Chapter 24: And Again And
Fay dropped the snake tongue onto the floor and heard it slap against the stone; it was growing dry and stiff anyway. “I won't use weapons.” He stepped in and held both hands up. The Snake Princess took out a staff similar to her predecessor’s, while the prince simply stood still, likely on a ten-second timer to use any skill. Fay decided he wouldn’t try any attacks, making a wager that he would survive the next ten seconds without dying. He left the other wager up for grabs, waiting to see if he could use it effectively.
“Come on, kill me…” The two creatures were looking him up and down, especially at his eyes, something seemed to snap in the snake prince's face and it used its quickstep skill. Teleporting over to Fay’s side, the skill caused a burst of air that exploded out that threatened to pop Fay’s eardrums.
Fay reached out and pressed his hand to the chest of the creature before it could strike him, placing his palm right on where the blood was all pumping to.
[Activated Stop Momentum x2]
“You’re slower…” Fay saw the creature's whole body freeze instead of the specific part he wanted. Fay easily dodged out of the way of the strike right as a magic beam fired towards Fay’s remaining lung.
[Activated Stop Momentum x3]
The beam fizzled out and left the princess stunned. Luckily his survival wager was rewarding him with 2 agility and 1 strength for 20 seconds so he could pretty much breeze through this fight. If he was careful at least, he still wasn’t sure if a punch or a magical beam could harm him, either would probably break a bone at least.
Fay wondered why he couldn’t freeze a specific part of the creature, it seemed quite easy to do on himself, but he guessed since he was attuned to his own body that it was easy to perform, after all, he had a lot of experience isolating specific parts of his body through muscle control. He was sure he could figure it out, just with enough time.
The prince quickstepped again, apparently on a five-second timer. Fay, instead of going for the heart, tried to freeze only its hand. Putting his palm on where the knuckles were.
[Failed Stop Momentum]
Fay's hand all the way to his shoulder was shot backwards, he slammed into the ground and felt a hairline fracture along his shoulder blade. “Oh”
MP: (164/210)
He wasn’t bad on mana so it had to have been that part had too much momentum? How did I stop the whole body before then? Fay got back up and dodged a magic beam that slid across his side and struck the wall, leaving a deep hole from where it hit. That thing would go right through him, he assumed.
He did remember that attack with the boar, how throwing the sand and freezing it caused an uptick in mana consumption because the boar was putting tension on the frozen object. Maybe since Fay froze only the hand, the shoulder burst through the skill? And he didn't have enough mana to break that tension? Fay hopped back a few times, wincing whenever his right shoulder moved.
Though he did manage an attempt to freeze a specific part of an object, which was interesting. He guessed that if he had enough mana then that hand would practically explode. He nodded to himself while the princess moved the staff above their head and shot out balls of mana that began to float upwards like they were jellyfish in water.
“Huh…?”
Simultaneously, the prince quickstepped again, attempting a kick to Fay’s groin. Since Fay couldn’t exactly reach the prince’s heart in his precarious position he jumped backwards without looking, feeling a searing pain along his neck. He sensed it before it struck him fully, the heated vision allowing him to see the air around the mana, distorted and erratic like little fruit flies.
[Activated Stop Momentum x2]
Fay disabled the ball before it could breach his skin and into the neck muscles, though his nape down to his back was bleeding and the cloak was decimated and burning by the hood. Fay jumped out of the way while four of the eight balls that were floating shot down all at once.
[Activated Stop Momentum x2]
Fay stopped another magic ball from falling atop him and rolled clumsily, accidentally bumping his teeth into the stone floor and landing on his backside. He got up and felt the air displacement from yet another quickstep.
“Do you ever-” Fay was kicked along the ribs and hit the wall with a crack, the hairline fracture along his shoulder was almost a full break, Fay landed pathetically on the ground with both his palms facing the floor, he tried to get up but had completely lost his breath.
Fay gave up on breathing and made it into his second wager that he would survive the next five seconds without sucking in air, receiving an extra 2 endurance for his troubles. Three more mana balls shot down, not heading for him but instead curving around like birds before swooping down at Fay’s body.
[Activated Stop Momentum x4]
He disabled the first two but the third was used as a distraction as the prince quickstepped yet again. Fay put his palm on the body, this time down the hood and onto the bare skin. He felt the punch hit his cheek as he activated the skill.
