Chapter 46: Chapter 39, Accursed arachnida

Chapter 39, Accursed arachnida

 

 

Zelaria

Leaning against the wall I wait for half an hour before deciding that I’ve been paranoid enough. They don’t seem to be coming back down and I’m thankful for it. There’s really no telling how strong classes an adventurer possesses but a level over 200 should indicate either incredible skill or decently high attributes as they’d managed to survive long enough to gain that amount of experience. It might also just be luck but I doubt it.

Standing up and facing the stone wall behind me I throw an enhanced punch at it, sensing the kinetic mana as my fist connects with the hard rock. It immediately drains from my fist into the rock, spreading out and dissipating fast enough that I barely catch a glimpse of it. Punching the wall again and again I study the phenomenon closely, trying to get a better understanding of how the forces interact with each other.

Feeling confident in my hypothesis I punch the wall hard, amplifying the kinetic mana during its transfer with raw telekinetic force.

Crack!

Removing my hand I see a small imprint of my fist and a web of cracks spreading out from the point of impact. I’d used about 500 mana but the effect is more than satisfactory. Continuing to hammer at the wall I try spreading the kinetic force in different directions during the transfer, soon succeeding in expanding the radius of the cracks or deepening them without using more mana.

This is what I’d done when hitting the goater in the side, using ten times the amount of power and spreading the force both wide and deep into the mass of its body. There hadn’t been any real thought going into the attack as I’d just wanted to vent my frustration by utterly destroying one of them, the results speak for themselves.

“I think you’ve figured out a way to make good use of telekinesis in close combat. Overhauling our body is still a necessity as the greater the initial kinetic mana being transferred the less mana we’ll have to spend on telekinetically enhancing it. It’s not as urgent any longer though.”

“Thanks, Ari. Yeah, I think this will do nicely. There’s surely a lot of ways to incorporate it into our fighting style. The only downside is that I won’t get to practice using telekinesis on our body when using it like this.”

“I suppose not. We might as well save that for another time, maybe even taking flight into consideration when designing our new vessel.”

 

Walking down the corridor, tearing a few plant monsters asunder with the ring blade, I come upon the next chamber. It’s filled with nothing but pangolin grizzlies and plant monsters as if the dungeon architect had specifically spawned these creatures for me to practice on. Ignoring the slightly disturbing possibility of being observed and given special attention by the dungeon I step forwards and ready myself for battle.

My ring blade flies off to cut up the plant monsters as the first of 30 monsters charges at me, growling as the heavy footfalls thunder against the ground, claws scraping furrows into the rock. Identifying it I meet its charge with my own.

 

 

[Pangolin Grizzly - Level 127]

 

 

Ducking under the snapping jaws I throw an uppercut into its neck, this time amplifying the kinetic mana itself with telekinetic force instead of my hand. Spreading the force amplified with 500 mana deep into the flesh of the throat I watch the scales crack like brittle wood, falling apart and spilling the mutilated and mashed flesh through the large, gaping hole.

 

 

Ding! You have slain [Pangolin Grizzly - Level 127]. Less experience awarded.

 

 

The carcass threatens to flatten me as I roll out from beneath it. Dodging a paw coming from my right and one from above I jump at another grizzly standing on its hind legs and roaring to the heavens. As it tries swatting me out of the air I punch the paw, distributing the kinetic mana in a wider area with an additional 50 mana to get it away from me before kicking the beast in the stomach.

Adding 1000 mana of telekinetic force into the enhanced kick I grin fiercely as I see an almost indistinct ripple run over an area with half a meter's diameter, both scales and flesh caving in a split second later as the monster flies backwards, innards completely turned to goop. It’s not enough to pulverize the monster as I’d done with the goater but it's more than enough to kill it almost immediately.

Falling back towards the ground my ring blade goes past my back, slicing the arm reaching for me from behind off at the shoulder. Landing I jump straight backwards, turning in midair before kneeing the monster in the head, distributing the force as deeply as I can, going towards the brain. It instantly collapses as the head caves in, brain no longer intact, and I set off towards the next one, my ring blade slicing up the vines coming at me from all angles, trying to tie me down to give the poor creatures a chance.

