The third tremor morphs into a continuous quake, rising in intensity along with the frenetic pulsing of the algae. Just before the influx of light and sensation becomes too much, there's a pause.
For half a horrifying moment, it seems as the very glacier itself has come alive, the crimson mass of ice bulging upwards before breaking up into chunks as the force pushing from below overcomes it.
With a thunderous roar, the source of the tremors emerges from the glacier. Along with its arrival, the flashing of the algae stop, the coating of energy they've been applying to everyone present now visible to the naked eye as a rich amber glow.
A colossal silhouette reaches into the sky, partly obscured by the cloud of snow and flying chunks of ice its arrival threw into the air.
'Kau-chiiiiii!'
A strange bellow, most akin to a rusty gate being forced open, issues from the looming shadow, the force of the roar scattering the still airborne ice, redirecting it violently away from itself. The sound of pebble-sized chunks of ice pelting the surroundings reminding me of machine-gun fire.
With the icy veil cleared, the appearance of the mystery entity comes into view. By now, the other monsters have sought refuge behind me, cowering in fear of the massive monster that's unearthing itself from the shattered remains of the Crimsnow Glaciers terminus.
Its body is strangely unbalanced, with a relatively small and short body overshadowed by the thick serpent-like neck and tail that seem to more or less balloon out of the undersized torso. How it's able to even stand with such a mismatched physique is a mystery.
The tail flattens dramatically towards the end, widening into something resembling an Ikakalaka (~A shortsword with an axe-like tip~) more than the tail of any living creature.
All along its long, thick neck are strange rotating rings of some metallic material with two thin bands sandwiching a much thicker one. The thicker bands have protrusions running diagonally across them, seeming to form some sort of auger-like system.
Most of these bands seem stuck though, showers of sparks issuing from the gaps between the thicker band and the adjoining thinner ones as they strain against whatever is holding them back.
The head removes all doubt I might have had about this being a naturally occurring monster. A metallic jaw, drooping on one side where the hinge mechanism has failed, adorns its strange boomerang-shaped head, reminiscent of the diplocaulus salamander of ancient earth.
A viscous, yellow liquid dribbles from the half agape jaw of the misshapen beast. Its eight eyes, some a vacuous blue, others swivelling madly in their mechanic sockets, suddenly refocus onto me, or perhaps, onto the glow surrounding me and the others present.
There's a heavy pause as we lock eyes. I sense the fright and confusion from the Namahage hiding behind me. Norori and Bloody Mary are also confused, but less afraid. Most likely they have complete confidence in me.
Reflexively, I move my mind to inspect the monster, only to mentally stumble. What I see before me doesn't seem to exist? No, it most certainly does, but somehow it's unreadable.
"What if it's a golem of some sort?"
Shadow suggests while making us take a stance. By now, the mystery being is beginning to move again, slowly rearing up onto its haunches. Its jaw opens wide as it does, but my Predict Movement is completely unable to interpret the action. Is it preparing to launch itself at us to swallow us, or is it readying a beam attack?
It hits me then, how used I've become to the aid of my multitude of Skills.
Shadow flaps our wings, taking us into the air and towards the colossal monster. It's smaller than the Ancient Lindorm, but then again, that monster was easily over a hundred meters long. Its mechanical eyes stay locked onto the group of monsters I left behind when I took to the air whilst its head swivels to keep its mouth aimed at me.
A breath attack?
The bands of metal around its neck begin producing a terrible droning sound, the amount of sparks ejected increasing along with the pitch of the sound. The biological eyes of the monster wince in apparent pain as, with a series of metallic clangs, whatever was keeping the bands from moving properly give way.
'Clang!'
'Bang!'
'Twang!'
As the last band wrests free, the monster reels from the exertion and clumsily topples over, its mismatched anatomy a clear hindrance to it. With its bands still moving at top speed, it is unceremoniously dragged across the ice like a wet rag across a countertop as the blades all along its neck bite into the ground.
"It looks quite clumsy..."
Shadow remarks just before our body explodes with pain. My midsection feels like it's burning, and my vision blurs from the sudden onslaught. The ground is suddenly very close...
'fwumph'
I'm completely enveloped in soft, powdery snow that cushions my fall. Still dazed from the shock, I absentmindedly reach towards my flank. It's... soft, and... squelchy?
"Come on! Get a grip!"
