I know this has been delayed, but this arc is far more complicated relative to any other. I have to fill in the gaps and make all the pieces work like a puzzle. Enjoy!
As the bloody mass of corpses sizzled under Dan's holy attack, the two halves of the squad tried to regroup before more of the mighty Cloudsoul Necromorph arrived. However... below the seemingly cauterized flesh, which had been turned into a puddle, writhed around and reformed into a new mass again. It had lost perhaps 30% of its size under the holy light attack but now it was extremely conscious of the pain it had suffered.
SHUUUUUUUUUUUUWUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!
Numerous black strands of dark Undead blood and other less wholesome things flowed between the violet stone buildings, coming in like the seeping tide. Lineir felt a tingle on his neck. This thing was extremely similar to the Undead Heart he had once faced down in his youth!
"It's going to get bigger. What do we do?" He shouted so that Dan, De, and Xi could hear him from afar. Though they were rushing over they had stopped as the tentacle blocking them from Lineir's half of the team was now flailing in the air, inflating to the size of the tallest buildings! Lineir caught sight of a rhythmic pulse inside the jellylike substance the tentacle was covered in.
Badump...Shuuuuuu.....Baduuuump
"I need that." Mei said and Lineir startled. He hadn't heard her voice for a while. He instantly knew that though she was hiding how much she needed it, this item was important!
"The heartblood of the Cloudsoul Necromorph?" He asked while dodging the ever spreading rivers of corpses.
"Ok, I'll get it for you master!"
"Don't risk your life. It's not worth it." Mei's voice in his head was filled with worry but she knew he wouldn't listen. He would definitely try to get it for her now that she had said something. The Cloudsoul Necromorph, while certainly a unique opponent, might not necessarily be out of his weight class provided other members of the team helped. There was only one way to find out!
"Everyone! I need the heart of one of those tentacles! If you help me, I have several unique pills forged by an Alchemist Master! With or without you I'm going in!" Lineir called out. He was referring to the pills he had received form Lord Cao Sun, in the Chosen Cups Trial. The squad was instantly confused and also aroused.
"Hehe, a mere Cloudsoul Necromorph? It might be ancient, but that just means it's bones are weak. Very well, if you really need a heart so bad then I will assist you as your senior brother! And don't even think about giving me your pills, we are brothers, do you know what that means? I would be insulted to accept even a thank you! Dan, De, Xi go scout ahead while we claim this tentacle's heart for our junior brother. See if you can find a path for us to leave once we have it!" Yu called out and joined him. Ting of course followed up,
"My cute new brother, we go through life or death together then!" She declared boldly. Immediately Lineir felt warmth blossom in his chest. He had not expected the couple to support him so quickly. Even if they were nominally in the same group, he was asking them to take an unnecessary risk on what was already a dangerous mission.
"Hahaha from this day forth I, Lineir, am your or life and death brother! Call upon me and no matter the enemy I will always stand with you!" He made an oath of friendship and loyalty and felt the chains of the loneliness which had surrounded him for years in the mortal realms fall away. Finally he had people who he could depend on, who would treat him as equals!
"I'll take care of the Undead with my Hematomas. That will blow away the majority of the Undead on that tentacle over there. Once the heart is exposed, Ting will support you and clear any remaining Undead. Then it will be up to you to seize what you need! Here we go!" Yu revealed the little black marbles in his hand and tossed them forth before clasping his hands together to gather Qi.
"Stay close!" Ting grabbed Lineir's hand and they dove in, she summoned a second sword from her spatial ring and stood upon it. Lineir was pulled along and she called back with a smile,
"Step on! Grab my waist!"
Lineir could only chuckle and shake his head with a red face. He had never had to rely on anyone in his own generation before, let alone a pretty girl! He stepped onto the flying sword and wrapped his arms around her slim waist, his sleeves billowing with her dress in the wind.
"Thanks."
BOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOOOM!!!!!
Yu's Hematomas exploded with a wrath like that of a Celestial Calamity and thousands of Undead corpses were vaporized instantly. The world filled with red mist which Lineir saw straight through with his Madness Eyes. In the chaos of the battlefield he was home!
