Deep Flesh Amalgam

  Synexus focused on the giant abomination before them. Unfortunately, his achievement ability only gave him the name of the creature.

  “It’s called a Deep Flesh Amalgam.”

  “Great, should I introduce myself too? How does that help us fight it?”

  “That’s all the information I could get. I’m not sure why, but I feel like it will be a much easier fight if I destroy that gemstone.”

  “Oh, so you’re saying that I’m fighting this alone?”

  “I figured you would be excited about that, Kumo.”

  “I am, but still! That thing is huge and gross!”

  “Well, you won’t be completely alone. I’ll summon one of my new plants to fight along with you. It should help at least distract the monster.”

  “It better be one amazing plant!”

  Black ooze streamed out of the titan and they both dodged out of the way. Synexus took it as an opportunity to get in range. Once he was, he summoned his Razor Hydra plant from his Progress Garden directly onto their foe. It blipped into existence on the creature’s torso, and its razor-sharp roots immediately found purchase to start sucking the resource from the monster. Every little bit would help the plant grow. Synexus could already see the razor grass spines growing along the plant’s body. Its eyeless face darted back and forth seeking out the best source of energy before opening a maw of razor grass and biting into a few of the bodies that made up the main body of their foe.

  The amalgam shrieked and tried to grab the plant to rid itself of the pain, but just as the arm moved, a strong gale hit the monster in the face causing it to become unbalanced. Kumo didn’t waste the chance and summoned everything in her arsenal. Lightning started coming down from a dark cloud at the cavern’s apex, cloud blades came from every angle to slice into the bodies hanging from the titan, and a dense fog formed around the legs to start dealing ongoing damage.

  Knowing that she would keep their foe busy, Synexus fell back into his mind and envisioned the enchantment once more. He had become quicker at gathering the mana he needed due to practice, the effect from his Mana Weaver achievement, and his long delves into the information hidden inside the codex given to him as a reward for completing the trial dungeon. Even still, it would take some time to gather the mana and form a clear picture for his will to follow.

  In his mind, he silenced the ongoing battle happening around him and solely focused on the will pathways of the enchantment. He could feel the mana buzzing from within every circuit. His plan was to simply add on to the enchantment. To create an additional will pathway that would siphon enough of the mana from the loop to make it try and pull more mana in. Once his additional will pathway siphoned enough of the original mana then it would release it all back into the loop in a burst which Synexus hoped would overload the enchantment and break the loop.

  Mana swirled violently around him as he began. His only thought of the outside world was that Kumo could survive until he was done.

  Dodging one of the amalgam’s fists, Kumo summoned the strongest gale she could and directed it to uppercut the oozing monster. Its head shot back, and its arms flailed trying to gain purchase on the walls of the cavern. She wouldn’t give it the chance, however, and activated her Tempest Surge right into its chest.

  A burst of violent wind, lightning, and thunder released from Kumo and bit deep into the monster’s flesh. Copies of humanoid bodies were disintegrated in the impact. The ones that survived were thrown all over the cavern in pieces. Then the amalgam of bodies smashed into the ground with a crater in its chest. Lightning coursed over the giant body bouncing from drooling face to another and searing them. Her attack’s noise caused a disorientating effect. That mixed with the slowing rain of her Stormcloud and the creature’s size would make it a much easier fight for someone as fast as Kumo. So far, the only issue was the regenerative properties of the titan Skinwalker. Even as the thoughts went through her head the crater started to be repaired by some of the pieces of bodies that had gotten scattered, crawling back by themselves to meld once again with the giant body.

  Luckily, Kumo was much like a storm in that she was relentless. In her mind, this problem only meant she had to do damage faster than it was regenerating. Hundreds of cloud blades started to form and targeted the weaker points of the monster. Some bit deep into the neck, others targeted the ankles and wrists, but most went for the eyes. Her hope was that the abomination had a brain and that she could penetrate the skull to end the fight quickly.

  Synexus’ Razor Hydra plant beast was crawling all over the titan avoiding Kumo’s attacks. Its roots acted like dozens of appendages. When it wasn’t moving or protecting itself then it was feeding on the creature’s resources. It had already grown nearly double the original size and wasn’t close to being done. More razor roots grew from its body and went deep into the amalgam’s body. Energy pulsed from giant into the plant. A smile spread across the maw of razor grass as it fed on the enemies of its creator.

  Kumo was doing her best to avoid hitting the plant and she was quite impressed with how agile it was for something that should be rooted in the ground. It danced around her wind blades, avoiding any real damage. Some of its roots did get cut, but then to her surprise those roots dug themselves in and started to grow an entirely new Razor Hydra. It would certainly take a while without Synexus’ skill, but due to the influx of energy it was siphoning from the amalgam, it was still quick. Before she knew it, three of the plants were dancing around on the body and feeding from the pile of corpses. One was much bigger than the other two, but she could tell they were all doing a fair amount of damage from the attention they were getting from the giant. She had to admit that she wouldn’t want to go up against a monster like that.

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  While the vile creature was distracted, she took the time to prepare a much stronger cloud blade and even cleared her mind to make the air follow her drilling motion like she did in her trial. It only took about ten seconds all together and she immediately knew it was worth it.

