Apocalypse Knights 2: A LitRPG Fantasy, page 5
“I heard bat soup is very popular these days,” Marina said, walking up from behind. “If we run out of food, that’s something to keep in mind.”
“Yes, it is,” Max replied. He glanced over his shoulder. Flora was approaching as well, adjusting one of the buckles of her cuirass. She met his gaze and nodded.
“Alright. Let’s head out,” he said, stepping into the morning and casting his Prowess spell at its highest Level.
The edge of Hisktown was mere minutes away on foot, and it wasn’t long before the cohort arrived at the wall of green light cast by the clock tower. Max took a deep breath, but just as he was about to step through, a low, rumbling sound began to rise into the air.
“What’s that?” Felix asked, drawing his blades. “What’s making that noise?”
“It’s coming from behind us!” Flora said, turning on her heel and pointing back along the road the cohort had just traversed.
“Whatever it is, it sounds big.” Marina drew her sword. Flakes of frost began to dance across her fingertips. “And… it’s making the ground shake.”
Something huge was making its way toward them, but the road was empty, which meant that whatever was approaching was tunneling underground.
“Spread out,” Max said. The cohort hurried to comply, spacing themselves out ten feet away from each other. “It’s some kind of tunneling monster. That means it probably locates its prey by sensing the tremors. The three of you stay as still as you can.”
“What about you?” Flora asked.
“I’m going to force it to show itself,” Max said, breaking out into a sprint toward the increasingly loud rumbling. Flora cried something out in protest, but he ignored her objections and attuned his mind to Nesura’s.
“So far we’ve only seen ghouls inside here,” he said, his boots pounding heavily upon the packed dirt road. “What do you think this creature is? It’s definitely too large to be one of them.”
“The simultaneous presence of many similar Crucible agents can occasionally result in the spontaneous generation of an affiliated but entirely different kind of Crucible agent,” Nesura explained. “If I had to guess, you’re running toward a corpse wyrm, a feral undead construct formed from the fused bodies of dozens of ghouls.”
The rumbling beneath his feet had reached fever pitch by now. Max glanced over his shoulder. The cohort were still where he’d left them thirty feet away, their faces stricken with concern.
“Stay where you are!” Max called to them. “Marina, when this thing emerges, I want you to make sure it stays aboveground! Felix, start flanking right after that. Flora, we’ll take it from the front.”
“Got it, Max!” Felix and Marina cried in unison.
“Understood,” Flora said. “You can count on me.”
Max returned his attention to the shuddering road beneath his feet. The tunneling monster was very close by now. He stamped the dirt several times for good measure, then began jogging back the way he’d come, making sure his footfalls were heavy and resounding.
As he’d hoped, the rumbling started to follow his strides. Max came to a halt ten feet from the cohort. He bounced lightly on his feet, as if he were warming up for a duel. The rumbling ceased entirely.
The ground erupted beneath Max. A massive ring-shaped maw filled with fangs yawned below him, but Max had already begun an upward leap, uncoiling the Prowess-enhanced muscles of his legs and back into a Lightness Step that brought him forty feet into the air. Bursting from the shattered dirt road, a column of corpse-gray flesh pursued Max, ringed maw snapping furiously.
“Just as I’d thought,” Nesura said. “That’s a corpse wyrm. If you look closely, you can make out the individual ghouls fused together to form its body. Most of them seem to be devourer ghouls, interestingly enough.”
The familiar helpfully unfolded a Soul Lens screen in the corner of Max’s vision.
Monster: Corpse wyrm
Level 2 (special condition)
Health: 165/165
Mana: 3/3
Physical Attributes
Strength: 60
Dexterity: 7
Fortitude: 50
Perception: 10
Abilities
Perpetual Earth Stride
Consume
Rewards
Victory Shard value: 2
Treasure: Class D++
Looks like it’s a special-condition monster, just like the arachnovores in the Kobold Hills and the dark reflections in the Feast of Dusk, Max thought. He pointed his Magus Staff downward and cast Jolting Arc, hurling a bolt of lightning right into the monster’s mouth.
