Accidental Reaver

Chapter 225 - 224: Meric's Lake

Voids sprinkled, sucking in ambient ether. Like static rippling throughout the sky. The starlight, already faint, dimmed in the crossfire. A colossal beast commanded the shallow lakebed. Water undulated under its mere presence. Luke beheld the creature.

A quadraped insectoid. Four rotting dragonfly-like wings. A stringer head at the tip of its tail, connected by immaterial thin black clouds. Two nether mandibles attached to its odd-shaped skull and gray leathery chitin skin. Soul-sucking voids planted where eyes should be.

It stared at Luke, poised on the water—waiting.

"We're this close, and it's happy to play watcher?" Luke slipped Xera out of her sheath. Reaver's Link grew taunt. Sooty felt unexpectedly challenged by the boss. Catching the drift before Sooty could fully communicate, the Reaver rubbed one of the corvid's wings. Sending intent back and forth through the link.

Lowering on her haunches, Iona put both arms over her kneecaps. "Meric is an overlord on the 20th floor. Until we step past that transparent layer, we are counted in the 19th. He's powerful, but nothing to the Tower's will."

"Nothing to the Tower's will," Luke whispered. "And what does the Tower will? Want?"

A quest popped up from the Interface as soon as Luke asked that question.

[Defeat Meric, Soverign of Desire]

Reward: 10 Skill Points.

Bonus Reward: If Meric is killed without another hunter's help, 10 additional Skill Points will be awarded. Reward also applicable to Companion.

As one of the creatures the Sinned Seven sealed long ago, those who face it as intended reap the greatest rewards.

Raising an eyebrow, Luke asked Iona, "Are you seeing this? Did you get a quest too?"

Iona was taken aback for half a second before she remembered. "No, that's a quest only given the first time you end up fighting against Meric. I've already had the reward once. Why? Interested in it?"

Luke paced a little behind Iona, glancing over at Meric every so often. "Of course I'd be interested in it. Ten skill points—amazing. Ten more if I...well, if I do what I should have in the first place? Even better."

Shifting the sands beneath his feet as he walked from one end of the sandbank to the other, Luke chewed on the issue in his mind. He asked, "What do you think, Sooty?"

Sooty flapped down onto the sandbank, not all that far from Luke. She hopped from one talon to the other, shadows spreading out beneath her. Glee practically oozed from her feathers.

"I should have known. You haven't really been tested down here anyway—an Expert with your shadows. I don't even know my own limits, let alone yours, Sooty."

He released Xera from his hand, allowing her to float on her own free will. She drifted up close to his face. Far too close. But then again, the sword probably didn't know the meaning of personal space. Tilting her crystal toward Luke's eyes, she yelled in jubilation, "You already know what I'd say! We could take that thing on. We took on that crystal guy with no problem at all. You sliced him in two with those suns and all sorts of other things like it was nothing. Super easy!" Xera said.

Luke waved it off. "Yeah, yeah. He was one thing. This is another. But, you do have a point, one I can't deny entirely. We haven't really been particularly challenged down here. And that's the point of it all, isn't it?"

He exhaled slowly. "Well, if we're going to attempt something this incredibly stupid, we may as well spend our skill points first."

Luke sent his intent over Reaver's Link to Sooty, instructing her to dump whatever skill points she had left into whatever skill she thought would be most useful.

In her typical bird-speak fashion, Sooty informed her roost member that she'd decided to spread it for various skills, quite unlike her. But on second thought, several of her skills should be close to tier 2, so it could very well be the wisest move in the long term.

For the Reaver himself, it was a toss-up: upgrade Infusion or gamble on Withering Echo. Both could advance, and either might prove far more potent than the other.

Really, it all came down to how everything interacted with one another. Even by this point, Luke still hadn't quite fully understood, let alone mastered, what exactly the Greed Concept did to any of his abilities. He'd known the Concept for too short a period to claim he was anywhere near mastering it. Applying it to class abilities only just now started to be feasible, as he continually integrated the Concept in combat.

It was like a mental muscle—easier to use with practice and effort. Far from an instant process, however. To solve the conundrum, Luke looked to the conveniently placed information source not-so-secretly glaring at him from the other end of the sandbank.

