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Chapter 19: 7th Time’s the Charm
🕑 Added 2024-07-17 17:45:41 +0000 UTCREQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION:
During our stint at site 214, No-face spotted a Target of Opportunity and took him into custody.
William Oh tried to escape six times. We were forced to wipe his memory on multiple occasions, until in our frustration we decided to strip him, Hobble him, put a bell on him and hang him in the meat-locker to wait until he could be delivered to you.
This was a mistake.
The seventh escape attempt made use of Experiment 327 from the Multi-body line. William Oh was able to remove Boar’s keyring and give it to the Experiment without any of us noticing, despite our levels being significantly higher.
The escape attempt succeeded, and both Experiment 327 and William Oh have evaded recapture. Boar and Armory led 327 to a local town where it was destroyed before it could reveal its nature to the locals. Shortly afterward, we received a notification that No-face’s bounty had been claimed. As planned, we will destroy all evidence of Site 214 and await further orders at Fallback 14.
On the Target of Opportunity:
In one of his earlier escape attempts, William Oh demonstrated the functionality of a low-quality Sting-ring despite having none on his person, firing the caustic bolt into Boar’s eye from thin air.
We believe he may have a mobile extradimensional storage that also functions as a Relic Slot, and/or a way to rip effects from Relics that he can then activate at any point in space. This is an extremely rare ability that may prove disruptive to My Lord should it be upgraded properly.
We recommend subordinating or killing William Oh before he becomes too powerful.
- Letter on a fine wooden desk.
Will ran like hell, looking up at the surrounding mountains in confusion. There was no landmark which he could orient on and judge his location. He was completely lost.
Where the Abyss am I?
If he could just find some modicum of civilization, he could scrape off his pursuers. None of them were mindless beasts, so they’d back off as soon as they saw numbers stacked against them. Probably.
There! Will spotted smoke on the horizon, a thin sheet of it.
That’s probably where the grinders are! He didn’t know where he was, but as long as he found civilization…
Will turned, tweaking his muscles as he changed direction, swerving out of the way of a hissing blade that cut through the air where he’d just been.
Gods!
The five second timer on his boots ran out just as Will threw himself prone, diving behind a rock formation.
Boots of Outflanking active.
I LOVE THESE BOOTS! Will thought as he scrambled back to his feet, sending up a wave of earth as he propelled himself further forward. The Boots of Outflanking didn’t have a cooldown on their activation, so all he had to do was duck behind something that completely obscured himself, and he would reset the five-second timer.
Will began to sprint from rock to tree to dip in the ground, each time breaking line of sight, resetting the boots and gaining further ground.
As long as all his enemies were behind him, the boots were unstoppable.
No freaking way Leon paid so little for these things.
Boar fell behind first, breaking off and away from the tangle of limbs hounding him, unwittingly dragging the monster away from Will and the other three.
The one with the array of weapons floating behind him fell behind next, sending a handful of blades spinning out at him, but Will juked, and the demon’s telekinetic control didn’t extend far enough out to change their course. The hulking demon paused atop a ridge, watching Will blaze into the chilly mountainside before glancing up at where Boar was running from the monster.
He turned and ran towards his teammate.
Finally it was just down to Will and Reaper, flowing across the landscape in a nearly ecstatic expression of pure speed.
Rocks, ridges and trees whipped by at the speed of thought. Will would’ve been having a great time if not for the threat of death.
When Will broke the ridgeline and saw what was making the line of smoke, his heart sank, but he didn’t stop running.
They were on the wrong side of the line of grinders and kaith. The disturbing insectoid creatures were sending wave after wave of soldiers along the line of grinders, unheeding of their losses.
The grinders, for their part, seemed like they were having a great time. Will was fairly sure he saw a few of the Climbers in the back of the line manning a barbecue, while others drank beer, looking for all the world like uncles catching up at a fishing hole.
The ones near the front of the line were stepping in, dispatching kaith and then dragging the corpses back to let another Climber take their place.
Spirits were high and Loot was flowing.
And Will was on the wrong side.
The entire field between him and the front line was crawling with Kaith, who streamed in from nearly every direction, emerging from small holes in the ground, eager to repel the ‘invaders’, unaware that they were being systematically slaughtered.
Once I’m in there, the boots will stop working…
But it was either that or become a Will Sandwich for some Eaters.
Honestly, escaping from kaith was the easier proposition.
Willl put his head down and sprinted. The kaith locked onto him immediately, but he was far too fast for them to snap at.
