Chapter 63 – Cracking The Colossal Dreagan

Darya grabbed the spear by the handle and poured mana into it with a clench of her fist. The spear glowed bright yellow-orange, extending to its full length. 

This did not affect the edited collider itself. The real invisible tip of this thing was thirty or fifty feet away, and it was hard to tell. 

She targeted the Dreagan looming behind her. 

[Frame Selected Entity]

Making sure to swing the spear towards it, she zoomed forth, cutting the ocean winds. She felt the physical consequences of a longer spear almost immediately. Her new spear was meeting a lot of air resistance, and it wobbled in her hand as she zoomed forward. The wobbling almost bent her wrist the wrong way. 

Fuck I have to be a lot more careful with this thing. 

As she appeared hundreds of feet away from the Dreagan, she targeted a Shadow that was almost out while grabbing the spear with both hands. 

[Frame Selected Entity]

The effect on the other end was insane. The Shadow got skewered straight through the gut, and the Dreagan’s tar surface rippled as the invisible tip made contact. The impact traveled up the collider into her arms. 

“Ow! shit!” Darya winced as it shook her entire skeleton. The Frame Selected Entity brought her as close to her target as possible, and the sheer speed was enough to break through the Dreagan’s mana-enforced shell. 

She came within ten feet of the Shadow while the collider sank deep into the Dreagan, spurting white blood from the opening. The Shadow caved inwards, its tar-black flesh stretching like a thin rubber membrane. 

The pierced Shadow raised its hand, casting the thread-like spell that seemed to be their favourite. She could already spot three or four more heading her way, recognizing her new move within seconds. 

They’re fast. I have to do this much faster. 

She could kill them with the new spear, but they were useful anchor points around the Dreagan. She had no other entities without them. 

She targeted the Dreagan again. 

[Frame Selected Entity]

The collider dislodged far more easily than it went in. She appeared hundreds of feet away again. Her invisible spear was now coated with thick white blood. 

Ah. Now it’s easier to see!

It looked absurd in her hand. Her brain almost couldn’t comprehend how this thing didn’t weigh more.

The Dreagan responded by doing a mana pulse. Darya was half-ready this time, but it did hit like a truck. She avoided spinning out of control by dipping the long spear into the black waves, splitting the water as she flew from the impact. 

A Shadow burst from the depths, already casting a spell. Darya twisted around the spear, using it like a vaulting pole. She couldn’t dodge the spell fast enough. 

[Vainfall: Terminate]

As the world flickered to monochrome, she targeted the Shadow just to stop falling into the waves. 

[Frame Selected Entity]

Zooming forth in a split second, she appeared two feet away from the shadow. She hadn’t aimed the spear yet. It was elsewhere. Making sure not to cut herself with the long collider, she brought the spear over, lifting it slow enough to see the prediction dots. 

First, the waves below split in half. Next, the dots splashed from the Shadow’s hip and continued in a straight diagonal line across its chest. 

She was almost about to fall into the water again. This time, she turned around and targeted the Dreagan again. 

[Frame Selected Entity]

As the monochrome world faded, she watched the world catch up to her movements. The water split in a tall splash, and the Shadow ripped in half. 

Damn. Maybe that’s the way to do it. 

[Vainfall: Terminate]

She needed to see how far she could push the collider. She aimed the spear at a far-away Shadow. 

[Vainfall: Edit Collider Wireframe]

She grabbed another vertex near the tip, pulling it up and away. She targeted the Shadow she was aiming at. 

[Frame Selected Entity]

Somehow, that worked. She brought the vertex hundreds of feet forward, stretching the whole collider into a fine point. The triangles around the spear were glitching out. 

Her spear now had two sharp ends, one at thirty feet and another at least two hundred feet. She was making the world’s largest fork. 

The next challenge was getting back to the other end of the spear. She had to use a skill for it. Placing her gauntlet hand on the collider to use as a rail, she leaned back from the Shadow.

[Skill: Smooth Slither]

-30 SP • 30s Cooldown

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It brought her far back enough to leap at the handle and grab the spear just as the monochrome world faded. 

Grabbing it with both hands, she moved it an inch to the left. It was hard to do with the long collider catching wind like a sail. 

Now the only way to use this is inside Terminate. I can’t move this thing. 

[Vainfall:  Terminate]

She flung it around, moving the spear fast enough to phase through everything in its way as if they weren’t there. She aimed it at the Dreagan. 

