[Omen of the Witchblade] Chapter 88 — Plateau Beast Hunting

Mel pressed her back to a crystalline tree as their target emerged out of the thermal spring. It looked like a rocky toad the size of a grizzly bear.

Gwen was just a few feet away, her back pressed to another tree. They both peeked out, watching the monster.

[Gorlash (High Copper Rank—Plateau Beast)]

Mel kept an eye on it, staying out of sight as the creature crawled across the ground, eating up the accumulations of sulfurous crystals.

She summoned her twinblade and glanced over at Gwen. “So you’re royalty, right?”

The flash of surprise that turned to horror was plain on Gwen’s features. She absolutely could not hide her emotions to save her life. “N…no?” She heaved a sigh. “I mean, I guess technically, in a distant sort of way.”

Mel was tempted to needle her about it. It was just too easy to rile her up, but now wasn’t the time. “Kinda like forty-fifth in line for the throne or something?”

“Something like that,” she begrudgingly admitted. “The throne’s been broken and scattered for a long time.”

“Is that…common? Royal werewolves, I mean. You never did say where you were from. Heath won’t shut up about Ohio.”

“He really does have Ohio eyes,” Gwen said.

“Boy does he ever.” Mel glanced back at her. “No deflecting though.”

“Fine. Regal–not royal, and yes it’s different for us–is rare. I wasn’t kidding when I said I’m not a basic werewolf. Only…being Mundane and then Copper has made things messy.”

They fell silent as the rocky toad shot its barbed tongue into a pack of smaller, lesser monsters.

The range and speed of its attack was considerable.

They started off hunting gorgans, smaller monster toads that were roughly the size of an armchair, to get used to hunting in a four-person party. Culling them brought out the gorlash, a much larger and fiercer foe by far, and worthy of the title plateau beast.

The plateau beast hopped onwards, pursuing another pack.

Mel and Gwen moved between the trees, following it at a distance. It showed definite signs of being deaf. The conversation only further proved their suspicion.

“I’m Disjoined though,” Gwen admitted. “From northern Europe in the 800s.”

That hit Mel hard. She’s a Magi from the past?

“Girl, you’re a literal viking.”

“Well, yes. I traveled the world and went to New York later. That’s where I met you.”

“Naturally, you were awestruck with how beautiful modern women were,” Mel said, tossing her blonde hair over one shoulder. The braids on the left side of her head hung freely past her ear.

It was an auspicious sign that a quest had popped up for hunting the plateau beast as they were stalking it.

New Quest: Plateau Hunting

Track down and fell a plateau beast before night falls to deepen the connection to your blessing and take one of the first steps of forging yourself into a true Hunter alongside those taking a similar journey.

Objective: Slay a plateau beast before the sun sets (0/1).

Reward: (1) [Hunt Token].

Blessing advancement.

Mel stalked forward, keeping to the gorlash’s flank as she used [Hidden Mist] charged with [Blood Magic]. Her [Sanguine Coat] dulled slightly as more blood was pulled from it, but the effect was more than worth it.

A mist as thick as pea soup rolled out, as if Mel had dropped a smoke bomb the size of a sedan. “Damn. I could get used to this.” She focused for a second to allow the others to see within the mist, then stepped out from her hiding place.

“It is impressive,” Gwen agreed.

Mel held out her hand, aiming at the demon toad’s back while she spread her blessing to her allies. Casting [Omen Mark] was the signal to attack. She only hoped that Thomas and Heath were in position already. “Are there a lot of Disjoined Magi?”

Aspect Skill: [Omen Mark]

A [Thunderbolt] screeched out from behind the cover of trees, slamming into the tough, stony hide of the gorlash. She heard Thomas curse somewhere off to the side.

“A fair amount. Charlie’s from 90s California, and Victor is…” Frozen chains launched out of Gwen’s claws, wrapping around the gorlash and pulling her in. Mel lost the rest of what she was saying.

Aspect Skill: [Fenrir’s Frozen Chains]

Mel darted forward as the gorlash hopped toward Thomas’ last location, thrashing and breaking Gwen’s bindings.

Aspect Skill: [Fanning Ravens]

The gorlash twisted mid-hop, an impressive display of dexterity for an otherwise corpulent creature. Its barbed tongue lashed out, glowing red hot and reeking of rotten eggs.

Mel coughed and put a hand over her mouth before she realized she still had the [Fire Monk Mask]. She slipped it over her mouth and nose, gesturing for Gwen to do the same.

