The wyvern continued pestering Daniel for about five seconds, which was the time it took for Tounaki to hurl what looked like a firebolt at it. The small stream of compressed fire met the edges of the wyvern's field effect and reduced slightly in intensity, but still managed to travel all the way to the wyvern's wing where it left scorched scales. The faint bit of heat enraged the monster, and gave hope to Daniel.

He'd thought the team was in a place where, so long as they had the numbers, they could beat any level 3 monster. No one here was what Daniel would call untalented, and he'd include himself in that estimate now, but both the evolved frost wyvern and Tounaki were showing him that people with their degree of talent and a level advantage would trash them.

"Woah, looks like I got here in time," she said as she entered a dive, every red feather on her body falling off and joining a ring of fire around her. "Going to go all out for this one, so don't step in if you can't take the heat."

The wyvern sent a challenging roar back at her, but Tounaki pointedly ignored it as all the fire around her rushed inside as she breathed it in. Her body, and the light armor she wore, began to shimmer before it completely combusted, turning her into an avatar of fire.

Now outside the field effect with the wyvern flying in the other direction, Daniel numbly felt Hunter and Tak grab him. They were defrosting as well, but the forced movement from their combo attack had helped.

He wasn't the only one being saved, as Tounaki managed to reach Evalyn before the wyvern. In the span of a few seconds she planted a burning hand on the Bard's core and sent her flying to the side, the ice around her already beginning to melt. The wyvern's suppression did seem to slightly slow her movements and dim the light of the Arcanist's fire, but she was otherwise able to act in a space everyone else had been locked down in.

That's insane, Daniel thought as his entire body shivered. He was trying to fit the farshot barrel back on his blast bow, but his hands were shaking too much to make it work. Above, Tounaki was having no problems as her hands formed into fiery spears, freely moving in the air around the wyvern despite not having wings.

"Woohoo! Never get to use this." She buzzed in, taking a stab at the wyvern's lower back and remained mostly unconcerned as a reprising tail whip lashed through her body.

Powerful, Tak commented as he toggled his Grow Wings power, trying to use that to regain use of his arms. They both are. Far more than us.

Mortals were always seen as better than monsters, Daniel replied, now considering using Flash Craft to make a big fire starter to burn himself with. Looks like the gap's closed. Tounaki's going to win, but- All of them were made unsteady as another mana pulse, not rivaling Zolyra's but otherwise the strongest thus far, emanated from the wyvern. What the hell else does it have?

With what he could only call reluctance, the wyvern's body began to shift. Daniel saw its tag update at the same time, though not in a bad way.

Young Frost Wyvern - (3, ~Evolved~, ~Starved~)

It's food. That's how they're doing it. In hindsight, it was a little obvious. How much a monster ate was the chief factor in when they became able to Grow or reproduce. Apparently, this was the basis of every way monsters could improve under their system, at least among those Daniel had seen. Even the fused whitesprings had been eating each other before merging, and in this case, judging by the starved tag, the wyvern had been steadily spending whatever fuel it had from earlier prey on temporary buffs to survive the encounter. Maybe the way it's consuming the resource is triggering a mana pulse. It's not like I know why those happen in the first place.

Revelation aside, the latest change in the monster spelled trouble for Tounaki. The wings of the monster saw the most dramatic changes as the spike of bone at the crest of the wing elongated into a brutal piercing weapon, while each flap now sent gusts of cold energy that could travel farther than the field effect, which had intensified if Tounaki's flame form was anything to judge by. Lastly, the wyvern's teeth had grown more wicked, and it's scales had a deep blue glimmer that suggested the ice armor was at least partially functioning again.

"Hokay, nice of you to try and impress me, but I've got a handsome dragon waiting for me at home that would not like all this attention you're giving me," Tounaki said with some forced bravado as she too assessed the increased threat potential. If the wyvern could compress all the cold it was putting out into a single point, it'd probably be able to snuff her out. Fortunately, the concentration edge was on the Arcanist's side, and she had cards left to play. "But since we're both here, might as well dance. Fire Cyclone."

The Arcanist burned brighter for a second, before the flame her mana had conjured twirled in the air around her before flying toward the wyvern. It was like a fireball that didn't detonate, but instead remained in one place to flash bake whatever was caught inside. Seeing this, the wyvern flapped its wings to send itself backward while a section of deeper blue inside of its field raced to contest the power. The energy of the two attacks warred, but neither had enough physical presence to stop the other.

