MaeveMcCarthy
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Chapter 85 – Dark Waters
🕑 Added 2024-10-19 18:30:01 +0000 UTCDescribing what Iakopo had just revealed to her as shattering felt like an understatement.
Talia had always held her mother as the model of how to behave, to be, of what to become. Yalena had been the center of everything in Talia's life, down to her very own life's goal of one day following her mother's footsteps and becoming the Kraken Slayer. But now the man whispering in her ear was telling her that Yalena had been the one responsible for the catastrophe in Placid City. She couldn't believe it.
"Whether you believe me or not," Iakopo said, as if he could read her mind, "what you need to know is that your father lost access to his primary Mana Channel after using the Dark Water Well. Once he gained Dark Water, which I suspect—which I know, which we now know—is what the Sword Demon is after, he could only use raw Mana like the rest of the Cultists."
Talia frowned. "The rest of the Cultists?" she said. "What do you mean 'the rest of the Cultists'?"
"You don't know that your father is their leader?" Iakopo said, incredulous. "You really don't, do you?"
"I—I—" Talia stumbled on her own words. Moments ago, the man had said that her mother, her hero, the guiding star of her life, had committed what amounted to a war crime and genocide. And now he was telling her that her father, Mano, the first person she had felt a real connection to, who could really understand her, was the leader of the Cultists?
"No. It's not possible," Talia said, trembling.
"It is," Iakopo sighed. "Your father, whom I almost killed if it hadn't been for your mother protecting him, is the one who disproved Yalena's own theories by using the power they gained through slaughter."
"No. No," Talia said, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Believe it or not, it doesn't change what you need to do now. The Torpedo Snappers are getting close, so listen and listen well."
"I can't," Talia said, her voice breaking.
"You can and you will," Iakopo snapped. "Unless you want a thousand to die."
Tears streaming down her face, Talia bit down hard on her lip, drawing blood, and awaited instructions.
"As I've said, Dark Water is the equivalent of anti-magic," Iakopo continued. "The only way for someone to access it, apparently, is to lose their primary Mana Channel, or so that's what your mother believed. In my own research, I found that by sacrificing small amounts of vitality, I could convert some of my own Mana into Dark Water. Not that Yalena cared much for it since she needed enormous amounts of it."
He paused, his voice growing thoughtful. "She never fully considered, however, that Dark Water is a complex and mysterious power. I do wonder how she managed to pass it onto you, but I can tell you that to produce Dark Water, you will need to sacrifice your own vitality and the Mana coming from your primary Mana Channel. That's how anyone who doesn't have access to raw Mana, which unlike normal Mana contains the vitality from the Deep, is able to generate Dark Water."
"Wait," Talia said. "So you can use Dark Water too?" she asked him.
"No, I could only generate Dark Water inside the world created by the Darkstorm Sphere. To fully absorb it into an Affinity, I would have had to sacrifice all my vitality, and that means I would have died." Iakopo explained.
"But then why do I have it?" Talia said. "I also have the Affinity."
"I don't know," Professor Iakopo admitted, with a tinge of regret in his tone. "I wish I knew what your mother did, but I don't. However, you can just reach for your vitality the same way you would do when you reach to feed your Soul Weapon. Mix it with your Mana and call upon your Affinity. You should be able to eat into both and generate Dark Water. Based on the amount of Mana and vitality you have, that is how you will be able to summon Dark Water."
He paused, considering. "I suspect the first time around, after what went down with Elder Krakatoa, you might have inadvertently done that sort of unconsciously. The vitality might have spilled because of your anger and been transferred into your primary Mana Channels."
Talia frowned, thinking of what had gone down during the test with Elder Krakatoa. Blood Confluence had indeed, among its effects, allowed her to better control her vitality, which would explain how she had been able to unconsciously draw on it and generate Dark Water.
"But wouldn't I have needed control over my primary Mana Channel to do that?" she asked.
"No," Professor Iakopo rebuked. "Raw Mana only damages you when you're trying to draw on Hydromancy alone. As long as you use Mana, Blood Water, or Water, it doesn't matter. That's how you generate Dark Water."
Talia nodded and grabbed the glaive with both hands as she saw the first mutated Torpedo Snappers making it over the edge of the platform.
"I don't think you understand how powerful Dark Water is," Professor Iakopo said. "Do not exhaust your vitality and do not kill yourself. You just need a small amount of it. I don't know how much vitality you have in your body, but be careful. It takes time to regenerate, and you don't want to expend too much of it, or you will be damaged forever. Crippled."
For the first time today, Talia felt supreme confidence. "Professor," Talia said, "what if I had a near-infinite reserve of vitality in my body?"
For a beat, no words came to her while the first mutated Torpedo Snappers approached.
"If that was the case," Professor Iakopo said, considering, "Dark Water should make short work of monsters with low defenses like these mutated Torpedo Snappers. You should be able to kill nearly all of them."
Talia closed her eyes again, this time reaching deep within herself, for the same ocean of blood she had summoned for the Star Glaive. Then, she pulled at all that blood and mixed it with her Mana, trying, as she had done unsuccessfully before, to draw on her Dark Water Affinity.
This time, however, she felt a strong reaction as a thick, viscous layer of Dark Water appeared around her glaive.
