Book 1: Chapter 70: The Swarm That Walks II.
Black death swarmed towards me, A swarm-cloud that drowned out all else. The particles tore through rock as they swirled in their hunger. No skill would save me from that shredding force, I realized. White encompassed me as the behemoth stepped between me and fate. The giant seized my form and wrapped its body around me. Fur and muscles encompassed every sense I possessed, save for sound. Buried in the behemoths grasp, I could still hear death as it swarmed around me.
It swirled faster, tighter, tearing through flesh with impunity. Only a matter of time before it ripped through this temporary shield and reached my form.
The tendril withdrew, gone quickly as it had been commanded upon me. Unable to bleed, the primal beast dropped me and returned to the attack. A valiant attempt, at least. The swarm-beast floated high above, a storm in the Overminds shape. Tendrils extended downwards towards us, a billion different beings under one unified command.
Cloven Crash was a valiant, yet feeble attempt to lock it in place. Easily broken. Yet it provided a heartbeat where the skills hold was absolute. The behemoths bone blades crashed into the solid tendril to tear it loose, yet it was the smallest nick in the bloated swarm.
Thats not a sun! Velton shouted as he attempted to draw power from above. The massive orb glowed and pulsated, yet refused to yield any more aid. Its a reliquary!
I bellowed in acknowledgment despite my complete lack of understanding.
Massive blades of shifting darkness formed as the swarm reshaped itself, weapons autonomous from its main body. These whirled round and crashed down from on high, come to blot out the light. Flame met them in return as Velton set himself and brought forth dragon-fire. The elfs magical wroth and wrath seared through the descended swarmfall and upon the cloud itself.
Yet this was a feint I realized. Cloven Crash froze the swarm for just a heartbeat as grey magic swirled above. A conjured moon whirled with silver energy and fired dull lances of force to crash down upon us. Annihilation came for the elf, eldritch magic to flay the flesh from his bones and sap the magic from what remained. Small though it was, the delay had given Ishila enough time to dash close and take the full brunt of the pillar that descended.
For a moment I stared in horror as it engulfed the lass. This turned to relief as the mirror shield refused to yield and reflected the magic skyward. This tore into the swarm, colossal force directed back to its wielder.
Grease rained from the sky as Velton gestured, and a simple fireball set the mass alight even as it reeled from the blow. It coalesced into a singular being rather than be consumed as a billion smaller ones. A roar and lightning-breath from above forced it down just enough for the behemoth to seize a burning chunk and rip it from the sky.
The cradle of unborn gods shook as the Arnthema Apex tore into the mountainside, rubble left in its wake. The behemoth dragged it down to earth, fire and fervor shredding at its white fur. Bone-white blades caught only rock as the massive being shifted aside and returned the favor. Even as I charged toward the fray, the behemoth staggered back with an array of blades that jutted from its back.
Lerish crashed down to earth in all her draconic glory, wrath brought forth in thunder as she expelled lightning at the downed swarm. Bolt-breath struck the creature as it rose and tore the earth open with a gesture.
All this magic and wrath, and here I was, just a minotaur with a sword.
All I needed to be. Scream of Fury loosed itself from my throat and directed the titans attention to me. It was a solid mass now, alight with grease-fire. Tehalis whirled into view upon its back, axes falling in savage repetition. Its body contorted and slammed into a wall, the orc leaping out just in time. Psychic force nearly brought me to one knee as the Apexs mental might shredded right through Berserk.
I staggered up and continued my charge, claymore raised.
Cold and cruel was the laughter that came at the sight of me running towards it. A small, insignificant speck. This was silenced as the behemoth plowed one massive fist into the creatures side. Bone blades ripped and tore in frenzied rhythms even as the Apex returned the punishment in kind. Rock broke beneath their fury as the two titans clashed, then outright shattered as Lerish joined the fray.
Fast kicks shattered the ground in sheer force as the second Apex flowed from one attack to the next, just barely twisting past counter-attacks. Faced with two beings nearly its equal, at least in title, it did little but survive the onslaught.
All it needed to.
The grease burned away, and once more the massive thing dissolved into a storm-cloud that shredded everything it touched. Lerish leaped backward, blood dripping from her front as the behemoth staggered and bore the full brunt. The air trembled in anticipation as the demigod took flight once more, unfathomable amounts of magic within its grasp.
My eyes locked with Velton as I mouthed the words.
Now.
All sound ceased as the elfs spell took hold round my head, then spread to the others. On my belt was a sealed metal cube. This I plopped onto the ground and dug my fingers into the seams, then ripped it open to reveal the cube of earth within. Large green leaves sprouted from this, and without further ado, I seized these and yanked the creature free.
The mandrake emerged with its mouth open, death-scream already being bellowed from its lungs. With one last gance at the little fiend, I wound up and hurled it towards the swarm with all my might. Its pudgy body arced through the air, an announcement of damnation wherever it traveled.
Grey death spread through the swarm as all that heard the sound withered away. Waves of particle-beings fell, shriveled and used up as the screams ripped through the swarm. The vast cloud crumpled and reformed into a single creature that staggered about, in pain. Legions lay dead around it, in the center of it all a baby-like thing that wailed death and despair. The behemoth stepped in and hammered it down, once more able to engage in directly. It thrashed and struggled, curled up in pain.
No more.
