[System Decay] Chapter 18: Round 2 (Patreon)

Time until tutorial failure: 9 hours, 48 minutes, 30 seconds.

The second floor did not at all look like the first—though maybe that was just the room the stairwell opened up into.

Will and Caiyeri found themselves in the ruins of a temple of no denomination that Will recognized.

The elf, however, did. She clicked her tongue, changing her conjured weapon from a pair of daggers to a long spear.

They stood on a cracked marble floor, surrounded by pillars arranged in a vaguely hexagonal shape that reminded Will of the pictures he’d seen of ancient Greek architecture, if the ancient Greeks had used square-shaped blocks instead of cylinders. There was no ceiling, only the cave.

A fallen statue, its features worn down by time and whatever elements came around this deep in the tunnels, blocked the way between them and the Carrion Lord. Even after however many decades of wear and tear, it was still recognizable as the form of a fair elf woman. A goddess, maybe, judging by the way Caiyeri reacted to it.

Will could see the lingering effects of his corruption on the goblin’s body, pouring off of him like smoke. The other effects that his axe of despair had applied were long gone, washed away by healing magic or potions or something similar, but the corruption remained.

Earlier, when they had been fleeing the Carrion Lord’s camp, Will had felt the corruption take hold. Though he wasn’t sure exactly how to explain it, there was a sense of power radiating off of everyone he’d met, but most especially the goblin boss. Shortly after the corruption had set in, that strange aura had diminished significantly.

Now, though, it was back and greater than ever. Corruption or not, this was not going to be an easy battle.

The Carrion Lord tilted his head, then disappeared.

“Behind!” Caiyeri shouted.

Will grabbed her by the shoulder, activating Destructive Synthesis followed by the temporary Eerie Step skill a moment later. He selected the furthest vent in front of them.

Both of them turned as they reappeared, just in time to hear a sickening crunch as the goblin lord’s warhammer smashed into the statue. Magically reinforced steel met marble and won out easily, kicking up the dust of shattered marble and obscuring his form.

Through the cloud of white dust, the only thing visible was the red glow of the hammer.

“You desecrate the Mother!” Caiyeri cried. Her heart didn’t seem all that into it, as if it was a compelled response, but Will decided reading into that while they were both trying to survive was a bad idea.

“What skills does this guy even have?” he asked, tapping his inventory for his weapons. “Everything we’ve seen has been from the hammer.”

Before Caiyeri could respond, another bone-shaking crash sounded from the middle of the smoke. This one was louder than the last, shaking the ground beneath Will’s feet. He looked down just in time to see the fresh fissure that the Carrion Lord’s attack had created—and just in time for the earth to break beneath him, knocking him onto his back.

Caiyeri rolled to her feet and groaned. “That’s probably one of them.”

Will tried to get back up, but his instincts screamed danger and he clutched a weapon instead.

The faint glow of the hammer’s runes changing color was all the warning Will had before the Carrion Lord came charging out of the dust. What was visible of his skin beneath the armor was glowing.

Still on the ground, Will fired the seven-shooter.

[Machine Gun selected.]

The gun only bounced with the recoil of one bullet, but the rapid-fire series of sonic boom cracks told him that all seven of the bullets fired in an instant, as if the single bullet had split apart the second it left the barrel.

The instant death shot had shattered the forcefield that the Carrion Lord’s armor provided, but it evidently hadn’t been enough to end it all.

Pale blue flickered, then flashed brighter until a point just in front of the goblin’s center of mass was a solid, deep azure.

The goblin didn’t let that stop him, though, and he continued rampaging forward.

Time seemed to slow down as Will slid through his skills, concentrating on the massive creature charging towards him.

Somewhere in the frozen moment, he focused hard enough to reactivate Identify.

Axl, the Carrion Lord. Level: Bronze 10*.

This is a squad boss.

This monster is on the verge of a rank breakthrough. Despite suffering from a level of [Corruption], its stats are higher than the last time you saw it.

Axl will not let you escape. With the power of the [Overlord] skill, he has gained strength and skills. You cannot run, for the Carrion Lord will follow.

