Chương 58: Pipe Labyrinth

Nyx unsheathed her sword as she hopped down a rung of pipes. When the beasts she faced were as boiling hot as these living fleshforged, the extra reach would be helpful. She wanted to avoid being splashed again. The claws of her off-hand remained extended. It would be foolish to rely on the sword alone, especially when she was still an amateur. Not that she would remain that way for long. If Nyx's name was of the type she thought it was, then learning to wield the blade would come naturally. Or rather, unnaturally.

Her wings hung at her side as she clambered up another pipe. The three dimensional — or possibly more considering the sheer quantity of corruption — labyrinth was daunting to look through. Nyx's eyes followed a waterfall of glowing metal. It tumbled over many pipes and continued down until its bright red shine dimmed in the darkness of distance. It didn't matter which way she looked, the sight remained the same. No walls nor ceiling. The world was as endless as it was confusing.

How long would it take the cults to destroy the core of this Dark Star? Without Little God, that seemed to be the only sure way she could escape from this nightmare. Two weeks? Minimum? Considering the last Dark Star she'd ignited had yet to be cleared, that was unreasonably optimistic. And with two of the disasters ripping through different parts of Coral in conjunction, every cult — besides the Fleshsmiths — would prioritise the recovery of the surface. So what?

She would need to survive a month in this twisted environment until others would free her? Even now she could hear the growls of a dozen of those sharks getting closer. How would she sleep? How would she eat? Liquid flesh not only tasted disgusting, but it was hardly healthy. Nyx had been trying to find somewhere more open to allow herself the use of her wings when she finally had to fight, but such luck was not on her side. The growling grew loud.

And each moment, she glimpsed a burning glow through the weave of pipes. An explosion rocked the air behind her. Nyx spun and leapt backwards with a beat of her wings. The scream of pressure releasing and the sudden flow of flesh covered the approach of the shark. But as wary as she was, Nyx was ready. The rapier's point lifted, then veered to the right under the guidance of that slight mental nudge, before jerking forward and burying itself down the open mouth of the gummy shark. Nyx now had a flake kebab.

Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to kill the viscous mix of flesh and steel. Metallic plates lifted along its length, the flesh between each section opening them like gills. Gills that spread across its entire body. Charred black bits of metal cracked as the shark's form shifted into something alien. The head of the creature was the first to deform. Where before, the metal was hot enough to flow like liquid, this specimen had cooled enough that it held an edge. A razor sharp blade of an edge.

The plates grew outward, mimicking the shape of fins, and creating a dozen blades stretching from its core. Now the fleshforged creature appeared half-way between a shark, and an anchor. Still pierced down the throat, the shark stabbed its glowing — black flake covered — fins into nearby pipes and pushed forward. Nyx didn't back away, so the creature only buried her rapier deeper in its body. She tried to shake the creature free of her blade. It wouldn't budge.

With how it had dug each metal plate into the surrounding pipes, it had wedged itself in place and rapidly pushed its way up to her hand. Worse yet, there were more of those creatures growling behind her. The sound echoed through the pipes. All she could tell was that the fleshforged creatures were there. Nothing more. They would strike at any moment. Nyx clamped the claws of her left hand between the long metal shards that opened to leave the hot flesh vulnerable to attack. The shark's head severed easily.

She knew it wouldn't be enough, but with how it had anchored itself to the pipes behind it, there was no way she could tear it apart as she had done with the previous. Instead, she opted to use the leverage of her claws to yank her sword out. Now free, she swung her rapier down and allowed its secondary state to reveal itself. That niggling worm in her mind told her to stop. To halt her strike. But she wanted to kill the beast before any of the others struck.

Almost as if in punishment for ignoring the guidance, her sword got stuck. The strength of her wrist shoved the blade half way through the soft metal plating before it refused to move further. Her attempts to jerk it out were in vain. Well, there was no doubt now. That niggling altercation of her thought was truly a talent additive. One of the most valuable ones you could get. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. How lucky.

Talent names did not provide an immediately powerful ability from the onset. An ability to triple the weight of your blows, or stun an opponent would be more beneficial in the short term by far. But Talents shone for their potential. They were a replacement for a teacher. That in itself wasn't all that beneficial, considering the way the cults operated.

But should someone devote evolutions towards enhancing the name, it could expand one's expertise in its specific area beyond what any human should ever be capable of. It was Talents that allowed the Technocult and Machine God Worshippers to take the near-forgotten old tech, and advance it beyond anything the ancients could do. That said, the additive was clearly not omniscient. It offered her no options to escape the hold the creature now had on her blade.

