I held onto Casiron as the serpent led us back through the corridor to the main cave of Lark's lair. Two of the demonic merman's hovered near the entrance, staring outside, but they didn't even look up as Votrix quietly brought us to another hole at the top of the skull. It led to another stony, plant-covered corridor, roughly a hundred feet long, with a few narrow paths leading away into the rock while ending at another skull.
Casiron swam inside the vegetation-filled lair. Mushroom-like growths with bright red frills and long vines looping through on one side, while larger Mushrooms grew across the bed and up the far end. Like with all the plants I'd seen so far, touching any of them would likely kill anyone who didn't have my high Demon Poison resistance.
"I hope you enjoy your stay here, Rot Bane," Votrix said, the sarcasm so thick I almost wondered if he was going to lock some door on the way out.
He didn't but just swam out, disappearing through the cavern and leaving me and Casiron alone inside a skull the size of a basketball court with zero walls and a single hole in the bottom.
"Let's see what we've got here," I said as I let go of Casiron and swam around, leaving the hole for last.
I was looking for any secret entrances that would allow tiny demons to sneak up on me, but there was nothing except for a few finger-thick cracks to which the plants had attached, roots burrowed deep into the bone.
"This is a dead-end," Casiron said as he drew his head from the opening in the middle of the room. "It's where the neck was connected to the skull, and below it is stone."
Casiron swam towards the entrance, grabbed onto the edge, and spread out his wings to effectively block it. A few narrow openings remained, and the massive wooden Dracoserp put his head in front of one, quietly looking outside.
Are we really staying here? Casiron asked. It's dangerous following a demon into their lair. Why don't we attempt to get the information from another demon?
I didn't answer, as it was something that had been in the back of my mind as well. Instead, I swam to Casiron and removed my backpack from one of the spines on his neck. Then I made my way to the largest mushroom.
I don't know another way. I finally answered. Well, none that aren't as dangerous with even less guarantee for success.
You do realize Lark that might be wrong? Just because he isn't lying doesn't mean that what he thinks he knows is correct, Casiron said.
I sent him a vague sense of agreement while drawing out my wood carving knife. Then I closed my mind, so I was alone with my own thoughts.
I know. But this is about the best option I've got, isn't it? I thought to myself.
Many hours later, I was lying in the water, looking at the bloody haunch of flesh drifting before me. A demonic merman swam away, stopping when he reached the exit. He inspected the thick door I'd created from one of the giant underwater mushrooms before leaving without a word. Still, I saw the grin of ridicule before he disappeared. I couldn't blame him. The door was more for my peace of mind than that it would likely hold out any of the stronger demons.
Casiron closed the door with his tail and looked at me. I could feel he disagreed with my plans, but I ignored it as I looked at the flesh in revulsion. He'd not come up with a better plan, and until he did, I'd have to go with this one.
"I'm going to see if Par found a way to increase my spells," I said, causing Casiron to snort.
I ignored it, and closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I landed on my feet in the mud. The mental purifying birds were chirping a beautiful song from their perch on one of the trees while insects flitted above the crystal clear water.
It expanded again, I thought as I looked at the sides of my Mindscape.
There was a circle of short, growing grass and plants at the edges of my Mindscape, devoid of the larger bushes growing haphazardly everywhere else. That meant the small ecosystem hadn't had time to spread across the new area yet.
It didn't really surprise me, even though I hadn't thought about it yet. The new growth had to have been because I defeated the Ulixer'sin demon. Remembering the tree, I turned my attention to it. The gnarled, black and red thing stood to the side, unchanged from before. There was a circle around it devoid of insects, though the plants seemed to grow just fine.
I frowned, then turned away, looking for Par. He wasn't anywhere in sight. I had a good idea where he was, though.
"Par?" I shouted, eyeing the tree my Mindscape Keeper had designated as his home.
The birds fell quiet, and I saw one of them stare at me with black beady eyes. Then they continued.
"Yeah, yeah," a rushed response came from the tree, and a moment later, Par came clattering down towards me.
"So? Ready to kill another Ulixer'sin demon?" he asked excitedly, staring at me with glittering eyes.
I was going to say no, then hesitated. I still had no idea how to get Rathica out, and with each passing day, the chances that I was left to my own devices grew. If I could increase my Mindscape, that would greatly increase my chances. Then I recalled the horrible emotions and sensations that had flown through me the first time and shuddered.
