The Pinnacle Warrior

The feather serpent’s approach through the air was a strange, undulating slither. Different from any other creature that Astrid had ever seen, there didn’t seem to be any reason for the serpent to be able to fly. There were no wings flapping, no strong winds blowing, no apparent magic or force to keep it aloft, it simply moved as if the air was a liquid that the monster could swim through. 

As a testament to the entire species being peak predators, this first feathered serpent that the party laid eyes on had nothing to camouflage itself. Everything about it seemed to scream its strength and pride. Its vibrant, green scales and rainbow colored feathers stood out starkly against the sky as it hissed a challenge. Already braced, Astrid didn’t know what to do other than wait as the feathered serpent swooped in towards the party. Looking at the others, she was heartened to see Skandr chanting and moving his hands through a series of sigils. Astrid didn’t pay attention to the particular movements of his fingers, she wouldn’t have been able to tell what spell he was casting, anyways. Instead, she stood there, nervously waiting for the fight to begin.

“I hate not being able to do anything but wait,” she muttered.

“I have an idea,” Muti spoke, pulling Astrid from her anxious movement. She hefted her blades, seeming to calculate something, and Astrid got a bad feeling in her stomach.

“Don’t jump on the flying snake over the deadly fall.” Astrid’s command was greeted by a grunt of displeasure, but Muti didn’t say anything else after silently deciding to do as she was told. Astrid shook her head, disbelieving the Barbarian’s foolhardy thought. Then, as the serpent came even closer, Astrid felt her eyes widen.

The eels they’d killed on the thirty-fourth floor were large.

This feathered serpent was huge.

It stretched at least fifteen meters long, and as it roared, she could tell that when its draconic maw spread open, that space was nearly large enough to swallow Astrid or Muti whole. As Astrid realized that the mana in her greaves would be unable to keep her grounded if the serpent got hold of her, her fear transitioned to terror. With a growl, she pushed down the emotion and instead focused on what she needed to do. The only way that she would be able to keep her party from suffering a casualty here, in this terrible location, was to make sure that the fight ended quickly.

“Everybody, hug the cliff face as much as you can!“

“Astrid, did you think I was going to do something different?” Benedict’s incredulous reply came as he took his mouth from his flute for only a single second. Afterwards, Hasty Rebuke washed back over Astrid and she saw as the Bard used Doubletalk and Silvertongue to amplify the effect to greater heights. The feathered serpent entered the area of effect, and went from seemingly effortlessly swimming through the air to struggling to continue its approach. At least, its speed dropped greatly. It still rushed forward at a blistering speed, but as that speed was halved, its face screwed up in obvious rage and it roared.

Astrid pushed mana through to her helmet to keep her mind straight, but even so, she felt magical terror wash over her and combine with her mundane, but still reasonable fear. She had to fight herself not to turn and try to run, and as she grimaced so strong, Astrid wondered if it would be reflected on her helmet’s featureless mask, she dismissed her shield and empowered her left fist with Power-aligned mana to smash it into the cliff face and create a sturdy handhold.

Her sudden strategy worked… a tiny bit. Largely, all it did was create a small cascade of gravel that threatened to destabilize her footing. And the bright side, she did have a place where her hand could help to stabilize her. Largely, that wasn’t worth the trade-off she had already made, though.

She didn’t have any more time to worry about it or make other preparations as the feathered serpent shot directly towards Benedict. Obviously, it was intelligent enough to tell he was the source of the magic affecting it. Skandr shot a thick bolt of lightning at the monster’s face, but the spell coursed over the creature’s face like so much water. 

“Lightning isn’t going to do the trick!” 

“Damn, I never could have known that, Astrid!” 

Skandr’s reply made Astrid’s face flush in temporary embarrassment, but she also realized that he was right. She was letting her panic color her decisions and actions. She forced herself to calm down, paying attention to their surroundings instead of her fear. It was the first time that she’d truly been consumed with fear, even after having her flesh melted by fire, and there was nothing she could do but face it. The monster remained before her, and, trying to make sure she didn’t end up falling in her fit of stupid bravery, Astrid pushed an uncomfortable amount of Alacrity-aligned mana through her whole body. 

Supernatural balance and coordination flooded her body as Astrid rushed past Skandr to get closer to the approaching serpent. She felt the rope tug on her Storm Wizard friend, and groaned as she started to reach to fumble with the knots. It was too late.

The monster smashed towards Benedict. He dodged to the side, but it adjusted its course. Felix roared as he did everything he could to draw the monster’s attention to him: Jaguar’s Pride and Guardian’s Wrath forced the serpent to turn its attention to the side, but it still clipped Benedict, the meter-long feathers on its head threatening to knock him from the path. He groaned as he was spun to the side, the rope that tied them all together, becoming even more of a hindrance every second.

Astrid was about to pull out her knife and cut herself free when Muti’s blades flashed and did the job for her. Astrid nodded her thanks as the coils of feathered serpent continued forward, smashing against every member of the party. None lost their balance and fell, but the beast’s momentum kept them from turning the tides against it.

