Chương 30: 16. Field Tests

The spirit's domain seemed to repel the ambient miasma, making it easier to breathe. Sam bit down on the inside of his cheek, forcing himself to focus and pushing the mesmerizing effects of the shifting colors aside. He just about ducked under the creature's scything arms. Unfortunately, its wide rib cage struck his shoulder, throwing him off balance. His forward dive turned into a spin as he landed awkwardly on his left foot, then fell onto his back.

Most of the humanoid opponents Sam had faced were human and had human proportions. The long, gangly limbs gave the creature incredible reach and therefore the advantage. He didn't doubt that it had spent most of its life fighting for survival in and outside of its nest. Fortunately, it lacked only technique. Thus far Sam had mostly fed IEF a balance of Genesis and Terminus. He didn't want either effect unintentionally affecting his body. They were merely fuel for the technique.

Now, he switched to a three-to-two ratio, favoring Genesis. The pain in his hip and shoulder eased immediately, letting Sam rise and Feather Step around the next attack to get behind the creature. Massive claws raked the floor, missing his shin and foot by half an inch. The creature wasn't as stupid as it looked, aiming to maim or cripple Sam before going for the kill. He used the opening to ready a Pulsing Palm. He got behind his opponent before launching a strike at its midriff.

To his horror, its giant shoulder blades parted, and a pair of thick, pale-haired tentacles whipped out toward him. Committed to the strike, Sam failed to react in time. The first tentacle pushed his arm aside, keeping his palm from making contact and snapping something. The other struck his midriff, just below the solar plexus, knocking him back and forcing the air from his lungs. Darkness encroached on the edges of Sam's vision. Hot, white pain accompanied it.

He had just enough sense to shift IEF's balance once again, adding more Genesis to the mix. A grunt escaped Sam as whatever had snapped in his arm painfully clicked back into place. It was a harsh reminder that Genesis wasn't healing him, just rewinding the clock on the incident that had caused the injury. It did nothing for the air forced from his lungs. Still, his vision cleared, giving him enough time to roll away from follow-up attacks.

The arm cannon's strap caught on a broken floorboard, then wrapped around Sam's neck, forcing him to stop abruptly. If not for IEF channeling excess Genesis through his system, he was sure the damage would've left him even more compromised. An angry growl burst from the creature as it turned and advanced. It didn't charge, seemingly more cautious than during its previous approach. The two thick tentacles growing from its back split into four. Then Sam noticed the countless hair-like strands that formed them.

It was much like the mycelium that filled the Inhuman he had seen cut open.

"Remember. Father doesn't just want you to feed me Corruption, but also to purge it from this realm using his powers." Oros's words echoed in Sam's head as a quick idea formed.

"You have to purge it." When the creature reached for Sam, he allowed its giant, flawed hand to wrap around his left arm. Then, he grabbed its forearm with his right hand and released the readied Pulsing Palm packed with an eighth of his ether stores. It had deteriorated during the conflict, as Sam struggled to maintain his concentration, but it did the job. Grey skin darkened and sank in as the flesh underneath died. Waves spread up and down the limb, spreading the effects and blackening tissue.

The creature roared, released Sam, and backed away. It brought its talons down on the right elbow, where the blackness had spread, and severed the limb in a single slice. Brackish red blood sprayed only for a moment before mycelium burst from the wound. They coiled and wrapped around each other, stopping the bleeding and becoming a tentacle much like the one growing out of its back. Another explosion painted the world white for a moment.

Sam, on his back on the floor, escaped the flash, but the creature wasn't as lucky. Its intact arm shot to its eyes in a much-too-late attempt to shield them. The sound and shockwave hit a moment later, shaking the floor and bringing it to its knees.

"It's an airship!" Oros told him, keeping an eye outside as instructed.

"It's broken through the hole by the stalk. Bits are raining all around you."

"We have to get out of here," Sam replied telepathically. His stomach turned as the smell of fresh rot and decay flooded his nostrils.

"Time to abort. We bit off more than we can chew."

"No. The spirit's domain will shield you. Destroy your foe." Sam charged with a Pulsing Palm packed with only a sixteenth of its ether. Unlike the previous one, it was packed with Genesis. Instead of using his will to instruct the energy towards decay, he asked the ether to reverse the effects of Corruption. It obeyed as soon as he struck the tentacles that came for him. The mycelium receded, shrinking and retreating into the space between the shoulder blades.

