《God isn't dead, He's just broke》Chapter 16: Fighting an Octopus is harder than it looks.
Advertisement
"What's the difference between a God and a deity?"
"Well for one, it's the scale."
"Gods manage entire universes when they master their powers. That means uncountable hordes of species and divine beings and Magic. It's just a whole lot bigger than being a deity who only manages a single aspect of a world."
"Then there's the origin."
"You see, nobody actually knows how God's form. Yes, plenty of you were born from the 'wombs' of your mothers and fathers and whatever else. But that doesn't account for the fact for the many Gods we get that just appear here one day. Not to mention the fact that there is God outside of our community that was born in the great void or whatever. Where did they come from?"
"Deities on the other hand are created with enough worship and faith, with plenty of legendary heroes and/or villains depending on your morals ascending because of the massive amount of worship that flows into said beings. The guy who could fire off lighting came before the God who could."
-Lecture on what makes the difference between a God versus a Deity. By God William, several days before the 'incident'.
"Work harder Bucket head!"
"When I get out of here, my God will give me the strength to kill all of you!"
"I doubt that since it can't give you the power to murder us right now! Also, who says we're gonna release you? You're wanted for the murder of the daughter of the mayor of Clappy. That's enough to get you sentenced to death or being kept in prison for life!"
Bucket let out a barely hearable shout of anger before he was pulled back down into the depths of a pile of interdimensional garbage.
Brick sighed as he sat on his butt. Sipping a cold beverage Grum had made that came from the Orc homeland called a Margarita. It was a cool and delicious drink on the hot summer morning he found himself in.
It was supposed to be winter this week. But no, the Fall for the week before had skipped straight into Summer. Filling Brick's days with hot summer heat and the waves of ducks dropping from the sun on fire. Along with the occasional long lost royal.
Bucket was currently down to some simple shorts. With only his signature silver bucket on his head being the only other piece of clothing he had on.
Bucket was currently diving and fighting some sort of interdimensional trash possession ghost. They were fairly common, but unless you had the proper experience with them. They were nightmares to fight. Always ready to murder some inexperienced Taker.
Brick himself had nearly died several times to the things. Most times in his early days but once when he had forgotten to clean his apartment up for a bit and a powerful interdimensional trash possession ghost had gotten loose.
Advertisement
Nearly strangled him to death with a half baby doll and half fork and diaper thing. Thankfully Joseph Mary had woken up and tackled the thing off him. But still, it had been a close call.
Brick let out a small Eldritch Force spell on the ghost when it looked like it was about to kill Bucket. The thing had possessed an octopus made of aluminum cans.
The octopus launched out several attacks, each tentacle having several suckers made of beef stew cans on it. Two limbs wrapped around one of Bucket's arms each and cut deeply into them. Bucket let out a muffled scream of pain. His helmet blocking some of the sounds.
Yet Basy's yelling did the trick. Brick had reacted quickly and fired a spell deep into the four eyes of the octopus. The spell smashing into its skin and leaving a small bruise on its skin.
The creature dropped Bucket and quickly dived toward Brick, four tentacles made of trash metal hurling towards him at sub-sonic speeds.
Brick dodged out of the way with a grunt. The limbs smashing into the earth where he once stood with a crack!
The stone shattering like glass from the power of the attack. Brick's eyes winced at the power demonstrated before quickly yelling out to Bucket.
"Distract it!" He yelled.
Bucket's eyes furrowed in rage at the command but a runic symbol suddenly appeared on his chest. Magic power flowing out of Bucket's own reserves and body and enforcing the rule on the war criminal.
Bucket quickly ran forward, a blade made of flames appearing out of his right hand as he charged the beast in front of him.
Letting out a powerful War Cry at the beast quickly got its attention. The octopus raising two of its limbs to strike at the annoying crusader.
The first limb swatted at Bucket from the right while the other swung from the left. Bucket quickly jumper upward. The two tentacles crashing into each other and shattering. The numerous pieces of sharp and metal trash scattering around the Drop Site.
The trash tentacles quickly began to reform, but Bucket let out a slash from his flaming blade and cut through the trash making up the tip of the first tentacle. The blade melting down the cans into metallic liquid. Bucket continued to hack and slash at all the pieces of trash around him.
By the time the tentacles had reformed. The first one had lost about half its length and around a fourth of its width. While the second tentacle had only lost around half as much.
As the octopus raised its tentacles, this time all four of them, to strike at Bucket. Dozens of eldritch runes wrapped around the limbs that had struck at Bucket.
