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Chapter 15

I wait with trepidation for something to happen. At this point I’m sure that something will. There’s no way that whoever made this did so with the intention of destroying mana. That’d be a useless thing to do.

I get ready, my fight or flight response already telling me to choose, but I remain. I have to see what happens. Besides, it’s not as if the small amount of mana it absorbed is enough to do anything dangerous. Or if it is, it’d help me with improving my own spells.

Sure enough, something does indeed happen. A pressure, not unlike anxiety but even more physical, descends onto the area. Following which, a weak force also presses down on my mind. It feels as if it should be stronger, as if I should be debilitated by it. Instead, it feels as if it can’t get a proper grip on my mind.

Looking at the hole, I see something strange. The unnatural darkness has extended to the very edge of the mouth of the pit. And it isn’t stopping. Soon, it forms a meniscus, not dissimilar to water’s surface tension.

I stand there, transfixed. Whatever it is that’s happening, I’m sure that I shouldn’t be able to perceive it. And I only have a single thing that helps with that. A single trait. Cognito-hazard resistance.

And while the trait acts as if it was just a general resistance, I know how I got it. Even the initial System description mentioned it. It’s specialized against eldritch mind attacks.

Which means that this ritual, this strange darkness rising from the pit, is Void related.

And that’s the membrane holding the darkness together pops and something else rises out. For the briefest of moments, it looks like nothing and everything at once, but before I even have the time to register it, it collapses to the form of a tentacle.

A dark, shadowy tentacle without skin. Immediately, the mental pressure gets stronger, my mind slowing down. Only thanks to my various mental skills am I able to keep the mental faculties of a mortal.

But even with my mind free, the physical pressure remains and I cannot move.

The tentacle of, presumably, an eldritch horror, maybe even another scroonus, wiggles about, searching. At it’s base, the shadowy abyss has reformed the membrane, and I can see something trying to push through.

Fortunately, even with whatever fuckery is going on, my spell was very weak and can’t sustain the breach in reality.

The shadow vanishes, back to the original level a meter below the surface.

But the tentacle doesn’t disappear with it. It remains there, cut off from the rest of whatever creature it belonged to and flops to the ground.

Immediately after, both the physical and mental pressure also vanishes. Still reeling a bit from what just happened, I feel my flight response take over.

Though I do manage to take back control soon enough and instead of running away, I hide behind one of the large boulders, observing the cut of tentacle.

It writhes on the ground, leaking shadowy fluids all around. Very slowly, over the course of a couple minutes, it slows, and eventually stills.

Is that it? Invasion prevented?

I peer a bit closer, trying to determine whether it’s safe to approach and inspect the corpse.

Which is when it twitches again. And then shifts. Splits appear from the cut, separating the tentacle in two before stopping at the halfway point. Another crack appears near the tip, which opens to reveal a circular maw of serrated teeth.

And then is stands up, what used to be the base of the tentacle now two pseudopods reminiscent of legs.

And although it looks horrifying, it’s weak. I feel no pressure on myself, not even a speck of it.

But that doesn’t mean that it’s harmless. And I have no interest in letting it get to me. So, I cast distort spacetime.

The spell forms right at its very core, keeping it in place.

Which the former tentacle doesn’t like at all. Its eyeless head, if it can be called that, looks around, searching for its assailant.

But I’m still hidden behind the rock, only peeking out slightly to watch.

It launches one pseudopod away from itself, using it to pull itself while the other pushes it away. And manages to escape the gravity well.

Shit, this isn’t good. I have no idea what something from the Void can do. Sure, I have a trait marking me as someone that came in contact with it already, but I don’t trust that to protect me.

I cast the spell again, but slightly over it.

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It stops briefly, but isn’t deterred and get ready to do the same manoeuvre it used to break out before.

I can’t let it do that. With a metaphysical push I deepen the distortion and move it slightly higher.

The creature fails its attempt to get free, the decreased gravity making it harder for it to gain the needed leverage against the ground.

My brief victory doesn’t last though, as both of its legs split a second time.

With four anchor points, and apparently no diminished power as a consequence of that, it manages to push its otherworldly body away.

Fuck! Ok, I can do this. That was already very close. Just needs a bit more juice in it.

I stand up and start dancing. The motions I haven’t performed since the first casting of the spell come easily to me, accompanied by the chant.

I cast the spell, putting the entirety of my mind behind it.

It appears and immediately I can tell it’s working. Not giving the horror a chance to adapt, the spell moves higher and higher until the monster is suspended above ground.

Okay, shit. How do I kill it though? If it works the same as before, cutting it will just make more of them appear.

Already it is shifting, trying to find the form that’d allow it to get out of its predicament. I have to figure something out, and fast.

What do I know about eldritch horrors and other Void spawn? Not much, to be honest. They have the mind-bending properties and often they can alter reality around them. And apparently cutting parts of them off only makes more or them.

