Reaching into my bag of holding, I hauled out my entire store of ability tomes. None of the Strength abilities I’d unlocked a few days ago had proved effective against the stygians so far, but I’d not expected otherwise. The three abilities were still only at tier one, after all.
Now, though, it was time to upgrade one of them.
But only one. Sadly, I didn’t have enough ability slots for more than a single elite Strength ability.
Overpowering blow, charge, or stomp—which will it be?
Overpowering blow was nice. But it was only good for a single strike, whereas both charge and stomp were area-of-effect abilities. For charge to be effective, though, I would have to be constantly zipping around the battlefield, knocking down my foes.
And while there was nothing wrong with that when I was battling a large number of enemies, it was less useful when I was faced with a single powerful opponent… like a Power.
Stomp, on the other hand, would work equally well in either circumstance. It also had the potential to affect a larger number of foes—but only at the expense of the added mobility charge provided.
But then again, I didn’t need more mobility.
Stomp it is, I decided, picking up the ability tomes for its tier two, three, and four variants. Opening the first book, I started reading.
You have upgraded your stomp ability to improved stomp. The tier 2 variant of stomp increases the ability’s debuff duration to 2 seconds and its area-of-effect to a 5 yard radius.
You have upgraded your stomp ability to superior stomp. The tier 3 variant of stomp increases the ability’s debuff duration to 3 seconds and its area-of-effect to a 7 yard radius.
You have upgraded your stomp ability to greater stomp. The tier 4 variant of stomp increases the ability’s debuff duration to 4 seconds and its area-of-effect to a 10 yard radius.
Not bad, I thought. Returning the unused tomes to my bag of holding, I withdrew an upgrade gem. Now, for the final stomp upgrade.
Ability gem activated.
Creating ability tome…
…
Tome creation halted.
There are 2 elite variants for the stomp ability.
Variant 1: ponderous step. This variant causes the ground underfoot to quake with every step you take. Each tremor will stagger or knock down nearby entities.
Variant 2: shockwave. This variant creates a single devastating shockwave that injures and staggers all targets in a 50 yard radius.
Hmm, I mused, deliberating over the choices on offer. Ponderous step appeared to provide a continuous effect—but for how long seemed unclear—while shockwave was a supercharged variant of stomp.
On the other hand, ponderous step would not synergize with vanish. I could still use both abilities simultaneously, but every step I took would reveal my position—literally. I rubbed my chin. That’s a definite downside.
Still, knowing where I am will be less helpful to my foes than they realize, I thought, recalling my battle with the Devil Riders from a few weeks ago. Even though the enemy had had a fix on my position, they’d been unable to hit me. And besides, if ponderous step became problematic, I could always disable the ability or not use it at all.
Ponderous step it is, I decided. The ability promised to disable my enemies for longer, and in the end, that outweighed any of its negatives.
Reaching out to the Game, I communicated my choice.
You have upgraded your stomp ability to ponderous step. This tier five ability grants you the heavy buff for 1 minute. While the buff is active, your footfalls will cause the ground in a 10 yard radius to shake, staggering or knocking down any target that fails a physical resistance check for 1 second.
Unlike its lower-tiered variants, ponderous step physically alters the terrain underfoot and will therefore affect magically shielded foes to the same degree it does unshielded ones. However, any target not in direct contact with the ground will be unaffected. Note, this ability can only be used when you are in wolf form.
You have 8 of 40 Strength ability slots remaining.
Perfect, I grinned. That ponderous step would disrupt even a shield-mage’s concentration was not something I’d anticipated and only made the ability more valuable.
My Strength upgrades finished, I opened my bag again and drew out another two upgrade gems. It was time to advance the imitate ability. Closing my fist around the first crystal, I willed my intent to the Adjudicator.
Ability gem activated.
Creating ability tome…
You have acquired a tier 5 imitate ability tome.
Well, that was a waste of a good gem, I thought, my lips twisting unhappily at the lack of variants. Not wanting to dwell further on the matter, I opened the tome and began to read.
You have upgraded your lesser imitate ability to master imitate. The tier 5 variant of this ability enhances the spell’s robustness allowing it to function in a safe zone and falsify all your analyze data.
You have 16 of 127 Perception ability slots remaining.
