CHAPTER 90: As The Rocks Crumble

There was no way of knowing how long Adam had been punching these creatures. Rubble and debris were scattered around, and while it didn’t hamper the Petramus, it did force him to change fighting locations frequently.

Some small, aware part of Adam was trying to box and throw skillful punches, working on his techniques and physical abilities. They were still a poor imitation of the people he had fought against in the challenges back before the invasions. The rest of Adam was just raging. His outward movements were a rampage that matched the fury of the rapids in his inner river.

He had allowed the emotions to take over. He wanted to burn them out. The anger and hate needed an outlet. Before the invasions, he was constantly fighting, constantly proving himself, trying hard to get the authorities to take him seriously and prepare on their own. Now that there were more targets, he had to moderate himself and allow others to do the fighting so the benefits would go to them.

Adam knew he was a lazy kid, though he never used to feel the need to change that. His emotions had been muted before the invasions, and now they were unbalanced, slanted towards the anger. It was needed to fuel his strength. Unfortunately, it also made it difficult for him to be balanced.

Little things would set off his river. Big emotions tried to consume his mind. At those times his actions didn’t come from his intentions but from the corruption.

Yet no matter how angry he was, or how unhealthy his mindset, the soul corruption that had occurred with the arrival of the [System] came with a compulsion. He had to conquer. It wasn’t a goal, or a desire, it was now who he was. He would never be able to rest or stop until everything knelt before him.

Not just Earth either, he had realized before. Anything in front of him needed to be conquered. People, worlds, the [System], and also his emotions.

This fight was about that. He had to burn out his current anger and frustration, his sadness, regret, and guilt. To keep conquering he needed to leave them behind so he could keep moving forward, even knowing that there would always be the rage.

Petramus “Boulder Smasher [14]” slain. 658 XP gained.

When his current target went down, he dodged to avoid a blow coming from his right. That just led him into the blow coming from the left. There were so damn many of these things. They just kept coming out of the walls, or the corridors. They worked together, setting him up.

Adam was thankful for his armor. Without it he would be broken in so many places. There were already so many dents in the armor around his torso that his quick movements allowed him to feel the indentations against his muscles and bones.

Even the guards on his forearms, wrists, knuckles, and knees had been necessary and were flattened from the pounding he was giving and taking.

Petramus “Rock Mangler [4]” slain. 1,254 XP gained.

Tier 2s were now in the mix. They were bigger and had two extra arm limbs and legs. Adam knew there were smarter ways to fight them than to use them as fossilized punching bags, but he kept focusing on body blows. He didn’t want to win fast. He needed to burn out his emotions, to use them all up. Therapists probably wouldn’t approve of this method. The real problem would be how to fill them with something positive, to keep him going until his next chance at violence and conquering.

Adam kept punching, kept dodging, and kept getting hit before he finally felt himself slowing down. He was getting tired, and while he did want to exhaust everything he had, for safety he needed to get through this raid before he hit that point.

While smashing the rock monsters, Adam had figured out that there were tiny veins running through them with a hot molten substance. It might have been some kind of nervous system, or magic flow, or possibly blood. He hadn’t been able to taste it to see if it would allow him to regenerate since it solidified as soon as it touched the air.

A roar came out of him, [Incapacitating Shout] triggered even though he knew it wasn’t affective against them. He smashed one of the workers that were now involved in the fight before changing his tactics on the bigger ones.

Petramus “Pebble Worker [5]” slain. 243 XP gained.

Adam stopped punching their bodies and focused on their legs. It didn’t take a tactical genius to see the flaws in their designs. Taking out any two legs would drop them to the ground, and then their lack of balance would keep them there.

The legs were much easier to punch through than the torsos. A [Kinetic Impact] enhanced right cross would shatter the hit leg and turn the monsters enough for his left cross to break a second leg. Adam didn’t even have to finish them off as they flailed uselessly. He just moved on to the next one in the line.

