Chapter 132

Lykan

Distractions and Disasters

To say that the new dungeon was a challenge was an understatement. In the dungeon the monsters were fairly predictable, though nearly too much of a challenge for the pair. This was because the biome of this particular dungeon was a ocean biome. While neither Lykan nor Brenna were the worst of swimmers, it was still something that was out of their element. Even in the air the two would have fared better, as Lykan was a much more agile and nimble flier than any monster he had come about to date. Still there was something to be said about the ocean biome that called to a deep primal aspect of Lykan.

Brenna on the other hand wanted to help, but her dense dwarven heritage made her sink to the bottom of any deep pool of water almost immediately. In the end, the two decided to split up. Lykan would hunt in the deeper waters, aided by his dual forms of flight if needed, which would allow him to rise up drastically in the water. Meanwhile Brenna would use this time to perfect her cores and practice the vortex spiraling motions that Lykan had mentioned.

While Lykan felt bad about leaving Brenna on the shore it was needed. They both felt that this was for the best. While it was unlikely that one of the leviathan type monsters that were the natural masters of this biome would ever be able to make it to the Ippian ocean, there was still a chance. Lykan’s fighting in the ocean was proof of this, as he would be able to hold his breath and fight underwater for hours without need for oxygen.

Once again this biome went to prove just how far he had come in this existence. Once again he wondered if he was in fact truly human any more. Or could he now be considered something bigger, something grander in the scheme of things. Or maybe grander was not the correct way of viewing his current condition. Maybe altered was a better choice to describe his current evolutionary status.

He was close to getting his fifth evolution. All he needed now was to master the bow for skills, and to master Qi Absorption, Qi Control, and Qi Alter. In a way he had been hesitant before to make the change. He was worried that he would leave behind his humanity, that without something to ground him mentally he would fall deeper and deeper into the void of not being human. Eventually he feared that he would no longer consider himself as human or one of their representatives, but another species entirely.

Looking back, that was also partly why his duel with Ghane bothered him so much. Ghane for the life of him was angry with Lykan, well and truly angry. Though Lykan for his part still couldn’t understand why. He noticed this as he was going along, people would always be more attached to him, than he would be to them. This was something he couldn’t quite understand, that deep down attachment. It might have been the fact that he had what could normally be considered a fairly traumatic childhood, but to Lykan it was just how life was. Was he always uncaring? And if so, what happened recently to make these things change? He was changing that much was apparent. The way he viewed the world had subtly begun to shift. Right now he was alone, fighting monsters of the deep in their own environment, something he had done countless times before. While he had never done so in an ocean, that alone wasn’t enough to fully explain this strange emptiness that he was now feeling within himself. It was oddly terrifying in a way. Where before all he had was countless resolve. Now he had doubt.

In a way he felt like he was going into battle with an open wound in his chest. This was an entirely terrible sensation to have. It was a wound that wouldn’t go away. Though just thinking about it, he knew instantly what would heal the pulsing throb, being near her.

Pulse.

A wave of hatred echoed through the waves, like the fluttering of a stone breaking the surface of the water. In an instant Lykan understood the effect of the energy. It was the pulse of a predator, a sort of qi infused sonar that would detect the presence of nearby objects and bounce back the energy signature when a solid object was found. Fortunately for Lykan he was an expert at qi manipulation. Trying to perfect his understanding of qi usage, he waited until the energy waves were right next to him. Then he acted, he paused his mind as he mentally grabbed the pulse of qi energy and tore a slight hole in the creation. A hole that his whole body could easily slip through, without disturbing the overall effect of the sonar. Then to complete the process once he was fully inside the bubble of detection, he once again sealed the bubble behind him. With that movement of power he was able to fully mask his presence from a true leviathan of the ocean. He was also rewarded for his efforts.

(4)Qi Control: Sage +(Unknown) -> (Maximum) (5) Precognition: Novice (5) Psychometry: Novice (4)Qi Alter: Expert +(Unknown) -> Sage

The new powers were interesting, but didn’t seem to offer an immediate combat advantage so he dismissed them. Still he was happy with the fact that he wasn’t gaining Abilities that could only be used for offensive capabilities. Those two seemed that they would be able to offer help in understanding the world, perhaps even giving him a chance to one way or another definitively prove some of his theories he had devised over the recent years. Still this was something that could be thought about at a later time. As for this moment, he was hunting an apex predator in an environment that he would have to rate as his worst to fight in. Despite being able to move about fairly easily with the circulation of his mana, he felt a little off kilter.

Since this was an expert level monster, he would give no chance for a slip up. In addition to moving with increased speed from circulating his mana, he would also perform the simultaneous task of oscillating his cores to match the environment around him. This was fairly tricky to perform, as any wave would need to be adjusted for, in order to keep his camouflage active. Thus the closer he got to the leviathan, the harder it would be to maintain his invisibility. Fortunately for Lykan, he was already sliding past the eyes of the beast that was moving with its long swooping neck.

If Lykan had to describe the leviathan, it would have to be described as a long necked serpent with a bloated stomach, two sets of four flat flipper pads for movement and an equally long spiked tail that thrashed about wildly in the water.

