Herald of death

The beast raises a clawed hand and slams it down towards Ethan. He bursts backward, avoiding the slow blow while keeping his attention on Lucien.

River vanishes into a puff of mist, rendering her invisible to the naked eye. Her draw on Ether, coming with each of her breaths, makes her visible in Ethan's Ether senses. But he knows he will lose her track the moment he focuses on something else.

The Paladin's men run back to reach the half of the platform opposite to the monster. Ribbons of light escape them and swirl around Lucien, giving him a golden glow.

Bone plates detach from the creature, only to be caught by flesh tendrils. The dark, oozing tendons writhe like parasites. They multiply until their strength suffices to press back the bone against its body. Despite its eyes being nothing but dark holes, Ethan feels them staring at him.

The absence of any fear or sense of urgency at the colossal Lovecraftian sight shakes Ethan. While Rest's influence was a boon on the tower, he loathes it now for calming his heart in this deadly situation. His attention shifts to Seraphel's minions, the second menace. While Lucien stares at the beast, his men could attack Ethan in the back with their guns or unknown spells.

Frost coalesces around Ivy, forming into ice spears floating next to her. She lashes her hand forward, and they shoot in its neck, piercing the rotten scale and bones. Black blood drops to the platform, bubbling like molten tar.

The gargantuan monster's maw snaps open; a jet of dark-green gas expands from it. Ethan casts a shield; the breath swallows everyone, making their figures vanish.

Winds scream from where Ivy was, their howls echoing around. The gas swirls and rises off the platform, drawn to a tempestuous orb above Ivy. She aims it at the monster and reflects its breath attack, englobing its form in its own gas.

Hoping for the gas to be flammable, Ethan summons a fireball and throws it at the creature's maw. The spell strikes true, illuminating the darkness in scorching orange light. The gas ignites with a deafening boom that shakes the platform. A wave of heat explodes outward. For a split second, blinding flames shroud its upper half.

Cracks resound as the explosion tears through its bone plating. Chunks of dark, petrified scales and bone fragments rain down. The beast recoils in agony, a feral roar ripping from its maw.

Forms rise from the bubbling blood, twisted humanoids with asymmetrical limbs. They claw themselves out of the tar, revealing dark, hairless, scaled skin.

River appears from mist and stabs the first creature in the upper stomach. She pulls her dagger out and avoids a claw strike by twisting her head out of the way. Blood pours from the wound, as if its heart were lower than it should. The creature falls to the ground and melts into the same sludge that gave it birth.

River turns towards them and motions at her stomach. "Hit them low; that's where it hurts!"

The boss dives away from the platform, letting itself fall far below and out of their reach. It arches to rise back into the red skies, circling the platforms like a predator.

Lucien charges forward, striking the closest humanoid. His blade shines with light moments before the beheading blow. The flesh exposed by his blade burns with golden light, disintegrating into ashes. The creature melts into tar, spreading on the ground.

Ethan summons a fireball and hurls it at the pair of monsters rushing him. Their forms vanish in a burst of flames, their ashes carried away by the winds.

Lucien moves with ease, cutting through their ranks in a reckless charge. Claws reach him, but skit against his armor. He doesn’t see it, but the creatures he moves behind backtrack to circle him.

One of the monsters reaches Derek and Ivy. The Warrior kicks the lunging creature in the face, bringing it to the ground. It claws his armored pants in its fall, drawing blood from shallow wounds. Derek spins to the side and impales his blade in its neck. It writhes, clawing at the ground until Derek twists his blade, snapping its spine.

The monsters circling Lucien jump on him, swallowing him under a mass of writhing claws and teeth. His guards rush to his help, drawing both their short swords and pistols.

The flying beast‘s trajectory shifts as it dives back towards them. It roars, its maw dripping with dark-green flames. The red sun dims, its light obscured by the skeletal body of the gargantuan creature.

Ivy commands, 'Run to another platform!' She and Derek dash off to the side. Derek casts a glance at the overwhelmed Paladin and splits to rush towards Lucien. Ivy seems to think this place follows the rules of games; is it why she gave that order?

'Strengthening,' Ethan thinks before bursting through the platform. He leaps onto the next, reaching it first. From the corner of his eyes, he sees River appearing from thin air to break into a run. 'Does Veil limit your speed? I should know more about that ability; it's too dangerous.'