The Game description contained no surprises, and didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know about the ability, and so, without further ado, I activated the next upgrade gem.
Ability gem activated.
Creating ability tome…
…
Tome creation halted.
There are 2 grandmaster variants for the imitate ability.
“That’s more like it,” I murmured, avidly reading the follow-up Game messages.
Variant 1: doppelganger. This variant allows you to take the form of any living entity of the same size and approximate mass as you. Your transformation is impenetrable to nearly all forms of detection. Additionally, your spirit signatures may be falsified.
Variant 2: fake. This variant allows you to take the form of any non-living entity of the same size and approximate mass as you. Your transformation is impenetrable to nearly all forms of detection. Additionally, your spirit signatures are completely removed during your change.
“Urgh!” I muttered, my excitement fading. The alternative the Game had offered up was less than appealing. There was nothing wrong with fake, it just wasn’t the ability for me.
Fake sounded like the ideal ability for the patient infiltrator or thief, someone who could afford to spend hours mimicking a cupboard, or some similarly inoffensive piece of furniture, but it didn’t serve my purposes at all.
It looks like it’s going to be doppelganger, after all.
Ruing the loss of the two ability gems I hadn’t needed to use, I willed my choice to the Game.
You have acquired a tier VI doppelganger ability tome.
You have upgraded your imitate ability to doppelganger.
Doppelgangers are amongst the most feared covert operatives in the Kingdom. Their disguises are not mere illusion nor are they only skin-deep. Cut a doppelganger and they will bleed the same blood as their subjects. Worse yet, a doppelganger is impossible to uncover by magical means and can only be detected by high-tiered Perception abilities.
The tier 6 variant of this ability allows you to transform your body to match any living subject of similar size and mass as you. Note, the doppelganger ability is not a shapeshift ability, and while your new form will exactly replicate your subject’s, your attributes and skills will stay your own.
Additionally, while you are in doppelganger form, you can falsify all your spirit signatures or remove them altogether, thereby truly assuming the guise of a non-player or monster.
The transformation is permanent, and while stamina is required to effect the change, there is no accompanying spell duration, nor is any energy expended to maintain your new form. This ability can be upgraded.
You have 1 of 127 Perception ability slots remaining.
I rose to my feet, a smile on my face despite the two wasted upgrade gems. Doppelganger was everything I hoped it would be, and now, finally, I was truly ready to face the void tree in battle. Doing so, though, would have to wait until tomorrow.
Today, I had other tasks to complete.
And first up on the list was another visit to the nest.
✵ ✵ ✵
Only a little later, Elise, Ghost, and I were back in the foothills. Today’s agenda, though, was nothing like that of the previous two days.
“Give me a few minutes to get ready,” I told the others. Not waiting for their responses, I closed my eyes and cast.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
You have taken the form of a level 267 elder wolf.
You have cast doppelganger, transforming your form into that of a level 150 stygian serpent, and concealing all your Marks. Duration: infinite.
“Wow,” Elise said, edging away instinctively. “Is that… him?”
“It is,” Ghost replied.
Opening my eyes, I surveyed my new form. My limbs were non-existent, and I… slithered. Urgh, I thought, suppressing my distaste the same way Elise likely just had.
As far as stygian serpents went, I was a bit on the large side—I’d not been able to reduce my wolf-size much—but hopefully, none of the stygians would have cause to inspect me closely. Worse yet, I reeked of the nether and my breath smelled equally foul. That, though, I expected was part and parcel of the disguise.
“It’s uncanny,” the werefox said, circling me slowly. “You look and smell exactly like the real thing.” She lifted her gaze to mine. “I bet you even taste the same.”
“Don’t even think about it,” I warned.
Elise laughed. “You’re no fun.”
Deciding not to indulge the were-druid further, I turned to my familiar. “What about you, Ghost?” I asked, rearing up tall as I’d seen the stygian serpents do. “Can you sense anything amiss?”
The pyre wolf shook her head slowly. “No… if I didn’t know better—” she pawed delicately at my scaled torso—“I’d think this was real.”
“In most senses it is,” I murmured.
“Why did you change to a wolf first?” Elise asked curiously, her earlier humor vanished.
