Ashborn Primordial

Chapter 109: Narapazu

A part of Virs mind told him to run. To flee with all haste. To get as far away from the thing that emitted that bloodcurdling roar as possible.

But another part spurred him on. He ran neither for glory nor Brotherhood karma. He ran because hed heard another crya human cryand one that sounded awfully familiar.

With Neel in his arms, Vir Leaped through the incredibly tall and wide Imperium hallways, all illuminated by crystal chandeliers that hung from the ceiling, burning with blue-white fire. Chandeliers that had stayed lit for millennia, fueled by prana.

When he saw the enormously long hall before him, he despaired. The distance would cost him several precious seconds. Resolving himself, he stepped into the hall.

Except the ground he stepped on was no mere stone. The moment he entered, the ground beneath him shone bright white. Blazing to life, the plate jerked upward, hovering a pace off the ground and nearly throwing Vir off balance.

Then it shot forth at several times Virs prior speed, whisking him across the long hallway with incredible speed. Unwittingly, hed stepped onto a liftone that moved sideways instead of up and down. And one that ran off of pure prana, rather than men hauling ropes.

The beast roared again, and this time, the sound was much closer. Braced for it, Vir resisted the impulse to freeze up.

Where have I heard that sound before?

It was familiar, yet Vir couldnt place it. Until he jumped off the moving platform and rounded the final bend.

At first, he couldnt quite place what he was seeing. Two thick tree trunks stood before him. The sight was highly unusual, seeing as he was in a passage of stonethere wasnt a single tree around.

Then he looked up and up. And realized that those werent trunks at all, but the rather enormously thick legs of a colossal bipedal beast.

A beast that stood forty paces in height, nearly touching the vast ceiling. When Vir saw its head, he immediately understood why its roar had felt familiarits head was that of an elephants.

An enormous, oversized elephant. Twin ivory tusks ten paces long jutted from its massive trunk, which came nearly to the floor.

That head was attached to a very human-like body, except its legs were that of an elephants. Its four giant, burly arms were each as thick as tree trunks. A three-fingered hand gripped an oversized ax and the other a noose. The lower two arms remained free to pummel the tiny peons it fought.

Prana Vision showed an immense amount of Ash prana coursing through the beast. And no weaknesses he could exploit. At least, nothing he could get toits neck and head were far out of reach.

Param!? Tia shouted, spear and Ember orb in hand, fighting side by side with Vason. Haymi stood several paces back, charging her next spell. All looked haggard and pale.

How How did they get here? Why were they fighting this beast alone instead of retreating? A dozen questions sped through Virs mind, but this was not the time.

Vir scooped Neel up and Leaped over to Tia.

Whats the situation? he asked.

Thank Vera, youre here! Tia shouted, rolling out of the way of the beasts hoof swipe. We could really use your help.

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She fired off an Ember spell, but the magic merely dissipated against the beasts leathery gray hide.

What is that thing? Vir shouted back, Leaping to avoid the creatures enormous elephant trunk. Not only was the trunk a danger, but its tusks reached nearly as low. A blow from thateven a glancing onewould be fatal.

Only Neel was safe; his low stature protected him from most of the beasts attacks.

A Narapazu! Param, listen. The only way to take it down isgah! Tia screamed, activating Haste to barely avoiding a tusk. Is to attack its legs! If we can bring it down, we can kill it.

Things were happening too quickly for Vir to process it all. His perspective on the ground was extremely limited; devising a strategy while dodging for his life turned out to be harder than expected.

Vir drew a deep breath and immediately sank into the Shadow Realm. Tias eyes bulged, but hiding his powers now would only get them all killed.

Instead of stopping time completely, Vir extended both arms fully out, allowing events to proceed at a fraction of their normal speed. In this way, Vir could stay an entire minute inside the shadows if he chose to.

He saw Tias face, her mouth agape at Virs disappearing act. Vason and Haymi were too occupied with the beast to have noticed.

Fundamentally, Vir lacked information about this new enemy. What were its powers? What were its weaknesses? All he had was a name: Narapazu. It wasnt one that had appeared in Dahas bestiary book, but this creature was clearly in a league of its own compared to the beasts hed encountered. Attempting to fight such a foe without prior knowledge was suicide. Luckily, Dance of the Shadow Demon allowed him to gain that exact knowledge.

The first thing he noticed was how the Narapazu struggled with its size. The hallway, while tall, wasnt nearly wide enough to allow the creature to freely wield its ax. It was likely why Spears Edge was still alive.

That, and it didnt seem to be too bright. Or rather, it behaved as if addled, unable to concentrate on a single task. It would strike with its ax, only for its arm to graze the stone, making it cry in pain. Itd then stomp around, attempting to squash Tias party, before trying again with its axseemingly forgetting its prior failure just moments before.

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Unfortunately, that didnt make the beast any less lethal.

Vir watched as Haymi fired off a C Grade Water Dart, which splashed harmlessly upon the beasts face.

That was a waste of an orb, Vir thought, until she fired a C Grade Arc spell right after it. The lightning collided in the same spot the water had. This one did have an effect.

The beast jolted and squeezed its head with its two free hands.

Is that why its behaving like that? Because Haymi keeps shocking it?

If so, it was an incredibly clever ploy on her part.

Vason jumped in, swiping with his blade. Vir hadnt seen the warrior use any offensive Talentsit seemed like Parry, Leap, and Bulwark were his only Talents. Still, while Parry and Leap were Common, Bulwark was Uncommon. In addition, Prana Vision showed Vir that his blade was anything but ordinary. It glowed with Haymis support magic, and while a normal cut wouldve bounced off the elephant creatures thick hide, his sword actually sliced into its legs.

