The Fusionist Book 4 -- Chapter 50

(I may end up cutting this chapter in half at some point, but for now it's a single one)

Chapter 50

Larek blocked yet another powerful Fireblast spell from one of the Drekkin using his Pattern shield, wondering how he could get out of this situation without killing these people. He was hesitant to simply eliminate them for a few reasons, one of them being the fact that he was technically invading their home and they likely saw him as an unknown threat; with them fighting against the monsters taken over by the Umbral Demons, it made sense that they would be a bit on edge. Another reason not to kill them was because he thought he might need their help to eventually get out of the underground tunnels – once he destroyed all of the Demons he could find, of course.  The last reason was because they might be able to point him in the right direction toward the Aperture, as that was likely the best place to find those same demons.

Oh, and they might have some food I can eat, too. His supplies weren’t depleted entirely yet, but they wouldn’t last another few days at the rate he was going through them.

Standing still while he concentrated on moving his Pattern shield, he was pleased to find that his Pattern Manipulation Skill increased not just once but twice after he used it to block the spells that were aimed at him, along with the Battle Art-infused melee attacks trying to hit him from the sides and back.

Pattern Manipulation has reached Level 18!

Pattern Manipulation has reached Level 19!

It was only one Level away from its current maximum of 20, though he could vaguely feel that it wouldn’t achieve that Level until he did something else with the Skill. Using it simply to block different attacks had gotten him pretty far, but there was a limit to how much it would improve by just doing that.

It also wasn’t doing much to prevent the attacks being sent against him, and the Drekkin didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. If anything, he was expecting to be attacked by something more powerful anytime now, and he had to find a way to stop it before things got out of hand.

As he wracked his mind trying to figure out what to do, he felt around for his Secure Hideaway Fusion to ensure it was still active, as he didn’t want his Air Skimmer to be damaged by all the spells being flung about. That was the main reason he had let it descend and exited himself from inside its internal compartment, as being blasted by an explosive fireball would likely light it on fire. Thankfully, the protective Fusion both hid it and protected it with a dome of hardened air, which had also apparently triggered when one of the Drekkin slammed into it at full speed.

Actually, that might be a way to get through to these people….

He found it difficult to hold onto his concentration and his Pattern shield when he talked, but after a few seconds it became easier. His speech was a bit deliberately measured and monotone, but he thought that he at least got the point across.

“Please stop attacking me. I think there must be some sort of misunderstanding. I am simply passing through your tunnels. I want to kill all the Umbral Demons I come across, just as I killed the last one. Your friend might die if he is not healed sometime soon.” Larek didn’t know that last bit for sure, but he had definitely heard the Drekkin hit the protective dome hard enough to break at least a few bones.

Miraculously, his impromptu pleading seemed to have an effect as the Drekkin paused in their attack. “What did you sssay?” one of the Mages suddenly asked, with a slight hiss to their speech. He thought it was a bit feminine-sounding, but he couldn’t tell what gender they were by just looking at them; they all looked like lizards walking around on two legs to him. He was sure there was probably some way to tell, perhaps by their slightly varied coloring, but he was completely ignorant of those details.

Larek maintained his Pattern shield, wary of an abrupt attack from behind, but he answered with a little more feeling. “Uh, I said that your friend back there might die if he isn’t healed—”

“No, you filthy ssshadow-touched, not that,” the Drekkin said, sounding more feminine as she cut him off. “About the Umbral Demonsss. Why would a posssssesssssed one lie about killing that which cannot be killed?”

Huh? Oh, right, they aren’t able to kill the Demons. I guess I should’ve led with that. Wait… shadow-touched? Possessed one? Ah, they think I’m one of them.

“I’m not possessed by one of those Demons, if that’s what you’re implying,” he replied, slowly shaking his head so as to maintain his Pattern shield. “It tried, of course, but I fought back and killed it.”

“Imposssssible! An Umbral Demon cannot be killed, and you are sssimply trying to buy time for reinforcementsss to arrive.” She turned to the Mage next to her, before looking between the melee users behind and to the sides of Larek. “Kill him.”

She began to form the pattern for another spell, but a voice coming from further behind the entire group spoke up. “Stop! I would hear more of this!”

