The Necrotic Twin-headed Wolf.
Each of its skull-like maws puffed out necrotic miasma, dripping blackish-green saliva that dissolved all life it came into contact with, hissing. One head growled and the other gnashed its teeth, the nature of the beast in front of him filled Anders' mind with sheer dread.
He tripped over his own feet, reeling backwards. The beast's rampage was wall of death crashing down upon him.
A gauntleted hand grabs him by the collar and dragged him forward harshly. "DOWN YOU STUPID ARISTOCRAT!" Garrick yelled, bringing Anders close to his chest.
Anders looked up at Garrick's face, no more was the stoic Guardian, veins bulged out of his head, his jaw clenched and brows furrowed into a scowl. He glared back at the decaying beast in front of him.
In a fluid motion, Garrick firmly planted his plated boots into the ground, and intense reddish aura exuded from him, slamming his gigantic shield into the earth around him, "TRY IT, PUP."
The impact was cataclysmic.
The entire bulk of the wolf collided against Garrick's shield with what felt like the force of an entire mountain tumbling down. Sending out a shockwave that knocked Anders back down to the floor, Freyja was sent sprawling against a tree, only Celiac was at a distance, allowing him to come off unscathed.
Garrick roared, pressing with all his might against the blow, but the power of the beast bent metal and bone alike.
*CRACK*
Anders heard it, Garricks shield arm snapping under the weight. The Guardian winced in agony, yet held firm. In a final desperate attempt, he tried to redirect the force to his right, the wolf slid past his shield and crashed down into the trees on his side, trying to right itself for it's next attack.
"AWOOOOO!" The right head howled.
The wolf is enveloped in dark green aura, it's rotting muscles bulge, Anders' is convinced it grew in size.
His face went dark, 'A pseudo Tier 5 is strong, but it shouldn't be evolving mid-battle.'
He forced his gaze back to Garrick. His breathing was ragged, and his arm wasn't any better, his shield going limp by his side. Yet all he gave Anders' was a barbaric grin to Anders.
"Told you, I could handle myself." He says confidently.
This was the effect of walking the Path of Rage. He saves all his anger and converts it into pure power when it's called for. Apparently, Garrick used to be an ill-tempered delinquent before choosing his path. Besides battle, he's practically a saint now.
Anders's lets out a single laugh as he shakes his head. 'Madman.' He quickly returns back to the matter at hand.
"Freyja!" He shouts.
She staggered upright, the staff clutched tightly, the bell attached on the trembled. Closing her eyes, she rang it- once, twice, three times, up to the fifth time that sung louder than the others. Each time it rang her face grew slightly pale.
A golden light glitters over Garrick, Anders' could hear the bones grinding back into a now usable arm. Garrick gritted his teeth as the divine light stitched him back together.
Freyja, letting out her breath, "Done."
Anders' adjusted his round glasses having moved from the shockwave. His eyes locked onto the beast who was still growing larger, the foul green glow only intensifying.
"This isn't right." He mutters, cane tightening in his hand.
His eyes glow blue as he activates his energy sense, what he saw shocked him. The dense crypt energy in this place was rushing toward the beast to the point it was struggling to handle it, as if it was being controlled to do so.
'At this rate, it's not going to be Pseudo, but a full blown Tier 5, then none of us will leave here alive.' his face tensed.
He raised his voice.
"Get ready! Garrick, take the vanguard - you're not invincible, especially against its necrotic aspect, keep the rage aura in check. Freyja, save your strength and heal when needed. Celiac-"
"I know," he cut in, his voice blunt, he'd already disappeared into the shadows. "Find a weakness, restrict it's movements, and try lodge an arrow into it's damnable eyes."
Anders nodded, "Right. I'm going to mess with it's senses and help restraining it's movements. When you press, do it together understood?"
"Understood!" they affirmed.
He let out a breath, facing the beast who had just about regained it's composure, centering his cane in.
'Let's see how you deal with a Tier 4 Aristocrat fucking with your mind, you decrepit mutt.' he smirks.
He tapped the tip of his cane against the soil.
*Clack*
The sapphire on the cane's head pulsed twice, it's light poured upward, seeping into his eyes. He drew a grounding breath as he closed them.
A second passes before he opens his eyes again, this time, a third eye had appeared upon his brow, it's sapphire iris burned, the whites of the eye now black.
And his perception? It had shifted.