Eldritch power ran along the entire length of each, the energy pouring forward and running through both tentacles in several seconds. The magic of the interdimensional trash possession ghost started to fail. The green magic running through the entire octopus being squeezed and out and devoured by Bricks spell.
Advertisement
The two limbs completely collapsed after another second. Blue magic eating away at the limbs draining them of all their magic.
The octopus let out a screech of rage and pain as it swung its last two limbs around, the right smashing into Bucket and sending him flying into a nearby pile of garbage.
The creature turned its eyes towards the north end of the Drop Site. Behind the creature and around a hundred feet in distance away. The octopus screamed out in annoyance and quickly charged forward towards the Warlock.
That when one of its eyes went blind.
Joseph Mary had hurled a demonic spear right at the Octopus's eyes. Scoring a hit and blinding the enraged beast.
It turned its half-mad eyes towards the demon and raised its two limbs. Only for a blade of flame to cut deep into its bottom. The semi twisting tornado of trash that made up its legs was quickly set aflame. The fire quickly spreading till the entire lower half of the beast was cloaked in flame.
Basy charged towards the right of its head, letting out a string of shouts and yells as it turned its head towards Bucket. The head quickly did a perfect one-eighty and turned left all the way to meet Basy in the eyes. Um... Spirit things?
Whatever, the creature roared straight into Basy's spiritual face. Screeching so loud Basy thought his non-existent ears were gonna pop.
Bucket quickly stabbed again into the twisting pile of trash that made up the octopus's legs. The once-powerful but recoverable fire quickly turning into an inferno.
The octopus quickly fell on its face. The ghost possessing the octopus quickly left the host of trash cans. the monster that Bucket, Joseph Mary, Basy, and Brick had fought collapsing apart and turning into a pile of scrap.
The ghost soared into the air and tried to run away only for a beam of energy to wrap around and pull it in towards a small box in the hands of Brick.
The man smiled to himself as the ghost was dragged into the device he held. Absorbing the spirit before trapping it.
Bucket, Basy, and Joseph Mary quickly ran towards where Brick was. Bucket dispelling his flame sword which caused a grunt of anger from him. The runes on his chest had started faintly glowing again.
After Bucket had been knocked out cold from his battle with Grum, Seften had put a magical seal on him to stop the wayward crusader from murdering anybody with opinions of their own.
Brick had begged Seften to let him take Bucket out into the Drop Sites and have him tank. But Seften had told him no. Bucket had to be convicted for several accounts of murder and assault. And it was his job to get the necessary paperwork sorted out. Bucket's death in the Drop Site would only give him more to deal with. Especially in his 'exposed' manner.
"What's that?" Basy asked.
As he and Bucket and Joseph Mary got close to Brick. "This my friend is a spirit capturing device. Found it a while back, was releasing a whole horde of ghosts when I found it. Nearly turned the entire Drop Site into an active warzone. But it was averted."
Basy manipulated his spirit to make the gesture of an eyebrow raise. "Remind me to get you to tell that story to me when we get back to the inn."
Brick shook his head. "I was stupid high for half the situation. So you should ask Seften for the full story," Brick replied as he turned around and began walking toward the northern entrance of the Drop Site.
Basy and co walked with him. Basy taking a few seconds to admire the scenery of the area. There wasn't much, since whatever wasn't some sort of interdimensional garbage was a massive monster related to garbage. But the blue portals that opened up and dropped said trash down onto the ground was beautiful.
Apparently, every few years some super valuable treasure dropped. And every faction in the city fought for the thing, whether through money or violence.
It had been nearly a decade since it had last happened. So it looked like they were gonna get one soon. In a week would be the tenth anniversary of the conflict and Brick said it would have some sort of excitement.
A crimson bird flying into the ground head first right in front of Basy was enough to wake him up from his thoughts. Brick turned around and cursed under his breath before running towards them and grabbing the bird.
Upon closer inspection, the bird was that of a fire sparrow, imported from the lands of Flame Desert. The thing was a powerful beast when leveled high enough.
A gold Sickel was printed on its back. It held out a small scroll in its left claw with the right one completely missing. The bird then quickly took off when it gave the message to Brick. Soaring high into the sky and disappearing into the clouds.
Though Basy heard a loud crashing noise several seconds later.
"Who is it?" He asked.
"Privy, fuck. Looks like she wants me and Seften to meet her at the Western Gate."
"Why is that bad?"
