Chapter 323: 323. Whip Blade

Dallion had heard a lot about forging blueprints, but this was the first time getting one. Curiosity made him attempt to use it right away. Unfortunately, that revealed a complex series of several thousand markers that made standard sky silver forging seem like napkin folding. This time Dallion didn’t even bother to try and figure them out. There was a time and place for everything, and this wasn’t it.

The nymph had proved not to be much help. Satisfied that Dallion hadn’t tried to take more than one cube, she had closed the chest, then disappeared without a word. Naturally, the chest had vanished as well, possibly to keep Dallion from falling into temptation.

After spending half an hour resting in the garden, it was time to return to the original goal of fulfilling the whip blade’s destiny. Since the greatest prize had already been obtained—the ability to forge the weapon himself—Dallion didn’t feel as much pressure as before. The third and fourth guardian were defeated twice as fast with half the effort. Each spider was increasingly more agile than the last, though not to the point to surprise Dallion. Also, he had resorted to the one thing he had been avoiding up till now—echoes.

The third guardian had taken five echoes down before Lux had managed to get the first smash. The fourth—barely two, and even one of those could have been saved. When the fifth’s turn came, Dallion and all his echoes used combat splitting in unison to create a four-dimensional chess field, successfully predicting most of the spider’s actions.

Throwing knives and dartbows had become the weapon of choice—fast to reach the threads while also keeping Dallion from suffering the effects of the threads. The cat’s cradle of echoes and instances allowed Dallion to know what the effects of each thread were and counteract appropriately. At this point, he had also figured out the logic. It wasn’t the color that determined the spell linked to the thread, but the material it was made of: silver meant freeze, gold—explosions, and cobalt released acid spray.

“Still like it?” Dallion asked, resting on the floor before proceeding to the sixth fight.

“It’ll do,” the shardfly replied, flying in circles above Dallion’s face. “I don’t like the nymph.”

“She’ll probably be gone when we defeat the last spiders.”

“You don’t like the general,” Gleam noted. “What’s the story there?”

“Unpleasant.” Dallion stood up. “Let’s get this over with.”

The next spider was significantly larger than the ones before. It was too strong to be affected by weight, and also followed a chaotic movement pattern, making it next to impossible to predict its movements. The main weakness, however, remained. It took Lux less than a second to attach to the guardian. It was far more difficult to crash him into a wall strong enough for the spider to become stunned. Ultimately, Dallion had to help in. Using his athletic skill to run up a wall, he then did a somersault and struck the spider with a vertical chop, holding the harpsisword with both hands. The guardian—already accelerated up by Lux—froze mid air as two directional impulses of equal force met. The familiar stun rectangle appeared, after which the firebird took over. Since the distance between the floor and ceiling of the chamber wasn’t enough to deal any damage, Lux propelled the spider all the way to the previous chamber, where he smashed it into the wall. After a few more times, the guardian met the same fate as all the ones before.

Two to go, Dallion thought.

Don’t get overconfident, dear boy. The last ones always are the most difficult to defeat.

You thought the same thing about the protector, Dallion replied. Despite that, he shared the echo’s concerns. Having come this far, it would be stupid to fail at the very end.

Bridges and chambers came and went. Before entering the arena of the sixth guardian, Dallion stopped. There was a strange feeling in the air, as if it were heavy with static.

“Why did you stop?” Gleam asked. “The guardian’s right there.”

“Something feels off,” Dallion said.

Music!

Neither his music nor his forging skills showed anything out of the ordinary. The chamber was no different from the ones before. There were no cracks or other presences, no other creatures, no enemy minions… and still, something felt wrong.

“Be ready. This one might be different.”

Dallion walked onward. There wasn’t a single thread to be seen, suggesting that the spider would rely on other skills to fight.

COMBAT INITIATED

Here we go. Dallion created two echoes, then split into three instances. Each of his echoes did the same, while Lux perched on his shoulder, ready to dart at the enemy.

A large form came from above, then hit the ground with a loud smash.

WHIP BLADE Level 6 has been cleared!

Continue to fulfill the WHIP BLADE’s destiny.

What just happened? Dallion stared as the giant metal carcass of the spider disappeared. The chamber lit up, indicating that Dallion was the victor and could now proceed to the final guardian. The problem was that he hadn’t won this battle. The shardfly must have thought the same, for she flew up, examining the ceiling of the chamber.

“Gleam, beware for chainlings.” Dallion gripped his harpsisword while reciting the names of the Moons.

Nox would have felt if there were any, Nil said.

He didn’t sense Arthurows, Dallion replied. If there was to be another showdown with the Star, Dallion would lose. The blade whip didn’t have the same safeguards as a training dagger—here everything went.

“Gleam, know anything that changes the air with electricity?”

“A lot, but I didn’t see any of them here.”

“You could have missed them.”

“Oh, absolutely. But no creature I know can kill a spider so fast. I only sensed the guardian. Anything must have come after and killed it instantly.”

