Path of Dragons

Book 6: Chapter 82: A Mad Dash

Elijah was very tempted to simply grab his friends, shift into Shape of the Sky, and use Lightning Rush. But he knew that wouldn’t work. For all his advancement, he knew he couldn’t carry them all for very long – maybe a few miles at most. No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than the entire forest was cast into shadow as something the size of a cargo jet passed overhead.

No - flying wasn’t an option.

Instead, he shifted into Shape of Thorn and braced himself for the oncoming monsters. As he did, Sadie took up a position on the other side, with Dat completing the triangle. In the center was Ron and Kurik.

“Efficiency!” shouted Sadie. “That’s the –”

A wraith crashed into her, and instead of being repelled like normal, it shattered her shield and bit down on her shoulder. She grunted, then rammed her blade between the creature’s ribs. It let out a screech, and she threw it aside. Even with its gaping wound, it didn’t stay down, but Elijah had to trust his companions to take care of themselves. He couldn’t spare the attention to keep track.

Because it was at that moment that a trio of wraiths rushed out of the underbrush and threw themselves at him. After seeing what had happened to Sadie, Elijah reacted better than his companion. He used Thunderclap, sending a pulse of pealing thunder to slam into his assailants. They faltered, stumbling to a stop, and he took that opportunity to lash out with his long, thorn-like claws.

His arms moved so quickly that he was briefly thrown off-balance, but it didn’t matter. The monsters had no opportunity to dodge, and with one swipe, the stunned creatures were ripped to shreds. His claws tore a quartet of gaping wounds in their emaciated torsos, shattering bone and bursting organs along the way.

Sadie’s strike had merely injured her attacker, but Elijah’s blow had completely eviscerated three foes. The only downside was that he almost spun himself around with the sheer weight of the attack, and it took every point of his Dexterity attribute to keep himself from falling. That brief opening was all the next wave – which came on the heels of the first – needed. They fell upon him with bestial fury, biting and clawing as they tried to get through his bark-like scales.

Elijah didn’t feel any of it.

More importantly, each attack was answered by a long, thick thorn the size of a dagger that pierced their bodies. And given the sheer volume of their attacks – as well as Elijah’s high attributes – the wraiths definitely got the worst of the exchange. Blood flowed, white and disgusting, as they threw self-preservation to the wind. Dozens of attacks fell upon Elijah as they clung to his body. Each one was mirrored by a thorn, turning the gangly monsters into meaty pincushions.

But as many wounds as they inflicted, the thorns were far from lethal. However, Elijah quickly discovered that they came with an added benefit. It took a lot longer than he would ever want to admit before he realized it, but with every passing second, the wraiths slowed considerably. And it was far more than simple blood loss could explain. What’s more, he was familiar enough with venom to recognize the toxic effects for what they were.

Even if it wasn’t listed as one of the effects that came with Natural Thorns, it seemed that they were toxic. He still needed to do some experiments before he knew exactly what they did, though, and it certainly wasn’t the time to investigate further, given that more wraiths were already on their way. And they weren’t likely to be very accommodating to testing.

The lethargy of his foes did give him some time to acclimate to his increased attributes. His body wouldn’t allow him to fully tap into his Strength, but such a huge influx of power was bound to come with some complications. He forced himself to concentrate as he fought, using short, quick movements that could take advantage of his new Strength without resulting in a loss of balance.

It worked, allowing Elijah to both take care of the wraiths and accustom himself to his increased power.

But as soon as those went down, more took their place. It wasn’t long before he was facing a wall of wraiths, with dozens having leaped upon him in an effort to bring him down via sheer weight of numbers. In the past, it might have worked, but the timely evolution of his most defensive form allowed him to endure their attacks while giving as good as he got.

His companions weren’t so lucky, though. Sadie held her own as well as she could, but she was taking a lot of damage along the way. Given the numbers they faced, the constant healing she required just to stay upright was going to take its toll. Dat fared slightly better, dodging in and out of battle and inflicting deadly attacks with his shortswords. However, it was clear that he wasn’t going to last any longer than Sadie. Judging by the amount of ethera flowing through his body, he was probably using some sort of short duration buff that let him keep up. When it faded, he would die.

Kurik hadn’t moved. Instead, he continued to yank things out of his new storage space, using the components to build some sort of contraption that looked less like a trap and more like a homemade satellite dish made out of a sawblade.

In short, the battle was already on the verge of being lost. Elijah felt certain that he would make it. And he would ensure Kurik’s survival as well. But the others? He couldn’t protect them all.

So, he decided to use the other ability that had come with his new Shape of Thorn:

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Domain of Vines

Create a domain of snaring roots with toxic thorns. Toxin causes lethargy and restricts the flow of Ethera. Potency based on Regeneration attribute.

He embraced it, and at first, nothing happened. Ethera swirled and flowed out of him, but to no outward effect. Then, suddenly, hundreds of vines burst from the ground in a shower of earth. Each one wrapped around a wraith, sawing into them with inch-long thorns. They howled and screeched, attempting to extricate themselves. They failed in that endeavor.

The effects of the spell were exactly what its explanation described, and yet, it was still surprising. Because the domain of vines extended almost a hundred feet in every direction, encompassing a truly staggering area of effect.

