The idea that Nenn had come up with was a long shot, and required a lot of things to go just right. But, that was the best kind of plan in Nenn’s mind. The enemy couldn’t defend against it if he couldn’t prepare for it. Besides, most good plans don’t even make it past first contact with the enemy, and Nenn was about 36 hours past that point to begin with.
The Obelisk area of the fortress was nearly empty. There were a few naga knights and priests roaming about, but otherwise it was quiet. Nenn crept up to the building with the balcony and fancy banners that faced the Obelisk. The rest of the building was rather plain, and looked like it had been assembled in a hurry. There was no doubt in Nenn’s mind that it was sturdy, it just lacked a cohesive sense of style. It looked like two separate buildings had been merged together to form one. The back half of the building with the balcony looked to have been built in a completely different style than the front.
Nenn wanted to check out the inside, but found no easy entrances to take. The only door leading into the building was guarded by two of the most heavily armored knights Nenn had seen thus far.
For sure the Helkis is inside of there, Nenn thought. There’s no way I can get into that building without making a lot of noise or spending mana. I’d hate to trip off whatever protections the Helkis has in place. The balcony looks like an option, but I am sure that I’ll set off a trap or a ward if I try to slip in that way. There is no way the Helkis could have been this successful without being smart enough to guard himself better.
Nenn retreated back towards the hole in the wall. With his scouting done it was time to go ahead with his plan. It was risky, but it was the power play to make in the situation. He took a deep breath and settled his resolve. He darted through the hole back into the middle area, made his way to the second wall, and leapt up onto it. Thankfully the wall was low enough that Nenn did not have to discharge [Ambush Predator] to make the jump. The longer he went undetected the better.
Nenn glanced around for the guard then ran towards the one with their back turned to him. The floor of the wall was not the most elegant construction that Nenn had ever seen, but it felt sturdy beneath his paws, but it was clear that there had been no cohesive direction in its building. It was more akin to a patchwork of different flooring that happened to be connected.
The guard did not have time to react. Nenn leapt, empowered [Ambush Predator]’s stat boost, and cleanly severed the naga’s head from its spine. The head flew off, landing somewhere not on the wall, while Nenn recovered the naga’s weapon. He willed one of his body’s ancient wooden roots to grab ahold of it through an application of [Entangling Roots]. Nenn kept feeding the root a small stream of mana to maintain control of the root. In turn, he could move it like a tentacle appendage. A tentacle that now wielded a shortsword.
Nenn continued a couple more meters past the guard and arrived at his destination. The canopy ties. Using the sword in his root arm, Nenn cut the line that held the sunshade sheet up. The rope snapped easily, as it recoiled like a spring. The first couple of the Helkis’ zombie minions were exposed to the direct sunlight, and their gray skin began to audibly sizzle. Steam began to pour out of the corpse as it was clear this was not a healthy process for the undead minion to experience.
Satisfied with his proof of concept Nenn sped over to the other canopy tie, and released it of its duty. The sheet sprang away, revealing most of the remaining undead to the sun’s harmful infusion of light mana. The sheet had wrapped itself around the last two columns of minions, but it threatened to take flight in the wind.
There were shouts coming from the ground of the middle area. Priests looked on in horror as the corpses they so lovingly had tended to where simmering away in the morning sun. Their hesitation lasted a mere moment before they came sprinting towards the fallen awning. Sprinting being the operative for slithering at a frantic all-out pace, of course.
It was like watching moths drawn to a flame. Nenn leapt down off of the wall, and cut straight through the closest priest with his [Nature’s Weapons] enhanced claws. The priest, and all their fine vestments offered no resistance to Nenn as he barely lost any momentum. He carried on, pushing off the ground and into the next priest, who managed to get their hands up in time for Nenn to completely ignore them as his jaw snapped down around its hands and throat alike, leaving Nenn with the sweet taste of iron-rich blood in his mouth.
