I took deep, even breaths as I sat against the wall, ignoring the consistent thrumming coming from the heart just around the corner and dealing with the headache that lingered in the back of my skull, trying my best to keep myself focused on sothing besides the pain as I stared at the ground.
Jahi approached and crouched down, staring at my face as she lifted my chin to get a better look at , her athyst eyes slightly worried as she looked over.
"You alright Kat? Both you and Anput are really taking a hit with this aren't you..?"
Tilting my head to the side, Jahi caressed my cheek as she heard reply "I'll be fine... but I think we should get going now."
Her thumb brushed just under my eye before she helped to my feet, her hands reassuring as they enveloped my own, before I smiled wryly as she rested one of them on my head, fondling my ears playfully as she smirked at .
"Good. Don't want my puppies getting cold paws, now do I? You ready to go, Anput?"
Jahi glanced over towards the Jackalkin, who groaned softly as she stood up, her ears twitching while her eyes narrowed as she glared at the bend in the path, growling "Let's finish this please... this fucking heart sucks! Such a pain in the ass..!"
Snarling softly, she rapped her palm against her skull a few tis before shaking her head, grabbing ahold of her longsword and gesturing for us to join her in taking on the heart of this island, where we would end our excursion here and return to the Palace for so well deserved rest and relaxation before getting back into the grind again.
There were many things we needed to do before the rest of the Fiends awakened or broke free from their bindings, whilst also making sure to keep an eye on the countries off to the West for Jillian and Ayla, since they were still unaccounted for.
To get back to the Palace though, at least without the Marquess hounding us for failing or outright forcing us to complete everything, we needed to rip the heart out of the island and reset this training grounds for the Asmodia Family, to be used again in a decades ti.
So we readied our weapons, spells, and Leone and I cast Cloak spells over everyone before we began to march into the chamber that held the beating heart of this island, wanting to rip it out and smash it against the wall as hard as we could...
Because damnit, this constant drumming and perpetual shaking of my body was too annoying to not warrant such a desired course of action!
When we were all ready, we rounded the bend and erged out into the large platform that rested beneath the cloudless blue sky, the top of the volcano not far above us as the perfect arena for the final area of the island was created here, be it natural made or carved out by the Golems.
Speaking of, various crystals were scattered around the large expanse of stone and earth, but no Golems rested around them, leaving the clearing eerily empty of any typeof enemies and providing far too much cover that scread 'BOSS FIGHT!!' to , my previous experiences with gas and novels making even warier then I was before.
What made completely and utterly worried was the giant spire of crystal that awaited us in the center, the brown and red crystals intertwined and seemingly welded together by strips of silver tal, all of which was constructed around a gigantic orb that was as tall as .
Made from sothing organic, the orb pulsated and beat just like a normal heart, while the wrinkly flesh like material squird around despite it being encased in powerful crystals, suggesting that there was a clear space inside that structure ant to house this heart completely.
The spire was twenty feet tall and utterly chaotic in structure, the crystals fighting against one another and trying to outgrow the other as they reached into the sky.
But, there wasn't anything else in sight, which made stop the group as I gestured towards the crystal housing the heart, saying "Either that crystal spire is the monster, or we're dealing with so type of flying monster or a burrowing monster. Everything else on this island has been open about their allegiance and where they were, even that Undead Queen. So why would this one be different?"
They nodded, and Jahi was the first to make a move as she sent a golden dagger hurtling towards the spire, slicing through a part of the crystal and waiting in silence as we watched that chunk drop to the ground, shattering into dozens and hundreds of pieces.
We looked around before looking towards the sky, only to frown as nothing else happened, making us all look around the entire clearing as we took a tentative step forwards.
Nothing was around us, but this was far to easy and good to be true, so we only deepened our guard as we approached the crystal spire, which eventually proved right as the mountain began to rumble, signifying that sothing was coming.
The beating of the heart grew faster as the rumbling worsened, and the others were now feeling the sa pains that Anput and I were as we all clutched at our ears, with Anput and I grimacing as we felt blood leak onto our fur and hair as sothing got damaged inside.
A ringing suggested that the eardrum took so bad damage, and while my mana got to work repairing that damage, I relied on my other senses to witness the large spire of crystal begin to crack and splinter away, the excess materials turning to dust as they shattered on the ground while sothing walked out from the spire, vaguely humanoid in shape and oozing latent mana as it took another shaky step forwards.
The red and brown crystals comprising its body hardened and grew murky, the mana inside them thickening into a visible vapor that acted as this monsters blood or essence, creating the illusion of flesh atop the crystal body that stood in front of us.
Again, it was vaguely humanoid, its legs too long and its three arms offsetting the idea that it might be sothing... normal.
Two left arms and a right arm morphed into different weapons, while its crystal body darkened further and made it appear like so lost race of mortals.
Two long ears gave it an Elfish appearance up top, but the barrel like chest and chiseled arms were more reminiscent of an Orc, while a long tail of jagged crystal dragged behind it.
Spikes adorned its head, while its mouth slowly splintered open from the crystal and ford fangs, making frown as I observed it for another mont, only for my eyes to widen in realization.
"It's... it's copying a trait from each of us physically. This thing is so kind of mimic!"
Everyone stared at the creature for a mont before cursing as it appeared in front of us, its sharp crystal blades slashing down as it began to fight us, all while the heart of the island beat behind it, remaining locked inside the remnants of the crystal spire.
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