Chapter 88: Book 1: Chapter 31 (Part 1 of 2)

“What the fuck is that thing?” I cried in my mind.

<Why don’t you analyse it and find out> Quixbix remarked unhelpfully.

I was far too concerned with the sudden development to chew him out, though.

 

Parasite Ridden Mutated Crawdad King (Sholmdir’s Champion

Grade: A Level: 1

HP: 9,100

Loot Value: N/A

Threat: Impossible

XP Value: 89,000

Information: This was a regular crawfish before integration. Caught up in a blast of magical energy it became saturated and was on the verge of death before the sea god Sholmdir intervened.

Infused with his divine essence, this crustacean has been enhanced and mutated repeatedly. Thereby creating a champion exponentially more powerful than what should exist on a planet at this stage of its integration. The parasites it bore (twelve of them) have similarly been enhanced and mutated, fusing permanently with the creature and making it even more deadly than before.

The carapace of the Crawdad King provides supreme damage mitigation against all damage types.

The parasites are now part of the Crawdad King but do not share its damage mitigation. Each parasite has 100 Hit Points and has only medium mitigation against physical attacks and none against magical. When a parasite is slain it will slowly sap Hit Points from the Crawdad King to revive itself.

 

“Fucking Nora!” I gasped as I read the text.

<You can say that again> Quixbix chimed in. <If this were a game, I’d say we just met the end-level boss. The boss of a game where the developers thought it would be hilarious to slaughter all the players before they got out of the tutorial zone.

<There shouldn’t be anything this deadly in the first fortnight. A few months from now, far away from people, sure, but not right now. Sholmdir must really hate you, Torin. I don’t know how he managed it, but this would have cost him dearly.>

“This fucking Sholmdir asshat is really pissing me off,” I snarled.

<Well, you may have to cool your heels> the imp continued. <Currently this mob’s threat is listed as impossible. That might change, though. Sholmdir’s interference hasn’t gone unnoticed. I can offer you a divine dilemma. See how I’m offering it and not just activating it straight off the bat. I hope you appreciate the efforts I’m making.>

I mentally rolled my eyes as my face was frozen in place.

“Divine? I presume that means it’s different from the regular dilemma,” I queried.

<Yes, your patron, the Shattered Goddess, will have had a hand in forging the terms of the dilemma> he answered.

“I’m not sure I want to risk it. The dilemmas have been a bit of a rough road for me, so far.”

<Only when you were being a wuss> the imp chuckled. <Look, you are already in a shitty situation. You haven’t completed the culling quest and you are marked with ‘Sholmdir’s Ire’. That monstrosity is going to make a beeline for you. You haven’t seen anything of this size before. You would think a beast like this would be slow, weighed down by its chitinous carapace, but chances are it is unnaturally quick, even on land. The dilemma might improve the situation.>

“Or it might not,” I countered.

<Yeah, but then you’ll get some juicy bonuses for being in the same shitty situation. Not to mention there is the possibility that the Shattered Goddess might take offence that you turned your nose up at her offer of assistance.>

His logic was frustratingly sound. The dilemmas had given me a nudge down paths I’d been reluctant to tread at the time, but they’d never truly fucked me over.

Three or more options, one of which would be guaranteed to suck based on past experience, but there ought to be something vaguely acceptable, possibly even helpful, in the others.

“Let’s do it,” I sighed, and read through what came up next, sighing even louder.

Sometimes I hate being right.

 

The sea god Sholmdir has sent a champion to end your miserable life. Your divine patron, the Shattered Goddess, has deigned to exert a small measure of her power on your behalf. Provided you follow a path that suits her whim that is.

Choose one of the below.

Flight: Flee from the battle (Divinely Favoured Option)

You will be granted a divine quest to escape from the Crawdad King. Additionally, the Shattered Goddess will mask your presence from the Crawdad King. Once out of visual range it will not be able to detect you for 24 hours.

Sacrifice: Order your people to give up their lives so that you can escape.

Your escape and survival are guaranteed. Sholmdir will be appeased, and his mark of ire will be removed from you. +50 Notoriety

Fight: Initiate battle and slay the beast.

Your imp can give you a quest to defeat the Crawdad King.

 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I hissed angrily.

<For once I am in full agreement with you. I quite liked the rest of the crew too. Well, at least you’ll still have Ana, eh?>

“What? Fuck off Quix. I am not picking sacrifice. I will not lose Shana,” I growled at him.

<And Jackson?> he queried teasingly.

“Yes, and Jackson,” I replied curtly.

<I just wanted to clarify, as you didn’t say.>

“It was implied, you prick.”

