FMH: Everything ~ Three

“I have officially seen the issue for myself, and I think we should vacate the premises immediately.” Zed cautiously released Luke’s neck when the man didn't stop running, tucking and rolling immediately to his feet and into a run that ensured he would be diverted away from Luke’s path. “Whew, good thing I’m a Bard. Any Bard worth their salt can tum~ble.”

The Murderhobo didn't take any time to concern himself with his friend's well-being. The edge of Zone twenty lay ahead of him, over a thousand miles long and just over one hundred miles wide… with monsters standing shoulder to shoulder, literally filling the entire area as far as his enhanced eyes could perceive.

He knew from experience that this wouldn't inhibit their combat effectiveness even a small amount. In fact, these creatures not only had ranged attacks as well as melee attacks, they would use tactics to work together in their attempt to take him down. Even so, the Murderhobo was always afforded at least a single full power strike against them before they would open fire on him. As he got closer, and closer, their weapons and what they had instead of eyes tracked him until he was right on the edge of the Zone.

“Bum Rush!” Moving at his absolute full speed, he twisted and hopped on one foot, swinging Cookie around with all of the force that he could muster. The Dragonbone Greatmace hit the leading creature, and the world was instantly filled with death and weaponry. “Shockwave Cleave!”

The instant after his attack landed was when things went sideways. The monsters were strange amalgamations of ivory, metal, and cloth, as though they had been created in some form of deranged laboratory or factory. They stood in a near-humanoid form, although their torso split into four legs for stability; as well as having four total arms holding what looked like oversized needles. These needles were used like javelins, either shot out in a straight line from where they were being held, or expertly wielded to thrust and parry whatever he could bring to bear against them.

Luke didn't yet have a name for them. He didn’t understand what they were, or what their purpose was. Still, as an enemy, he respected them. They were silent, attempting to deal with his intrusion ruthlessly and efficiently. Even so, he was frustrated beyond belief at what he saw as they died in droves from his initial attack. The Shockwave hit, dealing absolute death to hundreds of the creatures in a conical pattern, and he saw with his own eyes as they turned into scraps of cloth and twisted metal. Skill Pearls fell like rain, igniting his greed and his ire.

His anger had a simple explanation. There was no way to scoop the pearls up and shove them down his gullet, or into Cookie for combination and enhancement. By the time he was being blasted backward from the rebound of his own blow, the only proof that his attack had been successful was the remains and Skill Pearls that new monsters were standing atop. All the space his slain enemies had been taking was already completely refilled with exact replicas of the monsters that had been destroyed only moments ago.

A burst of Potentia that was already far less than what he had been able to gain from these creatures when he had first met them.

Damage dealt: 35,090 blunt. (6,923 weapons in range, average maximum damage 50 per weapon.)

Potentia gained: 2,800.

Damage taken: 428 damage from rebound.

Current health: 502/930.

Only the fact that Cookie appeared to be utterly unbreakable saved the weapon from shattering as Luke’s Source-cerer’s Armory activated, boosting his total damage dealt by ten percent of the maximum weapon damage of all weapons in range. He went flying backward, bouncing off the ground and skidding for nearly a tenth of a mile. Luke lay there taking deep breaths for a few minutes before he was able to regain his footing. The enemies in the next area were well and truly agitated, and a line of metal that had been sent as projectiles followed his path near perfectly for over half of the distance he had been knocked back before they started to lose accuracy.

He could only growl and shake his head in frustration as he got to his feet and started moving forward once again, only to pause in confusion when a non-hostile stepped in his way.

“Luke… what just happened?” Zed was shaking like a leaf on a newly created Dryad, “I was nowhere near all of that, and I still nearly died. What were those needle things? Is this what you have had to deal with the whole time you were trapped here? Just a continuous attack, nearly die, repeat? I know that’s what you told us but… I didn't really understand it. Not until now.”

The Murderhobo huffed and shook his head, “No, it has not always been this bad. Not for a long time. I'm not sure what's going on, or if there is a trick to this Zone, but all I can do is keep attacking until I break through. In the face of overwhelming power, trickery just doesn't matter.”

“Yeah, sure, but feces, man! I saw your arms turn to shredded meat!” Zed watched as the final wounds on Luke's arms closed up, though they certainly didn't look healthy. “How did you not die from that attack? Every single part of what just happened should have killed you.”

