[417] 5.41 Oceandepths Manor II

The eel swims straight at me, ignoring Lindsey and Chloe as it opens its maw wide.  I run orthogonal to the monstrous fish and escape the crushing teeth bearing down upon me.  I do not, however, manage to fully evade the wreath of lightning which it discharged as it approached.  My body convulses and I fall to the ground, though Chloe already has me healed up before I hit the seabed floor.

“Damn,” Lindsey says.  “Those scales are hard as goddamned diamonds.  My [Energy Arrow] did all of jack and shit against it.”

“Try aiming for inside its mouth when it swings back around,” Chloe says.  “We’ve fought against a lot of giant monsters that way.”

“Yeah, sure.”  Lindsey jumps up onto a panel of compressed air.  “If I can get a clean shot.”

I roll my eyes.  ‘If,’ she says, as though she’s not one of the best damned archers in the world with her build.  I can concede, at least, that this creature is damn quick despite its size, ten feet from the dorsal edge to the ventral, and maybe two hundred and length.  A far cry smaller than that [Leviathan Eel] from a few days ago, but so much faster and tougher in return.

It spins around, weaving through the streets with an ease that must be instinctual.  As Chloe and I fly around and out of the way, Lindsey’s arrow flies directly into the mouth of the beast.  It combusts upon contact with the monster’s electrical field.  If the strike did any damage, it isn’t apparent even to my eyes.

I summon an [Infernal Doppelgänger] and beckon it to attack.  Like with Lindsey’s first attack, the summoned effigy of [Infernal Flame] cannot breach the beast’s outer defenses.  [Elemental Ether Strike] also glides right off.  I scowl.  Not only are these damn scales as tough as diamonds, but they slough magical attacks right off as well.

My next thought is to draw the creature into subspace and let the harsh environments there tear this massive body apart at the molecular level.  It might work, if I could breach the electrical field with this semi-metallic and [Lightning]-vulnerable body.

A wave of electricity arcs out through the dorsal fins, branching pathways hitting nearby buildings even as the bulk of the energy continues to fly directly toward me.  I fly backwards at my top speed, but the lightning surge is faster still.  In the instant when my hair is standing on end, right before my skin is about to succumb to the hundreds of kilovolts, I teleport just outside the blast radius.

Dust clouds my body and sticks to the sweat on my skin.  From that last attack, I’ve learned that this creature uses its fins somehow to both gather and release the gathered energy.  But as Lindsey’s attack hits one of the nodes and again bounces off, I’m not exactly sure how we’re supposed to make progress.  Maybe the whole idea I had earlier about raising a fourth-ascension creature wasn’t wrong after all.

Of course, that thought only makes me want to ruin our wardens’ day that much more.  I start thinking through my options.  Using a combination of [Rewrite Fate] and [The Undying Warrior] would give me crucial time to breach those electrified defenses, though I’d like to not make Chloe hurt more than necessary if I can help it.

“Lindsey?” Chloe says.  “What about that Lightning attack you used earlier?  Do you think you could overcharge the creature?”

“I’ll give it a try, though I’ll need the two of you to buy me a bit of time to charge up!”

Easier said than done.  I flare out my aura, which seems to attract the creature.  A few more [Lightning]-type [Elemental Ether Strikes] also attract our friend’s attention, giving Chloe a chance to charge up her own nigh-unstoppable attack.

Bait, thy name is Seraphina.  I lure the aquatic monstrosity around the winding streets of this labyrinth that looks more like a submerged city.  The eel has the advantage of raw speed, but I possess the edge in the ability to position myself and make quick turns and movements behind buildings.  Buildings which are far more stable than I would have thought at first glance.  Even the eel sideswiping them with an appreciable fraction of its bulk manages only to chip their exterior rather than collapsing the walls entirely.

I slip into subspace right as the monster starts to open its maw.  I consider trying to end up in its gut and attacking from there, before deciding that plan is still too risky.

Instead I appear right behind the tailfin.  I get a small shock as its tail flutters side to side and a couple of sparks impact my wings.

I have no more time to continue plotting.  It flies back up and, with a barrel roll contortion during an inversion, it’s already back on my ass with maw agape.  I vanish again for a split second, though I’m hit with a large chunk of stone as I materialize back into physical reality.  Damn pseudo-underwater System physics.  Worse, the stream of consecutive teleports is starting to have a negative effect on my body.  It’s not as bad as when I was in the second ascension, but there are limits to how many times I can slip into subspace before my body starts breaking down.  And doing so multiple times each second as the eel twists and turns is on the wrong side of that threshold.

Twenty seconds left.  Chloe’s [Ether] signature is spiking as her [Lightspeed Slash] charges up.  The eel looks at her for a moment, until I flare my own aura out to the maximum to compensate.  It looks back and forth between the two of us for a moment, trying to figure out the tastier morsel.

That momentary lapse gives Lindsey just enough time to deliver her attack.  [Insightful Blast] leaves her winded and barely able to remain aloft.  It also strips the electric aura from the damned, dirty fish and, surprisingly enough, also seems to disorient it.  Perhaps its perception is based on electric fields?  It would explain why I’m preferentially targeted.  How strange.