"The heart! On the left!" Lineir pointed. Most of the mass of the tentacle had been annihilated but there was still a good portion left on the ground. It was quivering, about 100 meters long, and pulsating as the Undead upon it struggled to reform into a coherent shape. A ten meter strip of exposed dark red blood shined in the reflected light of Ting's rainbow sword path.
"Got it!" She swiftly turned and headed on an intercept course. "Get ready. 3-2-1!"
Four Elements Focal Severance!
Ting's sword flashed once...twice...thrice...four times! Each time a new color burst out and fused into a square. The square projected forward and turned into a cube which impacted into the Undead corpse flesh.
UUUUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!
A terrifying roar came as the layers of rotting Undead were separated from the heart of the tentacle. Lineir spread his Phoenix Flame Wings once more and dived off Ting's flying sword.
Whoosh
He sped in and plunged the black blade into the isolated pulsing heartblood which had been exposed, passing through Ting's technique as if it wasn't there!
SHUUUUUUUWUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!
Naturally she had permitted only him to enter. Outside the rainbow severing formation, the corpses which had composed the tentacle had come alive and were pounding on the light prism walls like swaying branches.
Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!
Shluuuuurp!!
The dark red Undead heart shivered and liquid began to be sucked into the black blade at a prodigious rate. A few seconds later Mei cried out,
"That's enough!" And Lineir jumped out right as Ting's technique shattered. Hanging in the air a second he leapt back on Ting's flying sword and with his hands on her waist they flew away. When they got close enough Yu used his gravitational powers to draw them in faster.
"Thank -"
"What did I say about thanks Junior Brother?" Yu said. Lineir smiled.
"Thank you anyways."
As they sped away they could hear in the distance, The Cloudsoul Necromorph shrieking its rage.
SHUUUUUUWUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUWUWUWUWUWUWUWUUWUWUW
"Hahah-"
Whooooosh!
"Not good!"Lineir was shoved away by a force and he was suddenly spinning in the air. Something enormous whistled by and he vaguely recognized screaming bodies inside a pool of blood. "Another goddamn tentacle found us? How we were already far and away?! Wait...Yu?" He had turned 270 degrees in the air and realized he was looking Yu in the face. Lineir thought Yu had pushed him out of the way with his Laws of Attraction, but they had both been pushed away at the same time. "What pushed me wasn't a force...but a soft palm...!"
"Ting!" Yu and Lineir cried at the same time as they heard a small yet terribly distinct smacking sound.
Sssssssssssssssss
Lineir watched in horror as Ting was hit directly by the massive tentacle. A strange white light flared on her sleeve.
"A protection formation? Dan! Wait...no...that's no protection formation." Lineir's initial elation faded as Ting was blasted away and suddenly caught by De who had returned with Xi and Dan on the other side of the tentacle! He sensed something odd in the corner of his vision on his own clothing with his Madness Eyes. However, he had no time to look down he was too absorbed on Ting.
"Is she all right?!!!!" Yu cried out as he prepared to rush the tentacle, already bringing out Hematomas left and right and unleashing havoc trying to clear a path through to them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Xi and Dan gathered close to De who was holding Ting, and Dan's hand began to glow with a white light as if to heal her. He began to laugh.
"She's...how you all are about to be." He said chillingly, his bald forehead wrinkled in mirth.
Shing!!!
"Holy light!" Lineir looked on his sleeve where an attractive white light was glowing. He saw a similar mark on Yu's back. Meanwhile on Ting, the glowing white light faded away as De rushed backwards.
"What are you doing Dan!"
Puchi!!
A hidden short sword behind De appeared from seemingly thin air and stabbed into De's stomach. Xi twitched his fingers and the blade wiggled as if to eviscerate De but he managed to fly away, drops of bright red blood falling from the sky.
"Arrrgh!" He fled into the distance still carrying the prone TIng as Dan and Xi laughed.
"Where do you think you're going! You TRAITORS!" Yu roared with rage but they didn't stop. Lineir heard several whooshing noises at once as the light marks on his sleeve and Yu's back grew even brighter.
"That bastard! Get rid of your robes he's using Holy Power to attract the Cloudsoul Necromorph to us!"