Malformed Imp - Level 6
This imp was hatched early, and could not specialize correctly. When it's cornered or reaches 10% health, it activates its failed flame specialty. This will kill the imp. It is unknown if the imp knows this beforehand, but it certainly knows afterward. Either way, it will fight even more ferociously than normal.
What's this!? Iva... being helpful! Without snark! This must be a trick! They're trying to make me let my guard down. I won't be fooled!
As I'm going through my internal monologue on deceit, the imp that I examined turns around to look into my eyes, eerily. Yeah, yeah, I got it. Tortured existence and all that jazz. I was way too sick of this fucking endless hallway to care about the suffering it promised with its gaze. It, apparently not noticing my complete lack of concern, decided to attack me with its species-signature leap. Needless to say, it did not go well for the imp. Add another core to the pile.
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You wanna know the worst part about this place? It isn't the constantly expanding hallway, nor the enemies around every corner. It's the uncertainty. How do I get out? Is it behind one of the endless doors I've passed? Is there an escape? I don't know much about dungeons, maybe some of them are endless unless you know some sort of escape phrase.
It makes me want to scream! The only reason I'm still sane is Valin. We've spent a lot of time 'talking' while going through this endless corridor. He's actually very affable despite being the progenitor of existence. The pride he shows at almost all times is a bit concerning, but I can't really blame him. What am I supposed to say? "No mister creator of the universe, pride is a sin you see, you should be humble!"
He literally invented pride! One of these days I swear that it's going to get us into trouble, but convincing Valin of that is a lost cause, and I've accepted that. Just normal, everyday problems for me. Oh, a wet doorway. Looks like there's a vapor somewhere around here, great.
"Valin, Vapor, you know the drill."
5x Reinforcement goes up instantly, and a new spell begins to ready in my core. Luckily, vapor imps like to play with their prey, and that gives me plenty of time to prepare the spell. After about 5 seconds pass, it predictably goes for my back. With 5x up, it's not a challenge to dodge. With a quick roll forward, I'm out of the way of the attack. I turn around and point my hand in the direction of the imp.
"Freezing Mist" my voice echoes through the hall, cold and airy.
A ball of freezing air leaves my hand, slowly moving in the direction of the imp, before suddenly expanding rapidly. The imp screams as the water that makes up its form is partially frozen. Its form is now a hazy silhouette, with shards of ice expanding through it. From its crouched position only a few feet away from me, it tries to leap backward. It partially succeeds, but it seems that whatever magical profile makes up its body doesn't recognize the ice shards as itself, leaving it missing several rather large chunks of itself.
The imp, in a show of truly awful decision-making, decides to transition back into a physical form. While missing quite a bit of biomass. Yeah, I don't have to do much, because as soon as it becomes solid once more, it immediately falls to the ground in pain. I imagine missing several internal organs would do that. Well, no need to let it suffer. A quick stab to the brain is all it takes to put it out of its misery. I wonder how my sword cut through the imp if it was made of water vapor? Probably some Void bullshit. Add another core to the pile.
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The corridor has expanded to the point where I can't exactly call it a hall anymore. It must be fifty feet across at this point. Cool. I am just focusing on putting one foot forward, then doing that again. And again. And again. And again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again.
*Pulse* 'Are you ok?' Valin communicates.
"What?" I said, snapping back to reality.
Oh, I had zoned out for quite a bit there, huh? I must've been getting desensitized to the violence because when I snapped back I was elbow deep in an imp, looking for its core. Yuck. Great, now I was going to smell like imp gore.
"Sorry Valin, do you mind getting that core for me?"
*Pulse* 'You need to take care of yourself better' He sent.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure. So, can you get that core?" I said, already zoning out again.
"No" Valin said in my mind.
The words brought me out of my fugue once more.
"Why?"
"You are LoSing yourSelf. If you are not FocUSed in the duNgeoN you will lose your life." He said.
"Yeah you're right, it's just... I can't. Trying to keep focused on the endless monotony is too much."
"Then I will OcCupy you," Valin said, after contemplating the issue.
"How?"
"You were compLainIng about not knowing RUnes? I will teaCh"
"Thank you, truly. I know it can't be easy to put up with me like this" I say
"I will be fine, it is you that I wOrry about." He said, his speech now much smoother than at the beginning of our conversation.
"For our firsT rune, I will teacH you: Self Cleaning. First, we have the rune for powEr" And now, I had something to focus on other than the monotony of this endless corridor. Plus another core to add to the pile.
