NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39: Pillar of Damocles
Priam smiled inwardly. He had studied mathematics in school, and the Monty Hall problem was famous. The simple solution to the riddle was not necessarily intuitive. For Greek peasants or laymen in mathematics, the riddle - or, in this case, the mathematical puzzle - was almost a coin toss. However, Priam stood on the shoulders of giants. If Sphinx intended to turn her riddles into a math problem, she would likely be disappointed.
"I had a one in three chance of picking the right door at the start and a two in three chance of getting it wrong. So if there is nothing behind door number 3, door number 2 has a two-in-three chance of being the right door. It would be wise for me to change doors," Priam explained.
Sphinx was going to have to eat herself, and Priam stood ready. He was going to fight. The Dome Lord was superior to him in every way, but Priam would fight with all his might. To win, he would give his life and Potential if he had to. Sphinx screamed, and Priam let go of the ledge.
In the middle of his fall, he disappeared, swallowed by the mist. He reappeared a few feet away from Sphinx as she began to devour her left rear leg. Priam intended to take advantage of her meal to recover his spear. Obviously, he had no way to hurt the Boss directly, but he had an idea.
Priam lunged for the weapon on the ground and grabbed it with his good hand. No sooner had he held it than Sphinx, still in the middle of her meal, lunged with her good leg. The blow was so quick that Priam had no time to dodge. He absorbed as much energy as possible, but the Dome Lord's strength was monstrous. Priam was knocked unconscious by the shock and acceleration. He would have shuddered if he could have heard his bones cracking.
Lvl Up: [Blunt Resistance] lvl 6,7,8
CONST +3
Two seconds later, he crashed into the first pillar that had sheltered him. This one was already damaged, and the fainted warrior could not absorb the second shock. He hit the pillar head-on, and it was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Lvl Up: [Blunt Resistance] lvl 9,10
CONST +2
The pillar cracked as its base gave way. Priam's Vitality woke him as it began to crumble. The cracks that had been there from Sphinx's attacks widened. Despite his battered eardrums, Priam heard the cracking of the rock. The pillar's base could no longer support the weight of the enormous stone column. The collapse was inevitable.
Priam tried to get up but couldn't. He suddenly realized that he couldn't feel anything below the waist. Sphinx's attack and his disastrous landing had certainly damaged his spine. Priam panicked for a moment before pulling himself together. The helplessness of being immobilized and disabled was terrifying, but rationally he knew he would heal. Potentially, [Axolotl or Hydra?] would even make him more resistant to this kind of injury. I just need to heal before I die...
Sphinx had no intention of letting him heal his wounds. The Boss was down to three legs, and her eyes flashed with anger. Managing to remain majestic despite her appearance, she quickly approached to finish the fight. Priam knew she would want to devour him. Sphinx had a terrifying appetite, but her own flesh would not satisfy her.
Priam looked up at the pillar as it continued to crumble under its weight. He had two choices. Let Sphinx kill him quickly or fight with all his might and hope to win. Priam smiled. He already knew the answer to this riddle.
When Sphinx was only a few dozen meters away, Priam teleported his spear into a crack in the pillar, more than twenty meters up. He activated all his kinetic charges and used his weapon as leverage to further destabilize the pillar. Large blocks of rock cracked before falling on his spear. Instinctively, because of his connection with his spear, Priam was able to absorb the blocks' kinetic energy. This was the first time he had successfully used [Kinetic Control] at a distance, and a smile lit up his face. This opened the door to many possibilities.
Lvl Up : [Kinetic Control] lvl 16
VIVA +2
DEXT +3
META (FOCUS) +4
Five minutes earlier, he didn't even know he could absorb kinetic energy like that. That's why Priam had agreed to this fight. Death’s approach gave him wings and inspired new ideas. Priam briefly tried to absorb the kinetic energy of the elements in contact with his mist, but it still didn't synergize enough with [Kinetic Control]. His spear was his linked weapon, but his mist was still too foreign.
