My backpack, flask, dagger, sword... Thank God, or rather, thank Alan the Dark. My sword was found nearby. For a split second the image of the sword, falling from above and piercing my body, flashed through my mind, making me shiver. Talk about the sword of Damocles...
Yet, my fur cloak disappeared without a trace. It must’ve gotten caught on something when I fell. Well, to hell with it. It was noticeably warmer down below, so I’d manage without it. One more, this time careful, sip of the Tincture. Looking downwards, I tensed up; there was a blood-soaked hole in my T-shirt, but the Tincture treated damaged area had already hardened and was covered with a thin layer of elastic, snow-white foam. It was nice to see a neatly healed patch of skin instead of an ugly wound; it even managed to fix my mood. I guessed that the healing process, as well as almost everything in this world, functioned on the basis of nanotechnology. Such a blow would have killed an ordinary human, not to mention falling into the lair. Maybe it helped that I didn’t hit the walls while I was falling, being lucky enough not to break my neck.
Stop.
Now, I never did distribute those ten extra stat points in the end. I had planned to do it after having evaluated my farming capabilities. Generally, I didn’t lack energy, but extra HP would also come in handy right about now; especially since each point slightly accelerated regeneration. Okay, five for endurance and five for wisdom...
Oh, the Tempest Blade is over. I recast it, feeling a certain weakness overcome me. Right now, it was either sink or swim. So the second buff, Wind’s Breath, would also come in handy...
Player detected. Imposed Curse of Idleness (2). You will lose 2 HP and energy every second.
One more creature joined in on the party. One more and my regeneration would stop, as the inflow of the HP will be equal to the outflow. Those devils didn’t give me time to recover, Alan the Dark curse them...
Player detected. Imposed Curse of Idleness (3). You will lose 3 HP and energy every second.
Oh come on!
I didn’t have time to swear, as I heard a rapidly increasing rhythmic clatter. Clenching my teeth, I picked up my sword. Despite the Tincture, it still felt as if an invisible dagger was sticking out of my chest. As soon as I moved away from the passage to get some space, something resembling a stocky dog appeared in a hole dimly lit by the roots. It was around two feet high at the withers, with reddish-brown scaly skin that glew from the inside. Illuminating the darkness with its body, the creature galloped forth and jumped, almost hitting the arch with a pair of sharp horns
Young Horned Demon
Creature of Chaos
Level 10
HP: 436
And right after that:
A target has been detected. Activate Soulcatcher: yes / no?
Chapter 18
Shouting “HELL YEEEAAH!” in my mind, I pressed the shining button in the active menu. I had no time to check how it worked. Jumping out of the hole, the creature silently leaped forth; a maw the size of a bucket swung open, exposing a row of red and yellow smoking fangs.
The injury reduced my dexterity, forcing me to disregard any acrobatic maneuvers and go into full defense. But desperate times give rise to desperate ideas. I threw the sword forward; horizontally, like a staff, clutching the handle and the area near the tip, and put both hands in front of me at full length. The creature’s open mouth met the sharp edge of the blade. The pressure was such that the blow knocked me down. We flew backward, slammed into the wall and collapsed onto the floor...
Young Horned Demon has been defeated!
XP gained: 1,046
Current XP: 20,867/38,440
Skill unlocked: Chaos Beast Hunter
Rank 1 (1/100)
Chaos faction members take 1% more damage and cause less damage.
Ignoring the message that popped up in my vision, I jumped to my feet much faster than I expected. The pain suddenly subsided, restoring mobility and dexterity. The Demon was lying near the wall, dead as a doornail. The sword was sticking out of its mouth, having hit the cervical vertebrae. Black, steaming blood flowed from the terrible wound onto the soil, burning it like acid. I quickly looked through the logs. Well, with such a blow it was logical for Assassin’s Gambit to work for the first time in two days of farming. I was sincerely glad that Flame wasn’t double-edged, otherwise I would have slashed my hand to the bone with such a grip, or even lost a hand.
