Soulweaver 6: Cosmotops The Resplendent

I backed slowly away from the triceratops that occupied the entire tunnel. The crazy dinosaur was weird enough, but the immaculate white tuxedo it wore just made the scene even zanier.

“Ola, Greg!” the beast said in Cosmo’s upbeat voice.

“I have so many questions…” I replied, eyes glazing over.

“Ask, and I shall maybe answer!”

“Uh, for starters… Why are you a triceratops?”

The sight was so ridiculous, so out of place in this life-and-death dungeon, that my mind struggled to make sense of the situation.

“Greg, that is not the question you ought to be asking.”

My eyes narrowed. “Oh yeah? What should I be asking, then?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Cosmo declared. “Why not a triceratops? And not just any triceratops, my friend. I am Cosmotops the Resplendent! Behold my Late Cretacious glory.”

Yep. That’s Cosmo, alright.

“Mind changing back to your human form? It’s kinda distracting to chat like this,” I said. “Also, you’re blocking my exit.”

Cosmo’s body took up so much space, it filled the entire passage. Which made it impossible for him to move. And for anything to pass by.

Incidentally, the triceratops didn’t have a green health overlay wrapping its body like the troll did. I suspected Cosmo was actually invincible.

“But… it’s so cool!” Cosmo said, looking at me with pleading dinosaur eyes. “Alright. Fine.”

With a poof, the god transformed back to his slick silver-haired suit-wearing visage.

“So! How’ve you been?”

“Oh, y’know. Just fighting for my life. Nearly dying over and over. No big deal,” I said in the most deadpan voice I could muster, but there was no masking the nerves in my voice.

Reality had set in, and even now, the adrenaline pumped through my veins.

“Glad to hear it!” Cosmo said, giving me a toothy smile and a thumbs up.

“I was joking, Cosmo,” I said, deadpan. “Does it look like I’m doing well? This place is a death sentence!”

“Well, you did choose that penalty.”

“Right,” I said, relaxing despite myself. “Wait, does this mean you can just pop up whenever you like?”

“Of course! I was the one who brought you here, wasn’t I? Gotta make sure you’re alright.”

I hesitated, surprised at his sudden consideration. Then again, this was Cosmo we were talking about. I supposed anything was possible with him.

“So, since you’re here, you’re saying you’ll lend me a hand?”

“Absolutely!”

“Seriously?” I asked. “That’s actually incredibly helpful.”

This changed everything. With his triceratops form at my disposal, even ramming enemies would do significant damage.

“Alright! So there’s this troll I—”

Cosmo teleported up to me and rested his hand on my shoulder. “Say no more, friend. You shall have all the moral support you could ever ask for!”

I blinked, staring at his sparkling gray eyes.

My energy just seemed to bleed right out of me. My shoulders sagged. “I was stupid to hope.”

Just then, the notifications that had minimized from my earlier battle popped up, giving me a welcome reprieve.

Congratulations! Blessing [Initializer] has leveled up to Foundation - 2. Max Essence has increased from 20 to 30. Essence Utilization: 14/30.

Congratulations! [Obsidian Bone Club]’s ability [Scarborne] has leveled up to Foundation - 1.

Well, that was a welcome upgrade. My Essence was steadily gaining—as was my bestowed cost, but that was easy enough to solve. The vast majority of my bestowed items were pet rocks, after all. Rocks that were bulging out of my pockets, which made me long for a backpack of some kind. Or a dimensional space, like a Bag of Holding—that’d be nice.

As expected, my stats hadn’t gone up at all. With my obsidian weapons and low Vigor stat, I was a glass cannon if there ever was one.

Still, it was great to see my club’s [Scarborne] ability improve. By the time it achieved F - 9, I’d be doing some serious damage. Assuming it lasted that long, of course. The one strike I’d landed on the troll had dropped the condition by one, and smashing those skulls had dropped it another three, despite favoring my rocks whenever I could. The level up restored two points, bringing its condition to 14/15.

Unless I found some way to repair it—an unlikely proposition while I was in the dungeon—I’d have to be very careful about where I used it.

“Well? Happy with your choice of Blessing?” Cosmo asked, frowning at the ground, as if searching for something.

“What?” I asked.

“This place is dirty. I need a chair.”

“No chairs, but there are a ton of rocks,” I said, plopping my butt on the ground.

Cosmo shrugged, then snapped. A nearby boulder liquified and reformed before my very eyes, turning into a pristine black chair.

