Jake's Story, ch 27

:)


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Swampland was as dark and unfriendly as always, but Jake was actually even more comfortable now.  His new, enhanced senses made him feel like a demigod.  The perpetual twilight hid no secrets from him. His body felt light, his strides strong and sure.

The mysterious predator was on the ridge near where Jake had first arrived in Swampland.  He doubted that its position was a coincidence.  His first semi-permanent hiding place had been near there, too.

Jake slowed as he grew closer.  He was prepared for anything.    But when he topped a peak of the ridge and laid eyes on his target for the first time, he still paused.

“Oh hell there, poppet.  Are you lost?”  The creature smirking at Jake rumbled a chuckle deep within her chest.

“Not exactly,” said Jake.  “I actually came to find you.”

“Oh, that makes me happy, but it means you are foolish indeed, Poppet!”  The beast smirked again, and Jake began slowly descending the hill he was standing on. Jake was wary, never dropping his eyes.

The creature was some sort of sphinx, that was obvious.  It was unlike any sphinx Jake had ever heard of before, though.  Sphinxs were generally described with the head of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon.

This one had the various parts generally the same, but with differences all around.  She had a woman’s face, with big, red glowing eyes.  A flawless pair of human breasts didn’t match with her lined, elderly-looking face.  The nose was cat-like with whiskers.  Big fangs were visible as she spoke.  Her front arms ended in large, human-looking hands, not claws.  Big, dirty-looking black wings came from her back.  Instead of a tuft on her tail, she had a stinger like a scorpion, and her skin was all hairless.  Spikes or spine rose from her back.

“What in the hell are you?” asked Jake.  He noticed as he spoke that his speech had improved tremendously.  Even though his mouth was not really made for human languages, cultivating as far as he had made it easily doable.  He also noticed that the creature he faced had just been growling, her words appearing in his mind.

She chuckled, “I might ask you the same question, Poppet.”  A grin tugged up one side of her face, and her hungry eyes flashed.  “I am a demonic sphinx,mid grade.  Are you impressed?”  She preened and fingered the feathers of one wing.  The strange, coquettish mannerisms coupled with her monstrous appearance and the bloodlust she was exuding were all very disturbing.

Jake thought quickly.  He was stronger now, but definitely not as strong as this thing.  The vampires had feared it, and he could feel a powerful energy.  He could reason a few things.  Her relatively lean frame and more human-looking hands likely meant she was a magic user.  The stains on her fingertips kind of make it look that way, too.  They were a sign of black magic.  Her claws on her feline rear paws were still very functional, though.

The tail was deadly looking, and Jake remembered the claw marks he’d seen in the tunnel he’d been staying in before.  She must have been probing his old hiding place with her backside.

Without moving a muscle, Jake began preparing a basic Demonic Contradiction Wave.  He didn’t want to give away what he was doing, so he used the essence of a penny that he had in his pocket to craft one half of it.

This way he was able to keep it small, and didn’t need to draw from Swampland energy too much.

Back on earth, he hadn’t actually used the Demonic Contradiction Wave much, but it hadn’t been too difficult to form once he’d gotten the hang of it. He could use natural energy from Earth, form it into a container with a bit of compression, and layer it on top of a similar containment system for Jake’s energy. The two conflicted with each other, maybe like antimatter. So with the containment systems ready to break and mix the two elements, it would create a nice little explosion.

But in Swampland, Jake didn’t have ubiquitous, natural, living energy. So he’d learned to improvise.

His old master had told stories about alchemy, and Jake had never really understood them much, but he knew that there was a way to extract the essence from things. It’d taken him a while to figure out how to do something like it, but now he knew how to break down material items in his hand, destroy them and create energy.

Jake knew he wasn’t “refining” anything, which is what his teacher called it when cultivator alchemists broke down plants. Instead, he was just destroying it using raw spiritual force. It could take a while, though, and he could only seem to manage it with small, hand-sized items that he could palm. It also only seemed to work for things that actually belonged to him, and didn’t always have an effect. He’d gone through his entire storage ring to figure out what could be broken down and what couldn’t.

The amount of matter had an effect, too, as did the nature of the item. New pennies might have less “oompf,” but the penny Jake was disintegrating was from the 80’s. It had been carried for a while, had been around the world on Earth, and had a decent amount of power.

Elemental identities seemed to matter as well. Jake was fairly certain that the penny was “Metal,” element. This meant that one half of his Demonic Contradiction Wave would carry a metal element. He wished he’d paid better attention when his master had tried teaching him about elemental affinities. He still couldn’t always predict whether a reaction was going to be weaker or stronger than normal.