 

One kick in the side, its insides turn to mush. One punch on a spine, instantly cracking it to shattered pieces. One knee to a jaw, tearing the whole head off. A few jabs to some limbs, utterly incapacitating their movements and leaving them bleeding to death. I continue experimenting with enhancing my impacts as the ring blade flashes past the opponents not instantly killed by my efforts, slicing their heads off or cutting into the open wounds I’d caused.

Coming down with an axe kick on the snout of the pangolin head showing its sharp teeth in an effort at biting me I amplify the impact with telekinetic force, moving it further down the bone structure of the face towards the brain. The impact cracks the skull apart as the frontal facial bones tear straight through the crania into the brain, pushing out the back of the head in a nasty display of a quick death.

Landing on the neck of the beast, riding its fall towards the ground I look around as its large body makes the chamber shudder. I decapitated another monster at the same time as I finished this one and they seem to have been the last ones alive. Letting the ring blade spin a little longer and casting off the last specks of gore covering it I look around to see if I’d missed anything. Neither my eyes or sensors pick up on anything still alive though.

It might not be a huge accomplishment to have slain 30 monsters 60 levels lower than myself but I still feel proud. There’s much to improve upon but that only has me even more excited. I still haven’t incorporated any celestial flames and I look forward to trying it out.

 

---

The ring blade flies past me to kill a plant monster in the surprisingly narrow corridor. The monster core joins the others in storage as I walk past it, ripping it out with telekinesis instead of bothering to cut it out. I take in the chamber coming into view a few dozen meters in front of me. The chamber is the largest one yet and I eagerly look around from the end of the corridor.

The floor guardian is snoozing in the middle but the stairwell isn’t visible from where I’m standing. The giant beast is most likely just blocking it from view as there’s just no way that monstrosity is a common monster. It could be a roaming guardian as I’ve not encountered a single one on this floor so far but the number of chambers it took to get here makes it unlikely.

The monster is some sort of hybrid of plant and lizard. Lizard could probably be used as a derogatory term though as it’s the largest one I’ve ever seen, easily reaching 10 meters in length and 4 in height. Its scales are a pale green-grayish hue and the foggy breath it exhales is tinted the same color.

Tens of interwoven dark green vines form a 5 meter long tail that reminds me of a cut off rope. It looks very strange but there’s surely some reason for the odd appendage. I’m not entirely sure but I think there’s some sort of fluid dripping out from the tips of the vines making up its tail.

 

 

[Vicious Corroder (Floor Guardian) - Level 140]

 

 

Two brilliant emerald eyes immediately snap open at the intrusive identification, locating the source immediately as its head turns in my direction. The ground shudders slightly as the Corroder jumps to its feet in a deft and alarmingly swift motion. A large puff of a darker breath leaves its nostrils as it stares down at me imperiously. Does it think of itself as a dragon or something?

It dashes straight for me and I meet it with my own charge as I don’t want to be caught in the corridor. I’m preparing to punch it in the face to finish it quickly but am surprised as a gush of green, fog-like energy bursts from its open maw like the breath of a dragon. Not ready to have my vision completely obscured I miss my target and bodily slam into its shoulder, luckily avoiding running straight into its open mouth.

An overwhelming pain suddenly spikes all over my body and my sensors show me the source. Green droplets formed from the green fog cover my whole body, corroding it as my skin melts. I lose my vision as my eyes receive the same treatment as the rest. Jumping away from the vicious corroder I use my sensors to keep an eye on it, waiting for Ari to give me the details. I don’t need her to tell me what’s going on though as the next notifications explain it all too well.

 

 

Ding! You have gained resistance [Corrosion Magic Resistance].

Ding! Resistance [Poison Resistance] has evolved into [Poison Magic Resistance].

Ding! Resistance [Poison Magic Resistance] has increased from [10] to [11].

 

 

“We’re poisoned as well? That’s indeed quite vicious.”

“Yes, Zel. The poison entered through the corroded tissue, swiftly going deeper in. I’ll have to spend some of our regeneration to fight it off. The poison itself seems to also have corrosive properties with whatever else it can do.”

