Implode ~ 14!

Joe was on his third Omnivault of the fight, and the constant dodging was starting to wear on his patience. “Cleave! How are you killing them? This. One. Won’t. Die!”

He punctuated his statement by driving his Ritual Orbs one after another into the beast that was lunging at him, its mouth snapping closed on the location he had vacated only a moment ago. “Seriously, what are these things supposed to be? Snapping turtles mixed snails and leeches? Rocks with legs and teeth? Angry rocks with teeth?”

“If you want them to stay down, you have to outpace their natural healing factor,” Major Cleave informed him while engaged in combat with yet another of the beasts. “At a certain level, all monsters are able to heal extremely efficiently, so you have to burst down their total health, or inflict such terrible debuffs on them that their flesh is unable to heal it in any kind of reasonable fashion. Take Jaxon, for example: he's doing both at the same time. Severe skeletal damage, in conjunction with shredding the flesh so that it cannot pull together at the same rate as it is being torn apart.”

“Right, well, I don't have anything that can do that,” Joe grumbled as he slid under a snapping maw. “Time to try my backup plan.”

Plan determined, he hastened over to an outcropping that he didn’t think the creatures could easily ascend, jumping up to spring off an adjacent wall and onto the exposed rock with a double Omnivault. Once he landed, he took a moment to attempt to center himself, then threw his Ritual Orbs into the air one at a time, unfurling them into the enchanted ritual diagram necessary for Planar Shift. It was significantly easier now that he was familiar with the process, and he felt pleased at his success in reducing the total amount of time connecting everything to about thirty seconds.

“That is way better than fifteen minutes.” Joe shook off the feeling of smugness that tried to settle in. He was no Elf; he wasn’t about to become an unrepentant narcissist after such a tiny win. As soon as it was up and operational, he ordered his Ritual Orb to cast its assigned spell, and the veil between dimensions was ripped asunder as the Pseudo-Lich was pulled through. The gaunt visage formed around the orb, exactly as it was supposed to, and Joe only took a moment to coax the other orbs to snap back into their normal formation before rejoining combat.

“Do you have a name? Or can I give you a name? Referring to you by your summoning articles is a little strange for me,” Joe stated as he directed his orbs back at the creature that he was mentally calling a Serrated Maw. He hadn't had a moment to check his notifications or combat log yet, so he did not yet have its proper name, but he thought the label fit pretty well.

<Mo~orsum.>

“Morsum?” Joe watched the floating skull zip at the Serrated Maw in confusion, “The opposite of less subtraction? What does that mean?”

Morsum didn’t answer, too focused on acquiring a new taste in its mouth for the first time in centuries. The teeth of the floating skull latched on the left side of the massive mouth, piercing through the lower lip with its elongated canines. A strange flow of energy initiated, which Joe could just barely see, and he received a message that was not only unexpected, but seemed to be going against the very definition of what the spell itself could achieve.

Pseudo-Lich (Morsum) summon time remaining: 1:01:43.

“It can self-sustain by consuming energy coming off of the creatures that it bites? That's not good… or it’s really good? No wonder it wanted to make a contract with me as soon as possible; using its main attack allows it to continue living on this plane of existence longer, and no one ever gave it that opportunity before.” Joe was curious about what would happen to the creature being attacked, but after a few seconds of contact, Morsum had fully drained the creature, and it collapsed. Only then did his mental command for the orb to fly away come into effect, and the Lich released its prey in preparation for a fresher meal.

“Oh no... that means that by the terms of our contract, I could end up needing to focus on keeping its orb flying around for a huge amount of time if I'm not careful. Double oh no; I still don't know how to unsummon something!” Even as he fretted about what he would need to do at the end of combat, he sent the skull flying at the next of the creatures, managing to get Morsum attached to its leg. That particular creature had not yet taken much damage, so the draining effect seemed to work at a slower pace.

Joe didn't hesitate to start sending spells and orbs after the Maw, though he pondered what it meant for his new creature to be draining an opponent more slowly. “Most likely, it has an ability to pull a portion of health and mana from a creature, based on how much they have already lost. That would make sense for a necrotic or demonic ability… both of those are reputed to be magics that latch onto someone or something that is already weakened, and this squarely confirms that folklore.”

Indeed, as his attacks beat against the oversized creature’s flesh, the draining effect noticeably picked up speed. Joe wasn’t able to get much data before the Maw used its other limb to grab the skull and chuck it away, having figured out that the floating annoyance was dealing more damage than expected. The Ritualist sent his Ritual Orb of Intelligence flying directly into its open mouth, casting Cone of Cold before the projectile hit the flesh on the back of its throat. The spell filled the beast with an arctic blast, sending the orb shattering its way out instead of simply slicing a neat hole.

Damage dealt: 888 (179 Piercing + 268 cold + 441 lifedrain)

Mana drained: 441. Summoning duration increased by 8 minutes and 48 seconds.

“All right, I'm going to have to make sure to come back to this portion of the combat log and figure out exactly how much damage this bad boy is doing. Looks like about fifty damage in a second or so, but that was before I started dealing damage as well… no, do this later!” Joe had completely lost track of where Morsum had landed, and since it had not been bonded to one of his characteristics, he knew that he needed to find it. It would not yet automatically recall after five minutes. On the plus side, the Lich was making it easy to locate his discarded head.

*Clack, clack, clack!*

Joe simply needed to track where the chomping noises were coming from, and a moment later, his mind was able to latch on to the Ritual Orb and send the creature back into orbit around his body.

