Chapter 209: Prize Catch

Will closed his eyes and mouth so he didn’t get foamed earth in them. who knew how bad it would be once it solidified?

The creature had no less than five independent mouths on the end of tentacle-like protrusions. From the brief glimpse of it’s body that Will had seen while it was breaching, the stomach was…

That way, Will thought, trusting his internal sense of direction, using Phantom Hand and his tomahawk to keep himself attached to the monster’s slimy skin, and not dislodged by the ocean of sticky foam rushing past him.

The thrashing diminished as Will reached the creature’s center of mass, suggesting he was on the right track. The stomach was usually near the center of mass on most creatures.

Under Will’s palm, he felt it:

The desperate thrashing of Climbers swallowed whole, unable to discern up from down.

They just needed a direction to strive for.

Shave and a haircut. Will beat his palm against Attrition’s stomach.

An instant later, a sword burst out of the monster’s belly where his palm had been.

OOOOOOOO

A rumbling groan spread through the entire world and Attrition bucked. An instant later they were sailing through the air, leaving the foaming earth behind.

Will slipped his hand past the blade of the sword, reaching elbow-deep into the monster’s side and grabbing the Climber’s wrist.

“GAH!” with a grunt of effort, Will dragged the Climber out, who had seemingly formed a human chain with the other three Climbers, squirting out of the monster’s side like a watermelon seed.

“Milord.”

“Tank’e.”

“Milord.”

“Feck!”

The Climbers gave him quick nods as they tumbled to the ground, tucking in their limbs and rolling like professionals before leaping to their feet and rejoining the topside groups chasing after Attrition.

Is that not the first time they’ve ever been swallowed? Will thought an instant before Attrition went back underground. There was something to be said about the fact that the average Climber on this Floor was a veteran in their forties.

Will could feel Attrition struggling to dive deep, but the bubbles expanding under it were constantly pushing back on it, forcing it up and draining its energy.

Just need to-OW!

Will hissed through the omnipresent foam and chopped an eel-shaped slimy thing chewing on his forearm.

Attrition breached the ground again and Will spotted black worms flooding out of the wound in Attrition’s stomach.

Will plucked the detached head whose teeth were buried in his arm and inspected it.

A detachment of the Raid Boss ‘Attrition’.

A pale imitation whose only goal is to devour Climbers.

In the instant before they went back underground, Will spotted a massive swarm explode out of the ground, kicked up by Will’s Homeland Advantage. Their mobility was certainly hampered, but there were a lot of them and they had no regard for their own lives, sacrificing themselves willingly to get a single nibble on the Climbers harassing their creator.

It was turning into a massive, messy melee as the Climbers were being assaulted from every direction by the detachments.

If we can drag this engagement North far enough that the Nukers can support us, we can regain control of the situation.

“Keep pushing Nor-“

Back in the foam, forcing Will to snap his mouth shut or learn the taste of foaming dirt and stone.

Will opened the map in his mind’s eye, watching their heading as he crawled blindly along Attrition’s side, orienting himself against the direction of the constant stream of foam, seeking the head of the beast.

As he climbed towards the head, Will bumped into Bee, unable to sense her through the chaotic landslide of foam rushing past them.

Will tapped the Tangled girl on the shoulder and took her hand, indicating which direction he’d like them to steer the enormous eel-squid-thing.

Will and all the Bees attached to attrition yanked to the left and Will watched as their heading creeped further north, nearly getting them back inside the operation’s borders.

If I hadn’t gotten Map, I really would have a hard time coordinating these, wouldn’t I?

Will didn’t really have time to pat himself on the back, because the Attrition juked hard, flaring out the mouth-tentacles on the side, coming to a sudden halt.

MOVE!

Will threw himself out of the way an instant before an enormous mouth swept through the foam where he had just been.

Will sharpened Phantom hand’s armor into a blade and cut a deep gouge into the monster’s tentacle.

A burst of poison gushed past him, and Will felt himself wilt, curling in on himself like a dying spider as the tingling sensation spread through his nerves.

If I feel this bad, how bad is it for everyone else?

Will’s grip slipped on the haft of his axe, and suddenly he was tumbling away. He grabbed himself with Phantom Hand and erupted out of the earth before it could re-solidify.

This punk. The more damage we do to it, the more damage we’re going to take, Will thought as he flew after the trail of bubbles.

It was as if someone had designed the Raid Boss to be as petty and vindictive as possible.

No wonder it got that name. The harder you fought it the more damage it did.

“YEEEHAAAW!” Bee shouted as Attrition leapt above-ground, half of her bodies dangling lifelessly from the raid boss’s side.