Fortunately for the Drekkin, she hadn’t even begun filling her pattern with Mana yet, so she was able to cancel her spell before it was cast. After having failed in his negotiation, he was already starting to pull out his offensive Fusions, which would’ve completely devastated the group that fought him in a matter of seconds.

Upon her halting her spell, there followed a tense exchange between the female Mage and the voice coming from behind him, which sounded as if it came from the Drekkin that had been gravely injured when he slammed into Larek’s Secure Hideaway. Larek couldn’t understand any of it because it was in a language that sounded like a bunch of hissing to him, which he assumed was their native tongue, but he could at least understand that the female Drekkin was not happy with whatever the injured one was saying.

In the end, however, it seemed as though the one who had stopped them was in charge, and the others put their weapons and hands down, reluctant as it seemed.

“I believe that our fearlesssss nest-group leader hit hisss head a little too hard, but I will obey his order,” the female said with an annoyed hiss at the end, even as she shook her head. “I, for one, ssstill do not believe your claim to have killed one of the Umbral Demonsss.”

Larek reabsorbed the Pattern Cohesion he had infused in his floating shield, knowing that he could bring it back up quickly if it was necessary. Along with his other defenses, such at his Repelling Barrier, he didn’t think he was in too much danger at the moment, though that could change if he was overwhelmed.

“I would like to apologize for approaching your people so suddenly,” Larek said, retroactively apologizing his intrusion. It wasn’t really something he could’ve prevented because he had no idea where he was or where the Drekkin were in relation to his position, but he figured it might help to smooth over the tension that had developed between them. He’d prefer to have their help rather than be forced to kill them if they continued to be actively hostile.

“What are you doing here? How did you get into the Lost Cavernsss?” the female Mage asked, ignoring his apology.

“I’ll try and explain in a moment, but wouldn’t you rather me heal your companion?” the Combat Fusionist asked.

“Don’t you touch him! You’ve been ssshadow-touched and—”

“Pyluxa! Enough!” The leader of the Drekkin admonished the Mage in their other language, or at least that was what Larek thought was happening since he couldn’t understand it. “You can heal?”

The sudden switch to something he could understand startled him after listening them essentially hiss at each other for a minute or so, and he nodded. “Yes, I can.” He didn’t bother expanding upon that statement, as he didn’t feel the need to describe Fusions and what they could and couldn’t do at the moment.

“How long does it take? I have a leg and arm, and I think I cracked something in my skull.”

“Not long. You’ll be extremely hungry and exhausted after the healing, however.”

The rest of the Drekkin watched him like a hawk as he moved around to the fallen leader, before kneeling next to him. He made sure that his pant leg was touching the skin of the lizard person before he activated the Healing Surge +3 Fusion on it. He felt the healing Effect pass through him as well as the injured Martial Drekkin, and while he felt a drain on his energy, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it would be if he had his own wounds that were being repaired. For the badly injured lizard person, however, the natural energy drain would be much worse.

When he screamed after the initial Effect hit him, Larek nearly had a spear shoved through his neck, but the group leader waved the one who was about to attack him off. It wouldn’t have done too much to him because he still had his Repelling Barrier active, but it probably would’ve provoked additional attacks. It probably also helped that the damage to the Drekkin’s face was being repaired at an astonishing and visible rate, much faster than a conventional healing spell would perform.

After approximately 30 seconds, Larek deactivated the Healing Surge as the almost entirely healed lizard wearily moved away from Larek and got to his feet. The Combat Fusionist would’ve kept going as he didn’t think he was entirely fixed up yet, but it was apparently enough – and any more would’ve made him even weaker without rest and food.

“Thank you,” he finally said when he was upright, his voice audibly exhausted. “That was… tiring. I feel like I could eat an entire grow field right now, but I can’t deny that it worked.” Looking around at the tense stance of the other Drekkin, he ordered them to stand down.

“But he’s still a threat,” the female Mage started, but apparently a tail swish from the leader was all that was needed to silence her from complaining any further.

“Again, thank you for the healing. That being said, we’re going to need some answers. Who are you? Why are you here?  And perhaps an even better question: What are you? I’ve heard about the Mages and Martials from the Kingdom of Androthe before the blessings were given unto our people, but I’ve never heard of anyone or anything like you before.”

