Lingering silence ran through the endless tunnels of the hollow mountains. The minor plague lord had been slain by a vermilion blade, which promptly crumbled to pieces.
Hunter stared at the unconscious body of Aldr, which twitched slightly, causing him to be wary.
'Just what is going on?'
The grotesque form of the minor plague lord laid cold and flat on the mossy floor of the tunnels, leaving behind an impudent stench that left Hunter to pinch his nose.
'I hate the smell of death.'
He grit his teeth and squatted down, the odor only getting more repulsive as he traced his finger along the rigid hardened skin of the beast.
'Dead for now. Hopefully stays that way.'
He sighed and got back up. Taking a step back.
'It most likely would've come back by now. I didn't think those things could be killed.'
He stared back at Aldr's half naked body on the floor, observing it carefully.
'It looked like he was...eating something.'
And then something strange occurred, Aldr's shadow swayed a bit, despite him remaining still.
'What the...'
And then as if it noticed him, went back to being motionless.
'...huh.'
Hunter shook his head and picked his bone club up from the ground.
'Well, now I just wait I guess.'
On the very peak of the mountain a horrific raven with five wings and four eyes roared as green ooze gushed from it's pulsing body.
Stone Monkey and the knight had to pause their duel as it swept in from above.
"Ah, my dinner! What have they done to you..."
The raven was met with the knights blade, already sparking with an aggressive golden will.
"Show off."
Stone Monkey smiled and infused his fist with his will, letting bright blue sparks flash across the air as he shattered his gauntlets and formed a staff out of crystalline blue lightning.
"I can show off too."
He stuck the staff into the ground and hopped up onto it.
"Up we go!"
The crystalline staff burst forth with his will, stretching upwards until it reached above the height of the raven.
He put his hand above his head and looked down at the raven, his grin still shining on the crystal-like staff as he began to lean backwards on it, stretching until it met the ground again.
"Boom."
Stone Monkey took a deep breath and released his weight to let the staff fling back forwards, slingshotting him into the body of the raven while he grabbed and shrunk the staff at the same time.
"Expand."
The crystalline staff burst through it's size, expanding to a massive pillar that came crashing down onto the raven. The crystal pillar shuddered as the bird resisted crumbling under its weight as Stone Monkey continued exuding his will, more blue sparks flying as he forced the pillar down further, making it heavier and kicking it further into the raven's body.
'Heavier...I need heavier...'
The pillar shook slightly as he pushed his hands onto its surface, forcing all his will onto it as the raven let out a terrible screech that knocked him off balance for a moment. And as he tried to regain his footing, he found himself flying off the pillar.
'Ha...this would be a terrible way to die.'
He looked down at the ground and realized just how high that fall truly was. And the pillar began to crumble too, falling off the edge of the mountain as it was shaken off by the monstrously strong raven.
But golden sparks flew through the air as he felt a hand grab him by the back of his robe. And then he was back on the ground, the knight of gold releasing him as he put his gaze back onto the raven.
"Let us slay this beast together, demon."
Stone Monkey regained his footing and grinned, letting his fangs bare.
"I was going to say the same thing."
The knight took off his helmet, revealing a man with almost perfect features, a face that looked sculptured from marble, lustrously long golden hair the same color as his ethereal eyes as he neatly placed his helmet onto the ground.
And before Stone Monkey could utter another word the man had disappeared in a blaze of golden sparks, already battling the giant raven.
The raven let out a roar as a golden sword collided into one of its wings, responding by summoning a great gust of wind to throw the knight off of him. The force of the wind blew several trees off the peak, along with some lush moss.
'Is this really that same raven?'
The mutation of the raven was odd in itself, most plague beasts retained their original abilities and only mutated slightly, normally it might have gone a little bigger, maybe an extra wing and an extra eye, but the grotesque beast had grown to be a horrid monstrosity, as tall as about a 20th of the mountain, but that was still incredibly huge.
'Maybe it was...'
Stone Monkey stared at the ongoing battle between the raven and the knight, the knight whom was flawlessly avoiding tailwinds while blazing across the sky to slash at different points.
'That boy carried a pungent scent of death already.'
He grit his teeth.
"This isn't a time for thinking."
Sighing, he gathered his will and created a translucent spear of frozen lightning. As he took a step back with his right foot his muscles squirmed and he began to use his will to condense the winds, creating a vacuum aimed at one point.
'Here we go.'
He twisted his torso, pulling all the force from his arms and legs and driving forward before releasing the spear, throwing it as hard as possible as it flew through the vacuum, constantly gaining speed until it hit its target.
But before it hit the target, the whole mountain seemed to shudder slightly, and the spear was thrown off course.
'What the he...'
He was interrupted by a pillar of flame erupting from the pit behind him. And suddenly he shuddered, he felt his lips dry slightly, the hairs on his neck standing up, as if in fear. And then a pair of bright red wings of flame emerged from the pillar, and Aldr came crashing into the ground next to Stone Monkey, letting Hunter land safely on the ground.
"Give me five minutes."
Stone Monkey stared at Aldr as he spoke.
"Five minutes for what?"
Aldr reformed the flame greatsword in his hands. "What else?" He smiled and planted the greatsword into the ground, an eruption of flames starting to burn the surface of the mountain as Aldr took a step forward, a plume of flame twisting into a bright vermilion spear.
'It burns...'
The raven noticed him quickly, shuddering as it roared loudly.
'...too loud.'
His body ached from the intense use of expansion, but he continued, the expansion gave him enough energy to do so, enough power.
The winds started to become more aggressive as he leaped into the air, the pair of flaming wings carrying him across the turbulent winds smoothly as he glided half naked.
'Well, at least fresh air smells nice.'
He let out a hum before he burst forward, leaving flames trailing behind him like an inferno while he closed the distance between him and the raven, spinning his body.
The flames created from his expansion coated his entire body and formed him into a drill, a giant flaming spiral drill roaring through the air.
'Pierce. Through.'
He enforced his will, expanding it all onto his domain, amplifying it as much as he could. To pierce through. And the flaming drill that was his body did so, roaring vermilion sparks colliding with the oozing body of the raven, and tearing right through. Sending it stumbling off the mountain.
[You've slain an abhorrent plague beast.]
[No rewards have been given.]
He landed on the ground safely, exhaling as he felt his expansion crumbling, along with the flaming wings and spear.
[Your will cannot handle the borrowed power anymore. Skill Song of Flame has been revoked. Proper recoil will be delivered.]
He stared at the sparks.
[Recoil?]