They skidded to a stop when the gorlash landed and its tongue pulled back into its mouth, holding onto a crystalline tree. It snapped in half as it bit down with its odd, beak-like mouth.

Heath was running to the side, surprisingly not screaming despite his flailing.

The ground erupted around the stone toad, breaking and cracking beneath its webbed feet. It managed to hold its ground until an underground pocket of gas ruptured through the cracked stone.

Choking gas filled the area and even managed to make the plateau beast falter for a moment until it breathed in like a giant vacuum. It pulled in all the noxious fumes like it was feeding on them.

“Holy shit,” Mel said. “That’s awesome!”

The gorlash grew several sizes, towering above the stunted trees and boulders of the hot springs.

Despite being faced by an overwhelming adversary, Gwen had some serious balls using [Howl at the Moon] to draw its attention away from everyone else.

Mel turned to her. She used [Condensate] to spear a boulder, tree, and the floor with three nails. “A little warning next time?!” she asked as she pulled herself out of range.

The gorlash spun around as if Gwen had personally stomped on all its little tadpoles. Its big glowing yellow eyes searched for her and gave up, lashing out its massive tongue wherever it thought she might be.

Barbed and glowing red hot, the tongue latched onto a tree and uprooted it. Pulling it back in, Gwen had to drop to all fours to dodge the tree’s grasping branches. The [Primal Mantle]’s wolf-like spirit on her back silently snarled in defiance.

Supercharging [Bane of Tartarus] with blood, Mel’s [Sanguine Coat] became dangerously thin. She hadn’t been able to harvest much blood from the gorgans. They had an unfortunate tendency to explode when hit too hard.

Probably from eating all the sulfur and shit around here, Mel thought.

Gwen lunged forward, raking the plateau beast repeatedly with [Primal Rend] in a rapid frenzy before rolling away. The magic weakness affliction built up thanks to [Omen Mark].

The gorlash shot its tongue where the Berserker had just been, struggling to find her through the thick haze of [Hidden Mist].

Mel swooped through the air, pushing from two nails and pulling with another. She swept across the gorlash’s side, slashing with her frostbite twinblade with all her might.

It didn’t matter. Its hide was too thick and tough.

Even Hush was struggling to burn it as he coiled around the gorlash’s ankle using [Binds of Fire]. His scales glowed like hot embers, but the gorlash hardly noticed the little guy.

Mel was afraid that at any moment the snake might get crushed, but he was too brave to seek safety. Even when the gorlash opened its mouth and whipped its barbed tongue into Gwen’s side.

The viking Magi managed to turn the hit into a glancing blow, causing her to crash into a hot spring with a heavy splash.

Better than being pulled into its mouth, Mel thought.

Using [Windstorm], she darted in front of it and began shouting at it before she remembered it was practically deaf.

It might have been deaf, but it could feel her stomping around easily enough. The gorlash turned its stony head, looking right at her despite the thick mist all around.

“Shit.” Mel’s body jerked to the side as she pulled herself to a nearby nail, narrowly dodging a darting tongue that shattered the stone floor of the battlefield.

Gwen fell from the sky, crashing into the stone toad’s head between its bulbous eyes. Mel had seen the damage [Falling Meteor] could do. This time, it hardly made a mark.

The gorlash stuck out its tongue and whipped its head back, swiping its large, barbed tongue out and on top of Gwen, flattening her to the gorlash’s head.

Mel’s yell was dwarfed by Thomas’ bellow of rage. She reversed her direction, slashing at the underside of the gorlash’s tongue.

A sticky, acrid fluid that glowed bright orange flowed out of the wound. She managed to get two more hits in, forcing the gorlash to retract its tongue without pulling Gwen in.

The gorlash was hit with a barrage of aspect skills from the side. Bolts of lightning, shattering earthquakes, and even a strange series of faceted tentacles raked across the creature’s side.

None of them got through its tough hide, but they did serve to draw its attention fully.

Hopping up into the air, the gorlash came down with a colossal crash right where Thomas had been. He must have dodged at the last second because the updraft of air from the monster’s landing pushed him high up above the top of the mist.

Mel shouted out a warning, but he wasn’t listening. His eyes glowed like two small suns as he glared balefully at the gorlash.

The dumb creature locked onto the floating Warmage as he raised a finger gun into the air. A small bead of red-orange light gathered in front of his index finger. Thomas brought it down, bracing his forearm as if it was suddenly heavy right as the gorlash opened its mouth.

Its glowing, bleeding tongue sprang out toward him at the same time as Thomas mimed shooting the tiny bead of light at the gorlash.

