Impressions began to strike my mind, but my new charm held firm against them. I could feel stabbing sensations rushing to my brain, as well as psychic urges to simply walk forward and lay on the ground, but the iron will made such attempts useless. I simply waited out the beast, letting time pass. The longer I waited, the further Trig would get from us. Hopefully far enough to break the effects of the attack link.
“Lurrrrr,” the beast shrieked as it finally came within range of me. It leaned all the way up, towering high above me, its many mouths all hissing and shrieking. For a moment the slug-beast’s body was suspended above me, and the next it came down crashing with all its might.
This wasn’t really the devastating attack the beast thought it was dealing out, of course. Something that large, with movements so exaggerated, was easy to dodge without a sweat. By the time the long flailing slug was halfway to the ground, I was clean out of the way, watching as it crashed harmlessly into the skeletons. Without its psychic abilities, the Orphine was more or less useless.
I waited just a little more time, then fired a single shot at the beast with a regular arrow, praying that the wound would appear on the beast. Indeed! The arrow struck true and green blood began to drip down from the side of the bulbous grey creature. It grunted a little, then began to once again try to inch towards me, using its large, uselessly body as a makeshift club to slam at me.
I waited once more, arrows nocked on my flame bow. This fight had become easy, but…I couldn’t make the mistake of growing cocky. Anything could still happen. I had no clue what this creature was capable of. I waited a second as the creature rose and fired a slew of arrows into its stomach, targeting the mouths and the spaces in between the mouths, looking for weaknesses.
All of my arrows struck midair and simply froze while the beast reared up. In the blink of an eye, they turned their directions around and began sailing towards me at full speed.
I let out a curse as I leapt aside, the arrows narrowly missing me. A burning pain caught my leg and I looked down to see the long shaft of an iron arrow sticking out of my right knee. The pain was intense, but also somewhat numb, as if it had struck a nerve, slowly causing all sensation to fade. Why had I opted to keep my extra strength charm instead of the amorphous one?
Your armor piercing abilities were reflected, the bow warned as I staggered out of the way, now considerably slower than before. The beast came crashing down as I barely rolled out of the way, more agony rushing through my leg when I rolled over the arrow, forcing it deeper into my knee. I almost passed out from the sheer agony. So this was what it was like on the other end of my arrows.
The beast let out a deep, pleased grunt as I fell onto my back, scooting away from its body. The Orphine swung towards me, its eyestalks mocking me as it began to inch towards me. I tried to stand, but the injury to my leg was too much. A quick glance at my health revealed I was down nearly 40 percent from a single attack! Was I really that dangerous to myself?
“Get it together,” I hissed, trying to focus. The beast was letting its skittering legs carry it forward, rushing towards me as fast as something so big and uncoordinated could go. If it got atop me, those mouths would make short work of me, armor or no.
Focusing with all my might, I grabbed the top of the arrow shaft and snapped it off, so that it couldn’t get snagged on anything as I moved around. The arrowhead itself was barbed, so pulling it out would only cause even more damage to my knee. It would have to remain inside until I could surgically remove the damn thing.
Once the arrow shaft was no longer a major liability, I took a deep breath and rolled onto my stomach, pushing myself off the ground with both hands. Pain fired through the entire right side of my leg as I stood, but I ignored it. Pain was temporary, it was all in the mind. I had to keep moving.
I staggered forward, one step, two and then three, struggling to keep my footing. The bones beneath my feet had become deadly obstacles, forcing my leg to roll forward or backwards, sending more agony through me. A single injury was all it had taken to slow me down considerably. A single…surgically precise shot. The beast knew exactly what it was doing. It knew to strike me in the knee with my own attack.
As if sensing my thoughts, the Orphine let out a deep, self-satisfied grunt before heaving itself back up into the air, readying another slam attack. I made a feint, hoping to throw it off its game by pretending to draw an arrow and fire, instead just letting the arrow fall to the ground after I pulled the string. There was no ulterior motive in this feint, other than to get the creature to try and make a move, whether visible or not.
