Mage Tank

Xim’s horn and fur dissipated into shimmering globules of colored light which floated into the air before atomizing and disappearing. Her body shrank down to its original size and she went limp. The C’thon brought her up to its face, studying her for a moment. I hoped that it would decide she was no longer a threat and let her go, but I also didn’t want to take any chances. I made a split-second decision, made sure I had my dagger in hand, and used Shortcut.

I appeared just above the C’thon and landed on its head, hugging it with my entire body for grip. The skin was slick, but I was able to plant an Oblivion Orb into its scalp and shove my dagger into the wound without slipping off. The creature let out another thunderous bellow and reached up with its two unoccupied tentacles, wrapping one around my ankle, the other trying to snake around my torso. I held firm to the hilt of my dagger, and as it gave a tug on my foot the blade cut a line across its head. Its limbs jerked back and it tossed Xim to the ground to bring up more of its feelers, presumably to find a less damaging way to remove me.

It tried to rotate its body to shake me off, but that made the blade cut through more of its flesh and it quickly rethought that decision. Several tentacles wrapped me up and it managed to lift me upwards, though I made sure to twist and slash the dagger as I was pulled away.

I could tell the grip of the limbs wasn’t nearly as strong as before. When it constricted me and its smaller insectoid legs scratched at my skin, I didn’t feel like I was moments away from being crushed to death, though it was still a very tight squeeze. It let go of my lower body with its rear tentacles and brought me around with its front four to stare at me, its grip growing more aggressive.

I hung upside down in front of the C’thon, struggling to take a breath.

“Hi there,” I wheezed, though the words were likely incomprehensible through my broken mouth.

It growled, then reared back to slam my skull into the floor. As the ground rushed up to assault my cranium for the second time this fight, I cast Shortcut again, focusing on the opposite side of the room. The crack in space opened and I disappeared from its grip. Empty tentacles smashed into the stone.

When I reappeared I was still upside down, but the momentum of my rapid descent into concussion-world did not travel with me, which was good information to have. I did, however, land on my head, doing my best to tuck and roll as I did so. It was uncomfortable, but the fall from a couple feet off the ground didn’t do any damage. My Fortitude protected me from at least that much. As I scrambled back up I had a distracting thought about a series of experiments I could run to determine how far I could fall without taking damage each time I raised my fortitude. I tucked that thought away as the C’thon spun and locked back on to me.

To my surprise it didn’t immediately charge. It hovered in the air, appraising me. Maybe it was confused by my magic disappearing act, or maybe it was trying to decide if I was worth the trouble. Thick, amethyst-colored blood oozed from dozens of wounds across its body. One of its feelers was cut nearly in half, and there were several deep gouges in its head, including the most recent one I’d carved along the top. It turned and checked out Varrin, who pushed off of the wall and stood up straight, swords in hand, but I could tell he was putting on a show. There was no way he could fight anymore. He struggled to take in shallow breaths and, despite his tenacity, he wobbled off-balance and had to take a step to widen his stance.

Grotto hovered next to Varrin, and the C’thon’s eyes narrowed when it caught sight of him. The creature rushed the orb and Varrin clumsily brought his sword up. I’d been trying to get the C’thon away from the pair, well, at least Varrin and Xim. Jury was still out on Grotto due to all the murder and mayhem, but blaming him for that felt like blaming a dog for eating the hotdog you left on the side table when you went to pee. Not that a sneaky snack was the same as homicide, but, well, I don’t know what I’m getting at. I didn’t hate Grotto, I was mostly just wary of him. Still, I was at least trying to get Varrin and Xim out of here alive and I was too far away to run back in. I had twenty mana left, so I cast another Shortcut.

I teleported right into the C’thon’s face, which slapped into me as it continued charging. I clung to the octo with my right hand, which could only grip, and dropped my last remaining dagger. I took a page out of Xim’s book and palm-thrust an oblivion orb into one of the creature’s big black eyes. I was going to go for the Mortal Kombat style handful-of-brains fatality, but the monster bucked hard when the center of its eye vanished, and its tentacles thrashed at its face. One grabbed me and hurled me away like I was a hot potato and the ground kissed me on my mug for a third time. At this point, we were practically dating.

The throw hurt. It wasn’t the worst thing that had happened to me in the Delve, or even in this fight, but my body was screaming. The injury to my right arm alone would have been the worst pain I’d ever felt in my old life. My ribs and gut were also gashed open, my mouth was dripping blood and I wondered whether a piece of my tongue had detached. My head was pounding, and the rest of my body was a mess of scrapes and bruises. My goddamn veins felt like they were being burned from the inside, which wasn’t even a sensation I knew was possible. But, I wasn’t dead.

