Chapter 122: Tricked You!

William Oh challenged Ouroboros, the god of Mischief and Chaos to a footrace.

The Hero and the God ran at a speed that made mortal men age from sheer proximity, causing distances to shrink and light itself to politely step aside as they passed.

Time itself sped past the two as the footrace continued, and in the absence of Ouroboros’s predations, humanity flourished and spread across the land.

Ages later, when he thought he’d finally caught up with William Oh, Ouroboros realized he’d been tricked: He’d been chasing his own tail the entire time.

-          Jason Salazar

That damned Paladin is watching with a Nuker, Will thought as the wind whipped by his ears, nearly drowning out the massive crimson snake’s angry hissing.

It’s going to take just over a minute for them to receive…the middle finger.

Will frowned. There were some issues with his hypothetical counter-attack.

If the Nuker was anywhere near as high-level as the paladin, then she had to have some passive defensive Abilities, and both her Focus and Acuity would outclass Will’s.

High Focus and Acuity allowed a Climber to detect the magic in Abilities that might otherwise be invisible.

Like Phantom Hand.

Most people couldn’t see it coming, but Nukers specialized in Abilities, and Will would be damned if he was going to be the one challenging a Nuker in their own area of expertise and getting counter-counter-attacked like an idiot.

Well, if she’ll see it coming, and I can’t deal direct damage to her, where does that leave me?

Even with it’s dreadful speed, it would still take over a minute for Phantom Hand to reach them, how were they planning on getting close enough to Will to attack him?

The ranger.

The only person that Will knew could teleport.

Over fifteen miles? Instantly? That’s insanely good. And with how freely he was using it, it had to be a 1-Charge Ability.

It had one obvious restriction, which was the ranger could only teleport to anchors, which in this case were his ranged weapons…or perhaps the feathers on those ranged weapons.

He has to set up the teleport in advance, which means he can’t travel instantly without already having been there at least once.

That meant if Will were to fly somewhere that the ranger hadn’t prepared feathers, he could shake them off, maybe even get away entirely.

I could steer the berserker away from the area pre-seeded with teleportation anchors, and when she loses her rage and shrinks back down to  a human, I can grab her with the snakes and just fly away, faster than an arrow can shoot.

Once I’ve gotten the berserker away from his teleportation anchors, then he can’t bring in the Paladin and Nuker with any semblance of speed, and I can deal with the berserker at my leisure.

…I tricked you!

Will frowned in thought as the dragon-like snake continued to chase after him, unable to match his speed.

The raven-feathered fellow sure did like proving how much smarter he was than his opponent and pulling off elaborate tricks, if tricking Will into consuming poison was any indication. Will would never know for certain if the ranger’s teleportation truly required feathers as an anchor-point unless he read the Ability in person.

Matter of fact…

Now that Will had been Climbing for a while, if he saw a powerful Ability with a strict requirement for use, such as needing feather anchors, his first thought would be to look for a Sacrifice that could remove those limitations.

What if this ‘trickster’ can teleport without the feathers, but chooses to maintain the ruse to get people to underestimate him?

The feathered man’s range certainly played a key role in Will’s decision-making process, and if it was wrong, the ‘grab-and-run’ plan would get him Nuked.

The grab-and-run plan can still work, I just need to take out the ranger. No, what if they have some other way to reach me, even from fifteen miles away? I mean, how are they even watching the fight? I need to kill, or at least distract all of them, long enough to make good my escape.

 …I know the ranger is going to be shuffling back and forth between them and me. Maybe I can have him deliver a present?

…Does he have any more of that poison?

A plan started to take shape.

“STOP IGNORING ME!”

Will turned his attention back to the berserker-turned-snake. I didn’t realize she could talk like that. The elongated muzzle, tongue, and teeth didn’t do her any favors, but she did an admirable job forming the words necessary to throw a tantrum.

“Sorry, what were you saying!?” Will asked over the roaring of the wind as they spun around each other in stomach-churning helixes, moving just slowly enough that she thought she had a chance at catching him. “I was thinking about something else!”

