Part Thirteen

::Special Skill: Bloodthirst has become Rank D.::

…Seriously? After all this time, one of my Special Skills chooses now to rank up? And it isn’t even the one I was specifically grinding to improve. Haaaaah, I hate this freaking apocalypse. It’s so arbitrary sometimes. No wait, it’s the System that’s arbitrary, not the apocalypse itself.

I didn’t even use Bloodthirst all that often anymore. It wasn’t very effective against the Undead or Demon-Type monsters, and most of those it did affect were too strong to be overwhelmed by the Skill. Skanda was much more useful, but it seemed that that Skill would never rank up any further, even though I was still grinding proficiency for that one.

Am I doing something wrong? It’s been half a year since I got that Skill, but it hasn’t reached D-Rank yet. I know that more powerful Skills probably need more time to rank up, but this is starting to get ridiculous. Why isn’t there a user's guide for this shit? Even a walkthrough would be helpful.

“Kyrrraaaaaaa!”

Oh, whoops. Almost forgot about you.

I ducked under the last of the scything claws attached to the strange monster I’d been fighting, a mixture of a praying mantis and a… I want to say windmill-like thingy, but it was just too hard to describe. Most Fiend-Type monsters resembled living things, but some of them were just bizarre, though this one wasn’t the worst of them. That honor went to the one that looked like a swarm of giant, rotten flies. That had been a most unpleasant fight.

Anyway, after dodging the monster's last futile attack, I stabbed it through the weird protuberance that seemed to be its head, fatally wounding it. Ordinarily, you’d never expect something like that to kill it, but I’d grown experienced enough with these things to tell where their weak spots were. Heck, I’d even gained a Skill that could do it for me. How that one worked was beyond me, but so were many things, including how long I’d been in here by now.

I wanna say it’s been about a month, but my whole sense of time has just been absolutely destroyed by this hellhole. Not only is there no day or night, but then there’s those dreams throwing off my rhythm even more. This whole place seems almost designed to drive anyone foolish enough to challenge it insane.

I’m not exactly sure what it says about me that I’m still fine, though I don’t know how long that’ll last.

As I ruminated on whether or not I’d still be sane when, or if, I got out of here, the field boss I’d killed dissolved into light, turning into another crystal. While I didn’t need any more for the crystal compass, I’d discovered a second use for them here, so collecting them wasn’t a waste of time. I just wished they’d also drop items I could directly use. The lack of decent item drops here was severely hurting my motivation to grind monsters.

Okay, I’ve got enough for the stuff I wanted earlier, but I should get a few extra just in case. I doubt I’ll be able to haggle the prices down, so I should make sure I have a few extras if I ever miscount. Math isn’t a particular weakness of mine, but it’s not a strong point either.

My current plan was basically the same thing I’d been doing before I fought the Death Knight. Find field boss, kill it, repeat ad naseum. Even though I’d won the fight without any injures, it had been the kind of battle where I’d been on a tightrope the entire time. If I’d made a mistake, or lacked even one of the abilities I’d used during the fight, I would’ve died then and there. Honestly, I probably would’ve lost if not for my familiars, especially Ash. It gave me an unfair advantage over the Undead, though I had to set the stage for it to do its thing.

As for the other two Mid-bosses I had to deal with, I was waiting until I’d replaced several pieces of my equipment, as well as bringing more of my Skills up to snuff. I needed Accelerate to hit D-Rank before I’d continue, so I had a lot of grinding to do. I’d also decided to once again go back to attempting [Soul Bind], even though it still hurt here. I’d thought that being a mental construct might help with the pain, but no dice, it was just as bad as before.

Honestly, aside from the occasional new enemy to fight, my life had become rather…repetitive. I mean, I woke up, fought, trained, fought some more, trained some more, rested for a short time while training, then found somewhere to sleep, before doing it all again. I was still fine mentally and physically, but I was quickly becoming fed up with this cycle. Even my familiars seemed bored of it, and Ash's sarcastic comments had increased as of late.

I just want something to shake things up a little. Please.

***

…Haaaah, why must I do this to myself?

I’d slipped back into the sewers in order to head to my next destination, though an unexpected obstacle had appeared in my path. I’d done some experiments days ago that had determined that monsters wouldn’t respawn in areas I’d already cleared, but that they would migrate in from uncleared areas. So the fact that a section I knew I’d cleared was so flooded with monsters showed that something odd was going on.

Hm, the walls here are marked, so I was definitely here already. Dungeons don’t seem to have auto-repair functions, so any damage done sticks around unless someone or something purposely fixes it. I’ll admit, I was hesitant to work with him at first, but now I’m glad we teamed up with Gwyn. He came up with a bunch of tactics I hadn’t even thought of. I wonder how they’re doing?

No Michael, don’t worry about them right now! I’ve got to focus on the issue before me. Now, what the heck’s going on here? Analyze and-. Oh shit. Why does this always happen when I’m around?

Greater Dullahan

Rank: C

Description: An enhanced Dullahan capable of absorbing organic matter as well as minerals. Greater Dullahans can use this excess matter to split into two copies, doubling the number of Dullahans serving their creator without further straining them. Thus they are often favored by Demons at the Intermediate tier or higher.

***

Chimera

Rank: C

Description: A Demon-Type monster produced when Demonic energy is poured into certain animals who are then fed to other animals, who are then fed to yet more animals, eventually causing a chain reaction that morphs them into horrific combinations of each individual animal. A Chimera’s abilities differ vastly based on what animals were used to create it, though most possess at least a little skill with magic or mana manipulation.