Having my eyes forcefully regenerated, pushing most of the poison in them out I once again rush towards the floor guardian. It breathes in again, preparing for another gush of acidic poison breath but I launch myself forwards in a sudden burst of speed, avoiding it as I pass by its side.

I’m about to punch into the creature when I see the tail descending on my head, switching the trajectory of my punch to meet it head on. I’ve miscalculated though as the vines making up the rope-like tail swiftly untangle and come at me from different directions like a plant monster would do, negating my singular punch.

Aborting my punch I instead use telekinesis to pull the vines away from me, manifesting a tightly packed ball of celestial flames in my empty left hand before throwing it at them. The fireball explodes in their midst, coating them in sticky flames swiftly spreading over their whole length before creeping up the back of the lizard.

It hisses in pain as it thrashes around, nearly knocking me over in its frenzy to put out the flames. I dance around the tormented monster for a few seconds before it seemingly decides that killing me is more important than keeping its own life, breathing out another enormous cloud of acidic poison. Quite vicious indeed.

Making some distance between myself and the green cloud I throw another fireball at it, grinning at the effectiveness of the move. The bundle of celestial flames detonate in the midst of the cloud near the face of the lizard, feeding on the cloud of magic and immediately expanding into a 7 meter wide inferno. The lizard shrieks in agony, me watching from the side as it burns to death by being entirely coated in the celestial flames from top to bottom.

 

 

Ding! You have slain [Vicious Corroder (Floor Guardian) - Level 140]. Less experience awarded.

Ding! You have cleared the 11th floor of the Grizklesast dungeon.

 

 

Stopping the flow of power turning the floor guardian to ash I approach the black mass of steaming flesh, gagging slightly at the awful stench reaching my nostrils from the impromptu barbecue. Cracking the skull open and carving out the monster core from its brain using the ring sections I study the uneven fragment of crystal. It’s an ugly green color but it’s still worth adding to my newly started collection.

“The celestial flames were a good choice for taking out this floor guardian, Zel. It still drained quite a lot more mana than a good punch to the skull would have cost but I can definitely see us using more flames when surrounded by large numbers of opponents. The only problem is the huge cost.”

Feeling out our available reserves I have to agree. I’d just wanted to test using the flames to take out the guardian instead of having to bathe in that painful corrosive poison again.

Mana: [6520 / 6520]
Capacitor: [11,012 / 22,363]

“Eleven thousand mana for burning the guardian to death, the tough scales surely made it more resilient but it isn’t a small amount. It’s not really that big of a deal as we can surely improve upon the mana structure and considering our mana reserves are growing larger with time.”

“It’s a bit insane though, don’t you agree, Zel? It feels like yesterday when we worried about spending a few hundred points of mana to take down a difficult opponent and now barely batting an eye at spending over 10 thousand to take down a guardian lower level than us. We’ve grown a lot in a relatively short time of a few years.”

“That we have. Come on, let's get going.”

 

---

 

Two days later.

 

Kicking the bony lizard beneath the chin, sending out an explosion of ivory shrapnel, brains and scales I cut into the last of them with the ring blade, not severing the thick, bone and scale covered neck but still splitting the vertebrae, severing the nerves and killing it.

 

 

Ding! You have slain [Scalebone Sceloporus - Level 184]. Less experience awarded.

 

 

Four of these new types of lizards had struck at me immediately after exiting the stairwell onto the 14th floor. They’re only about 1.5 meters in height and 3 meters in length, tail included, but their entire body is covered with white scales and interlocking segments of bone, seamlessly creating a frighteningly hard exterior without limiting their mobility much. I had to increase the amount of telekinetic force both in my punches, kicks and the ring blade to do any real damage. They’re approaching me in level and it’s not strange that I’d need to put in more effort but it’s a huge step up in durability compared to the previous floors.

“Those sure are durable. Isn’t this the floor where the Hex Luridea were supposed to be located according to Maya? Are they perhaps located further in?”

“No idea, Ari. I think she told us they could be found on the 14th floor, we’ll just have to see as we continue.”

“We’re spending a lot of mana taking out these durable creatures and might need more mana regeneration to support delving deeper. Should we look over our notifications and spend our attribute points?”

“Sure. We’ve killed quite a number of creatures since we last checked.”