The forty-foot snake unhinged its jaw and Will’s eyes widened as a massive cone of crimson crystals exploded from her mouth. Each crystal was about a foot long, bearing the shape of a spearhead and a razor’s edge.

Will yanked himself to the side and turtled up behind his left arm and leg.

Pain exploded in his arm and shin.

Let myself get caught off guard, Will chastised himself, yanking the crystals of hardened blood out of his body before the berserker could do something horrible like make them grow spikes inside his skin.

Thump!

A raven-feathered arrow buried itself in Will’s right shoulder blade. At this point, Will’s blood was quickened enough that he could barely feel it.

Was he waiting for an opportunity? When did he… Will thought as he yanked the arrow out with  and snapped it.

“I have to use my own blood for that Ability. Never had quite enough to make it viable before, but this shape…I can use it to create a huge blast. Like a Nuker. How about that? Ready to take me seriously now, boy!?”

“Mhmm, sure,” Will said, diverting his focus to the two snakes harassing the ranger.

He deliberately ‘closed’ the eyes forming the mental map of the surrounding area and focused solely on the single Phantom Eye watching Will from above, zooming down to find the ranger.

Will deliberately pulled the snakes back, giving the ranger a moment to breathe and shoot some arrows at him.

The ranger didn’t repeat whatever Ability he had performed that had snuck the arrow past Will’s senses, likely understanding that he was trying to bait him into doing it again and reveal the method.

While that was going down, Will sent the Phantom Eye in, peering into the ranger’s satchel, counting the number of vials that matched the one he’d been tricked into drinking.

He’s got at least six more of those concentrated poisons on hand.

Excellent.

Scorned again, the giant snake unleashed another torrent of bloody spears, which prompted Will to pull himself out of range before it could do any damage.

That’s the difference between these two. Now that I know how she does it, it’s no longer dangerous. The Ranger caught me during a blind spot, so he can do it again.

Dimensional Storage

16 -> 14 Charge remaining.

Will spent two Charge having Middle dip down to the rocky ground and pick up a stone about the size of his fist, while one of the snakes harassing the ranger grabbed about a head-sized chunk of air.

Will had never tried to do this before, and if it didn’t work, he’d have to shift tactics, and fast.

Will lead his fight with the berserker down to ground level at the top speed she was capable of, dodging out of the way as she crashed into the ground.

It didn’t do any damage to her. Stone might as well have been cottage cheese to her current self, doped to the gills with Abilities. But that wasn’t what Will was aiming for.

As the sound, dust and vibration washed over the battlefield, Pointer snuck into the ranger’s satchel and pumped air into each of his tightly sealed vials of poison.

Making them into bombs.

The vials weren’t integrated into a person’s System like a Relic, and they weren’t inside the ranger, so Will could fiddle with them to his heart’s content as long as the ranger didn’t notice him doing it.

Releasing air from dimensional storage into a sealed container was a bit odd, but there was nothing preventing him from doing it. Will had released air inside air before. There was a faint feeling of resistance as the pressure inside the vials built, but it wasn’t much.

Air can move aside for more air quite easily. I should ask Loth about that. On the other hand she might try to teach me some advanced math formula…

Will stopped pumping the air into the vials when he felt as though they might explode prematurely.

Will lead the berserker on a merry chase for a while longer, his right arm going numb as the poison in his shoulder blade spread through it.

“Hold…Still…Brat..” The massive snake panted, beginning to shrink as the berserker’s bloodrage hit the wall.

Here we go, Will thought, charging in as the snake form unraveled in reverse. Starting from the feet, the mask’s scales retracted until it returned to a lifeless snake-face.

With his Phantom Eye, he spotted the ranger teleport away from the battlefield, leaving behind Pointer and Thumb.

Will directed the four remaining snakes to grab her arms and legs.

“Agh, you son of a bitch!” She shouted as the snakes pinned her to the ground.

Will directed Thumb to take the wound in his shoulderblade. A small hole opened up on the snake’s side, and the hole in his own shoulder closed instantly.

This afforded him just enough control over his right hand that he was able to reach down and pry the mask off of her wiggling face, revealing a rather young woman, in maybe her early twenties, with matted black hair from the mask and wild, bloodshot eyes.

