Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. I've been a bit preoccupied with school. I've actually stared my college applications and scholarship hunting, so that's taking up a bit of my time. Being a senior can be a bit hectic at times, but thanks to everyone who were concerned. And also, to those who PM'd me, don't worry, I don't plan on dropping this story anytime soon.
Now here's a long awaited chapter after an almost month long hiatus.
Progressing Forward
From underneath my slightly stained shirt, I took out a spare dagger. It's rusted metallic hue gleamed with the faint illumination of the transient light produced by the flash light.
Brandishing the blade in front of me, I quickly knelt down and lightly touched its tip onto the corpse’s carapace. I knocked on it a few times, testing it’s density. In response, I felt a dull resistance, a sign that the shell itself wasn’t too thick.
I repeated this set of actions a couple of times, all at different locations on its body. Of course, my pace was hurried, spurred by the urgency brought about by the constant screeches. In the end, I discovered that the armor itself wasn’t as uniform as I first assumed. The shell was sometimes thick, and sometimes thin. The thinnest portions of the plated carapace was located on its limbs, most notably along the space where the joints connected with the main body. It was easy enough to tell that the shell’s thinness was designed for mobility.
In contrast, the portions covering its chest and the helmet like dome on its head were the thickest.
In addition, from the way its body was oriented, the Gilas looked a bit bipedal, it’s legs more closely resembling a chicken’s rather than a lizard or insect. The sharp, somewhat stout protrusions at the end of its arms where its hands should have been were designed for climbing up against walls or on ceilings. Their hook shape ensured that, but from my point of view, they looked a bit unreliable for attacking.
After my initial inspection, which lasted at most, for 45 seconds, I prepared for dissection.
Using the tip of my spare dagger, I pressed its edge along the crevice in its neck, the same spot I had opened up a while ago.
Previously, due to my lack of prior knowledge, I had used Efhermet rather recklessly. As a result, a good amount of its acidic blood slathered itself onto the blade. Thankfully, whether through some stroke of luck or crass coincidence, the blade did not melt away, unlike my jacket.
Now, I don’t know whether this is due to the fact that Efhermet was made out of metal, or because of its “weapon” status, but I was lucky
Although I did have some relief of mind regarding my weapon’s safety, it was still a good idea to practice maximum caution. I couldn’t just outright go and use my favorite weapon, especially when there’s such a high risk for corrosion involved. For that reason, I planned to use the substitute dagger for dissection.
Applying a little bit of strength into the dagger, the blade sunk in nicely with a satisfying squelch. A bit of green blood sprayed upwards as a result, but due to the angle of insertion, the blood splattered away from me. With my free hand, I grasped the Gila’s chest plate for traction while I began the hurried, yet careful process of beheading. I made absolutely certain that the green acid only flowed to one side during the process.
Surprisingly enough, something like a neck bone wasn’t present. Throughout the process, my blade sliced smoothly through, unhindered by nothing except terse muscle. From this, I figured that the Gilas were more insect than lizard. Since insects were invertebrates, I figured this was a reasonable assumption, although truthfully speaking, I lacked enough prior knowledge to make such a conclusion.
Once it’s head completely separated, it rolled helplessly on the floor, creating a trail of acid, which subsequently melted a thin layer of the tiled floor. I checked my spare dagger. While its metal blade showed no signs of damage, the hilt, which had a few drops of acid splattered on its surface, had started melting. Consequently, its durability dropped significantly. Fortunately though, the weapon itself was still usable, since only a miniscule amount of the acid actually touched the hilt.
Like this, I confirmed that the acid was ineffective against metal. In actuality, this was the main reason why I decided to behead the creature. I wanted to test out exactly how strong the acidity of its blood was, and if there was any convenient way to take and store a bit of it. In the end, after testing it a bit with a few of the materials lying around the room, I discovered that the acid was effective against almost everything, with the exception of metal.
Weapons also had a much more, subdued corrosion rate, especially when compared with other items. I theorized that this might have been due to the inherent effects given to the [System] of this world. The durability stat wasn’t just for show.