That’s when Elijah took a chance.

He shifted into his human form, then as soon as he could, cast Swarm. Hundreds of biting insects with glittering wings descended upon the still-immobile monsters, but Elijah paid them no attention. Instead, he was already casting Lightning Domain. Arcs of electricity burst forth from his body, whipping around and burning through the wraiths. He pushed the spell as hard as he could, and ethera flooded out of him. The electricity burned hotter, the range went further, and the whips were more plentiful.

Yet, he wanted more.

He screamed as more and more ethera burned through him. Hundreds of whips came to his command, spreading for dozens of yards in every direction. The empowered wraiths never stood a chance, and when Elijah finally let the spell fade, his core was down to a third of its normal capacity.

But the job was done.

The wraiths were dead. Many had been reduced to ash, but most had been burned down to blackened and smoking husks.

He whipped around, searching for more enemies, but there was nothing. As far as One with Nature could reach, he felt no wraiths.

“Elijah, I –”

He didn’t hear the rest of Sadie’s statement because his heart jumped into his throat a second before a tremor shook the earth. Then, another came only a moment later. And another after that.

The abyssal giant had noticed his fancy light show, and it clearly intended to investigate.

“Run,” he breathed. “We need to run right fucking now!”

Even as he said as much, the sound of cracking tree trunks swept over the area. He turned and shouted, “Now!”

Fortunately, no one questioned him, though Kurik did pause to fiddle with his trap – or more of a machine, really – before he obeyed Elijah’s order. It didn’t matter. Elijah shifted into his new Shape of Thorn, grabbed Ron, then the Dwarf – one in each arm – and took off. When he glanced back, he saw that both Sadie and Dat were keeping up, but that was not unexpected.

What he’d not expected, however, was the enormous foot that fell upon the previous location only a few seconds after they’d vacated the area. Nor did he expect the massive explosion that came only seconds after. Instead of fire and a shockwave, it did so with pure light, sending a kaleidoscope of color into the air.

The giant staggered backward, splintering another group of the redwood-sized trees. But Elijah hoped that the delay would be enough to see them to safety. Because if not, that thing would utterly destroy them. No tricks would save them. No fancy maneuvers. No new evolutions. It would crush them without skipping a beat.

Elijah knew that down to his bones.

Because the giants were clearly ascended. How that was true, he had no idea, but they’d left the mortal realm far behind.

The only solution was escape.

So they ran. For miles and miles, they sprinted across the landscape until they exchanged the forest for the more familiar jungles, though Elijah didn’t let it slow him down. Dat began to flag, and Elijah practically forced him to climb onto his back. When Sadie followed – nearly two days later – he had her cling to his chest. It was not a comfortable way to travel, but it had the advantage of speed.

Elijah didn’t have the Dexterity to dodge obstacles, but he was capable of leaping over anything in his way. That included trees, ravines, rivers, and masses of wraiths. The only thing he couldn’t simply go over or through was the abyssal giants, of which there were more than a few.

He lost count of their numbers. He might’ve even seen the same ones multiple times. But it was clear to him that there had been multiple rips in the shield surrounding the continent. Even if the giants didn’t act as evidence of that fact, the increasing corruption in the atmosphere did. That, in turn, empowered the wraiths, turning what had once been pests into very real threats.

But the journey wasn’t without benefits.

For one, it forced him to acclimate to his new form, and as he unlocked its potential, pushing it to heights he never would have dared in almost any other situation, he found himself awed by the increased power at his disposal. He wasn’t just strong. He was herculean. And that translated to the ability to reach speeds that never would have been possible before.

The form moved slightly differently than the lamellar ape as well, with a smoother gait. He struggled to think of an adequate comparison, though in his head, he likened it to the difference between a charging rhinoceros and a wolf.

The other benefit was that the journey necessitated his use of Unchecked Growth, which pushed his Regeneration to such ridiculous levels that it completely banished any fatigue and healed him entirely over the course of its duration.

Feeling the surge of vitality coursing through him, he had no doubts that it would be just as powerful as Guardian’s Renewal. Perhaps far more effective, given that it scaled with his Regeneration attribute. More importantly, that burst of healing was the primary reason he never had to stop.

If he’d been alone, he certainly would have shifted into his blight dragon form, used Guise of the Unseen, and made his way more carefully. But that just wasn’t possible if he wanted his companions to survive. The others helped, of course. When a fight was unavoidable, they did what they could to protect him. Sadie used her shields, Ron healed, Dat fired his crossbow, and Kurk threw out traps. Yet, their efforts were largely unnecessary, because he normally left any threats far behind before they could truly hurt anyone.

So, in the Shape of Thorn, he sprinted through the forest until, days later, he finally saw the Nexus Town. It was encased in a durable shield and surrounded by thousands of wraiths, but they clearly couldn’t get through the dome of energy. Elijah didn’t hesitate to leap over the mass of creatures and crash through the permeable bubble.

And just like that, he reached safety.

No sooner did that realization come to mind than his energy reserves finally gave out. He collapsed, his breathing ragged as he lost consciousness. He had the presence of mind to embrace his human form before he was overwhelmed by the blackness.