Bonded Summoner

Jake arrived near Ophelia using Reverse Summon, and found himself in the middle of the Outpost. Attacks were being rained down on the tower above him, so he sent out his Hearth flames in the shape of a barrier as he held his Divine Hearth as a staff.

After rejecting the attacks, he brought the flames back to him and condensed them. He then shot numerous bolts with his hearth flames into the countless large flying insects and creatures in the air from his staff.

Hundreds of them. Like a mana bolt machine gun, he sent bullets of hearth flames into the monsters in the sky. They tore through the monsters like they weren’t even there, as he was able to form numerous dense constructs that pierced right through them. He used all of the different flames of his Hearth, his seven flames, as his mana rapidly recovered and condensed.

Each moment he fired his odd machine gun of hearth-flavored mana bolts barely used any mana from his reserves. Because he drew it in from the surrounding area and his weapon, aura, class, and core enhanced its recovery–and also just a little bit from his girls.

Meanwhile, Ophelia and Valora sent waves of lightning and fiery lightning into the surrounding enemies on the ground with Consecration, and sliced into them with her polearm as she passed through them as they ran. Each swing of Ophelia’s was as fast as a blur, and every single one had the power and weight behind it that could match a large truck.

Having mastered several levels of the flames of her hearth, she now wielded her vajrafire Hearthblade and even without her Chosen Technique. Thanks to his resonance state of the Avenger, the blade thickened, extended and became even more deadly on her side.

Each swing cleaved all but the boss-level monsters in two, and sent purifying lightning into the target. And every few seconds, she would suddenly blur in another direction, activating her Vajrafire Blitz Technique to pierce or slice through another enemy.

Like Ride of the Valkyries, the Technique enhanced her or her mount’s speed in much the same way, only even better. As she improved her skill in it, she started to notice what it allowed for. This upgraded technique allowed her to move exceptionally fast for brief moments, and even reverse direction on a dime if she needed to. It made her incredibly difficult to deal with, and that was not even including how excellent of a fighter she was even without it.

Clearing out the sky around the Node rapidly, Jake did his best to follow Tanda, Bloodberri, and Fhesiah’s thoughts. The battle between Hearthtribe’s elites and the Bloodwrought was just about to commence, but there was a new problem. They just received a prompt, as they spotted a particular enemy.

It was a special Bloodwrought warrior that was covered in red and violet blood. Two of their tainted hearts pulsed in his chest, with two series of veins. He looked to be a dangerous type of dinosaur, like a T-rex humanoid thanks to his large reptilian face and giant maw.

While the enemy didn’t have any Bloodwrought Abominations, it seemed they had numerous powerful witch doctors and shamans with them, and perhaps a few paladin types, judging by their thick bone armor which was covered in a blood aura.

Odds were, they were worshipers of the evil god, and they were some kind of elite much like those within Hearthtribe–like Nadessa, Bedwyr and Morwen.

Some of the four hundred plus enemies would be of a higher difficulty than those in the first battle, from what Jake could tell.

And Jake doubted that the Dreadbeast Champion was alone–the other Champion might just be in hiding. It was going to be a little strange, facing off against an enemy Champion in a Battleground where they could resurrect each hour until it was completed.

In the Dungeon Raid second stage, they faced some elite monsters that were almost like champions, and their respawns made them particularly dangerous. While his party learned how to counter them, the difference was that these enemy Champions could likely do the same.

Resurrection was now less of a benefit than in the first Tier. Because now, many pure clergy such as clerics and priests had it, but it varied. Tanda and Ophelia would probably get it around the same time, at about level forty. Jake knew that Grayson already had it, and so did Morwen. If Bloodberri hadn’t gotten it in the previous Tier, she would have it by now.

This would be strange, but interesting battle. Their Divine Energy wouldn’t be restored on Resurrection, and needed to be saved for a pivotal moment of the challenge.

Comparing the two sets of threats, Jake came to a decision. He had faith that his elites, when using their delaying tactics, could hold the tainted beastkin away for some time.

Jake and Ophelia would continue to handle the Outpost, while his three wives and Hearthtribe’s elites slowed down and became an annoyance for the enemy.

