Idalia lounged across a high branch, chewing thoughtfully on a Gigaboa snakie that dangled from her jaws. Below her, the rest of the serpents writhed and hissed, restless and impatient, clearly offended that they were not being eaten immediately. For the moment, Idalia ignored them.
Warmth spread through her belly as her strength returned, pleasant and heavy like basking in a sun that lived inside her chest.
{Mana: 43% -> 48%}
{Health: 51% -> 53%}
[Venom Consumption - Tier C]
[All-Ailment Resistance - Tier C]
Development (65%) → (68%).
She watched the status runes flicker before her eyes, glowing symbols that felt increasingly familiar. More Mana meant more energy to attack. More Health probably meant she could take harder hits without falling over. That part made sense.
The venom part did not.
She tilted her head, chewing slowly. Tier C venom consumption. Tier C ailment resistance. After a moment of thought, she came to a reasonable conclusion. The snakes were poisonous, and she was simply too tough to care.
That seemed correct.
Idalia considered checking her full status. She had not spent any points since her fight with Varos and the sorceress with the strange glass eyes. She wondered how they were doing now. She remembered tossing them into the ocean and felt a small, satisfied rumble in her chest.
A Gigaboa hissed sharply below her, interrupting her thoughts.
Idalia howled back at it. It seemed rude. Rude snake. She was still hungry, but her mind lingered elsewhere. Curiosity won.
"Open my status."
The runes flickered alive on command and Idalia peered over her status.
???
[Idalia's Stats]
(Development: Lvl 5)
(Grade: [Elite])
(Species: proto-Harbinrex [D])
[Raw Values]
STR: 204 [+52]
DEF: 244 [+83]
FPWR: 284 [+130]
WIL: 274 [+124]
RES: 232 [+81]
SPD: 232 [+83]
[Knowledge Core [D] = 64%]
??? ??? ???
[Accumalated Particles]:
{590,000 | 600,000}
Spent = [-55,300 Particles]
Distributable = [5,900 Points]
??? ??? ???
[{Skills}]
[Misc]
-
Smell = Lvl 65 | Deftness: D
-
Spatial Sight = Lvl 95 | Deftness: D
-
Oblivion Sight = Lvl 25 | Deftness: D+
-
Herald's Roar = Lvl 14 | Deftness: D+
-
Abyssal Veins = Lvl 18 | Deftness: D+
[Combat]
-
Atomic Burst = Lvl 22 | Damage Tier: D+
-
Bite = Lvl 83 | Damage Tier: D
-
Claw Rend = Lvl 80 | Damage Tier: D
-
Stomp = Lvl 81 | Damage Tier: D
-
Tail Slash = Lvl 55 | Damage Tier: D+
-
Headbutt = Lvl 36 | Damage Tier: D
-
Portal Roar = Lvl 81 | Damage Tier: D
-
Portal Breath = Lvl 82 | Damage Tier: D+
[Traits]
-
[Spatial Resistance] | {Excellent}
-
[Heat Resistance] | {Brilliant}
-
[Mana Resistance] | {Standard}
-
[All-Ailment Resistance] | {Standard}
[Hidden Traits] = {Inactive}
-
Oblivion Rage | Deftness: ???
-
Harbinger's Eyes | Deftness: C
-
Harbinger's Pulse | Deftness: C
??? ??? ???
"Five… nine… and two zeros," Idalia said, staring hard at her distributable points. "That is lots of points. Many points. A very good amount of you should go into strength."
She paused, then nodded decisively.
"And firepower."
She poured {800} points into {Strength} and another {800} into {Firepower}, satisfied with the idea of hitting things very hard, very often. It felt correct in a way that numbers rarely did.
STR: 204 → 1004 [+852]
FPWR: 284 → 1084 [+930]
Spent = [-215,300 Particles]
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Distributable = [5,900 Points] → [3,300]
She still had about three thousand points left. Idalia glanced down at the Gigaboas again. They were fast when they wanted to be, and Hirohowl had been annoyingly durable. If she wanted to last longer in fights and not feel so tired afterward, she should probably be tougher and quicker too.
Her thoughts drifted briefly to Tiamare and the shenlong, and how chasing them with her portals had left her exhausted far sooner than she liked.
"I am not very good with numbers yet," she said thoughtfully, "but I can count a little."
She nodded again.
"Four hundred to each one. Except Will. Will gets more."
She distributed {400} points each into Defense, Resistance, and Speed, then added {680} into Willpower.
