FELIX!

The ooze burst all around him, rendered into stinking vapor before streaming down into Felix’s gullet. Below, Beef still blazed too brightly to look at, but all around Felix the once omnipresent ooze had gone. His own core space felt stuffed full to bursting, but he couldn’t think on it. The way out was open, and that voice was Vess. She was in trouble.

FELI—

“Pit! To me!” He barely paused as their visualized forms Converged once more. Felix hauled on the Link back to his Body. Blinked open his real eyes.

Just as an entire lake fell on his head.

Sunken Ward!

The spell ripped from Felix’s channels, slipping across his allies with the ease of long practice, even as panic gripped his Mind. Pressure and icy darkness rolled him and Beef together, limbs smashing into root and stone hard enough to rip them asunder. Direction became meaningless, the world nothing more than the howl of roaring waters, furious spray, and the shadow of something vile and gargantuan bearing down on them all.

Sunken Ward is level 33!

…

Sunken Ward is level 37!

The sheer force of the water on him and his allies pushed Felix’s spell to the limit, instantly consuming all of his Mana. If it weren’t for the ooze’s overwhelming energy then that would have been it; his friends would have been smeared along the tunnel's walls.

Sunken Ward is level 38!

…

Sunken Ward is level 42!

The ward held, cold and pressure held at bay, but it did nothing against the shadow in the waves. Claws tore through the tunnel, ripping more of it apart with arms the size of the Abundance Anima’s branches. Felix’s Perception was awry, too overwhelmed by everything to piece it all together, but he definitely noticed as the padded paw of a huge monstrosity seized him by the torso. He was hauled up as ice burst across his chest, through the broken tunnel and into the wide expanse of the lake bed.

This isn’t good, Pit murmured inside his Spirit. This isn’t good at all.

Felix had to agree. Pulled up into the greater dark, Felix’s Perception finally had a chance to catch up. His senses spread outward, pinging off of countless shapes in the murky water, many of them familiar. Voracious Eye confirmed it, noting hundreds—perhaps thousands—of Broodvipers and Drakin. No mere Hatchlings, each one was strong—at least on par with a high Journeyman Tier warrior—and in their eyes was a maddened glint that could have lit up the waters with its intensity.

Far more pressing, however, was the creature that had their claws around Felix’s chest.

Moontouched Lindwurm. Just as the first Depthwurm he faced, they resembled a mix between a snake and wurm, except this one had sprouted a dozen arms, each tipped with two-foot-long talons. Their body was a mix of scales and swirling, faintly luminescent fur, most of which framed a wedge-shaped face and a pair of stunted horns. The monster was absolutely massive, twice as big as any Manaship and strong enough that his Voracious Eye struggled to read their details. Dammit. Tier V. That’s equivalent to a High Adept.

And there were six of them.

“This is what has our monarch so worried?” one of them rumbled. Its voice shook the water like a subwoofer, all but slapping Felix in the face. “It is but a single morsel. I could end it with nothing more than the snap of my jaws.”

“Careful, sister. He maintains a spell, one that keeps his fellows alive.” Another Lindwurm shifted their Body, the waves of their undulations enough to make Felix tense his neck muscles to keep from having his head snap back. “See?”

The creature held up three of their appendages, showing Beef, the Multipede, and Vess captured in their claws. Felix easily made out the white-green light that limned their forms, as well as the dark ice that bound them. Beef and Hallow were down, but Vess stared daggers at the draconic Type Lindwurms. A bizarre feeling swelled within Felix’s core space, like a drum being slammed far away, one that he felt vibrating in his gut. It was pure and simple violence.

Vess. Don’t, he sent across their Link. He’d managed it somehow earlier, and it was far easier now. Wait for my signal. Please.

Fine, was all she sent back. Her gaze did not waver from the Lindwurms for an instant.

“How did you survive the rending of the roots?” crooned the Lindwurm holding Felix. They tilted their wedge-shaped head at him, a single yellow eye the size of a mid-sized sedan blinking languidly. “What spell is it you cast, little morsel?”

Felix grinned. >

The Lindwurm’s head rippled forward on their long, sinuous neck. It was a disturbing undulation as it left the rest of their Body unmoved, as if their neck were somehow detached or independent of their thicker trunk. The creature opened their jaws, revealing a black tongue within a bright pink mouth. They stopped only inches from Felix’s face, and somehow he could feel the stink on their breath.

“I would know what I am to destroy for my monarch. I feel a danger to you, which cannot be true for one so meager.” Their black tongue tapped against a set of fangs taller than Felix, and all the water around him felt suddenly too warm. “Explain.”

