“Now, Ernie!” he screamed out loud. “Keep on top of my shoulders!” The cat was out of the bag and there was no reason to communicate soundlessly.
Logan powered through the pathway, dodging gold flower petals as the larvae that had remained intact launched their flower tentacle tongues. It was like going through a hedge maze, only the hedges were full of tongues that wanted to mutilate your groin.
He rushed past, passing larva after larva, his feet slipping on green goo and severed tails. Once he got through, he paused. He had seconds for this, literally seconds. But it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
[Life Cycle Master] gave him the ability to sense living things, but it also gave him the ability to sense the health of the beings around him. Most of the larvae were either healed or close to it, but there was one that was in rough shape. It was lower leveled than the rest and on the edge of his garden explosion.
The spatial collar had torn it to ribbons, severed its tail, and taken both of its eyes. Its constitution attribute was struggling to keep up, and the thorns on the raspberry vine had made it even worse, pulling the cuts even farther apart and turning them into gaping wounds.
Logan had just enough Karma left to force the vine to pull on each side—he commanded one vine to tug on the larva’s head, the other to tug on its severed tail, thorns digging in deep. The tearing flesh made a slick sound, that wet sound a roasting chicken made when you pulled away the skin.
But still, it held on, the larva wiggling like a worm, flower petals ejecting in a torrent.
It only needed one last push. Logan sent another vine burying into its middle, scurrying through the gaping wound.
Ernie caught onto what Logan was doing and his eyes glinted with greed. “Slaughter! I can get it, Logan!”
“Don’t you dare! We don’t know what those petals will do if they fall onto your flesh. Stay on top of my shoulder.”
Ernie wiggled but then slumped onto Logan’s shoulder in defeat.
Besides, Logan didn’t need Ernie. He only needed one more pull, one more flex of his will, and he severed the thing clean in half.
There was no recovering from that.
Ding!
[You have defeated a Level 75 Undead Sacculina, Castrator of Prey! Extra experience granted for defeating an enemy above your level.]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
Logan didn’t even allow himself a second to process the euphoria of the level increase, immediately slamming all 20 attribute points into his wisdom attribute to amp up his Karma regeneration.
The serpent laughed. “Such a struggle,” it crooned, green eyes glinting. “Such an effort, and all for nothing. Do you think I’ll let you escape?”
It would.
If this went to plan, soon, it would be so distracted that it wouldn’t care about Ernie and Logan. “Get ready,” he said to Ernie.
Clenching his hands into fists, Logan put his plan into action. He willed a massive boulder out of his spatial collar and commanded the collar to deposit the boulder over top of the bright, incubating spot of life he’d sensed while locating the raspberry seeds.
He’d barely released the boulder when a scream of rage and agony ricocheted through the cave. The serpent lashed its whole body, bashing against the walls and ceiling. The cave shuddered as if they’d been hit by an earthquake, dust and mold particles kicking into the air.
The boulder had landed right on top of what had been the Queen’s nest, cracking and crushing eggs, blood and green fluid sinking into the earth. The serpent was staring aghast at the pile of crushed young, attention no longer on Ernie and Logan. They had seconds at most.
However, its tail was still filling the entrance to the tunnel.
They had no choice. A worst option was better than none at all.
“Go, Ernie, go!”
Ernie launched himself off Logan’s shoulders and into the pool of water, his agile tentacles allowing him to scoot between the tunnel entrance and the serpent’s long body.
Logan wasn’t so lucky. He jumped into the pool, [Deepwater Explorer] activating right before he saw the serpent turn towards him, eyes pools of enraged fire.
“YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!”
The thing’s voice was so powerful it shook the tunnel. There were only inches between the wall of the tunnel and the serpent’s body. If it hadn’t known he was there, he might have squeezed by without touching it. Not now.
In order for the serpent to turn around, it had to dart towards the other side of the cave, pulling its body out of the tunnel at the same time. Green scales covered its hide. Unlike snakes, it was so high leveled that each scale was razor sharp. It also had tiny, delicate looking fins that extended on the sides. And although they looked delicate, they were nowhere close.
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The serpent knew he was there, and it purposely pushed its body against Logan’s as it pulled itself out of the tunnel, crushing him and cutting his skin and bare back.
Logan didn’t have time to think about deploying [Mimicry Armour], and even if he could, there was no way to grab sand to reform his armour while water gushed around him like an underwater tornado.
As the last part of the serpent’s tail rushed past, it swished it like a whip, razor-sharp fins acting like a sword as it—
OH FUCK.
The agony was immense.
At first, Logan didn’t know what had happened, bubbles and blood kicking the water into a jacuzzi pea soup and making it impossible to see. He looked down at his hand, expecting to see a shredded mess, only…
He had no hand.
“Oh no oh no oh no! Fleshy human, I knew you needed more slaughter! More levels would have helped!”
Stunned, Logan could only stare, not comprehending, shock stark on his features.
Ernie pulled on his uninjured arm, dragging him forward. “We must swim! Live to fight another day! It will grow back, Logan!”
As he allowed Ernie to pull him forward, Logan let out a silent scream of agony, gurgling, each jet of water like liquid fire as it rushed past. His scream was a scream of half agony and half rage as he kicked his feet, pushing himself forward, digging deep, going past what he’d thought himself capable of.
