Chapter 16

The black blood clung to its massive frame like tar, thick and viscous. Columns of short, black spikes and a jagged shell emerged from the water before Wil, a sickening parody of what he had seen the Azure Lord do in the real world.

But unlike the beautiful greenish, blue shell of the real Dragon Turtle, this one was twisted and corrupted.

Through the clinging black blood, the shell was a dull, dark grey, with large flakes of carapace peeling from it. The spikes were more worn than the Azure Lord’s. This creature’s shell was weathered, the spikes mere nubs.

As more of its body was revealed, the differences were startling. The leathery skin and thick dragon scales were gone, replaced with pale and sickly flesh, deformed, with large, bulbous protrusions. Its beak was cracked and damaged, with large chunks missing, covering a mouth filled with rotten teeth and black gums.

The biggest contrast between this abomination and the Azure lord was its size. It was twice as large as its real-world counterpart, but whereas the Dragon Turtle was well proportioned, healthy and graceful as it moved through the sea, this beast was malformed and unstable in its stance.

Wil could see its head was much smaller than the rest of its body, and its legs were thick and stumpy trunks, rather than the long, claw tipped flippers of its real-world duplicate. Despite its deformities, Wil didn’t dare underestimate the monster before him.

He had seen the infection change humans in Aachen, the black blood unlocking whatever natural limits were placed on a human’s strength. He had no doubt the thing before him was much stronger physically than the Azure Lord.

Despite its strength, he couldn’t feel a single shred of mana coming from the creature. It was completely mundane, less magical than even the plants or ground here in the inner realm. Everything was saturated by mana in this world, yet this infected Dragon Turtle was thoroughly non-magical.

The beast stared at him with glowing red eyes, filled with nothing but rage and madness. They seemed to barely focus on him, darting wildly as it searched for more prey, or threats to itself. So large did the creature stand that only the very bottoms of its legs were still in the water, its head towering nearly a hundred feet above him.

Wil was an ant, staring at a mountain of twisted and corrupted flesh.

A roar erupted from its rotting throat, shaking the rock beneath Wil’s feet as the stench of decay swept over him. With surprising speed, its head shot forward, its mouth open as it moved to consume him.

Not hesitating for a moment, Wil focused on the beach below, disappearing in a white mist and reappearing on the sand, already running away form the lumbering creature.

Its damaged beak crashed into the black rock, sending a spray of stone chips and debris in every direction. Wil could hear it crunching on the stone before its eyes turned towards his running form.

With another bellow of rage, it slowly moved its neck, its body so large that even with his teleportation and head start, he was still under its shadow.

Luckily, the monster’s stumpy legs made it difficult for the beast to turn quickly. Will narrowly outpaced another bite, its beak digging deep into the sand, sending a spray of sand shooting out from the impact.

“Burning Hands!” Wil shouted, spinning, and throwing his hands forward at the infected Dragon Turtle’s half buried head. Spreading his fingertips, he directed a fan of flames at the glowing red eye that stared balefully at him. The flames engulfed its cheek, its head too large to be completely consumed.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air as Wil spun around, taking off across the sand towards the nearby trees, not waiting to see the results of his magic. He doubted it would have much effect, not to a creature that large, but it would hopefully slow it down, and maybe, blind it in one eye.

Unfortunately, Wil wasn’t that lucky. The insane beast didn’t even slow as it lifted its head from the sand, its cheek still aflame from his magic. Seeing him fleeing, it lumbered forward, each step from its massive frame shaking the earth beneath Wil’s feet.

Struggling to maintain his balance as he ran, Wil focused again on the forest as the Turtle lifted its leg, intent on squashing him. The creature was just too large to escape from, each step from its body carried it dozens of feet across the sand. His only hope was to hide in the forest and pray that it didn’t have some means to find him.

Wil’s vision turned white as he once again teleported forward, reappearing in the bushes, his momentum causing him to crash into the brush and roll forward, before regaining his feet and taking off again.

His magic moved him just in time, as the Turtles foot smashed into the beach where he had just been standing, sending a ripple through the ground, causing him to stumble forward again.

Roaring in anger at missing yet again, the enraged Infected Dragon Turtle, crashed into the trees, its gigantic frame so tall that only the highest trees barely brushed against its well armored belly. Not even bothering to look for him, the creature began to violently slam its head against the forest floor, uprooting and destroying everything in sight.

Wil was too slow this time, unable to weave through the forest fast enough to escape the onslaught. The creature’s head missed him by dozens of feet, but the shockwave of the attack sent him sailing through the air, twisting and tumbling through the forest by the force of the continuous attacks.

Crashing into the undergrowth, Wil rolled along the ground, branches and tree limbs cutting his face and hands as he tried desperately to slow himself. Grabbing onto anything in his path, he managed to snag a tree branch before he was carried off by the next attack.

His grip on the branch caused a jarring pain in his shoulder and the limb dug deeply into his palm, slicing it open, but he managed to hold on as the Turtle attacked, again and again.

The force of the blows blasted wind against Wil, lifting him practically horizontal, and threatening to carry him away again. The tree he was relying on began to bend and break, slowly being uprooted as the ground heaved and rumbled.

The creature wouldn’t stop until nothing was left of the forest, and it was obvious that Wil couldn’t hide here. He needed a distraction, something intense enough to let him get away.

With no other choice, Wil did something completely foolish, he set fire to the forest around him.

Thrusting one of his hands out, he pulled on all his mana, forming a large spell matrix above his palm. Like a raging inferno, his mana filled the construct, glowing a bright crimson. Taking a deep breath, Wil shouted the incantation.

“Flaming Sphere!” The Tier 2 spell matrix burst apart, an orb of fire forming on the forest floor in front of him. Concentrating, he put everything he had into making it burn hotter and brighter. From crimson and orange, to blue, until the entire orb was a pure white fire hot enough that he could feel it searing his skin, even from where he was hanging from a tree.

Maintaining his concentration, he had the flaming sphere stay in place, burning hot as he let go of the tree limb, allowing the strong gusts of wind to take him away, spinning and rolling through the forest.

A moment later, he let go of his control of the flaming sphere, the spell maintaining for a moment before the sphere collapsed in on itself, engulfing everything around it in its white flames.

An overcharged spell was dangerous, even when a mage was fully concentrating on controlling it. Deliberately releasing such a dangerous spell and allowing it to rage uncontrolled, was creating a disaster.

The Infected Beast, still attacked the forest, noticed a bright, white light out of the corner of its eye, before the forest around it burst into flames. The high winds from its attack fanned the blaze, in moments, the Dragon Turtle was knee deep in a raging inferno, the burning forest searing its legs with heat.

It roared, angry at the fire, rather than in agony. Its rage reached new heights as it slammed its legs and head against the burning forest, ripping large chunks of earth out of the ground and hurling vast swaths of burning trees into the distance.

While the enraged infected destroyed everything in sight, Wil was busy running as fast as he could, trying to outrace the flames. Barely one step ahead of the inferno, he used the Tier 3 spell ‘Thunder Step’ to gain some distance. With a loud ‘bang’ he disappeared, teleporting 90 feet ahead, still running in a mad dash to survive.

Again, he teleported, the thunder of his disappearance, a deafening crack, was barely heard over the roar of the forest fire and the loud, earth-shattering explosions of the Dragon Turtles attacks.

Out of mana for teleportation, Wil was considering his next steps when he saw the edge of the forest. Through the trees he saw a swift running river, its waters moving so quickly that it was a bubbling, white froth.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, he sprinted out of the tree line, not pausing as he leapt into the air, splashing heavily into the water. A moment later a gout of flames erupted from the forest, covering the river’s surface.