Chaos Rising: The Realms Book Six: (An Epic LitRPG Series)

by C. M. Carney

  “What in the abyss was that?” Seraphine barked.

  Lex tried to use Analyze again, begging the universe to give him more information.

  Dire Chaos Abomination - Level: Error.

  Health

  Stamina

  Mana

  Spirit

  Error

  Error

  Error

  Error

  Analyze has failed. Analyze is an information gathering skill and relies upon strict rules of classification and nomenclature. This requires a connection to the Realm of Order which is currently disrupted by the high concentrations of chaos energy moving through your body. Therefore, you will get no information beyond the name of the Analyzed creature.

  Strengths

  Immunities

  Weaknesses

  Error

  Error

  Error

  “Analyze is still all mucked up. It gave me nothing but its name,” Lex said, trying to remain calm for fear of losing his grip on the ladder. “It's called a dire chaos abomination, but I don’t need Analyze to tell me it’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen. You bastards need to move quicker.”

  “Errat has been with Lex for many very bad things. If this is the worst then that is very bad indeed.”

  “Just move, man.” Below him, boots scraped against metal. Vonn was using the ladder to assist in a controlled fall. The others took Vonn’s lead and soon the tunnel hissed like a basket of angry cobras.

  Above them, the slobbering mass of blood and gore hissed and forced its way down the shaft. Lex returned his attention to his slide. Every instinct begged him to look up, but, if he slammed into the others, or worse yet lost his grip, he’d exchange being eaten by a chaos blob with splatting into a blob at the bottom of the shaft, and he’d take his friends with him.

  Lex made his grip to be both tight and relaxed and slid after the others.

  The wind blew his hair into a halo around his head. His beard, unshaven these last few months, swatted him in the face, making it difficult to see. His muscles burned from the effort of the controlled slide. The noise of his descent drowned out all other sounds, including the beast’s above. He dared not take even a half-second to look up, even though he feared the beast’s jaws were opening this second right above him.

  He did not remember ever being this scared. At first, this confused him. He’d faced off against a chaos infected spider, giant horny rabbits and even the High God himself, but during all those battles he’d faced his enemy head-on, with his hammer in his hand. Now, he was defenseless and senseless, and if the monstrosity chasing them reached him before he reached the bottom he would die with his back turned, with no chance to fight back.

  This thought filled him not with fear, but with rage. He’d always suspected he would die violently. The adventuring life practically demanded that, and he had accepted that fact, in a way embraced it. If he died defending those he cared about, he would consider it a good death. What he refused to abide was a pointless death, a death without honor.

  A scream of pure rage echoed up and down the shaft, and it took Lex several seconds to realize he was the one screaming. He had to override the part of his brain that wanted to skid to a halt and make a stand. It was a brave idea. He would make a noble stand. Tales would be told about him.

  Get your ass moving, you dickhead, Lex raged against himself, for he knew, deep down, that dying here would be a pointless gesture. Sometimes the brave way is the stupid way. He barely controlled this primal self, but he did, and his slide continued. Below him, a dim light rose, revealing the shadowy forms of his friends speeding down the shaft.

  “The end is close,” Vonn yelled up. “We need to slow down.”

  Slowing down was the last thing that Lex’s terrified mind wanted, but Vonn was right. He applied pressure with the insides of his boots and the acrid scent of rust and heated leather filled his nostrils. The light grew brighter and Lex watched as Vonn passed through the circle of illumination that marked the tunnel’s end.

  His friend disappeared as he arced out of view like a man on a rope swing. A spear of anxiety pushed up Lex’s spine. Was Vonn safe? The feeling lasted only a moment before joy replaced it as Vonn’s head peered up into the shaft. He looked to be upside down, an impossible angle that Lex’s mind couldn’t rectify.

  “Keep doing what you’re doing Lex,” Vonn called. “The beast is close, but you’ll make it if you stay calm.”

  Lex sighed, more relieved than he ever remembered feeling, and he sent a silent thank you with the promise of many uncomfortable hugs his friend’s way. With awareness came renewed purpose and Lex focused his attention on his controlled descent.