Kill or be killed.

I wasn’t planning on running.

Will marked the goblin for death, then activated his new skill.

The tablet of the dark forest had implied it would give him an oppressive power. Bound to the death element, it had done exactly that.

Skill: [The Bell Tolls]

- Spell (esoteric).

- Cost: high mana.

- Cooldown: 1 hour.

Bronze.

“Run. Hide. Fight. Try every last desperate play you have. In the end, the bell still tolls.” - Dread Executor Illona III, cycle 950.

Cleanses all afflictions from you and targets a creature you can see. The creature cannot benefit from magical healing for the next minute. Inflicts necrotic damage scaling with the consumed afflictions and any injuries the target is suffering from.

[Withering Decay] (bronze) - Death approaches. Increases any affliction on the target by one level. Inflicts one level of [Wither].

Condition: [Wither]

- Deals slow necrotic damage over time.

- Weakens necrotic resistances. If the target does not have a resistance to necrotic damage, they gain a weakness to necrotic damage.

Dark energy slithered out from Will’s body, casting the already-dim ground around him into shadow. A midnight black tendril burst from his skin and into the Carrion Lord’s orifices—Axl’s body, according to the system.

The massive goblin stopped mid-stride, oily darkness tracing his veins, and he bellowed in pain and rage.

A menu appeared in Will’s mind, giving him the option to select from one of two conditions—corruption or rage.

Rage did not sound like something he wanted to enhance, so he picked corruption.

You have inflicted a second level of [Corruption].

Will used the opportunity to scramble to his feet and back up like Caiyeri had.

That one usage of his skill combo had taken over half his mana. Will used Destructive Synthesis on the spent teleport dagger, restoring his mana back all the way and temporarily giving himself Eerie Step.

“What the hell did you just hit him with?” Caiyeri asked. “That… looks terrible.”

“The tablet you tossed me,” Will said, grinning maniacally. “Hey, Axl! You’re supposed to be strong, aren’t you? But you still can’t even take down someone a full rank lower than you.”

He was met with an angry roar at twice the volume of the first.

“Are you trying to get us killed?” Caiyeri hissed.

“I’m trying to win,” Will said, carefully aiming the revolver. “When you get mad, you get sloppy.”

The Carrion Lord’s flesh started glowing a bright, demonic red, making the necrosis in its veins even more prominent, and he started to grow.

“Doesn’t matter if he can just stomp on us,” Caiyeri said.

“Then don’t get stomped,” Will said. He fired.

[Incendiary selected.]

Axl’s hands blurred. Will didn’t see or hear the bullet hit, but he saw the splash of oily fire ignite several feet to the right of his intended target. The hammer hadn’t even moved.

“Oh, he’s mad,” Will said.

“Astute observation,” Caiyeri said. “The Mother’s protection no longer extends here. Run.”

She took her own advice as Will shot another bullet.

[Gaseous Shot selected.]

Axl didn’t even block with his hands this time. The shield flashed once, stuttered, and faded under the explosion of white mist.

A very rapidly approaching explosion of white mist.

Will turned tail and ran.

Caiyeri was right. They weren’t equipped to fight Axl, whose stats still eclipsed those of a standard Bronze 10, especially not here. If they had more cover, it would be a different question, but here? They were practically whack-a-mole targets.

Even beyond the shattered temple, the second floor was very clearly different. There were fewer vents, for one, and the tunnels themselves were broader and higher, as if the entire cave system had been increased by one size.

He dropped a bow from his inventory as he ran, immediately activating Destructive Synthesis on it.

Mana restored.

You have gained the [Sharpshooter] skill at bronze rank for [1 minute].

You have been inflicted with a level of [Corruption].

[Corruption Resistance] negates bronze-rank [Corruption].

He was one with his aim. Will used his minimap to judge positioning, pointed his shooting arm back, and fired.

[Explosive Shot selected.]

Will didn’t stop to see the effects of the bullet, but he heard the firework-like sound of the detonation behind him.

