Book 5: Chapter 24 — Arachleon Hunter (2) |
Aurelia was barely winded, so Noah elected to hurry on to the next encounter and trust his mana recovery to make progress while they moved. He was almost entirely healed already, so why delay?
It was only a few minutes down the broad sloped ledge before it abruptly split into an upward stair and a narrow path that wound along the canyon wall.
“I suppose it’s that one?” Noah asked without much hope.
“It is,” Zax said. "That passage there is the entrance to the cavern system that leads deeper into the Valley."
The path was maybe three feet wide, with a sheer drop on one side that disappeared into absolute darkness. The rock looked stable enough, but in Death Valley, looks meant nothing.
"Single file," Noah suggested. "I'll stand at the front. Since I'm the one with Abyssal Awareness, if anything's waiting for us on that path, I'll sense it first. Aurelia, you've got rear guard."
Zax nodded approvingly. “We will follow behind you, then Aurelia. And do try not to fall. The creatures at the bottom of this particular drop are... unpleasant."
"More unpleasant than the arachleons?" Aurelia asked.
"The arachleons are nothing. What lives at the bottom of this chasm is unpleasant with a capital U."
"Hopefully you'll not find out," Zax said mischievously.
Noah found himself privately disagreeing with the dragon. He was really curious to know the difference. What would Zax of all people consider dangerous or disturbing enough to take note of?
They started across.
The path was even worse than it looked. The stone was slick with moisture that seemed to seep from the rock itself, and the footing was treacherous. Noah kept one hand on the cliff face to steady himself and still felt like he’d rather be flying.
“There’s several arachleons lurking up there,” he reported. The monsters were tucked into the rifts above them, but they were all curled up and seemed dormant.
“Should we retreat?” Aurelia asked. “Fight them on better footing?”
“I doubt they’d follow us to disadvantageous terrain.” Noah considered a moment, then coaxed Dragon Fear into his aura. It wasn’t hard, his new draconic nature was always eager to show off. Keeping it from terrifying Aurelia was the bigger challenge, and it was generally easier to keep it withdrawn fully than to focus on shaping it. But in this case, it seemed worth the effort.
After a long moment of hesitating to see if they’d attack anyway, he edged his way forward again. The lurking creatures seemed content to wait quietly until Noah left. That, or they were asleep.
They were halfway across when something finally went wrong. The first Arachleon erupted from a crack in the cliff face directly behind Aurelia, its spider-legs gripping the stone wall beside them with impossible strength.
[Cliffhanger Arachleon (Uncommon) - lvl 489]
The creature, a mottled grey-brown, would be completely invisible against the stone until it moved. It lunged from behind, but Noah had been half expecting this.
“Behind you!”
Aurelia dropped into a crouch, flames erupting around her in a corona of rage. The monster barely had time to widen its eyes before her fist connected with its skull, leaving a trail of golden fire in its wake. Then her attack pulsed out in a half-sphere that threw it away from her, blasting it away from the wall entirely.
It landed awkwardly half on and half off the ledge, and Aurelia followed up with a beam of light that blinded and scorched the creature before it could regain its footing. On the slick ledge, sightless and injured, even its eight legs weren’t enough to save it. It flailed off the edge, screaming all the way down.
Noah barely caught a glimpse of something stirring in the shadowed depths below. Something with too many tentacles and a maw full of barbed suckers that glowed with black light grasp onto the falling spider-lion before both faded into the darkness.
…Maybe he didn’t need to know exactly what Zax considered Unpleasant.
—
The rest of the journey was tense but uneventful. The remaining arachleons didn't dare to attack. Perhaps it was because they’d seen what happened to their kin? Or perhaps that first one was the only one high enough level to dare face Noah’s draconic challenge.
The path eventually widened into a proper shelf, then a slope, then finally opened into a cave mouth large enough to fly a wyvern through. Noah let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, glad to be away from the edge.
But though the risk of falling had been mitigated, they were entering hostile territory. The walls of this cavern were more than spotted with the many-legged felines. Eyes gleamed in the darkness ahead. Hundreds of eyes, all fixed on the newcomers with hunger and malice and far too much eagerness to fight.
Bun Bun is ready, Bun Bun declared, scales rippling with anticipation. Bun Bun's teeth hunger for these spider-cats. Bun Bun will prove himself in this battle once again!
Noah studied the cave mouth. The entrance was wide enough that the spider-lions could attack in groups, but the ceiling was low—maybe eight feet. No room for aerial maneuvers, no space for full Dragon Shift flight. But the confined space would limit the monsters too.
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"How many?" Aurelia asked, her hands wreathed in flame.
"At least twenty-four in the main chamber. More in the deeper tunnels, I can't get an exact count. And there's another hunter-type. That’s the big one."
Aurelia nodded, a fierce grin spreading across her face.
"Let’s not overcomplicate this," Noah said. "I'll hit them from the flanks, disrupt their coordination. You hold the center and burn anything that gets past me. Bun Bun—"
Bun Bun will target the wounded ones, Bun Bun interrupted eagerly. Bun Bun's acid works best on creatures already bleeding. Bun Bun will ensure nothing escapes.
"Good. Hit them hard and fast, don't let them swarm us."
Aurelia cracked her knuckles, flames dancing between her fingers. "Come on, you overgrown cats! I've still got plenty of fire left!"
They approached the cave mouth together. The eyes in the darkness tracked them, gleaming. The moment they crossed the threshold, the first three lions launched themselves from the shadows, their spider-legs propelling them forward with terrifying speed.
