Crossing Serpent's Way, page 49
part #1 of Trials of the Endless Planes Series
It was time to face the last boss.
By the time he reached the bottom step, his eyes were firm, his nerves steady. The final room of the Crypts this time was a vaulted burial chamber with an oversized sarcophagus at its center. Lounging within with its arms and legs hanging over the sides as if it were sitting in a sunken-in sofa was a giant, moving cadaver with pallid skin peeling in places and empty eye sockets that stared up at the ceiling. It wore a tattered, faded-red robe without any sleeves to show off its decaying arms with an attached hood that hung limply behind its bald, flaky head.
Kaito squinted his eyes, dreading what he would see.
Udarakaas, White Marrow Gibberer (Ep) Lvl.25
Shit…It’s even got a goddamned name…
At that moment, Udarakaas sniffed through its half-rotted nose, then sat up a bit straighter in its ancient sarcophagus to level an eyeless stare at Kaito. “A fellow Pioneer? And a challenger no less? It must be my lucky undeath…”
Oh and it can talk? Kaito thought scathingly before glancing up to the ceiling, Thanks for nothing, Lady.
His defensive abilities slid over his black chainmail like old friends and the gibberer bounded onto its unshod feet to reveal that it wore some brown clothes underneath its tattered open-faced robe. “Ah…and you’ve come ready. Then, I won’t keep you waiting! Come on, chosen of the Lady!”
Without moving, the gibberer glared at Kaito and suddenly, he was seeing stars as a battering ram of mental energy slammed into his skull, ringing his brain like a gong. Kaito dropped to his knees screaming, clawing at his own temples in a vain attempt to keep his brain from leaking out of his ears.
Only desperation triggered the active portion of his [Diamond Aura (Ra)] to banish the psychic assault plaguing his mind. His head cleared as he hungrily gulped down air only for a heavy fist to crash into his armored face.
Bloody spittle flew from his mouth, his head rocking to the side while another round of stars filled his vision. Udarakaas immediately followed up with another assault on Kaito’s senses, this time his eyesight. His vision of the burial chamber suddenly distorted in crackling static, his protective aura warring with the gibberer’s ability. This time though, he kept his head on his shoulders and poured more mana into mental defenses to dispel the lingering effects.
A hard kick caught him in his armored ribcage and he flew backward until his back cracked into the far wall, leaving a man-sized crater in its surface. Stone and dust collapsed onto him as he slid down, but his head was clear now, so he could think straight.
Before his feet touched the ground, he pushed off with his [Frozen Shardstrider (Ra)]. Another psychic scream washed over him, but his [Diamond Aura (Ra)] protectively blazed around his mind. Then, he quickly pivoted midair, shardstriding to the side to dodge its eyeless gaze again.
It let out an ethereal wave of energy as Kaito circled around, clipping him on the side and knocking him out of the air. He was dazed for half a breath, but caught himself as he slid on the ground. With his hand clambering for purchase in the dirt, Kaito summoned his [Glacial Shaping (Ra)] into a six-sided ice box that slammed into place around the gibberer.
The dungeon boss immediately roared, its psychic energy blasting away the iced coffin in a rain of frozen shrapnel, but Kaito was already up. A dozen wyrm fang missiles swiftly impaled Udarakaas through its decaying flesh, bodily lifting the gibberer up and speeding it away.
Kaito shot it with a [Frostlight Beam (Ra)], freezing parts of its body as his [Wyrm Fangs (Ra)] continued to carry it away. Before it could slam into the opposite wall, Udarakaas erupted with more psychic energy, forcefully pushing Kaito’s ice and bony projectiles out of its body. It landed in a tumbling mess, but caught itself quickly and climbed back to its feet. Even though it had been dragged through the dirt, its tattered robe and underclothes didn’t look any worse than before. Neither did its already decaying flesh. If anything, the gibberer just looked mad.
“Enough!” Udarakaas bellowed, then its rotten lips began to move mutely, whispering dark words of power that only it could hear. Kaito instantly shardstrided forward, his arms shrouded by his [Cyclone Strikes (Ra)]. His opponent’s words reached his ears and his eyes drooped, his body sagging mid-motion and stalling his blitz.