Electricity roiled through the corpse wyrm’s grotesque body. It shrieked and convulsed, ruining its ascent into the air.
“Marina, now!” Max cried, but the canny Elementalist was already ahead of him. Twin Icelances burst from her outstretched hands and plunged into the yawning hole from which the monster had emerged. The chasm swiftly filled up to the brim with packed ice.
A quick glance told Max that Felix was already moving, invisible beneath his Cloak spell. The Cloak spell did more than hide a Knight-Errant from view, Max had realized, after thinking back upon the time he’d used it against a horde of orc warriors. The Cloak spell also gave its user a massive increase in critical damage probability, imbuing every single one of his or her melee attacks with heightened potential lethality.
The corpse wyrm crashed into the ground, its gigantic bulk slapping wetly against ice and dirt. Max raised his sword, then snapped the muscles of his body downward in the Crashing Iron blade form. He plunged from the skies, Stridentsong leading his descent. Just before he landed upon the monster, he redirected the momentum of his Crashing Iron blade form into a Moonlit Reflection Arc blade form, bringing the edge of his enchanted sword down and across, so that its tip followed the curvature of a crescent moon.
Stridentsong struck the monster’s body in the middle of its length and carved deeply through its putrid, slimy flesh before swinging clear and trailing globs of hissing viscera in its wake. Max’s repurposed momentum reversed his descent and brought his body into a pendulum-shaped drift away from the flailing monster.
He landed five feet away from the corpse wyrm just as Flora began her charge. The Defender ran directly at the monster’s maw and cast Double Shield, projecting the spell’s magical energies directly from her physical shield. Twin layered walls of white light slammed into the corpse wyrm’s fangs, breaking a few off in a shower of ichor and tooth fragments.
Max leveled his Magus Staff at the monster again and hurled another Jolting Arc right through Flora’s magical barriers. The lightning bolt rolled over the corpse wyrm’s body, sending it into another fit of convulsions.
Gouts of ichor and chunks of flesh began peeling from the far end of the monster’s bulk, evidence that Felix had put his blades to deadly work. The corpse wyrm squirmed as a particularly horrendous strike from the Infiltrator cut deep enough to spill another torrent of its viscera. It tried to turn in Felix’s direction, only to slam its maw once again into a Double Shield spell that Flora had hurled down along its flank.
Max stepped forward into Flora’s first magical barrier and swung his blade through it. Stridentsong hacked into the side of the corpse wyrm’s maw, breaking off another cluster of teeth and drawing more ichor. The monster returned its regard to him and lunged. Max hopped back beneath the Double Shield, allowing the corpse wyrm to bash its maw ineffectually against Flora’s spell.
Not completely ineffectually, he thought, taking note of the cracks that had begun to spread from the point of impact upon the Double Shield. The corpse wyrm seemed mindlessly feral and had proven to be none-too-intelligent, but its strength was tremendous. Flora’s magical barrier could take perhaps another two or three such hits before it crumbled beneath the monster’s might.
The Defender stepped up and lashed out with her blade as well, catching the monster just below the maw as it reeled away. Marina hurled a series of Icelances along the corpse wyrm’s flank, riddling its flesh with frost. All this time, Felix struck again and again, cutting free entire chunks of the monster’s bulk.
The corpse wyrm battered at the Double Shield spells boxing it in. The one on its left flank, where Felix was, broke apart first, and the monster rounded on the attacker that had inflicted the most damage upon it.
But Felix was no longer there. In fact, by Max’s estimation, the Infiltrator had begun his relocation a minute ago. Max raised his Magus Staff and raked the monster with another Jolting Arc, putting its body through more painful convulsions that would guarantee the corpse wyrm returning its attention to him.
The barriers before its maw collapsed next into shards of white light. Max sidestepped the corpse wyrm as it bore down upon him, fangs straining for his flesh. Stridentsong flickered in his grasp, putting a series of swift but shallow cuts along the monster’s side, each of them carrying with them the effects of Max’s Petrifying Rend.
