necariin
patreon
Chapter 680
🕑 Added 2023-11-27 13:00:05 +0000 UTCEnjoy!
ToC
* * *
The inner bailey of Fortress Fenwald was the largest portion of the structure by far, easily taking up six football fields worth of space at the base of the mountain. Raised up from the swamps that clung tight to the broken walls, it was one of the few places dry enough to accommodate the sheer number of tents, cookfires, and people that had followed the Daynes into the mountain fastness. Yet despite their numbers, a large portion of the inner bailey was left completely empty.
Felix had learned that the Dragoons had been using the space to perform drills and spars, but for the past few days, the venerable warriors had withdrawn into themselves, meeting in closed-door conferences as the machinery of war began to turn in earnest. The Daynes were already dispatching scouts, and Harn’s work in the forge had grown as he and his helpers got busy repairing everything from breastplates to wagon axles.
On this particular morning, the fourth since coming to Fenwald, Felix had claimed the field. Or rather, his students had.
Two spars were underway, each of them ferocious. The first was well beyond the capacity of the refugees to even perceive, except when the two Companions came to a momentary stop between movements.
Pit versus Hallow. It’s an interesting match up, Felix mused. He sat atop a high wall on the central keep, watching and providing input when needed. That wasn’t often.
Pit was in his Dire Hound form, mostly out of convenience. He could still access all his stats and Skills with his Mask on, but his maneuverability was much improved. As a Primordial Storm Tyrant he could turn on a dime, but the chances of him swiping his foxtail into a row of tents was too high to risk. Now he dodged around a hail of crystalline darts—each of them larger than his entire false Body. Pit was managing with ease, however, and his Spirit thrummed with confidence.
Hallow was a bit more frenetic. She had grown by over a foot thanks to all the Mana crystals they’d found in the False Nests, not to mention the other materials she'd scavenged in the swamp. Since Harn had discovered a bounty of precious metals in the forge, she’d also been fed a steady diet of mithril and orichalcum chips. Whatever small pieces Harn could spare.
All in all, she had cracked five feet just that morning, and the effect on the rest of her physique was impressive. Her normally lumpy and vaguely humanoid form had been refined. Smooth, metal-flecked stone stretched across her torso and down her limbs. Her hands, normally large clubs, had become stubby fingers and a rudimentary thumb. Her face, of course, was still roughly oval, but a vague face had been shaped into it. Her mouth was a simple slash in the stone and her nose was an overly large lump, but her hair and eyes were formed of delicately shaped Mana crystals. Glowing blackened-green, they were the most striking thing about the Homunculus, at least until she ejected a fan of darts from her forearms.
Pit dodged them again, hopping continuously as the daggers embedded themselves into the soft soil of the inner bailey.
"You'll have to do better than that," Pit taunted.
Hollow did not answer, but her glowing eyes narrowed as dart after dagger-sized dart followed the agile hound. Finally, Pit stumbled, stepping on the ground and finding only jagged crystal everywhere.
Felix leaned over, peering down. Clever.
Pit, clearly realizing that he'd been cornered by his own evasiveness, rushed toward the Homunculus. But Hollow wasn't done yet.
"Hollow Call!" she shouted.
Her voice was an echo of many, a hundred tones all at once. At the edges of the inner bailey, where the swamp still reigned, five Lurkwood Crawlers emerged. They were still very slow, especially compared to Pit, but their vines were long and far faster. They shot at the tenku, five dozen all at once, and Pit had
“Dawn’s Advent!”
Crescents of golden light burst from the Dire Hound’s mouth, huge arcs of solid Mana that sliced easily through the tendril vines. Pit landed, dodging three more before biting through a fourth. He ran to the side in a burst of speed, chased by another volley of vines.
Pit’s Dawn’s Advent is level 83!
Oh, but Pit’s clever too.
From his vantage point, Felix saw what Hallow could not; the Crawler vines blocked her view. Under the cover of the swarming tendrils, Pit activated his Gloaming Shroud and all but vanished…before racing under them entirely.
Tap.
Pit’s paw met Hollow's chest gently, and his shroud dropped. "You lose," he said, grinning cheerfully.
All at once the tension in Hollow's frame evaporated and she sagged to the ground. "You are too fast.”
“I am,” Pit said, puffing out his little doggy chest. “But you're getting better.”
Her lumpy head looked up at him, hopeful. "Am I?"
Pit nodded. “Totally are. Your tactics are smart and you’re faster at using them. I had to use three different Skills to get close to you. When we started, I didn’t use any.”
Hallow straightened slightly. “Oh. That is encouraging to hear.”
"Happy to hear it,” Pit said, tongue lolling from his mouth. “How’ve the materials been affecting you?"
Hallow shrugged. "My Intelligence and Willpower have increased from the Mana crystals I absorbed. The metal we removed from the hive seems to have boosted my Endurance and Vitality, which is always welcome.”
