112. Testing (II)

He wasn't sure how much faster his Skill Leveling had gotten in here. When was the last time he Leveled two Skills in a row? He couldn't even remember.

He wondered if they were based on kills. That'd be nice. The splash damage was very convenient.

He figured he was pretty well suited to do well in this kind of thing; he could womp a chunk of them at once—and he could soak a lot of damage too. He could just keep chugging.

As he was musing, more Monsters were closing in. A red noose drawing tighter and tighter on his mini-map.

He got to work.

He chucked one meteor left, one meteor right. It was so steamy he couldn't see all that much; he went off the mini-map. It felt like playing an arcade game. Like whack-a-mole. Except every time he landed, every mole in a thirty-foot radius also got whacked.

More steam swarmed the air, thickening until he could hardly see his hands.

One more wave and all went quiet.

Seemed like final boss time.

The veil of mists started lifting; the sea sloshed to an uneasy calm.

He held up his meteors, loading them with essence. Just waiting.

There was a disturbance in the water.

A trembling. Currents started swirling; a big patch of ocean caved in. It swirled deeper and deeper, widening fast. Soon it was so big it could swallow a cruise ship; it sent violent waves scattering all around. That maw went deep—so deep he couldn't make out the bottom.

Kind of silly, in Zane's opinion. It told Zane exactly where to put his meteors.

It was like throwing a lantern down a deep, dark well. As it fell, the light filtered through the water, a sphere of light marking out everything solid in black silhouettes.

Were those dots schools of fish? He even made out silhouettes of shark-like things swept up in the current.

But the tentacles running beside them dwarfed them all. The deeper the light fell, the more there were, a great tangling forest of them.

𝕂𝕣𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝔻𝕖𝕡𝕥𝕙𝕤

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟡𝟡

Then—after a surprisingly long fall—his meteors struck the bottom.

There was a muffled THUNK.

Then the light flared so bright it felt like it lit up half the ocean.

Steam shot out of the Whirlpool in a pillar-straight funnel, spitting out a new cloud layer.

The tentacles went limp. The ocean collapsed back in on itself; the sloshing grew violent. Waves tall as city skylines raced over the surface. But before they could touch him—

𝕃𝕒𝕪𝕖𝕣 𝕋𝕨𝕠, 𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝔻𝕖𝕡𝕥𝕙𝕤, 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕔𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕕. 𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 𝟚𝟘𝟘

He blinked. And he was somewhere else.

That was it? ...Huh.

He thought it'd be harder.

Eh. He'd take the Skill experience anyway.

He stood on a high barren plateau, run through with deep cracks. Black sagging clouds dominated the sky, crackling with streaks of lightning. He looked around—the plateau fell steeply away into lifeless valleys that stretched to the far distance. Harsh winds ripped all around, fluttering his hair, buffeting his ears, making a ghostly shriek.

Then he saw them coming—a cloud of deep green specks.

𝔾𝕒𝕝𝕖 𝕎𝕪𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕟

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟡𝟟

They looked like dragons, but meaner, with bright slitted yellow eyes. Their bodies were coated in deep-green scales. The main thing that concerned Zane was the wings.

…Birds?

He frowned.

The Wyverns shrieked. And folded their wings so they looked like giant sleek missiles. And dive-bombed him.

His meteors rose to meet them. Just as fast.

And two circles of brilliant fire erased the cloud of green.

When the circles vanished, all that was left was blackened wings, burnt-off tails streaking to earth, trailing wisps of smoke.

Zane blinked. Then he started to relax. He smiled.

Yes. This was very, very good. So he could now defend against birds. This pleased him greatly.

The next waves that came for him, he just waited for them to dive and exploded them one by one. He let himself enjoy the simple pleasure of smushing birds. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Ahh...

It was a philosophical thing. Zane had always believed birds were bullshit and what they did shouldn't work. Now he was proving it.

It was kind of weird, now he thought about it, how easily he was one-shotting whole hordes of Level 97s. Things really changed fast. Just a few days ago Monsters like that Bark Sentinel Overlord had given him a solid fight. Now he swatted Monsters like that out of the air like flies.

