Ch 44: Fighting the Dokunpal

Raising his staff high, Baldeur formed a dozen shards of ice. The shards flew towards the central node only to be intercepted by various other tentacles.

He'd have to get close to the central node in order to deal a killing blow. And it wasn't going to be easy as the tentacles just damaged in his attack were already starting to regenerate.

The first few tentacles that Baldeur came across as he made his way in were still under the influence of the calming spell. He easily slashed through them with little effort.

Even after the calming spell wore off, Baldeur's aura of Winter that he was releasing kept the creature from using its full power.

As a tentacle whipped out at him and Baldeur countered with a slash of orange Qi energy. Another one burst towards him and this time he defended with his staff.

The tentacle wrapped around the staff and started to pull. Before it could rip the staff from Baldeur's hand, the cold of Winter overtook it. With a strong pull the brittle tentacle broke off and started to fall apart.

As other tentacles tried to grab onto his legs, yellow shields of Divinus formed to protect him.

More appendages started to strike out at once. Using his improved reflexes, Baldeur danced around them. His sword struck down several as his staff spun around him, spreading frost on the flesh of the dokunpal.

The further into the monster that Baldeur moved the more active it became.

The pollen was thick enough that it obscured his view of the central node.

The tentacles lengthened and began to fling the beast's secretions towards him from a distance.

Even underneath his feet the flesh started to move in waves, trying to knock him down.

Baldeur thrust his staff into the ground and poured the power of Winter into the ground below him. The flesh stopped moving as ice crystals formed all around him.

The citrine and amethyst on Baldeur's sword lit up as he sent a slash forward. The Qi and Psychic energy flew in an arc from the blade. The tentacles that were flinging liquids towards him were cut from their stalks.

The pollen was a little more difficult. It was spread around him and there were too many smaller nodes releasing the pollen to destroy them all. He was also running low on Psychic Source energy since he had constantly been using it to form a telekinetic barrier to keep the pollen from influencing him.

'Flare for me and burn the very air around me: Flame Circle.'

Bolstered by the power of the Rising Sun, flames formed around Baldeur and with a hand motion, the flames burst out in a circle around him. The pollen burned away and he had a clear path to the central node.

Just as he was about to deal a fatal blow small tentacles burst out at his feet. Most of them were stopped by the Divinus shield but there was just one too many for his magic to stop. A single small tentacle wrapped around his leg.

His pants melted and the dokunpal's secretions touched his skin. Immediately he felt the effects as his vision blurred and a desire to surrender entered his mind. Pure euphoria was trying to overtake him.

As a last resort Baldeur released his Infernius sin of Pride to maintain control of his thoughts.

"This will not stop me! You are nothing before my might!" Baldeur screamed in arrogance.

Sensing the energy it craved the most, the magical creature began to attack with renewed vigor.

Concentrating his energy in his legs, Baldeur leapt into the air. Using the last of his Psychic Source energy he kept himself floating with his telekinesis.

He pointed both his staff and his sword down towards the swarm of wriggling tentacles that were reaching out for him.

'Pull the heat and chill what is before me: Breath of Winter.'

Not only did he pour a great deal of Anodular energy in the form of Winter into the spell but he released what little ability he had in Wrath to bolster the spell. While Aisling and other users of Infernius' sin of Wrath primarily used its aspect for burning fire, Wrath could also be cold as the arctic wind.

The combination of spells drained Baldeur's stamina but had the effect he wanted. Frost immobilized most of the dokunpal below him. He now had a clear shot towards his goal.

Throwing his sword towards the central node, Baldeur kept a stream of Qi energy attached to his weapon. Once it embedded itself in the cold flesh, he sent most of his remaining Qi into the sword.

Blades of pure Qi lashed out from the sword, shredding the central node.

After Baldeur landed, he retrieved his sword and watched the area around him. When he was a part of the gluttony abomination he gained a few memories of how this monster fought and its many ways of survival.

With this knowledge in mind he waited until he saw two bulges trying to move through the flesh covered ground.

With a slash of his sword, a slice of Qi destroyed the heart that was trying to move locations. With a thrust of his staff a shard of ice impaled the brain that was also trying to escape destruction.

Now that the two vital organs were gone, the rest of the dokunpal stopped moving.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Baldeur began to refill his spent energy of Mana and Anodular. He'd need to pull out stones to replenish his other Sources but didn't want to take the time. There was still a battle going on outside.

He chopped off the biggest tentacle he could find and was about to leave when he noticed a small tunnel near the rear of the dokunpal.

Taking a quick peak, he found a series of caves with shelves cut out of the walls. On the shelves were baskets with about a dozen eggs that had resulted from the dokunpal's activities.

Each of the baskets had a number of spells weaved into them. The purpose of the spells was to place the eggs in stasis.

Based on what he had learned, there must be thousands of eggs that had been accumulated over hundreds of years.

Baldeur already had suspicions that the other two prophesied heroes were sent to villages like this. He also guessed correctly that Mathys, or someone with him, disturbed that nest they found and caused the beast tide that was rampaging through the inner passes.

He was also right in thinking that the mysterious red headed woman that came with Nilo was a phoenix that could take human form. A magical beast of that level would easily be able to flood a nest like this with fire. Destroying the eggs before they could hatch.

Under these assumptions, he left the nest for now and headed out of the shrine.

On his way he came across the five priestesses that were guarding the dokunpal. One was curled up on the ground laughing uncontrollably.

The next kept spinning in circles and running into the cave wall. Her sense of direction had been inverted and she couldn't control her limbs properly.

Two were trapped in a large spider web. It looked like the second one was trying to free the first one that was trapped.

The last made it very close to the door. She was crawling on bloody hands and knees having fallen in an area where the ground rose into sharp spikes when someone entered.

Having been a librarian in his second life, he had read of many unique spells that used Mana. Now was as good a time as any to dip into his arsenal of spells.

As he passed each of them, Baldeur waved his staff at them and sang a Divinus Song of Slumber.

Once his magic weapons were put back in his secret dimensional pocket, Baldeur threw open the doors to the shrine. Before him the battle was still raging and he was glad to see that his side was still hanging on.

They were definitely bruised and battered but all of them were still putting up a fight.

He threw the large tentacle out for everyone to see.

"I think your Lord Sathanas isn't going to be too happy about your failure." Baldeur clenched one fist as Winter formed around it before clenching the other as the flames of the Rising Sun formed.

'Those who threaten me shall cower before my might: Fear.'

Since he was already covered in Infernius energy from his fight, Badleur took the risk of Aisling noticing and added the sin of Despair to his Mana spell. It had the desired effect as many of the villagers ran screaming in terror at what they saw before them.

Behind Baldeur a raven flew out of the shrine and perched itself on the wooden arch. Its mistress smiled as she enjoyed the show that this man was providing. She couldn't wait to see him challenge her father.