It was at that point that Larek realized that the leader spoke quite well in comparison to the female Mage, without any of the hissing that accompanied her normal speech. He took that as a good sign, especially when he mentioned knowing about the Kingdom of Androthe and the SIC there; he figured he might just be able to get the help he needed out of these people if he was able to handle the situation correctly.

“First, I’m Larek and I do indeed come from the Kingdom of Androthe,” he replied, beginning his brief explanation of his origins and his reason for traveling over the desert. He didn’t go into how he got to the Sealance Empire or about the time loss he had experienced, nor did he delve into his origins or mention the Gergasi at all. It seemed that they already knew about the shifting sands of the desert above and appeared skeptical that he had killed one of the giant scorpions by himself, but they didn’t interrupt. The other Mage, which Larek assumed was a male from some of the mannerisms and a slightly darker set of scales around his eyes (he might be completely wrong on their gender, but until he had something else to go on, he was male in Larek’s mind), appeared highly curious about his glossed-over explanation of the Fusions on his Air Skimmer, but he didn’t speak up.

It didn’t take him long to get to his exploration of the tunnels underneath the desert and his interest in finding an escape from them. It was only when he started to describe his encounter with the Umbral Demon that the female Mage finally switched from outright hostility to utter incredulity.

“You’re a Mage? I find that hard to believe. Why can’t I feel the ability in you like I do with other Magesss, then?”

Larek shrugged. “Yes, I’m a Mage, and no, I don’t have any idea why you can’t feel my ability for magic within me. I can feel it in you, as well as you,” he replied, pointing toward the other Mage.

“That’s not really a ssstretch if you’re lying, sssince you sssaw usss casssting ssspellsss.” The hissing accent was extremely thick as the female Drekkin got herself worked up. “Ssshow usss a ssspell—”

“Nest-sister, please stop,” the leader said wearily, and it was obvious that his exhaustion was getting to him as he swayed slightly on his feet. Larek could only assume that the damage had been much more extensive than what was visible on the surface for him to still be so weary after the 15 minutes or so that Larek had been explaining where he came from.

“But—” A look was all that was needed to stop her complaint, and she hissed in what Larek assumed was an unsatisfied *hmph*.

“We already saw what he can do, as well as his floating contraption, so I don’t think there’s any need. Now, go on with what happened with the Demon. I’m anxious to hear how you survived intact… if indeed you are.”

“Oh, I’m myself, don’t worry about that,” he assured them. “The internal fight against the Umbral Demon was harrowing, to put it mildly, but it didn’t account for my Pattern Cohesion being strong enough to act as my defense.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Larek hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain exactly what had happened. After a few seconds of thought, he finally answered with as good of a description as he could. “I was taught by my Professor at Copperleaf Academy that your Pattern Cohesion is more than just a resource to use while casting spells or creating Fusions – and he was right. It’s more aligned with what one would consider the integral part of a person, their spiritual ‘soul’ if you will, and it can apparently act as a defense against the soul-replacing attacks of the Demons.”

They all looked at him as if he had grown another head on his shoulders, disbelief evident even on their abnormal—to him—faces. The leader then turned to the female Mage and asked, “Is what he says about Pattern Cohesion true? Can you use yours to act as a defense against the insidious assaults by the Umbral Demons?”

She immediately shook her head. “Unlikely. There have been many new Magesss that have fallen to the predatory attacksss of the Demonsss.”

“It has to be strong enough to make a difference,” Larek interjected. “A new Mage would be similar to a toddler being given a small knife and told to defend against a battle-hardened Martial. They might be able to get in a lucky strike or two, but they wouldn’t be able to hold on against something that powerful.”

“And how strong, exactly, are you saying a Mage should be?” the leader asked. “I know for a fact that Pyluxa – as abrasive as she can be – is within the top 10 Mages among our people, so she should be able to wield her Pattern Cohesion as you say, correct?”

Larek shrugged, not really knowing the answer. “I honestly have no idea. I never had a reason to use my Pattern Cohesion in this way before coming here, so I can’t tell you what the threshold would—or should—be. All I know is that I now have a way to completely defend myself against the Demons trying to take over my body, and I’m looking for revenge for what they almost succeeded in doing. Oh, and I guess that closing the Aperture that they’ve consolidated from all the others in Lowenthal would be beneficial, as there plan is to eventually kill or possess all of you before spreading their influence all over the world.”