When his boots were about to expire, Will jumped as hard as he could, gaining a respectable three seconds of air time, sailing through the air and maintaining his momentum.
When he hit the ground, he tumbled, sky, earth and insect whipping past his vision as he did so.
When he caught his balance, he whipped out his tomahawk and whipped it back the way he’d come, causing it to whistle it’s venomous chord.
The reaper caught the attack on his scythe, appearing like Death himself in front of Will.
4/12 Charges remaining.
3/12 Charges remaining.
2/13 Charges remaining.
Will simultaneously triggered the Tomahawk of the Serpent and both Sting Rings.
The surrounding kaith began writhing in pain, bursting into smoke as the two Sting rings stacked their Acid damage buff on top of the Tomahawk’s Psychic damage AOE, killing over a dozen of the monsters with a single swing.
Reaper seemed to be unbothered by the AOE, dodged the point-blank Greater Sting Ring, but grunted in pain when the last attack launched from the Phantom Hand directly behind him hit him in the achilles tendon.
Reaper shoved Will back, but Will dug his feet in, and the earth supported him, allowing him to match the shove, swinging with his Tomahawk as swiftly as he could, desperately trying to stay inside thex ‘kill’ range of the scythe.
If each swing is 3% for three seconds, I can stack three attacks in one second, and cut out a large portion of Reaper’s power.
As long as Will stayed on the offensive, he could keep things even…somehow.
Reaper seemed to understand this, and was having none of it. He let out a guttural shout that carried physical weight, lifting Will up and sending him tumbling backwards.
The Scythe in Reapers hand shone a sickly color before he unleashed a massive swipe across the battlefield. A hundred kaith around them fell silent, a torrent of Miasma sucked out of their bodies and whirling around Reaper.
“You gotta be-“
With a guttural shout, a wave of Miasma erupted from the reaper’s scythe.
Will dropped to the ground, barely avoiding it, but the kaith weren’t so lucky.
Even more of the insectoid creatures dropped to the ground, only to get back up, their corpses forming a disciplined circle around the two of them, blocking any avenue of escape.
The reaper appeared standing above Will, his chest heaving as he looked down at him.
It said something in its strange language, holding out its hand.
Almost like ‘nice try, kid’? Will thought with a frown as he stared at the offered hand. He knew if he didn’t take it, Reaper would kill him...
“Hey kid! Duck’n’Cover!”
Will had only enough presence of mind to cover his eyes as an explosion of stone sent shrapnel along the encirclement of corpses. He glanced over and through the skittering legs of the kaith surrounding them, he saw a contingent of Climbers pushing a wedge through the kaith line towards the two of them.
Reaper looked up at the advancing Climbers and growled in frustration. He raised his Scythe and Will raised his tomahawk. They both watched each other expectantly. After a heartbeat, Reaper turned and dashed off into the distance.
A moment later, hands clasped on Will’s shoulders and began dragging him back towards the line of grinders.
“What kind of damn fool goes and gets himself lost behind-“
Will tuned out the scolding by the older climbers, watching the Eater streak back up the hill, nearly as fast as Will at a dead sprint, speed tripled by his boots and running downhill.
Fast.
Will walked through a haze of Climbers patting him on the back, punching his shoulder, congratulating and reprimanding him in equal measure.
He couldn’t believe he’d made it.
Will was guided to a shady stone and leaned up against it, a blanket thrown over his shoulders, something hot and meaty shoved into one hand, a mug of something frothy placed beside him.
Roast roc, Will thought through the haze, taking a bite.
Needs salt.
He was still replaying the entire ordeal in his mind, unable to fully let go of the fear.
What in the Abyss just happened?
“Hey there, kiddo, that was a mighty fine run,” A voice said as yet another Climber squatted down beside him and patted him on the shoulder. “What’s your level?”
“Six,” Will said, still glancing up at the unremarkable Climber before looking back out over the line of grinders who’d gone back to their business of slaughtering kaith now that he was safe.
“Six!?, by the gods, you fight like you’re level nine, and you run like you’re level forty.”
“Thanks.”
“What kind of class did you get?”
“Resourceful Climber,” Will answered, frowning. It wasn’t a super special Class, so telling him about it was fine.
“Interesting. Doesn’t sound like a combat Class, though, so the talent must be all up in here.” The man tapped Will’s skull.
“We recognized the Gravity Goat abilities, and we know your parents gave you Uru Drake, but we can’t place the traces of your third Sacrifice. What was it?”