DEF: 244 → 644 [+483]
WIL: 274 → 954 [+804]
RES: 232 → 632 [+481]
SPD: 232 → 632 [+483]
Spent = [-403,300 Particles]
Distributable = [3,300 Points] → [1,420]
There were still points left, but Idalia's attention snapped downward. The Gigaboas had climbed halfway up the tree. They were coming.
Idalia lunged into the nest with pure, unfiltered delight.
Her claws cracked against scales. Her portals snapped open and shut with crisp, violent bursts of displaced air. Gigaboas hissed and thrashed, but each towering serpent now moved too slow, too predictably, far too deliciously.
The first to fall curled into a trembling coil beneath her. She struck its snout with a heavy {Tail Slash} that sent it reeling backward. Before it could recover, she carved a fresh portal under its limp body and whisked it away in a blink. The serpent vanished with a shimmering pop and reappeared somewhere far off in the forest with a muted thud.
Idalia's tail wagged. Sending defeated prey flying into the distance was strangely fun.
"Oooh yes. Out you go. Shoo. I will eat you later."
Another serpent lunged at her flank. Idalia ducked beneath its jaws and slashed upward. Scales burst apart. A spray of venom missed her by inches and evaporated against her heat aura. She flicked her claws free and opened three portals in rapid succession.
The serpent's huge body went tumbling end over end through each shimmering rift until it shot out over a ravine and collapsed with a satisfying crash.
Two more tried to coil around her at once. Idalia jumped sideways, vanished into a {Portal}, and blasted out above them. She landed on one serpent's neck with enough force to bury its head into the dirt. The ground cracked. Birds fled the canopy. The Gigaboa went limp.
"Mine."
She tapped its body with her paw and dismissed it into another portal. Gone.
Venom splattered behind her. She hopped over it with a joyful chirp and rammed her shoulder into the next serpent. Its neck buckled, and she followed with an {Atomic Burst} that detonated against its chest. The blast blew foliage away in a circle and knocked several other serpents flat.
Her {Sight} pulsed. Heat signatures flared wildly around her.
Fourteen. Seventeen. Twenty-one. Twenty-three.
More than she thought. More than she expected.
Even better.
Her stomach rumbled, loud and fierce, and drool dripped from her fangs as she turned in a slow circle, eyes bright with exhilaration.
"Yes. Yes, come here! Come all the way here! I am still hungry."
A colossal serpent uncoiled from the far edge of the clearing, easily twice the length of the others. Its scales were jagged like broken stone. Its roar shook the ground. It slammed its body forward, crushing thick trees in a wide sweep.
Idalia dodged under it with a delighted shriek. She darted between coils thicker than Yaella's ship mast. She leapt to its back, dug her claws in, and rode its thrashing like a wild, bucking beast.
The serpent rolled. Branches snapped. The earth split under its flailing weight. Idalia laughed and launched herself off its spine. She spun midair and unleashed a focused {Atomic Burst} straight into its open mouth.
Light seared out its nostrils. The creature convulsed and dropped like a collapsing mountain.
Idalia raised her paw triumphantly and opened another {Portal} beneath the fallen titan. It disappeared with a heavy warping sound, flung far away from her clearing of conquest.
[Power Particles: 499,900 → 811,550 Units]
[Accumalated Particles: {811,550 | 900,000}
Development (Lv8) reached.
Stat Increases: +20 to STR, DEF, FPWR, RES, SPD]
???
[Idalia's Stats]
(Development: Lvl 8)
(Grade: [Elite])
(Species: proto-Harbinrex [D])
[Raw Values]
STR: 1004 → 1024 [+852]
DEF: 644 → 664 [+483]
FPWR: 1084 → 1104 [+930]
WIL: 954 → 974 [+804]
RES: 632 → 652 [+481]
SPD: 632 → 652 [+483]
[Knowledge Core [D] = 64%]
??? ??? ???
[Next Development (9) at: {811,550 | 900,000}]
"Next!"
But as she turned to finish the rest of the nest, her ears perked. Her {Sight} flashed like a tightened thread of instinct. Something moved beyond the battling serpents. Something smaller. Something shaped strangely.
Her gaze sharpened. She peered past scales and foliage, through the shifting chaos of battle.
Figures.
Humanoids.
Tall. Slender. They held long spears of living bark that pulsed faintly with green and yellow mana. Their steps made no sound. Their hair flowed like shiny, woven grass. Their long pointed ears twitched at every shift in the earth. The very dirt beneath them welcomed their feet instead of resisting weight. They were wrapped in earthen auras that hummed like deep soil.
