Chapter 174: 164. Fighting A Rank 5

Before Dennis faced his doom, Jay had to sacrifice his Skill [Relativity Sovereignty] to get to the [Fighter] in time. The moment his Champion crossed over, Jay could properly sense the forces involved– especially time. Every second was a minute there.

With Dennis’s Death Flag rising to its highest peak, Jay formed a domain and pushed it against the enemy’s domain. The rules were simple: ‘Fuck your time shenanigans. Curve everything until both realities are in sync. And gravity powers get extra boosts.’

Jay’s domain acted as a bridge to make this happen. It required almost all of Jay’s Mana to blow a big hole through the other domain, forcing Jay to gulp down his highest quality Mana Potions once he finished.

A move like this would’ve been harder if the monsters hadn’t hastily created their domain as a tactical maneuver. And the monsters had focused on bending time heavily, disregarding stability and defense. To their misfortune, Jay’s gravity powers held sway over space and time.

Jay’s efforts created an avenue for Company Graven Divinity to bring the fight to the Siberian Monster Horde with reduced risk. And it helped Emily save Dennis from a cheap narrative death, which pushed the guy to seize his affinity at long last and become the Ultimate [Fighter]. With an ox spirit!

There was some bad news. Jay ended up grounded since he’d ditched the ships while forming the domain. The entirety of [Relativity Sovereignty], Jay’s most bread-and-butter Skill, went on a cooldown for him when he used the domain. Kleo would still have the Skill on her end, even though Jay could feel her concern through [Faerie Master]. She was deployed far across the world with Company Booty Pirates, but their link as master and [Faerie] remained strong.

Another issue of note was the requirement for Jay to stay within his personal domain to keep the bridge open. Unfortunately, he hadn’t extended the domain far enough to reach Baba Yaga and the Titan King, only a majority of their horde.

Oh well. His Skill was going to get major level ups from this. And he wasn’t truly, truly grounded. He could work some aerial gravity tricks with his other powers. He could take his time going after the bosses, too. Jay just needed to make sure the stage was set correctly and…

Jay blinked all three of his eyes at Dennis marching straight at him.

What was Dennis doing?

“You think you’re a bigger player at this game than me? Man, that’s crap! I am the GAME!” Dennis shouted, pointing his colossal sword at Jay.

Oh.

Oh no.

The Ultimate Affinity was one of those troublesome affinities, wasn’t it? Jay felt the huge power the Ultimate Affinity provided Dennis, pumping the [Fighter] up further and further, little by little, even if it was detrimental to Dennis’s Health and psyche. Jay could see Dennis’s Health Status falling incrementally as his Chance and physical abilities rose, sacrificing his wellbeing to fulfill the promise of his affinity– being ultimate. And worse yet, Jay didn’t have time to reconcile this with care.

Hailey engaged Baba Yaga in a one-on-one magic fight that could get her killed for the smallest of mistakes. Emily led her army of death against a more durable and surefooted contingency of the horde backed by their king. Casey couldn’t choose between seeking glory in an impossible fight against Baba Yaga or playing a more surefire role as a foil to the Titan King. The ship captains were waffling a little on whether to breach the hole in the monster horde’s domain or await orders. And right in front of Jay was Superjock 2.0., juiced up with lots of jerk-sauce and irony.

Time for Jay to take absolute control.

“Chill the fuck out, Dennis,” Jay said, striking the Ultimate [Fighter] hard with [Commanding Gravitas] and [Emotion Wave Stabilizer].

“Don’t tell me to chill out,” Dennis whined, rebellious but temporarily subdued. “I’ll teach you who’s boss when I put you on ice. How about that for chill?”

Jay let the puns pass by him as he delivered some strong orders to the ship captains. The ships came first since getting them involved brought back the magic cannon-fire element. They stayed outside of the intersecting domains and flew in figure-eight patterns. That way, both the port and starboard sides of the ships could unleash their cannons and pepper the back line of the monsters. With the reality warping potential of the monster domain cleared by Jay, superior firepower from the air was back on the menu.