The tunnel shook again, water suddenly sucking them in the other direction, as if a great force had displaced it.
The serpent.
Ernie let out a plume of black, purple ink, trying to cover their retreat, but although he got points for effort, ink wouldn’t stop this thing.
Everything was agony, his eyesight blurring due to blood loss, but Logan pushed himself to alertness, knowing they had one chance at this. Turning around, Ernie making a sound of dismay as he did, Logan eyed the distance between the tunnel walls. The tunnel was huge, the size of a small car, but he could make it work.
With a plea to his spatial collar to obey, he said, just there, that’s a good place for it, and willed an immense log out and deposited it at an angle. Then he thought as hard as he could, a slight adjustment is needed, go up a bit. Twisting the log, he jarred the edges against the cave wall and lodged it right across the tunnel. The log made a screeching sound as the wooden ends scraped against the rock stone, scoring deep gouges, getting stuck so severely it would take a bulldozer to remove.
It was the perfect barrier.
Still, Logan knew that wouldn’t stop the serpent. It would power through that log like powering through paper. That wasn’t what he wanted.
Logan willed out boulder after boulder from his spatial storage, everything he had, one after another, depositing them just behind the stuck log. The tunnel led down, and gravity did the rest. The rocks piled on top of it like an avalanche, creating a mountain of debris.
That would give them time.
“Go, Ernie!”
Logan had enough presence of mind to remove a towel from his spatial storage, tying it around his stub of an arm and trying to staunch the blood as he powered through the tunnel. He lost feeling in his limbs, everything becoming remote and like a dream.
Up above, there was a great explosion of sound coming from the tunnel, the walls shaking, the water rushing.
The serpent was forcing its way through the debris. There was nothing to stop it from catching up to them, and then…
There was only one way out.
As they reached the cavern, the sphere illuminated the chasm with vibrant light. The portal still gave off that ominous, dangerous aura, and if Logan hadn’t already felt a pit of dread inside his stomach, it would have given him pause. As it was, if they used it, they might not survive, but if they didn’t, Logan knew for certain they were dead.
Kicking with all the strength left in his body, Logan pushed towards the portal, Ernie hovering worriedly next to him.
He slammed his remaining hand onto the lodestone, hoping against hope for something, some ounce of luck that would allow them to get through this.
[Welcome, Idiot! Would you like to activate the portal?]
[Yes.]
[No.]
How did he say yes underwater? Frantic, Logan thought as hard as he could, “YES.”
[Request confirmed.]
[The activation cost is 1500 Karma, 2000 KarmaCoin, plus a 10 percent processing fee.]
And a last message, that somehow seemed ominous despite its dry tone.
[As you know, once confirmed, all business is final.]
[Karma payment in progress.]
[KarmaCoin accepted.]
[Karma pool drain in process.]
[….]
[..]
[….]
In addition to the wooziness from the blood loss, now, his head felt tight, and his airways felt blocked even though [Deepwater Idiot] was fully deployed.
[Karma at dangerously low levels!]
[Karma critical.]
Holy fuck, it wasn’t giving him a chance to replenish his Karma, it was taking it all at once! Logan didn’t have 1500 Karma!
He was so dead.
“Don’t despair, Ernie to the rescue!” Ernie rushed next to him and rested one of his tentacles against the back of Logan’s hand. He’d lost so much blood that he could hardly feel it, the back of his hand blast chiller cold.
[Karma transfer in effect! Karma funnelled from your bonded companion!]
Ernie gasped, his tentacles sagging, his normal look of vitality turning a worrying pale, lifeless beige.
[Transfer complete!]
[Thank you for doing business with us, Idiot! Enjoy your trial.]
With a boom, the sphere transformed, the reflexive images disappearing, replaced by a clear blue, as if mirroring the water around them.
[Portal activated!]
Logan swam over to it, Ernie at his side, his tentacles acting as support as Logan wobbled in place, blood saturating the water.
“You were a good companion, Logan.”
He blinked, not comprehending. “Ernie, what…?”
While Logan had been focused on the sphere, the serpent had managed to break through the boulder barrier and gain on them. It rushed at them with eyes full of rage, Medusa blind snakes writhing, sharp teeth flashing. The three humps on its back seemed to pulse, swelling, hidden snake-larvae writhing underneath its flesh. Slits on the monster’s body were opening, too numerous to count, and the tips of the larvae heads started peeking out.
Ernie gave him one more glance, the horns on the top of his head deflating before he pushed Logan into the sphere and turned to face the raging monster, tentacles held out defensively.
“Ernie, NO!”
It was too late.
With its jaws full of serrated teeth, the monster chomped onto one of Ernie’s tentacles. But it didn’t sever it. Instead, it grinned around a mouthful of flesh and used its grip as a leash to pull Ernie away from the portal.
“NO!” Panic surging, his senses warping and giving him a sense of unreality, as if he could blink this away like a bad dream, Logan held out his good hand and wobbled forward. He didn’t know what he’d do—he could barely stand, he was light-headed—but he wasn’t leaving Ernie; he had to save him!
He didn’t have a chance.
The portal had been activated. The last thing he saw were two severed tentacles flying through the water right as the portal flashed, taking Logan with it.