Yggdrasil Fallen, LitRPG Series
Book 1, Part 1: Obsidian
Chapter 22: Rift
Three of the remaining soldiers followed closely behind Andre, the Architect lingering to the back of the group. As they passed the threshold, the chamber doors slammed closed, sealing the remainder of the group behind them. The chamber that lay before them more resembled a factory floor than a boss chamber. Steel supports stuck up from the floor reaching to the ceiling overhead, holding in place large steel plates. Several more steel beams strutted out from the walls at 3 varying heights, reaching across the room meeting at equidistant points where more steel plates were bolted into place, forming platforms and catwalks between. On either side of the room Andre could see grated staircases leading up to the second level, then from there at the back of the room a single grated staircase leading to the third with series of catwalks crisscrossing suspended by thick cabling.
The entire floor of the room was covered with diamond patterned, riveted plates with destroyed, smoking machinery riddled throughout. Andre continued his stride forwards, crossing into the chamber weapon at the ready. He shouted back over his shoulder,
“You three better forget what you’re about to witness, that is if you want to see another dawn” Andre growled to the trembling soldiers. Gripping his crackling weapon in his right hand, while raising his left Andre focused onto the 4 hounds to either side of the snake woman. Four bolts of focused Volt energy blasted out in a short flashing burst, simultaneously striking all the hounds causing them to collapse, convulsing to the floor.
“Ability Activated: “Focused Strike”. You are in a Volt Aspect rich environment, Volt based abilities do significantly increased damage, while costing half as much energy. Stun duration is increased. It is easier for you to manipulate, convert and absorb Volt aspected energy. Chance for Volt aspected beings to manifest has been drastically increased.”
“Well, what the fuck is this? More shit you neglected to tell me. I further have questions, but they’ll have to wait.” Andre said to ALIAS in response to the text box.
“Ability Activated: “Like a River”
He was already at a full sprint through the chamber, his eyes still focused on the hounds.
“Those scaled plant worm things shouldn’t be much of a threat if they can’t burrow. The hounds must go down first, while the stun is still in effect.” He thought to himself as he hooked hard to the right, sprinting to the staircase to the second floor, scaling 3 steps at a time. On the second-floor catwalk he continued his sprint until he was right above the hounds. Andre paused, assessing his surroundings and noticed the worms swarming up the staircase with startling speed. A whip cracked over the heads of the hounds startling him. The beasts slowly staggered to their feet, angry barking, growling roars emitting from their slavering jowls. Another whip crack set their hackles on edge. From the corner of his eye Andre could see the three soldiers, rallying from their shock and preparing to pincer the worms on the staircase.
With a light leap Andre, he landed right foot on the handrail, before kicking off into a spiraling flip towards two of the hounds below.
“Ability activated: Dispersed strike”
Before he had even landed his downward strike, the dense static filled sphere that surrounded him stunned not only the two hounds, but also the whip wielding snake woman. With a smoking hiss his machete cut through the first beast from where its head met its right shoulder clear through to its left leg, splitting it almost entirely in half. The smell of burnt hair and flash seared meat surrounded him as he stood, flicking his blade to splatter away the electricity charred hound bits that clung to it.
“Congratulations, you have slain a “Terran Shadow Hound”.
With a quick lunge forwards he dug his weapon into the second beasts chest. Allowing his forward momentum to carry him Andre spun, his blade tearing through the beasts rib cage; blood spraying in an almost perfect arch. Following through on his spin Andre brought his weapon back around to sever the beasts head, rhythmic pulses of blood spurting across the cobblestone as it fell
“Congratulations, you have slain a “Terran Shadow Hound”.
“Ok, ALIAS, that is going to get real old, can you please be silent about what I’ve killed until we’re done?
“Very well”
Not losing a beat he hopped onto the falling beasts’ back and launched himself towards the last two. Midair, he felt something hard wrap around his ankle and begin flinging him in wide circles around the chamber; barely missing several vertical beams before sending him hurtling right into one of the steel uprights. Andre’s vision flashed as breath fled him and pain flooded through his arm and chest. His machete sent spinning off from the brutality of the impact. The force he struck the beam with bent it outwards, shifting it enough to bring a steel plate crashing down from above. He stared in horror as it slammed through the highest catwalk and was sent careening, thankfully away from him before crashing down and crushing several of the plantoid worm creatures.
