Unusual Enemies - A LitRPG Adventure (The Whispering Crystals, #2)

by Mills, H. C.

  Caught off guard—and just regaining the use of my limbs—I have no time to reform my tail and can only muster a jet of Hydrum to push myself away as we scatter.

  The bastard still manages to grasp me by the ankle and starts reeling me in.

  My heart beats in my throat as I approach its single, angry eye. The wheels in my head are turning, however. Though getting surprised by your opponent is a terrible way to start off any battle, he couldn’t have picked worse people to grapple.

  It flashes through my head that his choice was probably based on the fact that Alec called it an overgrown calamari, while I went with ugly bastard. Whoops.

  I’m still preparing when Alec proves my point. Although the beast’s grasp on him is firmer, he’s left with enough wiggle room to stab it with the trident and unleash a mighty current into the beast’s orange flesh.

  The beast contorts painfully as electricity leaks out of him on all sides, including into me. Thankfully, it’s but a weak current, so I just grit my teeth and maintain my focus.

  The beast retracts the tentacle around Alec with a snap, which sends the boy spinning around his own axis.

  My Focus Crystal flashes purple as I convert nearly 10 Onkh of Qi to a full 50 Onkh of Toxic Energy. The flash draws its attention to me, so I quickly touch the Focus Crystal to the tentacle around my ankle. Directed by my will, a flood of hungry purple tendrils spreads out rapidly under the beast’s skin, causing it to visibly wilt.

  This tentacle is snapped back as well, and the creature even backs away from me; however, it’s too little too late.

  50 Onkh is almost twice my own Tolerance Limit, and I have a Toxic Energy Tolerance of more than 40%. Even for a creature this size, that much Toxic Energy should have a serious effect on its Strength, Agility and start eating away at its Lavi. Especially since its use of Vibration Energy earlier suggests that its Ya—

  Two of its tentacles suddenly grip the Infused one, and rip it off, right before my brave purple tendrils can invade its main body.

  My eye and eye-crystal bulge to the point where I fear I’m about to pull an Alec.

  That cheating bastard! That was nearly all the Qi I had left!

  The beast settles its single, bloodshot eye on me and snarls, showing off the scary, beaked mouth underneath its main body.

  Dave’s hurried voice enters my head,

  I exhale right before the creature lets out another enraged roar. The vibrations punch into me, temporarily locking up my muscles. It takes all my Willpower, but I manage to maintain control over my exhaled Hydrum and reform my tail.

  The creature rears up and catapults itself towards me once more, stretching out two tentacles in my direction. Thick blue blood and sparkling green flecks of Lavi spew from its stump, leaving a trail of swirling colour in the Hydrum as it attempts to rush me.

  I regain control over my body just in time. I shoot to the side with a mighty kick from both of my legs and dodge its grasping tentacles.

  I swim around it in a wide arc, my movement tracked by its bloody eye. I’m going to have nightmares about this, I can tell.

  An arrow comes out of somewhere and sinks into the flesh next to its eye with a dull thud.

  The beast squints a little, but its attention stays on me as it once more strikes out with a tentacle in an attempt to grab me.

  A wave of vibrations from Kaitlynn hits it, but it barely shudders. Damn, looks like it has pretty high Vibration Tolerance. So much for her last shot.

  I need to find a way to Infuse its main body, but if it gets its tentacles on me, I’ll probably be eaten.

  An octopus eating a human, that’s the wrong way around, you know?!

  But before I can Infuse it, there’s something else I need. I reach into my pocket, take out my Qi Pearl, and swallow it. Some fishy-tasting Hydrum goes down with it, but that’s unavoidable at this point.

  The pearl immediately dissolves into a burst of cold Yin Qi in my stomach, filling up my meridians and overflowing.

  I glance at my Status Bar.

  Damn, my maximum Qi capacity only went up by 2! Probably because half of the pearl’s energy was spent refilling my Qi. This investment better pay off.

  For that to happen, though, I’m going to need an opportunity.

