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Leah, Xavier, Charlie, and Max had a quick celebration of their collective wins. Max was sore that he hadn't seen the Brandon (ACME) versus Viviane (DAIE) Haunted Mansion Escape room challenge. Viv had won, barely. Max hadn’t seen many of those types of games and was worried about his next match. It was random, so he might very well face a similar match and didn't feel prepared.
“No worries, Max. You’re a clever son of a bitch. You can figure it out.” Charlie joked. Max feigned offense and replied,
“You leave my mother out of this, or I’ll share all of my brother Bo’s yo’ momma jokes.” Max barked. The ready chime sounded in the casino's ready room and Max gulped.
“You got this, Max. Don’t worry. It's still low stakes.” Leah said.
“Yeah, except that any weakness will make me a target once our last Team Match is over tonight,” Max whined.
“Pu’lease give it a rest, Max. You're a machine. We’ve watched Ethan’s matches. Hell, you faced off against him in the first Team match. You got this!” Xavier gushed.
“Alright, here I go. See you all on the other side.” Max said and jogged off to the fight stage. Max tail was wagging in excitement, eager to discover what the match would give and play his best.
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[Initializing challenge match….]
[Randomization of format…. Format selected: Gauntlet Race.]
[Gauntlet Race: A series of set combat challenges where speed to complete the entire course wins. Warning: Participants share in the boss challenge chambers as an overlap of their challenge course.]
[Randomization of theme…theme selected: Egyptian Paths of the Dead]
[Challenge start…3…2…1…]
Max’s isolation chamber opened into a murky cave. Hieroglyphics covered the walls. The iconic writing appeared to shift in the faux torchlight of the simulated environment. He looked across the broad expanse of the sand-covered floor. Ethan crouched close to the ground, his head swiveling to capture the details of the room, his long staff crackled with static charge.
Max pulsed his senses, taking it all in, while keeping his eyes on Ethan. Information flooded Max; he resisted the urge to activate FastCog. He wanted to advance the PreCog skill and FastCog would fight it. His Gestalt skills assembled the details that mattered and Sherlock “rode” his shoulder to analyze the room.
Max smelled mostly dust, old linen, and decay. The slight tinge of gun lubricant came from Ethan’s direction. The walls of the cavernous hall were sandstone, lit with flickering torches every ten feet. Symbols lined the walls in blocky clusters. An enormous statue of a Balance Scale was situated against the far wall, two halls opened up on either side of the Scales.
Max couldn't sense much in the way of EM fields, other than Ethan and his gear. His Language skill wasn't too helpful other than identifying the writing as hieroglyphs. He eyed Ethan and his sword exo-arms open wide, ready for action. Ethan shifted in a blur, running away from Max and to the left hall.
Max started as the left hallway closed, a massive wall of stone lowered over the entryway.
Sherlock chimed in. “[The writing is older but somewhat recognizable to me. We must enter the path of the dead and brave the challenges to gain entry into the Sekhet-Aaru, the Egyptian version of heaven. We must pick a path. Unfortunately, Ethan already picked the Path of Ma’at or virtue. We are left with the Path of Isfet or sin. We should hurry, while I predict fighting and challenges, I infer that this is a race where first to the final gate will win.]”
“[Fuck. Maybe running FastCog on entry would have been the better choice.]” Max said as he bolted for the last doorway. “[From the fights I’ve seen, Ethan is a speedster and now he’s got the jump on me.]”
Max raced down the hall. He jumped as the slab of stone descended behind him, blocking any possibility of retreat. There were no torches in the tight hall making normal sight a non-starter. Max’s motes couldn't keep pace with his running speed, so Max’s gestalt skill painted his vision in shades of terahertz, infrared, and lidar echoes.
Despite the lack of EM and visible trip wires, Max was worried about traps. Every action movie that his family had watched regarding Egyptian tombs included surprising and usually fatal traps. He did his best to run along the wall using a combination of stiction and leaping.