“Me.” Will answered, raising his left arm a moment before a cold sweat broke out across his skin. This was information he wasn’t supposed to be sharing. That wasn’t information he was supposed to KNOW!
He looked up at the unremarkable man again…and saw he had no face. The mask tightened around his skull was a featureless ball of skin-colored putty…and none of the surrounding Climbers noticed it. Will hadn’t even noticed it.
I forgot about you. Will thought.
“That’s…not a thing you can do,” No-face replied to his statement, seemingly as stunned as Will himself.
“Well, it HAPPENED!” Will grunted as he swung his tomahawk around from beside him, directly into the demon’s neck, whistling it’s venomous chord as it did.
Well, that’s what he intended to happen.
No-face reached out and caught Will’s hand before he’d even made it halfway to the tomahawk, his other hand pressing a needle to Will’s neck.
A sudden numbness spread across his body.
“You are testing my patience, boy. And that’s a good thing. I’ve never erased someone’s memory so many times in a single day. You’ll make a fine addition to our number…once you’re properly inducted.”
Behind No-face, a tree began bending down.
Then another.
And another.
“Who are you?” Will asked, struggling to form the words.
“Someone just like you,” No-face said, standing. “Someone who had a lot of potential, someone who could’ve been a Lord, if the gods were kinder. Now hold still, you’re expected at your new owner’s.”
Will glared at him, slipping bonelessly to the ground in the only act of defiance he could muster, determined to be dead-weight.
No-face sighed, putting his hands on his hips.
“Tell you what: Since you’re not going to remember any of this, how about you don’t fight me on the way back, and I can say you gave me the toughest fight I’ve ever had? How does that sound, hmmm?”
Click.
“Eh?” No-face turned around as the nearby trees were released, sending a whip of thick steel wire hissing out, making an explosive noise as it broke the sound barrier against No-face’s neck.
No-face’s body fell backwards, his head spinning in place a moment before it fell onto his chest.
“Gods I love pulleys,” Loth said as he arrived. “Are you all right?”
“Good aim,” Will wheezed through the rapidly fading paralytic.
“Of course,” Loth said with a nod as he knelt down beside Will and began checking him for wounds. “Apologies. My seekers had followed your trail to that cabin, but I knew I couldn’t beat them so I-“
“You’re fine,” Will said, then frowned. “Wait, you had your bugs put their stink on me for tracking?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just…don’t want anything bad to happen to you,” Loth admitted, his eyes shifting away from Will’s face.
“I totally agree. I also don’t want anything bad to happen to me.” Will said, struggling to sit up as the paralytic wore off.
Who was this guy anyway? Will thought, looking at No-face’s mask, the seams clearly visible now that he was no longer among the living. Everyone knew about Will, but Will knew next to nothing about…anything.
“I swear to the gods, this unearned fame has been the bane of my existence,” Will muttered, leaning forward and tugging off the mask. The mask tumbled off the man’s face, revealing a normal human’s face. Blue eyes, brown hair, a somewhat startled expression. Not an Eater. Not a demon. A human.
Floor-wide Alert!
James ‘No-face’ Elroy has been spotted on Floor 2.
James ‘No-face’ Elroy is wanted dead for a staggering number criminal acts, primarily including assassination and human trafficking.
Bounty: 3000 gold, 20000XP, to be shared among the party that claims the bounty.
Floor-wide Alert!
Loth the Luminary and William Oh have claimed the bounty!
Many thanks to our Climbers for enforcing the rule of Law.
“Well, looks like you just got some more ‘unearned fame’,” Loth said with a smirk.
“You think I don’t know that!?” Will demanded as the surrounding Climbers began to crowd around the two of them, gawking at the corpse and cheering.
You are now a level 8 Resourceful Climber!
William Oh
Resourceful Climber Level 8
9 + 4 Strength
24 Kinesthetics
27 Resistance
16 Focus
25 Acuity
Charges: 2/16
Free Points: 3
Primary Abilities: Aspect of the Goat, Phantom Hand
Ability Upgrades Available!
Comments
Mundane
I know this is just personal preference and you clearly intended for the foreshadowing in the into text from the last two chapters but I hope you use this literary device sparingly in the future. It is hard to explain but while I know you are not going to kill of the MC all possible doubt was removed by the foreshadowing which made the last two chapters much less interesting for me. I think the flavor text for both would have worked better for me had it been at the end of delayed by a chapter. I suspect I am in the minority though :p
DM
So good, so fun. I love the “kid, I’m a badass” followed by tree decapitation. Spang!
