177. A Soul-Eat-Soul World

As Serac faced a pack of Gluttonous grave-robbers, the first thing she did was pop a snack herself.

The [Rumpepille] was another Pretjordian item Serac had managed to smuggle into the next Realm up. The capsule filled with tadpole gunpowder was awful on the palate, but its utility was undeniable. It would allow Serac to channel Zealous magic for longer, while also 'priming' her most powerful [Chamber Two] spell.

Beside her, Travertine also spent a brief moment to prime himself for the fight. Where Serac's acted through her own digestive system, the Mriga man's 'pre-buff' was of a more indirect nature. He raised CROZIER high into the air, while expelling a harshly resonant chant.

[CROZIER Spell: SHEPHERD'S GIFT]

Two strings of energy—one red, the other blue—coiled around CROZIER's crook before flying off in two directions. The red hit Big Stag ORD and the blue Little Doe DLEE, thus tethering them to their Oathkeeper.

While the deer looked unchanged to the naked eye, Pathsight told a different story. Travertine's own Health bar had shrunk by half, with that exact portion tacked onto the end of ORD's. The same had also happened to the blue stuff—Travertine's Mana transferred to DLEE's.

Sacrificing his own Parameters so his deer familiars can shine in his stead, Serac analyzed on the fly. It's 'different', but I kind of like it!

Evidently, DLEE and ORD liked it too. No sooner had their Oathkeeper redistributed their shared resources did the deer duo bound onto the graveyard, ready to gore themselves some Gluttons.

Freed from the haze of Frenzy, Serac now saw the faint bands of golden light that tied the two deer to the crook of CROZIER. She understood this to be the fundamental mechanic behind Travertine's Instrument: constant and direct line of communication with his Oathborns. Sure enough, as the Oathkeeper moved, so too did his familiars, answering his every beck and call.

The nearest Glutton met the rushing Big Stag, lunging at it with its entire torso unzipped. A flick of CROZIER, and ORD responded by checking its charge and jumping sideways. At the same time, DLEE flew in from the other side and drew first blood with a spinning kick.

Good start, but Serac couldn't simply admire the view. Even with a pair of deer familiars, the Wayfarers were outnumbered six-to-four. The utmost priority, therefore, was to focus down a single Glutton and thin the pack. To that end, Serac aimed and locked onto the same Glutton presently tag-teamed by the deer. With a clear view of the entire field, she fired with confidence, knowing there was no risk of friendly fire.

[151!]

The first unimbued bullet went through unmitigated. Together with DLEE's kick, the creature's HP went down by about a third. Intent on finishing it off as quickly as possible, Serac channeled her [Satiety] into:

[Chamber Two: APPETIZER]

[95!]

95? A miscalculation! The damage of Serac's Zealous-imbued bullet, supposedly her highest-DPS imbuement, had been cut in half—proof of the grave-robber's unusual mitigation profile.

A Glutton resistant against [Hunger]-derived magic! Serac didn't know if it made much sense, not that it much mattered in the moment. She quickly channeled off [Appetizer] to go right back to her Physical-based gunslinging.

[151!], [151!]—

That was when the spindly arm of a second Glutton shot toward her, forcing her to duck and waste the third bullet of her triple burst. She'd seen what the thing had done to a Mriga head, and she wasn't about to risk the potential damage to herself! She backed up a step to square off against the newcomer, keeping a careful eye on her Stamina all the while.

Thus ended her hopes of focusing down one enemy at a time. She'd put quite a dent into the first one, however, so she trusted DLEE and ORD to finish the job. For now, she had her own Glutton and its loping limbs to worry about.

One such limb whipped toward her neck, making clear its intent to decapitate. She blocked it with PULVERIZER, at the same time taking a half-blind REVOLVER shot from the opposite hip.

[104!]

[151!]

A so-so trade. From the damage, Serac guessed Glutton's whip attack to be Primal in type. For PULVERIZER too had its own mitigation profile: stalwart against Physical but a little squishier versus the rest of the Seerflame rainbow. The situation, therefore, called for more dodges than blocks.

The previous bullet also happened to be the last of the cylinder. Serac speedloaded a fresh set of rounds, then immediately looked to counter. Aim, lock, and—

And that was when the Glutton unzipped itself! No warning, no telegraph. Yawning maw from crown to groin.

Up close, the thing was far larger and wider than Serac had realized, more than should've been possible from its gangly, zipped-up form. Serac faced a Ksana of indecision, but she followed through with the trigger squeeze, hoping against hope that the impact might interrupt the Glutton's attack.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

No such luck! REVOLVER fired, but its bullet landed in the void at the Glutton's heart, producing nary a sound let alone damage. Serac immediately tried to roll sideways, but the Glutton's maw was too large, too wide, too yawning for her to find daylight.

Glurp.

Instantly, Serac's world condensed into a pitch-black void. Gone was Dawnwick's sepia-toned morning, replaced by a formless non-space with no up nor down.

[Wayfarer Status Effect: HAMMERSPACED]

That's a new one! Neither the status effect (nor indeed the preceding attack) had produced any damage, but Serac understood the danger right away. For inside this [Hammerspace], she could neither see nor move—hard-stuck in position from the moment she'd been swallowed whole.

Am I stuck like this until the rest of the fight? What would happen to me when this Glutton dies? And will Travertine be able to handle the mob by himself?

More questions with no immediate answers. Yet, lately, Serac had done too much waiting-for-rescue for her own liking. Surely, there was still something she could do inside this formless prison. As long as she still gripped her Instrument in her hand…

Serac had been ingested mid-dodge-roll, which meant her body was uncomfortably contorted, limbs twisted and scrambled from their natural positions. But one Rakshasa's body horror was the same Rakshasa's opportunity, especially if the cycles of the universe saw fit to align with her interests.