Making sure to stay away from the continually dripping acid that flowed freely from its severed neck, I lifted its headless body up in a nostalgic princess carry, before I laid it down onto a couple of connected tables. Surprisingly enough, the Gila wasn’t all that heavy. It possessed a weight unfit for a creature of its size.
On the raised surface, the monster’s tail hanged out from one end of the table, while its severed neck was at the other. It’s green blood continually flowed down onto the ground in the process. I tried placing a paint bucket (which I found within the room) directly below its neck, in order to catch the dripping blood/acid, but as expected, the acid merely corroded through the plastic container. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything metal conveniently lying around that could catch and collect the dripping acid.
I took a careful step back and observed the headless creature. I ignored the constant buzzing and the penetrating gazes while I looked at it with clearly observant eyes. After a while, I lifted the dagger rather ceremoniously up in the air before-
Ching!
The dagger cut through the stagnant night air, before its tip slightly chipped upon the impact. I had stabbed the thing directly in its chest plate, but like I expected, the resistance I met was great. Next, I tried again, this time utilizing [Dissect] with my next stab. The results were marginally the same, although with the use of my skill, a little bit more of its exoskeleton did chip away.
I continued attacking its chest armour with my dagger, each time utilizing various stabbing attacks, slashing, and all types of tactics. Sometimes, I switched to Efhermet, in order to strike a bit harder. Other times, I directly used [Dissect]. It was a short process, that yielded practically the same results; this thing had some sort of resistance to bladed weaponry.
After I confirmed this, I then took out my boken, and raised it high over the air, directly in front of the body. Now that I’ve confirmed its resistance to piercing attacks, next was blunt damage. With that sort of mindset in place, I solemnly struck downwards like a butcher with a meat cleaver towards its left chest piece.
Crack!
Upon collision, its chest plate cracked, while a few loose pieces flew off from the impact. A fair bit of green blood oozed out from those cracks, showing that it not only damaged the armor, it also damaged the main body below. Like this, I confirmed its lack of resistance against blunt damage.
I performed several tests like this, all while under the constraints of time.
In the end, I discovered that, generally speaking, the armor was surprisingly delicate. Blunt impact was its main weakness. With only a bit of force, the night black carapace would readily break. In contrast, its resistance against bladed weaponry was on a whole ‘nother level.
From what I gathered, the external carapace was also quite air tight. Apart from the mouth, I couldn’t find any other opening. This was probably due to the constitution of its body. If one were to remove the shell, they’d find a fleshy corpse with unnaturally large sweat glands. That is to say, underneath the armor, was a body covered in acid. The shell acted as a casing, keeping the acid inside, while keeping danger out.
With that sort of body, I reasoned that skill’s like Cielle’s [Gemini Blue] were useless. The shell had no pain receptors, nor any breaks in their armor, so aside from its mouth, Cielle’s magic would be useless in this situation. That is unless I managed to create enough cracks in it armor, of course.
After its carapace was now noticeably dented, a few of its pieces practically breaking apart, I delved deeper into its body, finally getting to the insides. Carefully, using the tip of my dagger, I picked up the pieces of cracked shell, only to reveal the slime covered body underneath.
It looked quite grotesque, even for me. Its body was like a skinless, boneless human, revealing only muscle and the occasional tendon that stood out. In contrast to its human like muscular frame, the body was green, and covered by acid. It took away almost half my concentration just to prevent any wayward acid from spilling over onto me.
I removed a few plates of armor, but in the end, I restrained myself. I only revealed its chest cavity, and some of its arm. I also grabbed the rolling head, and removed the helmet like thing covering it, revealing a soft scalp that had the vague wrinkles that resembled an exposed brain. As expected, it had no eyes, nor nose, only a thing, super elongated tongue.
Of course, I figured that fully dissecting this creature, like I did with most of my victims, would prove useless and time consuming. Despite my boiling desire, I did not have time to completely lose myself in the intricacies of its alien body.
I satisfied myself with my current findings, which included;
1) The armor’s thickness was unbalanced. Its limbs were covered with thinner armor, while its chest and head were the thickest. There was also a soft, taut, yet flexible portion of its shell located where its tail and main body connected. I figured that it would be relatively easy to sever its tail apart from its main body.
