That there are not one but two individuals who have reached ninety percent in the Quest. That the Quest is possible to complete, perhaps. That information, that final step, if asked for carefully, if desired, might be available. For those who dare.
Questors act, and the Head Librarians meet. And what they might make of my little book, I know not. Because I’ve got my own problems.
***
They find us a day later. Mikito, Ali, and me. The attack tears the sky apart, boiling water, cooking the jelly-like monster we’ve been attempting to reel in and creating gale force winds that toss us aside. Servos whine in the Hod, my power armor struggling to keep me aloft. Engines shriek and scream as I stabilize myself, as the sky lights up again.
Blink Step takes me out of the way while Mikito tanks another blast, her conjured horse riding out of the beam of light with her on it. Ghostly armor forms as she rides through the stabbing beams of light, joining me as we run. Ali reforms beside me, attaching himself to the Hod as he floats on his back, staring at the sky. As we keep running, he bends light itself, making the next strike miss us by miles.
“Where is he?” I snarl, searching my minimap for our attacker and finding nothing.
“Out of sight. This is a Heroic artillery Skill,” Ali says. “Untargeted—sort of—but wide ranging. Keep running, we’ll get out of range soon enough.”
I cast Soul Shield on myself and Mikito before I reach out to my doppelgangers, hoping they’re doing okay. I could call another now, but I get the feeling I’m going to need all my Mana. Anyway, their job hasn’t changed. Keep trying to get us more seats, and failing that, try not to get killed and waste my Mana.
The air heats up around us, waterspouts attempting to form from the overheated air and failing as even more beams crash down. Occasionally, I see the edges of the holes that the attacks create, deep abysses of boiled water and injured aquatic creatures before the ocean rushes back in.
“Underwater?” I send to Mikito over party chat.
Rather than answer me, she dives. Maybe it’ll help, maybe it won’t, but we don’t have a lot of options, so we go down. Deep into the water, feeling the liquid press upon us, slowing us as we kick forward.
Until I reach outward with my affinity and take away the friction. We speed up, faster than ever before, angling deeper and away. The beams continue to attack us, but they’re less coordinated, the water and Ali bending them, the lack of direct sight disallowing direct adjustments. It’s easy to tell when Artillery boy switches methods to watch us, since more of the attacks land.
Damaging or not, the Hod and my Soul Shield hold up, aided by the dispersed level of the attacks. We run, and we keep running, health and Mana see-sawing as the artillery attacks keep landing.
As we escape the edge of the Skill, the next attack comes. The Sea Serpent rises from the depth, swallowing Mikito on her horse entirely, rows of teeth chomping down and masticating the woman and her ride. Dark green-blue scales swirl, its swimming form smacking me in the side and sending me away as I catch sight of its Status.
Ancient Sea Serpent (Level 283)
HP: 28155/28387*
MP: 1253/1253*
Conditions: Controlled, Heroic Passive Pet Buffs (Partial)—increased Mana regeneration, Health regeneration, damage resistance and damage penetration. Water Mana Damage.
“Mikito!” I throw a couple of Blade Strikes, holding off on my other Skills, uncertain of where exactly the Samurai is. I know she’s alive—her health still stands. But my Skills would damage her too if I miss, and the kilometer-long body obscures her location. “I hate water!”
It was the right option to go down, to fight where we believed they’d have fewer options, fewer civilians to harm. But less is not nothing…
The Sea Serpent turns toward me, mouth opening. I expect it to swim toward me, and it does. But deep within its mouth, a glow forms, an attack beginning.
A hand shifts and I toss out grenades. Absolute-zero cold grenades and mines trigger as they float away, forming shards of ice between us. The mini-glacier is created within seconds, even as I boost back and aside.
The Serpent’s attacks tear away my protection, tossing me around as it shatters the Hod’s security shield and strains my own. I snarl, relayering Soul Shield, but I’m surprised as the blast continues to veer away. The Serpent struggles, twisting and curling in paroxysms of pain.
Then from its belly, a third of the way down, a shining light. A curved, illuminated blade pokes out, blood flowing into the edge of the weapon as it tears a way out for its wielder. Samurai and horse exit before turning around and driving downward. Hitoshi’s blade end plunges into the body, unzipping the Serpent.
Before I can exult, the artillery beams from before reappear. I’m tossed aside as the waters boil.
“Time to go!” I shout as I regain control.
Mikito pulls away, the Serpent left to fall to the ground, dying or dead.
And we’re running.
Running and wondering when the big boys will arrive.
***
One day. They take an entire day to harass and attack us. It’s not just the Heroic artillery attacker and the Beast King in play but a trio of Master Class mages who lob attacks at us, well outside of our range. Using ritual spells, Skills, and beast pests to keep Mikito and I running, they never get close enough that I can hurt them. We cross the ocean, flying, fighting, and dodging, transiting between air and water from moment to moment.
We get a short break when I contact the Questors, who manage to pull the Heroic artillery attacker away by dropping a bomb on his location. It won’t do much to the actual Heroic himself, but it does destroy his connection to the satellites above Mikito and me. A series of sabotages sent the remainder satellites spinning away at the same time, repositioned or destroyed.
And while he went chasing off after the Corrupt Questors and System Watchers who are busy playing hide and seek, their respective Skills and enchantments making them perfect to play saboteurs, the rest of the Irvina military takes over the job.
We get swarmed a couple of times by Galactic military personnel, the equivalent of planetary security. They don’t last long, not when I can throw Judgment of All at the group. I was tempted to use my System Edit to kill the Heroic artillery and Beast King, but I held off, concern about potential feedback affects, about who they have waiting in the wings, holding back my ire.
Twice, the Council’s army try swarming us. Twice, I rack up kills without our enemies doing much to us.
After that, it’s summoned monsters, drones, and long-range attacks over the horizon. We’re harassed and attacked constantly, the damage accumulating to the point that I give up on the Hod, storing it away so that it can regenerate while I tank the damage.
Mikito suffers the worst from it, and I add Two for One at opportune moments to share her pain. Luckily, her Ghost Armor and higher mobility keeps her from taking the brunt of the attacks. But it doesn’t stop all of it, and she lacks the sheer number of resistances I have. She gets thrown around a lot, and toward the latter half of the day, we split up more since their main target is me. It gives her a break, even if it makes her grumpy.
But unlike the movies, she’s not stubbornly opiniated, willing to risk her life for no good reason but pride. She’s practical enough to understand that she can’t do any protecting if she’s dead.
One day, and by the time they finally decide to act, we’ve landed on one of the semi-abandoned islands that dot the ocean. The entire place was initially swarming with monsters, but the constant bombardment while we ran around has thinned the herd, even as more continue to emerge from the overflowing dungeon.