Then Sam saw the writing mass of slimy white at the center. It reminded him of the core that he had spotted at the center of the Inhuman's torso. His stomach turned with a deep disgust that Sam struggled to articulate. It quivered and shriveled to two-thirds of its size. Both back tentacles he had struck fell apart completely, leaving only two. Much to Sam's delight, the arm tentacle also lost mass. He didn't get to celebrate for long as the creature spun around and slashed with its good arm.

Feather Step kept him from pouring more Genesis into IEF. Instead, Sam restored the balance as he got behind the creature. His strategy failed as the tentacles kept him from getting close and also ensured his palm didn't make contact. Is it intelligent, or is that another effect of the Corruption? Sam's heart thundered in his chest. His temples throbbed in rhythm, and his eyes struggled to maintain focus.

The mental stress and physical exhaustion of active combat caught him off guard, highlighting the need to further develop a body technique. Even though Sam had planned against it, he swung the arm cannon around, aimed the barrel from the hip, and fired at the beast. The blast ripped through its good arm, shredding everything from fingertips to elbow, before tearing open its side. The blast knocked it off its feet and sent it flying into the wall.

Given the ongoing chaos outside, he was sure the arm cannon's roar was barely audible to any monstrosities nearby. A final Pulsing Palm infused with the power of Genesis struck the space between the shoulder blades. The core shriveled and shrank until nothing remained. All other tentacles fell apart, the mycelium dying instantly. Sam followed up with a powerful punch to the back of the head, increasing IEF's overall ether input.

His knuckles stung as he caved in the weakened bone plate and skull, ending the creature. An angry red essence, thick with the murky black of Corruption, clattered to the tiled floor when he withdrew his hand. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Sam collapsed to his hands and knees, panting. He doubted he would've survived without the hand cannon.

It was probably too soon to test his newly awakened physiology techniques on Level Four, but he didn't have much of a choice. Unless and until Iris stirred, getting stronger was the only route to survival. The fight had consumed approximately two-thirds of his ether. Pulsing Palm took the bulk of it; he poured the rest into IEF. Upsetting the balance and using Genesis to reverse the injuries consumed more energy than Sam expected. Survival would've been impossible without it.

I was kidding myself to think I could manage without the hand cannon. It's impossible without a body technique or range. Got pretty fucking far, though. Sam wanted to feel proud, but it was neither the time nor the place. Time and energy were a luxury he lacked. The building shook, and the world outside seemed on fire. He could see nearby structures coming apart, just as Oros had said. The above spirit's domains kept him safe. Oros slithered in through the hole in the wall, eyes locked on the essence in Sam's hand.

She leaped as he threw it, caught it in her mouth, and swallowed straight away. A shudder traveled down her serpent body. The scales wriggled around her head, then rose and fell, venting the same red light the essence contained. It traveled as a wave to the tip of her tail before she returned to her normal state.

"More Corruption than essence," Oros stated.

"Perfect."

"Is it?" Sam coughed, struggling to catch his breath.

"What the fuck is going on outside?"

"Chaos. See for yourself." As much as Sam wanted to know what purging corruption and feeding Oros the essence earned him, he saved all related questions for later. Instead, he wobbled to his feet and stumbled to the hole in the wall. A flaming airship floated overhead. Giant fleshy masses stuck to it, the spaces between them punctuated by thick bony spikes. Chunks of wood, metal, and biomass rained from the vessel. Much to his horror, the flesh grew as it fell into giant, throbbing masses.

They, or the bonespikes implanted on them, exploded on making landfall; Sam couldn't be sure. The growths reminded him of the Inhuman he now called the Smiling Man. He had used similar spikes to infect fellow awakened and also pelted the Seekers with them. One such spike still sat half planted in Iris's abdomen. The airship seemed to be jettisoning parts of itself to rid itself of the alien growths, struggling to stay airborne.

The attempts appeared futile as the vessel rapidly lost altitude, spiraling downward around the stalk. A giant hole sat near the top of the Abyss-born plant, around the base where the thick upside-down roots spread far and wide. The edges were ablaze.