Then there was a silence. The birds weren't coming anymore.

Which meant the boss was coming. The biggest of the birds, he guessed. It didn't matter. He was ready to teach it a lesson.

He saw the dot coming closer, but no Monster. Then he looked up.

There was a flash of lightning. And for a split-second a shape came into view. The silhouette of a dragon.

Then it broke through the clouds, and he saw it in color.

It was armored in thick emerald-green scales; curving white spikes ran up its back. Its eyes were set deep in a gaunt skull. Lightning laced the smoke that drifted out its nostrils, and when it shrieked gale force winds poured out of its mouth, puncturing the clouds.

It was huge—leanly muscled, but very long and lanky; most of its size was its wings. They were like ship sails billowing to either side of it; strange currents bore them up. Current spurred by reams of Elemental Law.

𝔾𝕒𝕝𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕟

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟙𝟘𝟛

Zane let out a breath. Time to get serious. This could be just the challenge he needed. He still had that one last Skill to test…

The dragon opened its crystal-studded mouth. A rumbling echoed up its throat; he saw its mouth fill up with blinding light—

Then a thunderstorm raged out of it. A scything, swirling glut of wind laced with vicious streaks of lightning. It came so fast Zane barely had time to react.

He had the wherewithal to turn up Steely Density. Then he took the blast straight to the face.

He'd braced for it and it still sent him staggering. It nearly forced him to his knees.

It was the Elemental Wind—the sheer force of it crushed down from above. It drove him a foot into the stony ground. And he just kept sinking, inch by inch. Nasty cuts started flaring up all over him. Up his arms, down his legs—that Wind couldn't cut deep. But it sure cut wide. In seconds he looked like he'd been mauled by some feral animal.

He gritted his teeth, stood there, and waited. It was shredding him up pretty bad—the streaming winds sent his blood streaking all over; it was painting him in his own blood.

𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘!

ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙 𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝟟𝟝%!

Then the lightning struck.

It lanced through his Steel body; his muscles all flexed at once—against his will. He hissed. Steel could block out many things, but against Electricity it hurt him if anything—that Lightning was seething with Law. It slapped away his own Electricity Laws; it tore straight into his organs, roasting him from the inside…

But he was smiling—and not just because his jaw was locked tight. Because all the while, he felt the tank in him slowly filling. And filling…

And soon--

𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘!

ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙 𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝟝𝟘%!

𝕊𝕒𝕧𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝔹𝕠𝕕𝕪 𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕

𝕍𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝟚𝟝%!

𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕖𝕕 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝟚𝟝%

𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕙 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝟚𝟝%

But then his tank was full.

A few more harrowing seconds and the wind started dying down. It flapped there, breathing heavy, scowling at him. It'd burned itself out.

He stood there heaving too.

That shot would've made him meat paste just a day ago. Right now—though he was bleeding rivers, and his skin was soaked in blood all over, it wasn't anything as bad as it looked. His new Steel Body stopped the worst of the cuts skin deep. Ghostly flames danced over them, quickly patching them up…

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕦𝕡!

𝔽𝕚𝕖𝕣𝕪 ℝ𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕨𝕒𝕝 𝕀𝕀 -> 𝕀𝕀𝕀

My turn.

Zane stood up straight, spat the blood out his mouth, and licked his split lips.

Then he summoned his meteors.

They were fuming, boiling over with white-hot essence; they let out a high-pitched sound like they were leaking essence. They were shaking like they were about to explode; he could hardly hold them up. It was all he could do to point them the right way.

Then he let them loose. Shooting stars raced for the dragon.

It had been eyeing them the whole time. It'd snorted its contempt; little crackling thunderclouds trickled out its nostrils.

It brought its wings together and a swirling cloudy vortex bloomed midair, a shield thick with Wind and Lightning—

The stars sank through it. It tore like tissue paper.

They sank through the dragon's scaly wings; there was a massive CRACK, the sounds of dozens of lanky bones crushed at once.