By the time Adam was breathing heavily, he had dropped hundreds of the Petramus to the ground. It would still take a lot of energy to finish off those on the floor, even if it was much safer than continuing to dodge and punch. Assuming those here weren’t all of them, Adam pulled out from an armor covered pocket a few packets of gel that weightlifters ate for quick calories and energy. He popped the tabs on them one by one and quickly sucked down the gel.

After finished the second packet, the ground started to vibrate. By the fourth packet, the whole area was full on shaking. The Petramus laying on the floor began hitting the ground with their weird limbs, as if in response.

Adam knew this wasn’t just shaking. It was the equivalent of a shout. Someone was yelling through the vibrations on the ground. Adam’s real enemy was coming, and they were just as angry as he was.

“If you care that much then you shouldn’t have touched what’s mine!” Adam yelled, allowing the voice in his soul to speed up the river.

“Yes, this world is mine. First Earth, then I’ll be conquering your worlds too,” Adam screamed with venom, accepting his role to conquer, even if he wouldn’t accept every human. He also accepted how much of a villain the words made him seem.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

[Body and Soul Shaping] opened further, drawing in more of the power and strength available from the river while creating a barrier within to keep that power from burning himself up. At the same time the ground opened and a Petramus rose from it. It was 20 feet tall. Instead of four arms and legs it had 16 of each, looking like the evilest ring toss game of all time. It also had one of the worst approximations of a toothy maw, but instead of being for air to come out of, it just snapped open and shut making gong like vibrations.

This Petramus was clearly a tier above, probably Tier 3, and its tag read “Iron Bedrock Destroyer [23].” Adam eyed the way it moved, listened to the way it bellowed, and felt the heat caused by friction from its joints moving. There was no way Adam could think up a worse creature design than this.

The thing was a massive slab of metal. It was too slow to really be threatening, and the heat its joints gave off made Adam wonder how long it could really move for. On the flip side, the creature was probably almost indestructible in a normal fight. Adam wasn’t sure he could punch through it or that he had a weapon that could pierce its almost solid body. The hammer would break before the beast did, and his knives and swords, even those made from alien metals, would break against the pure solid mass.

Adam felt his danger sense kick in as the monster very slowly ambled towards him. It was so big that every step crushed other Petramus to death, causing kill notifications to pop up for Adam. He almost laughed at the mournful wail that came from the metal beast.

The Iron Bedrock Destroyer had risen out of the giant crack in the ground two whole minutes ago and Adam didn’t have to move during that time. It had only lumbered about half the distance to him and now it stopped, unsure how to get to him without causing more death to the other Petramus.

“Really? If this is it, then why did you even come to my world?” Adam questioned, receiving more gong vibrations from its mouth slamming open and closed.

Adam and the monster faced each other for a few more minutes, neither moving. An idea came to Adam on how to kill it. This would undoubtedly be his stupidest fight to date. Even fighting the smaller Petramus was more interesting.

Careful not to get in reach of the flailing limbs of the downed Petramus, Adam walked to the room’s wall. He pulled out an elven dagger then jumped eighteen feet into the air. The knife slid easily into the rock, creating a handhold for Adam. He planted his feet against the wall and pushed off towards the creature with as much force as he could while using [Kinetic Impact] on his hands.

The creature’s legs were in a weird configuration, many held raised in the air, as it was trying not to step on its kin. As Adam left the wall, he pulled out the knife and threw it a few feet outside of the hole in the ground. When it struck and sank into the rock floor more cracks were created that found their way to the large opening the monster had created. In response it tried to plant its feet, and that was when Adam hit it with a soul spike. The soul spike caused it to freeze, except for a pained vibration that came from its clapping maw.

Since the Tier 3 Petramus had triggered his danger sense, that meant it had both a soul and intent. Adam’s soul map confirmed it, even as weak as its soul was. With the beast’s legs still awkwardly placed, and the ground shifting, Adam became a rocket that punched the creature further off balance.

As its many limbs spun trying to find a better position to keep it from falling, Adam then struck the ground, causing the cracks from the knife to collapse into the large gap where the monster had risen from.