These words pierced the veil of deafness and I watched with horror as both the mandrake and behemoth were disintegrated. They were not blasted, destroyed or otherwise damaged, but simply unmade.
The price of your arrogance will be eternity.
This it spoke and the sun shattered above. One, ten, a thousand orbs of light emerged from this shell and swirled downwards.
Souls. Power. Fragments of divinity.
Velton threw his arms forward to stop the transference and was hurled across the chamber with violent force to crumple into the wall. Tehalis was snatched from the sky and buried straight into the ground. Lerish fought but was likewise tossed aside. Ishilas lance pierced it through the chest as the orc screamed in rage, and my claymore whirled for its head.
It cared little for these, I found as it stood braced, arms upstretched as the mass of light descended upon it.
You witness the ascension of a new God. The system confirmed my worst fears. Sick was the feeling within my gut even as I dashed forward in desperation.
We are not worthy of divinity, yet you have left little choice. The being lamented.
Then I will take it from you.
A cold, cruel, frenzied voice emerged from a singular shadow the being now cast. A familiar, dread rasp that spoke with coiled malice. One that I had never been so grateful to hear.
Valencia emerged behind the being, an inferno of dark glory. Hands ablaze with dark suns seized the massive Arnthema, her fingers piercing into the flesh itself. Darkness shone as the array of souls struck the creature even as the dreadknight pulled the life from it. Brilliance gleamed through the void, cut loose by the scream of millions. They stood wreathed in glory and hellfire as pure power rained down from the false heavens and flowed into them both.
Reality violently expelled them both from the void that crumpled upon itself where they had stood. Valencia flipped through the air and landed next to me, bloodied smile upon her face. My claymore was in her grasp, I saw. She flipped it towards me and I snatched it from the air.
Again we meet, Garek. There was blood and lust and hatred and scorn in her words, that crooked smile upon her face. So soon you hurry back to me.
You just tried to kill me. I stated bluntly.
I have been led on for so long now. She grinned. Can you blame me for wanting a taste?
I chose not to think on that further and turned back to the half-ascended Arnthema.
You steal power meant for divinity, lay claim to might your mortal shell cannot hold. It raged. We are the creator of Gods. The Overmind. The swarm unleashed. We are billions. Who are YOU to stand in our path?
I am Valencia. The dreadknight sneered at the eldritch half-godling before us. Breaker. Undoer. Butcher. And I will cast you down.
I am Garek. You end here. Now.
Ishila only gave a scream of fury and charged past us, axe raised. Valencia still beat her there. The dreadknight warped through shadows and staggered the godling with vicious blows fueled by its own stolen power. She stood and traded blow for blow with the ancient of days, every strike delivered back to her but the smallest dent in her armor.
She was literally shrinking the blows, I realized with some vague sense of approval as I closed the gap. Genius. The Arnthema was wreathed in heavenly glory and light, where her own inferno was darkness and void. Her appearance flickered back and forth, human and something sharper, a being with fangs and too many horns as she shifted between planes at speeds I could only witness.
I crashed into the godling and brought the claymore down on its neck. My arms rung as for the first time, something refused to yield beneath the enchanted blade. Still focused on Valencia, its elbow recoiled back and slammed me across the face. It struck it again and again, a flurry of blows with all my strength and rage that did little.
Valencia burned through consumed souls with a mad fervor, more power expanded in heartbeats than I had ever witnessed. She danced through shifts of reality, the worst blows narrowly avoided as she laid a storm of blows into the Apex. Ishilas axe found the same problem as I, and she cast it aside with a snarl.
The being back-handed the dreadknight and staggered her for the first time, its entire power still focused on her. The mountainside of carved gods was laid to waste as it tore into her, all magic abandoned in return for sheer strength.
The dreadknight laughed and gasped beneath the blows, flames of fervor still in her eyes as she struck back. Sunlight bloomed as Ishila summoned another massive spear of light and jammed it into the godling point-blank. Blood ran from her eyes upon the exertion, dried through sheer heat. In desperation, I seized the Godling's arms from behind and yanked it back, off Valencia.
The dreadknight came up swinging, suns of void-light tearing into the Arnthemas mighty body. She bled now, exhaustion in her features, writ alongside sheer joy as she blazed with power. Elbows and spikes slammed into me as I brought all my strength to bear and held the godling in place. A fist to the neck tore open the indestructible shell and let liquid flow free.
Ichor and obsidian flesh flew, torn off by strikes as the battle turned in our favor. What force still held me up through this exhaustion, I did not know and did not question. Something shattered and Valencia staggered back, howling in fury as she clutched her face. I let loose the massive being, heaved it around, and seized the open wound upon its throat.
No skills were needed as I looked the being right in its dozen eyes and tore the wound wide open. It choked now, then screamed as I grabbed the sunlight lance buried in its side and twisted upwards to tear it in half.
Noise and chaos died as it fell backwards, and the three here bore witness to the death of a newly ascended godling.
It was an.. unceremonious thing. Flopped a few times, had some light leave it and then dissolved.
What came after made up for it.
You have been granted the thirty-first level. You have been granted the thirty-second level. You have been granted by the will of Gods Above the thirty-third level of Bloodstained Berserker.
You have been granted the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth level of Farmer.
You have achieved a mighty feat through the culmination of both classes. Class consolidation will occur once you sleep.
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