The tunnel before me was swarming with Dullahans, more than I’d ever seen before. And given how they kept passing in and out of the side tunnels, there were likely hundreds more that I couldn’t see. Dealing with just them might be possible if I devoted everything I had into fighting them, though I’d likely need to do it piecemeal, but the massive beast lounging amidst them was a different matter.

It was the very picture of a Chimera, though the tail looked more like an alligator or crocodile than a snake. Based off the mana I felt from it, the beast was likely employing some sort of Skill that affected its surrounding, though I couldn’t tell what. Approaching it carelessly might get me killed right away, though I wasn’t sure if even caution would help me here.

Hm, I don’t think I can get past all of them, but detouring around them through the sewers will take awhile. The only path I know that goes directly there is just past the Chimera. I can even see the tunnel from here. I might be able to find another tunnel, but it’ll take me far too long to do so. Grrr, maybe if i…no, that won’t work. Not even Ash's Grudge Magic will kill it in one hit. Tch, am I really going to have to give up?

Every Demon-Type monster I’d encountered had been highly resistant to Grudge Magic, so I doubted the Chimera would be any different. Even that extremely destructive spell Ash liked to use wouldn’t work on it. It would probably damage it some, but not enough to kill it. Heck, it may even just piss it off, making the situation that much worse.

I hate to admit it, but the best thing to do here might be to retreat. And come to think of it, I can probably find a manhole cover that leads me to the tunnel on the other side of them, so I just need to make a small detour above ground. Much easier than fighting my way through here. So yeah, this’ll work out fine. Well, not fine, but better than being Chimera shit.

***

Okay, what the fuck is going on here?

I’d quickly found a nearby manhole and climbed back to the city streets. Thankfully, I’d already cleared the block I emerged onto, so there weren’t any Undead waiting for me up there. I’d then used my familiars to help me navigate my way towards where the manhole I was looking for should be, though getting through the main street had been slightly rough. I likely would’ve had to give up on this plan if not for Ash. My familiar’s ability to “eat" Undead was somewhat unfair.

After that, re-entering the sewers and reorienting myself took only a few minutes, and I was soon on my way towards my original destination. Though I soon found myself dealing with a different problem. A cave-in.

Uh, okay. So, what now? How did this even happen? No, it doesn’t matter how it happened. I’ve just got to deal with it before-.

“GRRRRRR….”

-That happens. Fucking. Hell.

I turned around to see the Chimera coming around the corner, several Dullahans riding on its back. The second they saw me, the Dullahans jumped off and drew their weapons, while the Chimera began to growl, glyphs forming in the air around it. I barely had time to dodge before multiple blades of wind came flying at me, each one larger than my arm and sharp enough to cut my head off.

The blades sailed past me harmlessly, though they cut into the concrete behind me, leaving deep gouges behind. Realizing that I needed to deal with the Chimera quickly, I charged forward while simultaneously giving my familiars commands. The younger trio had all managed to evolve into Dread Specters, so their presences were more intimidating than before. They’d be the perfect distraction for the Dullahans while Ash and I went for the Chimera.

*…*

Yeah, yeah, stop your bellyaching. You may not like this, but I know you’re secretly thrilled to be fighting such a strong monster. Your emotions are way too obvious.

*…*

Uh, no? I don’t think the same could be said for me. I just want to get through this in one piece.

*…*

…this conversation’s over.

Ash and I arrived in front of the Chimera, which was already composing a new spell. Swirls of wind began to gather around it, transforming into a thick layer of protective armor. This wasn’t the first time I’d fought monsters in here that used magic to form armor though, so I already had a countermeasure in mind.

I closed in on it, dodging under the hasty swipe from its foreleg, before casting the Grudge Magic Spell [Energy Drain]. Since it affected materialized spells, it was perfect for dealing with barriers of any kind, a fact that had taken me too long to realize. Granted, it wasn’t perfect, as the spell was somewhat complicated and had a limited range, though I could use it to enchant my swords, giving them a magic-breaking effect. Rather useful, that.

“GRRROOOAAAAAWWOOOOO!!!!”

“Hup! Oof!”

Of course, the skill of the caster affected how efficient the spell was as well, and I was unfortunately not very skilled with [Energy Drain] yet. Thus, while my blades pierced through the wind armor and dispelled it, there was too much mana left in the spell when it happened, which caused a minor burst of gale-force winds, sending me flying backwards. Though I’d anticipated that, and had planned accordingly.

*…*

Black tendrils burst from the ground around the Chimera, all part of Ash. They wound themselves around the Chimera's limbs, restraining it until I could return to the battle. No matter how much it thrashed, it wouldn’t be able to escape.

You know, how does that work? Miasma is like fog, it’s immaterial. You can’t really touch it, so how can Ash restrain monsters? Oh, what’s that? You use mana to temporarily solidify your body?....is mana the answer to everything?

With the beast restrained, I had plenty of time to rejoin the battle, and one of my swords soon pierced through the lion head, though that’s wasn’t enough to kill the monster. I’d thought so, but it looked like I’d need to deal with all three heads to kill it. How troublesome.

!...! !...! !...!

And to make matters worse, the Spirit trio sent me a warning that a few Dullahans had managed to break away from them. I didn’t think I’d be able to deal with both the Chimera and the Dullahans at once, so I made a strategic decision to retreat. A single smoke bomb soon filled the air with thick, choking smoke. Even the Chimera lost track of us inside it, allowing me to safely slip away.