The Baba Yaga didn’t like that and had the chimney from her cabin launch burning spirits like ground-to-air rocket fire. But each of those haunted spirits sounded like screaming children. They streaked across the air and splashed hard against the ship’s magic barriers, cracking them with only a few hits. Not good. Not good at all. But Jay had to keep rolling forward.

“Casey, Titan King,” Jay said through a direct wormhole to her. “Please.”

Casey hopped to his orders. She really wanted to shine against the Rank 5. But Jay knew it was not her time. She had to wait.

“I need help, Jay,” Hailey grunted as she rode her broom like a surfboard around deadly gray lasers.

Every time she tried to slip away through an illusion, Baba Yaga cackled, waved her hands, and sent out balls of gray will ‘o wisps. The ghost lights disturbed and distorted the illusions, highlighting the Unseelie [Mage] trying to hide amid her tricks. Hailey’s curses slammed against a defensive magic field that wiped them away with a swipe of Baba Yaga’s gnarled hand. The hag stood comfortably from the front porch of the cabin while throwing all sorts of magic crud at Hailey in return.

“Help will be on the way,” Jay told Hailey before focusing back on Dennis. The big galoot returned to full jerk-mode. Jay could challenge that. But that would waste too much energy. “Hey, look at that big hairy guy over there who thinks he’s a king. He says he can lift more than you, bro.”

Dennis whirled around and glared at the Titan King stepping on an undead monster. The big boss monster had a stone sword that was sixty feet tall. One swipe took out a swath of Emily’s army. The boss status and size of the Titan King gave it huge authority here.

Dennis zeroed in on that, and his Ultimate Affinity and Ox Spirit raged. Dennis blasted off the ground with his [Flying Asteroid] Skill. It looked normal at first before partially shaping into a rushing orange and gold spirit ox. No matter what monster jumped in his way, he barreled through them until he smashed the Titan King in the chest. Dennis stumbled the big monster back with an explosive blast of rising but sacrificial Strength.

“Emily, please keep Dennis alive,” Jay said with a groan. “It’s official. I think he’s the most berserk Champion now. Even more than Rick.”

Rick had a whole profile based on his style. Dennis’s new affinity wasn’t meshing with his current powers. Shit, what if that killed him twice?

“Seriously, don’t let the narrative get the last laugh on us, Emily,” Jay stressed.

“Gotcha, boss,” Emily replied in between hand cannon shots.

She strode across the black and bloody battlefield with a smooth gait that the greatest runway models could only dream about. Emily’s personal wraiths followed in her wake, reloading the spent one-shot mega pistols for their mistress while passing her another loaded pair.

She kept [Grave Eye] going, targeting monsters that were the closest to death for a crit, kill, and possession. She also threw in an [Echo of Karma] on Dennis when he refused to dodge a hit, reflecting damage back to the offender. Her bat spirit helped out by hauling around the Grand Scythe of Reaping. It shot healing spirit beams at Casey and Dennis in between hacking away at the life and Convictions of monsters that got too close.

“Jaaaaaay,” Hailey squawked as she got batted around by instantly summoned gray twisters filled with the crying spirits of tormented children. Hailey was doing her best not to go all out, too. Or she wouldn’t have any hidden cards left to play when leveraging her Chance. “Do something, dammit!”

“I’m on it, I’m on it,” Jay griped.

He dawdled to the left. He dawdled to the right. He looked up as cannon-fire sailed through the gap of intersecting domains and bombarded the monsters.

The horde struck back by yanking black steel trees out of the ground and throwing them like multi-limbed tridents. No barriers for physical attacks. The hulls took direct hits when the ships didn’t maneuver away in time.

The monster howled in excitement and started repeating their brutish trident throws. Jay let them think that was okay.

“I got it now.” Jay nodded to himself.

He dug into his pockets and pulled out a sock taken from the Sock Gnome. It was bright red, orange, and yellow with running reindeers stitched across its wool. It most likely belonged to a young boy. The boy would be Jay’s height, just one of many children waiting back at the diamond mining town, listening to the battle rage from a distance. A battle with monsters that wanted to torment and eat them.

