An excerpt from the journal of Andos the Bright, famous explorer

I’ve spent the last five days in the ‘Theocracy of the One’, a group of 8th Wave planets that have deified their Arch-Primus into some sort of benevolent god figure. While religious societies are not uncommon, what is unique about this particular civilization is that they are worshiping an individual, not Genesis. I’ve been unable to get any information regarding his or her identity as they only refer to him/her as ‘The One’. I find myself curious as to the nature of ‘The One’. Did they gain control through Charisma and its related Skills? Strength of arms in battle? Intelligence and skill in Mana? The citizens do not speak of the ascension nor do they speak of The One’s pre-ascension history. All of this only serves to make me more curious. Once again I must discover the hidden.

I begin running to the side, circling around the tree in an attempt to prevent being hit by acid attacks. A quick hiss emanates from her and she begins to spiral down the tree once more, approaching the ground. Will I be at an advantage once she loses the high ground or will her enormous body allow her to quickly overwhelm me?

Deciding that I don’t want to take the risk, I raise my hand and fire off a Mana Bullet, watching as it rips past her scales and into her body, the blast loosening her grip on the tree. She hisses in pain but continues, the single bullet not doing enough damage to deter her. Her long body continues to snake down the tree, having reached the halfway point by now, and gives the tree a striped appearance. A demonic candy cane is the image that comes to mind.

I continue circling around and fire a few more Bullets, spreading them across her body to cause maximum damage to her muscles, thus slowing her down. Each one elicits a pained hiss but they don’t accomplish their main goal, her pace remaining consistent.

Gritting my teeth in frustration, I don’t notice the ball of acid that flies towards my path. It is only when the ball passes through my Field that I notice it, eyes widening as I realize the danger. Unable to slow myself down, I cast Stone Armor on my hand and hope that my idea works. Just as I’m about to come into contact with the acid, I activate Mana Infusion, lean backwards, and smack the ball with my armored hand, the contact creating a crackling sound that fills the air.The acid begins to break down the stone, smoke rising up off of it, but the ball ricochets off my palm and crashes into the ground a few feet in front of me.

With a sigh of relief I dissipate the armor, careful to not get any of the acid on myself, and turn to find that Shssiss is only one or two spirals away from reaching the ground. A cold sweat breaks out on my back as I’m confronted by her sheer size, easily ten times that of her children. Her reptilian eyes track my every movement and her hisses fill me with dread.

I let the fear flow through me and consider my options using the time dilation of Effortless Presence. A head to head confrontation is the last thing that I want, her size and flexibility all but guaranteeing her victory. I need to keep her at a distance, preferably stuck in the tree so that I can pepper her with Bullets.

A solution pops into my mind and I raise my hand towards her while simultaneously keeping an eye out for any more acid attacks. Reaching into my Well, I pull forth a large chunk and cast Freezing Beam, directing it at one of the coils a bit further up the tree. The Beam launches outwards and makes contact almost instantly, crashing onto her scales. Ice launches outwards from the contact point and towards the tree, spreading outwards until it has wrapped around her body and fused to the tree. The cracking noise of the ice settling now accompanies the pained hisses.

I cut the beam off before it drains too much of my Well and watch as Shssiss realizes that she is trapped against the tree. Her muscles condense as she tries to break free, constricting and twisting in an attempt to shatter the ice, but she is unable to get out. Taking advantage of her momentary distraction, I conjure a Mana Bullet and fire it, hitting directly beneath her eye. She lets out a long and deep hiss, coiling her head back and weaving it back and forth so as to not get hit again. Despite hitting her in a somewhat vital spot, she seems to barely react to my Bullets, soaking them up without issue. Either she is adept at hiding her pain or her Physique is absurdly high.

I strategically analyze the situation and grimace, realizing that we’ve entered a stalemate. Both of us have projectile attacks and, now that she’s at least temporarily trapped on the tree, both of us are unable to engage in a physical attack. I’m also at a disadvantage because Mana regenerates at a far slower pace than Stamina, which I suspect is the fuel to her attacks. The two of us make eye contact and I see the animalistic rage in her eyes, wanting nothing more than to devour her opponent.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Think….