Because even if the enemy army wasn’t coming for them, they had to be dealt with. If they weren’t, they could easily steal the resources they gathered. Seeing Bloodberri cast the Runic spell of Giant’s Growth on herself and withdraw one of her ‘super baseballs’ from her Storage Ring, Jake couldn’t help but smile as she became even larger than she already was.

It was nothing more than a boulder-sized sphere of Tier 1 magical iron, and thanks to that, she could bring nearly as many as she wanted to challenges such as this. Inscribed with the runes of light and dark, Blood and Berri could fill them with the mana from the surrounding area.

Swaying her snake body and transferring her momentum, and filling herself with her twilight mana and monstrous strength, she could hit the several hundred pounds ball of metal with immense force.

With a loud crack, the orb was launched at the enemy. One might think that the goal of the runes was to make a large magical explosion, or something like this. But the primary purpose of the runes was actually to increase the hardness of the orb itself, or in this case, provide some purification to the enemies that it struck.

Because otherwise, the entire cheap construct would shatter from the force of her blow alone.

Instead, the orb would shatter–once it made contact with the enemy. Going hundreds of miles per hour. Like an artillery shell, the explosion of shrapnel when it hit was devastating. The Bloodwrought struck would outright explode, and the ones behind it were shredded with holy light or dark piercing shrapnel.

Not to be outdone, Tanda took to the air with her Champion Bow, and used her own Cyclic Avenging Flames Technique, covering herself in deathly flames and becoming a specter of death. Jake didn’t have tons of dragon spine bones after the Raid on Highlands, but he had obtained many large spines from Tier 2 Auril Beasts over the past few years.

The flames filled the Celtic runes on the arrows and bow, and her draw power had reached crazy levels now. When she fired her bow, it was like launching a ballista bolt. Her shots pierced through several of the Bloodwrought, the auril flames from her technique causing the enemies to burst into deathly flames, which invaded them like a poison as it burned through their flesh.

The arrows even released several seeds during flight with each and every shot from the Verdant Barrage skill, lining the grounds nearby with special plants that drew in life energy from the fertile area to fuel their rapid growth.

The two continued their barrage, launching explosive artillery at the enemy, every several seconds. Nearly every single attack would kill an enemy outright from such a large distance, and wound many more. After only fifteen seconds of the two attacking, nearly two dozen had died, and many more were wounded significantly thanks to their veins being purified.

Rookard joined their hunt, along with Avalara and Bree. They began using their auril summons to hound the front lines, and they even worked together to send flaming balls of vines and thorns at the enemy, and Rookard shot his own deadly bow. Other elite archers joined them, the beastkin flying or taking spots up in the trees.

And now, Tanda’s plants started to grow. Giant plants that looked like Venus Flytraps opened up, ready to take chunks out of the incoming Bloodwrought. Dozens of them had now spawned, and their vines now started to grasp and slow the tainted beastkin as the plant bulb attempted to take chunks out of their flesh.

Fhesiah whistled. “That’s some good shooting. At this rate, we might not even need Jake and Lia’s help.”

The beastkin all cheered and as the enemy came close enough, some fired their own arrows and javelins to wound the enemies. The treants started their retreat though, as the enemy was already getting a little close.

The enemy didn’t take much longer to act in response.

The shamans and witch doctors started chanting, and they released large waves of their red or violet energy into the beastkin army as they howled and roared. They all began to speed up, their marches taking on a fervorous pace. Then, they had a sort of film on them, a layer of violet light that would likely protect them against attacks.

Bloodberri’s cannon blast struck one of the enemies in the front, but rather than the metal sphere piercing them, it shattered immediately against the magic film, not even passing through the enemy. The blow was still devastating, sending the monster flying, and shrapnel exploding. But it localized the explosion significantly, much of it barely piercing the surrounding enemies.

Tanda’s arrow still pierced through the first enemy, but it did not pierce further than that. With how fast the tainted beastkin were moving, they likely wouldn’t be able to whittle away the enemies much further.