Having pressed the still warm body under with my boot, I pulled out the sword and froze, listening to the dead silence of the lair. It looked like this Demon was alone, which was strange. Although the creature had been destroyed, the outflow of energy didn’t change, and I was losing three HPs per second, almost as much as my natural regeneration gave. Looking at the bestiary, where information about the enemy was automatically added, I grunted in puzzlement. The Demon had no abilities, except for inflicting physical damage with its Fire Aura, but it couldn’t drain energy.
I needed to find out who it was playing tricks on me as soon as possible.
Actually, what else was I gonna do? Sit and wait for mobs to drain my HP? No, it was better to fight than face such an inglorious end. Still, I was relatively lucky that the lair was young; I wouldn’t have been able to cope with an enemy right off the bat otherwise. Now, before dealing with the really serious things, I needed to deal with Soulcatcher...
A loud and desperate “muuuu-rrr-meow” sounded from above and something weighty fell onto my head, causing my neck to crackle treacherously. The moment I jumped aside, the thing leaped to the ground and turned out to be... My Direcat. Fury, not at all embarrassed by the fact that she had nearly maimed her master, immediately swept the bottom of the lair in search of danger. She ran up to the Demon’s corpse, sniffed it, and bounced away with disgust; she didn’t like the rancid smell of sulfuric acid. Amazed by her appearance, I looked up and saw Tinnie float in front of my face. Little arms folded on her chest, the Fairy’s bright and agitated cornflower eyes glowed in the light of the dusk, as if saying: “So you really think that our conscience would allow us to stay with the small folk when our master is in danger?”
So, pets could enter the dungeon that their master after was it even after the entrance had been shut!
The Dions had already gone away, tired of raging near the entrance, allowing the pets to slip by unnoticed. Well, to hell with abstract reasoning! I was just glad to see them!
I finally received more detailed information about the Soulcatcher.
Soulcatcher
Rank 1 (1/100)
Unique skill
Deals astral damage to the Forces of Chaos equal to PD x4 for 30 seconds, restoring 30% of damage dealt in HP and energy to the caster. Ignores any defense of the Forces of Chaos.
Cost: 1 Essence Crystal
Cooldown: 1 minute.
Note: Development after Rank 3 is variable.
My lips stretched in an enthusiastic grin. I liked the “ignores any defense of the Forces of Chaos part the most. I looked thoughtfully at the Demon’s corpse. So, that’s what Soulcatcher does. My HP filled up thanks to it and I now had 486 out of 570. The Assassin’s Gambit killed the creature too soon, and the effect stopped halfway, not allowing me to fully recover. Wait a minute... It needs an entire Crystal to activate? Damn it. If so, I would quickly run out of Crystals; better use it sparingly.
Player detected. Imposed Curse of Idleness(4). You will lose 4 HP and energy every second.
It was time to act. Resolutely stepping toward the Demon’s corpse, I mentally commanded the system to “dispel” it; once the body turned into weightless dust, I picked up the loot — a dimly glowing Essence Crystal and a couple of sharp horns the length of two palms, marked as “crafting material”. Now I knew how to replenish my stocks.
Tinnie dived at me like an attacking fighter, yelling with joy, snatched the Crystal from my hand, immediately absorbed it and lit up like a Christmas tree. Her XP scale grew noticeably. So why didn’t she like the Crystals from my backpack? Why was
this one okay? None of this made sense. Still, at least she “ate” something. I felt more at ease now. Having thought for a moment, I showed the Demon’s horns into my bag; I couldn’t fit much into it, it wasn’t that kind of game. On the other hand, I could always throw unnecessary items away. Without hesitation, I took another Essence Crystal from the bag, one of those I had gotten farming on the surface, and put it into the blade handle, increasing its magic damage by 5%.
“Well, girls, shall we?”
Tinnie nodded readily, her golden locks flying in artistic disarray, forming a shaggy luminous crown around her miniature form; her wings buzzing intensely. Fury only narrowed her emerald eyes and slightly bared her teeth. I grunted approvingly. My Direcat was a serious lady; she didn’t allow herself to show unnecessary emotions, preparing for the future role of a formidable fighter. I could only regret that that hadn’t happened yet, as I needed protection and help already.
