Chapter 182

[Burst Step] wasn’t really supposed to be used for upwards momentum. It wouldn’t be all that effective that way, probably not enough to justify the expenditure of Luke’s stamina in a normal situation, but Luke did not think he could jump forty or fifty feet straight up on his own. Twenty feet was well within his capabilities, but he needed an extra boost for this.

“Jumping in 2, 1, now,” Luke said as he activated the skill and rocketed upwards.

Spectacle kept his balance easily and cleared the remaining distance once gravity took hold of Luke around the half way mark. With his sword leading, he came up level with the seed pod and stabbed at the demon. The blade skittered across the curve of the seed and failed to penetrate, but Spectacle was undeterred and switched targets to the mouth.

He tried to, at least. It turned out not even his agility and skills were good enough to dodge the demon’s tentacles from that close. Within a second of his first attack on the seed, a dozen tentacles slapped down on itself, like some sort of giant hand swatting at a mosquito. Spectacle somehow managed to spin his momentum in a new direction and slip between those tentacles without being touched, but he lost access to the demon’s seed core in the process.

Luke needed to get up there and help, but he didn’t know how. The canyon walls weren’t something he could just casually climb, and there was no way he was going to wriggle through the mass of tentacles flailing malevolently through the air. Maybe if they were just moving randomly, he’d have considered it. But they weren’t. In reality, they were guided by an intelligent mind and were actively chasing down threats. When they didn’t need to burrow through the ground to reach their targets, they were insanely fast, too.

For all that Luke had become accustomed to his superhuman feats of athleticism, Luke had a hard time shifting his thinking to include his capabilities. Moving faster and hitting harder was one thing, but he could do so much more if he only took the time to consider exactly how unlimited his options were compared to what they’d been back on Earth.

No, he couldn’t jump fifty feet straight up, but he didn’t need to. Luke from Earth would take an hour to climb that wall if he could manage it at all. He’d go careful, looking for handhelds, terrified of falling and splitting his skull on the rocks below. Hell, if he was honest with himself, he probably wouldn’t even make an attempt unless there were no other options.

Luke, resident of the world called Aros, was strong enough to rip through stone with his fingers and make his own handholds. His legs had enough power to kick the walls and create spots for him to stand, and he could jump high enough that he’d only have to do it once or twice. The hardest part of climbing the wall would be fending off the demon trying to kill him.

He took an instant to dodge around a trio of tentacles coming for him, dragged his blade through one with a [Power Strike]infused into the swing to ensure it severed the tentacle fully, and then he launched himself at the wall.

Luke hit the stone about twenty feet off the ground hard enough that he drove his free hand and both feet into the stone. It buckled with thunderous cracks, but Luke didn’t take the time to stop and inspect just how solid his holds were. He threw himself straight up, mostly using the strength in his arm since his legs didn’t exactly have room to flex. That was more than enough power to launch him ten feet farther up the side of the canyon, and this time he grabbed hold of a convenient spur of rock and rested his feet against the vertical stone surface.

It was practically a Spider-man pose, except that if he let go, he’d fall to his… well, not death, but maybe a bruise or two if he landed badly. Of far more danger was the tongue-shaped tentacle swooping down on him from above. Luke shoved off from the wall and threw himself another fifteen feet higher, just a bit too short to make it to his target.

He was going to land in the slime-covered knot of tentacles below it unless he did something, and that was exactly where he didn’t want to be. Fortunately, he still had that junk sword and there was a stationary tentacle the seed was using to keep itself stable up in the air nearby. Luke drove the sword in as he passed by, used his momentum to dodge around the edge of the tentacle, and braced himself for a final leap.

His feet slipped despite the rough surface of the tongue-tentacle, but that wouldn’t have been an issue on its own. No, the real problem was that cheap fucking steel couldn’t handle anywhere close to the pressure he was putting on it even when it was in good condition. The blade snapped inside the tentacle, leaving Luke holding a handle with about four inches of sanded down steel sticking out, and he was all of the sudden falling back down to the floor of the canyon.

[Power Strike] worked better when channeled through a mace, but a punch could still get the job done. In this case, it was more of an open-handed swipe, but Luke had the force behind it to tear into the tentacle and rip out a handful of its fibrous innards. His arm was up to the elbow inside the demon, but he’d stopped falling.

“What are you doing?” Spectacle demanded as he slipped by on his way down. Somehow, despite being in a free fall, the man still managed to twist and spin to keep himself safe using nothing but that length of slender black metal. He kicked off a tentacle that came at him from below, intent on smacking him between two other tentacles. It didn’t even look like the man was trying, but he was still avoiding every attack.

