Chapter 22. Blood Blades.

I woke with a start of blurry vision and pain coursing through my upper body. Now that I was awake, I immediately started to panic again. The last thing I remembered was the Swamp King crawfish heading my way.

“Oh shit, Oh shit,” I said as I tried to stand and get my bearings.

“Calm yourself, Captain. I have removed you from immediate danger for the time being,” Sherlock said calmly, “You will need to use a health stim; once you have healed, we can take stock and assess the next steps.”

“What do you mean you removed me from immediate danger?” I asked.

“I posses the ability to take control of the Havok Bringer armor in case of dire emergency. If the pilot is unconscious and in immediate, life-threatening danger, I can take limited control of the armor,” Sherlock replied.

“So, did you kill that thing?” I asked as the health stim hissed as it administered its advanced medicine into my neck. I winced and rubbed the injection site after dismissing my armor completely.

“No, unfortunately, I am not capable of piloting the armor in a combat situation. I merely got you to a safe distance until you regained consciousness. It was no small task, I must say. I am wholly unfamiliar with the motor functions of biologicals and had to learn on the fly,” Sherlock said.

“Well, thanks, Sherlock. I am positive that thing would have ripped me in half without breaking a sweat. How long has it been?” I asked.

“36 minutes, Captain. I must insist that you not make a habit of passing out while in life-threatening immediate danger. I cannot guarantee that I could escape anything other than a mindless, slow-moving giant shellfish,” Sherlock said.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Sherlock,” I said as I unzipped the gambeson and checked my chest for injury. The only remaining evidence of injury was some tenderness and fading redness; it really was amazing how well the health stims worked.

I found the base of another tree and sat down to gather my thoughts and formulate a plan. Several indications were flashing on the lower right corner of my interface. I mentally pulled them up to see that I had gained a ton of experience and even a level from killing the 167 smaller minion crawfish.

“How did I gain a level, those things were all super low-level?” I asked.

“You are correct, but even low-level enemies offer some experience. It seems that the experience added up fairly quickly when you killed so many at once,” Sherlock replied.

“I’ll need to update Tiff on my stat increase when we get to a safe room. For now, I need to figure out a way to take out that boss so we can get on to level two,” I said.

I stood up and reactivated my armor, taking in the now familiar HUD and feeling the slight increase in weight of the armor on my limbs and torso.

“I have to figure out how to pierce that carapace. I have eaten enough crawfish to know that they don’t have many weak points. The heart and Brain are located underneath the top layer of the carapace, under the thickest part of the armor. The tail can be flicked quickly and used as a weapon, and the pinchers are going to be a nightmare as well. I either have to go for the eyes or find a way to sever the tail from the main body and cripple it. I need to make a plan, and I can't afford any mistakes when I engage that thing,” I said.

“Have you considered pulsar blast? Or Big Bang?” Sherlock asked.

“I don’t think they will be effective. That armor is just too thick. I can't depend on my daggers either because there is nowhere to stab. There has got to be a way, I just can’t see it,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose and squeezing my eyes tightly shut.

“Captain, have you considered the Blades of the Blood Nova?” Sherlock asked.

“Huh, I honestly haven’t. I haven’t even had time to train with them yet. Honestly, they kind of freak me out I wasn’t planning on using them. Anthragor stabbed me through and took my arms with those things in case you forgot,” I said.

“I am aware, Captain, but do you intend to hide from the boogeyman forever? I seem to remember that you rather violently killed Anthragor and inherited those blades as a result. It would be rather unintelligent to keep one of your most powerful weapons locked away out of cowardice,” Sherlock said.

“Hey, what the hell? I’m not a coward; they just freak me out a bit. Plus, I am happy with the arsenal I have at my disposal. My daggers have been more than enough every time I have needed them,” I shrugged.

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“Are they enough now? Are they going to help you kill this giant monster? Are any of your abilities going to be enough? Captain, I can only assume that this trial has been granted to you for two reasons. The first is to test you. If you are strong enough to find and activate the seed of power, then the Coeus will trust that you are strong enough to handle what happens next. The second reason is to allow you to grow along the way,” Sherlock said.

“What do you mean, grow? The Coeus build dungeons; it’s kind of their thing. So this is just another dungeon they had ready to go. Maybe it was hidden, but if I can activate the seed of power, then they will feel like they have done their part. No more, no less,” I said.

