Jason and Eliza stood further down the cliff line and out of the immediate path of the dragon, while the remaining Death Knights and newly-raised undead circled them. Frank landed heavily next to Jason a moment later, his wings shrinking and disappearing as he let his shapeshifting abilities lapse. Jason glanced to his side and saw that Riley had also managed to regroup with them, her armor torn at her shoulder and blood welling from gashes in her arms and legs. Eliza immediately handed them potions to recover their health, mana, and stamina.
“What do we do?” Frank asked, breathing heavily as he looked at the beast.
“That thing looks challenging,” Riley added in a concerned voice. “Maybe we should retreat further into the city and use the buildings as cover.”
First things first, Jason thought. They needed more information.
“Eliza?” Jason asked, turning to the water mage.
The girl squinted again as she concentrated on the creature. “It’s called an Azure Dragon,” she reported. “Its level 500 and its listed as a boss-level creature. Its health and mana are both unknown. It… it looks like it might be vulnerable to lightning – similar to the Tentacle Horror.”
“Oh, that’s fantastic,” Frank muttered. “I guess that means I have some work do.” As he finished speaking, he brandished his axes, lightning arcing up the metal as he channeled mana through his gloves.
“I don’t think that’s going to be enough,” Jason replied, his eyes on the scene unfolding along the cliffs. The dragon was rampaging among the players while soldiers and lizardmen reinforcements were clamoring over the edge of the cliff. Most of their own forces had retreated to the barricades along the openings to each road, and a few players had scaled the buildings and were standing on rooftops while pelting the lizardmen and the dragon with spells and missiles.
“We need a distraction,” Riley said, glancing at Jason with a small smile despite the desperate situation. “And I think it’s your turn.”
Jason couldn’t help but match her grin, his mana flaring powerfully through his veins. His eyes skimmed across his remaining Death Knights, the nearby wagons filled with corpses, and the dead that now riddled the top of the cliff. With this many building materials, he might be able to create something suitably terrifying.
“Okay,” Jason began, “I’m going to summon a decoy. Frank and Riley, you need to take that damn dragon out while it’s distracted.”
“What about me?” Eliza asked tentatively, glancing nervously at the dragon.
“Buffs,” Jason replied, laying a hand on the water mage’s shoulder. “I need mana potions, and I need you to increase my mana pool if possible. Then make Frank drink as many enhancement potions as you can.”
“Got it,” the water mage replied. She pulled a number of vials from her pack and handed them to Jason. He downed the contents quickly, not bothering to see if his teammates followed through with his orders. He had a lot of work to do.
As his hands began winding through the gestures of Custom Skeleton, Jason could feel a familiar surge of dark mana – the chill energy wiping away his doubts and reservations. He felt a strange, ill-formed memory tugging at the edges of his mind as the sensation washed over him. He could vaguely remember a shimmering blue deathscape and the fleeting images of nightmarish creatures pulling themselves from the darkness. However, the memory was ill-formed and elusive – hovering just out of his mental reach.
Instead of shying away from the feeling, Jason embraced it, giving himself over to the surge and swell of power that flooded his veins. This wasn’t a time for doubt. The world began to slow to a crawl around him, the droplets of rain falling ever-so-slowly and his teammates’ movements becoming exaggerated.
The control console appeared in his vision, and the resources nearby were suddenly highlighted in blue. Hundreds of corpses riddled the top of the cliff and Jason could feel his power surge again as his thoughts raced, trying to decide what to build. His gaze rested on the nearby dragon, seemingly frozen in place. It stood on its hind legs, a spray of frost erupting from its mouth and engulfing a nearby group of players as bolts of energy hovered in the air around it like fireflies.
Then he realized what he needed to build.
A grim grin tugged at his lips, and he abandoned himself to his dark mana. With a thought, he pulled at the materials around him. Hard. Bones ripped their way free of lifeless corpses, and his Death Knights broke apart in a whirlwind of bone and viscera. Blood sprayed across the top of the ridge, the substance creating a fine mist that covered the area.