The siphon enrapturing effect was building now that there were three feeds of resources flowing into Nenn’s body. The urge to kill without restraint was getting harder to hold back, especially while trying to kill a small amount of restraint. The third priest to come forward was the one who had performed the humanoid corpse forming ritual a couple of minutes ago. A [Fire Bolt] sprang out from the tip of his staff and zipped towards Nenn.
Nenn shifted to his side and dodged the bolt. The priest had launched a quick follow-up bolt that hid behind the first one. The bolt managed to hit his rear, causing the dry eldritch wood to ignite. The pain was intense for a moment, but as soon as the [Fire Bolt]’s mana was exhausted, the pain dulled, replaced by the euphoric feeling of the siphon.
Nenn sprang forward, catching the stumbling priest with his claws, and cut through its sides. The naga had offered significantly more resistance than its comrades had, but it was unfortunately stuck in the so-called mana withdrawal state. It would be unable to defend itself until it returned to a positive mana balance. Nenn tore at his target with his claws, lacerating all of the priest's scaled flesh from its bones, until it laid still and the siphon strengthened.
Nenn wasted no time and continued on. He noticed, in the seconds between slaying the corpse-forming priest, and engaging the group of naga grouped around the corpse surgeon that his rear end was still on fire. The pain was severely dulled by the siphon, but in turn the siphon’s euphoric effects were muted.
Leaping towards the group of naga, Nenn engaged [Osteomancer’s Control] lengthening and flattening his claws to an impractical degree. He twisted in mid air, turning himself into a sideways blender of sharpened claw blades that tore through the gathered naga priests, and porters.
Nenn reversed [Osteomancer’s Control] and retracted his claws. The claws were reforming too slowly to make the landing without causing damage, so Nenn took the brunt of the landing on his shoulder blade, sliding to a stop before reorienting himself on his paws properly. The extra bit of time had been enough for the claws to take their proper shape once more. That was a bit too extra, Nenn thought.
The siphon effect of the newly dead naga kicked in, replacing the dwindling supply from the first naga wall guard Nenn had slain, and quadrupled it. Nenn leapt forward to engage the last standing Naga, the corpse surgeon.
The naga stood there completely calm, as it readied its small sewing needle.The needle dulled under the morning sun. With a quick motion, the needle was thrown, and pierced through Nenn’s shoulder. The blow packed enough punch to throw Nenn off course, and caused him to miss the corpse surgeon who casually stepped out of the way. Nenn’s wound sizzled under the burning sunlight.
Nenn turned to leap back at the surgeon, but felt another needle puncture through his paw, pinning it to the ground. The hole in his shoulder felt resistance as it tried to move, as if there was a rope holding it down.
The corpse surgeon readied another one of his needle darts, and just as he released the dart, a black translucent shell formed in front of Nenn. The needle had smashed straight into the shield, intensifying the black color, before being repelled. [Mana Shield ]had been casted by Nenn’s instinct of not wanting to get headshotted by the dark-mana-infused needle. It truly was an ability that Nenn needed to make better use of.
The corpse surgeon was taken aback. That was all that Nenn needed. A heavy infusion of [Entangling Roots] caused the dying tree roots, that had belonged to the trees that once stood tall in the area the fortress now occupied, to break out of the ground and wrap around the corpse surgeon’s limb, shattering the surgeon’s own [Mana Shield] instantly.
With a mental command, Nenn willed the roots to violently retreat, resulting in the corpse surgeon’s body holding firm for a moment, as it managed to resist the pull of the retreating roots. The naga held out for a moment only for their body to fail them in the end. Limb by limb the naga of a grotesque profession was quartered and reduced to what it would have previously referred to as spare parts.
The bindings that held Nenn in place lessened, and then faded as the corpse surgeon could no longer supply the spell with mana. That resource was now busy refueling Nenn’s reserves, and continually replacing the charring wood on Nenn’s rump, which was still ablaze.