“Hm. We need to make you faster. And stronger too. Wait, what do Intelligence and Willpower do for you?” Pit shook his head, ears flopping about. “Right, you can cast spells for Beef, right?"
Hollow nodded. "I have control over the Risen, same as Beef. Greater Intelligence and Willpower allow me to leverage what they have better and to control more at once. It unfortunately doesn't increase Risen’s own abilities. That is entirely based on the state of the corpses we claim."
“As in, if they can shoot ten vines, you can’t make them learn to shoot more?”
“Essentially, yes. As well as their Strength. Endurance and Vitality are more or less replaced by Beef’s necromantic Mana, which fuels them.”
Pit nodded along thoughtfully. "Interesting. Do you think we should get more Risen? More bodies for you?"
Hollow shrugged. "We certainly could. It would help with developing my control. My main mode of fighting is by using all of my Bodies at once.”
Pit gave an enthusiastic hop. “Well, then let's do it! Felix, we're going out."
From far above, Felix waved at his Companion. Alright bud, just don't get into any trouble and stay hidden. Push your Gloaming Shroud to Journeyman Tier, if you can.
Sure will. We'll be extra quiet, Pit sent. “Come on, Hallow."
The two Companions set out, stomping across the crystal-laden battlefield. Behind them, the other pair fought on.
"Ah, they're still fighting.” Felix peered down at the other end of the inner bailey’s open area. There, Beef and Archie were engaged in a careful battle. He couldn't help but smile as words drifted on the breeze from the refugees that had gathered around them.
“Monstrously strong!
“That hammer is massive…!”
“—melts right through the attacks—”
While the spectators couldn't see much of Pit's fight, neither Beef nor Archie could move fast enough to vanish from their low Perception. Each parry and blow was witnessed by an awed crowd that grew with every hour.
The Delven had learned early on to phase through Beef's chitin constructs, which had been a huge boon. Formed mostly of earth and necromantic Mana, it proved an easy leap from the ground to chitin. With Archie's Blindsense, Beef couldn't even use them as a smokescreen, a fact Archie had demonstrated multiple times.
Yet, when the smaller opponent neared the Minotaur, ready to deliver a tap that would indicate the end of the fight, Beef would swing with his hammer. The larger teen had such reach and strength, both with his meaty arms and his warhammer, that Archie was forced back each and every time.
This fight was particularly interesting to Felix. Archie, despite his best efforts, couldn't do much against Beef’s thick skin. However, the Minotaur also seemed unable to catch the elusive Delven. While Pit's and Hollow's fight was a fast flurry of blows and skills traded back and forth, the fight between the two Unbound was about patience. A quality that neither of them possessed in abundance.
I wonder how long this fight's gonna take, Felix wondered to himself. It had started well before Pit and Hollow had begun their sparring. Been about two hours so far.
That was a long time for any fight. Back on Earth, it was impossible for two opponents to physically combat each other for this long. Here, it was possible, but still extremely draining.
Thanks to his Born Trait, Beast's Endurance, Beef was in a favorable spot. While Archie, being smaller, had to move far more to cover the same amount of ground. The both of them circled like wary cats in a back alley, their backs up and all but hissing.
"Come on, Roast Beef. You gonna stay back there the whole time? Come closer," Archie said.
"I'm fine right here. You come to me. And when you do, I'll give you a little love tap." Beef slapped the head of Bedlam into his open palm menacingly.
“I’m tired, man. Be a pal, save me some effort and fall on my daggers.”
“Hah, you wish.”
Archie moved at the same time the Beef stomped his hoof.
"Entropic Paradigm!"
"Stoneswim!"
A wall of chitin burst from the ground, six feet thick and ten feet wide, but Archie slipped through it. Clearly expecting that, Beef swung his hammer, activating one of Bedlam's key features.
The hammer's icy head shot out a wave of force, striking Archie head on. The Delven blanched as he turned instantly solid and the chitin wall behind him flexed dangerously...before spitting him out like a rocket. Directly at Beef.
"AH!" Beef slapped the flying thief out of the air and into the soft ground, where he bounced once and went still. "Oh shoot, Archie are...are you okay?"
For a long, terrifying second the man didn't make a sound, forcing Felix to activate his Voracious Eye. He wasn't gentle about it either, raking his attention across the man's Aspects and subsequently drawing a shuddering gasp from his shell shocked lungs. Felix sighed in relief. Alive, just hurt.
"GAHH!" Archie managed, flopping on the soft grass like a fish. "EUGH GRAH!"
"Wh-what?"
"You hit me!" Archie wheezed. "We said no hitting!"
"I didn't mean to! You shot at my face!"
"Bah." Archie rolled to his feet, his breathing ragged but under control. It was clear that Beef had knocked the wind out of him. He looked back at the half-collapsed wall of chitin. The spot where he'd passed through was blown outward, as if a cannonball had shot through it. "What the fu—"
“My Disruption activated,” Beef explained. “It only has a forty-five percent chance of working, but I hoped it would. It interrupted your Skill.”