It wasn’t enough.
Jason’s attention shifted to the corpses lingering at the bottom of the cliff, the result of hundreds of dead lizardmen. He commanded the materials to join him, and they answered his call willingly – bursting from the waves at the base of the cliff to a jet-like spray of salty seawater.
A whirling maelstrom of bone soon orbited Jason like a black hole, the ivory materials so dense that they blotted out his view of the world around him. Then he began to build. He summoned all of his rage, anger, and terror. His desperation and his fears. His triumphs and his challenges. He poured his heart and soul into this new creation.
The creature began to take shape in front of him. The air rippled and shimmered as Jason dumped his entire mana pool into this single, unholy abomination. It clawed its way into the world – not as though he was building this monster – but as though he was summoning it into being. The feeling was strange, as though he were tapping into some well of power that lingered at the edge of his consciousness.
As quickly as the feeling overcame him, it vanished. Only moments later, Jason stared awestruck at his new creation. With numb fingers, he punched in a name and slammed his fist down on the control panel. The world immediately sped back up, and a thunderous crash reverberated from the top of the cliff face as his new minion landed heavily on the edge of the ridge. Every player, soldier, and creature turned to witness the abomination that had been summoned to Falcon’s Hook.
Jason was suddenly overcome by weakness, and he dropped to his knees, notifications cascading in the corner of his vision. He glanced up at his new creation. A bloody mist still drifted through the area – a product of the corpses he had torn apart in search of more bones. Through the crimson haze, Jason could see that his creation stood nearly thirty feet tall, it’s bipedal body a convoluted mass of twisted bones and layers of ivory plates. Enormous bat-like wings hung from its back with sheets of dark mana hanging between the bony spikes. Its arms ended in long scythes, lightning crackling along the edge of the blades.
The creature raised its head to the sky, mammoth horns of bones spiraling from an ivory crown atop its head. It released a roar filled with rage and longing, and a miasma of dark mana erupted from its throat, spiraling around it in an aura of darkness. The mana infused itself into its bone armor, causing the ivory surface to shimmer with unholy energy.
A desperate, mad smile was painted on Jason’s face as he witnessed his new creation. A Death Lord had been born into the world. “Kill it,” Jason croaked, pointing a finger at the dragon perched on the other side of the ridge.
The Death Lord turned to look at Jason, the bones of its face crunching and contorting as its expression warped into a manic sneer that matched its master’s. Then it disappeared in a flash of movement. A moment later, it reappeared on the other side of the ridge, slamming into the dragon, and the pair rolled across the ground. They crashed into one of the buildings ringing the ridge, the wood splintering and the house collapsing under the force of the attack.
The dragon clawed at the Death Lord, its talons having difficulty finding purchase against the skeletal creature’s mana-infused armor. Meanwhile, Jason’s new minion slammed its scythes against the dragon’s scales, and the obsidian weapons tore into the chinks in the dragon’s armor. Glowing blue blood rocketed from the wounds, and the dragon gave a scream of rage. It shoved with its four limbs, throwing the Death Lord across the ridge.
Th
e undead creature’s wings unfurled, and it stopped midair, hovering and letting out another hungry roar – daring the dragon to take to the air. The serpentine beast rose to the challenge, lifting itself from the ground and beating its own wings as it took flight. The wind from the frost dragon’s wings swept across the ridge causing players and lizardmen alike to hurtle over the edge of the cliff.
“Jason!” someone was shouting – the sound indistinct through the pain that crashed through his head. He turned to find Eliza beside him, shaking his shoulder. “We need to move back to the defensive line,” she urged, pointing at a makeshift bulwark behind them.
He nodded feebly, letting Frank help him up and half carry him to the fortification. Once they were behind the wall, he turned to Eliza, “Give Frank your potions. All of them.”
“But… but he might die,” the water mage stuttered. “The blood toxicity…”
“Just do it,” Jason ordered, pain raging through his head. He felt so tired.
“Hand them over,” Frank said, a look of determination painted on his face. “I’ll be fine.”
