Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Flesh Wight

The swarm of blood imps and netherlings dispersed towards them. Martygan was still recovering, but it was happening fast and by the looks of it he would be a huge problem again.

Nom and Tuk-Tuk circled around towards Nay.

Nay produced the item from her inventory. Nom saw the dark bracelet with the glittering cloud made out of onyx and amethyst appear. “What the hell is that? How is jewelry going to help us?”

“It’s a Vortex Bomb,” Nay said.

She referenced the trinket’s description in her interface.

Vortex Bomb of the Nether Spawn Mother. When you need to gather your enemies into one spot, why not use this hand-held Vortex Bomb? It’s the suction power of a thousand netherling mouths inhaling at once.

Useful if you need to keep multiple pesky enemies in one place, or make them congregate to combo with a nifty AOE attack.

Three uses.

She twisted one of the pieces of onyx on the trinket and a bomb in the shape of a black and purple ball appeared in her hand. It was about the size of a grapefruit. There was a red smiley face on the side.

She tossed it over Martygan’s head.

The Vortex Bomb imploded in upon itself over the Gloom Ranger. A black cloud spun into existence and there was a deafening roar as the air began to suction into the cloud.

“Maybe we should have thought about anchoring ourselves before setting it off!” Nom said.

Air, snow and debris began to rattle and shift towards the cloud and Martygan. Netherlings and blood imps tried to step or lurch forward, but despite their efforts, they started sliding back towards whence they came. They clawed at the snow and tried to find purchase, but it was no use. The dispersed swarm tumbled and flew backwards towards the black cloud.

Nay grabbed onto Tuk-Tuk’s fur. Nom coiled around one of the polar bear’s legs. The bear itself managed to get behind a tree and hugged it, using the tree as a barrier between all of them and the devouring vortex cloud.

Martygan rose up into the air next to the cloud vortex and his swarm of familiars were caught there in a giant ball hovering in the air. All of the tree branches in the vicinity bent towards the vortex. Even some birds that had been nearby were pulled into the ball of monsters.

It was like a giant magnet had been activated and everything that wasn’t held down had been pulled towards it.

Nay activated Salvo of Knives and aimed at Martygan and the mass of his familiars. Nom blasted the writhing ball of monsters with a Disintegration Ray. Many of the creatures were lasered into ash or were eliminated by the spirit knives raining down from above. However, Martygan’s bark skin still kept him safe.

The sound of rushing wind began to lessen as the Vortex reached the end of its duration. Martygan and the reduced swarm of familiars fell to the ground. Tree branches snapped back into place.

“How many more times can you use that thing?” Nom said, looking at the vortex trinket on Nay’s wrist. “Or is empty already?”

“Two more times,” Nay said. “We should get further away for the next one.”

“It’s working against the Ranger’s pets,” Nom said, “but what are we supposed to do about him?”

He was right. They had no way of defeating Martygan. They weren’t strong enough nor were their powers. To complicate the matter, Nay couldn’t just run. The Flesh Wight would kill her. Unless…

“Tuk-Tuk,” Nay said. The polar bear looked at her and grunted. “Can you get us deeper into the forest, away from all this?”

Tuk-Tuk nodded, understanding.

“And when I say stop, will you stop?”

Tuk-Tuk nodded again.

“Alright,” Nay said. She climbed onto the polar’s bear back and Nom joined her. “Go!”

Tuk-Tuk sprung forward away from the tree they were using for cover, and began loping away from their enemies. Nom, atop Tuk-Tuk’s back, blasted the Disintegration Ray into the groups of blood imps and netherlings the second it came off cool down. Nay released another Salvo of Knives into the familiars in pursuit. A group of surviving blood imps scrambled past their fallen comrades and made for the retreating companions.

---

[Incoming Whispering Wind Call From Ilyawraith]

---

Nay answered just as she ice scythed the group of blood imps. Ilyawraith’s image appeared in the air in front of her, floating in the lotus position. The image moved along with Nay so it was always in front of her.

“Nay, what’s going on?” Ilyawraith said. “Where are you?”

Tuk-Tuk swiped a trio of blood imps as they leapt at them, swatting them hard into the snow.

Nay consulted her mini-map to try and get a read on their location in relation to Lucerna’s End. She couldn’t tell.

“Tell her we’re in Black Tree Forest!” Nom said.

“Martygan, the Gloom Ranger who had gone missing, he kidnapped me!” Nay said. “There’s something wrong with him, I think he’s been possessed by the Nether Sister! Or is under her control somehow!”

“He has you now?” Ilyawraith, said, alarmed.

“He did, but I got away. I don’t know for how long!” She dug her heels into Tuk-Tuk and shouted, “Okay, now! Stop!”

Tuk-Tuk slid to a stop. Nay turned around and produced the second vortex bomb by twisting the amethyst on the bracelet. It appeared in her hand and she held it and reared her arm back, waiting for the familiars in pursuit to get a little closer.

“What’s that -- ” Ilyarwaith said, but Nay tossed the vortex bomb, enhanced by her rank of Iron. It spun through the air and imploded, sprouting the cloud right before the familiars.

“Okay, now go!” Nay said. Underneath her, Tuk-Tuk bucked and ran, putting distance between them and the range of the vortex bomb.

The familiars were sucked forward and pulled into the air by the vortex.

Nay looked back at Ilyawraith. “I can’t run from him.” She pulled her tunic down and showed her.

“A Nether Bond,” Ilyawraith said.

“Okay, Tuk-Tuk, this is good,” Nay said. She felt the Flesh Wight becoming agitated at the distance. It had grown some and was kicking underneath her skin, sending little stabs of pain into the nerves there.

