Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 110: To Keep a Promise

Toren Daen

I settled my breathing, the adrenaline pumping through my veins slowly washing away. My focus, which narrowed under the intensity of the fight, gradually broadened as I came down from a battle high.

I spat out a little bit of blood, already feeling the cuts along my lip healing. I wrenched Oath from the ground nearby, inspecting the blade.

It was as pristine as ever, minus the chip near the base of the blade. I still felt a pang of sorrow every time I looked at that obvious blemish.

Sevren had his back to the massive corpse of the boss we'd just defeated. It was a massive, earth-laden worm, and had been an absolute pain in the ass to kill. The thing was fast, smart, and had understood its advantages. In this zone of endless islands, those who controlled the ground were king.

The worm, before Sevren and I had managed to actually kill it, had an irritating habit of hopping from island to island, leaving behind some sort of aether-based spatial spell that made the floating plots of earth we stood on slowly unravel beneath our feet. The fight had quickly become a game of cat and mouse; the worm trying to erase enough islands to let us fall.

It had failed, of course. Sevren and I were unmatched in our mobility, and anything that thought it could run from us–especially when we worked together–was dead wrong.

Since passing into the silver core, I'd expected an increase in difficulty in the Relictombs. Stronger monsters, more difficult challenges, the works. And while I thought the average aether beast Sevren and I had faced in this zone was stronger than the ones I'd faced before the undead zone, this island-hopping adventure had acted more as a test of our reflexes and quick thinking rather than abject combat ability.

"I think I'm coming up with a theory," I said as I stared at the open sky, "Of the most optimal amount of legs something should have."

Sevren pulled himself to his feet, stretching out his back. He gave me a raised brow at my words. "And how, exactly, have you come up with this 'theory?'"

I slowly loped toward the white-haired striker. The ascension portal shimmered nearby, casting a purple light over everything. "If something has more than four legs, it's already past the acceptance range," I said, thinking of all my horrid encounters with insects. Facing off against the hivemother's horde in the Clarwood Forest, fighting legions of flying beetles in that one desert zone with the Unblooded Party, and that irritating scorpion boss we'd killed. "But animals need to have at least two legs as well. Too few and you get weird."

Sevren shot a glance at the worm carcass he'd been using as a backrest. It didn't have any legs. He looked unamused. "And I'm assuming this theory of yours accounts for that undead serpent you killed, too?"

I spat. "That was the worst offender," I said, only partially joking. "Two to four legs. That's all that's allowed."

Sevren smiled slightly. "But what if an aether beast has three legs? It could be bipedal with a leg sticking out of its back or something."

I paused. "That is a horrible image to think about. And now we're going to have to fight something like that eventually because you said it."

"You're welcome," Sevren said, staring at the ascension portal. "Are we going to rest a bit before moving on, or?"

I shook my head. "No need. The next zone won't have enemies to fight or challenges to overcome."

Before Sevren could ask more, I walked up to the purple pane of rippling energy. I couldn't see through to the other side, but I knew deep in my bones what awaited. "I'm going through," I said. "See you on the other side."