NOVEL NEXT Chapter 141: Bone Duster
Shouting with exertion, Wulf and Wraith held the blade back for just long enough to roll to the side, saving himself and his crew. He jumped to his feet, gasping for breath, then flourished both swords.
The parchment sheets in the cockpit flared to life, registering Wulf's finished hand. Messages scrolled down it, and he barely had time to pay attention, let alone read it all.
Demon Hand (Unique)
An Oronith attachment crafted remarkably well in a pinch, combining alchemy and artificing. The demon's armour has hardened over it, strengthening it beyond any metal, while allowing it the range of motion of a regular hand.
Additional effect: this hand possesses a Weapon Skill.
Weapon skill: [Black Hand of the Alchemist] At the cost of mana and 500 units of chaos, this hand can grant a detrimental Mark to the target, preparing it for destruction. A target Marked by your hand will take additional damage from your weapons and poisons.
This hand will only function for their bonded Oronith, and can absorb units of chaotic essence transmitted through the Oronith's mana system.
[By crafting an item of significance, you have increased your mana. Advancement progress: 103.1%]
[You have increased your Tier to Low-Iron.]
[Your mana has gained an Aspect: Poison]
[All Skills that involve poison have increased their effectiveness.]
[By bonding with an Oronith, you have increased your mana. Advancement progress: 201.9%]
[You have increased your Tier to Middle-Iron.]
[You may upgrade one Mark of your choosing.]
Wraith shuddered. The cracks between its panels shone pure blue for a moment, then shifted and turned to a shade of bright lime-green. Wraith was ready.
[It has been a long time since I have felt this strong, little Pilot,] Wraith said inside his mind. [Destroy them.]
"Will do," Wulf said.
He took a sharp breath, then ducked under the sword-fiend's crescent blade, then spun around, slashing the backs of its legs. He cut the weak points between its armoured carapace, and it stumbled.
Both fiends, now with a limp leg, were much slower than Wraith. But they were still much stronger.
"Wraith?" Wulf asked. "How do I get chaos into your mana system?"
[Inject it into my core.]
Wulf spun around in his harness, dodging away from a swipe from a fiend, then pulled his scissors off his back and jabbed them into the floating, spherical core of Wraith inside the cockpit, the one through which the dream-link functioned through. He injected the rest of the chaos directly into the core, but it didn't transmute the stone.
It just disappeared.
Then his hand began tingling. Wraith's hand was tingling. He released his scissors and focussed his attention outside the cockpit again, then sprinted forward and sheathed the blade held in his Demon Hand.
He jumped, ducking to the side of the sword, and pressed his hand against the sword-fiend's forehead. With a flex of willpower, he triggered [Black Hand of the Alchemist] and marked it. A glowing green hand-print appeared in the center of the fiend's forehead, and they both fell back to the ground below.
"Kalee, a hand!" Wulf called. He drew both swords and raised them above the fiend's chest, then with Kalee's help, drove them down into its weakened carapace. The shell cracked, and both blades pierced. The fiend screamed and squirmed, but this time, the poison took hold, and it died in seconds.
Meanwhile, Irmond fired a salvo of arrows at the fat demon, keeping it busy. Wulf turned toward it, sheathed his blade, and used the same strategy, sprinting toward it and weakening it, then smashing its weakened shell and jabbing it until its insides melted and it fell still.
Wulf sheathed both smokeblades, then doubled over, panting. The dungeon core was intact, and they were alive…
Then something thudded on the glass.
Varl's body, in his tattered, charred academy uniform and burned flesh, clung the the Wraith's visor. The flesh of his limbs had burned away down to the bone, leaving only tatters or muscle and skin, and tendrils of black smoke wrapped around them, giving them movement and the illusion of musculature.
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The two eye sockets of his skull blazed orange, staring right into the cockpit and illuminating it.
"Pyek!" Kalee shouted. He probably couldn't hear her.
At least, not until he drove a boney fist into the glass, shattering it and sending shards flying into the cockpit.
Wulf spun to the side, trying to shake the demon off, but Pyek clung to the frame. "Someone with as little strength as you!" Pyek yelled. "You should not be this strong!"
Wulf spun the other way, but to no avail.
"But if the fiends can't do it, then I must!" Pyek yelled. He jumped inside the cockpit, pulling his fist back, and aimed a blow at the floor. It collided, shattering stone and spewing up a burst of mana sparks.
[Little Pilot,] Wraith said, [he will tear us apart from the inside. You must fight him with your hands.]
Wulf grimaced, but Wraith was right. "I'll be back," Wulf said. "I won't let him hurt you."