2) The armor was weak against blunt impact, but strong against piercing, or slashing attacks.
3) Without damage to its external shell, the carapace was practically air tight. Cielle’s magic would be useless against it, unless she aimed for the brief instance when its mouth was open. As for other magic, like fireball, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s particularly heat resistant though...
4) It’s acidic blood covered every inch of its body, underneath the shell. This same blood was ineffective against metal.
In addition, from our earlier encounters, I gathered that its main senses were sound and “taste”. Sound, was an obvious enough method. Something akin to echo location was in use. They even went as far as using sound as a means of hunting, like what they were doing now. Disorienting, confusing, and sending its prey into chaos using a constant bombardment of sound.
As for taste, I came to this conclusion after watching its reactions towards Hina’s fireballs. Like a snake, the Gilas “tasted” the air, or to be more precise the temperature.
After I came to this conclusion, I moved away from the corpse, and in what felt like a long time (although in actuality, it had only been a mere 5 minutes), I turned back around to look at the others.
Surprisingly enough, the girls’ reactions were a lot more subdued than I first predicted. Cielle looked at me the same way as she usually does. Her expression was so unchanging in fact, that it gave off the faint hint that she knew about my habits all along.
Hina and Cher were a bit more ordinary. A mixture of shock, disgust, yet a clear understanding. In the faint transient light, there expressions gave of a feeling of resignation towards my rather… pragmatic actions.
Since they weren’t raising a particular fuss about it, I decided not to mind it either.
I walked back over towards the blackboard, and with quick well timed strokes, I quickly wrote down the gathered information on the board in as few words as possible. With the light shining behind me, it took less than 1 minute to transcribe everything.
After the last stroke of chalk, I moved backwards, so that the others could see. I stepped back, over towards the hastily barricaded door, where I quietly observed the others. In the process, I decided to play with [Sensory Remapping]. My reliance on my hearing was quite a demerit during this particular situation. Despite that though, my other options were pretty scarce.
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Hearing was a no go, and eyesight wouldn’t be particularly helpful in this situation either. If I could somehow adjust my eyesight to see night vision, or something along those lines, that would be helpful, but at my current ability, that’s a particularly difficult task to accomplish.
Allocating my senses over into touch or taste wouldn’t really benefit me either, after all, a human being’s sense of touch and taste are innately restricted. I doubt I could do something like “tasting” the temperature like a snake. In the end, my sense of smell was the only other option. I completely deprived my sense of taste, touch, and sound, while dimming down my eyesight to the bare minimum. In exchange, all the scents, odors, and fragrances that entered my nostrils were amplified to extreme degrees.
To my pleasant surprise, the acidic smell of sulfur was quite shocking. It drifted continuously from the corpse a few feet away from me. I hadn’t noticed this distinct smell before hand since prior, my sense of smell had been deprived, but now, it's rancid odor caused my nose to wrinkle in distaste. If I concentrated, I could make out the vague scent of the others- the Gilas from the other side of the door, although as expected, their sulfuric odor wasn’t as overbearing as the corpse in the room.
As I was messing around, the others had finished reading the small wall of text adorned with hastily scribbled pictures on the board and promptly turned to me. They nodded in understanding just as I felt a surge of power through the barricade I leaned on. As expected, the door wouldn’t hold for long. It won’t take long for those things to force their way in here. In addition, for quite a while now, the slight smell of sulfur was also wafting above us. The Gilas were also within the air vents.
Spurred forth by a growing sense of urgency, I nodded back towards the others, while indicating towards a newly plastered wall. The smell of sulfur was noticeably lacking here, proving that the Gilas were either currently congregating outside the door or trying to circumvent their way into the room through the air ducts.
Through a series of vague hand gestures (and sometimes written instruction with the use of the blackboard), I managed to get my message across- We would bust down the wall, and run across the opposite hall that connected towards the wide expanse that made up the bomb shelter. From there, we could circle all the way back to the staircase, all the while avoiding our original route. This was of course a crude, hastily constructed plan, but it was all we had.
