(Arc 2 Complete!) Path of the Last Champion [Sci-Fantasy LitRPG, Party Dynamics, Earned Power]

"Quiet!"

Sej's warning cut through their cautious, but bubbling excitement like a slap.

They had been walking in hushed whispers of excitement in the dimming red light, as according to the guide, they had actually made pretty good time and should be just about to reach the lake, and the safety and clear air its shores promised.

At her call however, everyone sealed their lips and went deadly still.

Nar pushed out his [Hearing], spreading it in a wide radius around him… Nothing.

The thorn covered branches were dead silent, and the red air hung even thicker, hotter and more suffocating that during the day. It was so still it felt unnatural, and a fresh line of nervous sweat dripped down Nar's side.

"What is that?" Jaz whispered.

"It sounds… Big," Jul said, her mental tone just as hushed. "And it's heading… Here?"

Nar caught it at the edge of his [Hearing] then. A scraping sound, accompanied with thunderous cracks and snaps… If he didn't know better, it sounded as though a giant herd was crashing through the top layer of branches in its rush to get… Them?

He turned back in the direction they had come from, and gazed up. Whatever it was, it was definitely coming from up there.

"Sej?" Leon asked.

"H-Hold on!" the guide said. "I don't know…"

Her expression was furrowed in thick uncertainty, but her wide eyes spoke of a growing panic. And denial.

"Are those wings I hear too?" Jaz asked.

"Pucks…" Jul whispered. "They're pucks!"

"But… How?" Sej said. "There shouldn't have been that many left after the blossoms! And they should've given up after those losses. So how are there so ma…"

A roar dominated the still jungle air, setting it to vibrate against their chests.

Then another one joined it.

And another…

"Run," Sej breathed.

"What?" Leon asked. "What is it?"

"Just run!" Sej shouted. "Now! Run!"

She took off at an impressive [Speed] and the rest of them scrambled to chase after her.

"What is that?" Jaz asked.

"I-I'm not sure!" Sej said.

"How are you not sure?" Mul asked, his tone going flatter by the end of the sentence.

"Because… Because I've never seen an epic before."

Silence.

"No…" Tuk whispered. "No."

"A-Are you sure?" Leta asked. "But the only epic in the Hungry Jungle is…"

"Yes, there are things in the Brightnight I've never seen before!" Sej said, her tone strained. "Me and Sarke stay away from anything that's too crazy, and one of those things is definitely too crazy!"

Another roar thundered from behind them. Whatever that thing was, it was getting closer, as were the pucks accompanying it.

"What is that thing?" Leon asked, his tone so calm it was almost cold.

"Beasts, flora, bugs or otherwise, are meant to fight and eat anything in this place. Even each other. Swarms fight one another, herds and flights are enemies, and there are clear boundaries and rules for everything," Sej explained. "The harrars gave up after we exited their territory, and not a moment sooner, no matter how much Nar decimated them. The pucks chased us from the very beginning, but they were destroyed by the blossoms and the survivors would've fled back to their nest. And we haven't gone anywhere near another nest to provoke this! And that? That is far more than just one nest of pucks…"

"Sej," Leon said again, his tone even calmer as their guide spiraled. "What is chasing us?"

"I… There's one beast that can change the rules… Every area in the domain has a ruler, and the one in here can command all the other beasts in the Hungry Jungle," the guide said, almost as though she couldn't say the words.

"The Thorn Hydra," Jasphaer whispered for her.

"Yes," Sej said, with the tone of one waiting for inevitable death. "I have no idea what it's doing all the way out here! Or how! It lives right at the heart of the Hungry Jungle! How… Why?"

"That does not matter," Gad said, her tone steady. "Can we fight it?"

"No," the guide said. "No! And especially not wrecked like this! And not with a thousand pucks with it!"

"Should we hide, then?" Leon asked.

"We won't be able to! The hydra somehow tracked us all this way! We wouldn't be able to evade it now," Sej said.