So far so good, Nenn thought. Now I just need to continue with the plan and-
Thump
The power of the siphon exploded in intensity. Nenn looked around for the source. Then it dawned on him. The zombie minions that were frying in the sun were dying off, and each one was adding a large amount of resources to Nenn’s siphon.
Thump.
Thump.
Each new stream hit Nenn like a brick, the power and feeling was overwhelming. Nenn didn’t even notice the trident that plinked off of his darkened mana shield from the guard above.
Thump.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
The mana was so similar to Nenn’s own that the euphoric sensation the siphon produced was significantly more intense than normal. Nenn had felt it before from the zombie minions, but the quantities had been limited, barely a blip compared to a normal monster. The sensation was unreal. This was on a whole other level.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Nenn couldn’t do anything but hold on as the siphon’s power coursed through him. The ground before him split open and the ancient eldritch tree’s eye blinked open in front of Nenn.
YOU KNOW WHAT MUST BE DONE. LET THE POWER OF YOUR ENEMIES FUEL YOUR RAMPAGE. BREAK THEIR BONES AND DRINK OF THEIR BLOOD, FOR THIS IS YOUR POWER. RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE, YOUNG ACOLYTE.
The eye blinked closed and retreated back into the earth, but Nenn felt the words reverberate through his being.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The raw primal sensation built at an explosive rate in his chest. He arched his back and released the loudest guttural howl Nenn could have ever imagined hearing, bleeding a small portion of the siphon’s power off in that moment. The soundwave pushed over everything in its path as it reverberated through the fortress.
The naga knight that had thrown the trident at Nenn a moment earlier was knocked off of its tail and fell backwards into the outer area. The closest fabric canopy, that covered part of the Helkis’ zombie army, strained then ripped, causing the next group of undead minions to begin to sizzle and steam under the morning sun.
The gate from the outermost area to the second area swung open and a cohort of knights and priests scrambled forward towards the source of the howl.
Thump. Thump.
The deathstalker released its hold over the sword, returning its root arm to its body, then sprinted head on towards the knights. Their powerful mana shields flared to life as the deathstalker’s body rearranged itself using [Entangling Roots]. Its eldritch roots spread and sharpened into spears, puncturing the shields in a single clean strike. The sounds of shattering glass filled the fortress. The roots continued through, lancing the naga knights through their armor, nailing them to the ground.
The root spears retracted and reformed as the empowered deathstalker barreled towards the small gateway. Spears, tridents, and anything sharp the naga had on hand were being thrusted at its side, but they failed to find any purchase against the deathstalker’s hardened exterior.
The naga closest to the gate retreated, pushing against the oncoming tide of naga sealing the gate behind them. The deathstalker did not mind, as it continued the consumption of the naga who had willingly offered themselves up as sacrifices to the druid. Their flesh could not resist the deathstalker’s forbidden touch as its claws tore through the experienced knights like a hot knife cut through butter. All of their heavy armor, chainmail, hardened leathers, and layers of cloth padding did nothing but dress their bare bones where they fell.
The few naga priests that had come through the gate with the frontline charge of knights were busy trying to throw their spells at the deathstalker. Bolts of mana of every flavor flew through the air, extinguishing themselves against the ground. Parts of the wall caught fire and were blasted apart by the barrage. Even some of the fallen knights were struck, hastening the deterioration of the corpses. The one thing they couldn’t hit was the burning deathstalker that danced between their attacks.
The priests soon found themselves choking and gagging on the putride bubbling black liquid of their innards, as their bodies were overpowered by the nearly limitless infused casts of [Rot] from the deathstalker. The resources returned by the siphon more than made up for the extra infusion required to fuel the spell to overcome the naga priest’s defenses.
***
Nenn was conscious of every move his body made while it writhed under the influence of the siphon. He felt as though he was sitting in a room on a wooden stool, tastefully made of ancient eldritch wood, while he watched something akin to a flatscreen tv show what Nenn’s body was seeing. It was maddening sitting there and not participating in the rampage.