[Stiction +1, Stiction reaches level 3]
[Lidar +2, Lidar reaches level 4]
[Gestalt +1, Gestalt reaches level 8]
Max’s tactics failed as the hall opened to include rows of sarcophagi lining the path forward. Max shook his head, not feeling good about the scene. He kept his pace fast, leaping from coffin to coffin. Max wasn't surprised in the slightest, as muffled shouts sounded out and the sarcophagi lids began to move.
Max sprinted forward, weaving between the sarcophagi as mummified creatures emerged from their tombs. The desiccated warriors rose from their rest, roaring in outrage at the intruder within their sanctum. The dead soldiers wielded a variety of weapons; curved khopesh, maces, spears, and shields.
Max dodged and weaved as the mummies struggled out of their coffins. He tumbled under an ax swing and pivoted about; his Exo-blades extended. Musashi was suggesting a combination of running strikes to keep his momentum when Mal interrupted.
“[Max, I can see the exit at the very edge of your sense range. The door is open! You don’t need to fight these soldiers.]” She yelled in his head. Max flipped backward as the ax swung around. He turned and scrambled on all fours, trying to close the distance to the exit.
Max sprinted away from the dead warriors; his exo-blades struck down an undead spear wielder that blocked his path. He didn't slow down. The mummies pursued, their ancient weapons clattering against the stone floor. Musashi urged Max to engage and defend his back, but Mal's warning echoed in his mind.
Reaching the doorway, Max risked a glance back, seeing the mummies closing in. He leaped through the opening, the heavy stone slab slamming shut behind him, sealing the mummies inside. Catching his breath, Max pressed on, determined to catch up to Ethan. He could only hope that Ethan’s progress was slower.
The new room was expansive in size. High above, the cavern-like space’s ceiling opened revealing a blue sky and intense sunlight raining down. Max spun about looking for threats as he assessed the room. Swampy pools were spaced about with climbing vines growing up and covering the stalagmites that populated the area. Towards the center of the cavernous room, a massive throne was raised above the watery terrain.
Max thought that the throne had a statue in it until the figure moved. The massive form looked like a humanoid with a massive crocodile head and tail attached, a tall trident gripped in his right hand. It roared and its head swiveled to Max. His system helpfully pinged him.
[Boss: Sobek’s Avatar, The Crocodile God. Defeat Sobek to open the way toward the Hall of Judgement.]
“Damn. Looks like I can’t bypass the boss fight. Alrighty then, I’m sure Lachesis has already seen some of my newly acquired skills. No sense in holding back.” Max cycled his Chthonic Mindstorm attack at the monster.
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[Mindstorm +1, Mindstorm reaches level 4]
Max smiled, expecting Sobek to collapse instantly like all his previous fight-ending uses of his Chthonic attacks. The otherworldly intrusion cut through modern countermeasures like a hot knife through butter. He came close to peeing himself as the gigantic beast shrugged off the attack and charged him with murder on his mind.
He dove to the side activating his FastCog skill. He assembled his daemon council into a virtual meeting. The majority looked equally stunned. Only Sherlock had a shrewd and measured look, his scowl telling Max that he had a theory. Max zeroed in on him.
“[Sherlock. Tell me, quick. What just happened? Why is the boss still standing?]” Max said.
“[I can only surmise that the beast must have a copy of your Chthonic block skill. You’ve shared it with your friends and sent it to your father on that damnable unsecured quantum encryption terminal. There is a saying that the only secrets that survive are those that are never shared. This evidence seems to support that idiom. Lachesis, at the very least, appears to have used your defense for her boss creature.]” Sherlock said quickly.
The enraged twelve-foot-tall Croc-man slammed into the ground where Max had been. Max backpedaled quickly, barely out of range as Sobek slashed at him using his trident. Max used his Strobe skill to try and blind him.
“[No good, Max-San. I saw another set of eyelids blink closed, protecting his eyes.]” Musashi said.
“[Those are called nictating membranes. Such a wonderful adaptation, to use it defensively against-]” Tesla said.