"Then we must reach the lake. It's the only way," Gad said. "Once we leave the jungle, it won't chase us, right?"

"Yes! But… " Sej said, and she seemed to stop herself short. "Yes, we'll be safe there. Not even the hydra will chase us out of the jungle, but the question is whether or not it will let us escape…"

"The [Theater of Thorns]?" Jasphaer asked.

"Yes…" their guide whispered. "Once that is in place, we won't…"

A triple roar sounded right above their heads, loud enough to threaten to burst eardrums, and something massive collided with the brambles, setting the whole jungle to shaking.

"It's here!" Sej shouted. "Watch out!"

With a mighty snapping and breaking, something pushed its way down towards them.

"It's breaking through all the fucking branches?" Mul asked in utter shock. "How strong is that thing? We're like a 100-feet from the top!"

"I told you that epics were something else! And this is one of the worst!" Sej snapped back. "You need at least eight parties to fight this thing!"

"And you wanted to fight one, Leon," Eum said, chuckling. "Happy now?"

"Shut up and…"

"Jump! Jump!" Jul and Sej shouted at the same time.

"Where?" Tuk asked.

"ANYWHERE!" Jaz shouted.

Shit! Nar thought.

He jumped up left, while Eum, who had fallen back to help him guard the tail end of the party, went low and to the right. With an explosion of splinters and sharp shards of black thorn, its insides revealed to be made of some sort of reflective, shiny material, something long and scaly broke through to snap at them.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Holy shit!" Jaz shouted, looking behind him.

Nar's eyes went wide enough to show the whites at their edges as he beheld an enormous snake head, coated entirely in sharp, twisting thorns of brown and red. He caught a glimpse of a black tongue in between purple fangs that were thrice his height, then the beast closed its immense jaws around the branch they had just been running on and ear shattering cracks filled the air as the wood broke and splintered under the hydra's powerful muscles.

And then, they left it behind.

"Did we make it?" Tuk asked.

"NO!" Jaz shouted again.

More cracks followed as the ruler of the Hungry Jungle slithered after them once more, and this time, a tide of screeches accompanied it.

"They're getting closer!" Sej said. "Faster! Go faster!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Tuk shouted, and Nar heard him bursting into a wild fit of coughing.

Damn that debuff! Nar thought. This doesn't look good! Damn it!

Twin loud cracks ruptured from above them this time, and Nar's [Instinct] screamed at him. He leaped down onto Eum's branch, and it was not a moment too soon. The creature's head came bursting through once more, closing around the spot where he would've been had he not switched branches. It was a scary, pin point accuracy from a beast that stood nearly 100-feet above them, and it also spoke of its mind defying size too!

From up ahead, Nar caught sight of the hydra's second head closing shut just shy of Tuk's ass, Jaz having to pull the trugger out of harm's way.

"Oh, my Crystal! Oh, my Crystal! Oh, my Crystal!" the ring tosser shouted as he coughed, holding onto Viy and Rel for dear life. "Please, please, please, plea…"

"If you can pray, then you can run faster!" Mul shouted. "Move it!"

"And stop talking!" Leta shouted at Tuk. "Breath, for fuck's sakes!"

"I… Am!" Tuk gasped.

"Bahahahaha!"

Nar glanced at Eum as though he had lost his mind.

"This is amazing!" the tygaris growled, his face morphed back to its original tiger shape beast form.

"What part?" Nar asked, perplexed.

"Is it not? Death chasing you! Your heart beating fast and strong, and your blood and aether raging through you!" the tygaris said, grinning widely and his emerald eyes glowing with the first hints of brilliant red already. "Come on, Nar! You're like me! I know it! Just allow yourself to feel the thrill of it! To enjoy it!"

Nar's [Instinct] shouted at him again, and he was forced to pull his incredulous eyes away from the blood crazed tygaris.