 

You are reading story Celestial [A Progression Fantasy LitRPG] at novel35.com

 

Ding! You have slain [Pangolin Grizzly - Level 121]
…
Ding! You have slain [Spitterleaf Lasher (Floor Guardian) - Level 190]. Experience awarded.

Ding! [Mana Machine v. 2.3] has leveled from [189] to [196]. +[70 AP].

Ding! General skill [Identify] has leveled from [54] to [57].

Ding! General skill [Aerial Acrobatics] has leveled from [76] to [80].

Ding! General skill [Running] has leveled from [113] to [119].

Ding! General skill [Sprinting] has leveled from [119] to [128].

Ding! General skill [Jumping] has leveled from [144] to [152].

Ding! General skill [Dodging] has leveled from [243] to [256].

Ding! General skill [Harvesting] has leveled from [14] to [16].

Ding! General skill [Unarmed] has leveled from [137] to [155].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Spatial Ring] has leveled from [125] to [138].

Ding! General skill [Basic Arcane Telekinesis] has leveled from [226] to [264].

Ding! Skill [Sensors] has leveled from [278] to [295].

Ding! Skill [Passive Power] has leveled from [539] to [548].

Ding! Skill [Arcane Manipulation] has leveled from [581] to [604].

Ding! Skill [Capacitor] has leveled from [343] to [366].

Ding! Skill [External Modules] has leveled from [243] to [258].

Ding! Skill [Power Profiler] has leveled from [81] to [103].

Ding! Resistance [Poison Magic Resistance] has increased from [11] to [17].

Ding! Resistance [Corrosion Magic Resistance] has increased from [1] to [14].

 

 

“Quite a good amount of skill levels for two days of work. Let’s put the attribute points into wisdom before continuing.”

 

 

Ding! Attribute [Wisdom] has been increased from [790] to [870].

 

Attribute Points: [0]
Strength: [110] -50%
Constitution: [110] -50%
Vitality: [110] -50%
Agility: [110] -50%
Dexterity: [110] -50%
Intelligence: [163] +300%
Wisdom: [870] +295%

Mana: [6520 / 6520]
Capacitor: [18,241 / 23,863]
Mana regen: [3436] / Minute

 

 

Standing back up from my sitting position I continue forwards in the only corridor leading towards the next chamber, studying the new additions to the decor as I walk. There’s now small bushes and other types of plants growing through cracks in the floor and walls. The uneven surfaces of the walls, ceiling and floors look even more run down than they did before and small pools of water gather in some spots from the larger, leaking cracks.

Statues of bizzare scaled and armored creatures as well as depictions of plant monsters have become more frequent on the last two floors and I briefly glance at one such addition to my right as I pass it, some sort of humanoid creature with a snake head and scale covered goat legs.

A scurrying from up ahead reaches my ears before two more bone lizards come into view from around a bend further ahead, rushing towards me with wild abandon. I let my ring blade slice into the skull of one of them, getting stuck in the hard bone but killing it all the same, as I kick the other one in the head and shatter it, sending the exposed white monster core flying.

Grabbing it with telekinesis I pull it towards me curiously as I continue forwards, dislodging the ring blade with a mighty yank that throws the carcass ten meters behind me. It’s a milky white and opaque color and it looks quite pretty, almost like a jagged pearl and I decide to save it.

Going around the bend I’m accosted by 6 more bone lizards before I reach the first chamber. Stepping into it however reveals what has to be my target, surrounded by an entourage of the sturdy lizards. It looks a bit like an enormous scale-covered, gray scorpion with four thick legs, no doubt containing impressive muscles, five glowing, electric purple eyes gleaming on its front with the thin but wicked pincers clicking agitatedly on each side.

The pincers discharge small spurts of violet fluids with each contraction, the fluid hissing and smoking ominously when landing on the moss. Its segmented tail looks quite odd though, lacking a stinger and not at all sharp like they’re supposed to be but instead abruptly ending, a hole at the tip with electric purple light flickering inside. I identify it.

