Icarus Awakens

They’d gotten within a kilometer of Duststone Oasis before anyone realized what was wrong. Daniel could have figured it out sooner if he’d been keeping an eye on his map, but it was Khiat who somehow recognized the pattern of the dunes and what wasn’t on the horizon. Vtidi’s tower was gone.

“How is everyone on mana?” Evalyn asked quickly. The answer was thankfully well off. Hunter hadn’t had to use Flash Jaunt once, and while Daniel was a little drained from all the Called Shots, Khare was worse off for everything they’d tried to put into making their long range shots work. It all seemed like a waste now.

“Hunter, anything?”

The ringcat shook his head in response to Daniel’s question. They hadn’t left the villagers tagged, mostly for privacy concerns. That Hunter couldn’t sense them was ominous and comforting at the same time. If they were underground he should be able to sniff them out, but if something had hit the village then the blood would’ve been enough at this distance. However, he didn’t sense any monster either.

“Stealth monsters?” Daniel had a flashback to the frost strangler. If invisibility was in play that meant a level 3 at least, if they could trust Tlara’s word on it.

“Khiat, wait!” Evalyn yelled as the dusker started running. Her eyes went to the east trying to judge the sky, but Daniel’s Quick Mind beat her to it.

“Less than an hour to dawn.” Daniel looked at his arms and scowled. He’d taken off his arm bows. Hunter was next to him in a moment.

“Get on.”

“Wha-“ He looked at Hunter. He looked at the armor, which he had put a lot work into to make it fit right on the four-legged creature. And, to give him just enough to hold onto if the opportunity ever arose. “Now?”

“You need it now.”

Daniel was exhausted, on edge, and afraid of what he’d find in the village. He was also having the time of his life. Besides his escape from Aughal there hadn’t been a chance for him to do this, but now that it’d come, it was totally worth it. Good thing I’m using arm bows now, he thought a little distantly, fitting the modified gauntlets on. I couldn’t hold onto the crossbow like this.

You’re getting off when we get there.

Why? This is more effective. It might make our bond better.

What happens when I use Flash Jaunt? Daniel would have folded his arms at that downer if doing so wasn’t very dangerous with how he was armed. Be serious. People are in danger.

Alright. Daniel sighed and put lightning bolts into each of the slots of his weapons. Not the exploding variant, just regular level 2 bolts with a lightning affix. His lightning wings were a little more difficult to put on, but he managed it. Sense anyone yet?

Yes, they are hiding.

…

Khiat had her bow out and was looking around from the top of one of the dunes ringing the oasis when the rest caught up. From the vantage atop Hunter’s back, Daniel could see the sand behind each of the tents protecting dwelling entrances was disturbed.

“No one is dead,” Hunter said lowly, and Daniel nodded in turn.

“We can see their auras. It looks like everyone’s in those central chambers.”

“They collapsed the tunnels?” Khiat took in a deep breath and before anyone could stop her, she shouted, “Dad!?”

“Khiat, there’s a monster here! Don’t attract its attention.”

“They wouldn’t hide unless they couldn’t fight it,” she fought back, far more force in her voice than she’d had all night. “If it’s a burrower, it might be trying to find out homes!”

Daniel exchanged a look with Evalyn, both of them understanding the implication. “Hunter, can you sense something if it’s underground?”

Hunter tilted his head a few times as he thought over what Evalyn asked. “In the ground? It would be hard. I don’t hear digging.”

“Tunnel.” Everyone looked at Khare and Daniel slapped his face, almost accidentally discharging his bow.

“Tremorsense! Khare, can you root in and find it?”

“I don’t know if we’re equipped to fight it if they can,” Evalyn murmured. Khare activated their stance power either way. “It depends on if this monster can strike from below the ground without having to come out.” A wedge appeared suddenly, below the ground where the tower had collapsed. Whatever was supporting it must have been broken. Daniel focused on it and was able to get enough to activate Identify Monster. He didn’t like what he saw.

Young Desert Wyrm - (3)

-

Young Desert Wyrm – (3) (Monster, Beast: Fire/Earth, Tunneling)

A Creature often found in Regions with malleable terrain, such as loose soil or sand. This monster is capable of moving through most terrain but prefers that it can digest. While blind, the young desert wyrm can sense other creatures through vibrations in its surrounding terrain.

The entry in his Encyclopedia didn’t reveal too much more, but the fire affinity puzzled Daniel. If he could scan it it might tell him more, but something told him he needed a clear shot since he’d had to raise his phone over the dune to get the shank stompers earlier. “Khare, be careful. This might have a fire attack.”

