“You never know the true measure of anyone until you’ve fought with words, blades, or magic. Even yourself.”
-Leysara of a Thousand Floors
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Thousands of emotions boiled just under the surface of Thomas’ mind as he engaged the alpha crab. Only one feeling truly rose to the forefront and if anyone was watching it would’ve been easy enough to spot simply by looking at his face and seeing the massive smile on it. He felt powerful for the first time in this wretched place, attacked by crabs, ripped up by cats, this was his revenge for all the fear and pain inflicted upon him in this place and outside of it. Everything poured out of his emotions and into the battle.
Four tentacles of power made visible in the wave of mud that followed the massive claw being slammed into the ground were battering the alpha crab relentlessly. Its movement through the mud was like some kind of dancer and yet Thomas kept himself close enough to strike at it even as it tried to get some distance. Like some relentless warrior his tentacles crushed the smaller crabs on the alphas back even as it attempted to snap at him with massive claws once more only to get batted down.
Within five minutes it appeared that the fight would eventually end in Thomas’ favor or at least a draw. The alpha couldn’t hit him and he could certainly hit it, even if Thomas wasn’t completely sure he could penetrate its carapace. That was when he learned why it was called an alpha monster. Mud turned dry and cracked within seconds as the moisture in the air found itself drawn to the massive claws and coated them in a swirling vortex of raging water, even his water armor was noticeably diminished and thinner than normal.
Watery claws lashed out at Thomas’ more vulnerable body as he tried to use a tentacle to deflect the strike away but the raging water rebuffed his power. For the first time his skill failed him and as the claw snapped closed around him the reduced water armor flared white as it resisted the incredible strength of the alpha crab. That was when the shaking started. The alpha was obviously frustrated that he wasn’t cut in half already and began to shake him up and down like a human sized bottle of soda about to be given to a clueless friend. His head smashed against the water helmet and it felt like steel.
Suddenly his armor became clear again as the sensation of wind whistling through his ears revealed what happened because his armor held against the furious assault. Thomas was flying through the air like a watery rocket reaching for the stars; however he felt no fear in that moment, only excitement coursed through his veins. His water armor was powerful enough to stop the alphas powerful attack, and through battle his skill with telekinesis was growing in leaps and bounds through battle.
Octopi are known to have eight tentacles, so why did Thomas only have four? As if responding to his mental question, the four tentacles that surrounded him were doubled to eight that stretched out to try and find something to slow his fall. He was still cresting the apex of the throw and was fairly close to the main tree that housed the safe room, the crab had only been able to throw him almost completely straight up.
Soon gravity would once again pull him down to the mud where his entire body would be shattered on impact. But his power was able to lift him up into the air to reach the platform, and it might be able to do so here. With a thought his power responded to his will and created an invisible landing area right as he began to fall towards the ground. Water armor flared white as he struck the solid space and his fall was stopped just as it began.
Fear was an emotion that Thomas was used to feeling these days between running away from monsters and getting ambushed by them; it was a feeling that had been ever present in his time within the dungeon. That wasn’t what he was feeling now in the slightest, frustration perhaps but mostly what was building at the front of his mind was an unrestrained feeling of freedom. All the work he had done for years to get into a good acting school, working just to afford rent and some cereal the next week, all that anxiety and frustration was gone in this new and wild place. The only reminder of the life he had once lived was the clothing on his back and even that was thinning and felt as if it was one day away from falling off.
As he stood up and balanced on the platform and looked down at the massive crab that had thrown him all the way up here he tried to strike at it with his tentacles from on high. All eight invisible tendrils of mental energy lashed out with such strength and ferocity that he was sure they would batter the alpha crab into the ground. He felt them reaching out, hurtling through the air with murderous intent until they got roughly halfway to their target where they began to slowly unravel as if stretched too far to retain their power.
Of all times to find out there was some form of range limitation it had to be now, but at least he was out of the land bound crabs range he could just stay above it and hammer it from the air. The extra maneuverability from being able to fly was such a big advantage over the alpha crab it was almost unfair if only he had more range the fight would’ve ended much sooner.