"Feel like I should be making a cold shoulder joke," Tounaki complained as she tried and was only partially able to dodge the burst of frost. "Though I'm guessing yours aren't anymore." While the wyvern's attacks could be thrown out whenever it moved its wings, it couldn't control them after that. Tounaki's ability could move after the fact, and the evolved wyvern was now bathing in a slowly dying firelight.

Should… should we try to help? Hunter asked as they watched the elemental duel. Daniel had given up on trying to modify his blast bow in favor of recovering, which now meant unfreezing his bag of holding so he could take a potion. Hunter had given him back Regeneration, but teeth had bitten deep into him in some places and the residual frostbite was acting like a burn.

No, we're just outclassed. This would be like dueling a Gadriel who actually used all of his powers. Daniel glanced downward and he nodded. Maybe you two should make sure that last wyvern doesn't go anywhere. Don't kill it, but if it starts to fight you let me know and I'll come down.

The others?

Daniel saw the other half of the team edging back from the duel above them, avoiding the cast off bursts of cold from the evolved wyvern. Tlara seemed in no way willing to send her freshly dominated monster down, and it looked like Shuni and Sigron had chosen to kill theirs rather than save it for her for whatever reason. They're fine. Let's just hope Tounaki leaves enough of a body to enchant from.

…

The charred body of the evolved wyvern fell through the air for a few moments before Tounaki, reverting to her normal form but without any of the red feathers, latched on and began beating her wings to try and stop it. "Damn, heavy bastard. A little help?"

Daniel and Sigron moved to assist until Tlara's now two wyverns could get down here and carry it between them. He looked a little mournfully at the deep gouges flame had taken out of it, but they'd have at least one body to take back that had been less severely damaged.

Evalyn appeared too after a moment, and the addition of the Bard allowed the four to comfortably hover with the body. "Thanks, Tounaki. That was a lot more trouble than I thought we'd be in, and I was half-expecting another level 4 to ambush us."

"That one was definitely tougher than some of the 4s I've fought," the Arcanist acknowledged. "We're cool, though. Honestly, that was fun. I've been waiting for an opportunity for more potential, and after this, I think I'll treat myself to a new level. Pinion's Point might just be getting a new Pyromancer."

"You've definitely earned it," Daniel said, mentally nudging his Spoke as well. He wasn't sure exactly what influence he had over it, or the limits on how it could help him, but what it had done for Alex was already massive. Without her mana refresh, they wouldn't have had enough to evade the evolved wyvern in those last moments before Tounaki arrived.

He himself was still waiting for official confirmation that he had done well enough to gain more potential, as the Spoke didn't award it until the fight ended. One enemy was still alive further down, though it was effectively grounded and penned in by Hunter and Tak.

Yet more wyverns entered the picture as Tlara and Willow arrived, each mounted on their own. "Everyone alright?" the Spirit Master asked. "The sparrow actually got afraid when that area effect was summoned, though he'd deny it if he could."

"It was bad," Evalyn acknowledged, her face pale and lips slightly blue, "but no one took any permanent injury. Overall I'd say we did as well as we could, though there are definitely areas of improvement we need to look at after everyone's recovered."

Daniel, watching the last two to join the group, saw something come over Shuni's face before it returned to neutrality, though the Rogue did then throw her hood up. That made him a little uneasy, but they had something else to deal with first. "Tlara, the fourth wyvern's all but yours. I'm thinking you dominate it, heal it, and then I can scan it before we head back."

The Beastmaster considered this but sharply shook her head in dismissal. Daniel thought it was just to spite him, but she actually had a good explanation. "I want to keep the shock runner. Willow's going to need bodies to put the spirits in, and after what happened with that fucking sparrow I want to have something I can put in the grave myself if it acts up. Thinking about dropping it for a level 1 but it's fine for now."

"You could still trade up the lightning wyvern," Daniel pointed out, the differences between that and the frost wyvern still alive notable. He saw the hesitation in her eyes and his widened. "Wait, you aren't sentimental about it, are you?"

Tlara pointedly ignored his question. "We should start flying back before another fucking super monster gets here. Not like these things can do that." She pointed to where Khiat was holding up the wyvern Shuni and Sigron had killed, natural strength combining with the weight-reducing effect on her armor to make the dusker actually able to fly while towing the body slightly larger than herself. Transporting them like this at all was necessary because they were larger than the space of any one bag of holding, and Daniel didn't want to ruin the bodies by doing something like cutting the limbs off and storing them separately. He had his eyes on a new set of wyvern-leather armor, as well as a new affix if he had anything to say about it.

