Chapter 77 – The King in the Deep

Luke wrung out his cloak while Jimmy looked nervously at him. The pool of water shimmered nearby, casting odd shadows on the cavern walls.

At least it was clean water, Luke thought.

Jimmy edged back toward the water. “This is as far as I can take you. I can feel the King’s Authority from here. You should have no problem finding him.”

Luke nodded and reached into one of his pockets, pulling out a small packet with a tiny lump in it. He had been saving for just such an occasion.

“It’s time to go all out,” he decided. “Full commit. Hold nothing back.”

“Luke?” Jimmy said, sliding beneath the water up to his chin.

Luke turned around, the packet still in his fingers. “What is it?”

“Sorry about trying to kill you earlier.”

“Water under the bridge,” Luke told him.

Jimmy’s bloated eyes squinted. “I suppose I deserve that. Good luck.” He sank below the water without so much as a ripple.

Luke chuckled. He popped the spherical pill out of the packet and stared at the golden thing. It hardly looked like the impressive item he had assumed it to be.

[Golden Ginger Pill (Epic)]

(Consumable)

A tiny golden pill the size of a pea. This rare empowering medicine significantly increases your HP, MP, and SP regeneration rates for 24 hours.

Luke instilled the defensive runes he had set on his armor earlier. Runes crafted during his stay in the refuge, and were just awaiting activation, which Luke did now.

He swallowed the pill, grimacing at the burning sensation that rolled down the back of his throat and into the pit of his stomach.

The mana that he just used filled up with alarming speed. He could see the tiny blue bar blurring across the bottom corner of his vision.

A faint golden haze outlined Luke’s body. He felt like he had lightning in his veins.

Standing still suddenly felt like death. Luke took to his feet and burst forward with alarming speed. It wasn’t that the pill made him faster, but it allowed him to fully let himself go without worrying about the cost.

At Mundane (9), Luke knew enough to invest Dunamis and stamina into his body, drastically increasing his movement speed. It chewed through his SP like nobody’s business, but with the [Golden Ginger Pill], his SP regenerated despite the current drain he placed on it.

Luke reached inside his [Cloak of Twilight] and transformed what outwardly appeared to be an ordinary pen into the darkly glowing runes of the [Cipher Sword]. With his other hand, he reached over his shoulder and unsheathed [Hadal’s Mirror].

True to the weapon’s enchantment, it transformed into a mirror of the [Cipher Sword]. It completely mimicked the cipher’s enchantments and its side effects, too.

He grinned as the twin blades of runes ticked down his HP, SP, and MP, then watched as it recovered, only for it to tick down again in a stalemate.

As great as the [Golden Ginger Pill] was, it was just barely a match for dual wielding two [Cipher Swords]. Which, Luke guessed, was never meant to be done.

He gathered shadows from the walls and every dark nook and cranny to wrap around his cloak, empowering its defensive shadow rune enchantment.

Stepping out from the caved-in sections of long forgotten basements, Luke emerged into the heart of a battlefield. Without thinking, he threw Yindferl’s statuette into the air and called her forth.

The large shadow drake dropped onto a nearby creature with the horrifying head of an angler fish as it turned to Luke and began casting something undeniably nasty.

Yindferl tore into him before he could complete it and she took off toward the nearest threat as soon as the creature was dead.

You have defeated [Pelagic Drowner - Level 41]. Extra experience gained for slaying an enemy above your level. 512 LP obtained.

Level Up! Your [Thief] Class has reached Level 37.

Stat points earned: +4 Strength, +6 Dexterity, +2 Perception, +2 Vitality, +2 Free Points.

Luke turned, summoned an Echo with all the backing of his bloodline that he could muster, and sent it to harry the enemy. He could see the King’s retinue swarming around the monster’s massive waterlogged ankles.

Yindferl was already wreaking havoc on their ranks. With the darkness miasma, Luke’s shadow sense came alive, allowing him to see better than even the pelagic nightmares roaming the surrounding ruins.

Luke turned his attention to the massive form of the King in the Deep. It towered over the fortresses and towers of the ruins.