He jumped out of his harness, pulling himself forward, then charged, throwing a golem-enhanced punch at Pyek. The fist collided, cracking bone and sending the demon staggering backward. But for all the strength of the blow, it didn't seem to make a difference to Pyek's misty true form.
Kalee pulled herself out of her harness as well, then snatched up her staff. She tugged Wulf's scissors out of the core and tossed them to him, and with a push of mana, he separated them, holding one blade in each hand.
"Don't hurt my Oronith," Wulf said.
"Who are you?" Pyek demanded. "I am a Khinerri of Gom! Your resistance is futile! None can stand against us, not so early in an invasion!"
Wulf held out his hand and assessed Pyek's rank. The Field responded:
[Unknown Enemy – Estimated High-Gold]
Wulf tilted his head. The Field didn't know what demon-spirits were yet?
"Not as strong as I thought," Wulf said. "And we just beat two High-Golds. Nervous, demon?"
"Where is your fear, boy? Where is the terror? Give me something I can enjoy, while we delight your world in horrors beyond comprehension." A smokey tongue licked the shredded tatters of Varl's lips.
"You think you're the horrors beyond comprehension?" Wulf shook his head. "Look what I just did to your demons, and ask yourself again who should be afraid." In truth, he needed to buy time. Irmond and Seith would be coming, and despite his bluster, he'd need some extra hands to beat Pyek.
Kalee glanced at him curiously. He grinned, keeping up a well-practiced veil.
"We've had four thousand years, demon," Wulf continued. "And I've had a few more than most. We've grown, we've improved. We've harnessed the natural spirits, we've built behemoths. All in preparation for your coming. And now that your ships have crashed here, there's no escape. We'll hunt you to the end of existence. I know what happens if we let you win, and I can't allow it."
Pyek charged. Wulf had been hoping for a response, something to earn himself a little more time, but there was nothing. Pyek jumped, pulling his fists back. Kalee tried to drag him down with a runic circle, but it only slowed him. He swatted her aside, and though she blocked the strike with her staff, she still skidded back across the floor.
Wulf ducked, then sliced one of Pyek's hands off. The bones snapped, and the hand fell to the ground, but the smoke remained.
He tried to draw the chaos out of Pyek, using [Chaotic Alteration], but the skill felt like it bumped up against bone, unable to pierce through. Pyek was protecting himself with Varl's physical form, or what remained of it.
With the time and concentration it spared, Wulf wasn't in position to block the demon's next punch. It struck his golem right in the center of the chest, shattering the stone in a single blow. The golem froze, but the impact launched Wulf out. He flew back, then tumbled out Wraith's visor.
He was falling. He spread his limbs, trying to slow himself, but there wasn't much time.
Before he hit the dungeon floor, a runic circle appeared beneath him. Kalee negated gravity and stopped his fall. He rose for a second, until she cut the Skill off. He fell to a crouch on the boiling-hot stones, then jumped back up to his feet.
Kalee landed right behind him, holding her staff above her head like it was a glider, though she was using Skills to hold herself up.
A second later, Pyek slammed down in front of them, throwing his remaining bony fist into the ground. The rock shattered, expanding and launching outward, forming a crater. He jumped, dodging the worst of the blast. Behind him, Irmond fluttered down, riding on the back of Speckles, and Seith jumped off Wraith's leg, before rolling to a halt.
"I need time," Wulf said. "Just enough to make a potion to counter him. I have something in mind."
"Go!" Irmond said. "We'll hold him back!"
Wulf activated his time-bending storage pendant and dove inside. Outside, the world moved comically slow, but he had to trust his friends to survive for him. He only needed seconds.
He slammed the Serpent's Demijohn into the holder, then snipped a clipping from each of his Low-Silver plants until he had enough to fill the bottom of the flask. Vinegar came next, then he unleashed the last dribbles of chaos in his scissors to make a quick tincture.
He fired up his burn-box, tucked it beneath the flask, then lit it. He stirred and stirred until the potion boiled. Turning his back to the entrance of the pendant, he stopped himself from watching what was happening outside, and focussed only on the potion in front of him.
It had to be perfect. No matter what it was, he could make it work, but…
He used his own mana to complete the new potion. The Field tingled, and as quickly as he could, Wulf held his hand out to the flask. The Field acknowledged it and showed:
Bone-Duster Potion (Low-Ruby Quality)
When ingested, turns the user's bones to dust.
[By crafting a potion, you have increased your mana. Advancement progress: 205.1%]
Simple. Brutal. And it would work.
He now had three Marks to upgrade, and there was no better time. Pyek thought he knew how strong Wulf was, but Wulf dumped all three enhancements into his first Grand Mark.
He turned back toward the pendant's exit, about to get out and end it once and for all, when Mantri's voice rang out from behind him. "Wulf! Wait!"