“Giga reached Tier one, level six last time I was here.” Luke offered in lieu of proper explanation. Even as he spoke, mana in the area started to compress into his body and create shockwaves that would be felt by everything in this and the next Zone. However, since it was a low-Tier Skill, it would be over in practically no time flat. “Abyss, speaking of, it looks like I'm getting an upgrade as we speak. Two Skills at the same time? Nice.”

He sat down to read over the messages, as well as refreshing his knowledge of his Characteristics and Skills. After that, he decided to stare at his hands until the Skill increase was complete.

Automatic allocation of Etheric Xenograft Potentia has allowed Skill: Bum Flash to begin breaching Tier three!

Skill increase complete! Bum Flash -> Bum Thunder.

Effect 1: At the cost of 10 mana, once per minute you can empower your forward charge, allowing you to cross the distance in one second that you can normally sprint in five seconds.

Bonus 1, at range: At the cost of 10n mana, you're able to instantly traverse 1+n meters of space (maximized at 10 meters) while rushing toward an opponent, where n = Skill level. There is now no cooldown restriction on this Skill.

NEW! Effect 2: No longer is your instant travel a quiet and non-disruptive Skill! Now, all items between yourself and your destination will take 50% of your weapon damage as concussive damage. This will cause a small shockwave which might further disrupt anyone unlucky enough to be in your path.

Giga has reached level seven!

Cal Scan

Level: 13

Current Etheric Xenograft Potentia: 2,799/61,000 to level 14!

Body: 35.85

Fitness: 46.7

Resistance: 25

Mind: 22.3

Talent: 19.7

Capacity: 24.9

Presence: 21.5

Willpower: 27

Charisma: 11

Senses: 29.85

Physical reaction: 37

Mental energy: 22.7

Maximum health: 1020 (Giga)

Maximum mana: 378

Mana regen: 6.57 per second Overridden: 100 per second.

Skills: Tier: Level

Source-cerer’s Armory: 9: 9

You Need to Stop: 4: 9

Bum Thunder: 3: 0

Hobo Holler: 3: 0

Pristine Balance: 4: 7

Rift Hunter: 7: 9

Feather’s Fall: 4: 2

Shockwave Cleave: 4: 0

Giga: 1: 7

Happy with the changes, and once more able to use the entirety of his Skills, Luke allowed a ghost of a smile to cross his face, and he stood up fluidly. “I knew that was the Skill I needed to do this right. That whole set of enemies is a giant defensive line.”

“What…? You’re awake again?” Zed’s question removed the smile entirely from the Murderhobo's face.

“What are you talking about?” Luke glared at the Bard in confusion. “I was never asleep.”

The Bard looked at the man before him with great concern. “Are you being serious right now? All of a sudden the mana in the area started getting pulled toward you, enough so that I was actually able to hang out pretty comfortably; thanks for that. But then you just sat there for hours as you… I don't know any other way to say this… I think you grew a little bit?”

“Yeah, that makes sense, Giga hit level seven.”

“You know that means pretty much nothing to me, right? Do you have a Skill that makes you larger? That doesn't… none of that makes sense.” Zed was full of frustration at this point, but Luke could only shrug and continue forward. “You don’t have any food, or the nutrients that would be required for a change like that! You’re a walking paradox.”

Luke knew that he was about to get refocused on the situation at hand, but decided to throw the Bard a bone. “I can tell you everything, I can't make you understand everything. If you want to learn something, you need to ask what you actually want to know. Be specific.”

The Bard tried to speak again, but Luke merely waved him off and walked away, “I don't have time to give you an introduction to this entire world. I have things to kill.”

It was time for a tried and true method. The fact that each of the monsters—which he still didn't know the name of—had a ranged attack meant that using Feather's Fall to attempt to glide over them was tantamount to intentional self-harm. He would have tried it either way, but unfortunately his Sigil didn't allow him to even attempt the action. Now Luke had his preferred method; a way to simply barrel through the enemy.

Moving downhill, he slowly increased his speed until he was finally moving at a full-on sprint. Without activating any other Abilities and moving as quickly as possible with no other burdens, he had the ability to cross the distance in only a handful of seconds. Just before he reached the front line of the quadrupedal monsters that were waiting for him to make the first move once more, the Murderhobo activated Bum Thunder.

