(Dyn)

  The rest of them watched as Wedge faced off against the drai gore-zil, alone. Oep back was all it needed for the goreasaur to lower its shoulder and charge into the challenger. In response, Wedge crouched low and raised a shield to block. The bethesdian horror smmed into him, cl his shield with its shoulder.

  Wedge blocked the charge and hadn’t moved an inch, grunting with the csh. The Nightshade’s architect was a fug badass. Dyn was amazed, but the monster wasn’t pleased; it stood up to its full height, throwing its head back to release a roar in protest.

  Now it was Wedge’s turn. He pulled back with his right shielded arm and bashed the shield into the rowile’s jaw. A sharp crack rang out, followed by a yelp as the primal moepped back from the ued pain. When it raised its head to roar in anger, Wedge stepped in and bashed its his time. Another yelp followed, and a stream of green blood dripped down its nostril.

  “Get him, Wedge,” Hay’len said, cheering him on.

  W’itney dared to peek through their fingers, hiding their face just enough to catch the goreasaur shaking its head and swinging both arms at Wedge. The big guy was ready and hunkered down, blog with a shield on each side.

  “Yes…” Eury said, still tched onto both twins. A glint flickered in her eye—something Dyn couldn’t quite read. She held her breath, watg with sharp i as Wedge and the goreasaur exged blows.

  The beast growled, a low, rumbling sound that vibrated through the air, and rushed forward to close the gap. It brought both arms around Wedge in a deadly embrace, struggling to push him back, but Wedge stood unmovable. It straio pick him up, muscles rippling with the effort, but he remained firmly on the ground. Dyn knew Wedge was heavy, but not that heavy. He had to assume it was one of his abilities or passives.

  Wedge grew a couple of inches as his clothes tightened and his stony appearance grew rough and jagged. More defensive yers of stone appeared over his normally smooth skin.

  The monster’s massive cws raked against his back with a sound like nails on ste, shredding his tunid leather vest. Despite the ferocity of the attack, there were only minor scrapes and minimal damage to his actual back.

  Another shield bash to the monster’s jaw caused it to stagger back two steps. It snorted and shook its head. That gave Wedge the room for his ability.

  “Why’s the ground shaking?” Dyn asked. Reflexively, he threw out a hand to steady himself, grabbing onto Hay’len’s arm.

  The monster retreated further, away from the quaking ground. The earth split with a deep rumble, and a massive cwed hand of stoed between Wedge and the goreasaur. Dyn watched, wide-eyed, as an almost identical stone monster pulled itself from the nd.

  “Oh, fuck…”

  The stone e cked the bravado of the first, standing still as the inal beast roared a challes cry eg through the jungle as it beat its chest in fury. The duplicate monster didn’t react to the challenge and simply looked at Wedge, waiting.

  “I think that one’s on our side,” Hay’len said.

  “Attack,” Wedge said, gesturing toward the goreasaur. That’s wheone-zil sprang to life.

  It spun to face its living terpart and silently charged. The only sound was the pounding of heavy, spshing footfalls, each impact throwing up a spray of muddy water, before their bodies collided. Stone-zil had more mass and the advantage i css, barreling into the primal monster and f it to skid backward.

  Wedge ko pick up a small stone and slipped it into his mouth. Dyn heard a ch.

  “Did he just… eat a rock?” Dyn poi Wedge, turning to Hay’len. “Is… Is that a thing lithkai do?”

  Hay’len shrugged, uo keep their eyes off the fight. Dyn watched as the scrapes on Wedge’s back filled in with a fresh yer of stone.

  After his quiack, Wedge tapped his chest and took off running. Dyn bliurning his head to firm his hearing still worked. The big guy hadn’t made a sound—no ch of stone, no stomping boots, nothing. Usually, Dyn could hear him a mile away.

  The big guy silently snuck behind them as both monsters swiped and chewed on each other. The living version appeared to be regeing its wounds, flesh knitting back together, while the replica wasn’t—its injuries were perma. And while it didn’t bleed or require muscles to fun, it grew structurally weaker as the fight went on.

  Wedge appeared behind the monster and nded a solid shield bash to the spine. Unfortunately, it was a reinforced area and had little impact. The monster retorted with a tail swipe that Wedge wasn’t fast enough to block. The blow struck him square in the chest with a tremendous thud. Dyn heard Wedge wheeze out a grunt, but the big guy held his ground and remained unshaken.

  “Grapple,” Wedge said, w his way around the goreasaur.

  The replica grappled the monster, pinning it in pce as Wedge searched for vulnerable spots to shield bash. He had no luck exploiting weaknesses or nding any sting damage when there was a sharp, eg ch. The living monster’s toothy maed together as it finished chewing through the statue’s elbow. The rest of the stony arm fell to the muddy jungle floor, sptteri earth on impact.

