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

by Mills, H. C.

  I take up position beside the thickest trunk in the copse, ready to jump behind it at a moment’s notice, and study my opponent, looking for weaknesses.

  Clearly, Junior’s greatest strength lies in defence. That huge, thick shell can’t be easy to pierce, and that blue exoskeleton covering his limbs and face looks pretty hardy too. His eyes are one obvious weakness, but I’d first have to get to them, somehow.

  Directly Infusing Junior with Toxic Energy seems difficult, but indirectly may still be an option.

  Unable to reach me, Junior starts literally foaming at the mouth in anger.

  Yuck. Well, at least this sucker’s giving me a moment to think. Now how do I—

  [Emma, look down!] Suri chimes.

  I look down, and my heart skips a beat when I notice a tendril of softly blue-glowing ‘foam’ approaching my foot.

  I attempt to jump back right as the vapoury tendril twists around my ankle. The moment I’m about to leave its grasp, a kind of pulse travels through the vapour. A flash of Cold around my ankle is the only warning I get before it instantaneously turns into an ice-like solid, stopping my movement and causing me to land on my ass.

  Oh god oh god oh god, I’m about to be crab food!

  However, the solidification of the vapour has also stopped its creeping motion. I bring down my spear, hard, and the smooth material shatters into jagged shards.

  I roll out of the way and a giant claw slams onto the spot I just occupied.

  I run for another trunk to hide behind, yelling, “Suri, what the hell was that!”

  [That was Boreum, my dear—super-cooled Aether—and you’re welcome.]

  “Yes, well, thanks a—what’s he doing now?!”

  [He appears to be blowing a bubble.]

  A bubble of the strange vapour—or Boreum, I guess—is indeed forming on Junior’s lips. A flash of blue light pulses through it, and it solidifies into an opaque white sphere with a bluish tinge. To my utter surprise, Junior handily scoops it up and launches it above him with one of his claws. Then, his other claw rises up behind him, slams into the Boreum bubble on the highest point of its arc, and spikes it towards me like a professional volleyball player.

  Why the hell is this crab so skilled?!

  Caught off guard by the unexpected turn of events, I can only duck away as the bubble sails towards me and ultimately smashes into the branches of the stalactite tree I’m cowering beneath.

  Upon contact, the Boreum bubble explodes, releasing a small shockwave followed by a wave of razor-sharp Boreum shrapnel.

  A large piece of shrapnel penetrates my armour and embeds itself into my shoulder. The Cold energy numbs the pain a little, but it still hurts like hell.

  That thing was full of pressurised Aether! This cruddy crustacean is using my own best trick against me!

  The Boreum in my shoulder quickly evaporates, leaving behind a nasty cut.

  Anger flares inside me.

  So, Junior wants to play? Well, two can play at this game.

  I step out into the open, right as Junior finishes his next bubble. He throws it up, and spikes.

  Thankfully, my breath balloon was safely behind my back when the previous one burst into shrapnel, so it’s still in one piece. I direct it upwards, into the trajectory of the Boreum bubble. The bubble hits my balloon and bounces back.

  As expected, Junior doesn’t have the control necessary to detonate it remotely.

  Instead, the bubble hits his shell and blows up right above his stupid face.

  Junior shrieks angrily, but I’m not done. I form a bubble of my own, a green glowing ball of Lavi, filled with pressurised Aether and 25 Onkh of purple glowing Toxic Energy, formed from a full 5 Onkh of Qi.

  I launch it towards him directly from my mouth.

  In response, Junior throws up a wall of Boreum-vapour. It solidifies right before my breath-bubble arrives. At this distance, I no longer have the control necessary to direct my bubble, so my attack bursts when it hits his wall and the Toxic payload disperses harmlessly in front of the solid Boreum.

  Son of a crab!

  Junior begins forming multiple smaller bubbles, which he launches rapidly at a wider range around me. This way I can’t easily bounce them back, and certainly not all of them, but the shrapnel also has a much smaller chance of hitting me.

