Chương 27: Shotgun

Time until next Elemental Storm: 4 Days and 17 Hours Arms or legs? Ethan wondered. He was deep in thought while he walked, a single hand stroking his chin. Penny jogged beside him, and her falcon scouted ahead.

"Ethan, what's on your mind?" she nudged him with a shoulder.

"What part of the armour I should make next. If my legs get burnt, I won't be able to walk, and if I burn my arms, I won't be able to attack, so what's more important?"

"Legs? Surviving should be the first thing on your mind." It seemed obvious when she said it, but then so did everything else. Penny closed her eyes for a few seconds and opened them back up a little later.

"Two Lava Komodos waiting up ahead. Ready?" Penny asked. Bone armour materialized over his face and chest, and Ethan nodded.

"Ready."

"Would be nice if you could get me a pair too," Penny sighed, before directing her falcon. Now, that's an idea, Ethan rushed forward alongside it, and the komodos burst out of the lava. They climbed the rocks and landed in their way. They weren't as big as the Magmizard, but they made up for it with their abilities. The Komodos moved their heads, and waves of magma splashed out into the platform. Ethan dodged away from the wave and closed in to the monsters.

The falcon was already there, misting the air with its sleeping powder. The Komodos drank it in and coughed, and Ethan planted his spear in one's chest. Boost. The spear sunk in deep, but not deep enough. Ethan had to back off, turning to the other Komodo. The second bit his arm and burned flesh. The pain hissed, but it would pass. Ethan placed his hand higher on the shaft of the spear and stabbed it into the Komodo's eyes. The Komodo opened its mouth to scream, letting Ethan wrench away his arm.

He backed away towards Penny, healing his wounds at the same time. The now blind Komodo stumbled but followed the sound of the other's voice.

"Ethan! It's getting closer!" Penny shouted. She loaded a crossbow and fired it at the second Komodo, but the shot barely slowed it down. Ethan Boosted himself to the Komodo and readied his spear. A bit of death essence trickled into the staff and covered the head, and Ethan stabbed it into the Komodo's side. Its body began breaking down, giving Ethan time to pull the spear out. The blind Komodo came running, and Ethan dodged to the side. Boost. He kicked the blind Komodo off the platform.

It let out a gutteral scream and smashed its head against a rock on the way down. [+150 Credits]"Agh!" Penny shouted in pain. Another wave of magma had reached the platform, and droplets of the red hot lava landed on her. All the while, her falcon pecked the second Komodo's eyes, and more crossbow bolts stopped in its chest. Ethan leveled his spear one last time, activated his Talent, and plunged it straight into the Komodo's heart, killing it.

[+100 Credits] Ethan rushed over to Penny, who was scowling and hissing.

"Ugh…. fire, couldn't have been less rank, could it?" she cursed, bringing out the ointment.

"Let me do it," Ethan took the gel from her and applied it across her arms. He didn't tell her about the other thing he was doing though. While the burn ointment worked across her body, he was also applying life force from under the burns, making them shallower. Not enough to fully rid her of the pain, but to make sure it would heal faster. While he worked, Penny raised a free hand and her falcon landed on it, sinking into her skin.

"It just melds like that?" Ethan questioned.

"What, Zeke?"

"You gave it a name?"

"He's a good bird. Deserves a good name," she explained.

"Your Talent makes him good, doesn't it? Usually the monsters are just looking to rip us apart."

"Right you are," she smiled. This is a good a time as any.

"What is your Talent anyway, Penny? I've told you all about mine," Ethan lied. But he needed this information.

"Seven Beastmarks. It's a bit embarrassing to admit but… it's a Talent granted by a God." Ethan froze. A God…. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Oh, you don't have to look so surprised, babe. Yours is primo, too!"

"Uh, yeah, sorry, it's just a bit jarring."

"Haha, everyone's like that when they hear. Kyrosh, Shaper of Wills, He granted me this power, and I'll be grateful to him for it for a long time," she explained.

"I can only keep the one monster right now though, but if Zeke goes down, I can get another."

"How does that work?"

"Oh, if it's hurt enough, I just need to will my Talent to the monster and it'll go in."

"That sounds…"

"Absurdly powerful?" Penny finished his sentence for him.

"Yeah. I'm kind of jealous, now," Ethan said with a smirk.

"Don't be. I can't hold something too strong for now," Penny said.

"And I can't control the monsters directly either, just shout out orders and hope they bend an ear." But once she reached the higher ranks, what kind of monsters could she bind to herself?

"What about your skills?"

"Can't a girl keep her secrets, Ethan?" she asked.