Petrifying Rend successful
Target slowed by 8%
The corpse wyrm, already slow and ponderous, became even more ungainly. It wheezed with effort as it tried to angle its bulk enough for it to turn its maw toward Max. Flora slammed another Double Shield down in front of it, bringing its turn to a jarring halt. Marina struck it with more Icelances, while Felix resumed his devastating work on another side of the monster’s body.
Flora caught Max’s eye as she raised her sword. He nodded in acknowledgment.
“Let’s get this done,” he said, bringing Stridentsong to bear. The two of them charged in and began hacking at the corpse wyrm, directing their blows near its maw to keep the monster’s attention on them while Marina and Felix took its body apart, piece by piece.
Eventually, the corpse wyrm loosed a putrid wheeze, then flopped lifelessly to the ground, its immense vitality finally depleted by the cohort’s blades and spells. Felix emerged into view, his breath coming in harsh gasps.
“Well, that was horrifying. And utterly disgusting,” he said. “Good thing monsters and their guts disappear after they die, so I won’t be carrying this stink on my clothes and boots all day.”
“Is everyone alright? Anybody hurt?” Max asked.
Marina and Felix shook their heads. Flora did the same as she sheathed her blade.
“Good.” Max dismissed Stridentsong and stretched the muscles of his sword arm. He grinned as spheres of white light began to emerge from the corpse wyrm’s disintegrating remains. The monster had taken a lot of effort and Mana points to kill, but if it yielded soul-bound items as a reward alongside Victory Shards, then slaying it was definitely a worthwhile endeavor.
A sphere of white light raced to each member of the cohort. Marina smiled as a short cape of thin blue silk fell into her hands. Felix cheered as a wicked-looking dagger appeared in his grasp.
Max turned to Flora, who was standing bemusedly with the sphere in her hand, its reward as yet unclaimed.
“I already have three soul-bound items, which is the most I can have at Level 3,” she explained. “And I don’t want to lose any of the items I already have, so I’ll be declining this one and letting it disappear.”
“Wait,” Max said. He was holding his unclaimed soul-bound item in his hand as well. “Of your soul-bound items, are all of them Level 3 as well?”
“No.” Flora smiled and raised her right gauntleted hand. “It’s a long story how I got this gauntlet of impact, but suffice it to say I received it as a Level 2 item when I was already Level 3. I don’t have access to the Prowess spell, so my gauntlet goes a long way toward making up for it.”
She pulled up a Soul Lens screen.
Gauntlet of Impact +2: Soul-Bound item
On equip in dominant hand:
Physical attacks deal 10% more damage
“I might be able to use the item you received from defeating this monster to upgrade your gauntlet to Level 3,” Max said. He retrieved Turanos from his ring of holding and twirled the slim and delicate silver hammer in his fingers.
“You can do that?” Flora asked, her eyes widening.
“If you want me to,” Max said. “It’ll take a bit of time, but at this point, we might as well take a few moments to catch our breath and recuperate our Mana point reserves.”
“What are you going to do with your item, Max?” Felix asked. “You only have two soul-bound ones so far, right? That means you’re allowed one more.”
“I suppose I’ll claim it.” Max extended his will to the sphere of white light in his hand. It flickered, then broke apart, leaving Max with a small figurine of what appeared to be a bipedal lizard in his palm. He blinked in astonishment at the sight. “What’s this?”
“That looks like a summoning totem to me, Max,” Marina said. “It consumes a fair portion of your Mana point reserves to call forth a magical creature that heeds your commands. They’re not very common, but I know a few members of the Venture Spears who also have summoning totems.”
“Oh right. The Slayer has one, I heard,” Felix chimed in. “I’m not sure what kind of creature his summoning totem contains though.”
“I’m not sure what mine has.” Max angled his Soul Lens at the figurine.
Garlocke +2: Soul-Bound Summoning Totem
Consumes 50 Mana to call forth Garlocke, a laconic lizard, for 10 minutes
“Well, that’s a pretty ridiculous Mana cost,” he said. “Garlocke, whatever it is, isn’t going to be showing itself much.”
