"Come on!" I yelled to Derrick between evading two disgusting globs of what felt like utter decay hurtled at me by a pair of Morelians. Shuffling over the corpses of Phanthu's soldiers and other Morelians, I snapped a hard front kick into the first one's chest, kicking off and using the Flow to twist into a lunging stab through the second shriveled little dark green mushroom. The whoosh of Derricks halberd averted my attention back towards him, watching as his weapon shattered a water mage's collar bone piercing with a blood curdling squelch.
"Working on it!" He yelled back, teleporting in a puff of Violet dust a couple feet away from a barrage of opaque waves crashing where he originally stood.
"Just run!" I yelled, turning back towards the three headed Necropenthi rampaging between us and the remaining future gods battling at the fissure. It's incredibly plump, muck leaking body was much larger than its tiny, branch-like legs it waddled on making it rather slow. Still, its three snapping maws all moved independently, attached to thick 4 foot vines putting anything in its immediate vicinity in danger.
Screams and a low rumble from the subtle tremoring underfoot filled my ears, sprinting for the Necropenthi. My eyes shot wide open in anticipation, seeing all three of its heads' attentions turned elsewhere from my approach on its backside. Finally reaching striking distance, a blinding flash of orange light interrupted my leaping slash, accompanied by a concussive force repelling me back through the air. Pulling my legs over my head, my knees slid across the stone as I barely managed not to land on my head. Looking up, the Necropenthi lay writhing, its entire body covered in a rather familiar orange flame. Cassi emerged from behind the Necropenthi as it struggled trying to put itself out on the floor.
An oblong bubble of water sliding from the bottom of Cassi's bo staff accelerated to the attack end as she slammed her relatively new weapon into one of the Necropenthi's jaws. Steam sizzled from the area her watery power strike landed, while its thick, sickly bodily fluid poured from the mangled impact wound.
"Quit fucking around, you got Phanthu!" Cassi yelled with a furrowed brow before gliding toward the fissure. Derrick's heavy footfalls behind gave all the green light I needed to follow after Cassi.
"Hey?! Phanthu's the other way!" Derrick yelled through heavy breaths chasing behind me.
"You're going to jump that fissure? Be my guest!" I yelled over my shoulder, pointing at the near 60 foot gap in the earth separating us from Phanthu. While I'm fairly certain I had a chance at making it over with the help of my insanely high agility and grapple hook, Derrick well…he doesn't have either of those. His best chance was to hitch a ride on one of those Mycelium-tendrilled giant mushrooms the Morelians and Necropenthi used as transportation to rise from the fissure. Luckily, several of them were dropping off reinforcements for Hyphaelius at his flank, the same flank Cassi was pursuing. Further ahead, Korbin and Lonni fought back to back in a dome of orange energy tearing through the dozen or so Morelians locked in with them.
"There, there's your ticket!" I yelled, pointing as I changed course toward one of the rotting giant mushrooms rising from the fissure depths with Morelians standing on its capped head. Finally getting close enough, I ran an Identify on the strange fungi.
[Porcilinae (Level 10)]
"OhhGOOD! Yeah I'll get right on that!" Derrick shot back sarcastically before peeling off from behind me, heading directly after Cassi.
"No Derri- DAMN IT!" I growled frustratedly while chasing after him. Luckily his slow pace wasn't hard to catch up to. Before I could get my hands on him however, the stone under our feet shook violently as it began rapidly crumbling. My arm hooked under Derricks armpit, as the other fired my grappling hook blindly toward the first fissure. For a split second, both Derrick and I entered free fall as the ground separated from beneath us, unveiling a lightless abyss below.
"OH SHI-Ugh!" Derrick's yell was cut short from the whiplash of my grapple hook snagging onto something, halting our descent as we dangled around falling stone and corpses. I began willing my hook to retract, slowly lifting us up towards the 'surface' when the sound of scuttling on stone drew my attention back toward the abyss. Looking down, 4 giant tendrils made of black, twisting mycelium strings slammed into the newly formed fissure walls.
"Fuck me, really?!" I yelled angrily, grunting as I struggled to hold Derrick locked under his armpit.
"Lock your legs around me." I told him, while trying to create a swinging momentum. Derrick locked his legs around my hips, making for a moment I'm certain neither of us plan to acknowledge in the future.
