Macronomicon
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Chapter 114: Epic Victory Speech
🕑 Added 2020-02-21 22:48:30 +0000 UTCHow do you spot a Ravager? Easy. Look for those seeking to oppose the established Harbinger order, and succeeding. They shine like brilliant suns amongst the lower life-forms they were born with.
***Calvin***
The Brain leechs appendages thrashed violently, showering Calvin with nothing? The creatures blood and guts fell through the floor, through Calvin, even vanishing in midair.
At least clean-up is gonna be easy.
The tangled ball of warped space winked out an instant afterward, whatever juice was still in there spent.
Harvester.
11/19 Bent remaining.
The Refraction spinners body collapsed into its component organs, neatly organized and well packaged. The skill must have known Calvin wanted the hands whole, because each one of the dozen or so hands of varying size were undamaged. He was interested to find out exactly how they worked, but Calvin didnt have time to experiment with them.
He could feel the leechs attention on the back of his neck.
Calvinian summoning.
Heart of the swarm.
Atom Ant
9/19 Bent remaining.
Calvin burst into wasps again an instant before another of the brain-leeches appendages slammed into his back, careening through his swarm of wasps to no effect.
This time his wasps were fist sized, able to carry the individual organs of the refraction spinner with their enhanced strength.
Time to go say hi.
Calvins wasps seized the organs and burst into motion, the gale of their passing kicking up a storm of swirling wind, lifting up a cloud of dust flowing behind them as they raced down the tunnel, aiming for the platform where the leechs main body rested.
In a matter of seconds, Calvin arrived at the monstrosity, and his heart leaped into his throat when he spotted the village of the Abyss crowded around Kala, fending off countless attacks. Sal was lifting a bone staff above their heads, the filament wrapped around the top white hot, illuminating their desperate struggle even as the heat pushed the leech back.
It was only partially effective, though, as the creature attacked people through every avenue it could: Through the chilly stone floor, from peoples shadows, where the heat of the filament couldnt reach, even people inside the circle werent completely safe, as the occasional proboscis appeared out of thin air to strike the back of a distracted combatants neck.
A dozen or so people were already down with gaping wounds in the back of their necks, unlikely to survive, but no one seemed to have had their brain eaten, thank the gods. Calvin didnt remember it precisely, but he did know it was awful enough that he didnt want to remember.
As soon as someone was taken down, the villagers around them would tear the pulsing crimson tube free with the victims hands.
Is there a reason for them to use the victims hands?
Its probably tuned into them somehow? So it can touch them? Im not an expert at this.
The leech seemed especially interested in Calvins princess, and the only reason she was still alive was Beli Ma confounding the creature, and the villagers surrounding her, watching her back and occasionally moving her out of the way.
It helped that Sals hot filament was directly above her.
There wasnt much more time to think as Calvin was approaching the scene at break-neck speeds.
Calvins swarm dipped down and then up before he canceled the summoning.
Calvin appeared in midair, flung up toward the creatures main mass, a line of tumbling arms and organs in front of him.
Shifting.
Mayfly/Celestial body.
8/19 Bent remaining.
Calvin shifted his mass into the floor, and the tumbling organs in front of him slowed. Between the sheer adrenaline and the slowing effect of the spell, the parts didnt seem to be moving that fast at all.
He felt the creatures attention zero in on him, using whatever passed for 4th dimensional eyes. I dont have much time.
Multi Mass Shaping.
7/19 Bent remaining.
There were six different organs that looked likely to house the Refraction spinners juices.
Calvin snatched a large, healthy looking hand out of the mess tumbling through the air and recreated it. He created an abyssal steel cap friction-fit to the back of the hand, with a large empty gap between the severed wrist and the back of the gap. Room for the goop.
He made sixty-three of them, each one lined up with the brain leechs main body in an area he could see.
Then he filled each one with a slightly different mixture. Six hands got only one, ingredient, fifteen got unique combinations of two, twenty a combination of three, fifteen unique combinations of four elements, six unique combinations of five ingredients, and one with everything.
Simple math.
Sure you dont want a control group with nothing in it?
Dont be pedantic.
The hands appeared directly in front of the brain-leechs enormous body, the abyssal steel caps on the back of the wrists forcing the goop mixtures manifested inside out through the creatures channels. A large portion of the hands fizzled, or exploded, but a few shot out scrambled balls of warped space, interacting violently with the brain leechs jiggling torso.
Wounds appeared on the things body and it flinched, stunned, as if it couldnt believe what was happening.
The most energetic reaction that didnt destroy the hand was a four-component one.. Lumpyred plus longdoodle, Sadsak, and Marble.
Thats what youre calling the organs?
They dont have official names, and Im doing this on the spot! Cut me some slack! You try naming six unknown organs in a fraction of a second.
