No target selected...attempting to tame nearest creature
Taming Arterial Shieldbearer...
“It’s not the same,” Cedric murmured softly to himself. Behind him, the starless portal to the...overworld — for lack of a better word — hung silently. Several minutes ago, he had popped out of it and onto a balcony overlooking a medieval mausoleum that composed the entrance to the dungeon.
He was crouched beside an ornate stone railing, overlooking a grand entrance hall. Stone statues of knights battling eldritch monstrosities lined the walls. From the looks of it, the eldritch creatures were winning. In the far end of the room, a door was flanked by a decorated plinth supporting a small sapphire that the System automatically identified for him.
Augmentation Crystal: Gore Creep
Presumably one of the three augments that he could find and collect in this dungeon. All he had to do was descend down the spiral stairs to the side and walk over there, but it wouldn’t be so simple. Not because of Clinger, who nestled quietly between his ankles, but because of the relentless pacing of the room’s guard.
The creature was taller than Cedric by over a head, and appeared to be composed of the cardiovascular system of a tall humanoid. Arteries and veins extended in an endless web to form perforated limbs whose vessels fused to form vicious, three-fingered claws. A single grotesque heart pulsed sickeningly beneath a strange cavity not normally present in human anatomical models. Where the neck should have been the blood vessels converged into a single artery that rose up and was capped by a single bloodshot eye.
The other anomaly if it could be called that, was two additional convergences near the rib cage that extended and morphed into two tall tower shields that the creature held protectively over its beating heart. The eye above periodically ducked beneath the shields as if to check that all the important bits were safe behind the barriers.
It was clearly an Arterial Shieldbearer; the thing was made of arteries and was armed with shields. And yet...This was not the Arterial Shieldbearer that the system was attempting to tame. Moving away or closer didn’t change the time to tame much, while moving to the right did. It was as if the monster the system was locking on to was somewhere off to the side, instead of the monster right in front of him.
If the system really did lock on to a specific monster, then the rodent-snake things that had attacked him before weren’t some kind of untamable subspecies. If the system deigned it, he could theoretically tame one, but he would have to first tame the Hartebeast Behemoth, wherever or whatever that was.
If that was the case, then if he wanted another minion to help protect him he would need to search through the dungeon until he found the specific creature the system wanted him to tame. For that he would need as many augments as he could get, which necessitated going down and fighting the Arterial Shieldbearer.
His system crystal flashed and he blanched, quickly covering the emanation in a closed fist. Like before, a ghostly tendril rose from his hand, then shot away. Instead of rocketing deeper into the dungeon, it flickered through the starless portal to the overworld and vanished.
Cedric retreated from the railing as half a dozen more ghostly tendrils flickered out and vanished through the portal. He frowned. Presumably, the Hartebeast Behemoth on the other end of the portal had just received several power ups. He didn’t know how strong it had become, or what stats had been increased, but the tendril’s purpose was clear.
The Hartebeast Behemoth had just become a whole lot more dangerous.
A problem for later. Right now, Cedric had more immediate concerns. He returned to the balcony once his palm stopped flashing and identified the monstrous guard.
Arterial Shieldbearer
Stats Invested: ?
Talents Invested: ?
Riposte
7s
Next attack that lands on your shields deals 50% less damage.
Sanguine Field
47s
Cover an area in blood. Nearby blood slows and deals 30% ability power per second for 20 seconds
Exsanguinate
17s
Unleash a burst of blood, dealing 100% ability power.
Eldrath
-passive-
You become talented in health and regeneration
It’s stats were grayed out, but he could still identify it’s skills. Riposte would make it resilient to frontal attacks, with Eldrath providing a general toughness increase if he understood how talents worked. Sanguine Field and Exsanguinate were its offensive skills, and from the description, they would allow it to control areas of the battlefield with slows and dots. Depending on how much it bled, it might even cover the entire hall before it died.
It all indicated to a foe well suited to longer, ordered engagements where it could trigger riposte multiple times while whittling down its opponent with Sanguine Field and the occasional ranged Exsanguinate. Ideally, he should avoid a protracted engagement with the thing. Or better yet. Not engage at all.