They were completely silent for a few seconds after that revelation. “How could you possibly know that? Didn’t you say you just arrived here?”

Larek had to think about what he said before he responded to the Drekkin group leader. “Ah, yes, I have just arrived, but that knowledge came from the Demon trying to take over my body. The connection to my mind went both ways, and I was able to gain some information from it that it probably didn’t think it would matter if it was shared, especially if it felt that it was going to take my body over.”

“See, he’s still being influenced by—”

“ENOUGH, Pyluxa!” The weary Martial lizard yelled, stopping the female Mage from continuing her accusation. “I believe him, at least in this. My sense of danger has receded now that I’ve gotten a chance to speak with him and understand where he came from. However,” he said, turning back to Larek, “I would like to know how high your Pattern Cohesion is to have defended against the Umbral Demon. I’m not the best judge of age in those not of my people, but you appear quite young and likely haven’t Leveled-up far enough to have excessive stats. I would like to know if this is something our Mages can use to fight against the Demons in the future.”

“It’s… abnormally high. Let’s just say that it’s probably a bit successive, but I can see a Pattern Cohesion of at least 100 being enough to give some semblance of protection,” he said cautiously.

“100? How am I supposed to reach that high? My Pneuma stat is only 25 and that is already considered excessively high by our people.”

Larek shrugged again. “Again, I don’t specifically know how much you need, but it’s possible that 25 is enough—”

“Hshhhhh…” the group leader of the Drekkin suddenly cut him off, his hiss accompanied by a hand that was held up in warning.

As soon as silence descended upon the group, Larek heard it. Hundreds of feet padding against the floor, coming closer every second. From what he could tell, it was coming from behind him in the tunnel and not toward wherever the Drekkin group was defending, so he could only assume they were monsters.

He was proven correct a few seconds later as a veritable horde of black-furred Jungle Panthers raced toward them, their footfalls normally almost silent, but when there were over 200 of the 6-foot-long, 4-feet-tall, powerfully built cats running at the same time, they tended to make some noise. From what little he remembered of them from his classes, they weren’t necessarily weak like a Category 1 monster, but they also weren’t too much of a threat – at least in small numbers. As there were so many of them, he knew that they could be a problem unless he was able to thin them out.

“We have to retreat,” the group leader said immediately. “I’m not in the best shape, and there’s no way we can take all of them with just the 6 of us—sorry, 7 of us with Larek. We need to settle up behind some fortifications and—”

“Don’t worry, I’ve can handle this,” Larek cut him off, before dashing forward and bringing his staff up with his left hand, pointing toward the approaching pack of Panthers.  With his right hand, he reached into one of his belt pouches.

“Wait! You can’t be serious—”

“Let him die if he wants to, but we should run.”

Larek ignored all of that as he activated the Flaming Balls Effect on it at Magnitude 2, holding the staff under against his side to stabilize it as he strafed the barrage of fiery balls against the left half of the horde. They were so closely packed together that almost every projectile he shot out – at 10 per second – hit one of them, and while they weren’t the most powerful at Magnitude 2, they were still strong enough to deal some serious damage to them while knocking them down from the impact. When he saw them continue to move even after being hit by a Flaming Ball, he switched up the Effect to Icy Spike at Magnitude 2 to keep up the pressure and deal some actual damage. Soon enough, the ones he hit were killed or crippled as they took fast-moving ice projectiles to their bodies and legs, taking many them out of the fight permanently or at least temporarily.

As for the right side of the horde, he pulled out a handful of Weaken stones and threw them as far as he could within the Panther pack, activating the Fusion on them at a distance. The explosions had a much greater effect in multiplicate than he was expecting, and Larek was rocked slightly backwards from the shockwave, but he managed to hold his feet steady and maintained his attack on the left-hand side of the horde. As for the right side, the explosion killed dozens of the monsters within the point-blank range of the explosions immediately, but it also flung away many dozens more with such force that many of them hit walls and even the ceiling with bone-shattering impacts. More than a few even slammed into those among the left side of the horde, reducing their numbers even further.

