Chapter 64: Handsy

Chapter 64: Handsy

{The Mouth is definitely in the subchamber,} Cage thought to us.

“Is there a reason,” I said, “that you’re withholding critical information until the last second?”

{It goes against my nature to help Delvers overcome a Delve. This is all a vvvvvvery new experience for me. Besides, this isn’t the last second! It’ll take another couple of minutes for you to jog there.}

“I refuse to believe you’re that literal,” I said. “You want this Delve to collapse or not? If not, we’re going to need better cooperation from you.”

{Look, eighty-three percent of my processing power is being used to direct the mana-overload mitigation functions, ten percent is being spent trying to repair the mana-weaves everywhere I can, and six percent is going toward managing the normal Delve functions. You guys are getting one percent. One percent!}

“That feels low,” said Xim.

{It’s proportioned based on the probability that the managed solution will result in a favorable outcome.}

“Good to know you have faith in us,” I said. “Anything else you can tell us?”

{Don’t get too close to the main baddie in the next chamber. It looks like it’s dissolving things. Very slowly, though. One of the Praying Heads is inside of it and just screaming and screaming.}

I grimaced, then looked at Xim and Varrin.

“Are all Delves complete horror shows?”

“No,” said Xim. “Coppers are kind of pleasant from what I hear.”

“Not how I would describe them, Xim,” said Varrin. “Safer to assume it will always be a gruesome endeavor.”

“Why did I ask that?” I muttered. “Never mind, let’s go.”

We continued down the corridor, though at a more careful pace. We encountered no more Eyes until we found the entrance to the chamber. The sounds of shrieking echoed down the hallway.

Nuralie went to scout and returned with enough information that it made me wonder if Cage was secretly trying to sabotage us. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he was just bad at communicating.

“The chamber is much smaller,” said Nuralie. “Everything is covered in flesh-plants.”

“Flesh-plants?” I said. “Can you be more specific?”

“The walls, floor, and ceiling are covered in plants.” Pause. “Made of flesh.”

I nodded. I hadn’t expected poetry, but maybe I needed to buy Nuralie a thesaurus. I gestured for her to continue.

“There are four Hands, nineteen Eyes, and something called a Bloom of Consumption at the center. Lesser Aberration, Grade Two.”

“Then the hands are the real threat,” I said. “They’re all grade four.”

“The Hands stuffed the Praying Head into the Bloom,” said Nuralie. “The Bloom sprayed it with mist and its skin fell off.”

“Calling it a Bloom really diverges from the theme here.”

“Regardless of what it’s called,” said Varrin, “that sounds like the mouth.”

“The Eyes scout for prey,” said Xim, “the Hands grab it, and the Bloom eats it.”

“So what’s our strategy?” I asked.

“Kill the Eyes,” said Nuralie.

“Any reason other than you hate being watched?”

“The Hands don’t have eyes. The Bloom doesn’t have eyes.” Pause. “Only the Eyes have eyes.”

“You think that’ll blind it.” Nuralie nodded. “Ok. Nuralie, you’ve been taking the Eyes out so far, so you should focus on that. The Bloom is a threat if we get close, so we need to avoid getting grabbed.” I couldn’t help but look at Varrin as I said this.

“Not helpful,” he said, scowling.

“I doubt my brand of letting everything hit me will help here,” I said. “My Fortitude doesn’t help with getting grappled, and I’d rather not see how effective it is against getting dissolved.”

“You’re still the strongest,” said Nuralie.

“Sure, but stronger than two or three of those things? I don’t like the chances. Ideally, we’d disable one or two of them and focus down the others. Nuralie, you’ve got those paralytic arrows I gave you. Anyone else have some crowd control?”

“I can stun,” said Xim, “but not for long. It’s mostly to make room for a follow-up attack.”

“I’ll aim for the limbs,” said Varrin.

“I am eager to test myself against one of these creatures,” Shog said, tentacles snaking through the air. “We will see who can strangle the other first.”

“Didn’t see a neck to strangle on one of these, Shog.”

“I will make it work.”

I looked Shog up and down. Despite his size, he was still a good bit smaller than one of the Hands. Then again, his grade was one higher. He might be able to solo one. If it didn’t work out, well he wasn’t a core party member.

“Shog, if you die here, do you die in real life?”

“This is real life,” said Varrin.

“I am no specter. My true body is before you. Any harm I suffer will endure if I am dismissed.”

I cast Shortcut, trying to aim for the general direction of the rest of the fight.

Unfortunately, trying to activate a short-range teleport while being rotated at vomit-inducing speeds made my accuracy a bit shit. I decided to speak with Nuralie about inventing Dramamine as I appeared thirty feet from the fight, seven feet off the ground, and at an angle that allowed me the familiar experience of falling on my face.

At least I hadn’t been thrown this time. Seriously, there had to be a better way to deal with giant enemies than getting grabbed and tossed around, hoping for the best.

While I hadn’t been able to teleport my way back into the fray, the accidental distance gave me a good view of the overall battle.

Varrin and Xim were playing a lethal game of tag with their target. While their initial combo had done serious damage to one of the Hand’s limbs, the monster was only slowed. It was still able to turn on its side and cartwheel at its prey, but the motion was jerky and the thing had trouble turning. Varrin was able to duck to the side and carve a gash down its back, while Xim led it on a merry chase. She stumbled as the roots caught her ankles, but was able to dive aside as the crippled Hand drew close.