The usage of this Skill allowed him to cross ten meters in a single instant, at any angle or direction that he would like. The new upgrade allowed for the ability to send his enemies flying away from him, and he was counting on that to clear a path for him to back out after he got the Zone information.

What he was not counting on was the Skill absolutely failing to allow him through the front line. The Murderhobo merely slammed face-first into an enemy, and was sent tumbling backward as the Skill failed to live up to its promises. Unfortunately, this put him practically prone on the ground for a quarter second. Though he launched himself to his feet and backward, Luke was unable to dodge the first handful of ivory needles, and they penetrated his flesh.

He only felt the three in the left arm. The first started by slicing through the armor that sprang up over his shoulder, then bounced off just below his elbow and stopped directly over the skin of his palm. A few *pinged* off the impenetrable surface of Cookie, and he mentally thanked her for helping him avoid taking additional damage.

Damage taken: 11 penetration damage!

Seeing the fact that these rudimentary weapons could inflict enough damage to make it through his armor, he performed a tactical retreat to try and determine what his next move was going to be. First of all, Luke decided that he needed to look over his combat logs and determine exactly what had just happened.

Bum Thunder activated! Attempting to knock aside enemies. Error! Sheer density of target location indicates that target is terrain. Skill is unable to compress terrain. Deactivating Skill!

Damage taken from void-tipped ossified iron needle. Armor attempting to mitigate damage! Property ‘void-tipped’ adds 80% armor penetration. Resolving… Metal Gauntlet (Stone Ape) completely blocks damage. Resolving… Simple Metal Pauldron fails integrity check. Approximately 20% of damage has penetrated.

That made sense to him, even though it was frustrating beyond belief. “If I could only get some armor that could withstand those needles, I could stand right next to those creatures and attack until I can make my way into the Zone.”

This did two things for him. The first was to make Luke utterly frustrated and ready to take out his anger on these creatures. The second was lighting a fire under his rear that made him want to hunt down better armor until nothing could damage him as he rained blows down on the bodies of his enemies. He walked back to his Bard friend, not sure what to do or say, so he merely turned around and stared at the agitated monsters until they finally started to calm nearly a score of minutes later.

Then he was in front of them once more, this time with Cookie leading the way. Once again, the Murderhobo hit the front line with everything he could, sending out a Shockwave Cleave that tore through hundreds of the monsters, spreading out to damage thousands. The returned damage dealt nearly half of his Total Health in retribution as he was sent flying uphill once more. He rolled to a stop at Zed’s feet, looking up to see the gleeful Bard looking down at him—hanging off the earth like a bat from Luke's perspective.

“I've got to know, is this what you do all day long when you are alone here? I mean, you come here, kill a whole bunch of creatures, recover, and do it all over again?” Zed didn't bother offering Luke a hand to stand up; between the weight of the massive human and his weapon that weighed hundreds of kilograms, there was no point in trying to help him up. “I have to say it, this sheds a whole lot of light on your attitude in combat. You don't bother to avoid attacks, because when you're here you just heal up by taking a sip of… ‘water’. You don’t need to bother learning a combat art, as most things die with a single hit. Frankly, this entire experience has been incredibly enlightening for me.”

“Be useful, or stay out of the way. Distraction means death.”

“Incorrect, in fact distraction means ‘a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else’.” Zed started whistling to himself, going silent as he realized that the Murderhobo wasn't going to be listening to him anytime soon. “You know, I wonder if there is something that I could do to be helpful here? Hey Luke! Wanna hear a song or something?”

Moments later, a bruised and bloody man impacted the ground and rolled toward him, once more coming to stop nearly directly at Zed’s feet. This time, he not only had the damage he had done to himself, there were also needles sticking out of the weak points of his armor. “Right. Forgot. Gotta give them a chance to calm down.”

“I know just the song!”

“I'm not going to bring you back the next time I come here.”

“Lu~uke! Don't be like that!” Zed demanded playfully. “I have just the thing.”

The Bard cleared his throat, pulled out a lute, and closed his eyes. “Hush, little Berserker, don't you roar, rage and fury, let them be no more. Close your eyes and take a deep breath, let the calmness ease your mind from death-”

“Stop.”

“There's only two more verses!”