World Keeper

Chapter 440: The Earthshaper

In the days leading up to the first attack, forces from all over the world moved to the Forest of Heroes. As these were the most powerful individuals of every nation, the herocs welcomed them with open arms. They feasted and sparred together, exchanging new techniques with one another.

On the day of the attack, however, there was a deadly calm throughout the area. The herocs equipped those who needed with an enchanted token that would allow flight, so that they could properly combat these monsters that rained from the heavens. As such, tens of thousands of people stood in the sky, supported either by these tokens or their own powers.

The pressure that these people gave off from their mana and ki was utterly stifling, and several mages had dedicated themselves on the ground purely to dispersing all of the ambient mana into the surrounding area. The last thing that everyone needed was a powerful mana siphon to trigger while they were fighting a powerful entity.

Soon, the first disaster could be seen. It possessed the body of a giant green eagle, with lightning radiating from its talons and feathers. The moment it hit the atmosphere, dark clouds gathered around it. A storm had been summoned with its mere presence…

“First volley, fire!” One of the mages in the lead called out, many others reaching up as a thick tome appeared in their hands. Dozens of spell diagrams appeared in the air, each a powerful third-tier spell.

Blasts of fire, ice, light and darkness shot up into the sky. The clouds froze over, causing snow to fall before it was struck by the rampaging flames. When the clouds parted, they could see the heavily wounded body of the eagle, raising the morale of the group. With its fierce cry, however, the clouds gathered once again, the winds picking up into a spiral as a tornado began to descend.

“Brothers.” One of the many druids spoke, before they all closed their eyes. In the face of their combined power, there was simply no way for the tornado to finish forming. The eagle could do nothing but glare fiercely at them, sending lightning bolts in their direction. However, even these were weakened by the druids’ power such that they could not slay a single person. Although the druids cried out in pain, they remained in the air.

At that moment, a woman wearing priestly robes pulled a longbow off her back. “Accalia’s breath, guide my bow.” She whispered, pulling the string back. A silver arrow gradually began to form, already nocked on the drawn string.

When the arrow was released, it pierced through the sky, undisturbed by the powerful winds. Its aim was true, and struck at the heart of the eagle. Despite the size difference, which made the arrow look like no more than a splinter, it pierced deeply into the eagle’s chest. Seeing that, the priestess withdrew her bow and offered a bow towards the beast.

Through either poison or some other strange effect that those nearby were unable to perceive, the health of the eagle began to rapidly drop after it had been shot with the single arrow. Its cries rang out in the sky, before blood began trickling out of its mouth. Even as its body stilled and began to fall, the lightning continued to crackle across it.

In order to prevent this great monster from crashing into the ground below, several monks shot forward. Enduring the shocks, they used their own strengths to guide the monster’s descent. Only when it had crashed upon an empty patch of forest did everyone heave a sigh of relief.

One man shook his head, seeing that he had not gotten the chance to act. “The next disaster is planned to descend over the ocean. The elves have erected a transport gate on the nearest island, so we had best be off.” As he said that, the five humanoid slimes standing with him all fell to the ground along with the speaker.

This pattern continued for the next four days. Whether it was the ape with a golden body, the turtle capable of controlling fire, or the twin snakes of light and dark. With the combined power of so many champions, they were able to fend off so many disasters with almost no casualties.

And so, they received a day of respite. Morale was high as the group moved to the site of the next attack. Reports had been tracking a large creature that had been gradually shifting its angle during flight, and the most recent estimation for its descend would be over a large mountain range in the humans’ territory.

As the champions arrived, their heads full of their recent victory, they saw something that made their minds instantly calm. Hovering above the mountains was the floating palace that was the Keeper’s abode. Standing out before it were two figures, one of which was known by many.

Tsubaki stood with a young elven girl, both dressed in servant’s attire as their eyes gazed upwards. Standing tall atop a nearby mountain was a dragon with red and silver scales, one that had been often seen flying near the Sky Citadel. Its head was craned towards the sky, eyes staring unblinkingly.

Tsubaki had not been present for any of the five recent attacks, causing people to question what true danger was being faced. Now, however, they saw her standing on the forefront. Those with weapons gripped them tighter as they realized this would not be a normal fight.

Sensing something in the sky, Tsubaki spoke quietly. “I’ll trust you with my back, Dana.” After she said that, the elven girl next to her became a silver and blue light, merging into Tsubaki’s body. Unlike the normal black wings that she typically donned for battle, two pairs of pure white wings sprouted from her back under the influence of that light. Once they were fully formed, flexible metal armor appeared along the wings, making Tsubaki look like an angel of battle.

Following the gaze of Tsubaki and the dragon, a small dot of flame could be seen in the distance. A giant creature at the edge of the atmosphere, barreling towards them. It did not slow to gently enter the planet’s atmosphere as the other monsters had, crashing downwards without a care.

