Wish upon the Stars chapter 400

The monstrosity floating above us was probably the scariest thing I'd  ever seen. Even the Bone Wyvern, the previous holder of the title of  'creature most likely to make me piss my pants' didn't stack up to the  sheer overwhelming horror of the monster. It wasn't just the shape or  the size, or even the pressure from the flowers, there was  something...awful about the thing. Each of those many shaped mouths had  darkness behind those teeth. Not just normal darkness either, an empty  gaping abyss that reminded me of staring into the void of space.

I  found myself hypnotized almost, drawn into the depths of the yawning  chasms littering the underside of the ray's stone underbelly. Then the  thing SCREAMED, and I saw literal cones of sonic force explode from the  mouths, overlapping and combining into one massive sonic blast that flew  right at us.

Before it could hit though, a massive avatar  of Abel constructed of blue gel appeared above us, intercepting the  attack and shielding us from harm even as it disintegrated. As that  happened I came back to myself enough to spur my goat back from the  rocks and yell for the others to do the same.

The mounts  bounded off the outcropping, down into the snow, giving us a bit of  cover as the ray let out an unearthly howl of rage at being thwarted.  "Shit." I panted as we moved out of the strike zone. "How the hell do we  get the flowers off...that."

Benny looked at me in  astonishment. "Seriously? That just happened and you're worried about  FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS?" He glanced at Jessie apologetically. "No offense,  Jess."

She just snickered. "Some taken. But I get your  point. We can find the Dew in other places? Is challenging...that,  really worth the short advantage?" Her voice was gentle, but I could  hear an undercurrent of stress and worry causing it to tremble.

"Yes."  I said firmly. "For a few reasons. First, we aren't getting out of here  while that thing is after us. We'll need to put it down anyway before  we can run. Second of all I have a plan, and third of all if the other  teams get their hands on the damned Dew it'll make it that much harder  for us to deal with them later. And if WE get it, it'll make us that  much safer going forward."

I saw them pause and think it  over. Benny didn't look convinced. "I mean...I can't really poke any  holes in your logic. But it FEELS like a really bad idea." His smart ass  tone was not appreciated, despite him having a small point, and I  responded in kind.

"Let's not confine ourselves to things  you think feel like a good idea." I said acidly. "I doubt the ray is  going to collapse in defeat from starting a band or convincing all its  friends to wear those stupid orange shoes with the springs in them you  talked me into buying when we were fourteen."

Benny's  indignation was somewhat muted by the giggling of all the other nearby  party members, but he still found it in himself to to glare around at  them until realizing no help was forthcoming. Then he crossed his arms  and sulked, playing it up a little bit for attention.

Celine,  who clearly knew my friend pretty well at this point, just rolled her  eyes and ignored him, turning to Anna-Marie. "You're our local guide,  princess, do you have any ideas? Any rumors of a creature like this? And  information we might use. A plan is wonderful, but it behooves us to  gather as much information on our enemy as possible."

When  she shook her head, I nodded to myself, cracking my neck as a hopped  down from my goat. "Ok. So my plan is pretty simple, you'll all need to  be on alert for when it starts. I'm not sure how well this thing can  hear, so I'm going to to put the first steps into action and let you  guys pick it up afterwards."

I  turned to Abel with a grin. "So let's get started. Do me a favor and  throw me at the stingray." I tried to project confidence in my plan with  my tone, but everyone else whirled on me, Callie and Nat both yelping  exclamations of surprise as Abel grabbed me in a giant hand and HURLED  me at the thing in less time than it took to blink. I'd already  triggered State of Grace, luckily, and did the same with Ripple Running,  planting my feet in the air to guide my now much more slowly soaring  body.

Of  course, the ray turned slowly to face me, and I worried that this MIGHT  have been poorly planned, until a giant fist slammed into the thing,  knocking it aside as Abel smashed it with Expert ranked Ragam. It  squealed in pain and rage as it was knocked askew, and I stepped lightly  three times, changing my direction to land on its back. State of Grace  allowed me to stay on as I bolted around to the field of grass outside  the flowers.

Dropping  to a knee, I glared at the grass in front of me and triggered Pit of  Despair. It was HARD. I had to push against the resistance of the ray,  but my soul was strong enough that the earth skill was able to create  the silt pit. A ten foot hole was punched right through the stone  creature, and I had to roll sideways to avoid its tail as it whipped up  to smash me.

Leaving  the rest to the others now that I'd distracted it, I bolted for the  flowers, crashing into the field to collect them before any of the other  teams got up here. Hitting the crazy warping mass of Impact infused  moonlight was...weird. Like running through a hundred worlds in  sequence, each step taking me somewhere else without moving me at all.  But it didn't matter. I started snatching up flowers and stuffing them  in my ring, not bothering to be careful.