  A single arm wasn’t enough to tain the primal monster any longer. It slid out from uhe stone-zil, spinning around and reag for the replica’s backside. The horned growth Wedge had broken off along its spine earlier was already regeing, the jagged edges knitting together with uling speed. The only meaningful damage Wedge had done was from head on.

  “Attack,” Wedge said.

  The replica stabbed backwards with a sharp, broken elbow, puncturing the goreasaur. It roared in pain, cradling its bleeding stomach as it staggered back.

  “The underside looks less armored!” Hay’len shouted their observation.

  “Agreed,” Wedge said grimly, his grip tightening on his shield. The goreasaur’s wound healed quickly, but the smeared green blood, streaked across its scales, was enough for him to notice the ot.

  W’ituro Eury with wide eyes, panic written across their face. “What if it kills him?” They tried tugging their arm back from her grip, their movements jittery with barely tained energy. “It’ll kill us .”

  Eury didn’t let go. “He’ll be fine,” she said, her voice steady despite the tight line of her jaw. Her grip on W’itney’s arm was firm but careful, grounding both herself and the twins as she sed the fight for any hint of danger ing their way.

  Wedge was about to step within reach of teeth and cws again, but his body started vibrating, the faint hum almost audible to those nearby. He took a deep breath and then stepped betweewo quarreling monsters, brag himself behind his shields to weather the onsught.

  Dyn found it difficult to focus on Wedge, whose figure shimmered and blurred. ‘Another ability…’ he thought.

  He watched as the big guy threw his shields at every attack that came his way. “Why doesn’t he dodge?” Dyn wondered out loud.

  “I don’t think he ,” Hay’len said.

  Either way, Wedge’s ability to tank and absorb the full force of the goreasaur’s attacks was impressive. The big guy focused on shield bashing the softer underside of the monster, each strike nding with a dull, bone-jarring thud, iween blog hammering swipes and ping bites.

  The primal monster noticed their attacks weren’t getting through and attempted to sidestep his shields, but the replica body blocked it. Battle-torn and riddled with cracks, the stone-zil was missiire ks from its frame. Faint grinding sounds apas every movement, a testament to its failing structure. It wouldn’t be able to hold up much lohe regeive healing factor allowed the living moo outst the stone summon.

  Wedge’s figure stopped vibrating, and the cws that slipped through his blocks carved deep, jagged gouges into his stone-like skin, each strike apanied by a harsh scraping sound. He couldn’t block the attacks that reached over and behind him, but he relentlessly hammered the underbelly of the primal monster.

  “Grapple,” Wedge said.

  Dyn thought that was a mistake, si was down to one arm, but the replica proved him wrong. It pivoted around the goreasaur, ing an arm around the ned sinking its jagged teeth deep into the shoulder with a siing ch. The stone-zil squeezed tight with its arm, using its mass to weigh the primal monster down. It also yanked back with its sueeth, threatening to tear out a vital k of flesh o the neck.

  The goreasaur relented, arg backward and exposing its underside. Wedge took advantage of the opening and unleashed a relentless barrage of shield bashes, each impact eg with a resounding crack. The primal monster swiped iively at Wedge, slower than before, the cost eion catg up with it.

  It reached back with both arms and grabbed onto the replica’s arm and head. Bellowing another roar, it ripped the statue apart; arms, head, and all. The remains of the summon crumpled with a heavy crash, colpsing into the mud in a heap of broken stone.

  Now, it was just Wedge and the monster. Finally free from the grapple, the goreasaur spun toward Dyn and the other initiates, its eyes narrowing with feral i. But Wedge was faster, lunging forward and grabbing hold of its massive tail with both arms, muscles straining as he locked it ihe following se was straight out of a cartoon.

  The goreasaur’s feet ran in pce as if it were os cws slipping and sliding frilessly. Another ability—it had to be.

  Wedge grunted as he leaned back, pulled, and lifted with all his might. The thousand-pound monster went up and over his shoulder before smming into the ground with a deafening crash, shaking the jungle floor. It was straight out of a pay-per-view wrestling match—he just suplexed the goddamhing. Wasting no time, Wedge spun around and pounced on top of the overturned monster’s exposed underbelly.

  “Did he just…?” Dyn poi Wedge with a gaping mouth.

  It kicked and cwed against the ground, still uo find any fri tht itself as Wedge went to work brutalizing the same spot over and over. Each shield strike nded with a dull, wet thud as the green bruise grew darker. Its massive cws slipped off Wedge as it tried to knock him away, but the big guy stayed focused, pressing the atta their one-sided battle.