<If you say so> he chuckled.

“For fuck’s sake, Quix. Now is not the time for jokes,” I groused as I figured out that he was needling me for shits and giggles.

Why he thought now was an appropriate time for those kinds of antics was lost on me.

 <Pardon me for trying to lighten the mood. So, I’m guessing flight it is>

“Yes, it looks like it. Do you disagree?” I asked him.

<Hells no! This is a fight we can’t win. In all seriousness, we run and live to fight another day. I don’t fancy being consumed because you karked it. Getting a reward for doing the only sane thing in the circumstances is what I hoped for from this dilemma.>

Ah, that was why he was being forcibly flippant. Quixbix was frightened.

“Agreed. Then I pick…” I started.

<STOP!> Quixbix screeched in my mind so loudly it would surely have burst my eardrums if it had been true sound.

“What the fuck,” I yelled back at him.

<That delusional deity has changed her fucking mind. Look> he cried despairingly.

I mentally blinked and re-read the dilemma details. They had indeed changed from when I’d read them moments before.

 

Flight: Flee from the battle.

Your imp can give you a quest to escape the Crawdad King.

Sacrifice: Order your people to give up their lives so that you can escape.

Your escape and survival are guaranteed. Sholmdir will be appeased, and his mark of ire will be removed from you. +50 Notoriety

Fight: Initiate battle and slay the beast. (Divinely Favoured Option) You are reading story Corsairs & Cataclysms at novel35.com

You will be granted a divine quest for defeating the Crawdad King. Additionally, rewards for the quest and defeating the Crawdad King will be awarded before, nor after, the quest is completed. (Please note this means retreat from the battle is NOT an option.)

 

The Shattered Goddess had pulled a full one-eighty.

Whereas before she favoured us running and would help in that regard, now she wanted us to fight. It was then that my new skill Preternatural Insight, or at least I assumed it was this skill, kicked in and gave me an inkling of how these changes would affect me.

<Damn. Wait, if we give her a few more minutes she might go back to what it was before. We need to keep an eagle eye on it and then select Flight whenever it swings back in our favour> Quixbix reasoned.

That was when I did something that was possibly foolhardy and assured to really piss the quest imp off.

“I pick Fight,” I declared firmly and made my choice.

<What the fuck are you doing, Torin? Are you crazy?> Quixbix yelled at me. <If we’d waited, she might have changed her mind back to Flight. Even if she hadn’t, that would be better than a hopeless battle we can’t retreat from. Oh, my Framework, we’re dead. We are so effing dead.>

“Yeah, she might have changed her mind but that doesn’t mean it would be better,” I explained my logic to him. “She could have switched the favoured option to sacrifice or worse.”

<Damn it, Torin. You’re thinking with your little head instead of your big head. If you die, they are all just as fucked as if you threw them to the wolves> he wailed.

“Enough, Quix. You said that thing will be gunning for me anyway. Without the goddess’s help, we could get halfway back to the ship, and it catches up to us anyway. Then we’d end up fighting it without a divine boost.

“I’m going to put your callousness down to panic. Get your shit together and display the details of the quest,” I ordered him. “I have a feeling our situation isn’t as dire as it appears.”

 

Who’s the Daddy? (Ax3)

Sholmdir has sent a champion to kill you. Kill it first. Due to the ‘divine dilemma’ nature of this quest, rewards shall be awarded before completion. But you are compelled to fight until either the Crawdad King or you are dead. Due to the strength disparity, the rewards for this quest have been trebled.

Success: Parasite Ridden Mutated Crawdad King slain.

Rewards: 24,300 XP, +120 Notoriety, +15 Class Upgrade points

Shattered Dragonscale Hooded-Coif.

Failure: Death.

Consequences: the mark of Sholmdir’s Ire will become a mark of Sholmdir’s Wrath.

 

<Quest Who’s the Daddy? completed, sort of. 48,600 XP, 120 Notoriety, fifteen class upgrade points and the Shattered Dragonscale Hooded-Coif awarded> Quixbix intoned formally as he did whenever I completed a quest.

I quickly examined the Coif that was now in my inventory.

 

Shattered Dragonscale Hooded-Coif

Chaos Dragonscale Armour (H) (Set 2 of 5)

Damage Mitigation: Very High

HP +300

Stat: +20 Con, set bonus +1 charge

Set Bonus: Chaos Dragon Breath Attack. Charges 2 (Charges return at the rate of one per week.) When used, pick one of five breath attack types, Frost, Fire, Acid, Lightning or Poison. There is a 50% chance it is a random damage type instead. 50 damage per class grade (currently 800 for K-grade)

Drawback: All Notoriety losses are doubled. (If this armour is removed the drawback remains in place for three months. This stacks with the other pieces of the set.)