Shaking his head as Sphinx arrived, Priam winced at the death march. Sphinx opened her mouth, and Priam screamed.
"One last riddle?!"
Cut off in her tracks, Sphinx paused momentarily before closing her mouth. The Concepts had created her in the image of the mythological beast, and she couldn't resist asking one last riddle. She looked briefly at the pillar before answering, reassured.
"Very good, human. Here is the riddle. Try to defeat me but try in vain. When I win, I end your pain. You have thirty seconds," she announced with a cruel smile.
Priam smiled too. He already knew the answer to the question, but even without that, the sadism oozing out of Sphinx's voice was already enough of a clue. However, Priam didn't mind as he was mostly trying to buy time.
For twenty seconds, the two adversaries stared at each other in a silence that was disturbed only by the creaking of the pillar. Priam was fully paralyzed by the power of Sphinx and could not move his spear with his skill. But he did not need to. The pillar’s base collapsed with a sound like the world's end. The stone pillar fell a dozen feet from Priam and Sphinx, knocking the air out of the way. The wind blew through the warrior's hair as the ground shook. A few shards of stone slammed into his body, causing minor injuries. Others bounced uselessly off Sphinx's fur and skin.
Priam looked up. Almost the entire pillar was now suspended from the ceiling. Priam's smile widened. A pillar was supposed to support a building, not the other way around. The Concepts may have created the Duke's Palace in an instant, but they had been inspired by human architecture. The Greeks knew how to build good buildings, but even they had their limits.
Predictably, it didn't take more than a second after the base fell for the top of the pillar to follow, taking part of the vault with it. A colossal mass of stone, twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, began its fall, pulled down by gravity. Priam's spear was still stuck in it, and he prepared himself.
Twenty-four seconds into the riddle, and with a comfortable lead, he looked Sphinx straight in the eye.
"Try to defeat me but try in vain. When I win, I end your pain. The answer is Death. It comes for all of us, but I elude it," he said with a smile.
"Good answer, human. But not this time," Sphinx growled. She had watched the pillar and calculated it would not descend directly on them. Its trajectory was still dangerous, but Sphinx didn't care about the stone chips. She turned to her last hind leg and began to bite it. At the same time, finally free of Sphinx's skill, Priam transferred the kinetic energy of the previous blow into his spear. He knew stopping the pillar or even slowing it down was impossible. The energy of the million-ton fall was far too great. But guiding its fall? That was much simpler.
A gust of wind could not stop a car but could easily change its direction. Priam wanted to use his spear and kinetic energy to direct the pillar at him and Sphinx. He was not averse to death if it meant he could become Lord of the Dome.
[Bullet Time]
Everything was going to happen in a second, and Priam changed his perception of time to increase his leeway. Slowly, he saw the shift in the pillar’s angle. Sphinx had just begun its meal and would be immobilized as the column descended. The spear was stuck in a crack, and Priam had sent energy to bring it back to him. Unfortunately, the energy in Sphinx's paw strike may have been colossal, but not enough to completely deflect the pillar. It would crash close to Sphinx but not on her. Maybe the impact and the shards of stone would hurt her, but Priam was willing to bet she would stay alive. He would not.
Priam refused to give in to panic. He took the Tear out of his pocket and put it in his mouth. If he was going to be crushed with his possessions, he might as well enjoy the effects of it before he died. The corrupted Tear remained in his pocket. He wasn't stupid enough to ignore the System's recommendations.
The next moment, he closed his eyes. The pillar would come down in a second. He connected to his Potential. The Concepts opened his eyes. [Kinetic Control].
The pillar slowed imperceptibly, and Priam screamed. Despite the help of Potential to better control his energy, the aether flow in his meridians was unbearable.
Now Priam was trying to absorb a small amount of the kinetic energy of the falling pillar, but even that tiny amount was enough to tear his body apart. His orifices began to bleed after a tenth of a second.
