Devoured

Mike choked a bit on the acrid smoke that filled the area and carried the scent of charred meat. Even with his resistance skills, the stench was a bit overpowering, but he had to get close enough to make sure that his attack had been effective. He'd put a fair amount of mana into that spell, but its seems to have paid off.

The blackened chunks of the creature had stopped moving, having been unable to fully reform into their original shape. They now appeared like small, smoking hillocks that broke the otherwise even ground of the plains.

[I guess that worked? Seems a little too easy, though.]

He kept his distance for a full minute, looking for any signs of activity. However, nothing seemed to have happened.

[Should I hit again just to be on the safe side?]

Deciding that he didn't want to take any chances against this kind of monster, he began channeling his mana, intending to unleash yet another blast of lightning. Hopefully, it would reduce the remaining pieces of meat to charcoal.

While he was preparing the spell, he began to feel a strange sensation. It was a bit like low-grade hostility, something on the level of a particularly malign animal, but it was coming from below ground. As he paid attention to it, he realized that it was moving closer.

[Some kind of subterranean monster? Why is it-]

The hostility suddenly surged, and he began to feel tremors below his feet.

"Shit." He cursed, canceling his spell and leaping back as a hardened spike of flesh punched through the ground he'd been standing on mere moments ago. "Looks like its getting smarter."

Landing, Mike began preparing for his next attack, intending to cave the earth onto the creature and crush it. However, he was interrupted when another tentacle broke through the ground behind him and wrapped around his lower legs. He changed his focus at the last second, hurriedly forming a stone javelin with the intent of pinning it to the ground. Unfortunately, he was just a little too slow.

The world turned upside down as the rest of the tentacle broke through the ground and whipped him up into the air. For a moment, he was hanging roughly ten meters up, looking down as the creature freed itself from the earth. He had just enough time to notice that its skin was in the process of changing, taking on a more scaly, reptilian appearance, when it pulled him down and slammed him into the earth.

A few months ago, such an impact would have been instantly lethal. As it was, Mike was left with dozens of broken bones, an unknown amount of internal damage, and the inability to breathe for several seconds while his chest cavity resumed its normal shape. It took several more seconds for him to regain the ability to think in any meaningful capacity.

When he could open his eyes, he realized with dawning horror, that the creature had pulled him towards itself, and was in the process of smothering him with its bulk. The exposed skin of his arms and face was burning, and he could almost feel his tissue dissolving.

He had to fight hard to control his panic. Even with his enhanced Willpower, the sheer horror of what was happening was setting off every survival instinct he had. He had to get out. Had to escape.

Struggling proved pointless, as even his magically enhanced strength was helpless against the creature's bulk. That left cutting his way out. Unconsciously he tried to form his flame blade, but only succeeded in burning himself, since the monster was apparently now resistant to it.

As the flesh finished closing over his head, he was swallowed in darkness. The crushing pressure which had been keeping him pinned in place began to increase. He could no longer move nor breathe, and he was afraid that his consciousness would soon fade.

[Come on! Focus!]

He tried to concentrate on forming his mana into something, anything, that might be able to cut him free from this crushing prison, but it just wouldn't take shape. He'd grown used to the almost unconscious ease with which his mana bent to his will, and to have it fail him at this crucial stage was almost maddening.

[Some sort of disruption effect? Is that even possible?...Ugh...it's getting hard to think. System...now would be a great time for Limit Break. I know I've still got a while before the cooldown expires, but could you cut me some slack?]

Mike thought he heard the faint sound of sadistic laughter from somewhere deep within his mind. Thankfully, the roaring of the blood in his ears drowned it out, and he did his best to ignore it. He had bigger things to worry about than the creature which seemed to be squatting in his soul.

While the pressure and the slow, steady dissolution of his body were problematic, it was the suffocation which was quickly bringing him towards death. His chest was burning, and his brain kept sending panic signals, trying to drive him to escape the smothering embrace of the creature. Yet, struggling just seemed to hasten his end, consuming his remaining oxygen in a futile bid for freedom.

Fatigue settled on him like a heavy blanket. It was getting harder and harder to think as his mind began to recede away from the painful end he was facing. The blessed relief of unconsciousness waited for him, just as soon as he gave in.

[...If I could just get some air...]

His oxygen starved mind, on the verge of collapse, began to focus on that last word. It started playing in his head like a broken record. Over and over again.

[Air...Air...Air...]

Suddenly, he was floating in a vast empty sky. Everywhere he looked was a cloudless blue that extended as far as he could see. Even the ground below him had vanished, and it felt like gravity held no sway in this realm. Yet, for all its apparent emptiness, the sky seemed to be filled with a massive presence. Gentle eddies of wind brushed against him, and for a moment, he felt like he was a part of something far greater than himself.

