Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

The Regressor made sure that all of us were ready, and he kicked the door open. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I took a deep breath and sprinted in with him, with Noel hot on my tentacles. Just a little more to go and we can get out of here, I’ll have my best buddy Noe back to normal, maybe take a nap out in the sun for once, and finally relax.

After weeks spent in this never-ending darkness, with the only source of illumination being a stupid lightbulb on my head, I was just sick and tired of it all. I wanted a bed to lie on, a nice book to read, or at the very least see the sunlight again!

I felt a huge impact on my side, and still being disoriented, I wasn’t sure what had happened. It wasn’t any monster who hit me, but the Regressor. Did he finally lose his mind as well?

That's when I saw the huge flaming sword, at least several meters long and half as wide, embedded where I was standing just a second ago. There was a look of fierce determination in the Regressor’s eyes before I realized that I had been sloppy again. The man just saved my life while I was daydreaming again, but from what? Before I could even thank him he rushed off, spear in hand, and Noel flew right behind him.

I regained enough of my senses to climb back on my feelers and finally properly surveyed what was going on. Maybe I wish I hadn’t though. Noel and Jae-Hyun looked to be engaged in a fight against a mutated, knockoff version of the damned Hindu deity Asura!

The thing was huge once again, about the same size as the Golem Vadeem fought earlier, although it was made of flesh this time, and was quite agile seeing how it was parrying most of the Regressor’s assaults.

Each of its 6 arms was wielding a different weapon, ranging from swords, sickles, spears, and the like, and just trying to get within reach of the creature proved to be difficult. And unlike myself, it wasn’t limited to things like Luck Charges or fatigue as it kept on trying to kill my two friends. And worse still, imbedded in its monstrous forehead was a distinct black shard.

Guess there’s no avoiding fighting this thing.

I saw Noel make a mad dash toward the thing’s head, ignoring the flaming blade headed her way. Her plan was to simply phase through the weapon like she did before, but a desperate shout from the Regressor told me that her normal plan wouldn’t work here.

“Avoid it Noel!” he screamed, but he was too far away to help.

Noel tried to swerve out of the way, but there was no way she would make it. I stuck my feet feelers deep into the ground and lashed out with my other tentacles. They grabbed onto the monster’s arm and I fought with everything I had to stop the strike aimed at Noel. Even with my insanely boosted stats, I felt my feelers strain before one of them broke off from the sheer effort. I screamed as I saw my precious tentacles spasm around before finally falling still. Holy shit, it pulled off one of my precious feelers! Do Xollon grow these back?

I shook my head free of doubts and refocused on the fight. I can worry about my lack of appendages later. Thankfully my sacrifice did as intended, and the creature’s swing was slowed down enough for Noel to dodge out of its way. She didn’t miss a second of the opportunity that I gave her and dove straight into the creature’s face, plunging the two swords into its face. I think she was aiming for its eyes, but the giant was able to avoid a fatal injury and Noel’s attack struck its cheeks instead.

The dark flames started to gush into the new wound, causing huge chunks of its meat to fall off. It burned the surrounding flesh, but didn't consume the giant like the other foes she ignited. Noel was about to slash at it again but a fierce headbutt knocked the flaming girl to the ground, and I could see a hint of surprise in her features, shocked that she could be wounded in her new state.

“You’re not invulnerable, Noel,” the Regressor continued to shout, “Don’t get hit!”

Once Noel was out of the way, the creature’s attention turned to me this time, and it swung my feelers that were still attached to it, dragging me along with them. I desperately tried to let go, but my little serrated hooks were dug deep, and I was flung into the wall, hard. The force ripped my feelers out of the beast’s arms, but it took another tentacle with it. The only thing I could be thankful for was that I didn't have conventional lungs or the air would have been knocked out of me.

I was still squirming from the pain when I saw an axe aimed straight at me. I tried to scramble out of the way, but I was woefully slow and it looked like the damn thing will take at least half of me with it. Forget about regrowing feelers, I hope Xollon’s were built like jellyfish and I could survive being bisected.

I heard the Regressor grunt in effort, and at the edge of my perception, I saw him look at my situation with concentration before quickly stabbing the ground with his spear. I was going to question what he was doing but the oddest thing happened next. The strike that was about to split me in two chucks never hit, because the arm that was holding the weapon just… disappeared. Red mist permeated the surrounding, which showed that something had happened, but that was it.

A severed, bloody stump replaced where its massive arm was, and the creature howled an inhuman cry of rage and pain. A quick glance back at the Regressor showed that he was still in the same spot, but it looked like he had just run a few marathons back to back. He quickly took out a small bottle of blue liquid and drank it. His complexion brightened a bit, but whatever he just did took a toll on him.

Noel didn’t miss a beat and quickly pounced on the new vulnerability. She dashed between the severed limb and plunged her swords into the giant’s side, causing more chunks of its flesh to melt off. If only the flames could spread a bit further because it would take a lot more to kill this thing.

I scrambled up again to help out once more, this time redirecting another strike aimed at the still-recovering Regressor. I was learning to control how much force I could exert without having more of my tentacles ripped off, but it almost meant that I could only slightly alter the creature’s strikes.