Nonsensical gibberish entered his ears, dancing across his skin like a velvet caress. At this point, Udarakaas’ words were as much a physical weight as they were mental. Even with his thoughts slowed to a crawl, Kaito’s first instinct was to trigger his [Diamond Aura (Ra)] again, promptly shattering the effects of the gibberer’s chattering.
He heard his opponent growl in annoyance just before it came barreling towards him, its rotten hands suddenly glowing with an eerie purple light. I don’t like that at all…
Kaito hastily summoned glacial hurdles that slowed the dungeon boss down, forcing it to crash through them before it got within range. It swiftly slashed with its glowing hands as it continued its perilous charge, sending crescents of telekinetic energy to destroy the rest of the frozen obstacles.
He shardstrided backwards to give himself more space at the same time that he dropped a [Phantasmal Entanglement (Ra)] on top of the charging undead. Unfortunately, his ability didn’t even make it pause. Clearly, the gibberer had immense mental resistances.
Instead, Kaito caught it with another frostlight laser, burning a hole in its chest that grew frost from the wound. It didn’t slow down at all though, since it continued to send telekinetic slashes through the air, forcing Kaito to hastily spin and juke to avoid them.
A psychic scream clipped his body next, causing him to stumble for just a second. In that moment, a telekinetic crescent bit deeply into his [Icefiend Armor (Ra)], cutting through his chainmail and even scoring a hit on his protective scales underneath. If he didn’t have three different layers of protection, that slash could have bisected him.
Immediately, his wyrm fang armor molded over his other defenses, turning him into a frozen bone warrior. He even formed bony gauntlets with shovel-shaped shields on them. Then, he shardstrided forward, meeting the gibberer head on.
“Finally!” it crowed, thumping its chest with a gaping, frozen hole in it. They exchanged more than a dozen blows in flashes of swirling blue mana from his [Cyclone Strikes (Ra)] and eerie purple from his enemy’s telekinetic energy. Kaito used his shovel shields to block while also jabbing forward with higher penetrative force. Unfortunately, Udarakaas’ violet layer of mana served as both offense and defense.
In the next instant, the gibberer erupted in a wave of psychic energy, but Kaito instantly countered with a burst of his own [Arcane Discharge (Ra)].
The twin explosions blasted both of them apart, though Kaito left a trail of his debilitating miasma in his wake. By the time he skidded to a stop, a third of the burial chamber was covered in dark fog. Udarakaas dashed forward and dove straight into the miasma with reckless abandon. Either the creature was immune or it was an idiot. And Kaito was about to find out.
However, in the next breath, the dungeon boss parted the fog with its psychic energy.
Goddamnit!
Glacial walls sprang up, this time slanted at angles that made them more difficult to just barge through. But the gibberer just whipped its arms downward in a spray of telekinetic energy to lift itself up and over Kaito’s impromptu palisade. Without hesitating, he dashed a pair of spinning wyrm fang discs at it while it was airborne. A blast of telekinesis knocked his attack wide, but he quickly followed with more of the same.
The gibberer surprised him then by flinging an arm out to the side, releasing a burst of purple energy that changed its trajectory and pushed it out of the way. Mo-ther-fucker…Kaito thought, grinding his teeth and shardstriding to get closer. Udarakaas saw him coming though, swiping a pair of telekinetic crescents at him before using another burst of energy to keep it aloft.
Kaito swiftly zigzagged midair using his icy steps and it was his turn to hear the gibberer growl in frustration. He smiled maniacally as he rammed a rising front kick at it, his foot engulfed in a swirling vortex of mana. The monster managed to pulse itself backward, but Kaito was already on the move.
Another shardstride let him close the gap, faster than his opponent could maneuver in the air. He weathered the inevitable wave of psychic energy by preemptively triggering the active portion of his [Diamond Aura (Ra)]. The dungeon boss’ attack washed over him like a harsh breeze, but it wasn’t enough to stop him.
