Fucking damnit, Derrick!
Frustration filled my mind at realizing he'd just lost his final life in this gods-forsaken Labyrinth. Now, we'd be without his skillset until we finish all the parts of the Labyrinth and move on to the next Quarterly Event. Glancing up, the hooded light rogue was bouncing between the remaining blood beasts as the others, including that monstrous Blood Elephant, were very slowly regenerating. Looking back down, Derrick's body was gone, confirming he was officially eliminated.
*BOOM*
My hands spread wide trying to steady myself, rising shakily back to my feet as the world shook beneath me. The spire at the center of the canyon flared a bright blue beam of energy, further increasing its powerful stream piercing the sky. Somewhere in the distance behind it, a flash of light caught my attention only to find nothing of note in that direction.
That happened after we let the pillar be destroyed. Did we really start this?
Footsteps clapping rapidly at my flank sent my body into fight or flight, spinning back with my blades whirling around. Before my eyes could focus, blood splattered from the open maw of the blood tiger that'd been bouncing around the entire fight. A flash of white light along with the large splash of blood queued me to quickly shut my eyes as I blindly Water Stepped back, feeling my balance falter lightly not having my depth perception for reference. Glancing back, all that stood now was this me, and this hooded figure stood 20 feet away amidst a mess of wounded blood beasts and blood.
*BOOM*
Yet again, the world quaked as another massive beam of energy erupted from atop the spire. This time glowing a dark purple that spiraled into the sky.
"This isn't yours. Your assistance has earned you this one warning, now leave while more remain." The man barked from across the blood pool, pointing towards his badly battered pillar. A smile crept across the corner of my mouth as I began strolling over.
"You must understand I can't d-" I said, stopping at feeling a sensation at my feet that resembled a low river rushing by. Looking down, the blood soaked dirt surrounding the hooded figure and I began swirling into little blood currents, circling the spot that damned Blood Elephants sat regenerating. The other blood beasts however all collapsed into pools of blood, further feeding into the many currents flowing to the elephant. The sanguine beast's leaking body quickly mended its gash across the monster's stomach, layering waves of blood over the injury.
My eyes locked onto the elephant as I backed away, watching as blood streamed through its thick legs, swirling at its flat toes and shaping into long clawed toes. The beast quickly sat up on all fours as the blood vacuuming from around us filled its body. The beast's body grew exponentially, slimming its thick belly as its back legs continued extending. Within 20 seconds, the blood elephants' flat four legs had morphed into a set of bipedal legs and long, crimson clawed hands and feet. The sanguine monster rose upright, turning its still very wide eared head revealing its face.
A dozen small, glowing red eyes peppered across its long flat forehead and eye sockets glared down at me, each eyeball blinking sideways and out of sync. Its tusks multiplied 10 fold, now adorning a set of massive curving tusks like teeth. 3 trunks dangled from its face, each with a set of glowing red eyes on either side. The faces of countless beasts, many of which I don't recognize from any nature documentaries, writhed and lurched out from the monster's crimson chest, as if each had the intent to escape from within the towering scarlet beast. Seeing this as good a time as any, I ran an Identify hoping things were still manageable.
[Hemoplasmic Naiad (Level 18)]
Of course it isn't.
This supposed Naiad opened its tusked maw as a long blood serpent shot out, snapping its own set of sharp crimson teeth as it whirled toward me. Water Stepping diagonally, my attention locked onto the Naiad as its clawed feet sunk into a pair of puddles on the dirt. As I dashed closer, its body glided across the ground leaving a bloody trail that scurried after its host. Blood splattered behind, forcing me to slow down to avoid getting any of that shit on me. Not after what it did to Derrick.
