Skyflare (Rise To Omniscience Book 3)

by Aaron Oster

  Name: Steelclad-Ice Wolf

  Rank - 30

  Ability type - Mage

  Judging from its looks alone, Morgan could see that this was at most an Intermediate beast. The wolf looked similar to the ice-bristle wolves he’d fought in the past, except this one’s fur bristled with frost-coated metal spikes instead of ice.

  Using his Stormforger skill, Morgan formed a small glove on one hand, and a massive hammer in the other. It cost him a good chunk of his RP, but it would be worth it in the end. Since his skill had upgraded so he could create any weapon, he would now only need to use it once, then keep the constructs around as long as he needed before dismissing them.

  The glove that formed on his left hand had small spikes of air forming at the knuckles. These were a necessity, as a regular glove was not considered a weapon. Morgan had discovered this when he’d tried to make one and the weapon had simply vanished. The hammer that formed in his right hand was much too large to be a one-handed weapon. Even light as it was, it would be difficult to maneuver around with any great efficiency.

  But that was why he’d made the other weapon so small. Taking the hammer in a two-handed grip, Morgan charged it up with electricity. He grinned as the wolf looked up at him, its hackles already rising as the wind around his hammer howled. A moment later, there was a loud crackle as blue and red lightning began playing over the hammer-head's surface. As he’d noted before, the hammer was much too large to swing around, but it was perfect for what he was about to do.

  With another whoop of excitement, Morgan plummeted from the sky, nimbly dodging the blasts of ice the wolf sent up at him, and he brought the hammer slamming down on its head. As soon as it impacted, he released all three charges at once into the beast, though it was completely unnecessary. The beast’s head had been smashed to pieces under the impact of the hammer blow, turning a once recognizable shape into a fine, bloody mist.

  Morgan grinned as he landed next to the beast, already shrinking the hammer down to fit his hand like a second glove. He then noticed the glowing blue sphere, lying on the ground near the beast and reached out to touch it. As soon as he did, it vanished, and his point total went up by 25. He tore the core from the beast’s still twitching body and inspected it, noting that it was an Evolved beast.

  He debated leaving the core, before eventually deciding to tuck it away in his pack. It might not be worth much to him, but a rank 30 core was probably worth a pretty copper to most anyone else. Doing a quick check of the time, Morgan noted that not even fifteen minutes had passed since the beginning to the challenge, and he grinned to himself once more.

  This was going to be fun.

  41

  Sarah watched as Morgan tore his way through one beast after the next, and felt her hopes rise as he slowly closed the gap between him and Arnold. She was sure that the judges were now very much regretting allowing him to use his flight, but it was too late for them to rescind that ruling now.

  She grinned as Morgan killed another beast, and his point total finally broke the 1,000 mark. It was pretty obvious, to her at least, that he’d poured his attribute points into upgrading his flight skill. If the distance was anything to judge by, then he was easily exceeding speeds of eighty miles-per-hour; which was just absurd.

  That was not to say that the others weren’t doing well. Sing had already gotten her total up to 1,650 points, but Morgan was closing the gap. He had more than one distinct advantage in this challenge, and it was one that nobody else knew about. His ability to track beasts. So long as he could do that, he could head straight for them, without having to take the time to look for them. He could also find the most powerful ones, and all while avoiding the other challengers.

  She felt her eyes drooping as Morgan tore through yet another beast, and let out a long yawn. Most of the furniture had been replaced, including the couches. She’d dragged one of the blankets over to it and snuggled up under it as she watched. Exhausted as she was from a lack of sleep, it didn’t take her long to nod off.

  Sarah was woken from her peaceful slumber by a sudden and very loud sound. She jumped, flailing around in her covers until her brain finally caught up with her body. Looking wildly around, she couldn’t understand what the sound had been. Then, it came again. The sudden intensifying of the crowds cheering. It was so loud that it had woken her from her sleep.