"Not yet," I said. "We've found Lark, a demon I met during my previous travels in this sea, and he seems to know what is going on."
"Great," Par said, raising his hands in mock praise. "So? Go fix what you need to do so we can focus on other things."
"He hasn't told me yet," I said before quickly telling Par what had happened.
As I did, I felt none of the intense rush and haste that I had felt in recent weeks. Instead, I found that I could calmly regale the story while wondering why the pressure was off. Was it because Lark had told me I had months, almost a year?
It had something to do with it, I knew after pondering it for a moment. Then I looked around at the birds and the soft rustling leaves, and I knew it wasn't the whole story. It was this place too. If it was just a bit bigger, the plants covering the sides so I didn't have to look at the gruesome monsters moving through the fog behind and perhaps acquire a cabin, it was almost like a beautiful resort.
"Well, demons can't be trusted," Par said with an off-handed swish of his hand. "Just fight him and force him into submission!"
I grinned, imagining wrestling with Lark. Besides the fact that he was much bigger than me, the idea of wrestling with something like a snake while in water sounded about as much fun as plugging in a high-voltage cable while the power was still on.
"How about, no," I said. "What I need to know is what you can do with the Karma and my spells!"
Raparion scowled, then sat down on a grassy spot, grabbed an insect, and stuffed it in his mouth. The popping and scraping that followed were disgusting.
"I've got to say, you managed to pick up a whole lot of interesting things!" he said. "Especially that Body Modification spell, Gills. Sadly, I can't upgrade it as it would only increase the effectiveness, which is useless. Now, if you could find a similar spell that wasn't as restrictive, perhaps Body Modify All?" He laughed softly.
"Okay, and the others?" I asked, sad and angry at his fun at my expense.
I had hoped for something more. Perhaps a way to modify the spell to gain more than just gills. Then again, if Karma only boosted the effectiveness of spells, it made sense.
"I could increase Friendship, greatly increasing the effect and almost turning it into a control spell," Par said as he scratched his skin, removing some muck from the insect he ate. "Or even Controlled Conflagration, which should give you the ability to throw it as you have been so uselessly trying."
"Even below the water?" I asked, my eyes widening.
"What? Conflagration? Well... I guess you could use it to evaporate some water, although I'm not sure what the use of that would be," Par said.
I sighed, sat down on a dry patch of grass, and looked around. Depending on the Karma cost, changing Befriend was probably a good idea. I might be able to Befriend some demons and have them tell me what I needed to know. Although, it was probably unlikely that it would work on the more powerful demons.
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I sighed and calmly looked across the small pond, suddenly realizing something. I had no idea what I could do with my Mindscape!
"What else can we do to improve this place besides more Mildasir trees and mental purifying creatures?" I asked, waving my arms around.
The squirrel god of fear and anger shrugged before scratching his leg like some old man.
"Well, we could add more of those, which isn't a bad idea, or increase the ecosystem, adding some more animals. Some predators would be good. Beyond that, until it grows a whole lot more, say because you use the Ulixer'sin tree, it's too small for the more advanced things," Par said.
"Sure," I said, curious about what those advanced things were but not willing to ask as it would just tempt me. "As soon as you find a way to stop it from turning me into a murderous demon."
Par sniffed, then got up and walked away.
"Sure, mortal, I'll send you a message when that happens!"
"Increase Befriend," I shouted after him.
Par didn't respond, but a few pings rang from my status as Par disappeared up the tree.
I pulled up my status window, but all it said was that I could use Karma to now overpower Befriend.
Yeah, useful, I thought. A bit of information on how powerful overpower was would have been helpful. Still, if Sprout Life was any indication, probably a lot.
I thought about heading back right away but instead stayed in my Mindscape for a while, enjoying not breathing demon-blood-filled water.
When I finally returned, nothing had changed. The filthy flesh was still hovering in the water, Casiron lay before the barred entrance, and the room was quiet.
"Fine, let's see what the fire does then," I said, hovering in the middle of the room.
I used my two upper hands to cast Controlled Conflagration, keeping my body in place by waving the others. A bright white gleam appeared on my hands, then greenish fire burst out, and a sudden stream of bubbles rushed up. It was hard to look at the intense white glow in the center of the Conflagration, and something about the fire was different than before. I also felt the water around me heat up rapidly.