"Move!" he shouted.

"I know!" he said, leaping away. "Don't worry!"

This time, all three, thorny heads made a mad grab for the fleeing delvers, though once again, they were lucky, and the heads missed their targets.

This can't last, Nar thought, grimly. That thing's a fucking epic! It's gonna get one of us soon!

And surely it had more tricks up its sleeve… He hadn't quite focused as much on the epics, aware that they were far above what their number allowed them to achieve, but the words [Theater of Thorns] did not elicit much hope. Plus, he was sure that a beast of that caliber had far more tricks in its arsenal.

As if in response to his thoughts, the Thorn Hydra rushed forth, and with a series of mighty cracks and jumps, it crushed its way past them and kept going ahead.

"Where's it going?" Leon asked.

"Oh, no!" Sej whispered. "It's starting… Get ready! The branches are going to move!"

"What?" Calli asked, flabbergasted.

"Danger! Danger up ahead!" Jul shouted. "Danger… It's going to block us?"

Before anyone could ask the both of them what in the Pile they meant, there was a sudden, bright red flash from up ahead. The black branch shook from under Nar's feet, and suddenly it was as though it had gained a mind of its own! As though it were a real, thorn snake, the wood twisted and shifted, and shot upwards and sideways as though to shake them off!

"What the fuck is going on?" Mul shouted.

"It's the hydra's skill! It can control the thorns to create a battle arena!" Sej shouted. "It's setting up the first phase of its encounter, the [Theater of Thorns]!"

The beast rulers of the Brightnight had been explained in their prep work, but the intro line could be summed as "Stay well away from them. You cannot fight them without several parties. You will die if you try.", and other than Kur and Jasphaer, none of them had had the time to waste on something they wouldn't even be fighting.

But reality mocked them now, as the brambles grew into a frenzy of living snakes twisting and threatening to crush the apprentices in their deadly dance.

"Hold on!" Leon shouted.

Nar reached over to steady Tuk and Jaz, while Eum did the same for Calli and Jasphaer, and just as suddenly as it had begun, the branches became immobile once more, and the screeching pucks were audible again, still giving chance after the fleeing delvers.

Once again, they were on the run, until…

"We're here," Sej whispered. "Helenorea, please, have mercy of us."

Their mad rush through the brambles came to an abrupt halt, and for a moment, the hordes of pucks given chase were all but forgotten.

"Pile…" Nar breathed, as he stared upwards.

An enormous space had been hollowed out underneath the canopy of thorns. Beams of red light streaked in from above, illuminating an oval shape with a flat, uneven base of brambles. The walls were lined heavily with black thorns gleaming with the promise of excruciating pain, and even the floor of the theater was uneven and filled with thorns.

As for the Thorn Hydra itself, the Beast Ruler of the Hungry Jungle, the snake dangled upside down from the ceiling of the theatre, its body flat above the canopy, blocking the dimming light, and its three heads hissing, purple tongues tasting the air as six pairs of malevolent red eyes eyed the apprentices.

"We cannot fight that," Gad said, her tone matter of fact.

"The lake is right there," Leon whispered. "Right there beyond that wall… Just 500-feet away!"

"I'll burn us a way through!" Mul said.

"Too slow, and no need," Sej whispered, shaking her head as skinnier, twisting branches rose from the floor of thorns.

Curling and grappling with the air in a promise to thrust at, crush and smash anything that came within reach, those thinner branches looked more like living black, thorn covered tentacles, than they did wood constructs.

"Is it controlling those things too?" Calli asked. "And can it control the branches again?"

"The [Theater of Thorns] is a once per battle skill, and it used to set up this arena. If the hydra could actually control the branches, it would be impossible to fight it," Sej said.

"What do we do now, then, Sej?" Calli asked. "We need you."

"I… I'm sorry!" Sej said. "I've never fought an epic… I-I..."

"Focus. What do you know!" Calli insisted. "Sarke's life is on the line here too!"