Player detected. Imposed Curse of Idleness(5). You will lose 5 HP and energy every second.
Who the hell was doing that?
Mentally sending Tinnie ahead to light the way and ordering Fury to stay behind me — she was still a kitten after all — I lowered my head, entered the dark hole and moved toward the dangers that were waiting ahead.
I almost slammed myself into my next opponent.
Around the corner, I ran into some kind of rounded swelling that was sticking out of the wall. If it were not for Tinnie floating ahead, I would have missed it; although I tried to be extremely collected and attentive. Twilight reigned in the dungeon, dispersed only by surreal illumination from the root system that had wrapped itself around everything, but the “swelling” itself did not glow at all. No wonder I almost missed it.
Tinnie floated in front of the disgusting foe, illuminating it with her small form and squeaking something warningly, pointing her finger at it. And then the creature stirred. The leathery eyelid swung open, revealing a huge caustic-yellow iris of an eye the size of a dinner plate with a purple pupil. With a quiet “boink”, the fleshy eyeball moved two feet away from the wall, hopping on a thick leg of intertwined blood vessels and muscles. Tinnie quickly moved to the side, staring at the troublemaker with such malice that she would’ve burned him with her glare if she could.
Young Head-Eye
Creature of Chaos
Level 10
HP: 224
“Careful, Tinnie!” I shouted.
Reacting to my voice, the Head-Eye immediately turned to me, the purple pupil suddenly parted, revealing a dark hole...
Without hesitation, I shot Flamespear into this abomination. The following explosion was huge! The Eye ignited like gunpowder and started pounding furiously against the wall, trying in vain to put out the flame. Literally twisting in pain, it had forgotten all about me. It had no natural resistance to fire, as the Demon did, and its agony lasted no longer than ten seconds. Once there was nothing but smoking embers left of the monster, I came closer, wincing at the stench of burning flesh. Sadly, there was no loot. Well, information was also a tool of survival. The updated bestiary informed me that Head-Eyes had two abilities: Curse of Idleness, which disappeared immediately after its death and Acid Spew, which it had no time to demonstrate to us. Their aggro area was a hundred feet. So, somewhere further, very close, four more similar things were brazenly sucking the life out of me while remaining out of sight.
Damn it! I was so focused on my beloved self that I had completely forgotten to check on my pets. To my great relief, a quick inspection revealed that there were no debuffs on the Direcat at all. Perhaps the system didn’t register her as a possible target as she was still a “kitten”. It would be nice... But something strange was going on with Tinnie. Her HP bar would blink every now and again, lowering by four points, and immediately filling up again to one hundred. She, too, had four debuffs on her! Everything that affected me, also affected her! Only then did I notice that the Astral Recharge sign was shining next to her icon. So that’s what was going on... The buff must’ve appeared immediately after she had absorbed that esc. Without it, Tinnie’s HP would have been depleted within 20-30 seconds. Her current regeneration was simply incredible.
The Direcat stood up and leaned against the wall with her front paws, sniffed the remaining embers, snorted with disgust and stepped back.
Hunger: 60/100
Alas, we could care less for food when the Fairy and I were being eaten alive.
Mentally telling the pets to stay, I went around the corner and peered into the darkness... I barely managed to pull back. Acidic spit flew past me, hit the wall and instantly made deep holes in it. Without waiting for the Head-Eyes to reload, I rushed into the darkness and crossed the dozen or so steps that were between me and my foes at lightning speed. All four “good-lookers” were growing out of the walls in close proximity — two on the left and two on the right. They glared at me, opening their eyes. With a fierce blow of Flame’s blade, empowered by Searing Flash, I cut deep into the leg of the nearest creature. Crit! The decapitated beast fell onto the earthen floor and rolled into darkness, leaving behind a hissing trail of acid. Without stopping, I hit the next one. Rebound, reversal, hit, another hit. Two more “balls” jumped onto the ground. Feeling as if I was chopping something wooden, I could feel the recoil even in my teeth. The last pest managed to spit, spraying acid onto the wall directly above my head. I barely had time to duck. A few drops fell on my unprotected skin; it felt like a knife slash. Hissing very similar to my Direcat, I activated the accumulated attack points and obliterated the Head-Eye’s noggin using Ice Squall after which, in a fit of rage, I kicked it into the darkness, to have fun with his mates.