Hearthtribe had already begun strafing the enemy army and were preparing more spells to slow them down, but for the monstrous tainted beastkin in the front, it was like they smelled blood in the water. They started to rush toward Hearthtribe with even more haste.

While the beastkin were fast enough to get out of the way, the slower treants would not. They started raining their arrows and javelins onto the enemy with their manifestations with more fervor, taking out large chunks and slowing them down.

Back at the Outpost, Jake and Ophelia were working hard to reclaim it from the massive assault of monsters. With Jake’s Avenging Aura covering the nearby allies, they cleared out the numerous enemies far more rapidly.

And Ophelia was truly a monster of her own, with her Champion Hearth Guardian joining her. The winged warrior had a Hearthblade of its own at the tip of its spear, and it did a lot of work in finishing off any enemies or protecting allies with its Sentinel ability, shielding and dashing over to them.

Valora stomped through the crowds and sent deadly lightning bolts into the fray. Now that she was a true Battle Mount, she did require more mana to invest in from Ophelia’s side, but her offensive and even defensive capabilities now more than made up for it.

Allies pushed to the brink of death were healed and rescued by Ophelia, Jake, or the guardian, and the air above the Outpost was quickly reclaimed. Only the largest of flying beasts were left now, and a handful of large wyverns and giant beetles that flew and rained poison down on Jake’s allies.

Coalescing the runes rapidly above his head, he created several blades of wind. Each rocketed out at the flying enemies, and shredded a wing right off of them. They careened toward the ground, and Jake began investing mana into manifesting some of his Templates as the many beastkin and various alliance warriors tore into the downed creatures.

Having most of his mana invested in both Avalara and Bree at the moment really limited what he could do. He couldn’t really gather enough mana at once to summon something like a large creature of Qi or a Tier 2 Auril Beast, without spending minutes of just standing around.

However, he had visited Ganestra, Ankhmar, the Mystic Expanse, Aetheris, the dungeon, and even had a few captured monsters from worlds they obtained meant for taming brought to him.

It was to the point where there were just so many options at Jake’s disposal. It was now difficult to track of just how many templates he had captured. Many were situational, and he thought he had a pretty decent situation right now because the aerial enemies had been largely dealt with. There were still more, but the swarm was now eliminated, the remaining enemies much easier to deal with on the fly by the Avian Beastkin.

Having seen how effective Fhesiah’s fire elemental pixie friends were, Jake had collected something quite similar. He had captured those as well, but they were unfortunately a little too costly for him to manifest and use in large quantities like Fhesiah could with her lamp–most creatures made of Heavenly Energy were this way. This was often made up for by them being powerful if the situation called for it, but he reserved using them for the best situations.

He started manifesting several ifreets from Ganestra–a type of fire elemental spirit that was a lot like a fire imp.

They were not impervious to physical attacks, but they were cheap and had a high level of mana control, to where they could continuously gather it from the surrounding environment and launch decent attacks. Weak on their own, but with a large number of them and with nothing directly targeting them, they could snowball into something fierce.

And a few of Fhesiah’s pixie friends could aid them in spreading the flames, as well as assisting by protecting them. Over a few minutes, Jake gathered mana and created a decent swarm of the ifreets, and finally released them toward the enemy.

The swarm of fire imps shot dozens of respectable fireballs with each passing moment, striking the beasts, exploding, and spreading the flames. Each ifreet barely took any mana for Jake to maintain, as they were incredibly efficient. While that seemed exceptionally powerful to just amass thousands of the creatures given enough time, there were not only numerous counters, but they would not last forever. After controlling enough mana from the surrounding area, they would be dispelled if Jake didn’t feed them just a little more.

Many clergy and mages also had several options to purge or destroy constructs such as Jake’s by destabilizing them. They could even do so with superior mana control, tearing away at the construct’s if they were talented enough. It was only Jake’s permanent summons that were resilient to this kind of spell, or if he invested enough mana in the manifestations.

As Jake watched the battlefield around the Outpost, he realized several things. In truth, many of the beastkin were not a great matchup against the high life and vitality creatures. Most lacked the ability to counter the resilient beast’s healing, only winning against them due to superior tactics and skill, or perhaps just by outclassing or outnumbering the enemies.

