Apocalypse Cultivation 2, ch 13

Again, the editing is going to suck here.  Please bear with me :)

I've bene busy as hell this month and I am excited about the story.

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The meeting with Rishlay had gone well.  Now that Jake was sure that his plan would work, there was no reason to put it off any longer.  The crow had just left less than a minute ago.

Jake phased through the rock of his little hidey hole and wondered again whether it would really be wise to change his monster species.  Being a shadow ghoul was already convenient and powerful.  However, his cultivator instincts were not his only resources.  Jake’s mage training and what he knew about the murim world now all pointed to the fact that evolving would make his breakthrough into a completed, reforged body more powerful.

The fact he’d managed to surpass the limits of the silver stage of Body Refinement already meant his reforged body would likely be unique.  If his body wasn’t technically human when it happened, he might get even more benefits.

After all, monster, demon beasts, and sacred animals in the Murim world were generally stronger pound-for-pound than cultivators.  Logically, Jake might end up with a great foundation for the future.  Of course, he might end up turning into a gibbering, brainless zombie-thing, but that was not super likely.

He moved to the tunnel entrances of the last two unconquered biomes.  None of the creatures in any of the biomes could move far past their tunnel entrance.  This fact had saved Jake’s life in the past.  He knew from experience that one tunnel entrance led to a den of shadow creatures that he had zero chance against.  But the other one had reptilian creatures, that, while at least as powerful as the shadows, had weaknesses that Jake could exploit.

Jake erased his presence, becoming one with the stone floor.  Then he moved past the tunnel entrance and entered a pool of shadow, becoming one with the darkness.

The skills he’d been developing back in the Web Burrows had begun to mature in the labyrinth.  Jake’s nature as a shadow ghoul and his connection with Morrigan helped too, he was sure.

He crept forward, moving with the air currents, not fighting any of the five elements.  Jake made his way down the stony tunnel and out into a massive cavern, keeping his presence hidden the entire time.  This deep into this dungeon, if the lizard creatures discovered him, he’d be dead for sure.  He’d watched two of them fight each other before, not even seriously.  They’d just been playing, or maybe sparring, and their blows had still effortlessly destroyed stone.

And the stone in the labyrinth was even stronger than the stuff he’d encountered back back in the mountain forest outside Master Zi’s cabin.  He wasn’t sure how strong they actually were, but his senses were sophisticated enough now to be sure he would almost instantly die if any of them became aware of his presence.

Jake’s plan was simple.  Basically there were two dungeons left that he hadn’t cleared and wouldn’t be able to.  Nothing he had in his storage ring could help him through it.  No amount of planning or trickery could kill any of the enemies in the last two tunnels.

If he’d been creeping like this through the other dungeon, this deep in, he’d be screwed.  That place was populated by terrifying, arachnid monsters that seemed birthed from the power of primordial darkness.  The area itself was completely devoid of light, too.  There were no shadows for Jake to hide in there, and the one time he’d stepped foot into the creepy tunnel, he’d almost been cut to ribbons.

Only Jake’s mastery of flash step and the invisible tunnel boundary had saved him.  The multi-armed thing that had almost taken him out hadn’t been able to follow him far.  After that, he’d been doubly cautious and took extra time outside the last two thresholds, using various techniques to learn more about his remaining enemies.

As it turned out, Jake learned that both groups groups of creatures could almost effortlessly kill him if they ever got ahold of him.  On top of that, the spider things had been busy after that first encounter.  Now there were thin strands of silk in the tunnel, disappearing past where Jake could see.

For almost a Week, Jake had seriously wondered if he should just throw in the towel, go through one of the doors he’d cleared before.  It’d be easy.  But he’d decided not to, decided to stick it out.

After all, he had a lot of time to burn in the Murim world.  What was one or two more years in this challenge portal.

Of the last two dungeons, he was actually currently in the one with the strongest monsters, at least according to his fledgling senses.  Luckily, the creature had never been able to detect him while he hid in the shadows, though.  He couldn’t directly fight any of them, couldn’t conqueror the dungeon, but he thought there might still be a way to, “win.”  Jake believed there might be a sneaky loophole.

He’d gotten the idea from Ender’s Game, a science fiction book he’d read in high school.  Just like Ender Wiggin in the book, Jake knew he had to stay focused on his goal, not get distracted by other matters.  And at the end of the day, his mission was to pass through a door, not kill everything that moved.

Jake crept closer to the end of the dungeon, skillfully avoiding the few lizard people.  They stomped around, oblivious to Jake’s presence.  The very air seemed to warp around them.  Their power beat on the air, but Jake was able to keep moving.  At times, moving was almost like wading through a pool, but he endured.

Now that he was actually executing his plan, he thought it was going a little too smoothly.  After spending over a year in this labyrinth, the ease that he was passing through this area felt almost a little anti-climactic.  Jake wondered what the hell was going to happen when he reached the end of the dungeon, got to the door, and called Morrigan like he was planning.

Hopefully he wouldn’t be ripped apart immediately.  He was planning on jumping through the door the moment any of the lizard things started to move.  They were so fast, that was likely all the time he’d get to escape.