[Cipher Swords] glowing, Luke cut his way through the creatures in his path. The bigger ones moved as if they were caught in jelly. Luke, surprised at his own speed, carved through their thick scaly hides with ease.

Tapping [Fleet of Foot], the gap in speed was widened even further.

His [Cipher Swords] cut through armor, bone, and defensive barriers alike with little resistance.

Nothing stood in Luke’s way, and with his Echo and Yindferl supporting him, distant attackers were brought low before they could get a bead on the black blur that was Luke driven to his fullest potential.

Using [High Larceny] coupled with [Sneak Attack] to steal a powerful shimmering shell of protective magic, Luke weaved through his adversaries until he reached the shadow of the King in the Deep.

I always enjoyed Shadow of the Colossus, Luke thought as he gathered up Dunamis in his legs and leapt for all he was worth. The swirling shell-like barrier around Luke was beginning to crack as the poisonous aura of the King ate away at the protective magic.

He had to hope that it would last long enough, or that his natural resistance would keep him safe until the King was dead.

Both [Cipher Swords] out, Luke used them to stab into the King’s calf with [Sneak Attack] and [Divest] combined. Together, those two skills would inflict even greater damage while applying vulnerability stacks.

Just as he was hoping, the King was strong enough that he felt actual resistance to the runic blades of dark purple light stabbing into its stony flesh.

Using them like climbing pitons took some work, but Luke got the hang of it and began to climb the King’s leg and up his lower back, causing the great monster to turn and thrash at the source of its agony.

Luke was nearly swatted flat, only by letting go of one sword and swinging to the side did he manage to avoid a hand the size of a semi-truck.

As soon as the hand was pulled back for another swing, Luke yanked the now-buried sword out of the King’s back. With a shouted curse lost to the din of battle, he summoned a gravity well to help him move aside from the next swatting hand.

After falling to the King’s massive belt, Luke finally got the hang of using gravity wells to adhere the soles of his boots to the King in the Deep.

Luke ran alongside the King’s back, dodging and weaving spells from its minions and the King’s own attempts to dislodge him. At times he purposefully waited to dodge an attack so he could trigger [Perfect Dodge], accelerating his movement speed even further.

The whole time, Luke was carving through the King’s armor and into the flesh beyond. Foul black ichor flowed from its wounds in great rivers as Luke concentrated on keeping [Lacerate] up on both swords.

Normally, this sort of expenditure would have bottomed out Luke’s mana and stamina in less than a minute. But thanks to the wonders of the [Golden Ginger Pill], he would be able to go at least 5 minutes or more at his current pace.

Even dual wielding the powerful [Cipher Swords], he wasn’t inflicting enough damage quickly. He applied [Lacerate] with [Divest], layering vulnerability and [Bleed] stacks.

If only I had three hands, Luke thought, he could use the serrated daggers to double-up on the [Bleed] stacks. Then again, he was doubtful they could cut through the King’s armor or his hardened skin beneath.

The [Cipher Swords] were struggling to inflict deep wounds onto the King. At this rate, despite everything Luke was pouring into his attacks, the King would still be standing by the time he burned himself out.

There must be something more, Luke thought with desperation.

My eyes. Luke shifted aside to avoid the King smashing his back into a tower that cracked and fell to the side with a thunderous explosion of dust and brick.

Focusing on his [Eyes of the Dragon], the world blossomed with lines of glittering color, Dunamis, moving in every direction. It took him a few disorienting moments to understand what he was looking at.

The world was filled with deep colors, enough to make a grown man weep. His normal vision felt like a desaturated photo.

Vibrant streams of Dunamis flowed in and out of the King in the Deep’s body, concentrating on certain points like… gates of power.

Luke followed those great rivers of Dunamis until he reached the first gate. A deep wellspring of Dunamis swirled and gathered there before splitting into the rest of the King’s body.

He struck out with his twin runic blades, arms working in tandem, attacking in a blurring flurry.

The Dunamis writhed like a living thing. It spasmed once, twice, and then burst out like a grenade filled with string. Great streams of Dunamis burst free from the King’s body, illuminating the darkened skies like the aurora borealis.

Wherever the streams of Dunamis touched, buildings disintegrated, and creatures ceased to be. Notifications rolled in, but Luke kept his focus on the task at hand.