The gestalt quickly pulled themselves out of the ground and brought what seemed like every dagger they had out to the exterior of their form. The wyrm, or its aura which appeared as a red tube longer than ten meters in diameter, had started to move towards them. “We are being hunted,” Hunter remarked, seeing that.

“It’s a beast type, so biological,” Daniel continued to report. “If Khare can get bleed to work on it we can try to wait it out like the skink. It moves slowly at least.”

Evalyn frowned at that and pointed to the village. “We don’t know if it’ll go berserk once that happens. I don’t want to risk collapsing where the villagers are hiding.”

“It’s almost day!” Khiat exclaimed, realizing what the rest of the team had when she’d charged off. “The entrances are fine, but if my people get buried and have to dig out, there’s not enough cover for them! What do we do?”

A note was played as Evalyn compressed her accordion, though there was no song powering it. “I think I remember the miners saying something about sonic attacks back in Roost’s Peak, them hurting burrowed monsters more than trying to stab through the earth to them, but I don’t know if Songbolt works like that.”

“I have explosive bolts,” Daniel offered, mind going to depth charges.

“Should I try to use that power?” Tak asked nervously. “I, I do not know if I can, though. I still do not see it in my head.”

“No. If this thing takes you under the earth, the better healing you get won’t help if you suffocate after killing it,” Evalyn quickly denied. Daniel was letting her run the show now after giving her what information he could. If he used Moment of Clarity he might be able to think of some elaborate plan before the wyrm got there, but trusted the process they’d set up. Worst case it was a fallback plan, but this saved him mana. “Ok, I have an idea. It’s improvised and works off assumptions so stay alert for any changes. Hunter, your mana is good right?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry, I’m going to have to give you the hardest job.”

…

“For the record, I don’t like this plan,” Daniel said. Everyone was set back from where Hunter stood to face the oncoming wyrm. “If we use this every fight it’s going to put him at a lot of risk.”

“Did we use it last hunt?” Evalyn shot back, but Daniel was ready for that.

“That wasn’t really a hunt.” The argument broke off as everyone saw the shifting sand that heralded the monster’s arrival. Daniel was afraid now as this was a solo monster. His recent theory on different monster qualities would suggest this was better than the urchins that had to stick in groups to pose a threat, and there was also Evalyn’s point about contextual modifiers.

The wyrm finally appeared from the ground a meter from Hunter, a slimy exterior wrapped around a toothed maw. Hunter roared in its face as soon as it appeared, the team banking on this enraging the monster as it had seemed to do with the skink. It’d chase Hunter around and hopefully neglect its defense, but at least they could lead it away from-

Fire shot out of the sides of the wyrm as it suddenly doubled its speed, jaws not quite large enough to swallow the large cat nonetheless latching onto Hunter. It attempted to push him into the sand as it writhed down, but Hunter was able to Flash Jaunt out a moment later. He still came away wounded, puncture marks visible where teeth had bitten in. Worse, some of the flames coming out the sides had singed him, and those would slow his healing.

“Hunter!” Daniel waited just long enough to see the ringcat shake himself and get onto his feet before switching back to the wyrm. It was trying to dive rather than seek out Hunter, the section of its passing frame growing less visible by the second. Daniel put both arms out in front of him and fired in a quick sequence, unable to shoot both at the exact same time with Snap Shot.

The second landed in the sand, but the first, along with shots from Khare and Khiat, hit. More flames shot out of striations in the wyrm, likely in response to the large, lightning-charged arrow than anything else. Still, it didn’t prove to be the one shot kill it had been in all other cases. The wyrm’s diameter was just under that of a set of double doors, Quick Mind putting its aura at 17.3 meters in length. Its actual size would be just under that. The point was, Khiat’s insane greatbow only did so much damage, and this was creature with level 3 attributes and a durable body.

“New plan?” Daniel shouted when the wyrm broke off from its pursuit and tunneled further down before seeking out another target.

“Did Khare’s bleed work?” Evalyn asked.

Daniel checked the tag, but the monster didn’t have any active effects, not even fear from Hunter’s roar. “No.”

“Damn it!

“I’m going to scan it when it comes up next,” Daniel said, running to follow where the wyrm was traveling. It was going towards Khiat, probably because she was the biggest target and thus the easiest to sense. “Are we good?”

“Go!” Evalyn shouted back, and then moved to coordinate with the rest of the team. Having her in charge made him relieved in that moment, knowing all he had to be responsible for was himself. There was also no mortal terror like there had been the other times they’d faced an enemy above their level. Maybe if this conflict dragged out and they ran out of escape options, but worst case? They could run. He didn’t want to, but they could.