The shark just continued to drag itself closer to her arm as she tried to back away. Nyx's eye had been burning through the creature ever since it first appeared. Whenever she could, she would target the flesh. That melted easier. But as the hot metal tried to meld itself to her blade, she'd shifted her focus to the plated head of the shark… which did not succumb to her observation anywhere near as fast.

The muffled grows were right at her back now, so not wasting any more time, Nyx let go of her rapier and leaned in to grab the shark behind the head. The hot metal fins shifted, ready to slice into her arm, but she was too quick. With a tug, the shark was headless. It slid along the sharp edge of her blade and past the guardless hilt. Unfortunately, that did not mean the beast was dead. She slammed her hand into the side of the handle, finally freeing her blade. And not too soon.

The moment her fingers wrapped around the hilt again, a horrid groaning of metal under strain echoed through the labyrinth. Nyx dove to the side, forgetting the unfinished malformation of a shark, as another pipe burst behind her. She slipped past two layers of tubing before she dared a glance back. As she did, a second pipe burst, and two more of those gummy sharks appeared. Including the one that was pulling itself together, there were now four of the Fleshforge creations.

And she could still hear more growls within the tubes not yet punctured. Was it worth continuing the fight? Who knew how many of the creatures there was waiting in the metal below her very feet? Deciding that she'd had enough trouble killing just one, Nyx turned and fled. She needed to prioritise survival. Practising her sword, or working towards another additive could be done another day. Right now, in the middle of a Dark Star, proving her ability was unimportant. Yet where could she go?

She was stuck in the labyrinth of thick, metal tubes. There was nothing to guide her way. Up was identical to down, and moving forwards might as well be the same as back. Nyx would love to say gravity was a consistent crutch… but the spiralling magma-falls to her right tumbled up. Nyx tried to avoid the sharks, but without a space large enough to fly for more than a couple metres at a time, she could not outpace the fleshforged that swam after her. There would be no running.

Their medium for traversal inhibited Nyx's. It was about as much of an environmental disadvantage she could have. When they finally caught up to her, she was ready. Nyx dodged the sudden geyser and snapped her claws into the side of the shark as it tried to bite her. Her intent wasn't to cleave, but capture. With hot shark in hand, she made sure the other that burst free from the same pipe couldn't bite her before she sheathed her rapier and clutched the tail. The gummy shark tried to flail in her grip.

Its metal plating began to shift into the same bladed fins as its friend, but Nyx was already tugging. One hand beneath its head, and the other along its tail, the shark could do nothing to oppose being pulled apart. Liquid flesh was a flexible material, but it wasn't strong. At least not how it manifested in the shark.

Nyx didn't have all that much upper body strength — the limits of her frail flesh being only a bit stronger than a fit, unevolved, adult man — yet it was enough to pull apart the flesh between plates that formed the shark. Well, with the help of a grip that never slipped. The shark fell apart. But even as the tail and head hung in her arms, they flailed around, attempting to reconnect with its other half. Nyx's third eye worked overtime.

She burnt away at all the flesh around the foremost metal plates, hoping that removing such would kill the creature. Yet it was a vain attempt. It seemed, like the first one, the only way to kill them was to destroy a good amount of the flesh that made them. As she tossed away the tail and continued to burn at the head, she clambered up and away from the other shark still chasing her. Nyx wondered if it would die by destroying enough metal as well. Not that such an option was easier.

Another tube burst ahead of her. This time, she couldn't avoid the entire spray of molten flesh that exploded while she was in mid leap. It struck her side. A quarter of her robe was burnt away in an instant, and the resulting impact knocked her off coarse. Nyx bit her tongue to stop herself from screaming as she slammed into a pipe and tumbled down through more than a few floors worth of tubing.

When she'd finally settled herself enough to dig her claws into her surroundings and regain control of herself, Nyx found a shark biting into her hip. The metal teeth cauterised her flesh as they sunk beneath her skin. It was agony. Will I ever face a creature that doesn't know how to worm past my pain tolerance. Nyx thought. Just a normal bite would be fine. There's no need to add flesh-melting heat on top. Nyx clubbed the shark with a backhand. Its jaw buckled, and it went flying.

Glancing up, she found three of the sharks using their elongated fins to clamber over metal to chase her down. Beyond them, she could hear a chorus of growling within the pipe labyrinth. This environment was truly the only reason these pests were effective against her. It was about time she shifted things in her favour. Nyx slammed her pincers down on a pipe. The shattering power of her claws cut through with only the slightest resistance. As soon as it was through, she jerked away.

The last thing she wanted was more of that burning substance eating through her skin. One down, many more to go. If the Dark Star wasn't so kind as to create environments suitable to its master, then she would have to make them herself.