Chapter 119: Coiled Strike

Typically, Relics of limitless power carry their wielders through one shattering victory after another….

It doesn’t matter who starts the fight with the Relic of limitless power.

William Oh is going to have it by the end.

And the shattering will be your bones.

-          Jason Salazar, level 22 Prophet of the End in a 5th Floor tavern

How the Abyss did he stay in there an entire extra week longer than we thought? Will thought, sprinting across the sun-blasted ground, the earth itself rippling around his strange, hitched footsteps, which propelled him forward at blazing speed with half the effort.

After checking the local Strongholds and confirming no one had seen Jason, Will had been camping out on the highest mountain he could find on the 1st Floor, waiting with gradually sinking hopes for his friend to appear.

About fifteen seconds ago, Will had felt an urge to eat his breakfast of scrub and cactus while studying a distant mountainside, until a point near the valley began blinking with reflected sunlight.

One of Loth’s favorite methods of signaling over long distances.

When a huge cloud of dust erupted from the valley, Will put his head down and focused on maximizing speed. They weren’t alone down there.

They came within eyeshot as a larger woman discarded a cloak, standing some distance from Jason’s battered form.

A flood of cold fury washed over Will’s body, and he angled his path to approach from behind, aiming for the discarded cloak.

As she sauntered towards Jason, Will stalked forward, the earth a silent partner beneath his feet, the omnipresent dust and explosions filling the battlefield with enough distractions to bury even a level 50’s senses.

Will whipped the cloak up and over his shoulders as he approached.

Deceiver’s Mantle

+6 Strength

+6 resistance

+10 Kinesthetics

+10 Acuity

+6 focus

Lowers the audiovisual effects of attacks and Abilities. Resists tracking and extrasensory perception Abilities. Scales with Acuity.

Raises the potency of Rogue archetype abilities by 20%.

Family Gathering Set Bonuses:

Aspect of the Immortal Serpent’s passive bonuses apply to eidolons created by the user. Phantom Hand can interact with the physical world at will. (2 items)

Phantom Hand loses its hand form, which is replaced by 5 autonomous phantom snakes. These snakes can be fully controlled by the user at will, and have all the effects of Phantom Hand. Each Snake has its own Dimensional Storage, but only 1 can actively provide a Relic’s effect at a time.

Each individual snake can absorb one wound at will, or a lethal wound automatically, carrying the wound until it is healed, or the eidolon is destroyed, returning the wound to the user in whatever state of repair it was when the eidolon dissipated. (4 items)

Aspect of The Immortal Serpent’s Potency is boosted by 5000% (6 Items)

Will didn’t have time to gawk at the Relic as the strange blood-covered woman lifted Jason up and tore the amulet off of him, placing it over her head and immediately spawning five blood-snakes.

She’s got four pieces of my set on, Will thought, studying his opponent. It had to be exceptional for a warrior to want to use it instead of whatever synergistic Relics they’d surely acquired over their entire career.

She wore the mask, the amulet, the wand-dagger on her belt, and the tomahawk in her hand. It didn’t look exactly same as it used to, but Will could tell which were his. Now that he was wearing a piece of the set, the rest of it seemed to call to him, a magnetic attraction begging to be reunited.

The leather straps she wore across her chest were weeping blood. Will assumed that was meant to allow her to trigger her Build instantly, without having to first slaughter people and bathe in their blood, and that was why she had tossed aside the cloak, as its benefit wasn’t powerful enough to justify giving up her instant start. Some creatures didn’t have blood and it was always good to bypass external prerequisite wherever possible.

Which of those things are the easiest to take? Will thought, creeping up behind her. The amulet or mask he might be able to take with dimensional Storage, but it would be his Acuity measured against her Focus, and while she didn’t seem the type to have a lot of Focus, he also didn’t know what level she was, and the set seemed to grant powerful bonuses to Focus.

The wand on the other hand…if he was fast enough, he could physically slip it out of her belt and she would be back below four set items, greatly reducing her danger level.

If I could get the amulet…Will mused. It was the piece of gear he most wanted absorbed by the Phantom Hand. The question was, how would he approach-

Unfortunately, the choice of when to start fighting was made for him as the snake wrapped around Jason’s neck bared its fangs and sank them into his friends’ flesh, pulsating as it drank his blood.