It was clear that the monster was aware of something being amiss in the water. At least that was the impression that Lykan got from the constant movements that the monster made. Though Lykan also assumed that perhaps this movement was part of the process the monster had of breathing while underwater.

Looking at the leviathan it was clear that the beast had a dense qi core that was in the shape of a diamond. To Lykan’s altered senses the large core pulsed and glowed vibrantly. Looking at the core, Lykan realized that maybe his understanding of cores might have been all wrong. Lykan thought that the core had to be perfect for defense from all angles, but wasn’t that what a diamond also was? A compression of carbon molecules so densely packed together that they form an unbreakable lattice work of interconnected particles? Seeing this and having this realization Lykan realized that he might have been a fool to think that the sphere was the best way to go, and instead opened his mind to the idea of other possible creations and shapes that were always better.

Swoosh.

Lykan had gotten too close and barely missed one of the back sets of flippers that nearly made contact with him. Only his fast reflexes and quick reaction time made it so he avoided the impact. An impact that would easily have revealed him before he was quite ready to strike. As for now he wanted to observe the lumbering giant. While the monster swished about gracefully, it was clear that the beast was capable of moving much faster. Worse the beast looked as though it could spiral in on itself like a coiling serpent rather quickly. Such movements would make the monster tough to avoid. Especially as one of its main attacks appeared to be a constricting type of attack.

Lykan still had his mithril spear, and not for the first time he was happy the dwarfs have gifted him such a grand weapon. Not only did it conduct qi rather easily, it also sank, which made this operation so much easier. While he would have preferred to have a spear, for hunting in the water, a bo-staff that he could infuse with energy was the next best choice. Also mithril so far as Lykan was aware was non-corrosive, so he didn’t think that exposing the weapon to water would diminish its strength once he left.

Lykan decided to watch the leviathan.

Sonar Pulse.

Once again a sonar pulse of angry qi erupted from the beast. While Lykan had less time to prepare, the motion this time was far easier to slip past as he had already performed the task previously. This time, just like before he made a small incision into the bubble, using his Qi Control and Qi Alteration to not only create an opening, but then to close the bubble behind him.

Within a few seconds he was out of danger. At least he thought he was. That was until a return pulse almost caught him by surprise. This time rather than a bubble, part of the bubble had broken off and was returning in a near direct collision course with him. Moving quickly he avoided the return bubble, but then began moving even further out of the way, as he anticipated danger.

As soon as the returning bubble made contact with the back of the leviathan, things changed. Qi infused scales activated, the eight fins all began to glow brightly. Then in less than a second, the leviathan turned around and darted forward, right along the return path of the sonar pulse.

Fortunately for Lykan he never stopped his movement away form the return pulse. If one were to watch him, it might appear that he was somehow falling through the water. But this was only a safety measure from Lykan, so he could ensure he was well outside the return range.

Whoosh.

The leviathan swam forward and past Lykan in a blur of speed, flapping fins, and swaying scales. Despite its speed, it still looked to be grace and power incarnated on the waves. To call the motion and unrelenting power anything but beautiful would be a lie.

Lykan followed the beast as best he could, as fast as he could, but was quickly outpaced by the beast. Despite its massive size, it easily left Lykan behind. Fortunately it was large enough that even at a good distance away its body was easy to identify amongst the waves.

ROOOAARRR!

A gurgling roar was released, not by the leviathan that Lykan had been tracking, but by the monster it had charged into. Torrents of bright red qi filled blood began pouring out from the equally large creature that was the subject of the recent attack by the leviathan. If Lykan had to describe the new creature, he would describe it as a shark that had somehow grown scales of a dragon down its body. While the scales seemed to offer some protection, they could do nothing compared to the massive teeth and jaw pressure wielded by the leviathan.

The two fought each other. The shark, no slouch in its own right twisted its body and bit into one of the eight large fins the leviathan used for movement.

This caused a cry of pain to come from the leviathan who then loosened its hold on the chunk of meat from the shark’s side. This was apparently what the shark had wanted as it first bit cleanly through the fin of the leviathan, and then hurriedly swam down to bite into the spiked tail of the leviathan. The tail that had been on a almost retaliatory attack path suddenly got attacked on its own.

Lykan watched the exchange of blows and was surprised by the two different attack methods by the beast. In a way it seemed that these monsters had been fighting each other for countless generations, and with how old these biomes were that was undoubtedly the case. So used to the constant battles, were these two behemoths of the deep that they developed fighting styles that countered the other. The shark went for the fins and tail of the leviathan, no doubt to take away the leviathan’s key advantage of its speed and agility in the water.

The leviathan on the other hand attacked the long broad sides of the shark, attacking the area where the upper and lower sets of scales met. Looking at the blood flow, it seemed that the Leviathan only managed to get a few of its bottom teeth into the gap between the layers of thick scaled plating.

Seeing the monsters fight was truly humbling to Lykan. Had he gone in blindly, he knew he would have been injured due to his lack of understanding of the capabilities of the two great powerhouses. Realizing the error in his ways, Lykan decided to head up gain some much needed oxygen and try to devise a game plan with Brenna. For whatever reason he felt talking things over with her would at least help him rest assured that he was doing everything within his power to succeed.