Book 7: Chapter 40: Gargantuopod

Book 7: Chapter 40: Gargantuopod

In his titanic form, Victor figured he weighed close to a couple of thousand pounds, especially with his helmet on, which added to his mass considerably. Even so, when he slammed Lifedrinker into the gargantuopods rear-left flank, despite her white-hot axe head and the imbuement of his spirit, she barely penetrated its hide, and the great creature hardly flinched. When hed first seen the monster alone in its lair, Victor had estimated it at about the size of an elephant. Standing behind it, Lifedrinker furiously trying to dig into its flesh, he altered that opinion; it had to be quite a lot larger because his head barely cleared its belly.

Sora's fiery arrows were sputtering, the flames failing to ignite the monsters calloused pink hide. And, as the behemoth shifted, trying to throw Victors bear aside, its hip crashed into him, sending him sprawling. He felt like a truck had just run into him. He came to rest against a pile of rubbish that stank of decomposition and shit and immediately struggled to his feet, eager to be away from the smell. The way the thing had rebuffed his attack was infuriating, and Victor could feel his rage Core surge with renewed intensity, pumping more and more of the hot, smoldering power into his pathways. Still, he couldnt help pausing to stare at the furious melee between his bear and the monstrosity.

The bear, much larger and more primordial than any bear to walk the Earth in Victors lifetime, was drenched in blood, his thick dark coat torn in a dozen places by the gargantuopods sucking, twisting maw. He roared savagely, his eyes ablaze with a fury akin to Victors, and he swiped his great claws with terrible force against the monsters head, slicing through its groping tentacles and leaving long, bleeding gashes in the more tender flesh of its open mouth.

Victor felt his heart surge with pride, and he almost started to cheer on his big, furry brother, but then, almost as quickly as theyd appeared, the gashes closed up. The monsters tentacles wrapped around the bears right forelimb and tugged it into its maw. It swirled shut like a tooth-lined sphincter, and with a horrible wrenching of its neck, left then right, it peeled the fur and flesh from the bears limb.

You mother fucker! Victor screamed, horrified as he saw his brave companion stumble back, his mutilated leg flailing in the air as he fell to his side. Victor opened the floodgates on his Core, filling his pathways with fear-attuned Energy, and cast Energy Charge, aiming for the side of the monstrous creature, determined to knock it away from the bear. In a ripple of roiling shadows, he flew toward the gargantuopod, and his collision with its exposed flank was akin to charging a brick wall. Even so, Victor hadnt met a brick wall he couldnt do some damage to.

When he slammed into the mound of thick, pink flesh, it rippled like a mud puddle might if you dropped a boulder into it. Moreover, the enormous, stony ribs under the surface cracked like saplings in a landslide. As Victors Core drained itself of fear-attuned Energy to protect him, the colossal monster slid a dozen feet from him, writhing and thrashing as its gore-filled maw yodeled out a weird, undulating scream-roar of pain.

Victor had the wherewithal to release his bear, ending its suffering and sending it home to the Spirit Plane. Then, he leaped at the monster, targeting its damaged side. He launched into a frenzy of attacks, hacking Lifedrinker in tremendous two-handed blows, left then right, almost like he was trying to cut through a gargantuan fallen tree.

While he dug bloody furrows in the flesh, exposing splintered bones, the monster roared and thrashed, trying to get to its feet while simultaneously twisting to lash its hook-ended tentacles at Victor. He ignored them as they wrapped around his left leg and armthey might as well have been clinging cobwebs; they were utterly unable to budge his rigid, titanic frame as he lost himself in the furious frenzy of his assault. More fiery arrows punched into the monsters hide. There were fewer of them this time, but they seemed to burn more fiercely, and Victor was dimly aware that portions of the creatures thick, pink hide were beginning to char and turn black.

