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Chapter 74: Teaching Caution
🕑 Added 2024-11-18 18:29:40 +0000 UTCIt’s said that Lumesh finally found William Oh one of those nights of searching for his missing jaw. He possessed one of William’s servants, a black dragon, prince among his kind, aiming for revenge against William Oh.
The god of Death leveraged his power to dominate the will of the dragon, which resisted with its ancient raw will. Through the conflict, the lines began to blur, the two fused to become something…more.
That’s why Loth the Luminary is often associated with the God of the Underworld.
Because going up against William Oh’s second in command is the second quickest way to find yourself meeting Lumesh.
- Jason Salazar
“That, my friends…is Lord material right there.” Baron Akul said to his guests as the youngling walked off the stage. It was a difference of night and day. Lord don’t have dramatic, entertaining matches where either side might lose. They crush their enemies, and oftentimes do so in a way that the enemy never even saw it coming.
“You sure I can’t have him as a Vassal?” Rotwitch asked. “I need servants with high Resistance.”
“You don’t get any new Vassals until you learn to keep your hands off of them.” Bakton said, his scarred arms crossed and scowling.
The other Lords nodded in agreement.
“You guys suck.” Rotwitch pouted, her metal chair rapidly tarnishing beneath her.
“Remember, gentlemen…lady,” Akul said, glancing at Rotwitch. “We’ve all agreed that he is not to be made a Vassal if he wins the tournament. If he does lose the tournament, you have all agreed to abide by the rules of the auction. If you wish to operate in my city, you must keep your word.”
“From what I’ve seen, I am already eager to bid on him, but I was told the boy could steal Relics. So far, I’ve seen none of that.” Ghoul said, frowning.
“Hasn’t had to use it yet.” Marksman said with a shrug, his eyes glowing as he studied the young man. Akul was sure he had some means to peek into another person’s Status.
“Next up is my grandson,” Akul said, leaning back in his chair. “I’m hoping he can make Wiliam Oh demonstrate more of his Abilities and create a better showcase for bidding…if William loses, of course. I asked the boy to make a show of it.”
“Which one?” Bakton asked.
“Both of them,” Akul said with a shrug.
**William Oh**
“Damn, dude, what was that?” June asked, her jaw hanging slack as she peered behind him at the arena, which was crawling with priests of Holdna.
Will removed the cannonball from his Dimensional storage and tossed it to her. It was a solid iron sphere about the size of two fists clenched together.
It weighed around twenty pounds, and it had been moving at about…five hundred miles per hour. Give or take. Will was surprised it was that fast, but it was just his superhuman Acuity and Kinesthetics playing tricks on him, making him think it was closer to one hundred and still within the realm of something that could be seen.
The speed had been steadily going up along with his ability to perceive its speed, so that was understandable.
That wasn’t even the fastest it could go. I slowed it down just a bit so I could catch it again.
Will had honestly been expecting his opponent to have enough Resistance that their skull resisted the strike enough that the force carried through the rest of their body, sending them tumbling and brain-damaged, but alive.
Apparently not.
Will sat a moment and simply took in the difference between himself at level four, when he desperately fought the Kaith to survive, and his current level of ability.
Even though he wasn’t a traditional Warrior archetype, Will had realized that he could probably tear through the monsters of the first three floors like tissue paper. That was how far he’d come.
It was just hard to see your progress when everything else around you got stronger too.
Will took the cannonball back from June and stared at it, turning the sphere in his hand.
Could I take out a kaiju with one of these?
Of course, if he lost his Rogue Ability boosting equipment, he would lose about 40% of the Phantom Hand’s current speed and storage capacity. Nearly half. But still…
20lb cannonball at 300 miles an hour ain’t that bad either, but Karryn might’ve survived if I didn’t have the Rogue-boosting gear.
There was a rather large dent in the solid iron sphere that hadn’t been there before, so she might’ve resisted a slower speed.
The sheer force shattering her Resistance was the result of focusing his Build on exploiting the Phantom Hand.