Shog’s fight had deteriorated into the strangest bit of ground wrestling I’ve ever seen. The monster starfish had tried to cartwheel while Shog’s tentacles wrapped three of its arms, but the c’thon pulled it off balance, sending them both to the ground. The Hand now lay on top of Shog, who struggled to make room to strike with his claws as hundreds of the lesser hands squeezed his feelers and tore away fistfuls of feathers. One little hand was even poking Shog in his big black eyes with manic aggression.

Etja’s jaw was clenched and her arms trembled as she held them out toward the Hand she was levitating. Her mana was below a quarter, which I math’d out to mean the enemy would be set free and Etja would be juiced in another minute or so.

Nuralie was making headway taking out the Eyes with her archery, but the winged creatures had gotten wise to her attacks and were now swooping and fluttering through the air, dodging her arrows. There were at least a dozen left, and I doubted Etja would last long enough for Nuralie to hit all of her targets.

The Hand near the Bloom turned and began stiffly cartwheeling back toward me, as the Bloom itself turned its goopy mouth in Nuralie’s direction, the Loson having abandoned stealth once she realized the enemy could still see her. She was near the far wall, forty feet from the Bloom, so she wasn’t threatened by its mist, but I didn’t like what I was seeing. Why would the mouth turn toward Nuralie, unless it was going to do something? It didn’t have eyes on its main body, so it’s not like it was watching her.

If taking out the Eyes did blind the entire entity, then we needed to make that happen faster. We needed more ranged firepower, and Etja was busy.

I could swap out with Etja, but I could barely keep one Hand busy, much less two. I didn’t have a good build for this fight, aside from giving one Hand the runaround while I teleported. Even then, I could only do that four more times before I was out of mana as well.

The Bloom began to swell as it continued to point itself at Nuralie.

I began sprinting in her direction, but my footing was hampered by the grasping roots. The Hand also rolled at me and would intercept before long. The moment before we collided, I cast Shortcut to close as much distance as I could between myself and Nuralie, but my aim was thrown off as a root wrenched my ankle. I wound up several feet away from my target, which was a point directly between the Bloom and Nuralie.

The Bloom’s body contracted, and a stream of liquid shot out at the Loson.

I threw out my arm and detached Gracorvus, sending it through the air and into the way of the spray. The goop sizzled and hissed as it made contact, and the force of the spray sent droplets scattering across my body. Smoke poured off my armor where it was struck, and a few droplets hit my face. It felt like molten steel hitting my skin, causing me to reactively claw at my mug, but all that did was get some of the liquid on my fingers, my nerve endings screaming in protest.

HP: 295 -> 285

Paralysis: 10

Toxicity: 7

Even I would have been in trouble if that attack struck me head-on. Grade Two my ass.

The Bloom pointed its mouth back to the sky, and I hoped it only had enough juice to do that once. The Hand I’d teleported away from was already rolling at me again. Etja’s mana continued to tick down, Varrin and Xim stumbled as they fought, nearly getting grabbed, Shog bellowed eldritch curses as he was smothered, and Grotto...

Grotto was hovering in the air, watching the fight.

[Grotto! Wanna help out here, bud?!]

[The Hands have no minds from what I can tell. Nor do the Eyes.]

[And the fucking Bloom?]

[It is like touching on the consciousness of dozens of individuals, rather than one entity.]

The semi-paralyzed Hand struggled to spin toward me as I tore my feet free from the roots. Grotto’s statement made me realize something that should have been obvious.

[It’s a fucking hive monster! Try and isolate the Eyes inside its hivemind and get them to stop dodging!]

[That is much more difficult than you real-]

[I don’t give a shit, figure it out!]

I watched the approaching Hand, wishing I had a better ranged option.

“Fuck it,” I spat, deciding to try a hail mary. I pulled the one-handed steel warhammer from my inventory and brought it up over my head like a throwing axe. I cast Nimean Weapon, priming an Oblivion Orb, then chucked the hammer with all my strength. The weapon shot through the air, turning end over end as it sailed toward its target.

It went wide, landing several feet to the side of the advancing monster. I probably should have tried the move with the actual axes I had, rather than a fucking hammer. I pulled another steel weapon out, an axe this time, and cast Nimean Weapon again. I needed to be able to hit these things from a distance. As I reared back for a second toss, the Hand only a couple cartwheels away from me, I got a System message.

Would you like to learn the technique, Homing Weapon?

Homing Weapon

Cost: 10 Stamina

I didn’t have time to read the rest of the message. I accepted the skill, hoping that it was what I thought it was. I focused on the technique and layered it on with Nimean Weapon, then flung the axe.

The weapon flew through the air, looking like it was also going to go wide like my hammer, but it not only course-corrected, it picked up more speed. The axe buried itself up to the handle in the approaching starfish, and I heard the familiar pop! of Oblivion Orb going off.

I guess throwing shit really hard did count as a Strength attack.

Not only that, but the axe tore itself from the wound and zipped back at me. As the axe traveled through the air, the already partially paralyzed mega-starfish cartwheeled onto the leg where eight inches of axehead and a citrus-fruit-sized dimensional tear had mangled the muscle, in addition to the wounds I inflicted with my wand.

It buckled.

The pentameral beast lost its balance and hit the ground hard. I heard the crunching of dozens of fingerbones as the smaller hands on its body were crushed by its enormous weight. The axe whipped back and slapped into the palm of my hand.

As the monster tried to right itself, my eyes turned back to the air, where ten surviving Eyes dodged Nuralie’s arrows.

Time for some target practice.