Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

Vadeem still looked dubious when I explained the sponsorship and my subsequent ability to transform but didn’t question it too much. I think he was starting to become desensitized to all the nonsense he was witnessing. It was clear that he wanted to ask more, but I told him that Jae-Hyun could explain all that extra crap when we meet up. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the Regressor knew more about the sponsorship program than I did. What his reaction will be, however, is anyone's guess.

“You know that borrowing power’s never free, right?” Vadeem stated as he gave me another worried glare.

“I know, but do you see a better alternative?” I answered with a shrug, “We’re not exactly in a situation where we’re spoiled for choice. Something’s using the Trial’s own resources against us, and we're screwed if we can't fight back.”

I didn’t want to tell Vadeem that it was the super AI running the Trials that was literally after me, but I still needed to emphasize the danger we were in. Hopefully, a vague answer about the nature of our foe was enough. He needed to know that our situation was bad, but without the details that would land me in hot water.

“No, you're right,” he grumbled, “I just don’t like it. You’re already giving up a lot for this Trial, and now this?”

I shrugged, “Too late now, our situation’s already messed up as is, and I’d rather pay for whatever I’m borrowing later than die now.”

“Yeah, just feel like I’m not pulling my weight here,” he sighed, “Just… I'll make it up to you once we're out of here. That I promise.”

I nodded, “We worry about everything else later, for now, we have a wall to smash!”

His old smile returned, although I could tell it was forced, “That’s more like it. You might want to step back a little, when I said I got the largest hammer I could find, I really mean it.”

I did as instructed, then took a few more steps back when he turned titan-sized. That was when he took out his “hammer” from the inventory. Now I use the word hammer in the most literal definition, as in, you can use it to drive items into the ground. That was the extent that his weapon had in common with the tool. I think Vadeem could use cellphone towers as nails considering the size of his weapon. It was so large that I couldn’t even see the whole thing from where I stood. The shaft was comically tiny compared to the rest of it. His muscles were bulging with the effort it took to lift it, and his feet were practically sinking into the earth.

I looked at the maul in awe, and I think most of the people around me did the same.

I looked up in awe, “Where on earth did you find that thing? And how did you even afford it?”

He grunted, “It’s awesome, eh? Had to ask the pixies to show me the real good stuff to get this baby. Still have to pay Jae-Hyun and Yoona back for buying it for me though, but it’s so worth it!”

I nodded slowly, still unable to fully appreciate the size of that thing.

“Alright, I think it’s time for me to show off a little as well.” I smiled, and this time I couldn’t properly suppress the joy that I felt for finally being able to use all the tools at my disposal. This was the first time I would be using my Xollon form for something other than talking or going on dates, and I was going to savor it, amplified emotions be damned.

By my will, my body started to transform back into that familiar shape once more. My narrow vision expanded to encompass my entire surroundings, and my feeble human form was replaced with a might that I could never get tired of. I felt powerful even though my current state was so diminished compared to the might I felt when using the preview ticket. But it was enough for the task at hand. Even an incomplete Xollon form was better than anything lesser species could muster.

Vadeem and the rest of my followers looked at me in various states of shock. Some were terrified at my new visage, some in awe, while others were too stunned to even move. Yet the reverence in their faces never left. Good, they should get used to seeing me like this, and now that the limit for my transformation was measured in hours and not minutes, I could enjoy this feeling for a while.

I took a look at myself and saw that Q’s little enchantment had made a difference. Instead of the slender Xollon form that I was used to seeing, I now looked slightly fatter, my feelers were a little chunkier, and my awesome maw was on the side of my head instead of at the top. Even the rows of teeth I had were gone! Looking closer, I think I kind of resembled one of those delicious Shoggoths more than I did a Xollon. That was a disturbing thought.

I suppose I was still terrifying looking if someone’s never seen a Xollon before, but when you compare the two… I really hope I can undo Q’s disguise later because I wasn’t digging the new look. Xalla would not be impressed to see my love of Shoggoths go so far that I would want to turn myself into one.

Patar was the first to regain his composure as he addressed the rest of his congressional.

“Look upon the mighty form of our God, and know His holy Wrath! May we never experience his righteous anger for ourselves, but instead seek His grace! Sing with me, my fellow Enlightened! Sing His praises as he smites our foes!”

Not wanting to deal with Patar’s religious nonsense any longer, I gestured for Vadeem to follow me quickly. He nodded and we made quick progress towards the edge of the city wall. Up close, it didn’t look much sturdier than the ones we encountered in the outskirt villages, although it was a lot larger. It was still made with crudely carved-out stone that looked like it needed serious repair ages ago.

“Think you can make us an entrance?” I asked, my voice rumbling through my body, and I pointing one of my feelers towards the largest section of the wall.

We stopped a few meters in front of one of the walls, ignoring the quickly gathering enemies, and made our preparations. I tunneled my feelers into the ground once more, although this time I had more than just the two primary feelers. I had 12, and these could stretch way longer than 4 meters. Each one of them burrowed into the ground and made its way towards the positions of the defenders. My new senses could pinpoint the position of each individual, and it was easy enough to hide my tentacles underneath their feet.