Ranged attacks flew in from the south as the Climbers temporarily set aside their defense against the creature’s offshoots and aimed to make it pay for breaching in the short instant before it hit the earth again.

Will enjoyed their enthusiasm, and resolved to make their contributions mean something.

Just like fishing, huh?

Will formed Phantom Hand’s armor into a massive fishhook and shoved it into the creature’s main mouth.

Despite making the surface area of the hook bigger than a man, it wasn’t quite large enough to drag Attrition around without tearing itself out.

Instead, will tugged on it just hard enough to give the monster a hard time, stopping just shy of yanking the hook free.

The only problem with this method: Will was forced to keep up on his own two feet rather than Phantom Hand to keep up.

Will’s tingling legs rapidly recovered from the poison as he sprinted straight North, tugging the monster’s head northward every time it tried to get away.

Will lost himself in the task, so focused on herding the creature northward that he didn’t even notice when they succeeded in their primary goal

BOOM!

Pinpricks of light streaked from the mountain to the north and landed directly on the line of warriors and scouts, burning away the voracious worms, straight off their skin.

Did Ria arrange that? Will had overlooked the tactic of using a Ring of Consideration to avoid blasting party-members. It was something that he should’ve 100% added to the plan, but he’d simply forgotten in his focus on weakening Attrition’s ability to swim through the earth.

And yet…my people didn’t forget, Will thought as flames rushed over his Climbers, scouring the worms away from them.

Maybe it was standard practice, or maybe someone was looking out for him.

In either case, that marked the turning point of the battle.

Dozens of arrows and spears with barbs and ropes whipped out, catching the enormous monster in the side.

Teams were formed around the thicker ropes, lending their bodyweight to the resistance Attrition was pulling against.

More than once, Attrition nearly escaped the box, only the be blown out of the ground by a ranged attack from the Nukers.

The warriors with lower Resistance gradually escaped the box valley that gradually turned into a stew of poison.

Eventually it was just Will, Bee, Ria, and a few of the names on the ‘I survived the Tank-slayer!’ list in Muriel’s bar, who were able to stay on the ground level.

That didn’t mean the other’s weren’t working.

“HAUL IT UP!” Will shouted, his voice raspy as the poison permeating the valley clawed against the sensitive tissue in the back of his throat.

“HEAVE!”

The man-sized braided rope tightened again as the Climbers at the top of the cliff shouted at once, dragging Attrition up.

More men carrying newly hewn poles made of large trees shoved them down before prying the limp monster’s sides away from the cliffside, forcing it to dangle in midair so it couldn’t foam the cliffside into nothing.

“HEAVE!”

There it is. Will thought as the entirety of the monster was suspended above-ground, thrashing weakly against their efforts.

Even those weak motions nearly yanked the line out of the hands of the team of Climbers trying to suspend it.

Sickle of Malignant Silence slotted.

“Shhh.” Will shushed the raid boss.

He hadn’t tried it earlier because he didn’t want to lose it underground, and because they simply weren’t ready for it to die yet. The damned thing was so big and unwieldy that they needed a plan and a team before he could kill it.

A wave of poison rolled out from Attrition as it began bleeding from every orifice, forcing Will and the others to retreat from the monster.

Thankfully, the poison was heavier than air, so those hauling it up the cliffside were able to continue their work in relative ease as the curses paralyzed the monster.

Will escorted Ria and the others out of the valley as it became too lethal inside the bowl even for them, and took a long look around.

The valley was ruined.

Parts had been glassed by outrageous heat as the Nukers dropped attacks straight on their heads, while other parts were torn apart by explosive combat, while till others were rendered into foam and then resolidified and shattered, making strange pumice-like rocks out of the stone that had been beneath them.

There wasn’t any plant or animal life anymore. the valley would be barren for a long while.

Damn.

Will hadn’t expected the bowl he’d dragged the monster into to become a bowl of poison, but he felt like he’d gotten lucky. If they had killed this thing on an open plain or near a river, it would’ve spread the poison far and wide, rather than isolating it to this one bowl.

Will felt like he’d gotten lucky.

Nobody ever said the damn thing was poisonous.

To be fair, no one had ever cornered it thoroughly enough to find out that it was poisonous.

It was only through a solid plan, luck and a fair amount of determination that they were able to catch the damn thing.

Will went up to the cliffside and visited with the Climbers, escorting some of the more heavily poisoned men out and bringing Badur in from the Stronghold.

They wnet and got some fried oasis and delivered it to the exhausted men and women, some of the barely able to lift the fatty meat to their mouths.