The cut was superficial, and only angered the beast, which swept its enormous trunk at Vason, sending him flying like a rag doll. Vir glimpsed Earth affinity prana fire just before he was sent flying. The man crashed heavily into a far wall before slumping down.

Without Bulwark, hed be a dead man, even in his full plate armor. With it, Vir suspected hed live, albeit with a few broken bones.

Vir had to disagree with Tias assessment. Maybe they could get the Narapazu to fall to its knees if they crippled its legs, but at what cost? They were as likely to be trampled as they were to hurt the thing.

No, he had a better plan.

In all this time, the beast hadnt used any other attacks. It was dangerous to assume it had none, but Vir could work with what he saw. He only hoped his katar was up to the task.

Vir slipped back out of the shadow, and time returned to normal. Vason had just about recovered from his blow, but as Vir feared, the man cradled his left arm.

Losing no time, Vir Leaped into a shadow, then Leaped out, flinging a chakram at the beasts face. Only his chakrams had the momentum to reach the Narapazus faceits only real vulnerability. Chakris were too small. The problem was, Vir only had three chakrams. He had to conserve each one.

The Narapazu predictably guarded against the flying disk, deflecting it without issue.

But its moment of distraction was all Vir needed. Leveraging his momentum, he dove in, attacking its hooves. This was Tias strategy, but it was merely Virs opener. A distraction to allow him to execute his true attack.

At the last moment, Vir flared prana out of his arm, cutting into the Narapazus thick hide. Unfortunately, this beasts hide was even tougher than the Phantomblades. His attack failed to penetrate. Vir followed up with a swipe of his katar, but that did even less damage.

Vir clucked in irritation, Leaping away just before the Narapazu crushed him to death. Despite having avoided the attack, the tremor of its hooves nearly sent Vir tumbling.

If only the shadows were longer Vir cursed the bright illumination of the room. The chandeliers cast their light up and down, illuminating the ceiling and the ground.

The most optimal strategy would be to attack the Narapazus head. There was no shortage of weak spots in that areafrom its large, floppy ears to its eyes. Even its neck would be a target. But getting up there was difficult. High Jump, in conjunction with Dances momentum trick, might get him up that high, but to land on the beasts shoulders? That would be tricky.

Hed hoped to rely on a ceiling shadow to drop onto the Narapazu, or barring that, to get the thing to its knees so he could run up its arms.

Could use a little help here, Shardul. Ekanai.

But of course, true to their statement, his past incarnations voices remained silent. There would be no help from either of them until he entered the Ashen Realm.

It was when Vir prepared for his next attack that the tides turned.

Haymi, look out! Vason roared, pushing the mejai aside as she was charging another spell. Haymi went tumbling, her orbs spilling out onto the ground and Vason went flying as the Narapazus tusk slammed into him.

Vason! Tia shrieked, activating Haste and running off to tend to him. With Haymi down and Vason out of the fight, only Vir and Neel were left to distract the beast.

Vir immediately dove in between the giants legs, discharging prana hoping to penetrate that thick hide.

But it was of no use. He needed more power.

Param! Haymi shrieked. The Narapazu steadily moved toward the injured party. Haymi still hadnt collected her orbs, and Vason was unconscious.

This is bad Grak it! What can I do? Vir thought frantically.

Neel! he shouted, an idea forming in his head. He clapped his hands together and pointed up.

The bandy barked, and he could only hope his friend understood his intent.

The Narapazu was only ten paces awaya single step would put it right at Tia and her group. Just as it was about to take that last step, Neel jumped up onto its thick leg, bounding his way up the monster.

The Narapazu paused, surprised to see a foreign object climbing up its body.

Neel continued up the Narapazus legs, deftly avoiding its arms. Up he went, to its chest, and finally, its shoulders.

Thats my boy! Vir roared, though he hardly had a moment to spare.

Neel wouldnt be able to do much other than harass the Narapazu, buying them a few extra seconds. Seconds which Vir intended to put to good use.

Slowing time by entering the shadows, he extended his katar arm. His heart beat frantically and his mind was a hairs breadth away from panicking, but he wrestled his thoughts under control. Only with a level head would he find a way out of this. Panicking would only spell Spears Edges doom.

Virs mind cleared as he concentrated. The emotions faded away, allowing him to devote his all to the task at hand.

The issue with his prana blade was that it wasnt a blade at allit was merely a prana discharge. It lacked anything to latch onto. Virs will only went so farwill augmented by a physical blade would deal far more damage.

Or so he believed. This time, instead of allowing his prana discharge to float away, he willed the prana to perfectly contour to his katars blade, wreathing the blade with prana.

His first strike failedguiding the prana after it left his body was useless, as always.

So instead, he angled the prana before it left his body, while he still had control over it. Instead of willing it to do damage, he willed it to augment the metal on his katar blade.

And then he made the opening even smaller, forcing a tiny trickle of prana out of his body at high speed.

The prana stuck to his blade like glue, coating it in a layer of deadly magic.

Vir swiped and felt his blade penetrate the thick hide as easily as cutting paper.

He could hardly believe itfor so long, hed striven to unlock Prana Blade, and now, fighting a monster of the Ash, he finally had.

But when Haymi screamed, all of his elation evaporated into thin air.

From the shadows, Vir stared in horror as the Narapazu reached down and grabbed the mejai in its massive hand.

Then it squeezed, crushing her.

Haymis wail sent shivers down Virs back.

Shes going to die.