  Muttering under her breath, Sarah stood slowly from the floor, rubbing at her backside and sitting back down on the couch. She was wondering what all the commotion had been about, when her eyes landed on the screen and she felt her heart skip a beat.

  A little over three hours remained on the clock, and the point totals had shifted a bit. Morgan now held third place, having overtaken Marsha. Arnold was now in second place, tailing Sing by a mere 50 points. That wasn’t what held her attention, though. Morgan was facing down a massive beast, one that Sarah had never seen before. It didn’t remotely resemble any creature she knew either, aside from maybe some sort of monstrous lizard.

  It was easily twenty-five feet from snout to tail, and its shimmering blue scales reflected the sunlight. Its face was vaguely reptilian, but was much wider and contained a whole lot more teeth. Two massive bat’s wings protruded from its back, and the beast had them spread out, making it appear to be even larger than it already was.

  It had a pair of slitted, emerald eyes, its snout was bunched up in a snarl, and smoke curled from its nostrils. A pair of horns extended from the back of its skull, flowing back in two graceful arcs. Its body was long and sinuous, and its four paws were each tipped with translucent blue claws. A row of spines flowed down its back, continuing down the tail where they came to stop before a massive club-like protrusion.

  The look was completed by six massive spines protruding from the beast’s back and facing outward. The most terrifying part about it was the small red ball floating over the beast’s head. Morgan was about to face one of the most powerful Advanced beasts this challenge had to offer, and he was going to do so alone.

  ***

  Morgan stared at the bright red letters floating above the towering beast, and felt a wild grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

  Name: Azure-Crystal Wyvern

  Rank - 38

  Ability type - Super

  Morgan had no doubts that this beast was one of the ten who would net him the thousand point bonus. If that wasn’t enough of an incentive, Morgan spotted two purple spheres resting behind the joints of its front limbs. So not only did this beast carry with it the potential for a massive bonus, but 200 points-worth of spheres as well.

  He’d wondered what a wyvern was ever since he’d seen its core back at the academy, and now here was the exact beast he’d been wondering about, and he couldn’t say he was disappointed. Even as he stared the terrifying beast down, he considered whether it would be more beneficial to leave. After all, it was a good deal stronger than him, and with his speed and mobility, he could easily rack up the highest number of beast kills.

  But, if he let this beast go, his chance of the thousand point bonus would be gone. And besides, he wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. Before the battle began, he did a quick sweep of his surroundings, noting the location of each of the other contestants. The closest to him was Marsha, but she seemed to be occupied at the moment. If he could finish this fight in under ten minutes, he would have plenty of time to get some distance between him and her.

  He also suspected that he would need a bit of recovery time after this battle, so it was important that he not let it last too long. Taking a deep breath, Morgan stepped forward. Up until this point, the wyvern had only flared its wings and growled at him, but now its emerald eyes narrowed and it opened its toothy mouth in a full chested roar.

  Morgan flinched for just a second and in that instant, a brilliant pillar of blue crystal exploded from the ground right in front of him, heading straight for his chest. Only Morgan’s lightning fast reflexes saved him from certain death, but even that was a c
lose call. He twisted his body to the side, his shield forming around him in an instant. Although he avoided a fatal blow, the crystal still punched right through his defense, scoring a hit along his side.

  Thankfully, his tough skin was enough to stop what would undoubtedly have been a nasty gash, but he could still feel a bruise spreading from the impact. He breathed deeply, feeling the pain numbing even as he used Explosive impact and closed the distance between him and the beast. His right glove of swirling wind transformed into his massive hammer as he leapt into the air, and he brought it crashing down on the beast’s head.

  There was a loud crack as chips of crystal were dislodged under the force of the blow. The wyvern began staggering in slow motion, but Morgan wasn’t allowing it off with just that one blow. He dismissed the hammer, twisting in the air and slamming his left hand, covered by a Stormforged gauntlet, into the creature’s jaw, discharging the lightning he’d charged up there. Another loud boom sounded as the wyvern’s head was rocked the other way and the attack discharged across the beast’s body.