Luckily, he had experienced enlightenment after experimenting with extracting energy for a while. Layering two opposing elements was not the only way to make his Demonic Contradiction Waves stronger. The type of energies he used mattered, as did the level of compression he could put on them. Maybe one day in the future, he could use very small amounts of energy under great compression and get massive results. And if he could figure out which elements were the most reactive, and how to draw them, he could really start slinging some power.

He continued slowly, stealthily breaking down energy and harnessing it, building his technique.

“A demonic sphinx? Should I be impressed?” asked Jake.

“Of course! I am called--”  As soon as the creature began speaking again, Jake unleashed the Demonic Contradiction Wave in her face.  This was not an honorable duel, and he was not going to pretend it was.  He was here to kill this thing..

Powerful demons always liked to talk too much.  Probably because they liked to play with their food.

The sphinx screamed in surprise and pain.  Jake didn’t hesitate, he drew his saber and rushed into the fray.  His only goal was the wing.  He needed to keep this fucking thing on the ground.  If she was a magic user and could fly, this fight was going to go nowhere, fast.

At the last minute, the sphinx noticed how close he was and began to turn, her tail spike darting forward, but it was too late.  The Demonic Contradiction Wave had done its job disorienting her, and Jake’s surprise follow up caught her unprepared.  His saber, enhanced by Lunar Dao Polishing, lopped off one of her wings.  He felt a surprising amount of resistance as the blade sheared through the thick muscle and bone, but it did the job.

Jake didn’t wait around, he didn’t even turn to see the damage.  Instead, he immediately flash stepped away.  His caution likely saved his life.  Jagged, crimson lightning erupted all around the sphinx, burning the rock and making the area buzz.  A smell like ozone filled the air.  As the sphinx growled, looking around for him through the smoke, Jake had already begun forming another Demonic Contradict Wave.

“Where are you, Poppet!?”

Jake didn’t answer.  As he brought his hand up, the enraged sphinx moved quickly, bounding at him with incredible speed.  Angry red energy claws had formed on her hands, and her eyes glowed with the same color.  Jake barely managed to fire his attack before the creature was on him.  She was close enough that he was partially caught in the blast before flash stepping away.

Backlash from using Demonic Contradiction Wave had never been a problem before.  For the first time, he wished he could turn off its explosive nature.

The moment he was back in normal time and space, his instincts screamed and Jake listened. He dove away, rolling on the sharp, unforgiving rocks.  Where he’d just been standing erupted in a geyser of crimson energy.

“You nasty little thing!  I’m going to tear you apart and suck your marrow, Poppet!” screeched the sphinx.  She weaved her hands together with trails of magic energy following them.  Something told Jake not to attack again, to be defensive for a moment.

He spun his cultivation base, delivering power to his body, using his new senses to keep track of his surroundings.

Faster than he would have expected possible, a set of bars materialized around him, complete with a roof.  The sphinx gave a nasty smile and leveled one hand.  It didn’t take a genius to figure out she had restricted his movement and was getting ready to launch a magical attack.

Jake briefly considered darting directly through the trap after phasing, but decided not to reveal his relative immunity to magic barriers yet.  He reasoned that the sphinx could feel how he traveled when he flash stepped, even if not exactly where.  He figured it didn’t matter in the long run, because he had no choice but to avoid her next attack.  But if it would probably be better if he didn’t pass directly through her magic just in case she’d be able to sense it.

With a thought, Jake phased out and flash stepped directly into the rocky hillside.  He rejoined physical reality in the tunnel that the sphinx had stalked him at almost a year ago.  Jake briefly wished he was better at Demonic Contradiction Wave attacks, or had better focus.  It’d be nice if he could gather a huge attack beforehand, phase, fire, and retreat.   Maybe in the future, he thought.  For now, he would just have to play this by ear.

He phased and flash stepped back to the battlefield, appearing behind the sphinx.  She didn’t even turn as her tail immediately jabbed at him with the point.  Maybe she’s smelled him, or sensed him.  Either way, her attack was accurate.

Jake blocked with his saber and avoided the blow, but wasn’t able to get the leverage or edge alignment to do any damage in return.  Lunar Dao Polishing was already fading on the blade, too.  Jake renewed the wicked, energy-fueled edge and moved in on the sphinx.

The creature shrieked with hate, her scream a wordless promise of violence.

She was faster than he was, but Jake was no slouch.  He dodged and weaved, slashing and whirling his blade around.  Jake had used a saber for years as an adventurer, and the last year in Swampland had allowed him time to practice wielding a sword as a Silver rank cultivator.  He moved fluidly, staying in motion.  The sphinx grunted in frustration and she attacked with her crimson energy claws, finding nothing but air.

