Warlock of Oceans: My Poseidon System-Chapter 436: Third Floor: The Haunted Forest of Winter Deers (30)
Athena shifted her attention to the smaller Winter Deers now rushing at them from all angles. She spun, conjuring an arc of blazing blue fire that swept outward, catching several of the deers and incinerating them in a burst of cold flame. She leapt backward, gathering aether in her hands and unleashing another wave of frost that encased the surrounding ground, creating a slippery surface that made it harder for the smaller creatures to charge in.
Cyrus, seeing a brief opening, dashed up a raised mound of soil, using it as leverage to drive himself toward the creature's core once more. His sword swung down in a gleaming arc, cutting deeply into the pulsing mass. A shockwave of energy exploded from the strike, knocking him back but leaving a tremendous wound in the creature's chest. Black ichor sprayed out, sizzling as it hit the ground, and the eldritch entity reeled, momentarily weakened.
The entity retaliated, releasing a wave of illusions that engulfed their vision. The forest shifted around them, twisting into a nightmarish version of itself, with trees that seemed to have faces, and branches that clawed at them like bony fingers. But they had grown familiar with this tactic. Athena released a pulse of energy from her staff, dispelling the illusions briefly. Sylus took advantage of this clarity, running up and landing a devastating punch on one of the creature's lower limbs, shattering the illusion's grip on their minds.
Sylus yelled, "This thing's regenerating too fast! We have to keep up the pressure or we'll be here all night!"
Athena nodded, firing off a bolt of aether into the air, where it split into dozens of shards that rained down on the creature, each one exploding on impact. The beast's many eyes darted around, momentarily blinded by the barrage. Cyrus charged in, moving with precision and speed, his blade a blur as he slashed through one of the creature's tendrils, severing it completely. The dismembered tendril writhed on the ground before dissolving into dark mist.
Seeing an opportunity, Sylus leaped in, delivering a flying knee into the creature's chest, targeting the core. The force of his strike created a massive crack along the surface of the entity's pulsing heart, which began to leak dark energy in thick, noxious clouds. Athena followed up with a spell, casting a sphere of concentrated ice that encased the core and slowed the creature's regeneration.
But the eldritch entity was not finished yet. In its final act of desperation, it released a massive pulse of energy, knocking them all back. Cyrus rolled and managed to get back on his feet just in time to see the creature reform its twisted shape into something even more horrifying—its form distorted into a massive, faceless, writhing mass of eyes and limbs, each appendage flailing as it let out a scream that seemed to echo across dimensions.
Yet, the trio was relentless. Cyrus and Sylus synchronized their movements, one attacking high, the other low. Sylus threw a powerful uppercut into the creature's exposed core, while Cyrus sliced through its lower limbs, severing them one by one. Athena, meanwhile, unleashed one final spell—a massive beam of aetheric energy that pierced through the core, the light so intense it seemed to burn away the shadows clinging to the creature's form.
The massive eldritch entity towered before them, its form so alien and grotesque that their minds recoiled just from the sight of it. What had once resembled the faint outline of a deer was now a writhing, otherworldly amalgamation of flesh, shadow, and unearthly light. Its head was a gaping void, antlers no longer resembling anything organic but instead jagged constructs of glass-like obsidian, riddled with veins of pulsating, glowing ichor. Eyes, uncountable and disturbingly human, dotted its entire form, shifting and blinking independently, their unrelenting gaze driving into the trio's very souls. Its limbs twisted unnaturally, alternating between clawed appendages and amorphous tendrils that lashed out with terrifying speed. The torso churned with faces—dozens of screaming, wailing visages that appeared and disappeared as if caught in an eternal torment. From its center, a radiant core of icy blue energy pulsed, spewing frost and shadow in equal measure.
As the beast roared, its voices layered into a discordant symphony of madness, the trio charged.