  Some of it does pass through my breath balloon, leaving behind small tears and holes. Thankfully it takes something larger to really threaten the integrity of the balloon as a whole. Though my balloon does lose some pressure to this assault, I am able to quickly close up any of the holes that form in the membrane.

  Ignoring the barrage, I decide to try something else. An idea that started to brew in the back of my mind ever since that third spar, when Jacob threw me into the wall.

  From the start, I thought of Decrease Inertia as a Skill with which to improve my mobility, but after that near-death experience, I realised it has untapped potential.

  Clutching my spear tightly, I run away from Junior into a slightly more open space at the edge of the copse of stalactite trees.

  I turn around to face him. As he starts to scurry towards me, I form the pink vortex of energy around my Focus Crystal that drains the inertial mass of everything in the vicinity, including my spear and my spear-throwing arm. After all, the whole point of this Skill is to make things easier to accelerate.

  Ignoring the barrage of bursting Boreum bubbles, I wait for a split second before throwing my spear as fast as I can.

  My spear shoots forward like one of Dave’s arrows. If I understand my Skill correctly, then the spear’s inertial mass should return the moment it leaves the spiral of energy emanating from my Focus Crystal. With the kind of speed it now has combined with the Toughness of Greysteel—70—it should be able to pierce that stupid shell.

  Unfortunately, I’ve only just come up with this tactic, and the last time I’ve thrown a spear was in high school. Combine that with the fact that I’m now trying to throw a spear that handles as light as a feather, with an arm that’s as light as a feather, and it becomes a testament to my high Agility that my spear’s flight path is semi-stable at all.

  The blade of my spear strikes Junior’s shell obliquely on the right side and glances off, before continuing to fly the length of the cavern and penetrating into the rock wall on the other side of the cave.

  Whoops. Well, at the very least it seems effective. In fact, there’s a nice crack left behind on Junior’s shell. Sweet!

  I make a split-second decision to run and grab my spear, but Junior immediately scurries to the side, clearly intent on cutting off my path.

  Stupid crab! Stop being so smart!

  Of course, this is exactly the kind of situation I have been training for.

  I quickly pour another 5 Onkh of Qi into the Focus Crystal attached to my wrist and drain myself and my surroundings of inertial mass. I kick off hard, leaping over Junior with room to spare. I perform another Barani, except this time I purposely spin a little farther so I end up landing on my back.

  This way, I can use my breath-balloon-turned-airbag to break my fall. As planned, it deflates underneath me and gently deposits me on the floor.

  If I could maintain the vortex of Inertial Energy longer, this wouldn’t be necessary, but I’m not quite there yet.

  Junior has already begun to turn, so I quickly scramble to my feet and run the remaining distance to my spear.

  I brace my feet against the wall on both sides and manage to yank my spear loose from the rock it’s embedded in.

  However, Junior is advancing on me while blowing a large bubble, so I waste no time in lining up another shot.

  I use another 5 Onkh of Qi, dangerously draining my reserves to activate Decrease Inertia.

  This time, my throw doesn’t go wide. It goes up. My spear hits near the top of the conch shell and actually breaks part of it off.

  From Junior’s frantic hissing and the fact that his Boreum bubble bursts in his face, I surmise that i
t hurt quite a bit. But this doesn’t exactly look fatal, damnit.

  I brave a glance at my Status Bar.

  All right, I’ve got enough Qi for one more use of Decrease Inertia. If my next throw doesn’t hit, I’ll have to resort to swallowing my—what the hell?

  Junior turns around.

  For a moment, I consider the thought that I scared it off. Then he grabs my spear, which clattered down behind him, in one of his claws.

  Illegitimate offspring of a motherflippin’ crab and a lobster!

  As Junior gives my spear a few test swings, I run for the relative safety of the stalactite trees.

  Damnit damnit damnit! Now what? Am I going to have to wrestle a crab for my spear?! Thieving little bastard...

  Junior renews his assault, seeming furious that I’ve managed to find shelter once more. Boreum bubbles land all around me and explode like grenades; the Boreum shrapnel cuts through my armour and into my skin as I reform my breath balloon.

