Once I passed into the dungeon’s entrance, the walls bent and turned wet. A little light glimmered off the walls, my runes giving me a faint impression of my surroundings. As I glanced around at the dark, gritty stone, only the faint echoes of dripping stalactites murmured in the distance like the whispers of water elementals.
Searching for the snails, I took a few more turns down the passage. As I turned a corner, I winced. This was an underwater cavern, mist floating over the water like rolling white cotton. I neared the smothered pool, walking along a shore composed of jagged rock and grimy moss. A set of crawling legs clacked as a crab walked out of the water. One of its overgrown pincers dragged behind it like a caveman dragging a club.
It stood just shy of a man’s height, and its body stretched twice as long. It turned its claws towards me, the right one far larger than the left. I stood a solid distance away from its snapping range, observing it.
Deep Dweller | Level 376 - This is a weak member yet fully grown deep dweller. This crab species has an enlarged claw that it can snap to produce sonic booms above the air, and it can produce stunning blasts underwater. The blasts use strange rules of physics to produce rampant detonations, and experienced deep dwellers can even augment these forces using magic.
Telekinetic variants have been known to extend their range far greater than a simple melee might otherwise induce. In tandem, their piercing ability can also dramatically increase depending on the method of delivery. At the top end of their life cycles, deep dwellers can even manifest various principles used by the universe to govern all things.
And yet, you see this mere common monster before it has reached those otherworldly peaks. It’s recommended you kill it before it enacts devastation upon all that would tread near it.
My runes charged as the creature snapped the right claw towards me. It kept its distance, but the sound from its snap echoed louder than a missile's explosion. The echo reverberated as it snapped several times in a second, and my eardrums ruptured. I winced as blood pooled in my mouth and I blinked out tears from burning eyes.
As red covered my vision, I wiped them. The creature burned through my health, using its snapping and environmental advantage to leave me devastated. Before I died to the beast, I ran at it, stumbling while oddly off balance. It was strange to run without hearing, but I gained a sense for it after a few steps. The crab clamped the claw again, booming a loud sound. My teeth clattered, and my heart palpitated, but I pushed through.
Once I reached it, the crab snapped the claw at me. It clamped onto my right arm. The armor caved in, and my arm broke. However, I pulled it back. Being heavier than the crab, I lifted it into the air before running over and smashing it against the wall.
Like squishing a giant cockroach, the shell of the deep dweller caved in. As it squirmed and twitched in pain, I walked over and shot a quick punch into the face of it. My fist dug a few feet deep into the monster before pulling my hand back. My armor’s wires finished it off. A quick absorption from my armor later, and the fight was done.
As mana faded from my runes, I turned back to the pool, and I considered my options. That beast alone burned through half of my health pool. It was simple to destroy one once I closed in, but their zoning potential was incredible. If I faced several at once, I’d almost certainly die.
Taking a moment, I glanced at the edges of the cavern. It was enormous, the size of a football field at least, and that was only the size of the pool’s opening. I could hardly fathom its breadth below. Of course, fighting giant crab and slug monsters underwater seemed like a jolly good time, but I sat down and thought for a bit.
If I entered the water, I could easily drown. Well, perhaps not easily, but time wouldn’t be on my side like it was above water. I would be on a timer, and that negated most of my advantages from my endurance based build. That wasn't the easiest way of handling this.
Instead, I walked up the edge of water with oppression fully ramped up. The odd aura smothered most of the pool. After half an hour, I blinked as abyssal creatures swelled to the surface. Dark, squirming abominations writhed in the water. They neared the surface, darting back and forth in pain.
I created a long spike with my armor. The further out it went from me, the harder it became to control. It let me create a spear stretching half the length of my body. With a quick, puncturing stab, I pierced into one of the dark shapes underwater.
The moment my armor stabbed into it, I let my armor shoot out like needles. The crawling cables infested the creature from the inside, letting me pull it out of the dark water. It was a glowing blue eel. It writhed, its muscles rippling, and two dark blades grew from the back fin. They glinted red from my runic glow, and their edges carried a malevolent, razor edge alongside its swordfish nose.