With the right side largely taken care of other than some stragglers, he took the staff in both hands to better aim it and switched to a Water Stream at Magnitude 5 for more precise shots since there were now only a quarter of the original horde to contend with. He quickly aimed at anything moving toward him, using the powerful stream of water to easily cut through fur and flesh alike.

As for the Panthers, their greatest asset was their speed, which they used to avoid many of his secondary attacks, many of them dashing out of the way of his Water Stream. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t outrun the constant barrage of the focused cutting water as he swept it back and forth, quickly targeting his victims before they could move.

When the remnants of the horde closed in on him, an entire 10 of them making it through unscathed, Larek dropped his staff by his feet and pulled out his axe from his hip. Almost as one, they pounced on him from 15 feet away, likely hoping to overwhelm him with their bulk and deadly slashing claws, but he was ready. With a thought and a slight bit of effort, he created a Pattern shield using his Pattern Cohesion and used it to block one of the first to pounce, and he heard its neck snap as it collided with the immovable shield, falling dead to the floor afterwards. He was able to move it quickly to block and kill a second Panther, but was forced to abandon it afterwards – losing the Pattern Cohesion in the process, as he wasn’t able to concentrate on reabsorbing it – as he rolled away out of where the Panthers would’ve landed on him, dropping yet another Fusion from his belt pouch on the ground. He didn’t move quite far enough, and two different monsters hit him hard – or they would have hit him hard, if they hadn’t been violently pushed down into the floor by his Repelling Barrier. He still took a pair of blows as their weight was great enough that they weren’t completely arrested by the Fusion’s gusts of air, but it only made him stagger a slight bit.

Dodge has reached Level 22!

Larek moved quickly away from his location because he could feel that he was still in range of the Frozen Zone Fusion he had dropped earlier, slicing out at the nearest Panther that attempted to swipe at him, only to pull back a nub after he took its paw off. A second black-furred monster attempted to hit him from behind, but he frantically created a generic net-shield made out of his Pattern Cohesion, which blunted the swipe enough that the Repelling Barrier was able to direct it downwards.

It was at that time that the Frozen Zone Fusion activated, catching 5 of the Panthers in its deathly cold embrace, freezing them solid within seconds, but Larek still had a pair of monsters near enough to him to be a threat. Not a great threat, as they had trouble doing much more than battering him around through his Barrier, but still strong enough to hurt him if he didn’t dispatch them quickly. Fortunately, they weren’t as fast as he was even as lithely as they moved, and he was able to retaliate with his axe to cut through their paws when they attacked, crippling them, and finally their very necks when they attempted to bite him.

Soon enough, it was over, and he watched the bodies of the slain Panthers dissolve while the Corrupted Aetheric Force they gave off was absorbed by his body. This was the main reason he wanted to kill them, as he had a feeling they were worth more than a single AF per monster, and he still needed to increase his maximum Skill Levels.

As he glanced back at the Drekkin to make sure they had survived unscathed, he saw their mouths opened wide in a universal sign of shock. Picking up his staff and putting away his axe on his belt, he rubbed the back of his neck in slight embarrassment, as he didn’t particularly like being the center of attention.

Walking back to them, he tried to smile through their shock and asked, “Shall we go?”

They were silent for a moment before the leader finally broke out of it enough to respond. “Yes, uh, let’s go.” He sounded nervous, though Larek thought that it could’ve also been his exhaustion catching up with him.

“Want a ride?” he asked, smirking at their startlement as he deactivated his Secure Hideaway around his Air Skimmer, revealing it from where it had been hidden. He was fairly certain it could handle their weight, as they didn’t appear to weigh too much, though it wouldn’t ride as high. Balance would be key, but he was fairly certain that they’d handle it well enough.

“Isss it sssafe?” the female Mage asked skeptically.

Larek paused before saying, “Mostly? Just don’t unbalance it, or we’ll crash into a wall.”

“I’ll passsss.” The others agreed, even the weary group leader, and Larek simply shrugged. “Alright then, as soon as I’m up, lead the way!” he said, jumping into the vessel before activating the gusts of air that would lift it up. The Drekkin shied away from the blowing air, but they were soon running back down the tunnel they had come from, with Larek following behind at a safe distance.