“[NOT NOW TESLA!]” Max yelled as he dodged aside again. The trident scored along his hip, burning with energy. It seared through his pants, singed his fur, and raised a welt. He fell back again, the soggy, marsh-like ground fighting him and restricting his enhanced agility.
Max scrambled to an outcropping, dripping wet, his wound already closing as his Regeneration skill burned his energy down. Max crouched, ready to move, in case Sobek had a distance attack. The giant Croc-Man avatar roared and swung his arms in a sweeping motion.
Max was confused until he noticed the swampy water responding. A wall of water erupted from the sides barreling down on Max. He braced himself, using Stiction to anchor his feet. The wave crashed over him, and Max’s footing crumbled under the onslaught. He tumbled, pushed along by the brackish wave.
Max used his WorldMap's feed from his motes that circulated above him. He struggled to the surface and saw more threats. The Boss had crocodile minions, closing the distance quickly to surround Max.
Max dug deep and leaped with all his augmented strength, throwing a grapple into a hanging mossy stalactite above to assist. He reeled in the line and dug in hard to the wet rock with his claws and stiction skills. The mass of crocodiles thrashed below; eager for Max to drop.
Max opened up on the reptiles with all of his distance attacks. K-Gun, Arc, Poison Spray, and Laser skills peppered the enemy below. Max churned out his Cultivation skill to try to minimize the energy drain.
[K-Gun +2, K-Gun reaches level 6, Arc +2, Arc reaches level 6]
[Laser +2, Laser reaches level 9, Poison Spray +2, Poison Spray reaches level 5]
[Stiction +1, Stiction reaches level 4, Cultivation +1, Cultivation reaches level 9]
Sobek roared in frustration as Max picked off his minions. It launched its massive trident like a missile. Max's jaw clenched. Dropping wasn’t a good idea, as there were still some crocs down there. With no time to debate tactics, Max flipped over, braced his feet against the rock, and met the incoming pronged spear with his exo-blades.
Max cursed as the heavy weapon crashed through his guard, piercing his chest and shattering the rock he was anchored to. The rock and Max fell together into the swampy pool. His WorldMap showed that Sobek was already charging again.
Max regained his feet with Sobek barreling fast toward him. He snapped open the Tesseract portal, his pocket dimension’s arsenal was ready. The mazer was already charged and ready to fire and his Gatling minigun was already spinning. He unleashed hell. The minigun raked through the smaller crocodiles while he speared Sobek with the overcharged mazer. He was astonished as the armored Sobek shielded himself with his massive bracers. The metal reflected the powerful beam into the ceiling.
Max panicked as Sobek dove forward. He snapped the portal shut. He had almost let a grenade into his pocket space and had no desire to see a rampaging Sobek NPC Boss destroy the precious gift from his father. Max braced himself for the charge, ready to activate his Hulk skill.
To his surprise, Sobek fell at his feet. His head was missing. Max goggled at the sight, in confusion. He replayed the last few seconds in his head from his mote sensors’ visual feed. The massive humanoid had dived for him, and its head was in the portal as it had snapped shut. Max winced as fluids pumped from Sobek’s neck stump. The crocodile king’s limbs still thrashed a couple of times in the pond water. Beyond, the swampy field was littered with crocodile corpses, shredded and pitted.
“Holy crap. I…didn’t realize the portal could do that.” Max said aloud. He reopened the portal and ejected Sobek’s head. As it fell into the muddy waters, Max's system pinged.
[Defeated Boss Sobek +350xp, Access to next section of Halls of the Dead opened.]
[Max +1 Level, Max reached Master level 25, +10 Free Stat points awarded (* Stat attributes capped, free points not applicable.]
The room rumbled and the throne lowered revealing a staircase spiraling down. Max cocked his head. The trackers he had on Ethan were still active and his opponent's signal had stalled in the hallways. Max shook off his disquiet. These were androids, not real.
