Grand Game 314: A Million and One things to Slay (Patreon)

A little later, I was at the rim of one of the craters, looking down.

This crater, like the others in the cauldron, had been formed by the stone golems tossing around their boulders. But there was something else special about it, too. Before luring the elite swarm viper out of its den, I’d spent nearly half the day preparing this particular bowl-shaped hole for my plan.

Using ebonheart—or misusing it, rather—I had dug a narrow shaft into the crater’s center. But even with the aid of the indestructible soulbound weapon, hacking through the rocky ground had been near impossible. In the end, I had only managed the feat by repurposing an existing seam in the earth, enlarging and smoothening the mostly vertical crevice until I deemed it suitable.

But I was getting ahead of myself. I wasn’t yet ready to employ the shaft; that would have to wait for phase four. Letting my gaze drift away from the shaft, I fixed my sights on the crater’s sole occupant.

The target is a level 151 swarm viper.

The serpent sat coiled and unmoving. It looked no different from the original swarm viper, but from what I’d observed of this generation of clones, I knew them to be slower than their older kin.

Are they less deadly too, I wonder? Picking up a pebble, I flung it at the resting snake.

The viper reacted as expected. Uncoiling, it spat venom at the stone. This time, though, the acidic spittle was not potent enough to dissolve the pebble. Nor was the snake’s aim as accurate.

I smiled grimly. This may just work, after all. Drawing ebonheart and faithful, I cast my buffs.

Your Dexterity has increased by +8 ranks for 20 minutes.

You have gained an encumbrance aura for 10 minutes.

You have trigger-cast quick mend.

Releasing the shadows cloaking me, I jumped into the crater. The drop was a short one and I landed lightly. My gaze flew to my foe. It had already spotted me, and predictably, was snaking aggressively forward.

Raising my blades, I waited.

I outclassed my foe and was both quicker and better armored. Slaying the creature would be easy. It was what came next that worried me more.

The viper’s mouth yawned open and green vitriol spilled out.

With only a slight twist of my torso, I avoided the acid shot. Resetting my stance, I waited for the next attack, but no more projectiles were forthcoming; the serpent was already in melee range.

Coiling back on itself, the viper sprang upwards.

Slashing downward with ebonheart, I cut short the attack.

A level 151 swarm viper has been dealt a fatal blow!

The serpent’s lifeless body, cleaved in two, thudded back to the ground. I took a step back, eyes peeled on the remains. It wouldn’t be long now.

Deathwish spell completed. A swarm viper has cloned itself.

This time around, the clones only took a couple of seconds to spawn. But I wasn’t taken by surprise. I’d noticed something similar with the four earlier generations. At each successive cloning, the vipers’ deathwish ability triggered faster, spawning the next generation quicker.

It served my new foes naught, though.

I was already in striking range and moving. Before the newcomers could react to my presence, faithful ripped through the torso of the first while ebonheart chopped off the head of the other.

Both blows were fatal.

A level 141 swarm viper’s deathwish ability has been triggered!

A level 141 swarm viper’s deathwish ability has been triggered!

The bodies thrashed, moving more violently than they had a chance to do in life. Flicking my blades free of blood, I retreated a dozen steps, knowing I would need space to maneuver. Things were about to get interesting.

Less than two seconds later, four newborn clones writhed free of their sires’ corpses. Catching sight of me, they rushed forward together. I watched them come. The one on the right was leading slightly. It would attack first. I raised ebonheart in readiness.

The serpent sprang. Ebonheart chopped downwards.

A blur of motion appeared on my left. Faithful flashed out.

Two more shapes hurtled through the air.

I stepped to the left and let them sail past, then whirled around with both my shortswords extended in outstretched arms.

Four level 131 swarm vipers have been dealt fatal blows!

The chunks of the four lifeless clones rained down, hitting the ground nearly simultaneously. But eight more would soon appear. Time to separate the herd. Sheathing my blades, I dashed past the gory remains and toward the other end of the crater.