"That's where the vessel broke through," Oros commented.

"We should get back. It will be chaos when they land."

"No," Sam replied, recognizing the hull and the embossed plate planted along the side.

"I've been on that airship before. If it's coming down, we need to be here. The survivors might help us get out of here. We won't have to wait for Iris to wake up."

"Or an Inhuman could be on board and turn its wrath on us. You're nowhere near strong enough to survive an exchange with even the weakest of their kind."

"Or there could be more Corruption for me to purge and you to consume. Let's not forget the possibility of valuable resources onboard. Essence. Manuals. Scrolls. Armaments." The familiar didn't protest further. Sam was starting to figure out her desires. She wished to remain deep in the Abyss not to test his mettle and help him grow stronger, but because it was ripe with Corruption. More food for her and Ouroboros sooner had little trouble swaying her.

Sam also wished to discover what awaited him once he fulfilled his end of the bargain. Oros had suggested that until the scales were balanced, he wouldn't receive the full benefits of feeding her essence. His growth was currently slow and limited because he didn't have enough to give Ouroboros when they formed their bond. The vessel's rear broke off and fell onto the building where Sam was taking shelter. The structure shook.

Chunks of concrete rained alongside the debris, but the spirit's domain and everything below it remained reasonably sturdy. Cracks spread through the walls and floors. Chunks of both fell away, but the structure held. Oros went out first, slithering down the wall and weaving a path through the now-burning street. She weaved around the debris, flesh, spikes, and flames, toward the airship. It was descending swiftly, and Sam didn't doubt it would touch down in less than a handful of minutes.

He pursued her with IEF at a jog. It only took a dozen steps before he had to shift the balance to funnel more Genesis into the technique. The heat coming off the burning flesh and debris was unbearable. It singed and blistered his skin. He felt the facial hair he had grown over the past month burning, as well. The discomfort didn't ease, but the pain in his lungs receded. Without a body technique, Genesis was the only thing keeping him from being cooked from the inside.

"Stop!" Sam skidded to a halt on hearing Oros's telepathic scream. He stopped just in time as a piece of the vessel's bow landed ahead of him and exploded on impact. Flaming shrapnel and chunks of flesh flew over Sam's head as he flattened himself against the ground. He felt bits slice his scalp and shoulders, and immediately increased Genesis's percentage to seventy.

"Don't go any higher!" Oros's voice echoed in his head again.

"It might damage your vessels and undo your past several weeks of training." Since Sam barely understood Genesis and Terminus, he obeyed as his hair, shirt, and the skin on his middle back burned. The ether consumption was far too high. Barely minutes had passed since he left security, and his stores were almost down to a quarter of his maximum. He hesitated, wondering whether it was smart to keep moving toward the airship. The world trembled when it made landfall by the stalk's base.

A shockwave washed over Sam, ripping at his back, seconds after white flashed around him. Burning flesh and metal filled the air with its vile stench, and flames painted the world red and orange. Sam sat up just in time to see modules falling off the ship. A giant woman and a skinny man appeared from a massive tear in the ship's side. He climbed along the side like a spider, tangling chains he dragged around a trio of giant bone spikes embedded in the vessel. The giant woman held the other end of the chain.

Once the man waved, she tugged violently, ripping all three spikes and all the flesh attached to them off the ship, and exposing the mechanism underneath. The cargo doors burst open, revealing a dozen or so survivors. Sam was close enough to recognize two of them: Mika the stewardess and a scavenger who served Iris's party during their last mission. He saw one of the pilots and another crew member. The rest of them looked like passengers of varying social standing, and terrified.

It wouldn't surprise Sam if there weren't many combatants or awakened among them. All hesitation disappeared. If they were strangers, he wouldn't have hesitated, but now that he saw familiar faces, Sam had to move. The vessel wasn't going to hold for long, and the fire was rapidly advancing. Roars and cries of Level Four's predators punctuated the miniature explosions and sound of falling debris ahead.

Another humanoid beast almost identical to the one Sam had not long put down raced toward the vessel along a rooftop to his right. He caught more movement out of the corner of his eye. It seemed all the creatures expelled from the neighboring nest had found whatever they were looking for. Sam needed to move swiftly if he intended to make a difference. Fuck these troglodytes.