806 - Bloody, Bold, and Resolute
The venedaemon screamed, the mouth that made up its entire face stretched wide with pain as Lex sank his claws into the thing.
Shrieking, it tried to cast a spell as he knocked it to the ground, but Lex gave it no opportunity to do so, talons punching through its flimsy robe and digging into its body. Although the creature’s hide was tough, having consistency more akin to wood than flesh, his claws easily tore deep gouges in its torso, causing it to wail louder.
Abandoning its attempt to use magic, the venedaemon thrashed in agony, the rubbery tentacles that it had in place of arms lashing upward to bat at him. The motions were quick enough that the two limbs whistled as they cut through the air, striking with the force of leather whips as they impacted Lex from each side.
To no effect whatsoever.
Lex didn’t even notice the counterattack, the first tentacle passing harmlessly through him as it struck him in a moment when he’d turned to shadow. The second strike managed to make contact with his corporeal body, but bounced off without leaving so much as a bruise. Neither slowed Lex’s furious assault, the monster within him shrieking with delight as he snapped bones and shredded entrails, sending a spray of foul ichor into the air as he eviscerated his enemy.
An instant later he spied the pulsating mass that was the creature’s heart, and without thinking he ducked his head down and sank his teeth into it. A death scream rattled in his ears as he bit down, crushing the organ to pulp even as he yanked his head back, tearing the crushed remains of the venedaemon’s heart free from the ruin of its chest, the creature giving one final shudder before going still.
The taste that filled his mouth was foul, but Lex found himself reveling in it nevertheless, savoring his well-earned meal-
That was when three of Grisela’s adlet-puppets plowed into him.
Cursing his inattention as he shook himself free of the bloodlust that had momentarily overtaken his senses, Lex immediately began working to extricate himself. His rapid-shifting kept the puppets from grappling him, but only partially. Buried under a press of bodies, he still had to struggle to fully work free of the grasping limbs, wasting precious seconds in the process. Nor was he entirely successful, as the constructs had no concept of pain or self-preservation, continuing to grasp at him even as he sought to get clear of them, forcing him to expend more effort fighting them off.
It was a waste of time Lex knew he couldn’t afford. Not when he still needed to cast his poison-retardation spell before the venom Sissel had hit him with began to wear him down. That it hadn’t already was likely only due to the adrenaline coursing through him, and Lex doubted that he’d be able to count on that much longer.
But Sissel was aware of that too, and was making sure her allies used that to their best advantage.
“Keep going!” shrieked Grisela, directing the rest of her puppets. Whereas the one he’d fought before had acted as though it shared her consciousness, these seemed to require her to purposefully direct them in order to do anything. “Grab him! Pin him down!”
“Vidrig, get in there!” added Sissel, raising her free hand for what Lex knew would be another spell. “I’ll make an opening for you!”
“Hah! This’ll be fun!” hooted the troll, already charging in with her axe raised above her head.
Around him, the remaining venedaemons were waving their tentacles and murmuring in susurrus voices as they prepared to cast again, apparently not requiring instructions of their own. Above them, Lex could see the cacodaemons flitting about overhead, their three eyes trained directly on him as he felt them continue to throw spells designed to cause disorientation at his mental shields, attempting to keep him off-balance.
Solvei, how long longer until you’ve secured Yotimo’s safety?
I’m sorry, Master! came the immediate reply. I’ve got a few of those tentacled creatures here, and some of those little three-eyed things too! They ruined my attempt to summon an ice elemental! I’m going to need to kill them myself before I can leave Yotimo’s side!
She paused for a moment, and Lex registered a spike of anxiety cutting through her frustration. I think they did something to him! He’s awake, but he’s not responding when I call his name! He just keeps looking around in a daze, like he can’t understand what’s happening!
The report made Lex curse, swiping at another one of the false adlets. His claw opened up its throat, but the artificial creature couldn’t have cared less, instead reaching out to grab his foreleg. It only got a partial hold before his rapid-shifting let him yank it back, but it still cost Lex another half-second, and more puppets – as well as Vidrig – were already closing in, even as the spellcasters neared the end of their incantations.
That only a few of them had gone after Solvei was a testament to his soul-bound companion’s quick thinking, having used her magic to seal the blind corner she’d disappeared around with a solid wall of ice. But Sissel had still sent a few of the venedaemons after her via their short-range teleportation magic, and Lex knew that she wanted to keep the two of them split up, since a divided force was easier to deal with.
