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Chapter 140 - Vile Beauty
🕑 Added 2024-09-29 20:00:09 +0000 UTCNate floated beneath the oceans depths safely sealed within his water barrier. He watched with casual detachment as the team fought the Dungeon’s Bonus Challenge, his identification returning the name of the beast.
Vilemaw the Octonid
Cruel Rending Horror (E) (41) / Malignant Water Mage (R) (21) / Savage Devourer (U) (1)
He had been surprised upon first seeing the classes, since it meant the eight-tentacled monstrosity had an Embodiment, even if it was only a Fragmented one. He didn’t think a High Rare Dungeon would have contained such a creature but apparently the System was willing to allow it. He just hoped it meant that there would be extra rewards.
The creature itself looked like a man's torso on top of an octopus’s body. It meant that the creature had ten arms in total instead of an octopus’s eight. The white fleshy tentacles were blue-ringed and glowed in the underwater Dungeon casting coruscating flashes of colour every time Vilemaw lashed out with a tentacle.
Nate watched as Kiri flashed in using her Soul Shift to try and attack the monster's torso only to be blasted away by a jet of pressurised water that left her bleeding from her arms and legs. A moment later her wounds had closed but he could sense that she was burning her soul energy to keep up with the creature. It was an apt reminder of the tyranny of tiers. Kiri had eviscerated his captors, excluding the mercenary leader and more than one of them had their own Embodiments. They however had all had Rare Classes even after their second evolution. Vilemaw had an Epic Class and likely at least two Epic Skills and while Kiri and himself clearly had the beast beat on that front in terms of Skill Tiers they were still almost twenty levels behind the monster in both Classes and Skill levels.
He moved his gaze to follow Flash and suppressed a sigh. If Kiri was doing decently then Flash was struggling. The man was locked in a melee with only two of Vilemaw’s tentacles but that was more than enough to almost completely suppress the man. The watery nature of the battle was not helping the Edgedancer as he worked twice as hard as anyone else just to stay alive and keep the two tentacles at bay. It was so bad that Nate was quietly assisting the man. Using a runic array that combined his Water and Barrier runes he was creating plates of resistance to interfere with the tentacles, never allowing them to come at Flash at the same time. It was keeping the man in the fight but wasn’t advancing that particular area.
If Flash was struggling and Kiri was doing decently, then Coralie was somewhere in between the two. Four tentacles were batting the Ice and Light Mage around the area but were unable to do any lasting damage through the womans ice armour spell. More importantly, the tentacles kept crusting over with ice themselves and bled black blood into the water as a result of the ice ripping off pieces of flesh when dislodged. Coralie’s Ice Domain might not have been effective as usual, as she was clearly contesting Vilemaw’s control over the waters of the area, but it was enough to slowly whittle away at the beast.
Finally, there was Frick, who was doing both the best and the worst out of the lot. The best, because his Familiar had opted for a smaller and far more agile body transformation. He still looked like a mergoblin but had gone for one only as long as Nate’s arm. When combined with his usage of Nate’s Conceptual Runic Creation and Empowered Runic Artistry the little spirit had taken an idea Nate had considered to the extreme. One of Nate’s Sigils was of course Fluid. With the ability to add or alter Subconcepts using Conceptual Runic Creation the little mergoblin had begged Nate to add a Fluid rune to his robe and was now using it to reduce the waters drag-force on his body, zipping around like a faint blue lightning bolt. On the other hand, the spirit had done even less damage to Vilemaw than Flash had, making him more of a distraction and nuisance than a threat. Still, it kept the other two tentacles busy which left Nate free to observe and assist.
Taking the state of the fight in at a glance his mind considered his options. Intellect might not make him any more intelligent but it did increase the speed at which he could process information which made him perfectly suited to supporting his teammates or controlling a battlefield. With the ability to handle two more runic arrays, in addition to the one he was using to assist Flash, he considered the best way to speed this battle up. The results were a foregone conclusion, but minimising the time spent and the risk of injuries was still on the table. Contesting Vilemaw’s control over water would be mana expensive and while he was confident he would ultimately win that exchange it was far from the fastest method. Life Drain would be similarly slow, as the durability of the monsters tentacles were a clear indication that the creature had a respectable Constitution and possibly Endurance. Mana Exclusion to interfere with its spells was also unlikely to shift the dial much as it mostly used the water magic defensively, relying on its tentacles and physical prowess to attack. Nate had his suspicions that the creature had Skills that specifically made its Water spells more powerful at short-range. Gravity might work but if he was being honest he had no idea how Gravity interacted with fluids. Would the pressure of the water resist his efforts and would it be mana intensive since he would not only be pressing on Vilemaw but the volume of liquid around him.