“Drop him.” Will said, standing up straight and sending his Phantom Hand over to where the shoes had been torn off of Jason’s feet, scooping them up.

Dimensional Storage

60->59 Charge remaining.

The woman turned her head to the side, the feather-maned mask regarding him with one serpentine eye.

The world exploded into motion.

The crimson snakes unwound from Jason’s arms and legs and lunged towards Will…all save the one greedily feasting on Jason’s blood.

She’s putting me on a timer, Will thought with a scowl.

His enemy was embracing a cruel but effective tactic…forcing him to rush headlong to try and save Jason and sucker-punch him when he did so.

All right. Let’s play.

“Jason!” Will shouted, breaking into a sprint, weaving past the blood snakes as he ‘rushed headlong’ to try and save his friend.

Will felt a sudden yank in his leg as the blood snakes ‘unexpectedly’ sped up, wrapping around his ankle, followed by three more snakes around his neck, arm and other leg, leaving only his truncated arm free.

The bloodsoaked warrior flickered towards him, nearly too fast to see, blinking across the last five feet instantly and whipping the tomahawk towards his head with a hiss of parting air.

Teleporting. That’s the Dimensional Assassin’s Amulet.

Will unleashed one of his spare cannonballs at full speed directly into the woman’s chest while yanking his head back as far as the snake wrapped around his neck allowed.

The scaled armor of blood flexed, absorbing the impact as she skidded backwards a foot, completing her swing, the axe’s blade missing Will’s face by inches.

She’s got high resistance too.

Will nodded to himself. Her Focus growth couldn’t be above two if all her physical Stats were this high…probably.

There’s a gamble if I’ve ever seen one.

Will felt a prick of pain in his neck, arms and legs as the snakes bit down, beginning to drain his blood while the warrior recovered gracefully, her expression thunderous.

Charge me, I dare you, Will thought, picturing how he was going to gut her with her own weapon.

The snakes tightened their grasp around him, making his neck creak in discomfort. If his Resistance had been any lower, it might’ve broken his neck.

…damn.

Instead of charging in a mad rage, his opponent took a defensive stance, giving herself space to react to whatever trick Will had in mind, allowing the snakes to do their work rather than finish him off personally. Forcing Will to break the situation in a way he couldn’t take full advantage of.

We can’t allow that. Will had obsessed about how insanely powerful that amulet would be when he modified it with Sourdough, and now that it was part of the set…if he could get it from her that could swing the entire fight in an instant.

Dimensional Storage

59->58 Charge remaining.

Will targeted the amulet and YANKED.

There was a moment of tug-of-war as Will’s Ability fought the unreasonably strong cobwebs of magic that kept the Relic attached to its current wielder.

Will gasped when his opponent snapped her blood-covered gauntlet over the Phantom Hand, and Will experienced a crushing pressure as she squeezed down on the Ability.

Should’ve grabbed it from the back.

There was no time for should’ve, as a visceral snap traveled through his consciousness, the strength of his Ability exceeding her Focus and vanishing the amulet into Will’s Dimensional Storage.

 Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second as the snakes draining him and Jason collapsed into splatters of blood across the earth. Her eyes narrowed, and she redoubled her grip on Phantom Hand.

Will could feel his Ability unravelling as crimson talons began to sink into Phantom Hand, piercing its ethereal flesh.

How was she doing it? Not important. The only thing he needed to do now was end this.

Would you like to Sacrifice the Dimensional Coiled Serpent Amulet* to gain its effect?

Yes!

Dimensional Coiled Serpent Amulet (x2.8)

+42 Kinesthetics

+44 Strength

+13 Acuity

+16 resistance

+16 Focus

56% Audiovisual Dampening while trying to hide.

Coiled Strike: 5 charges, teleport up to 14 feet in any direction, damage output is increased by 420% for 1 second. Applies *Psychic Venom.

*Psychic Venom applies psychic damage over time and incremental stat penalties until the target is dead or the effect is cured. Scales with Acuity

The set bonuses kicked in, and the Phantom Hand rapidly gained dangerous physical weight, as if someone had filled a leather sack with lead sand.

Rather than yank the hand away, Will triggered Coiled Strike.

Coiled Strike

58->53 Charges remaining.

The world twisted around Will as he arrived directly in front of the woman, ducking under a reflexive swing of the tomahawk and punching her in her blood-armored ribs with everything he had.