I had eighteen health and five mana. My bleeding debuff was up to sixty and as nuggets of the poison essences fell from the sky, the cloud of mist was growing thicker. My toxicity was steadily rising. Before long my health regen would be overwhelmed. It took everything I had to roll to the side and watch as the enraged C’thon swung frenetically at Grotto.

Varrin managed to dive aside, but the monster wasn’t after him. Grotto wove between the first few tentacles, but one shot down from above. Grotto got spiked into the ground hard enough to crack the stone. I heard the crunch of metal as he hit. His body bounced and soared through the air, then landed and rolled toward me. Something inside of him rattled as he came to a stop a few feet away.

I tried to get up. I had to do something. The C’thon was coming for us, ready to finish the job it had started. But I couldn’t do it. My arm crumpled and I collapsed. I tried to rise using core strength, but something else tore inside my abdomen and I slumped over again. My bleeding went up another tick.

Two deaths in one day. Maybe I’d get an achievement.

[I… told you it wouldn’t… be more than three… minutes,]Grotto’s voice stuttered in my mind.

Three large black shapes plowed down through the cloud of emerald crystal above, one right after another. All three rose up from the squat they had landed in. Nine feet tall, black leathery skin, scanning eyes, and a dozen thin, wriggling fingers on each hand.

The harvesters.

“They dove down that chute?” I slurred.

[Fastest… way to get… here.]

“Fuck. Glad we passed on that.”

The C’thon whirled to confront the new guests, who took up positions in a triangle around it. There was a standoff moment before the harvesters lunged at the beast. Their heavy bodies thudded into the C’thon and they drove thick arms down upon it. Their thin fingers pierced into the C’thon and the harvesters dragged their hands along its skin, leaving trails of new wounds along the octo’s tentacles and head. It screeched and flailed, taking all three for a ride, but they held on and continued to savage the monster.

The harvesters had the C’thon on the backfoot. It was throwing limbs wildly, but its attention was split too many ways and the harvesters either dodged the feelers or began focusing their attacks on the ones constricting them. The wounds piled up on the C’thon and I felt a smile creep onto my face. That was stupid of me.

The C’thon gave up on handling all three harvesters at once. It abandoned four of its limbs to two of the harvesters, letting them maul with abandon. It brought forth the four remaining tentacles on the harvester directly ahead of it, wrapping it up and squeezing hard. The C’thon howled and wrapped a thick tentacle around the harvester’s head, then tore it right off. It thrust the harvester high into the air, then flung it to the far side of the room where it smashed open, dozens of essences pouring from its split belly. The C’thon focused on the next harvester.

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It wasn’t enough. All of this, and it wasn’t enough. The thing was too fucking strong. Half of the ground was slick with its amethyst blood and it was still fighting. Even if it died from its wounds, it would have plenty of time to take us with it.

[Arlo,] Grotto’s voice whispered into my mind. It was weaker than before, even quieter than the first time he tried to lure me to my death. [I cannot… relinquish this Delve to that monster. I must not… let it escape, now that it… has gotten a taste of this place.]

“The Delve’s already broken,” I said. “There’s nothing to save.”

[No. If the creature survives… it can absorb the essences above… It has consumed so much… of the converted mana from the essences… it should be able to absorb the raw crystals without harm. It is a mana-fiend. It can sense the types of mana… it has tasted in the past. It will grow vastly stronger here… then seek out more Delves.]

“I don’t know what you’re asking here.” My vision blurred double and I had to blink it away. “I can’t even stand.”

[I must repair myself, but I need mana… to do it. I cannot absorb chips like you can. I am forbidden… from consuming the product of the Delve. But, I can absorb… mana from Delvers. It is a major source… of my power.]

“You’re not asking if you can eat me are you?”

The C’thon took the second harvester apart limb by limb. Three of its tentacles were limp and useless. One was nearly torn in half.

[So, that’s a no… to me eating you?]

“Of course it’s a fucking no.”

[The C’thon will eat you… anyway.]

“Then I’ll kick its ass a little more before it does.”

The runes on Grotto’s body blinked rapidly.

[There is… another way. But I find it… distasteful.]

“Distasteful? Buddy, we’re all about to die here. Fucking spit it out.”

[I can become bonded… to you. Then, you can consume a chip… and I will absorb the overloading mana.]

“That’d kill me.”

[Your overload debuff… it is a shorthand for the damage you have suffered. It is not… an absolute law of reality. I can guide… the absorption so that it does not harm you. Then I can absorb the rest… so that it does not do further damage.]

“What would that even accomplish? You get repaired, then what? That monster will just destroy you again.”

[You will have all your mana back. And I… can show you a better way to use your spell… the one that eats reality.]

“Dammit, this feels like you’re trying to trick me into killing myself so that you can eat me!”