  Below him, Vonn extended a hand as Errat reached the bottom. The massive warborn grabbed Vonn around the forearm as he zipped out of the shaft. Both men grunted above the sound of his decent, and Lex was confused as Errat sailed in an odd arc before flipping and passing from Lex’s view. A second later his head appeared over the hole at the same impossible angle as Vonn’s.

  Seraphine was next and Errat had no issue controlling the small weight of her teenage body. Next came Simon, who lost control of his slide and bounced off the walls of the shaft before shooting from the end of the shaft like a bullet from a rifle. Errat lurched and grabbed the lich lord by his belt, redirecting his momentum and as the others had before him, Simon disappeared from view.

  With the hiss of the other’s descent now gone, Lex heard the abomination right on top of him. It was close and getting closer. A dozen low murmurs came from above and then, perhaps sensing their quarry’s imminent escape, they all howled.

  Lex scowled at the noise but kept his focus on the hole. Errat returned, his hand held out to Lex, strong and steady. “I will catch you, friend Lex.” Lex gulped and focused when something sharp stabbed into his shoulder, knocking him from the ladder. He held back a scream as a prompt filled his mind.

  You have been infected with Chaos Necrosis.

  You have been speared by the necrotic barb of a dire chaos abomination. This creature is a chaos construct made from the amalgamated remains of a dozen or more corpses. These corpses are undergoing accelerated decay brought on by the ravages of chaos. Because of this decay, the barb is covered in rotting flesh that has now entered your bloodstream and is spreading.

  Chaos Necrosis will inflict 5 points of damage every ten minutes until the infection is purged. You will also lose one point from each of your abilities every twenty minutes until the infection is purged. If your health or any of your attributes reach zero, you will die only to be ‘reborn’ as a mindless chaos thrall.

  Lex grunted through the pain, and a small part of him was thankful the beast had attacked him. With his Analyze skill unavailable, it was the only reason he knew any of the dire chaos abomination's abilities. It did not explain why his infection had not filled him with fear. I must be in shock.

  The barb was still in his shoulder and the line grew taut as the creature wrenched it back. The barb dug deeper, and Lex screamed and was slammed against the wall. The impact stalled his momentum, and he flipped awkwardly in the compact space. His head cracked against a rung of the ladder and his knee crunched against the wall.

  The barb acted like a fishing hook and now that he was facing the beast he saw it was attached to a tentacle-like tongue emerging from the creature's mouth. Bile rose in Lex’s throat as he realized the fleshy rope was made from human entrails.

  The good news; he was still conscious. The bad; the dire chaos abomination was nearly close enough to swallow him whole. It roared in triumph and expanded its teeth lined mouth to near the width of the shaft, ready to envelop Lex.

  “Bugger,” Lex said and extended his middle finger, the missing knuckle a badge of honor.

  21

  Lex fought every instinct to close his eyes as the abomination’s jaw opened to swallow him. The beast’s slathering maw reminded Lex of a fleshy garbage disposal wreathed with teeth. Its mouth quaked in excitement
or perhaps it was just the twitch of muscle fibers ready to snap. Neither option was acceptable to Lex.

  He turned both hands palm up and fired a Dual Casting of Order Bolts into the soft flesh of the beast’s palate. If his fate was to die by digestion, he would damn well give the abomination indigestion.

  Some of those poison carrots would be handy right about now.

  The searing blades of silver-blue light savaged the creature's mouth, and it slammed its head back and forth in pain. It smashed against the walls of the shaft, slowing it just enough that its snapping jaws missed Lex.

  Lex kicked upwards with his boot, sinking his foot up to the ankle into the mucus-laden slit of the beast’s nostrils. The boot stuck, glued tight by the muck of the creature’s snot. Lex grimaced in disgust and pushed off with his other foot, yanking the stuck foot free. His stamina bar wailed, but the effort amounted to nothing as the beast gained on him.

