NOVEL NEXT 3.18: Stormgulls
An arc of blue lights zipped at a swooping Stormgull, and Henry watched as it dodged his attack by dropping out of the air for a couple of feet, abandoning its dive toward the harried Treeguard to look at who'd just attacked it, only for the second, third, and fourth arcs to crack into its thirty-feet wide body an instant later, sending torn feathers and blood flying as it fell down to the platform where the Treeguard riddled it flailing wings full of holes. It had tried to dodge Henry's follow up strikes, but it had found its body locked within a purple-hue of restricting force.
Henry let go of his telekinetic grip, head pulsing with a dull pain at having to immobilize such a powerful creature. It was a mid-B-rank monster, so it wasn't as taxing as keeping the larger one still, but after having already done the same maneuver a couple dozens times on the damn things, the headache was getting worse.
"[At least we can kill the smaller ones easily enough,]" called out Maurice as he whipped out of the way of a smaller swooping bird. Henry had assigned one of his Octominds to act as a pilot for the crab, so Maurice could control the limb he was held within. The crab watched as the white and blue bird who'd just missed him swung around to try and grab him once more, only for Maurice to dodge at the last second, revealing a black sphere that suddenly appeared right in the path of the low B-rank Stormgull.
The bird impacted the imploding bubble, and Henry barely heard the crackling squelch as the monster was pulped and broken in an instant.
"[There's just too many of them. And their boss is… holding up well,]" Henry said, holding a few arms up at the windblades that came at him. His skin was split open across his arms, but he quickly healed the shallow cuts with a pulse of Life Surge as whipped out an arm and barely touched the high B-rank that had tried to soften him before it had swooped down. As soon as he suckers made contact, he let out a Predation-empowered Lightning Discharge that made the bird seize, at which point he managed to get two arms around it and as the red electricity arced all over its body, he pumped it full of tranquilizing and Fulminis Bane venoms through Voracious Grip, the latter which he'd gotten from the Thundermaw kraken. The substance seeped into the B-rank, making its flesh more vulnerable to his electricity, but it still had plenty of vigor left in it. After all, it was a high B-rank. Henry estimated it was in the 70s. Maybe even 80s. But the cocktail of venoms he was pumping into it were taking their toll, and so he followed it all up with an activation of Siphoning Touch.
Blades of wind exploded out of the shaking bird as it screeched, and more of the flock came down on them, but Henry didn't let up. With a grunt, he summoned a handful of clones and set them up to push against the onslaught while continuing filling his captured target with venoms, adding some numbing effects to the cocktail while he let out another Aspect empowered Lightning Discharge.
Phantom-like arcs of blue light filled the air as the glossy black clones of Trickster's Shadow whipped their many arms up, floating a few inches above the ground with their own application of Telekinesis. Their Echoing Arm skills weren't as powerful as his own, but they were plenty enough to force the oncoming birds to re-consider.
"Have the clones focus on the smaller ones. Focus-fire on one bird at a time," he ordered an Octomind before he gave it control over the clones as he turned his attention back to the bird in his arms.
The monster shuddered and trembled as it tried to extricate itself out of his grip, but with every second that went by, more of its lifeforce and strength was stolen away, and when Henry believed it was on its way out, he focused back on the fight above, which was much more of a concern.
Velistraine fell back down to one of the platforms, landing on her right leg and stumbling as she kept looking up. She edged closer to the platform's center, and he didn't miss how she favoured her right leg. She had taken a nasty cut on her left thigh from the bird, but it seemed she still couldn't put weight on her left leg, even though the wound had already closed up.
As for Zerathstra, he was keeping the bird busy, but neither had the upper-hand. The ape was standing on a summoned, giant leaf, batting the scythe-like arcs of intense blue-light being swung his way and dodging those which went wide.
Henry found that a little alarming. He had thought Zerathstra had been holding this city for a while now, so how come two A-ranks were struggling against just one? Was an offense of this caliber just… rare?
Henry tried not to dwell on it and just kept thinning out the swooping gulls. Maybe the big bird just had an advantage, considering how easily it could dodge and disengage.