Deathwish spells completed. Four swarm vipers have cloned themselves.

I didn’t bother looking around, knowing an attack was imminent. In preparation, I drew psi.

“Duck!” Ghost yelled from where she kept watch on the crater’s rim.

Obediently, I threw myself into a roll and a handful of projectiles hissed past. Not all the attacks missed, though. A few still found their mark.

Three swarm viper’s venom spit attacks have injured you!

Your health has decreased to 91%.

I gritted my teeth, ignoring the sensation of the vipers’ venom eating away at my skin. My void armor had done nothing to weaken the attacks; they were acidic in nature and not magical. But as excruciating as the pain was, the venom’s damage was minimal, far less than I’d anticipated. More to the point, my spellcasting hadn’t been interrupted.

Springing back to my feet, I spun around and released the spell I held ready.

You have cast mass charm.

A level 121 swarm viper has failed a mental resistance check!

A level 121 swarm viper has failed a mental resistance check!

…

…

You have charmed 8 of 8 targets for 20 seconds.

In a single heartbeat, all my pursuers froze, and stillness descended upon the crater.

The battle had ground to a halt.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. My spell’s overwhelming success had caught me flatfooted. I’d been preparing to jump back into the fray and slay the uncharmed vipers before they could consume my minions, then pick off the rest one by one. Instead, I’d unexpectedly bought myself some breathing room.

Don’t waste it. Get moving!

My amusement faded. The battle was far from over, and the outcome still hung in the balance. Subdued though my foes were, the next batch wouldn’t be. And they would number twice as many.

My gaze flickered across the crater, assessing my next move. By forcing the serpents to chase after me, I’d hoped they would spread out, leaving me room to maneuver between them.

But now, I had a chance to separate the clones more completely.

Reaching into the minds of four of my new minions, I ordered them to the far end of the crater. Docilely, the vipers did as commanded. I watched them go for a moment, judging how far they would get before my charms spell lapsed.

Far enough, I decided.

Turning back around, I drew my blades and strolled towards the remaining four clones.

“Prime?” A puzzled Ghost queried. I was off script.

“Not to worry,” I murmured as I spun psi. “Just a slight change in plans.”

Reaching the bespelled vipers, I tightened my hands around my blades and planned my strikes. The clock ticked down and the distance between the two sets of clones expanded. Still, I waited. Just a little longer…

The charm spell neared end-of-life.

Now.

Bursting into motion, I struck, chopping and stabbing as I executed my pre-planned maneuvers.

Four of your minions have been dealt fatal blows!

I spun to a stop, and lifted my gaze from the dead clones’ shredded remains to search out the other viper-pack. They were still in range. Stepping through the aether, I blinked to the closest.

You have teleported 38 yards.

I flowed out of the charmed viper’s shadow, blades flashing. Striking one blow after the other in quick succession, I decapitated the remaining clones.

Four of your minions have been dealt fatal blows!

Deathwish spells completed. Four swarm vipers have cloned themselves into 8 level 111 swarm vipers.

Ignoring the newly blood-christened ground, I whirled around. The first slain viper-pack had already spawned into the next batch of clones, and the corpses behind me would follow suit shortly.

It was time to go.

Orienting myself on Ghost, I fled the crater, finally ready to launch the final phase of my plan.

✵ ✵ ✵

A little later, I was on the rim of the crater once more, looking down. This time, though, it housed sixteen clones. Granted, each was four ranks lower than the previous rank fifteen one, but that didn’t mean much. The serpents’ numbers more than made up for what they lacked in levels.

The vipers below weren’t idle either. Hissing angrily, they frantically searched the crater for me, but wrapped in shadow as I was, I was out of their line of sight.

“Do you think it will work?” Ghost asked.

She meant phase four of my plan, I knew. “It has to,” I replied simply.

There was no way I could kill every iteration of the swarm vipers by blade alone, of course.

By my calculation, if each successive generation of clones retained their deathwish ability, I would need to slay over a million of the creatures in total.