“Khiat, it’s about to come up!” Daniel shouted as he awkwardly grasped at his phone. He had to be very careful not to drop it, and with the arm bows on it was harder to move dexterously.

“I think I have a new power!” she said, puzzling Daniel. Khiat hadn’t had an opportunity to advance. They weren’t sure if she could anymore without attributes, and neither did she have a way to do so instantly like him.

Can she just straight level up from enough experience now? “What is it?”

“Mobility. It uses mana.”

“Use it, it’s about to come up.” He’d just spoken that when fire shot from the ground, the wyrm pre-emptively activating whatever ability sped it up. A few daggers flew into it as well as a Songbolt, Tak and Hunter deferring as the fire coming off it was as dangerous as the jaws.

Khiat managed to just get out of the way as the attacks distracted the wyrm, though one of the large teeth ringing the mouth scratched her and the flames caught part of the armor on fire. She rolled down the dune, the fire extinguishing from the motion. The whole time she was moving faster than usual. It wasn’t to the degree of Gadriel’s Momentous Strikes, but without it she would have been in trouble.

Daniel glanced over the notification from his scan, grabbing enough of the exposed work for it to count, noting he’d gained both an improved entry and a fire damage affix from just one monster. Unfortunately, it didn’t give him access to information on damage types like he’d been given for the lake monster, but to be fair they’d already hit it with about everything they had. The fluff, though, actually had something useful.

You have scanned a Monster, listed below.

Scanned Target:

• Young Desert Wyrm, Living (Injured) - 1

You have met the requirements to unlock multiple Encyclopedia entries, listed below.

Encyclopedia Entries:

• Monster: Desert Wyrm

• Affix: Fire

-

Young desert wyrms have access to two Abilities, Ability: Flame Sprint and Ability: Rapid Digestion. Both are potent, yet have Biological requirements in addition to Mana cost. The wyrm cannot use either ability unless the prerequisites are met.

What it needed to do wasn’t listed, though the second ability was both obvious and terrifying. They couldn’t let anyone get eaten. “Khiat, I want you to run as far away as you can!” Evalyn said, her voice carrying the beat of the song she was playing. “Don’t worry about attacking. Daniel, anything?”

“We can stop it from making those flames, but there’s something we have to do to its body to do it!” He looked for the wyrm and saw it was motionless below the ground. Daniel almost cheered when the bleed effect materialized next to its tag. There was no way to tell how many stacks Khare had afflicted, but it would- “Fuck! It just got rid of the bleed effect. I think it used its flame ability to burn the wound closed because it shot toward Tak at the same time.”

“Anyone feel like they’re close to an awakening?” Evalyn asked, a sign they were clutching at straws. Everyone had been avoiding Daniel’s identification power after what had happened to Khiat, meaning there were some unidentified powers waiting to be discovered amongst the team. No ace in the hole was there to dig them out of the crisis.

“Pull it out?” Tak asked as he readied to Jump away from the next wyrm attack.

“Not with the fire attack. I don’t want to just whittle it down either because we’re going to be hurt just as much evading.”

Daniel, meanwhile, was looking through his bag of holding and trying to find anything useful. The handful of explosive spineshard bolts could perhaps be thrown into the wyrm’s mouth to be later detonated by a shot from Khiat, though she was still running and he really didn’t want to put himself into that position. It was the thought of force-feeding the wyrm something that gave him the other idea. “Glue!”

Evalyn actually recoiled as he took out what looked like a handful of hardened pus while Tak Jumped, several of his feathers burning on contact with the wyrm’s flames. “What the Crest is that?”

Oh right, Hunter and Khare were the only other ones there. Daniel hadn’t had a reason to pull out the skab glue orbs yet since getting them, and he had a handful left even after losing some to Hunter’s old pack exploding. “It’s very strong glue. The wyrm looks like it’s moving like how normal worms do, like Khiat’s carapace coming together and then back apart. The fire was also coming from there. I want to try and glue sections together.”

“Won’t it burn off?”

“Maybe?” Daniel answered, a little unsure. “You normally need water to soften it. Heat may make it cure faster. Better ideas?” None other presented, besides continuing to attack it in the moment it exposed itself. The group didn’t have the time for that. Khare didn’t have time for that.

Daniel crouched and then used a powerful Jump to move toward the wyrm’s next target. The Martialist might have been able to survive a hit from the wyrm themself if fire wasn’t a part of the attack. He’d seen a gestalt catch fire once and did not want a repeat experience. “My wings, take them and get out of the way!”

