24 Fighting the Unknown

Since meeting Torix, this was the most nervous I'd seen him. I said, "Eh, I'll be fine. My armors eating it anyway, not me."

Torix sighed before saying, "I suppose you're right. Regardless, we have far larger problems on the horizon. You two will stay here. I will be the one to handle these two."

Althea chimed, "I can offer ranged support."

I didn't say shit. I knew I couldn't hold a candle to these guys. Some battles are better left unfought, for me at least.

Torix rolled his eyes, "Althea, you would be consumed in seconds by their mental magic. You don't even have the fortitude for surviving a tossed stone from Elthodriss. Know your place. That's how you were caught by us in the first place."

As he finished, a surge of curiosity coursed through me. I couldn't help but wonder why Torix was going through all this trouble for us. He could just give us to this Yawm guy then go back to before he met us, fine as a fiddle. Althea lowered her head in shame, "Why don't you just turn us over? That would be way easier."

This gave Torix pause. He tapped the edge of his chin as he glanced up for a moment, "Hmmm...I suppose I just don't want to be alone anymore. All of my family is dead...I'm already very old and very powerful, yet nothing about that power gives my life any meaning."

Torix frowned, "I guess I see a bit of my son in you. I've heard you speak of your father. There's a deep, seething hatred lying just underneath your words. You hate him just as much as Alfred hated me..."

The sudden, sharp emotion in his last words left me almost numb. Deeply personal and biting, Torix continued, "I don't understand it myself either. I could be searching for some twisted redemption after abandoning my son. I spent so much time pursuing immortality that I never lived the life I already had."

Torix clasped his hand into a fist, "Who knows. I don't have time to dwell on it for now." Torix focused on the ball of energy that revealed the two others outside. The ball's spinning stopped as it turned stable, "You may watch the fight from here. You may even learn a thing or two about magic."

We nodded before his energy chair picked him up and carried him outside of the colosseum. Once he was gone, I scratched the edge of my head, really just scraping my helm. Thoughts raced through my mind at that moment. Why was I dumb enough to ask something like that? Why couldn't I just forgive my father and move on? That's the problem with questions though. They're a lot easier to ask than answer.

Althea snapped me from my stupor when she asked, "Why do you hate your father?"

I sighed, "Uhm...He was ahhh...well, my mother died when I was seven, and my dad fell apart after that. He started drinking a lot, and he couldn't handle anything really. He did bad stuff after that. I don't want to talk about it."

With spite in her words, she seethed, "At least you had a family. Mine sold me when I was a little. I don't even have memories of my family anymore."

My gaze turned hard, harder than a brick breaking a man's jaw. I surged with anger, "Sometimes it's a hell of a lot harder watching something fall apart than never having it in the first place. You don't know what you lost. I watched it waste away to cancer."

Althea took a step back, her lips curved into a frown. We sat there for a tense moment before I sighed, "Alright, I'm sorry. Let's just...not bring up my father anymore. Thinking about him pisses me off."

She blinked a few times before saying, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did."

An awkward silence soaked into the room before I turned towards Torix's sphere. Elthodriss and Kelto Drainer still inspected the cliffside. They'd picked up several of the spears and dug up several other traps spread throughout the area. When Torix floated up on his chair, it was a surreal sight. When he spoke, we could hear it through the orb,

"Hello Elthodriss and Drainer. What are you doing here on this ball of mud?"

They glanced up towards him, wordless and spooky. They stared for a moment before Drainer spoke with a voice like sandpaper,

"We are here to capture 3298. She is an unknown. You know where she is?"

Torix shrugged, "Bah, so many things have happened here recently. I can't seem to remember if she was here or not."

Elthodriss spoke, his voice far gentler than Drainer’'s voice, yet more unnerving, "Now Torix, we've run into you in the past. You've spoken with Etorhma, even going so much as having seen the Old One. Yawm has nothing but respect for you. Have respect enough for him, and tell us where 3298 is."

