After seeing the system quest, Riven immediately got his armor and weapon out of his system storage, instantly putting them on—with everyone else in the party following.
"Where did they acquire that? It appeared out of thin air," Rowan questioned.
"Okay, here's the game plan: you protect him while the rest of us try our best to hold off these beasts. And while you're protecting him, think of a plan for us to stop them," Riven said, pointing at Jude and then at Emmett. Jude nodded, getting directly in front of Emmett.
The two beasts kept walking in circles around the group like they were sizing them up—until the brighter one of the two suddenly rushed toward the small group. It went after Rowan. The woman held out the palm of her hand.
When she did that, and when the beast threw out a fist of its own, the red beast—which looked almost crimson in color—went flying back, its body colliding with the wall.
But the Vorrak was able to get back up like nothing had happened.
"Just as I thought. It held back. Meaning these things—whatever they are—have some form of intelligence," Rowan muttered. She looked to see what the other red beast was doing and saw it was in battle with the cloaked figures.
Jordan, using his new sword, rushed toward the beast. Swinging the sword, but the beast was able to effortlessly dodge the attack, then returned with a punch to his gut. Leo caught his friend before he went flying.
Riven and Tessa also rushed in, letting Jordan catch his breath who was coughing vigorously .Riven then tried the throw a Punch, but the beast dodged once again in an unorthodox manner, with its bottom half twisting like a sponge. It was ready to throw a counterattack, but Tessa fired an arrow, hitting it in the arm, flames spreading all over it. But with a quick swipe in the air, the flames all disappeared.
When the Vorrak looked back at Tessa, Riven's fist came up again. It was ready to back its body up, but it was caught off guard when it looked down—its feet were frozen in ice. That allowed Riven to land a hit, knocking its head back. Then Leo came from behind, trying to take the beast's head off. But when his greatsword collided with the beast's neck, a loud clank was heard—it did no damage. Still, it was a clean hit, activating his passive ability.
The beast wasn't used to Leo's new speed and was caught off guard. Riven, knowing none of his usual attacks would get through, decided to use one of his new moves that he got from Joey. He placed out a hand. A light beam then glowed inside it, shooting out directly toward the beast. It was quick enough to guard, tanking the blow.
"What was that? It wasn't as strong as Joey's… maybe it's because I got it from the system—or maybe because it's new to me. A question for later," Riven thought.
"So when you took Joey's ability, why didn't you give one of us anything new?" Jude questioned through the link.
"Sorry. I was being selfish. I didn't really think about you guys," Riven admitted.
"Some friend," Leo said jokingly.
"Now is not the time," Jordan said, getting prepared for the beast to come back.
The Vorrak came back faster than before, immediately going after Riven. But the boy was able to block it with a golden shield. After the block and the Vorrak trying to break through, the shadow below started acting strangely—tendrils began to emerge, pulling it down. Jordan then summoned a few ink beasts to go after the Vorrak, but it was able to break through and started attacking the beasts of ink.
"So what now?" Jude questioned, holding her staff with determination.
"Look at that face. That's a look of anger," Tessa realized, looking at the beast's face.
"Why is that thing angry? It attacked us first. If anyone should be angry, it's us," Leo said, annoyed.
"If me, Leo, and Riven are able to hit the beast, we should be able to make it weak enough to actually do some real damage to it," Jordan said through the link.
"Okay, but that also leaves another problem," Jude said, looking at the other beast fighting Rowan. It didn't look evenly matched at all—it looked like Rowan was getting tired while the beast still looked full of energy.
"Fine. Hey Emmett, are you gonna be alright on your own?" Riven questioned, with Emmett weakly nodding. "Good. Jude and Tessa, you two help her out. And if you see anywhere else where you can help, don't hesitate. The rest of us three will handle this thing."
Everyone nodded and went to do what they were told. Emmett stood in the back, hand near the ground, waiting to see if he was needed.
After there were only a few ink beasts left, Jordan dispersed the rest. Once they were all gone, the Vorrak set its sights on the three boys. They all got in their own battle stances and rushed toward it.
Jordan used air to boost himself into the sky. Then both brothers used gravity and air to try and take the beast off its footing, but it easily shoved it off. Leo collided with it, Riven coming from below trying to deliver an uppercut, but the beast stopped it with its head.
"Dammit," Riven yelled in his mind, knowing that since he missed, his path of ability would reset. But luckily, Jordan came from above, slicing at the beast—but no cut was made. They all backed off.
"We won't be able to defeat it like this," Riven said through the link. They all knew what he was getting at. The three boys activated their True Awakening Form.
With the girls, they also activated their own True Awakening Forms. Jude then covered her staff with ice. The darker red Vorrak then put its hand on the ground, using its strong grip to lift the terrain under them, trying to make all the girls lose balance—but they all dodged. Tessa quickly tried to go for a headshot using arrows made of flames, but it dodged all of them.
Jude came from behind, the beast jumping up to dodge. Jude followed up using one of her new abilities.
