Path of Dragons Book 9: Chapter 65: Together

A scythe of water sliced through the air, narrowly missing Elijah’s tail. He flipped backward, acknowledging the addition to Heart of Fire, but imdiately discarding the errant thought. He couldn’t afford even a mont’s distraction. Instead, he needed the focus of every available facet of his mind just to stay ahead of the rapid barrage of water blades.

He remained balanced on a knife’s edge, entirely incapable of doing anything but dodging. It pushed him to his limits, and even then, his strategy had been ruined a half dozen tis when he was too slow. But with nearly thirty charges having been built, he couldn’t afford another reset.

Vaguely, he considered simply letting loose with Incinerate, then and there. Even fueled by only thirty charges, it was a powerful ability that would at the very least put the tidal titan on its back foot.

Yet, he knew that it wouldn’t be enough.

Behind him, Escobar continued to toss one fireball after another at the braziers. One had already been destroyed, but the others had proven much more durable. In the anti, the other dogs maintained their own strategy of slowly whittling the titan down. None of their efforts were individually impactful, but altogether, they had begun to make so headway.

Could they kill the titan on their own?

Eventually, sure.

But it would take an incredible amount of ti, and Elijah found it difficult to believe they could survive that long. At so point, they’d run dry of ethera. Their stamina would begin to flag. All it would take was one misstep, and they would be splattered against the ruins.

It had already happened a couple of tis, though the combination of Wild Resurgence and Oscar’s healing abilities had reversed the damage. That would not always be the case.

Already, Oscar had begun to slow. The maintenance of so many abilities had started to take its toll. The ssage was clear. It put them on a tir because the pack would surely die the second he ran dry.

Elijah kept going, moving more fluidly than he ever had before. Perhaps it was the water-attuned ethera all around him, but he truly felt like water as he dodged every attack aid in his direction. The tidal titan grew progressively more frustrated, but it was entirely incapable of bringing its full power to bear.

Ray and Maymay were responsible for that. Their spells constantly hindered its efforts, allowing the other dogs nearly free rein to slowly whittle it down.

Elijah didn’t get many of his own attacks in. Instead, the bulk of his attention remained on building one stack of Heart of Fire after another. Still, he did manage to bring his scythe’s blade into the equation on a couple of occasions.

Finally, Elijah passed the seventy-five charge mark.

When he did, he yelled, “Get ready, Escobar! Bring out the big guns!”

Instantly, the chihuahua ceased his barrage of fireballs and focused on gathering enough ethera to cast one of his more potent spells. At the sa ti, Elijah shouted for the rest of the pack to get ready to clear the area. The tidal titan certainly heard the order, and it doubtless understood what it ant. However, it wasn’t as if Elijah was trying to surprise the creature.

Instead, he wanted to overwhelm it.

To that end, he continued to build one charge after another until, at last, he reached a hundred.

“Let it loose, Escobar!”

By that point, the chihuahua had already completed his cast, and he’d held the spell on the verge of activation through sheer will. But now that he had received the okay, he freed the massive amount of ethera within him.

He burst into flas, but that wasn’t one of the spell’s overt effects. Rather, it was just a consequence of channeling so much fire-attuned ethera. Fortunately, Escobar was functionally immune to those flas, even if it did fill the air with the sll of burnt dog fur.

Then, fire fell from the sky.

Not in a few drops. Rather, in huge balls of roiling fla that slamd into the tidal titan with enough force to stagger the massive creature. One after another until hundreds filled the air. Steam hissed from every pore, while Elijah held Incinerate at bay.

He lost count of how long the rain of fire lasted, but by the ti it finished, the tidal titan had been reduced to a sorry state. Great burns covered most of its body, while even its healthy skin had dried, flaking off in great sheets of parched flesh. Its kelp-like hair and beard had been turned to ash, and it was surrounded by an aura of mist.

Yet, it was still alive.

And it was not happy, as evidenced by the massive water blade it aid at the perpetrator of the attack. Escobar tried to dodge. He danced aside, diving toward the ground and leaving a streak of fire in his wake. However, the blade was far too large, and he wasn’t nearly fast enough.

Fortunately, he was not alone.

Both Jackson and Sophie leaped into action. Sohow, they decided – together, no less – that their shields wouldn’t do the trick, and the water blade would simply smash through them. So, Sophie jumped in front of Escobar, blocking the attack with her body. anwhile, she manifested a personal shield that was augnted by Jackson’s conjured plane of ethera.

The blade smashed through both.

But those thin walls of ethera were enough to slow the water blade down, and when it hit Sophie, she wasn’t cut in half. However, she did take a grievous wound that didn’t halt until it hit her spine. Elijah imdiately cast Wild Resurgence, but he didn’t dare drop Shape of the Master to do more.

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Even as he turned to finish his plan, Oscar activated so sort of ability as well.

That’s when Elijah opened his mouth and let loose with a hundred-charge Incinerate.

The world ignited as a wide swath of the ground lted. A wave of dense flas slamd into the already injured tidal titan, scorching through it without rcy. The creature collapsed, its flesh turning to ash in the space of a second. And when Incinerate dissipated, there was nothing left but a pile of charred remains.

Even the ambient ethera had evaporated, leaving an atmosphere that felt more appropriate to a desert than anything else.

Often, Elijah forgot just how powerful Incinerate could be. Certainly, it was his single most damaging ability, and he’d leaned on it on multiple occasions. However, it was easy to misrember just how much destruction it could inflict.

He was just patting himself on his back when he felt a surge of ethera all around. Panicked, he realized one simple fact that should not have escaped his notice – he hadn’t received a drop of experience.

The tidal titan was still alive.