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Ilywraith said, “Before you do anything --

Nay hopped off Tuk-Tuk and drove Thorn’s tip into her skin, carving into her flesh around the Flesh Wight. She cried out, startling Nom and Tuk-Tuk. The latter shifted back into his human form and said, “What are you doing?!”

Nay fell to her knees and ripped the gory mess out of her, the flap of skin pulled down and hanging there. She threw the Flesh Wight onto the snow and conjured a ring of heat on top of it with Chef’s Thermometer.

“—do not remove it from your body!” Ilyawraith finished saying.

The Flesh Wight started to grow. When it came out of Nay, it was about the size of a scorpion, but now it was the size of a dog and it was growing bigger by the second.

“Uh, what is that?” Nom said.

The Flesh Wight screamed at the heat and its unfortunate, premature birth. It looked like a mass of flesh tumors that were knotted together in a central ganglion. Multiple arms curved off its body, each had one joint giving the monster the shape of a pin-wheel. Its skin was brown and yellowed, pocked with lesions and open sores and disgusting, fizzing warts.

“They eat their way through the heart when they are birthed!” Ilyawraith said. “If pulled out of a host without a heart to feast on, they will go on a rampage with a hunger that cannot be satiated!”

Even though Nay was an Iron, cutting out a skin flap and pulling the Flesh Wight out of herself hurt like a motherfucker. She leaned against a tree, wincing. “Now you tell me!”

Nom blasted the growing Flesh Wight with his ray. It destroyed one of its many arms and shrieked, spinning towards the tentacle.

Nay conjured a heat ring onto Thorn’s blade so she could cauterize her wound, but one of the many writhing arms of the Flesh Wight whipped it out of her hands. She cried out in surprise.

The Flesh Wight grabbed Nom with one of its arms and the tentacle twined around the appendage. Nom was trying to lock its joint so it was stiff-armed.

Nay fell onto her knee and her blood loss was beginning to make her lightheaded. And soon Martygan might be on them with his remaining familiars. She looked at the image of Ilyawraith.

“We’re outnumbered and the Gloom Ranger is Bronze,” Nay said. “What do I do, teacher?”

Ilyawraith knew the situation was dire. She rose to her feet. “I’m coming.”

“I’ll be pushing up daisies by the time you get here.”

“The shell in your inventory,” Ilyawraith said. “Use it.”

Of course. Lain. She could help.

As Ilyawraith rose into the air, her image disappeared as she burst into flight.

---

[Whispering Wind Call With Ilyawraith Ended]

---

She produced the nautilus from her inventory and blew into it. Her breath spiraled into the shell.

A wind blew through the trees and a golden portal spun to life in front of her. A silhouette appeared in the light, growing closer.

Lain stepped out of the portal. “Nay!”

She hurried to Nay, while at the same time assessing the situation around her. “What have you gotten yourself into?” the healer said.

“It’s Martygan,” Nay said. “This is all his doing.”

Lain’s eyes narrowed and she looked between Nay’s wound and the growing and singed Flesh Wight that was currently trying to catch Nom who was scrambling across its bulging back. “He’s been compromised by the Nether Sister. It put something that’s been gestating inside of him.”

A golden flower blossomed in Lain’s palm. It was made out of vigor spirit and vigama. She blew the petals from it and they fluttered onto Nay’s wound, bursting into golden flashes atop the wound. Nay felt Lain’s soothing healing power mend her bloody flesh. The pain disappeared. As the light faded Nay’s skin was smooth again.

When Nay looked up she saw a coil of netherlings churning through the snow towards them. “Come with me,” Nay said. She pulled Lain along with her and produced the last vortex bomb. She threw it behind them and ran.

The netherlings were pulled back towards the new vortex.

Lain’s sudden presence and her calming voice were a welcome addition to this party. Tuk-Tuk had shifted back into his polar bear form and was attacking the Flesh Wight.

As the thing tried to shake Nom from it, who shot another Disintegration Ray at point blank range into its warty hide, its five remaining arms pin-wheeled around and Tuk-Tuk caught one in his teeth and yanked. The Flesh Wight stopped spinning and jerked. It turned its attention to Tuk-Tuk and started attacking the bear with all five of its arms.

“That was inside you?” Lain said.

“Martygan put it in me,” Nay said. “A Nether Bond.”

Lain processed this. "Why you?"

"I'm afraid I've been keeping a secret from you. I'm an Epicurist. And I've been training as a Marrow Eater."

Lain's eyes widened and she looked at Nay in a new light. But she didn't have time to fully appreciate this new knowledge as the Flesh Wight shrieked.

One of Lain’s golden hoops appeared in her hand. It shot a red beam of devastating energy at the Flesh Wight. The blast blew off one of its arms. It looked up at Lain, who started throwing bursts of gold healing at Tuk-Tuk and Nom.

It shoved Tuk-Tuk to the side, its form now so big it splintered a tree as it turned to face Lain. It screeched at her, its many tonsils and skin flaps undulating. Lain stood her ground and grabbed the other razor-sharp hoop off her back. She spun and threw it like a discus at the charging creature.

The hoop severed one of its legs at the ankle and it stumbled, falling in the snow.

Nom hit it with another Disintegration Ray in the back of the head. His ability attack was nothing more than an annoyance to the tough creature. But the attack had seemed to enrage it more than Lain’s debilitating attacks. It turned around, grabbed Nom from its back and shoved the tentacle into its mouth.

“No!” Nay said.

She scooped up Thorn and charged the Flesh Wight.

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