[421] 5.45 Oceandepths Manor VI

Bones.  Massive piles of bones both great and small, collected from species which must number in the thousands.  Everything from femurs longer than I am tall to the extended vertebrae and rib cages of snakes and serpents to fully-put-together skeletons of quadrupeds to even human skeletons.  The human ones are displayed in particular prominence in this macabre exhibit of death.

I’m forced to revise upward the creep factor of the master of this manor by several stages.  Simply being some monster who hunts and kills those who trespass upon its domain is one thing.  Crafting exhibits of death from their corpses is…  Not the sort of activity that I would typically associate with the mentally healthy.

I take the lead in this room too dim for Chloe to comfortably navigate.  There are switches on the wall that probably act as lights, but all three of us agree without needing to say a word that touching any of them is again a risk not worth taking.

The stench of death looms large over this gruesome museum, but it is not so all-pervasive as it is when the master is encroaching.  Over the next minute or so, we are safe.  We have a moment to breathe and a chance for me to take a quick drink of water before we plan our next move.

There is a single hallway leading further into this deep chamber.  We follow it into darkness that veers into the supernatural and which is able to reduce my [Veilsight]’s clarity substantially.  This is still safer than heading back in the direction we came.

The shrieking starts a moment later.  Voices follow.  Sometimes they are just unintelligible mishmash, a cacophony of meaningless syllables, some not even present in the English language.  Others are phrases repeated in a discordant irrhythm.

“Go back!” one shouts.  “Go back, go back, go back!” it says.

“Welcome to the show,” another says, followed by a laughter that sounds like it was made by the Joker.  

“It feels so… good.  I’m… happy,” another voice says in a tone both alien yet childish.

“This is… salvation here in this deep mist.  Submit to it, give in your will, and join in its perfection.”  This voice is regal and imposing, with a domineering undercurrent underlying polite affability.

“Perfection, yes.  Surrender your individuality and your very sense of self, and as part of the machine you shall become perfect.”

[Class [The Unbound] triggers.  You have resisted a [Fear] effect.]

The notification flickers twice more.  I dismiss all three instances.

Applause echoes through the jet-black fog.  Perhaps the Master is the only true being within this house of horrors.  The malice of thousands more is still real.  My hand meets Chloe’s.

“It’s all illusions,” I tell her.  “All of these voices are just hallucinations designed to drain our will and our composure.”

“I have heard far more visceral screams from patients living with severe mental illness.  It will take far more than this to break my will.”

I need only a glance at Lindsey to see that her focus remains wholly intact.

Everything goes quiet for one blessed moment.  Then a low and deep roar bellows forth, one that vibrates the air rather than merely assailing the mind.  The hairs on my forearm go stiff in unison as the scream repeats, followed by the slam of a greathammer wielded by a creature with a bony arm for an appendage.

In the center of its right eyesocket is a rich spherical crystal made of amethyst too deep and rich to be entirely natural.

My first instinct is to grab the weapon that no longer exists.  I store the misshapen slag of silver back into my [Inventory] and lock on with my [Bonded Mechanical Arm Cannon].  I’d almost forgotten the thrill of blasting away at this skeletal menace with shards of crystallized [Ether].  Each strike hits its mark, though I run into a nasty problem I had not prepared for.  Despite my best efforts and my [Mind] being much higher than it was forty levels ago, I do not have the weapon strength to overcome the combination of this creature’s [Defense] and damage resistance.

Chloe has some greater success.  [Spiritual Blades] collide with the ossified limbs and actually manage to cleave partway through.  She’s attacked with a slam attack, which I intercept by flying into the limb from the side to knock it off course.  I’m grabbed, but [The Unbound] triggers a second time, enabling me to break free just before Lindsey’s arrow collides with the purple gemstone in its eye.  I follow suit with a pair of blasts as well, and to my surprise, the golem takes steps to defend.

Just what are these crystal orbs; what do they do?  What is their purpose in this dungeon?  They must be intricately linked to whatever objective the dungeon has in store for us.  We have yet to find any clues as to the specifics, but I’m formulating some hypotheses.

As I ready [Subspace Manipulation] and prepare to teleport, I realize the full extent to which this fog permeates into deeper layers of reality.  All my ability to navigate around there to reach the eye has vanished.  I decide that it’s a good chance to try the technique I was going to use earlier.

“Lindsey,” I say.  “I need some time.  Buy me as much as you can.”

She nods wordlessly.  Even as I prepare myself mentally and physically, I’m astounded by just how quickly she moves.  Despite not having a true flight Skill, her [Wind Walk] affords her even greater flexibility and movement than I possess at nearly the same level.  She bounces erratically from point to point, the only forewarning of her momentum shifts being the nigh-invisible walls of solid air that exist for mere centiseconds before vanishing once more.

I close my eyes and focus.  Unlike the principle layer of reality, subspace is somewhat more spongy, for lack of a better word.  It can be stretched or compressed, twisted or, if one were particularly desperate or foolish, torn entirely.  By directing the flow of subspace and maintaining a grasp on the flux of positioning between points in both layers of space, it is possible to effect a sort of subspace tunneling, allowing me to teleport over modest distances.