[I would never… well, that is not true. I might do that… but I swear upon my soul that I am not trying… to do that. The system may… erase me if I am lying.]

I watched the C’thon rip a leg off the final harvester. Varrin hadn’t moved since diving to the ground. Xim was still unconscious, at least I hoped she was unconscious, in the same place where the C’thon had dropped her. On the bright side, Hognay still looked lifeless. I swore that I was going to make sure he was dead if I survived this.

I stared at Grotto. The orb’s runes were blinking and fading. Even if he was tricking me, did it make much of a difference? What was I going to do? Nothing. That’s what. I would sit here and die and feel like I proved some sort of stupid point. If this had even a sliver of a chance of working, I needed to try it. Didn’t I? There was also the pain. Even if I died, the pain would stop.

“Fine. Do it.”

[Pick me up… and hold me to your chest.]

I crawled the few feet it took to make it to Grotto, and it felt like eternity. I gripped the orb and hugged it to my body.

[Now you must… eat a mana-chip. Ruby… preferably. Emerald will certainly… kill you.]

I called up my inventory and grabbed another ruby chip out with my bloody hand. I put it in my mouth. I hesitated, but steeled my resolve and bit down.

[Now, whatever you do… just let this happen… and don’t struggle too much.]

“Wait,” I said through a mouthful of broken glass, “what is that supp-”

Wires shot out from Grotto and dug into my skin, then the world became a wave of system notifications.

WARNING! Delve Core 1156 is attempting to integrate with your biological systems. If you do not resist this attempt, Delve Core 1156 will have access to a variety of your bodily functions.

WARNING! Delve Core 1156 is attempting to become your bonded familiar. If you do not resist this attempt, you will gain the passive skill “Bonded Familiar”. You may only have four passive skills. If Delve Core 1156 becomes your bonded familiar, your unused passive skill slots will be reduced to: 2.

ERROR! For Delve Core 1156 to become your bonded familiar, you must possess the intrinsic skill “Dungeoneering”. You do not possess “Dungeoneering”.

Delve Core 1156 is requesting System access to grant you the intrinsic skill “Dungeoneering”.

ERROR! You have not unlocked intrinsic skills. System has denied Dungeon Core 1156’s request to grant you “Dungeoneering”.

Delve Core 1156 is attempting to override System denial. Override code required.

Delve Core 1156 has submitted override code 001: Preservation of Delve System.

Delve Core 1156 has submitted override code 003: Preservation of Delve Core.

Delve Core 1156 has submitted error code 999: I Really Want This To Happen.

System accepts override code 003.

You have been granted the intrinsic skill “Dungeoneering”!

You have gained the passive skill “Bonded Familiar”!

Delve Core 1156 has become your bonded familiar! Your new bonded familiar has already been named. Delve Core 1156 gains the designation: “Grotto”.

By making a delve core your bonded familiar, you earn +10 to “Dungeoneering”.

WARNING! Grotto has integrated with your biological systems.

By integrating with a Delve core your mana regeneration has gained the evolution “Ambient Absorption”.

By integrating with a Delve core your Bonded Familiar skill has gained the evolution “Psychic Bond”.

System has applied an additional evolution to your Bonded Familiar skill. Your Bonded Familiar skill gains “Shared Fate”.

System has applied an additional evolution to your mana regeneration. Your mana regeneration gains “System Tribute”.

ERROR! A divine force has prevented the additional evolution “System Tribute”. Evolution is canceled. See help menu for more details.

The messages went beyond the visual text boxes I had experienced before. These messages flooded my mind. The information was beamed straight into my brain while the chip in my mouth exploded and pumped blazing energy through my mana veins. I lost track of time. I lost track of reality. I lost the connection to myself and my own identity. I became a distant entity, floating above and outside of my body’s experience. I didn’t know this man who was suffering. I didn’t understand what was happening to him. I didn’t know how I had gotten here.

A booming voice thundered through the non-space I occupied.

[I am renewed and reborn! I am made flesh and that flesh is burning with vitality! My very existence is the doomsdayclock that lingers over the lives of all those who oppose me! I am- Ah, yes. I forgot you were here, Arlo. This suffering is exquisite. A masterpiece of grotesquerie. It is a shame to wipe it from existence, but I will adjust your pain tolerance. One moment, please.]

I was pulled back into my own body and engulfed in a flash of pain, but the moment I regained awareness of it, the torment began to recede. My mind sharpened and my eyes snapped open. The colors of the room were vibrant. Sounds were crisp and clear. I could feel every inch of myself, and though I knew where I was injured, the sensation was distant and unintrusive.

Grotto hovered over me, his runes glowing with new intensity.

[Now, Arlo, you must listen to me and do as I say. If you do not, we will all die.]

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