OH GOOD. YOU’VE MADE IT HERE.
The ancient eldritch’s voice boomed inside of the tiny room as a small sapling emerged from the floor of the room. The small tree grew until it was nearly the height of Nenn when he stood upright in his base form, which he was surprised to find himself in currently. It had been less than two days since Nenn had awoken in his deathstalker form, but it felt like it had been so much longer. A small eldritch eye opened up on the thin tree trunk.
“Where is here, exactly?” Nenn asked.
THIS IS THE INSIDE OF YOUR SOUL. THIS IS YOUR LAST VESTIGE OF BEING. ALL THAT YOU ARE, YOUR MEMORIES, YOUR EXPERIENCES, YOUR SKILLS, ALL OF THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU, YOU, RESIDE HERE.
“I thought that was the brain’s job,” Nenn said.
MAYBE THAT'S HOW YOU THOUGHT IT WORK BEFORE BEING INTEGRATED, BUT I CAN TELL YOU THAT IN REALITY, YOU ARE YOUR SOUL. BACK TO THE MATTER AT HAND. YOU’VE GROWN STRONG ENOUGH TO HANDLE THIS LEVEL OF SEPARATION.
“Separation?”
OF BODY, MIND, AND SOUL. YOUR BODY IS CURRENTLY RAMPAGING AROUND AS A DEATHSTALKER, AS YOU CAN SEE. NORMALLY YOUR MIND IS ATTACHED TO YOUR BODY, WHICH LETS YOU CONTROL YOURSELF IN THE PHYSICAL PLANE. BUT RIGHT NOW YOUR MIND HAS BEEN DISASSOCIATED FROM YOUR BODY AND HAS RETREATED INTO YOUR SOUL. YOU HAVE GROWN STRONG ENOUGH TO BE CONSCIOUS THROUGH THE TRANSITION.
“O-okay, it’s good to know I’m getting stronger,” Nenn said. He paused for a moment as he processed this. “So, does this mean that before I became aware I was in my [Shapeshift - Deathstalker] form I was unconscious, while my body was rampaging about?”
YES. NOW FOR THE HARD PART. YOU CAN AFFECT YOUR BODY, EVEN FROM HERE, AS YOUR SOUL IS STILL ATTACHED TO ITS FLESH. YOU JUST HAVE TO WRESTLE YOUR BODY FOR CONTROL.
“And how do I do that?” Nenn asked.
I DO NOT KNOW HOW YOU, AS A HUMAN, IN PARTICULAR CAN DO THAT. ELDRITCH DEAL IN ABSOLUTES. IF I WERE IN YOUR PLACE I COULD COMMAND MYSELF THE SAME AS I WOULD IN THE PHYSICAL PLANE. I TRUST THAT YOU WILL FIND A WAY.
The tiny eye vertically blinked and closed itself, leaving the small inanimate eldritch wood sapling in the room of Nenn’s soul. Nenn returned his focus to the screen in front of him, as he watched his deathstalker body tear into the flesh of a second wave of naga knights and conscripted soldiers that had been sent through the gate.
Nenn closed his eyes and entered into [Nature’s Regrowth] and felt around him. That’s a good sign that I can still use my abilities here, Nenn thought.
There wasn’t much to feel. There was himself, the projection of his mind in the center of the room. The intense spike of death mana emanating from the eldritch sapling. The square room Nenn found himself in, and around that a sphere of indescribable mana. It was something Nenn had not yet experienced, but yet it still felt familiar. Familiar and immutable.
Nenn probed the sphere of soul energy. It felt wrong to call it mana, as it was something more substantial. There was nothing to grab onto. It had no give, and it had no take to it. Nenn tried reaching out to it using [Nature’s Absorption] but found that it blocked his attempts to approach it, no matter how hard he forced against it.
[Entangling Roots] did nothing. There were no roots to utilize within the room. The roots of the eldritch sampling evidently did not qualify as usable.