"I do recall having my own request denied by Yawm. I asked where my son was, and he didn't even offer to help. Pity he needs me now, isn't it?"

Kelto roared, "You don't want to have Yawm of Flesh against you. He will tear your soul from that body you have and put it into something far more painful."

Torix grinned, "Oh yes, I'm sure he'd love fighting an Archlich. Especially a powerful one."

Elthodriss replied this time, "I'm sorry, Torix. We can't let 3298 escape. Yawm is willing to throw quite the batch of resources towards her." He gestured to himself, "We should be enough of an example."

Torix narrowed his eyes, "You are not even a speck of dust to me. I am more than just an archlich. I am Torix Worm of Darkhill. A master sorcerer of over a 1000 years of age. I've outlived your Yawm by over 500 years."

Elthodriss shrugged, "And yet Yawm is even stronger than you, despite having less time to develop. Shouldn't that speak for itself?"

Torix burst into laughter, long and loud. He raised his hand, "Do you honestly think I don't know what you're doing here?"

Elthodriss and Kelto Drainer turned to each other and then back towards Torix. The lich said, "You pawns are buying time while others from your little cult seek out the dungeon I came from. I've already planted spawns for protecting the entrance. I've already summoned evils even Yawm hasn't seen to guard my two little prizes."

Torix placed his fingertips together, "Now it's time to end this miniscule ounce of resistance you've scrapped together."

Pulling his hands apart, a rippling wave of energy appeared between the gap in Torix's fingers. Like a bending bar of steel, the sound forced me to cover my ears, even through the orb. Streaks of the violet arcane melded with the all consuming black in his hands.

Torix pulled his arms further and further apart, "Do you want to know why my power is less than Yawm's own?"

Elthodriss shook as Torix said, "Because I've created pawns more powerful than I am."

A monster unlike any I'd ever seen poured from the energy Torix created. Pulling the energy further apart with giant hands, the orange skin and many limbs squirmed out with vitality. Tall as a small skyscraper, the tentacle legs of the creature crashed into the earth with deafening booms. Spines of bone rose up from its back. The legs and arms of the creature, elongated and blue, led up to a faceless monster. Patches of bone plates formed scales on its chest.

Torix smiled, sinister and sly, "It’s easily understood. Why fight with one when you may fight with many?"

Even through the orb, Schema could recognized the monster,

Moloth, Behemoth of Eldritch, (lvl 1421) - Once a mindless creation of eldritch, Torix Worm harvested this monstrosity from a fringe world and trained it as his own over time. Despite having an endless hunger and longing for destruction, Moloth remains loyal to Torix for unknown reasons using unknown methods.

The being can move with a surprising speed despite its massive frame. The blue skin on its limbs is laden with a potent neurotoxin and acid. The creature can absorb creatures melted in its hands and tentacles through the orange skin on its body. Some speculate this is a form of predigestion. Regardless, it is brutally effective versus any foe.

The monster even has parasites on it's skin that protect it when small creatures swarm it. They can chew and devour most anything they touch. These parasites are a species unique to Moloth. What type of damage they deal is unknown, but it is effective versus all but the most hardened foes.

Avoid angering at all costs.

Moloth's body shivered before Elthodriss said, "Then you have made an enemy of Yawm. Be ready for the aftermath of your insanity."

Elthodriss's body expanded underneath his robes before Drainer's aura thickened until it looked like blood. Blots of earth swelled from under the ground, revealing several other robed members. Their misshapened bodies moved underneath their robes as they readied for battle.

I couldn't even begin to read all the levels and messages as Torix said, "Having such a low perception results in an inability to avoid traps like these. The charisma I have, however, allows me to squash them with this abomination right here."

As he finished his words, Moloth moved far faster than I expected it would for its size. When its hand collided with the ground, giant wedges of earth split upwards as the ground gave way to its mighty fist. The ground sizzled as two members of the cult were squashed under its hand.