The water mage grudgingly complied, handing him nearly a dozen glowing vials. “This is a bad idea,” she murmured.
“Of course it is,” Frank replied glibly as he downed the contents of each vial. “Jason came up with it, after all.”
“Where do you want me?” Riley asked, stooping beside Jason.
“On the fortification,” he croaked. “Hit the dragon with everything you have. Frank will only have a few seconds after your strike.”
Riley nodded and stood. The players and soldiers around them eyed the group anxiously as concussive explosions reverberated across the ridge – evidence of the fight raging between the Death Lord and the Azure Dragon. Riley took up a position on the fortification, pulling her bow from her back and nocking an arrow. Dark mana immediately began to condense around the tip, and the other soldiers backed away quickly.
Meanwhile, Frank had finished downing his potions. “Are you okay?” Eliza asked him nervously.
“Suuure, I’m fine, silly potion lady,” he replied, slurring heavily and wobbling slightly.
“Frank,” Jason snapped, getting his friend’s attention. His eyes seemed unfocused as he turned to look at Jason. “I need you to concentrate. You are going to wait until Riley fires and then you are going to go kill that dragon. You got it?”
His friend glanced over the barricade quickly, his brow furrowing. “Dragon?” he slurred. “You mean the friendly-looking unicorn playing with the teddy bear?”
Jason shook his head, immediately regretting the movement as he a new wave of pain cascaded through his head. “Sure. The unicorn. I want you to kill it.”
Frank looked at the dragon again, the beast grappling with the Death Lord in mid-air. “You sure? He looks really nice.”
“I’m positive,” Jason said through gritted teeth. He spared a questioning glance at Eliza and saw her shrug.
“Okey-dokey!” Frank replied, with a small salute.
The barbarian promptly scrambled over the barricade and stood out in the open despite the battle raging around him, his axes held at the ready. Lizardmen were racing toward each of the patchwork fortifications. Jason saw them coming and turned to the soldiers and players around him. “Just buy him some time. Keep the creatures off him!” he ordered, his head beginning to feel a bit better. They nodded and began hurling bolts of energy and launching missiles at the oncoming beasts – trying desperately to keep them away from Frank.
Jason pulled himself to his feet carefully, Eliza stepping forward and helping him stand. He leaned on the water mage heavily as he surveyed the battle raging at the top of the ridge, his hands already beginning to cast Specialized Zombie on the nearby corpses to reinforce the defenders around him.
The Death Lord and the dragon hovered over the battlefield, crashing against each other in a flurry of movement. An errant blast of ice or malignant energy would occasionally spray the forces fighting on the ground, leaving a wave of destruction in their wake. Yet Jason could see that his minion was slowly losing, the dragon chipping away at the unholy creature’s health despite the ragged gashes in its own scales.
Meanwhile, Riley was prepping her attack, Eliza’s healing mist curling around her, barely allowing her to maintain her waning health. Her arrow was leveled at the dragon, dark energy spiraling around the tip and forming a dense miasma. Using the bow’s special ability to channel her own life into the attack, tendrils of red coiled up her wrist and stained the malignant ball of energy crimson.
Frank was readying himself as well. He stood outside the barricade, an axe held in each hand as lizardmen were being cut down around him. He paid them no mind – his gaze fixed on the battle raging in the skies. With a sudden roar, wings ripped from his back and feathers sprouted from the spindly arms of flesh. His arms also rippled and contorted, doubling in size with bands of rope-like muscle that bulged beneath his skin. His new claws curled painfully around the hilts of his axes.
When he saw that his teammates were ready, Jason issued a final order to his Death Lord. The skeletal creature turned to him, and the unholy balls of dark energy that were its eyes met Jason’s. Time seemed to slow for a moment, Jason’s brow wrinkling in confusion.
What was this?
The Death Lord gave him a final salute with one of its scythe-adorned arms and Jason felt his breath catch – a hollow pit forming in his stomach. That was the same gesture he had seen a lone mercenary give before he launched himself into a maelstrom of flame…
“What…?” Jason started to ask, but it was too late.