"What are you doing?" Casiron asked, and I saw his eyes had opened, his large head turned towards me.
"You'll see," I replied as I swam towards the chunk of white and red flesh.
In the end, it took ten minutes before I could make true on my words. I had to create a cauldron from the mushroom wood, put the flesh in there, and heat that to prevent boiling myself. I even had to reinforce the wooden cauldron with Harden Wood to the point that it gleamed like metal but drained my power rapidly, or it kept cracking from the heat. Even then, the water around it became so hot that it seared my skin, and I had to alternate between my two hands while casting Controlled Conflagration.
"Now, let's hope this tastes better than it looks," I muttered as I examined the fist-sized chunk of flesh. If it was the water or the meat, I couldn't tell, but it looked slimy.
Please taste like salmon, I thought.
I took a careful bite. The water and the flesh in my mouth were a weird combination, but then the taste hit me, and I almost gagged at the disgusting, rotten flavor. The flesh was spongy, with a thin gravy-like layer that stuck to my teeth. I shuddered as I quickly swallowed the whole bit, feeling it move through my throat painfully.
A few pings came from my status at the same as I felt a burning sensation spread throughout my body. It started painful, almost like a fever, then the pain faded, leaving a slightly uncomfortable sensation behind. I quickly pulled up my status.
> You have consumed Hilgron flesh, which is changing your body
> Demonic poisoning spreading
> Cellular degeneration starting
> Demon Poison Resistance effect triggered: Healing
> For the next ten Kernstalion days, your body is capable of resisting the pressures of the deep
As I read the lines, my hair stood on end. Cellular degeneration? I'd be dead if I didn't have my insane Demonic Poison resistance! Wait, was it even enough? I closed my eyes and tried to feel any ill effects.
I sighed after a minute, feeling relieved when I sensed nothing, no pain, no wooziness. Nothing.
I turned to the cauldron, which still held more meat. I'd have to keep some with me so I could always take a bite, no matter how much the idea of it disgusted me. But luckily, that wasn't now. Instead, I needed to come up with a lot of answers to a whole lot of problems, not in the least what I was going to do for food and how I was going to see what I could do about those slaves.
The slaves, I thought, angrily shaking my head.
Each time my mind wandered to them, I sensed deep-seated anger and a desire to act immediately. Cognitively, I knew it was part of Rathica's influence and that it was too dangerous, especially now. I shouldn't risk it, or at least not until I stopped whatever was going on. Sadly, those thoughts just seemed to fuel my simmering anger.
"Later," I grunted, forcing myself to think of other things. I gazed at the mass of mushrooms that sprawled across the furthest wall to distract myself. Whatever I was going to do, an army would probably make it easier. The use of the stone soldiers had proven that I'd been heavily underusing one of my strongest abilities. And it was a good time to fix that. Right now.
I swam forward, trying to imagine the most dangerous thing I could make for deep-sea combat, something that would tear demons to shreds without mercy. For a moment, the image of more demons came to mind, then another idea began forming in my mind, and a nasty grin formed across my lips.
As I'd found out back in the library, time goes by differently if you don't have anything that needs doing. I spent the first day carving and practicing my Controlled Conflagration taking only a moment to find a merman and have them bring me food.
The second day was the same, except for the afternoon.
The merman came and brought in a carcass of something that resembled an eyeless fish with stunning green scales. I hadn't eaten anything for two days and was hungry, just not hungry enough to eat more of the rancid flesh still in the cauldron. Seeing the more normal-looking flesh, I immediately boiled a portion and was surprised and delighted to find that it tasted familiar. It was the mix of salmon and bacon that I'd had before. It also didn't trigger my regeneration, which was odd as that meant it wasn't demon flesh, while I was pretty sure Libidi had told me it was demon flesh.
In the end, I overate, and as I lay in the water with a stuffed stomach, I wondered about something. I pulled up my status and checked my fat amount. It had dropped to one again, which seemed reasonable as I'd barely had anything to eat in days, which gave me another idea. I would use the time I had to try and get it to above ten. I still had no idea how strong I could physically be if I weren't constantly malnourished, but I needed any bit of strength I could get. I was sure of that.
