Chapter 120 - No Core. No Problem.
Hannah pulled out a potent healing potion and shoved it into his mouth. Jack drained it in seconds. Soon, the two of them were sitting on the shorelines staring at the lake.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get your ass kicked that bad,” Hannah said, breaking the silence.
“I’m in training,” Jack protested, “it’s supposed to be challenging.”
“Still… Is it really that bad without a core?”
Jack only grunted in response.
“Here, this might help.” Hannah pulled out the bundle and handed it to Jack.
“I thought I threw these into the river.” Jack said, staring at the blades, his eyes heavy with suspicion.
“I fished them out and had them made into a new pair of daggers for you. You owe me about fifteen million AP by the way.”
“Sorry. I’m broke.” Jack shrugged, picking up the two weapons and giving them a few test slashes.
Hannah stared at Jack as he tested out the blades. Fiego had been right about the weapons needing perspective. Jack was about 6’5 now, and in his hands the two weapons actually did look like really long daggers. If Hannah was using them, she would have considered them short swords.
“They seem… extremely evil? Are you sure I should be using these?”
“Just don’t cut yourself with them,” Hannah shrugged. “Apparently, it will corrupt your blood and you’ll die a painful death if you can’t reach a priest.”
Jack had been casually throwing the daggers up into the air and catching them. He stopped immediately and gave them another concerned inspection.
“So did you come by just to give me these evil ass daggers or is this some sort of welfare check?”
“Yea, pretty much. I was curious what you’d been up to honestly. I was thinking about heading to the second floor, but I wanted to see how your… training was going. Also we need to talk about Rodeo.”
Jack plopped back down onto the ground and pulled out two bottles from his void sack, handing one to Hannah. She popped the cap and gave it a sample sniff. Sweet honey mead.
“So you want to have a therapy session, huh? I got all the closure I need. Blowing him up actually did wonders for my mental health.” Jack flashed her a grin which made Hannah grimace slightly. He was lying. She could tell.
“No, I don’t want to talk about your feelings. I feel like I would need a therapy session after hearing what goes on in your head,” she chuckled.
“So what about him, then?”
“Bartholomew Scolo De’Pendra. What does that name mean to you?”
“Nothing. Does it mean something to you?”
“Sort of. You know how conspiracy crazies on Earth have theorized that there is one family controlling everything from the shadows? One family that seems to control everything, pulling at the strings and manipulating the entire world?”
“Sounds about right,” Jack shrugged.
“Scolo De’Pendra is a name I’ve heard in passing before. Often associated with things of that very nature. I didn’t pay it much mind because it seemed absurd to believe, but what if Rodeo really did work for some ancient secret family? It would kinda explain a lot. How we could never find out any information about him. How he had seemingly endless funds and connections. What if we were the hit squad for some secret society evil family?”
Jack stared at her for a long moment, a considering look in his eyes.
“What aren’t you telling me?” he finally asked. “You wouldn’t actually believe in any of that unless you had some sort of tangible proof. Did you find someone here who knows about them?”
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“No. I wouldn’t even begin to know where to look for proof. Likely anyone who knows anything is dead by now.”
“So what is it then?”
“Scolo De’Pendra…” Hannah started, unsure if she should even tell Jack. “I can only assume the last name is derived from the word Scolopendra. In fact, it’s so obvious it couldn’t possibly be anything else.”
“Is it supposed to mean something to me?” Jack looked a little annoyed.
“Scolopendra is Latin for centipede.”
Jack stared at her, his eyes hard. Then he looked at the black centipede tattoo winding down his arm. Then back at Hannah.
“Probably a coincidence-“
“I don’t know,” Hannah cut him off. “It’s just a lot of strange coincidences. Something to look out for if you ever have to go back to that assassin organization.”
“If they don’t kill us all first,” Jack muttered. “I have a sneaking suspicion they’ll be hunting us the second I leave this floor.”
Hannah nodded at that. Gideon had said he would take care of it, but that was certainly no longer a guarantee. For all she knew, he would be coming to kill them all as well.
“How’s training been going?” Hannah asked, not wanting to think of the dragon any longer.