Lifedrinker took two hits to penetrate the hide, and Victor was swinging in such a frenzy that she must have scored a half dozen bone-deep cuts, burning and charring the flesh on her way through, before the monster finally surged back to its feet and whirled so violently to face Victor that he had to thrust out a boot to keep it from snatching him up in its gaping mouth.

He slid back, driven by his foot on the edge of its sucking maw, and had a brief, heart-fluttering panic as his foot started to slide into the orifice. As it came loose, he stomped into the ground and, still gripping her in two hands, hacked Lifedrinker with all his might into the lower rim of the monster's lunging, sputtering mouth.

She bit between the rows of dagger-like teeth, and her smoldering axe head sank to the haft, fully buried. Victor roared his approval as Lifedrinker writhed and pulled, digging like a parasite into the folds of the softer flesh. He released her and leaped back, avoiding another lunge, and watched with sadistic pleasure as the monsters maw swirled shut on the axe.

Her haft stuck out of the puckered opening like a toothpick, but only for an instant as the creature opened wide again, coughing gouts of blood, saliva, and gore. Its remaining tentacles grabbed at the axe, wrapping around the haft, trying to draw it out, but Lifedrinker had dug deep, and the worm-like appendages didnt seem to have much leverage pulling away as opposed to pulling things in.

While it struggled, in a panic to get the hungry axe out, Victor noticed Cam darting around the edges of the chamber, planting thin, metallic rods into the ground. He hoped the weird, youthful caster had a trick up his sleeve to help finish the gargantuopod off. His rage was still high, simmering like recently boiled water in his veins, but hed let off a lot of steam in his frenzied assault. Seeing Lifedrinker take root, driving the great monster mad as she dug into the softer flesh of its inner mouth, also served to cool his boiling blood. With his banner burning brightly, pushing away the toxic air, he turned to regard his other companion.

Sora stood atop a distant refuse pile, her bow held high, watching Victor, the monster, and Cam. He frowned at her, annoyed that all hed seen her do thus far was release a few volleys of magical arrows. Was she up to something? Were she and Cam scheming to get him to wear himself out fighting the great monster? Did they intend to double-cross him?

Sora saw him looking her way and nodded. Then he saw the air around her begin to shimmer with blistering Energy. It coalesced like a fine orange mist and then streamed to the point of the arrow she held nocked to her bow. With the fluid grace of a master archer, she drew it back and released the string.

The arrow streaked through the air like a bolt of light, and Victor jerked his head around to watch its impact. The monstrous gargantuopod was on its hind legs, swaying back and forth, maw wide open as it struggled with all six of its tentacles to dig Lifedrinker out of its flesh. Soras blazing arrow buried itself deep in the creatures goo-filled throat, flaring and smoking like a chemical fire. Green and black gas billowed from the monsters mouth as it howled and jerked its head left and right in a pain-filled frenzy.

Victor knew Lifedrinker was doing good work, draining away the things Energy, likely interrupting some of its abilities. Even so, he wished he had another weapon, something large enough to continue his punishment of the monster.

Rather than dig through the piles of refuse and debris in the lair, hoping to find something to pummel the monster with, he inhaled deeply, stoking the flames of his magma-attuned breath Core. The gargantuopod had given up all pretense of an offensive and was rolling on the ground, shaking the cavern floor, throwing up mounds of rotting meat and slimy detritus as it struggled with Lifedrinkers deep bite and the flaring arrow still burning a pit in its insides.

As his breath Core swelled and his lungs filled to bursting, Victor stomped forward. Risking a fate similar to his bears, he reached out and snatched ahold of the monster's maw as it puckered open. He found grips on the round, smooth sides of the sharp grinding teeth in fingers of steel, digging in, straining with every ounce of his prodigious strength. At the same time, he stepped on the bottom rim of the sphincter mouth, holding the great maw gaping wide around him.

When he felt himself losing, when the weird muscles that contracted that grinding orifice began to pull him in, Victor switched his Sovereign Will boost to strength and roared, pushing and stretching the maw wide. Then, he emptied his breath Core, blowing out every ounce of his magma-attuned Energy in a stream of liquid, orange-glowing fiery rock, dumping gallons and gallons of it into the things throat and down into its belly.

