Dissonance a litrpg adve.., p.70
Dissonance: A LitRPG Adventure, page 70
part #1 of Unbound Series
Nothing withstands your calamitous might! Not earth, not stone, not flesh. Potency, density, and speed increases moderately with Skill level.
The thrum of power echoed through him, and he smiled despite the fissure of pain that followed. The undeniable song that for a brief moment overwhelmed the constant concerto that was the Mother's symphonic breath. This was a chorus of life and power and possibility, pouring through him, into him, as he grew past his own limits once again.
The glowing red light slowly grew softer before floating gently to the ground, landing a few feet away with a soft plink. He glanced at it before a soft whine captured his attention. Magda lay on the ground fifty feet away, and Pit was nearby, nosing her entirely-too-still hand.
He stumbled toward them, but before he could get very far, two things happened in quick succession. The first, a notification:
Hidden Quest Complete!
Survive The Labyrinth!
You have bested the final guardians of the Labyrinth and are granted your just rewards!
And then, the massive door began to open.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
The massive door, more like a circular bank vault than anything else, pulled upward slowly with the sound of shrieking metal and grinding stone. Beyond was a soft darkness that almost seemed to...breathe. Felix flared his Manasight (a task that had become far easier), and he perceived a whirlwind: streams of multicolored vapor and light were being pulled into the doorway, all of the ambient Mana in the area gone in an instant.
Devoured.
Bastion of Will is level 35!
Felix gulped audibly, his pulse a rapid tattoo in his neck and chest. In the few moments before his Bastion of Will reestablished itself, he had heard that entrancing song, louder and more persuasive than ever. It sent through him a wave of dizziness that, coupled with his copious blood loss, was enough to stagger him. But then it was gone, and Felix was left staring at the void beyond the doorway.
Another notification hit him.
Quest Complete!
Advance Five Spells To Apprentice Level!
You have proven yourself an apprentice mage!
You Gain The Following:
Title: Apprentice Magus (Rare)
You have shown the bare minimum required of a Magus. You advance...for now. Gain +10 to Mental Stats, +10 to RES, +10 to ALA
ERROR!
...Rewards Increased Due to Advancing 6 Spells to Apprentice Tier
...Rewards Increased Due to Advancing 6 Spells of Rare or Higher Rarity
...Rewards Increased Due to Advancing 2 Spells of Epic or Higher Rarity
Unlocking Resonance and Alacrity...
Already Unlocked!
Accessing Options...
Unlocking Intent and Affinity...
+10 To All Harmonic Stats
+25% XP Gain Toward Next Level
You Have Unlocked A Harmonic Stat!
Intent - Affects influence upon the Harmonics. Confluence of Willpower and Strength.
Current Value: INE - 63
You Have Unlocked A Harmonic Stat!
Affinity - Affects empathy and connection. Confluence of Vitality and Perception.
Current Value: AFI - 57
The usual currents of effervescent energy boiled through him, expanding Felix in ways he could neither see nor understand. He simply felt...more. The music swelled higher and higher, the sound sweeping away the breathy call of the dark doorway, pure and crystalline. Vibrating through his entire being, as if he were the world's biggest tuning fork, struck upon the bones of the world.
When the rush faded, he was on his hands and knees, blinking at the cracked and riven ground. Before him was a crimson gemstone the size of a plum. It glittered in the glowlight of the Labyrinth's moss and fog, bright with a certain vitality that attracted him even as it repelled him. Instinctively, he Analyzed it.
Name: Bloodstone (Complete)
Type: Core
Lore: A complete bloodstone, made of a powerful creature's raw, immutable essence.
Felix picked it up, certain he knew what it was; another notification soon followed, confirming his suspicions.
Quest Complete!
A Light In The Dark!
You have collected 4/4 Blood Remnants! All four Remnants have fused into a single Bloodstone.
You Gain The Following:
x1 Essence Stone of Consumption (Mind Essence)
Name: Essence Stone of Consumption
Type: Essence Stone (Legendary)
Lore: A rarefied and crystallized Essence from a high tier source. It will grant the Essence of Consumption, a Mind Essence.