“Pretty good. I’ve got to figure out some new ways to fight and I’ve got a few promising leads on new techniques. I can’t leave just yet though. Still need some more time before we can tackle the second floor.”
Hannah narrowed her eyes on Jack. She had just watched as he got his ass handed to him without putting up much of a fight. She sighed. She was hoping he would have somehow miraculously overcome fate, like he always seemed to do, but that had been too much to expect, even from him.
“Jack. I don’t think you should climb the Tower.”
Jack gave her an annoyed glance.
“Just listen,” she held up placating hands. “I know you’ve more or less existed without access to mana, but you’ve always had a trump card with your mana drops. You don’t have that get out of jail free card anymore. Plus, I just watched you get the shit kicked out of you. I know it’s technically a field boss, but I could blast that thing out of the water easily. You on the other hand got hammered into the ground without putting up any fight. I’ve been looking into fixing your mana core. Let me investigate some more leads before you do anything reckless. I mean you said it yourself, a cult of assassins wants you dead… What the hell are you doing?” Hannah trailed off when she realized Jack was no longer paying attention to her.
Jack slowly stood up and began to stretch again. He pulled out the pair of simple looking daggers he had been using during training and then looked at Hannah with a smirk.
“How long have you been practicing that speech?” he asked.
“Just since I saw you get the shit kicked out of you.”
Jack nodded and then held out the plain looking daggers.
“Hold these for me.”
Hannah reached out and grabbed them. They dragged her down to the ground instantly. She quickly let go and watched as the daggers sunk into the sand.
“You better hope those didn’t sink too far down. Took me an entire day to dig them up last time I dropped them.” Jack stared at the ground where the daggers had sunk, the annoyed look still on his face.
“What the hell is this? What are you doing?” Hannah stared at Jack, growing more confused as he began to strip.
He pulled off his shirt and threw it to the side. It slammed into the ground with a resounding thud. Next, he peeled off his bracers and tossed them next to his shirt. Each one hit the ground with another loud thud sinking several inches into the ground. He kicked off one boot and it slammed into a nearby tree, cracking it down the middle. His other boot shattered a boulder. He undid the belt at his waist and his pants dropped to the ground with a loud slam, kicking up dust and sand and leaving a small crater in the ground.
Mercifully, Jack’s weird shadow armor was crawling all over his body and formed into a skin tight pair of black pants. He pulled out the pair of daggers Hannah had given him and gave them a few casual spins in his hands.
“Weighted training clothes. You wouldn’t believe how much that shit cost me,” Jack grinned.
Hannah inspected the man again, trying to figure out how she had missed it.
Jack was pure refined muscle from head to toe, not an ounce of fat or wasted muscle on his body. He was big, menacing even. Still, you could tell his body was lean and streamlined for a deadly speed. She cringed as her eyes wandered across his abdomen. A large circular scar marked the spot where he ripped his core out. Even with magic it hadn’t healed properly. Hannah saw it as a sort of brand, a reminder of his recklessness. Or maybe his determination.
Last was his hair. He still looked young, but a gray streak now ran through his hair. It appeared after using his new Lightning Engine technique. There was no doubt that the tradeoff for using that ability had robbed him of his lifeforce, but it was still hard to see that from the man standing before her now.
Hannah watched as Jack gave her a lazy, knowing smile, and Hannah felt foolish that she had even doubted Jack for a second. That was a mistake she wouldn’t make again.
“Let’s see what you really got then.” Hannah returned his smile with a challenging grin of her own.
Jack leaned to his side, falling towards the water. Then he disappeared.
Hannah tried to follow after him, but her eyes could barely keep up.
A large tentacle shot out of the water, only to explode in a spray of blood from a dozen cuts. Another massive tentacle erupted from the lake and Jack landed on top of it with ease, letting it launch him into the sky above. With an easy grace he dove back into the lake like a torpedo, disappearing into the waters below.
Hannah watched as the blue lake turned a deep crimson, pieces of tentacles floating to the surface seconds later.
A new, exciting fear began to surface in the back of her mind. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to keep up with Jack.