“This is why you must practice with your mana.” Muti’s words were punctuated with her throwing herself at the feathered serpent. Her blades, even with Power-aligned mana propelling them, skated off the tough scales as the monster snapped at Felix. The first three bites missed, but the fourth caught his waist. He didn’t allow that to stop him as he shouted, raised his axe, and smashed it down towards the serpent’s jaw. The blade sunk deep, almost all the way to the haft, and the monster’s lower jaw went slack. Astrid allowed herself a moment of relief upon seeing that Felix’s attack had severed something important, but she shouldn’t have.

Felix‘s armor was best suited to deflecting cutting and bludgeoning attacks, not piercing ones. As his dusksteel puffed into a metallic mist around him, the serpent’s fangs remained lodged in his hip and belly. In reaction to the pain, it reared back, pulling Felix with its head. It turned to the void beside the path and there was nothing Astrid could do to help. She could see the same moment that he pushed even more mana into Immovable Stance, but it wasn’t enough.

Felix‘s last action was to cut the rope connecting him to Benedict before he was thrown off of the island. His involuntary scream filled Astrid‘s mind as Muti threw herself after him.

Everything was going wrong, and Astrid finally felt as her fear shifted to an overwhelming rage. Her mana had dropped below 50%, and she activated Body twice as she vowed to slaughter the serpent. Despite what she’d learned with the gargoyle, she shouted for her two remaining allies to spread further away from her. She didn’t wait for a response before she activated Gravity Surge with her hammer designated as its center.

The feathered serpent had turned back to Benedict as its next target, but was pulled towards Astrid’s hammer instead. Though it didn’t know how it was being moved, it turned its attention to Astrid and opened its mouth to continue the attack. Its coils, already nearby, lashed out and wrapped around Astrid’s legs. Fortunately, the monster was slowed by Benedict’s Skills, and she was able to avoid getting wrapped up.

Jumping over the thrashing monster, Astrid pushed as much mana as she could manage into her hammer as she activated Spectre Burst.

The monster seemed to have some measure of confidence in its body’s strength and hardiness, and simply lowered its head to batter Astrid instead of biting her. When her hammer smashed into the base of its skull, the feathered serpent immediately went limp as its bone crunched. Inertia demanded that it continue moving and several tons of snake smashed into the cliff face. The rocky cliff crunched around her, and pulverized stone filled the air as Astrid was embedded in the stony face. Even so, she couldn’t feel any pain, only the rush of adrenaline.

Though it seemed to try to regather itself and continue attacking, Astrid was far from finished. She screamed and raised her hammer again, holding it in both hands as she spent the third charge of Body. Additional strength fueled her latest attack as Body fueled her rage. With a modicum of self restraint, Astrid didn’t use Spectre Burst again as she smashed her hammer into the soft spot she had created in the monster’s head. The second blow cracked scales and the serpent’s twitching body went limp. Its coils started falling from the edge, but Astrid wasn’t done. She slammed her hammer down a third time and blood sprayed up and all over Astrid but still no kill notification appeared in her eye.

Its head  was the last to start to fall, but the body was picking up speed.. Then suddenly, Muti and Felix were on its head. The Ambusher sprinted up its back, her feet flashing through the air as she threw Felix forward. He smashed against the cliff face and held on desperately, his body shaking in adrenaline and fear. Muti, of course, didn’t care about the danger. Instead, she made sure to continue running to where Astrid had softened the monster’s skull, where she plunged her blade in and severed the spine. As the kill notification flashed, Muti jumped off the tumbling corpse and onto the sheer path, where she settled with a painfully easy step while the limp serpent body slid unceremoniously into the cloudy void below.

“Felix! Muti!” Astrid paid nothing else any mind, though she did glance over the edge to see where the corpse had fallen. 

“I did not like that.” Muti’s statement was punctuated with a grumble. “Now we do not have any trophies or flesh to eat. In the future, we must fight them where their bodies will not fall out of reach.”

Astrid blinked twice, her mind finally catching up on how the two people had survived.

“Shadow Leap?”

“Yes, that is why I jumped,” Muti answered, scoffing. “Do you believe me so foolish as to jump over the edge because I saw another fall? No, I went because there was something I could do to save a companion’s life.”

“That was terrifying,” Felix huffed, seeming to be recovering from hyperventilation.

“Yes, being in a location where you are sure to die is frightful,” Muti agreed, though she looked entirely unconcerned. “Did you make a last wish? Sometimes, those who are about to die do so.”

Felix stuttered for a second, his eyes darting back and forth while he tried to figure out how he should respond.

“I’m all for emotional reconnection,” Benedict interrupted, “but how about we do this somewhere else, you know, somewhere that we all aren’t in clear and present danger of falling to our deaths?”

Astrid laughed, but nodded in agreement as she led the party forward once again. While she strode forward, though, she did have to ask, “Muti, honestly, how close was that for you?”