Or maybe we're just unlucky, and an actual powerful creature has just showed up.
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"[Do you think we can help?]" asked Maurice as he peered up at the bird as it beat its wing and threw back the oncoming Velistraine.
Could they?
"[I think… if I used everything I have, I might be able to keep it still for a second before I'm completely out of commission. I can't even imagine the backlash I'd get from trying to hold that thing still. So… maybe we can give it a shot if things are really looking grim, but otherwise, we should focus on those we can affect more effectively. The B-ranks.]"
The two focused back on the swooping and shooting Stormgulls, but Henry never stopped thinking of what he could do to tip the balance. He could maybe pool his Octominds and add a couple of clones to help support him?
No matter how he twisted his plans around, he didn't see how he'd walk away scott-free. If he tried to get up there and use his venoms, he'd get shredded, even if he made it up there. Stealthing his way up there wouldn't work either. He wasn't a natural flyer anyway, and that thing most likely had an amazing sight. Probably the best he'd ever encountered.
Approaching a little and trying to lock it with Telekinesis is the best plan… but man is it going to hurt.
A few minutes went by and by now, the Stormgulls' number had significantly dropped. The Treeguards of Thalis were holding them off pretty well, so it was now or never if he wanted to contribute to the fight up there.
Things weren't too grim. But if he contributed… he'd bet that'd be worth an achievement or too. After all, he was about to hit B-rank himself, and he was going to have a chat with a certain omniscient being soon. Though if he did get up there, it was going to get dicey, a he'd rather be alone for that.
"[Maurice. I'm going up there. I need to leave you with a clone.]"
Henry braced, expecting an onslaught of arguments out of the crab for daring to suggest he was leaving him behind but instead, the chirpy response almost made him pause. "[Got it! I'll protect the clone. Are you teleporting to it?]"
Maurice had quickly pivoted and was already detaching himself from the limb that had been holding him after having lowered it to the wooden platform. Henry shook his head and let go of his friend as he peered up at the sky. "[I expected you to give me more of a hard time.]"
"[We're in the middle of a fight! I'll do that later,]" he chirped.
Henry chuckled and floated up while his clone got a hold of Maurice. "[Fair enough. And yes, in case things go south, I'll teleport to it and we pivot.]"
After telling the Octomind in charge of that clone to immediately tell him in case of danger, Henry slowly lifted himself up. He didn't need to get all the way up there, just close enough that he'd be in range to speak to Zerathstra. When he got there, he spoke to the ape as soon as the latter disengaged from his last exchange. After all, he didn't want to be the distraction that got the guardian injured. "[I can try to immobilize for a second at most,]" Henry said to both Zerathstra and Velistraine as she hopped up over thin air.
Three pairs of eyes immediately swivelled to him, and Henry stilled at the Windscythe King's attention. The air about him turned heavy and went quiet as an invisible pressure filled the space. It was like standing in the eye of the storm, and at any time, the peace could be broken, and a whirlwind of blades and sharp edges would shred him where he stood.
The A-rank's aura didn't even feel like it was targeting him, but it was overbearing, and deep within him, his own Aspect pushed against the influence, but while they were putting up enough of a fight, it wasn't anywhere near enough to push away the heavy gaze of the predator ahead of him.
It was just enough that his own spirit wasn't squished under the monster's attention. Henry grit his beak, but he refused to back away. Not that he could fly higher, either. Had it heard his telepathic message? It didn't seem like it. Just that it noticed the movement, and maybe noticed the skill itself. At least, he hoped that was the case.
"[If you can, go for it. It would certainly save us some time if you can give us an opening]," said Velistraine, hopping a little away from the bird as she waited to see if his plan would work.
"[Don't get hit, Henry,]" warned the ape. "[You might not survive it. Let us know when you're about to begin.]"
Henry's skin suddenly felt clammy. The intense yellow eyes of the giant bird looked away from him, and part of the weight he could feel on his soul lifted.
Then it flicked its tail feathers, and a swarm of zig-zagging, air-cutting arcs came flying at him.
He just had to not get hit. How hard could that be?