“All right, Clinger. Here is what you are going to do...”
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The Stone Shelled Clinger skittered down the side of the room, careful to stay near the walls as the Instructions demanded. It was invisible of course. It loved being invisible, so why shouldn’t it be invisible. Especially since the Instructions specifically demanded it be so for this task.
Clinger liked the Instructions. They were very wise.
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The Bad One paced before it, and Clinger waited patiently for its path to reveal it’s back. It’s legs itched to rush up and Backstab the Bad One, but it knew better. Patiently, following the Instructions to the letter, Clinger skittered closer, making sure it was beside the Bad One’s path, and not in the way. It settled in to wait. A minute passed. Then two. Clinger felt Advanced Camouflage begin to wane as the skill ran its course. Just before the invisibility wore off, the Bad One stepped by and the Instructions shone like a great beacon in Clinger’s mind.
It lunged. Backstab lit up its legs in a pale yellow luminance as it hopped up and created the tiniest scratch on the huge heart visible from the back of the Bad One. It really wanted to sink its blades deeper. Dig them in. Feel the rush of heat flow into its cold carapace as the red water flooded out. It wanted to. So very bad! But the Instructions forbade it, and so, it didn’t.
The glow of Backstab faded, and Clinger retracted the claw. Before the Bad One could react, it inflicted another small scratch on an available artery near it’s ankle. Then it triggered Advanced Camouflage again and skittered away. Both tiny cuts gushed blood for a moment, then closed unnaturally swiftly. Clinger didn’t see the point of such small wounds, but the Instruction guaranteed that it was important so it put the thought aside.
The Bad One released a strange vibration from below its eye. It sounded high-pitched, loud, and distorted, nothing like the smooth baritone of the human who gave Instructions. It spun around, unleashing a blind cone of blood that traveled above Clinger’s short form. A second later, the blood gained a crimson glow, and the stone ground began to release a thin, acrid smoke.
Clinger froze to the side, making sure not to make a sound that could jeopardize it’s position. The Bad One raged, unleashing several more cones of blood in anger. Clinger waited patiently, occasionally stepping back to avoid the pool of blood steadily oozing closer. The Bad One calmed marginally, still swinging around in vain effort to find its invisible attacker, but halting its blind assault on the air.
It wanted to rush in. Backstab was off cooldown, ready to be used, and Advanced Camouflage was running out. It was running out of time! It needed to attack. But the Instructions demanded a different course. Reluctantly, Clinger scuttled to the side of the room and curled up at the base of one of the big stone paintings.
Its invisibility was wearing off! Clinger froze, struggling against its instincts to do something. It wore off, and Clinger couldn't help shivering slightly. It was exposed. Out in the open. All the Bad One had to do was take a couple steps and it would be at its mercy.
But the Bad One didn't notice it. Somehow Clinger was invisible, without being invisible. It was odd. So odd.
Slowly, Clinger calmed. Advanced Camouflage came off cooldown, but still it waited. The Instructions were clear: Wait until two charges of Advanced Camouflage, and repeat the attack.
The blood-soaked floor of the hall lost its vibrant crimson glow as the Bad One cautiously resumed its restless pacing. The passing of twenty minutes felt like an eternity, far too long to remain exposed. However, Clinger's moment arrived as Second Wind stored a second charge of Advanced Camouflage, only to be immediately used.
Clinger attacked.
This time, the Bad One's reaction was explosively violent, yet it failed to seize Clinger in its grasp, only managing to graze it with a stray spray of blood. The pain seared through Clinger's tough carapace. It had sustained more than half of its strength, yet less than three quarters. A satisfactory outcome according to the Instructions.
Undeterred by the Bad One's ferocity, Clinger patiently repeated the long wait once again. To its astonishment, the moment it inflicted a second minor cut on the Bad One's back, the formidable creature collapsed, transforming into an immense, expanding pool of blood. Clinger had prevailed, and only one step remained to complete its triumph.
Clinger crouched low, poised for the final act, and began to drink. A strange and exquisite juice filled its mouth, its taste an unparalleled delight. No longer did it need to resort to biting and scratching to extract the rewarding innards from its adversaries. This was a new level of magnificence—a feast of succulent, pure insides. And it was all Clinger's to savor.
