"Alright, serious face!" I said out loud to pump myself up.
I wound up giving myself one of those wake-up smacks that straightened your brain out, but realized my fault as I tried to slow my hand with little success. The slap hit my face a bit harder than I wanted, making a few bits of tinsel flash in my vision.
[Try not to do the monsters work for them.]
I ignored Fireden and started to trudge forwards, but oh man, paint dried faster.
Roars were coming from behind, but that just made me suck energy like it was going out of style, and I finally started to move. I found if I just concentrated on keeping my body fed so Veronica's Totem could act on its own gave me better results.
[Better, but you need to get ahead of them! Fly ahead, or the dragons are going to start trying to cook you alive!]
'Old man, I am trying to get this breathing thing down again now that I need it! I know they are getting close but wait. We are not going to die today!'
I started getting a rhythm, and just like most everything, it got easier the more I did it. There was heat behind me, but I was just passing what it seemed that I could do, but I didn't want to get too far away.
[Plan?]
'Kill the Tiger thing and one-eyed bastard before we get to the others, and then tag team the dragons? I mean not much else they can do if I don't cut the numbers down beforehand, or there will be too many distractions.'
[Good, but you are going to have to bare-hand them. The dragon's presence is giving them near immunity to fire.]
You know, one day, I was going to get something easy that was not going to be some crazy wild fight! Some of these battles were only things that could be brought forth through imagination!
[Yes, most of this world has been what you would call stranger than fiction. Still, we found the source of the infection, and one day we will come back to do it again. Concentrate on getting ready to deal with the creatures.]
I glanced back and groaned as I turned back, putting my head down, turning on the speed to get ahead. The three dragons were much closer, and the other two were over one hundred feet behind them.
[Your energy reserves should be able to make some good use of your Earth Tsunalily Totem with the Sphinx should be fine.]
'Not yet, give me a light, Boss!'
I felt Fireden groan mentally, and I burst with flames, and the pressure left me, making me feel weightless. I turned on a dime, then shot back at the dragons and was bathed in fire, but my burning body drank in the blazing energy.
I shot between the two that were the closest pair, and the moment I was past their heads, Fireden deactivated the Elemental Aspect. I pulled my knees up, curling into a ball, and then only activated Kali's Totem.
I expanded to six times my standard size, and the dragons were smashed into each other and the walls. I deactivated it as I flipped through the air, and then I was on fire again, hurtling at my targets.
I was only half full, but with my energy reserves, holding over ten thousand units of energy meant that I should have enough. I forced a link with the stone, but it was not like the fire from below like before, and the stone barely gave me any energy.
The total energy wasn't significant; it was the augmenting energy that I received and allowed me to convert the other energy to Earth Energy.
I shot at the giant tiger, aiming just under its chin, and Fireden released the aspect, ten feet from the tiger, with my right fist cocked. Earth and Water Totem snapped to life, and time slowed as I expanded and uppercut the tiger into the air with a massive textured rock-like fist.
I could sense the Cyclops turning to me, so I ducked back down and let my momentum spin me around. I came back up, bringing my leg up simultaneously, landing a well-timed roundhouse kick to the side of the Cyclops head.
The one-eyed giant skipped on the ground, and I jumped into the air to grab the stunned cat. I forced its head between my legs and forced all my energy into my skin as I wrapped my arms around the body.
The extreme gravity started to do its job, and we were pulled back to the ground, but the tiger was gouging flakes out of me. That stopped abruptly, and my ass made a body jarring connection with the ground that seemed to have no give at all.
The tiger body fell, and the blood and brains smashed between my legs were disgusting. It made me feel like I had just done a combination of shitting and pissing myself.
I could feel the dragons recovering, so I jumped up and dashed at the Cyclops that was shaking its head. It looked up at me and gave me a challenging roar, bursting towards me to meet my charge.
I grinned, and right before we got within swinging range, I shifted focus to water, letting the first fist graze my cheek. I activated Keri's Totem, concentrating on my head.
[Don't do it! You will regret it!]
Too late, my hands were already gripping the back of the creature's head. I drove my forehead forward and pulled the Cyclop's face into mine.
The effect was disgusting as I felt my forehead smash into the Cyclop's face, but that was when I made my head burst with a concentrated blast that blew the creature's head away from its shoulders and most of its two arms.
I whirled around, and the dragons were all looking at me with burning eyes.
[Good start, but this is where the real fun begins.]
'No! I am done with fun for today!'
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