Will still couldn’t spread death and destruction en masse quite like a Nuker, but one-on-one? Will’s enemy was doomed.
Eventually my opponents will treat solid steel like soap bubbles, and I will be limited not by the force I can deliver, but the availability of materials that can pierce their Resistance. We’ll see what happens when we get there.
Will put the cannonball back in his Dimensional Storage and walked through the waiting area, looking for Loth.
The other competitors parted around him, maintaining their distance and staring at him.
Is there something on my face? Will wondered, wiping off his mask and coming away with a bit of Javelineer.
Ah.
Will ignored the hushed whispered and the distancing until he arrived at Loth.
“Thank you for doing this,” Will said.
“Happy to help,” Loth said. “As long as I get that Auction ticket from you. I’ve been studying the Itinerary and there are some fantastic Sacrifices and Relics there that our Party would benefit from.”
“Deal”
“In our next match, we have the grandson of Baron Akul, Nephir Akul, level 25 Potent Detonator, darling of our city and the favorite to win. He has dominated every match thus far with the overwhelming firepower that we have come to associate with the name ‘Akul’!
The crowd cheered while Nephir waved. Lots of high pitches squeals filled the air as he sent a white-toothed grin towards the stands.
And his opponent, The level 23 Hive-wielding Saboteur, Loth the Luminary, a member of, and second-in-command in the Party of William Oh. So far she has won all of her matches with hardly any visible effort as her opponents invariably stumble into her devious traps!”
Never said I’d traumatize the guy personally…or all at once.
Will went up to the stands to get a better view, looking down at Loth and the dark-skinned young man facing each other.
“Fighters, BEGIN!”
Nephir rose off the surface of the arena floor as visible shields began to wrap around him like the petals of a rose.
Most of Loth’s traps triggered on body-weight, so having someone fly above them was likely irritating. If she was bothered, she didn’t show it, clasping her clawed hands behind her back as she waited patiently.
“Kobold! I’ll give you the opportunity to withdraw!” Nephir said, a ball of fire growing on his fingertips, quickly expanding until it was larger than he was.
“I’m afraid I must decline at the moment.” Loth said with a slight shake of her head.
“Very well, if you meet your end here, then it was meant to be!” Nephir shouted, throwing the vision-obscuring ball of fire.
In the moment when the ball of fire was between the two of them, A hole in the arena floor opened up beneath Loth, dropping her out of harm’s way.
An instant later, wrist-thick bands of spider silk lashed out, securing themselves around Nephir’s ankles and whipped him down to the arena floor, which opened up like the mouth of a giant before snapping shut again to engulf him in total darkness.
Loth climbed back up out of the singed earth, waiting patiently on the corner of the arena as staccato explosions rocked the underground, causing bursts of flame to jet up out of the spaces between the tiles.
The entire arena bulged upward violently as Nephir seemed to try to blast his way out of the trap and regain altitude, but the floor seemed to be held together by potent webbing and some kind of Earth Ability that Loth’s insects were using, strengthening the stone against the blasts.
Ah, that’s what the Stone Shark sacrifice was for. Giving her insects direct control over stone made her traps much faster and more cohesive.
This went on for about fifteen seconds, until the waves of insects worked their way through his shields and the screaming started.
Once this happened, Loth held out a hand, glowing with power, and the screaming turned into shrieking, doubling in panic and volume.
The spectators couldn’t see it, but Will knew what was happening. She’d hit her opponent with a curse that made a powerful insect chew its way out of him from the inside.
The sound of the Baron’s grandson screaming echoed through the arena for several minutes, the only sign the young man was still alive, before his voice began to fade as Nephir presumably lost brain function.
The priests of Andover tensed, ready to call the match.
Loth raised her hand.
“I concede,” she said before walking off the arena floor as the shredded body of Nephir Akul was returned to the surface by a tide of insects, his body giving those last, just-prior-to-death gasps as the priests of Andover swarmed over him, bringing him back from the brink of death.