Some  of them seemed to have more pistils, and I made extra sure to get  those, but I couldn't see the special ones that collected the Dew, so I  had to hope I'd get lucky. Which I did. I was picking a specific flower  without looking too hard, and there was a pulse of power. The moonlight  cascade condensed into a cloud, the flower rapidly becoming more  moisturized as it did so, until three drops of mercurial liquid  moonshine gleamed on the petals.

I  grinned as I put it away, diving for more, yanking them up to try to  create the same effect. The ray shook, and I almost fell off, grabbing a  few more flowers and managing to accumulate ten drops. There was still  moonshine floating above a small portion of the field, but I sadly  couldn't go for the whole enchilada because my Danger Sense twigged  hard.

I threw  myself sideways, Ripple Running helping me change direction twice to  make sure I was clear, as a massive waterfall of cerulean gas slammed  into the back of the ray, gouging a HUGE hole in it. I stared at the  tall woman with canary yellow hair in shock as she snarled something at  me too far for me to hear in the ruckus.

She  tried to tag me as I retreated, and for a second I worried she would,  but Valk's blue gel appeared in front of me as a hand construct swatted  aside the resulting frozen attack. I redirected my fall, landing on the  rock outcropping with a grin and hopping on the back of my goat. "Let's  ride!" I bellowed gleefully. "I got ten drops and they were NOT happy."

"You  LUNATIC!" Screamed Callie as we booked it in the other direction. "You  could have been killed. What kind of plan was that? Tactics require  forethought and consideration. Planning isn't just thinking 'I bet if I  do something stupid, this will happen'. That's just madness!"

I  was cackling with joy, adrenaline flooding through me as my heart  pounded. That had been intense. Callie's words drew me up short, and I  was derailed completely as Benny rode up to smack the back of my head as  we escaped. "Hey! Stop gloating and listen, asshat. That was stupidly  dangerous."

Sighing,  I let my rush recede as I looked at things objectively. I MIGHT had  rushed a bit. "Yeah." I said with a wince. "It might have been. I should  probably have given you all the details before going. I ju-" Danger  Sense BLARED again. "MOVE!" I bellowed, urging my goat to hurl us  sideways. The others listened to me, avoiding the attack as a massive  war axe made of crystallized sunshine smashed into the ground where we'd  just been.

The  snow hissed, steaming away as we turned to face the new enemy. A short  black haired man with wide shoulders and olive skin grinned at us, an  axe just like the sunlight construct hefted up on his shoulder. His eyes  burned with golden light, and I saw his feet scorching the grass under  the recently melted snow as he walked.

"Hello  there!" He called cheerfully. "I'm afraid I can't just let you walk  away with those drops." He looked over his shoulder. "Hows about you let  me take them off your hands nice and easy, and I'll owe you a favor.  Christina distracted that thing with her Azureblaze Fog, but it won't  hold her team for long. I'd rather be gone before she gets here."

I  pointed back the way we'd come. "Well that thing still had flowers on  it. Why not go grab some of those. What makes you think we're the easier  option?"

He  shrugged. "Christina and I had a run in at the bazaar. She's a nasty  piece of work. I'm Raul by the way, if it matters. I hope me taking  those drops won't make things too tense. I don't enjoy sewing enmity."  His smile was apologetic as his grip on the axe tightened, but he took a  menacing step forward anyway.

"Wow."  I said with an impressed tone. "That was the politest way anyone has  ever tried to rob me." I glanced at Abel. "You think you can take him?" I  could sense that Raul wasn't at the peak or even midway through F-rank,  so there was a decent chance.

My  mentor grinned, strolling forward to stand between us and the  threatening axeman. "Never know until you try. I've been dying to test  out my Expert level Ragam Mastery."

Raul  glanced at him, eyes flicking away then jerking back as that tangible  feeling of terror and violence that Abel projected when he was serious.  "Shit. You're not the Adamant I heard about are you?" His eyes narrowed  consideringly. "No, I don't feel perfection. More...pure violence. You  don't walk the Path of the Adamant. You're on the Path of Blood. You  must have spilled a LOT of it to get that kind of aura."

He  sounded worried. Which was a good sign for us, but despite that, he set  his feet, clearly preparing to engage. I had to give him credit, I knew  how terrifying Abel could be, and facing him as an enemy had to be even  worse. My mentor didn't bother to wait, he blurred forward, body  splitting as Cicada Stacking Step condensed multiple images of him.

Unlike  the last time though, he was an Expert now. The images weren't brief  flashes of combat capable construct. They were real clones spreading out  to surround the axeman before surging inward all at once to attack. I  glanced up at the battle in the distance, seeing the ray snapping weakly  at a massive snake made of Azure gas and cursing.

We  didn't have time for this, if they ganged up on is this would be  bad...and that's when I remembered something important. We'd all come  into this dungeon in teams of ten. I activated Eye of Revelation and  groaned. They ween't moving yet, which was why my Danger Sense was  silent, but we were definitely surrounded. Joy.