A clear impossibility.

But only if I attempted to slay them individually.

Killing the clones en-mass would change the outlook completely. Doing so would require more than an ordinary area-damage spell, though. If I firebombed the clones in the crater, there was no guarantee some would not live through the blast. If that happened, the survivors would simply consume the younger generation and advance in level, leaving me in a possibly worse position than when I’d started!

No, what was called for was a sustained area-damage spell.

A killing field that would persist for dozens of seconds, if not longer, and destroy each successive generation of clones before they had a chance to consume their fellows. Unfortunately, none of my consumables— bombs or traps—fit that bill.

That’s where the shaft came in.

It was my answer to dealing with the remaining clones. The shaft was my way of creating a firestorm in a teacup, one that would hopefully burn hot and long enough to incinerate the twelve remaining generations of clones as soon as they spawned.

Right, time to find out if all of this has been worth it.

Drawing psi, I reached out to the closest bunch of clones below and forced my will upon them.

You have charmed 6 of 6 targets for 20 seconds.

I waited a beat, but the other clones did not react to my charmed minions. It seemed the rank eleven swarm vipers did not possess whatever ability their rank nineteen sibling had used to detect the presence of my compulsion spell in our first encounter.

Satisfied that no attacks would be forthcoming, I ordered my six minions into the shaft. Obediently, they slithered in.

Six down, ten to go.

✵ ✵ ✵

In short order, all sixteen vipers were in the shaft.

Accompanied by Ghost, I entered the crater and strode towards the trapped clones. For now, the shaft was just an ordinary hole, albeit one deep enough to hold the vipers captive and hide me from view. Drawing to a stop at the shaft’s edge, I peered in.

Instantly, lines of green colored the air.

I yanked back my head, but none of the venomous spit made it out of the shaft. “Tsk, tsk,” I murmured. “They aren’t happy, are they?” Cloaking myself in shadow, I peeked into the hole again.

Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you! You are hidden.

A thin film of green liquid coated the bottom of the shaft. Writhing furiously, the vipers swam unconcerned—and unharmed—through the mess.

Hmm, I mused, eyeing the pooling acid. That can be useful. Picking up a handful of pebbles, I dropped them in the shaft.

Predictably, more acid arced upwards as the clones attempted to obliterate the stones. I chuckled quietly. “Perfect.”

“What are you doing?” Ghost asked curiously.

“Creating fuel for the fire,” I answered laconically.

The acid the serpents spat was surely combustible, and once I kicked off things, the green pool would serve to keep the flames going until the fire raged hot enough to feed off the creatures’ own bodies. Picking up another fistful of stones, I threw them into the shaft as well—prompting another angry volley of sprayed acid.

Then, I did it again. And again.

Finally satisfied with my efforts, I withdrew one of the remote triggers tucked in my pocket for safekeeping.

I hadn’t just dug a shaft earlier, I had also primed its depths with thirty-two firebomb traps, each connected to its own remote trigger. Thirty-two bombs sounded like a lot, but I didn’t plan on using them all in one go.

Best case, one trap on its own would be enough to deal with this batch of clones—I hadn’t forgotten the other thirty-one waiting in the nearby craters.

Worst case? The fire would die out after one bomb, and I would be forced to detonate a second trap, then a third and a fourth, or however many were necessary.

Actually, that wasn’t the worst that could happen. The real doomsday scenario was if the bombs failed entirely, and the viper clones multiplied so quickly they spilled out of the pit. This outcome didn’t bear thinking about though, and if it happened, I had only one recourse: running.

So what will it be? I wondered. There was only one way to find out.

I turned to Ghost. “Ready?”

“Ready,” she confirmed.

“Remember, if you sense any of the minds in the shaft growing, tell me instantly.” That would mean one of the clones had begun consuming its fellows, in which case I would have no choice but to detonate more bombs.

“I will,” she assured me.

“Then here goes,” I muttered and pressed down on the trigger I held.