In a blur of battle-honed instincts, his back foot conjured an ice-step as a springboard for him to push off of. His torso practically wrenched itself as he twisted into a devastating 360 kick, his feet blazing with [Cyclone Strikes (Ra)].
The gibberer barely reacted in time, bringing up its forearms to block his attack. The first round of kicks slashed them open to the bone, then he shardstrided back the way he came in a flash with another 360 cyclone-laden kick.
“Argh!” Udarakaas screamed as both its arms were cut off at the elbows in ragged lines of decaying flesh.
They both fell back down to the ground, Kaito landing lightly on his feet, while his opponent fell writhing on the floor. He didn’t give it any time to recover as he dashed forward in a spray of icy mist to straddle the downed boss.
Udarakaas glared at him with its eyeless gaze, attempting to steal his eyesight again, however, Kaito instantly dispelled it with a heaping helping of mana pushed into his protective aura.
It tried to buck him off, but he punched it in the face. Not with a cyclone strike, just with the full force of his power and dexterity attributes. Its head rocked backward, bouncing off of the ground, then he cracked it on the face again.
Udarakaas lay dazed and groaning. This was Kaito’s chance. In a wave of frigid mana, he entombed them in an icy sarcophagus of his [Glacial Shaping (Ra)]. Then, he hammered the boss in the face, again and again, while his miasma cascaded out of his mouth, filling up the airtight tomb in thick, dark fog.
Despite getting its face slammed with Kaito’s bone- and ice-covered fists, his opponent still somehow managed to detonate a couple of telekinetic explosions. He felt the sides of his sarcophagus rattle, but Udarakaas couldn’t put as much force into its attacks as normal with Kaito’s miasma continuously sapping its strength. By the last telekinetic burst, it felt more like a stale wind more than anything else.
The gibberer whined weakly as Kaito inhaled the slew of stolen mana in his miasma, sending a scintillating stream of energy along his mana channels. His eyes widened at the rush of battle. This was what it meant to be alive. This was all that it meant to him now.
Maybe a more self-actualized person would find his behavior sad or disappointing. Maybe they would think that he should be better somehow. More…civilized and less self-indulgent in his basest of desires.
But those people didn’t make it out of Earth’s Crucible alive. Those people had died like lambs to the slaughter, ravaged by mana-touched monsters that had no care for their morals or self-righteousness.
Kaito viciously bashed the gibberer’s face in, reveling in the fight against a powerful opponent. Even though it had stopped struggling a few breaths ago, he knew the boss was still alive, though what did that matter? Udarakaas was just his punching bag at the moment. His release from all the pent up frustrations of the last few days in this Challenge Mode dungeon.
With a final heavy fist to its face, Kaito bent down and bit into Udarakaas’ neck to trigger his [Glutton]. A colorless whirlpool swiftly disintegrated its body in a stream of purple motes that were sucked directly into Kaito’s mouth. Mana surged into his channels straight to the core in his back and he felt completely revitalized. Even the ability strain he’d felt building just moments ago dulled to a slight headache.
He released his abilities in a rush of relief as he stayed straddling a pile of tattered clothes on the ground. Tilting his head to the side, he thought, That’s new…a monster’s clothes never stayed behind before. Especially not after I used my [Glutton].
A couple of blue screens inundated his vision, but he pushed them aside as he stood and picked up the faded red robe and brown underclothes. His eyes flashed with a knowing look and a new set of screens appeared.
Robe of the Eyeless (Ep) : This once blood red robe is made of a timeworn material and has a hood that can obscure your face. Its hemline is adorned with dozens of magical runes shaped like eyes that increase your mental resistance by 20%, while allowing you to see in all directions with increased chance of detecting invisible creatures.
Cryptic Tunic (Ep): These tattered clothes are made from the toughest fibers that have been enchanted to provide protection against physical attacks by 20%. They also have a mind-bending effect on anyone who comes too close to you with a slight chance to have their attention slide off of you.
Kaito closed his eyes in exasperation, then angrily rubbed the bridge of his nose, Goddamnit…just when I think this realm is not a video game, the Lady just likes to stick it to me with something new…
He put them on.