It squirmed on my spike, trying to get away from me. I pressed it against the stone before heel stomping it. It required several stomps, and I inspected the creature in the meantime.
Spectral Tick Eel | Level 421 - Though not the strongest of eels, they make up for their lack of strength with an unparalleled speed underwater. They swim and dart around their prey, which is often much larger than themselves. Their fast metabolisms allow them to outmaneuver their prey while creating a variety of cuts over them. This species drains the blood from the water, achieving a frenzy. They then eat until they swell up to ten times their normal size.
This food turns into a nutrient rich liquid that it then feeds to the queen of the pond they reside within. This tribute is so that they can live for longer periods of time and gain experience. If enough time passes, a spectral tick eel can create a cocoon to form themselves into their own queen of a given cavern.
The fights between queens of this species can elevate into brutal and destructive slogs for the local area. Killing it before it reaches its zenith is recommended, though if you fight this monster underwater, be ready for a long and frustrating battle. Otherwise, if taken from its natural habitat, it loses most of its advantages.
Another few heel stomps later, and the monster died. My armor absorbed it, and I went to work. After killing a dozen of those fish, an option finally showed up.
Evolution gained. V Harbinger of Cataclysm unlocked.
Evolve Y/N?
I stepped away from the edge of the coast line, giving myself some distance. After assessing my situation, I shut down oppression and paced into the bunker once more. Once in a side passage, I uncovered a pantry holding several barrels. One of them sat on its side, emptied from the previous occupants.
I crawled inside, the smell of wine bringing forth bad memories once more. I took a breath before sliding the barrel’s lid onto it. I snapped the faucet off the top, giving me a breathing hole if this evolution took a long time. After taking a breath and resolving myself, I put a few skillpoints from my dungeon cores into pain tolerance.
Pain Tolerance | Level 100 - At times, there is no way of avoiding pain. In those dark hours, your will is tested by how well you endure it.
Minus 99.9% of perceived pain.
I maxed the skill out before selecting the yes notification. The pain arrived like an old friend, their smile not reaching their eyes and their mal intent masked. As I writhed, I held my tongue. The sheer amount of agony still left me crippled and unable to move, but I could think.
And so, I dwelled on how the pain was still incapacitating me. Even imagining it at full force made chills crawl up my spine. This evolution also took far longer than the others, probably due to the increase in mana needed for it. Unlike with the other transformations, the pain wasn't severe enough to prevent me from analyzing the reformation.
It was fascinating.
Baldag-Ruhl designed his carapace to incorporate into his body, but something felt off about the current reformation. It did far more than simply act as a shell for me - it was me. Up until this transformation, the armor covered my skin and became my bones. Now, tiny little tendrils of the armor laced within my muscles and tendons. Like cords of metal, these tendrils made my muscle and flesh harder to tear apart. When I charged my runes, the energy pulsing through my armor would conduct with those metallic wires.
Mana molded through my body like water through freshly cleaned pipes. In fact, it traveled faster, as if my flesh were an inhibiting factor that my armor aimed to fix. In that regard, the wires in my muscle acted like copper wires through a house. Copper gave electricity a conductor to travel and power a home.
For that example, my mana was the electricity and the home was me. The wires also crawled through a few of the cartilage joints in my body, giving them further fluidity. The entire while, I became a swollen, bleeding bruise. I couldn’t hold or contain the sheer loss of blood from all the puncture wounds.
So I vomited blood from every orifice. I filled a portion of the barrel, and I thanked my foresight to hide before transforming. If I hadn’t, an eldritch might’ve found me in this state before sucking out my liquified guts. Having these cords infest my muscles still hurt like a thousand needles digging all throughout me as well. But, you know, divided by a thousand.
Somehow, it was still pretty bad.
However, as with all hard things, it eventually ended.
V Harbinger of Cataclysm | Body, Legendary Unique - A strange body that has absorbed enormous amounts of rift and interdimensional energies for evolutions. These evolutions may add other special effects.