Felix licked his lips and took stock of his situation. Vess was ready to fight, though she was practically hobbling herself thanks to her Temper recomposition efforts. Isla, held by one of the other Lindwurms, was fully unconscious and bound in more dark ice. The War Naga were likewise captured, and Felix only counted six of them remaining. Three had died since that morning. He shoved that fact away. No time to deal with that now.

Of Paxus there was no sign.

Beef is still fighting, Pit added.

Felix could feel that as well. The teen was still resolving his core space, evidenced by many things, not the least of which was Felix’s continued hold on his Fiendforge. The effort of it was immense, and it was burning up a significant chunk of the ooze’s stolen Essence and Mana. So long as he held Fiendforge, Felix would be limited in what he could do—unless he was willing to sacrifice his team.

If Felix were to tangle with the Lindwurms, the sheer amount of Fathom spawn would bury his friends.

“The spell, gobbet,” they demanded. That eye returned, tilted downward to stare at him balefully. “Or I shall eat your allies one by one.”

The cool rage that was pooling in Felix’s chest stoked hotter at those words. His cores sparked, throwing thunder and flame in wild bursts of shrieking melody. >

“You make demands, little nibble? That our monarch sent us to deal with you is already too much glory for such a small thing. You,” they said, squeezing Felix for emphasis. Ice cracked and spread, crawling up his shoulders and neck. “Do not make demands of us. Answer me. What spell is this? Why does it not fail against me?”

It took a considerable measure of Felix’s insane Willpower to keep himself calm. The pain was one thing to shrug off, but the casual threats against his team—against those he cared about—that was too far. Yet before words could spool up in his Mind, whispers caressed the edges of it, as if drifting on a roving current. Seek the center. Strengthen the Tree.

Paxus? There was only a brief pulse, something Felix could take for confirmation or simply a coincidence. Well, who else would be worried about the Tree right now?

“Too late!” the Lindwurm cried out, and their tail moved fast. It whipped through the water and smashed into one of the other Lindwurms…except they swam backward, leaving behind three of the War Naga floating helplessly in their frozen cages. For a brief, horrifying second, Felix met Toa’ut’s stoic gaze and heard terror.

All three were shattered.

> Felix whispered. Toa’ut and two of his warriors were simply…gone. They left behind only frozen chunks and thick, swirling clouds of misty crimson.

“Their deaths are on you, mage,” the Lindwurm rumbled. Their tone of delight was unmistakable, even if they had bothered to veil their Spirit from Felix’s senses. “As are your other companions if you do not heed my words. The spell!”

> Felix hissed, Mind whirling as he fought his rising emotions. Images and impressions flitted about, organizing themselves in a wild, almost incoherent order. Red-gold flame escaped from the corners of his mouth, turning to boiling bubbles where it met the water. >

Adamant Discord!

Lightning erupted in a perfect circle around Felix, the connections he had established with the water and even the Lindwurms themselves serving as battering rams for his Intent and Will. The Lindwurm squawked in surprise, its paw blasted open along with shards of its own icy spell.

“You dare! I will freeze the blood in your bones!”

Rime Shaping!

Felix pointed at the Lindwurm and unleashed a Chant boosted ice Mana spell, conjuring a huge, blunt chunk of ice to crash into the beast’s chest. The draconic Type was huge, bigger by far than anything he’d fought recently, but it was still in the water. Leverage was hard to find. The Lindwurm was blasted back, a look of reptilian outrage on their face.

> Felix said as the spell faded.

The outrage on the Lindwurm’s face turned to a deep amusement. Their laugh was deep and throaty, enough to send chills up Felix’s spine. “You cannot make demands of us, morsel. You are prey, and we are predators!”

They lunged forward, wedge-shaped jaws agape as if to swallow him whole.

Sovereign of Flesh!

The song of it wobbled, its Transcendent pattern too large and complex while he was also still maintaining Fiendforge. Immense familiarity and burning far too much of the Ooze Behemoth’s Essence did their magic, however, and the Skill stabilized. Before the Lindwurm could even reach him, Felix hurled his Willpower against them.

“N-no!” the Lindwurm cried. “Release me!”

With a scream of effort, Felix laid claim to the Lindwurm’s very flesh. The moment he did, skin, scale, muscle, and fat were flensed from its bulky frame. Sovereign of Flesh sang within him, a ruthless melody that surged with buzzing atonal beats.

Felix ripped their fucking bones apart.

Sovereign of Flesh is level 83!

Sovereign of Flesh is level 84!

You Have Killed A Moontouched Lindwurm!

XP Earned!

Chthonic Tribute!

> he said, letting the ichor and offal flood into his channels before turning to the Lindwurm that held Vess and Beef. >