“Look and see! This is me being me. Happy and bright and young as can be!” Jay chanted with a sing-song voice that rang out across the battle.

Some monsters lost their concentration and looked in his direction. The Baba Yaga stopped laughing at Hailey’s ineffective maneuvers. The hag’s wrinkled face turned to Jay. Good.

“Can’t you see? How wonderful and splendid it is to be free. All I can ever ask for is here for me,” Jay added into the chant.

Baba Yaga’s mouth stretched open and emitted a horrid howl. Inside of that howl were the voices of a thousand victims it had consumed. A thousand children screaming to be free. This was Baba Yaga’s attempt to drown out Jay’s incantation and discourage him. It didn’t work.

“I put on my best socks to run all day in the happy fields of fate. I go and make friends so we can all be playmates. Come, come, meet my family and smile, let us be together for a dinner date. Since you’re my friend, you can join us in the feast, as long as you answer my call, Call of the Freak.”

The sock disintegrated in a purple flash. It became Jay’s Symbol of Power, his incantation spreading out as a bright and merry purple wave.

The sock represented the children of these lands, born into a tough setting with elders who would tell them as many cautionary and scary tales they knew. But the children would still run out and play in the woods and be young and happy.

Slavic children were the stuff that the monstrous legends of these lands both hated and desired most. Baba Yaga was an undeniable representation of that.

The hag completely ignored Hailey now. Its wrinkled face opened slightly to reveal pitch-black and demonic eyes. Summoned to its side, a giant mortar and pedestal appeared. Baba Yaga climbed into the mount and flew into the air.

The cabin stopped pretending to be a mere cabin. It stood up from the ground, throwing black snow and dirt everywhere. Giant chicken legs smashed down and walked the cabin forward as it revealed its true identity.

Slavic Monster Cabin Lair, Rank 4.

It was a mobile lair. Both a monster and home to other monsters.

Its cabin door flapped open. A giant hand reached out and gripped the front edge of the porch. Space distorted as an ugly ogre with three heads and fifty feet of height pulled itself free of the entrance. It thumped down with an earth shaking boom.

Following the giant, a three-headed Slavic dragon wormed its way free and hit the ground beside its fellow mini boss monster. The dragon swung its many heads about on long sinuous necks. It screeched from all three mouths stridently.

Both monsters were Level 85s, and from the mouths of each head spewed three styles of elemental attacks: columns of air, streams of fire, and big bolts of lightning. An armored coat of ice covered their bodies, extending deadly spikes and curtains of mists with debuff effects.

That was only the beginning. The cabin of Baba Yaga could contain many things that would spill out and kick the keister of Company Graven Divinity.

The chicken-legged cabin had been on the move while vomiting its big bad mini bosses, too. With the two giant brutish beasts spat out, the dark entrance of the mobile lair churned with the promise of a new army for the monster horde to rely on.

From the cabin’s bowels cried countless spirits of tormented children forced into servitude by their predator and abuser, Baba Yaga. The walking cabin was about to unleash them as it followed Baba Yaga and the two mini-bosses, crossing the line into Jay’s domain with a bold attitude.

Jay unleashed the full power of his [Devil of Gravity] Title, filling every monster or person, even his own people, with dread. He called upon the power of his [Jester of the Death Court] Title. Everyone here counted as an audience, but the size of Jay’s ego was so great, all the monster corpses lying around that hadn’t been reanimated had no choice but to sit up and add to Jay’s audience.

“You fell for my trap, foolish monsters,” Jay said, drawing his sword. “Your downfall will be entertaining.”

The Sword of Comedy turned the night into a green day, becoming the greatest source of light all across the domains. His words and the power of his sword daunted the monsters. They stumbled and lost their ferocity. Even the Titan King lost its edge as Casey and Dennis pummeled the creature closer to death.

The [Fighters] relied on Conviction or insane willpower to endure the moments when their Commander of Challenge and Change got serious. The concentration of death from the arisen audience helped Hailey and Emily stay in the game. The ship captains ordered for the use of talismans. They could work as enhancers for [Mediums] or as totems filled with incantation power ready to be used. Popping those off boosted the Conviction of everyone on the ships and helped them endure Jay’s monstrous nature.