  Time sped up then, and Morgan pulled back quickly as the club-like tail blurred around in a collision course with his head. It whistled a mere few feet past his face, and he could feel the wind from its passage buffeting him as he righted himself. The wyvern shook its head a few times, showering the ground with specs of steaming blood.

  There was a large crack running from one eye down to its jaw and a nasty looking indent where his hammer had struck. Neither of the injuries seemed to bother the beast however, as it turned its blazing eyes back on him and roared. Its roar was followed a moment later by a pillar of emerald fire that exploded out in a cone-shaped stream.

  Morgan dodged back, flying higher so as to avoid the attack, and fired back with his own skill, sending six purple fireballs at the wyvern’s head. They exploded on impact, swirling outward in a golden vortex. As the flames cleared, Morgan could see that they didn’t leave to much as a scorch mark. He grimaced as the beast fired back, arching its back and sending a shower of crystals in all directions.

  He nimbly dodged them as they passed, grinning at the ease in which he could now move in the air. Then the crystals exploded. Morgan cried out as he was knocked from the air, feeling multiple impacts from the shards of crystal as they pummeled him from all directions. More than a few tore clean through him, leaving searing lines of agony throughout his body.

  As he spiraled through the air, his mind fuzzy with pain, he felt another hard impact as something slammed into him from below. He grunted, taking an involuntary gasp as he felt his spine bend just a little too far in the wrong direction. As soon as he got that full breath of air though, his core began pulsing rapidly, sending soothing energy to all his aching body parts and staunching the bleeding of the several dozen wounds the exploding crystals had inflicted.

  As he regained his senses, Morgan realized that he was still falling and doing so at a rapid pace. He spun in the air and caught himself with his flight skill just feet from the ground. As soon as he caught himself, he immediately spun to one side, already anticipating another attack. Suffice it to say that the wyvern didn’t disappoint. A forest of crystal seemed to bloom from the ground below, exploding upward at speeds which should have been impossible.

  Only Morgan’s upgraded flight skill saved him from being skewered several times over. He dodged and rolled, spinning through the air and avoiding the rising spears of shining crystal. He couldn’t avoid them all though, and more than one pierced into his flesh, tearing gouges into him and opening new wounds. Gasping for air, Morgan pushed himself to move faster, finally managing to clear the rising spears and make it into clear air.

  He felt his core working hard to staunch half a dozen new cuts, but he could already feel it working more sluggishly. Any more damage, and his core would stop healing him. Looking around below, Morgan tried to locate the monstrous beast. He’d lost track of it since taking that explosion of crystal head on, and now, he was having trouble locating it.

  Finally spotting it off to his right, Morgan shot forward, triggering his Gravity storm. He knew that in order to defeat a beast this powerful, he would have to use an equally powerful skill. He could feel the power building within him, even as he was forced to dodge several blasts of green fire. Then the sky darkened, bringing the howling vortex of wind slamming down on the creature. Lightning crackled all over his body, and his arms extended, firing it off into the raging storm.

  Morgan landed then, falling to his knees and panting hard as the storm howled before him. Grimacing, Morgan forced himself to his feet, feeling pain flaring up all over his body as his core finally stopped healing his various wounds. Thankfully, the majority of his cuts had been closed up, so he wasn’t in danger of bleeding out.

  His eyes turned upward to the raging storm. Even from where he stood a good thirty yards away, he could feel the intense gravity and destructive power that the storm radiated. It also didn’t escape his notice that the usual violet-colored lightning was now a pure black, interspersed with red and blue as it flashed across the swirling vortex of air. He wondered what caused that effect, and if it would continue changing as he grew more powerful. He also wondered at the significance of the different colored lightning. Was it more powerful than the regular violet colored lightning, or was it the same? If it were the same, why did it change colors in the first place? He dismissed those thoughts as the storm raged on, and was about to relax, when a massive tremor ran through the earth beneath his feet.