[Activated Stop Momentum x3]
The punch didn’t stop, Fay felt his jaw almost dislocate as he was spun around 360 degrees, he heard a thud as he stumbled back into a less compromised position and saw the prince on the floor, the heart was blue now, completely distant while the other parts of the body were still hot.
The skill disabled and the hot blood tried to pump back into the heart, but it wouldn’t start up again, he had just effectively caused a heart attack. He kept his mouth firmly shut, keeping his breath in despite wanting to talk to the remaining creature desperately. Fay saw the remaining mana ball fizzle out into nothing as the princess began to scream at the top of their voice. It lowered the staff and ran at Fay, with the intention of hitting him bluntly with the thing.
Fay dodged the first swing rather easily, though now he had his back to the princess, the staff was slow and clubbish, but the yellow stone at the end was glowing as he ducked, so Fay quickly tried to get out of the way as a beam fired right for his back.
[Activated Stop Momentum x2]
He fizzled the beam and turned around, running a straight path for where the creature's blood was heading. Fay ducked under another swing and popped his head right in front of the creatures face, putting himself in the embrace of both of their arms, he pressed his palm to their heart and applied the skill, this time trying it through the hood.
[Activated Stop Momentum x3]
He watched the light leave the monster's eyes, the face was quite lively for the first two seconds before the heart missed a beat, then another, then another. And again and again and again and again. It fell onto the floor and Fay ended his breathing wager, taking a deep suck-in of air. “Sorry.”
Fay dropped onto his knees, “ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.” He played with his jaw, it was hurting too much, and his shoulder, god his shoulder felt like it was burning up. He could feel it splintering as he moved it, any more pressure on it and he might lose the ability to use his shoulder blade completely.
[Congratulations]
Rewards:
[Snake Prince Skill Rune(RARE)]
The rune passed down from his father, allowing him to use a skill passed down from thousands of generations. (REQUIREMENT FOR ACTIVATION: 0/4000 XP)
[Special]
Unlocks [QUICKSTEP (UNCOMMON)] Gives user 2.5x base agility for 0.1 seconds.
[1.5x REWARD BONUS]
[Snake Princess Skill Rune(RARE)]
The rune passed down from her mother, allowing her to use a skill passed down from thousands of generations. (REQUIREMENT FOR ACTIVATION: 0/16000 XP)
[Special]
Unlocks [MANA MANIPULATION (RARE)] Use pure mana as a physical force, incredibly intensive.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Great, another mana sucking skill…
[Slain Snake Prince (LVL 3)]
+160 XP
[Slain Snake Princess (LVL 3)]
+160 XP
He had only around 3000 XP, so he just pocketed the runes for later, mana manipulation was definitely an interesting one. Something that could mean all sorts of things, especially if he could manipulate other people's mana.
[Stop Momentum LVL UP]
-25% -> -30% Mana Consumption.
+1 Intelligence
“Okay, thanks.” Fay looked down at the corpse of the snake princess, “you two probably spent a lot of time waiting for people to kill you.” He raised the hood of the creature and let the shadows cover her eyes, then he walked over to the prince, and with a bit of a struggle with his shoulder, he dragged him over by the legs.
"At least you had each other." He laid him to rest beside the princess and raised his hood as well. “Your deaths will not be in vain, so… yeah I’ll use the stuff you gave me to kill more things… cool right?” He sat down to take a small break, he was hoping his vitality was good enough to repair his bones, they were only hairline fractures, so it was hopefully fine.
His stomach rumbled, an annoying purr that reminded him he hadn't drunk water recently either, “you wouldn't mind if I ate you, right?” He contemplated, but they were far too humanoid for that experience to not mess him up mentally. “Maybe another day.” Fay played with his gloves, if he had used his strength then this fight would have been very easy, so he decided he would only use that heart stopping skill in a last ditch effort, it really could only be used if he was willing to take a hit back.
“Hey, how do you kill people?” Fay wondered, “I mean, it’s not really a question I can answer, I’ve only killed monsters… but I think killing another thing that can speak and plead and probably cry seems… nevermind you don’t care do you?” He nudged the corpses, “if I cried in front of you two would you stutter?”