"Okay, climb up the hook line!" I yelled, shaking blood into the arm that was holding Derrick's armored frame.
"What? No we'll make i-"
"FUCKING. CLIMB." Derrick wordlessly shimmied up my back, stepping his boot off my face while climbing the few feet needed to make it up. As he scrambled over the edge, a giant tendril smashed into the stone just under my swinging midsection. Slamming my feet down, I kicked off the tendril using it as a platform yanking hard on my grapple line with both hands. The momentum flung me up and over the edge, where my grapple sat wedged in the crack stone floor. Derrick stood in front of me, staring at the newly formed fissure we emerged from.
"Wake up, time to move!" I yelled, slapping his chest and sprinting back toward the first fissure. At its center hovered the abomination Hyphaelius rode in on from its hundred of mycelium tendrils, with himself and Cassi currently in melee. Korbin stood a few feet further atop the three headed monster, blasting ranged fire attacks at Phanthu and his mages on the other side of the fissure. I ran an Identify on the towering beast that resembled a mixture of the Necropenthi and Porcilinae before running along one of its giant tendrils.
[Porcilipenthi (level 12)]
Oh, that makes sense.
Running along the narrow tendrils, I sprinted about halfway across when it occurred to me I couldn't hear Derrick's gear bouncing behind me. Turning back, Derrick was still less than quarter of the way across with his hands out, carefully stepping heel over toe.
"Derrick?! Come on dude this is no time f-" another stone-splitting earthquake shook the caverns, causing more giant stones to collapse from the cave roofs, cascading around us into the fissure. I dropped down, wrapping my legs around the tendrils and kicking my foot under my knee in a triangle. My eyes glanced up in time to watch as Derrick's wobbling feet slipped from the thick twisting mycelium tendril.
Closing a single eye, my grapple hook blasted toward the vicinity I could only guess Derrick was falling into. The prong fired into the abyss, smacking into his chest plate. Derrick scrambled to grip onto the prong, spinning the rope around his arm as before the full length of my hook line extended.
"AHHHH mother FUCKER!" I screamed in agony feeling the muscles and tendons in my shoulder rip under Derrick's weight dangling somewhere around 40 feet below me. A few dark strings that comprised the tendrils snapped under my legs from the pressure, causing it to bow in under me.
Fuck, I got to get him off me.
Looking down, Derrick had already begun swinging his legs back and forth.
FUCK, this is going to hurt so, so bad.
Biting into the fabric on the side of my cowl, I began swinging my dislocated arm with Derrick's momentum, sending a cacophony of cracks popping inside my shoulder. I yelled a gutteral shriek into the cloth in my mouth while Derrick picked up momentum. With each swing I desperately fought the urge to remove my grapple hook altogether, and let Derrick plummet to the abyss to watch the rest of the fight in the waiting area. Yet, the image of all the innocent Khotunn sprawled across the settlement sent enough self-hatred surging through my veins to continue my excruciating task. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime of pain, Derrick released his grip landing atop the head of a Porcilinae.
My arm remained dangling limply at my side as I tucked the tendril under my armpit to summon a health potion from my Locket of Minor Holding. Popping off the top, I spat out the Cowls cloth and tossed the potion down my gullet before swinging up to my feet. The tendons in my shoulder cracked and bent back into form with every sprinting step across the Porcilipenthi's tendril, beelining up the back of one of its snapping maws towards the future god. Dark green energy emitted from his palms summoning dark roots from his monstrous creature's body, deflecting Cassi's strikes.
Korbin unleashed a ball of fire from above his hands toward Phanthu's men, who were collapsing around Derrick across the fissure when I ran past him. Cassi's guttural groan from atop the Porcilipenthi's middle head immediately caused me to change course, planting my foot and leaping towards her when Korbin bolted past me.
"I got it, GO!" Korbin commanded sprinting up the back of the Porcilipenthi's head, dragging his battle axe through its fleshy, distended skin behind him along the way. Reluctantly, I kicked off its head, leaping onto its tendril connected to the other side of the fissure. Sprinting across, I watched as Derrick apparently caught his rhythm. His body blipped from existence, avoiding multiple crashing waves of dark, deathly water. In an instant he reformed from a puff of void mana, slicing his violet glowing halberd into the neck of a Phanthu mage. Another pushed forward, before collapsing having a small section of ankle practically deleted in a small flash of violet light.