Agility! Noah commanded mentally, and Tony flowed across his legs, boosting his agility to insane levels.
Noah Arcane Stepped to intercept the lead lion, his blade crackling with void energy. He carved through its neck before it could reach Aurelia.
The second and third met a wall of fire as Aurelia's flames roared to life, illuminating the entire chamber in brilliant gold and white.
More came, of course. They emerged from every shadow, every crack, every tunnel mouth. The cave was alive with gleaming eyes and clicking spider-legs, a cacophony that made Noah's Abyssal Awareness almost more of a distraction than help.
It seemed his initial estimate of twenty-four was indeed a bit too optimistic.
But they pushed deeper into the cave, fighting for every foot of ground. The lions attacked in waves—three initially, then five, before settling into groups of six. They always probed defenses, tested for weaknesses. When one approach failed, they adapted, trying something new.
He was glad they’d rushed here, now. Seeing them adapting as a collective in real time made him wonder whether he could even outfight them all before they were wise to all his potential tricks.
For now, Noah pushed even more mana into Dragon Fear.
The nearest lions stumbled, their coordinated assault faltering as their instincts screamed warnings. Noah pressed the advantage. He Arcane Stepped into the midst of a cluster of four lions, Chains of Binding lashing out from his left hand. The runic links wrapped around two of them simultaneously, anchoring them to the stone floor.
[Chains of Binding] has immobilized [Darkstalker Arachleon]!
[Chains of Binding] has immobilized [Darkstalker Arachleon]!
Bun Bun attacks! The familiar launched himself at one of the chained lions, a blur of scales and murderous intent.
[Acidic Bite] activated!
Bun Bun's jaws clamped down on the immobilized lion's throat, acid-green venom erupting from his teeth. The creature thrashed against its chains, shrieking as corrosive fluid ate through its windpipe.
This one dies slowly, Bun Bun observed with satisfaction, maintaining his grip. Bun Bun approves of how the acid melts spider-cat flesh.
The other two lions from the cluster lunged at Noah while he was seemingly occupied.
Power Form! Noah commanded, and Tony surged into his right arm.
Noah spun and met the flanking lion with an uppercut that caught it mid-leap. Over six thousand power multiplied the force of the blow exponentially. The creature's jaw shattered on impact, the strike continuing upward to cave in its skull.
A second lion dropped from the ceiling directly onto his back, but his Dragon Scales rippled and hardened instinctively, turning what would have been a crippling bite into a glancing blow.
Noah reached back, grabbed the lion by its mane, and slammed its back into the stone floor, spider legs scrabbling helplessly in the air like a flipped turtle. Before it could recover, he drove his void-infused claws through its chest and tore it apart, splitting it in two pieces that kept twitching lifelessly for almost a minute.
Aurelia was a whirlwind of destruction. Her every strike burned away the dark essence the lion-spiders relied upon. They couldn't regenerate from the ambient death energy or use their shadow-based abilities.
She cackled as she fought, a sound of fierce joy that echoed off the cave walls. "Is this all you've got? I've had worse from bar fights!"
Against any other B-Rank duo, they might have overwhelmed with numbers. Against Noah and Aurelia, they were being systematically exterminated.
They cleared the first chamber in fifty seconds of brutal combat.
You have killed [Darkstalker Arachleon (Rare) - lvl 421]!
You have killed [Darkstalker Arachleon (Rare) - lvl 418]!
You have killed [Darkstalker Arachleon (Rare) - lvl 426]!
…
You have killed [Darkstalker Arachleon (Rare) - lvl 414]!
You have killed [Darkstalker Arachleon (Rare) - lvl 417]!
The notifications blurred together as they pushed into the second chamber—larger, with a higher ceiling and multiple tunnel entrances, and the center split by a massive rift that glowed ominously with unnatural light. More arachleons waited here, but they were warier now. They'd seen what happened to the first wave.
And boy, they hit harder.
These lions were stronger, levels in the 450s and 460s, their bodies larger and their movements more refined.
Aurelia took a hit that drove her backward, claws raking across her shoulder and drawing blood. The pain flared across her face, but her rage never wavered.She responded with a haymaker wreathed in fire that sent the attacking lion flying across the chamber. The creature hit the far wall still burning, flames consuming it from the inside out.
"Weaklings!" she roared, blood streaming down her arm but her flames burning brighter than ever. She lashed out with her chain-blades glowing white-hot, leaving molten gashes in the stone whenever they missed monster flesh.
Noah found himself moving toward the biggest lion yet, a massive creature at level 478 that seemed to be the den's second-in-command. Its body was covered in old scars, testament to countless battles won. It was smarter than the others, hanging back behind waves of lesser lions while it watched with those creepy eight eyes.
It seemed to realize Noah would try to take it out, because when it finally attacked, it came for him specifically.
It was very fast. Faster than anything they'd fought before. Its first strike nearly took Noah's head off despite Tony's Agility Form still being active, his Dragon Scales taking a blow that still gouged through the reinforced surface. The second strike opened a gash across his chest that made his vision blur with pain.
Health: 58%
He Arcane Stepped behind it and struck—
The beta spun and caught his blade on its claws, the impact numbing Noah's hands. It had predicted the teleportation, learning his patterns.
He Arcane Stepped above it and the beta threw itself sideways. Noah's blade sparked off stone instead of flesh. It had predicted that too.
Fine. Time for something new.