Then the giant mass fell backwards. It very slowly tipped, like a tree that wasn’t completely cut. Gravity and mass forced it downward, though it resisted. Adam waited for the result…after getting safely away from it.

The impact its top made as it tipped into the large hole in the ground caused rock and dust to spray out everywhere. This was further affected by its rotating limbs, both arms and legs. It reminded Adam of the cartoons where a jackhammer was bouncing all over without anyone controlling it.

After a minute of watching it, and wishing he had a video camera to record it with, Adam suddenly felt a lot better. He felt better after his decisions. Better about his role. And better about destroying his enemies. This trip had been just as cathartic as he had needed.

The next 15 minutes were spent with Adam creating a thin connection with the monster and casting his soul spike through it every 10 seconds. It was slow and tedious, but less painful than punching it repeatedly.

He spent the time smashing the still squirming Petramus. For that he used the war hammer. With [Kinetic Impact] on it there was more durability than without, and the hammer was still brutalized. He had to take higher grips on the handle since it would continue to bend. Still, it got the job done. The right tool for the job.

Petramus “Iron Bedrock Destroyer [23]” slain. 20,472 xp gained.

Adam let out a giant breath when all the Petramus were killed. He had walked through the corridors and tunnels, wanting to make sure he had been thorough. To not leave a single invader before his soul unclenched.

Finding the control crystal had seemed like an impossible task. The Petramus didn’t have pockets to search through, or inner spaces to keep anything in. Plus, after Adam’s thorough work, there were small rock shards everywhere that looked like the control crystal in the dim light. Adam figured he’d have to give up on this base and hope no one else occupied it either.

Fortunately, he stumbled across the control crystal when he found the crystal pillar. One of the small workers had it in a pronged hand, trying to get to the main pillar. A quick stomp of his metal boots and then he held the control crystal up to the pillar.

Owner of Dimensional Convergence Rift has died…

Inheritor of Dimensional Convergence Rift was not specified…

…no new Inheritor found. Ownership presented to possessor of Control Node.

Would you like to take Ownership of this Dimensional Convergence Rift?

[ Yes / No ]

Adam selected Yes.

Ownership of Dimensional Convergence Rift has been taken by a native. Invasion ended.

…All natives included in Dimensional Convergence Rift will receive the title “Invasion Conqueror”.

Invasion Conqueror

For defeating an enemy of your planet and preventing their rampage from continuing you will receive +2 to all stats. Claiming more Dimensional Convergence Rifts will increase this title.

Rewards released to all natives within this Dimensional Convergence Rift.

…error. Soul corruption found. Unable to assign benefits of title.

Adam let out a chuckle. He knew it was coming, expecting it, had even made peace with it to a degree, but still felt like punching the [System] in its damn face. Really his biggest regret was that none of his friends or people were here to get the benefit of it.

He had been trying so hard to empower those around him, knowing that he didn’t have as clear a path to power as them, yet he had needed a solo jaunt. That’s what this trip had been about. It still felt wasteful that he was just keeping these stats from the others. Two extra stats might not seem like a lot, but with the volume of rifts they conquered, it was adding up, and would continue to.

This dimensional layer has been merged with the planetary reality. For an energy penalty within the next planetary day, you may uncouple this dimensional layer from the planetary reality returning it to a Dimensional Convergence Rift.

Would you like to decouple dimensional layer?

[ Yes / No ]

Adam was going to hit “Yes,” but a sound and motion caused him to turn to the entrance of the small room. He got into a fighting stance with his hands raised and cast [Kinetic Impact].

Standing in the darkness of the doorway was a form he knew. She was his own height, tall for a girl. Even with her arms crossed and a sour look on her face, she looked glamorous, like a model.

Adam’s anger sprang back as he remembered the letter the mind controller had sent him when he captured the Terrenidon base. Tension filled him. Was this an illusion, shapeshifter, or mind control? Alissa’s form stepped further into the room, recognizable even in the near darkness.

“Oh sweetie, I heard you had a bad day at work,” Alissa’s voice said with nothing but sympathy.