Malcolm Tent
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Wish upon the Stars chapter 611
🕑 Added 2024-04-24 23:34:56 +0000 UTCThe second the other members of the Horned Lords charged, the rest of us moved. I rose from my chair, foot touching down on the edge of the grill table and hurling myself up. My State of Grace was pretty much permanent in my armor, so I soared up into the air weightlessly.
I’d probably have hit the ceiling if I hadn’t been paying attention, instead I pushed off into a gainer (a backflip performed while moving forward according to Abel) and bent my knees enough that my feet missed the ceiling at the top of my arc. Continuing the motion I came down towards the crowd of gangsters.
My staff appearing in my hands, slamming down in a brutal thrust to smash into the head of the one I was coming down on top of. He stumbled back and I pushed off his chest, purposefully using very little force so I’d land quickly.
Once my feet hit the ground, I triggered Mornax, and the crowd of them rushing me didn’t have the time to stop as the first one slammed into me in a shoulder charge and STOPPED with a loud crack as something broke in his collarbone. He dropped to the ground howling in pain, and several more of them tripped over his flailing legs and ended up in a pile on the floor in front of me.
Tapping the ground, I triggered Pit of Despair, the group of enemies sinking effortlessly into the dust before I removed the Skill and let it harden around them.
“That’s four!” I called gleefully over my shoulder. “And they aren’t even-” My Danger Sense went off and I crouched, not wanting to lose my powerful defense by jumping. A fist erupted from the ground below me, smashing into the side of my knee with terrifying force, and I even felt a slight twinge as it made contact.
At sixty five Impact, not to mention being made of stone, not to mention density shifted, with the ADDITION of Mountain Stance, an E-ranker hurting me with a punch was a staggering accomplishment.
Literally, as it turned out, I staggered under the blow, and the ground shattered as the four gang members burst free and threw themselves at me.
Cursing, I slammed my feet back down, activating Mornax again and then stacking Belial on top. I could have used Mephistopheles I supposed, but explosions of destructive armor eating fire weren’t exactly environmentally friendly. I could turn off the corrosion when I was done if it ended up tagging something I didn’t mean to hit.
My staff licked out, slapping aside the fist of the closest one before smashing the knee of another trying to circle me. One appeared behind me, driving a fist into my kidney, but I shrugged it off with a grunt as I slammed my staff back and down, driving the butt of it into the foot of the third attacker. I felt about a dozen small foot bones break and heard a howl of pain before I drove my elbow back into the spot the sound came from.
There was a crack and a thump as my stone elbow crushed the nose of his mask and he collapsed. I stared at the two in front of me, eyes scanning for the missing fourth guy. I’d lost track of him when they came out of the floor (which I was going to need to fix probably). I heard a constant stream of breaking dishes and cracking furniture around me as my friends worked on the rest of them. Apparently someone decided to leave me to my fun, and I wasn’t sure if I was grateful or annoyed.
“Ok, where did your friend go?” I asked the two still circling. I didn’t expect them to answer, but I figured one of them might give away the game by accident. And they did, the one on the left turned his head unconsciously to look at something, and I spun to intercept… “Oh god WHY!?” I yelped, hurling myself to one side.
The fourth guy, the one I hit in the face to start, had turned into some kind of giant spider demon beast and was hanging above me, slowly lowering down. My Danger Sense had been pinging nonstop since they erupted from the ground, so it hadn’t warned me.
Once he saw me notice him he tried to drop on me, but I was already flying through the air, so he ended up just landing on the gravel, viciously sharp forelegs coming over his shoulders and raking into the stone to tear it apart. He threw back his head and roared, and I caught sight of the mandibles under his mask.
I waved a hand, triggering Pit of Despair under him. He’d already seen it, so he retreated up onto his webs…which meant he was completely vulnerable to the forest of razor sharp spikes I sent spearing up toward him from the dust with Dust Construction.
The spikes perforated him in about a dozen places, and he roared with pain and fear as he tried to struggle. The struggling slowed, and I turned to face the others dispassionately. Play stupid games win stupid prizes, I was past the point of waffling over every enemy I killed in combat. I spotted one of the others but realize one was missing for a split second before I felt a surge of fear.
Not my fear, Callie had spotted the last one, and as I spun to intercept he drove some sort of ghostly blade into me. It had sharp hooked teeth and was viciously curved, and it slid right past my armor and into my guts with a thump.
Callie screamed in rage and fear, but I just sent her a reassuring pulse of confidence. The other one had come up behind me to help his friend, and when the first one pulled out his dagged my staff blurred back and slammed into HIS gut. There was a slight burn, and then the pain in my stomach was gone as the Horned Lord collapsed with a surprised scream.
The dagger wielder looked at him in confusion, and when he turned to stare at his friend I triggered Steam Arrow. I wasn’t in Belial or Mornax anymore, but the normal attack was E-ranked like I was and with my Impact it was much more damaging than it should have been.
The plume of boiling hot condensed vapor hit him straight in the eye socket of his mask, and he reeled back, screaming. I choked up on my staff and swung it like a bat, smashing it into his jaw with all the force I could muster. He slumped over, his brain having been rattled against his Skull by the carefully aimed blow (thank you Overlay).