“Soul-bound summoning totems usually cost less Mana to use as they grow in power,” Nesura said. “I’d recommend holding onto that for now. Perhaps it will become more viable later.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Max agreed. He placed the summoning totem within his ring of holding, then turned to Flora. “Alright. Shall we start with your items?”
“Sure.” The Defender proffered her unclaimed soul-bound item and held up her gauntlet. “How do we begin?”
“First, you need to extend your will to your items and grant Max permission to interface his Flux Fabrication ability with your items,” Nesura instructed.
“I’m not sure how to do that,” Flora replied, frowning.
“Right. I keep forgetting the Challengers in your world aren’t familiar with any Cosmic functions beyond those of Phase 4,” Nesura said. “It’s easy. Focus on your items, then reach out to Max via the cohort link between you both.”
“I’ll try.” Flora’s brow furrowed in concentration. A Soul Lens display appeared in front of Max.
Flux Fabrication Interface possible with Flora Truesteel’s items:
Gauntlet of Impact +2
Soul-Bound Item (unclaimed)
Commence Flux Fabrication?
Max willed his assent, causing white-blue light to pulse from his body. Turanos vibrated in his hand, and an anvil of white light appeared at his feet. He hefted the hammer and nodded to Flora.
“Put your items on the anvil,” he said.
The Defender did so, placing the sphere beside her gauntlet, then stepped away.
Max struck the sphere with Turanos. The unclaimed soul-bound item broke apart into a cluster of black runes that hung in the air. He tapped the gauntlet next with the hammer’s head, bringing forth a separate array of black runes.
Ready for Fabrication
Flux Strength 3, Fabricate skill Level 1: 40 seconds remaining for runic coherence
Max worked swiftly and smoothly, snatching runes from the unclaimed item and fitting them amidst those above the gauntlet. Once in a while, he would tap at a rune with Turanos’s head or cut slivers of black light from its edges with the inscribing spike at the bottom of the hammer’s haft. The altered rune would then slide home readily. He finished the process with a few seconds remaining and gave Flora’s gauntlet one final tap.
Flux Fabrication successful
Soul-Bound item Gauntlet of Impact +2 is now Gauntlet of Impact +3
Max picked up the gauntlet and handed it back to Flora. The Defender held it up, a look of awe in her eyes. She summoned a Soul Lens screen.
Gauntlet of Impact +3: Soul-Bound item
On equip in dominant hand:
Physical attacks deal 15% more damage
“That’s very helpful,” she said. “Thanks, Max. I really appreciate it.”
“My pleasure,” Max replied. His Soul Lens flickered, then.
Flux Fabrication skill has improved to Level 2
Conduct 10 more successful Flux Fabrications to attain Level 3
“Ooh, look at that!” Felix said. He held up his new dagger. “Can you do something with mine, Max? It’ll help you improve your Flux Fabrication skill!”
“It’s possible to break apart claimed soul-bound items and use them to enhance others,” Nesura said. “But if you do that, there’s a significant chance for failure, resulting in the loss of both items.”
“Oh.” Felix’s excited grin faltered, and he sheathed his blade. “Yeah, never mind then.”
“It’s odd, isn’t it?” Marina mused. “Usually only Wardens relinquish soul-bound items, which is why these items are also commonly known as Warden items. This means that this corpse wyrm is either a Warden or the equivalent of one, yet we’re not in a Dungeon.”
“Yet there is no shortage of monsters, just like in a Dungeon,” Max said. “The Apocalypse Horizon itself isn’t a Dungeon, but it’s obviously not like the world in our timeline anymore.”
“Naturally,” Nesura added. “Crucible agents and Dungeons alike are comprised of cosmic energy. When a world is filled with Crucible agents, the cosmic energy radiating from their bodies almost always brings about gradual but inevitable atmospheric and ecological changes.”
“So what you’re saying is that the Apocalypse Horizon itself is slowly turning into a huge Dungeon,” Max said.
“A global one,” Nesura clarified. “A world encountering such a phenomenon will suffer the extinction of all its natural life, though it looks like that’s already happened here.”