It didn’t take much to get the message across, especially because the gestalt could see the monster coming for them through the mark on it. Vines quickly took the metal construct and Khare wrapped themself around it. He thought for just a moment about how dangerous the light it cast off was to the nearby duskers, but Khare was in danger. They should all be fine.

As the wings activated, Daniel clutched the glue orb in his hand as he shifted it into a talon. As soon as the wyrm appeared, he’d- Shit!

The wyrm used Flame Sprint before Daniel could mentally rehearse his plan and the mouth appeared from the ground to swallow him. Hunter was too wide to fit, but it could easily get him from how they were positioned. The thought of Rapid Digestion made almost made him freeze in fear, but Daniel acted instead. He threw himself toward Evalyn as she released a lower powered Songbolt, cracking the orb in his hand.

While his legs burned from contact with the flames, he dismissed Claw Strike and quickly threw the cracked orb with Snap Shot at a section that was just closing. Up close, he could make out what was happening. The wyrm was bunching itself up at the front and allowing the tension to travel towards the back as it moved forward. Where the sections squeezed together during the rapid movement, fire shot out. The entire wyrm wasn’t covered in flame while it used its ability, but because it only exposed a section of itself at a time, the effect was always active on the part above ground.

A very unpleasant smell hit his nostrils as he tumbled away with Dodge Roll, fully clearing himself from the attack. It was both the hair on his legs getting singed, as well as the glue being exposed to the fire. The part he’d hit had partially opened back up, but there was a kink in the wyrm now as it refused to open further. “I think it worked! It may be able to use the fire attack again, but only one more time until it breaks that glue.”

“You’re telling me that glue is strong enough that a level 3 monster can’t break it?” Daniel watched the aura in response to Evalyn’s question and saw the monster’s pace change to an almost confused wandering as it tried to extend the section glued shut. It didn’t, as he feared, use Flame Sprint to try and brute force it.

“I think it could if it could move properly. Maybe the ability will get rid of it, but it’ll hurt itself doing that. A level 1 enchanted dagger couldn’t cut through when I tried.”

“Then we have a problem.” Evalyn took her instrument into herself as she activated Investiture of Song. She shouted over to where Khiat was still running. “Stop! We have to make the next one count. Everyone get ready to attack.”

Daniel got the point and Tak spoke as he realized it too. “Oh. It will run.”

“Or go back to the village if it thinks they will be easier prey,” Hunter mused.

“It’s going to give us another shot at least. Evalyn, coming to you!” Daniel carefully loaded two spineshard bolts into his arm bows. They’d no longer explode from being dropped too far and should be fine until contacting enough lightning damage, but what had happened to Hunter would always make him nervous around this ammunition type.

“Hunter, Tak, Cross Strike on it after the initial volley. We’ll have to hope the fire stops. Do what you can to stop it from moving. When its mouth is in the ground, it can’t hurt us.” She was half-singing the plan, not by choice but because of the secondary effects of her ability. From what Daniel had been told, it was like being forced to do everything to the music like Evalyn was in a rhythm-based game. It gave her improved reaction times, at least, and assuming she’d internalized the Lightfoot Song buff she’d have a shot at dodging what was about to happen.

The wyrm appeared from the sand with another burst of flame, but unlike the other times, it jerked suddenly as its momentum was thrown off. It had tried to track Evalyn as she dodged but when the flame effect reached the locked down area, it faltered. Daniel released his bolts and was heartened to see Khare had chosen to give him Called Shot rather than shoot their own weapons. They were better at handling massed enemies anyways, and the could get in hits afterwards.

The section with his bolts disappeared as the wyrm continued trying to dive into the ground. Khiat’s arrow struck it a moment later along with Evalyn’s Songbolt, and a cloud of sand was kicked up as his two bolts ate the electricity from the attack. There was no audible vocalization from the wyrm, though the ground continued to shake for a few moments more than it should have.

Tak and Hunter were next, the two coming together on the exposed section of wyrm and tearing into it. They didn’t absolutely destroy it like most things they hit with that attack, but the wyrm still received horrendous slashes. At the same time, the two hunters weren’t burned as that ability had been interrupted. The two didn’t end up too far after their combo attack and quickly pounced on the wyrm. Already it was halfway back into the ground and if it fully sunk below the sand, it might not come back until they weren’t there.

Daniel was running towards the wyrm himself before he consciously registered the decision. He’d only been about ten meters away and he could move faster than he’d expect with his attributes at level 2. Changing both of his hands into birdlike talons, he pulled with the other two to try and keep it exposed. Even with the three of them, it was a losing battle as he’d lose his grip and have to grab onto another section.

“Khiat, keep firing!” Evalyn shouted, as Khare had already resumed his volley to renew the bleed effect.