The beast did not react to the arrow trick and instead slammed towards me at full speed. I staggered out of the way once more, trying to give the beast a wide berth as it fell. Unfortunately, something invisible was in my path, some telekinetic force perhaps, and I found myself tripping over midair. The beast’s body came crashing down hard atop me. Thankfully I was able to turn my trip into an acrobatic roll, flattening myself out as best I could to disperse the impact.
The creature smashed into my body, but thanks to my armor and the fact that I had sank into the layer of bones beneath me, I took little damage. The weight of the creature was too evenly distributed to crush me, and the strength charm that I had been cursing a moment ago had allowed me to hold the creature up with relative ease. For all of that size, the beast was surprisingly light. Or perhaps I was just that strong.
Yet, before I could try and shove the damned thing off of me, the beast’s tiny legs stabbed into the ground, lifting it up just a little. It scuttled forward, over me, bringing one of its long, oval mouths right atop me. A hideous, purple proboscis came lolling out of the mouth, like a tongue. This wet, glistening appendage began jabbing down towards my head, trying to find a spot to pierce.
It must feed through some kind of suction system! Well, let’s see how it liked the taste of my fists! As the long purple proboscis moved straight to my throat, I reached up and grabbed hold of it tightly, crushing it with all my might. Thank goodness I was wearing rough spun gloves that gave me a firm grasp on the tongue. The creature shrieked through a few other mouths in surprise, having perhaps falsely believed that I had been stunned by the slam attack. It tried to rear back, but there was no chance of it getting itself free from my grasp.
As it pulled up, I pulled down, ripping the appendage free from the beast’s mouth. It let out a hideous shriek and I was splattered with green blood as I tore not only the tongue, but a strange assortment of glands and innards clean out of the beast’s undercarriage.
“Ah gross!” I gasped and gagged as I continued to pull on the tongue, tearing more out of the beast as it rolled onto its back, thrashing wildly, trying to get free. Everything seemed connected to the creature’s proboscis, or at least enough to cause real trouble.
As if it were one long, hideous rope, I continued to pull on the tongue, ripping it out of the beast as fast as I could while getting on my feet. The pain in my leg had subsided, though I wasn’t entirely sure that was a good sign. Either way, I was strong enough to completely tear the beast’s proboscis and whatever attached organs clean out of the thing.
The Orphine groaned, still lying on its back, its little legs all pointing in the air at the same time. Blood dripped out of the mouth I had torn the organs from, and it seemed to be in poor health. That had been a tough fight, but it looked like this was the end of it. I raised my bow to fire one last volley, to put an end to the beast.
But something stopped me from firing. Perhaps it was the pain in my leg, or the fact that I knew it was intelligent enough to play dead. Maybe it was just fear of ending up skewered once more, perhaps in an area even more vital than the joint in between my knees. Regardless, I found myself lowering my bow. I merely waited, watching the creature intently.
Eventually the monster began to realize that its bluff had failed. Though I had injured it quite a bit, the beast rolled over, more or less able to move just as before
. It had been trying to encourage me to finish it off, to fire my shots and once again become target practice for my own arrows. Not this time!
The Orphine was moving a little faster than before, perhaps emboldened by the adrenaline now shooting through its system. Some monsters grew stronger the more wounded they became. Though, it was hard to tell just how much damage I had inflicted. Whatever I yanked out of the beast wasn’t vital enough to stop it from wanting to fight.
It charged towards me, inching as fast as its sluggish body could, forcing me to back away. My knee was stiffening now, for each time I had to bend my leg, the arrow was digging deeper and deeper into me. My health had dropped by 5% the last time I had stood up and now, the pain was beginning to take a toll.
I grabbed an accelerated healing potion off my belt and raised it to my lips, only for the glass to be yanked out of my hands at lightning speeds. “Damn it!” I shouted, trying in vain to catch the bottle as it flew into one of the skeletal walls, shattering. The beast seemed to understand potions as well.