Idalia blinked.
"Wanderans?" she whispered. "Very weird Wanderans."
One of them raised a hand, and vines responded by twisting aside. Another tapped the ground, and roots parted. They were sneaking toward the cavern where the Gigaboas had once nested, moving in perfect silence.
They were not here for her. That was wise. They were here for something besides the serpents.
Idalia bit another snake on its snout while watching the newcomers. She chewed absentmindedly and threw the stunned beast away through a portal. As Idalia fought, she watched. Not directly. Not with her head. With her senses, the way predators did when their attention split without effort.
While her claws tore through scales and portals swallowed thrashing bodies, her {Sight} brushed against the tall, strange figures moving at the edge of the clearing.
At first, she thought they were very brave. Or very foolish.
A Gigaboa snapped at one of them, jaws wide enough to crush a triceratops. The figure leapt back just in time, spear flashing. Green-yellow mana flared, and roots surged upward, snagging the serpent's coils long enough for another of the tall ones to strike its neck together with them.
The group fought really effectively. Together.
The snake shrieked and recoiled, wounded but not dead.
Idalia tilted her head mid-fight, her {Portal} slamming one serpent aside while she watched the others struggle. It was interesting.
The tall ones did not fight like Hirohowl. They did not fight like Varos nor like Raurgo. However, the flashy nature-spells reminded Idalia of the sorceress with the shiny eyes. Alone, each of them moved carefully, almost delicately, as if one wrong step would mean being swallowed whole.
Which was true.
When a Gigaboa lunged at a lone figure, it nearly ended them. Only when two more rushed in did the serpent falter, bark-spears striking in careful rhythm, vines binding, roots tripping. Even then, the snake did not fall until Idalia herself ripped its spine apart with a casual swipe and flung it screaming through a portal.
She blinked. Oh. Now she understood. She watched more closely now.
Whenever the Gigaboas were many, thick and coiling over one another, the tall figures stayed back, pinned, barely holding their ground. They fought defensively, pressed tight together, retreating step by careful step. Venom splashed close enough to scorch their auras. One misstep would have meant death.
But whenever Idalia tore through a cluster, whenever another serpent vanished with a warping pop or collapsed in a heap, something changed.
The pressure eased. The tall ones moved. Like a Liorex formation.
Their coordination was excellent.
They slipped forward only after she thinned the nest. When the snakes grew fewer, when the clearing opened, when the danger lessened just enough, they began to advance. Quiet. Precise. Like creatures who knew exactly how fragile they were.
And that was when they started sneaking. Not toward her. Toward the cave.
Idalia stomped another Gigaboa flat and slowly, thoughtfully, put the pieces together. The tall strange ones were not winning. They were surviving. Barely. And only because she was tearing the biggest noodles apart like snacks.
"Huh," she murmured, flinging a serpent away.
They were using her. Or maybe they were just smart enough to move when the big scary Rex was busy being glorious.
Idalia's tail swayed as she finished another cluster blocking the clearing. Portals snapped shut. The forest settled. The snakes were scattered, unconscious, or very far away. Only then did the tall figures step freely again, finally breaking cover and closing the distance to the cavern entrance.
She crushed a second serpent under her heel. She flipped a third with her tail and slammed it into a tree.
She never blinked. Those tall strange Wanderans continued to creep closer to the cavern with every passing blink. One even carved their path through the few Gigaboas that snapped at them, but the beasts were promptly slain by a levitating sorcerer and his spells. It was absolutely because she dealt most of the damage that made his feat look easy.
Finally she blasted aside the last serpents blocking her path. The clearing scattered with unconscious Gigaboas vanishing through portals and vegetation settling from the commotion.
Idalia marched toward the intruders with purpose, shoulders rolled forward, tail raised high, paws pounding against stone.
The newcomers froze.
Idalia sniffed them curiously.
"You smell like dirt, leaves and Quantumoon's herbs. And something crunchy. Are you really Wanderans? Your ears are very long. Your limbs are too stretched. Why are you poking around my noodle pile?"
The tall figures exchanged glances. They stiffened. One lowered his spear toward her warily.
Idalia leaned in and sniffed the weapon instead.
"Hmm. Crunchy stick. I like it!”
The long-earred Wanderans, who had probably never encountered anything like her, stared in stunned silence, unsure whether she was threat or disaster.
Idalia grinned at them, teeth gleaming, aura excited and wild.
"So! Tell me why you are sneaking into this cave," she demanded. "Before I decide if you are food or friends."