The Misty Peaks were a biome that originated from the beaskin's homeworld and was mainly inhabited by the smaller sized mammalian tribes and ruled by the foxkin due to their perceived wisdom. On top all peaks was a shrine that served as focal points for diviners allowing them to be very accurate in their predictions which they were famed for, with many aspiring seers making the journey in order to study under the foxkin's master diviners. Recently however there had been rumours of foul play among the higher ups but with the rumours being sparse due to the difficulty of the journey and always sparse of concrete information due to the immense secrecy among the higherups of the biome they remained uninspected by the main authority of the Dawn continent.
Auro shook Ed awake, sighing at the almost pitiable hungover state of his ally.
"Are we at the city yet Auro" Ed groaned.
"no were only just at the Misty Peaks, the terrains too rough for Hellan to continue carrying you"
"So were walking the rest of the way?" Ed groggily spoke.
"do you see another way" Auro stated
"Fine, lets get this over with. I heard that the badgerkin make good mead" spoke Ed
Ed unsummoned Hellan before taking a swig of his canteen and doing some light and half assed stretches while Auro rolled his eyes.
The terrain of the Misty Peaks was stony and surprisingly humid partly due to the closeness of the glass desert and partly due to the volcanic formations around the fith and sixth peaks, which were known across the continent for their hot springs.
The duo methodically made their way towards the fourth peak and with Auro's navigation skills they were on time to make it to the peaks base before noon.
"Say Auro, what are you gona do if you find out who you were before the shattering?"
"Find the person responsible and deal with them how I see fit" Auro stated bluntly
"What if there isn't anyone?" Ed retorted.
Auro took on a pensive look as the two continued to walk. 'He brings up a good point, should I peruse art or some other shit, maybe join the war effort and get rid of these crystalline Basterds. Regardless its too early to think about this but I still need to decide on what to do -'
"AURO! DUCK!" yelled Ed.
Auro's muscle memory kicked in, he took a low posture while simultaneously summoning Fractaline before turning to look at Ed slowly.
THUD.
Before Auro could ask anything from Ed a large dart of transparent orange crystal tore past where his head had been just a moment prior and embedded itself in a large tree before exploding in a shower of splinters, glass and flame.
"Shit." Auro muttered.
Roughly 100 metres in front of him stood a spider like crystalline, clearly a giant, an Act 2 monster surrounded by a small swarm of flame attuned hedgehog like crystaline. The main beast stood just over seven metres tall with eight long black bone like legs. Its body was roughly spherical with a smaller head Infront, its back was covered in glowing orange splinter-like crystals identical to the one that had almost killed Auro seconds earlier. Its eyes were comprised of sickening green crystals hinting at an ability to use poison in addition to the explosive missile like projectiles from its back.
Auro yelled at Ed, who was chanting to summon his fire whisps "I've not seen this variant before - its probably ambush based so its physical capabilities shouldn't be too overwhelming. Watch out for those crawlers tho, you'd be surprised how stealthy they can be and the spider might order them to blow themselves up once they get near enough to you"
Ed who now had two glowing orbs of fire orbiting him nodded as Auro rushed towards the spider like crystalline. Fractaline arced horizontally ad Auro spoke the names of shattering and piercing to enhance Fractalines shards as they flew towards the joints connecting the spiders legs to its body, attempting to cripple it. The spider suddenly lurched downwards, narrowly avoiding Fractlines shards and firing two explosive crystals from its back while simultaneously attempting to skewer Auro with its sharp front legs.
'Its fast' Auro thought while sidestepping to avoid the first stab and deflecting the second before he hared six consecutive large explosions, the two behind him were the crystalline's missiles and the other four were blasts from Ed's wisps, hitting the spider squarely in the face, staggering it. The beast growled, flaring its green mandibles while dashing backwards to take advantage of its range.
"Its probably resistant to fire based attacks due to its affinity. You got any other summons Ed?"
"Only a water one but all it can do is heal."
Auro dashed towards the spider while recalling Fractalines shards to reform its blade. The spider fired a salvo of over 10 missiles and then arched its back, a section of its throat bulging and glowing green before a beam of deadly acid was fired at Auro.
"Shit." Auro muttered before noticing a small crystalline hedgehog glowing brightly at his feet.
"SHIT" cursed Auro, the previously fired salvo now exploding around him to cut off his escape.
Ed who had finished tacking care of the hedgehog crystalline other than the one at Auros feet shouted something at Auro that was obscured by the explosions raging around him.
He was almost out of options, so bracing himself for the explosion, Auro summed a shield construct using mana, speaking the names for sturdiness at the shield and the ones for lightness and strength at himself. The hedgehog exploded moments later and Auro was flung forward towards the spider by the explosion, his right calf being caught in the jet of acid the spider was spewing and hearing a cracking noise from his right arm, the anchor for the shield construct that had just faded but it mattered not. Auro propelled by the force of the explosion and gritting his teeth due to the pain, he spat out the name for increased weight and sharpness at Fractaline as he arced towards the spider crystalline's head before Fractaline cleanly bisected it.
Auro landed to the right of the giant spider that was now shattering, forming a small crater due to his increased weight due to both both his ascended body and Fractaline which was still effected by Auros sorcery. Before he fainted, he heard a familiar whispering.
[The Planar Records bears witness to your victory, your Legend grows thicker.]