“What if I hit them?” the dusker’s loud voice called back, hesistant.

“You’re our best shot, we trust you!” Daniel grunted as loudly as he could, knowing that with Snap Shot he still couldn’t compare to Khiat’s natural talent. Sure enough, a long, powerful arrow hit the wyrm a few moments later without threatening the three around it. There was a sudden surge of strength in his arms as Evalyn track switched to Ironhand Ballad, but even then they were failing to stop the wyrm from moving.

It became a race against time instead of a tug of war, the melee fighters holding out as long as they could for the two primary archers to deal enough damage. Daniel could have glued the wyrm again, but it wouldn’t have done much besides give it another reason not to resurface.

Then, as almost all of the monster had passed them and the end of the tail was waving on the surface, Khiat hit her eighth shot and the wyrm’s strength lessened noticeably. Daniel was able to take a step back, and then another, and then three at once as a ninth, unenchanted arrow landed. Brownish blood stained the sections they began to pull out as the bleed effect made every arrow wound a spigot for the monster’s life force to flow from. Soon after, the aura faded with the monster’s death.

Tak kept pulling for a few moments, wanting to get the entire monster out, but gave up as he began to feel the fatigue from the long struggle. “Hmm. Big. Maybe the villagers can get it out. Anything you want from this?” he asked Daniel.

“I don’t want to make anything with wyrm-leather,” Daniel quickly decided. “Actually, I don’t know if it would count as leather. I did get a new affix that’ll be fun to use though.” He frowned as he saw the sky begin to brighten and he had to quickly tamp down on the Empathic Link from Hunter’s bond. The daily reset had come. “Damn. Missed dawn. I may not have enough mana for…” His breath caught, and both Evalyn and Hunter realized what was wrong at the same time.

Khiat was too far away to reach before the sun got to her. She’d taken a hit from the wyrm, and while most of her armor still covered her, it only took one gap. They’d resolved never to hunt during the day with her, just to avoid the risk of this. Daniel’s heart was pounding as he saw Khiat was unmoving. Her tag was still there, but had she already been affected? He’d heard what happened when duskers got exposed, but how long did it take? Was there any way to reverse it?

“Khiat, get down! We’ll cover you!” Evalyn was shouting. “Get to the shade of a dune!”

They were a minute away when she finally moved, glancing over her shoulder at the torn section of armor at the back. The form had held since it wrapped twice there, the cut not going all the way through, but a burned section left just enough room for light to go through as the sun rose over the distant Thormundz ridge.

Daniel Jumped as if to block a sniper’s bullet, but he didn’t get there in time. He landed roughly in the sand and looked up at the dusker, fearing the worst.

“It’s ok,” Khiat finally said after everyone finished staring in horror at her. “Sorry, I just, it hurts, but it’s ok. I think it’s coming to me.”

“New power,” Daniel wheezed as both the hunt and the desperate run taxed his body. “From the wyrm?”

“It has to be. Ow,” she winced, making everyone jump. “No, no it’s fine, it’s only hurting more. I don’t think I can stay out here like this forever. I’m not immune, I’m just protected. Sun… Sun Resistance. That’s what it’s called.”

“Gods,” Evalyn cried out. “Khiat, I thought I almost got you killed. I should have told you to run for shelter.”

“I couldn’t let that thing keep attacking,” she replied, a rare note of rancor entering her voice. “They’re the worst. Dad says all the villages worry about those wyrms. The city is supposed to protect us from them, how did one get so close?” With that, she shrunk as she compressed her carapace plates together to prevent further exposure to the sun. “I need to find my family!”

“Your parents are still fine,” Daniel assured. “I don’t remember the exact number, but it looks like everyone in the village survived.”

“Thank you. All of you.” Khiat started walking back and everyone else followed, though Evalyn pulled on her arm as they did so.

“Hey, that’s what we do,” Evalyn replied warmly. “That’s what we do,” she said again, emphasizing we. “I don’t think we could have killed that without you, Khiat. You’re a real hunter now. When we go back to the guild, I’d like to put you on our team too, if you’d like to. What do you think?”

The dusker looked at her bow for a moment before she answered. “I can do it. I want to do it.” Her hand manged to tighten for a moment, even with the carapace plates forced together. “Those monsters, the bad monsters,” she added with a look towards Hunter. “They make everyone’s lives worse. I don’t know what I am anymore, but that, that thing isn’t in my head. All of this, it feels right. Because of this, I can walk in the sun!” She extended herself for just a moment, basking in the light, before she turned to Evalyn. “I was always meant to be a hunter, I know that now. Because of all of you, I have that chance.”