, Vess blurred past him, hair streaming behind her and partisan held low to her side. More than speed, her new movement Skill was as if each of her limbs were slipping through an entirely different space, her movement like greased lightning sizzling atop a cast iron skillet. She stepped and was two steps further than Felix had anticipated, an echo of her old Dragoon’s Footwork. Another Draktopus leaped over the burning six and was met with a blurring silver Spear to its face. Vess arrived like a whirlwind. It smashed an oozing tendril at her midsection, but Vess could not be touched, dancing away faster than Felix had ever seen. And as she gracefully twisted through the monster’s lashing strike, a pair of spectral shapes blossomed from her back. Are those…wings? Draconic wings did indeed trail behind her, burning bright for only an instant before they lost cohesion, flickered once, and faded into smoke. She wasn’t kidding about the connection to dragons. A warning flare smeared across Felix’s Perception, and his concentration wobbled, ever so slightly on his Cardinal Flame. He turned, finding the nearest Claw member, and shouted. “More are coming! At least fifteen! Focus behind us!” Without questioning or hesitation, the Claw members spun and launched lightning bolts and arrows into the Draktopi that leaped from the sea. Most did not penetrate their strange mix of scale and slime, but his soldiers were all at high Apprentice or low Journeyman. Their hits were enough to send several backward, unharmed but slowed. Violent explosions tore up the Draktopi that Felix held immobilized, and he let go of the spell entirely. The creatures immediately began moving to attack, but Vess did not relent. Felix left them alone, confident she would handle them without him, and focused instead on the creatures still oozing up the port side of the heaving ship. And it was still heaving as the waves grew to greater proportions, lifting them high into the sky before they rode down from the crest at ridiculous speeds. “No!” “Pava!” Two oozing, dark blue limbs smashed into the Claw ranks, too fast for any of them to react. Many fell, bowled over like pins, while one was dragged up and into the air. A dark skinned Human woman dangled while she swung her sword wide, each strike shearing through the ooze but unable to sever it before it reformed. It lifted the woman up, over its gaping, toothy maw. Felix tensed to move, but before he could a bovine cry blasted away the driving rain, and Beef hit the Draktopus like a freight train. The tendril was blasted apart by the Minotaur’s immense, armored Body and its jaws smashed shut by the descent of his glowing great maul. The woman fell, screaming in rage, but Felix was there, catching her in his clawed arms. She landed, light as a feather, her curse-filled diatribe cut short. “Ash and bones—Lord Autarch!” “Pava,” he said, accessing that bit of his Mind that housed his Born Trait. Perfect recall was very helpful. “Go back to your Talon, form up and focus on keeping the monsters from assaulting the ship.” “Aye, my Lord!” She ran off just as Beef rose from the ground, half his legs and chest covered in vivid blue ichor. The split skull of a Draktopus lolled on the deck beside him. “How many more?” “A great deal,” Hallow said, peeking up from under his cloak. “I sense at least five more in close proximity to the ship. Shall I engage?” “Engage away,” Beef said. In the water, just over the side of the ship, a massive Multipede the color of bone rose up, churning the water as it closed with the pod of monsters that were attempting to attack the ship. On his shoulder, Hallow grunted. “They are quite strong en masse. I could use some help.” Beef hefted his hammer and looked to Felix. “Want to smash some crocs?” “Happily,” Felix said. “Hallow!” Beef thrust his arm forward while a rocky, crystalline mass crawled from his shoulder to his bulky forearm. “Fire!” Five-inch long shards of blackened-green crystal sprouted from Hallow’s Homuculus and fired all in the same few seconds, peppering the croc-fish with tiny projectiles that punched through scale and slime with ease. In the water, Hallow’s Multipede form thrashed about, wrapping around several of the Draktopi at once. Their ooze arms flailed, but were unable to escape the strength and length of the undead mega-insect. At the same time, the storm descended in the form of Felix’s screeching Companion. “Tempest Fugit!” Pit shrieked, and frozen lightning fell atop the struggling Draktopi. Pit Has Killed A Draktopus! XP Earned! More frozen lightning dropped out of Pit’s wide, glowing wings, blasting off portions of their regrowing hide but not killing them. The ship lurched once more as sticky ooze tendrils slapped into and began climbing the sides. “Felix!” Beef hollered, his maul busy splashing through the dark tendrils. Adamant Discord! The song of his Skill sang bright in Felix’s veins, igniting