Derek rams his shoulder into the mass surrounding Lucien, breaking their ranks. He follows up with slashes that clear Lucien's flank. Despite only relying on his stored Ether for his abilities, Derek makes quick work of the beasts. Those reserves, however, dwindle in mere moments. He commands, "We need to move!"

Lucien grabs a monster by the neck and slams it into the others, breaking their hold on him. The monsters cut his face and forearms, yet the wounds knit themselves back up, leaving no scar. His blade melts the beasts, as do the bullets of his guards. The projectiles they shoot glow with golden light. Their impacts feel more powerful and devastating than they should.

Slaying the last creature, the three followers of Seraphel look up at the diving beast. Turning their heads to the next platform, to which Derek is already rushing, they break into a run.

Lucien overtakes Derek and leaps to River's side. He glances back and realizes, like the others, that his men are too far from the edge. "No!" the Paladin bellows. He moves forward, ready to jump back, but River catches his shirt, thinking that he doesn't have enough time.

Derek leaps from the edge as the monster unleashes a torrent of green flames that takes half the island. The breath attack licks his armor and clothes; the leather turns black and the iron rusts. He lands close to Ivy, holding his back where the flames hit the strongest.

Ethan extends threads of Ether and directs them to Derek, replenishing his reserves. Derek glances at his chest, unable to sense or understand what happened. He takes a red potion from his haversack and downs his contents. Parts of his armor fall off, revealing blackened flesh that heals back to white.

The beast flies off, and the flames vanish to reveal a dark ground. Two figures crawl on it, losing clothes, hair, teeth, skin, and then flesh to an expeditious necrosis. River shields her mouth, stopping herself from vomiting at the sight. Lucien stares at them, furious.

Ivy sidesteps to move next to Ethan. She hissed only for him to hear, "What are you doing? Don't stand here. What is it? Is it blondie that scares you? Can't you see that he will cooperate until we're done?"

Does she expect him to heal them? No, that isn't what she means. He's restraining himself from giving his all, and she understands why. But with the two of them dead, the threat is now manageable.

The beast flies back, this time crashing on the platform, its jaw's blade, and bones scaring the ground. The dying men are crushed, swallowed by the monster's body. They remain as nothing but smears as it flies off.

Trails of dark ooze bubble on the platform it wrecked. Masses rise from them, bigger and stronger than before. Some sprout three arms, while others bear hooked bone spikes on their body.

Lucien turns to Ivy. "You knew we had to get away from the platform. How do we kill it?"

"What?" Ivy stammers. "Well, its weak point has to be its heart, but it doesn't expose it."

The gargantuan beast dives at the edge of the platform, arching back to settle to its side.

"The wind spell you used. Can it make someone fly? Or at least control their fall?" Lucien barks.

"Maybe. I don't know," Ivy stammers, scarred.

"Well, you've got a minute to find out," Lucien commands. "Necromancer, get it to fly away with your fire. When it comes back to smash into the ground after his breath, we'll climb it and get to its heart."

'That's expecting it to repeat the exact same actions,' Ethan thinks. Lucien's posture, focused on the landing beast, makes him unthreatening to Ethan.

Ethan summons a fireball in each hand and throws them at the landing monster. They strike the base of its neck, spreading ichor that molds into monsters as soon as it splatters.

On the side, Ivy lifts Derek off the ground and moves him in the air under River's watch.

'Not powerful enough,' Ethan thinks. Despite the damage, his spells didn't even stagger the beast. He bolsters the threads of Ether he uses to form another fireball. It swells to a size overshadowing his, radiating a heat that vaporizes his sweat. He throws it, the spell arching down on its path, and strikes the top of its ribcage.

With not enough time to even claw at them, the monster dives off the platform and into the sky.

The minions born of its blood rush Lucien, who fell them with ease. He glances back to see Ivy nodding towards him and bolts to the next platform. Everyone follows, leaping one after the other to safety.

Ethan rolls his shoulder as he recovers his arms. He readies himself to cast a Shield, expecting the monster to divert from its pattern.

The flying beast dives, its maw filled with green flames. In the last moment, it contorts and aims its breath at them and not at the platform.

"Get close," Ivy commands. She holds her hands forward and summons a spherical gale to shield them.