After consuming nearly every single weapon he’d strapped to himself, Will’s Escape Artist ability was back to full, combining with his Wind Walker skill to accelerate him to inhuman speeds.

Caiyeri matched his pace, combining her new Thermal Sight with her bronze-rank Synced Steps skill, which gave her a boost to speed if she timed her steps perfectly to a set beat. She led the way, Will close on her heels. Behind them, the Carrion Lord screamed.

The sound of the hammer powering up triggered the fight-or-flight in Will’s instincts, and he turned on the spot, kicking off a wall to stabilize himself. Caiyeri was leading the two of them down a long, flat hallway that evoked the image of the Death Star’s innards in Will’s head. There was no cover, and judging from the glowing purple energy forming at the tip of the hammer, that was about to be a real problem.

“Caiyeri!” Will shouted. “We fight!”

To her credit, the elf didn’t abandon him. She turned, stolen bow appearing in her hands, and she loosed an arrow.

She’d gained her fair share of runes, too. Judging by the blinding white of her projectile, she’d enchanged either the arrow or the bow with a radiance run.

Caiyeri fired and dove to the side just as the hammer’s energy coalesced into a purple laser.

The laser split the arrow apart, turning it to glowing ash, but the impact clearly sent a magical consequence reverberating up through the laser. Axl’s beam jumped up in height, giving Will more room to roll under it.

There were no vents behind the Carrion Lord for him to teleport to, so he just had to close the distance.

Unlike last time, the beam didn’t stop. Instead, it intensified.

Standing nearly ten feet tall, Axl’s burgeoning power must have increased his mana flow to his item—but it was worsening his afflictions, too. His skin had grown sallow, and it looked paper-thin. The dark veins grew larger, looking as if they were going to burst through the weakened flesh. Every attack the goblin lord made pained him as much as it did its targets, if not more. Even through the haze of the skill-induced rage and enhancement, Will could see that.

Encouraged, he continued onwards, firing his revolver once more.

[Piercing Shot selected.]

The forcefield flickered, then cracked.

Axl reoriented his laser, slashing down horizontally towards Will. A day ago, that might have cut him apart, but with Wind Walker active and trained, his body felt more flexible than it ever had.

He leapt, twisting his legs up and over the deadly laser. Somehow, he was able to use Wind Walker to adjust his positioning, landing on his feet.

Allie’s a gymnast, he thought. I wonder if this is what she feels like.

Will cleared his mind. This was no time to be distracted.

In the moment, adrenaline pumping through his body, Will barely registered the danger. He and his enemy were all that mattered. Two living beings, hearts pumping, one of whom would no longer be breathing.

The laws of man were gone. There were no rules here.

All his life, other people had chosen for him.

Now, Will chose.

He dodged the laser, then noted the hammer shapechange again. It dawned on him that the Carrion Lord was channeling skills through the item—was it bonded somehow, perhaps?

Purple became orange, and energy blades split out of the side of the hammer as Will closed the distance between them.

He had an idea but couldn’t communicate it in a few words, so instead he just shouted, “Shoot!”

Caiyeri, bless her heart, launched another radiant arrow towards the goblin lord. He smashed it aside with his now-bladed hammer, impossibly swift.

That moment let Will close twenty feet to five.

Even with the forcefield mostly down, the armor was too tough for him to pierce through. Axl was a fearsome foe, no doubt. The weak point was an option, but all he could do was try to inflict another condition on him. Not ideal.

Will had a lot of mana to spare, though, so he made use of it.

Dark energy spouted from his body, and a deep, ominous bell tolled.

Corruption, he thought.

Axl screamed, his entire body wracked with pain, but he did not let go of his weapon.

Plan… C? D? I don’t even know which one we’re on at this point.

Though Axl hadn’t let go of it, he was in so much pain that Will had the opportunity to make contact with it.

He’d been using corrupted weapons all this time, and he’d racked up a lot of negated levels of corruption.

Will activated Chaos Transfer, overriding the bond between weapon and user.

With everything compounded together—three layers of corruption, one of wither, and a weapon that had just been twisted by the forces of chaos beyond the system—Axl tried a desperate blow.