  I dodge another attempted grapple with a quick change in direction, and seek out a slightly less annoying one-eyed freak.

  comes the reply almost immediately.

 

  he exclaims happily inside my head. Too happily.

  I narrow my eyes.

  Alec’s reply comes in the form of an angry bolt of lightning, which strikes the beast from behind.

  Taking my cue, I swoop in close and raise my Qi-filled Focus Crystal in front of me.

  But the stun lasts way too short. The beast’s tentacles suddenly sweep towards me, and I barely manage to twist out of the way as I curse internally.

  How the hell am I supposed to kill this thing?!

  I have to Infuse it to do any real kind of damage, but if it grabs me I’m done for. I may be able to get it to give up another tentacle, but then what? If only I could Infuse it from... a distance.

  My eyes widen, and even as I swim around the giant octopus, I manage to stick my spear back underneath my backpack and retrieve the blowpipe I keep under there.

  I widen my circle around the beast and attempt to reabsorb some of the Qi inside my Focus Crystal. To my surprise, I’m actually somewhat successful.

  Once the blue glow from my Focus Crystal has dimmed considerably, I take a Toxic dart from the pouch I had Alec sew onto the side of my backpack and hold it in the same hand as the crystal.

  I turn the remaining Qi into Toxic Energy and attempt to Infuse about 5 Onkh of it into the dart. I manage to squeeze in only about 3. Seems like the maximum capacity of a small wooden dart like this isn’t that high. It’ll have to do.

  I dart in back closer to the octopus.

  In my absence, it has shifted its attention to the source of arrows its skin is by now bristling with. Some blue blood oozes out near the arrows, showing that they’re having some effect, but it doesn’t seem to be enough to really slow it down, let alone kill it. The blood and Lavi flowing from the stump have decreased as well.

  More importantly, two tentacles are rolling out towards Dave, who is frantically withdrawing further into a small side cave.

  I come to a halt near the giant creature, raise my blowpipe, and with a powerful jet of Hydrum, unleash its deadly payload.

  The Infused dart shoots forward and embeds itself deep into the beast’s skin. Nice!

  Now it’s just a question of time until the Toxic Energy makes its way in. After all, Hydrum is very resistant to absorbing Toxic Energy, so it has nowhere else to go.

  The beast doesn’t react, however, stubbornly moving closer to the cave Dave resides in, so I quickly prepare and shoot another dart. And another.

  React, damnit! I know they’re tiny, but these things are dangerous to you, you know?!

  Another burst of lightning strikes it from behind, and it finally roars angrily. The vibrations punch into me again. I clench my teeth and endure it.

  The beast turns, finds me, and once again attempts to rush me. I quickly reform my tail and flee.

  To think I’d ever be relieved to be chased by a giant octopus...

  However, I can’t just let it chase me around all day. Even if I could—my legs are getting pretty tired—three little Toxic darts aren’t going to be enough to bring this thing to its knees.

  Not that it has those, but whatever.

  I fill another dart with Toxic Energy and stick it in my blowpipe. Now comes the hard part. I turn to take aim, and, while maintaining control over my tail, use B
reath Control to launch it.

  The dart shoots forward and embeds itself below the beast’s eye. Success!

  However, my triumph comes at a price. In the short moment I’m distracted by my success, my tail disintegrates mid-kick.

  A large tentacle sweeps towards my legs, but I reform my tail in the nick of time and shoot ahead.

  I swear I felt the tip brush my toe.

  Still, that’s only four darts.

  After increasing the distance a little more, I steel my resolve and grab another one...

  Sixteen shots later, I run out of darts, and the thing is still merrily chasing me.

  I glance at my Status Bar.

  That was only about half my Qi. I need more darts!

  At the same time, however, my legs are burning. I don’t think I could keep doing this for much longer, even if I had more darts.

  Maybe I could Infuse some of Dave’s arrows?

  No. The damn thing would be upon us in no time, and I doubt one of those could hold all of the Toxic Energy I could generate at once.