Wingcraft, sans Khiat but up Tounaki, flew down to where the last wyvern was cornered. "Almost feel bad for it," Tounaki said as she observed the wyvern, which breathed frost at the group pointlessly given they were staying out of its range. The island it was on did have enough space to run around in, but there was nothing in the way of cover. "There are other Beastmasters we could call over."

"I don't want to stay out here for that long," Evalyn replied, looking to the skies around them. "This region, it makes me feel like I'm constantly exposed. Especially since I heard about those monsters that could mimic clouds. There's no way that fight didn't attract attention, and the state that thing's in, if we don't take the body we're just feeding the next evolved monster."

Daniel nodded, checking his Focus shield to make sure it was still on the scanning screen. "Yep, we should kill it. But let's heal it first." He pulled a level 2 healing potion out of his bag to the incredulous look of Evalyn and Tounaki.

"That's a couple viridian you're throwing away," the Arcanist warned. "Hunt'll pay you more, though no offense, but I'm taking a share after almost getting my tail feathers frozen off."

"Worth it if it gives me another formulae," Daniel said in response. "Hunter, Tak, want to be bodyguards?"

"You should take the whole team," Evalyn cautioned, but the fact that she didn't instantly dismiss the idea told him she had figured out where his head was at. He wasn't just thinking of using the wyvern as a chance to get new formulae.

"So stay close by and help if it gets out of control. Two people were able to take down one by themselves, and we've got three here." Daniel looked at Hunter and saw he understood as well.

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

Thank you.

Hey, it's not exactly charity. But you're welcome.

It is a good idea, Tak confirmed, seeing it too. Threst is good for me, flying is easier, but I miss the Thormundz sometimes.

Not Aughal? Daniel asked.

No, not Aughal. The three landed on the stretch of land, the wings on each folding up along the arms to rest along the back. The wyvern, with the same overpowering hatred all monsters carried for mortals, roared out at them but did not charge. It had no soul or spirit, but was not unthinking. Enough of a survival instinct was present to tell it that fighting now meant death, and it hadn't been fully backed into a corner yet.

I'll have to confirm the scan before I can take it back, Daniel thought toward Hunter, but as soon as I can I'll do it. Ready?

Ready.

Ready!

Daniel hurled the healing potion at the wyvern using Snap Shot. His throwing accuracy was poor, especially at this range, but it was a large target that could no longer fly. That began to change as the hostility in the wyvern's eyes grew confused, the injured joint and tears in one wing repairing as the liquid from the bottle splashed into an open wound.

They were already running toward it as the wyvern stretched the healing wing experimentally while throwing more frost breath their way. The burst was shoddily aimed with the wyvern off its guard, and with Daniel not needing to get too close to use his Encyclopedia, he managed the scan before it could do anything else.

You have scanned a [Monster], listed below:

Young Frost Wyvern, Living

(Uninjured): 1

You have met the requirements to unlock multiple Encyclopedia entries, listed below.

Encyclopedia Entries:

Formulae: Scalebound Shield, Shield - Note: Duplicate entry in Function: Encyclopedia

Affix: Ice

Sweet, sweet victory, Daniel thought, before his phone went dead. Beast Mode reasserting itself still didn't feel as polarizing as when he'd had the oath bond, but there was a kind of flow to it that became readily apparent in battle. He was still far more proficient in melee like this, if only for the fact that his body served as the Focus and received various benefits from doing so.

A shadow briefly passed over him as Hunter, now in his true form, reached the wyvern before it could take off. Tak was in the air as well, though neither had flown to get there. That had been the silent agreement made between the three of them when setting up this fight. No flying. Of all of them, Hunter was the worst-suited to aerial combat and had not had a chance to fight on terrain that suited him since coming back. With the largest threat removed and at least some time before more monsters would come to investigate this part of the air plains, it was the perfect opportunity.

Daniel himself could have activated Beast Mode to return to being an Artificer, but there was that exuberance again that had been quenched by the evolved wyvern being OP. This fight was more fair, and importantly, it gave him the chance of awakening more powers. Oh, and one more thing. Hunter, try this, Daniel thought, loading the committed attack Ravaging Cross he'd received from the power core fight into the bond.

That's right, Might and Magic. Activating Beast Mode gave them an entire other set to play with, which completely made up for the fact that both of them couldn't benefit from Regeneration at the same time. In the corner of his eye he saw both of Hunter's front paws spark with lightning as they tore into the wyvern's side. He had his own issues, such as grabbing onto the wyvern before it took off. It wasn't too hard, all Daniel needed to do was Jump after the combo attack released his mana flow. Like a pack of lions, the three hunters soon weighed down their prey as it attempted to both shake them off and retaliate.