Moloth lifted its fist and wiped the two member’s remains onto its chest. The skin absorbed their molten bodies. Althea gagged behind me as I grimaced. Even after all my experience with gross shit, this was still disturbing.

I sighed outwards as Torix shouted, "Be ready, Daniel. A few of them are coming into BloodHollow. Yawm sent more of his minions than I imagined he would. Do try and avoid being captured if you can. They will do horrific things to you, but I assure you this. Whatever they do to you, I will do worse if I find you captured."

I shivered as Elthodriss leapt from the ground. Like a napalm explosion, he barreled through the air and collided into the giant monster. The monster leaned back before grabbing Elthodriss in its hand. With a quick swipe, Moloth threw him so hard that Elthodriss exploded when he hit the ground. Even the slightest touch from Moloth sent the tiny cult members flying like speeding cannonballs.

I didn’t have time to stare in awe at the battle.I turned towards Althea. She glanced at the orb before saying, "We've got to prepare for battle. What skills have you been working on these past few weeks?"

"Burrowing, blitzing, deflection, and some other stuff. I was trying to come up with a counter for your harpoons."

She nodded before saying, "I've developed an arm cannon of my own. It can fire harpoons I spawn from eldritch energy."

Her left arm deformed, the muscles and skin splitting. Bones formed into lines and plates, interlocking with a smooth shifting as they clinked together. A horn grew from her right palm, spiral rivets covering the horn as she put the spike into the ammo compartment of the harpoon gun. She tapped the rifle, "My eldritch ability let's me pierce most defenses. We can take advantage of that."

"I doubt it’s the eldritch in you that lets you do that. My armor eats that shit for breakfast. I think it's more likely that ability is from something else. Regardless, we can't just beat these guys. We're going to need some sort of strategy."

I glanced towards the colosseum. Tiny rocks laid out all across the floor. A sudden shock of inspiration electrified me. I turned to Althea,

"Alright, here's the plan. I'll create a tunnel system underneath the colosseum using my burrowing skill. We'll place boulders across entrances in the bottom floor of the colosseum. You'll fire pot shots while I keep on my aura once they're in the trap."

Althea frowned, "What do you mean aura?"

I grinned, "Just stay at least a couple hundred feet away from me. Otherwise you'll die, pretty quickly too I'd imagine."

"Do you think you can set it up in time?"

I nodded, "I basically have shovels for hands."

Over the next hour or so, I created a labyrinth of tunnels underneath the colosseum. I created a couple dozen entrances spread throughout the staggered steps, and Althea and I placed boulders over each of the entrances. After we finished the process, we ran through the underbelly of the colosseum, marking it in our minimap.

We planned our escape routes, came up with a kiting strategy, and planned out how long each kill would take. I would stand in the middle of the colosseum and wait on someone to come near here. Althea would lift a boulder, fire a shot, then set the boulder down and run to a different entrance. She'd run towards the other side while I followed whoever was on top of the colosseum, wearing them down with oppression.

The intelligence was shining through as I devised this plot. Althea came up with the kiting strategy though. I just planned on us running in and out of entrances for escape, using oppression to kill them. Amazing what two minds can do that one mind can’t.

Regardless, we waited underneath, glancing through a peeking hole she made with a harpoon. Minutes passed, yet no evil minion of Yawm's came flying in. After a few more minutes, I grew bored,

"I mean, this dungeon's pretty damn big. It will probably be a long ass time before they show up. Let's check out the fight with Torix."

She snapped, "Don't be an idiot. These are powerful enemies we're facing. They will rip your guts out if you aren't careful."

I sighed, "Fine."

A few more minutes passed before a set of footsteps echoed down a hallway. I sprinted towards the middle of the arena before activating oppression. Althea sprinted over towards the side opposite of the noise. In came one of Yawm's minions, robed and foreboding.