—
Millie was holding down a frustration that had been boiling since she arrived here. She tracked Fay down to the snake cave, then into those holes that apparently dug into a separate room. She had no knowledge about this place, and frankly, felt like it was probably going to lead her to Fay’s corpse.
She travelled and found a corpse in one hole with maggots beside it, then at the end reached a door that opened to a shabby living space. She wasted no time going through the crawlspace, walking further through the cave with a worn and ragged intensity. She passed by some dead icy vipers, then some more, then a pit that was hidden by the allure of a chest.
She jumped down and found herself in a prison that felt similar to the ones in the prophet’s building, she squeezed through a broken bar and then slid through a creaky door into a research room, something that was also similar to the prophet’s research room. She found it odd. There were speckles of cracked orange mana stones on the ground and a desk full of notes that meant nothing, like they were grown from the knowledge of how notes were supposed to sound and look.
She walked up the exit steps and found a fork in the cave, she followed the path he'd taken, then a crawlspace he'd apparently squeezed through as well. She groaned at the sight, having to get on her knees and then stomach to scurry through with her usual hurry. “Stupid boy…”
—
Fay looked over at the small door that must've been the exit, yet another wooden thing that looked handcrafted. “Such a sad existence…” Fay decided his mana had regnerated enough and stood up and stepped over the bodies, accidentally stepping on the princess's arm as he stumbled a bit. He felt his jaw finally stop aching so he chewed air for a few seconds to try and get used to the sensation.
He opened up the wooden door and walked through a cave-like corridor that felt similar to the original snake dungeon. Sandstone laced the ground and footprints eroded into little potholes that Fay had to skip over. He brushed his gloves along the rocky walls, feeling his way through despite how well he could see in the dark now. Even though there was no light he could see every detail of heat that was bouncing off the colder walls, distance was still hard to discern and his breath got in the way of his recon, but it was manageable.
He saw another door at the end of the curvy corridor and opened it up, seeing yet another boss room. This time it stretched out wide, so far that he couldn’t even see the ends. The room was quite narrow in the other direction, and he could probably run to the other side of the room within a minute.
[Private Event Started]
[Kill The Snake Guards (LVL 2) 0/6]
[Kill The Ice Vipers (LVL 2) 0/6]
[Kill The Mountain Snake (LVL 3) 0/1]
[Kill The Snake Warlord (LVL 4) 0/1]
[Solo Bonus Rewards 1.5x]
Fay could sense hot signatures on both ends of the large room, heading right for him, while his left side only had 3 creatures that each looked to be riding on a slithering creature, the other end had the same thing along with a huge snake, and something atop it. It looked like they were treating snakes as horses, which felt nasty since they were all snake people.
Fay wasn't sure if he could survive a fight with a level four, “I surrender!” He held up both his hands as the creatures continued to make distance. Fay could get a good look at the warlord as it held its sword up high, leading the mountain snake through sheer strength. Its hands were gripping the brow of the snake and twisting the face to make it go left and right.
The guards were much less intense, probably more on par with half of the snake king in strength, maybe less. They held swords as well, and were riding ice vipers.
“I yield!” The rumbling got overwhelming from both sides, they reverberated against each other and bashed into the walls and curled around until the rumblings became a high pitched whine, almost like wind. The ground shook in an intimate way, shaking his organs with low grumbles, or maybe that was just his stomach rumbling. “Can I eat your pets?”
The mountain snake reached him first, sliding to the side so the warlord could use its lengthy weapon to slash at Fay’s stomach. The sword glided through the air in a perfectly practiced arc. Fay slid on his foot and punched the mountain snake in the jaw, as the snake was pushed back, the scales bounced and rattled, knocking the warlord off balance. The sword scratched the floor below, leaving a deep line where the sword swept its unstoppable arc. That would’ve cut him in half, certainly, his body was not as strong as rock yet.
Then the guards arrived on their snakes, their hearts pumping unnaturally fast. Three arrived from the mountain snake direction and scooted around Fay so the guards could slice at him. Fay wagered that they would slice him, so when all three cut him, luckily shallowly, he received an extra 3 defense and 2 vitality for a minute. He used this to grab the tail of one viper and swing it harshly into the still moving body of the mountain snake. The guard flung off and got caught under the moving mountain snake and became a paste of gore. The mountain snake was turning and heading in the direction of the other three ice vipers.