Entangling vines from the nature druids were a weak method to kill them, and the tanky treants would find themselves facing off against the same enemy for a long period thanks to the enemy’s sturdiness. Only the elemental druids did well at this.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

This was why Jake’s Aura especially turned the tide of the battle–allies that had difficulty finishing the resilient enemies, would find their attacks enhanced by powerful fiery explosions and this allowed them to overcome the enemy’s vitality.

And now, an army of fiery imps flew around scorching enemies, and it was almost like a living wall of flame racing across the battlefield. It set everything aflame, and the three fire elemental pixie copies of Fhesiah’s aided them, absorbing flames from downed creatures and sending them back out again at new enemies.

A few of them got taken out by creatures that could shoot spit or launch spines and similar, but Jake quickly replaced those as he recovered his mana by drinking mana water, safely within the keep as he watched over the Node.

Ophelia was now taking on some Boss-level enemies, but she had no issues with her living shield guardian taking the brunt of their attacks and dodging them on Valora.

As strong as she already was, she wasn’t even going all out yet. Her tattoo had not been activated, though she would likely only activate it in battles where they would consider using the divine energy as well. She was supported by their many allies, the beastkin rallying as a result of the swarm of monsters being thinned out.

And now, Jake had to decide. Having brought this battle into a better place, he could now head back to the other girls. However, looking at them through their eyes, it seemed they didn’t much need his help at the moment, despite the enemy almost reaching them before.

Nadessa and the other elite druids had completed several large control spells as they rode their treants, and so did the Emberborn priestesses. The many plants Tanda had lined the floor of the forest, along with Avalara and Tanda’s Sublimate jungle, had gotten reinforced with numerous vines thanks to the druids using their own Rampant Growth and other spells.

After the plants had latched on many of the targets, Morwen’s Winter’s Embrace landed on them, freezing the many tainted beastkin in place and making a difficult to traverse terrain, which slowed them down and allowed Hearthtribe to pull ahead in their kiting.

With those spells consuming much of the witch doctor and shaman’s energies to try to get the army moving again, Tanda and Bloodberri had continued whittling them down with their powerful ranged attacks.

Fhesiah had also pulled off a rather comical maneuver, where she used a mass illusion spell from her kitsune flames to nearly drag the front of the entire enemy army in a circle and away from the Alliance army. It worked for a time until the angry Champion roared and shocked them all out of it, but in that time, dozens were slowed and then slain by the javelins and arrows from the army.

It wasn’t all good. The Dreadbeast Champion showed he was also getting similar benefits as the abominations, from drawing in the tainted blood of the corpses or wounds of his slain or damaged brethren.

He had succeeded in consuming two downed allies, but after that, Tanda and Bloodberri had targeted him, forcing him away from the corpses and back into hiding among his brethren.

The Champion had gotten bigger and stronger as a result, his veins pulsing a deeper red and violet.

Fhesiah now snuck around the enemy’s army with her illusion, setting the more complete corpses alight. It seemed the Champion was smart enough to stay within his brethren’s formation, with numerous of the elite witch doctors and shamans nearby.

Because if he separated to go after the corpses, then Fhesiah would have blasted him with flames, and Tanda and Bloodberri also would hit him with all that they had.

Jake knew that the Dreadbeast Champion could definitely pierce her illusion with Divine Energy, but she of course kept this in mind. Thankfully, a place where the Bloodwrought seemed to be deficient in was having any avian forms, or ranged attacks.

They were all mammals or reptiles as their ‘parentage,’ which meant none of them could really keep up with her in the sky. This also meant that the few elites with their party also rained attacks down on the outside of the enemy army, while the enemy Champion just looked up at them with scorn.

Back at the Outpost, with Jake’s wave of ifreets and Ophelia and the army clearing out the boss-level enemies, the Outpost was eventually won. It had taken them nearly twenty minutes of difficult fighting, but they had eventually managed it.

Now it was time for cleanup. A giant tree had smashed through the walls, and the Node and even the earth beneath the walls was now damaged by the sheer force. The Node had already lost over fifty percent of its health, the tower structure needing some repairs. In order to repair the node, mana or other resources had to be channelled into it, in addition to it consuming some of their stockpiled resources.