Damn it, why isn’t this common knowledge!? Wait, that’s right. General knowledge! I almost forgot about that.

??? – Tentacle horror

A fragment of a creature lurking in the Void. It’s weak, containing only a fraction of its progenitor’s power, but nonetheless possesses many abilities. Having been only recently born, it has no true form, shifting constantly into what is useful. But its adaptability comes at a cost, lacking many of the greater powers its kind usually have. Chief among which is the inability to make more of itself.

Oh, thank the System! It can’t make more of itself, which I presume also means cut off part won’t suddenly come to life.

Good, I’m free to kill it in whatever way I can in that case. Except that I don’t really have many options. Most of my skills are not very combat focused. Who could have known that I’d encounter something so soon.

Should I risk casting some spells? But what if it’s not enough and then I won’t be able to contain it once my mana runs dry.

And I highly doubt ordinary stick and stones can hurt it, so it’s no use throwing those at it.

Hmm, what about… no, surely that wouldn’t work. Then again, as far as I know that is the opposite of what it’s used to, so maybe?

Sure, might as well try.

A little further away, a couple meters away from the stones, I draw a ritual circle on the ground. And repeat the smallish ritual used for my spell.

Concentrating, so that I don’t disrupt the first spell with the casting of another one, I give everything I have into making it as powerful as I can.

Soon enough, it forms. Exactly where the previous one already exists. With two spells distorting spacetime at the same spot, the gravity increase is substantial and I can already see the form of the tentacle horror shrinking slightly.

That’s right. I’m trying to crush it. But obviously just two instances of the spell aren’t enough.

So, I cast a third. The focus needed to make it not interfere with the other two is exponentially more than before, but I think I could manage a fourth if needed.

The third distortion joins the other two and the hole of gravity deepens even more.

The monster from beyond shrinks even more, crushed under its own weight. Its movements become more frantic.

Shit, still not enough. Okay, here goes nothing. Hopefully this won’s ruin everything.

A cast a fourth time, using the ritual to amplify once more. The stream of magic exits from my being, almost crossing the path of another one before I manage to wrestle it into position.

Gravity around the horror increases once again and it lets out a mind piercing shriek. The pressure on my mind returns briefly, but compared to the previous one it’s like a puddle compared to the bottom of the ocean.

Yeah bitch, I also have resistance against your active mental attacks! Your petty tricks won’t harm me!

The creature doesn’t stop though and starts writhing even more uncontrollably.

With every ounce of my superhuman mind, with all the streams of though I have, I push onto my spells, trying to deepen the gravity more. Even a single smidgen would help.

The monster shrieks and roars, trying to escape its impending demise, but I don’t let it.

It may have been an accident but I’m not going to let another catastrophe out into this world. It already has enough to deal with. And also, I was enjoying the peace and quiet. Plus, I don’t want to shorten the time I have to escape this hellhole.

And then, there’s quiet.

Unsure whether it’s truly dead, I don’t let myself relax and keep the spells going. Isn’t the System supposed to give me a notification telling me I killed it? Or is this another feature it lacks?

Minutes later, and nothing happened. My mana is running close to empty and I’m afraid of what’ll happen if it catches me off guard.

I let one spell drop. The strain on my magic lessens and the horror doesn’t stir.

So, I let another one go. And shortly after another one, leaving me with just the one keeping it in the air.

And yet, the monster remains motionless. Maybe it truly is dead? Truthfully, it didn’t strike me as having the cunning necessary to fake being dead.

Slowly, I lower the spell until it touches the ground. Even once its pseudopods brush against earth, nothing happens.

I release the spell but ready myself to recast it at the slightest sign of movement.

But, once again, the corpse remains motionless.

Utilizing silent step, I stalk close to it, looking out for even a hint of trouble.

Once close, I sketch a circle around it. Then, with an improvised incantation and the image of an inferno in my mind, I use the last of my mana to call forth a pillar of flame around the dead monster.

It doesn’t last long, but leaves behind a charred mess of a corpse.

Okay, now I’m sure that it’s dead. What now?

With adrenaline still pumping strong in my veins, I take my shoddy knife and get ready to dissect it. Might as well learn something about it, in case it helps me fight it in the future.

My work is messy and barely passable. The low quality of the knife doesn’t help, sure, but I’m more tearing into the flesh than cutting it open.

Sadly, I can’t glean much from the corpse. Honestly, I don’t know what I expected. It’s a horror from beyond reality, of course it isn’t going to have organs to exploit. It’s just a mess of flesh, bits of bone and unrecognizable half formed organs.

Sigh, at least it’s over. Lesson learned; don’t mess with strange magical ritual you don’t know anything about.

But at least I’m not walking away completely empty handed. The System surely has a great reward ready for me in the form of skill levels. And maybe even a little something else.