Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 63B2 - : Why did it have to be tentacles?

Jace was instantly grabbed by an enormous, slippery-hide tentacle that had rings of spikes on the inside suckers, much like an octopus. It wrenched him away from the opening he had been sitting in. Ollie rapidly spoke, “It is a Spitelurk. This one is the biggest the System has recorded!”

The lake was deep, easily a few hundred feet deep. Almost a crater, as if a meteor had fallen in ancient times. At the center was a temple that looked ruined. The lake was at least a half-mile across, and the green, mossy layer above had a slightly bioluminescent underside that caused the space above Jace to glitter.

But his now-grey-hued dark vision enabled him to see now that the space was clear. And this enormous creature was wrapping him and squeezing down as it pulled him down through the waves towards the center mass. The tentacle was easily the size of a city bus, and the main body which undulated its black, inky mass was covered with eyes looking in all directions. It was the size of a large house, and Jace felt dread rise in his gut as he was whipped forward.

Void Shield (Rank 1), Wrath’s Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused], Aura of Wrath (Rank 11), Void Blade (Rank 1) [Rending]. All his Skills blazed into existence around him, and he let out a scream of anger at this creature that thought it could beat him. Kicking out with the bladed feet, he carved into the tentacle enough that he could get his sword in the mix. Nethaldrim glowed with the ghostly, grey energy as he carved into the grappling appendage, severing some of it.

And yet it still clung tightly and dragged him towards the center mass. Steel Gale Stride, Jace thought as he activated the once-per-day Skill. The water under him boiled and hissed as the Void Blade infused scythes of air constantly chopped at the matter, disintegrating it to nothing. Kicking back and forth, he was able to shred enough of the tentacle that he could slid down and out of it.

The grappling spines of the tentacle ripped at his skin, and he saw specks of blood floating in the air: greyish blood as the NICIF dashed back through the liquid medium and back into his body. The creature seemed to turn more attention to him, and Jace saw other creatures on the far side of the lake being grappled and pulled into the water, struggling desperately against the underwater predator.

Raging Cleave (Rank 10), Jace thought as he held his blade at the ready. The phantom projection extended out from the tip, and as the next two tentacles came rushing in, he brought the blade around in a massive chop that severed through the appendages. The creature seemed to scream, as the water vibrated with sonic energy that made Jace wince and would have pulverized his insides if not for the Void Shield. Thankfully, it no longer cost energy when the shield blocked effects; just the constant drain while it lasted.

Jace swam forward, still leaving behind a trail of scything, void-imbued air as he made a beeline for the creature’s head. From the stumps where he had carved into it, more tentacles sprouted as it regenerated. Ollie shouted out, confirming that. “It can regrow its body parts!”

Then I go for the head. Jace reactivated Raging Cleave (Rank 1) once more, and saw four tentacles coming in this time. Spinning his body in a circle, he unleashed a single strike that chopped through all four of them as the Skill-empowered blade manifested its ghostly extension. “How can it detect me?” he asked.

“It senses the distortion in the water,” Ollie replied. “That’s how it hunts.”

More tentacles grew and Jace got ever closer to the creature. Repeating his strategy over and over. Thankfully, this thing seemed rather dumb, and kept repeating the same mistake. The only difference was that it dedicated more tentacles to the attack, until Jace got within fifty feet of it.

Then, his swipe affected the main body: and the whole creature turned to him, bringing thirty tentacles to bear. Jace raised his hand, “Dark Matter Dart (Rank 4) [Exploding]!” he shouted as he aimed for several of the eyes. The bolts of purple energy bored into the different eye-holes, and exploded. The creature once more roared, and swung out at Jace with all of the tentacles trying to get a grip on him.

Slashing left and right, he was able to carve through the appendages with large, lopping strikes that cut the creature to pieces. Jace fully let himself surrender to the <Wrathblades> key Skill, laughing at the sheer enjoyment of his utter domination of this lesser lifeform. This insignificant speck of a creature. Try to kill me? Eat me? You don’t know who you are messing with! He raised his palm once more as the tentacles regrew for another assault. He took aim right at the center mass. “Void Beam (Rank 1) [Limited Range]!”

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The beam of grey light shot out and impacted the creature, boring a hole through its head. It screamed out in pain, and Jace saw the head wound being to mend. “No you don’t!” Dark Matter Dart (Rank 4) [Exploding]. Once more. The spikes of purple flew out, but this time they curved their path and imbedded themselves inside the creature’s head. Exploding and turning the center mass to mush.