As it stood he was unable to strike it without getting closer and yet it wouldn’t be able to strike at him from his maximum range in the air. It would be a battle of attrition to be won by wearing down the alphas' defenses before it had the chance to flee into the mud or get too far away from the main tree. Slowly the platform lowered under the alpha crab until he was just within range of his attacks, and the crab didn’t move from its spot as if it was waiting to hear him hit the ground after the throw. Thomas readied his eight tentacles and lashed out once more at the massive crab hoping that he would be able to end the fight.
Just as before at the maximum range of his skill the power began to fade away from the invisible tendrils that would have smashed into the crab hard enough to knock it off balance at the very least. However with the waning strength of the attacks it was just enough to crush the remaining smaller crabs on its carapace and alert the alpha to his continued survival. It moved slowly at first, eyestalks straining to look up at him as it pushed through the dry mud around it and snapped its massive water claw ineffectually.
On land or even in water Thomas would’ve lost the fight nine times out of ten but because of his ability to stand on air with telekinesis the crab had lost its every advantage. With time and effort Thomas would crack its carapace wide open and might finally be able to eat something in the dungeon. Even as he flew closer to the alpha in order to find a way into its shell his mouth began to water even at the thought of raw food.
In that moment Thomas’ focus was on food, not the fight at hand that had turned in his favor because his power allowed him to fly if not quite slow and steady, more like a form of levitation than actual flight. As he descended he knew that the crab wasn’t just going to lay down and die but he hoped that it wouldn’t be able to strike at him given the distance.
Something brushed up against his mind in that moment of thought, there was no experience that Thomas could compare it to. The feeling of completely alien thoughts pushing against his own immediately made him throw up inside his armor, the green bile mixing with the watery plate immediately as he began to fight on a second battlefield. The chittering thoughts of what he now knew was the giant crab below him encircled his own and began to push against what he now understood were wavy and indistinct borders of thought.
With his focus turned inward, the invisible platform held aloft by willpower alone began to flicker and drop faster as sharp claws of raw intent sliced through his own. As the claws sliced through his thoughts it was as if he lost track of them instantly losing track of what he had been thinking about. The surprise attack completely changed the course of the battle as Thomas’ platform began to descend towards the crab as the mental ambush reached a crescendo.
All he had to do was fight back against the claws that threatened to tear his mind asunder and then murder the alpha crab. With his mind touching the attackers he could tell certain things about it like its thought processes were simple and to the point but shockingly cunning. The main problem was that he had no idea how to fight back against the claws that cut at his mind, all he could think of doing was turtling up and compressing his thoughts to minimize the damage. Lessening the damage wouldn’t win though all it would do is delay his death and he was sure that if the mental claws did enough damage to his thoughts that he would die.
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Locked in a desperate struggle internally Thomas failed to see that he was drifting closer to the crab that stood stock still as if waiting for its prey to be delivered right into its mouth. Yet in the invisible battlefield he was finding ways to fight back. Thomas might not be able to fight back himself, but he had countless stories of powerful warriors that could fight far better than he could that rested in his mind as if waiting for this very moment. Warriors crafted from different stories came to life in his mind, life breathed into them by a lifetime of reading and studying film on thousands of characters as a few stepped forward from myth. Achilles, Superman, and Thor entered the battlefield with weapons drawn and eyes glowing, ready to defend Thomas’ mind at any cost.
A spear pierced the crabs' mental defense like a hot knife through butter as lightning and laser vision soon followed. A tortured screech echoed in the air and drew Thomas’ attention back to the real world now that the mental threat was being handled. He was twenty feet away from the skittering crab that reached up with a water coated claw that sliced through the air fast enough to make him feel the wind on his cheeks even though the small holes in the watery helmet that protected him.
Once more the crab let out a strangled cry as he flew higher and completely out of the alphas reach even as he felt its mind retreating from the three heroes that he had created to drive it out. WIth a triumphant shout of his own, Thomas reached out and created two hands over the alpha's eyes and began to squeeze down with all his strength. The massive eyestalks crumpled as the crab began to attempt to flee now that its prey had begun to fight back and it had clearly lost the ability to see as it turned and ran into one of the massive roots at full speed.
The invisible hands kept a hold of the eyestalks and with a spray of blood the mud was turned blue all around the alpha as thick lifeblood leaked from its carapace. Even if it escaped from him it would likely bleed out quickly, not that he was going to let that happen. The spear that Achilles had wielded in Thomas’ mind to defend him formed once more above the panicked crab as it attempted to flee with the remaining strength in its body. Its edge was razor sharp, enough to slice through armor far stronger than the chitin that protected his enemy.