The enemies dealt with, Jake had the pixies absorb the flames from the ifreets. Ophelia used her extended Hearthblade to cut deep into the massive trunk, attacking it from each side. The fire elementals then helped by cutting through the core of the tree where her blade couldn’t reach with their flames, burning through what was a massive tree.

They made four cuts in total, to remove the tree from where it pierced the wall. They then stood up the large cut pieces within the holes in the wall, and grew the thick vines between. Some treants would be watchful of this, able to meld themselves with these sections and make the wall more formidable if targeted, just like before.

It didn’t take much longer for the beastkin and Elysians to move out, leaving a defense at the keep. They ended up leaving far more than Jake would otherwise consider at around a hundred, for two reasons.

This was a battle with Resurrection. This meant that in the case of a full sweep, it was important to leave enough forces. There needed to be enough that, while using the defensive structure of the keep walls and more, the forces could defend long enough for the rest of their people to respawn and not have a total loss.

The other, was that they needed to rebuild their structures. Only by channeling mana and ferrying resources over from the depot within the walls, could these items be repaired within a reasonable amount of time. The siege engines, the magical barrier, and the main gate–each had this requirement before they could become operational once more.

Jake sent more forces to the center to reinforce the army, but also a token number to claim the two resource shrines on their side of the battlefield to start gathering resources–the points necessary to win the match. He saw that the enemy had already gathered resources, though they only had a few dozen points after the first twenty minutes.

The fighting on the battlefield was reaching a challenging stage. Before, the shaman and witch doctors had used something to increase their speed, which made it difficult to continue their kiting. The Alliance treants were only able to get away from them thanks to some ingenuity by Fhesiah with her illusion and the efforts of the druids, to create a difficult to traverse field of vines and hostile plants.

Eventually, their unnatural haste had worn off, allowing the Alliance army to keep ahead and continue to kite them. But now, the enemy was able to crank the speed back up again, and this time, they had counters for both of their tools.

Fhesiah’s illusion failed almost immediately. It wasn’t that the average soldier could see through it suddenly, it was that they seemed to know to follow something else instead–their noses. Then, the many plants were targeted by the casters right away from each shot of Tanda’s, perverting the vines with their own magic, drawing out their life force.

Even Rookard, Bree, and Avalara’s auril summons were drained by the shamans and witch doctors, forcing them to stop sending them in.

And while Morwen and her priestesses hit them all with cold again, the enemy was prepared for this as well with a protective barrier of violet light.

Jake didn’t think it was a total loss, as clearly, those spells cost some of their resources from those casters to accomplish, and they wouldn’t be able to use that for absorbing much more significant damage.

However, it didn’t help that it meant a final confrontation was about to begin. The treants could no longer run, and were forced to entrench themselves to face the enemy.

He prepared his Reverse Summon, and while he did that, he also prepared his old mainstay: he manifested a single Arcane Eye. He raised it high to overlook the Outpost so that he could remain apprised of the situation there, before he portaled through the void to arrive at Tanda.

Arriving next to her, combat had already begun in earnest. The treants and various elites had formed battle lines like they had at the skirmish, but Jake could see that the enemy’s superior numbers were going to make this a difficult challenge.

While Tanda, Bloodberri, Rookard, Avalara and Bree had reduced their numbers, it was still around three against one.

Waves of water splashed and knocked some of them back, and then Morwen and her priestesses had frozen the wave and turned it into a large wall that protected their flanks for little more than a moment as they were surrounded.

Avalara had switched to a deathly mire for her Sublimation, which the enemy was not prepared for. This seemed to be what actually prevented them from being overtaken rapidly. It was a surprise for the enemy to run into thick mud and a new type of attacking plant, the grasping deathly roots that came from the deathly swamp.

With the enemies closing in, the many beastkin had landed numerous ranged attacks on the enemy, their bows and javelins scoring deadly hits against their hearts.