I stuck the sword into the ground, hastily wiped the acid off my neck and cheeks with my sleeve, sat down to activate meditative recovery and, gritting my teeth, just endured it… Endure the pain for a few minutes until natural regeneration kicks in…
Chapter 19
The Curse finally ended, but the Acid had its own debuff, with an effect similar to that of the Curse. When this debuff ended, too, the recovery process sped up. I decided not to waste the Tincture unless absolutely necessary as I had a very limited supply of it. Having a rag or something to clean all sorts of muck off of me wouldn’t hurt either. Acid had bitten holes through my gear, decreasing its durability. However, it gave me a new skill.
Trial by Acid
Grants resistance to chemically aggressive elements.
In order to raise it from rank 1 and the unfortunate 1% to rank 2 and 6%, I would have, more or less, dunk myself into an acid bath. Well, it was a start if anything. The mechanics of this world were seemingly trying to save the player from suffering unnecessarily, almost always giving them some bonus as compensation: increased resistance, skills, stats... This alone was enough to inspire me to push on no matter how hard it gets. I gently touched my cheek. The burn, though it had ceased to hurt, left behind a rough scar which would disappear soon enough.
After making sure that nobody was running at us from the tunnel, I checked the stocks in my backpack. Six escs, three pieces of Sleepy Pork’s Dried Meat — a funny beast, by the way, and a story for another time — and... Actually, that was all. The rest of the junk had nothing to do with HP regeneration. These were my miserable savings from the past two days. During farming there was no sparing the meat; the cold and legwork demanded regular nutrition for both me and the Direcat. Each player added their share to the common pot for the Traveler’s Breakfast. Which reminds me... Phage’s buff had just ended. I shook my head sadly. Here, in the lair, such scarce supplies wouldn’t last me long. I had to find a way to replenish them. Demons were mobile, and therefore more dangerous than Head-Eyes, but their loot would provide me with Crystals at least. But the Demons were hiding somewhere, probably plotting some dirty trick. Just in case, I offered Tinnie another Crystal, but she refused, circling around me anxiously instead. The pets could feel my pain. I then threw a piece of meat to Fury and looked thoughtfully a
t how she eagerly ate it. Her “hunger” bar changed its color from yellow to timid green.
You surely require a lot of attention, girls...
They had no really useful abilities just yet. Fury could paralyze a victim once per hour with her tail strike, but that didn’t help us much; that attack was better saved for the right moment, like the Tincture. Tinnie could bewitch enemies with Enchantress, but that would require a new Crystal, which meant that I would have to manage on my own for some time. Though, maybe her talent to see hidden things would find me a useful stash... But so far everything was empty. The lair might as well have no stashes at all.
Something seemed strange. The Fairy, being a unique magical creature of astral origin, had a 49% chance of evading physical attacks, and a 99% chance of evading magic attacks. These numbers appeared after recalculation, when my system stats were updated. Then how did the Head-Eye manage to put Curse of Idleness on her? Was that because of the huge difference in levels? Or was only a direct assault considered a magic attack, but passives still worked? A thought occurred to me; had it not been for the Crystal’s buff, I wouldn’t have been able to save Tinnie as I had no remedy for her. I had to be extra careful, lest I risked losing both my little wards. But the lair wouldn’t let me out until I dealt with the dwellers. I had no choice.
Player detected. Imposed Curse of Idleness. You will lose 1 HP and energy every second.
Discarding my thoughts, I got up. The break did me good, but it was time to move on. Right, there was something that I’d been planning on doing for a long time, but kept forgetting about it... Opening the settings, I turned off Energy Lock; not having to support the sword with my body’s energy would save me at least one point of it per second. I’ve only recently discovered this option, as it had clearly appeared after the update. Maybe I was wrong following Mashta’s advice and refusing a scabbard.
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