Combat has concluded! 10 total ‘Mobile Starvation’ defeated. Experience gained: 1,958.

You have returned to level 23! Yay, you! Try to stop dying!

Exquisite Shell has reached Student VII.

Combat Ritual Orbs has reached Beginner V.

Battle Meditation has reached Student III.

Retaliation of Shadows has reached Expert 0!

“Well, that was a horrifying and wonderful battle! It’s been too long since I worked my old bones. It was rather refreshing,” Jaxon stated cheerfully as he stretched his limbs. “Too bad about Daniella, but I suppose she was a sacrifice we were all willing to make.”

“No, she wasn’t, and that is definitely not how we should be thinking of her.” Joe rolled his eyes as he picked his way over to the last remaining bits of his slain companion. Targeting the blood-soaked right foot that she had left behind, he took a deep breath and began channeling his mana. “Sorry if this alerts our enemies to our location, Major, but I think it is much more important to have our entire group together than it is to worry about what-ifs. Resurrection.”

Having performed the entirety of the necessary motions, mana channeling, and spoken commands, Joe cast the spell as carefully as possible. As he had been doing ever since the fall of the Dwarven Oligarchy, he winced as the spell finished, expecting some form of backlash for using it. He knew that there was only a ten percent chance that it would rebound on him, but he had no idea what that would look like for a resurrection spell. Planar Shift had been an unpleasant surprise, and this spell was a substantially higher Rarity and tier.

*Blzzt*

The respawn portal opened directly above the remains of her previous body, and Daniella stepped through it into the world once more. She peered around the area, which had become a quagmire of churned blood, flesh, and gore. “What in the abyss happened while I was gone? I didn't even get a chance to see what took me out!”

“Instant death is always better than suffering!” Jaxon called over to her from his reclining position. He was holding a set of bones connected together by a joint, bending them back and forth in an attempt to test how resilient they were. “Shall we proceed right away, or would you rather stay here and wait for whatever monsters will be drawn by the commotion, or perhaps you wish to wait for whatever Elves will be on their way after feeling that level of mana disturbance?”

Joe wasn’t currently listening, too excited about a notification he had been hoping to get for far too long.

Resurrection has reached Beginner 0! Congratulations! Now that you have surpassed the Novice ranks, certain restrictions on this spell have been lifted! You are now able to resurrect a targeted being that is up to 2n+L higher than you, where n=skill level bounded by the Beginner tier and L=your current Level! Current maximum level of being you can Resurrect: 23. The skill can now be increased like any other spell, through study and devoted use.

“Alright, that makes sense… I am level twenty-three, and my skill level at this tier is technically zero.” Joe slowly bobbed his head in thought. “Good… yeah. That math works out.”

“Obviously we need to get moving, Jaxon, but there is no need to be snippy about it.” Major Cleave made no effort to hide her weariness. “Joe, how often can you use that spell? If I get taken out, can you use it on me and keep me from becoming an Elf?”

The Ritualist shook his head, having been expecting that very question. “Currently, I can only bring back people that are my same level or lower, and there’s no way someone with something like a century of experience in combat is that low.”

“You might be surprised. Most Elves and Dwarves tend to have lower general levels, with much higher skill or spell levels. Combat is great for increasing our skills, but the fact of the matter is that most of us have died repeatedly, sometimes for centuries.” Major Cleave started leading them toward the cliff, which they would need to go over instead of around. “You are correct that I am not quite low enough, but perhaps you will get plenty of opportunities to use your spell in the coming months.”

“I'm glad to hear that you’re not looking at this as a one-way trip.” Joe chuckled as he observed the others climbing the rock wall. After taking a few moments to map out all the protrusions that he could find, he ran toward it and jumped. “See you all at the top!”

Being able to perfectly visualize where he was going, Joe scaled the entire cliff face with only five total jumps, doing a little flip at the top just for fun. “I'm so glad I glitched into this skill; it's about as close to perfect for me as anything I can think of.”

Only about two seconds after Joe reached the top, Major Cleave was over the edge and standing by him. Daniella came into view next, a slight surprise since Jaxon had started before her. Perhaps it was a bonus that somehow had something to do with buildings, such as climbing scaffolding, or needing to get to a certain height to examine them for damage? Before he could inquire into the specifics of whether or not she had a skill that boosted her climbing speed, Jaxon had heaved himself over the top, and they were all running again.

“If we are where I think we are,” Major Cleave called over her shoulder, “then we have a few hot spots coming up that we are going to have to keep an eye on. The monsters tend to migrate, rather than holding too much to a single territory, but in general, I believe that this territory is devoted to turning debuffs into monsters.”

“What does that even mean?” Jaxon questioned on behalf of the group at large. “Are we going to bleed or something? Perhaps getting slowed? Other than that, I can't think of a single one of these ‘debuffs,’ as you call them.”

“Are you being  serious right now?” Daniella didn't wait for him to answer, instead turning the query to Joe. “He is being serious right now, isn't he? Jaxon… you are practically the incarnation of a Charisma debuff. The things that you do, the ways that you seem to interact with the world and the system? That's not natural.”

“Awww. You sweetie, go on. No, really, go on! I love it.” Jaxon blushed and playfully batted his hand at her. Daniella kept her confused gaze on Joe, who could merely reply to her wordless befuddlement with a helpless gesture.

“You literally cannot get through to him on this sort of thing. The system just won't let it happen.” Joe looked at his good friend, and found himself smiling. “I think it finds it funny to do stuff like that? I've gotten used to it, and you know what? I would have to agree with the universe. Jaxon’s oddity makes life a lot of fun.”