Chapter 178: Nottagator Rematch

Chapter 178: Nottagator Rematch

The Littans spent the hour recovering and I chatted with Grotto about the upcoming political quagmire our party was about to become involved with.

[The Diplomacy intrinsic would give you a natural advantage. You will not be able to rely entirely on Etja to carry the weight of public relations. As the party leader, you will be subject to significant scrutiny and forced to respond to inquiries of all manner.]

“Right, but I’m hesitant to invest in an intrinsic that has such close ties to Charisma. It’s not a stat I’m planning on raising. Not anytime soon, at least.”

[There are different forms of Diplomacy. Strategy and planning serve as much of a role as honeyed words or graceful utilization of decorum. Intelligence and Wisdom can play their part. Beyond that, we can take advantage of my ability to share your intrinsics through the power of the Traveler’s Amulet. My highest stat is Charisma, and with our connection, I can guide you through certain interactions.]

“Yeah, it’s still weird that’s your highest stat.”

[Why? What did you believe it would be?]

“You know, I hadn’t really thought about it. But, Charisma... you’re just, uh–”

[Just what?]

“You don’t seem very diplomatic is all I’m saying.”

[I am fully capable of navigating social situations that require the judicious use of tact and sensitivity.]

“When have you ever done that?”

[I have seen no reason to speak with you or other party members under the guise of false sincerity. I speak my mind because it provides the most utility. If that were not the case, I am more than competent at adaptation and adjustment.]

“Okay. Hmm, I’ll think about it some more. We’ve got the rest of the week.”

[Practice and study during our downtime may allow us to reach the first evolution, given that both of us can work on the intrinsic simultaneously. It is best not to ruminate excessively.]

“Wait, would both of us working on a skill simultaneously help my skills train faster?”

[You have done very little Dungeoneering, yet your skill is at 20. If the connection operates along the same parameters, as the Amulet suggests, then I see no reason why it would be otherwise.]

“If we spar it’ll be like me fighting a shadow clone of myself and then fusing afterward to receive the knowledge?”

[Is that how it works with Dungeoneering?]

“I haven’t explored it much. When I think about the mechanics of Delves, I get knowledge back that I know I never learned myself, but I need something to prime it. It’s a problem of not knowing what I don’t know. I have to try and call the knowledge to mind to realize that I know it, but I can’t do that if I don’t know what I’m trying to know, you know?”

Grotto gave me a mental grunt.

[Diplomacy will help with your linguistic butchery even without additional Charisma.]

“I know.”

We went back and forth some more. I had 9 intrinsic slots filled out of 11, and we could snag one more slot with an Expansion Delve to bring me to a max of 12. I wanted to be cautious with my choices, but I also realized the longer I waited around the more I wasted opportunities to train up a new skill.

If I were about to walk into high-level discussions with Littan politicians and leadership, it would present a great opportunity to power level something like Diplomacy. My existing skill set primarily advanced through killing shit, so giving myself the ability to power up in other types of situations–ones I would be forced to encounter–should increase my overall rate of advancement.

I was also considering Athletics to improve my mobility. Grabbing a crafting skill other than Smithing might be smart since my human racial trait buffed crafting skill progression. I could snag Tailoring and make myself some fancy outfits. Cooking clearly had some benefits that I could bring to the team. We nearly lost our minds surviving off of rations for months. Reconnaissance would make my already substantial perception abilities even better, playing to one of my strengths. Lore, Survival, and Engineering all looked like they’d provide solid utility.

There were a lot of options that intrigued me.

“Could I use Diplomacy with Dungeoneering to help you peer pressure other Delve Cores into doing weird shit for us?”

[Probably.]

“Ugh, that almost seals the deal for me.”

[Your vest and boa also grant social boons. You would have an excuse to wear them wherever you go, not that you need one.]

I went ahead and slotted Diplomacy.

When the Littans were close to the end of their time, Cezil returned to her normal form and held out her hand to Madel. Her twin took it reluctantly, then pulled a sword from her inventory I hadn’t seen before. The blade was dark green and shone as if coated in a thin layer of viscous liquid.

“Good choice,” said Cezil.

The Littan mimic’s body slowly began to morph, her hand turned into a pommel, and the rest of her body condensed and folded until it was a perfect replica of the myrtle-colored sword.

Madel stowed the original blade, then concentrated on the copy. She held her eyes tightly shut, and I was enraptured as the woman’s soul began to creep out and cover the blade. Cezil’s own spirit blossomed from the blade and entwined itself with Madel’s, then stretched out and began to suffuse her entire soul.

As they blended, Madel’s fur shifted until it matched the hue of the blade. Her nails turned an even darker green, glistening like they were freshly painted, and when she opened her eyes they smoldered with jade light.

Madel floated up and swept the sword through the air with a single swift stroke, then held out her arm and looked over her fur and nails.

“Envy,” she said. “An adequate color when others must crane their necks to witness me.”