The tunic went under his chainmail and the robes went over it all. Just because he didn’t like the game-like aspects of the Endless Planes didn’t mean he was going to pass on epic-ranked clothing. Sure, he looked like a barefoot beggar now, but he was a powerful beggar. Besides, some scales on his feet from his [Bogbehemoth’s Resilience (Ra)] promptly fixed the issue of needing shoes.
Then, he flicked to the other screens he ignored earlier.
For completing Challenge Mode I by yourself while at lvl.0, the following Feats have been improved:
- Upgraded Feats:
- Tomb Raider is now Challenger Tomb Raider
- +1 to all attributes has increased to +2
- Cryptkeeper is now Challenger Cryptkeeper
- +1% to all attributes has increased to +2%
- 50 greater mana (GM)
Challenger Tomb Raider
Solo the Pioneer’s Crypts while under lvl.5 on Challenge Mode I
You have no fear of the afterlife nor respect for those that came before you.
+2 to all attributes
Challenger Cryptkeeper
Complete the Pioneer’s Crypts while at lvl.0 on Challenge Mode I
+2% to all attributes
Well shit…that’s actually an incredible bonus. It might not seem like much, but if I can complete the other Challenge Modes while still at lvl.0, I could add a solid chunk of attribute points without ever needing to level. No wonder Tyrox insisted that I do this….
He looked hungrily at the exit portal that shimmered into existence at the entrance to the burial chamber. Those guilds won’t know what hit them. And if the other Earthlings get in my way again, well…they’ll learn what it means to be my stepping stones.
Now, let’s see what that talking cadaver had as its mana core…
* * *
Chapter 44
Mila stood on the balcony of her shared rooms in Freybourne, staring at the city’s twinkling lights with the night sky as a backdrop. Like this, she could lie to herself and say she was back on Earth in a town somewhere in the Alps. She could pretend she was just on holiday. It felt that way sometimes. A surreal dream that she couldn’t seem to escape from.
Alien races? Superpowers? Monsters as big as buildings?
She may have lived through Earth’s Crucible, but she’d been living in a constant state of denial powered by the sheer anxiety of trying to live to see her next sunrise.
Now though?
There was safety in these cities. Not the false sense of security she and the others used to tell themselves, but actual safety, where people living inside these walls could sleep soundly because they knew for certain that there were no monsters to kill them in the night.
She could see the allure of staying here. For a time at least.
Build her strength. Master her Class. Evolve her abilities. Amass some GM so she could buy epic Boons from the best transmuters in the plane.
Teras joined her on the balcony then, riding on her aerosphere so she could be eye to eye with Mila, “Do you think he was successful?”
Mila sighed, “I couldn’t imagine him failing.”
The female fowling shook her head, still unable to comprehend what kind of human could do the things that Kaito seemed to accomplish with ease. “What…was he like? Back on Earth?”
Mila took a moment to think back, “I never actually met him in person until he saved me in the Forest of the First and Last…but I knew of him. He had a…reputation.”
“Yes,” Teras said, nodding her feathered head, “The other humans from your world called him the Butcher. Is that just a nickname? Or does he actually have a Title for it?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Mila shrugged. “He was notorious for killing monsters and people alike. After seeing him in action, I can see it. He tears through the monsters here like they’re nothing. I can only imagine what he was capable of back on Earth.”
“And the people? He killed your own people too?”
“Not maliciously. At least, I don’t think so. Mark and Travis had a grudge against him for whatever reason, though you were there first hand. I think it was more like that — people going after him, forcing him to defend himself.”
Teras was thoughtful for a minute, then said, “There are Feats that require the butchering of a vast number of monsters and people. They’re common knowledge here in Serpent’s Way. In fact, people spend years trying to accomplish them for the bonuses they offer. Wars have been waged between the races for a few of the top Classholders in the plane to achieve those Feats. It’s not uncommon.”
“You guys don’t have any laws to prevent that sort of thing? Aren’t there any governing bodies that watch out for the weaker people?” Mila inquired.
