Chapter Thirteen: A Snake in the Garden
I watched Captain Bunnyman deliberate for a bit longer before I gently said. “Go. Either way I’ll be here when you get back. Be it in chains, or with your unconscious lieutenant beside me.”
He froze, and my roving globes of light gave me a glimpse of his narrowed eyes, searching me for any sign of deception. “You swear?”
“No. But we’re all tired of this, so no more running. This ends tonight.”
He stared toward the forest again for what had to be the thousandth time, hesitated, and then bolted back the way we’d come.
Freakin’ finally! What in blazes made him take so long? And where’d that breakdown come from? The heck’s going on with these people tonight?
“Interesting… What did you do to him to cause the conditioning to break? Do you possess mind over mind magic in addition to your other abilities?”
Hol’ up. Conditioning? Like… brainwashing? Is that why he became such a mess? But then why would his subordinate…? I squinted at Larissa, and Uriel obediently retrieved the information I wanted.
Name: Larissa Nathreya (Goldorath)
Species: Naga (Fallen)
Health: 443/443 (600/600)
Mana: 650/650 (1000/1000)
Endurance: 412/412
Strength: 100+150
Agility: 128+380
Speed: 134+290
Toughness: 27+300
Spirit: -650
Status conditions: Corruption (Moderate); Posessed; Stone strength; Steel body; wisp walk; Earth's bounty; Second Wind;
Titles: Lieutenant of the Subjugation Squad; Believer of Lies; Heretic; Incomplete Assimilation; (Forsaker of Righteousness; Servant of Evil; Willful ignorance)
Abilities:
Leadership lv: 12
Mana sense lv: 15 (+32)
Mana manipulation lv: 20 (+47)
(Dark magic (adept) lv: 22)
Command lv: 54
Arcane strike lv: 77
Mind over body magic (adept) lv: 23
Fire magic (advanced) lv: 66
(Fallen Guard lv: 44)
(Fallen blade lv: 63)
(Blood hunter lv: 89)
Scale shield lv: 90
(Mana thirst lv: 52)
Relentless lv: 31
Intimidate lv: 14 (+30)
Bloodlust lv: 21(+33)
Serpet's blade ballet (Adept) lv: 27
Holy… Okay that’s a lot to read and unpack. So let’s start with some probing to stall, gather context, and buy time to read all this.
“So he was what? A mind controlled pawn?”
She slithered closer, and raised her spear. “Indeed. Many of our faith’s most powerful servants need some… convincing, in order to leave their old ways behind in pursuit of a greater, more enlightened, existence.”
Oh boy. Crazy people all talk the same don’t they? But I guess that explains her ‘believer of lies’ title, and means that I’m probably not talking to the real Larissa… . And what the heck’s with her negative spirit stat? How is that even possible?
“Your faith? Care to elaborate? On that and the fact that you called me an Apostle?”
She stopped her gradual advance, and tilted her head. “You mean you don’t know the state of your own existence? You were born of the garden of creation. Of the very place the world began! That makes you an apostle of the creator god. And like the others you will serve to aid in our masters ascension, just as you were intended to. Just like the ones who came before you.”
I staggered back a step, the weight of all this new information bearing down on me like a tangible pressure. Wait, the world began there? But that’s where I was when I dreamed… No. That’s a coincidence, focus on the important stuff. Like the others. What others? Has this band of… corrupted and mind controlled bozos been capturing other people like me from the place where I first awoke? But I was the only one left from the old earth, and I don’t have any apostle title… You’d think something like that’d be a title! Unless… unless it’s what’s hidden behind those question marks! Then… crap! I really shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions! I need more to go off of!
“What did you mean when you said they served?”
She chuckled, and shook her head, reducing the distance between us down to twenty or so feet. “I’m not privy to the details. But fear not, I’m sure the Ascendant will be more than eager to inform you once you’re returned to your proper place.”
“Rriiight… .” The menacing hiss in her voice only further underlined all the bad news her status revealed, and I frowned.
Suffice to say, this snake lady is nuthin’ but bad news, and since she’s itching to fight and I need more time to think… Spark shower!