Aspect Skill: [Vulcan Fireball]

Mel surged forward, pushing against her [Condensate] nails to reach Thomas and the gorlash. Even though she was aiming for the base of its tongue, she knew she wouldn’t get there fast enough.

Thomas didn’t bother to move. As soon as the gorlash’s tongue approached, he took out his wand and swept upwards. A hemisphere of light appeared, but the barbed tip of the creature’s tongue wrapped around Thomas’ leg, ignoring whatever he had done.

The bead Thomas had sent into the monster’s mouth erupted into a blinding sun the size of a small house. The gorlash’s vulnerable–and highly volatile–insides were set ablaze. Its tongue ripped apart where Mel had cut it open from the first blast.

A series of intense explosions contorted the creature’s bulbous body weirdly. Its confused expression was the last thing Mel saw before it was blasted apart in a conflagration of gore that rained down burning body parts across the entire plateau.

You defeat a [Gorlash (High Copper Rank–Plateau Beast)].

You gain extra runes of Divine, Mist, Blood, Serpent, and Omen aspect experience for slaying a Boss Monster.

You gain extra Battle Points for slaying a Boss monster.

Your [Avatar of Askara] Serpent aspect skill advances to [Copper Rank (Grade 5)].

Your [Condensate] Mist aspect skill advances to [Copper Rank (Grade 3)].

Your [Hidden Mist] Mist aspect skill advances to [Copper Rank (Grade 10)].

Your [Agility (Mist)] attribute advances to [Copper Rank (Grade 10)].

Thomas drifted the rest of the way to the ground, his [Float] skill keeping him from falling to his death.

As soon as he was down, he rushed to Gwen’s side.

She struggled to stand. The fur jutting out of her armor was smoking from the bubbling lava seeping through the chainmail. It looked like lava, but it behaved like poison.

Thomas pressed a health potion into her hands. “Drink,” he instructed hoarsely.

Mel arrived a moment later, but realized she couldn’t do anything for Gwen aside from prying off the flaming creature’s hide that had stuck to her back.

Gwen shook her head, but took it anyway. Her constitution noticeably improved. A severely burnt wound branded deeply into her side from the gorlash’s tongue slowly mended as if time was reversing. And yet, the poison-like lava seeping from Gwen’s armor didn’t go away.

Pressing her fists together, Gwen squeezed her eyes shut. Silvery moonlight billowed out from between her knuckles. The energy flowed over her body, settling on her armor and skin like diamond dust.

Aspect Skill: [Lunar Scourge Shroud]

Gwen breathed a sigh of relief, though she didn’t seem to be much better. The poison-like lava continued to seep from Gwen’s armor.

“Shit, it’s an affliction, isn’t it?” Mel realized.

[Lunar Scourge Shroud] granted additional shielding health in proportion to the number of affliction stacks Gwen suffered from. The Moonlight aspect skill didn’t cleanse the afflictions, but it allowed the Berserker to endure them significantly longer.

Though, it would only prolong the inevitable if the damage of the afflictions ate through the temporary shroud of health from [Lunar Scourge Shroud] if the afflictions were not cleansed.

It was amazing to watch. The glowing affliction coating her body was held at bay by a thin vaporous barrier of moonlight, preventing the affliction from opening up the wounds that Gwen’s health potion had just closed up.

Heath arrived, out of breath.

“I can get rid of it!” Heath said. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a small packet of parchment, and handed it over to Gwen.

“Fifteen stacks of it?” Gwen asked woozily. “Plateau beast afflictions are rough…”

Mel watched curiously as Gwen opened up the packet and took out a marble-sized sphere. It looked like a chocolate candy ball.

“Is that a chocolate malt ball?” Thomas asked incredulously.

Gwen popped it into her mouth. Her grimacing expression made Mel suddenly wonder if chocolate was okay for werewolves.

Luckily, she kept that as an inside thought.

The flames subsided, but they didn’t extinguish entirely, so Gwen popped another, then another. Each time, the tortured expression on her face told them that whatever the medicine was, it definitely did not taste like chocolate.

“It’s medicine,” Heath said. “It cures nearly any affliction.”

“What in the Seven Hells is this made from?” Gwen asked miserably.

“I don’t know,” Heath admitted. “I found it in a tomb.”

Then, for the first time that Mel had ever seen, Gwen passed out. The moonlight from [Lunar Scourge Shroud] shattered into motes and the softly glowing [Primal Mantle] faded away.

Heath looked at her, then at Mel. “What? It’s probably still good, right?”