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The horrible damage his magma did to the things insides was enough to send it into apoplectic convulsions, and even Victors terrible grip wasnt able to keep hold. The monster bucked and flopped, and Victor was thrown, head over heels, backward as it rolled around on the ground, desperately seeking a release from its agony but unable to reach the fire destroying its insides.

Victor clambered back to his feet, and he was stunned to see a System message flash before his eyes:

***Cam Lightly has been rescued from certain death and removed from the dungeon. Eighteen entrants remain. Prepare for an Energy infusion.***

Vitality:

526 (579)

Dexterity:

190

Agility:

213

Intelligence:

172

Will:

589

While he stared at the numbers, inwardly amused by how much theyd changed since hed first stepped foot into the Wagon Wheel and Yrella and Vullu had taught him how to look at his status, Sora said, Im sure I hurt it, and I got a lot of Energy, but that fiery kiss of death was what did the creature in. I dont know how its possible for a giant to breathe fire like a dragon, but color me impressed. She rose to her feet with effortless grace and gestured with her bow to something behind him. We received a chest.

Titan, Victor grunted absently while he turned. Sure enough, resting on the filthy, blood and gore-spattered stone floor was a large, ornate, silver-inlaid marble chest.

Excuse me? Sora stood beside him, no longer tiny but still quite a lot smaller than he was.

Im Quinametzin. Titan. Not a giant.

Theres a difference?

Victor jerked his thumb at the crumpled corpse of the gargantuopod. Titans can kill shit like that. He pointed to the chest. How we doing this?

Sora lithely hopped past the chest and mounted the corpse, like climbing a hill for her, to pull the silver rod from its side. Do you want to inspect this? Id prefer to think you believe me and that I neednt fear you will smite me down out of suspicion.

Victor shrugged. I made a deal with you. A, uh, gentlefolks agreement. Remember? Im not going to hurt you unless you betray me or unless we agree to split up. As for that thing, whats it going to matter? You could have tricked that little guy into placing them for all I know.

Sora frowned, and her brow narrowed. She was clearly angry at the implication, but it seemed she couldnt formulate an argument that would counter Victors logic. Instead, she tossed the flag to the ground with a ping and brushed her hands together, wiping off some unseen debris. I hope I can earn your trust, Victor. I appreciate your honesty.

You dont want that? Victor pointed to the rod where it had rolled into a sticky mess of rotted flesh.

Theyre useless to me. They require a mind affinity, and the set is incomplete; he still had more to place. She walked to the chest and stood beside it. It was large enough that he figured she could get inside if she curled up. As for the treasure, Ill defer the first choice of the loot to you. Then we can take turns. Maybe theres one item in here, or maybe there are twenty. I have no idea what to expect after slaying a monster of this caliber.

Victor realized he was still gripping Lifedrinkers haft in white knuckles. He lifted her and looked at her blade; she was unusually quiet, and he wondered if it had something to do with the thick rivers of Energy she was processing. He held her over his shoulder, and his harness snatched her, pulling her close against his back.

He turned in a slow circle, looking around the great chamber. It was big enough to house a couple of full-court basketball games with room left over for the fans. The haze had cleared from the ground level, but near the high stone ceiling, a cloud of black and green vapors still clung. He saw the stone tunnel where theyd entered the chamber and, on the far wall, not too far from where the monster's corpse lay, was another exit.

Victor nodded, and as he stepped toward the chest, he called forth his coyotes, infusing them with inspiration-attuned Energy. Naturally, they came into the world yipping and whining, and Victor laughed. Hey, hermanos, go watch those tunnels and make sure nobody surprises me and my friend here. They yipped and split up, darting through the refuse-strewn cavern. Victor looked at Sora, and when he grinned, she returned the smile. All right, lets see what kind of loot that big boy had for us.