Andre fell, having pulled himself from the beam, tumbling to the ground:
“ALIAS, What the hell is that thing.”
“………”
“ALIAS?!”
“Per your request I am remaining silent until this is done.”
“Don’t be a bitch, I asked you to stop chiming off every damn kill; not to be silent entirely.”
“…”
“OKAY! I’m sorry for calling you a bitch, and for stifling your excitement over kills! Please tell me what I’m facing!”
“Query: “Monster Data”: “Beastmaster”: one of the 4 supreme masters of the Obsidian Legion. She is one of the harbingers of doom and her appearance in any realm represents an acceleration in its slide towards inevitable decay and destruction. Along with her 3 siblings: “Warlord” “Archangel” and “Crimson Shadow” they remain undefeated through countless skirmishes across numerous worlds. It is highly suggested upon encountering any of the Supreme Alphas, the Ascended flee their world to regroup. In other words, you dead bitch.”
“Fuck. Me. Running. Sideways.” Andre groaned with ragged breaths after striking the ground with a heavy thud as ALIAS finished its description. He forcefully pulled himself to his knees, his right arm hanging limply to his side; dislocated and broken in several places. Several ribs on the same side crushed inwards. He retched, bloody vomit spewing onto the diamond patterned plating; chunks of eviscerated flesh speckling the growing pool. In the agony coursing through him he hadn’t noticed the “Beastmaster” and several of the scaly plantoid worm beasts surround him. In a sweeping motion she swooped in to grab him by the throat. Lifting him several feet off the ground Andre felt his broken bones grinding together, his shattered arm sagging.
“SSSSSuch a weak little asssscended, fear not your faaaaate. I ssshhhaaalll conssssume you quickly and add your ssstrength to my own, a mere ssssnack next to the world I ssshall consssume.” She hissed out with a sinister glint in her reptilian eyes, a sickly smirk playing across her face. With her other arm she reached out and flicked his limp arm like a cat playing with a bauble; causing Andre to grimmace. She repeated her action over and over each time with greater force; eliciting more agonized groans as she pulverized the remains of his arm. Growing bored with her little game she grabbed it, pulling outwards from his shoulder. Andre shrieked as the ligaments stretched, the tearing muscle and grinding of destroyed bone almost more than he could consciously manage. With an audible “pop” his arm tore free of his body, blood hemorrhaging down his side. He would have retched again had her grip around his throat not been effectively cutting off everything from his lower body. In his swimming vision he saw her take a large bite from his severed limb, before tossing it to one of the creatures that surrounded them. His blood smeared across her face, bits of his flesh in her teeth in a truly grotesque horror movie-esque scene where one of the protagonists met their untimely end.
“ALERT!: Critical damage has been taken, activating convergence ability “Blissful Storm”. “Blissful Storm” effect has staunched affliction “Hemorrhage”. ALIAS rang through the haze, the familiar voice clearing things for him a bit. The stun effect hit the Beastmaster and monsters around him like a freight train, dropping them all convulsing to the floor. Andre hit the ground hard, the air again knocked from his lungs. He did not lay long, energized by the cool mist that had surrounded them he rolled to his feet and took off at an unbalanced, sloppy sprint more akin to a rushed drunken stagger:
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“I need to put some distance between myself and that bitch, give myself time to plan the next move!” Breathing was a bit easier than he expected, the burst heal effect of his storm augmented by the ring on his hand knitted ribs back together, and repaired some of what he assumed to be significant internal trauma. Hiding behind one of the smoking machines he had spotted upon entering the room he struggled to find a new center of balance in the shock of losing a limb. He was still woozy, sweat and blood coating the left side of his body causing the saturated pliable leather of his armor to cling to his skin.
“Don’t think you can hide, we can ssssmell your blood, sssssilly assscended.” Her shrill raspy voice rang through the metallic chamber, reverberating off the walls.
“One lucky ssstun won’t give you the time to esssscape, remember you’re ssssealed in here with me.”
Andre moved unsteadily along the fragmented metal to the edge, he peered out into the room. She, along with the remainder of her monsters had moved back to the center of the room, a wriggling, writhing mass of green and brown. It was beyond the mass of serpentine bodies that he saw it, 2 massive bloody splatters on the wall, a large pool beneath with a completely destroyed shield in the middle of it and the huge axe embedded in the wall.