Yet my friends were also adjusting their tactics to match what I could do, and they took every opportunity to inflict minor wounds on the creature. But just as we were slowly wounding the creature, it was slowly doing the same to our side. The blows that I couldn’t redirect had to be absorbed by Noel or Jae-Hyun, and the sheer power behind each attack left them stumbling and hurt. Yet despite their clear injuries, they never slowed down their assault, but I could tell that this couldn’t last for long.

Another wide swing of a club forced Jae-Hyun to retreat, and I saw that he stabbed the ground once again. The results were immediate, another arm was obliterated and a few scratches were seen on its face and neck. The Regressor, however, looked even worse for wear. His entire body was drenched in sweat and he was bleeding from the nose.

The creature finally realized that Jae-Hyun was the biggest threat to its existence, and made its way towards the exhausted spearman. Noel tried desperately to attack its sides, but this time it simply ignored her and focused all of its attention on the Regressor. I tried in vain to slow down its advance, my feelers latched to its feet but did almost nothing to stop its movement as I was dragged along with it.

The Regressor gritted his teeth and looked like he was about to use that strange skill of his one last time, consequences be damned, but he didn’t have to. A huge explosion of movement interrupted the thing's movement, and something huge and muscular bashed through the wall and barreled into the creature. The sheer force of the tackle caused the giant to crash into the other side of the room.

“Vadeem style baby!” the titan bellowed, “Don’t think you’ve seen the last of me!”

Three more figures rushed out of the opening the big man made and started to pepper the foe with arrows, each shot aimed at its eyes and other soft spots in its defense. Jae-Hyun looked visibly relieved by the sight of his sister doing well and was instantly invigorated. He took out another small bottle of that blue liquid and chugged it down before joining the others.

While all of this was happening, Vadeem was on a rampage. He had taken the opportunity to mount the creature and was landing strike after strike on its head. Each blow sent tremors into the ground with the weight of his gauntleted fists. Whenever it would try to stagger away from the barrage, Noel would expertly slice into the tendons, hindering its movement. The chucks of flesh that slogged off provided much-needed vulnerabilities in the thing’s defenses, and the three girls were able to send volleys of arrows into the decaying tissue.

I wasn’t lying still either, and I did my best to hinder its movements further so that all of Vadeem’s hammer blows landed on the thing’s cranium. It was faltering fast. Noel’s constant cuts were adding up while Vadeem did the majority of the damage. Finally, once the end was in sight, the Regressor shouted a command for us to retreat.

None of us questioned his words as we quickly stepped back. Vadeem punched it one last time and ran to a corner while Noel retreated to where the three girls stood.

The Regressor grunted and stabbed his spear into the ground one last time, and once again the damage he inflicted was instantaneous. The thing’s head exploded into a pile of gore, and a tiny shard fell onto the ground, its smooth black surface untarnished.

Jae-Hyun fell to his knees in exhaustion and his sister rushed to his side. She took out another one of the little vials of liquid, but he refused to take it this time.

“Walter,” he said between deep breaths, “Take the artifact and light the flame.”

I didn’t need him to tell me twice. I staggered back to my feet-feelers and took the little shard. It was oddly warm.

“Notification,” Noe’s familiar robotic voice said, “Does Host Watt want to integrate Noe’s Shard of Emotion into the main system?”

Not right now.

I needed to do one final performance to end all of this.

I exited out of my Xollon form and felt the smooth crystal on my hands. I went up to the half-destroyed brazier and ignited it with a spark from my lantern. With my other hand, I made the motion to throw the shard into the fire, but I made a mental command right as it was about to leave my hands.

Absorb it now!

“Acknowledged.”

I felt a warm sensation course through my body, and every emotion that I had ever felt seemed to ignite through my weary body all at once. I felt joy, loss, despair, and rage so intense that it almost made me pass out, but just as quickly as those feelings came, they left. At the same time, the newly lit brazier exploded into an inferno of light, and the darkness that was ever-present seemed to disappear all at once. Before I could process anything else, I heard a familiar voice in my head. One that I desperately missed.

“Congratulations, Host Walter,” Noe said, her voice returning some of its lost warmth and femininity, “Unit Noe has successfully integrated the Shard of Emotion and the Personality Algorithms have been restored. Please wait for further functionalities to be unlocked as Unit Noe fully integrates the damaged shard.”

Welcome back, Noe. I thought with a smile.

“It is good to be back, my Host," she replied, “Absolute Luck Unit 104.05 Gamma is ready to serve you once more.”

I never knew how much I had missed my little voice in my head.

It's good to have you back at my side.

But before I could do anything else, a familiar bright light engulfed me, and I was taken to a new location. The sunlight was refreshing. Ha, actual sunlight! I felt like I haven't seen that in ages now. My restored system indicated that a new notification came from the Trash Matrix, and I was all too happy to see if it had returned to normal as well. A message appeared on my retina, heralding the next phase of these Trials.

Congratulations, Aspirants, for successfully completing the second Trial. Welcome to the Main Stage.

We do not forget.