Ultra Combo

Whenever you use an active skill that makes an attack and you hit with that attack, you gain 1 stack of Ultra Combo unless you already possess a stack gained from that skill. You can only gain 1 stack of Ultra Combo per skill use, even if the skill makes multiple attacks.

Whenever you would gain a stack of Ultra Combo, you can instead choose to lose all stacks of Ultra Combo. If you do, the damage of the attack is multiplied by the number of Ultra Combo stacks lost this way.

You lose all stacks of Ultra Combo if you don’t gain any new stacks for 1 minute.

Baltae had used 4 unique spells before casting Force Bolt, giving him a 4 times multiplier to the skill's damage. Nottagator seemed to sense the potency of Baltae’s magic, its eyes snapping to the spatial mage for the first time as it paused its roll an instant before the attack. Two masses of stone tore from the ground and a sheen of polychromatic light spread out across the Atrocidile’s hide.

The first bolt struck like a rail gun round, smashing through the rocks and ripping apart the defensive skill. It skewered Nottagator's side, punching deep into its body. Dark blue blood sprayed from the wound on impact with such speed and force that it atomized into vapor. Three more bolts followed, the extras doing substantially less since they were considered separate attacks. However, the total damage was impressive.

Nottagator takes 485 Force damage!

Nottagator takes 66 Force damage!

Nottagator takes 103 Force damage!

Nottagator takes 114 Force damage!

“Hot damn.”

[The attack was... decent.]

Even as Nottagator was having its internal organs reduced to a fine mist and squeezed out of its body by a bolt of condensed mana flying at Mach 10, it had already begun to return fire.

Nottagator’s throat and head stuttered like a machine gun as Sonic waves poured from its maw. Baltae strafed with Telekinesis, avoiding the brunt of the first wave and losing his refreshed Shielding to the second. The third sent the mage blasting back toward the small palace at the cavern’s entrance, where he smashed through a marble pillar and into a wall, debris raining down onto him.

The next wave finally brought Guar out of hiding. The party’s main tank became a beam of colored light that appeared to intercept the next attack midair, and the man took three more hits against his shield, burning through his mitigation and disrupting the sonic attacks. Guar had saved Baltae, assuming there was anything left to save, but he’d given up his chance for a surprise attack.

The Atrocidile’s remaining eye burned in fury as it screeched, slamming the entire room with an amplified roar. Pio’s aura shuddered as it took the edge off the Fear, but both she and Guar were slammed by the pressure wave.

A dark green spear shot from the water and right into the Corroded wound in the Atrocidile’s throat. The creature coughed and rasped, blood spraying from its mouth and staining its flat, humanoid teeth. Guar took advantage of the creature’s distraction to unleash three-quarters of his stamina pool in one attack.

The man’s massive hammer glowed with blinding golden light. He spun his body like an Olympic hammer throw and hucked the weapon at supersonic speed. He kept spinning, body rotating faster with each revolution, releasing 5 more hammers just like it.

“Oh shit, he’s cribbing my style!”

[It looks a great deal more impressive when he does it.]

The hammers collided with the Atrocidile, striking the beast with thundering wallops. Each hammer erupted into a burst of divine light, creating a rapid thunk! boom! beat over a handful of seconds.

Nottagator resists all Kinetic damage!

Nottagator takes 254 Righteous damage!

Nottagator takes 254 Righteous damage!

Nottagator takes 254 Righteous damage!

Nottagator takes 254 Righteous damage!

Nottagator’s health drops below 25%!

Nottagator automatically uses Projection!

Nottagator automatically uses Fallback!

The Atrocidile couldn’t even do Guar the courtesy of withstanding the full assault. However, just because Nottagator was down, didn’t mean it was out.

As the hammers smote hunks of the Atrocidile out of existence, an otherwordly haze surrounded the creature and its physical body disappeared. What remained was a ghostly imitation that snaked away from the final two hammers and soared toward Guar like a phantom. Guar shouted in surprise, raising his shield and resummoning his hammer to his hand.

The spectral Atrocidile raked the man with its claws, which passed through Guar’s shield like it wasn’t even there. Talons slashed across Guar’s soul, rending the man’s spiritual essence with Spectral damage. Guar screamed as his anima was flayed. After four strikes, the ethereal version of the Atrocidile disappeared into the ether, and Guar crashed to the ground.

Pio looked between Guar who slumped between deadly spikes, and then to the distant pile of rubble that entombed Baltae. She glanced back at the water, where a hand emerged, dragging a beaten and bloody Madel onto the shore. The lieutenant vomited up a liter of water.

“Status,” said Pio.

Madel looked up at her with glowing green eyes, shot through with scarlet veins.

“The beast knows I still live, and so it flees my retribution,” answered Madel.

Pio nodded, accepting that as a sign Madel wasn’t in mortal peril, then rushed off toward Guar.

“Did... did they win?”