Cannot be removed, only altered. This skin is regenerated with health.
0/65.5 Billion Mana left till next evolution.
A Harbinger's Might - Increases Damage reduction cap by 3% | Current Max: 98%
Of Eldritch and the Unknown - Additional 25% increase to total health | Current Total Health: 125%
The Charging Calamity - Gives unique ability IV Oppression | Current Damage: (15,000 + 40% of health/min) within a maximum of a 200 ft/61 m radius. Affected by physical damage reduction.
A Perennial Force - 5% of health added towards health regen per minute, which is affected by regeneration multipliers | Current Regen Multiplier: 4 | Gained Regeneration: 7,847 hp regen/min
Wielder of Your Soul - Soul Forged Runes mana cost reduction: 20%
A Mana Conduit - 10% increased mana travel speed within your body.
A Malignant Entity - Decreases Charisma by 30% | Current Total Charisma: 70%
- And so, you wield me. One day, I will wield you.
A Perennial Force gave me so much health regen that it was mind boggling. The mana cost reductions for my runes and the mana speed acted as potent amplifiers moving forward, and they synergized alongside several of the other bonuses. However, the charisma reduction left me wincing. If I hadn’t invested into the charisma perks, I’d be considered a complete monster by now.
And from the looks of it, that may only get worse. The last line of the armor felt personal as if it wanted to take control of me one day. Gazing at a palm, I channeled mana into my runes. The mana snapped into place, more palpable and malleable than prior. At the same time, the glow let me see my hand.
My fingertips ended in sharpened points, almost like claws. Clasping my hand, the claws shifted to the edge of my knuckles as if I were a liquid. I took a breath, knowing each evolution took me a step further from humanity. At the same time, this armor was the only reason I survived this long.
And it would keep me alive moving forward. Having already walked this far on this path, I settled my doubts and opened my status.
Level 544 | Attribute Menu
Strength - 253.6 | Constitution - 565.4 | Endurance - 676.5 | Dexterity - 100.1 | Willpower - 319.4 | Intelligence - 119.8 | Charisma - 38.4 | Luck - 59.9 Perception - 54
Daniel Hillside, The Harbinger of Cataclysm
Health - 39,235/39,235 | Health Regen - 10,549/min | Stamina - 16,015/16,015 | Stamina Regeneration - 249/sec | Damage Resistance - 98% | Mental Resistance - 98% | Physical Power - (+)3,495% | Damage Increase - 7% | Evolution: 0.07/65.5 Billion Ambient Mana
Aura - Oppression | Current Damage: (15,000 + 40% of your health)/minute within a 200 ft radius.
My health regen increased by half from the evolution and a few levels. Oppression raised from 20,000 damage a minute to 30,000 damage. It sounded like an insane amount, and it was, don’t get me wrong. However, my enemies and allies alike all enjoyed a baseline 95% damage resistance. From my current experience, a few eldritch far exceeded that number, mirroring my own tenacity.
That meant I would need to divide my aura by 20 to reflect its actual damage per minute. Even after being so weakened, it carried potency, but it wasn’t nearly as world destroying as one would think. As for the runes, I took a moment to channel more mana before punching the lid off the wine barrel I hid inside.
Blood poured out of the container, and I scrambled out as a sanguine and drenched monster. I slipped on the slick fluid, and my head hit one of the edges of the pantry. I fell down, the floor rising up to my face in a sudden jolt. I caught myself, my hands on the growing puddle. Taking a breath, I gazed at my reflection in the blood.
My armor grinned, soaking in my own blood. As the pool disappeared, fear raged in my mind like a wild beast. I silenced it, knowing this was a part of my path. I had chosen this, and I would conquer the armor no matter how much it wanted to conquer me. Standing upright, I rolled my shoulders, mana roaring through me.