The Bloodstone dissolved in his hand, transmuting from a plum-sized gem to an oblong rock approximately an inch long and a half inch in diameter.
Essence...stone? Legendary? Felix shook his head and palmed it as he got to his feet. He'd worry about it later. For now he was more concerned about Pit...and Magda.
The two of them were fifty feet away, and Magda was still on the ground. She wasn't moving at all. Felix walked a bit, then when his body didn't fall apart, he started to jog over. Pit was nervously pacing around her downed form, and he gave a small chirp at Felix when he approached. Felix couldn't tell if she was breathing, her armor too bulky. There was a slow ooze of blood from a nasty gash in her forehead, but that was the least of her wounds. Her left shield was broken, just a hunk of twisted metal, and the arm underneath it was mangled, too. The armor was rent even further than before, the script seal nearly gone. Gashes extended all over her mail and leather kit, the edges melted or burnt by that dark lightning the Guardians used. It had been a powerful spell, capable of blasting apart her mundane and magical shields, its dark energy having left clear marks where it traveled up her left arm and discharging from her shoulder. Both were a charred mess, and Felix imagined her left side was basically shot at this point.
"Magda? Magda?" Felix knelt down, but his leg muscles were a little shaky so it was more of a sudden squat. "Are you-?"
"I'm...alive," she wheezed. "For now."
Felix breathed a sigh of relief, dearly wishing he could get a read on the woman with Analyze. "You got any more of those script seal things? You've got an awful lotta wounds." Felix felt a pang of worry from Pit. When had the tenku gotten so close to Magda?
"Side pouch...right hip," Magda offered. Her eyes were scrunched closed with what looked like concentration. "You know...how to use em, Unbound?"
Felix was already at her hip, pulling out a supply of cloth bundles, each marked with a different symbol in red. "Not a clue, Shieldwitch."
She grunted, annoyed and amused in equal measure. "Grab...the one labeled...with yarrow."
Felix's attention pinged at the word. Yarrow, his favorite herb. The only problem was that he still couldn't read their language. "What's that look like?"
"Blind gods...you can't read?" Magda groaned. "Circle...with seven hooks. Two lines....at the bottom...like legs."
Felix quickly found what she spoke of, a roll of thin cloth that was held closed by a red wax seal. "Got it."
"Good. Put...put it on me. Arm...and shoulder. Wrap it up."
To do that, Felix had to pull off her armor. It was fairly straightforward, but Felix had to bend and rip apart a couple straps he couldn't figure out. After five minutes, he had her left shoulder and arm completely bare, the clothing (Gambeson?) beneath having also been ruined by the Guardian's dark power. Magda's naked skin was all inflamed and bloody, the armor removal causing some more sluggish bleeding as it tore open some of her more minor wounds. With great care, Felix broke the wax seal and began to wrap Magda's arm and shoulder. The bundle didn't seem particularly large, but it had more than enough to secure her wounds. At the end, Felix was left with a small red character inscribed on the edge of the bandage.
"Now prick your finger...put your...your blood on the script," Maga wheezed through her teeth, which had been grinding the entire time he'd worked. Felix did just that, but nothing happened.
"It's not working. What do I do?" Felix felt a touch of panic settle onto his mind. As much as the woman had annoyed him, he didn't want her to die. "What does the blood do?"
"Wha...it charges the...script. Like a...fire."
A spark to ignite it. Then it's transferring Mana. What if I just pour Mana directly into it? Would that work, or would it ruin it? Felix ran his hand over his face in frustration. "How much blood does it take?"
"Just...a drop is...fine," Magda breathed.
Then say...a hundred Mana should be good, right? Felix didn't ask, he just held a hand over the inscription and willed out a portion of his unattributed Mana. It poured from his hand like a cloud of crackling blue, a tiny storm cloud in his palm. Felix pushed the Mana down and into the inscription itself.
The bandages suddenly clung to her shoulder and arm, tightening as if vacuum sealed. Magda hissed in pain before relaxing, while the script seal began to glow with a bright green gold writing all down its length. The light traced the script being written (revealed?) before fading into a dark black ink, and it terminated at the far end of the seal bandage.
