Chapter Thirty-Seven: Confronting the Beast

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Confronting the Beast

As Tom followed the increasingly frequent drake sign, he began to grow more and more nervous.

He had come far, since he had manifested. Especially so, since training with Val after his exile. He had fought all manner of beasts, in all manner of different situations, and was growing more and more confident.

His teamwork with Sesame was fluid, if not flawless. His newly adapted combat style, the slow grinding down of enemies, the taking of damage to deal it, enforcing his presence on his surroundings to control them, was becoming second nature. He felt at home in the Deep. He was assured that he was a match for its challenges. And yet, he was nervous.

Drakes, the fabled monsters, could not be taken lightly.

Drakes were to dragons as caterpillars were to butterflies. Four legged, enormous lizards, they could almost be considered a separate species, were they not linked by some strange metamorphic process. No one knew exactly how, or why, a drake would eventually evolve into a dragon, only that they did. It was a mystery that Biology-adjacent Ideals had spent centuries trying to unravel.

There were two main differences between a drake and a dragon. The first was their wings: drakes didnt have them. Once they took to the skies, they became exponentially more dangerous, and that was saying something, for drakes were still among the most dangerous creatures in the Deep. Or anywhere they could be found, and that was most places.

The second difference was that drakes had not yet developed a spatial gland. When a drake became a dragon, a special organ developed in the back of its throat. Via some arcane process, a dragon would use its mana-attunement to draw in the right types of energies, forging, and condensing them into the extra-spatial space contained within the unique organ. From there, they could release it in the massive gouts of attuned energies that they were so infamous for: dragon breath.

Drakes were still incredibly dangerous. Even if they lacked a spatial gland, they would still have a nascent attunement, among other abilities. They were also reputed to be much more intelligent than more mundane creatures, and by the time they became dragons, were exceedingly cunning.

The most common drakes found in the Deep were forest drakes, also known as wood drakes, though soil and grass, and even water drakes, were not overly uncommon. The Lord of Blood had supposedly earned his name killing a newly born blood dragon, although not many believed it, saying it was more likely he had killed a drake. Just enough materials and essences and the like, taken from rarer types of drakes, filtered into Wayrest via the Hunters that it kept the speculation alive though.

Tom thought it likely that they were tracking a wood drake. They trended larger than grass drakes, and soil drakes would have left far more sign behind moving through the forest. He ruled out water drake as an option early, given that they tended to stay close to bodies of water.

Knowing it was likely a wood drake did nothing for his confidence, though.

The beasts were eclectic, and could be massive, stocky brutes, like an oak stump, or long and lithe like a willow branch. They could control wood, to a certain extent, though they mainly used it to gently bend trees out of their way while moving about. Drake scales were already among the toughest materials known to man, and wood drake scales were no exception. In fact, they were extra tough, and usually contained regeneration properties, like bark. Their teeth and claws were strong enough to mulch hundred year old trees, to get at the dense essences growing in their cores.

Tom was communicating with Sesame, trying to come up with a plan of attack. Eventually, they decided the best course of action was the simplest: stick to what they knew. They would try and divide the drakes attention between them, and then wear it down through attrition. He ran it past Val.

Its your fight, Tom, she replied. Handle it as you wish. Word of advice though: wood drakes tend to have solid regeneration, and theyre tough. You might find your usual tactics dont work as well as you hope.

Tom mulled the advice over as they followed its tracks, deeper and more obvious now than ever. He was limited by his skillset, but he did have some new tools. He hoped they would allow him to make up the difference.

Morning dawned after two more days of tracking, and after an hour or two, he and Val began to hear the cracking, scraping noises of something large moving in the Deep ahead of them. When Tom turned to say something to Val, he found shed already melted away into the woods.

He was alone. And he was fucking nervous.

With great trepidation, he slowly drew closer to the drake. He no longer bothered searching for tracks, instead able to simply follow the noise it made as it moved. After another hour, he was so close that he could feel the slight tremors in the ground as it stepped. Another few minutes later, he caught his first glimpse of the beast.

It was big. Taller than Sesame, who rose to Toms shoulders on all fours, it must have been around thirty feet long too. It was sinuous, reminding Tom more of a snake than a lizard, with a long, whip-like tail and a graceful neck. Its head was thin, with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Starting from the crown of its skull, running all the way down its spine, and to to the tip of its overly long tail, was a triple row of large spines. At the very tip of its tail was a single, wickedly barbed spike.

Wood creaked as it manipulated two trees slightly further apart and slipped between them, far more graceful in the cramped environment than one would expect of something its size. Tom was struck, not by the palpable danger of it, but by its beauty.Read latest chapters at nov(e)lbin.com Only

Its scales perfectly matched the surrounding foliage, glimmering, ever so slightly iridescent, in the morning light. The rich green scales gave way to deep, earthy brown along its underbelly, the gradient so smooth he couldnt be sure where green began and brown ended.

It was obviously a creature perfectly adapted to its environment. Sovereign amongst the lesser creatures, king of its domain.

Tom readied himself to kill it.

Sesame sent a flurry of messages, impressions, tidbits of information he had picked up. The forest cleared a little, some ways ahead. He could smell more fresh air freely moving. Tom made the decision. If they were to fight it, it had better be where it had as little space to manoeuvre as possible.

He sent the go ahead to engage to Sesame, and then began his casting.

And his wisp flashed brown.

Skill manifested (Survival).

Skill Four (Complete): Wild Strike (Active (Cycle)).

Mana Cost: High.

Cooldown: High.

Wild Boar Strike:

Range: Low.

Damage: Moderate.

Knockback enemies in a cone in front of the caster. Damage only applied to primary target.

Wild Eagle Strike:

Range: High.

Damage: Moderate.

Place a low duration Fear debuff on enemy. Deals damage as fear debuff ends.

Skill manifested (Suffering/Silence/Survival).

Pinnacle Skill (Complete): Wild Hunter (Passive (Aura)).

Suffering (Sorrow):

Casters aura causes trivial damage over time to enemies within it. Caster is healed by the same amount.

Silence (Stutter):

Casters aura interferes with enemy ability or skill use within its bounds. Enemy ability or skill use within casters aura range costs more mana.

Survival (Subdue):

Casters aura places periodic stacks of minor slow debuff on enemies within the casters aura.

Tom gave the notification the most cursory of glances. The drake struck down at Sesame. He lashed out with his new skill, and mana left him in a rush.

Wild Boar Strike impacted the drake, a cloud of dense brown energy, almost wooden looking, slamming into its unprotected back and staggering it mid-lunge. Its head, aimed at the prone Sesame, slammed into the earth instead. Tom knew he couldnt give it even a moments respite, not if he wanted to make it out with both him and Sesame alive.

And so he charged again, resolute.

One man against a king of the Deep.