[Frame Selected Entity]

Zooming forward, she wasn’t sure whether the spear made contact. It probably phased straight through the tar-black shell. To see the effect, she had to wait for the Terminate to finish. 

The monochrome world faded, and she saw the bizarre effect of two overlapping objects as they quickly resolved their physics. A hole blew straight through the Dreagan, matter parting ways to allow the spear to occupy the same space. 

White blood exploded from the hole, and she saw it splatter in a great circle around the black waves. 

It’s in! What else can I do?

She knew the mana pulse was coming. She had to capitalize on this attack faster. Looking around, she had a fantastic idea.

There were many shadows around the Dreagan.

[Vainfall: Terminate]

She targeted a Shadow to her left. 

[Frame Selected Entity]

The spear moved with her, but she made sure to shove it back into the Dreagan at a different angle before the time ran out. 

The same type of hole appeared again the split second Terminat ended. The Dreagan started bleeding from five new holes, four of them definitely large. 

Why don’t we keep doing that?

The next advantage was unlimited air-time. Now she could just use the spear like a pole to hang onto. 

A Shadow launched at her from the waves, brimming with green mana. They were changing their tactics already. It was already near her feet. 

[Vainfall: Terminate]

Darya pulled the spear down, swinging on the handle with her entire weight. The spear dropped several feet, phasing through the Dreagan in the distance. 

She phased straight through the Shadow that was launching at her with the drop. She jerked the spear upwards in the last half second, and cut into the Dreagan from a low angle. 

She had never imagined fighting anything this way, but here she was. 

A new hole burst wide open, spurting white blood from both sides of the Dreagan. This time, the black tar surface shuddered powerfully. It sent ripples through the water below. 

Darya pulled herself up with one hand and drove her other gauntlet into the Shadow she just passed through. The claws glowed with red mana as she grabbed its ankle. She pulled it straight out of the air, sending it tumbling back into the waves. 

[Vainfall: Terminate Twice]

She wanted to test another type of attack.  She targeted another Shadow closer to the Dreagan.

[Frame Selected Entity]

One. 

Ten feet away from the Dreagan, the spear phased straight through with the speed. 

Two. 

She moved the spear as slowly as possible, the same way she would punch someone. It had the same effect. The prediction dots moved when she cut through slowly. They showed a hole widening into a thick line. 

She targeted the Dreagan. 

[Frame Selected Entity]

Three. 

Aiming the spear again, she picked another shadow to the right. 

[Frame Selected Entity]

Half. 

A few feet away from the Dreagan. The spear sank through without problem as the world flickered. This time, more prediction dots because the world was just about to catch up with the second Terminate about to activate. 

Moving slightly, she leaned to the right.  She hoped she had enough mana left for this one, because it would be so much faster this way. 

[Spell: Flying Celestian]

-254 MP • Circle • Instant

[view more]

[Skill: Smooth Slither]

-30 SP • 30s Cooldown

[view more]

One. 

She started flying, and she intentionally kept her movements slow, dragging the spear along as she watched the prediction dots fly. 

Two. 

She made it about fifty feet through the Dreagan, steadily cutting through as slowly as possible. 

Three. 

She flew back, pulling the spear out while continuing in the same horizontal direction. 

Half. 

The world started catching up to the prediction dots. This attack was catastrophic. Her spear cut through Dreagan as easily as butter. It lodged itself in a deep cut as long as her flight trajectory. 

With a huge burst of white blood through the widening crack, the Dreagan pulsed its mana again. As it hit her, Darya quickly lowered the spear into the waves, using it as a pole again. 

This time, the pulse hit hard enough to separate them. Her arm stretched, and she felt her elbow pop before she lost her grip. She flew away in a wide arc. 

Weightlessly tumbling in the air with the flying spell, she saw the luminous yellow spear fall across the waves and sink into the waves. 

Fuck. There it goes. 

At least it wasn’t all for nothing. 

The colossal Dreagan split open along the crack like an egg, spilling its white blood into the waves like a volcano. The giant pieces splashed down like mountains, breaking away into smaller pieces. 

It was dead. 

She didn’t have time to celebrate. Nerima was nowhere to be seen. She wasn’t sure if Seris ported her back. Maybe she was hiding underwater somewhere. 

Either way, the other end of her rope was attached to the Desert Rose. 

Darya pulled out her telescope and looked at the ship. She caught a glimpse of Fominel flying above it. Things did seem somewhat under control. 

[Frame Selected Entity]