Will knew that if she could tank a full-speed cannonball, a fist, even with quadruple damage, likely wouldn’t do much at all.

But if it did any damage at all, it would inflict Psychic Venom. It was worth a try.

The blood-scales on her chest flared outward and sliced into Will’s hand, forcing him to retreat.

“Nice try, k-”

Will directed Phantom Hand to rear forward and slam into her throat with every ounce of power it could muster.

Her snide voice cut off mid-sentence, her grip loosening on Phantom Hand just enough for Will to rip it out of her bloody grip.

Will lunged backwards, dodging a reflexive counter and flicking the Phantom Hand towards Jason, releasing the contents of a healing potion towards him.

Not at full speed, obviously, I don’t want to kill him with a healing potion.

Jason’s face and neck were splattered with the crimson liquid, causing the oozing wound on his neck to seal itself and the color in his face to recover a bit, bringing him out of the danger zone.

Her gaze flickered from Jason to Will as they circled each other.

“Dimensional Storage? You must be that William Oh kid I heard about. I gotta say, I’m not impressed.”

As she spoke, Will kicked off the loaner boots he’d been wearing.

“Sure, you’re squirrely, but if that’s your damage output…I’ve killed better.”

“Tell you what,” Will said, not risking putting on the boots just yet. He wasn’t sure he could release them from the Dimensional Storage directly on his feet, and if he couldn’t, that meant he would need at least a few seconds of leeway to do so.

“Drop the mask, the wand, and the tomahawk, and I’ll let you live,” Will lied.

“That’s rich,” She said, running a finger down the mask. “This set is my ticket to being a Lord, to the Abyss with running errands for that prick. What do you think my name will be? Blood Lord is just too basic….Crimson Snake?”

“Can’t be a Lord if you’re dead.” Will said with a shrug.

“Your attacks are flaccid and impotent.” She said. “You couldn’t fight your way out of a wet paper bag.”

“You’re forgetting something,” Will said, pointing. “That’s my Set. It likes me better. And when…WHEN I take it from you, I’ll use it to rip you limb from limb.”

“Ooh,” She quivered in mock anticipation. “I’m looking forward to-“

Will heard the soft hiss of a projectile behind him.

He shifted the earth below his feet, holding his neck with Phantom Hand, allowing him to slide sideways a foot without moving a muscle.

A hooked spear shot through the space where Will’s heart had been.

Will whipped around and smashed his wounded hand into the opponent’s face…hitting nothing but an explosion of black feathers.

Hmm.

Crunch.

Will heard gravel under bloodsoaked boots, but he couldn’t see much thanks to the screen of fluttering feathers.

He flung himself to the ground, dodging the obligatory sucker-punch, propelling himself sideways with a pillar of earth against his palm and right foot, sliding rapidly along the ground, which seemed to smooth and bend out of his way, so as to facilitate his slide.

Will emerged from the cloud of black feathers, spotting the blood-soaked warrior recovering from a feral swing, while the man who had spawned the cloud of feathers was tucking a throwing knife in his belt.

“Stop playing aro-“

Will sent Phantom Hand at full speed toward the man, while triggering Coiled Strike.

Coiled Strike.

53->48 Charge remaining

Will appeared directly in front of the bloody woman while the raven-feathered ranger whipped his spear up and attempted to deflect Phantom Hand.

He must’ve heard it coming, Will thought, seizing the wand in her belt.

SSSS!

Her hand clapped down over the wand an instant before Will could slip it completely out of her belt. At the same time, the tomahawk began hissing through the air towards him.

Will let go and swung his wounded fist at her wrist with everything he had.

BOOM!

Coiled Strike granted his offensive parry 420% of its original strength…And he still almost died.

The explosive force caused Will to tumble backwards, rebounding sideways off the ground before she bisected him.

Will glanced up and spotted the feathered man staring at his hooked spear in horror as it crumbled into ash. Coiled Strike’s window of empowering attacks must’ve applied to the Phantom Hand too in that instant.

In the distance, Jason was being quietly drawn down into the earth by Loth’s insects. In a couple seconds, he would be off the board entirely.

I guess it’s my turn to handle both of them at once, Will thought.

At least for a couple seconds. Gotta keep their attention on me.

“I really hope that’s not the best you guys can do,” Will said, standing with a bit more confident arrogance than he felt.

I really hope it is.