It literally roared. I blinked, almost overwhelmed by a wave of rage and bloodlust. With shaking hands, I calmed myself and tried using my mana once more. I gradually elevated the amount, finding it absurdly difficult to control near my limits. It was a bucking horse in my head, and it told me to rip, tear, and devour all that I could see.
I murmured.
“One day, I will wield you...I see what you mean.”
I took several minutes to adjust to the increased mental tug of the mana. It felt alive and writhing, a monster in my mind calling out to seize my entire body and arrest control. In many ways, it was a tool I could use when needed, the feelings and impulses not always a problem. However, I had to have a tight lid on whether I acted on those impulses.
My difficulty controlling the mana aside, I itched to test my new limits. After a moment of travel, I neared the pool inside the dungeon once more. Easy as taking a step, I elongated my armor, producing a spike three quarters the length of my body. Controlling it became easier after the reformation. With that extra range, I walked near the pond, ready for fishing.
As I did so, something under the water swelled. A hump appeared under the abyss, racing to the edge of the pond. The monsters I worked so hard to pull from the water began flopping out of the pond, each of them driven mad.
Pufferfish covered in glowing spines of violet, anglerfish with hooked whips that shined yellow, even crocodiles with steel scales polished to a sheen, they all sprinted from the water. I took a few steps back myself, wondering what was going on.
A tentacle came out of the water, covered in eyes and warped mouths. The tentacle slammed on top of a steel crocodile. Blood squirted from the mouth of the reptile, before the tentacle wrapped around it. The metal reptile writhed in agony as the tendril pulled it back into the dark depths of the pool.
The alligator’s claws broke as it dug them into the rock. It snapped at the rock ground, trying to get a hold of anything. With a desperate howl, it submerged into the water. Glancing at the tentacle, a message appeared.
Krakowgan Queen | Level 700 – The fully formed version of the Krakow, this monster has amazing sight with its innumerable eyes. With tentacles covered in mouths and those same eyes, it can hypnotize prey with sweet sounding words or even manifested illusions.
Whether those illusions are effective or not, the combat prowess of a krakowgan queen is fearsome. In dark water, this beast rivals a creature several hundred levels higher; its unseen body shifts in the water faster than the eye can follow. Hidden by the gloom of its surroundings, it becomes a writhing shape in the murk, unknown and guaranteeing a swift death.
The only known piece of its massive body is the eye that opens when it swims near the surface. Many of its powers stem from this organ.
Avoid its clutches, for if it drags you into its domain, you will drown.
It wasn’t a comforting message, but I appreciated it nonetheless. The mound on the lake expanded as water poured from the top of the creature. Black, slimy skin met the surface, its texture glossy and smooth. A giant eyelid opened, revealing an enormous eye. Glowing mist poured from the pupil, the smell sweet like roach poison. Its gaze met my eyes. A cold, distant intelligence lingered.
A voice shook into my mind,
“Hello there, little lamb.”
I fumbled back, slipping on a patch of moss. I fell down.
“What in the world is happening?”
A tentacle rose from the water, leaning back,
“Telepathy, little one. It would seem you fear me. If so, I’m left wondering why you have interrupted my feeding.”
I calmed my breathing before standing back upright. I thought my armor spoke aloud for a moment, but it had been this eldritch. I spread my arms.
“First, I want to address something. So, plenty of eldritch have called me a lost lamb. Actually, almost every eldritch that has spoken to me has used that name. You also spoke into my head, which, you know, isn’t exactly normal.”
The tentacle leaned closer to me,
“All of your kind carries two traits. You are all food, and you all obey a higher order. We do not follow the commands of anyone, unless forced to. Your kind bends at the slightest benefit.”
I rolled my eyes,
“Sounds like you’re just looking for an excuse to justify yourself. Sounds...Simplistic.”
The tentacle slapped towards the top of me. I caught it overhead, and it caused my knees to buckle. Several tendrils followed, and the eldritch omened its words.
“Do not question my motives, child.”
With one knee on the ground, my head was bloody but unbowed. I stood with the tentacles across my back, like atlas carrying the sky.
The monster mumbled.
“How is something so small so…Strong.”
