Turn 70.03
Squelchy the Polyslime
Squelchy burbles worriedly. He hops away, into some deep underbrush, seeking shelter in any possible areas.
[3] Invigorated by your meal, you hop away quickly in some green hideout. You feel the hostile presences getting away from your position.
Then you smell distress pheromones coming from some slime. They found a victim, and are in the process of hunting it.
HP: 15/15
MP: 12/12
Essence: 0/5 [2]
Status: Okay
Gorra the Lich
Attack the Cyclops my spirit!!
You command your minion to attack the Cyclops.
Ghost: [4]
Osuro: [2]
Cyclops: [2]
The spiritual undead flies toward the giant, and phase through it as it focuses its unlife energy in the front.
The Cyclops screams in pain from the attack, and flails wildly toward
Osuro.
The great skeleton takes his distance to avoid getting hit, but in return don't manage to land a blow on the Cyclops.
Enemy :-Cyclops :
lost hand /
left foot unusable /
Weakened Allies :-Great Skeletal Knight,
Osuro Injured> Worn battle axe
-Mindless Ghost
HP: 4/12
MP: 10/15
Essence: 3/10 [5]
Status: Critically Wounded / Bones shattered
Inventory:
-Bone Staff with Amethyst
Caedan the Bloody Impaler
((I wonder if Vanare picked up on my previous subtle hint that I'm actually a monster, back when we met.))
"I shall try to meet your expectations."
Let's do this.
The songstress positions herself in front of the entrance, stopping in front of the invisible barrier. You ready yourself too, taking the heavy device with you and waiting for her to open a path.
"—"[6] The song started gentle and slow paced, charging slowly the air with power.
Then as the opening verse ended, her voice became stronger and the tone of the song turned powerful.
Letters from the ancient language stormed around her, vanishing in thin air like the embers of a bonfire.
A ripple shook the invisible barrier, which turned visible as space became distorted around it.
Then a violent crackling sound was heard right in front of her, and a gap opened in the forcefield.
She showed signs of extreme exhaustion, as her face dripped with sweat and her whole body shook progressively stronger.
[2] You darted through the unstable passage and set the device on the ground.
You poured all the mana you could inside it to trigger the device. The symbols on its surface lit up brightly and a spell activated.
An invisible force began holding up the gap, seemingly keeping it open... But you realized it wasn't working. The forcefield was stronger, and closing slowly despite the device and Vanare's song.
Ramas: [2]
Ramas stepped forward, intending to rush to your aid. But
Firande stopped him :
"Don't !"She pointed at the gap, it was so unstable it could close at any moment.
The young man bit his lip and shouted to you :
"Caedan, get away from here ! Vanare is about to collapse !"Allies :-
Vanaremalia, short Vanare. Songstress.
>
Extreme exhaustion
HP: 21/21
MP: 15/25
Essence: 9/20 [26]
Status: Okay, clean ! [Charisma Bonus !]
Companions:
-Ramas: Clean ! [Charisma Bonus !]
L. 2 [3/10] [BloodAwakened]
-Firande: Clean ! [Charisma Bonus !]
L. 1 [Locked/5] [PotentialNotAwakened]
Map :
-----------------------
l æ f^l
l ^^ f + l
l f ^ffff@ fff f^l
lff ^ff^ fff f^l
l ff æ ^ f ff^^l
l ff æ ff ^l
-----------------------
^: Hill
f: Forest
+: Eastarm
æ: Village
@: You
Oran the Decrepit Fountain Golem
Oran the Decrepit Fountain Golem
Oran simply stares for a little bit, then responds in the same tongue, raising his right palm to the sky and flowing his water into the basin within as he looks down at it
I have only awoken very recently, However, I know my purpose is to protect others first, I bring life, not death. When I saw the humans being attacked, I went to protect. I do not understand myself, nor this place, and if I, one who originated of this place, did not know, then they surely did not either, what have they done other then enter this tower, in which they may not have known they did not belong?
With a hostile and furious voice, he said :
"Ψου φοργοτ ψουρ πυρποσε... Τηεσε ιντρυδερς αρε τηιεϝες, ηερε το δεφιλε τηε λεγαξψ οφ ουρ μαστερς ! Τηεψ αρε νοτ ιννοξεντ, μανψ οτηερ σιτες φελλ πρεψ το τηεσε ραιδερς."Which you understood as :"You forgot your purpose... These intruders are thieves, here to defile the legacy of our masters ! They are not innocent, many other sites fell prey to these raiders."
And he then warned you :
"Ιφ ψου υνδερστανδ, ηελπ με ορ στανδ ασιδε. Ονλψ ουρ μαστερς αρε αλλοωεδ το τρεαδ ιν τηεσε γρουνδς, τηεψ δο νοτ βελονγ ηερε."You think he said :"If you understand, help me or stand aside. Only our masters are allowed to tread in these grounds, they do not belong here."