“And Nephir Akul wins…through surrender? Moving on to fight…oh. oh, crap.” The announcer said, flipping through her notes before glancing off to someone beside her, forgetting to turn off her megaphone. “Are there any other Party members of William Oh in the tournament? Really? Damn…”
The announcer realized her faux pas and quickly turned the magical voice-amplifying Relic off.
Now, Will had no idea if Baron Akul actually wanted Will to traumatize his grandson to ‘teach him caution’ or if he just wanted Will to not win so quickly so he could demonstrate more of his Abilities for the Lords waiting to buy him from the Baron…
Possibly both.
Those potent shields could present a problem to Will’s ability to secure a win, and if Nephir had full Charge, he could probably rain fire down on Will until he was forced to surrender or die.
So Will had asked Loth to put the fear of death into him and drain all his Charges before their match.
That way Will still did personally engage with the Baron’s grandson and traumatize him, fulfilling his request to the letter, without risking a loss.
**Baron Akul**
“I think your grandson is in some deep shit,” Bakton said, chuckling.
“…How much for the Kobold?” Ghoul asked.
“She’s already in William Oh’s Party, so he has dibs if he wins.” Rotwitch said. “But if he loses…how much for the set? I’ve got some mutated Rings of Arcane Endurance from the thirteenth Floor that you would not believe.”
Stephan declined to comment, still deciding how to feel about his grandson’s maiming. It appeared William Oh was crippling him prior to their match in order to secure a total victory and do as Stephan had requested.
He’d requested it, so it was difficult to justify anger, but he just hadn’t expected Will to actually do it. Not that one-sidedly anyway.
Is everyone in William Oh’s Party a Lord in the making, or is it just those two?
As it turned out, it was just those two, as June Perrier lost her next match, while Mason Lanover won with the Baron’s Build, but only barely, through a close fight.
Alicia Zodiac won her match handily by flicking pebbles at her opponent which seemed to only hit critical areas that numbed their bodies and made them collapse. She could’ve been on the path to becoming a Lord like Marksman if she hadn’t died already.
Reginald Thatcher, the Party’s Tank hadn’t joined the matches, given that his Build was ill-suited for fighting Climbers.
We shall see how Nephir handles this loss, Stephan decided. It will be an excellent test of his character.
Either way things went, the Baron intended to profit from it.
A servant approached from the side, leaning down to whisper in Stephan’s ear.
“My lord, Fredrick Wyrd has entered the city.”
Stephan’s blood ran cold.
The alleged engineer behind the slaughter of Oilton. Obviously a trial-run for taking the city of Akul.
He wouldn’t dare start something with five other Lords present…Probably.
“…Invite him to the join the festivities.” Stephan said. There wasn’t much else to do beside keep him where he could see him. No one but a Lord had any hope at restricting his movements, and any fight they started inside city limits would level a huge portion of it.
We’ll have to operate on the assumption that he knows the coffin is broken.
In all likelihood, Frederick was going to try to kill him.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
Stephan was used to it by now.
Comments
MTGamer
Sure hasn't.
Spoolofwhool
Chapter 75 hasn't been released for Readers tier I think.
Antony Claughton
Is Stephan aware that Wyrd did something with his Kaiju? He’s aware of the coffin but doesn’t ever mention the other attack.
Spoolofwhool
Is Marksman Alicia's father, Lord Zodiac?
Nate Oppy
Macros like counts as 7 surely?
Sam Oppy
If you’re top comment gets 20 likes, I’ll do it
Nate Oppy
Competition for each chapter? Who can do the best Jason impression. Judged by likes. Winner has full rights to coerce the others vote for any family decisions on Christmas (eg what board game to play). What’s the thoughts?
Nate Oppy
So proud of myself! It got the macro like
Sam Oppy
Ha, chuck norris
Sam Oppy
Great comment 😉
TjStorm
Lord don’t have dramatic Lords don’t have dramatic
ParadoxFox
Mason is like the Genos to Will and Loth’s Saitama but he’s a good dude
Macronomicon
probably!