After a series of vague nods, I took a careful step back, before I lunged my body forward. Applying [hard scale] in tune with [Rushing Dash], I barrelled my way through the wall as if it were made of rice paper.
Pieces of dried plaster clung to my already stained shirt as I came to a skidding stop. Throwing a quick glance back, I could see the others making their way through the hole with Ciele at the forefront and Cher guarding the rear.
I quickly looked around my surroundings, only to discover ourselves within another room. A classroom which stood directly besides the previous one, now connected by an unseemly hole in the wall. Just as quickly as I came to this conclusion, I noticed a shift in smell. The congregated sulfuric scent that, previously was all concentrated at the entrance, was now moving. It was obvious enough, but the putrid smell was getting closer and closer.
I ushered everyone out into the hallway, just as the Gilas neared. With a clammer, they quickly approached us. Some slowly striding across the hall, while others crawled through the ceiling or walls, like malnourished cockroaches. With Cher leading the front, the girls quickly ran down in the opposite direction of the monsters, just as I received the first one with the base of my boken.
I struck out furiously, aiming directly at its encased head. With a satisfying thud, itf feet lifted off from the ground as it spun twice in mid air before it came crashing down into a Gila on the wall. Putrid acid leaked out from its cracked surface, but I paid it no heed as another one approached.
This time, one jumped down from the ceiling. Relying solely on the distinct scent it gave off, I took a giant leap back, bringing in my boken in the process. With a soundless yelp, I immediately thrusted the wooden sword forward. The tip of my weapon homed in on the unexpecting Gila’s chest cavity, directly where its sternum would be.
The impact sent the creature tumbling backwards, where it crashed into a few of it's quickly approaching comrades.
In this fashion, I held back the approaching Gilas, as the Girls continued to increase their distance. Truth be told, I would have preferred it if they helped, but honestly, considering the level difference, as well as how these things were built, I couldn’t risk it.
Seriously, monsters that conveniently reacted well to heat and had almost no pain receptors outside their bodies was simply a bad matchup for Hina and Cielle’s matchup. Not to mention, Cher herself was too unreliable when it came group combat.
While I thought of such things, I continued attacking.
Utilizing the knowledge acquired from the earlier, I aimed at their weak spots. From the soft connection on their tails, to their rather flimsy joints, I was a fair bit merciless.
In the end though, I primarily focused on crippling the Gilas’ legs. I made sure to batter a leg per Gila as I slowly inched myself backwards. My goal wasn’t to outright hunt them down, but rather, to slow their pursuing speed. After all, I had to maintain a suitable distance so that I wouldn’t get crowded on. In fact, it was because I was so cautious and played such a dangerous, yet careful game of hit-and-run, that I could last so long against so many monsters.
After exchanging a few more blows, I instantly turned around and sprinted towards the girls. I activated [Rushing Dash], forcing my body to accelerate forward. The lingering, pubescent scent of palpable fear that oozed out from the others quickly got stronger and stronger as I continued on. Unfortunately, another scent also intensified.
The scent of characteristic sulfur, one originating from within the vents. This was what prompted me forward. While I held back the majority of the Gilas (crippling almost a third of them), the ones that opted to avoid me, were quickly closing the distance between the girls. These were the ones that moved about in the vents, and their crawling speed was noticeably faster than the girls. What made this worse was that I could distinguish at least 5 of them. 4 were within the vents, while the fifth lingered directly in front of the others, seemingly blocking their way. This was what probably stopped the girls’ advance.
In a little less than 20 seconds, I reached them. I batted away a Gila that just scampered out from a hole in the metallic vents, just as I approached them.
Cielle was the first to notice me. Without so much as a word or indication, a mass of transparent blue zoomed towards me, healing whatever minor scratches and injuries I had accumulated. The others in contrast, were a bit too busy. A series of seemingly infinite balls of fire shot further down the hallway.
These flames licked and rocked forward, as if they had a mind of their own. Hina’s [Lesser Pyrokinesis] was working in over time, as she directed the newly created balls of fire directly towards her opponent. Unfortunately, the matchup was just unfavorable for her.