"Ice Spire!" Jude yelled, as a spike of ice shot out toward the Vorrak. It was able to dodge, but Jude twisted her finger and another spike of ice came from the already existing spike, hitting the beast. All it did was leave a small mark.
But since it made contact, her next attack would deal 10% more damage. As it fell down, Jude covered the area in ice. While still falling, the beast opened its mouth wide, yelling out. A black mist shot down, hitting Jude.
"Jude!" Tessa yelled, but saw the girl was okay.
System: Party member has been hit with a type of Null Energy, but thanks to resistance, was not affected.
Seeing the prompt, Riven looked over and saw the girl was fine. He sighed, then went back into action. The beast tried the same Null Energy attack on him, but the same effect occurred: nothing. The same system prompt popped up again. Riven then used his Lawless Space, placing the sphere around himself and the Vorrak. When he did, Leo created a pillar of metal, launching it into the air. Then the twin brothers used their powers to push the beast back down. When the beast got up, it looked injured, but a lock-on ability revealed they had only taken 4% of its HP.
Riven used his active ability. The Vorrak was being pulled in, but it gained the strength to fight back. Jordan appeared behind it again, slashing repeatedly, increasing his speed using air. The beast let out a mighty roar, knocking the three back—but they recovered quickly. Jordan then closed his hand, and spikes made of ink protruded from the small scratches they had inflicted. They were tired. Before the fight, Riven had given them a 2x speed and strength potion, but even with that, they could barely deal damage—only small scratches on the beast. Then the Vorrak went after Riven again.
"Geez, what did I do to this thing? It's like it's targeting me more than anyone else," Riven thought, barely dodging. But then the Vorrak grabbed his leg, slamming him into the wall and leaving an imprint. This was the first time Riven truly felt the blow—and he realized they most likely couldn't win in their current state.
The beast tried to strike Riven's heart, but at the last moment, he used the Radiant Walk skill he got from the skill tree, making him invincible for 0.5 seconds—just enough to save his life.
Then something began to protrude from the wall—a spike of metal stabbed the Vorrak in its eye. Riven was pulled back by Jordan using air. The beast, even more enraged, got in their faces—power-driving Jordan and Leo's heads while kicking Riven in the side, sending all three boys skidding across the ground. The Vorrak went after Riven again, but it lost its footing as the ground turned to mud beneath it. Emmett had softened the terrain. The beast turned to see who had done it, only to get knocked into a wall by a duo attack. Emmett got Jordan, Tessa got Leo, and Jude got Riven, all returning to Rowan, who had her hand out. She had used her evolution once again.
"This is bad," Rowan thought. "Even though I can redirect impacts, I still feel a percentage of them. If they didn't have a plan, I could've saved at least one of their lives with my evolution when we were falling . But these things' blows are way more powerful than that drop. And whoever these people are, they can't hold them off. Even with strong armor and weaponry. We need to find a way to get out of here before it's too late."
"I have a plan," Leo thought, even as he was breathing heavily and his head was ringing.
"What plan is that?" Jude asked, also breathing hard.
"The wolf transformation," Leo thought.
"We don't know what it could do," Tessa said, afraid of what it might do to him.
"These things will kill us if we don't do something."
"Are you sure?" Riven asked. Leo nodded in response. "Okay, fine. Then you need to be our distraction." Leo nodded again as Riven selected him for the Werewolf Mutation. The boy fell to the ground, screaming in agony.
The two beasts looked like they had recovered and even healed the previous scratches. As Leo screamed, it looked like the two were communicating. Once the lighter red one was done, the crimson one looked at Riven with absolute disdain—like it wanted to kill him more than anything.
But before the Vorraks could make a move, a huge beast rose—but it wasn't a beast. It was a student. Tessa took Leo's armor and weapon and placed them in the system space. Then there the boy stood, with gray-silver eyes and dark fur all across his body.
Most of the party were getting some form of PTSD looking at Leo's new form—especially Emmett since, if it weren't for Joey, emmett would've bled out from a creature that looked just like this. A werewolf.
Leo let out a gut-wrenching howl, ready for battle.
Back on top of the Shifting Waste, the rest of the Storm Guild were resting. They had gotten 11 Level 8 gemstones, yet hadn't found a single Level 9 or 10 beast. While they were resting, they heard the loud howl from far away.
"What was that?" one Storm Guild member questioned.
"Maybe a powerful beast," another replied.
"There's no point in going after another powerful beast when one is right in front of us. Or should I say—above us," Phineas said. After resting for a bit, he could finally sense something hovering above them… like they were prey. Phineas's eyes wandered until they locked on a specific area.
"Fall," Phineas said.
A large creature with two wings fell, catching itself briefly, then landed under its own volition.
A huge green beast stood on the ground. Most of Phineas's guildmates fell back when they saw it.
"Is that a, a—" a woman stuttered.
"It's a dragon," another finished.
"Wait… like from mythology?" someone asked.
"Yes, like mythology. A lot of high-level beasts are compared to those from myths. There are probably a lot of things back then that are still here today. But right now, none of that matters. Also, get it right—it's not just a dragon. It's a wyvern," Phineas said, getting his weapon and people ready for battle.