Then, Tanda used the nethril from the area to devastating effect. She spawned numerous deathblooms with her Verdant Barrage. Their acidic mist caused much more harm to the enemy than it did to Avalara’s swamp.

The elemental druids had even used winds to blow some of the mist at the enemy, and melted their bodies away.

And then Jake arrived. His Aura changed the battlefield in mere moments, once again. The explosions as each Hearthtribe warrior launched their attacks pierced deeply into the tainted beastkin’s bodies, allowing many to score killing blows as they targeted their enemy’s hearts.

He summoned Ophelia to his side, and now it was time to go on the attack instead. Bloodberri and Ophelia each rushed in, and so did Tanda after transforming her polearm, having fired her bow plenty. She grew and covered herself with her wolf fur, sublimating a thick hide that merged with her auril beast and bone bodysuit.

Avalara and Bree joined Jake as they rushed to meet the large tainted beastkin, and Jake found resonance with his Saint, Berri.

His Hearthian Presence became a holy aura, which now healed his allies gradually and purified the taint within them. They fought side by side with their beastkin brethren, their Hearthblades easily cutting through the enemies and setting them on fire with their holy flames. Tainted blood was burned and purified with each swing, hearts targeted as enemies were cleaved in two.

Jake’s party moved with superior speed and power, cutting through enemies left and right. Avalara and Bree were at the front of their formation, taking the larger enemy’s charges and knocking them aside for his party to cut through and finish. Their vines whipped with beast manifestations, damaging and controlling the enemies.

The enemy tried to surround them with superior numbers, and special buffs did arrive on their bodies from the enemy clergy.

Their bones became harder to pierce, and their strength and size increased. Auras of dangerous blood also protected them, but they were met with overwhelming strength and skill.

Jake and his girls just met them with their own buffs. Einherjar and Giant’s Growth were added to themselves, and they quickly cut a swath through the enemy. Avalara was still bigger than most of the enemies, and her deathly manifestations of animals from her vine whips and her giant mace were deadly. Each swing of her large tree mace sent enemies flying with their bones crushed, the auril and nethril energy enhancing her thick bulk with magical might.

Bree empowered herself with her flames, and shredded enemies with her sharp claws, along with Fhesiah in her draconic form. Waves of flames from her Celestial Fusion technique engulfed many tainted beastkin, setting them alight and purifying them.

Their beastkin, Elysian, and Emberborn elites kept up with them, joining each other on targets and finishing them off rapidly. Tainted blood still splattered on them from the enemies they slayed, but Jake’s Saint Aura prevented the taint from taking hold.

At this point, Jake thought the Dreadbeast Champion was going to run from the back where he was hiding, and try to escape to the Outpost. After all, their forces were nearly equal now, and the number the Alliance side had lost was not very significant.

Their victory was inevitable in this first battle, and it wasn’t even going to be close. The beastkin of Highlands had improved their ranged capabilities, and there was a feeling of vindication in this, for them.

They were like the tainted beastkin before Jake and his family arrived to guide them, focused only on their natural tools and personal strength. But they had evolved their tactics and skills and truly began to excel, and this was the bigger reason they were successful against their more feral counterparts.

The Dreadbeast Champion did not run. He crouched as his body twisted, his veins pulsing with a dark energy. He then leaped with shocking speed, heading directly for Jake.

The rest of his party was surprised at his speed as he leaped through the air. Jake was fighting near the front of the battle lines, cutting down as many enemies as he could.

But not surprised enough. Avalara crouched and had both hands on her large club. Twisting her body sideways, she met the Champion with a powerful swing of it. When she struck, a manifestation of a charging Highlands rhino smacked into him, and his body was pierced and launched in the opposite direction.

The Champion’s body crashed some distance away, after tumbling across the ground for dozens of meters.

Berri beamed, clapping as she leaned her polearm against her chest. “Yay! That’s from that super baseball training. You did it, Ava! You’re the best now!”

Blood noted, “That was a great swing. Are you not jealous, sister? Up to now, you’ve never sent an enemy flying quite like that.”

Berri sniffed. “Baseball is no place for jealousy. Only hard work and commitment to the team.”