Shadow wrests control from me, leaving me to slowly piece together what happened whilst she handles the immediate response. Its tail... where did it go? I was so occupied with its clumsy flailing that I didn't think to keep track of it.
Besides, since Predict Movement doesn't work on it, its tells have to be learnt by trial and error.
Frustration is building in Shadow, as she tries several of our Spells only to have them fizzle out before activating. Quite simply unable to be cast without a target.
Somehow, this thing is evading the System itself, yet it doesn't have the eldritch aura that Malice elicits, which is why I was confident in attempting to inspect it in the first place.
However, damage is possible. Just by looking at its tail, a decent chunk of it is missing due to the recoil from hitting me. The edges of the damage is fuzzy, though, as if perceiving whatever is beneath the skin of the enemy is difficult or not meant for this world entirely.
A thought strikes me, and I reach towards the wound, wincing as I pull a jagged shard of the same abnormal material from deep in my flank.
"Watch it!"
Shadow shouts as the sudden pain throws off her aim, narrowly missing the mechanical monster and instead lobbing the Fireball she just cast into the distance behind it.
In response, the monster opens its maw as wide as the misaligned hinges of its jaw lets it. All at once, a deafening droning sound assaults the area as the bands on its neck all rev up. A faint glow of Earth magic beginning to form in the back of its mouth.
As the bands speed up, the ball of condensed Earth magic grows, and a weak pull towards the monster is felt, growing in power along with the density of the elemental orb. Seems investigating the shard I'm holding will have to wait.
In just a few seconds, the gravitational distortion is strong enough to pull snow up into the air and towards the monster. Along with this, it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep our distance, and the MP cost of staying airborne is steadily rising.
But just letting ourselves fall would be ill advised, since the distortion would drag us within striking distance of the enemy.
"Now! Oni-bi!"
Shadow seems to have a plan, though. As she calls out, seven orbs emerge from the Origin Soul Core. The pale blue orbs rapidly swell to the size of a football, their colours changing as well, each taking on a different one.
There is precious little time to inspect them, as even just as they ejected from the Origin Soul Core they began being pulled towards the maw of the diplocaulus-like monster.
*Oni-Bi
A Common Eastern Spirit of little power and weak constitution. Oni-Bi are born by Spontaneous Generation if the concentration of disordered Magic is too weak to fully coalesce a true Elemental monster.
The glow of their body alludes to the Element it is born of and their only desire, it seems, is to take any living thing they see with them in their death.
The most infamous holder of the Last Hurrah Skill, once their HP hits zero, the Oni-Bi will explode violently in a blast of Elemental energy easily capable of felling even a Dreadtail in one hit, the Element being decided by their colour.
Theoretically, an Oni-Bi should have a core of Magic Crystal, but no-one has ever found one in the crater it leaves behind as it dies. Thus, the only real use the Oni-Bi has is as a warning sign on the outskirts of Elementally unstable areas.*
*Rating: 1 Star (disregarding the Last Hurrah Skill)*
Wait- If they all explode in different Elements when they die...
The Oni-Bi, whose frail bodies are quickly ripped apart into long bands of luminescence, each give off a shrill whistle as their HP hits zero. I grit my teeth, bracing for the coming explosion.
Seemingly sensing the imminent disaster, the strange monster angles its mouth skywards before ejecting the now destabilized Elemental orb, the previously smooth surface bubbling dangerously like boiling water.
I quickly land, being airborne once that thing goes off seems very ill advised. Glancing to where the spectating monsters were, they've all gathered around the trunk of the Frost Jewelled Conifer, surrounded by a protective shield. From the flow of Magic, it seems the Conifer is using the monsters MP to power the barrier. Thinking quickly, I Teleport Thorn Cutter over to them.
I might be able to withstand the damage, but I doubt she will. And, being a Tsukomogami, her death would be the end of it. I'd have to source a new weapon and use another Hitodama for a replacement, which would be a senseless loss.
My musings are brutally put on pause, as the orb finally destabilises completely. The force of the ensuing explosion pummels me to the ground, my mind blanking out from the pain of having my organs ruptured.
*Warning: User is severely wounded, less than 20% of HP remaining.*
*Status Updated: Internal Bleeding (Grand)*
M-Miracure!