But Jace was not done yet, he kept swimming forward as the creature flailed, surely in its death throes. He cared not, though, as he stabbed into and sliced at the creature’s head. Wherever he saw the regeneration kicking in, he made sure to carve away at it.

And yet it kept regenerating. “How do I keep it down?!” Jace shouted.

Ollie frowned, “It should not be able to regenerate anymore. Given its mass and the caloric needs of regeneration at this rate…something has to be powering it.”

The artifact thing I’m here for? Jace thought. He chose to ignore the creature, grappled to the sunken temple under it, and pulled himself towards it. The building was simple: a mud hut that had been baked using flame to harden. Ducking his head inside, he saw a pulsing, deep-blue gemstone on a pedestal. “How do I keep it from using this?”

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

“Just grab it!” Ollie shouted.

Jace reached forward and grabbed it, and as soon as it touched his palm, a message appeared in his screen as it vanished.

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[Class Reset Crystal added to Wayfinder inventory.]

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Jace swam out of the building and saw, to his dismay, that the creature was still moving around. “Ollie, that didn’t kill it!” Jace felt his energy dwindling.

“Just keep carving away at it,” Ollie replied.

Gladly. Jace kept slicing into it, enough that he eventually cut the creature entirely in half. That seemed to finally put it down as it stopped moving, and Ollie gestured as it turned to glittering Stardust and flew into his paw.

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[Stardust Acquired: 8000]

[Stardust Split: 1600]

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Jace let his Skills all lapse and he just floated in the crystal-clear water, gazing up at the mossy expanse above. He was sucking in water through his gills, and he just floated there for a few minutes. Ollie swam in little circles around him, leaving glittering trails of starlight. “Ollie, what is a Class Reset Crystal?”

“Ancient piece of Architect technology,” Xera said through his earpiece. “It enables the person who uses it to select a new Class, Advanced Class, and re-do their Skills. Class Expansion can also be shifted if the user desires. But Cosmic and Ascended power are set in stone: you can’t change those.”

Jace nodded, “Well…Hmm…Xera, question; now that you’ve had more time to analyze my Swordmage progression…what would happen if we re-did it in a more focused way? With the whole ‘Void upgrade’ in mind?”

“Possible. But you need to trade this for the information. If that is truly your desire, to respecialize your Skills, we can look at acquiring one. Pritchard wants this to, in all likelihood, ensure that he can hide more effectively with a non-mercantilism-based Class.”

Jace nodded and remained in the water, “I’m going to just rest for a little. Then, back to The Spirals.”

“Through a jungle full of dinosaurs,” Ollie said as he swam in circles around Jace’s body. “That should make for easy Stardust, since they cannot detect you whilst cloaked.”

I should’ve taken her up on this offer a long time ago, Quinn thought as she had put up another monitor for her various shell companies. Xera had set up a bunch of System-based markets: unlike the Star Market which was done mostly in-person. The margins were slightly worse, since The Cosmic System took a cut for facilitating trade between different users: Civilian or otherwise.

But Xera had waived that fee for Quinn. So now, she had dozens of online shops that she had dedicated a section of the Pheracorp Bionic Brain Mk. 1 to tracking and keeping tabs on. She did not have to worry about shipping or handling either, as the property, once sold, was warped from Xera’s warehouse: wherever that was: to the designate pick-up location; of which there were millions around Khrox’s endless expanse.

She saw a notification of something that Jace had picked up. Huh. Interesting. I wonder how much that normally goes for on the open market. She turned her attention to a System search engine that she had designed to integrate via her Broker’s Instinct. Oh, wow. 500,000 Stardust? I should tell him how valuable it is. She saw that the price fluctuated slightly, going up a bit. Ah, but there are multiple on the market.

She turned back to her task at hand and finalized the last of the sales for the equipment from Earth. Which included her ‘free infusion’ of Stardust from Broker’s Fee.

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[Stardust Acquired: 20000]

[Stardust Split: 4000]

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Too bad that Earth tech dropped so low in prices, she thought.

There was a knock at the door, and she got up to answer. Shhiv was standing there, her teeth in a smile but her eyes looking at Quinn like she was prey. “Hi! Mind talking for a minute?”

“Not at all,” she let the Churkun into the room and shut the door behind her. “What’s up?”

Shhiv looked up at the roof, “Ceiling? …Oh! It’s a turn of phrase.” She looked back at Quinn and sheepishly grinned, “Sorry. I needed your help. Sera told me that you have a distribution network, and Missy is looking to expand operations.”

Quinn nodded, “Let me make sure the group is fine, and then I can go talk to you and Missy about the details.” She went back to her console and saw that everyone appeared to be in good health with high energy levels. They’ll be fine.