A simple leap back was enough to dodge the hammer strike, and Axl’s body was failing him. With a mighty cry of equal parts anger and pain, he threw the hammer.

It sailed towards Caiyeri, and Will grinned in victory.

With the last of his mana, he activated Weapons Free.

Separated from its owner, the hammer no longer had someone else contesting its ownership.

The goblin’s warhammer appeared in his hands, knocking his gun aside.

#

Axl wasn’t done. This—a shock of pain unlike anything he had ever felt before interrupted his thoughts.

This would not be his end. He could not die here.

He had sacrificed too much. Fought too hard.

Hunger, he pleaded silently. Pathetic. A king did not plead; and yet, it was all he had left. Hunger, lend me your strength.

His sigil pulsed with power.

And his god listened.

#

[Axl, the Carrion Lord] is advancing to silver rank.

Even as Will watched, the necrotized flesh spilled from the boss’ flesh. The goblin’s skin hardened, cleansing the impurities Will had created in a wave of bloody gunk.

He was healing, and doing so in the worst possible manner. If Will let him get up all the way, the squad boss was going to reach silver and be completely untouchable.

His mana was totally empty after using so many high-impact spells. Caiyeri was still running to catch up, and a single arrow wouldn’t do the trick.

Will only had moments to act.

“Oh no you don’t,” he growled.

Spatial energy surrounded the hammer, and in a breath, it dismantled the weapon.

Mana restored.

You have gained the [Unstoppable Blow] skill at bronze rank for [1 hour].

You have gained the [Plasma Beam] skill at bronze rank for [1 hour].

You have gained the [Shatter] skill at bronze rank for [1 hour].

You have gained the [Conjure Energy Weapon] skill at bronze rank for [1 hour].

You have been inflicted with a level of [Corruption].

[Corruption Resistance] negates bronze-rank [Corruption].

Axl was almost done advancing, but his body was still weak. The healing process hadn’t completed.

The bronze skills weren’t going to do enough to someone advancing to silver, but Will had a single skill in his kit that could.

He spent all the mana he’d just regained to activate Ghostflame, slamming his fists into the evolving, morphing goblin. Unstoppable Blow and Shatter consumed the rest of his mana as the world turned monochrome before his eyes.

The only color he saw—the only color that mattered—was the blood and the flame. All of Will’s emotions refined themselves down to a sharp, cold certainty as he smashed blow after blow into Axl’s skull.

Without his weapon, vulnerable in his evolution, Axl was a sitting duck.

In his moment of crystal clarity, Will could feel the magic item the Carrion Lord—his enemy—had called upon.

He had called for help.

He hadn’t adapted.

Will had.

In truth, he might have been able to let the flame do the work after the first few punches, but he was so focused on his victory that he did not stop until Axl was nothing more than lifeless chunks of blood and meat that barely resembled a mortal being.

You have defeated a squad boss.

Achievement earned: Reckless Raider

You are one of the first 1,000 Users to defeat a squad boss.

Reward: You have earned an Awakening Shard.

Achievement earned: Silver Bullet

You are the first User from this planet to defeat a silver-rank monster.

Reward: You have earned the [Silver Forerunner] title.

Title: [Silver Forerunner]

Planetary.

Until you reach the peak of silver rank, the rate at which you gain experience towards levels and attributes is doubled. The rank barrier between you and any creature of silver rank or lower is lowered.

Achievement earned: Impossible Odds

You have defeated a squad boss more than 2 ranks above you.

Reward: You have gained levels. You have earned experience.

[Power] advanced to Unformed 20!

[Speed] advenced to Unformed 20!

[Soul] advanced to Unformed 20!

[Resistance] advanced to Bronze 2!

You have leveled up 4 times!

Would you like to loot Axl, the Carrion Lord?

Hell yes I do.

#

“Interesing,” the Hunger said, pushing more of his consciousness into the aspect he’d sent to this cycle. The one who had claimed his sigil was gone, but in the bloody ashes of his previous host was a human—the very same one who he’d been called to crush. “You will do nicely.”