“I am completely alone, I failed them… all of them.” Grief washed over him in waves of angry lamentations.
“If I manage to somehow survive all this… how do I return to Silderson, to all the families inevitably torn apart by my ineptitude… That life is surely gone now. I am a complete failure.”
He sunk, deeper; drowning in the sense of helplessness. Without his weapon, his arm or any support he had no hope, no trump card in his font pocket like last time.
“This is a world-ender beast I’m facing… what hope was there really?”
“Sssstupid assscended, come meet your fate. With your blood we sssshall be free of thisss confinement. Ssstop the delay and meet me head on like a true “Hero”.” The Beastmaster’s last word had been spat out with such a deep sarcastic mocking tone Andre almost felt wounded, embarrassed that he might have thought himself as such.
Resigning himself to his fate, he walked around the corner from where he had been hiding slowly striding towards the center of the room. He spotted his machete, a few feet away, laying where it had clattered in the initial fall.
“Retrieve your weapon, provide me with jusssst a bit more entertainment before I paint our path to freedom with your blood.” Her cackling hissing laughter once again echoed through the chamber.
Summoning all the courage he had left, Andre strode over stooping to grab his fallen weapon, the grip a foreign feeling in his numb hand. The Beastmaster rose, extending her serpentine body high above him, whip gripped tightly. A malicious grin pulled taught across her scaly face as she cracked her it high in the air. The worm/snake creatures at her feet writhed, breaking from the mass to form a line in front of her. Another snapping crack and the monsters reared up, their horrifying faces splitting, blossoming to reveal the rotting fangs and forked tongues. A shrill whistle came from the Beastmaster as the beasts charged. Andre drove the tip of his weapon into the ground between the cobblestones, held up his hand:
“Ability activated: “Focused Strike”.
6 forked beams of Volt energy shot from his palm, crackling across them, sizzling flesh releasing clouds of thick smoke plumes that swirled in the air upset by the violence of his spell. The beasts seemingly unphased by the blast of energy continued their slithering drive towards him.
“Ability Activated: “Focused Strike”
Another 6 bolts shot out, arcing across the creatures leaving blackened oozing blisters as the bolts danced, releasing more thick smoke into the now swirling mass. The beasts slowed, their singed flesh cracking and tearing as they moved.
“ALERT: Volt Aspected Energy Low.”
“Shit, I think I have one more shot to take these bastards down!” Focusing everything he had Andre activated his ability again, this time the shots he fired out resembled little more than static shocks, bouncing across a woolen surface in the dark. Small whisps of smoke rose from them.
“All ssssspent I ssseeeeee!” The Beastmaster cackled at him, snapping her whip over the head of the beasts. They reared back, burned cracking skin sloughing off with streams of thick green blood, their wide maws focused on Him, rivulets of drool splatting to the ground around them. The beasts slowly closed in seemingly toying with him, their split heads somehow resembling overjoyed puppies about to get a treat.
A thunderous roar echoed through the chamber, the beasts turning to face the writhing cloud of smoke that had accumulated just over the second floor. It was now sparking; electrical energy coursing through it as the smoke swirled angrily, crashing in on itself. Another loud boom rang through the chamber echoing off the walls and ceiling. Even the Beastmaster paused to boredly watch the events currently transpiring. The small sparks turned into dangerous bolts, arching through the chamber hitting everything they could reach. 2 of the creatures were struck and sent writhing, the Beastmaster began spinning the whip over her head, creating a wicked fan-blade of leather, deflecting any that targeted her; harmlessly bouncing the bolts off into nearby machinery.
The clouds stilled, the eerie calm washing through the room making Andre’s hair stand on end. He kicked himself backwards, skipping several steps as eight bolts struck the ground near where he had been standing in a slight concave arc, leaving luminous spheres between him and the enemies. He stared, a tingling amazement dancing across his skin as he watched the orbs expand, unfolding into humanoid forms. He drew in a breath, marveled by what was happening before him. Eight translucent pale violet men stood before him their forms vibrating, almost shimmering as energy peeled off in white whisps.
