The Grand Battle S2G1! [Round Six: Eddelin City]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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Xadrez thoroughly ignored Arkal as they walked back to the source of the stream. Arkal couldn't tell whether it was because the spirit considered him an ally, or simply didn't consider him a serious threat.

Regardless, it soon ceased to matter, because the Ovoid started shifting again. Arkal cursed the damn thing as the walls and floors moved around him.

***

The few inhabitants of Hydresther who were still in the city and alive would have had a hard time believing they could see anything stranger.

The arrival of the floating city, and subsequent awakening of the hydra within, had been odd enough. The sudden appearance of the strange tan island was even odder; at least the hydra was something they could understand the structure of. But the island was simply bizarre.

That was before the island started growing into a head. Or something which vaguely resembled a head.

A tail soon followed, then arms, and feet. The body appeared last. Strangely, they weren't directly connected, at least as far as an observer in the third dimension could see.

Despite this oddity, and the strangely ovoid shape of its body parts, the overall form of the entity resembled a gigantic lizard, as tall as the hydra.

The new arrival grabbed one of the heads, and bit into it.

***

When the shifting finally stopped, Arkal was on the ceiling. At least until gravity intervened.

The drop looked unpleasantly long. Not wanting to find out how long firsthand, Arkal grabbed the flail he had constructed from the raft, and flung one end of it between two stalactites (or something closely resembling them, at least). The log wedged itself between them tightly, stopping the smith's descent before it could get severe. Thankfully, the sturdy cord could easily support Arkal's weight. He made a mental note to ask somebody where to find more if he had the chance.

Climbing along the cord, Arkal soon reached the stalactite. At this point, he saw that there were quite a lot of them... and quite a few stalagmites, too. Neatly organized into a curving row at the top and another at the bottom.

And there was something golden in between the rows. More specifically, something that wasn't Ovoid-colored.

And the Ovoid was moving. Flailing, almost.

Before Arkal knew it, the foreign object that served as the wall had become the floor.

He extricated his log from between the... whatever the hell you call a rock poking out of the side of a wall. Damned if Arkal knew what that was. Then he walked onto the smooth, definitely-not-Ovoid surface.

Which was sort of gooey around the wall-rocks. Liquidy. And red.

Blood-red.

Arkal soon realized that the proper term for "rocks that stick out of the wall", at least in this case, was "teeth".

Whatever he was standing on was bleeding. It was also gigantic.

And he wasn't sure whether or not it was a good idea to let the Ovoid keep biting into it.

He decided to take a chance on the answer being "no", and raised his fist, bringing it down on one of the rocky teeth.

***

At this point, only a few stubborn individuals in Hydresther were still trying to make sense of the battle.

When the strange oval-lizard's head suddenly become its arm, it seemed as though it were taunting them.