Chương 16: Giving Head

The seven severely tanned survivors stood behind Nihil as the man observed the pit.

"Ten metres is how high I'd estimate the maximum elevation levels of this island," Nihil eventually said.

"This pit is 7-8 metres deep, which makes sense considering it's more on the outskirts."

"Does it matter?" Aliyah asked curiously. Nihil hummed.

"It seems most of you forgot basic physics during your digging," he eventually chided, walking around the pit. The sediment layers of the island had been clearly revealed by the constant work of the shovels over the past days. Sand turned into earth turned into grey rocks turned into black flowing stone the deeper you dug. The ceiling of the rock tunnel was that very black flowing rock. Formerly volcanic, obviously.

"This island was likely created by a small volcanic eruption," Nihil explained.

"There's no other way to explain the volcanic rock. However, it must have been a small volcano, or else this tunnel would have been much deeper." He turned to look at the group, some of whom were seemingly starting to understand.

"Water pressure," Nihil explained with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh!" Plastic Man explained.

"You're right! If the underwater tunnel was very deep, the water pressure within would be immense. Breaking the ceiling to open a path for the mermen would have likely resulted in a high-pressure explosion of water."

"This tunnel seems to be about two metres below sea level, so it's not that dangerous," Nihil commented.

"But we still have to be careful of trapped gasses and maybe a geyser-like eruption." He waved at the pit.

"This whole thing will likely fill up to at least the half-way point when we release the water."

"But we need to open two holes," Aliyah suddenly realised.

"How will we open the second one underwater? We can't swing our shovels like that." Nihil nodded, observing the sleek black rock that had been unearthed. There was a streak of compacted grey stone mixed with earth in the middle of the tunnel. Where it had collapsed to trap the fishmen. Small cracks were apparent in the black stone. It seemed almost fragile.

"If we hadn't excavated such a large area," Nihil said, nodding towards the large hole, several square meters big. Like a standard bedroom, really.

"Then we would likely have to have worried a lot about subsequent tunnel collapse. I think I could crack the top and unleash the water without that happening however." He turned to the group.

"Stand back, behind the mound. I can survive a water eruption and some poison gas but most of you probably can't," he warned the survivors, at which point the group slowly retreated to the edge of the clearing where they stood behind some still standing trees next to the excavated materials. This would have likely been the point when Musk would have said something stupid, such as accusing Nihil of wanting to hog the rewards of the quest.

Fortunately the man was no longer physically capable of making such complaints and thus the fresh air of the island remained verbally unmolested. Nihil analysed the mound of dirt and rocks that had been excavated. It would have to be pushed back in to fill the hole once the fishmen had escaped to prevent them from returning. He shook his head. That was something to worry about until after the fishmen had actually left.

He shifted his threads, increasing the density and thus the weight and hardness of the surface layers on both his fists, turning them into hammers while the rest of the threads in his body strained to hold onto the lopsided internal structure. Standing atop the collapsed segment, Nihil raised both his fists high into the air, fully exerting his strength and swung them down at the same time while falling into a squat.

The hands, like rocks, smashed simultaneously into the already cracked surface which immediately caused it to shatter in place just enough to release a small amount of water. Nihil jumped back as the water pressure did the rest of the work for him, two small puddles slowly emerging before suddenly exploding in a geyser each, about as tall as a man.

He continued retreating into the treeline opposite the mound of dirt the other survivors were standing next to as he observed how the geyser slowly weakened as the pit filled with water. The next few minutes were tense, the entire group observing as the water rose and rose and rose, before stopping at what must have been sea-level, leaving half the pit empty.

The flow became weak and the newly created pond stilled to a flat surface disturbed only by the occasional ripple of water dispersing itself into the cracks of the pit, causing more of it to be drawn up from the sea. It didn't take long however for the water to become disturbed, a small ripple emerging just a few minutes after breakage. The small ripple turned into several larger ones as a muted thumping started emerging from underneath the water.