Mana Manipulation is level 5!
Mana Manipulation is level 6!
After a moment, Felix helped Magda to her feet. She wobbled a bit, but quickly regained her composure.
"I'll be...ach, alright. I think. That damn poison is still screwin' with my Body. Can't heal properly with all this muck in my system," she grunted, still treating her left side gingerly.
Felix eyed his own Health. He'd only gained around 26 points back in the ten minutes since the battle, and his aches were slow to dissipate. Stamina moved a lot faster however, having regenerated all of his 721 points, and his Mana was simply insane at this point. In the last ten minutes, he'd regenerated not only enough to refill his Mana pool, but to also recharge his shard back to full.
Gotta do something about that Health Regen. Either that or find a way to boost the hell out of my Meditation Skill.
"C'mon. We should get moving." Felix nodded at the open door. "I'm willing to bet that's the center we've been after."
Magda followed his gaze and nodded, her expression warring between pained and trepidatious. Felix didn't blame her. He wasn't relishing the idea of entering that doorway either.
Suddenly, Pit's head perked up and swiveled to look behind them. Moments later, Felix heard it, too.
Something was shaking the ground. And it was getting closer.
"Yyero's ass, what now?" Magda muttered, readying her lone shield and turning toward the source, the same path they had traversed.
Less than two seconds later, a massive figure emerged from the fog, dark and near featureless despite the glowlight of the maze. Teeth that reminded Felix vividly of a shark and boar-tusks led the way, the giant's blue skin and dark iron armor the same as ever.
"Well, well, well," Grimmar chortled. "What's happened here?"
From behind him came twelve more giants, each visibly winded but grinning viciously at Felix and his friends. The Nym's sharp eyes picked out signs of battle damage, wear upon their armor and skin that indicated that they hadn't been as careful as Felix and Magda had in their advancement.
"Grimmar," Felix growled. "How great to see you. How's the eye?"
The chieftain snarled at him, his hand lifting halfway to his left eye before stopping. It was still a ruin, the four angry red claw marks swollen and inflamed.
"I'll gut you for that, worm. You and your tame chimera." The giant glared at a space above Felix's left shoulder before flicking back to his face. "For that and so much more."
Oh right, the shard.
"I won this, fair and square," Felix said, trying to keep his voice mild as he glanced at the dissipating flesh of the Guardian beasts. The bronze spikes that had been within their necks were the only thing left from the first one, and the second was soon to follow. "You should have put more points into Willpower, Grimmy."
"Ta'katha! Riktu na fala!" One of the giants beside the chieftain surged forward, held back only by the hands of his fellows. The way the giant spit at him as he raged made it clear he took offense to Felix's flippant words. He didn't know why the others held the giant back, but he was happy for it.
Good. Gimme just a little longer.
Felix doubted he'd get that wish.
Grimmar held up a hand and the snarling of his subordinates died away instantly. He fixed Felix with a smarmy, insincere grin...or something close to it. The amount of teeth in the giant's mouth made normal facial expressions a challenge. Felix didn't fully understand how the Risi even spoke coherently.
"This posturing bores me, and I have better places to be. Ossun," Grimmar signaled an older Risi that was nearly fifteen feet tall. A Commander. "Dispose of them."
All twelve giants rushed in.
Reign of Vellus!
Reign of Vellus!
Reign of Vellus!
The three bronze spikes, the only remnants of the first Bloodtainted Guardian zipped through the air, propelled by Felix's will toward the three giants leading the charge. Ossun dodged out of the way, but the next three took the spikes directly to the neck, chest, and gut respectively. The spikes were extremely sharp, preternaturally so, cutting through the armor like tissue paper. Which was what Felix was counting on...what he didn't expect was what happened after.
Eldritch Contaminant Found...
Isolation Wards Initiated
Bright yellow lightning discharged from the three spikes, the giants attached to them seizing as thousands of volts coursed through their massive bodies. Sigils illuminated along the sides of the spikes, words Felix could neither make out nor understand, and all three spikes were suddenly drawn together like magnets. This meant that the three electrified Risi Warriors were also slammed together, blue blood spraying in a fountain between them as the bronze spikes discharged another deadly charge of power. The crackle of buzzing dissonance was powerful and awful.