“I wholly disagree, Captain. I understand that by Earth standards, you consider yourself to be fairly intelligent, but honestly, I am not convinced at all. If the Coeus just wanted to clean their hands of the mess they helped make, then they could have just delivered the seed of power to you and had you activate it; there is more to it, though. They need to ensure that someone will be strong enough to protect those who need it after the universe is fundamentally altered. This tower is a test, yes, but it is also meant to help you advance your abilities and grow stronger. Once you have proven yourself capable, you will be able to activate the seed, but not before. Use the weapons, Captain. Make them yours,” Sherlock said.

I shook my head in resignation, “You know, Sherlock, for an asshole AI you make sense from time to time.”

I accessed my dimensional inventory and pulled the swords; immediately, they materialized into my hands. The blades were made of crimson red, jagged metal, and from hilt to tip, they were about four feet long. They were light in my hands as I held them out and felt the balance. They were good weapons. I inspected them to get a refresher on their abilities.

Blades of the Blood Nova –

These blades were forged in the heart of a red nova. Refined over millennia and infused with the blood of countless fallen foes. The blades will inflict bleed damage over time and will scale to the level of foes within 25 levels of the wielder.

Abilities – Blood Nova –

Blood can be infused into a target with successive strikes, allowing the wielder to track the target over time. Once the infusion is complete, the wielder can activate Blood Nova, causing the infused blood to explode from the target and return to the blades.

Genetically bound – these blades will be genetically bound upon equipping and can only be unbound upon the wielder's death

Equip? Y/N

I selected yes and felt the blades genetically bond to me. I checked the identify one more time and was surprised to see that it had changed slightly.

Havok Blades of the Blood Nova –

These blades were forged in the heart of a red nova. Refined over millennia and infused with the blood of countless fallen foes. The blades will inflict bleed damage over time and will scale to the level of foes within 25 levels of the wielder. These weapons have been altered by bonding with a Havok Bringer.

Abilities – Blood Nova –

Blood can be infused into a target with successive strikes, allowing the wielder to accumulate damage over time on the target. Once the infusion is complete, the wielder can activate Blood Nova, causing the infused blood to explode from the target and return to the blades.

Genetically bound – these blades will be genetically bound upon equipping and can only be unbound upon the wielder's death

“That’s interesting. The description changed when I bound them,” I said, holding the swords up and inspecting them closely. As I looked at the blades, it almost seemed like they were glowing—a red glow pulsing through the weapons.

“Tiffantrimore will want to know about that. I am not as well-versed in the various makeup and progression of bonded weapons as she is, but it is interesting,” Sherlock replied.

“I don’t really know how to use these. I am going to need Kaj to get me up to speed before I make them a staple of my fighting style, but I love the damage-over-time effect. The Blood Nova ability seems overpowered as hell, but it is going to come in real handy,” I said.

“Do you think that it will work on the Swamp King?” Sherlock asked.

Nothing in the description said there were any requirements about armored opponents. I’m hoping the damage will accumulate whether the target has armor or not, but we are going to find out soon enough. If this doesn’t work, I am completely out of ideas on how to kill that thing, I am sure of that,” I said.

I looked at the map function and saw that we were about a quarter mile away from the center of the swamp. Since we had already been there, I could see the spot clearly on my map. There was a lone red dot still in the center. I quickly made my way back to the edge of the moat and immediately got the attention of the Swamp King. The giant car-sized crawfish reared up again and snapped its giant pinchers in my direction, the sounds like twin shotguns firing in my direction.

“It isn’t moving toward us,” I said.

“Your powers of perception astound me, Captain. What else did you manage to glean from our current situation? Please, dear Captain, astound me with more wisdom,” Sherlock said.

“That’s enough, asshole,” I said, “I need to create a diversion and get its attention off me long enough to let me get up in the air. If I can attack from the top down and stay away from those pinchers, then maybe I have a shot at coming out of this with all my hands and legs,” I said.

I looked down and saw that I had a couple of plasma grenades on my waist, “These should do the trick. I doubt they hurt it, but they should at least draw its attention for a few seconds,” I said.

“Don’t miss. You don’t have unlimited stores of grenades, and you still have nine floors of this tower to get through,” Sherlock said.

“The other nine floors don’t matter if we don’t get past the first one, Sherlock. I’m going to need you to buckle up and let me do my thing. Can you do that?”

“Whatever you say, Captain. I'm just along for the ride, regardless of the outcome,” Sherlock said.

I smiled and prepared to throw one of the plasma grenades, “Good, then lets go kill a mud bug.”