The loud cracks of volcanic stone shattering piece after piece filled the silent clearing before it all stilled. The water suddenly exploded, as a fully grown fishman erupted into the air from inside the pond. It was gripping what seemed to be a rather rudimentary hammer created by tying a large stone to a sturdy stick with some fibrous material. Some of the survivors shrieked, immediately getting the attention of the fishman who turned around to stare at the frozen group with bulbous eyes.

Then the creature slowly turned around, gripping its hammer tight, to stare at Nihil who was standing at the edge of the clearing with his arms crossed. The stare-off persisted for a few seconds during which a second fishman emerged, this one smaller. The new arrival then helped point the one clutching the hammer to the bottom of the pond, where the escape shaft had yet to be fully cracked open.

The hammer fell unceremoniously with no small amount of desperation the moment the situation became clear to the rudimentary intelligences. The hacking was brutal, the fishman's muscles tensing in the air as the hammer dropped, throwing up water as if an animal were dying underneath. More cracks, before eventually, finally, a big enough hole seemed to have been struck. The scene that followed next was reminiscent of a salmon migration.

The big fishman was the first to dive underneath, disappearing, presumably, towards the sea. The smaller one followed quickly, after which only fins became visible as the creatures swam out of one hole and into the other, right back into the sea. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. It would have been beautiful, had the creatures not been so grotesque.

Instead of wonder the scene created only a sense of profound disgust and relief that these abominations were finally leaving the island. The migration didn't take too long, lending credence to the assumption that there hadn't been overly many of the creatures on the island in the first place and Nihil was just about to call for the survivors to start shovelling the rocks and the dirt back into the hole when the water rippled once again.

What emerged this time was not a hideous fish creature with human arms and legs, but rather the more traditional depiction of a mermaid. The head emerged first, crowned with wet long hair the colour of pink coral. Then came the face, almost entirely inhuman in its beauty, although the mouth smiled in a grotesque approximation of a smile due to the sharp fangs inside. Pale dainty arms, large breasts and a slim torso which ended at the pubic bone in the bottom half of a silvery sea creature.

The mermaid tousled her hair, looked around, before locking her eyes on the group of survivors. She kept her bottom half under the water as she swam, almost giving the impression that there was a beautiful woman bathing in the pond. Then one small hand plunged into the water and seemingly received something, coming up to lift it above water. It was a small chest. Rotting wood with rusted iron, corals and algae covering the whole thing and turning it into a sort of exhibition on deep sea furniture fusion.

A trill came from the mermaid's mouth as she held out her hand towards the group of survivors, seemingly offering the chest. It sounded like the mix of a bird singing and a human gargling ketchup. Hidden Quest Complete! +500 Exp Nihil watched on as the survivors shared confused looks. Then he shook his head, walked over to the other side of the pit and picked up one of the hard plastic shovels.

He held it at the very end, extending the head towards the mermaid in the middle of the pool who gave him an amused look but laid the wooden chest onto the spat. Nihil swung the shovel up to hurl the wooden chest onto the ground in front of him before pulling back and thrusting the utensil out to bury the front edge of the blade straight into the mermaid's throat with all his strength. The clearing was silent for a second as shock blossomed in the eyes of everyone present.

The mermaid shakingly raised an arm to her throat which had been half-pierced through as a gurgle came out of her mouth and blood splashed out to stain the water below, creating streaks of pink. Nihil hefted the shovel, leveraged and heaved, lifting the entire mermaid out of the water by the neck and slamming the corpse onto the ground next him, where he promptly finished beheading the creature.

The head rolled off, spurting blood and landing at his bare feet, glazed eyes staring up at the blue sky incomprehensibly. Nihil for his part simply stood there, looking at the pond to see if the fishmen would emerge to retaliate in some ways. It would be incredibly convenient if they did, considering they could only emerge from the crack in the tunnel one by one. It would have been like playing a game of whack-a-mole.

Unfortunately no such thing occurred, the pond stilled, the blood disappeared in the water and only the harsh breaths of the survivors once again filled the clearing.