 

 

[Scaled Hex Luridea - Level 195]

 

 

It hisses and shudders in agitation, clicking the pincers madly as its underlings rush me. I let my ring blade take care of most of them, only having to kick one to death before approaching the scorpion. It points the hole of the segmented tail at me, blasting a narrow beam of purple energy straight at my chest. The energy reaches me as soon as I’ve registered the increased luminosity of the tail’s end, giving me no chance to dodge.

My vision wobbles and distorts as I fall to one knee, feeling completely off balance with muscles barely reacting to my blurry thoughts. Seeing me falter the scorpion lunges at me, pincers dripping venom ready to shear me in half. My sensors are still supplying me with information though and I can feel it coming towards me. Using telekinesis I pull the pincers apart, holding firm as it struggles in apparent confusion against the invisible force.

I’ve forgotten the tail though and get blasted by another wave of purple energy, this time in the head. Not even my sensors seem able to supply me with accurate information after that and everything is hazy and confusing as I struggle to maintain my telekinesis on the pincers.

The ring blade is stuck in the skull of a bone lizard a dozen meters to my right and I violently pull on it to dislodge the blade before sending it at the scorpion. Manifesting a burst of celestial flames for good measure into the eyes of the scorpion I struggle to hold it steady as the ring blade misses the scorpion by a few meters. I’m sure I sent it straight at it but my senses must be confused in more ways than I’d thought.

Giving up on using the ring blade I instead redouble my effort on holding it steady in front of me as it struggles to escape my grasp. Pouring more and more mana into the celestial flames I cook the hissing and screeching monster alive while it fires off more bursts of purple energy in all directions. With a crack of the scaled carapace and sizzling of exposed innards I finally cut the power to the flames and telekinesis as it smacks into the ground.

 

 

Ding! You have slain [Scaled Hex Luridea - Level 195]. Experience awarded.

 

 

Collapsing on my ass I just sit still for a few seconds, waiting for the disorientation to leave me. It takes close to 30 seconds before I feel completely normal again, having regained my ability to move my limbs and accurate sensory information. Looking at the carcass in front of me I wrinkle my nose at the steaming and bubbling flesh spewing a noxious smell.

“Ari, what the fuck was that?”

“Curse, and quite a potent one at that. It didn’t help that we got hit by two doses of it either. The curse burrowed deep into us, interacting with the mana in the affected area in minute ways, interfering with both our mana nerve and eventually even our sensors.”

“Did it do anything else to us?”

“No. I’m not sure if the curse is worse for us or biological creatures. It certainly disoriented us but there’s no other harm to it from what I can see. It might be a different story for vessels with anima, no idea.”

The curse really doesn’t have to do anything other than disorient and confuse to be dangerous in my opinion. I mean, it nearly got to us with the pincers and the venom dripping from them might be even more dangerous, who knows. Standing up I pull the ring blade back towards me, letting it hover behind my back in its assembled form instead of using it to cut open the carcass. I don’t want to risk damaging the venom sacks in my practice as I need 20 of them.

“Any idea where the venom sacks could be located?”

“Try the pincers first, they’re dripping with a nasty fluid and there’s no stinger to house the venom.”

Following Ari’s suggestion I use a dagger to carefully pry the burnt exterior apart. Steam is rising from the flesh beneath and I worry that I might have destroyed the venom sacks with the heat. Carefully carving the flesh apart and revealing the intact sack of violet venom beneath has me breathing out in relief. It’s steaming slightly but it hasn’t burst or been raised to boiling temperatures. I’m not sure the venom would be worth anything if put to a boil, it might somehow destroy it.

I extract the venom sack from the other pincer, storing both in my ring before disassembling the ring blade and brutally carving up the rest of the carcass, looking for the core. I find it behind what must have been the brain, now cooked and still bubbling slightly. I flick it into the air using a blade section before grabbing it with telekinesis and pulling it towards me.

It’s gray with purple streaks of differing sizes running through it in all directions in a confusing mess. I’ve never seen a core looking like this before and I happily store it with the venom sacks before giving the room another cursory glance and walking into the next corridor, leading me further ahead.

 

---

 

Charles Windsnatcher

“Have you found her?”

His majesty looks seriously annoyed and I can’t help but nervously swallow before answering.