Will could see the whites all the way around her eyes, and she had a nosebleed, likely as a side-effect of controlling her own blood.

“Fuck you! Give me that back! Damnit, where the Abyss IS EVERYONE!?”

In the distance, the sky lit up as a bolt of lightning the size of a city struck the earth.

“They’re busy,” Will said, putting the mask over his face.

**Caddock, level 63 high Paladin**

“Alright,” Orev said, appearing in a cloud of feathers and holding out his hand. “She’s on the downswing, let’s go.”

Still a few seconds left on the timer, Caddock thought. Need to get a better one.

Caddock strode towards Orev, aiming to take the man’s hand.

“WAIT!” Maybin shouted, her gaze snapping to the side, raising her hand to create a defensive barrier.

It was just a moment too late.

A rock the size of a fist appeared about a foot away from Orev’s satchel and drilled into it at the speed of an arrow fired by a demigod.

Orev’s eyes widened as a cloud of deadly poison erupted from his ruptured satchel, coating all three of them.

Maybin’s gaze followed some invisible enemy and she dropped an impressive amount of lightning down, swatting whatever Ability William Oh had used against them, and glassing half the mountainside in the process.

Nowhere near where he wanted her to make the first blow. And now she was poisoned.

Caddock met Orev’s gaze, his eyes narrowed as he suppressed a cold rage.

Sustain Life.

118 -> 116 Charge remaining.

He targeted Maybin and Orev with Sustain Life, guaranteeing their survival. He was somewhat tempted not to include Orev, but the ranger hadn’t done anything overtly deserving of death.

“Take miss Glasswind to get an antidote, please, Orev.”

“Y-yessir.” The pale ranger nodded taking miss Glasswind’s hand and disappearing.

Caddock turned back towards the distant battle, crossing his arms as he waited for Orev.

I guess fifteen miles wasn’t far enough. What a ridiculous young man.

**William Oh**

Will winced in pain as Middle snake and the Phantom Eye watching the exchange were both vaporized, sending a phantom pain through his middle finger and eye.

I just lost the Sickle of Cold Harvest.

Feathered Serpent Mask:

+8 Acuity

+6 Kinesthetics

+6 Resistance

+6 Focus

Progenitor’s Disguise:

Variable Charge, Take the form of a spawn of Ouroboros.

Secondary, at will: encodes speech such that only spawn of Ouroboros may understand.

A ripple of power ran through both Will and the snakes as they gained the six-item bonus from the Set, the amulet in Phantom Hand now counting for three of them.

Better grab the rest and escape before they recover, Will thought, grabbing the stone dagger out of her waistband. As he removed the dagger, the armor of blood scales covering her form rippled for an instant then faded to a thin coating of blood.

Tecpatl of the Trespasser

+6 Strength

+6 Resistance

+10 Kinesthetics

+9 Acuity

+6 Focus

+20% Potency of Rogue Archetype Abilities.

25% reduction in audiovisual effects of actions taken to open doors, locks, or when sneaking on something or someone else’s territory.

1 Charge: Tecpatl of the Trespasser changes size and shape to match any lock. Alternatively, can become a pry-bar.

This one’s changed the most visually, but the least affix-wise, Will thought, ignoring the berserker’s shouting as he tucked it in his belt.

That led Will to the steel tomahawk in the woman’s right hand, held in a death-grip.

Will briefly considered the way she had toyed with Jason, draining his blood to fuel her Abilities…and made his decision.

“You remember how I said I was gonna rip you limb from limb?” Will asked, the snakes wrapped around her limbs lifting her up.

Her eyes widened as she began thrashing, nearly breaking free even with her diminished strength. Thumb nearly tore apart as the arrow wound in its side weakened it.

“Well, I don’t have time to do that before your friends get here. I don’t even think my Ability is strong enough.” Will said placatingly, backing away a step to calm her down. “So let’s make a deal: just let go of the tomahawk and-“

Coiled Strike

14 -> 9 Charges remaining

Will flickered behind her and drove the stone blade through the back of her skull.