But Jake couldn’t land a hit, either.  He grunted in frustration.  The sphinx was not only incredibly agile for such a large creature, she was also able to stop Jake’s sword cold with the crimson energy protecting her arms and forming claws.

After just a few exchanges, Jake was getting pushed back!  The sphinx slashed again, a big, powerful haymaker, and Jake barely managed to parry the blow.  Suddenly, his opponent turned and attacked with her tail.  It cracked like a whip, and if not for Jake’s new protection field blunting some of the attack, slowing it down, it might have taken his head off.

The end of the creature’s tail slammed into his head, and the tip of the stinger barely missed his face.  Jake dove away and watched with narrowed as the sphinx stumbled. He suddenly realized that the creature was likely unbalanced because of the loss of her wing.  If he hadn’t succeeded with his first, surprise attack, he might already be toast.

Jake flash stepped to a nearby ridge and gritted his teeth, gathering energy.  He leveled his hand and prepared a Demonic Contradiction Wave.  Based on how the attack had hit before, it seemed capable of penetrating her passive defenses to at least hurt her.

He launched the attack and the sphinx growled as red protective energy sprang up.  The barrier activated right before the attack hit and disappeared after it was gone.  This time the Demonic Contradiction Wave didn’t even scratch her.

God damn it, he thought.  The creature’s defensive dome was a low level magic ability being cast with a high degree of mastery.  Jake recognized it.  And in that moment, he began to formulate a plan.

After Jake repositioned, he began charging another Demonic Contradiction Wave.  He had to keep the beast off-balance, buy himself some time to think.

Closing with her again would be foolish. He just wasn’t strong enough.  Living through the first exchange had been due as much to luck as anything else.  Jake’s experience was keeping him alive so far, but this fight was really driving home that most of his time fighting monsters in the past had been as part of a team. Now he was solo.  Nobody could bail him out of this one.  Running away or even finishing the trial might still be an option, but it might not be, either.  He had cut off the sphinx’s wing.  She couldn’t fly anymore.  If he tried to hide, maybe she’d just camp out where he had to go to leave this trial.  And he didn’t know if there was a delay after he touched the stone to end it or not.

Besides, Jake had to do this, had to fight his battle.  So far, all of his major wins in this new life had been through traps, or tricks, or misunderstandings.  And he had a feeling that things back on Earth could get really out of control, really fast.  Now that he had the ability to gain strength, he had to take it.  And there was no better training for combat than fighting.

And if he ran away now, part of him feared he might begin a habit of running away.

He launched his attack, but the sphinx actually located him and retaliated before her shield flared to life.  Her crimson power flared around her hands, and a hail of savage, flaming darts flashed at Jake.

Shit! He thought.  His energy was still committed to launching his attack, so he couldn’t flash step away in time.  He sprang back and to the side in a desperate dodge, trying to get behind a half-exposed boulder.  Two of the fiery darts hit him.  They weren’t completely solid strikes, but penetrated his protection field nonetheless.

Jake snarled in pain.  One magic bolt had taken him in the shoulder.  The other had clipped his side.  Neither wound stopped him from moving properly yet, but if either bolt had hit just a few inches to the side, it might have been a different story.

He flash stepped to another vantage point.  This time he built up a Demonic Contradiction Wave before the sphinx could use her torn attack or charge him, and let fly.  Then he moved locations yet again.  He’d managed to escape and reposition himself unscathed this time, but the wounds he’d sustained hurt like hell.  They were also draining his energy faster.  He whirled his cultivation base, building up power, but his body shunted some of it into stabilizing and healing the damage he’d taken.

Now he knew that his regeneration ability could be a double edged sword.

Reposition, attack.  Reposition, attack.  The sphinx roared in frustration as she kept trying to locate Jake.  He stayed far enough away that she couldn’t rush him, and he managed to evade two more magic thorn attacks she showered him with.  He was lucky she didn’t have a movement technique or better senses.

Each time he attacked, the sphinx blocked it with her red dome shield.  Jake watched carefully to make sure he was right, that it functioned the way he thought.  Finally, he confirmed it.  There was a second, weaker, almost invisible dome that was acting as a triggering mechanism for the shield.  It was like a switch.  This allowed the sphinx to conserve mana between attacks.  It was also a fail safe of sorts.