A blinding white flash illuminated the Hemoplasmic Naiad's face, nearly causing me to somehow miss the beasts with my uncharged Lightning Bolt that clipped its shoulder. Blue streaks shot through its body as the hooded figure fell from the light above, landing no more than 15 feet away. Steam wafted from the Naiad's towering crimson shape as its lanky arms lifted high into the air. Thick streams of red liquid poured from its fingertips, pooling above its three trunks that all joined in funneling blood in front of its face. Within moments, a massive crimson sphere wider than its body expanded before blasting towards the hooded light warrior and myself.
The air whizzed through my cowl Water Stepping away from the hurtling ball of blood. A powerful blast right behind me was all the indication I needed to double up on my movement skill, dashing significantly further as a considerably heavier draining sensation in my gut followed. As my hand grazed against the battered pillar as I passed by, a cacophony of guttural, high pitched screeches filled the sky behind me before I could even address the assumed loss of mana as I glanced over my shoulder. Massive blood forms of wolf-sized eagle heads peppered the ground behind me, each collapsing into a puddle on impact.
Dirt slid out from my boots with every sudden change of direction, evading the last of the raining eagle heads. In a blink, the Naiad's whole body collapsed formlessly into the dirt, rushing forward and arching up into a massive maroon wave. A dozen glowing eyes shone through the collapsing wave, my blades flourishing around me realizing there was no avoiding its massive reach. Seeing a glimpse of my reflection in the red wave, an amalgamation of frustration, confusion, and overall disillusionment with this Objective's feasibility all compiled into a surge of hatred that flared through my chest.
What I can only describe as an invisible punch in the stomach followed as I slashed my blades through the crashing blood wave. Blue light bordered my distorted, rose tinted vision as I burrowed through. For a second, the very blood in my body felt as if it was trying to leap out of my skin before a soothing rush of warmth dissolved the sensation away immediately. My vision cleared in a second and final blue flash, my stomach aching as if I hadn't eaten in…well, as if it mattered I hadn't had a meal in a month.
A single breath escaped my lungs before dashing forward in response to the heavy swishing quickly whirring behind me. My eyes shot open before I could look back, twisting my shoulders to avoid crashing into the light warrior that flipped acrobatically over my head. Looking over my shoulder, the hooded warrior continued into a second front flip, slamming their heel into the crimson tusks rising from the sentient mass of blood. Another flash of white light forced me to avert my gaze, only hearing his boots slapping against the blood pool as he landed.
The Naiad roared in pain, its voice taking on several uncanny tones. My chest and ears rattled and rang while shuffling toward the crimson monster, hoping dearly that permanent hearing loss wasn't a thing anymore. As my blade lunged toward the Naiad, a massive rush of Flow suddenly illuminated throughout its body, shooting up from the ground. Before I could react, another pair of bright white bursts flashed overhead, blasting the Naiad's skull and interrupting its sudden downward slam attempt. Its three trunks had just formed when the warrior blasted a pair of holes in its face, though the sanguine abomination continued smashing what was left of its face into the dirt around us all the same.
The hooded figure slid across the blood covered floor beside me, his eyes darting back and forth between myself and the actual problem here. I quickly shook my head in disapproval before slapping my blades together, firing another jagged bolt of lightning into the actively regenerating Hemoplasmic Naiad. It ugly tusked maw had just reformed when the bolt hit, dispersing instantly into a web of blue light causing its entire face to collapse into the blood pool. Steam continued pouring out the top of the Naiad as its arm extended several feet at its side, swinging around and collapsing around the Pillar. The arm severed around the pillar, sending a wave of blood falling into a pool surrounding the light warriors pillar.
The hooded light warrior's head snapped onto the pillar, Flow surging up his leg within a blink. The Naiad however, continued spinning around with its second arm unnaturally extended outward. Without thinking, my blades clinked together firing another Lightning Bolt before dashing forward. The bolt ripped through the Naiad's second arm at the elbow, causing a severed section to lose its shape midair. My eyes shot wide spotting the light warrior standing just under the incoming blood wave, instinctively firing my grappling hook at him before activating Water Step.