I glanced down at the one twitching and bleeding on the floor and sighed. He hadn’t been the one to try to spider murder me or stab me, and killing one of them in battle was different than letting someone die in agony of a wound that should have been mine. I tapped him with my staff, funneling a heal burst into him.
I had three left and I was only using one on him. If he died anyway it wasn’t my concern. He WAS an enemy, and there were limits to my compassion.
Turning to look at the restaurant I grimaced. The place had been totalled. We’d taken the fight right to them so most of the Glade survivors were fine, we’d avoided all the F-rankers getting murdered.
That had been why we’d had to attack. With so many there was no way we could have contained the damage if they spread out, and too many of our people were weak. Abel had known it from the start, I was sure, or he wouldn’t have unilaterally made the decision to attack. Battle maniac he may be, but he had a good head on his shoulders.
Callie came rushing up to me, throwing herself into my arms. “Are you ok? How did he get past your armor?”
I squeezed back, then walked over and picked up the weapon. The hooked dagger hadn’t been an ability, as I expected, it was a weapon. A D-rank weapon at that, and how the hell had I missed that?
Callie took it from me, examining it. “This seems to be almost MADE of ectoplasm. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Her spectral severer (though woefully out of date) was made to HURT ghosts, but not out of actual ghost material. I gestured for her to put it away. “Keep it, it seems like it might be valuable. Any of them die except spider guy?”
“Nope. Lots of injured, but none dead.” She said with a smile. “Hopefully that makes whatever backlash we might face from their benefactors less of an issue.”
I shrugged. “The Red Brethren sound scary, so they’re probably at least partly C-rank. If they send anyone Zeke can take care of them, or if they send a D-ranker we have Callen. We’re not exactly in a bad position.” Glancing around, I realized the fight was over. “We should go figure out what the hell is going on I guess.” I said with a sigh. “What do you think the chances are that this was just a random coincidental robbery?” She just stared at me. “Yeah, I was afraid of that.”
Walking over to the front, we found the two original gang members. The big one, Bruno, was partially sticking out of a wall, groaning as Gabe leaned against the stone next to him looking bored. The short guy who had been talking though, he was…otherwise occupied.
Specifically, he was hanging from a series of long strands of silk thrown over a few rafters. Bethy was standing to one side, giggling madly as she hauled back on the silk, sending him flying up into the air and just out of the reach of Poptarts and Donuts, who were circling on the ground, lunging for him every time he got close.
“Oh gods, please!” He howled desperately. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know people like you were here. Please stop.” He was actively sobbing, and I heard him yelp as Donuts (I think, it was hard to tell the difference) managed to score a scratch on his stomach.
Bethy clicked her tongue. “Well, I guess if you’re sorry. I don’t think interrupting people’s dinner is very nice. Do you?”
“No!” He squeaked in panicked agreement. “It was rude. I was a rude, mean person, and I’ve learned the error of my ways and will never be man to anyone again and OH GOD THAT ALMOST TOOK OUT MY EYE PLEASE STOP!”
She didn’t look convinced. “What about your friends? You said they were going to come hurt me if I didn’t let you go.”
Before he could answer, I cleared my throat. They all froze as they turned to stare at me…except one of the cats who reached up really quick and slapped him in the face with its paw before acting like nothing happened. “Bethy.” I said in amusement. “Made a new friend I see.”
“Yup!” She said enthusiastically. “He’s been playing with the kitties. They’re having a marvelous time. Can we keep him?”
His head snapped up to me. “NO!” He screamed. “You’re in charge of her. Tell her to let me down please? I’ll pay you. I’ll give you whatever you want. Money, information, I don’t care, just get me away from her.”
“Let him down.” I said with a sigh. “But don’t untie him. I have questions, and if he doesn’t give me the answers I what he can always go back to playing scratching post.” She huffed sulkily and then let go of the silk, letting him crash unceremoniously into the ground with a thump. He groaned for a second before scrambling up, eyes wild behind his mask. I smiled at him as he looked around. “There, now that you’re comfy, why don’t we have a chat. I have SO many questions.”
Comments
JJB4345_80_815
Thank you for the chappy! Friendly possible edits: The other one had come up behind me to help his friend, and when the first one pulled out his dagged my staff blurred back and slammed into HIS gut. dagged ==> dagger “It was rude. I was a rude, mean person, and I’ve learned the error of my ways and will never be man to anyone again and OH GOD THAT ALMOST TOOK OUT MY EYE PLEASE STOP!” man ==> mean I have questions, and if he doesn’t give me the answers I what he can always go back to playing scratching post.” what ==> want
CringeWorthyStudios
Bethy is amazing and terrifying and wow I want to be her friend so badly. She’s great.
Malcolm Tent
Yeah, his own rank pretty much. It was easier because he has more Impact than most E-rankers. That Impact is the gift that keeps on giving. Everyone should do the Dew, assuming they have a way not to get eaten by a dead goddess afterwards lol.
Kevin McGuire
So yeah his new staff is amazing. Is there a limit to the injuries it can off load?