One of the only downsides with this spell was how the blocking shield grew darker the more damage it stopped, drawing more power to do so.  Jake didn’t think he could actually drain the sphinx of magic power, but there was another way to end this fight.  Hopefully

Jake flash stepped and attacked again, this time with a double Demonic Contradiction Wave.  The sphinx’s red protective dome grew much darker, but was still not quite to the level Jake required.  He needed a more powerful attack, but would need time to make one.

Unfortunately, the sphinx also seemed to have given up trying to close with him.  This was bad.  She must have realized that she had the advantage by waiting him out.  So now she was staying still.  Her protection was working just fine, and the efficiency of the shield was great.  She could wear  Jake down until he was out of gas at this speed or get lucky and hit him solidly with one of her ranged attacks.  He frowned.  If he started building or casting massive attacks, the sphinx’s stationary strategy could change in a heartbeat.  She seemed to be finding him faster now after he repositioned, too.  Ultimately, the sphinx growing calmer meant she was thinking, and smart enemies were the worst enemies.

Jake was starting to feel like the fight was tipping against him.

A momentary wave of despair surged through his body.  This was the strongest enemy he’d ever fought.  The entire Grasshopper Mice team in his past life would have been annihilated in moments.  Jake was only holding on due to his enhanced speed and power, but he was running out of gas quickly.

Hopefully, his half-formed plan would work.  Either way, it was the best idea he had, and the alternative was to lose a war of attrition.

Jake flash stepped to a stony hill and began building a triple layer Demonic Contradiction Wave.  He used elements from batteries, from a sugary soda, the energy of Swampland, and a few other objects from his storage ring to form the mysterious attack.

The process of building the spiritual, layered projectile was much faster now that he’d cultivated higher, but still far too slow.  He needed the sphinx to keep her shield up--it seemed to prevent her from showering him with fiery needles.  Sometimes the solution to problems was to just shoot them.  Jake drew his revolver out of his storage ring and began firing.

The distance was a bit far for a revolver, but the sphinx was a big target, too--twice the size of a hippo.  At least two bullets made contact.  Jake grinned as the creature’s shield flared to life.  The revolver would have been useless against such a powerful monster even without her active shield in place.  Now he was using her own spell against her. Unfortunately, she was quick to figure out that Jake was up to something.  Maybe she could sense that he was gathering more energy than before.  The sphinx made a strange roar and bounded directly toward Jake.  Her shield partially cleared as she was in motion and her eyes widened in glee when she saw Jake staying in one place.  “Let us end this, Poppet!  I am hungry!” she crowed.

Despite the terrifying creature running at him at cheetah-like speed, Jake stood his ground, desperately trying to finalize his triple Demonic Contradiction Wave.  He barely finished it before the sphinx was on top of him.  Without hesitation, he hit her with it from only about ten yards away, more or less point blank range for an explosive attack.

The sphinx was pushed back, her shield flaring a deep red.  Jake was blown off his feet and went rolling away.  The sharp rocks cut him up as he tumbled.

But Jake wasn’t human anymore, and he was already past the peak of what should have been possible with Silver Body Refinement cultivation.  With a surge of motion, he was already back on his feet before the Demonic Contradiction Wave detonated a second time.  Luckily, he was barely far enough away now that most of the toxic explosion missed him, and his personal protection field saved him from the rest of it.

With the second explosion the sphinx wasn’t pushed back, she held firm in one place, but her shield was darkening.  When the third, rapid-fire blast went off, the shield went completely dark and Jake recognized his chance.

He flash stepped to one side, quickly cycled his cultivation base, and flash stepped again directly at the sphinx, right before her shield cleared.  The risky double maneuver could have ruined him, torqued his body or even burnt his meridians if not for his years of experience.  Experience also guided his hand as he attacked.

His sword found the creature’s side and he drove it in with all of his weight behind it, slamming it up to the hilt.  The sphinx made a terrible, warbling, half-human, half-animal-sounding scream.  Her tail whipped forward, trying to eviscerate Jake, but he’d actually slid under the creature’s body, repositioning to her other side while she was in agony and disoriented

He applied Lunar Dao polishing to one of his other sabers from his storage ring and impaled the sphinx’s other side.  The moment the sword had penetrated most of the way, he flash stepped away.

Jake didn’t let up, though.  From his vantage on top of a conical boulder, he began preparing a double Demonic Contradiction Wave.  This one had essence that he’d drawn from a bottle of bleach, as well as energy from Swampland, and even some fire that he gathered from an open flame on the ground.

The sphinx must have sensed the gathering energy, because she took off at a dead sprint.  Great puddles of blood on the ground clearly marked her trail.  Jake’s attack missed and carved a dent out of the rocky landscape, the explosion blowing rock everywhere.