  My spear would do the trick, but going in to stab it would be suicidal.

  I could attempt to throw it, but I haven’t the Strength or skill to do that under-Hydrum.

  Wait... that’s it!

  I look around frantically. Alec is still hiding underneath the giant shell I spotted him under earlier, Kaitlynn is up high between the stalactites, and Dave is near the entrance of his little cave, readying another arrow for when we pass by again. Meanwhile Jacob—

  Jacob is about to leave through one of the doors.

  My eyes widen and I shift directions towards him. I cast my tether farther than ever before, with all the desperate force of a drowning girl throwing a grappling hook onto a ship.

  It connects.

  He stiffens, one foot in the opening. He turns around and looks at me guiltily, eyes widening when he sees the giant octopus chasing me in his direction.

  ‘I’m sorry, Emma,’ he signs rapidly, ‘but there’s nothing I can do. I’m dead weight in this fight.’

  I send back frantically, as the distance between us shrinks.

  His eyes dart to the opening he still has one foot inside of and back to me and the horror behind me.

  He shakes his head. ‘I’m sorry, Emma, I can’t. I still haven’t broken through to the second level of Increase Momentum. I have to go now.’

  No, damnit!

  A sombre finality sets into his shoulders as he moves further into the opening before he glances back to look me in the eye one last time. As he does, it feels like something inside me pops, like a bottle uncorking.

  What comes pouring out of me is,

  To my surprise, it works.

  Jacob’s eyes widen, and his face slackens. He blinks, once, before gritting his teeth and stepping back out.

  Right around this time, I reach him with a giant octopus hot on my heels.

  I flood my spear with all the Toxic Energy I can muster, a full 50 Onkh worth, and hand it to Jacob, careful to maintain control over the Toxic Energy for as long as I can, so it doesn’t leak into him.

  Jacob unceremoniously drops his sword and shield, and grasps my spear, not knowing or not caring about its deadly payload.

  He turns to face the rapidly approaching giant octopus and blanches.

  I send on a whim, or perhaps instinctively.

  A bit of colour returns to his cheeks. Jacob’s face twists into a snarl as he heaves the spear forward. A flash of yellow punctuates his motion, and suddenly my spear shoots forward.

  It embeds itself dead centre into the giant octopus’s remaining eye.

  I reform my tail and kick, pushing a dazed Jacob towards his door as I swim past him.

  I’m pretty sure I see him pass through the door before the blinded beast slams into where we were just standing.

  It screeches, the powerful Vibration Energy rattling my bones, and shaving off some more Lavi.

  But I can tell it isn’t a war cry. It’s a death rattle. After all, objective meaning works both ways.

  I swim a safe distance away and watch it thrash around angrily as its orange skin slowly turns a little purple around the edges.

  Dave, Kaitlynn, and Alec join me one by one to watch the spectacle.

  Slowly, its thrashing becomes weaker, and its skin starts to shrivel a little.

  ‘It’s kind of sad, isn’t it?’ Kaitlynn signs. ‘Can’t we end it a little quicker?’

  I shrug. ‘I’m out of Qi, and either way, I’m not going near that thing until I can’t see a speck of Lavi remaining in its body.’

  ‘I’m out too,’ Alec signs. ‘Also, not sure if it would be suffering less if I start administering shock therapy.’

  ‘I tried Radiation on it earlier,’ Dave signs, ‘but the little bit that made it through the Hydrum seemed to burn away as much Toxic Energy as it did Lavi, so I stopped after Emma started using the darts.’

  Huh. I hadn’t considered that. Right, Radiation and Toxic Energy are supposed to be a pair of Yin-Yang opposites. So much for using them together. Though I guess using Radiation first and then switching to Toxic Energy should work since Radiation has an instantaneous effect, and Toxic Energy a slow one.

  We chat idly for a bit.

  ‘Hey, I was wondering,’ I sign at some point, ‘where does all the Hydrum go?’

  ‘There are flows going into some of the side caves,’ Dave signs in return. ‘Tremorsense tells me there’s gratings in there, though.’