As it grew closer, the flame appeared to get larger and larger. The dragon leaned back, letting out a roar accompanied by a pillar of flame. Unlike previous disasters, this one did not stop its fall when it noticed the threats below. Or maybe, it did not consider them threats at all.

When it crashed down, it landed atop one of the nearby mountains, which collapsed under its body. The shockwave carried dust and rocks out in every direction, but already Tsubaki was moving.

A shield of light spread out from her wings, stopping any of the debris from blocking her path. It took her only a few seconds to arrive at the location of the giant mollusk, a creature so large it dwarfed the mountain that it had landed on. Glowing veins of strange minerals could be seen embedded along its body.

Tsubaki’s approach seemed to be entirely unnoticed by the monster, even as she formed her signature bone scythe in her hands. Cleaving it at the creature, she was sadly unsurprised to find that it only penetrated the first layer of rock. No extra damage could be seen on the creature’s health bar, aside from the small amount it had taken from the fall.

Her attack, however, acted as the trigger to get everyone else moving. The dragon flew high into the sky, spitting fire over the mollusk. The priestess drew back her bow once again, and Jonas signalled for his slimes to act.

For any of the previous battles, even just one of these would have been enough to quickly end the fight. However… the dragon merely heated the rocks along the creature’s body, which began glowing with a dangerous light. The spiritual arrow that could slay any creature before broke harmlessly against this outer shell. Even the five slimes, who had yet to have the chance to show their power, could do little more than shatter a segment of the rocky exterior.

That was, perhaps, the most damage that the creature had ever received, however. Its eyes turned to the five slimes, each of which was pummeling its body with rapid blows. Their strikes were able to shatter the layer of protection it had built itself, and deal some damage directly to its body. But for every segment they shattered, it repaired itself before the next attack.

The nine arms of the Earthshaper moved, the ground trembling and shifting to follow its motion in wide streams. Rocks began to flow out of the ground like water, before being flung out at the attackers.

As these were still only ordinary rocks, none of those on the forefront truly needed to worry. The slimes protected their cores, the priestess nimbly dodging, while the rocks bounced harmlessly off of the dragon’s scales and Tsubaki’s shield.

For those still watching in the back, this exchange had shown the true power of the enemy. A power that could not be killed easily even with the combined assault of these champions among them.

Warriors and monks began charging over, able to assist the most without worry for friendly fire. Archers and mages spread out, seeking angles that they could attack safely. As for the druids, they moved with the ranged attackers, serving as shields to defend them from the flying rocks.

The pressure on Tsubaki was relieved somewhat when the rest of the close-ranged attackers charged over. Their strikes that could easily shatter normal stone only had minimal effect here, but that was enough. Tsuba, let’s go with raining light. A voice entered Tsubaki’s mind, and she nodded.

Her body flew up into the air above the mollusk, and an ethereal voice spread out from the wings on her back. “Light of heaven, that which pierces all evil. Let rain your wrath upon the beast that threatens your land. Lords and ladies on high, may you offer eternal peace to those that would bite your hand.”

Tsubaki’s wings began to glow more brightly with every word, before feathers seemed to break off of them. These feathers were made of pure light, rotating in circles around Tsubaki. With the end of Dana’s chant, they shot forward, concentrating on a single point.

These feathers all struck in a continuous flow, piercing through the rock faster than it could regenerate. For the first time, fresh blue blood began to spray out of the head of the beast, its health dropping a visible amount. Enraged, the monster turned its attention to Tsubaki, the ores across it glowing again.

“Dodge it!” A voice called out from behind, originating from the priestess. Tsubaki quickly moved to the side, moments before a black beam cut through the space she had been flying previously. Ripples seemed to spread out through the air after the beam passed, showing just how terrifying the attack would have been.

While Tsubaki wanted to offer her thanks, there was no time. The monster’s attention was still firmly on her. She began to fly around the Earthshaper’s head while calling out to the others. “Everyone, prepare your largest attacks. Strike together when it is facing away!”

The arms of the monster were flailing again, but it was not normal rock that rose up this time. Streams of silvery metal flew up from the ground, causing even the Keeper’s Servant to look in shock. She could easily recognize mithral, and knew that it would be able to damage her body if she took a solid hit.

Immediately, Tsubaki began to focus purely on evasion, still causing the creature to slowly turn away from the other forces. Chants could be heard overlapping with one another, mana and ki both rising. Once Tsubaki felt that the attacks were about to launch, she cut open a portal in the air, dodging through it.

Barely a second after she had left, pandemonium broke out in the mountain range. Countless attacks joined into one, forming a prismatic beam that erased everything in its path. A thick hole appeared within the center of the Earthshaper’s head, the same hole being present on another mountain behind it. The health bar of the monster could no longer be seen…