Kra–koom!
Upon my command, another fat lightning bolt dropped from the heavens, just like the first, right onto her head.
Obviously this was my best choice since it took her out in one go last time.
Only this time she didn't fall.
Sparks leapt and curled off of her and into the ground as she continued her relaxed advance. “You just keep getting more and more interesting. The ability to cast without an incantation is new, as is your apparent ability to conjure manaless phenomena. But I won’t allow the same trick to work twice. You’ve humiliated me enough for one lifetime.”
Great… Now how am I supposed to get the time to figure out what all those obvious buffs and ominous abilities do?! I gritted my teeth, and readied my shield. But then I guess I should expect this from the one who was the most troublesome in that dream. So here goes nothing!
I gave Witness a squeeze and thick roots burst up from the ground around her in an all too accurate reenactment of how I dispatched those grandour. She didn’t even have time to move before they wrapped her up, and it’s not like she has the ability to jump, given that her lower half is a snake’s, so that should have been checkmate.
Oh, how it should have.
But then I noticed that fire magic is written on the lower part of her status.
This just isn’t going to go well for me is it?
Warm orange light poured out from where the roots overlapped, only for them to give way to a wave of intense heat and rush of air, followed by a plume of fire.
The mound of brown tethers that I used to bind her quickly blackened and curled as they crumbled away into nothing.
I held up my buckler to avoid the frankly uncomfortable warmth that bristled over me, and retreated a few steps back. Holy moly! Did she just blow herself up? I mean, she’s in that! Unless… .
I lowered my shield just in time to see the flames go out, and for a serpentine shadow to surge forth and thrust its spear at me faster than anyone or anything I’d encountered to date… save for maybe my lightning bolts.
Thunk!
By pure luck, the tip of her weapon collided with my lowered buckler, as she had apparently aimed at my undefended gut. But my troubles were far from over. As the force of the impact made me shudder and pushed me back several feet, and then a burst of disturbing dark purplish-blue light followed.
Like a hit from a small kaiju, the impact rattled through my utterly unprepared body and sent me sprawling. It was like the landing from my lake crossing all over again, only this time I could feel my bones rattle!
And to top it off, my impromptu aerial journey ended with my back planted firmly against a nice hefty rock. In other words, I was splayed out, in the general shape of a crescent, limbs limp, and all too painfully aware of each bump, groove, and crevice, on that boulder’s surface.
“Owww… .” I peeled myself off just in time to see the same glowing purple spearpoint fly ever nearer to my nose.
Eyes wide, my mind went into overdrive and slowed the pace of my perception down to a crawl. But what can I do? She’s too close! Too fast! I’d have to be able to deflect or avoid the hit in an instant! At the speed of… Man, I’m an idiot! Ward! Nyx!
In a flash, the ‘ward’ spell created a blue barrier that interjected itself into the paper thin margin between me and the impending strike, but that wasn’t all, for the awful power of that purple-blue light vanished, consumed by the ‘nyx’ spell, which resulted in me not taking another nasty hit.
Larissa’s eyes bulged, and she coiled her lower body and used it like a spring to gain some distance between us, before she reset her combat stance and hissed. “Impressive. I thought for sure I had you. I see now that this will be anything but easy.”
I blinked twice, finished getting up, felt my body fix the crippling damage I’d taken, and sighed. Huh. So she can jump… .
I shook away that stupid thought when Uriel buzzed, and raised my buckler once more, determined not to lose.
Warning: Suffering any more hits from the combined force of the arcane strike and fallen blade abilities will result in a 50% chance of unconcuiosness. Multiple hits could lead to an overtaxing of your natural regeneration which will result in death.
“It was certainly a close one, but now that I know how fast and dangerous your fallen blade and arcane strike abilities are when combined, I think I’ve got a pretty good chance, don’t you, Goldorath?”
Larissa’s loose bearing tensed up instantly. Then she shot forward again, roaring. “How do you know that name!”
Somehow, she was even faster, but since I was ready, another round of ‘ward’ and ‘nyx’ negated her otherwise lethal attack.