Summon of Yawm(lvl 250) - A being Yawm spawned for a singular purpose of capturing subject 3298. Fast, powerful, and extremely cold, this being hugs victims before freezing them completely. It then carries them back towards Yawm. Be careful as it will numb you in less than a minute before carrying you off.

Alright, not the most challenging enemy. It looked like a catch and grab sort of creature, one meant for picking Althea up before she could escape. I walked underneath it, which wasn't too difficult. You'd be amazed at how loud a terrifying creature can gurgle.

When I cut on oppression, the creature let out a slight squeal before running around with far more vigor than before. Harpoons sunk into the ground around the monster, letting it howl in agony as each landed. Our combined onslaught of damage might finish it off faster than I'd imagine.

And we did. The creature died a few minutes later to a spike through the skull. Althea grabbed the exp almost entirely, since her offensive capabilities were maximized here. I didn't even gain a level. I suppose she did far more damage than I.

With that handled, I pulled the creature into one of the many entrances of my labyrinth before shouting, "Hell yeah Althea. we kicked the shit out of them."

"You mean I kicked the shit out them?"

"Fuck you."

For a moment, I almost thought I heard a slight chuckle from her. I assumed it must be my imagination. I don't even think Althea could have laughed. Whatever, it didn't matter. What did matter was the fact that other steps soon echoed into the colosseum.

Of course, our confidence improved since the last kill. Killing several of them wasn't out of the question, especially if Althea and I took advantage of our abilities. Oppression could hit a whole group, and her spears could pierce through several foes if she lined up her shots.

This made murdering them far simpler. Unfortunately, a message popped up at the absolute worst of times.

Evolution gained. III Harbinger of Cataclysm unlocked. Evolve Y/N?

I frowned before selecting no. The evolution would have to wait till a better time. Another message came up,

Are you absolutely sure you don't want to evolve into III Harbinger of Cataclysm? If you reject this evolution, further evolutions will be prevented in the future. Evolve Y/N?

Man, that shit sucked. I couldn't believe it. Just because of my circumstances, I wouldn't be given anymore evolutions. It was a real pity in my mind, but I wasn't about to risk being captured for the evolution. I didn't know what Yawm had planned for his unknowns, but I wasn't about to risk finding out.

Before I could select no, a tendril of my armor shot outward and selected yes. My goddamn armor had betrayed me, the greedy little bastard.

Like my blood was replaced with magma, long tendrils of armor dug into my body. They dug deep, hitting the bone. Oppression shut off. There was so many tendrils of armor writhing under my skin that I couldn't even think of moving. I had a pain tolerance of 93. Only 7% of the pain came through.

Let me tell you something. 7% of infinity is still infinity. 7% of all the world's oceans is still a sea. 7% of this pain was still a boiling, all consuming agony I'd never felt before. I bit my lip, grit my teeth, and clenched my fists as I crawled on the ground in pain. I tried desperately to keep quiet. With every ounce of my strength, I kept myself quiet.

It simply wasn't enough. I couldn't overpower this with sheer willpower. I couldn't endure this in silence. Without my pain tolerance, my mind might have snapped at that moment. I roared outwards in anguish, gurgling on my own spit. I screamed like I was living a nightmare. Every single nerve in my body was on fire, and I was living it out with an absolute, keen awareness thanks to my fucking perception.

I drooled without any control of myself. I couldn't even cry the excruciation punctured so deep. From above, a banging sounded above me. After a minute or two, the rock above me collapsed as three of the robed summons poured in. When one grabbed me, the limbs were like ice.

The cold sunk deep into my bones within a few seconds. As I grew numb, the monster crawled back up the wall. I was almost glad this thing got me, since the cold was taking away the pain. The monster leapt up the steps, it's flat feet landing with surprising elegance. By the time we reached out of the colosseum, the cold was wrapping all around me like a loving embrace. It stole the endless torment away.

An intimidating, yet feminine voice, different from Althea's, shouted with pride,

"So this is the garbage Torix told me to swarm with eldritch? I suppose the only cataclysm he's ushering forth is his own."