In that regard, she was right. Even though they’d communicated via telepathy, Lex knew they’d made it plain to their enemies that Solvei’s priority was to keep Yotimo alive, and since the adlet was currently unable to fend for himself, that meant Solvei had to watch over him. Which in turn left Lex on his own.
And even with that ice wall there, Sissel can keep sending the venedaemons after Yotimo in small groups, which means that even if Solvei kills the ones harrying her now she’ll probably still be stuck there for some time. Worse, Lex had no doubt that the venedaemons would drag out the fight as long as they could. While their magic wasn’t anything notable, they were intelligent opponents, making sure to keep their distance while casting, forcing him to run them down individually. Solvei would have a harder time doing that while watching over Yotimo.
And with Vidrig and the puppets moving to keep him occupied while he tried to engage with the spellcasters, Lex knew his own strategy of running down his foes one at a time wasn’t going to work much longer-
“RENSE!” roared Sissel as she finished her casting, making a scattering motion with her free hand.
Lex had just enough time to recognize that as the Koloss word for “purge” when agony tore through him, and he couldn’t hold back a roar of pain as his rapid-shifting immediately ended, his body suddenly unable to dematerialize even for a fraction of an instant. Nor could he reengage it when he tried again a second later, his horn aching at the futile effort.
His mind immediately went back to his fight with Xiriel, remembering when the belief devil had done something like this. Except that had been a generalized counterspell, shutting down his incorporeality and several other spells he’d had active, all without pain and without preventing him from reapplying them. Whatever Sissel had done was more specific, painfully keeping him in a solid state while preventing him from changing back into a shadow again.
All of that passed through Lex’s mind in an instant, even as his instincts drove him to thrash harder, fighting the press of puppets bearing down on him. But another venedaemon finished a spell, and Lex felt the ground under him suddenly turn slippery, as though coasted with grease, forcing him to dig his back claws in harder in order to secure himself. Another caused a bright burst of light to flare up directly in front of his face, causing him to blink and turn his head to the side, making it harder to concentrate. A third tried to use another reflex-dulling spell, and Lex only barely shook it off, knowing that at the rate he was going he’d be overwhelmed before Solvei finished her own battle.
That point was driven home firmly as Vidrig reached him.
“GOT YOU NOW!” she bellowed as she brought her axe down in a heavy swing. Out of the corner of his eye, Lex could see two other venedaemons pointing at her as they finished their own spells, aware that they were enchanting either her or her weapon in order to increase the lethality of her attack.
Aware that there was no way he’d be able to get a spell off in time, Lex did the only thing he could and conjured up a huge mass of black crystals.
Fortunately, whatever Sissel had done to keep him solid didn’t seem to affect the rest of his dark magic, because in an instant jagged black spikes erupted from the ground around him. Shooting upward in every direction, he felt them tear through the puppets grabbing him, impaling them and wrenching them off of him. And Vidrig-
He had no time to finish his thought as the troll’s axe buried itself in his shoulder.
His augmented body absorbed the brunt of the damage, but whatever spells the venedaemons had cast on Vidrig combined with her own brute strength was enough that her weapon had still managed to bite through his organometallic fur. He could feel the blade grinding against bone, and he gnashed his teeth as the troll – despite having been impaled through her neck and her belly – began to wrench the axe back and forth.
“Which do you think will kill you first?” gurgled Vidrig, smiling hideously despite her wounds. “My axe or Sissel’s poison?”
The taunt made Lex grimace, knowing he couldn’t wait any longer to stop the venom he’d been hit with. Already he could feel it...
Do nothing.
His eyes widening, it was only then that Lex realized that it wasn’t an adrenaline rush masking the effects of the toxin. After the initial tingling he’d felt when Sissel had hit him with it, he hadn’t felt any effects from the poison at all. Nor could he now.
But there was no reason why Sissel’s spell should have failed, unless...
His new body had a drastically different physiology from his original one. While he’d done some basic investigations of how it worked before leaving the Shrine of the Starless Sky, the more intricate aspects of what he’d become were still a mystery to him, including his biochemistry and how it reacted to foreign substances. But given how he didn’t feel any different despite the venom he’d been exposed to...
Am I immune to poison now?
The thought earned a bemused snort from the beast inside of him, and Lex instinctually realized that was exactly the case.