“I had no other choice. My human form is too small to mimic a creature as large as a serpent.”
Nodding, she sat down on her haunches. “Well, whenever you’re ready, then.”
Leaning down, I reached down and picked up Sedgwick’s bag.
You have acquired a bag containing 4 items.
The precious bag safely tucked inside my serpentine jaw, I drew the shadows close about me.
You are hidden.
“I’m ready. Let’s begin.”
✵ ✵ ✵
Elise has cast arboreal guard.
Five minutes later, another lesser stygian pack was cresting the rise to the west.
Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you.
“Right on schedule,” I murmured. Safely nestled in the shadows, I watched the nether creatures descend upon the unguarded grove.
“Do we really need to let them destroy the trees?” Elise asked from where she and Ghost were hiding. “I hate to see the grove desecrated.”
“We do,” I said firmly.
“But…”
Shutting out the rest of the druid’s protest, I kept my attention focused on the serpent pack and their assault on the grove.
The pine trees did not go down easily.
They claimed the lives of more than one lesser stygian, but in the end, the enemy’s numbers were simply too great, and the last tree expired. Then, of course, the stygian pack reversed course.
That was the moment I was waiting for.
Concealed on the selfsame slope the nether creatures were traversing anew, I let the shadows around me unravel and slid out from behind the boulder I’d been hiding behind.
“Moment of truth,” Elise murmured.
Ignoring her, I kept my gaze fixed on the lead hydra in the pack. How would it react?
But the nether creature did not so much as throw me a passing glance as it stomped by on its way to the nest.
“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Elise muttered.
“It was,” I replied, allowing myself to breathe again. ”But remember, no talking once I leave the foothills. We can’t risk the void tree realizing anything is amiss.” So saying, I slithered into the lesser stygian pack.
While the other serpents and hydras didn’t exactly make way for me, none of the creatures protested my entry.
I was in.
Feeling Ghost’s eyes on me and, through our bond, the worry coloring her emotions, I said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
“I know you think that,” she began, “but if you get in trouble—”
“I won’t,” I assured her. “But if I do, I will reactivate our link immediately. You have my word on that.”
“Alright,” she conceded reluctantly. “Good luck, then, Prime.”
“Thanks, Ghost.” Turning my attention inward, I poured the entirety of my psi into the mental walls protecting my consciousness, cutting off every connection between my mind and the outside world.
Now, nothing could get in or out.
Your psi abilities are no longer available.
The precautions I was taking were extreme, and perhaps unnecessary, but no one, not even the brotherhood, understood the true extent of the void tree’s psionic capabilities, and I didn’t want to find out the hard way, I’d gambled wrong. Getting things right today was crucial if I wanted our plan tomorrow to succeed.
As mentally prepared as I could be, I crested the rise and entered the void tree’s line of sight.
✵ ✵ ✵
Multiple hostile entities have failed to pierce your disguise.
Multiple hostile entities have failed to pierce your disguise.
…
…
The void tree did not react.
Nothing in the nest did, which was truly the best reaction I could have hoped for. Still, that did not make my journey through the nest any less nerve-racking.
The moment the lesser stygian pack crossed over the nest’s outer perimeter, it split apart, the individual serpents and hydras heading in seemingly random directions. I kept my own path erratic. But there was nothing random about my course.
I had a destination in mind, and it was almost on the void tree’s doorstep.
I slithered past untold clumps of hydras and serpents—some dozed, while others moved about as listlessly as I was pretending to do. None of them cast me a second glance. The overlords appeared just as uncaring. And void tree…
Despite its oppressive and pervasive aura, the stygian Power was equally ignorant of my presence.
Well, that, or it was luring me closer.
But I rather doubted that. If the void tree’s psi abilities were that far beyond my own, it would’ve had no trouble defeating me during our previous encounter.
The minutes ticked by.
And ever so carefully, I meandered my way to my targets: the overlords bracketing the void tree.
Both colossal creatures were still anchored firmly in the ground, puffing out a constant stream of thick nether. It didn’t look like either stygian Power ever intended on moving again, which perhaps explained why so many lesser stygians had taken to crawling over the pair.
That made my task easier.
I would be just one more snake amongst many and of no import. Reaching the first overlord’s side, I slithered on without pause—just like I saw so many other serpents doing.