Tanda and Ophelia riding Valora rushed ahead with their enhanced speed, and cut down several of the enemy clergy. The enemy sent powerful waves of blood that shifted into deadly spears in their defense of the Dreadbeast Champion, but Ophelia’s Hearth guardian was ready, forming a barrier in front of them which absorbed the tainted blood.

Their clergy quickly targeted the enemy’s. Morwen’s priestesses and Nadessa’s druids launched ice and lightning, damaging them. Along with a quick swipe of their Hearthblade or Tanda’s giant wings, they overwhelmed these spells and cleared the clergy and the remaining enemies out quickly.

Bree was charging the downed Dreadbeast Champion, her dinodogs circling off to the sides as she ran down the center. Charging her own fiery attacks, the enemy barely finished recovering and stood as she neared. Despite being large, she moved faster than most could expect.

Several bone spears launched toward Bree, but two vine shields materialized and both blocked and diverted them away from her in that same moment. Her horns pierced into the Champion, and then unleashed a powerful burst of flames into his body, as several thorny, flaming vines wrapped around him and tore into his body.

He roared as more bone spears pierced out of his flesh at her, and he pulled himself off her horns and started to spin. Like a blender of death he shredded the vines that tried to assault him.

She prepared her breath attack, but had to back away from the blender for a moment because he began spinning toward her like a deadly top. Her dinodogs then latched onto his legs with a deadly bite, despite the speed and danger his blades represented. They took several bone spears into their faces and necks, but they held on tightly in spite of this, stopping his spin.

Bree breathed out her flames, and Jake did think he saw his blood light up and he began to mutate and evolve, his flesh and blood rippling across his body. However, the flames did overwhelm him in the end, and he died, being disbursed into motes of light.

With the enemy Champion and the clergy defeated, the battle was easily won, the remaining tainted beastkin eventually defeated.

The beastkin and Elysians were cheering for their victory, but Fhesiah frowned as she looked over the battlefield. “That was… a bit disappointing. He couldn’t even defeat your summons.”

Jake had wanted to test the enemy, and that was largely why he had sent Avalara and Bree after him, and why Ophelia and the rest had held back.

If he could evolve, the most important thing was for Jake to make sure they left most of their aces for the most important conflict, to reduce his effectiveness. Jake imagined that an evolving enemy would only become stronger and dangerous as the battle went on.

He said, “I think one of two things is true. Either, from evolving or mutating as he keeps respawning as he fights us, he will combine that with and become more formidable with his Divine Energy. That combined with more of their plots, perhaps another hidden Champion, that might be their plan to win. Or, our enemy was already seeing this battle as a loss. The dungeon’s intentions, from the start, might have been merely to test us and find our weaknesses for our next much more important confrontations.”

Ophelia replied, “Or, as always, it’s just luring us into a false sense of security. We see how easy this is, so we leave and enter the dungeon with more of us unsealed. Then they bring out the stronger enemies, like the Enforcer when we least expect it, and when their advantage is the most.”

Fhesiah frowned, remembering something. “I think there’s another possibility. Remember what happened in the two Greater Rifts?”

Jake grimaced. In the first Greater Rift, the enemies sacrificed each other when they were going to lose, turning themselves into a single, giant demon. The second had the lightning elementals merging into a single, massive elemental.

He sighed. “I guess that’s just as likely. He ate the blood from his already downed brethren, but hadn’t sacrificed any–because that would cause them to be unable to be respawned, even in this challenge. So if it would make him win…he will just draw as much blood as he can get from his living brethren, before he even faces us.”

Blood shrugged. “It seems dangerous, and it’s true that our enemy likes to plot. But worrying about their plans or motivations will do us no good unless there is something we can do about them. By never showing weakness, those things will hardly matter in the end.”

Ava’s battle avatar grinned, and her voice echoed through their minds. [That’s right. Hearthtribe hasn’t shown their full strength yet.]

Jake said, “Now, we have to farm a bunch of monsters and these resources, it seems. When the enemy is about to respawn, we’ll be sure to be ready for them.”

Fhesiah grinned. “Let’s not forget that there is another opportunity. We can steal the resources the enemy gathers right now.”