"System," I yelled in half a panic, "Why did it flag so many Air Threads at once?!!"
I ducked and channeled Water through my sword, letting it flow and curl around it.
Penguin leapt out of my pocket and transformed into his fire fox form mid-jump, setting the closest tornadoes on fire. I followed his attack with Water, watching the creatures hiss and dissolve.
The System pinged.
[System Notification: User Ryo overdid the flagging due to Authority Overflow.]
What even?!
"I didn't do anything different than usual!" I yelped, jumping to the side. "Besides, I already had my Authority back last time in Iceland, and this didn't happen!"
I struck at another bunch of creatures that were on their way to intercept Llewellyn, then turned around to locate Penguin again.
[System Notification: During the Iceland Distorted Realm, User Ryo spent most of his Authority Overflow to resurface the Knot from the depth of the lagoon. This lowered its strength. Prior to resurfacing, the surrounding water dampened the flagging effect.]
Shit. The System was probably right.
I jumped down along the steps of the amphitheater, trying not to fall, and attacked again.
Llewellyn had already taken care of about a hundred creatures or something, but there were still dozens milling around.
A cluster of three spun toward me. I slashed through them and barely had time to dodge before another five rushed in from the side.
Penguin torched the ones coming at Llewellyn from behind, yipping urgently. They were too far away, but I somehow managed to expand into the Magic Field mid-fight and douse them completely. The water hissed against the wind.
"Thanks!" Llewellyn shouted, moving to intercept the next wave.
I cut down another group, panting. The creatures weren't slowing down. We'd been at this for twenty minutes, I hadn't flagged any other Thread, and there were still many.
A tornado-like creature crashed into my Elemental Shield. The impact sent me stumbling back into the stone tiers. I caught myself just in time and struck at the creature coming at my left.
The wind hadn't calmed down yet. Chunks of brick and wood debris swirled past, smashing into the upper levels of the amphitheater. Some wooden planks from the nearby walkways tore free, were lifted by the wind, and tumbled down the tiers.
Llewellyn appeared at my side, attacking the creatures closing in on my left. "You good?"
"Yeah." I struck down another one. "I need to flag more Threads before we run out of time. Are you ready?"
"Go for it," Llewellyn said, taking down half of the remaining tornadoes.
I flagged an Earth Thread.
The Thread tore open and mountains made of rocks emerged out of them.
"…"
Shit.
"Are those golems?!" I yelled, startled. What the fuck. Well, they looked like video game golems at least!
One of them smashed its fist on the ground, cracking some of the rocks of the amphitheater before swinging at us with its long arms.
Fuck, we were destroying this place!
Llewellyn dodged a golem's swing and sliced clean through its arm. The limb shattered into rubble.
The golem staggered but kept coming—one-armed now, but still dangerous.
Penguin and I struck at some of the tornado creatures still spinning between the tiers, cutting them down in bursts of water and steam, before refocusing on the golem.
Three more golems lumbered toward us. They were slow but massive, I had no doubt a full punch would be lethal, let alone being trampled on! Each one was massive enough to crack the amphitheater's stone and all of Penguin's forms were small!
"Penguin, be careful!" I yelled.
Penguin, currently in his fire fox form, yipped, and covered one in flames. I threw water in the mix before running my sword through it and it crashed on the ground, shattering.
Fuck. One less.
The wind had thankfully eased and I couldn't see any tornado creatures anymore.
By the time I'd dealt with one, Llewellyn had taken down four golems.
Another one swung at me. I ducked and rolled under its fist, barely managing to roll down the amphitheater entirely, then struck upward, severing its leg at the knee.
Bad idea. It toppled forward toward me, almost smashing me into the stone seats, if not for Llewellyn jumping in front of me at the last second, somehow managing to… pulverize it.
Fuck.
"How?!" I yelled.
"Not the time!" Llewellyn yelled back, jumping on a gust of wind to intercept the last one, before it got to me. "Flag something else!"
Wood creatures were the most manageable of the lot. They were still lethal and could pierce through you with their branch-like limbs, but the combo of Fire (from Penguin), Air (from Llewellyn), and Water (from me) allowed us to both use crowd control and have the right Elemental reactions to take many down at once.
I tried to flag as many Wood Threads as possible to weaken the Knot, but I soon had to go back to Earth and Air, to try to reduce the tangle. I tried to be strategic about it, but… there wasn't much for it.
We kept fighting. I flagged more Threads and we fought the creatures as they emerged.
Penguin stayed in his fire fox form, torching the creatures, boosting Elemental reactions for us. He was amazing—that training session we'd done together had really given him all the strategic knowledge he needed.
Llewellyn sliced through wave after wave of creatures as usual, perfect and lethal.
"One more?" he asked, breathing hard.
I flagged a final Earth Thread and two golems emerged from it.
Llewellyn and I split up, each taking one.
Mine swung at me and I ducked, striking at its knee. It didn't budge. I summoned more water through my sword and struck again. After several attempts, and with the help of Penguin's Fire, the leg shattered and the golem toppled. I jumped back just in time, grabbing Penguin. Llewellyn meanwhile had obliterated his with a wind-enhanced strike, sending rubble flying.
Fuck. That was the worst of it. The Knot was manageable now.
Llewellyn jumped high before I could say anything, and I rushed behind him, Penguin in tow.
"Now!" Llewellyn yelled.
We all struck it at once.
The shockwave hit us as we were landing back on the ground. I ducked, shielding my head and covering Penguin as the blast swept over us.
Then… Silence.
The Distorted Realm lifted and the amphitheater settled into stillness. We were left staring at all the debris and cracked wood that littered the area.
Shit.
All the walkways we could see were in ruins, half exploded half collapsed—which meant that, even though the distortion wasn't that obvious, it'd actually been powerful, as the damage itself hadn't lifted with the Distorted Realm as it sometimes happened.
It really looked bad. But the amphitheater was mostly still there and... at least the ancient city of Troy itself was still standing, from what we could see.
[System Notification: Distorted Realm neutralized! Threat contained. +5,200 Coins awarded!]
I sagged against the stone tiers, panting.
"That was tough," I said.
Going up and down the staircases had been its own workout, even without the hundreds of tornado creatures at once and the massive golems!
Llewellyn was scanning the ruins, likely making sure there were no Distorted Artifacts.
Suddenly—
"Ryo! Llewellyn!"
Huh?!
My head snapped up. I knew that voice.
I looked around, trying to locate the source of it. Then, in the distance, I saw…
"Altan?!!" I called back, shocked.