  Then the sweetest voice he'd ever heard reached his ears.

  “I have you, friend Lex.”

  A strong hand grabbed Lex by the back of his robes just as he emerged from the hole at the bottom of the shaft. Vertigo overtook him as an odd sky flashed by his vision. Then his eyes found Errat, who stood upside down like Spiderman. Arrayed around him were Lex’s other friends, also joining in on the gravity-defying fun.

  Lex’s orientation went wacky as conflicting vectors of gravity grabbed and tugged on him. In a flash, he assessed his surroundings. The hole at the bottom of the shaft had ejected him, like a bullet from a gun, into what he could only describe as space if space was a swirling maelstrom of reds, yellows, oranges, and blacks, flecked with pinpoints of light.

  Errat pulled hard and Lex’s stomach churned as down became up. His feet smacked hard onto the stone of the floor that had a moment ago been a ceiling. He was standing atop a huge flat disc and somehow he had stopped falling.

  Vonn opened his mouth to speak, but before any words came out, the dire chaos abomination burst from the opening and spun upwards. All eyes darted to the out-of-control blob of decaying corpses as it flailed helplessly like an astronaut who’d lost his tether.

  Unfortunately, the beast was still tethered to Lex via the barb in his shoulder. As it spun upwards, the tentacle grew taut and then yanked Lex from the surface of the disc. He screamed and black stars sparked in his vision.

  He drifted up, and without warning, gravity lost its pull on him. His arms and legs flailed desperately but failing, to find purchase. Just before he was out of reach, Errat grabbed him around the ankle. His motion slowed, but the barb tore more of his flesh. Despite the weight of dozens of corpses, the barb was not pulled free and through his screams, Lex heard Errat grunt.

  The tentacle jerked and the barb tore deeper into Lex’s flesh, drawing his eyes upwards. The beast’s mouth was wide, and it convulsed like a man about to hurl. Instead of vomit bursting forth, it retracted the tentacle, and the beast pulled itself closer. Errat’s grip slid down to Lex’s foot.

  “Friends, Errat is losing his grip.”

  Lex howled in fear and pain and unleashed Flames. Jets of fire scoured the barbed entrails, charring the flesh black. Howls of rage burst from the creature. Then, a pair of pustulant boils pushed through the flesh at its shoulders.

  The boils expanded outwards, their surface growing taut before they exploded like squeezed zits. Another pair of barbed entrails punched towards the ground, their sharp tips sinking into the stone like a mountain climber’s pitons. Both tendrils roiled with chaotic energy, like grounding wires hit by magma colored lightning.

  A second later, the tentacle impaling Lex snapped, and the two ends recoiled into the beast and Lex like halves of a rubber band. The pain lessened but the sudden lack of tension surprised both Errat and Lex. Lex fell on top of the warborn and both men hit the ground. Lex ceased casting Flames, barely preventing the mana from feeding back upon him.

  “Ouch,” he muttered as his head slammed against the ground.

  Debuff Added: Stunned.

  You have been hit on the head. You are stunned and cannot do anything that requires concentration or makes use of a skill.

  Cooldown: 1 minute.

  The abomination hurled and gagged again. Lex knew it was about to spit another barbed tentacle at him, but the Stun debuff prevented him from mounting a defense. He opened his mouth, desperate for help, but no words came.

  Another tentacle spat from its throat, aiming for Lex. Errat raised his arm like a knight with a shield, except the warborn bore no shield. The barb sunk into Errat’s forearm, where it lodged between the radius and ulna.

  The abomination gagged and hurled again and Errat screamed as his arm bent high into an odd angle. With a grunt the warborn brought his free hand up in support, grasping the barb.

  Vonn and Simon both sent volleys of magical missiles at the beast, and though it bellowed in rage and pain, it did not release Errat. It retracted the barb further, dragging Errat across the stone. Ragged breaths raged through Lex as he tried to stand but stumbled and fell.