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Name: Sylen Affinity: Void Champion Rank: (M)Novice, 9
Stage: Novice (M)
Level: Soul → 10 Body 9
Resources:
Health: 500/500 → 600/600
Health Regen: 61.2hp/h → 73.2hp/h
Stamina: 490/490 → 590/590
Stamina Regen: 417.6sp/m → 429.6sp/m
Void: 840/840 → 1,040
Void Regen: 9.9vp/s → 11.9vp/s
Attributes:
-Vitality: 50 → 60
-Endurance: 49 → 59
-Strength: 52 → 62
-Dexterity: 54 → 64
-Intelligence: ∞/ 84 → 104
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
-Wisdom: ∞/ 99 → 119
-Mastery: 42 → 52
-Perception: 43 → 53
-Charm: 48(-50%) 24 → 29
Skills:
Darksight (Legendary) (Passive)
Climbing (Basic) (Passive)
Swordsmanship (Basic) (Passive)
Void Manipulation (Advanced) (Active)
Void Reinforcement (Basic) (Active)(Passive)
Fear Resistance (Advanced) (Passive)
Examine
Spells:
Basic Telekinesis | Formula: ⊛↛ ⥑≎⊹↠⊉║⭄⊹∠⊹↠⥑║⍔
Basic Pyrokinesis (H) | Formula: ⊛⌽≎(1)˚≎1085⊉║⍔
Freezing Mist (N) | Formula: ⊛⌽≎7˚≎-315⊉║⭄∠45⊡⥑⊉║⍔
Clean Self (F) | Formula: ⊛⥈⥑⊉║≎⊹⊉║⍔
Basic Fireball (H)| Formula: ⊛⌽≎1˚≎ 1084.73⊡⊉║⭄∠180↛↠⊉║⍔
Congratulations! You have reached level 10 in Soul! This achievement awards you +10 to all stats! You're now officially superhuman in every category compared to other earthlings! Too bad that you're still utterly ordinary in this world.
Bonus: You will not explode when you hit level 10 in body!
That's cool, I guess. I can't bring myself to be that excited, honestly. I... I can't do this for much longer. I don't know how long I've been in here, but it feels like weeks at this point. I would've given up if not for Valin. This goddamn hallway is basically a cavern at this point. I'm at my limit. The Imps have thrown another couple of types at me, but they weren't a challenge. A glorfied malformed imp, and an imp that likes to throw fireballs. The fireballs are slow as hell, and the imp is even slower, so that wasn't an issue. The glorified malformed imp wasn't much better, it was just a walking, permanently on-fire, version of the inferior imp.
So I keep walking. Until I bump into something.
"Wha?" I say dazed
My gaze slides back into focus, and I look at the door that I bumped into. It was massive, easily twenty feet in width, and at least as tall. Wooden, with wrought iron reinforcing its frame. It was truly a behemoth. The frame of the gate was also made of wrought iron, but it had streaks of molten iron running through it. Well, this just screams danger, but if it will get me out of here then fuck it.
The door opens with surprisingly little effort, which is good because it's actually pretty difficult to open a door with both your hands occupied by swords. The room inside is reminiscent of a church's nave. Which is to say, very corridor shaped, but this time with pews on either side. The walls are streaked with ash, and the various imp bodies are strewn about.
Most of the pews are glorified firewood with how destroyed they are. Standing at the very front, atop a mountain of ruin, is a fire demon of some kind, with its back towards me. Red skinned with veins of fire running all throughout its skin. Well, whatever skin isn't covered by its robe. It's about seven feet tall, and built like a brick shit house, with horns reaching upwards about eighteen inches.
To my great surprise, as I'm observing it, it starts... preaching?
"The cycles have been going on for too long, we must let them end." It says while still facing away from me. Its voice is gravelly and deep.
"My brothers and I were cast aside when we stated this idea, shunned, and left to die. But the World Core knew I was right. We were right. That must be why it has resurrected me, and brought you before me."
"Uh, I don't think I'm related to... all this," I said,
"Oh don't be silly, you are the agent sent this time to balance the world, of course, you are related"
"So, are you on my side?" I asked, hopeful that I wouldn't have to fight this huge ass demon.
"Did you not hear what I just said? The eight must have sent a naive one this time. Let me explain since you don't appear to be getting it, the World Core sent you here to die. That is the only reason an agent of balance would be sent to the Church of the End. This is why I was brought back, it must be to kill you before you can bring back balance. To finally set the Core to rest after billions of years of effort."
Goddamn it, it can never be easy, can it?
Cardinal of the End - Level 24 - Solo Party Detected, Restriction added
Oh, I had to come back for this! The battle of the century... or more like the hour, but still! Your first boss fight! They grow up so fast. Brings a tear to my eye. Oh yeah, this is your analysis skill, you probably want to know his weaknesses. Uh... hit him hard? Water? Oh, I know! Stab him real good, that'd probably do him in!
Damn it, Iva, I don't have fucking time for this!
The Demon rushes me while I'm distracted, and nearly takes my head off. It's so fast!
"Valin Fiv-"
I can't finish my sentence before I'm forced to leap backward, but Valin gets the message.