Lvl Up : [Kinetic Control] lvl 17
VIVA +2
DEXT +3
META (FOCUS) +4
Lvl Up : [Erosion Resistance] lvl 2
META (END) +3
CONST +1
POT -5
Two-tenths of a second later, Priam's brain and most of his organs turned to mush.
Lvl Up : [Erosion Resistance] lvl 3
META (END) +3
CONST +1
POT -5
Three-tenths of a second later, his heart exploded under the effort.
Lvl Up : [Kinetic Control] lvl 18
VIVA +2
DEXT +3
META (FOCUS) +4
Lvl Up : [Erosion Resistance] lvl 4
META (END) +3
CONST +1
POT -5
Priam's body collapsed, and only his mind remained conscious, thanks to [Brainless]. His eyes had popped out, and only the mist continued to give information about his surroundings. Sphinx must have been concentrating on her meal because her Domain no longer prevented Priam from observing the surroundings using his mist, despite his proximity to the mythical creature.
His Vitality and [Axolotl or Hydra?] had given up trying to repair his body; the damage was accumulating too fast. Together with his Potential, they were trying to support Priam's body meridians. Without them, the warrior would have to catalyze his technique with his spiritual meridians. These would hold for a split second before bursting, breaking his spirit and killing him.
Four-tenths of a second later, Priam stopped slowing the pillar. He would die if he continued and still had two things to do.
Lvl Up : [Erosion Resistance] lvl 5
META (END) +3
CONST +1
POT -5
Priam focused on his accumulated energy and transferred it back to the pillar using his spear. This time he had enough energy to deflect the pillar from its course.
In the next three-tenths of a second, Priam accelerated the pillar toward him and Sphinx.
Lvl Up : [Kinetic Control] lvl 19
VIVA +2
DEXT +3
META (FOCUS) +4
Lvl Up : [Erosion Resistance] lvl 6,7,8
META (END) +9
CONST +3
POT -5
Over a million tons of rock were falling on them. Just as the Dome Lord raised her head, Priam threw his destroyed body toward her. Sphinx tried to use her two front legs to dodge. At that moment, Priam hit her with his head and absorbed her kinetic energy to immobilize her.
However, despite using his Potential, he felt resistance. Sphinx had a much smaller mass than the falling column, but she was less easy to slow down. Without Potential, he certainly would not have been able to affect her. Shit, this must be her Domain. STAY THERE!
Priam had stolen a tremendous amount of energy from the pillar. He gave almost all that energy to Sphinx, throwing her to the ground. Despite her Domain resistance, without a back leg to support her, Sphinx crashed to the ground. The colossal amount of energy used by Priam had managed to overcome Sphinx's resistance.
Lvl Up: [Erosion Resistance] lvl 9
META (END) +3
CONST +2
POT -5
The pillar slammed into them like an asteroid into the Cretaceous era. Priam waited until the last moment, ensuring Sphinx was crushed. As the pillar was upon them, Priam mustered all his remaining energy to throw the remains of his body out of the cataclysm’s way. He had no desire to be resurrected under thousands of tons of stone.
Just as he was about to leave the pillar's shadow, he was knocked to the ground by a paw. His head slammed to the ground on its side. Black dots appeared in his field of vision, and he had just enough time to see Sphinx beginning to roar with defiance at the crumbling mountain. The Dome Lord had taken her revenge.
As the light disappeared, the pillar hit, and the world shook.
Status: (Average value for a Homo sapiens male before integration: PHY 10 / MEN 10 / META 0)
PHYSICAL:
Strength 86
Constitution 117
Agility 126
Vitality 164
Perception 196
MENTAL:
Vivacity 143
Dexterity 132
Memory 36
Willpower 76
Charisma 98
META:
Meta-affinity 92
Meta-focus 80
Meta-endurance 28
Meta-chance 40
Potential: 248
Tier 0
[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED
[Tribulation]: Tribulations are coming.
Time: 50 hours 29 minutes 49 seconds.