Chortling, the Orphine made another lunging slam at me, raising itself high and crashing down with all its weight. I swept the ground behind me with my good leg and then kicked off on one foot, using my strength and agility to leap with one leg. I sprang away from the attack, but my landing was a mess. I crashed into the sea of bones and merely lay face down, gasping for air. The numbness in my leg was spreading now, throughout my feet, back and even my arms.
“What’s happening?” I grunted, trying to catch my breath. My health was still dropping, by bits and pieces. My arrows weren’t poison-tipped, nor were they enchanted with anything special. So why was my wound getting worse?
Get up! Josiah’s Storm urged me, but a wooziness was beginning to take over. I tried to reach for my potions, but my arms were growing so heavy. The spit! I realized too late that the beast’s saliva had splattered all over me. I hadn’t even bothered to wipe it off me, opting instead to rip the tongue out. As a result, I was covered in gunk. Why hadn’t I thought of this before? If the beast used a proboscis to drain its victims, chances were it used some kind of paralytic agent to get their victims to sit nice and still. It had learned that psychic attacks could not lure me in, now it was using its backup methods.
I struggled to move my arms, but it was no use. I had been too inattentive, too focused on fighting the beast to figure out the mouth spatter was a weapon unto itself. My limbs were heavy and numb. Time seemed to slow down as my mind kicked into overdrive. I didn’t know how long the paralysis would last, but the Orphine was realizing that I wasn’t moving. It ceased inching and instead switched to its normal method of crawling over to reach me.
What could I do? Change out a charm? I had a few options…but wait! I had the charm trick! My arms were useless, but…what if I used my new ring’s Telekinesis option? Perhaps the beast was now lulled into a false sense of security, thinking that I was paralyzed fully. If that were the case, it wouldn’t know what I was planning.
I focused on my new ability, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand on end as a jolt of electrical energy surged through me, all the way to my index finger. My mana drained instantly as I selected the Telekinetic trait. 10% of my health could be burned to grant me two points of strength…6 points for 30% of my health? Or should I go for more? Or less?
What to do? The Orphine was immune to mental attacks, but did Telekinesis count? No, it couldn’t possibly count. My Iron Will had not made me immune to that trip attack it had done on me. Time was running out; the beast was now slithering over me, several proboscises all eagerly hanging out of its various mouths, ready to take me down as quickly as possible. My options were few here, so why not make the riskier play?
In the end, I burned 40% of my health, dropping me down to a meager 20. This would trigger my Blood Rage just in case my current plan didn’t work out. Though 8 points of telekinetic strength was probably more than enough.
I felt two sensations at the same time. The first was a sinking feeling, as if I were falling into nothingness, just on the verge of collapse from exhaustion. The second was a surge of power existing outside of my own body. I became incredibly aware of the world around me, not simply seeing everything, but also feeling it. As if I could simply reach out and touch anything.
I didn’t have time to test out how this type of telekinesis worked. Instead, I simply focused on the beast above me, reaching up with my invisible arms. Eight points of strength was more than just superhuman. It was possibly Titan level strength, for the snarling, gasping slugbeast floated in the air like a soap bubble on the wind. It could do nothing save rotate helplessly, wriggling and writhing around in a feeble attempt to break free of the forces that held it. Telekinesis did not count as a mental attack. Thank goodness.
Suspending the creature above me, I focused on pulling it apart. Grabbing both ends of the slug in midair, the invisible forces that I controlled obeyed without hesitation. The Orphine burst like a gruesome bag of blood and guts as it was ripped in half, torn to pieces by forces far greater than it could resist. I was drenched by a torrent of green blood, but I didn’t care. The paralytic agent had worn off thanks to the Blood Rage’s adrenaline surge, allowing me to sit up and shield my face just in time.
Uncovering my face, I saw that indeed the Orphine was dead. And what was most curious about the beast’s now scattered corpse wasn’t the sheer amount of blood, guts and organs the thing had. Rather it was the large, shimmering blue gem the size of a boulder sitting in the middle of the viscera. An octagonal gem.