Suddenly, while I can't match the demon in stats, I can sort of keep up.
The demon rushes me once more, and I dodge back slowly, pretending to still be unreinforced. It raises its claw up to slash down at me, and I quickly slash up at its wrist. It manages to dodge at the last second, but I still got its fingers.
"Ah, a reinforcement ability. How did you get it so soon after arriving? And you managed to get my fingers... impressive. Nonetheless, you will still die here, just know that you will die with my respect." The demon says.
While it's speaking I try to come up with a plan, but sadly nothing comes to mind. How do I beat something that has more experience, more levels, and more skills? How is this fair? That lights up something in my mind, who said I needed to fight fair?
"Thank you for your respect, I appreciate that, if you could do me one last honor, would you?" I say while setting up a spell. This is kinda on the fly so I hope this works.
"And what would that honor be, oh bringer of balance?"
"Could you end it quickly? I'm... I'm scared of dying." I say once more, acting with all my heart.
"Hmmm... cowardly, but I suppose that is to be expected from one new to this realm. Fine, I will grant your wish"
Yes! He fell for it!
It starts running towards me to answer my wish, and when it arrives a couple feet in front of me... it slips.
I immediately pounce on top of it, slashing at its neck and head. It tries to resist but struggles, until I finally plunge my saber into its heart, and twist.
When it stops moving, I start to back away.
"Oh my god, I can't believe that worked!" I say in excitement, still not down from the adrenaline.
Suddenly my left arm moves on its own to draw my rapier.
"What the hell?"
Then it blocks an overhead strike from the, somehow still alive, demon.
Scaring the ever-loving shit out of me.
"AH! Holy fuck, how are you alive!" I scream while jumping back
"Until my mission is finished, I refuse to die! The will of the church cannot end with me! I will not let it!" It shouts with renewed vigor.
Then it rushes me. Much faster. Very much faster.
Like a flurry, its attacks come quickly. I parry and dodge attacks with both swords. I think Valin is controlling my left.
An overhead attack from its claws goes for my neck, while at the same time, his other hand goes for my gut. I sidestep the overhead and slap his hand away with the side of my saber, but by the time I'm done with those attacks, more are already coming.
Goddamnit it's not giving me time to think!
I see its hand coming from the left to try and rend my sides, but I leap backward, only for it to jump forwards and slash at my eyes. Miraculously, my rapier manages to come up in front of its claws, the edge facing its hand. When it tries to slash, all it manages to do is cut its other fingers off. I hear a buzzing in my head at that, and suddenly it requires less focus to use my swords.
I am still fighting for my life, and slowly acquiring more wounds, but now I can think.
How can I beat it? I'm running out of Void, so I can't keep up reinforcement forever. In fact, I feel that I only have close to 20 seconds left. Any spell I cast will lower that time drastically, and when I can't reinforce myself... I don't want to think about that. Luckily, time moves slower when reinforced, but that only gives me a minute, tops, subjective time.
How can I win? How? How? How? I don't think the friction spell will work again, that was just a modified cleaning spell. The only other spell that could be useful is Freezing Mist, as it's clearly fire-aligned, but if that doesn't work then I'm fucked. How is still moving? I stabbed its heart a hole in its heart and widened it for... fucks... sake... It couldn't be that easy, could it?
A quick underhand punch was coming at my gut, so I leaped back as far as I could. When I had some distance I focused on his heart.
"Basic Telekinesis" My voice came out seemingly before my lips moved, and echoed throughout the room.
The demon's core flew into my hand. It was that easy.
"H-HOW! That shouldn't be possible! A spell cannot breach the sanctity of another's body!" It yelled in confusion while falling to its knees.
"Before I die, please listen to me. This world has existed for too long. It needs to end, but the gods keep selfishly extending its life through agents of so-called balance! Do you think that this is the first time the world has become unbalanced? Do you think the agents have always been successful? NO! The world has ended before, and so another cycle began! The World Core's enchantments are wearing thin, we finally have a chance to end the cycles for good! I say to you, do not let this continue. Do not let us... become playthings... of the gods once more. Let this end. Like... all things must. Ple..ase..." It started its speech with vigor, and by the end, it was barely able to move.
"Well... that was something," I say, while callapsing onto the ground.
"Ughhhhh. I feel like death. How are you doing there, Valin?"
"CoNtrollinG your arm was... a new experIenCe. I do not think I could have handLed that for much longer." Valin says, almost as exhausted as I am.
"Great job out there I couldn't have done it without you." I say sincerely
Valin remains quiet, but I get a vague sense of pride and accomplishment.
Oh yeah, I still have the core in my hand. Well, no use saving it for a rainy day. Down the hatch.
The incredible tide of energy hits me like an uppercut to the jaw, and like an uppercut, it immediately knocks me out.