Shaking his head, no time for theatrics, Gale. Two of these guys are Defiled level. That last one shook you up real bad. Can't go playing around in his head trying to think of ways to delay the inevitable of trying his best to murder them. They were humans too, that was for sure. That last one even talked to him even though he didn't ask anything.
Gale stretched his neck up. From here all the way to the top, it's still one hell of a climb. The stalkers up there could shoot at him as he climbed. That'd be a bad situation to be in. He'll be a sitting duck.
Guide, any ideas on how to un-disadvantage myself? Gale mouthed to himself, unsure whether that sentence even made sense.
[Host is recommended to utilize Weber Balista. Host currently has no understanding of switching essence type on Weber Balista. It is stuck on Phase type essence.]
[Phase type essence loaded into Weber Balista disintegrates matter upon contact. Projectile may be fired through solid obstacles. Use Breath of the Void to locate targets behind obstacles precisely. Stone walls of temple are a non-factor on bullet trajectory.]
Great idea. See through walls to snipe one of those stalker freaks. Gale could've thought of that himself. Actually, that's exactly what he was thinking. Definitely was thinking that all along. Didn't need no Guide to tell him what to do. Stupid Guide.
Weber Balista materialized in his hands. Its receiver had a familiar weight to it that was definitely not comforting. Dad always made fun of him whenever he used bows. Range wasn't his strongest suit. Aiming a bullet took too much brain power. A sword or a spear needed him to just move his body, much easier at least for him.
Looking up at the temple, it forced him to crane his neck up. The tiny room at the top of the temple served something like a watchtower. Massive stone blocks formed the base where fleshy growths snaked around and pulsed.
Breath of the Void's tendrils shot outwards, passing through the solid stone of the temple. The tendrils soon made contact inside the room. Two cloaked figures waited in complete silence, not that they could talk. They literally even used sign language to communicate with each other.
One stood directly by the door, rifle raised, aimed, and ready to fire at any time should Gale enter. The second figure had its back pressed against the wall by the door. Its rifle strapped on its shoulder while it held its sidearm pistol towards the door, also aimed and ready to fire.
Gale lifted up Weber Balista to point it at the one pressing his back against the wall. He aimed, thinking of where to shoot. He lined up the crosshair to the head.
Breathe in. Hold. Squeeze.
The weapon discharged with a quiet thwip. A dark green ray punched through stone and air, burning a hole clean through the temple wall. The beam struck the cloaked figure, but not where Gale intended. Instead of the head, it tore through the figure's right lung.
Shit, Gale cursed inwardly. Dad would probably nag him the whole night for missing twice now on easy shots.
The wounded figure staggered but didn't fall. Dark green blood oozed from its chest, staining the stone floor dark green. The door flew open as the second stalker burst out, rifle already firing. Bullets rained down from above, kicking up dust and stone chips around Gale's feet.
Gale sprinted sideways. Bullets whistled past his ears. He raised Weber Balista and fired blindly upward. The green beam disappeared into wherever this sector's ceiling was, missing completely.
Fuck.
He rounded the corner and pressed his back against the wall to get out of the line of sight. Tendrils tracked the positions of the two stalkers.
What he saw made no sense. The second stalker had hoisted its injured comrade onto its shoulder. They weren't waiting for him to come to them. And if what he saw was correct, they were about to run for it.
Both figures burst from the watchtower door. In one jump, the second cloaked figure floated above heading to the southwestern temple.
"What the fuck?!" Gale shouted.
He pushed away from the wall, tracking their path with his Breath. They were heading straight for the elevator.
Gale sprinted forward. Leg slammed down onto the stone below him sent him flying across the air to where the cloaked figures had landed.
Air crackled. Hairs on his arms stood up. Electricity tickled his skin.
Another psionic wave.
Gale twisted his body. The invisible psionic force tore past him, missing by centimetres. Stone exploded behind him where it struck.
Weber Balista dematerialized from his left hand. Weber blade materialized in his right hand. Essence pathways lit up. Reflection activated. Weber swung in a wild arc towards the second stalker.
It dodged, dropping the injured one. The injured stalker hit the stone as its pistol came up, firing wildly.
Bullets whistled past Gale's ear. One grazed his shoulder, slicing through fabric.
The second stalker floated backward, rifle aimed. Gale chased forward, closing the gap.
That was apparently the wrong move.