Enemy ? Ally ?-Mysterious being
Non-hostiles :-Cloaked Humans
> One fighting
> One unconscious
HP: 10/10
MP: 7/10
Essence: 1/2 [1]
Status:
Okay
Nox the Vampire Bat
Sink your claws into the crowshifter's neck so he can't get you off and keep sucking blood.
[6] You sunk your claws in the transformed crow, firmly holding and sucking more blood.
"Graaaah ! GET. OFF !"Crowshifter: [4]
The crowshifter flew a few meter upward with you still holding on. Then he dove straight on the ground, intending to crush you under his weight.
Realizing this you began to try to get off, but your claws were too firmly sunk in its flesh, and you couldn't get off in time.
[3] The impact on the ground combined with the weight of the crow nearly made you puke all the blood you just ingested. Stunned and hurt, you released your bite and your grasp weakened.
-4HPCrowshifter: [6]
Getting up and shaking wildly around, the crow managed to get you off him. But in the process he opened the wound even more, and fell to his knees. His vision began to blur and he felt as if weight were strapped on his limbs.
"Arh... Crah... Gwah !.." he rasped, exhausted.
Enemy :-Crowshifter
Severe Volume of Blood drained /
Limbs heavy vision blurred
HP: 6/10
MP: 10/10
Essence: 0/2 [2]
Status: Wounded
The Unnamed Ettin
(( oh man im so dead right now))
RUN!!!
Gaunt Husk: [1]
Mud Devourer: [5]
The Mud Devourer encircled the struggling husk, until it fully covered it. As if drowning, the Husk tried to fight back, to no avail...
You ran away, and looking behind the Mud behemoth wasn't moving at all, busy killing the husk.
Eventually you got far enough you couldn't see the river. Hiding behind a huge boulder, you rested, panting heavily.
You still had the guts slashed open, spilling out of the wound. Would it heal ? Would you die ?
These lands were much more dangerous than you expected them to be...
Enemy:-Gaunt Husk of Pestilence
?-Blood-Eye Mud Devourer
?
HP: 2/10
MP: 10/10
Essence: 0/2 - [/color]
Status: Critically Wounded
Inventory:
> charcoal-black wooden club (trunk-sized)
Roeway the Raging Blood Hound
Get into tree cover and find a safe place for Wrapfur to rest while I investigate the smoke
Come on lets find somewhere to rest. Iverpack keep watch over him, I'm going to take a look at that smoke.
You managed to find a seemingly safe place where
Wrapfur could rest undisturbed.
"I will watch over him, be careful scouting out there. Don't do anything reckless, we know nothing of these lands."You left toward the nearest source of black smoke.
[5] You felt a familiar and dreaded smell. Demons.
You carefully progressed toward the smell of burning wood, using the dense vegetation as a cover. You got a proper visual assessment of the situation once closer.
Many trees were burning, but among them a gigantic tree was covered in flames.
There were corpses of humanoids made of vines and wood everywhere around, inert and charred.
And a large number of demons of all origins were gathered here, fighting the few last alive humanoids. One different demon was standing before the tree, though you couldn't see what he was doing.
He had a charred appearance, as if its whole body -wings, tail, everything- was burned to the crisp. It had a standard set of two horns.
Enemies :-Many demons, more than the map show
-----------------------
l sd OOOO d l
l d s OO l
l s d D d l
l ddd l
l s l
l l
l : : : :@: : : : : l
-----------------------
d: Demons
D: Bigger and meaner than the rest demon
s: wood humanoids
O: the great tree
: heavy grass
HP: 15/15
MP: 12/12
Essence: 2/5 [4]
Status:
-Okay
Gray the Metalslinger
Fire pieces into weak spots of the scorpion, like its mouth or gaps in its chitin. Have the pieces devour it from the inside.
[3] You fire four pieces of yourself at the scorpion, aiming for what seem like gaps in its chitin and in its mouth.
-4HPThree pieces land on its chitin, and begin moving in through gaps.
The last piece land in its mouth.
Pieces: [3, 4, 4, 3]
One piece has difficulties getting in through the very tight gap, and is still struggling.
The two other pieces manage to reach the flesh and begin attempting to quickly digest it, creating holes under its chitin.
The piece in the mouth does the same.
The scorpion roars as it feels an intense sensation of burn in its body, flailing his pincer around and
Kokaun at the same time.
Suddenly you sensed warning signal from your parts.
Pieces: [1, 3, 5, 1]
You lost contact with three pieces.
Bronzeking Scorpions were very dangerous predators.
