Chapter 35: To Make a Difference

Chapter 35: To Make a Difference

"Whatever's allowing that arcane and necrotic energy to stay apart is only barely stable. I don't know exactly what it is, but I'm guessing that any amount of physical disruption will destabilize it," Vex explained. "That's why you can't damage it."

I'm not sure I follow, Kestel sent over the link. He sounded... slightly calmer, but also strangely out of breath, for someone on a telepathic link. How does that link to it being invulnerable?

"I think it's invulnerable because of health and [Ethereal Body]," Vex said. He watched the Aberrant closely as it clashed with the captain; it still hadn't noticed any of the team on their side of the corridor. "[Ethereal Body] prevents it from taking any damage to its health, an effect that manifests as allowing physical strikes to whiff through its body unless we directly strike the weak point. But it can't do that second part of the effect if it did, you'd be able to destabilize it."

And that would kill it, Kestel summarized. You think that because we can't physically strike it without destroying it, the health system is preventing us from hitting it at all?

"Pretty much, yes," Vex nodded. "If you look carefully, nothing the captain is doing is touching its body. It's skittering off just before it touches it."

In the challenge room, the captain roared as he slammed his blades down onto the Aberrant, and the Aberrant raised all five of its arms to block; the impact forced its body partially into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. But Vex was right the captain's blades were hovering a millimeter away from the Aberrant's arms, like there was some invisible barrier that couldn't be breached.

"Normally it would still take some damage to health, even if we weren't allowed to actually touch it... but it has [Ethereal Body], and that skill technically prevents damage to health." Vex paused. "Any spell I cast would have the same problem. It wouldn't hit the Aberrant at all. Mana would disrupt that system, too. It can move itself, because it's in full control of its own mana, but..."

"We could throw a rock at it," Sev suggested. Vex blinked and stared at him. "What? A rock doesn't have health, does it?"

"Well, no, but if you throw it you're attacking it, so it becomes part of the system," Vex said.

"What about the floor? It's stepping on the floor," Sev said. "Can we make it stub its toe?"

"I don't know what that means," Vex said, raising a brow.

"...Do you not does toe-stubbing not exist here? Does the system prevent toe-stubbing? How have I not known this all this time Wait. I have an idea. We throw Derivan at the Aberrant."

"I believe I can throw myself at it fine," Derivan said.

Iliss and Ixiss were both staring at the adventurers in abject confusion. "What are you talking about?" Ixiss said. "You're acting like you face something like this every day."

"I mean, not every day," Sev said. "But a lot of days? It just feels like this kind of stuff keeps happening recently. I'm not really surprised at this point, I'm more worried about getting to Misa. And apparently we need to deal with this problem first, so..."

"I have a skill that allows me to strike past health," Derivan added helpfully. "That is why they suggested throwing me."

"You're a shit liar," Iliss said automatically, and then she paused, frowning. "Wait, shit. Are you? Fuck. I actually can't tell."

"He's definitely lying," Ixiss said, doing the thing where he narrowed his eyes, except he had eyesockets and was really just conveying the impression of narrowing his eyes very well. "...Wait. No."

"I am definitely not lying," Derivan said, with no conviction whatsoever.

"Anyway," Iliss said. "I'm going to ignore the question of whether or not you're lying and address the bigger problem here, which is that destabilizing it is dangerous. That's what happened the first time there was an orb made out of arcane mana, and a monster hit it with some sort of skill infused with necrotic mana. Your friend tried to block it, and she... half-succeeded?" Iliss hesitated. "I'm not really sure what happened there. But I'm worried that if you mix the same two types of mana again..."

"It'll explode violently?" Vex guessed, and Iliss nodded. He grimaced slightly. "Yeah, it might do that. On the plus side, it's going to be mostly necrotic energy, which means your captain and you four will be immune to it, and as long as the rest of us stay out of range we should be fine."

"Except for your friend," Iliss said, jerking her skull towards Derivan.

Vex hesitated. He'd avoided saying that Derivan would be immune to it, given he was lacking any kind of organic matter. The enchantments anchored in his armor were unlikely to be affected by anything except powerful dispel-oriented skills.

"I'll cast a spell on Derivan to protect him from necrotic energy," Vex finally said, stepping forward. He reached forward a little hesitantly, looking up as if to make sure Derivan was okay with it and when the armor nodded at him, he placed a palm on his chest and cast.

It was nothing more than a basic light and illusion spell, causing a ripple of dark-gray light to surround Derivan before dissipating. But it was a sufficiently convincing illusion, it seemed; no one questioned it.

"There. You should be fine now," he said. "Derivan, you should just need to let it hit you... but that seems dangerous, so try to hit it first? Even better if you can hit through the joint where the arcane and necrotic mana is."

On the ground, perfectly intact, lay a single crystalline orb the core of the Aberrant.

"Dungeon reward," the captain said softly. "Well, what do ya know. You did it."

Very carefully, Derivan picked up the orb, watching light glimmer through it as he moved it around. It looked like it was made out of glass, but it diffracted and stole the edges out of any light that went through it, giving the inside of it soft, changing hues. He walked back towards the corridor with the others as he did so, hearing the clack of the captain's bones against the stone floor as they walked.

You need to bring that back to us, someone said over the telepathic link, sounding excited. Kestel was oddly silent. That's the least damaged reward we've seen. I don't know what you did back there, but

"Smash it," the captain said.

What?! The voice was outraged through the telepathic connection. But

"I looked at my notifications. Misa's your friend, isn't she?" the captain said. "If she unlocked a bonus room, then you can use the dungeon reward to get there. Use it. Don't listen to whatever the research team is saying."

There was a frustrated silence over the telepathic link.

"And we'll help you," the captain said suddenly, projecting his voice loudly enough that his team could hear it. "Or I will. The rest of you get a choice. But you know damn well what Misa did for us." He hesitated, like he wanted to add something else, but he glanced to Derivan and refrained. "Break the orb."

Derivan did, crushing it in his fingers. A notification popped up, one in front of each of them, though the armor only saw his own.

You have beaten the Crystal Challenge and defeated the Aberrant it produced, despite . Congratulations.

The bonus room The Village's Last Defense> was unlocked during the battle. Entry to the bonus room has been unlocked as an additional reward category.

Randomizing rewards...

Rewards offered:

[Access to The Village's Last Defense>]

[Epic-Grade Equipment]

[Stat Boost]

There was silence for a moment, as Derivan looked at the four soldiers beside the captain. They seemed to be contemplating the choice, but one of them broke the silence first.

"I'm sorry," one of the soldiers said. For all that he was a skeleton, he looked... tired. Maybe a little bit broken. "I can't." He gestured, helplessly, at his own body. He seemed guilty, though Derivan felt he didn't have an obligation to help. Misa's rescue had not been a transaction; he knew her well enough that he could say that on her behalf.

"I'll help," Iliss said, and Ixiss huffed beside her.

"I'm going to have to if you do it," he grumbled.

The last soldier a thick, broad-shouldered orcish skeleton grunted. "I will help."

"Come with us anyway," the captain ordered the one that had refused and when he began to protest, he shook his head. "I won't make you fight. But whatever blew up that orb is still out there, and I'm not leaving you to go through the dungeon alone. You'll sit back and be defended like all the rest."

That quieted him. He nodded.

Derivan looked at Sev and Vex. "Shall we?" he asked.

There was no answer; there was no need for one. They each reached for the button on the notification at the same time, and a whirl of light surrounded them, blazing into a brilliant white as it transported them into the bonus room.