"I didn't mean to pry, I ju—""I'm joking, lighten up. I've only got the one skill that lets me share senses with monsters. Apart from that, I'm useless for now," she shrugged. Ethan was done applying the ointment by then. Penny pulled her arms away, smiling a little.

"Huh, doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would. Maybe I should let you have at it more often." Ethan kept shut in case he let something out. Penny rose up, and they both stood over the monster corpses.

"Oh, and I harvest monster essence. That doesn't take away from what you need, does it?" Penny asked.

"Nope. Take as much as you can," he told her, and they finished harvesting. After that, the both of them continued down the hallway.

[[Party Chat] Penny: Checking in? How are you all holding up. Jeffrey: Just fine. You and Collins? Penny: A few burns, but we'll survive. Bradley: Why isn't he in here? Penny: Busy training his skills. Told me to do it in his place. Emma: Has he found a solution for the gauntlets yet? … Penny: Says he's working on it. Jeffrey: Keep an eye out for both of you. Penny: Will do, boss.] With the free time they had, Ethan decided to make more armour for his hands.

But creating hands that would easily move with his armor proved near impossible. There were so many moving parts in his fingers that he needed to consider when making them, and not only did the designs take ages to make, but they also felt stiff. He couldn't hold his spear properly with it, so he abandoned the idea entirely, at least for now. Instead, he settled for some rounded arm guards and shoulder plates. He hadn't forgotten what Penny had said about armour either.

He did want to make her some to keep her protected on the backlines, but fitting it for her measurements would be a task by itself. And one that might be a bit… intimate. Instead, he delayed by focusing on something else. A new kind of attack. The monsters in the shrine always got off an attack or two of their own before they went down fully. A day would come when that one attack would shift the battle in their favour, which is why Ethan couldn't allow it.

While he walked, he formed a plate of bone above his knuckles. It'd come from part of the failed design he had. Over that plate of bone he formed a second plate, separated by a small distance and held together with a support structure. Finally, in the space between the two plates, he added death essence in abundant amounts, as much as his body could control at one time. Now, all that was left was to test it. Penny lured the lone Lava Komodo out of the river, and it hopped up to their platform.

Zeke the treant falcon hounded its eyes and sprayed sleeping powder over its face, while Ethan approached it from behind. He formed the half-gauntlet over his arms, and ran life force through the muscles. Boost. He planted the knuckle into the Komodo's side, and the bones shattered on impact. Ethan forced the death essence outward, pushing the bone shards along with it. The blow shredded the monster's side, and broke open a large enough hole for its guts to come out.

Before the Komodo could snap at him, Ethan backed away. Penny launched more crossbow bolts at the monster's heart, and one last spear strike finished it off. [+175 Credits] Ethan sighed and shook his hand. He'd almost burnt it touching the monster, but the lower plate of bone on there protected him.

"So, how was it?" Penny asked.

"... I should make the top sharper. And add more shielding for my hand so monster gunk doesn't spray onto me," Ethan said. But for a first try, the ability was a success.

"Where did all that force come from, though?" Penny asked. She inspected the impact point, and saw the deadening flesh around it.

"That's…. One of my abilities. I can move a kind of destructive essence," Ethan said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's hard to control though," he lied.

"Which is why you put it in the gauntlet, I get it," she said, not getting it at all. But Ethan wasn't going to correct her. He was happy enough with his new ability. It just needed a name now. DE Shotgun, he christened the ability. If he expanded the usage from his fists to his weapons, he could completely replace his DE Overlay with it. But that's going to take time to iron out, he admitted to himself. They'd already slowed down enough to test the ability, he didn't want to delay it any longer.

"So, what's your motivation for joining the Realm Trial?" Ethan asked out of the blue. Penny's eyes widened for a second.

"What did you say?"

"W-why did you join the realm trial?"

"Oh… It's personal, sorry." She'd grown sullen, and walked ahead of Ethan. He stood there confused. There goes your trust exercise, Ethan. How are you gonna figure you can tell her the truth now? He tried several more times to broach the subject over the course of the walk, but every time he even approached it, Penny would grow reserved and quiet. And that didn't make him look any better either, so he had to stop. They walked in silence after that.

Zeke scouted ahead for them, and they avoided most of the monsters gunning for them. Ethan tried to glimpse more about the shrine's internal workings from the writings on the wall, but he came up short. The second level of the shrine is much more restrictive than the first, to protect the creatures within. The entry had gotten his hopes up, but as soon as it started talking about the second level of the shrine, it stopped and turned back to matters of biology and the author's thinly veiled hatred of dragons.

Thankfully, the back wall of the hallway finally showed up. Ethan and Penny picked up their pace, and started up the stairs as fast as possible. They both expected some clues at the top of the brazier, but they didn't expect the form it would take. Because when they found it, it was already lit.