Coupled with its high mobility and increased perception against heat, the lone Gila so far managed to avoid most of Hina’s flames. The few licks of fire that did land shaved off a decent bit of hp, but unfortunately, it simply wasn’t enough.
If it wasn’t for Cher, who was desperately acting as vanguard, then Hina would have been overpowered and killed a long time ago.
Cher herself, desperately guarded against the Gila. It’s a bit unfortunate to say this, but Cher’s defensive techniques, which centered around mobility and re-direction, was especially ineffective against this type of opponent. Against a creature who moved faster, and struck harder than her, what little advantage Cher had was quickly obliterated.
She only managed to last so long thanks to the constant stream of [Blue Gemini] coming her way.
As for me, I would have liked to quickly step in and help the struggling duo, but the creatures that quickly emerged from within the small opening in the ventilation shafts kept me occupied.
Alongside the one I had previously knocked down, their were currently 4 Gilas that reared their heads my way. Their overly putrid, sulfuric stench was quite overbearing as they continually flicked their tongues into the air. In addition to these four, I could make out the smell of the other Gilas that I left behind, quickly making their way closer.
I faced off against them, tense, unmoving. I knew full well that the moment I moved, the fighting would start. I shot a short, almost imperceptible glance behind me. Coincidentally, I locked eyes with Hina, who also chose this exact instant to assess the situation. Through my slightly darkened vision, I caught the faint glimmer that sparked in her eyes.
In the next instant, the aggregated flames that flickered in front of her immediately shot backwards. A columbine of flame came together, and roared past me. It seared the ground that separated me from the 4 Gilas. Following that, a pillar- no, a wall of fire rose from the ground, and for a brief moment, a curtain of flame separated us from the rest of the hall.
In the short gap of time it took that wall of flame to form, my body rocketed forward. With [Rushing Dash] activated, I shot past the girls like a dying comet, and continued forward towards the lone Gila that blocked our way.
My club blurred as it repeatedly came crashing down on the ill prepared creature’s body. A strike to its leg, shoulder, other leg - a rain of quick, yet heavy blows continued to land on all of its assessed weak points, all within the span of 5 seconds. It’s HP was quickly reduced to less than half, while a new status effect, [Cripple] greeted my darkened eyes.
Not even bothering to deal the finishing blow, I turned back around to assess the situation. The wall of flame continued to flicker, but noticeably weaker now. Fortunately, the four Gilas still hadn’t attacked. Either they were afraid of the fire, or the generated heat muddled their senses enough to keep them at bay.
Just as the crack of a smile almost adorned my face, my expression instantly darkened. I saw Hina’s upright figure unsteadily sway backwards, as if her body had just lost all of its strength. My body moved automatically in that next instant. I dashed forward, just in time to catch Hina’s falling figure. Observing closely, her eyes were almost glazed over, while her skin was noticeably pale. Through the faint illumination of dying flame and artificial light, I could make out the word, “Mana” that escaped from Hina’s slightly parted lips.
I nodded once, immediately understanding the situation. Her constant, never ending generation of fireballs, had rapidly used up her mana pool. Unlike with our previous encounters with the Werewolves or with the Boars, Hina had used her own magic in order to create the fire, instead of using naturally created flames. This reckless course of actions quickly drained her remaining mana. The last act of [Pyrokinesis] was the last wisps of magic that Hina could perform before completely emptying herself out.
I quickly carried the half-conscious girl over onto my shoulders, while I glanced over at the other two. Their expressions looked worried, while their glances interchanged between the dying wisps of flame behind us and Hina’s own pale faced, somber expression.
I gave the two a quick tap on the shoulders, prompting them to move. With only a slight tinge of hesitation, and with the light of the flashlight as their only guide into the darkness, they leaped over the crippled Gila and continued further into the seemingly infinite hall. I quickly followed suit, shooting a quick glance back just as the last whiskers of flame died out.
I could make out the vague outlines of quickly approaching monsters (which I already confirmed with my sense of smell), but I paid it no heed, as I turned back around and continued running.
We progressed further ahead. The Gilas were constantly on our tail, but fortunately, nothing else obstructed our way. After a few minutes, before we even realized, we had reached the bomb shelter.