But she didn’t stop there.
“Incinerate!”
“Shadow grasp!”
“Strength release!”
“Black bolt!”
“Speed release!”
“Scorching press!”
“Atrophy!”
“Immolate!”
She hurled fire, torrents of darkness, buffs, debuffs, and a mix of both just arcane strike and just fallen blade my way, likely in the hopes of catching me off guard, but my instant spellcasting and surplus of mana prevented the worst of it.
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Though I did get a little singed while being knocked around by the less threatening attacks she launched with the but of her spear, and any counterstrikes I threw back were either parried, dodged, or blocked by a scaly blue barrier on the rare occasion my timing was good.
All in all, I lost count of the times I evaded my doom at the hands of her killer combo, life, limb, and the fate of the village, all dancing on the very razor’s edge that she was determined to connect with my person.
Pain aside, there’s no way I can keep this up! Her skills are all higher than mine so I have to compensate by burning more mana! Plus, it looks like her serpent’s blade ballet ability is a fighting style, which, compared to my untrained self, only further tilts things in her favor! I need to catch a break to recover my mana, or I’m doomed!
I gritted my teeth, and focused on her every move. I shut out all my worries and stopped griping, just long enough to catch the flick of her eyes in the light of a passing orb, which allowed me to see though, and evade, her faint–much to both our surprise.
#
Goldorath was a demon formed of the malice, sin, and suffering of the world’s sentient life. Normally such a being could only form in a place of great evil or tragedy, and wouldn’t bear a status at all, but the ascendants had learned to gather the foul blight of the world, and then use the broken remains of the consumed apostles as a mold to create obedient demonic servants that possess the system’s blessings.
His mission had been simple: possess the foolishly willing Larissa, join the expedition, and use his powers and her strength to subdue the new apostle in the event it continued to resist. So why is the apostle still standing? How does it know of my presence? And how does it know which abilities I used? Even if it has the observation ability it should only be able to see my host’s status at its level.
Thoroughly unnerved, and more than a little mad, he was using all Larissa had to maximum effect. But no decisive blow was struck! Even with the magical buffs given by the support team, even with its own magic and Larissa’s all acting in concert, the one named Anon continued to flail, yelp, and most infuriatingly, block any and every committed attempt he made to end the fight.
The face changing apostle’s movements were those of a rank amateur, or a hapless drunk, yet still, Anon’s buckler, or one of their frustratingly fast barriers, always got in the way!
And worst of all, was the confident smirk that had appeared on Anon’s face. He didn’t understand why, or how, but only a few moments ago they appeared to have redoubled their focus, and had just evaded one of his feints for the first time.
His confidence faltered, and fury ignited within the void it left. Those feints were his only real method to salvage the battle. He kept attacking, but Anon’s guard was impossibly potent, and the newly born apostle shouldn’t have the mana or stamina needed to endure his assault for long, but Anon’s reserves of both seemed as endless as the sea.
He hissed through Larissa’s lips. “Don’t you dare get cocky! That was a fluke! You won’t manage a second time!”
He struck again, and again. Mixed in magic for good measure, and then readied another feint, but once again, Anon dodged it, and once more he faltered.
No. What if it wasn’t just luck? What if it's actually learning?
He tried again, went through the motions once more, and again was evaded.
He thought for sure that the talkative apostle would use the opportunity to mock him, but no retort to his earlier claim came, only another dodge, followed by a tentative step into his guard before a retreat from his next frantic attack.
And that only made the silence sting all the worse.
Anon was getting bolder. The barriers formed less and less frequently, then stopped before the buckler was let down too.
Yet not a single one of his strikes landed.
Fear and wrath urged Goldorath on. This was his chance! Just one hit, no, even a glancing blow would do. That’s all he needed to cinch victory and put that arrogant apostle in its place!
But Anon only got more and more slippery as time went on, and soon it had started to dance to and fro, ever out of reach of harm.
