30 Unbound
"So if they're in the same tier as you, are the as strong as you, mom?"
"As if!" the world famous Dark Lady pouted, "I don't have a clue why my own blood would think so poorly of me! After you finish your little mission, I'll have those kittens grovelling beneath your feet, sweetling!"
Melisandra softly giggled, "They'll beg as they always do while their bones melt out of their fleshly containers."
"Eh, no thanks, mom," Odd pleaded. "I'm all for torture cause its a free world and it tends to get the message across and all.The thing is, its not like it gets my dick hard or anything."
"Oh, do you kiss your mother with that mouth, boy?"
"But moooooom, I thought you didn't want to join my harem!?"
"Of course not dear, your new look isn't enough for me that you can even dream about that. At least its much better than that shrunken ugly doll look that you used to rock. Those crooked teeth and that weird elastic skin, eww."
"Ugh, I know. Body dismorphia is a real thing, I would have probably started a support group if I couldn't evolve. I just thank all the gods above and my mother for her good genes, even if they bloomed late. Part of me wants to find someone with a mental affinity to erase that part from my life actually."
Melisandra 'tsssked' at her son, "You're better than that, Odd. Shalador, that mess of damaged, low self esteem and sexual paranoia got his memories altered after he cuckolded a Minotaur's wife. The cow had like 6, furry tits and the 'most powerful, great High Elf in the world,' looked like a dead man for days. He claaaiiims its an addiction that he can't help."
Coincidentally, Isonei couldn't hold it back any more and sneezed.
"Oh, I forgot cuckolding was a sore subject for the Aenon family," the elf taunted.
"Anyway, my lady," Isonei steered the conversation, "You were saying something about the fourth tier?"
"If you need a shoulder to cry on about your failure of a father, I won't tell anyone, I promise," Melisandra waited for a response but received none.
"Well, it's called the unbound tier for a reason. Its not only because you don't rely completely on the Connection to perform magic, but also because some affinities start to get really, really weird."
"Like what?" Odd had to ask.
-Strategic meeting between Odd, the Living Ghoul; Isonei Aenon, the 946th Daughter of New Atlantis; and Melisandra Meirvere, Dark Lady of The Myriad Storms, 2109 FE
****************************************************
*SPLAT*
Directly in front of Odd, was a newly formed, shallow crater and a rising cloud of dust. Behind that dust, lay a puddle of dark green mixed with red the color of blood. It was alarming enough to see something land in front of him out of no where, but the little color Odd had to his face quickly left him when he saw what came from the crater.
First, a head emerged, followed by a body, and it ended with a tail.
A lizardman with red, glowing eyes literally crawled out of a puddle of its own flesh and blood.
It was more monstrous and Goblike than most lizardmen though, Odd knew that much without the use of his skill.
There was a pure, unadulterated malice that the Living Ghoul swore he could see, visible, in the air. It made it difficult for him to even activate his observation skill, but somehow, he got it off.
[Eyes of Providence] activated
Name: Pet
Race: Giga Lizardman, T4
Race details: A fusion of Slimeborn and Gob, this race follows the 'wild,' and 'malice,' evolutionary paths. Giga Lizardmen boast supreme regenerative powers at the cost of sanity and the solidness of the bodies that others of similar power have. They are identified by their common lizardmen characteristics, larger than normal stature, and usually are a shade of green. Despite their similar features, its near impossible to mistake them as their Enlightened counterparts because their savagery is unmistakable. Giga Lizardmen are either on a rampage or enslaved, there is no in between.
[Stats]
Body: Mid T3
Mind: Low T2
Soul: Mid T2
Regeneration Affinity: High T4
Explosion Affinity: Low T3
[Special Conditions]
Enslavement Ritual; Owner: Cripclaw
Odd couldn't move. Staring into the eyes of death incarnate, he started to channel his yin lightning to overdraw his life force so he could send a beacon to his mother.
Then, he saw the giant lizard bend his legs, and instead, he instinctively used his speed affinity to leap directly up into the air.
Underneath him was a blur, as the Giga Lizardman exploded his own legs below his ankles to fly forward and shoot into the tunnel from whence Odd had exited from.
Now that the deathly presence was limited, Odd chastised himself as he grabbed a branch and started heading towards his mother.
"Coward!" he yelled out loud, trying to stop his shaking limbs.
No matter how much he cursed at his weakness, he couldn't help it. The fourth tier was so surreal, the memory of just looking into the beasts eyes was like a walking nightmare, it was a true harbinger of death!
Odd pushed himself, he used most all of his mana to create as large of a distance from the threat as was physically possible.
After near 20 minutes of sprinting through the trees with his [Canopy Grace], Odd was alerted by a green blur that blew underneath him, barreling through trees past him.
The Living Ghoul diverted his course to a slight angle, but was met with a barrage of teeth that sank into his flesh like shrapnel, forcing him out of the air as he was between tree branches, slamming him into another hard wall of timber.
The damn lizard created an explosion in his mouth that fired his teeth like the spray of a shotgun! His mother said the fourth tier gets crazy, but this is absolute insanity!
Making a quick survey of his surroundings, Odd reinforced his legs and barreled off course further, taking the time it took for the lizard to backtrack after he overextended himself to jump into the river.
Sweat and blood rinsed off, then Odd used his water affinity like jets and covered distance faster than he could on land.
As the Living Ghoul was running low on mana again, he jumped out of the river to get back into the trees, he froze as the ferocious gaze of the monster rattled his soul.
Just when he thought it was over, a wall of fire erupted from the ground, blocking the line of sight and catching the trees nearby aflame.
Odd caught sight of a woman made of red slime in the corner of his eye before the lizard headed that way. Just as he was about to warn her, her form completely dissipated in a splash and sloshed between a pile of rocks, going underground.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Odd started off again through the trees.
[Body] rose from 2.2 to 2.4
Although the stat gains weren't unwelcome, they wouldn't make a difference. Odd was too frightened to even ponder living through this encounter.
The run would have been impossible without his [Legendary Endurance], but Odd had made it for over an hour of his non-stop sprint when the monster caught up to him.
A booming noise echoing behind him, Odd turned his head and saw nothing but an approaching green blur.
While the Gob was in mid air.
'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die,' rang over in Odd's head over and over as he grit his teeth.
But he wouldn't be Odd if he couldn't come up with crazy, split second actions to save his ass.
Taking a page from the monster's short playbook, Odd channeled his speed magic and yin lighting to his right hand, pushing off the air itself, diverting Odd's midair trajectory with the force of his exploding hand.
When the Giga Lizardman reached him, it was a welcome relief, as having your arm and most of your shoulder torn off as you're thrown to the ground is less painful that exploding your own limb with magic built for torture.
Quickly cauterizing as much of the large wound as he could, Odd let loose a savage, pain-driven roar as he started off again. His vision was blurring and he had no idea if he was even going the right way, he just kept running.
The world around him seemed to slow and Odd didn't know how much time had passed. His entire perception was off as death was encroaching him from behind. He just kept running, stumbling over himself, and hoping that he would make it in time.
The last thing Odd remembered, was that he said a few words to someone before his consciousness faded to black.