I spent the next three days carving, eating, and practicing Controlled Conflaguration. Even though it wasn't as useful in the water, it still had room to improve.
On the fourth day, Lark sent a message that he had encountered a problem and would be a few days longer, but I didn't mind. I hadn't had time to myself for a long while, and even if it was half-baked like this, below the sea with demons in a cave, it felt great. I started spending more time in my Mindscape, just lying below the trees and relaxing, chatting with Eliandra. The only worry I had was the ever slowing Karma influx, but she said they could hold on for a while between what I had shared before and what Rathica's partition found. I wasn't sure if I believed her, but what was I going to do about it now?
As the days kept passing, I carved away the mushrooms in our hollowed-out skull, then began with those in the other rooms. The small army of wooden carvings hovering in the back of my cave grew steadily, and each time I looked at them, I couldn't help but grin.
Two weeks and a day after I'd found Lark, his long serpentine shape swam into my cavern. He'd actually knocked, something that had surprised both me and Casiron.
"What are thossseeee?" Lark hissed.
He was staring at the group of four to six-meter-long shapes at the back of the cave. There were almost twenty by now, not all of the same quality. I had experimented with what the minimum amount of detail would be before they didn't count, and it showed.
I looked up, waving away the cloud of wood carvings around me.
"We call them sharks," I said. "But I gave these a few upgrades."
I turned to my weeks of work, unable to refrain from letting out a nasty grin as I examined the largest one. Over eight meters long, it had a recess in its back where I could sit, and like the others, two long, sleek arms with three-fingered talons pointed forward. I had lovingly dubbed them Armedsharks, and my grin turned evil as I glanced at their closed mouths. There was no sight of the crossbows I'd implanted in their insides, but each was able to propel a single massive harpoon at something too big to maul or strangle.
"What did you make them for?" Lark asked as he swam closer and used his tail to grab and inspect one of the smaller ones.
His question surprised me, as I thought it was pretty obvious.
"To use in fighting those lieutenants or their minions," I said.
Lark gazed at the wooden shark, and his eyes narrowed as the coils of his tail end tightened.
I heard the wood dangerously creak and was about to shout for him to stop when I held back. Although it was a shame to waste a few hours of work, it would be a good test to see how much punishment my Armedsharks could take.
The wood around the shark's waist resisted the ever-increasing pressure for a few seconds, then suddenly splintered, tiny bits of wood exploding outward.
"They are ssstronger than I had thought," Lark said, sounding dubious. "They might be able to fight sssome of the weaker onesss. But, why didn't you create more of him?" he tossed the remnants of the shark towards where Casiron hovered in the water, curled up and staring at Lark.
"I thought about it," I said as I swam towards a part of the wooden remnants to see if I could harvest anything. "But that would have been much more work. These things are not as big and require less effort."
Lark stared at them for a while longer, then turned to me. "I have finissshed healing this body. It is time to sssearch for Qylox lietenantsss!”
I sighed, stretched my arms which cracked and popped, then looked around.
In the few weeks I'd been here, I'd created a small rest area for myself from the remnants of the deepsea mushrooms. Although I'd quickly realized that things like a bed and chairs weren't required while hovering in the water, I'd hollowed out one of the mushroom caps and used it as a sort of lair. Small carvings floated around in it, some resembling animals from Earth, others like household objects, amongst which another scissors. I'd made them as a form of relaxation, finding I very much enjoyed carving things that weren't meant for war. It soothed me.
"Right, let's talk first," I said as I focused on Lark. I had plenty of time to think over the weeks, and a few questions had come up.
"You said we are going to kill two of Qylox's lieutenants. Are they inside Qylox's domain?"
Lark snorted, hovering in the middle of the room, his body coiling up. "No! That would be suicccide! They are lurking about around the edge of the main battle, deep inside the caverns near the entrance to the Spawning Trenchesss. Probably controlling the dumber ones."
Back up? I thought with a surprised blink. Somehow I'd expected we had to go farther down again. Still, going back up suited me just fine.
"Are they close together or far apart?" I asked, looking at him and preparing to grill him for what I wanted to know.
"They are a weeksss travel apart. Each controls a part of Qylox'sss army," Lark said.
Of course they do, I thought, preparing the rest of my questions.