And thus, for the first time in his centuries long existence, the demon Goldorath trembled in terror. Not because of his foe’s overwhelming power or skill, but because of how quickly it grew, and of what it might grow into. For only great things emerge from the garden of creation, and somewhere deep within his blackened core Goldorath knew Anon had to be the greatest.
#
I dodged, ducked, and did the occasional weave, growing more and more accustomed to Larissa–or Goldorath’s quirks, tells, and general way of movement.
Flashes of memory started to pass through my head, of countless battles in which I’d learned an equally innumerable number of techniques, but I never recalled fighting before, and yet my body responded automatically, eluding harm as if it were only natural.
Then the system’s effeminate voice declared.
Way of One: A fighting style possessed by ??? after a ??? of ???. Allows effective use of any weapon, stance, or technique. One with Self: An ability that allows the ??? to further unite with ???. Upgrades at level 100
It’d been a while since my last system notification, and those words were music to my ears. Confusing music, but music, nonetheless. That’s why I used some of my newly gathered free time to have Uriel tell me about them, and, well, let’s just say the system is as petty as ever.
On that same note, I turned my attention back to Larissa’s status, in the hopes of finding a way out of this mess. Because even though I can dodge her attacks, I’m still lacking a way past her defenses.
Status conditions:
Corruption: A status representing contact with evil. Once completed, the system will revoke all statuses and powers granted.
Posessed: Indication that the individual has been usurped by another, or is being parasitized by some sort of spirit or monster.
Stone strength: Adept earth essence magic. Grants increases to strength, and toughness.
Steel body: Adept earth essence magic. Grants increases to toughness and endurance, grants lightning immunity if grounded.
Wisp walk: Adept air essence magic. Grants increase to speed and agility.
Earth's bounty: Adept earth essence magic. Grants increases to health, mana, and endurance regeneration.
Second Wind: Adept air essence magic. Allows an unconscious creature to immediately get up as if nothing happened. Cannot be used again until status passes.
Titles:
Believer of Lies: A title granted to one who has been deceived on a regular basis. (Doesn't get announced.)
Heretic: A title given to one who has engaged in, or with, evil. (Not announced as individual did so unknowingly.)
Incomplete Assimilation: A title granted to one who has been partly fused with another allowing them to work in tandem. (Comes with cost of damaging host if exertion lasts too long.)
(Forsaker of Righteousness): A title granted to one who has turned their back on God.
(Servant of Evil): A title granted to one who continually works for the advancement of evil.
(Willful ignorance): A title given to one who refuses to accept the truth.
Abilities:
Arcane strike lv: 77: Empowered attack that uses mana to increase damage a little and knockback explosively.
(Fallen Guard lv: 44): Heritical ability that draws on sin, negative emotions, and mana to fend off harm.
(Fallen blade lv: 63): Heretical ability that draws on sin, negative emotions, and mana to deliver deadly attacks. high chance of cursing target.
(Blood hunter lv: 89): Heritical ability that draws on sin, negative emotions, and mana to track the blood scent of a target creature.
Scale shield lv: 90: Innate ability of scaled people, allows a means to harden physical defenses with mana and endurance.
(Mana thirst lv: 52): Heretical ability that allows the user to consume inactive mana in the area around them. (Sealed until possession ends.)
Relentless lv: 31: Limited ability that allows for a burst of stamina and health. (Uses per day left: 0)
Bloodlust lv: 21(+33): When active, allows user to increase strength, speed, agility, and toughness, at the cost of a temporary drop in spirit. (Active.)
Serpet's blade ballet (Adept) lv: 27: A fighting style that focuses on fluid movements and sudden powerful strikes. Developed by the Naga race.
Okay… So Larissa’s just being used here, and is taking damage now that the fight’s been extended. Magic appears to be the crux of their abilities. And clearly Goldorath isn’t something redeemable… So… .
My smile only grew as I finished my examination of the side windows. “So you’re on a timer here aren’t ya, buddy? I mean, Larissa’s health and mana won’t last more than a few more minutes, and even if you’re willing to let her die, will you really be able to subdue me without her abilities and the support spells placed on her? I mean, do you even have your own body to begin with? What’re you gonna do? Haunt me into submission?”