From above, he saw the psionic blast slam down from above. The force crushed him into the steps of the pyramid. His face bounced off stone. Blood filled his mouth. If he'd been a mundane, his teeth would be scattered across the steps.
Gale slapped his palm against the stone. The impact launched him upward. Weber slashed four times in rapid succession, all aimed at the general direction of the second stalker. Four reflections shot toward the second stalker.
Three missed. The fourth caught its thigh, cutting deep. Dark green fluid sprayed from the wound.
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Another psionic wave raced toward him. Gale rolled sideways. The blast pulverized stone where he'd been standing, sending up debris into the air.
Suddenly, a blue outline appeared around his body. It felt like the world's weight was on him, making him move sluggishly like he was pushing through wet sand.
The injured stalker had its hand raised toward him. Its fingers twitched, controlling Gale's movements.
Weber Balista materialized in his left hand. His whole body felt heavy, and his hand felt like it was lifting up a heavy car. He aimed at the injured stalker's head.
Squeeze.
The green beam punched through its skull. The body slumped. The blue outline around Gale vanished.
Breath of the Void tugged from the direction of the second stalker. Shockwave bullet incoming.
Weber Balista dematerialized. Weber blade swung forwards, flat of the blade up to block.
The round struck, launching Gale backward. His body tumbled down the stone steps, bouncing painfully against each one.
The stalker turned and ran, flowing across the temple grounds toward the elevator shaft.
Gale's body rolled to a stop at the base of the pyramid. He pushed himself up, blood trickling from his nose.
Time to do something he hadn't done in a long ass time.
Alter activated. Weber elongated into the shape of a spear. Alter activated again. Weber shortened, compressing.
Gale aimed at the fleeing figure's back. Alter released.
The stored kinetic energy caused Gale to recoil backwards, and Weber shot forward like a rocket. The spear struck through, punching the last stalker through the back, into its stomach, and out the front.
The cloaked figure stumbled, momentum carrying it forward. It rolled down the steps of the pyramid.
Gale was already in the air. Knee aimed at the second stalker's head as it rolled to a stop.
Crunch.
That was all Gale heard when his knee met the second stalker's head. Dark green fluid painted all over the stone floor and fleshy growths.
[Defiled Stalker felled.]
[Defiled Stalker felled.]
[Extracting Origin from Preys…]
[Origin Grains: 24]
[Reward: 20 points]
Gale yanked Weber from the corpse. The blade dripped with green fluid. He flicked it clean and it dematerialized back into storage.
His body ached everywhere. Breathing hurt. That last psionic blast had done more damage than he wanted to admit. Every breath sent spikes of pain through his chest.
"Fuck," he spat blood onto the stone.
Ten down. Zero to go. The dark hunter had hunted all the living beings to be hunted in this sector. Time to get that fragment.
He pulled out his phone and tapped the push-to-talk button. "Erin, all hostiles are down. I'm heading to the central temple now."
"Your efficiency pleases me," Erin's voice crackled through the phone speaker. "The fragment awaits within. Make haste, we do not know whether the fallen has called for comrades."
Gale limped past the fallen headless stalker. Grabbing his side, pain shot through from when he hit the stone steps of the pyramids. The adrenaline had faded, no longer numbing the pain from getting beaten up by those stalkers.
Looking behind him, he saw the middle temple standing as gracefully as it could with all the fleshy shit and veins that were all around it. It dwarfed all of the other temples combined. If the stalkers had perched at the top of that temple, it looked like it would take at least half an hour to climb to the top.
While the other temples had resembled hills, this one was a goddamn mountain. He couldn't even see its top, hidden by actual clouds that somehow existed in this enclosed sector. That was probably why the stalkers didn't bother using that as an outpost. No one in their right mind would make that trek just to stand on guard.
As Gale started walking, pain lanced through his ribs. It was probably fractured.
Pulling up Vianne's Express Amazing store, he quickly scrolled to the Vit Vial. He put one in the cart for 100 points and pressed Y on the purchase. The Vit Vial immediately materialized on his palm, somehow, the liquid in this one looked thicker. Must be just his imagination.
Bottoms up, Gale thought as he removed the glass lid and tipped the contents of the Vial into his mouth.
The liquid hit his tongue and Gale nearly gagged. Tomato. And it wasn't just any tomato. It was overripe, mushy tomato that had been sitting in the sun too long. His face scrunched up as he forced himself to swallow.