That was scary enough. Even worse, Dallion could have sworn that for a split second he saw tears along the spider’s body, before the guardian disappeared. That wasn’t supposed to be possible. As far as he knew there were only a few entities able to destroy the undetectable: the Moons and the Star. If Dallion was lucky all this could have been just another gift from the Green Moon. Somehow, he doubted it.

“Let’s go on,” Dallion said.

“Not afraid the mysterious creature might appear?”

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“Why bother? It’s not like I can win against it. If it appears, you’ll have to say goodbye to your future home.”

The creature, however, didn’t appear. Dallion crossed the next bridge, then two more. In theory this was supposed to be the most important fight of them all—the culmination of the exploration resulting in the weapon’s destiny being fulfilled.

The moment he sensed the smell of electricity, Dallion knew what the deal was. The curious part of him wanted to rush forward in the hopes of getting a glimpse of the mysterious creature and confirm whether it was his darkest fears. The cautious part prevented Dallion from doing so.

Sense anything, Nox?

“Meow.” The crackling emerged, giving a negative response.

Let me know when that changes.

COMBAT INITIATED

The rectangle appeared before Dallion had even stepped into the chamber.

WHIP BLADE Level 7 has been cleared!

You have fulfilled the WHIP BLADE’s destiny.

The WHIP BLADE is indestructible.

Dallion split into eight instances. The pressure brought on a minor headache, though it was quickly ignored. In several of those instances, Dallion rushed in the hopes of getting any information.

All but one of Dallion’s instances ran up the chamber walls, searching for any indication of what might have happened. The remaining one waited, ready to run off if things got complicated.

Technically, he had cleared the item. Seeing the rectangle meant that in the eyes of the Moons he was responsible for this, and thus to him went the spoils. Of course, in this case, there were no spoils. Dallion had already reached his skill cap, and since he no longer was favored, he couldn’t improve any skills. Also, the item’s destiny had only revealed that the weapon was indestructible, which Dallion knew since the fight against the first guardian.

Five seconds later, all split instances collapsed, leaving Dallion alone. Despite all his efforts, there was nothing to be found. This was the end of the realm, so no creature could have gone further, and nothing had gone past Dallion either. For all intents and purposes, this would remain a convenient mystery.

Unhappy with the situation, Dallion took a deep breath and returned back to the real world. The general and his fury guards were there. From their perspective, no time had passed. Dallion’s momentary confusion combined with its glowing, however, told them that he had ventured in the whip blade and had cleared it.

“Impressive.” The general nodded. “You managed to claim it. Everyone else so far didn’t even get past the first level.”

“Maybe you should hire better help,” Dallion said, avoiding any specifics.

“It’s not easy getting reliable help during the festival. All the good ones are busy, and I have to rely on questionable awakened with mediocre abilities. It’s a good thing that you’ve developed your skills. We both stand to gain a lot.”

“Somehow I think you’ll gain a lot more than me.”

“Considering I’m the one investing in everything, there’s no other way. Without my help, your chances of success would have remained slim. Now, they just got a bit better. Go ahead.” The general tapped his chin with his index finger. “Take your prize.”

The moment Dallion’s fingers wrapped around the weapon’s hilt, the segments snapped together, forming one blade. Any onlooker would have sworn that the weapon was made of one monolithic piece of metal. Those who had forging skills would have seen the thin lines all over it—the only hint of the whip blade’s true nature.

“You’ll need a bit of practice before you get out there,” the general said. “There’s still time until the grand opening, so it shouldn’t be a concern. As they say “when in doubt follow the markers” or something or the sort.”

Dallion pursed his lips. Having the weapon felt wrong on so many levels.

“Remember, you need to get to the top eight,” the general repeated.

“You said that already.”

“I want to be certain,” the man’s tone hardened. “Before the tournament starts, you’ll have all your weapons examined. If you’re asked where you got the blade whip, tell them that it’s on loan from me. I suggest you do that as soon as possible. All unknown weapons are examined and if they don’t finish, they’ll keep the weapon until your next fight.”

“Good to know.”

The only time Dallion had a weapon examined was when he had taken the harpsisword to the city guard fort. Thinking about it, it stood to reason that the festival organizers would check the weapons for special abilities. It wasn’t a matter of protecting the nobles—they could take care of themselves; the crowds, however, were a different matter altogether.

“Anything else? Or can I continue with my walk?” Dallion asked.

“Just one last thing. Try to keep a low profile until the first fight. Once that is over, you can go wild.”

“I’ll think about it.”

The response made the general smirk. A snap of the fingers later, both he and his guards were no longer in the street. Dallion didn’t even manage to catch a blur as they disappeared.

Nil, will leveling up two times before the tournament harm me? Dallion asked.

Probably not. Provided that you get some rest tonight. Despite what you think, you still haven’t recovered.

That was good, but it wasn’t going to be enough. Dallion had to boost his stats more, not only to increase his chances of success at the arena, but to be able to stand up to the general in a fight. To achieve that, he was going to have to go achievement hunting.

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