Calvins feet touched the ground.
Multi Mass Shaping.
6/18 Bent remaining.
Calvin created a massive, two hundred pound Spinner hand, right at the center of the brain leechs body, then forced every ounce of the four-ingredient combination that he could through it. The resulting tangle of warped space was several orders of magnitude bigger than the ones before it.
The creatures body seemed to resist for a moment as the warped space manifested inside it, swelling and twisting, its corpulent flesh jiggling in pain.
Then it exploded.
The brain leechs goopy remains flew everywhere, through everything, refusing to interact with solid matter. In the space of a breath, there was no evidence the creature had existed at all, save for the wounded.
Dupdomancy has reached level 20!
+1 Will
Please choose a-
Thats a bummer, Calvin thought as the creature flashed out of existence. I was thinking about getting it as a summon. It is dead, right?
Maybe?
If that didnt kill it, then Im out of ideas, Calvin thought, his shoulders relaxing.
I can think of a couple reasons consuming it might be a bad idea, first on the list is the compatability issue that might cause you to explode or implode if you tried to eat the damn thing.
Well, I might want to add one of these to my summons, Calvin thought, looking down at the spinner hand in his grasp.
Couldnt hurt to have a summon that can damage 4th dimensional beings.
I couldnt agree more, especially since ack, people!
Elliot was cut off as a wave of Abyss dwellers crashed over Calvin, jostling him around and, congratulating him with ear-splitting voices and clapping him on the shoulder, making his hackles go up.
Too close!
Ive never seen anything like that! Rufe said, pulling Calvin into an unwanted gardor hug, slapping him on the back before releasing him, holding his shoulders out at arms length while other plebes tried to touch Calvins shoulders and hair.
Hands were touching him all over the head and shoulders, and Calvin was becoming distinctly uncomfortable.
That was some grade-A ass-kicking, boy! You just swooped in like a hero of legend, literally flying, and POW! Blew that thing up with a flick of the wrist. By the gods, how do you even do something like that!?
Dont step on my organs! Calvin blurted out to the gathered crowd of glowing faces, causing them to frown and lean backward ever so slightly.
I think this was where you were supposed to brag about how easy killing the monster was, and how they should follow your brilliant leadership. Oh well, you can get the next one, I guess.
Oh, these? Rufe asked, leaning down to big up a half-trampled Longdoodle. There was a treadmark over a large portion of the organ and a bit of clear goop seeping out.
Yes, Calvin said through clenched teeth, keeping his voice as neutral as possible. Those.
Oy, Rufe said, slapping the nearby people crowding around Calvin. All you ignorant sons of bitches get back to the wounded. Weve got more important things to do than crowd the kid and step on his whatever these are.
Alerted, the crowd backed away, dispersing around the platform, returning their attention to those who actually needed it.
The thinning crowd revealed Sal, sitting on the floor in the distance, slumped against his staff in relief. The old glassworkers heavy sighs were whistling through the gaps in his teeth.
It also revealed Kala, holding a hand over the back of a mans neck, her expression focused as she tried to stem the bleeding.
I love a girl with the right priorities. Calvin thought, tiptoeing around his semi-stomped spinner remains.
Anything I can do to help? Calvin asked.
Can your knick-knacks sew wounds? Kala asked.
Loader bots should be able to perform first aid under emergency situations in the absence of a doctor, yeah. I remember reading about it in a magazine.
Yep, Calvin said.
Then pull them out! And make several gallons of each wounded villagers blood.
Calvin hustled to comply, and the two of them threw their energy into preserving the wounded.
***Learner***
Wonderful! Yes, very good!
The manifold predator was unharmed, and Learner was elated. Both because the creatures victory validated Learners decision to study it, and some other odd reason, stemming from somewhere in the guts of learners current guise.
Strange that any amount of decision-making beyond food processing should be carried out by the guts, Learner thought, poking its own abdomen.
I wonder how it knew to seek out the Apex Predators weakness? How did it know there was a weakness at all? Was the meaning hidden in the four-limbed creatures hoots somewhere?
Back home, the only creature that was undisturbed by the Apex predator was the Refraction Spinner. While the prey was sluggish and slow, when it raised its defenses against the Apex predator, the latter always withdrew.
In this matterspace, that same defense mechanism had been harnessed to bring the creature down, removing it from existence entirely.
Learners hand turned pale, and four more fingers emerged from the bottom of its palm. Each finger sprouted a hand made of units mimicking a Refraction Spinners. It took time and a bit of concentration, but eventually the nine tiny hands worked in sync to produce a stable, scintillating pattern over its palm.
Interesting.
Learner pushed a finger into the pattern, and the finger was turned into tiny chunks that fell through into Learners palm. The units rejoined its palm, while it regrew its finger.