Daniel could have left it at that as he used his fire claws to savage the lower legs of the wyvern while preparing for the possibility of it breathing on him, but a thought struck him. Hunter, the Empathic Link. I want to open it.

Now? the ringcat asked quickly, but Daniel didn't sense as much hesitation as before from him either. They both knew why, and that was the point. Before, the Empathic Link had assaulted either side with the uninhibited feelings of the other. It had lended to a small core of personality being traded over that had ended up feeding into the oath bond in Daniel's case, but otherwise it was an irritation and distraction at best.

But not now. In this hunt, they were in sync, and all the Empathic Link would do would be to improve their ability to act and react as one. There was always the risk of what going too deep might entail. Daniel wouldn't be comfortable having it on all the time, but if there was ever a moment for it, it was now.

Medium intensity. The kick of Hunter's emotions being beamed into his mind jolted Daniel almost as much as the other leg of the wyvern trying to claw him off of it. It was a torrent of impressions heightened by combat, but he could match that energy. It was also somewhat comforting that he had the distinct impression Beast Mode had nothing to do with it. He was just Daniel, whether he had fur or not at the moment, and Hunter…

His mind processed the information in the amount of time it took for him to recover his hold, light gash marks along his torso and upper legs where the wyvern's talons had pierced his armor. Hunter's sheer joy of the hunt and being in the world once more was matched by his own, but there was more than that.

Lingering fear of things outside his control or understanding, like the wider politics of Threst. The remaining hesitation over what being his brother meant exactly, what the future would hold for that. Aversion to change, always Hunter's bane and salvation. A bit of jealousy and insufficiency from Hunter's acknowledgement of how much stronger Daniel had gotten compared to him over the past few months.

Daniel's own feelings on seeing this were caught by the link and transmitted, creating a feedback loop that would have thrown them both out of focus if those parts of their mind weren't in the periphery. In fact, the discordance wasn't strong enough to do even that as consensus was found on several points. Core foundations of their relationship, worldview, and beliefs that would never change, never yield to whatever insecurities or disagreements they might have: Daniel and Hunter were family, they would never abandon their friends, and anyone who would contest that, like this wyvern, best be prepared to die trying.

Using Might and Magic, as well as Blood Union to maximize the efficiency of things such as who Regeneration was on to restore health, became far easier as their minds fell further into sync. There was still separation, still individuality, but it was like they had found some form of communal battle trance another pair would need years of fighting together to reach.

Quite frankly, the wyvern didn't stand a chance. All parties involved had used mana to some degree, but while the wyvern had enough for several more frost breaths, it lacked the elemental intensity or other advantages the evolved variant had. Neither Daniel nor Hunter wanted to be within the breath for too long, but they both possessed enough mobility to dodge once targeted.

In fact, as Daniel scrambled around the wyvern while it tried to freeze him to death, he awakened a power he honestly should have a while ago, were it not for the fact that he'd already had access to it.

Evasiveness (Feature, Dexterity, Domain: Universal, Level: 2): You possess the Power to enhance your reactions to [Attacks] made against you, increasing the chance of avoiding [Damage]. This is a Nonmagical Effect that functions within an area of Magical Suppression.

Yet another physical effect that Blood Union, in combination with the increased intensity of the Empathic Link, exploded the potential of. Whenever either of them sensed an attack, they could pass the effect of the feature over to stack the benefits. Daniel had a fair amount of chances to activate Opportune Moment, but the mana cost of the ability and the fact that it was completely unnecessary made him hold off.

After a minute or so, the three of them had damaged the wings enough that the wyvern was once more forced to land, effectively dooming it as they could now fight on terrain that wasn't just monster. Daniel felt a spike of murderous intent from Hunter as the ringcat observed the weakened prey and it flowed over to him. He knew he had the hunt archetype himself while in this form and wasn't too surprised that exposure to this level of primal impulse.

Predator's Finisher (Ability, Dexterity, Attack: Natural Melee Weapon, Domain: Destruction, Finisher, Level: 2):

You possess the Power to make a keen strike against a weakened enemy in an attempt to end its life. For a moderate amount of Mana, you may attack an injured enemy and benefit from increased Damage and Critical Chance. This effect scales with your Dexterity and the degree of the target's injury. If this attack does not kill the target, you cannot use it again until the next System Reset. This is a Magical Ability that does not function within an area of Magical Suppression.