Giving a feral smirk, Lex reached a claw out toward the impaled troll. “The correct answer,” he hissed, “is neither!”
Vidrig snickered as she yanked harder on the axe, sawing it back and forth in an attempt to tear through his shoulder completely. “How’s that? You gonna run me through with more black spikes? ‘Cause you tried that back in your underwater cave. Didn’t work then, won’t work now!”
Fighting back a grimace as she wrenched harder on the blade, Lex sank his claw into the wrist of her free hand, trapping it. “Then I’ll try something deadlier!”
“Go ahead!” laughed Vidrig. Even with one arm immobilized, she still managed to tear her axe free of his shoulder. Lifting it up, she prepared to continue hacking at him. “I’m warded against fire and acid, and nothing else can kill me! Don’t matter what you try, I’ll just grow back from it!”
The taunt brought a grin to Lex’s face. “They’ll be glad to hear that.”
Vidrig paused, her hideous face twisting in confusion. “Eh? Who?”
“Them,” answered Lex, mentally calling upon his tulpa.
An instant later, a swarm of carnivorous leeches – the same kind that he’d encountered back in Darkest Night – were crawling on Vidrig’s head.
It was his first time seeing if his tulpa was able to bring living creatures forth the same way it could inanimate objects, and as Vidrig let out a bloodcurdling scream, Lex made a note as to the success of the endeavor, watching as the foot-long creatures – their lamprey-like maws surrounded by a ring of teeth – began to eat her alive.
Two of the leeches immediately went for her eyes, biting through her lids and tearing chunks out of the aqueous orbs beneath them. Vidrig immediately dropped her axe, her free hand coming around to claw at her face, but Lex’s telekinesis caught her arm and yanked it back even as his claw kept her other one locked in an iron grip. There was nothing Vidrig could do but screech as the two leeches finished their gory meal, tears of blood running down her cheeks as the slimy things slithered further into the now-empty cavities in her face, seeking more food.
Nor were they alone, as two other leeches were already burrowing into her ears, refusing to be dislodged no matter how much the troll thrashed her head. Another tore through her nose in a single bite, following its brethren inside her head.
A second later Vidrig’s scream started to warble before turning into a series of strangled grunts, her body spasming, and Lex knew that the leeches had found her brain.
“Pity that won’t kill you,” spat Lex as he released Vidrig’s arms, which trembled as she continued to writhe and twitch helplessly. “But don’t worry. Once I’m done with your sisters, I’ll be sure to put you out of your misery.”
Past the black crystals, he could already hear more chanting happening, and from the sound of it Sissel and the others were repositioning themselves, looking for where the cover he’d conjured provided him with the least amount of protection. Rolling his injured shoulder, Lex nodded to himself as he verified that it was still able to support his weight. A quick check-in with Solvei likewise confirmed that she was still fighting her own battle.
Taking a moment to collect himself, Lex took stock of his situation.
It had been less than a minute since she’d taken Yotimo and fallen back. In that time, he’d only managed to kill a single venedaemon, inflict moderate injuries to a few puppets, and incapacitate Vidrig. In exchange, he’d taken several small wounds, plus a not-inconsiderable amount of damage from whatever Sissel had done to his shadow-form, and then Vidrig’s axe.
By any measure, he was taking more punishment than he was dishing out, even with his all of the power he’d gained. And while Lex felt confident that he’d be able to wear his enemies down faster if he started using his thaumaturgical spellcasting, that would still be an uphill battle, since one of the major limitations of his strongest magic was how it wasn’t meant for fighting large groups. In the naïveté of his youth, he’d deliberately designed it that way, making it so that conceptual forms which indiscriminately dealt damage over an area were quite literally unthinkable for him. It was something he’d come to regret, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
Not to mention that he still needed to conserve power as much as possible, since there was still a very real chance that he’d need to fight that dragon, Hvitdod, after this.
All of which meant that it was time to try something different.
I already field-tested what my tulpa can do, Lex decided, glancing at where Vidrig was still spasming helplessly. I might as well do the same for this.
Reaching into his saddlebag, Lex couldn’t help but think back to a few days ago, right before they’d left the Shrine of the Starless Sky...
“Master, you have to give it a name!”
Frowning, Lex gave Solvei a flat look. “There’s no need. What’s important is verifying its functions, not what it’s called.”
