Warsinger by James Baldwin (most important books of all time txt) 📕

were unstoppable. I landed on the back of the worm like a thunderbolt, driving the spear down with Jump, burning a third of my AP on Shattering Darkness, then blowing back up into the air in a black haze. Death rained down on it, earning a squeal as it plunged back under the sands. Karalti tipped a wing and glided underneath me as I came back down. I landed with Spider Climb to make sure I stuck, caught the saddle grips and held on. She boosted forward again, and I found myself laughing as the sandworm, still burning, reared up again and lashed out at us with a bouquet of tentacles from its mouth. Three whiffed, but one hit Karalti and latched onto her.

“NO! LEGGO!” Karalti's body jerked, the tentacle tongue reeling her in toward the gaping, fang-lined mouth. She angled her mouth down, lips peeling back as she sprayed a plume of liquid fire right into the hole. The sandworm thrashed and screeched, burning from the inside out, but didn't let go. The side-to-side motion threatened to fling my dragon out of the air.

“Get ready to play catch!” I ran up along her neck and Jumped as high as I could.

Time slowed as I hung over the worm's open, flaming mouth. I flung out a whip of dark energy, snapping it taut around the worm's tongue - but instead of trying to choke it off, I used the BlackLotus lasso to reel myself in. The energy slingshot me forward, and I collided with the thick, barbed purple rope of flesh. I pulled Davri's Dagger from my hip and used it to slice and cut. I didn't get the sneak attack bonus, but it hurt. The worm's flesh pulled apart under the blade, then tore. I clung to it, and so did Karalti. She grabbed the tongue with her hand as worm and dragon separated, the annelid toppling back onto the sand in agony as her sticky fire cooked it from the inside out.

[Karalti killed Sandworm Juvenile! You gain 1091 EXP ! Karalti gains 1091 EXP!]

Suri was wrestling the Sandworm Queen, Godzilla-style. She had both swords through the worm's head, barely holding it back as the sandworm wrapped her head in biting tentacle tongues. The whips lashed over it, burning everything they touched, but the Sandworm Queen was a Level 100 monster. She wasn’t going down without a real fight.

“Get in and set those tongues on fire!” I ordered, climbing the flopping worm tongue hand over hand until I reached Karalti's forearm. “We might not be able to kill her, but we can make her regret messing with us!”

Karalti angled in, and as she did, I took a healing potion, a stamina potion, and prepared to use Shadow Lance. The dragon's stamina and mana were heading south, but not fast enough for me to worry. Arrow-straight, her scales as hot as the steam erupting from Withering Rose's helmet, she dove between the juggernauts and blasted the tongues. I jumped off her arm onto one of them, bringing the Spear down on the violet sticky flesh. The blade pierced it and froze the meat - and when the Sandworm Queen pulled back, it shattered like it had been dipped in liquid nitrogen.

[You deal 3637 damage to Sandworm Queen! HP: 992,063/1,500,000]

Lord have mercy: it had one and a half million HP.

“Yeah! Get some!” I Shadow Danced along the frozen length towards Suri, keeping half an eye on Karalti as she pivoted on a wingtip and came hurtling back toward us. “Suri! I'm on your head!”

“On my head?” She snarled with effort, pushing the worm back. I was flung into the air as the piece of tongue wobbled and flipped away. With my remaining AP, I dashed in the air and landed neatly on the Warsinger's scalp - and immediately began to yelp and dance around.

[You are taking Heat damage! 20 HP per second!]

“Burning! Burning! Ow ow ow ow!” I hopped from foot to foot as my HP went down and my AP skyrocketed back up, but there was no getting away from the pain. Karalti swooped in, snatched me with a back foot, and hauled me off into the air.

The Sandworm Queen still had five tongues wrapped around Withering Rose's head and shoulders. She let out another jarring, whale-like scream, pulling until the Warsinger was bent forward, her head even with the opening of the sandworm's mouth. Rather than fight it, Suri charged forward, plunged both flaming whips into its maw from the top, and stabbed it from underneath.

The Sandworm Queen moaned and let go of Suri's head. Her remaining tongues were smoking and charred, her belly gushing bluish ichor. She twisted over herself, angling for the sand, and plunged into it before slithering away. All of the other sandworms had fled.

“Yeah! Run, bitch!” I shook my fist at the massive creature as it swam away. “Level 100! More like Level Pussy-Ass Bitch!”

Suri drifted forward a few steps. As massive as it was, Withering Rose did not shake the earth as she walked... other than the creaking of metal, she was almost soundless, skating over the land as if on ice… until suddenly, she drove a smoldering foot into the earth and stumbled forward.

“Hector,” her voice gasped over P.M. “Not to alarm you, but I just ran out of juice.”

Karalti and I could do nothing but watch as the Warsinger fell to its knees in slow motion. Suri had just enough power to soften the fall, but there was only so much you could do to slow the momentum of a 5000-ton mecha. The corona shattered around it as it sunk into the boiling black sand to the elbows, coming to a smoldering stop.

“It's takin’ my fucking blood!” Suri's voice sounded panicked now. “Through the needles! It's draining me to try and fuel itself!”

“We're coming!” Karalti pumped her wings. By holding me in her foot instead of carrying me on her back, she could drive her shoulders without worrying about a rider.