The wyvern was weakened, but not to the point that it was helpless. Daniel caught Hunter's eyes as the three of them briefly backed off to assess the new situation. Both Daniel's curiosity and Hunter's thrill for battle were leading them to one conclusion. Full intensity.

Before, increasing the link had opened each other's emotions in a way that allowed for rapid assessment and reciprocation, but when they willfully gave in to the peak of what the link could do, things shifted to an even more dramatic degree. It was like Daniel was inside both his body and Hunter's, while also perceiving himself as Hunter in both bodies. They still distinguished themselves as two people, but lines were beginning to blur. This morning, when the Empathic Link had reset along with dawn jolting both awake, their minds had clashed enough that they'd been able to instantly suppress it like always.

As with the last step, this time was different. They were unbalanced for a few seconds, Tak growing briefly concerned, but the feedback loop of call and response between them held and turned ever faster, continuing to blend them together. Fully using their bond became almost an afterthought, like it was the easiest of attack powers they had between them. Each felt the other's power set as intimately as their own, and as they registered Daniel's body being in a more favorable position for a Mirror Strike than Hunter's, readily realized what hadn't occurred to either before.

The two swapped souls, Daniel's perspective piloting Hunter's body while using what Empathic Link was giving him to not only manage but make use of his own powers and remain a competent fighter. On the other side, Hunter's perspective tried and was able to activate Mirror Strike with Daniel's body, cutting into the neck of the wyvern. Even as the combo attack was going off the two were in sync, and in fact gained from the maneuver as the copy of them that took part in the attack made for a third perspective which the two minds operating as one could use.

Tak's surprise from the maneuver reached them, and they shared in a kind of warm satisfaction that the Totem Warrior continued to accept the depth of their bond without feeling that theirs was inferior. Considering the avianoid mid-battle did cause a brief moment of strain in the Empathic Link as the mixing impressions ran into the fact that only one of them was bonded to him, but they were able to move past it without either rejecting the link.

Predator's Finisher was finally activated when the wyvern was gasping for breath, several deep gashes along the neck causing major blood loss and weakening what it could do with its frost breath. Rather than leave one behind, they both inhabited Hunter's body to deliver a crushing bite that mixed in Force of Fear. The wyvern was a higher level than them, but they'd clearly sensed fear from it after it recognized how outmatched it was.

The bonus damage from the spell combined with what the finisher gave to make the toughened scales and flesh of the scaled beast provide hardly any resistance, and as a section of the throat was torn out, the wyvern lost whatever will to live it had left. There was a brief moment of confusion at the end as Hunter's perspective swapped over to prevent Daniel's body from falling, but the two sorted it out a moment later.

"Very, very good," Tak complimented, looking between their two bodies as above, their friends began to descend now that the fight was over. "I am beginning to feel inadequate, which is a bit unfair because you both started after me," he said, and they clearly saw that he was joking. "I guess I will just have to try harder."

"You did fine too," Daniel's perspective said, smiling in reply.

Tak looked from one smile to another, eyes narrowing."You are not still using the link, are you?"

"It's strong," Hunter's perspective defended. "We are still hunting. Could wait to lower it until we get back."

Tak's beak quirked down. "I think you should stop using it now."

Daniel and Hunter, no, their combined will considered this, but there was reluctance to let go now that the link was humming along at speed. They both felt elevated to a new state of being, and there was a kind of continual rush from the validation of one constantly accepting the other. If they kept this up, could they even improve their bo-

They didn't register the attack coming in time, the aggressor having shrouded their movements under the guise of friendship. The pain and shock flooded Daniel's perspective and was enough to unbalance the Empathic Link, allowing them to wrest themselves from the trance. Groaning and clutched at the space between his legs, Daniel, now just Daniel, admitted that they'd needed to have been shaken out of the link, but he really wished Tak had chosen another way.

"Hmm. Not good to do that for too long, I think," Tak said as Hunter shook himself, now also completely at odds with the communion they'd both been caught up in before. "You were starting to make me worry."

"Heh," Tlara chuckled, enjoying the sight of Daniel squirming on the ground. "Not sure why you did that, but I call next."

Daniel groaned again in reply, trying to shift out of Beast Mode to soothe himself, but unfortunately the days of two health pools was gone. Regeneration was at least helping the pain die down quicker, but Tak had really kicked him in the worst place possible.

Tounaki looked on with a bemused grin, putting the same humor in her voice as Tlara had but without the half-hearted malice. "Need a healing potion?"

"I'm fine," Daniel grunted. "No, I'm not, but we needed that. Thanks Tak."

"Anytime," the Totem Warrior replied brightly.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.