"Goddammit, Vianne," he coughed, "why is even the Vit Vial also a gamble?!"
Warmth spread from his stomach outward into his heart and then spine, and then back to where he'd been injured the most. His ribs felt heat, bones popping into place, and then the heat faded. Moving around, Gale could no longer feel the flaring pain or soreness from anywhere in his body. Despite the disgusting flavour, the effect was immediate.
He turned his attention back to the temple. At the base stood a stone door bigger than any he'd seen before. It rose at least thirty feet high, carved from a single piece of stone. The problem wasn't its size, though, it was what covered it. Thick veins pulsed across the surface, throbbing with that disgusting pulsing rhythm he'd seen throughout the sector. Fleshy growths clustered around the edges, seeping fluid that pooled at the base.
Gale stepped closer, keeping a safe distance from the oozing mess. The smell was like shit and piss mixed together, as if this thing was a body that just digested something.
There was no way he was touching that thing. He needed to find another way in. Pulling up his phone, he pushed the PTT button. "Erin, I'm at the central temple, but the door's covered in... flesh stuff. How do I get in without touching it?"
Her voice crackled through almost immediately. "Must I explain even the most rudimentary solutions to you? Use your phase ability and proceed through the barrier. Make haste. Time grows short."
Gale rolled his eyes. "Right. Of course. My bad for asking a simple question."
He pocketed the phone and took a deep breath. The rule of the wild was simple: don't touch wet things that smell like shit. Dad had drilled that into his head since he was old enough to walk. This place made that rule even more relevant especially because he didn't want to touch it at all.
Phase Touch activated. His whole body turned into its phased state. The world took on that familiar hazy quality, like he was looking through frosted glass. He stepped forward, passing through the stone and flesh without resistance, feeling nothing but a slight cold sensation.
Once through, Phase Touch deactivated as he found himself in a vast chamber. The ceiling stretched so high he couldn't see where it ended, disappearing into shadows. Stone columns lined the walls, each carved with intricate symbols that reminded him of the etching patterns on the metal throughout Harmony sector.
Gale turned in a slow circle, looking for anything resembling an owl. Nothing. Just empty space and more stone.
He pulled out his phone again. "Erin, I don't see any owl in here. Where am I supposed to look?"
"This temple has four levels," Erin said. "Vianne's fragment resides on the third level. Proceed upward."
Third? That was oddly specific. Might as well ask now that he had free time.
"Why is Vianne specifically on the third level? Is there something special about that?"
"Vianne is always referred to as the Third Ancient. That is her designation within the hierarchy," Erin said.
"So who's first, second, and fourth then?" Gale asked.
"The First is Aurumn," Erin said. "The Second is Asain. The Fourth is Cev. Now cease this small talk. Time grows short and our objectives remain unfulfilled."
"Wait, was that considered small talk?"
"According to your human Communications 101 articles, yes, this would be classified as 'small talk,'" Erin said. "A social lubricant with no functional purpose. Proceed to your objective."
Gale grumbled. "Fine."
He shoved the phone back into his pocket. I'll show you small talk. Hi, how are you? I'm doing good. Thank you for asking. I'm not doing good as two cloaked humans just made my whole body feel like a smashed burger. Gale audibly grumbled again.
Walking forward, the space opened into a wide corridor, its walls lined with more of those intricate patterns and symbols. At the end stood a statue of a woman wrapped in flames, praying with closed eyes. Despite being consumed by fire, she smiled almost joyfully, as if she were the flame itself rather than its victim.
As Gale approached, the ring on his finger grew hot. A thread of light shot from it, connecting to the ring on the burning woman's stone hand, where a similar ring was. The connection pulsed once, twice, then stabilized.
[Aurumn's Warmth activated. Regeneration rate increased by 5x for 120 days.]
"Well, that's neat," Gale said, flexing his fingers as the heat in his ring subsided to a pleasant warmth.
The statue shuddered, stone grinding against stone. It slid sideways, revealing a staircase that spiralled upward into darkness.
Gale stared at the steps with a sigh. For an advanced civilization, why a staircase now? This was the first time he'd seen such a structure in this whole tomb since the residential buildings in the Harmony sector where the group slept.
He started climbing, each step taking him farther from the chamber below. The staircase wound tightly, forcing him to turn constantly. At least there weren't any hostiles anymore.