Doing a full symphony was impossible. With its new [Resist Radiation] Perk, Carcinodon shut down the doors to my brand of radiotherapy. And with this confidence, it dialed its aggressive attacks up to eleven. I kept dodging, evading, becoming intangible and firing bolts for measly 500 damage. I could increase the damage but the MP cost would increase squared.
It came to a point where I had to do my utmost just to stay alive. My MP dipped down and I stopped trying to cap my HP pool. Just keep it above nine million and hope the shark wouldn't have a trump that could boost damage more than what he already did.
I could also tell Carcinodon was getting more and more irritated with me. Millenia of bullying weaker creatures made it impatient. 'How dare this mermaid not die!', he might be thinking. I could only utter a nervous chuckle.
I changed my spell-song. Instead of the melodic sonata, I went for a fast and punctuated {Minuetto}. I needed the evasion and defensive bonuses. The accuracy bonus was nice but not necessary. With a body that large, the only thing I'd have less difficulty hitting was the shark's momma.
My song had its pauses and sustains and spoke of a pod of dolphins hunting sharks, why not? I was more of a solo hunter though but well-timed echoes on the trench walls mimicked the other dolphins. I also abused vertical movements. With its tail fin the way it was, the Carcinodon shared the shark's greatest weakness fighting us dolphins. Our caudal fins were horizontal and a strong push could move us up or down really fast. Fast enough the stupid sharks couldn't follow. Normal sharks were naturally afraid of dolphins because of this.
Yes, I confess. When it comes to us against sharks, I was a dolphin supremacist. Thankfully there was never a shark-mermaid in recorded history. Sharks weren't "fish" in the sense all the other bony fish were fish. A tuna is genetically closer to humans than a shark, for example. This creature in front of me was just some relic of the past that was too stubborn to go extinct.
My distracted state of gloating allowed the Carcinodon to bite me again. Eight million on a critical hit, after the damage reduction from {Minuetto}. Eyes on the game, Arista! My song might be cheerful but my dance partner was Death.
I charged {Grand Fermata} for four seconds to give me a three times damage boost with each [Radiation Bolt]. That also lowered my per-second MP consumption as I wasn't firing volleys of bolts anymore and allowed me to use {Overcharge Magic} for another three-times. As far as DPS went, I was sucking rock-bottom.
But I couldn't falter. I had to put up a good show. Unfortunately, the target audience was interested in a mermaid torture show rather than the shark-owning I planned at the beginning. I danced with Carcinodon nonetheless, singing my Minuetto and firing my bolts sometimes in a {Stacatto}, sometimes not. I had to keep the spell-song going or die.
That's when the notification I was waiting for popped up in my sight.
> Contested Charisma test won.
>
> Your Diva Presence captivated one spectator.
>
> The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The influx of MP regeneration was a godsent gift. Literally. I flashed {Detect Divinity} and got one positive result. There was no hiding from Loki's [God Slayer]. I kept the same cadence, repeating my Minuetto with {Reprise} and letting the extra MP trickle into filling my direly depleted pool. Since my Status was locked to all outsiders, they couldn't know how bad it was. And I couldn't let them know I was slowly getting back on my feet.
Our fight went on for who knows how long. My tail ached. My health dipped dangerously low several times whenever Carcinodon struck a critical hit. I kept my resources topped for the grand climax. Heal each time my HP dropped, keep whittling at the unsurmountable mountain that was the Carcinodon HP pool.
It still sat at sixty-five percent.
I lagged a bit and the monster body-checked me again. I couldn't drag this any longer.
"Carcinodon, this will be over in a single blow!"
The spell-song reached its apex. I started to cast a high-tier Light spell, [Solar Beam]. I sustained the note. Ten seconds, one minute. Each step taking more time than the next. The System started to demand Endurance tests to keep charging. Carcinodon kept trying to chew on me. I kept singing the note and dodging, adding another layer of difficulty to my task. On the fourth Endurance test, I knew the difficulty for the next would be too hard. I had to do it now.
Even in this world of eternal darkness, my gaze turned and locked on the God watching his pet shark play with me. Please make it work.
> Assassin's Contract
>
> Champion's Challenge
>
> Overcharge Magic x200
>
> Grand Fermata x50
>
> Avenger Strike
I refrained from putting a challenge on the Carcinodon just to wait for this asshole to show up. But it wasn't enough yet. I had to stake my whole being on this single blow.
> Last Stand
>
> Self-Sacrifice
>
> Sacrificed Perks:
>
> * Woodland Affinity (uncommon)
> * Fertile Womb (very rare)
> * Royal Privilege (very rare)
> * Elven Grace (uncommon)
> * Prismatic Silk (ultra-rare)
> * Stone Digestion (rare)
> * Spread Blight (rare)
> * Keening (rare)
> * Soul Weapons (ultra-rare)
> * Spirit Ward (very rare)
> * Banishing Bolt (rare)
> * Soul Armor (ultra-rare)
> * Lucky Spotter (very rare)
> * Linguist [Sign Language] (rare)
> * Bleeding Strike (rare)
> * Hemorrhage Strike (very rare)
> * Stunning Bleed (rare)
> * Disarm (uncommon)
> * Improved Disarm (rare)
> * Powerful disarm (rare)
> * Improved Tail Slap (uncommon)
> * Critical Resistance (very rare)
> * Temperature Tolerance (rare)
> * Less Debris (very rare)
> * Sure-footed (uncommon)
> * Crowd Surfer (rare)
> * Lucky Wanderer (very rare)
> * Pinnacle of Mind (very rare)
> * Pinnacle of Willpower (very rare)
> * Pinnacle of Charisma (very rare)
> * Pinnacle of Magic (very rare)
> * Pinnacle of Luck (ultra-rare)
> * Pinnacle of Soul (ultra-rare)
Everything I could spare. I remembered her kind arms holding me. I remembered the despair of seeing her petrified form. The mocking laughter of the idiot I was about to kill.
> Solar Beam struck Nurha-Boenir, God of Monsters for 8.1 Trillion HP and GP damage (base 250 x1.5 Affinity x200 Overcharge Magic x50 Grand Fermata x1.5 Affinity x2 Sonata x1.4 Moon Magic x1.5 Favored Enemy x2.7 Mind x3.4 Skill x4 God-Slayer x2 Fortissimo x2 Critical (falsetto, mind blank) x2 Avenger Strike x3 Champion's Duel x1.5 Last Stand x104 Self-Sacrifice x1 RESISTANCES IGNORED)
>
> You killed level 200 Nurha-Boenir, God of Monsters. Your Exp is deferred.
>
> You have 0 HP.
>
> Bygone Hero activated. You lost a level. Choose, Racial or Class. Choice made. One Racial level lost. You are now level 117.
I wobbled, weakened by the sacrifice. All my resource pools were at zero and so was my available Exp. I still flipped the bird at the vanishing corpse of the deity, feeling the mental ping of a new item in my item box.
"Her name was Rosalinda, asshole. Her only sin was loving her daughter."
** CHOMP **