Then, at last, they sank through the Monster's body.

Seeing something that big spit blood was a sight to behold. A crimson geyser shot out its gullet. Its eyes bulged as it hacked. There were two huge smoking craters in its caved-in chest. It was so caved-in Zane would be shocked if a single organ lay intact in there. The kind of caved-in where he was kind of shocked it was still alive.

He felt fear and pain spiking in the great beast. It howled, turned tail, tried flapping its pulped-up, torn-up wings. A fresh current of Wind Law spun up at its tail, threatening to carry it away. Zane frowned. What a bird thing to do.

Where do you think you're going?

Then its eyes bulged, and it choked.

Something black was coiled around its neck. A stern Chain collar—and at its end, holding it down, was a stupidly heavy ball of molten steel.

He put both hands on the Chain and yanked. A full-body, full-force heave.

And the choking dragon came crashing down to earth. It landed face-first in a plume of dust; it made its own new crater. It tried getting back up, tried flapping its way to its feet, hacking heavily. But it couldn't get up. No matter what it did, it was like its head was stapled to the ground.

Zane's Chains were already incredibly heavy. Especially stretched this long. Now with his meteor hammer as the ultimate anchor—forget about it! If this thing wanted to get away it would have to saw its own head off.

The dragon couldn't seem to believe it. Or maybe it was just desperate. It strained and heaved mightily; it stomped and flapped for all it was worth. Elemental Wind blasted at the Chains too, trying to shake them loose, trying to give it lift.

It managed to budge all of a foot.

Then Zane was all over it. He had something new he wanted to try out for things that just wouldn't hold still, like birds. And this one was a scaly bird after all; in the end it revealed its true nature. He frowned at it, watching it scrabble and thrash, and shook his head. It just looked ridiculous. Way too long and thin. No meat on its bones—now look at it, once he had it all tied up. What could it do? That was the problem with these birds. You could only run for so long.

Anyway. His new anti-bird strategy. 'Ground and pound.'

One Chain to hold it down. The other swerves up high. Like a blacksmith hammering a chunk of metal. Except he wasn't trying to make a pretty sword or something; he'd just hammer until the thing stopped twitching.

The dragon could only watch with one trembling eye as the meteor came down on its head.

CRUNCH. BOOM!

As it swung back for a second go-around, Zane inspected the damage. Its head was pretty shoved in. Those scales must be really hard; they were cracked. Not yet shattered.

Then he gave it another good smash. BOOM!

There we go. Now it was shattered, and badly. The thing's head was pushed in even more; it was half as wide as before, and you couldn't really make out the individual features anymore. It looked like a blackened lump of coal. At some point its massive eye had ruptured. Little oozing chunks of it were splattered everywhere.

Still alive, though. It couldn't voice its displeasure about this whole thing, what with that collar cutting off all airflow—all it could do was wheeze. But its tail was thrashing up a storm.

Zane felt kind of bad now. He hadn't expected it to work this well—this thing was Level 103! Shouldn't it fight back better? He supposed it was kind of hard to fight when your best weapon came out of your throat. And its throat had a few mountains of weight pressing down on it.

One last crash. And the thing went still.

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕦𝕡!

𝔼𝕩𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕊𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕙 𝕀𝕀 -> 𝕀𝕀𝕀

𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕦𝕡!

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟙𝟘𝟙 -> 𝟙𝟘𝟚

𝕃𝕒𝕪𝕖𝕣 𝟛 𝕎𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕨𝕖𝕡𝕥 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕔𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕕. 𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 𝟛𝟘𝟘

Hey, nice. He felt pumped. Ready for the next one.

The scene dissolved. He got just a glimpse of the next layer—what looked to be a desert. Cacti sprouted about. Two suns baked high above…

But just then—

𝟛𝟘 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕦𝕥𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕖𝕝𝕒𝕡𝕤𝕖𝕕. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕣𝕦𝕟 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕔𝕝𝕦𝕕𝕖𝕕.

𝔽𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥: 𝟛𝟘𝟘

Aww.

Next time.