He tsked, but knew the fight was over.  The sphinx had been bleeding from her wing he’d cut the entire battle, and now she was completely impaled by two swords.  His Demonic Contradiction Waves hadn’t done much damage so far, but her energy was draining fast, now.  Jake followed her at a leisurely distance until she started slowing down.

She turned, gasping for air.  Her lungs were filling with blood.  The blood pouring from her wounds had frothy bubbles in it.  The energy and feeling of power she’d been giving off before was almost gone.  She smiled without humor.  “Seems you got lucky, Poppet.”

“Maybe a little,” said Jake.  He spit.  “You aren’t going to be eating me today, though.”

“Never thought it would end like this.”

Jake didn’t bother replying to that, and the sphinx seemed to accept her fate.  She couldn’t run anymore, anyway.  The nightmarish-looking creature closed her eyes and held her head high.

This thing might be evil and distrubing as fuck, but at least it has style, he thought.

Jake’s attack too the powerless sphinx’s head off.  He collapsed onto his butt.

After panting for a moment, he hacked and spit, then said, “Piece of cake.”  His tone wasn’t convincing.

Then he began checking his body for wounds with his hands.  He was wounded and exhausted, physically and spiritually.  His meridians strained.  This was the hardest he’d leaned on his cultivation base since he’d begun his new life.

With a tired sigh, Jake got up and approached the corpse.  He was still cautious, though. After a brief moment to think, he reloaded his revolver and emptied the entire cylinder into the sphinx to make certain she was truly dead.  Sure enough, there was no protection field and each round perforated her tough hide.  Dark blood oozed from the wounds.

When he rounded to the other side of the body, he found exactly what he’d been hoping for--a big, shining monster core.  Unlike the cores he’d gotten from the porcine giants before, this one was compatible with Jake’s planned evolution path.  It was perfect.

But now that he thought about it, the sphinx obviously hadn’t been a giant, which meant she must have eaten them.  That was a disturbing thought.

Jake managed a weary, but triumphant smile and phased, then flash stepped into a protected chamber he’d carved into the rock below.  He planned to use his new monster core to cultivate forward.  Cultivating would speed up his natural recovery, and maybe he could reach the 12th rank of Silver.  Going past the 10th rank shouldn’t have been possible in the first place.  He was curious what would happen, now, though.  This was all uncharted territory.

The moment he was situated in his protected chamber, circle drawn, spirit calmed, he began to cultivate.

***

A week later, Jake felt himself reach a bottleneck in his cultivation.  The sphinx core had been many times more potent than any other core he’d ever cultivated before.  He’d somehow reached the very peak of the 13 rank of Silver... ...and blew right through it.  This time, unlike before, he felt pain.  The world around him swirled and howled, like Jake had become a vacuum.  Energy created a vortex around his body, the very stone of his underground chamber seemed to turn to dust and rush toward him.

He felt more flashing from the sky, just like last time, and this time he knew it was not his imagination.  The ground rumbled as lightning crashed into the stone overhead.  Jake was protected, though.  He ignored it.

His soul felt like it was ripping and tearing, then healing, and starting all over again.  It spread through his body, the sensation was bizarre, like his body belonged to him completely now, like he’d just been renting it before.

Finally, all of the pain and the air rushing around him ceased.  The sudden silence coincided with a spiritual stillness around Jake, like the universe was holding its breath.

When he stood, he felt like he’d been reborn.  He was a new, Gold rank Body Refinement cultivator with a foundation of thirteen ranks of Silver, the stage of flesh.

He was proud, but also slightly worried.  Now he knew what the flashing he’d felt had meant.  Tribulation lightning.  He’d remembered something his master had said long ago, something about how the heavens would punish those who broke the natural laws, or violated nature using Daoism.

Jake phased and flash stepped back to the surface.  He spared a glance for the burned, broken ground where the tribulation lightning had hit, then dismissed it.  No use worrying about it yet.

He flexed his hand, admiring the new strength he felt throughout his body.  His protection field was thicker, more substantial.  Something told him that his regeneration ability was many times stronger now, too.

With a sudden flash of inspiration, Jake gathered energy and delivered a simple Demonic Contradiction Wave at a boulder in the distance.  Not only was it easier, quicker to form the attack, it landed with more power, too.

“Wow,” he said.  Then he grinned.

Jake stretched as he walked towards the extraction point.  This trial had nothing left for him, and he was ready to face the next one.

It was too early to get cocky about anything, but now he was sure that some random guys with guns back in Georgia were not going to be a problem anymore.