  The invisible strike of air drilled into the creature’s head causing the giant to shake the cavern with a shriek of pain. All the humanoid bodies making up the main body even started to scream along with it as the cloud blade drilled deeper and deeper. Flesh and black ooze flew everywhere. She didn’t think it would get all the way through once it hit the skull, but to her surprise moments later it shot through the rest of the flesh and into the cavern wall. The amalgam’s horrifying face stared at her blankly with a massive hole dripping black ooze in its head. It didn’t slow down the monster and seconds later its fist caught Kumo in the side and sent her flying through the air into the wall. Her Living Tempest armor negated a lot of the damage; however, she still lost a quarter of her health points. Blood trickled down her face from a cut in her forehead.

  She peeled herself from the wall and looked over at Synexus. He was still sitting silently like nothing was happening around him. She shook her head and took a step back into the air with Cloud Walking.

  Synexus’ mind was working out the perfect image to solidify his will into the perfect pattern for his plan to work. He nearly had enough mana, and the last few puzzle pieces were putting themselves together within his mind. There was no telling how long it had been on the outside, but his job was to focus and get it right on the first try. The enchantment was quite elaborate and his first thought on how to form the will pathways had a lot of flaws. His second iteration, however, was quite different and he was confident it would work. That confidence was what finally snapped the picture in place for his will.

  A jolt from the external mana shot through him as it started to filter into his soul. It felt right like it did when he completed his first enchantment and that made him even more certain that it would work.

  Once his mana absorption was complete, he started to funnel it from his soul and up to the magic loop around the gemstone. His mana met resistance from the native mana, but since he wasn’t attempting to change or override the current will pathways, it didn’t stop his will from pushing his mana into the loop. Slowly, it started to burn a series of will pathways within the existing circuit and in his mind, he watched the progress.

  His mana started to fill his new will pathways as he completed them, and it started to draw in some of the native mana from the loop. That was when he knew his plan was the correct path for certain. His final will pathway snapped into place and the mana he gathered was nearly gone from filling the pathways. He watched his minor enchantment suck away the mana from the loop. It started to fade out of existence and desperately tried to pull in more mana. Some mana did start replenishing it from the stone itself which only helped Synexus’ plan.

  Minutes later, his eyes shot open as the last bits of mana siphoned into his enchantment and then it released it all in a burst. Through his mana perception it looked like a star exploding from a single point. To his delight, the original enchantment couldn’t handle the sudden burst of mana and the loop dispersed in a less impressive display. He smiled nonetheless. The gemstone was finally unprotected.

  He summoned his own mana and pushed it into the seed of a vine that pushed him high into the air to where the gemstone was floating. His eyes wandered towards the fight to see Kumo bleeding but holding her own. She was running circles around the giant, and his plants had multiplied a few times from feeding on the plant. He knew that she would be able to hold out a little longer while he dealt with the stone. His hand went flat against it and his sensors started absorbing the information.

  Nothing Stone 1%

  2%

  3%

  14%

  His mind worked on sorting through the information and logging it into his skills. It seemed the material that made up the heart had a lot of secrets. While he was working on uncovering them, his eyes wandered back to the fight. It was clear the titan had realized what he was doing and was trying to get to him. Kumo was practically a hurricane holding the amalgam with wind, and lightning. She had to buy him a few more seconds.

  28%

  36%

  42%

  It was almost there. His sensors were absorbing the information at an unprecedented rate to where his mind could barely keep up with the incoming data. Still, he had to push himself to his limits. Kumo needed him to end this quickly.

  57%

  68%

  77%

  81%

  96%

  Suddenly, everything went black. His mind felt hazy and he realized the amalgam had somehow produced the same magical darkness that the other Skinwalkers had used against the party before. It didn’t matter, however. He wouldn’t’ let go of the stone.

  97%

  Almost there!

  98%

  “Come on!” He yelled.

  99%

  “I’m coming, Kumo!”

  100%

  It was done and his mind was logging the last bits of the information. All he had to do now was break it with Progress. His right hand slipped down to the hilt of his katana. His left hand was still lying against the stone. With a solid grip of Progress, he raised it up and focused on the entry of Nothing Stone.

  Nothing Stone (Divine): Created from dark matter and the unknowns of the universe. This stone is incredibly rare and valuable. Illusion magic thrives under its light. Mana is easily infused into the substance. Many properties are unknown due to the rarity and the unknown materials that go into forging it. This particular stone has been enchanted to produce monsters following the mythos of Skin Walkers.

  Through his connection with his blade, he could feel it shift to become a material capable of destroying the stone. Once the shift was complete, he went to slice it in half, but before he could, a monstrous hand wrapped around him and slammed his face into the stone. Pain shot through his body, but his mind was still focused on his task. His arm shot down, and he felt no resistance as the blade went through where he believed the stone to be.

  For seconds after his swing, only silence and pain accompanied him in the magical darkness. Then the hand let go and the darkness receded.

  Immediately, he could hear the bodies of the amalgam scream in a cacophony of horror. He felt like every bone in his body was broken and he could barely think with the noise, but something told him he needed to act. Using the last bit of his consciousness, he summoned mana and used his phantom wings skill echo until he felt the ground under his body and then he passed out.