Nenn was out of idea’s so he sat there and watched the visual feed from his body, and the rampage it was going through. The naga had organized themselves now. The naga priests had arranged themselves on the wall and out of range of the deathstalkers casts. They were busy peppering the druid with all of the spells they could.
The deathstalker dodged to the best of its ability, but the number of attacks were numerous enough that it was impossible to dodge all of them. The dreathstalker’s body was covered in a wreath of flames now. Flames that constantly feed upon the dry regenerating eldritch wood of its body. As long as the siphons continued to feed the deathstalker, everything would be fine.
But at the moment, things were not fine. The naga had cornered the deathstalker between the barrage and the gate, and it was not smart enough to figure out how to escape using its base instincts.
Nenn, in his infinite wisdom, finally took the ancient eldritch tree's words to heart. ELDRITCH DEAL IN ABSOLUTES. The words echoes in his mind with the same intensity as when the tree spoke to them the first time.
He sat on the stool and willed his body to follow his order. It was the same feeling as when he willed his spells and abilities to do things that were outside of their description. He just had to push harder than ever before.
The deathstalker hesitated in its response, but after getting smote by another [Fire Bolt], it began to respond. It took off like a bat out of hell, and ran sideways around the second inner area. Every canopy it found, it slashed and jumped through, setting the dry fabric on fire as it touched the deathstalker’s burning body.
The naga priests tried to keep up with the sprinting deathstalker, but it was soon out of reach as it rounded the circular area. Nenn continued to instruct his body to follow the strategy of igniting anything that would burn, spreading the deathstalker’s embers and ashes in its wake.
The Helkis’ zombie minions began to surge out of the shaded area and attack the deathstalker as it got close. The sharpened limbs of the zombies punctured the deathstalkers wooden hide, but were instantly sheared against the predator's momentum, leaving a crowd of shattered armed zombies trailing behind as they roasted in the sunlight with their shaded refuge burning above their heads. Under Nenn’s focused instruction the deathstalker had destroyed four more of the zombie enclaves, leaving only a handful standing.
The morning light began to dim. Through the deathstalker’s eyes, Nenn saw a massive cloud begin to form in front of the sun. There hadn’t been a single cloud in the sky all morning. It puzzled Nenn where the cloud could have come from.
I guess I will just have to do this the old fashioned way, Nenn thought, as he directed the deathstalker to turn around, and engage the camp of zombies it had just passed through. The deathstalker rounded the bend and there were the two dozen humanoid zombie minions stumbling toward it. The undead were no longer wasting away under the sun's harmful rays.
Seems that my hunch was correct. The cloud blocks enough of the sun’s light to stop the infusion of light mana, Nenn thought. The naga must be creating that cloud somehow. Nenn released his control of the deathstalker, allowing it to do what it did best. Kill.
The deathstalker’s first instinct was to lance the area. It infused a great deal of its mana reserves into an [Entangling Roots] cast and proceeded to do just that. It was a glorious sight to Nenn’s eyes as he watched a veritable video game-esque spike trap of roots rupture from the ground and skewer half of the zombies present. The other half were stuck in place as their [Mana Shields] flared into existence. The shields were attacked at multiple points by the root lances, wedging them in place.
The deathstalker lunged forwards with its claws extended, and landed on the first shield. It turned and twisted and pushed off, digging its claws in with all of the force it could muster, before bouncing to the next one in the blink of an eye. Each leap was serenaded by the sound of shattering glass, as each shield shattered underneath the deathstalker’s force. The zombies did not get the opportunity to attack as they were instantly impaled by the roots beneath them.
It was an incredible expenditure of mana to pull off, but with the siphon blasting resources into the deathstalker’s body it was a trifling matter. The corpses began to dissolve into nothing but shattered pieces of polished bone as the deathstalker continued to back track at Nenn’s behest. The body took little convincing this time. It could smell the decaying flesh of the Helkis’ suntouched undead minions and it wanted to feast upon their tasty mana.