The world dissolved into threads of will and intent, the material plane nothing but an outline. He could see the core of everyone, their lifeforce, energy, and glimpse their soul. Not only could he see Garrick's aura, but he could see where his intent was directed, his field of vision, and the stability of his mind fighting against his own powers.
This was the ability of his bloodline. It was called Azure Gaze.
As an Aristocrat, his abilities stemmed from the mind, intent, and will. Without this vision, you could not direct your attacks, making it impossible for you to pursue this class.
He turned his gaze to the wolf, all three of his eyes going wide. He saw a furnace of necrotic green, it's aura bloated, the crypt energy warping it beyond what it's frame can handle.
His lips curled. 'A puppet stuffed until it bursts.'
More than that, he could see the red intent of something far more powerful than any of them directing the energy like a conductor.
'No matter. As long as we don't step into the temple, we are fine.'
He raised his cane and point the tip toward the wolf. The sapphire eye flared. A blast of invisible force jolted outward toward the beast, bypassing its physical matter and burrowing straight into the creature's mind.
"Crown of Delusion. Eyes of a Fool. Wear madness as your crown, and drown in visions unending." He mutters.
The twin heads of the beast jerked violently, both maws snapping at air. One spat miasma at nothing, the other tried to gnaw at its own side. It's eyes rolled around as it fractured with false visions - the landscape became a battlefield of it's own imagination. The rustles of leaves and cracks of branches sounding out like warcries and thunder.
Ander's noticed shadow energy latching onto it's limbs, puppeteering it's movements away from Garrick and into the environment. A shadow leopard clawing at it's blind spots chipping away at it's rotting flesh.
'Celiac's doing.' He noted.
He was glad to have such an intuitive comrade.
His cane vibrated in his hand as the wolf bucked away from the intrusion.
"Diminish, disorient... drown, as reality bends to my will." He kept chanting, maintaining his connection, each word echoing in the beasts mind.
The necrotic beast stumbled, clawing at the ground in maddened disarray, unable to break the illusion.
Garrick let out a cry, his rage flaring around him, his shield and sword raised as he charged forth.
"NOW!" Anders yelled, holding onto his control for dear life. The wolf continuing to snap at phantom enemies.
Garrick's claymore swung in a brutal arc, the blade slicing through the tendonous forelegs. The rotting flesh tore apart, necrotic blood sprayed as the limb buckled, Garrick using his shield and armor to block it ever getting to his skin.
Now pain, pain is a sensation the wolf can't mistake. It flails its head as it falls to the ground, its jaws trying to snap at Garrick, yet not being able to close the distance from the awkward position.
Celiac, on a branch far above obscured by the darkness provided the canopies, takes aim at the vulnerable eyes of the wolf, pulling the drawstring to its maximum tension.
*Fwish*
He lets the arrow loose, it fly's with precision as it hits it's mark.
"Awwooooooooo!" The wolf howled in pain.
The arrow plunged into the eye of the beast, Celiac smirking as the wolf howls in agony and rage. Garrick continuing his onslaught on the backside of the beast.
'We actually might kill this thing.'
For a breathless instant, it looked like they had this in hand.
And then the air changed.
Some things are too good to be true.
Anders eye's narrowed, focusing closer on the beast. The energy so far had kept building and building, forced by the being in the crypt.
Its vessel was bloated beyond it's normal capacity, the necrotic aura around the beast pulsed abnormally, once, two times - before giving way, detonating outward in a shockwave of sickly green energy. Anders' mind reeled, closing his sapphire eyes as his connection to the beast was severed.
The illusions shattered.
Celiac's shadows were ripped apart.
It's body grew again, it widened, the heads splitting apart as the flesh between it morphed outward, exploding into a new head.
All three heads howled toward the sky.
It's bones snapped and reformed in a grotesque manner. Muscle fibers splitting and reknitting. Black spines splintered out of it's back.
Anders' face was white as a ghost when he opened his trembling eyes, "T-this is impossible- this is forced ascension!" His sapphire eyes saw a tornado of green energy emerge from the beast.
"RUN! Everyone GET OUT OF HERE-" Anders' cried out, reeling back.
Celiac's voice screamed, "TOO CLOSE! GARRICK, MOVE!"
However, as Celiac said, he was indeed to close, mid swing at the beast, too committed.
The wolf sprung with mind boggling speed, the middle head snapped below. It's jaws closed around his helm and neck, and with one wrench.
CRUNCH.