  I duck behind another stalactite tree to avoid a large blue claw. Junior is wisely keeping my spear out of the small copse of trees, clearly intent on keeping me from throwing it again.

  How am I going to kill this little shit without it?

  My eyes fall upon the hole in the top of his shell, and a crazy plan begins to stir in the back of my mind.

  My last attack may not have fatally wounded Junior, but it definitely left a hole in his defences. I can exploit that.

  As soon as I’ve finished my preparations, I use nearly all of my remaining Qi to drain myself of inertial mass one more time, and leap.

  Once again, I sail into the Aether, but this time, I don’t pass over Junior’s head. Instead, I purposefully hit the stalactite above him. That is, my airbag hits it. From there, I attempt to drop down on top of his shell.

  This is the crazy part, obviously. Thankfully, the stalactite hangs pretty low, and Junior’s shell is pretty high, so it’s only like a fifteen-foot drop.

  I right myself in the Aether, and with my left hand, grab onto the edge of Junior’s shell where the top broke off. Pain flares up as the jagged edge of his shell cuts into my hand, drawing blood, but I maintain my grip.

  With my other hand, I toss my already-opened bottle of Moonshade Sap into the hole in Junior’s shell. It quickly rolls out of sight in the shell’s spiralling inside, already spilling some of its deadly payload along the way. That’s all right, there’s plenty in that bottle. Now it’s just a matter of time.

  Junior angrily scrambles around and attempts to reach up and grab me with a claw. Unfortunately for him, I’m currently on the back of his shell, and he can’t quite reach.

  He whips back his other claw and attempts to knock me off with my spear, but I jump in the nick of time, landing in a forward roll before I take off in a sprint.

  Junior immediately begins to turn, trying to face me, but I just change course to stay behind him until I safely reach the copse of stalactite trees.

  Furious, he renews his bubble assault. I take shelter as best I can, bouncing back any Boreum bubbles that get too close.

  Soon enough, he loses steam and starts to stumble and falter. Looks like the Moonshade Sap has reached its target.

  I watch Junior struggle for a couple of minutes until he finally blows his last bubble and collapses.

  Emma 1, Crustaceans 0.

  CHAPTER 31

  What’s in a name?

  ONLY WHEN I’M SURE Junior isn’t getting back up again do I limp over to his corpse.

  My armour looks a lot worse for the wear after the relentless bombardment with shards of Boreum, and I’m covered in nasty, bleeding cuts, so I’d rather not stay here much longer. It’s only thanks to the large amount of Lavi I absorb through my breathing that my net Lavi flow is positive again after I deactivate Boost Physical.

  Not that I was in any real danger of running out. All in all, this fight didn’t take that long. That’s probably par for the course in the Sixth Trial, win or lose, so I doubt there’ll be a reward for finishing this Trial quickly.

  First things first. After double-checking Junior’s deceased status, I wrench my spear from his claw. The thieving bastard was still holding on, even in death.

  Then I crawl under the edge of Junior’s shell, where his eyes popped out, and look for the prize I’m expecting.

  Jackpot, another Major Lavi Crystal!

  I pry it loose with some effort, crawl out, and hold the crystal up in front of me.

  Should I just eat this one too? I already have the largest Lavi Pool... Then again, more health is never a bad thing, and I earned this entirely by myself.

  [Well go on, Emma, what are you waiting for?]

  With a shrug, I work it into my mouth. The Lavi streams down as soon as I swallow and explodes out into my meridians.

  A glance at my Status Bar tells me my Lavi Pool grew from 94 to 112. Sweet!

  Now I’d like to retrieve my bottle, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to get to it that easily.

  On the other hand, I am kinda curious how hard this shell really is, and I can spare a little time.

  I ram my spear into the shell and manage to chip a bit off. Encouraged, I reactivate Boost Physical and go at it full power. Pretty soon, I’ve opened up a decent hole in the outer rim and am able to poke inside with my spear and retrieve my bottle.