the chaotic mess of threads that made up the world. In moments, he seized a connection with the sky, and from the sky he grasped the Fathom spawn. Lightning sizzled along the connections, the friction caused by the leverage of his Will too much for the atmosphere. Plying his Strength against the sky itself, which in turn was lashed to the Draktopi, Felix pulled with everything he had. His muscles screamed at the effort, but Felix didn’t relent. Lightning struck in rapid succession directly onto ten Fathom spawn, their long, eel-like bodies writhing madly in pain as they were all lifted entirely out of the water. “Beef! Claw! Hit them!” Crystalline darts, lightning bolts, icy shards, and streamers of brilliant flame shot outward, plastering the monstrosities with pain if not immense damage. Apart from Hallow’s crystal darts, the electrical side effect of his Adamant Discord was doing greater harm than all the rest. Damn things are a real threat. We have to kill them all. His Claw was doing their best, but they couldn’t finish this fight. It has to be me. “Fang of Havoc!” Vess hurtled into the sky, shooting up sideways and ahead of the ship while her partisan led the way. Around her, Felix saw the cloudy backdrop flicker and stream in a distinct teardrop shape, before her momentum halted entirely. “Draconic Stormfall!” Like a comet of judgment, Vess dropped from the sky and back onto the deck of their leading ship. The impact drove the prow down, cutting deep into an approaching wave and sending a massive spray of sea water onto the deck…just as a rolling wave of thunder exploded in all directions. Felix hunched against the waves and the chunked pieces of Fathom spawn, only barely managing to split a tendril of Shadow Whip and save a few of the Claw members swept away by the careening ship’s dip. Shadow Whip is level 49! “Vess!” Felix shouted through the strain. The Draktopi were hurt, but they were also very angry. Holding them had begun to hurt even his muscles. “Vess!” His friend stood amid the ruin of draconic muck and ichor with her spear sunk halfway through the deck. She looked up, more than a little dazed. “I—I did not mean—I did not know it would spread so far.” She blurred across the gore-covered boards, grabbing and hauling more of the Claw from beyond the railings where they clung. “I am sorry.” Felix’s Perception caught more shapes moving nearby. Below them, in fact, and rising fast. “More are coming! Vess, hold them off!” Her head turned just as the first of the Draktopi breached the surface of the heaving sea and hurtled up toward the ship. “I shall do more than that, Felix.” Cardinal Flame scorched the monsters in his Adamant Discord, baking their flesh even as more frozen bolts and crystalline darts tore regenerating chunks from their hides. “What are you doing?” “I am ending this. Matriarch’s Lament!” Around the heiress, a massive, spectral dragon formed that raised it’s long, fanged snout into the air and began to croon. A deep, mournful cry echoed out, a lament of unremitting loss that seized Felix’s heart in the vice grip of terrible and inconsolable grief; and Felix wasn’t even the target. The monsters were hit so much harder. Dozens of shapes bobbed up from the depths, each of them unmoving and listless, as if they had simply given up all attempts at attack and even movement. The song hung in the air, thick and heavy and incredibly sad. Beef and Hallow ran across the deck, seemingly unaffected, while Felix’s Spirit reeled from the awful, beautiful vibrations. Darts and chitinous projectiles flew at the impaired Fathom spawn, but Felix’s eyes were on Vess. She had fallen to her knees, spear forgotten at her side. “What the hell was that?” he asked her. Vess didn’t answer. Instead, as Beef and the crew and Claw started cheering, she shuddered and stood. “Vess?” Beef rushed up to him, shouting in savage glee. “We killed them all! Did you see it? Hallow’s Homunculus got another two levels!” “Yes,” said the craggy creature atop Beef’s shoulder. Her voice was warm. “I am pleased.” “Felix, I—uh, I need to speak with you,” Beef started. Felix didn’t respond to him, instead trying to reach Vess as the Claw and Yttin crew rushed across the deck to clean it all up. By the time he navigated the press of people, she had vanished. “Felix?” Beef said. “What’s going on?” He spun in place, ignoring the call of his Minotaur friend, until he could spot the retreating head of dark brown hair through the cheering crowd. “Felix!” Suddenly a stomp rang out, the report loud enough to be a gunshot back home, and nearly strong enough to rip through the deck itself. Felix turned, surprised writ large on his face. Beef held out a trembling fist. Within was a small bundle of chitin that hung from his fingers. Something about it pulls at Felix, something he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before. Something Divine. “We need to talk. Now.”