At the speed of thought the spear created in his mind descended like righteous judgment delivered from the heavens above. The once menacing alpha crab must have felt its impending death and threw everything it could at his mind as if to bring him down with it. Claws sliced into his mind to stop its death just as the blade of the spear fell upon it and split open the carapace and gouged a massive wound in its brain and other major organs. Thomas felt it die in his mind before he recognized that its body had gone limp, the whispers of thought fading at the edges of his perception even as the wounds that it left on his psyche began to slowly knit back together.
Just as suddenly as it began, the battle was over and the mental and physical wounds of the fight clung to Thomas’ body like a death shroud that just couldn’t pull him into the underworld no matter how hard it tried. As he descended from the sky and stepped off the platform that had saved his life he felt relief and the raw joy of winning a tough fight. Greed also shone in his eyes even though his mind felt as if it was on the edge of a migraine. After all the book said that for defeating an alpha that loot would be given by the dungeon itself, and that was what kept him around even if predators might have been alerted to the fight and closing in for some scraps of food.
As his feet touched down on the carapace of the alpha he saw the blue mud right in front of its mandibles shift as something emerged from the brown muck. Attempting to reach out with telekinesis to move whatever it was only managed to push off the mud and reveal a wooden chest with silver metal plating on the edges and no lock to keep it closed. Using his power also pushed daggers of pain into his mind as if he was just on the edge of a migraine. So not only did he find out the range of his power but also the limit of how much power he could use or maybe it was the still healing gashes in his mind that limited what he could do with his skill. If he couldn’t move it with his power then he’d have to get down and try to open it with his bare hands, or at least hands covered in watery armor just to be safe. There was nothing in the book saying the loot couldn’t be trapped or cursed after all.
Sitting down on the carapace with his water armor turning hard where it touched the chitin and simply pushing off and sliding down the sloped armor and into the blood and muck that splashed as he landed a few feet away from the chest. Inspecting it revealed no guess as to what was hidden inside but Thomas did notice that the wood was completely uniform in grain direction as if it was ripped from a tree like a crystal was ripped from the earth. He reached out with a water covered hand and pushed the lid up, it swung easily without any creaking from hinges to reveal what was inside.
Untouched by water, mud or the blue blood of the alpha crab, the inside of the chest itself was dry and pristine besides the two items that sat in it. A tiny spear and a ring glistened against the wooden bottom of the chest. The ring was fairly plain, there was no inscription on it and no gem, just a simple silver band that looked like it would fit on his ring finger perfectly. The spear on the other hand was made of a metal that seemed to be lit from within that shone brightly despite being inside of a chest, its tip was leaf bladed and had a cross at the base of the blade while at the base of the shaft was adorned with a red gem that shone like the sun even if it was as small as his pinky fingernail. Thomas wasn’t exactly disappointed with the rewards but something unexpected happened as words began to appear in front of his eyes unbidden by his thoughts.
Points Gained!
10 Points awarded for defeating Crablord Alpha
Not only had he gotten whatever loot was in the chest but extra points as well? That was a surprise to be sure but a welcome one nonetheless which helped offset the disappointment of getting a tiny spear. With that he decided that whatever was in the chest it probably wasn’t cursed and reached in to grab the ring and spear and pull them out. He had to get moving in order to escape the other predators that he was sure were coming.
Immediately as the spear left the chest it began to grow in his grasp, the leaf shaped blade pushed out of his fist and he nearly dropped it. The shining metal and bright red gem grew in size until the spear was as long as he was tall and fit perfectly balanced in his hand while the ring was pushed against his armor by the pressure of keeping the spear in his grasp.
While the once tiny spear growing to nearly six feet in length in seconds was interesting, his stomach grumbled at the thought of possible food being left behind in order to flee from predators. Looking at the massive crab that had been split nearly in half made his mouth water, seeing the massive claws that had to contain good meat. It was as good a time as any to test the spears capabilities while it would be harder to test the rings abilities besides just putting it on and he wasn't willing to drop his water armor out in the open.