They all turned to him, 6 nodding a final farewell as they streaked towards the remaining beasts, a faint trail of energy evaporating behind them. They made violent contact like human shaped C4 charges. They exploded spraying viscera, chunks of flesh and green blood in every direction at the point of impact. The remaining two turned to him, one appearing to hold a sword and shield, the other with a comically huge axe slung over his shoulder:
“We can no longer make it out of here alive brother, but at least we can repay the two favors we owe and maybe give you the chance.” The axman spoke, his once deep heavily accented voice now high pitched and ephemeral; sounding like it had been passed through an electric synthesizer. They turned back, charging straight towards the Beastmaster. She lashed out her whip attempting to halt them but to no avail; it passed right through their wispy forms as though she’d done nothing at all.
The resulting explosion shook the entire cavern causing catwalks, support structure and steel plates to fall littering the area in debris, as puffs of dust rising like mini mushroom clouds rose filling the room. Trembling silence fell throughout the room as lights flickered. The air slowly began to clear and a shrill gurgling cackle filled the ensuing silence as the Beastmaster slithered forwards out of the dissipating cloud, no visible harm having been afflicted upon her.
“Your lassssst hope, your lassssst chance all for naught.” Her whip lashed out, wrapping his torso in its tight embrace. Andre found himself flying across the room again. He hit the ground hard rolling until he came to a stop against the far wall.
“You and your comradsss ssssslew my lovely petssss. You sssshall pay for that.” Andre pulled himself to his knees, struggling to breathe in the dusty haze. She was in his face with a flicker of motion almost too fast for him to follow. Her whip flicking across his face, cutting deep from his forehead across his eye and cheek in a steep angle. Blood flowed readily from the wound, pouring onto the leather of his pants, pooling onto the metal plating below. Her hand lashed out, grabbing his throat again in a grip that threatened to break his spine.
“I guess this is it, this is how I die. Sorry Jeff, that last meal together certainly was epic if not extremely simple… Kind of indicative of our friendship, I truly hope she’s the one for ya.” Andre felt his thoughts racing as the gripping hand tightened, choking the life out of him.
“Gift Activated: “Brand of Yggdrasil””
Blistering energy spilled out across his back, starting from the middle of his spine, streaking through the scar in both directions triggering a cold tingling sensation as it traced out the trunk, then the roots and finally the branches, each vine wrapped in burning heat as it spread until it met the shoulder where the scar halted at his missing arm. The energy swelled, pulsing, reverberating through his whole body. Heat began to build at the blood caked stump he had left, throbbing until he gurgled out a choked squeak from the pain. The air around where his limb should have been began to shimmer, a sparkling radiance that blinded both him and the Beastmaster. Her grip relented, dropping him to the ground to cover her eyes.
Where the shimmer had been, an evanescent arm had formed and in its semi-translucent form, grasped the blackened root by its cherry handle. The Beastmaster slithered back several feet from him, its horror not even remotely masked.
“What exactly are you, assssscended basssstard.”
*Unaspected Gift granted: “Ambidexterity”: Wield weapons. both hands with equal precision, Granting scaling bonus from “DEXTERITY” statistic.*
Andres left hand surged, Volt energy spiking down his arm, dancing across his weapon. He shot forwards, a dervish of weapon strikes at the terrified creature who ducked, dodged and seemingly slipped just out of range of his strikes. Frustrated he leapt forwards with a ferocious kick to send her sprawling backwards to the ground. Before she could reassert herself, Andre leapt onto her chest.
“Arm for an arm you fucking bitch!” He hollered as he brought the machete down in a whistling slash, severing her arm that held the whip at the shoulder. Kicking it away, he backflipped off her, preparing another flurry of attacks when his ephemeral right arm began to thrum.
“Ability “Brand of Yggdrasil” ending, state critical, initiating emergency escape protocols.”
Against his will the arm holding the blackened root slashed through the air, seeming to cut a shimmering gash 6 feet high and no wider than his thumb. The gash swelled, expanding to almost resemble a door. An intense force began pulling on his very being, yanking him towards it.
“NO! I need to finish this bitch off!”
Even with his feet planted, straining against the pull he slid backwards towards the slashed opening.
“I WILL KILL YOU!” He bellowed, losing his footing as he was yanked through the rift, the last thing he saw was a smug triumphant grin as she waved to him, using her own severed arm in a twisted macabre manner as the silvery rift zipped closed, cutting him off from finishing the job.
“DAMNIT” He screamed into the hard dirty ground, his aspected energy fully exhausted. he collapsed, darkness rapidly closing in upon him.