  I nod. Makes sense.

  A little later, the beast finally stops moving and a window pops up in front of me.

  Wait, what?

  CHAPTER 24

  Thingamabobs

  I STARE AT THE NOTIFICATION in a daze.

  My Charm went up? How—

  My eyes widen. Jacob! That feeling when I pleaded him, was that it? Did I activate my Charm on him?

  Aww shit.

  Dave starts inspecting my body, Restoring any wounds he finds. I flash him a grateful smile.

  When Dave finishes, Alec waves to get my attention, ’cause I’m still kind of staring ahead of me in a daze.

  ‘Nonya, are you coming or what?’ he signs. ‘We’re going to look through the pile this thing was guarding!’

  I shake my head and follow my friends. I can deal with it later. Jacob isn’t here right now anyhow, and it doesn’t seem like anyone noticed anything.

  The pile in the centre of the cave is, to be honest, mostly junk. Lots of broken shells, froggo bones, and other unidentifiable remains of water-dwelling critters. But, thoroughly sifting through it does unearth some pretty nice stuff.

  First of all, there’s food. There’s quite a lot of different kinds of shellfish in the pile, though there unfortunately aren’t any like the ones we found pearls in earlier.

  It’s a real shame. I would’ve very much liked to replace the Yin Pearl I consumed earlier. Maybe I should buy one after this. Eh, we’ll see.

  The pile also contains a variety of crystals. I guess this thing either shared the froggos’ hobby of collecting them, or our froggy friends had a habit of losing them.

  I suspect the former, because the collection consists mostly of Yang Energy Crystals. Among them, we find two small Vibration Energy Crystals, which are constantly humming, and a Major Heat Crystal. There aren’t any Lavi Crystals—except for the one on top of the beast’s head, of course. I’ll pry that one out later.

  There is, however, a single Yin Energy Crystal, namely another Minor Electric Energy Crystal. Alec graciously insists I take it, and seeing as how he’s currently holding the trident, I don’t object. The discharge that goes through me as I pick it up stings a little, but I don’t mind too much.

  Not in a masochist way. I mean I can handle it.

  The trident really is a thing of beauty. Sin
ce Alec’s the only one who can use it properly right now, there’s little point in discussing ownership, even if my heart is bleeding a little.

  Eventually, we stumble upon what I suspect is the main prize. A Power-Up.

  Kaitlynn is the one who finds it, attracted by the spherical crystal’s pulsing red glow, and appraise gives away its secrets.

  ‘Well,’ Alec signs hesitantly when Kaitlynn shares the screen, ‘having to get it surgically installed is still better than eating symbiotic worms.’

  Dave rolls his eyes.

  ‘It’s so pretty!’ Kaitlynn signs enthusiastically with one hand, as she rolls the deep red crystal filled with white squiggly lines around in the other. ‘I wonder if it’ll be visible at all after installation, like a big red button sticking out of your stomach.’

  I scrunch up my nose at that disturbing image. Now I’m even less interested in it.

  It’s clearly more useful to a Yang person, anyway. This thing would just get in the way of building up my Electric Tolerance.

  ‘You guys go see if there’s anything more,’ I sign. ‘I’ll go remove that big sucker’s Lavi Crystal.’

  I approach said big sucker with some hesitation, due to an irrational fear that it might still be alive. It naturally doesn’t react at all when I carefully prod it, and I don’t see any Lavi flowing beneath its skin either. I start by removing all of the darts and arrows I can reach, before getting to my spear. It’s stuck in there good, but I’m pretty strong, so I manage to wiggle it free with a bit of elbow grease. I then use my spear to pry out the crystal.

  ‘Appraise,’ I subvocalise when I have the nearly fist-sized lump of crystal in my hand.

  Jackpot! I think I know what my share of the loot is going to be. I should probably discuss that with the rest after the Trial, though, before I do anything with it.

  After digging around for a little longer but finding nothing else of interest, we reconvene near the doors.