With the exception of the specialized units that formed Learners skin. Locked into shape, they had no way of releasing each other and reabsorbing.
Specialized units are weak to separation in matterspace. Learner realized. That was the primary way damage was dealt in this matterspace, creating separation between units. And the refraction spinners defenses were quite good at it.
All other creatures seem to be made of specialized units, therefore the refraction spinners defense mechanism is far more dangerous to other creatures than it is to me.
Requires more study.
Learner returned its attention to the Manifold predator. It was absorbing the red units of the injured through its hands, while its offshoots preserved the others for consumption by pulling their units closer together. Yes, even recovering damage seems to be a matter of bringing units back into the form they had been before.
Interesting.
But not riveting. There was little to learn watching the manifold predator hoot at the Dark Prey Who Gazes Back. It seemed to pay more attention to that particular prey than the others, hooting at it and gazing at its front-lumps and back-lumps when its head was turned.
Probably sizing up nutritional value.
Requires more study but not right now.
Learner had detected the pattern that the Manifold Predator was taking, and was now confident it could advance further, faster. Learner wanted to be confident in its defences before it made contact again.
It decided it would go out into the matterspace while the Manifold Predator was wasting time with lying still and hooting, and use that time to identify the defense and feeding mechanisms of each of the prey animals here, and master their use as weapons.
There was a quiet thump several hundred paces distant, too distant for the rowdy crowd of four limbed prey to hear, but not Learner. Learner was already far away from these prey, and much closer to the sound of the noise.
Leaner glanced over and saw the broken body of a four-limbed prey laying still upon the pile of bones.
do these four limbed prey come fully formed from above the omnipull? Learner thought, glancing up at the matterspace above.
A moment later, a four-limbed prey fell through the stone matterspace farthest from the Omnipull and landed on top the other one, this one still moving somewhat.
A few minutes later, Learner hid while one of the four-limbed prey came and took away the one that was still squirming, hooting to each other.
Learner had an idea.
Calvinian Summoning has reached level 20!
+1 Will
Hours later, they had managed to preserve five of the eight remaining wounded, whose spines were severely damaged by the attacks.
Do you think theyll be able to walk again? Calvin thought as he leaned up against the new stone railing, his body aching with released tension. Sitting with his back that close to the Abyss made him a little uneasy, but everywhere was equally dangerous, so why not?
Regular humans with no Breaks? Probably not. Legends who drink deadly poison to get a buzz? Yeah, chances are good as long as their friends keep them fed.
Calvin glanced up when Rufe and a woman walked by holding the wrists and ankles of a shivering Uleisan man wearing fine clothes.
Whats up with him? Calvin asked.
This poor bastard got kicked down The Hole today. He was only third Break. Hes got too much Warp going through his system. Rufe said. Were gonna put him under watch until he wakes up or turns into a gibbering ball of flesh.
Calvin frowned. He recognized one of the merchants that hed duped upon arriving in Uleis. That sucks. Maybe it was some kind of power struggle for Orsons seat, and Calvin had crippled him, financially.
You didnt kick him down here. No matter what you did to that guy. It was the assholes up top that did that.
True.
Calvin refocused as they carried the shivering man by.
Show me my choices.
Comments
0xFFF1
I think it's because I asked the question recently on the discord or patreon. Then it just gets answered out of nowhere.
I can't believe it. We are 100 chapters in and only now know/ think we know what a Ravager is. This is the long haul of all titles.
Macronomicon
the blood is just to carry oxygen until it dissapears. When it disappears later, that'd be bad, but not as bad as bleeding out completely in the moment. A stopgap measure. That's what i was thinking.
Lane Heis
Can’t create things with dupdomancy that are consumed or used by the human body, that would also be blood I imagine lol.
Findell
Hopefully alchemy opened up something good for duptomancy summoing seems like it would be on track for variety is the spice of death.
Macronomicon
A NEW CAR!
A disgruntled nondescript squirrel
What's behind door number one!?!
Pastor Joubert
always forgetting eye of the tiger, always. Its basically a meme at this point.
SunderGoldmane
Wisdom to live by.
SunderGoldmane
I think you missed a golden opportunity for “eye of the tiger” when you mentioned heightened adrenaline and slow time.
Pastor Joubert
Learner becomes the monster girl princess in his harem? Turns out learner is the only member of their species which makes them the most important of their species, IE a princess. Kek
0xFFF1
Is it time to see if cooperation with Learner is possible?
Pastor Joubert
The suspense is killing me! Im going to drink myself into a 24 hour coma so the next chapter arrives when I wake up.
Macronomicon
Egads I'm tired. Too much carrying furniture upstairs. Hopefully that didn't come out in the writing. At least not in a bad way. I'll see you guys tomorrow for the make-up chapter!