Looking out at the endless skies, he felt truly free...

Then he was back in his body, still surrounded by the crushing meat of the creature that was trying to devour him. With a gasp, he filled his lungs with a breath of fresh air that he conjured forth with an ease that belied all of his previous efforts. Fully aware, he drew on his mana and surrounded himself with a thin layer of rapidly moving air that pushed back the flesh.

Energy filled him, coursing through him in a way that he'd not felt since his fight with Brutus, and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to let it free.

With a roar, he unleashed it.

---------------------------------------------

To the soldiers on the walls, it seemed like the creature had simply exploded. One minute, it was focused on consuming its most recent victim, much to their horror and despair, the next, it had been reduced to a fine red mist in a violent display of raw power.

Howling whirlwinds ripped through the surrounding landscape, tearing up the earth and venting their rage on the few remaining chunks of the monster. In less than a second, they reached the walls of the city, and it was all the observing soldiers could do to hold on as a veritable storm of agitated air washed over them.

Forced to lay flat, they covered their heads and waited as the windstorm passed them by. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the winds had abated to the point that they could raise their heads and witness the aftermath. What they found was astounding.

The plain before the wall had been painted crimson with the liquidized viscera of the monster. It stretched for nearly a half kilometer in a loose circle around a single point. There, floating a few meters above the ground, was the victorious Dragonknight, untouched by the gore that surrounded him. After a few moments, he sunk back down to the ground.

A stunned and awestruck silence reigned on the walls, with the defense forces too overwhelmed from the sudden reversal to do much more than stare with mouths hung open in disbelief. Among them, however, were a handful of individuals that were a bit more used to Mike's antics.

"Damn it. How many times is he going to make me go through this kind of thing?" Sera complained to Tal while doing her best to wipe away the tears that had started pouring down her face.

The elf only replied with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, not fully ready to speak herself. When Mike had been caught, she'd feared that his luck had finally run out. For a moment, she really began to believe that he'd picked a fight he couldn't win. The realization left her cold, and not even the surge of relief she'd felt at his survival was quite enough to dispel her disquiet.

She was engaging in some introspection, hoping to figure out what was still bothering her, when a shout from one of the soldiers snapped her out of it.

"It's moving!"

They looked on in horror as the blood and viscera that now coated the plain began to quiver and move. It flowed back towards Mike, and only a quick application of Air Magic saved him from being subsumed in the crimson tide. He jump back a good five meters, and watched as the fluid coalesced into a sphere, before compressing itself down into a shape.

Flecks of dried blood began falling from the figure, eventually revealing a humanoid form, about three meters in height. From their vantage, they could tell that it resembled nothing so much as a muscular and hairless man, with one minor difference. The bulbous protrusion that served as its head was completely smooth and devoid of any discernible features.

Looking at the creature, a wave of dread spread through Tal and she realized that, not only was the monster not dead, but that it had turned into something even more deadly than its previous form. With his previous display of power, it wouldn't be surprising for Mike to be low on mana at this point. Now, he had to face the newly improved monster alone.

Or did he?

A plan began to take shape in her mind. One that could potentially turn things around, but she would need some help to accomplish it. Looking around, she spotted Brenden and Lily. The pair had just finished taking down one of the last flesh blobs, and were now watching the events on the plain.

Tal grabbed Sera and began pulling her in their direction.

"Wait! What are you doing?" The Oracle asked, confused.

"Need everyone." She didn't have time to explain. "Have to help."

"But...No, I see what you mean. Let's go." Sera replied, before taking the lead herself. Evidently, she'd guessed Tal's intention.

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[What is this, a JRPG? Why in the hell does this thing have multiple forms?] Mike complained to himself as he appraised the creature once more, not really expecting anything of use.

------------------------

Agony

Age: Varies

Race: Awakened Abomination

Class: Awakened Abomination

Title: The All-Consuming

------------------------

[Great. Of course it had to pull off something crazy like evolving into a new race at the last second. Hardly seems fair...although, I guess I'm not one to talk.]

He checked his mana reserves, and found that he was at roughly sixty percent, which was a lot better than he'd expected. Whatever force that decided to channel its energy through him had evidently put forth the majority of the effort required to create that destructive windstorm.

He focused his attention on the monster, feeling slightly unnerved by its complete lack of facial features. It was tall and hulking, looking a bit like a power lifter who had more than doubled in size in all directions. Its bulging muscles and throbbing veins aside, it had a strangely shabby appearances, as if it were a statue that the sculptor had not yet added details to.

As he was observing it, the roughly formed blob that served as its head turned towards him, and a wave of intense hostility bore down on him as it began to charge.