Their venom was one of the strongest neurotoxin of the desert, and a strong acidic substance coursed in their blood and saliva. As such, their saliva and blood could melt flesh in an instant, and of course they were immune to all of these natural weapons.
The only left piece managed to resist the acid, and is still devouring the scorpionBarag: [6]
Brown: [6]
Barag had already started jumping forward even before you fired your parts. He threw swift stabs at the beast, moving nimbly to avoid getting the acidic blood in his face. He aimed at the arm holding
Kokaun, managing to make the scorpion soften its grasp.
Brown helped Barag by hardening its body and morphing to form a shield of some sort, fending off strikes that would hit the human. But he got some scorpion blood spattered on his surface, melting a portion of himself.
"Aaah ! It burns !"But when the beast suddenly flailed, they both got taken by surprise and were hit by a sweep of the tail. Barely protecting themselves, they rolled in the sand, getting bruises and cuts all over the body.
Kokaun: [3]
Thanks to everyone's help,
Kokaun managed to summon enough force to open the pincer and get free. Jumping out of the way, he rolled on the ground and stood up, breathing heavily.
Scorpion: [2]
The scorpion turned, facing you three. Charging toward you, it attempted to snatch another victim, to no avail.
Enemy :- Gigantic Sand Scorpion "Bronzeking Scorpion"
Spots digestedAllies:-Barag, Muscular Human
Cut and Bruises all over Wounded> Great Spear
-
Kokaun, Golden Radasar
WoundedHP: 16/19 | 1/1
MP: 14/14
Essence: 4/10 [11]
Status:
-Elementally Overcharged
Companion:
-Brown: Wounded
Inventory:
-Piece of Glint
Ulkas the Sorcerous Osyluth of Lies
"...Whew... This was the closest one, I think."
Ulkas touched his neck several times, just to make sure it is still in one piece. Somewhat relieved, he signed heavily:
"We'll have to do something with your rampart emotions, Astrosa. It gets too dangerous to rely purely on them..."
Carefully, he picked up her injured body, trying not to make the situation worse, and flew to the small forest close by. Returning to the spirit hills meant uncertain dangers, staying in the open or exploring further was unwise, so forest remained the only semi-safe option for now.
Fly to the forest. Try to ease Astrosa pain and internal suffering by projecting peaceful and relaxing emotions on her sleeping mind.
Carefully lifting her up, you headed off for the forest.
Emotions Control: [5]
Your constant projection of calm and soothing emotions on her mind eventually won over the pain and chaotic hate, and she fell asleep soundly.
And probably because of her pacified mind, her regeneration powers accelerated a little. Superficial wounds began to close, making you feel a sense of relief.
Once in a safer place, you let her lying on the ground. In time, she would recover thanks to her regenerative powers. But how long would it take ? For some reason, you had the feeling the damage she suffered were more serious than you expected.
Expansive Mind: [5]
In the idle time you had, you thought a lot about the battle with these old humans.
They displayed skills and power you never saw before, and their full power wasn't immediately visible to Astrosa. Maybe there was a way to control one's power, one's energy ?
From the vague feeling you had when you took control of the human body, each of the skills he used seemed to greatly weaken him.
Mana was used, you were sure of that as you could absorb some residual mana.
"Lifeforce". This word echoed in your mind. Burning one's lifeforce and mana to create powerful attacks ?...
Could humans be this strong ? Weren't they a weak race ? Or was it just some inconvenient coincidence ? First the Chosen, though in this case it wasn't the human itself. But then this...
You began hoping it was just a coincidence, then suddenly words and images flashed in your mind.
(...)
A crimson land in a dark place, dimly lit by many faint lights in the sky. No, it wasn't the sky, it was a ceiling... What was this place ?
Ah right... The demonic lands. How nostalgic...
Hmm ? There was battle ahead... Humans ? What were humans doing in there ? What...
But even more strange... A human army was fighting an army of demons... and humans. Demons and Humans fighting together against Humans ? And this coat of arms... you saw it recently.
In the Ruined Castle of Valern.
(...)
Another place. A gigantic purple crystal resting in a magenta pool in the depths of earth. You knew what it was.
"Nexus". "The Heart of Hell". "The Demon's Stone"... The source of... power of... demons ?
A lone human stood before the crystal, leaving in his wake hundreds -or maybe thousands- of demons corpses.
"Hero". You fell a terrible sense of dread when this word appeared in your mind. Humans having transcended all the others, holding a power beyond common sense. In a way, they felt closer to monsters than humans...
The crystal shattered in a bright explosion of energy, and everything faded to black.
(...)You emerged from these sudden visions. Confused and the heart beating extremely fast.
HP: 22/22
MP: 30/36
Essence: 23/30 [60]
Status : Okay.
Companion :
-Astrosa:
Very Badly Wounded / Sleeping / Regenerating