My ascendant mana roared in my armor as my helm grinned. My grip tightened, my fingertips digging into the flesh of the tentacle. The bright, crimson mana bled from my runes like evaporating blood. The tentacle shivered, no longer able to crush me.
“You are no little lamb…You are a wolf, masked in the skin of a sheep.”
A thousand needles expanded from my hands, digging into the monster as it attempted to pull me up. I gripped the ground, bending my feet to grab stone. My grip and weight stopped the tentacle from leaving my grasp or flinging me around. In a wild frenzy, my armor sapped the strength of the monster.
Unique skill unlocked! One hundred skillpoints awarded for the creation of a unique skill! Gorger of Mana | Level 1 - All that lives, eats. Whether that is the flesh of others or the radiance of a star in the distance, creatures must consume. While most are satisfied by these meager offerings, you have desired more in your pursuit of power.
And so, you consume the will of others made manifest.
+1% to draining speed. -1% to mana drain setup time.
The voice roared into any minds left in the room,
“A battle of consumption? It will be a battle I win.”
My armor grinned wider as another tentacle shot out of the water. A splash of water doused me, and I kicked a sharpened foot at the beast. The metal pierced its tough skin, and blood bloomed out of the monster. It splattered over me, and my armor absorbed more and more of its energy. Bloody spots formed on the tentacle I held, the decay spreading further down its limb.
Another tentacle slapped at me. I tilted myself sideways, dodging twice before it swiped the thickened tendril sideways. With my feet creating craters, I leapt backwards. The tentacle I held onto tore from the monster’s body.
With a roar of pain, the sea monster missed its sweeping strike. The piece of tentacle above me wilted. Once fully drained, dried ash fell over me, the remnants unable to even burn. More tentacles rose from the water as if the lake came to life. Three of the eye covered tentacles darted my way, but I leaped into the air once more.
One the tentacles slammed into the ground beneath me, another stabbed at me. I kept my gaze pinned on it as I spinned in the air. As it reached me, I swung my arm at it. I spun while parrying the tentacle downward. The final one came flying down from above. Unable to move, I pulled into a ball. It slammed me downward.
Spines expanded from my back, jagged and strong as steel. They pierced into the tentacle as I clapped against the stone. My vision darkened, and I blacked out for a moment. The tentacle held me down as another neared from my side. A circular mouth opened, revealing a sea of teeth.
The top most tentacle pushed me into the gaping mouth before the squirming insides of the creature appeared. The teeth above me closed. Saturated in a crimson glow, I pushed my arms and legs outwards. Two sharp, serrated swords grew from my palms, stabbing through the monster. With a surge of mana, a burst of strength exploded in my arms as I turned my palms in a giant circle.
A rain of blood covered me as the cave appeared. The two walls of flesh separated as the kraken-thing roared in agony. The bleeding half of the tentacle retracted back into the water as I landed on the slippery ground. I stood, my body covered in sanguine muck and the glow of ascendant mana.
It murmured.
“A monster.”
Beside me, the detached tendril wriggled on the ground like a headless chicken. I stabbed my sword through the armor, draining it of the life force still there. I retracted the blade, pulling it into my palm. It wilted in seconds before I stepped toward the sea monster. The tentacles wavered near the water, more cautious than before. I stomped my foot into the ground, shards of stone splintering upward near my foot.
As the deafening echo radiated through the cavern, I picked up two pieces of stone. With a step forward, I tossed one of them like a javelin. The rock shards shot through the air before shattering against the monster. More a nuisance than a dangerous attack, I shot another boulder at the creature. The voice roared,
“Cease your pestering and leave me be. I will admit you are a worthy foe, but there’s little reason for us to battle to the death.”
I snarled, the mana flowing like a palpable, manic flow,
“Odd how your kind is so open to fighting until you realize it’s going to be a challenge. Then you’re all about peace and rainbows. Pathetic.”
