I led with a fireball from a ring, and the blue white ball of fire shot ahead of me towards the side of the thing. It was monstrous and constantly shifting its form, but it was at least as high as a four-storey house and almost as broad across at the bottom.

Rows of eyes blinked open for a moment, then vanished back into the roiling flesh. As my projectile struck the side of the thing, it morphed again. A cavity opened up, and some thread-like tendril, only as thick as my pinky finger, flicked up from the bottom to tap against the fireball and trigger it. At the same time, a deluge of fluids, I could only hope was water, gushed down from above, and the edges of the cavity extended in my direction.

I threw myself to the side as a torrent of steam rushed through the space I would have been. Impressive. This thing was big, ugly and smart. I began running parallel to it and shot off another barrage of fireballs. These were intercepted by more thin tendrils that speared out to detonate the spells at a reasonably safe distance from its body. It lost the mass of the tentacles but preserved the integrity of its core. Mortimer had been a busy little bee.

Mulius slammed into the thing's side and was immediately wrapped in saw-toothed limbs that spun and sliced into his metallic fur. His kicks and punches, so effective against lesser foes, did almost nothing to this creature. He was reduced to snatching a tentacle in his hands and ripping it free from the main body to do any damage. As he snarled, bit and yanked on the limbs, the growing pile of dismembered parts behind him began to dissolve.

He must have been burning through his mana as his speed was phenomenal, and every cut closed almost immediately, but I knew he couldn't keep this up for long. My giant feline titan wasn't faring much better.

Marbo was a yowling, twisting nightmare of flashing claws, slices of grey flesh ripped and torn from the monstrosity, which were falling like confetti around him, but the sheer mass of the damn thing made the titan's efforts meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Behind us, a handful of feral Huskars were watching from a safe distance away, not terribly interested in intervening in the fight. I didn't blame them. They'd most likely just be food to this thing, and we needed to whittle it down, not throw Huskar-shaped snacks at it.

Time to do something very, very stupid.

I rushed at it, sword held behind me, ready to swing over my head. I wanted to drive my feet downwards after it swallowed me. A roar left my lips, and the titans screamed their own rage in reply. A nest of tentacles shot out towards me as I got to within five metres of the thing, and they snapped shut around me.

Health points: 434/600

As I was yanked forward, the tentacles flowed together into a solid wall of flesh that grew razor-sharp teeth. The walls pulsed and contracted with some peristaltic motion, grinding the edges against my skin. I was blind, eyes sealed shut and trapped inside the monster. I had it just where I wanted it, barring one small issue.

Health points: 401/600

My bare feet were no longer in contact with the ground. I struggled, trying to push my way towards the earth, but my arms and legs were pinned against my sides. My sword was useless, but I wasn't going to let go of it. It was sticking out of the nightmarish womb I was now encapsulated in, wiggling uselessly in the metamorphic flesh of the monster. Even though it wasn't doing me any good, I resolved to cling to it, if for no other reason than finding it afterwards would be a messy and time-consuming experience.

I cast a fireball. It appeared in the tiny space between my fleshy tomb and my skin, then blossomed out to the size of a small house. I fell, and my feet hit the dirt as I heard a basso trumpeting noise that made my head ring as it came from all around me.

Health points: 362/600

The heat and flames hadn't hurt me, but the concussive force of the blast had fractured my ribs and probably caused some internal bleeding. I wasn't trying to breathe at the moment; the air around me was thick with acrid smoke, but I had a feeling it would hurt like hell when I next filled my lungs.

I risked opening an eye, and a stinging pain made it start to water immediately, but in the dim glow of burning zombie flesh, I saw the monster had already formed rows of eyes along the edge of the damage I'd inflicted. I stamped a foot down against the soft earth and shot the bastard a single-fingered salute.

At level one hundred, I'd gained access to some new basic spells that I'd been neglecting for a while. Combustion and Wildfire cost me a total of two thousand Souls to buy the first levels for each of them. Yet another massive jump in cost that didn't bode well for my continued rapid growth.