The tunnel Jake was following eventually opened up.  He paused to take it all in..

The last chamber was huge, practically three times the size of a football stadium with buildings that looked like temples built into the walls.  There were lizard creatures everywhere, with a truly massive one hissing and snapping at attendants while it sat on a throne near the rear wall.  Jake didn’t spot the exit door at first so he crept around the edges.

The boss was a commanding presence, so much so that Jake had a hard time not staring.  It was of indeterminate gender, would likely stand around 20 feet tall, and wore small pieces of armor just like most of its kin.  However, unlike the other lizards, this one was armed.  A massive sword with a profound aura leaned against the throne it was sitting on.

Jake swallowed and devoted most of his attention on the shadows, becoming part of them, using them like a cloak as he moved from corner to corner.  His progress was slow but steady.

Staying hidden was a difficult, nerve-wracking experience.  If any of the lizard things spotted him at this point, it would be death for sure.  All the flash steps in the world wouldn’t save him.  He was under no illusions about his chances of running away.  These monster could move unbelievably fast.  On top of that, his senses were screaming at him that he was currently surrounded by doom.  He couldn’t even look at the big one in the center.  It might be able to feel Jake’s reflexive fear response, or he might lose focus on his concealment ability.  The creatures in this area were definitely far above his weight class.

Luckily, after traversing most of the room, he spotted what was likely the exit door.  It was behind the boss’s throne.  Figures, he thought.

When he was almost there, he noticed one of the lizard monsters acting differently from the others.  It was sniffing the ground, looking around…and it was slowly following the path Jake had taken around the perimeter of the huge cavern.

Jake stopped for a minute, calming his nerves.  This was no time to lose his cool.  With that in mind, he actually slowed down his advance.  Slow is smooth, smooth is fast, he reminded himself.  Making mistakes now after getting stressed out would be a death sentence.  When the stakes are high and danger levels ramp up, sometimes it was important to actually be more deliberate, more careful.

He cautiously continued forward, keeping a careful eye on the creature following him, but also paying attention to everything around him.

Just like every other dungeon of creatures he’d wiped out, these ones seemed to have their own society in place that functioned whether Jake was here or not.  He still carefully checked the area for any potential traps or complications, though.  The monsters in this place could be trusted to kill him on sight, and the Faceted could always be counted on to adhere to the letter of the rules, but not the spirit.

This close to the boss of the dungeon, it felt like gravity was several times normal.  The sensation went past the physical and was hard for Jake to describe.  He’d felt it before, but never quite like this.

Finally, he made it before the exit door.  All the lizard people behind him continued carrying on with their business like they had before with the exception of the one that had been following him.  It was still far enough away that Jake figured he’d made it with time to spare.

It was exactly the moment that thought crossed his mind that the damn thing suddenly lifted its head from where it’d been sniffing the ground and made a loud chuffing sound.

Just like that, all activity in the area stopped.  Every lizard creature looked at the chuffer, then turned to stare at the boss and stood stock still.

Okay, this is bad, thought Jake.  Whatever time he thought he’d had just vanished faster than teens at a house party after the cops show up.

He opened the Eternal Struggle reward system.  As Jake scrolled on his sponsor page, trying to find the button that would let him call Morrigan, he felt something…awful. The sensation was like walking through  waterfall of freezing cold water and being pricked by a thousand needles all at once.

Somehow, he knew he’d just been scanned by the lizard boss’s spiritual senses.  The thing still hadn’t completely pinpointed his location or Jake had a feeling he’d already be dead, but it’d come close.

With one smooth motion, all carefully controlled violence, the boss jumped off its throne.  The creature’s nostrils flared.  Its scales changed from the vibrant, eye catching colors it’d displayed before, all transitioning to dark blue, then black.

Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go, thought Jake.  He finally found the button he needed to call Morrigan and hit it just in time.

Behind him, the boss lizard screeched right as Jake felt himself sucked into nothingness.  Just catching the tiniest part of that ki-infused scream had been enough to make Jake feel like his head was about to explode.

He felt glad he’d escaped, but he would still need to leave the room when he got back.

The thought was soberting, but Jake vowed to cross that bridge when e came to it.  For now, he had to put his game face on.

***

When Jake’s consciousness returned, he found himself in a familiar area.  This was the twilight world that he’d cut a deal with Morrigan in.

He turned, not surprised to find The Morrigan sitting on plain wooden chair.  Power and majesty radiated off the goddess herself, and seemed to underline the fact she was using such a humble seat.  Dark vines from the ground had begun to curl around the chair’s legs.  

It had been over ten years since he last saw her, but standing in front of her again it felt like no time had passed at all.  Jake didn’t know how to react so he just stood still.

Morrigan wore a corset over a cream-colored blouse.  Her matching skirt had symbols sewn into it.  Her hair sported giant metal needles to keep it in place.

“Rishlay told me that you wanted to talk to me.”

“That’s true.  May I have a chair too, Lady?” asked Jake.  This might take a little while.”