Relief washed over me seeing him handle himself while I made my way to their side, slowly rolling my arm that had just been torn free from its socket a few minutes ago. Terra is certainly owed a raise of some sort when this is over. Just as quickly as my stress was alleviated, a massive shadow moved over Derrick. Looking up, a body of opaque fluid spiraled above him, condensing itself smaller and smaller. My foot pounded against the stone floor on the other side as I spotted Phanthu, waving his open hand at the spiraling ball of deathwater looming over Derrick.
Mages turned to greet me as their beloved god of serenity as I sprinted past, my eyes locked onto Phanthu who smiled deviously watching Derrick cut through his forces, sizing up his killing blow. His eyes darted to the side, his posture straightening as he spotted me. As I quickly drew closer however, his brow furrowed backing away from me.
Shit.
My feet slid across the stone floor slowing my sprint, not seeing a better chance to strike. A jagged stream of lightning surged from my clashing blades, its energy instantly spreading across the dark swirling water Phanthu pulled onto himself. I continued forward, not willing to give him any space to process my betrayal. Dashing into striking distance, the mass of water bursted outwardly, soaking me in its sticky, nauseating stench. The death mana within it immediately began eating through my skin, forcing me to let loose a flare of lightning mana from my twinblade to fry it.
A horizontal line of deathwater launched at me from behind Phanthu, each droplet jabbing into my skin through my robes like a million tiny needles. Another surge of lightning mana through my body quickly killed the sting before Water Stepping away from a floating dagger made entirely from deathwater. A clump of sickly water whirled by my face leaning away from Phanthu's close ranged cast. The musk of rot and decay being moistened by the formations of water rushing past me invaded my sinuses shuffling away from Phanthu's flurry of crashing strikes.
Air escaped from my lungs feeling my back collide with a squishy surface during my retreat, spotting dark blue cloth twisting in my peripherals. The mage's arm rose to redirect an attack aimed for Derrick, which I promptly stabbed into with one blade and slicing his throat with the other. Derrick's shape reformed right beside me, swinging his halberds into another one of Phanthu's mages chests with a heavy thunk. My eyes traced back towards Phanthu, spreading wide watching a tide of black water rising above Derrick, myself, and Phanthu's soldiers.
"BAIL!" I yelled, leaping up and kicking off a Phanthu mages chest. The towering swell hovering above violently came crashing down, creating a thunderous smack behind me as I dashed out of its wake. Chorus of mages screaming in pain filled the air as their deathwater-covered bodies quickly rotted away. Phanthu wrote a devious grin staring at the crowd of his men whittling away to dust, though his eyes remained locked on a single target.
Tracing his eyes, a jolt shot through my body spotting Derrick crawling away from the carnage with the lower half of his body completely black with rot and actively withering away.
"DERRICK!" I yelled, watching as a thin blade of deathwater skewered the back of Derrick's skull. His contorted face froze in place before the deathwater spear released its shape, slumping Derrick's face onto the stone floor. Phanthu's brow raised curiously at me as he glanced at Derrick's body.
"I assume you two were friends?" He wryly asked with a chuckle.
"Something like that." I replied through a scowl, gnashing my teeth in my mouth.
"Before I kill you, is there any particular reason you turned on me, outside of having planned to from the beginning?" Phanthu asked. My fists tightened around the handles of my blades at his audacity to play stupid.
"You lied about Zeldrich, you slaughtered entire families of Khotunn, you're actively lying to everyone about saving them because you want that worm to wake up. Need I say more?" I sarcastically asked through a scowl. Phanthu's smile dropped, raising his chin high in my direction before replying.
"And what of you, Tom? Did you really think I'd believe the 'Chosen of Galenthelos' wouldn't know anything about mana manipulation? He's never even had a Chosen because he doesn't do that. Spare me the virtue my friend, this only ends one way for you. For all of you." Phanthu shot back, raising a hand and summoning the deathwater covering the stone into the air beside him. I looked back at Derrick's half rotten corpse, feeling a surge of energy pulsing through my body.
"Real or not, I'm going to enjoy killing you. "