Affinity: Fire

Summon fire: Range- 104 metres, Intensity- +156%, lasts 15 seconds

Fire Resistance- +100%

Projectile: Speed- +60%, Detonation- 11.5 metres cubed.

Fire Wall: Area- 20 metres squared. lasts 15 seconds

Barrier: 220 HP, Area: 5 metres squared

Fire Spirit: duration 110 seconds

Burning Skies: Area- 50x50m, duration 15 seconds

Combustion: Self. Duration: 10 seconds. Cast once per day.

Wildfire: Duration: 10 seconds. Cast once per day.

Affinity: Life

Heal (self): 20 HP and 156% increased recovery rate for one hour. Seals moderate wounds.

Enhancement (self): 98%,

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Resistance (all): 60%

Projectile: Speed- +156%, (heal other)

Rapid Growth: Area- 20 metre squared.

Projectile: Speed- +156% (Enhance Other).

Shapeshift (Minor): Duration- 110 seconds

Shape Soulbound Servant: Permanent. Maximum 2 shaped servants.

Affinity: Space

Size: range- 54 metres, Intensity- 58%

Mass: range- 54 metres, Intensity- 58%

Area: 10.5m cubed (optional) lasts 15 seconds

Resistance: 100%

Pocket Dimension: 5.5m cubed

Spatial Tear: Range- 11 metres

Affinity: Earth

Shape Earth: Range - Touch, Duration 15 seconds

Summon Earth: Volume: 0.5 metres squared, Range Touch

Refresh Earth: Area 0. Metres squared.

Hybrid Spell (Earth/Fire): Volcanic Vent: Area: 50x50m, Duration 15 seconds

Imbue

Enchant

Soul Transfer

Aresk's Boon: Carrion Feeders Gaze.

Aresk's Boon: Divine Steed

Synthesised Spell: Shape Soulbound Servant.

They cost no mana but could only be cast once per day, something I hoped meant they were suitably powerful.

I cast both at the same time, then Volcanic Vent, and finally Shape Earth.

My body ignited into blue-white fire, every inch of my skin was wreathed in incandescent brightness that leapt out of my pores into the air around me. At the same time, Wildfire arced away from my body in fractal lines that ran along the ground and began burning columns of the monster to ash, expanding the tiny safe space I'd created with the fireball.

The narrow chasms of Vent fell away underneath the flames, spreading out around me in jagged lines. Molten rock bubbled up from the depths of the earth and spread out to consume the monstrosities' flesh.

I raised my sword above my head and gripped the hilt in both hands. A column of earth beneath me shifted, launching me upwards on a column of flaming dirt to plunge upwards into the bulk of the monster. I twisted the blade rapidly, using a charge of my haste amulet to boost my speed. The blade sliced into the dead flesh, opening a way for my burning body to follow. As grey muscles shifted, spasmed and tried to contract, aiming to stop my momentum, I gritted my teeth and cast two more fireballs from my trinkets, one on either side of me.

Health points: 198/600

My head rang, and I had to fight to stay conscious. I still had more health points than when I first arrived in this world, but I felt even worse than after my fight with the vile-bear. I didn't let myself stop. I continued rising on a pillar as I cut and burned my way through the undead construct. At last, daylight appeared above my head, although I could only have been inside the creature for a dozen or so seconds, and I arched up above it on a sinuous column that moved and flowed as it mirrored the monster's movements below me. Another barrage of fireballs went out, aimed carefully away from where my titans were now beating hasty retreats.

The damn thing wouldn't stay still. Black smoke was billowing out from underneath it. The fires I'd set in its heart had become self-sustaining, and the thing was oozing like a slug to try and escape the inferno beneath it. I snatched a breath, and sure enough, bands of pain made themselves known down the length of my torso. My left leg wasn't looking so good either; the ankle was twisted out to one side unnaturally, but the adrenaline was staving off the pain. Oh, no. There it was.

Between short, hissing breaths, I unloaded all the stored fireballs in my rings that were left. They spread out around me like fireworks going the wrong way and blossomed into immolating bulbs, eating away at the mass of the creature. It spasmed and lurched again, more furiously this time. It was no longer attacking; it had switched its strategy to escape.