*Status Updated: Internal Bleeding (Grand) is removed*
I heave for air from freshly reconstructed lungs between spitting mouthfuls of blood, the oddly red soil beneath the otherwise permanent layer of crimson snow being dyed a deep purple from mixing with my blood.
Let's... let's never, ever, do that again.
*Unique Skill Earned: General of the Divine Wind (True - Unique) - All who follow you should be prepared to lay down their lives in pursuit of your goals, in whichever way you deem most efficient. Allies under the influence of one or more of your Presence Skills will be temporarily given the Teamwork, Recoil Resistance and Last Hurrah - Death Skills. The tier of these Skills match the highest tier of Presence active.*
"Oh, what a bitter feeling. Something like that..."
Shadow seems oddly regretful, even if I sense the thinly veiled glee with having her plan succeed.
"You've been researching how to best use Summoning?" I ask her, knowing this isn't the time for it. As Shadow bashfully races for an answer, I turn my gaze towards the enemy.
Black blood runs in sticky rivers from its various orifices as it lies in a crumpled pile. Seems it has no or limited ways to heal itself. But even now, as its sputtering for air, it's still alive. The metal bands along its neck are broken and distorted, and all but one mechanical eye are destroyed and laying idle in their sockets, the glass-like lenses shattered by the explosion.
The single remaining eye is transfixed on me, its mechanical nature making reading any emotion within it impossible. However, the way it is quivering reveals some amount of inner turmoil.
It's clear to me that the glow the algae placed on us was a way to mark us as enemies to this thing. Given the near immediate reaction once I gave Faith to the Conifer, it seems this was an autonomous response to that action. The glow is still here, marking me as an enemy to be killed, but seeing its state now, it's afraid.
Thorn Cutter has slithered from where she was hastily Teleported to, her beak clattering in anger at my recklessness, if I was going to Teleport her, why not the both of us, et cetera. I'm too shell-shocked to really process her words. What I'm most concerned with is if it is worth the risk to attempt to use Power Osmosis on it.
As something that is able to evade the System, I'm hesitant of its effects on me. I'd hate to end up like the Malice, after all.
"If anything, that would be an useful power to have against him. I'm sure he's relying on something like the System to do his things, even if it's a Malice based replication."
Shadow seems relieved that I'm focusing on things other than her reckless use of Hitodama for combat at the moment.
An idea hits me, as I remember the fragment of the monster I fished out of my wound before the explosion. I focus my intent on it, trusting Shadow to keep alert for any sudden movements from the dying monster before us.
There's a noticeable hesitancy in World Knowledge, as if it's parsing a large load of information before being able to give an answer.
*Apologies, due to the Void Sealing Light, System Operation is slowed.*
*Detecting Legacy Protections...*
*Lifting Protections...*
*Protections lifted. The affected Entities should now behave as expected*
All of a sudden, the light cloaking me and the others fade out, shattering into motes of light that rapidly disappear. A tremor rocks the large monster lying before me, and the final eye goes blank.
Ah- seems the decisions was made for me... All that was keeping it alive was that Protection. Makes me wonder if this monster became like this because of being given a name by the Demigod of Cold.
A heavy sigh escapes me, the monster equivalent of adrenaline fading, and with it, my ability to keep standing. Slumping to the ground, I marvel at the level of destruction wrought by our battle. The ground is bare in a large radius around us, and all the trees in the blast-zone have toppled, their needles already ripped from the branches by the gravity ball.
Ignoring Thorn Cutter and the other's fussing, I look over the fallen monster, curious as to what this thing really is.
*Cryptic Chimera*
*An EXUnique Chimera. The first of its kind. Predates the appearance of Malice. Its creator, who ended up inspiring ?????? in Its corruption of Life, paid a hefty price for a guard that failed to protect its charge.
Specifically designed to counter Heroes, the inclusion of Paradoxium in the monsters body allowed for attacks that rivalled the Nemesis.*
*Rank: ??? Stars*
Paradoxium? Rival the Nemesis? Just what on earth was the Demigod of Cold planning? Or... what was their Maker planning? I absentmindedly fiddle with the shard of metal I'm holding, pondering the implications. Glancing back down at it, its composition seems to have changed.
*Paradoxium*
*An Eldritch metal created when two Worlds pass each other by, compressing the Space Between and the two World Border into a physical form that behaves as expected of it.*
I watch, half mesmerized, as the metal subtly shifts in colours, perhaps even in shape.