The charred corpse stirred, and ash billowed. Then, the remaining braziers – three of them – sent a trio of four-foot-wide streams of water to slam into the tidal titan’s remains. It rose on shaky feet, slamming its still-intact and now-rusty trident into the ground. Watery ethera and earth rippled out from the point of impact.

Elijah weathered that wave, already rushing forward.

He never reached his destination, because a wave of water manifested to his right, slamd into him, then sent him tumbling across the ruins. He ca to rest near one of the braziers, which had beco enshed in a cocoon of water.

Elijah wasn’t concerned with that at the mont. Instead, his attention quickly settled on the titan, who’d reconstituted itself through water. Certainly – it looked different. Instead of a creature of flesh and bone, it was little more than a charred skeleton surrounded by water. But it seed just as powerful as ever.

And after knocking Elijah aside, its focus was on Oscar and the pack.

It took a step forward, its body sloshing around and spraying water in every direction. By that point, Elijah was already transforming, though. This ti, he’d decided to attack with the Shape of Thorn.

The transformation happened in the space of a second, but even then, he was almost too late. The mont it completed, Elijah activated two abilities – Domain of Vines and Unchecked Growth.

Roots and vines burst free of the earth, but Elijah didn’t limit his attack to the titan. Instead, he wrapped his vines around the nearest brazier, digging them into the ground and finding the base before he yanked. The thing didn’t want to move. It felt like it weighed hundreds of tons.

But Elijah wouldn’t let that stop him.

He dug deep for every ounce of power he could muster, transferring it to his roots and letting out a roar. He grabbed hold of the roots, bent his back, and yanked. At first, it only moved an inch. Then two. Three.

It broke free in a shower of moist earth.

Elijah didn’t waste any ti before he spun like an Olympic hamr thrower. The first revolution took a couple of seconds, but after that, he sped up. By the fourth, he could hear the brazier whistling through the air.

But by that point, the tidal titan had nearly reached Oscar and the dogs.

He let it loose.

The brazier flew across the plateau, then slamd into the tidal titan. The impact sent water spraying in every direction. The rest its liquid body sloshed around, unbalancing the monster until it tumbled to the side.

It hit the ground with a thud that shook the entire plateau. The dogs pounced the second it hit the sand, worrying at the creature’s charred bones and ripping them loose. Elijah paid them no mind. Instead, he targeted the second of the three remaining braziers and repeated his actions.

The second ti was no easier than the first, but this ti, he didn’t target the still prone titan. Instead, he launched the brazier off the plateau. It likely didn’t land for miles.

He wasted no ti before ripping the last brazier up and throwing it away as well.

That was when Unchecked Growth petered out, followed soon after by Domain of Vines. And it was poor timing, because it also marked the point where the titan finally regained its feet. When it did, it let out a bellowing roar and erupted with a tidal wave that swept Oscar and the dogs away.

Elijah was far enough away that he managed to latch onto the ground and hold himself in place.

But then, there was just him and the tidal titan.

He used Thornbound Legion, and a thousand mites leaped free of his body. However, the titan countered them with a flick of its hand that sent another wave out to sweep them away. They dissipated without ever landing an attack.

Elijah knew the other variations of Primal Swarm wouldn’t do much more good. He did have a few other tricks up his sleeve, though. After all, if nothing else, versatility was his most prominent strength.

So, he led with Wild Resurgence, then used Bestial Charge. He rocketed across the plateau, ramming into the titan before it could send a wave in his direction. The monster wasn’t without defenses of its own, though, and even as Elijah tackled it to the ground, it ramd its bony elbow into his back. Over and over again, and hard enough to shatter bones.

Wild Resurgence nded the damage, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough for long.

So, for the first ti in a long, long ti, he used Thunderclap. A wave of lightning arced out, smashing into the monster and sending it into brief seizures. Elijah followed that up with Debilitating Roar. He knew it wouldn’t last long, but he needed to keep the thing on the defensive.

To that end, he shifted into his human form and activated Lightning Domain. Arcs of electricity slamd into the titan, further charring its bones. But it wasn’t enough. Elijah needed sothing more.

So, without further ado, he shifted into his most physically powerful form.

Shape of the Sea took over, and Elijah imdiately knew that his attribute bonuses translated to his current environnt. He couldn’t swim, but with his imnse power, he didn’t need to.

His imnsely strong beak snapped out, latching onto the monster’s femur with enough force that he shattered the bone entirely. He used Savage Strength. But he didn’t simply discard the bone. Rather, he pulverized it with his powerful jaws, then swallowed the remains.

The titan fell.

But Elijah didn’t stop.

With every passing second, he snapped another piece off. Certainly, the creature fought back. It hamred at him with its powerful fists, shattering bones with every other attack. But his massive constitution and the defensive properties of being a turtle kept him going long enough for Wild Resurgence to nd the damage.

And without the braziers, the titan had no way to heal itself.

It wasn’t long before Elijah’s dismantling of the monster rendered it entirely immobile. But even then, the thing didn’t die until he swallowed the very last bit of bone. As it happened, it was the skull, which crunched into dust with only a little light pressure.

By that point, Oscar and the dogs had returned, only to find that their input was no longer needed. Instead of participating, they only watched, grim satisfaction playing across their faces.

Finally, when it was done and Elijah felt a deluge of experience wash over him, he let himself return to his human form.

He looked around at the absolutely destroyed plateau. Even the ruins were gone, either burned to molten rock or swept away by the giants’ waves. But the battle was won.

“That could have probably gone better,” he remarked. Then, he frowned.

“You’re going to regret that in a couple of days.”

“Huh?”

“You think you can just eat an entire skeleton with no consequences? That will be unpleasant coming out the other end.”

For a mont, Elijah just stared at his friend. And then, understanding dawned. “Oh. Shit.”

“Exactly.”