Unfortunately, its movement severed my column of dirt, and my previously solid platform dissolved into a shower of stones and muck that rained down over the creature as I fell from the sky. I threw my sword in the direction I was heading, considering the risk of it landing in just the wrong place and impaling me, to be lower than the chance of me slicing off limbs if I tumbled with it in my hand and braced for impact.

My good leg hit the dirt first, but it couldn't break my fall properly. It bent, and now pain shot up to my hips from both legs as I loosened my muscles, as I'd been taught all those years ago, and rolled with the impact.

Health points: 143/600

My left hand reached out for the sword that lay a few feet away from me, fingers clawing at the dirt to drag me closer. I was being an idiot. I cast Shape Earth again, and Gaia herself lifted me up as the blade was moved into my hand. I turned myself around, the muck cradling me like a newborn, so I could see the retreating abomination and cast Burning Skies as my controlled dirt carried me away from the thing.

The sky darkened and glowed my trademarked red as a barrage of explosive fireballs fell on and around Mortimer's creature. I guided myself over to where my titans were licking their wounds, literally in Marbo's case. The dirt settled around me as I painfully dragged myself to my good foot and glared at my supposedly unstoppable creations.

"You want to get in there, or is this all on me?" I grumbled just as Bob erupted from the soil right behind the abomination. His pointed legs and shoulder-tentacles latched onto the thing so the construct could scurry up its back like a spider.

"The machine's got this one covered, boss," muttered Mulius. "Got any casts of Heal Other? I'm down by nearly three thousand health!"

Bob began shifting, his metal flesh mimicking the capabilities of the pile of undeath that Mortimer had left here to ambush us. Bronze flowed, the ends of his legs and tentacles turning into something like angle grinders that spun and threw off gouts of grey muscle. The lesser avatar of Aresk drilled its way into the monster, and I lost sight of it, but sprays of undead gore continued to spew out of the tunnel Bob had dug into its flesh.

"Fair enough," I muttered. "Let's just let Bob have some fun." I sat down heavily. "Jesus!" I complained as I snapped my left ankle back into alignment and cast Heal Self. I fought down a scream, but it came out as a muffled sob.

"So, do you have any heals to throw my way? I'm down to a quarter of my health, and it's going to take me months to recover naturally."

"Sod off, Mulius. Marbo, how are you doing?" I cast heal again, on myself. There was a shit load of healing trinkets half a day behind us, and the titan could wait.

"Not as bad as Mulius," Marbo growled around his fangs. "That was… disturbing." He continued licking the wounds on his back legs.

"Realising you're not the meanest bastard in town can be like that. That's why you stab 'em in the back rather than have a fair fight," I replied. Another Heal, and the pain in my ribs faded slightly. This was still going to take days to get over. Even if the coven healed me back to full, I knew only too well that the pain from the wounds would linger.

"Or you set fire to their arse and then rise out of their head like a fucking burning spike of earth. I've been reluctant about our relationship," said Mulius.

"You mean the fact that a stumpy is in charge of you?" I asked with a raised and miraculously un-singed eyebrow. Fire resistance had been well worth the Souls I spent to get it to one hundred per cent.

"No–yes. Stories don't do your kind justice. Narbo is like… an impossible being. He made us and then grew old and died, leaving us behind to wither away. It's a strange experience to see legends come to life, Raymond," the mutated Huskar said softly.

"I'm not a fucking legend. I've got five targets to kill, and I'm going home–Narbo died here? He didn't go back to my world?" I asked in shock.

"Narbo is buried beneath the Source of the Vialith," Marbo chimed in with a basso rumble. "His Soul is the fuel that powers the source, according to our legends."

"So who the hell is buried under Hellath? Or the Pass? Did any of the Shikrakyn ever go home?" I snapped, my mind boiling.

"Not that I know of. Maybe Pertabon could answer your question?"

A new item rose to the top of all my lists, replacing hot showers: quiz my nigh-immortal head tribune on ancient history.

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