That left him with two serious options that didn’t involve trying to contest control of the ambient mana that Coralie and Vilemaw were already fighting over. The first was using his new Metal Sigil and combining it with Projectile and Reinforcement in a runic array that should let him effectively shoot spears at the octonid. The second was using Soul and Power in a runic array to directly support Kiri and try and empower her. With a smile he decided on both. It would drain his Mana Reserve quickly since he’d be supporting three runic arrays at the same time, plus Frick’s My Will, My Way and his Familiar usage of his Skills, but he had mana gems filled to spare.
With a thought he activated Conceptual Runic Creation, Empowered Runic Artistry and Conceptual Intent. In his right hand he formed a runic array combining his Soul and Power runes, altering the Subconcepts to focus on soul energy and empowerment before targeting Kiri’s own soul energy. He sensed her speed up immediately as she went for Vilemaw’s torso again. In his left hand a second runic array formed combining his Metal, Projectile and Reinforcement runes. He altered the Subconcepts to make the metal sharper and jagged while making the projectiles faster.
Like a ballista, he started launching metal spears every second, focusing on the main body of Vilemaw where his tentacles connected to his torso. His decision was driven by making sure he didn’t interfere with Kiri’s own attacks as she slashed furiously with eight daggers at Vilemaw’s head and chest even as the monster tried to protect itself with a water barrier. It was bleeding now though and Nate could sense the soul energy leaking from the monster. With the addition of his attacks Vilemaw was forced to ease up on Coralie and Flash, drawing in two of its tentacles to help defend against Kiri and his metal spears. That was the moment its defeat was sealed. Coralie immediately moved closer and Flash crossed towards her to defend against two tentacles again which left Coralie free to contest for control of the ambient mana, interfering with the beast’s water shield. The moment of weakness cascaded into two metal spears punching holes through its lower body. Kiri sensed the opening and launched herself inside of the water barrier, weathering a pressurised blast of water with her Soul Imbuement toughened body, enhanced by Nate’s runic array, and stabbed four daggers into the monster's head and chest.
Nate was able to sense the soul energy of the monster drain into Kiri as it died and he smirked knowing she now held an additional soul for her To Slay A Soul skill. He wasn’t sure how many she could contain yet, but she had done the same for all of the Dungeon Challenges within the watery depths which meant she had at least five slots available.
He watched as the corpse of the tentacled octonid drifted down to the ocean floor, a burst of sand and shells the last movement as the tentacles collapsed into a heap with the humanoid torso torn and still leaking blood as it rested atop the white and blue tentacles like a macabre crown. The rush of processed mana that came toward him, drawn by his Class Core, was instead diverted into the processed mana gathering array he held out, and stored in one of the processed mana gems he created in the Fourth Hell. He doubted the mana would have gotten him another level and he had some experiments to perform when they returned to the University.
The reward notification appeared before them and as agreed they gave it to Coralie. It wasn’t that she was going to get to keep it. They had completed all five challenges and each received a reward. As a group they had agreed that the fifth should be traded to the Guild and since the rewards tended to be curated to the receiver they chose Coralie as Orbs for Magic Stats were always in high demand. Crafters were beyond rare in the Guild and Kiri would almost certainly receive Orbs for Willpower or Agility. Flash would have likely gotten Agility, Dexterity or Perception Orbs. That had left Coralie who was most likely to receive Orbs for Magic Stats.
After receiving the rewards and with tired smiles the group made their way back to the Dungeon exit they had found. It might have taken them a while to find such a thing but with Nate’s sphere of awareness it had been trivial to recognise that the giant clam housed a small portal that would allow them to leave. Passing back through the aperture they appeared in the Dungeon Fort and were instantly surrounded by the Gold ranked Adventurers. Nate just gave Deverell a nod to indicate he was fine, even as he dried his teammates and altered his barrier bracer back to its normal settings, covering him just above his skin in a protective barrier that didn’t focus on any element.