The Death Lord launched itself forward at blinding speed. In an instant, it was beside the dragon. Its scythes plunged into the dragon’s belly even as the beast’s claws wrapped around the unholy abomination. The Death Lord paid no attention to its own defense, refusing to give up its hold on the dragon. The pair spiraled through the air toward the ridge, unable to stay airborne as they grappled.
The dragon’s claws tore into the Death Lord, ripping away it’s bone armor and breaking its horns. Yet the skeletal creature still clung to the beast, refusing to let go even as they slammed into the top of the ridge. The blast shook the ground and caused cracks to arc through the top of the cliff. As the debris cleared, Jason could see that the dragon lay atop the Death Lord, his minions’ skeletal arms still embedded in the beast.
Then the dragon opened its maw, it’s face only inches away from the Death Lord. Jason’s stomach lurched as the dragon emitted a violent spray of ice directly at the Death Lord’s head. The frost coiled around the undead creature, slowing its movements and freezing the bones of its face and head. The dragon lunged forward, and its maw snapped shut. The Death Lord’s head shattered, spraying frozen fragments in every direction.
Jason swallowed hard against the lump in his throat.
“Riley, now!” he shouted in a strangled cry.
The archer released her dark missile, the bolt rocketing across the top of the ridge. The mana was so dense that the bolt caused the air to ripple and contort as tendrils of dark energy lanced around it. At the same time, the missile created a furrow in the stone of the ridge as it raced across the space, spraying rock and dust into the air.
The bolt slammed into the side of the dragon’s head and exploded violently, carving away the side of the dragon’s jaw and destroying one of its horns. Glowing blue blood erupted from the creature and stained the area around it. As it tried vainly to disentangle itself from the Death Lord’s corpse, the beast roared in a mixture of pain and rage.
“Frank!” Jason shouted at his friend. “Frank go now!”
The barbarian turned and gave him a confused look, cocking his head slightly.
“Kill the unicorn!” Eliza cried from beside Jason, pointing at the dragon as her voice carried across the battlefield.
A glimmer of recognition appeared in Frank’s eyes, and he nodded. With a flap of his wings, he sped toward the dragon, lightni
ng arcing and crackling up his axes as he prepared to strike. Eliza’s healing mist coated him so that it made it appear that he was surrounded by a halo of glowing crimson light.
“Fuck you, unicorn!” Frank screamed, his axe blades sinking simultaneously into the dragon’s skull with a sickening crunch. The force of the potion-enhanced blow and Frank’s momentum slammed the monstrous beast into the side of a building. The barbarian followed up immediately, diving after the creature and standing atop its body.
The dragon roared and writhed beneath Frank, still trapped by the Death Lord’s headless corpse. Frank didn’t relent. He slammed his weapons against the dragon’s head again and again and again, his blades slicing away its flesh and scales. Glowing sapphire blood rocketed from the fresh wounds and coated everything in the sickly blue substance.
Frank kept going, his blades slicing into the creature repeatedly. The blows carved away its horns and sunk into its eyes. The beast let out a feeble roar and then finally grew quiet, its body shuddering, but no longer putting up a fight.
As the dragon finally stopped moving, Frank raised his axes into the air and summoned Call of the Herd, letting out a howl of triumph. A glowing red aura enveloped him where he stood atop of the dragon’s corpse and stretched to the other players and NPCs staring at the scene in stunned silence. Then the barbarian’s gaze shifted to the remaining lizardmen
“Kill them! Kill them all!” he roared.
His cries were taken up by the other players and soldiers where they were hunkered down behind the barricades. Seeing an opportunity to turn the tide of the battle, they scrambled over the fortifications and took the fight to the lizardmen. Bolts of energy and the crash of steel echoed once more across the ridge.
Jason watched this all happen from beside Eliza and Riley. They were alive, if only barely – their bodies bloodstained and marred by signs of battle. Yet they had survived, and they were pushing the lizardmen back toward the ridge. Victory was within their reach!
Evolution Page 51
