• Teamwork, Dreamwork

Crawwwwwwww!!!

The two Dreadwingers attacked, scampering through the ground in frightening speed. In a silent unified decision, Spheris and Cerene ran in opposite paths, causing both beasts to diverge as well. 

With a slap of his hands, Spheris conjured a large bolt of [Shaded Surge], sending it at the beast. The dark energy crackled through the air as it struck the Dreadwinger, causing it to explode into a flurry of bone fragments. However, just as Cerene had said, the creature swiftly regenerated from the shattered bones, reforming before his eyes with unnerving speed.

It cracked its head and screeched loudly at him. 

'Just wanted to be sure,' Spheris humphed. 

Battling her own beast, Cerene manipulated her whips of water, weaving them into a swirling vortex which with expert movements of her hands increased in size and became a large tornado of water. 

She captured the beast in its whirling watery grasp, lifting the creature high into the air as it struggled and cried out in terror. Then with a resolute expression, she abruptly inverted the whirlpool, sending the beast hurtling towards the ground below, and raining down a forceful cascade of water upon the creature at the same time.

Spheris watched this with a stunned expression. 'How sure am I that she's even Adept?' he wondered. 'That looked like the skills of a Master."

[Intuition]! 

But his reflexes couldn't save him. The Dreadwinger struck him with its head, sending him flying backwards to the ground. 

"Faggards!" He swore. The creature screeched at him once again. "Yeah, yeah. Give me a second to stand up."

He rose to his feet with no difficulty at all, which was surprising. Normally, he would have to pull himself to his feet, but this time he felt lightless, almost like he flew to his feet.

As the beast scampered towards him, Spheris readied himself to strike. Yet, before he could do anything, he saw Cerene's tendrils of water coil around the Dreadwinger's bony limbs, ensnaring it in a fluid trap.

"Spheris! The cartilage, now!" she cried.

Whilst the creature struggled to escape the aqueous grasp, Spheris [Leaped] in front of it, a cold smirk on his face. "Need a hand?" 

And with that, he sliced right through the cartilage and the beast's head fell off. 

His glyph whirred.

[Beastslayer Bonus granted] 

[Bearer, you have slayed the beast, Dreadwinger]

[Secret Assignment has been completed]

[You have been granted 25ip]

[Power Growth has been discerned]

[Power Level increased]

[Power Level is now at 215ip]

Spheris was about to return the glyph when it whirred once again.

[Influence Unlocked - Whispering Sprint]

[Influence Category - Offensive/Defensive]

[Effectiveness - 15%]

'[Whispering Sprint]?' he thought to himself. Oh, he knew exactly what this meant. 

Looking ahead, he saw the Dreadwinger that Cerene had assaulted with her watery tornado, rise up to his feet, shake its head, turn away from them and began to return to its earlier prey.

But the girl was already on her toes, trying to run away. The beast screeched at her and hurriedly scampered towards her with furiosity. 

To save the girl, Cerene quickly sent two powerful blasts of water balls at the hunting Dreadwinger. But they missed the beast by inches. "Crap." she swore.

"I got this." Her eyes turned to Spheris who had appeared by her side. His gaze focused on the beast as it successfully brought the girl to the ground and opened its ugly toothed mouth.

Cerene frowned at him worriedly. "Well, if you're gonna do something, then do it!"

Without responding, Spheris assumed a running stance, took a deep breath and then poof! He disappeared. 

Cerene's frown stretched. What just happened?

With [Whispering Sprint], Spheris had dashed all the way to the Dreadwinger's front, making only as much sound as a whisper. The startled beast abruptly snapped shut its jaws, its eyes widening in horror as it beheld Spheris before it.

"Boo." 

He punched it straight in the face with his fist pulsing with the dark force, sending the creature hurtling away from the girl and landing rough on the rocky ground.

Seeing it was now alone and didn't have its colleagues, the Dreadwinger was very frightened. It struggled to its feet, whimpering as it tried to escape. But the shadow wielder was not yet done with it. 

Conjuring [Embrace Of The Darkness], Spheris grabbed its legs with the murky tendrils and sent the Dreadwinger for a spin. He felt so alive, so powerful as he gyrated around, making the beast dizzy and disoriented. 

When he was satisfied, he slammed the beast hard on the ground, and after that he [Whispered] to it and landed numerous shaded punches to its skeleton face. Then he arose gratifyingly, gazing down at the half-dead beast.

As he watched, its bones began to heal and the shattered face was slowly reforming, but in the Dreadwinger's eyes, it didn't want to heal. It wished for death.

Spheris shifted his gaze to Cerene who had been watching from a distance. "Do you want the Beastslayer Bonus?"

Shaking away the bewildered expression on her face, Cerene conjured a wave of water from her flagons and surfed above it, all the way to Spheris's location. She gazed down at the battered Dreadwinger, who gazed back at her, begging for death.

With an apathetic breath, Cerene conjured a sharp, thin whip of water and precisely sliced through the beast's cartilage neck, ending its misery.

When she turned back to Spheris, she saw he had already started harvesting the other's Soul Fragments.

[Soul Fragment Identified]

[Soul Type: Dreadwinger]

[Soul Value: Epic]

[Soul Fragment Is Worth 100 Weapon Points]

[Soul Fragment Has Been Harnessed Successfully]

[Seven More Singular Soul Fragments Are Required]

[Craft On, Willful Bearer]

"Seven more it is." Spheris nodded to himself resolutely. He turned to Cerene who was also offering her Soul Fragment to her glyph. When she was done, she caught his stare and they both approached each other.

"What do I do with this one?" he asked her, showing her the spare Soul Fragment.

"I don't know," she shrugged, a slight but evident change was in her demeanor. "Save it. If we leave this place you can sell it for something. Or you can let one of the others have it when we're reunited."

Spheris humphed. "Good idea."

They slowly began to approach the girl who was still lying on the ground, tending to her wounded leg. 

"You and I working together," Spheris muttered. "I liked that. It was... nice."

Cerene gave him a short analytical glance. "Yeah. I guess teamwork makes the dream work."

His head fell in thought. "I guess it does."

Caw! Talon swooped down from below and landed on his outstretched hand. Spheris had told the bird that at any sign of danger, he is to fly high up in the sky and stay clear. He was glad that it had listened.

"Hey," Cerene gently knelt before the wounded girl. "Are you o—" 

To Spheris's surprise, she jumped up to her feet, fist clenched as she roared angrily: "You!"

You? Who?

Spheris walked closer to Cerene and the wounded girl, looking down to see who it was. And sure enough, he understood, Cerene's anger. 

The girl had short brown hair and big brown eyes, which ascuented the nervous cordial smile that was on her face. "Hello again, my friendly adventurers!"

Spheris grimaced. "Linne."