"We're talking about a Druid Tax Evader with a history of cults. Of course, it's gonna be bad."
Advertisement
Ursus Ex Machina
Ozzy was a man of the wild. Raised in a remote village atop the world's mightiest mountain, he'd been taught to respect and revere the natural world. The realm he was born into had been there long before him, and it would remain there long after him. Sure, there was the occasional madman who threatened to destroy it, but such boasts were always empty. No one individual was actually capable of demolishing this beautiful blue-and-green ball Ozzy called home. No matter what terrible magics these villains wielded, they were incapable of causing permanent harm to the environment. Even if the planet was completely devastated, it would recover. Life would find a way to flourish, same as it always had. That was what Ozzy believed from the bottom of his heart, so he never once felt the need to save the world he loved. After all, it was never truly in danger. The world would be fine no matter what. The people were a wee bit endangered, but that was another story altogether. However, what would happen if Ozzy suddenly found himself devoid of his beloved wilds? What would the man do if the realm he knew - one of wonder, magic, and chaos - was replaced with a man-made environment of concrete, industry, and steam? Ozzy could never imagine such a thing happening, and yet that was his new reality. After losing a fateful confrontation with a mad wizard, he and his friends found themselves transported to a strange world so thoroughly alien that every waking moment feels like a fever dream. Separated and scattered to the four corners of this land, each of these adventurers will need to adapt, survive, and overcome if they hope to reunite. They would also need to do so quickly. The sooner they are able to find one another, the sooner they can figure out a way back home and have another crack at putting an end to the villain's plans. Whether such a thing was actually possible in a world with barely any magic in it was a valid concern, but Ozzy had more immediate things to worry about. For instance, why did the air smell like a perpetual forest fire? How did ships sail through the sky as if it were water? And most importantly, was the pavement he was hurtling towards at high speed much softer than it looked? Probably not, but a man could hope.
8 170Love Link
Yuuta, Shiho and Hiro are best friends from childhood and love each other very much. They live in Kyoto. Well, now, Yuuta loves Shiho and confesses her one fateful night and she accepts his feelings and both start dating. Well, one day, because of Shiho's selfish demand, Yuuta tries to do something and he encounters a tragic accident. Shiho, in trauma because she thinks he caught up in the tragical event because of her, leaves Kyoto and shifts to Tokyo, as promised to Yuuta. But surprisingly, Yuuta, is alive and healthy, but lost some memories because of his injury on the head. 6 years later, in modern Tokyo, Yuuta is a famous mangaka and Hiro is his manager. Shiho on the other side loves a mangaka (unknowingly Yuuta) and idolizes him. Now the web novel goes around their day to day life and finally, the long awaited and uncalled reunion of the three friends.
8 134Frotheland
When Frey was seventeen, the village of Endwoode begrudgingly did him the favour of shooting him. Inoculation by lead was the only known preventative against the terrible ill that festered among the remains of humanity, commonly known as ‘the Frothe’. Hated and loathed in his home village for something his father had done, Frey flees after his only friend Nell is banished to the Outside. Together, they must forge a friendship strong enough to survive monstrous horrors, endemic violence, and each other.
8 75A Primeval Future
Follow the story of a modern caveman as he learns to survive, thrive, and shape his nascent civilization in a world yet untouched by man. Expect a focus on the nitty-gritty of primitive living, especially early on. I plan for this to eventually progressing to the settlement management and politics stage as people gravitate towards the one guy who looks like he knows what he's doing, but this will likely take some time. Despite the occasional system elements, skilling and levels will not be a part of this story. No shortcuts. There will be violence and there will be sexuality but there will be no sexual violence. I hate reading that crap and I hate writing it even more. This is my first serious foray into writing. I plan to put out at least 1 chapter a week, more when I can. Constructive criticism is very much welcomed as are ideas and suggestions! Cover image credit: "Mesolithic camp site" by Wessex Archaeology is licensed with CC BY-NC 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
8 100Eternal Rest
The novel follows the chronicles of a soul mage and his utmost desire not to die. In his most desperate time, nearing the end, his attempt to evade the inevitable went awry and he found himself in quite the peculiar situation. His wish, granted but at what cost? What path would he follow given a second chance? He didn’t know, nor did the author, but they would make sure to get the most out of it!
8 185PRISONER CELL BLOCK H EPISODE 693 ONWARDS
Continuing on from where it ended in 692, as if it never ended at all. It's Prisoner Cell Block H Episode 693 onwards.....
8 58