Cosmo settled in comfortably, crossing his legs..

“Too early to tell,” I said, not even beginning to fathom how he managed that feat. I knew I shouldn’t be surprised after seeing him send me to a new world, but seeing alchemy unfold before my very eyes took some getting used to.

“It’s still pitifully weak,” I said, “but I do see its potential. It all depends on whether I make it out of here alive.”

“Ah, you will. Don’t worry about that,” Cosmo said.

“Thanks. It’s reassuring to have a god think so.”

“Oh, I just said that to cheer you up. Don’t read too much into it.”

“Right.” Even so, his words were oddly reassuring. “To be honest, I’m happy to see you.”

Cosmo wasn’t the first person I wanted to see, but he was a whole lot better than another monster, at least.

“Aww! That is so sweet of you to say!” Cosmo replied, cupping his cheeks in his hands and tilting his head. “Greg, as I said. I’m here for you in your times of need.”

“Sure, you’re here to chat.”

“And is that not useful?” he asked. “You were nearly collapsing from the stress when I arrived. Now look at you. Shooting the breeze with a living deity.”

I snorted. “Some deity.”

Still, while Cosmo wouldn’t help out in battle, it was nice knowing I wasn’t alone in this place.

I fully understood just how absurd I sounded chatting casually with someone who was supposed to be a god. But, well, I was in another world. Apparently. The reality was only just starting to sink in.

“Well, I’d better get back to it,” I said, standing up. “This was… nice.”

Cosmo beamed up at me. “Anytime, buddy. Anytime!”

Then, with a wink and a flash of light, he disappeared, leaving me alone once again.

But that was alright. I’d leveled up. I’d reset my mind. And I was ready to delve again.

Let’s crack some more skulls.

— —

A few hours later, I’d dispatched about two-dozen skulls and leveled my club’s [Scarborne] ability to F - 2 and my Blessing to F - 3, bringing my Essence pool up to 40. While I knew the pace wouldn’t last—early levels always went fast—the rush still felt great.

The more skulls I took down, the better I got at ambushing them. It was really all about luring them into corners to bash them, before retreating to another corner. I’d only had a single close call when I rounded a bend into another group of skulls, but other than that, I felt like I had the killing down to a science.

There was just one issue, and it was the main reason I’d stopped. My club’s condition was down to 10/15. Not terrible, but if every strike against the troll took one away, the obsidian bone might very well crumble before the troll did. The recent levelup had restored 2 points, just like the previous level, so I’d have to hope it leveled fast enough to counter the damage.

No, I had to be smarter about fighting that thing. Even assuming I could wear it down eventually, the danger of getting pulverized in the process was just too great. It’d take only a single strike or a stomp to end me.

Which meant I had to play to my strengths—and the enemy’s weaknesses. I’d have to use my glass cannon abilities to their fullest.

I circled back to the obsidian troll’s cavern. The creature was currently snoozing, which might’ve presented an opportunity to steal the sword and armor from under its nose… if it weren’t snoring right next to the stuff.

There wasn’t any other choice; I needed to take the thing down. Risky, but if it worked, the rewards would be spectacular.

The problem was, nothing in my arsenal had a chance in hell of hurting that thing. I’d already seen what my bone did to it, and it wasn’t anything to write home about. Obsidian on obsidian was never going to end well.

Maybe if I take out its eyes… Eyes were usually a weak point, and its glowing red ones made good targets. Still, while I’d had some practice against the skulls, I couldn’t reliably hit such small, moving targets, and I didn’t know if a direct rock strike would do much damage.

Think, Greg. What else can you use?

I looked around the dark, wide cavern. There were plenty of rocks and obsidian, but not much of anything else.

Well, no. There was moss. A ton of it, covering the cavern’s tall ceiling. Other than illuminating the place, though, it did me little good.

Yet something made my eyes linger on the ceiling for a moment. It felt… off, somehow.

For one, it wasn’t flat and smooth. Instead, dozens of ovaloid bulges protruded from it. Like stalactites, except made of rock instead of minerals.

They ended in sharp pointy cones at the bottom, but unlike stalactites, they were ovaloid and clung to the ceiling at their narrowest point. As if someone had stuck two cones together back to back. All of them were covered in glowing moss.

I looked down at the ground, and now I knew why there were so many rocks strewn around. They’d fallen off over time.

No way. It couldn’t be that simple, could it?

An age-old boss fighting tactic came to mind.

Awww yes. Let’s do it!

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