Macronomicon
Not a bad idea.
Cyrus McEnnis
I know it's not likely to happen, but I'd love to see Will and / or Loth tapped as Foundation Quest guides for a new generation of noobs. Be fun seeing how they handled the responsibility, especially compared to each other / their other "peers". Might even be a decent way to get back in contact with the Prophet of Oh I mean Jason.
RepossessedSoul
You have "hushed whispered" when I think you mean "hushed whispers"
StrollingEye
Also, he has to taunt. Better to kill/main/terrify before that can happen.
Jeff Wells
The problem I see is everything else is scaling with the party. Will and Loth are out-scaling everyone else, and that only becomes more apparent as the levels get tougher. Travis is keeping up, and is even well above average, but he's not scaling at the rate Will and Loth are. He would need a dramatic increase in build power to get on the same level. You could say Travis is scaling at 1.1X the average, while Will and Loth are 1.5X. Every floor the difference becomes more insurmountable. Simply put, Travis has a very good build, Loth and Will have completely broken builds.
Bookworm bibliophile
Even though Mason is not at the level of Luth and Will his dedication and analysis of his ability may make him a lord materiale
Bookworm bibliophile
Both Will and Luth are exceptionally talented but there relationship and their unusual minds makes them really scary.
Andrew
Thank you!
Nate Oppy
“William Oh once destroyed an entire city searching for a maiden in distress (one of the baking bunch). Not even lords cld stop him. Maiden saved, he was asked why the damages were so large. His response… “I like big buns and I cannot lie”. The meaning of this statement will be pondered for centuries to come.
Nate Oppy
“William Oh once adopted a Kaiju… Only after many years did it understand it wld never grow to be as big as it’s dad.”
Jake
Waaah the cliff !!!!
Nate Oppy
“I saw William Oh doing press ups once. He didn’t seem to be going up and down but then I noticed… the world was”
Baines
nah length felt good
Baines
hype
Ano Ano
The pacing was quite good.
Exrotes
For now yeah but he's an illusionist taunter and a decent sacrifice or relic to let him do things like have his copies explode when struck and swap places with him and he's a nightmare.
Finn
Maybe will could go out of his way to try to find some magic cannonballs or other weapons that can do,strange things like dealing all there damage as psychic damage or deal more damage the closer to the firing as he’s effectively firing at point blank
Pseudo
TYFTC Minor spelling correction “Lord don’t have dramatic, entertaining matches where either side might lose.” —> “Lords don’t have dramatic, entertaining matches where either side might lose.”
Connor Kelly
Ouch, underground murder pit with loths bugs? NO THANK YOU! Poor bastard even got the chesty B treatment? Brutal, but was requested, malicious compliance at its 👌 best
Josh Cothran
New idea; infinite money glitch. Will can also steal relics from tower-spawn.
Josh Cothran
Nice bit about the auction :D Will can just loot his enemies! XD
Aloysius
Eh, i do still think that his survivability and damage output isn't good enough for lord level
Deshauwn
short in quantity not necessarily quality.
Exrotes
Sucks to be Travis, gets forgotten as a party member. Of the members I think he's the only other potential Lord of the bunch just needs a way to dictate the responses to his taunts to do stuff like force Mages into fistfights and Rogues into honest duels so he can stab em both with his hidden sword.
Andrew Duan
Poor bastard
Eric Sweeney
I love how the powerful ask things of William, but then seem shocked when he somehow fullfills their "impossible" requests. At this point, wouldn't his coming out on town with a non-standard solution be rather "on brand" of him?
Apotheosis
Christ the wyrds are assholes, good luck to akul, he's a bro
Ruan Labuschagne
Great chapter! I just wish i didn't have to wait till Wednesday for the next one😭
Xaiden Diep
Looking forward to the next release
Cyrus McEnnis
Didn't feel short on the first read. Then again, I am a shy and bashful Loth fan-boi, soooo...
Macronomicon
Bit short, but thought that was a decent place to end the in-between fights chapter.