Even as I think through the implications, I’m taking advantage of the brief stripping of its barrier.  The scales are still hard as fuck, and the creature’s [Defense] stat is overwhelming.  Even with all my boosts and the full power of my weapon, I’m only scratching at the scales.  And there are no obvious weak points where I can deliver some sort of critical strike.

“I have an idea,”  Filia’s words echo through my mind.  They relay it to me.

“Will that work?  And more importantly, will you be able to withstand that?”

“The Philosopher’s Ore from which I was forged is virtually indestructible.  The challenge would be that the rest of the components of your weapon might not survive.”

“Well, if nothing else, I can always try blasting again.  Not going to lie, I miss it a little bit, the disadvantages of the weapon aside.”

“Shall we, then?”

I nod.  With everything I have, I thrust my swordstaff into the one part of the right side of its body where my attacks have actually managed to chip a few scales.  I fail to bring the creature down, but I’m able to wedge it past the scales and the skin and into the soft flesh.  The next instant, the aura of electrical energy surges once more, forcing me to disengage.

“Any other ideas?”  Lindsey tosses me a stamina recovery potion.  It revitalizes me to an extent, though I don’t have to worry about the pain I would otherwise be feeling.  “I’m just about out of [Ether] myself.”

“Yeah.”  I chow down on a [Superior Ether Canister] and further shift my [Health] to [Ether] with [Lifecasting] to keep the eel focused on me.  “The two of us have to buy Chloe a bit more time for her to use her final attack.  After that…”

Lindsey pulls out a few dozen Ethertech grenades.  She chucks one at an appreciable fraction of the sound barrier, which makes it past the first row of the beast’s teeth before exploding in its mouth.  I take a couple of my own and aim for the eyes.  None of the attacks do any damage, but the creature is disoriented by the distractions for long enough for us to get a short distance away.

I can sense that Chloe will be ready in about fifteen seconds.  I nod to Lindsey.  The two of us split up as the street we’re on is about to move into a dead-end, both of us throwing our munitions rapid-fire.  Our finned friend hesitates for just a moment too long and slams right into the middle of a large tower near the edge of this city, causing the entire structure to collapse from the direct impact.

Chunks of coral fall toward us.  For the first time in years, I activate the glyphs still inbuilt to my left arm and force congealed bits of my own [Ether], rapid fire, aiming for the teeth, the fins, the eyes, and anywhere else that might distract me.  My vitality fails quickly; I have more than enough [Mind] to process the [Ether] flow, but without the benefit of my old [Elemental Ether Bullet] Skill, my efficiency leaves much to be desired.

Sweat is pouring down my face and my throat is tightening with every breath I take.  More bullets fly as I loop back toward where Chloe is now waiting.  I stumble a bit, nearly falling to the ground as I trip over an errant piece of coral in my haste.  The jaws encroach once more.  I duck and fall to the ground, this time intentionally, rolling to the side and continuing on even as the electrical force starts entering my body.

It stops abruptly.  Everything goes white, then everything goes silent.  Chloe’s position travels through the beast nigh instantaneously.  It rolls toward me, though the creature isn’t dead just yet.  I keep rolling to avoid being squashed.

The monster stops first.  I beckon Chloe for a series of heals.  She obliges, flying toward me and filling me with all the healing and [Ether] she can muster as I ready the most powerful [Lightning] spell I can manage.  [Scalability] and [Impulse] and everything else I can think to add in and conjure together in the brief window I have before this chance goes away.

I leap up in the air, hand over my heart, pulling everything I have into one final strike.  Hitting the creature’s exterior won’t do any damage, and attacking through the mouth or other orifices won’t work either.  But the creature is still biological, and as long as I have a place to strike, it should work.

Sorry, Filia.  I will reforge you, stronger and better, with materials more conducive toward your becoming a weapon worthy of the path I seek for us to follow.

My blast strikes true.  The silver of my swordstaff melts from the overwhelming voltage of my attack, but it manages to conduct enough through its shaft and blade to start ravaging the enemy from the inside.

The ensuing biological failures cascade.  Whatever internal organ it uses to generate electricity overloads from the internal destruction, causing a chain reaction that results in the entirety of the beast expanding.  Chloe catches me and grabs Lindsey right as the failures finally reach their explosive climax.

The stench of overcooked fish accompanies the visceral display of organs and charred flesh erupting out in every direction.  I take a piece of something slimy straight to the face.  I don’t know what it is.  But I don’t like the taste of it one bit.  At least the taste of victory, especially by comparison, is that much sweeter for it.

[You have slain a Stormdepths Leviathan (Level 102).  You have gained a boosted 900,000 Experience.]

[You have gained enough Experience to reach Level 101.  [Strength] +3, [Speed] +3, [Vitality] +3, [Mind] +3.  Please assign free stat points (Remaining: 10).]

[Maximum Health increases by [Vitality] x 2 + Current Level + Rand[1,3] = 710]

[Maximum Ether increases by [Mind] + Current Level + Rand[0,2] = 421]

[Level: 101; Experience: 24,072,100;  To Next: 527,670]

[Current Stats: [Health]: 1,541 / 33,990; [Ether]: 509 / 21,491]

[Current Stats: [Strength]: 699 (Base: 236); [Speed]: 702 (Base: 237); [Vitality] 900 (Base: 304); [Mind]: 941 (Base: 318)]