Holy shit.
The Risi didn't move for a beat, letting Felix and Magda seize the initiative. Magda grabbed a stone rod, leftover from their previous fight, and hurled it among the largest cluster of giants.
"Stone Break!"
As the giants were bombarded with rocky shrapnel, Felix entered range and hit them with Influence of the Wisp. Four giants were hit, all of them succumbing to the Enthrall status condition, even as a blue-white fire rapidly ate at their exposed flesh. Their screams shocked the others into motion, and the visceral presence of fire seemed to bring out an unbridled rage in all the giants. They ignored Magda and headed straight for Felix.
Guess they hate fire.
A Force Wall penned them in, but only resisted a few powerful blows from the Risi Warriors, amassed as they were; but by then, Magda was among them, using Shield Bash on anyone who came close.
Felix, meanwhile, was focused on Grimmar. The chieftain was attempting to bypass the fight completely, walking briskly toward the opened door and yawning darkness beyond. Felix cast out a Shadow Whip, intending to grab the massive Risi's leg and trip him up. Instead, something grabbed Felix's leg and hauled back. His aim was thrown, the spell falling short of the chieftain as his body was jerked backwards several steps. After those steps, Felix's new heavier Body helped him stop and brace, and he looked behind him. The prone form of Ossun had his outstretched hand clasped firmly around Felix's ankle. The older giant also had a surprised look on his face, as if he had expected that to go differently.
"Kill them all, Ossun," Grimmar said as he glanced backward without stopping. "Mother will forgive us."
He disappeared into the dark.
Shit!
"Rak len fala to'mak rati!" Ossun screamed at him, his rage reigniting from a momentary confusion. The giant's grip tightened on Felix’s leg, then he was sent sprawling to the side.
Felix's body impacted the ground with an almighty crash, the stone giving way beneath his strengthened Body and Ossun's enormous strength. Felix gasped in surprise, the impact driving the breath from his lungs yet again. However, Ossun had released Felix's leg as the Risi Commander regained his feet and loomed over the prone Nym.
"You...are...worthless," Ossun said in a stilted voice. Then he raised his right foot up high and drove it downward for a powerful stomp.
Reign of Vellus!
Lightning blasted all around him as Felix stopped the giant's boot with a thought and about 150 Mana. Even still, Ossun's leg began to shake and strain, moving closer with each moment. Still lying on his back, Felix cast his newest spell.
Wrack and Ruin!
A green orb condensed in his right hand, so dark it was nearly black, before launching with a powerful thunderclap at Ossun's enormous face. The blue bastard didn't even have a moment to blink before the fist-sized sphere punched directly through his forehead and shot out with a spray of blue gore.
You have defeated Ossun, Risi Commander!
You have earned XP!
Wrack and Ruin is level 26!
Felix gasped, stepping back from Ossun's death-slackened grip, surprised and a little sickened at the devastation of the giant's head. Yet he wasn't a fool, at least not always. He summoned two more dark orbs and sent them rocketing outward.
The deadly spheres were able to rip through a single enemy before they dissipated and he had to recast. As long as he hit them in an unarmored section, they died instantly, their flesh too weak to fight against the spell's powerful acid. Each casting, however, cost Felix upwards of a hundred Mana. He could manage about eight more shots before he'd be on empty, or relying on his shard's reserves.
I'll have to make ‘em count, then.
Four more castings in rapid succession blasted out from his grasp, each one finding a giant's chest, head, or shoulder. Headshots were instantly fatal, but where the ball of highly-condensed acid had to eat through armor, it lost much of its penetrating power. It dissolved the crude iron armor the giants wore, but only did moderate damage to whatever flesh was beneath. Pit, anticipating Felix's actions, used his Frost Spears and Wingblades to put the giants off balance. The tenku had embraced his Poisonfire as well, and was a green-lit torch on the dark battlefield, weaving between the relatively-slow Risi like an immolating ghost.
