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SOM - Chapter 17 - Jaws
🕑 Added 2024-03-25 20:00:01 +0000 UTCThe creature that emerged from the tar was grotesque. The closest natural analogue would be an octopus, but with a giant gaping mouth more suited to a leech. It had many tentacles, and no two were the same. They were a mismatch of eyes, needle-like spines, sucker pads, and claws. The monster was as big as a car, and its aura reeked of filth and corruption.
Before the monster had even emerged Luke’s hammer was out and his shield up. Whilst he could be obtuse, he wasn’t oblivious. He could practically hear imaginary boss music playing.
[Level 15 Demonic Kraken (Gate Guardian) - A corrupted beast that guards the deep. Core Domains: Water and Corruption.]
Fighting the guardian in the sludge was certain to end poorly, so Luke shuffled backwards into the tunnel entrance, warding off probing tentacles as retreated. It seemed reluctant to leave the water, and its many tentacles gave it enough reach that it didn’t have to. Luke resolved to be equally immoveable.
After battering away several attacks, one slimy tentacle snaked around Luke’s gauntleted wrist, and pulled sharply. A look at the monster saw its waiting maw stretch absurdly wide, easily large enough to swallow him whole.
Luke dug deep and braced himself, utilising all of his strength. Muscles strained as the aether enhanced them beyond their physical limits. Just as it seemed like that wouldn’t be enough, Luke found something else to draw upon: the [Bulwark]. He would not move. He would not break.
[Skill Manifested - Brace - Magnifies your mass and creates an inertial field around you.]
In the depths of his subconscious, where mind connected to soul, Luke felt the concept manifest. His will resonated with the echoes of humanity within the Veil. From the gates of Thermopylae to the besieged Alamo, a [Bulwark] refused to submit.
Luke exhaled. If it wasn’t for his superhuman strength, the sudden increase in weight would have driven him to his knees. He felt substantially more solid, and with the ability active he could arrest his forwards momentum. You will not move me, Luke thought.
With the [Bulwark] domain active the kraken’s grasp became ineffective, and its barrage of blows felt like little more than a toddler’s tantrum. As each attack entered Luke’s aura his domain stole all of its momentum.
Luke gripped the tentacle harder and pulled. The unplanned epiphany of manifesting [Bulwark] gave him ample clarity on how to do the same with the [Warhammer]. He already knew what he wanted to create.
Luke inhaled. As he let loose a roar, he swung Fenn with not just his own strength, but utilising his concept of the [Warhammer]. I’ve got to follow through, he told himself. When the hammer connected with the tentacle, it didn’t stop even as it pulverised flesh and bone. When the hammer connected with the wall, it did not stop until it was buried several inches into the solid rock.
[Ability Manifested - Kinetic Strike - Increases the kinetic energy of an attack by amplifying momentum.]
Small shards of rock exploded in the tunnel and bounced off Luke’s armour with a rapid fire of pings. As he pulled his hammer from the stone, several large chunks the size of his fists fell to the floor, leaving a basketball sized crater. Lets fucking dance then, Luke raised his hammer to point at the guardian in an unspoken challenge.
A low growl rumbled from Luke’s throat, teetering off into a chuckle at the end. He took several steps forward. When a second tentacle snapped forwards at him like a bullwhip, he caught it on his shield. With his brace skill active, the impact of the attack was barely noticeable. He was a rock.
Still reluctant to fight the kraken in the water, Luke dropped his shield into his storage space and waited for the next attack. When it came he seized the tentacle and wrapped it around his arm. He poured aether into his [Bulwark] domain until the guardian tired of pulling. Then, in a moment between tugs, he dropped the ability, and pulled with all his might. His ploy worked. He yanked the guardian a few feet closer to the water’s edge. It immediately redoubled its efforts, but Luke’s inertia was already back in place.
After repeating this manoeuvre several times, the kraken was at the edge of the water. Luke gave one more tug and this time, instead of bracing himself, Luke jumped at it. The move caught the guardian by surprise, as did the hammer to its face. He hooked his hammer into its maw like a fishhook, grabbed an eyestalk with his free hand and dumped his free point into [Strength].
Pure power rippled through Luke’s muscles and he hauled the guardian out of the water, and physically lifted it as he threw it against the wall. Beneath his visor, Luke wore a satisfied grin. He closed the distance again before it had a chance to reorient itself and broke its jaw with a kinetic strike. The ability was especially effective when fuelled with his own forward momentum.
Manifesting his domain drained him, and Luke knew he couldn’t just chain attacks with the ability. He followed up the [Kinetic Strike] with a swift, but unempowered backhand blow that loosened several giant fangs. The guardian made a disgusting squealing noise, as Luke tore into it.
With his overpowered armour, the guardian struggled to deal any damage, until it got a tentacle around Luke’s neck. By this point, the guardian was on its last legs, so it desperately tried to pop Luke’s head before it expired. Fear motivated Luke to end things quickly, and he brought the hammer claw down on the guardian’s head, burying it deep into the repulsive creature. It didn’t immediately stop moving, so he viciously ripped the hammer out and repeated the attack two more times with kinetic strikes. The tentacle around his neck loosen its grip.