Six tentacles rose from the water, arcing towards me. I grounded my feet, retracting the swords and pumping mana into my arms. A tentacle slammed towards my right side, but I funneled force into my left arm. I pulled my right arm back, sliding on my heels before planting a strike into the tentacle coming at my side.
Using a touch of telekinesis, I pulled the tentacle towards me as my fist hit. The teeth, eyes, and skin broke and ruptured as my fist landed. Muscles composing the limb tore, as the voice yelped. The muscles in my arm burned from the sheer volume of exertion, but I held firm as my knees wobbled.
Another tentacle wacked towards my left side, but I turned my entire body, drilling a fist through the air. I grounded another strike into a tentacle. The ground beneath my feet cracked as my fist landed, and an explosion of mana wooshed through my runes like an engine revving to life.
Like detonating bombs underfoot, two clouds of dust wafted from me. The upper bone of my arm cracked, and several bones in my hands shattered. An enormous implosion of sound ebbed from the tentacle, like a tank shell firing beside my eardrum. The force of the blow rippled through the tentacle, exploding out the back of it.
The skin at the other side of the limb split. Flesh ruptured out of it, leaving the tentacle attached by a sliver of skin. A tentacle neared me from above, but I pulled my right arm backwards. Another channel of power formed as I kept my elbows tucked, turning like a top on my feet. The absurd angle would’ve been impossible if not for my dexterity, and as the tentacle slammed on me, I stepped forward with my right foot.
The foot stomped into the ground, more powdered rock molding into a growing cloud of stone dust. The force off the lunge traveled up my foot, and bones in my foot broke. I turned my left heel, the weight of the stomp pulsing through my core. Something in my spine ruptured, and like a gunshot, my left fist landed a fierce uppercut into the creature.
I dug deeper into the ground as another blow landed. A fissure formed beneath me as my fist punctured the tentacle above. The sheer impact made my knees buckle at just how cleanly the strike landed. At the same time, my shoulder dislocated after an initial transfer of force. A larger cloud of stone dust erupted along with another thunderous boom from below.
Before I could stand up straight again, a tentacle wrapped around me. I had less than half my health remaining, most of the damage coming from self imposed injuries. Despite my proximity to death, excitement rushed in from the crimson mana. At the same time, a strange fear came alongside it.
On the one hand, it gave me momentum and drive to finish my foes. I wouldn’t be nearly as explosive without burning my health through my runes. At the same time, I was walking a thin line between life and death. Each time I spent half my health to harm my opponent, I put myself into a position where an assassin could end me in an instant.
And that came to bear as the kragowgan queen pulled me from my spot. I dragged against the ground, the deadly line of water coming closer. I slammed my hands into the stone, expanding claws into the ground. They held me for a second before chunks of cave cleaved from the ground. With the hunks of stone on my clawed hands, the line of black water grew closer.
Reason rushed in, and a sense of dread came over me. What in the hell was I doing? Why was I risking my life fighting something far above my level and in its home terrain? I had to save my hometown and maybe even the world. Dying in this cavern alone was a fool’s errand, yet here I was, putting it all on the line for a quick burst of experience.
A wave of regret pushed away the surging anger of the mana, and I dug my heels into the stone. I stopped for another second, but another tentacle wrapped around the first, reinforcing it. The pull doubled in strength, jerking me closer yet again. Before I slammed into the water, I inhaled as deeply as I could.
The darkness came over me alongside a wave of icy cold. Water swallowed me. Its grip was all-encompassing, the embrace like the grim reaper whispering in my ear. The tentacle’s grip tightened around me, and the monster was reminding me where I was. No more was it grasping for some bug on the shore.
It had pulled me down, and I was surrounded by its home.
The black brightened in a flash of light as a gargantuan eye opened in front of me. Larger than the edge of my vision, the monster stared at me for a moment. Its body raised up, and countless insectile legs appeared in the shadowed glow of its eye. Deeper in its maw, suckers lined the throat of the monster, and several crabs stuck to them, their bodies turned inside out.
A voice echoed throughout the water,
“Now, little lamb…You lay in my domain.”