Baba Yaga screamed in defiance. It conjured giant fireballs and hurled them at Jay. Each one would strike down with the power of a destructive bomb.

“Let us begin by showing you,” Jay said, stepping through the folds of space-time before the fireballs struck, “why you’re scripted to lose to Company Graven Divinity.”

As long as he didn’t physically step out beyond the boundaries of his domain, Jay’s domain remained as he took a tour through the eldritch side of town. He sent mental greetings to a few buddies on that side. They tried to wrap their creepy tentacles around him. But he slipped away before they could get him just like always.

He returned to intersected reality above the cabin, ready to sacrifice all of his Chance Modifiers for his first strike. He shrugged off the doom and gloom of having x1 CM. He fell upon the cabin with both hands wrapped around the handle of The Sword of Comedy; the blade was raised high above his head.

Black purple eldritch energy gathered around the green light of the blade. Abyssal gravitons swarmed around the weapon as well, numbering in the quadrillions.

You are reading story The Gravity Freak of Dungeons and Monsters: System Portal Fantasy at novel35.com

Jay swung down with a mighty cut.

He split the cabin in half and killed the mobile lair before it realized its own death. It tried to keep walking forward but fell apart in two bloody halves. The spatial and temporal domain inside of it winked away, lost to the aether.

With the mobile lair’s destruction, all the trapped child spirits became free instantly. Jay’s first attack hadn’t even ended and Baba Yaga was screeching with some of the greatest rage and sorrow Jay had heard from an enemy yet.

Meanwhile, Jay’s single cut sent forth a flying abyssal graviton crescent. Why should he commit to one thing when multiple actions were possible?

The flying crescent lopped off the left head and side of the dragon, crippling the monster as blood gushed out from its side. It crashed down with a rocky landing. Its remaining heads thrashed around, blasting out air and flames uselessly.

The abyssal attack snuffed itself out per Jay’s wishes.

Unable to slow his descent, Jay hit the ground with a thump. He rose from his knee and started running toward the giant.

The bright green light of his sword contracted and turned into a subtle dark green aura. The sword hardened Jay, anticipating the difficulties he would face while at x1 CM. That was perfectly fine.

“Do you see how your attempts to outwit me are in vain?” Jay asked, dodging around a bone club strike.

The giant panicked and slammed down again and again, breaking apart the ground with impacts that could destroy city blocks. Jay darted out from each slam, circling around the giant’s feet as it stumbled away in fear.

Eventually, because of Chance, the giant landed a direct hit, smashing its club hard on Jay. The ground cratered from the impact, burying Jay. All the heads roared in glee, their elemental breaths flaring out from their mouths. They thought it was their victory.

“I’m playing with you. Setting you up for the slaughter. But not quickly. It wouldn’t make for a good show if it’s too quick.”

Jay’s bright purple gravitons rushed up the club and washed over the giant’s body and three heads. A countless whirlwind of the mythical gravity particles engulfed the creature.

It stepped back too late. There was no escape.

Jay grabbed the giant with a magic field from [Harness-G]. He swung the monster up and over, hammering the giant down on the dragon.

The nice part about making everything heavier with gravitons was the inverse effect Jay felt. Everything felt lighter when Jay’s targets got ladened with gravitons. If he pumped gravitons into an object, multiplying its weight by a factor of ten, Jay would feel like he was lifting something with a weight divided by ten. This was a simplification of the Miraculous Magic Science behind this one Skill, not accounting for Poise, resistances, and other powers at play.

The results spoke for themselves when Jay pulped the injured dragon under the giant like squishing a tomato under a heavy sledge hammer. The giant formed a huge crater from the impact, burying the flattened corpse of the dragon underneath its graviton-laden body. To its misfortune, Jay still had a need for the hurt giant.