He grinned as his canine instincts egged him on and charged down the stairs. Into the darkness again, Max’s sensors came to life. He charged forward hoping to capitalize on his quick victory to get a solid lead on Ethan. Max shook his head as the hall got wider.
Time to focus, he thought.
The expanded room looked like a large waterworks, with aqueducts and sluiceways crisscrossing the area. The canals were filled to the brim with dark, rippling water, spilling over the edges of their tracks. Max did a double-take as the “water” skittered and clustered.
[Gestalt +1, Gestalt reaches level 9]
Max’s Gestalt skill triggered his ExaVision to zoom mode and he saw his mistake. The dark fluid was a mass of swarming scarabs. He wasn’t surprised in the slightest as a stone slab dropped behind him, preventing a safe retreat…and the sluice gates opened and poured a deluge of ravenous bugs onto the floor.
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The scarabs scuttled around him, their chitinous bodies gleaming in the dim light. Max weaved between them, his movements quick and agile. He could feel their sharp mandibles snapping at his heels. Max stepped quickly, charting a course of diminishing area to avoid the swarming scarabs.
Max had run out of room, but the end of the hall was still not in sight. He used every skill he had to try and force back the bugs. They weren’t especially durable, but their numbers were beyond counting. Again, his weapon of last resort - the Chthonic Mindstorm, failed to cripple the bugs.
Max slung his grapple upward, hooking the edge of a crossing aqueduct. He swung over the writhing mass as his open space disappeared under the wave of bugs. Max couldn’t see another structure to continue forward. He swung back and forth, unable to find a way out.
Max felt the insect bites before he saw them. A stream of scarabs had descended his grapple line. With spastic swatting and the application of a full body Shock contact skill, Max’s attackers shorted and fell away. His cable transmitted the shocking touch as well, resulting in the rain of burning bugs around Max.
Max forced himself to calm down as he swung back and forth. The scarabs below were agitated, creating a tower of bugs climbing to reach him. It toppled over before it could reach him. He sighed and looked up. A couple more bugs were descending. He sent another shock attack up the line and watched them fall.
He ramped up his personal time, setting himself a timer to keep applying his Shock skill to the cable. Ghostly avatars of his daemons appeared in his OverLayer at his summons.
“Max, this is horrible. I’ve tried to access the bugs, but they either have their networks offline or never had any built into them.” Mal said uncertainly.
“I need some ideas here. I’m not sure how much time we have, but none of my attacks seem to be a good counter to the bugs. I can kill them easily enough, but more always come. Anyone? Help!” Max asked.
“Max-San. I think you have let fear dominate your thoughts. The bites are minor, and your healing is fast. You should just run and ignore the pain.” Musashi chastised.
“Fire, Max! Burn the little fuckers away. The MC inside the tesseract can make some firebombs quick enough.” Dr. House said gleefully.
“Oh dear. Maybe some armor. I should hate to see you bitten, Max.” Tesla said.
“We need more information, boy. Bugs are attracted to movement, light, heat, and more. Your clever augmentations might have the answer to that. Perhaps you could grab one before killing it for a proper experiment.” Sherlock said.
Max considered the advice and admitted to himself he had options. He had panicked. He used his Telekinesis skill to levitate a large scarab up to view it properly. The insect squirmed about, snapping its mandibles, trying to reach Max.
He used his Chameleon skill to fade to black and erase his thermal signature. The creature grew less focused but still wriggled, trying to move. Max started laughing as he realized the solution was literally in front of him.
The dungeon has a good amount of utility fog that he had tapped into for his Telekinesis trick. He remembered how Xavier had produced a maelstrom using his control of foglets against Leah in their first sparring match. Max exercised his control over the local cloud of foglets and pulled more in to increase its density.
He swirled it about brushing the insects aside, clearing the floor below him. He lowered himself and started walking as quickly as the small cyclone could clear his path towards the hall’s end. He hoped the foglets wouldn’t run out of power before he made it. Heavy demands for motion would drain their tiny batteries fast as well as his own power reserves. He picked up his pace.
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