Luke detached himself from the guardian and stepped back, panting. When the slimy corpse shimmered with the telltale sparkle of aether forming into loot his grin widened. Covered in gunk and beaming ear to ear, Luke thought he must look like a madman, but he didn’t care. Victory was his, and so were the spoils.
[You have killed a Level 15 Demonic Kraken]
[You have gained enough experience to reach level 9. Loot generated.]
[Corrupted Ring - Rare (Mortal) - A ring with a Corruption domain that amplifies attributes and other domains.]
A rare ring was a significant find, but even Luke wasn’t so stupid as to use it without thinking. [Corruption] was an ominous concept, and the ring gave off a seductive aura. It could just be an edgy power up, or might turn him into some kind of demon. He didn’t know. The safest option would be to put it up on the marketplace. At this early stage of the system, rare items were few in number, so it would probably fetch a good price.
Maybe it was just his loot lust, but Luke wasn’t quite ready to get rid of his precious loot quite yet. The ring radiated a powerful aura, and he wanted to at least get Rurik’s opinion before doing anything hasty. Any negatives might be worth the tradeoff, especially if it saved his life in an emergency. He popped the ring into his soul space to avoid temptation.
Reaching level nine had given Luke another free attribute point. This replenished the point he allocated mid-fight to bring his [Strength] up to twenty-four. Whether or not the surge in power had been necessary was up for debate, but it certainly made winning easier.
With the guardian dead, the water turned tar reverted to its original state. Luke’s armour was covered in slime from where he had grappled with the guardian, and when he wiped a bit off, he saw that the aeldric steel underneath looked a little rusted. He was doubly glad that none of the tentacles had touched his skin.
Rurik will literally burn me alive if I ruin this armour, Luke panicked. He spent a couple of minutes trying to remove all the slime. Fortunately, the maintenance techniques Rurik taught him were enough to remove the rust. Runes glowed as he pushed his aether into them.
Luke took a minute to stretch, and to run through the fight in his head. There were a few things he thought he could have done better, but overall felt good. Now that he had manifested both his [Bulwark] and [Warhammer] he would need to think a bit about how to best use them. His brace worked by essentially rooting him in place, but to get the most out of his heavy blow he needed to be moving, to generate momentum.
The way he had manifested the domains was almost as two sides of the same coin, a somewhat deliberate decision. They clashed a little as they were, but Luke could feel the potential for synergy. He quickly checked on his attunements to see how each of them had grown.
Concepts (Maximum Reached for Mortal Tier):
Forerunner (Bronze, 84%): +2 all attributes. +10% experience gained.
Murderhobo (Gold, 97%): +5 Will, +3 Strength, -1 Empathy. +40% loot.
Warhammer (Gold, 11%): +5 Strength, augments hammers.
Bulwark (Gold 15%): +5 Endurance, augments shields and armour.
Fire (Copper 20%) +1 Empathy.
The blue screens showed respectable gains across the board. His redefining of [Murderhobo] had allowed him to gain attunement from killing the guardian, as well as looting it. He was hoping to rebrand it into something less likely to ostracise him. He didn’t want to escape the dungeon, just to be thrown into a prison. In terms of total attributes, [Murderhobo] was a potent domain, and he was curious what the next rank would bring. What comes after gold? Luke wondered.
[Forerunner] had ticked up significantly, which was a positive sign. It suggested that Luke wasn’t falling too far behind the vanguard of humanity. Where [Murderhobo] was his most attuned concept, [Forerunner] was the most valuable in terms of raw attributes. At bronze it was worth sixteen points spread across all of his attributes, and it helped smooth out his weaker areas.
When Luke reached level ten and chose a class, he didn’t plan to include his [Murderhobo] domain. According to Rurik a psion’s path rarely incorporated more than two or three concepts, with auxiliary concepts supplementing the core foundations. Luke assumed the classes offered by the system would follow the same rules. Without tutorial access, he would have to find out firsthand.
He was pleased to see the growth in [Warhammer] and [Bulwark], but Luke’s [Fire] domain was far behind the rest. At some point he needed to spend some time cultivating it, perhaps with the aid of some cultivation treasures. Now that he knew how to manifest concepts, Luke wanted fireballs. A ranged area of effect attack would significantly expand his offensive capabilities.
None of his concepts were going to grow by him just looking at them, so Luke closed the screen and looked towards the stone gate. He sighed as he lowered himself into the water and waded through. The liquid seeped through the gaps in his armour, and Luke could only pray that it wasn’t full of diseases.
Steps on the other side of the chamber led to a little stone platform, so Luke could get out of the water. When he came face to face with the door, he saw that the mouth of the screaming face carved into the door housed the keyhole. White aether formed in his hand as he took the sewer key out of storage. The bone key fit neatly into the lock, and as it turned a series of clicks sounded from within.
Knock Knock.
Comments
David Ford
Ill recheck the numbers
Miakaru
Shouldn’t his strength be beyond 20?