Fay ran over to the limp ice viper that he threw and used it in a sweeping motion to knock off the three guards, similarly they fell off and slid onto the ground. Their bodies weren't caught under the mountain snake so the guards quickly got up without their vipers and tried to make it on foot.
His shoulder finally snapped. “Right…” Obviously the extra snake strength put too much pressure on his defenses. He couldn’t quite feel the pain just yet, but he knew it was coming very soon. His vision grew into that distorted blurriness that would always come with physical trauma.
A guard caught up to him and lunged with its sword, trying to catch Fay off guard, but with his perception Fay easily hopped to the side and used the glove’s claws to rip its chest into pieces. They were only wearing leather armor so the gloves made easy work through into the insides.
The next guard attempted an overarm swing, Fay twisted his foot and kicked the guard, it shot backwards, hitting the moving body of the mountain snake and getting caught underneath it, turning into a paste like the others.
“Time… timeout?” Fay felt the pain now as another guard swung at him, Fay used the ice viper to slap it away, feeling the bone in his shoulder rip even further into a split. He couldn’t feel his right arm whatsoever anymore.
The two remaining guards, still riding their vipers, swung at Fay and successfully slashed him along the shoulder, funnily enough that was probably the best spot to get hit. Fay looked upwards, slanting his body to the side as the mountain snake had successfully turned its head around and was now readying for a collision.
MP: (179/210)
He couldn’t stop this thing, or make it hit an immovable object without killing his mana, so he felt as if this was it in a dreadful way. He dragged his ice viper lazily in a twisting motion, throwing it underhand into the mountain snake, watching it tear into two pieces, not slowing it down whatsoever.
Fay picked up a small rock on the floor and held it out.
[Activated Stop Momentum x5]
[Failed Stop Momentum]
The mountain snake hit the small rock, its snout colliding and then squishing painfully until its head was basically inside of its own stomach, the warlord was sent tumbling backwards and fell onto the ground with a discreet thud.
“Oh… that worked?” Fay didn’t really understand, but if a simple bit of sand could stop a boar he guessed that this wasn't too unusual, especially with mana costs being a third less and his mana being a lot higher.
But as he was completely empty on mana, he was practically useless.
[Profession Level up. Snake Catcher (lvl MAX) (UNCOMMON)]
+1 vitality.
+2 strength against snakes.
“Right…” Fay knew that professions were pretty much worthless, especially common and uncommon ones. Not even getting an extra skill out of it was a shame though. He slowly stepped back away from where the warlord fell to, and felt the rumblings of two of those guards from earlier.
Fay kicked away one of the vipers before the guard could even slash at him, and with the other Fay gripped the upper lip of the snake with one hand and twirled it around, bashing the guard as it fell mid-air, it flung upward so high that it took two seconds for it to fall back down onto the ground.
That meant the only living thing left was the warlord, it was dragging its sword behind him. Fay could get a good look at him now, the helmet it wore was iron and had tusks that went down to his neck, the armor was also coated in iron, but had purple scales along the shoulder pads and bracers.
He was double Fay’s height, with a sword that was also double Fay’s height. “Can I leave?” Fay held an ice viper in his working hand, dragging it beside him as he took steps backwards. He couldn’t even see where the warlord's blood was pumping because the cold armor hid that.
“Can you-” The warlord raised its sword in a snap-like motion and swung it down, Fay responded by dragging the ice viper above his head to block the strike, which did nothing as the sword cut cleanly into and out of the snake and sliced through Fay’s chest down to his thigh. A thin streak of blood began to run down his body, wetting his skin and making any movement feel painful and wrong. Luckily the strange calcified skin blocked the deeper cuts so Fay was left with simple blood loss, no internal damage.
Fay walked back with the half cut ice viper in his hand, “can we just…”
[Solo Bonus Rewards 1.5x -> 1x]
“Huh…?”
The warlord stopped and turned toward a small figure in the distance, someone that was completely black in the heat vision, devoid of any internal heat, or maybe it was far above his perception. “Fay.” The voice spoke, appearing to be Millie. “Lily is alive. You are welcome.”