  Morgan’s eyes slowly traced up the wall of wind and lightning, as a diamond-shaped snout poked through.

  No way! There’s just no way!

  He watched, as though in a dream, as the massive wyvern slowly broke free of the howling tornado. First one foot, then the other, followed by its massive head just a few seconds later. Green eyes glowed with power as the beast walked forward, ever so slowly inching its way out of the storm. Finally, with an echoing roar, the beast broke free, lunging right at him, mouth open wide as green fire built up in its throat.

  Morgan acted on instinct, throwing himself forward instead of back. The glove on his left hand expanded into a hammer, and he quickly switched it over to his right. The storm had kept the beast trapped for no longer than ten seconds, which was not nearly enough time for him to recover a sufficient amount of reiki. He dodged to one side, avoiding the glittering crystalline claws by inches, then slammed the hammer into its right leg as it passed.

  He heard another crack as the hammer impacted against the monster’s tough hide, but other than an angry roar, it didn’t do much to hurt the beast. Shrinking the hammer down to a glove again, Morgan dashed after the beast. It hadn’t escaped his notice that while the wyvern had broken free of his attack, it hadn’t escaped unscathed. One of the six crystal spines on its back had snapped off, and blood was streaming from several cracks along its back and sides. Apparently the gravity inside the storm had been enough to damage it, though the lightning seemed to have done nothing at all.

  Leaping at the wyvern, which was still in the process of turning back to face him, Morgan punched out with his right hand, extending the glove into a whirling lance of violet air. To his surprise, the lance punched easily into the wyvern’s side, sending up a fountain of blood. Placing his feet on the beast’s side, Morgan tore himself free, dodging another swipe from its tail, and two more from its front claws.

  Doing a quick check of his RP, Morgan noted that it was about a quarter full and rising by the second. The brief skirmish had also taught him another valuable lesson about fighting this particular beast. It was slow, and piercing weapons seemed to be the way to go. Attacks involving heat or electricity would be all but useless, but heavy pressure could crack the thick scales covering its hide.

  He stumbled back as the beast advanced once more, his breaths becoming ragged now as he was forced to dodge the wyvern’s wild strikes. Each time it missed, its massive claws tore huge gouges from the earth, sending up a shower of dirt and
debris. But Morgan only needed to keep dodging for another few seconds, then his RP would be high enough to use his most powerful skill.

  Jumping back from yet another strike, Morgan winced as he landed badly on his ankle, twisting it to the side. There were a few loud pops and he felt the bones grinding together.

  “Shit!” he yelled, dropping flat onto his back to avoid another strike, then used his flight skill to move out of the beast’s range.

  He grimaced, doing a quick examination of his ankle and discovering that he would not be able to walk on it until it healed. Normally, just stepping down on it the way he had wouldn’t have done much, but seeing as he was so worn down, his defenses were beginning to slip. The wyvern let out an enraged roar, then flared its wings and took to the sky. Grimacing again, Morgan shot towards the creature and used Nature’s wrath. He didn’t have to reach down to his belt, as he already had the wind swirling around his hand.

  The essence of air filled him as he flew, making his movement more agile, his body a bit less substantial, and his attacks sharper. He then extended his hand to the side, forming his glove into a massive double-handed broadsword. He then collided with the beast. Slamming into it full force, Morgan swung the weapon hard, aiming for one of its wings. The wyvern, however, seemed to be a lot more agile in the air than it was on the ground, and tucked one wing, rolling neatly and avoiding the slash.

  Morgan followed up however, pulling the sword across and shearing through two of the crystal pillars on its back. The wyvern spun, roaring in rage and spraying liquid fire from its mouth in an arc, which Morgan just managed to avoid. He missed the tail, which caught him in the side, cracking two of his ribs and sending him spinning through the air.