“Yes, I received the information today. As both the postings she’d accepted and the recount of the conversation between her and two other adventurers indicated, she headed straight for the Grizklesat dungeon. She had luckily submitted her name to the guild representative guarding the dungeon entrance, allowing for a swift confirmation of her current location. She hasn’t been seen leaving the dungeon since she entered 4 days ago.”

Julie makes a disgruntled noise to my right. I can’t really blame her though as both she and Howard had searched the capital for half a day before we realized she’d already left. The king impatiently taps the armrest of his golden throne for a few seconds before letting out a long breath and turning away from me.

“Julie, Howard, you’ll have to make do without this Zelaria for now. We need you at the frontlines of the invasion and can’t justify you going looking for someone who might or might not be of use.”

“Understood, your majesty.”

They both answer in unison before the king speaks up once more and I raise my head.

“Charles, you’ll have to make the information about the invasion public. There’s already rumors coming close to the truth circling the kingdom and it’s time to put up postings for mass recruitment. We need every adventurer we can get, spare no expense.

"Also send someone to watch over the Grizklesat dungeon and make sure that Zelaria returns to the capital. Do it discreetly though and don’t approach her if she returns on her own accord as is likely. It will be much easier to get her to me if you approach her in the capital where she can’t run away as easily. Not that I know why she’d want to avoid me.”

He lets out a dark chuckle, clearly displeased by her absence. I lower my head in a bow, uttering my understanding of the king’s will.

“Understood, your majesty.”

“Dismissed.”

 

He waves lazily at us as we rise from our knees, bowing once more and backing a few steps away before turning and walking out of the throne room. The soft red carpet doesn’t seem to dampen the sound of our heavy footfalls as well as usual and they echo in the large chamber. It might just be my imagination though as I can’t help but feel that the situation is getting worse without us even realizing it.

There’s nothing to back up this feeling but it still sends a chill up my spine. Mass recruitment without sparing any expense shows that the king either has more information on the situation or is feeling the same unease as me. This will surely cost the crown a massive amount in gold, filling my own retirement savings all the quicker in the process.

Julie speaks up immediately after the enormous double doors close behind us, leaving the king and his advisors alone in the throne room.

“It’s just like her to scamper away from danger. She probably knows a lot more and decided to hide in a dungeon instead of helping the kingdom and sharing more of her information. Disgraceful.”

“You don’t really mean that, Julie.”

Howard puts his arm around her and Julie scowls at him but doesn’t push him away. Looks like they’re back on better terms, that’s a relief. Just a few days ago hostility radiated from Julie at Howard, spilling over on everyone around her and making her even more annoying to interact with.

“Well, no. Maybe not. She’s a lot of things but even I can’t call her a coward. But why did she suddenly rush from the capital, even going as far as to return her rented apartment key ahead of time? Was she really just looking forward to delving into a dungeon or is there something else behind it?”

Julie frowns before sighing and leaning into Howard. What is their relation to this Zelaria? Howard is hard to read when discussing her but Julie clearly displays strong negative feelings tied to this person. I’m not sure what she’s really feeling though. I get the impression that she tries coming off as angry but I’m not wholly convinced. I’ve seen Julie angry on many occasions but this seems like something else. It’s confusing and there’s a possibility that not even Julie herself knows her real feelings.

Whatever their history I hope they can put it all aside to protect the kingdom as we’ll surely need all the adventurers we can get and infighting won’t solve anything. Sighing wearily I rub at my tired eyes, looking out of the stained mosaic windows and appreciating the luxurious gardens. Exotic trees casting long shadows, the landscape painted with colorful flowers. Plants surrounding walkways and fountains, all kept pristine by the king’s servants.

I sure hope we’ll get through this and that Zelaria hurries up her delve. I’m not sure how the king will react otherwise.

You can find story with these keywords: Celestial [A Progression Fantasy LitRPG], Read Celestial [A Progression Fantasy LitRPG], Celestial [A Progression Fantasy LitRPG] novel, Celestial [A Progression Fantasy LitRPG] book, Celestial [A Progression Fantasy LitRPG] story, Celestial [A Progression Fantasy LitRPG] full, Celestial [A Progression Fantasy LitRPG] Latest Chapter