Jay swung the giant out of the hole and into the path of Baba Yaga’s fierce volley of magical attacks. The giant exploded. It fell apart in tons of giblets and gore, having blocked most of the fiery bombs, gray lasers, and wicked curses Baba Yaga had channeled to destroy Jay.

“You’re not even aware I’m letting you do things you think are helpful.” Jay turned his attention to the hundred black steel trees the monsters launched as heavy tridents at his ships.

He grabbed each one with [Harness-G] since they were flying in a predictable path through his domain. With fine-tine control like that of a gravity maestro, Jay circled the deadly projectiles around in three different orbits that changed angles and speeds as they circled around his domain. He forced Baba Yaga to dodge under the black steel trees and their bare pointy ends that threatened to skewer the hag. Baba Yaga had no choice but to fly low to the ground as Jay hailed the hag from above.

“But the greatest fun for me is sharing your defeat with another,” Jay said with a smile. “The greatest fun is setting the stage for a Champion to join in, especially the one who is due her Chance to be a star.”

Baba Yaga hurled another explosive fireball.

Jay took it on the chest, tanking it. He walked through the flames and destruction with a big grin. Bright lights shone from his eyes of gravity, divinity, and calamity.

His grip on the sword was flipped around, his hands on the point of the blade. The handle glowed with a menacing neon purple light lining around the dark green aura.

“So let’s give her a round of applause as she finally gets the spotlight,” Jay cheered, his audience doing the same. “The one! The only! The Magnificent Hailey Allen!”

[Cosmic Showrunner]: Designated Hero– Hailey.

Hailey returned to full visibility high above Jay and Baba Yaga. She’d been chanting an incantation since the moment Jay had used Call of the Freak. The timing was spot on as required by their Title [Young Virtuoso of Violent Ballads].

Before she unleashed her incantation, Hailey pirouetted like a ballerina, leaning fully into the guiding hand and voice of her commander, adding to the performance with her physical and spiritual wings flared out at their widest. With each twirl, the cosmic transformation flourished with more grandiosity and an array of colors: black, blue, orange, purple, and brown.

By the time she stopped spinning, she had a crow-like hood underneath a giant, fluffy, feathery witch hat. Behind her extended an extra long cape made of thousands of cosmic feathers that flapped together like a single wing. She even had little wings on the sides of her cosmic-heels. And her clothing became a sparkly gown of the same colors with more feathery designs.

The pitch-black shadow covering her face tilted down to look upon Baba Yaga and Jay while they were far beneath her. It was as if their fates were in the dark taloned hands of a girl who was both an accursed creature of unseelie devilry and a part-time goddess of Halloween mischief.

“You are nothing compared to me!” screeched Baba Yaga, pointing up with a gnarled finger.

Hailey’s answer: “[Murdersome Storm of Wicked Witches and Hungry Crows].”

The Skill lived up to its name while getting boosted to the zenith. A great big storm of shadowy witches riding on brooms and countless flesh-seeking crows appeared from around Hailey. The monstrous storm descended upon Baba Yaga and Jay.

With no regard for aim. With no care whatsoever. The storm rained down black lightning, brimstone hellfire, and metal-beaked crows. It was a cacophony of wicked magic and malevolent destruction that whooped through the air and pounded the ground below. It seemed detrimental for Jay at first glance, but the [Exceptional Freak] paid it no mind.

He used the spiraling black steel trees to rain down a barrage from above and behind Baba Yaga. He applied a little of [Headhunter] on Baba Yaga to make the hag fear the loss of its head from being too high in the air.

These juxtaposed powers of Hailey and Jay forced Baba Yaga into the one situation the hag should avoid at all cost, getting into Jay’s melee range. Regardless of the Health burning hellfire, the vicious armor-shearing crows, and the black lightning strikes– which paralyzed magic abilities rather than paralyze the body– Jay hurled himself at Baba Yaga like a proper madlad. He bashed the hag’s mortar mount to pieces and dropped the boss creature to the ground.

With him.

The hag screeched and cussed and hurled out magic after magic. Jay didn’t care, even while the attacks drew him closer to death– the nearness of the end only emboldened him. He swung the handle of The Sword of Comedy into the hag’s torso and limbs and kept doing that.