"Fill up this hole," Nihil ordered callously as he turned to the seven people standing behind him.

"We don't want them to come back and take revenge." He paused, considering.

"Don't stay at the beach anymore. They can survive walking up until the inner circle of the island. The safety of the geography has reversed. Now the inner part is safe while the outer part isn't. Mind the snakes." After giving that final warning he squatted down, put the wooden chest beneath his armpit and used that arm to grab the decapitated head by the hair. It felt like gripping wet algae. His other arm picked up the mermaid by the thin part right above the fin. She didn't weigh more than 50kg.

Disappointing but better than nothing. He turned around and left the silent clearing. The survivors didn't say a word to each other as he left, simply picking up the shovels and starting to fill up the pit.

-/- It was after putting a significant enough distance between himself and anyone that could possibly be observing him, even making sure to hide behind some thick foliage and to keep an eye out for any of Kevin's creatures, that Nihil threw the body of the mermaid onto the ground alongside the chest, while keeping the head in his hand. He shifted its position, so that his fingers were clasped around the stump and looked into the dead eyes emitting confusion even in death. Then he concentrated.

Black threads emerged from all over his hand and arm, slowly but surely crawling up the head to submerge it in darkness. What was left seemed more like a black pulsing heart than a head. A heart that was gradually shrinking with each rhythmic beat. After a while Nihil unfurled the threads, remade his body and focused inwards. He'd gained weight. Become more dense. He opened his status sheet.

Nihil Experience: 31 Exp Used: 9231 Level: 9 Str: 14 -> 15 Ag: 11 -> 10 Dex: 45 -> 44 Per: 23 Vit: 90 -> 91 Reg: 0 His strength had increased with the gained weight, as had his vitality. His agility on the other hand had gone down, back to the levels of a professional athlete at his peak. Nihil slowly made his way to the body of the mermaid, laying down gently on top of it, at which point his body fell apart into a writhing black pool of threads which covered it, and the floor.

Minutes passed as he digested the flesh beneath him. Exp +4 Exp +4 Exp +4 Exp +3 -/- Nihil found himself laying on his back, blinking up at a blue sky barely visible through the green leaves of the jungle. He felt heavy, but satisfied. Nihil Experience: 59 Exp Used: 9231 Level: 9 Str: 15 -> 18 Ag: 10 -> 7 Dex: 44 - > 38 Per: 23 Vit: 91 -> 109 Reg: 0 As expected. He now weighed an extra 50kg.

This increased his strength to almost double that of a professional athlete because he had more mass to put behind his actions, while depleting his agility down to the level of a jogging enthusiast because he was carrying more with every step. Dexterity had taken a similar hit, but it didn't matter considering there weren't that many fine-scale operations he would need during the future levels.

Vitality, the biggest win, had increased massively, indicating that he was now ten times harder to kill than an already resilient human. The new skill was already paying off. Black Thread Biomass conversion: Formerly living Biomass can be converted into additional black threads. Permissible targets must be purchased manually. Currently designated targets: -Non-Humans He'd selected a wide variety in the end by simply designating all dead non-human non-plant biomass.

Only humans remained, something that would cost only a few experience points to add if he ever willed it. As for why the skill didn't have to be described in several pages to truly narrow down all possibilities and exclude things like plants... That was because the system was intuitive. or in other words.

'It's magic, I ain't gonna explains shit.' However, his eyes were already looking at the new skill he needed to create. The skill that would allow him to stock up on black threads to restore thread loss mid-battle in the future. Black Thread Inventory: Black Threads can be stored in a metaphysical space tethered to one's identity, the amount of space correlates to the level of the user. Experience Cost: 2013 -> 2002 Nihil stretched on the hard ground, before slowly getting up, unused to his new body weight.

He quickly adapted, running through a set of exercises to familiarise himself with the situation. Then he looked at the wooden chest he'd received for completing the quest. It was time to see what the reward was.