Truly, the Instructions were an extraordinary marvel, guiding Clinger to this resounding, delicious victory.
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Cedric yawned, bored out of his mind. In his head waiting 20 minutes between each attack hadn’t seemed that bad. It guaranteed that his minion wouldn’t ever be visible, but it certainly meant that the battle had taken forever. With no phone, book or other distraction the time had plodded.
Like most animals, it had behaved suboptimally, but that was to be expected. If it had simply retreated against a wall, the backstab attack wouldn’t have worked nearly so well. There also must have been something preventing the monster from simply walking out of the room, since it had made no attempts to do so over the entire fight.
The view from above had also given him a good understanding of the Arterial Shieldbearer’s abilities. Even talented in health regeneration, the Shieldbearer hadn’t been able to recoup the damage fast enough, though it had displayed remarkable clotting capabilities. That was a good to know. Talent improved stats, but it didn’t make them completely unreasonable. Though, looking again at the Stone Shelled Clinger’s status revealed that it was possible to be talented...several times?
He would have to spend some time later figuring that out exactly. For now, he needed to continue. There didn’t look like there was food or water in this dungeon, so the sooner he could collect all the augments, tame his very own Shieldbearer, and get out, the better.
He descended the stairway, grimacing as the blood covering the floor adhered wetly to his shoes. He approached the plinth and picked up the gemstone—
Six barbed iron spears erupted around the plinth, one of which impaled Cedric from crotch to sternum.
He gurgled, eyes bugging out as his hands flailed uselessly at his sides. The gemstone clattered to the ground, and the six spears retracted slowly into the ground. Cedric screamed as the barbed blade ripped once again through his body, before finally releasing him. He collapsed to the blood soaked ground, sobbing.
To his utmost surprise, he wasn’t dead. Even with blood oozing out of places it really didn’t belong, and most of his internal organs perforated, he was still conscious and alive. His health had fallen to a third, but the magical nature of ‘aliveness’ in this world was once again showing its effects.
It took a very long time for Cedric to recover. Hours passed, but eventually he collected himself and examined the plinth. A small raised pressure plate was visible where the gemstone had rested. It was raised a millimeter above the surface of the plinth, and was likely the trigger for the trap. On the ground, he could faintly see the six indentations for the barbed spears that had retracted into the ground. Cedric ever so carefully collected the gemstone and it melted into his palm without a response from the spear trap.
Absorbed Augment: Gore Creep: Augmented skill slows by 30% for 4 seconds
Eldrathian Crypts (1/3)
Navigating through his menus however, he still couldn’t find a way to actually apply the augment. Dismissing his interface with a huff, he carefully continued through the doorway at the far end of the hall.
He commanded Clinger to lead the way, having the small arachnid slam its legs into the ground and walls in case of more traps. The passageway curled to the right, lined generously with smokeless torches affixed to the walls. Clinger crashed through the hall enthusiastically, eager to please, but despite it’s enthusiasm, it triggered no traps.
Eventually the passageway opened up, revealing an oblong room with four ornate sarcophagi on proud display on either side of the room. The sides of the smooth marble was carved with intricate battles with fantastical beasts, but Cedric failed to notice those as his eyes were drawn to the skeletons chained to the top of the coffins.
Chains pulled harshly on their arms, arching their spines and even dislocating some joints from their aged sockets. Terrible instruments of torture were thrown haphazardly within and about the skeletons, as if their captors had simply gotten bored mid session. The skulls leaned back, jaws agape as if still mid scream.
Pacing between the coffins, two Arterial Shieldbearers stalked. Their singular cyclopean eyes glared down at the skeletons as if all that was wrong with the world was their fault. A quick scan with the interface however revealed that one of the Shieldbearers was in fact ‘his’. That posed a minor problem as incapacitating it while dealing with the other would be exponentially more difficult than if it was alone.
Clinger eagerly slammed the ground, its stone blades chipping the stone brick floor with a loud crack. Cedric winced at the noise, shushing the small creature and urging it back. It was too late, however. Both Arterial Shieldbearers stopped their endless pacing and turned their eyes to him.