Goldorath stopped Larissa dead. The frantic frenzy of attacks was replaced with trembling, panting, and a low guttural growl–like one you might hear from a cornered dog. “Y–you… How? How do you know? How are you doing this? You’re just an apostle! You’re supposed to be an apostle! So how are you still standing?”
I just shook my head, and shrugged. “I’d honestly like to know the answer to that one myself. So I guess we’ll both just have to settle on disappointment for now.”
I stepped closer, and the surge of spear strikes resumed, somehow even more erratic than before. However, I relied on my new abilities, slipped through the not so obvious openings, and brought up Witness to strike an overhead blow.
Goldorath savagely batted away the attempt, and my staff, before maniacally laughing. “Now you’re mine!”
But I just dropped my buckler, and used my freed hands to grasp both sides of Larissa’s head, while being careful to avoid his last desperate thrust. Siphon!
With all my remaining mana I crushed and consumed every drop of the enchantments supporting Larissa, her remaining mana pool, and as much ambient mana as I could get.
Oh man! I was running on empty, but now I feel like I could go another round! And looks like my little hunch that their bond was magical in nature has paid off too!
Larissa convulsed. Spasming and seizing like she just stuck a fork in a light socket. Then she collapsed. And a deep black and purple haze rose up and out of her body.
It whirled and churned, condensing into a roughly torso sized mass, before I heard a sickly voice in my head. ~So you figured it out… You broke our connection… But you’ve merely delayed the inevitable… The ascendant who sent me will come here now. And–.~
“And she’ll burn everything to ash. Yeah, I know. Big scary lady in all white. Powerful enough to turn this valley into a slag pit, and drag me off to who knows where. What of it?”
The dark cloud that was Goldorath remained silent for several moments, then his billowing body fluctuated all the faster. ~You know of her? Of what she’ll do? But then… Why resist? Aren’t apostles supposed to care for others? Aren’t you trying to protect the people of that village?!~
I snorted. “Look pal, you don’t know me. Clearly. That’s a large part of why you all lost. So don’t go making false accusations, or empty assumptions, just because you don’t know what I’ve got planned.”
~W–what?~
I started to close the distance between us, casually, so that I wouldn’t spook the spook. “Think about it. If I knew about her and her intentions, then logically I would act in a way that would give me the outcome I want. Sure, there are variables you don’t know, but the fact that I’m still here should be proof enough that I’m right where I want to be.”
The blackish blob remained silent until I reached out for him, then he laughed. ~Then you are a fool! You lack the power to stop her just as you lack the power to harm me! I am a demon! Immaterial! Immortal! Un– W–what! H–how! Let go of me!~
Despite his own claims I found him very much tangible, and since I’d grown tired of listening to his pointless bluster and inane questions I just muttered. “Goodbye.” And concentrated on all the wonderful spells I’d learned at the village, and all the one’s I’d overheard him use.
Then the system said.
Oops. Didn’t know that was a thing. But, hey, double standards is pretty neat!
Goldorath writhed in my grip, scorched and blasted by every attack spell of every essence I knew, along with the crushing force of my ‘surge’ and ‘strength release’ enhanced grip could muster.
It sort of felt like mushing up putty or really malleable clay, and he did try to resist by absorbing mana out of the air, but after I used my ‘mana control’ to churn up another mana storm, that ended, and then I felt something deep inside him crack.
Then the system announced.
And just like that, his dark body just shattered, before vanishing without a trace.
I flopped down beside Larissa’s unconscious self, and left out a deep sigh as the severity and danger of that battle finally washed over me. “Thank goodness that’s done and over with. I almost freakin’ died! But what do I do now? Captain Bunnyman will probably be back soon, the last step of the plan will soon be ready, and I’ve got no idea what to say! I mean… Do I try to convince them to just leave? But then they’ll either be in danger of the lady in white, or just go back to being her pawns… But if I convince them to stay in the village there’s no telling what’ll happen after I leave… . Choices. Choices… Why are they alway so hard to make after a long day?”
Then the system announced.
“Oh come on!"