After a quick rundown of how the Dungeon run had gone they mounted up and were on their way back to the city. With his mount thundering through the grasslands it was finally time to go over his notifications for the last few days.
Accrued Mana applied to Secondary Class.
Level up…
Stats adjusted: +1 Magic Power, +4 Magic Control, +2 Channelling Speed, +2 Mana Reserve, +1 Mana Absorption +5 Free Stats
Empowered Amplified Magic 30 > 32
Conceptual Runic Creation 41 > 42
True Teleportation 32 > 33
Conceptual Insight 42 > 43
Farsight of the Runic Artist 44 > 45
Conceptual Automation 16 > 17
Conceptual Material 34 > 36
Metal Shaping 15 > 17
Spatial Empowerment 1 > 4
Conceptual Intent 42 > 43
As he had planned, he immediately put his Free Stats towards his Constitution which was still lagging a little behind his Endurance. His Skills were also progressing nicely, but once again he had to plan for how to focus on his evolutions for multiple Skills. Empowered Runic Artistry was at level thirty-eight which left three levels before it evolved. Conceptual Automation and Metal Shaping were both only four levels away from evolution while Conceptual Material had five levels to go.
“Thoughts on directions for Empowered Runic Artistry?” he sent to Frick mentally.
“Well, Boss, the skill is already helping keep your mana costs down and increasing the Magic Power of your runic arrays. You probably don’t need to fiddle with Concepts with it, since you have a couple of other Skills to do that. So what do you need more? More power or faster mana flow? Those are the ways I would go,” replied Frick quickly while channelling Conceptual Material into the bar of metal in his lap.
Just as on the trip out, the two of them were both slowly increasing the tier of the bars of metal in front of them.
“Seeing if I can get it to convert some of the ambient mana to the correct affinity would add some power to it as well,” he sent back.
“True, boss. Is power your problem though?”
He gave the question due consideration. Evolving the Skill in that direction would increase his dynamic power, making his on the fly runes more powerful and allowing him to compete with Mages more easily. Alternatively, he could focus on the other end of the Skill and take it back to its roots. Artistry. There was an argument to be made that he had already been using it for his art, including runic arrays in his graffiti and a few paintings. Could he lean more into that? What would that look like if he did, he wondered. There had been a skill that amplified emotional responses to his paintings, which also aligned with the emotion based concepts he had included in his graffiti. Would it be possible to create runic arrays within paintings that were in turn weaponised?
He glanced down at the metal bar in front of him. It was far from beautiful. A lump of metal with an affinity for the Concepts of mana and release and a runic array inscribed in it to do exactly that. If it had been golden in colour it might have looked like a bar of aztec gold. But it wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t art. He had been using metal because it was durable and he had his Metal Shaping skill that simplified the process. But his goal had always been to synergise Metal Shaping with other shaping skills to try and achieve the Material Shaping epic tier Skill in a roundabout fashion, mirroring the same method he had used to achieve his Amplified Magic skill. With a Skill to shape materials and his Conceptual Material skill, in theory, he could make other things durable enough to create artistic pieces that also functioned as runic arrays. Maybe even paintings for that exact purpose. Coupled with his developing spatial skills, he could store an entire gallery of such pieces ready to go at a moment's notice. That also led into his thoughts for his Tertiary Class options. He had decided he would not be going for a Time related Class and as such he would trade the Legendary Time Skill he had an Orb for to Evindal. Which worked out perfectly for what he wanted.
“I am going to push it in the direction of enhancing my art,” he sent to Frick.
“I…think that’s probably the right idea, Boss. Maybe it ain’t as good for combat, but it’s important that you focus on your Path, especially if you want to manage to transition your Embodiment and perfect it.”
Nate smiled to himself at his decision. It felt good to choose what he loved and not what was best for fighting and battle. He had a feeling that it would work out for the best anyway, after all, power was as much about focusing on your strengths as it was about mitigating your weaknesses.
Comments
James Van Riper
Artistic often equates to clean design and simplicity. Kind of like slow is smooth and smooth is fast. It probably becomes OP on the rebound in that all his items become clean simple and therefor excellent.
Beggar of Freedom
Divines bless your kind heart!
