Chapter 57: S-Tier

Chapter 57: S-Tier

Orexis turned and searched between us, looking for the source of the interruption. His gaze quickly landed on Grotto, and he snarled. The tendrils from the obelisk continued to fluctuate, losing cohesion, pulling Orexis’ attention back to his task. He began weaving his magic through the unsteady energy. The threads stabilized, but the power from the Obelisk was erratic.

[Whatever this creature is,] Grotto thought to us, [I’ll not let it threaten my Delves any further. Administrative request. Delve 0102 core eliminated. New core assignment for Delve 0102. Core Designation: Grotto.]

Administrative request granted.

[Terminate obelisk functions.]

The runes along the obelisk blinked off without fanfare, and the tendrils dissipated into mist. Orexis growled and leaned in to study his earthen effigy. A thin layer of platinum soul encircled the dense base of black, but it was turbulent. He reached down with a massive hand and again ran a finger along the side of its face.

The golem’s eyes snapped open, and a Delver level appeared over top of it.

Level 1-99-1-1-99-1

The level blinked and glitched, flickering between level one and level ninety-nine. Orexis stared at the indicator, apparently capable of seeing the same thing I was. His eyes and mouth shuddered, and he twisted back toward Grotto.

“What have you done?!” he screamed, voice causing the ground to tremble, nearly deafening me. Nuralie once again gasped, hands clapping to her ears.

Orexis thundered forward, galloping toward Grotto, causing the floor to shudder even more violently. He lifted a colossal paw to swipe at the mini-c’thon.

Orexis closed most of the distance in an instant, and I reacted without thinking. I cast Shortcut, appearing directly between the two.

Orexis paused for the briefest moment, then slapped me so hard that for generations my terrified descendants would wake in the night with aching bones. Assuming that I lived to have any descendants, of course.

I had flashbacks to a giant c’thon hurling me away with a tentacle as I shot into the wall from Orexis’ full-body spanking. I felt the carved rock give beneath me on impact, distantly aware that soft and squishy things like the human form shouldn’t be making such enthusiastic contact with anything having a value of four or higher on the Mohs scale with enough speed and force to break it. Especially when said substance was as thick as the inside of a mountain.

Perhaps it was my fate that giant creatures would sling me into hard surfaces. Shit, I didn’t even need monsters to send me crashing into crap. Cars would do, as evidenced by my very death itself.

Alas, I had come a long way from colliding with such soft and supple surfaces as the trunk of a large oak tree.

Varrin had the luxury of being grabbed, but I had the duty of being walloped. To determine whether a living creature could reach escape velocity from being slapped. For posterity’s sake, I would come to learn how much Fortitude one needed to survive the speed of that impact against an unyielding surface.

The majority of my health bar chunked away as my body miraculously avoided becoming a fine paste upon the wall. I didn’t even feel myself hit the ground afterward.

Organs have been critically damaged!

Critical damage reduced by 22%Nnêw n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com

Bonus Damage reduction: 246 -> 192

Total damage taken: 318

Status effects from critical damage reduced by 22%

Bleeding reduction: 182 -> 142

Compound fractures reduced to simple fractures!

Health: 49/367

Body of Theseus had just saved my life.

Grotto used the second I’d given him to rush at the Delve portal, but Orexis was too quick. The shaking of the ground grew even greater, which my staggered mind realized didn’t make sense.

Orexis wasn’t causing the tremors.

Something burst through the ceiling above us, and a line of golden lightning blasted down onto Orexis’ outstretched arm. I watched in awe as the limb was pinned to the ground by what I realized was the radiant blade of a resplendent halberd, held by a man cloaked in crackling electricity.

He looked about fifty, which with Delver lifetimes likely made his real age fall somewhere in the realm of ‘old as shit’. His body was short and stocky, and a dozen tresses of white, Hiwardian hair writhed atop his head. He wore nothing but a leather girdle over a fur skirt, with braided sandals that roped around his feet and calves.

Orexis pulled his arm free from under the weapon’s blade. He held it up to study, and I could make out a long gash leaking dark blood, but the wound closed in seconds.

A woman floated down from the fresh tunnel above as hunks of rock crashed to the ground. She was around the same age and wore a similar outfit, though her entire torso was covered in fur armor, with matching armguards. A golden circlet hovered and spun lazily over her head like a halo, just below the text “Level 90”.

Even with my soul-sight open only a fraction, I could tell these were the two most powerful Delvers I’d seen, their outermost layer wrapped in platinum. I did some quick math in my head, realizing that they were both PR 438; nearly double Umi-Doo.

Also, upon the woman’s shoulders sat Myria, looking down like she was at a rock concert.

“Patriarch Duckgrien?” Varrin said, finally tearing his gaze from his father’s corpse, then looked up at the woman. “Matriarch?”

“Aye, lad,” the man said, eyes never leaving Orexis. “Canna’ say this looks like the source o’ the mana vents though. Yer great-grandpa regrets he couldn’t be here ta help ye all.”

“I don’ mind the blade-daemon owin’ us a favor,” said the woman, who halted halfway down from the eighty-foot ceiling. She crossed her arms over her chest. “This one looks troublin’, though. Was this what ye’ were expectin’ ta find, Myria?”

“I can’t say that it was,” said Myria, gawking at Orexis.

“Well then, off with ye’,” said the matriarch, patting Myria on the thigh. “Bobret and I ‘ave some work ta do, seems.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

You are now entering Delve 9998: The Cage.

Warning! You have entered Delve 9998 while one or more members are outside of a party.

Five level one technicians detected.

A party will automatically be formed.

Warning! This Delve is unstable.

Dimensional anchor operating outside acceptable parameters. Delve portal exit location unavailable.

Rerouting party.

Your Delve entry point has been changed. Please refer to your schematics before proceeding deeper into the Delve.

Warning! Anomalous levels detected. One or more party members possess a level that exceeds the maximum allowed for this Delve.

Initiating countermeasures.

Error!

Member(s) cannot be ejected due to mana-instability.

Error!

Member(s) too powerful to be atomized.

Error!

This Delve has priority safety overrides. Cannot partially collapse Delve on intruding Member(s).

Error!

...processing...

Party member(s) no longer possess excessive levels. Resolving ticket.

Warning! Anomalous levels detected. One or more party members possess a level that exceeds the maximum allowed for this Delve.

Initiating countermeasures.

Error!

Cascading error code detected.

Evaluating...

Identified source: Anomalous party member(s) possess fluctuating levels.

Evaluating...

Resolution: Collapse Delve portal on incoming party while in transit.

Collapsing...

Override request received from USER DESIGNATION: GROTTO.

User is Administrator of entry-point Delve 0102.

Evaluating alternatives.

Delve 9998 possesses unique mitigation features.

Override code 919 accepted.

Deploying assets to suppress anomalous party member(s).

Entry to Delve 9998 granted.

...

...

...

Welcome to The Cage.