“Breaking open that thing,” Luke said. He lunged upwards, half-dragging the tentacle with him before he twisted it to block another tentacle and released his grip. Luke landed on the demon’s mouth, one foot wedged between two tentacles near the lip and the other pressed against the smooth, rubbery green skin.

And then he hammered it with his fists. Over and over again, a dozen times in a second. He sent [Power Strike] after [Power Strike] through his arms and into the seed. For the first time ever, the demon reacted to being injured. A basso scream erupted out of its mouth, setting all of the tentacles to trembling and causing chunks of rock to shake themselves loose from the ceiling and fall.

Something cracked, and a chunk of flesh slipped loose to splatter against the ground. Luke took that as a good sign and focused his efforts there, at least until [Twitch Reflexes] started screaming at him. Before he could react, a tentacle grabbed hold of him and flung him out into the canyon. Pain flashed through Luke’s body for a second before [Life Surge] took care of it.

He climbed back to his feet, took two steps, and staggered as [Life Surge] gave out. “Good timing,” Luke said. No less than six tentacles filled his vision, all coming at him from different angles. “Maybe not.”

The bad news was that Luke wasn’t durable enough to survive being hit by those tentacles without [Life Surge] fortifying him. Oh, he wouldn’t die on the first or second hit, probably not even the tenth, but they would wear him down soon enough. More bad news, he didn’t think he was agile enough to dodge them, even with all his skills helping.

The good news was that the injury he’d dealt the demon counted for something. Many of the tentacles were just flailing around blindly now, with only a handful actively pursuing him. Luke lurched left as one rushed past him like a speeding train, then hopped over another that tried to loop around and strike him from the side. The next two came from directly above, and both punched deep into the stone as he used [Burst Step] to get out from beneath him.

An explosion ripped through the canyon, impossibly loud as it echoed across the stone. It was followed immediately by the deafening thunder of dozens and dozens of tentacles smacking against the ground. There were so many, in fact, that Luke couldn’t even find the seed pod anymore. A few ragged and tattered tentacles hung limply from the stone overhead, but the central seed had been buried in the pile of wet, slimy tentacles.

“Like a meatball hiding in a plate of spaghetti,” Luke said to himself. “God damn I love that woman. Blowing shit up should be a national pastime.”

Luke hurried over to the pile to join Spectacle, who was watching it warily while his hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. He didn’t turn to look at Luke as he approached. “I hate not knowing if it’s dead.”

“Where’d the bomb go?”

“Right into that opening you made when you were pounding on it,” Spectacle told him.

“Hah, nice.”

“You alright?” Spectacle asked.

Luke wasn’t really feeling too steady on his feet, but that was an expected side effect of using [Life Surge]. “As long as that demon doesn’t start moving again, I’m fine.”

As if summoned by his words, something burst out of the pile of tongue-tentacles and hurled itself at the two men. Luke had a brief impression of a sphere of spongy green and purple flesh with hundreds of hair-like strands coming off it in every direction, except that they were only proportionately hair-like. In actuality, each strand was an inch or two thick and he’d be willing to bet they looked like tongues.

It was hard to say because as soon as the demon’s core appeared and attacked, Spectacle activated one of his skills. His sword’s black surface started glowing gold, and some sort of pressure started rolling off him, forcing Luke’s feet to slide back several inches across the stone. Then Spectacle disappeared from next to Luke.

A sound not unlike the tearing of a wet piece of cardboard, only a hundred times louder, filled the air. The fleshy orb split in half and chunks of loose tentacle hair went flying in every direction. A moment later, both halves burst into flames. Spectacle stood on the far side, his sword now black again.

“I believe it is truly dead now,” he said. “Come, we should rejoin your friend and get out of here before anything else shows up.”

“Uh… Yeah.” Luke eyed the two flaming pieces of demon corpse. “Shit, I need to pick up some skills like that.”

They climbed back up to where Zea was waiting. She eyed Spectacle as he walked past, then turned to Luke and said, “You alright?”

“I’ll be fine. Nothing a good night’s sleep can’t fix.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“I’m not fine, but let’s not show any more weakness in front of our new friend than we have to. I’m pretty sure this fight took a lot more out of me than it did out of him and I don’t know how friendly he’s going to be once we’re out of here.”

“As long as he doesn’t attack us… Do you think he will?”

“I don’t think so, but he knows something about my dad. I need to find out more.”

“Tomorrow,” Zea said. “You need to get some rest and some new equipment. We’ve got a nice war chest now, thanks to Gotayi.”

“You two coming?” Spectacle asked from farther down the tunnel.

“You’re sure he doesn’t speak Thalian?” Zea asked.

“It’s not on his status,” Luke told her.

Somehow, she didn’t seem very reassured.