“But giving a thing a name defines it!” protested Solvei. “It’s not just being able to refer to it as something other than ‘it.’ A name represents its nature, and affirms what it’s supposed to do. My grandmother once told me-”
“Alright,” snapped Lex. Hearing her talk as though she were an adlet always put him on edge for some reason. “Fine. I’ll give it a name.”
“Thank you, Master!” Despite being in her humanoid form, her tail began to wag, and Lex registered satisfaction coming from her. “So, what will you call it?”
Realizing that she expected him to make good on his promise now, Lex sighed, turning to look at what they’d been discussing.
What name to give it...?
Lex waited for just a moment, then let the black crystals – save for the ones impaling Vidrig – dissolve, turning to face his remaining enemies.
Time to see what you can do, Belligerence!
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Lex is a loong way in power level from being able to use a magical item so powerful, its name is.
Gravitas.
11525097 Hah! No doubt he'd turn his nose up at something named that anyway.
Leaches are scary. Being submerged by them sound like a special kind of hell.
Slovakna's grandma about naming things do make sense, names have power in more way than one. the name itself "Belligerence" means aggressive or warlike behavior so I am guessing it could be a curse type casting support or on-hit weapon item, it could also be a hyper specialized behavior control buff item. but i am betting on it related to curses seeing that Lex likes to use them.
Just as it seems the merger of bodies and soul is a double edged sword in the last chapter, the pros are revealing themselves in rather useful even if they appear during suspenseful moments. Good thing Sissel and her group hadn't considered Lex's power up to consider adjusting their plans though I will give them props for bogging Lex and Solvei down in spite of the surprise Lex gave them.
Belligerence...considering the name, it is going to be some offensive in its utility though how strong whatever Belligerence is remains to be seen. I'd almost say it's a wand or something similar.
Regardless, Vidrig's fate is pretty brutal and while I don't listen to it, it is really metal
Though with Lex being able to get his tulpa to summon creatures, its utility has grown even further but I'm guessing there's a limit to the types of creatures and the size to what he can conjure up and likely needs to be something he's encountered before. Shame they vanish after a while but I now wonder if there are creatures that detonate themselves in a burst of acid akin to a suicide bomb since it would be handy to have though I suppose being able to cast acid, or pit of acid would defeat the need for it, leaving such a creature being more situational than practical for battle.
Then again, Lex does end up in rather bizarre and life threatening situations quite often so who knows.
11525663 Lex's dispatching Vidrig was horrific by any standard, all the more so given that she apparently can't die from it (though it's worth wondering if she can come back if they eat her completely). Clearly, the viciousness of the aurumvorax that he merged with is affecting Lex in more than just instincts.
As for what Belligerence is and what it does...presumably we'll find out next chapter, though I suspect that one way or the other it's going to be quite potent, since as you noted the name is strongly suggestive of violence and aggression. Given Lex's current disposition, to say nothing of the situation he's in now, that's extremely apt, so hopefully whatever it is will turn the situation in his favor.
11525691 There's absolutely an upside to Lex's having merged with that aurumvorax, as it's made him a physical powerhouse to the point where engaging in melee combat is now a viable option for him, despite being a spellcaster first and foremost. With even a few buff effects, he's able to hold his own against foes that he'd otherwise have some trouble with, and can dish out a lot of damage without needing to deplete his magical reserves. It's not necessarily going to carry him through all sorts of situations, the way it isn't here, but it's enough that he now has a lot more leeway when a fight breaks out.
Of course, there's also the fact that he apparently has some sort of new weapon which he's using now. "Belligerence" is currently undefined, but the name along is very suggestive of it being something designed to bring down devastation on his enemies. Doubtless we'll see how very soon.
As for Vidrig...yeah, what a way to go! Except she hasn't gone, since she'll presumably survive what's happening to her...something which I suspect is even worse than if she was killed by the leeches. As the saying goes, immortality (or in this case, regeneration) can sometimes be more of a curse than a blessing. As for what other living creatures Lex's tulpa can summon, that remains an open question. The thing is still operating under limits, but Lex isn't entirely clear on what they are (having sent Nisha away, he probably won't get any clarifications on that for a while), and there are presumably ethical issues with bringing forth a sapient creature if they wink out of existence a few minutes later. Of course, that depends on whether or not the things it brings forth are summoned or created, so there's a whole lot of issues that Lex will need to sort through.
But that's for later; for now, the fight goes on!