“While I was in the middle of a wall?” Archie spun back on Beef. “I could’ve been cut in half!”
Beef paled. “I didn’t even think of that.”
Huh. Does that happen every time it’s canceled with him part-way through? Felix chewed his lip. Can we test that?
He mentally marked it down on a growing list of training exercises for the Unbounds. The list had grown substantially since he’d made the decision to accelerate their growth back in the swamps, and they were both doing well. In just the last day, Beef had hit Adept Tier with his Mind and Spirit, and he was a few short levels away from completing his Body as well.
For his Mind, his taunting skill Desperate Provocation, Hallow Call, and Mental Resistance had been Tempered. What’s more, Mental Resistance had evolved, becoming Necrotic Insight, a Rare Skill that provided him mental protection, insight into the provenance of other necromantic creatures, and even how suitable a corpse was to Raise. It was a great Skill, and tailor made for the musclebound necromancer.
The System called it a Malignant Mind, which didn’t sound good, but it had boosted Beef’s Intelligence and Willpower immensely, as well as his Perception, Vitality, and Alacrity.
His Spirit was Tempered with Hallow Rise, Entropic Paradigm, and Seismic Shatter. The potency of his new Transcendent Skill had impacted his Spirit Formation far more than the Rare Necrotic Insight had affected his Mind, and he had formed a Deathseeker Spirit. It had greatly boosted his Willpower, Vitality, and Strength, while also increasing his Might, Intent, and Affinity.
All of that had made Beef a force to be reckoned with, as Archie had seen.
Archie, meanwhile, had pressed his Body into Adept Tier, but his Mind and Spirit lagged behind considerably. His Body was composed of Fanblade, Evasive Gait, and Scale the Castle, the last of which was a specialized climbing Skill that he apparently relied on when Stoneswim “ran outta juice.” All in all, they were solid Skills, and resulted in the guy forming a Labyrinthine Body, which mainly boosted Archie’s Strength, Endurance, Perception, and Dexterity, while minorly improving Agility, Might, and Felicity.
It was a good Body, especially as it bolstered stats that Archie had neglected for far too long. The Endurance boost alone had ensured that the Delven had even been able to keep up with Beef today, despite the fact that his Strength wasn’t enough to compete with the Minotaur.
They both have a long way to go, but we’re getting there. Just a few more days and they would fully Temper into Adept, Felix was sure of it. After that, the others would be ready and they’d head down into the lowlands. Toward Pax’Vrell. If nothing else, fighting a few thousand Hierocratic soldiers would get the levels flowing.
Felix found pushing the two Unbound to be extremely rewarding, but it had the distinct effect of delaying his own experimentation and growth in favor of theirs. It was necessary and very worth it, but there was a part of him that chafed at how slow Beef and Archie were leveling. Not only that, but he’d hoped to foster a sense of camaraderie between the two of them; he hadn’t been blind to the way Beef tended to mope around, or how Archie was just a general dick to everyone. Trained together, he hoped they could find common ground.
Or maybe even a friend.
Down below, the two Unbound had been invited to share a meal with a few of the displaced villagers. Felix was surprised at first, but entirely happy to see it. Beef was saying something that had the men around him laughing, and several of the children were staring at Archie like he was a ghost. Yet instead of getting annoyed, as Felix expected, the thief smiled at the kids and showed them his molten daggers. Their faces lit up.
Huh. Felix sat back, listening to the pleasant hum of Archie’s Spirit. The guy was annoyed, but it was a thin veneer atop a deeper rhythm of…contentment. Well, that’s encouraging.
Comments
Nicole Hicks
Sounds like Archie might secretly like children. Not that I blame him any. Kids can be a hoot. There's no subtfuge in their curiosity of him and what he is and what he can do. It's honest curiosity with no ill intent, for the most part. Every now and then you come across a mischievous one. Just hope it's the innocent mischievous type and not the bad mischievous type. Still, for the most part children are a lot easier to deal with than adults. At least they are for me. I know there are people out there that would not agree with me. And apparently Archie is a character created that likes kids enough to not be an asshole and spew his ire all over them when he is in a situation he doesn't like or wishes he was somewhere else. I guess that's proof that there is a good guy in there after all. That definitely makes him more likable in my book. Not that my opinion actually matters. I'm just happy Archie is given more facets to show he has as a character in this book series.
Ben Cooper
Thanks for the chapter! Always glad to see Beef growing. I'm curious if Hallow is forming her own appearance (which I think would be good for bother her and Beef), or if she'll end up looking like Beef's mother. I'm also glad to see Archie finding a sense of contentment in his situation. I hope that continues to grow into a sense of belonging, though I don't expect it to happen overnight.