This armour is forged from the discarded scales of Chaos Dragons in the demesne of the Shattered Goddess. When worn, the damage mitigation is applied to the whole of the head and neck area regardless of whether the hood is up or down. Other pieces of armour such as a helmet can be worn over this extended coverage for their Mana infused abilities, but the damage mitigation does not stack. (Can only be worn by adherents of the Shattered Goddess)

Durability: 10,000/10,000

This was a good start. The first thing that popped out, apart from me getting a mother-humping dragon breath attack, was the coif had the set bonus unlocked, so I reviewed the gauntlets as well.

 

Shattered Dragonscale Gauntlets

Chaos Dragonscale Armour (H) (Set 1 of 5)

Damage Mitigation: Very High

HP +300

Stat: +20 Str, between +1 and +20 to the skill for the currently wielded weapon. (Randomly changes each combat)

Set Bonus: Shattering: Target is treated as having low mitigation armour when attacked by you. Duration of effect is 1 minute for every set piece equipped (currently 2). Charges 1 (charges return at a rate of one per week)

Drawback: All Notoriety losses are doubled. (If this armour is removed the drawback remains in place for three months. This stacks with the other pieces of the set.)

This armour is forged from the discarded scales of Chaos Dragons in the demesne of the Shattered Goddess. When worn, the scales of these gauntlets enlarge and encapsulate the whole of the wearer’s arms offering its damage mitigation to all areas covered. Other pieces of armour such as bracers can be worn over this extended coverage for their Mana infused abilities, but the damage mitigation does not stack. (Can only be worn by adherents of the Shattered Goddess)

Durability: 10,000/10,000

 

There it was. A bonus called Shattering, which would allow me to reduce the armour of a single target. The blasted crustacean would still have over nine thousand Hit Points and only I would be able to benefit, but that had to put this fight back in the ‘possibly winnable’ category.

The potential randomness of the breath attack’s damage type could be problematic in some situations, but my tooltip analysis didn’t indicate the Crawdad had any immunities or resistances to any of the potential outcomes.

The extra Hit Points would be welcome too. Although I’d hoped when I saw the coif that I’d be getting more strength. The constitution boost was the next best thing.

<Okay maybe this isn’t going to be as hopeless as I thought> Quixbix commented, his anger subsiding. <The threat just dropped to Near Impossible once your new gear is factored in. Also, in some bizarre twist, because you’ve got everything instantly your experience was doubled for your Notoriety passing two hundred. Normally that adjustment to experience happens after.

<What’s more you’ve been granted the experience for killing the bloody thing even before you’ve done so, which is something else I’ve never seen before. You have an extra 59,330 XP, which is enough to power you to level five if you survive.>

“What about loot from it?” I asked.

I had intuited some of what Quixbix had explained from my Preternatural Insight skill and hoped for every edge I could get.

<Nothing I’m afraid> the imp answered, dashing that particular hope. <It’s not a spawned mob, but a natural-born creature. If it had been a proper character as champions usually are, you would have access to what was in their inventory. This creature, as big as it is, has nothing on it. This might be a blessing in disguise as I don’t see how they could hand over its inventory contents before it was dead. The creature having nothing might just be what has allowed the Framework to swing these out-of-sequence shenanigans.>

“Shame,” I muttered, but was unsurprised.

<Your new headwear is very good but there is a hidden flaw with breath attacks you need to be aware of. They are generated from the back of your throat> he explained.

“That makes sense I suppose. It is a breath attack, why is that an issue,” I queried.

<Well, you’re not a dragon. You don’t have the same immunities they have. When you use the attack, you will be affected as well. You’ll be getting the benefit of the coif’s damage mitigation and it will be considered a glancing blow, so you won’t suffer from any vital spot multipliers. With the breath attack’s current damage of eight hundred, you will suffer one hundred and thirty damage yourself when it is used. Ninety for Cold damage with your inherent resistance to that damage type.>

“Ah, that’s not so good. Best use it when placed for maximum effect then,” I commented.

<Hold up, what is this> the imp bleated with sudden surprise. <Your level up icon is active.>

“That’s not right, surely,” I said, trying to hide my excitement and not get my expectations up.

<Absolutely not. I may have put you in Action Mode, but you are very much in combat. You categorically should not be able to level up. I’ve seen more unexpected things in the last few minutes than I have in the last two thousand years.>

“You know what they say about gift horses,” I said to the imp and clicked yes on the icon.

Blink.

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