The King was moving slower now. Deprived of its normal flow of Dunamis, Luke now had its undivided attention. The King summoned spears of water that shattered on Luke’s splintering stolen shield and splashed harmlessly on the King’s own skin.

Razor shoals of swimming ethereal fish streaked toward Luke, only to be intercepted by the blurring streak of his shadow drake shaking the life out of a mouthful of fish.

Luke made it to the next gate, stabbing and carving the Dunamis free while mindful to keep well away from the streamers that erupted.

Tired and drawn, Luke sliced through rivers of Dunamis, disrupting the flow of the King’s vital energies and wreaking havoc on the congested knots of Dunamis all over its body.

Luke’s barrier shattered somewhere along the way, and though he tried using [High Larceny] on the King himself, nothing happened.

Whatever gave the King his power was all natural.

Luke tossed a gravity well higher up on the King’s body. It shot him upwards out of reach of a white stream of water so powerful it punched a hole in the nearby ten-foot-thick wall of Havenholm’s defenses.

That was close, Luke thought, gasping for air as he finally made it to the King’s chest where the greatest source of Dunamis was.

Weakened from the disruption of the other gates, Luke was able to finally drive his swords down into the King’s heart.

Unlike the other gates that only put up a mild resistance, this felt like trying to stab a butter knife through a frozen block of fudge. It moved with infinitesimal slowness, inch by inch, despite all of Luke’s force behind it.

He was forced to leap aside, leaving the [Cipher Swords] buried in the King’s chest, as another spell meant to blast the bones from his body clipped him on the arm.

His cloak did its job, shedding shadowy curls of dark fog to absorb the damage. Luke’s sleeve was ripped off and the thurskite armor below took the rest of the damage, its water resistance showing its worth.

But even still, Luke could see the bruised and bleeding skin showing through. He couldn’t take another hit like that, even with all his layered defenses. His defensive runes were on the fritz, sparking and trying to maintain integrity despite the severe damage to the armor.

Below, Yind scaled the King’s body with his Echo on her back. The pair were trying to draw the King’s attention with clawing attacks and his Echo’s reflected [Cipher Swords] to moderate success.

Luke’s mana was well below a third now and rapidly falling. His HP was bouncing back and forth with every near miss. He drank the potions on his bandolier that had finally gathered enough ambient mana to refill and managed to buy himself an extra minute of battle.

With Yind and his Echo distracting the King, Luke did something he knew he would regret.

He climbed up the King’s chest, stood on his shoulder, and then swan dived off. Gathering up the strongest gravity well he could make, Luke flung his hands out and tethered himself to either side of the impaled swords on the King’s chest.

Forcing his boots out straight, Luke’s angle of fall shifted horizontally as the tethers took hold and he accelerated rapidly like a SEAL diver dropping from a helicopter into the water.

Luke felt the jarring impact of his boot heels hitting the pommels of the [Cipher Swords]. All his bones sang out in a harmonious agony as the runic blades were driven up to the hilt into the King’s heart.

The battlefield went silent. The miasma swirling around the massive King began to disperse as his body seized up. A dramatic shift rolled through his army, like puppets with their strings cut.

The Deep Ones turned their gaze skyward to Luke.

Luke would have fallen if the King hadn’t staggered and collapsed backward. Rolling across the thick breastplate of undefinable metal, Luke reached a hand out. He grabbed a [Cipher Sword] and hung on for dear life.

The lumbering giant monster toppled to the ruined streets. The colossal crash as the King’s massive body broke through to the chamber below fractured the silence of the battlefield. Luke, still clinging to the hilts of his blades, felt every bone-rattling impact through the King’s dying body.

Then they were free falling, and Luke took the hint. He pulled his swords free and ran as fast as his feet could take him. He leapt onto one of the passing ledges of ancient stone and used what was left of his mana to summon a gravity well to cling to the flaking stone.

Down below, the King collapsed to the cavern floor, shattering into boulder-sized chunks of coral. Befouled seawater spilled out from the broken remnants of the King’s body, filling the crater and running into channels already cut into the rock.

Rivers of filth ran off in every direction, feeding the sewers once more with foul muck.