Just as my hook latched around the light warrior's ankle, his foot planted hard onto the floor erupting into a white flash. Water Step surged my body toward the Naiad's flank, hoping to drag the hooded figure away from the incoming blood wave hurtling from above. Instead, a sharp pain sliced at the inside of my shoulder sending my feet flying out in front of me. My shoulder slammed into the blood pool below before realizing the light warrior tried running the other way, instantly pulling my grapple line taught and whiplashing us both back to the floor.
My arms practically punched off the floor to get my face out of the energy-vacuuming blood that covered the dirt. Lightning mana melted the blood that drenched my face, hair and chest, but not before a significant drain aggravated my developing stomach pain twofold. As my mana's blue light dispersed into the air, the Naiad's wide tusked maw nearly filled my vision as it suddenly emerged from the blood pool a mere 10 feet away.
Fuck it.
Clenching my teeth, sharp stabbing pain shot through my gut as Water mana engulfed my blades. Blood and Water sprayed across my vision as Tidal Flurry activated, launching my body through the Naiad's massive snapping jaw. My mind put out the splitting pain in my stomach that was certain to creep up later, finding an odd comfort in this last ditch decision. Every step towards this monstrous blood monster resonated with Flow and Water Mana alike, their currents traveling almost parallel throughout my body.
As I slipped through the Naiad's gnashing maw, all of my focus centered onto each movement, every twitch I performed filled with both intent and instinct. As if every reactive slash to the beast's mouth above and below me to avoid being crushed was a well thought out plan conceived in a millisecond. Within moments, the thick translucent red wall at the back of its neck was within striking range. Slicing several times across the back of its throat in a spinning flurry of swipes, the daylight filled my face as I breathed through the back of the monster's neck.
Rolling through the massive pool of blood that covered the dirt, a final surge of lightning mana burned through the blood soaked into my robes before the pain in my gut nearly forced me back to my knees. Peering over my shoulder, the Naiad remained halfway emerged from the blood pool, writhing and gripping at its neck. A bright orb of light emerged above the Hemoplasmic Naiad, revealing the hooded figure holding it in his palm. In one fluid motion, his fist slammed his ball of light onto the top of the Naiad's melting skull. Blood covered the sky as the monster's head exploded on impact, forcing me to weakly leap away from the pool onto dry dirt.
The Naiad let out another final cacophonous screech as it collapsed into the blood pool, slowly shrinking in volume as steam wafted above. The Light Warrior dashed across the pool of blood, sliding across the dirt beside me.
"No way this thing's dead yet. Are you good to fight?" He asked in a surprisingly concerned tone. Unsure myself, a sharp pain prodded at my gut as I rose to my feet. But, it wasn't anything near the pain of true mana exhaustion, something I'd certainly flirted with enough to know I can still move and lean on my massive stamina pool.
"Yeah, I'm g-"
*BOOM*
Before I could reply, another massive blast filled the air and shook the ground underfoot. The massive spire at the center of the canyon erupted yet again, blasting a beam of black, sky darkening energy into the clouds above. The rumble must've stirred the Naiad, as its head slowly began to rise from the pool.
"Okay, I got no mana s-" as I began forming a plan of attack with the light warrior, I noticed a faint glint of Flow manifesting in his hips. A rush of panic and pain filled my stomach before realizing the signs, throwing my head to the side and lifting my blade in its place. The light warrior's glowing fist flew past my face, impaling himself onto my blade at the shoulder as he passed. Blinding light gleamed off his hand, forcing me to blindly swipe at where I hoped the warrior stood as I shuffled away. My vision returned rather blurry, though I could make out the red covering half the warriors white robes meant he was at least hurting.
"What the fuck man?!" I yelled, only realizing his sudden urge to murder me after verbalizing my dissatisfaction. Those explosions…they were the same as what happened when Derrick and I lost our Pillar to that freakshow of a demon. I assumed we caused a chain reaction, but it wouldn't make sense to keep happening so out of sync. Especially when neither of us were anywhere near some of these explosions. It didn't take long for me to recall how many earth rattling explosions sounded off either, and right now…we were at 9.