  There’s still a nice layer of Moonshade Sap inside of it, but also a lot on the outside, so I gingerly screw the cap on and carefully rinse it off in the pool.

  Some sap gets on my skin, but I calmly wash it off. It’s nothing my Toxic Energy Tolerance can’t handle.

  After a last look around the arena to check if I’ve missed anything, I head for the door.

  Even if I wasn’t worried about bleeding out and getting an ‘anaemic’ status effect, I would still choose to forego any extra training time and leave right now. I’m far too anxious about the rest to sit here and train.

  The door rumbles open and I limp through.

  The Crystal of Restoration in my new single room is like a balm to my soul. I’d hardly even realised how badly I was torn up before it started healing me.

  The pop-up that comes next might actually feel even better, though.

  Aw yeah, that’s the stuff.

  That brings my total to... 111 Trial Points! That’s enough to get Distort Space!

  But first things first.

  I carefully flop down on my bed, and with some trepidation ask, “Suri, how did the others fare?”

  We all gave permission to have this information shared, so Suri is actually allowed to tell me this time.

  [I take it that means you wish to start your five minutes?]

  “Yeah yeah, just tell me.”

  [Fine. No need to get all pissy.]

  Woman, I swear I will hurt you!

  [The others in your team all passed their respective Trial before you did.]

  Oh, thank god.

  I sag down in relief, then frown.

  Was that supposed to be a dig, ‘before you did’? Pssh, there was only one highest difficulty Trial, you know?

  [Now, what else would you like to know?]

  There are actually lots of questions I’m dying to ask, none of which will pass my lips anytime soon. After all, I’m not about to point out a lie of an entity that has some kind of access to my mind.

  But that doesn’t mean I can’t ask some other difficult questions and see how she responds.

  “Say, why do you never use objective meaning to explain things to me? Wouldn’t that be much easier? All you’d have to say is ‘Lavi, Qi, Charm,’ load it with meaning, and I’d understand it perfectly.”

  [Doing that drains too many resources,] Suri chimes smoothly.

  Right, the old resources line, that one’s definitely bull. I guess they don’t want to hand over a complete understanding of terms like that, in an effort to keep us in the dark or something.

  The question is, what are they trying to hide from us. Figuring that out should
perhaps really be a top priority, but how can we when we’re under constant surveillance?

  Anyway, asking her directly like this obviously isn’t eliciting any useful answers, so I should probably focus on more practical questions for now. Survival has to remain our first priority, after all.

  “What can you tell me about Boreum?”

  [Boreum is super-cooled Aether, which has some pretty interesting properties,] Suri chimes. [As you’ve no doubt noticed, it’s a little slow in its plasma form—quite the opposite of Astreum in that sense—but given the right impulse, it can instantaneously solidify to form a short-lasting but quite tough crystalline substance. It’s a lot more versatile than Astreum in that sense and can be utilised in a wide variety of manners. It can be used to form an impromptu weapon or barrier, to capture or slow down an opponent, or even practically, to create a utensil you’re lacking.]

  It definitely sounds versatile! Kind of a shame about the lack of speed, though, that would make it a lot less useful to my high-mobility fighting style.

  Still, especially after witnessing Junior’s technique of combining pressurised breath with bubbles of crystallised Boreum, I can see how creative it’s possible to get with that stuff.

  Manipulate Boreum just moved quite a bit higher on my list of Skills to gain.

  One problem I really did encounter this last Trial, however, was my lacking Qi Pool. And that’s with only two Qi-based Skills.

  “Suri, aren’t there any good methods to drastically increase the size of my Qi Pool, or replenish Qi mid-battle, without swallowing expensive Qi Pearls?”

  [Ah, now there’s a good question,] she chimes. [Well, for the former, I’m afraid you’re not going to easily find a more effective method to grow your Qi Pool than the kind of tempering method you applied with the Stardrop. As for the latter, well, that’s classified.]

  I practically jump up. “What?! You’re giving me all that build-up, and then nothing? Come on, don’t leave me hanging here, Suri!”