Dropping the ring into his other hand Thomas reached back and lunged forward clumsily with the spear in one hand, still its blade punched through the chinin easily and was stopped by the cross at the base of the blade. Another two one handed thrusts opened up a small square of the chitin that he peeled off with a watery hand and revealed the soft slightly blue meat beneath it. He didn’t have the time to prepare it well or even try so with a hand just below the cross of the spear he sliced into the meat and ripped a large chunk free from the claw. With that done he placed the hunk of meat on the blade of the spear and slung it across his back plate of water armor to make his journey back to the safe room easier.
Now he had to move quickly and escape the carnage of the battle before any of the real predators of this place could arrive. Moving quickly and abandoning stealth Thomas began to jog into the root system that held the massive tree aloft. As soon as he had gone past a few of the massive roots he heard a bird call as a gust of wind blew at his back. That only forced him to run harder but a single glance cast behind him revealed the source of the wind and left him terrified for what was up in the canopy that he would likely have to ascend in order to escape.
The bird must've been at least sixty feet tall with a wingspan to match, its talons were the size of the crabs legs and looked twice as sharp. He tried to burn the image into his mind but he had only seen it for a moment as the root system required his attention to navigate quickly. Reaching the white branches quickly as he once more tried to use his telekinesis to rise to the top. A pounding headache wreaked havoc on his mind but slowly an invisible platform rose from the mud and lifted Thomas and his loot to the top.
As usual the safe room was well lit and relaxed even as Thomas dropped water armor as soon as he stepped inside and soaked the floor again regardless of the risk and grabbed the ring to stop it from falling onto the floor. He had the foresight to move the books off the floor as he organized them and the water only served as his drinking water that he would have to summon again soon now that he had food. The spear in his hand nearly shook with hunger as he brought the raw crab meat down to his mouth for a bite. It tasted like salt and fish but it was the only thing he had eaten in days so he ripped it to shreds in a few moments of unrestrained hunger and licked what was left off the blade of the spear very carefully.
Raw crab meat might as well have been the ambrosia of the gods and instantly he wished that he had carried more with him. Guided by his hungry stomach he made a promise to himself that tomorrow he would go get one of the cats and make a fire to cook it out on the platform. Now that sounded less appetizing than the crab but his rumbling stomach couldn’t care less. The chair creaked under his weight as he sat down and placed the ring on the table to inspect it further.
A normal band of silver was all that he could see but like the spear he was sure that there was something special that the ring did or could do once he wore it but that was a risk. The spear wasn’t cursed to his knowledge but clearly did something special based on how it shone with an inner light so bright that on the way back to the safe room it had lit his path as it got darker the deeper he went into the root system. In the end Thomas decided that if the spear wasn’t actively harmful then the ring couldn’t be that bad and put it on. The ring fit perfectly as if it was crafted specifically for him in every possible way, as if it was meant to sit on his finger. Still nothing noticeable happened and he relaxed slightly only to look at the ring and shake his head.
“Nothing? I was hoping for something more tangible than a useless ring.”
Thomas lamented that only half of the loot had any obvious value but the spear and the ring weren't the only thing that he had received from the chest, and with a smile pulled up his path’s sheet. It was time to pick out options that would benefit him the most and perhaps his last chance to influence his gifted path.
Points: 75
Perks: Silvertongue, Lesser Regeneration
Skills: Telekinesis (75), Water Armor
Available Paths: Laser Vision (0/100), Iron Skin (0/50), Steel Skin (0/100), Enhanced Strength (0/X), Mana Battery (0/35), Dragons Breath (0/X), Telepathy (0/50), Polyglot (0/10), Regeneration II (0/50), Invisibility (0/30), Earth Manipulation (0/100), Impeccable Aim (0/5), Sword Mastery I (0/45), Alert (0/5), Shield Mastery I (0/45), Food Infusion (0/30), Mana Manipulation (0/50), Abyssal Mindpalace (0/125), Water Manipulation (0/25), Alchemy Mastery I (0/55), Berserkers Rampage (0/15), Wraithform I (0/15), Dangersense (0/5), Spear Mastery I (0/45)...
His eyes filled with greed once more as the additional points were worth only getting a useless ring as a third of the treasure. He could purchase so many more paths with a flat seventy five points and especially those that might push his gifted classes in a certain direction. The more he looked the more sure he was that the next time he stepped out of the safe room he would have chosen his gifted path and stepped into a new echelon of strength to drain the dungeon of value and escape back to the real world.