Ethan forms a shield behind her winds, large enough to englobe all of them.

The green fire slams against Ethan's shield, licking hungrily at its edges. The intensity makes his spell shimmer and flicker. The tendrils of flame bend its shape, like pressing against molten plastic. Ethan focuses on it, guiding more Ether into the threads that weave the spell. Close to Lucien, and thinking of the next step, he refrains from overpouring into it. For a tense moment, it seems as though the shield might crack.

Ethan senses Ivy expending more Ether, breaking her limits to amplify the force of her spell. Her winds expand, turning into a column that sends the flames into the skies. Ivy's face turns pale, beads of sweat on her brow. Dark veins grow on her neck.

Derek catches her as she falls backward. She gasps for air, but her breath catches. It isn't her first time, not in the labyrinth at least, but she is paralyzed by the lifeforce exhaustion.

The monster turns around, flying low to ram into them.

"Only dodge its next attack when it cannot switch targets anymore," Ethan orders. He triggers Strengthening and bursts through the second platform to reach the first. He grabs one of the lingering monsters by the neck and bursts back, summoning Zhiznezhret. The monster thrashes, but the speed makes its limbs rattle in the wind.

Ethan comes back to the group before the boss' next attack. They stare at him and the monster he brings. Ethan thrusts the saber through the monster's stomach, where River indicated. The monster goes limp, and a sliver of red escapes it, drawn at once to Ivy. She gasps, grasping her heart and throat as colors return to her skin.

The boss does not come to an island but at them, aiming for the gap between the platforms. It crushes the sides, its bones cracking with each impact.

Ethan jumps in the air, aiming to land on the monster. Wind makes him fly higher as Ivy propels everyone else after him. He catches himself at the back of its body, right before its tail.

The monster sores high, and Ethan slips, taken by gravity. He summons Phantom Reaver and stabs the blade into a bone plate, stopping his fall. River falls by, and Ethan catches her by the forearm.

"Fuck!" River yells, her articulations nearly dislocating in the impact. She climbs up Ethan's arm and grabs the edge of a large bone plate. "Thank you."

The monster's body cracks along Ethan's length, releasing his blade as it opens into a toothy maw. It snaps at him, but Ethan lets himself fall to avoid the bite. He stabs his sword in its tail, coming to a stop after a cut a dozen meters long.

The monster arches forward, making it possible to stand once more.

Ethan coats Phantom Reavers in flames and bursts forward. He slashes relentlessly at its body, digging the blade deep into its flesh. The dancing trails of fire sear the wounds and vaporize its blood. Yet, dark tendrils spring to life in them, knitting its flesh and undoing the damages.

'It's useless,' Ethan thinks. He reaches the others who stand up from a net of vines. 'If we cannot damage its body, perhaps Ivy is right, and we must destroy its heart.'

Bubbling warts of ichor burst along its back. Humanoids with thick arms and talon-like claws climb from them and descend on all four to charge.

Mindful of the ground that could open into a maw, Ethan slices through the first creature. Flames flare from the blade, leaving the monster writhing in agony as it melts into black sludge.

"Get to the neck; that's where we'll climb down to its heart!" Derek shouts, spinning his sword in a defensive stance.

Ice spears burst forward, impaling three of the monsters and sending them into the void.

The boss exhales a gas cloud that glides over its body. Anticipating the explosion to blast them off the monster, Ethan dispels his flames. He hopes Ivy will deal with it.

Lucien charges forward, but his right foot dives into the monster's body, caught by a maw. The opening widens, swallowing him all, and bites down. The teeth grind against his armor, pressing against his body.

Seeing the gas, Ivy raises her hands and summons winds that deviate it away from them. Her gale sphere gathers the poison above her, expanding as it takes in the gas.

Derek rushes to help Lucien; a creature bursts from a pool of blood, lunging at him. Derek stabs it through the chest, but the creature's talons strike him along the arm and in the lung. Derek breaks away from the beast as it melts; he stumbles back, holding his bleeding chest.

Ethan's eyes dart to Derek as the Warrior staggers, blood seeping from between his fingers. Derek consumes the last of his Ether into triggering an ability, yet life force doesn't come to him. The boss writhes, forcing Ethan to duck and grab the ground. Derek doesn't react to the shock, and he falls off the monster.