The overlord didn’t react.
There had to be a whole host of spores nearby too. But if there were, they were just as fooled by my form as every other stygian in the nest. Growing more confident, I increased my pace, snaking up the Power’s near-vertical sides without pause.
This overlord was no different from the other two we had killed. Its hide was just as pockmarked and riddled with cracks. There were plenty of flying serpents about, too. For whatever reason, they preferred to perch on top of the Power. Passing a large clump of the creatures, I finally slowed.
My vertical ascent had come to an end. Now, the stygian Power curved beneath me like a gentle hill.
I had reached my destination.
Raising my triangular head, I scanned the surroundings. There were deep craters and spidery cracks aplenty in close proximity to me. Slithering to the side of a particularly deep one, I curled up tightly with my head in the center of my serpentine coils.
Then, pointing my mouth downward, I opened my jaws.
Sedgwick’s bag slid out.
I’d deliberately left its drawstrings loose and it took only a few delicate nudges with my nose to fully open the bag.
Inside lay four items: two aetherstones, and two innocuous looking wooden balls.
But looks could be deceiving.
And while there was nothing special about the balls themselves, the same could not be said of what lay within their hollowed-out insides.
I’d spent a considerable amount of time seeding the two objects with trap crystals before setting out, and now they were each effectively… a bomb.
I’d learned from my previous failed attempt at cracking open the overlord’s shell, and in hindsight, I realized I’d failed not because my traps hadn’t been powerful enough, but because they hadn’t been embedded deep enough.
A problem the wooden balls should see solved.
I picked up the first bomb gingerly with my jaws.
You have acquired a plain wooden ball inset with 30 dormant tier 4 traps, each formed of 5 trap elements: 2 x poison cloud enchantments, 1 x fire enchantment, 1 x remote control, and 1 x remote key. Dormant traps are harder to detect and will not trigger under any circumstances.
Lowering my head into the crack in the stygian’s hide, I dropped the ball and listened intently.
The bomb fell for a long time before coming to a stop with a muted thud. I hissed in relief at the lack of a sharp crack. The wooden ball had survived the journey intact. Perfect, I thought, turning my attention back to the bag.
It was time to imprint one of the aetherstones.
I’d paid Sedgwick a pretty penny for the two gems, but I rather thought they were worth it. Like Safyre had told me long ago, under ordinary circumstances, a mage could open a portal to anywhere they’d been.
Or to anywhere they had the aether coordinates for.
And it was the coordinates of my present location I intended to capture. With such coordinates in hand, our mages could portal a strike force directly onto the overlord, allowing them to bypass the surrounding stygians and immediately assault the Power.
Of course they would just as immediately come under attack. If not by the void tree itself, then certainly by the thousands of other stygians nearby.
Still, the absence of the Reachers made it more imperative—not less—that we kill the overlords early. If my bombs worked as I hoped, the strike teams could do just that and vanish before the stygians overran them.
If, on the other hand, my bombs failed…
Well, then, at the very least, the strike teams would serve to keep the overlords distracted while Safyre, Adriel, the forsworn, the nagians, and I dealt with the void tree.
It would not be as easy as all that, of course, and no doubt there would be more than a few complications to handle, not least being the rest of the nest.
Still, I believed the plan was workable, even if it left us dangerously overextended. But, as I kept reminding myself, we didn’t have to destroy the nest or even kill the overlords. It was only the void tree that was important.
Destroy it, and the rift would close.
Simple.
Or so I hoped. It was too bad I couldn’t use my makeshift bombs against the void tree itself. But unfortunately, there was a limit on the number of trap crystals I could employ—a limit set by my scoundrel wristband—and I’d used all of them in making the two bombs. And besides, venturing close enough to the void tree to place a bomb near it was too risky.
Enough daydreaming. Picking up the bag again, I focused on one of the charged but unetched gems inside and willed my present location into it.
You have etched an aetherstone with the aether coordinates of an arbitrary location within sector 18,240. This location will henceforth be designated: Loc-A.
It was done, and none of the stygians had reacted.
I had done what I could. The rest would be up to the others. Uncurling, I slithered away to my next target: the second overlord.
I had one more aetherstone to etch and another bomb to place.