This is the last Pillar left.
Gritting my teeth and blinking quickly to clear my vision, I began dashing toward the wounded light warrior when a loud swishing at my side sent me into flight mode, dashing to the side away from it. The light warrior's leg swung up high at the corner of my vision, flashing a bright white light that was quickly consumed in a tsunami of crimson blood. Every fiber of my being screamed 'run faster' watching the blood waves massive shadow growing around me. Looking up, it was clear there was zero chance I was going to outrun this wave, regardless of my agility and unreasonably large stamina pool. The constant stabbing into my gut made my low mana points glaringly apparent with every step, but at least this pain was familiar, and mine.
With nothing left but pain on the table, zero hesitation crossed my mind in activating Water Step. The light splashes at my legs that had at first confused and honestly annoyed me now felt rather soothing, like a liquid silk brushing across my legs. Still, the Naiad's bloody wave hung over my head, rapidly descending with every second. Another Water Step practically launched my body forward even quicker, to the point my feet struggled to keep up with my pace as I rifled just out of the crashing blood wave. Just as my body collapsed to the dirt, a rather familiar excruciating stabbing in my gut finally made its presence felt as Mana Exhaustion settled in.
Laying face first, all I could see behind me was the writhing blood pool, slowly rising up into the Naiad's terrible 3 trunked form. It was smaller, considerably smaller, but still towered above me and moved without any signs of fatigue in the slightest. Behind him, the light warrior crawled on all fours through the blood pool, his soaked white robes turned completely crimson.
No fucking way you're still breathing.
At this point, I'm not entirely sure what I could've done to win this Objective. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if we got blipped into a D grade Objective by mistake or something if I hadn't ran an Identify on the monsters here, because this was fucking impossible. Both bosses I'd encountered were abominable amalgamations of affinities, animals and otherworldly monsters alike. Neither were beatable, wielding insane power levels and abilities I've never seen. Maybe if Korbin and I dropped in here, we may have had a shot at figuring this place out and gaming it a little. Instead, I lay here in agony, feeling my health drain in place of my empty mana pool as my body clung to life.
In moments, the Naiad rose to its full form and began making its way toward the pillar. Not willing to engage in this state, I continued laying motionless as it meandered its way past me. The blood pool that was left by its severed hand earlier swirled back into its liquid body, its head rising a few inches higher as it absorbed its apparent reserves.
Just stay awake Tom.
My thoughts only focused on breathing, hoping I could figure out a way to win this so long as I'm alive to think. Just as the Naiad's claws reared back to slam into the badly battered pillar however, a white light arcing through the sky zoomed toward the Naiad.
"NO!" The hooded lights warrior bellowed, his hand cocked back for a final attempt at defending his pillar. The Naiad's head spun around, facing backwards with its tusked maw agape. Two of its three trunks latched around the lunging light warrior, pulling him into its mouth before ripping through his skull and body in three powerful bites. A labored chuckle slipped from my mouth, feeling a sense of satisfaction at that asshole getting his. The Naiad froze on its final crunch, its 12 red eyes locking onto me.
"Oh shit."
The Naiad glided across the blood soaked dirt, closing the 30 foot distance in a blink with its jaw agape, the light warrior's limbs still caught in its tusks. It took the rest of my strength to cover my face, not wanting to see this thing rip through my body. My eyes clenched shut as I braced for my imminent death, my muscles shivering with fatigue. After several seconds however, I noticed the air was far cooler, as well as a severe lack of rocks jabbing my backside.
Fluttering my eyes open, I looked over my arm to find Korbin standing with his arm in front of the rest of our squad. All of them were red in the face, cheeks filled with air when I peered up before bursting into laughter. All except Derrick, who was only clapping with a smile in the back.