Chapter 25
“So this was how that slug was able to control minds?” Trig asked as he pressed his face against the gem, trying to peer through the inside of it. The young lad had been a champ when he saw the battlefield strewn with body parts and organs, somehow managing not to empty his lunch. Instead, he became instantly transfixed on the gem and was trying to figure out how it worked.
“I guess so,” I said from my position on the ground. My regeneration had kicked in shortly after the arrow had lodged itself in my knee and now, I was in a precarious situation. The tissue had regenerated around the arrow, but the nerve could not be repaired due to the presence of the barbed arrowhead. My right leg was, more or less, in a state of complete and total disrepair. Accelerated healing wouldn’t fix this issue. Only tearing the arrowhead out and letting the wound reheal itself would fix this issue. But such an act, without the proper tools and hygiene equipment, could kill me in the process if we weren’t careful. My natural regeneration was not fast enough to stop me from bleeding to death and, as far as I knew, an infection could destroy me like anyone else. Worse yet, if an infection got inside my body while it healed up around it…I’d have no way of observing the symptoms from the outside. At least not until it was way too late.
So for now, I was hobbled. A few long femurs from the bone pile would make for a fine crutch for now. Worst case scenario, I’d have to use Trig’s Ilrex charm to sprout me an extra pair of legs. I shivered at such a thought, however. Physical transformation was…horrific, to be generous. No matter how much therapy I had undergone, no matter what my handler had tried to tell me, it was impossible for me to bring myself to use transformation charms. That didn’t stop Jenevive, my handler, from forcing me to keep my wyvern charm with me, in the hopes that someday I’d get the courage to try using it again. Who knows? Maybe the threat of death would give me the courage to sprout some extra legs or something.
“You okay? You seem a little distant,” Trig asked as he tapped on the gem a few times. There was a faint light coming from within, a blue hue that seemed to shift and move about. As if something was alive within.
“I burned a ton of health, tore the damn thing in half and lost use of my right leg almost completely,” I grumbled. “I am definitely done with today.”
“Cheer up! I think we found the vessel! I mean come on, he’s blue, he gave the beast mind control powers, and he shines!” Tri
g said, patting the stone once more. “This has got to be him.”
“I don’t think gems are hes,” I replied. “Or shes. Or anything really. Whatever they are…they seem so utterly foreign.”
Trig shrugged. “Well, I’m hearing a man’s voice.”
I turned to look at him. “What?”
“I said I’m hearing a man’s voice,” he replied. Still staring at the crystal. I realized that since he had arrived to this area, he hadn’t left the gem alone. At all times, he was touching it. Almost holding onto it.
“What’s uh, what’s ‘he’ saying?”
“Hmmm?” Trig asked, not turning away from the stone. “Who?”
“The voice?”
“Oh I’m just….” Trig trailed off for a moment. There was silence for almost a full minute before he spoke again. “Kidding around is all. Just having a laugh.” His words were growing monotone, slow and disjointed. As if he was speaking the words without knowing what they meant. Just like the Eldest!
“Okay, that’s enough,” I said, hoisting myself up with my makeshift crutch. I hobbled up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re done playing with the gem now, let’s get back to the wagon and figure out what to do next.”
Trig did not reply. He merely stared at the gem, face blank. Eyes glazed over. The Fylk charm had its limits. Whatever this gem was doing, its power was far beyond the minor compulsion level.
“Come on,” I said, digging my hand underneath his pauldron. “Let’s go.” I tried to yank him off the gem, but he shrugged me off and slipped to the right, getting further away from me.
“I’m busy,” he muttered. “B…. busy.”
Balancing on my good foot, I decided to repurpose my crutch to knock some sense into the young man. I swung the bone club into the back of his skull, knocking him clean over.
“Ahhhh what the hell! Do you get some kind of commission for every time you cause me grievous bodily harm?” Trig yelped as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head.
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