“If the serpent did not fall when it did, the shadows would have been out of my reach. To complicate matters further, I exhausted my mana. I cannot manage another Shadow Leap until I recover.” Muti‘s response was whispered, and Astrid, for the first time, saw that the woman was truly shaken. She reached over and took Muti’s hand in her own and held it tight to her breast. The movement sent shocks of pain reverberating through her heavily bruised body and cracked ribs, but she didn’t stop hugging Muti’s arm. Though she’d hidden it better than Felix, the Barbarian’s hand was shaking, and she leaned into the physical contact, rubbing dismissing her helmet and asking that Astrid do the same. She did so, and Muti started rubbing her head on Astrid’s, seeming to look for additional reassurance of her safety.

“How about we not do that again, shall we?”

“You will hear no disagreement from me.”

***

Fortunately, the party didn’t encounter any more feathered serpents on their way to the next island. As soon as they arrived there, though, they were reminded that this was the Wandering Trials, not the Wandering Adventures. Two feathered serpents awaited them there, and Muti had yet to recover the bulk of her mana while Skandr feverishly worked on a spell that would be able to harm the beasts. Evidently, he was unable to do so in such a short time, so the fight was shaping up to be a bloody one.

Gone were the days of fighting monsters unable to pierce through her armor. Though the armor held strong and kept the blows that did fall on her from doing deadly or crippling damage, Astrid took a beating while she fought to occupy one of the monsters. Worse, she still had only a single charge of Body, and tried to keep from using it, in case she ended up getting severely injured. Instead, she led the party on a quick retreat towards the center of the island, where being knocked into a deadly free fall would take a full fifteen seconds of being unsupported by their allies instead of one short moment.

The first feathered serpent occupied Astrid shield while the other seized her right leg. As it brought her into the air, that fear from before returned and Astrid spent most of the remainder of her mana on another use of Gravity Surge. Strangely, as with the other feathered serpent that had rocketed towards her, both feathered serpents seem to be particularly susceptible to the Skill. They slammed to the ground with a thunderous crash, and Astrid fought to capitalize on that. She was able to nearly cripple the one that had her leg with a series of blows, but the other evaded her attacks. Felix came and cut into its side, but the serpent writhed out of his way while trying to escape.

Astrid, unused to fighting such a long creature, was taken by surprise when both serpents turned their tails on her. Perhaps if she’d used a charge of Body to recover her mana, she could have used her greaves to steady herself. Since she didn’t, she was sent flying away with a pained grunt. That gave the serpents both the opportunity to set in on Skandr.

He threw bursts of wind at the monsters, but only served to slow them. Fortunately, he held them back for long enough to allow Muti to get in position. She pulled him out of the way, but took a bite on her upper thigh in exchange. Despite her best efforts, she stumbled as she used her seax to lever its jaws open and make her escape. Worse still, the rest of the mass of the serpent followed. Her blades clinked against scales as she tried to fight off the constricting coils, but trapped under so much weight and without any mana to use, Muti couldn’t do much. Astrid heard the cracking of bones under constriction.

Felix went mad at that, his axe chopping with abandon as he fought to free the Ambusher. Astrid went to try to help, but couldn’t as she was forced to deal with the other serpent. It was overcoming the attack she made on it, and Astrid cursed her hesitation as she used the final charge of Body. She bashed the monster’s head away with her shield as she swung her hammer up into its throat. It wheezed, but continued the attack, its coils starting to catch her just as they had Muti. Remembering her evolution quest, Astrid dismissed her shield and offered her arm to the monster as she strengthened herself with Fortitude-aligned mana.

Mana flooded her as she raised her hammer and dealt a final blow with Spectre Burst on the serpent’s head. It fell, dead, kill notification flashing in her eyes.

Feathered Serpent Slain. 1,640 experience gained, split among party.

She turned her attention away from that, instead running towards Muti. Felix screamed as the feathered serpent began to fly away, a seemingly unconscious Muti wrapped in its coils. Astrid jumped into the air, sailing five meters up and landing on the beast’s face. It tried to snap at her, but she was done. She became a whirling beast, feasts, hammer, knees, and shield flying through the air as she dealt as many potentially deadly blows as she could as fast as she could manage. 

A few precious seconds passed, and the feathered serpent remained in the air. Astrid wailed in animalistic desperation, her mana failing her as she drew nearer to the edge that would mean her and Muti’s certain death. No matter how hard she tried, with her physical strength alone, she was unable to deal a killing blow fast enough.

Then, a tornado appeared, sucking the feathered serpent back. It hissed its rage, but with those few extra seconds, Astrid managed to raise her fist and muster what dregs of mana had recovered to empower her punch with Power-aligned mana. The hit punched through the monster’s eye, and Astrid felt the more fragile bone behind the serpent’s eye socket fracture under her attack. She roared as she pulled that same arm free and shifted her hammer to it. The serpent screamed in agony, but Astrid, with her hammer’s head in her fist, dealt a killing blow as she smashed her hammer into the monster’s brains.

Dead, the serpent’s corpse from the air, and Astrid tumbled to the ground in a pile of snake and self that left her groaning in confusion, relief, and pain. As Benedict helped dig her out of the coils, she couldn’t help but curse.

“Duchess above. This floor is a whole lot harder.” Astrid’s idle words didn’t merit or receive an answer, and she knew that the party couldn’t survive another fight like that any time soon. All she could hope for was enough time to recover and regroup.