Murder stroke!

Murder stroke!

Murder stroke!

Jay bashed Baba Yaga’s body around. He broke the hag’s arms; he bludgeoned the knees, and he fractured the monster’s ribcage. He gave the fabled child-eating monster a medieval beat down. Simple, effective, and brutal.

This kept on while amid Hailey’s murdersome storm. Laughing shadow witches hurled down forks of dark lightning and balls of hellfire upon both Jay and Baba Yaga. Vicious crows hungering for flesh ripped into them with every gale-like passing. Hailey’s biggest and showy Skill hurt allies and enemies alike.

The damage hurt Baba Yaga way more. Every murder stroke from Jay applied Poise reduction because of [Martial Gravity Superiority]. That heightened the effectiveness of the murdersome storm on the hag, torturing the monster greatly.

Jay endured the murdersome storm. He kept the murder strokes going. Baba Yaga’s Rank 5 toughness broke under the strain of so many assaulting factors.

“Mercy!” it shrilled, falling to its knees while on the eve of death.

“But this is the best part. The monster dies in the end. And a happy ending is found for all.” Jay flipped his sword around and swung.

He beheaded the hag.

The skull of Baba Yaga would make for a nice Rare Quality trophy. He was excited to see Hailey wear it so she could become a better witch than the old hag.

You’ve slain Baba Yaga, Rank 5, Level 101!

***

[Relativity Sovereignty, Level 94]: This Skill has three notable perks. The Mana costs will vary depending on physical properties, magical defenses, resistances, successes, and complexities. Raising this Skill level will improve Perception scaling greatly, overall magic power, depth of control, and additional range.

[1] You can passively or actively lower and reorientate gravity’s effect on you and/or your allies.

[2] You can actively extend magic fields to catch and manipulate the gravity of multiple neutral parties, enemies, and items. Touching your targets will enhance your power over them.

[3] You can set domains that fuse with reality and magic, establishing simple gravity-based rules, benefits, and consequences within the boundaries of your domains. These rules will affect allies, enemies, and neutral parties the same. The person who establishes a domain cannot use this Skill while their domain is active. And once the domain becomes inactive, the one who sets it cannot use this Skill for a long duration.

***

[Graviton Monster, Level 91]: Turn Mana into Gravitons– mythical gravity particles– and use them for multiple perks. Mana costs vary from high to highly extreme depending on uses. Leveling up improves control and Perception scaling for all the listed effects:

[1] Absorb gravitons into your body to expand your physical properties, increasing your Resilience, Poise, and Strength based on your magic power. Consequently, your Agility will decrease drastically.

[2] Implant gravitons on targets or your abilities by direct touch and increase their weight, making gravity magic stronger and more effective on the affected.

[2] Conjure and manipulate voluminous and fast moving clusters of gravitons. Upon emission, these gravitons will increase the weight of those affected. It will also make gravity magic stronger and more effective on the affected.

***

[Cosmic Showrunner (Familiar), Level 63]: You and Kleo are more than the main actors, you’re also directors, producers, and writers. You’re the guiding hands working behind the scenes. Leveling up gradually improves all the listed perks of this Skill:

[1] The sound of your voices can improve the magic power, Mana recovery, and the choreography of your favored story leads.

[2] Your voices can also manipulate enemies with penetrable Poise/magic defenses/mental resistances, especially if you see them as simple mooks with low Chance and narrative importance. At the very least, you can make enemies pay up more Mana for being on your stage and feed you a small percentage from each.

[3] And if you ever need to up the ante, designate a hero with a climactic power up. They will be empowered to judge and hurt divine foes or lesser, especially if it’s someone outside of you and Kleo. The designated hero gets a snazzy cosmic cape and a big change in style. Their power up will boost their Attributes depending on the difference between their power and yours plus the situation. The designated hero will have most attacks made against them bend and distort. And Chance will be forced to favor the designated hero if there isn’t a greater hero or something hugely obstructive in the scene. Only one hero can be designated, and doing so will put this entire Skill on a long cool down for both you and Kleo.