It is, however, considerably more difficult, though not theoretically impossible, to invert the function and teleport an object to me.  The challenge is that I have far more control over local subspace than that located further away, in accordance with an inverse-cube law; twice the distance equals eight times the mental strain and [Ether] consumption.

Ow!  A jolt of lightning crashes through me as I overexert my mind by trying to teleport out of the way of an errant phalange aimed square toward my head.  For a moment, I think I hear something that sounds vaguely like an apology but it all just comes out as meaningless static as I do my best to tune it out and begin again.

There’s a faint glyph of our target that appears through my [Veilsight].  I begin the calculations.  A sudden shift in the flow of this tempestuous reality throws them off completely.  But I readjust, tracking the waves as they shift with an irregularity that nonetheless has a certain pattern amongst the noise.

My predictions are correct as the adjustments snap into place.  Then again, then again my predictive model proves prescient.  A small mishap… ah, there’s the flaw in my mental model, corrected, and…  I think I’ve got it.  Just need to wait for the right positioning and…

I reach out through subspace and pluck.  It’s wedged in firm, so I yank harder and harder, pulling my right shoulder in the process but blocking out the pain that tried to follow.  Damn thing is wedged in real tight and…  Fuck this thing is…

I launch bursts of [Wind] energy at the monster as I continue to tug, hoping that maybe I can chip the socket or cut a bone or something.  Instead, in an embarrassing instance of friendly fire, I end up nicking my own thumb instead.  Blood trickles down into the socket and for a brief moment, I get a bright idea that maybe the added lubrication will help me finally slip our treasure out of its living jail.  Instead, I lose my grip and my arm flies backward, knocking me back on my ass but at least snapping my shoulder back in place with a pop that is succeeded by the giggling hallucinations still occasionally generated by the fog.

Chloe attacks again.  Her strikes hit every bit as hard as before, but with Lindsey having already weakened the creature, they start to do more damage.  Not enough to shatter the crystalline compounds which comprise the skeletal monster, but enough to keep chipping away with every cleaving slice.

Another idea hits me.  If this creature is here, surrounded in this black fog, then perhaps it is weak to [Light].  A single bullet shining with golden radiance strikes the monster’s bony sternum.  No damage is dealt, but the flash that follows is enough to stun the beast for just long enough for Chloe and Lindsey to each get another hit.

I fire again and again, timing my shots to force the monster into a stunlock it cannot easily escape.  A small portion of my focus remains on the master, still lurking, not currently present, likely to show the moment this battle has concluded to force us into another room of this house of countless horrors.

Lindsey delivers a strike that hits the dead center of the violet eyeball crystal.  It chips by the tiniest amount.  The flow of Ether throughout the entire mansion shifts, slightly but still perceptibly.  Chloe pierces the stone as well.  Again enough to chip, but not enough to crack or to break.

But it is having an effect.  I can sense it.  A sense of hurt mixed with anger.  It’s not coming from this skeletal golem, so it must be from the Master, still there, searching for us.

I grab one of the stones hanging off Chloe’s side and slam it into the ground as hard as I can, then smash it with my boot.  Once, twice, thrice, then on the fourth time the accumulation of damage adds up and the damn thing splits in two.  The flow of Ether shifts far more abruptly this time.  The roar of the Master is even louder than the one from before, when it first noticed our presence and the fact that we took one of its treasures.

One of its power sources.  It is weaker.  Not enough that we have a chance to defeat it, but if there are more like it, then perhaps we can lower its strength to a more reasonable level.

I keep blasting.  Chloe and Lindsey maintain their assault,  The target is the creature’s temple. Expanding a crack that, when cut all the way through, will give us access to the monster’s greatest weak point.

The battle drags on another full minute before Lindsey finally manages to deliver a strike that cracks enough of the eye socket that Chloe is able to weave through the monster’s defenses and shatter the front of the skull.  The orb falls to the ground, and without the monster’s own movements complicating the task, I use my [Subspace Manipulation] once more and am successful in recalling the objective into my hand. 

As with before, I slam it down with everything I have.  I need not stomp it and vent my frustrations before it, like the other, shatters into thousands of pieces that then dissolve into the mists.  Again the Ether flow changes.  The Master is weakened again.

Another primal roar of pain mixed with indignation, coming from a place far too close for comfort.  It has found its way into the underdark.  And, despite having a strength that I do not believe to be in the fifth ascension any longer, it is still many tens of levels stronger than the both of us.  Lindsey, Chloe, and I all go silent, splitting ourselves up within the fog which has dissipated but still maintains a patchwork cover over this chamber of death.

Silence reigns.  For our sakes, may there be nothing else here to disturb it further.

[You have slain a Great Bone Golem (Level 99).  You have gained a boosted 500,000 Experience.]

[Level: 101; Experience: 24,572,100;  To Next: 27,670]

[Current Stats: [Health]: 19,123 / 33,990; [Ether]: 509 / 21,491]

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

[Your [Subspace Manipulation (Rank VII)] has upgraded to [Subspace Manipulation (Rank VIII)].]

[Your [Veilsight (Rank XIII)] has upgraded to [Veilsight (Rank XIV)].]