A few seconds later a smile breaks out on my face. What I need is a paradigm shift, a completely different way of looking at this situation. I’ve been viewing her tree as a strong defense, keeping her from me and allowing her to strike from afar, when I really need to view it as a potential weakness. If she’s trapped in her current position than I need to change the paradigm and use that to my advantage.

I run up to the tree, her wary eyes following me with suspicion. Finally about ten feet away from the trunk, I conjure up a Ball of Oil and launch it forward, watching as it bursts onto the bark and begins to drip downwards. I repeat this another five times around the base, leaving it coated in a thick layer of viscous oil.

I then run away from the tree as quick as I can. As soon as I reach a safe distance I conjure up a Fireball and have it hover a few inches above my palm, my eyes meet hers and I watch fear and realization replace the confusion in her eyes. I don’t take pleasure from killing another living being but I’d being lying if I said I wasn’t proud of myself for thinking of this plan.

Fueled by my will, I let the Fireball loose in a majestic arc, watching as it soars through the sky and finally makes contact with the oil on the tree. The oil instantly catches on fire and I make use of the time dilation effect of Effortless Presence to watch the fire ripple outward before fully combusting. An ear piercing boom drowns out any other noise as a shockwave of force erupts outwards, nearly knocking me off balance and pushing me back a few steps. Huge chunks of bark and wood fly in every direction and the top of the tree begins to tip to the side, years of growth annihilated in a split second. It crashes into the ground, creating another shockwave of force and violently shaking the ground around me, forcing me to fall to one knee.

I stare at the sight in awe and sadness. It’s unfortunate that the only solution I could come up with relied on the destruction of this beautiful tree. It had probably spent decades growing in this Zone, reaching up into the sky with determination, only to be destroyed as collateral damage. I wouldn’t undo any of my actions though. No one goes through life without regret. All I can do is let the destruction of the tree fill me with the desire to learn more, to develop the power to accomplish my goals without leaving a path of destruction and ruin in my wake.

The fires from the explosion quickly die down, unable to find any more fuel and I begin to walk forward as the smoke clears, cautiously looking around for Shssiss. My search ends a few moments later when I see her struggling underneath the massive remains of her once home. Most of her body has been crushed but she continues to struggle under the weight of the ash and debris, a hopeless battle that she fights regardless.

The second I enter her vision she lets out a deep and angry hiss but doesn’t spit any acid at me. I warily keep my distance as I slowly gaze over her situation. Just because she hasn’t attacked yet doesn’t mean she can’t. I raise my hand and quickly fire a Mana Bullet, piercing through her neck and destroying the muscles with the internal explosion, eliciting another pained hiss. I wait for my Mana to regenerate a little before I fire another Bullet, hitting her directly in the head this time. She collapses onto the ground but I continue to watch, wary for another attack. It takes another 4 Bullets before she is finally dead, a notification letting me know of her demise.

You have defeated Shssiss the Mother of Assassins [Lvl 51]!

Task Updated: Zone Leaders Defeated [2/3]

You have reached Lvl 42, 43!

Other notifications of Skill level increases begin to pop up but I delay them with a thought, more focused on resolving an interesting hypothesis I’d come up during my interaction with Albasalas. Even though she had only given me only one Item, I got the impression that she had more. This seemed odd to me as she didn’t strike me as a collector, which led to my hypothesis. What if Genesis subtly influenced her thought process towards stockpiling rewards? It would mesh well with what Faul had told me about Dungeon Worlds being planets of training, forcing their temporary occupants into strenuous situations where they either adapted or died.

Pondering over the possible ramifications of my hypothesis being true, I walk over to the top of the tree, the place where Shssiss’ body ends. It takes a while to sort through the debris but eventually I manage to find an Item. However, as if to mock me for thinking I’ve figured out a part of how Genesis works, I find something that leaves me speechless.

The Final Egg of Shssiss, Mother of Assassins: While all of Shssiss’ eggs hatched after their gestation period of 40 days, this particular egg has been gestating for over 3 years. Despite this, there is still life inside of the soft shell, consuming ambient Mana as it waits and evolves. If consumed: Permanent Increase of +250 Mana. If hatched: ERROR - Creature Unknown

Now what the hell am I supposed to do with this?