“I know I can,” he grinned, “and it will be grand.”

And right on queue, Vadeem took a deep breath and hurled his hammer into the fortification. At the same time, I unleashed the burrowed limbs with a burst of movement and impaled the first set of foes. I was about to unleash more devastation when a shockwave of force slammed into me, causing me to stagger back a little.

I focused my perception on the source of that impact and witnessed something absolutely ridiculous...

Did you know that if you slam a solid object fast and hard enough into a wall, the wall just kind of… explodes? Not like in a mild boom followed by a shower of rubble or the like. I mean an actual explosion with a burst of fire, massive shockwaves, and clouds of superheated dust. Vadeem might have just chucked a missile at the wall for all the difference there was.

Well, I knew now.

If I still had jaws, they would have been on the floor. I turned my gaze back to Vadeem the Dream and saw that he had the proudest shit-eating grin I’ve ever seen.

“See,” he said with a loud laugh, “Told you I could make a grand entrance.”

He looked at me again and put on his gauntlets, “What are you standing around for, grab those tentacles of yours and get moving! We got some enemies to squish.”

Without waiting for a reply, he rushed towards the demolished wall, his every step caused the ground to quake. I had to take another second or two to compose myself before moving my mass of tentacles to follow him. Running with multiple leg tentacles was strange at first, but I caught up to Vadeem quickly. I was so thankful that I had the big man on my side, and I almost pitied Origin for making an enemy out of him.

The defenders nearest the explosion were vaporized, and the ones further away were still dazed or half-dead. They made easy pickings for me and my deadly feelers. Just a light poke with one of my limbs was enough to pop heads and rupture bodies, which made me appreciate how deadly a Xollon was. No wonder Xalla and Rogue were so careful to avoid touching me when I was in my human form.

Vadeem was rushing forward and literally squishing those in his way with his bulk. Those who tried to dodge were swatted aside, and the ones further in the city had boulders thrown their way. I honestly think he was doing more damage to the buildings and walls than the defenders, but he was taking the brunt of the return fire, so I couldn’t complain.

Speaking of return fire, the defenders had gathered their wits enough to organize firing squads, and Vadeem and I were starting to take some damage. Minimal damage, true, but the bullets still hurt. Vadeem was ignoring the brunt of the assault, with the ones hitting his sides and front doing practically nothing. He would occasionally wince in irritation when a stray shot hit a vulnerable spot like his face or eyes, but nothing could stop his momentum.

As for myself, I finally found out why Xollons had that black liquid coming out of them. It practically absorbed all the impact from the bullets, and I had shells harmlessly dripping off me before long. Occasionally one would strike an area where the coating was thinnest, and I’d feel a bit of pain, but I think I could sit under this assault all day. I didn’t need to see my HP bar, not that I could without Noe here, to know that I was fine.

I started to lose myself in the exhilaration of feeling so invincible. The defenders couldn’t do anything against us, so I gave up all notion of defense and focused solely on eliminating my foes. My dozens of various appendages moved on their own, each twisting and turning to seek new prey. Trying to parry or block them was futile, as my feelers could simply overwhelm any sort of protection, and even dodging was close to impossible for my enemies. After all, their rigid bodies could never be as agile as my feelers.

The battle was so one-sided that it felt like I was playing a game than actual combat. I started to see how quickly I could dispatch foes, timing myself between each kill as if I were trying to get a new high score. I even had the opportunity to try out crazy techniques as I waved my tentacles in increasingly intricate patterns before each strike.

Yet even though it was quite obvious that there was no way that the enemy could win, they still came at us. In hoards and ever-increasing numbers they came, as if they thought they could overwhelm us through sheer quantity. Origin should know that trying to exhaust Vadeem and I was futile! I laughed at that thought. How could Origin be so dumb as to think it could win like this?

Then a sudden realization hit me and a cold wave of dread washed over my frame. There was no way Origin would act like this without reason. As insane and corrupt as it was, it was no fool, so why send so many chaff at us? What was its goal?

I took a moment to examine the battlefield one last time, and I understood. I saw more and more mutated humans encircle our position, and I finally knew what the Trash Matrix was trying to do.

It was buying itself time!

If my initial guess was right, then Origin needed more time to access its full arsenal, and I’ll bet anything that it knew we were heading towards the Temple. It’s trying to bog us down as much as possible so that our final assault would be futile. As fast as Vadeem and I were at killing these people, I doubt we could eliminate all the people coming out of the woodwork.

Shit!

“Vadeem!” I shouted, “It’s a damn trap! Our enemy’s playing us like fools!”

Vadeem threw another chunk of debris at a squad of defenders before replying, “What do you mean? We’re destroying them!”

“They’re trying to delay us from getting to the Temple! Haven’t you noticed that their weaponry’s getting more advanced? If we wait any longer then it’s not just guns that’ll meet us, but god damn tanks and missiles!”

As if Origin heard my warning, the defenders that were once hiding and cowering all changed their behaviors. Now, as one, they started to swarm the two of us, completely ignoring any kind of self-perseverance, or even an attempt to fight back. Their only goal was to bog us down with their dead, and I feared it might work.

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