  Dyn heard the grating sound of tearing flesh as Wedge’s st shield bash pierced the goreasaur’s scaled hide. Spurts of green blood arced into the air with every primal heartbeat, staining the muddy ground below.

  here was a sharp sizzling sound, apanied by a faint sulfuric smell, just before shrieks of pain and panic filled the air. Wedge rolled off the primal monster, quickly bag away. The still overturned goreasaur filed helplessly, letting out desperate, shrill cries. Wedge kept up his shields as he slowly retreated toward the initiates.

  The friless debuff wore off, and the goreasaur scrambled to its feet. Its wound had already closed. For the first time, it hesitated, its growls carrying an unfamiliar edge—whimpering. A faint e sphere, glowing with an ominous pulse, appeared is stomach, about the size of a tennis ball.

  Uainty tais as, and Dyn watched as the pulsing sphere seemed to wrack the primal monster with pain. It crouched low, trembling slightly, trying to retreat from the burniion from within. Its eyes darted between Wedge and the break iree line from the entra had made. An unfamiliar emotioled over the monster—fear.

  Unsure whether to attack or retreat, the monster roared at Wedge, looking to have ano at him. The e ball grew with each pulse as the sizzling sound grew louder. Dyn saw it reflexively shiver and wondered if it was fre, pain, or both.

  Not doh Wedge, it charged him again, attag with a frenzy of swipes and bites. The metallig of the shield echoed through the air, each impact sending vibrations up Wedge’s arm as he fended off the push. The goreasaur spun, bringing its tail around to bat at him. Wedge stood his ground and blocked, buying time for the growing ball of death ihe moo overwhelm its regeion.

  The primal monster bellowed another frustrated roar at the unmovable lithkai, but this one was thick with desperation. The pain had bee too much, and it crashed through the undergrowth as it dove bato the jungle.

  Dyn looked around, surprised none of them had shit themselves.

  “Stay close, but remain behind me.” Wedge’s shoulders heaved as he tried to calm his bored breathing.

  “You want us to go after it?” W’itney asked.

  Wedge didn’t answer, deliberately stalking after the monster instead. It wasn’t hard to track; they just followed the path of broken trees, trampled undergrowth, and the lingering st of sulfur and charred flesh.

  Wedge carefully stepped over a fallen log without taking his eyes off the path ahead. “No oppo is more dangerous than wheh es for them.”

  Hay’len finished reg the proverb. “For Death will gdly take you both.”

  Without turning around, Wedge asked, “You are familiar with Proverbs of War?”

  “I read… a lot.” Hay’len offered a sheepish smile, their gaze dropping to the ground as they fidgeted with the hem of their soaked tunic.

  A few mier, they came across the sounds of bored breathing, rasping and uneven, apanied by high-pitched whining and whimpering. Wedge held out a hand behind him, motioning them to stay back.

  There it was, the primal monster, colpsed on its side. The molten core within had grown to the size of a basketball, its e glow flickering like firelight as it tio e the creature from withie its ragged breaths and dying state, it didn’t look aerrifying.

  Wedge didn’t hesitate and walked up to the heaving goreasaur, which seemed unaware of his presence. He took a knee and smmed his shield into the side of its head. He didn’t stop, even as the skull cracked with a wet, siing ch. The creature let out a guttural, wheezing noise, worse than its primal roars from before. Only after it took its final breath did Wedge stop smming his shield into the pulpy mess.

  He remained on his ko catch his breath. His body visibly shrank, the jagged yers of storag into smooth skin as he deactivated whatever defensive ability he’d been using. He returned his shields to his back, and Dyn couldn’t figure out how they were mounted, sihere wasn’t much for them to hang on to. He chalked it up to just another mystery of magic.

  “Good fight,” Wedge said to the dead monster.

  Wedge reached out with his fingers and pced them gently against its shoulder. A ring of stone appeared where he touched it, spreading outward with a faint grinding sound. The petrification rapidly expanded, eng the entire body in seds. What remained erfect stoatue—minus the half missing skull.

  After it fiurning to stone, Wedge made a fist and smmed it down against the petrified monster. It shattered with a decisive crack, fragments of stone skittering across the muddy ground. Inside, a ttice of glimmering crystal surrounded bricks of stone in varying colors. Wedge picked up one brid took a bite, chewing, and then swallowing it.

  After eating his fill, the big guy stood up and surveyed their new surroundings, the dense jungle around them alive with the occasional rustle of unseeures. The goreasaur had taken them deeper into the jungle, away from where they should’ve been. Wedge decided it was time to return to the low-nds. It took them ten minutes before they reached the tree lihat revealed the open meadow.