There was a sharp intake of breath, and a ringing double smack echoed in the chaos.

Nar's eyebrows rose when he found Sej with both hands scrunched against her face, and as she took a deep, steadying exhale, Nar found himself doing the same, his posture easing alongside hers, and the effect spread through the party.

"You're right. I'm sorry," Sej said, her tone business-like. "Alright, right… Look, on the other side, do you see the exit?"

"There's an exit?" Mul asked, stunned. "Why?"

"Yes!" Calli said, ignoring him. "I do!"

"This is unusual, from what I've heard of these encounters, and it's just my guess, but I don't think we're actually meant to fight the hydra… I think the guardian of the dungeon has given us a hidden quest," Sej revealed.

"What?" Tuk asked.

"A quest… To escape this jungle?" Jul asked.

"Yes. That is the only explanation that comes to my mind to justify all of this," Sej explained, motioning at the arena, where even now, more wood tentacles were growing. "These quests happen on rare occasions when the guardian spots a surprisingly strong party and wants to further test them… And reward them. I'll explain more later, but right now, we need to cross the theater to get out of here. We don't need to defeat the hydra. In fact, we can't…"

"Will it let us, though?" Leon asked, eyeing the hydra.

"It will fight us, but not to the full extent of its power… I hope," Sej said, grimacing. "Our true challenge will be crossing those moving branches down there, and the thousands of pucks still coming! But we will need to deal with the Hydra as well!"

"So?" Gad asked.

"We run. We run now, before the pucks catch up!" Sej said, glancing behind her. "Come on, I'll explain more as we go!"

And their back in control guide leaped forward, and the rest of them gave chase. The floor of the Theater of Thorns was uneven, and it shifted under their feet, causing more than a few less [Agility] inclined people to trip and nearly fall into the crushing folds that opened and closed beneath them.

"Follow exactly after me!" Sej said, as Nar eyed the first towering, twisting limb of living wood and thorns as they approached. "I'll keep us out of range from those things, but Jul, warn me if you sense something! Tanks, spread out a little, you each need to taunt one of the heads and keep them from smashing into the party from above!"

"Each?" Gad asked. "Leon can't fight!"

"Of course I can!" the paladin protested.

"Leon… If you get hit by something like that," Jasphaer said, glancing up at the giant, three-headed snake. "You will die…"

"It won't hit me!" Leon vowed, his eyes blazing from under his helmet. "My barrier will protect me, remember?"

"Still…" Gad insisted.

BAAAAAM!

The tendril of wood smashed against the floor, shaking it from under them, and its tip reached just a half-dozen paces from Sej.

"Gods!" she whispered, the blue of her face turning blanched. "It reaches a lot further than I expected!"

The hydra roared from above them, uncoiling in preparation to attack.

"We have no choice now!" Calli said, ending the discussion. "I'm guessing Nar is the other tank. Nar, can you use your [Aura Blade]? Can you fight?"

"Always!" Nar said. And not a hint of doubt crept into his voice.

"Good! But I disagree with your plan, Sej! Gad needs to stay here and draw those pucks away from us and from Leon and Nar!"

"What? But there are three heads?" Sej said.

"Gad's not good for that kind of tanking," Calli said, pressing her lips as she jumped over a widening gap in the branches. "It takes either a heavy frontline tank like Leon or Tun, or someone crazy like Nar!"

Crazy, uh? Nar thought, eyeing one the beast's heads. One of its eyes was probably bigger than his chest.

"Gad?" Mul asked the tank.

"She's right, I must stay. It's where I can make a difference," the tank said, her rumble heavy with words and emotions unspoken.

"Leon, take the right head, and Nar the left. Then do what you can to share control over the middle head," the strategist commanded, her tone also laden with unspoken words. "Come on people, let's do this! The exit is right there! The lake is just beyond that wall! We don't need to win! We just need to survive!"