Serac's finger remained on the trigger. Her next cartridge sat in [Chamber Two]. And her arms had been pulled and crossed until REVOLVER's barrel pressed against PULVERIZER's jagged rocks. [Appetizer] didn't pan out, but that doesn't mean the [Rumpepille] I'd popped has to go to waste. Let's just hope this works!

[Chamber Two: METABOLIC SHIFT]

[PULVERIZER Alternate Form: GRENADIER]

Inside the Glutton's [Hammerspace], Serac couldn't see her left arm's transformation. But she knew very well what it'd become: a black, slimy, writhing mass full to bursting with explosive tadpole energy.

[GRENADIER Technique: RUMPEPROMP]

Worthy of its tongue-twister of a name, [Rumpepromp] packed quite the heat! Serac's left arm quite literally exploded, pushing the Glutton's [Hammerspace] out against its unseen barriers.

[161!]

[254!]

Essentially a Zealous version of [The Grind], [Rumpepromp]'s damage against the Glutton was modest at best. In fact, the blowback Serac herself received had hurt even more (not to mention the awful smell!). She'd live with the underwhelming Health damage, however, to enjoy the Tadpole grenade's tremendous effects on Poise.

Even from inside the [Hammerspace], Serac felt that tell-tale keeling of Poise-break. The void shifted and slid to reveal a crack of daylight. Then that crack widened into the outside world itself: sepia, grass, and upturned graves.

Serac rolled out from between the seams of the Glutton's zippers. She immediately switched off [Metabolic Shift], summoning PULVERIZER and its jagged rocks back into action.

[Auxiliary Technique: THE GRIND]

[715!]

Big Physical damage. Especially effective against a stationary, Poise-broken opponent. This time, all 715 points went toward draining the Glutton's Health bar, crediting Serac with her inaugural smiting blow in Tidereign.

[7,777 क]

Interesting number as far as Karmic rewards went… but now wasn't the time to ponder its possible significance. Looking up, Serac saw that Team Travertine had dispatched their first Glutton, rendering the fight a much more manageable 4v4. And when it came to manipulating match-ups on the battlefield, Serac had a few more tricks up her six-chambered sleeve.

With a Cardinal and his deer companions taking some of the heat, the Gluttons and their loping limbs were a little easier to anticipate. The big no-no was the open-mouthed vacuum attack. As long as Serac stayed out of glurping range, she could deal some chip damage while setting up her next big maneuver.

Cycle out the Cartridges. Speedload a fresh cylinder. From the corner of her eye, Serac spied one Glutton whose Health bar had just been whittled down to its last sliver thanks to a nimble kick by DLEE. Time for a Rakshasa outrealmer to steal a smite from her local guide—for a good cause, of course!

[Chamber One: EMBALMER]

[100!]

[176!]

The spell required quite a bit of groundwork to be effective, but it was a part-time necromancer's favorite way to deal with a lopsided match-up. The Infernal-imbued bullet drained the last of the Glutton's HP, before turning it into an [Enlisted Husk] for Serac to command.

And Serac was more than happy to. For she'd already pictured the exact scenario to take maximum advantage of an [Enlisted] Glutton. She had no idea if it'd even work, but why say 'nah, there's no way' when she could say 'hell yes, go for it' instead?

Glurp.

The sound effect was as unpleasant as ever, but the sight of it could almost be described as beautiful. The [Enlisted] Glutton opened wide, sprinkling some bone dust onto the graveyard, before swallowing one of its fellows whole.

Yes! Keep going!

The [Enlisted Husk] kept going, indeed, feeding its bottomless avarice with reckless abandon. It glurped a second friend into the void, and just like that, what had started as a pack of six was reduced to just the one! But the [Enlisted Husk] grew fat from its meals in quick succession. Movement slowed and reflexes blunted, it soon fell victim to the one remaining hostile.

For those keeping up, that was now three Gluttons all shoved into the same [Hammerspace]. The bloated 'alpha' Glutton now stretched its limbs ever outward, ready to make up with sheer mass what it'd lost in agility.

Watching this grotesque evolution before her eyes, Serac was struck by a sudden inspiration. In a Wayfaring Path paved with wacky ideas, this was perhaps her bizarrest of them all. Luckily, she was already on the correct Chamber to try it anyway, because why the hell not?

[Chamber Two: HARVEST]

[47!]

Zealous-imbued bullet, halved once by mitigation and again by [Harvest]'s self-imposed penalty. The damage barely registered against the Glutton's remaining Health, but Serac had already accepted the delayed gratification… assuming it actually—

[FRENZIED GLUTTON Status Effect: EARMARKED]

—worked! Unbelievable and more than a little disturbing, but Serac was ready to see this wacky gambit through to the end. The Glutton in question had other ideas, however, now raising both of its swollen arms for a pulverizing attack of its own.

"I think not."

Rolling baritone and permanent scowl. With an understated taunt, Travertine aft'Nankervis once more raised CROZIER into the sepia sky. He then let out a deafening shout that shook the very air.

[CROZIER Spell: SHEPHERD'S CALL]

The bands of golden light that connected the Oathkeeper to his familiars now burned a rich, dusky brown, repping the umber portion of the Seerflame rainbow. The same gloaming auras then flared around DLEE and ORD, as they drove antler-first into their counter-finisher:

[Oathborn Technique: GORING CROSS]

[486!]

Tit for tat and an eye for an eye. Serac had committed the fight's first smite steal, but it was Travertine who got the last laugh.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.