Cyrus lunged first, his blade glowing with aether as he channeled every ounce of strength into a precision strike aimed at one of the entity's flailing limbs. The weapon connected, cleaving through the shifting mass with a burst of light. The severed tendril writhed like a serpent on the ground before dissolving into a vapor of black ichor. The beast retaliated, two massive claws sweeping toward him from opposite directions. Cyrus dropped into a roll, narrowly avoiding being crushed, and came up slashing diagonally at the incoming appendage. His blade bit deep, sending another spray of dark fluid across the battlefield.
Athena followed up, her staff blazing as she conjured a swirling vortex of aetheric energy. She hurled it toward the creature's core, the spell exploding on impact and sending shockwaves through the air. The beast recoiled, its myriad eyes narrowing in unison. But it was relentless; it surged forward, opening a jagged maw from its torso. A torrent of icy shards shot out, each one glowing with dark energy. Athena spun, summoning a dome of frost to block the incoming projectiles. The barrier shattered under the assault, leaving her gasping for breath as she conjured another blast of aether to buy herself a moment.
Sylus darted in from the side, his fists glowing with golden energy as he targeted the glowing core. He unleashed a flurry of punches, each one creating a ripple of force that reverberated through the creature's form. With a guttural roar, the entity lashed out with a tentacle, wrapping it around Sylus mid-strike. He growled in defiance, channeling a concentrated burst of aether into his fists, causing the tendril to explode in a shower of black mist. He landed heavily but rolled to his feet, gritting his teeth against the searing pain.
"Focus on the core!" Sylus shouted, blood dripping from his lip as he charged in again.
The surrounding Winter Deers began to close in, their mouths splitting open to reveal grotesque rows of teeth as they unleashed waves of mental assaults. Athena staggered, clutching her head as the whispers grew louder, but she quickly retaliated. With a sharp gesture, she summoned a storm of ice shards that encircled her, tearing through the smaller creatures and creating a temporary reprieve.
Cyrus turned on his heel, slicing through two Winter Deers that lunged at him from behind. Their forms crumbled, but he didn't stop moving. He spun, ducking under another swipe from the main entity and driving his blade upward in a devastating thrust toward its chest. The blade connected, but the eldritch being's flesh reformed almost instantly, its core pulsing with malevolent energy.
"It's regenerating too fast!" Cyrus growled, staggering back as he barely avoided a claw aimed for his throat.
Sylus took over, leaping into the fray with a well-timed kick to one of the entity's massive legs, forcing it off balance. As it stumbled, he drove his fist into the ground, sending a shockwave of aether upward that shattered the frost-covered terrain beneath the creature, momentarily destabilizing it.
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Despite their efforts, the eldritch entity grew more monstrous with each passing moment. Its form twisted and expanded, new appendages sprouting as its shadowy aura thickened. The oppressive energy clawed at their minds, draining their resolve, but they pushed through the pain. Athena wove intricate spells, frost and flame intermingling as she targeted the entity's limbs, freezing one before shattering it with a well-placed blast. Cyrus struck at the beast's tendrils, severing them faster than they could regenerate. Sylus, bloodied and panting, focused entirely on the core, delivering strike after devastating strike.
Finally, as the battle wore on, they found their opening. Cyrus leapt into the air, his blade glowing brighter than ever as he poured the last of his aether into a downward strike aimed directly at the core. At the same moment, Athena unleashed a massive torrent of frost, encasing the creature in a glacier of shimmering ice. Sylus charged from below, his fists burning with golden energy as he delivered a final, earth-shaking punch to the frozen core.
The eldritch entity let out a deafening, unearthly wail. Cracks spread rapidly through its body, the light of its core growing brighter and brighter until it exploded in a blinding burst of energy. The shockwave threw the trio backward, their bodies battered and bloodied as they crashed to the ground.
When the light faded, the forest was silent. The smaller Winter Deers had vanished, and the oppressive aura was gone. The trio lay on the ground, their breaths ragged, blood pooling beneath them as they stared up at the now-clear sky. Every inch of their bodies ached, their clothes were torn, and their weapons were dulled, but they had won.
"Tell me that was the last one," Sylus muttered, coughing as he forced himself to sit up.
Cyrus groaned in response, too exhausted to speak. Athena let out a weak laugh, her frost-covered staff clattering to the ground beside her.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the forest was still.