"Iona," he said, "there something else I need to know about this boss?"

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Iona sighed. "Why yes, there's plenty you should know. Like how you should absolutely never try to take on Meric by yourself. I wouldn't call it suicide, but gods, it's close—even for someone like you."

Taking it all in, Luke nodded with measured stillness. "And why is that, exactly? Because it's a raid boss?"

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"Yes, that's certainly part of the reason," she replied, "but far from the only one. Meric has the ability to jump around its territory, control the waters underneath it, even mess with your senses if you're not careful. It can spew poison able to melt the insides of the average tier 2 in seconds. It's an incredibly deadly boss. More than one party led by a tier 3 has died facing him. Let alone you, going in with Sooty, Xera, and leaving me behind. What did you bring me down here for anyway—an audience?"

Luke paused his pacing across the bank. He looked at her directly. "No. I brought you down here for a guide. You've done a really good job, Iona. The anchors, helping me with the monster lures. I can feel myself growing the longer I'm down here. And now I'm presented with the next opportunity."

"If you thought you seriously had a chance at killing the thing in front of you, and that doing so alone would double your reward, wouldn't you do it? I would. Xera wants to, and Sooty sure does."

Iona refuted, "That's one thing, and this is another. I let you lure the crossing's monsters around the Anchor Point because it was nothing compared to what you're asking now. I didn't protest then, but I will now. It's my responsibility as your team captain, and not just that, as a fellow Defier, to make sure you stay alive. There are only so many of us, you know."

"How could I forget? One of us died recently." A shower of sand blew as Luke kicked a shallow dune. "Well, let's get off the topic. I still haven't thanked you for that time in the meadow. In hindsight, it was probably for the best, as much as I hated it." He shrugged lightly. "Really, the extra reward is just an excuse. So let me ask you something else instead, if that's okay?"

Part of the flummox on Iona's face vanished, replaced by confusion. Lulu settled near Iona, and Timber took position behind her. All three seemed to stare at Luke—just like Meric, waiting.

Once his patience steadied, Luke continued. "It does seem foolish at a glance. From your perspective, it would be. But well, let me ask you another question. Could Lorcan Pyrite kill this raid boss by himself?"

Gripping her bow tightly, Iona said, "What does this hypothetical scenario have to do with anything?"

Shadows covered Luke's eyes for a second. "Everything. Answer, please."

Iona sighed. "Lorcan Pyrite is the third or fourth most powerful individual in this city. Let alone Meric, he might manage against the twenty-fifth-floor boss solo, the same one I've trained for—"

"Thank you," Luke interrupted. "Now I'm all the more certain of this choice."

Mist spread across the sandbanks as Sooty turned into liquid shadow, hopping into Luke's own. Xera shifted into a wand, settling back into his right hand.

His breathing grew loud. The Reaver slowly closed the distance between himself and Iona, eventually clasping a hand on her left shoulder. "The favor you did me in the meadow that day, I won't forget it. Let me find the limit, Iona. Risk now, or death later. That's how I see it. For what I'm about to do when I leave the Tower, I don't think the current me is enough."

Iona softly took Luke's hand off her shoulder, dusting herself a little. "Something beyond you? You're almost my equal at this point. If I drop my hubris, I could even say you are my equal. Nature's above and vines below, Luke, what are you trying to do?"

"I'm forging a path all on my own. One that gets me what I actually want in life." He paused. "When I pass that barrier, are you able to intervene if things go south?"

Iona shook her head. "There'll be an Interface notification, and I'll have a few seconds to select No or Yes. After that, assuming I hit No, I won't be able to reach you until either you or Meric is dead. There's no way out. No emergency escapes, nothing. Once enough people start a raid against Meric, the only outcome is to kill him or die to him."

Luke fixated on Meric, returning its void filled gaze, inspecting his next enemy intently. Frost spawned from Xera upon his forearms. Infusion danced, fluttering and flaring. Luke made his decision then. He'd kill this motherfucker. And if there was such a power difference between them, then Withering Echo would almost certainly do better than Infusion would.