"Now," Iakopo's voice was urgent. "You need to kill as many Torpedo Snappers as you can. The Dark Water will tear them apart. As soon as the students are far enough, I'll be able to use my Space Water. When I do, cover yourself in Dark Water from head to toe, it should protect you."
Talia stood alone before the rocky platform, between it and the students that were slowly making their escape. Since many of them had barely any proficiency with Mana Board, they were going as slow as snails. But the horde of mutated Torpedo Snappers closing in on her was frantic.
The creatures' grotesque forms finally weighed upon Talia. With the Dark Water swirling around the blade, a viscous, inky substance that absorbed the light around it, she slashed at the first three monsters right in front of her, infusing as much vitality as she could into the attack. The blade of Dark Water cleaved the mutated Torpedo Snappers without needing any assistance.
Talia heard three notifications in quick succession.
[You have slain Mutated Torpedo Snapper Level 17!]
[You have slain Mutated Torpedo Snapper Level 21!]
[You have slain Mutated Torpedo Snapper Level 19!]
But this was just the beginning. Dark Water was indeed more potent than she had imagined. A brief flicker of surprise crossed Talia's face, but there was no time to dwell on it. More of the abominations were soon upon her.
She channeled more vitality into the Dark Water and thrust the glaive forward at a particularly fast monster, destroying its head. The Dark Water ate away at the very substance of the creature. Talia pulled back just in time to dodge the swipe of a second malformed limb and then spun low, twisting herself to slash with all her force once again.
Another blade of Dark Water caught the monster that had come right after the other and killed not only that one, but also two that were running behind it. However, the horde was relentless. For every monster she felled, two more seemed to take its place.
Talia, now pushing back on her Mana Board, was fully on water. She had never fought on top of a Mana Board, but it came to her naturally. She managed to slash more monsters apart before they even reached the platform. When she saw that dozens had gathered right at the bottleneck of the entrance, she burned more Mana than she thought she would be able to, injecting as much vitality as she could into it.
This time, her next slash turned into a dragon-like creature, eating alive the dozens of monsters and leaving a huge, gaping hole in their midst.
She kept at it for what seemed like an interminable amount of time, but it was probably barely a couple of minutes. She got wounds, scrapes, and even gashes across her body. But never like today had she felt the action of the regenerative powers that seemed to inhabit her body. Only now, perhaps stupidly, she made the connection between the massive regeneration she was capable of and the ocean of vitality inside her.
She thought of using [Ravenous Wounds], but she also felt like losing her mind at this moment wasn't a smart thing to do. Minute after minute, the swarm began to thin. The numbers dwindled as piles of semi-disintegrated monsters accumulated all around her, serving as an additional barrier against the other mutated Torpedo Snappers.
"You're doing well," Iakopo's voice echoed in her mind. "Just keep it up as long as you can."
Suddenly, all the monsters seemed to recede, almost scared of her. Cautiously, Talia allowed herself to step onto the semi-submerged stone that led to the platform, and she fell to her knees, grabbing the glaive with both hands to keep her body straight.
She used [Blood Siphon], hoping it would help regenerate some stamina. But it seemed like Dark Water had cut at the very soul of the monsters, destroying their vitality. Blood Siphon was much less effective than it would usually be. It still had some trickle-down effect, but nothing compared to what it usually was.
Every part of her ached. The exhaustion deepened in her bones. Yet, amidst the fatigue, there was a flicker of triumph. She was close to saving their entire class. The students were probably almost safe, and the threat was half neutralized. She just needed to keep it up a little longer. Maybe 5 minutes. Maybe 10. Just as long as it would allow the students to escape the cave so that Professor Iakopo could unleash the full might of his Space Water.
And then a terrifying sound shook the cavern. Suddenly, as a massive deformed arm climbed onto the platform, she understood that the mutated Torpedo Snappers hadn't been afraid of her. They had been afraid of the creature that had now risen to face her.
Its body was easily the size of a small ship. Once it had fully climbed up, Talia could see its status.
[Boss: Abyssal Torpedo Drake (Semi-Formed, Boss) Level 39]
Even though Talia had gained a few levels during the exchange, as she saw the gleaming scales and the malicious sheen that covered the monster, she knew in a second that this was it. This was the monster she couldn't defeat. No matter what, she could feel deep in her bones that not even Dark Water would affect a monster with so many levels above her.
Then time itself appeared to slow. The world around her seemed to fade, colors bleeding away until everything was cast in shades of gray.
"Mom?" Talia whispered, her voice trembling.
Yalena Solara stood before her daughter while time was fully frozen, a sad smile playing on her lips. "Hello, Talia," she said softly. "I wish we had more time, but I need to tell you what you need to do."
Talia sighed in relief, but then she felt doubt take over. "Mom, Professor Iakopo said that you—"
"We don't have time for that, dear," Yalena replied, cutting her off. "I need you to snap out of this and do the right thing."
Talia nodded eagerly, her eyes wide with desperation. "How do I defeat that monster?"
Yalena shook her head, her expression grave. "You can't. You're too weak."
"Then give me power!" Talia shouted, her voice cracking with emotion.
Yalena looked at her with pity in her eyes. "I wish I could."
"Mom," Talia pleaded, tears forming in her eyes. "I need it."
Yalena shook her head twice, her voice firm but gentle. "The only thing you need to do, Talia, is to run."