  The abomination pulled itself closer. In moments, it would be close enough to bring its jaws down upon the warborn, and there was nothing Lex could do. Errat looked down on Lex and smiled, his eyes saying goodbye.

  “No,” Lex squeaked, and he tried to get to his feet, tried to cast a spell, tried to do anything to save his friend. But his arms felt like jelly and his legs refused to obey even the simplest of commands. He had failed.

  But Seraphine did not.

  From the corner of his vision, Lex saw Seraphine activate The Ring of the Zipping Chameleon and move faster than Furrick’s body ever could on its own. She climbed up Errat’s body like a toddler on a jungle gym, spun and sliced through the mouth tentacle. Freed from his bond, Errat collapsed.

  But Seraphine still fought. As Errat fell to his knees, she pushed off his shoulders into a graceful backflip. Her trajectory took her past one of the two barbed anchors still holding the abomination in place. Both blades flashed out, severing the tension-filled cord with ease.

  Lex wanted to cheer, but he could only push a spittle laden chortle from his stunned body. Inside he was rejoicing and his swears were erudite. His joy was short-lived however, for Seraphine did not complete her agile tuck and roll. Whorls of chaotic energy hummed across her skin and she fell limp.

  Without the ability to slow her fall, she hit the ground hard to the crack of bones and the thwack of flesh. Above them, the abomination was spinning like a blimp who’d lost all but one of its mooring lines. Vonn swung his blade towards the final anchor when the abomination sent a pulse of chaotic energy surging through the mooring. It punched into the ground.

  The physical structure of the stone lost all cohesion and spears of magma colored rock exploded upwards. Vonn danced by one and then another but the third caught him in the side, right above the hip, and lifted him off the ground. He screamed, dropped his sword and brought both hands up to support his weight.

  Several more pustules began to burst through the abomination’s skin. Lex knew he needed to do something. He refused to let this horrific caricature of life kill his friends. Despite the churning in his guts and the swirling vision, Lex stood and swayed as he readied his hammer. He was about to yell a final challenge when a hand fell onto his forearms and pushed his hammer down.

  “Whash … thur … furck?” Lex sputtered.

  “I’ve got this,” Simon said in a calm voice and pushed past Lex. He walked up and placed a hand on the thick strand of bloody entrails that was the abomination’s only lifeline. The makeshift rope pulsed as if still engaged in the process of digestion and another burst of chaos energy zipped down its length. Purple-black energy flared around Simon’s hand, disrupting the flow of Chaos Magic.

  “You may be Princes in this realm,” Simon said, speaking not to the dire chaos abomination, but to its master, the Prince of Chaos who’d made the beast from the corpses of the dead. “But I am Simon, the Barrow King, and death is my domain.�
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  Purple-black mana flowed around Simon’s arm and filled his body. For a moment, Lex imagined he could see the skull of Ouzeriuo glowing through the head of Simon's reanimated Dirge body.

  It's the shock, he thought.

  Death Magic raced up the tentacle and burst into the abomination’s mouth like a shotgun shell. The beast spasmed as if its insides were boiling. A wave of violet tinged with black spread through its body. The beast’s skin dried, like desiccated flesh exposed to desert heat. It spasmed in agony, but still, Simon fed Death Magic into the tentacle.

  The pustule anchoring the tendril to the abomination heaved upwards, ejecting a thick spur of bone and a thick clot of blood, pus and something else viler. With a sickening slurp the anchor separated from the abomination Without the pull of gravity to keep it close, the beast was adrift, spinning skyward.

  Simon fell to his knees and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The skin of his face grew even more ashen and sallow. If he hadn’t before, Simon sure looked undead now. Lex hobbled up to the teen, the last of his Stun debuff wearing off, and caught him as he collapsed.

  He cast a quick glance at Vonn and saw Errat pulling the rogue off the spike of stone. The warborn was the group’s healer and would tend to both their wounds. Seraphine coughed herself awake and then winced on realizing she’d cracked several ribs. Lex returned his gaze to Simon and a moment later breathed a sigh of relief as Simon’s eyes creaked open.