He shoved the rest of his skill points into Withering Echo, upgrading it to tier 2. After reading the differences, he stopped stalling. His heart pounded. Doubt crept into his mind. His fingertips trembled, protesting the sheer soul deep greed taking over.

Luke muttered, "It's too late to go back now."

Taking in a final breath, he and Sooty shared a glance. He nodded to her, and she cawed in confirmation.

Lastly, the Reaver put Xera to his side. A raging blizzard began to form with him at its epicenter. The sandy banks froze, and as if there were an uncrossable line, the frost stopped where it reached the transparent film separating him and Meric.

Prepared as he ever would be, Luke stopped mere inches away.

Keeping his attention on Meric, he called out to Iona behind him, "I'm sure it goes without saying, but don't accept any Interface invation. I need this challenge a lot more than you think. Thanks again."

Breathing deeply, Luke stepped past the film. He could swear Meric smiled at him through its mandibles.

The waters beneath stilled for just a moment before elemental ice met yet another manipulator of water. Swampy sludge welled up from the previously pristine green waters. Merric's wings—rotten as they were—fluttered, apparently incapable of flight. But that didn't matter. It blinked beside Luke.

Luke formed Xera into a sword and used Triple Step instantaneously, creating distance from where he'd been. Sooty instinctively melded into the shadows, traveling along. He avoided the surprise attack and took in the fact that Meric was obscenely fast for its size.

This isn't like the Nemenoth fight. Speed is its advantage. Need to take this seriously, understand the patterns. The pressure's building too. The ether wasn't much outside, but in here it's a whole different ballgame. Insane, even.

The Reaver smiled. "Good. This is what I wanted anyway. It'd be too disappointing if you were just a bug I could squash under my heel without effort."

As if it understood the insult, Meric screeched into the air. Void lines expanded. The swampy waters rippled, clashing and freezing in the face of Luke's elemental mastery. Its mandibles clattered.

Luke allowed the ice and snow to whirl and build. Arctic winds backed him. Ice flows to the front. A sphere of snow encased the sides. Water against ice. He couldn't ask for a better opponent.

That said, the Reaver didn't allow his confidence—or the greed swelling in his soul—to guide the reins this early in the fight. Even with advantages most people would dream of against a boss like this, Meric wouldn't just roll over and die.

Jumping back reflexively, a meteor of pure void and water smashed where he'd been seconds before. His eyes widened. Shadows crawled and crept across the exposed meteorite. Luke pinpointed the source immediately. Three voids stood in the sky, commanded by Meric's will.

The pressure redoubled on him. But as he expanded his elemental control, the first elemental mark answered. Runes all along his body bled into Xera and back again, fighting for dominance over the atmospheric ether.

Luke imagined a tier 3 would use their Domain for this. To counter the ambient ether pressure always on the boss's side. He'd have to use this instead. As it often had, Luke's mastery over technique became the answer to lacking tier.

As the boss charged, Luke stayed on the defensive, letting it forget that he wasn't alone in here. No, he was a Reaver. And Reavers had partners.

Sooty appeared in the boss's shadow. The pressure around Meric hardly affected her as she clad herself in armor of darkness. She pierced her beak into the side of its chitinous armor, and a Talon Strike soon followed, opening a wound near the base of one of its wings. Enough to slow it down.

It roared in pain.

Luke seized the moment. Lightning arced over his living ice as he reappeared next to the injured wing. He sliced at its base, severing it clean, then sank Xera into the wound, funneling ice into it and detonating it outward—tearing off chunks of chitin and flesh that sizzled across his armor as they came apart. Shadow Wing appeared next to him, absorbing Meric's retaliation.

He parried a mandible strike, careening backward into the lake waters, freezing every bit he touched. He got back on his feet almost instantly, and Meric had already followed after. Luckily, Shadow Wing got in the way, absorbing the next strike.

He wiped blood from his lips, getting into the rhythm of it. With every exchange, attributes flowed into him. Withering Echo wormed its influence into the boss. Time was on his side now. The smile of a battle junkie colored his features.

Pointing Xera at Meric's face, Luke declared, "You're exactly what I needed."