They got the braces set in place holding it away from the cliffside and waited for the enormous monster to die. All the while, Will watched it with a close eye, waiting to jump the damn thing if it suddenly regained it’s energy and began thrashing.

Floor-wide Alert!

The Burned Stronghold has claimed the bounty!

Many thanks to our Climbers for their efforts.

You are now a level 55 World Traveller!

Will’s legs gave out from under him as the relief swept over him. He wasn’t alone in that sentiment, as the rest of the Climbers were simply too tired to celebrate. The ones who weren’t already collapsed sank to their knees or slumped against nearby rocks and trees, groaning in relief.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a particular brand of fear oozing from a Climber who was edging toward him.

“Don’t even think about it,” Will said, seizing the back of the man’s neck with Phantom Hand, sharpening the fingers of the armor just enough for the man to feel the blade’s edge pricking his neck.

“I-ah, congratulations, milord. ‘sall I wanted to say.” The Climber said, his fear suddenly redoubling.

“You’re lying…but thanks anyway. Get lost.”

“Yes milord,” The ambitious Climber said, groveling and backing away simultaneously in an awkward display.

“Milord,” Badur said as he approached, a chunk of preserved flesh in his hands, offering it to Will.

Will held it up and offered it to Map.

Attrition upgrade for Map:

Terrain no longer needs to be directly perceived to be added to Map.

Map updates automatically within a certain radius of the User.

Radius of both effects scale with Acuity.

Excellent. What about Aspect?

Attrition Upgrade for Aspect of the Immortal Serpent.

At will, User may invert the enhanced ‘grip’ effect of Aspect, and cause terrain to bend away.

Resistance to poisons enhanced.

Interesting.

Will could see how being able to push and pull terrain would be a huge boon to his Build. It would certainly make his terrain spikes easier to pull off. He could even swim through terrain as it slid around him…

But I’m not sure I want that.

Will was holding out for ‘Miasma is a terrain’ to advance his research. That would both allow him to to study it with his Map, it would also allow him to manipulate it with Aspect.

If he could find a boss that gave him ‘fear is a terrain’ it was only a matter of time before he found the right Sacrifice.

How many upgrades do I have left for Aspect, anyway? Will thought, checking the bottom of his Stats sheet and counting the stars next to his Abilities.

Primary Abilities: Aspect of the Immortal Serpent***, Phantom Hand(x6), Map*

Secondary Abilities: Sourdough** Uru Drake’s Eye

Tertiary Abilities: Phantom Eye

Primary Ability Upgrade Available

Secondary Ability Upgrade Available! (X2)

So, two. Aspect should have six slots total because it’s an A-tier Sacrifice, while Phantom Hand should have nine total, since it’s a dimensional Ability from an S-tier Uru Drake…And at least five for Map. Not really sure what Map stems from. Likely a thematic mashup of all the Abilities I’ve chosen thus far…so at least five.

Will had to be real careful what he put in Aspect now, because he had already reserved an Upgrade for ‘Miasma is a Terrain’, leaving only two free spaces. Maybe he would add Attrition to it, maybe he would find something better. In any case, he only had one Upgrade to spend.

But Map…this is exactly the effect I wanted for it.

…Assuming the radius isn’t like...a couple inches. Well, I suppose if it’s that narrow I’ll still have at least four more upgrades to remedy that.

There were a couple other reasons Will was being stingy with his last Upgrades.

Beyond the Advanced Class, levels came fewer and further between. The next few Floors only allowed three levels until the Climbers was forced to move up. And the numbers only dwindled from there. Will had heard that eventually Climbers had to skip floors to even get a single level.

In fact, since he’d been trickling XP from bounties, quests and raid bosses for years, he would have to climb straight to the 13th Floor to get any XP from regular monsters.

The relative scarcity of these upgrades was going up, quickly.

Still. This is exactly what I’ve been saving for.

Do you wish to Sacrifice Attrition to Map?

Yes.

Map has been upgraded. Review the description for changes.

Map**

Passive:

You have a map.

This map is a mental construct that contains an accurate, self-updating record of terrain in a radius around the user. Current location, heading, Abilities, and manifestations therof are displayed on this map. You may summon this map and dismiss it at will, and it will only be perceivable to you.

Radius scales with Acuity. Beyond this radius, the map does not update, but will retain anything that was already filled in.

The map has an alternate mode that displays an in-depth map of the user’s body.

Toggle: 7 Focus

Manifest a physical copy of the map.

…So how big is it…OH!

Will checked his map and saw a huge circle had been filled in among the wilds and places he’d never had cause to travel.

Will measured from himself to the edge of the circle.

About twelve miles.

Not bad at all.