Solomon's Crucible 23. A Fall to Earth (Patreon)

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Solomon kept an eye on the lion as he scooted over towards the trunk of the tree. It was watching him like a hawk, ready to pounce the instant he lost his balance. Thankfully, his investment in Dexterity far outweighed the awkwardness of his missing hand, and Solomon finished his short journey without incident.

His shield and spear were tied to the tree trunk. Solomon had anticipated that his pit traps might not finish the job. He'd been hoping, though, that he'd only be left with some light mercy killing cleanup duty. The completely unharmed lion glaring at him was going to be a tough nut to crack.

He'd had success before using altitude to his advantage, jumping down from a height to administer a killing blow with the edge of his shield. Back then, though, he'd had the advantage of a target that was too distracted to try to fight back. Also, the boar hadn't had whatever kind of iron skin buff the lion had used to shake off the spikes at the bottom of the pitfall. When Solomon tried to picture how he would carry out a similar attack from his current situation, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was the one who would come out on the losing end.

What could you do to beat an enemy if you couldn't break his skin? Solomon had a whole lifetime of experience solving problems without stabbing anything. He would have liked to think he could come up with something. To be fair, the problems he usually had to solve didn't have anything to do with killing animals that had been brainwashed to try and kill him.

Well, animals could die without suffering any direct violence. Solomon had seen the commercials showing how seagulls could suffocate after getting their head stuck through the plastic of a six-pack holder. If he just had a giant plastic bag to toss over the lion's head, it would be a start.

Assuming that animals touched by the system still had to breathe. He thought it was a reasonable guess. The other animals had needed things like blood and internal organs. The system could help them rebound from injuries, but it hadn't imposed a completely game-like interface on the world. HP might replace oxygen for a little while, but extended asphyxiation would get the job done.

Solomon indulged in a momentary flight of fancy, imagining the lion gasping for breath as an oversized plastic noose choked it to death. Too bad he couldn't pull off anything nearly so devastating, not unless the lion was already helpless enough that he would have his choice of how to finish it off. It was a nice thought, though, the lion's mouth open... mouth open. It couldn't be completely invincible, right?

Solomon didn't give himself any time to second guess his plan, cutting his spear free and using his molding ability to remove the crossbar and add some barbs to the spearhead. That done, he slung it over his shoulder and edged back out onto the branch. Soon enough, he was directly over the lion, which was where he ran into a problem.

"Hey, ugly!"

The lion just stared at him. Yeah, that had been a long shot. Solomon considered for a moment. Cussing probably wasn't going to get him anywhere. He wasn't quite desperate enough to try the monkeys' method of getting under his target's skin, but he did have other options.

He worked up the biggest loogie he could and spit down at his target. Thanks to some kind of system enhancement or a fortuitous gust of wind, he managed to nail the lion right in the eye. It leaned back and let out a forest-shaking roar of rage.

Solomon had pushed himself off the branch as soon as the lion began to open its mouth, bringing his spear to bear as he did. When the roar hit him like a physical thing, causing his muscles to lock up, gravity kept him moving. His aim proved true and his spear plunged straight down the lion's throat, continuing on to tear up its insides.

Solomon himself hit the lion shoulder to shoulder and bounced off it like he had hit a wall. He hit the ground and rolled, thankful that he had deflected out of the lion's reach. The lion's roar had ended when his spear struck home, freeing Solomon to act. He scrambled to his feet and used the dash ability for good measure, not stopping until he was a good thirty feet away.

Turning around, he saw the lion staggering in his direction. After a moment, it coughed up blood and collapsed.

Solomon stayed right where he was. The lion had already shown unnatural resilience, and with the system's HP healing in play it could always jump right back into the fight.

[Congratulations on completing a successful combat encounter! Your Improvised Weapons Mastery has been raised to level 6. You have been awarded 11 Grid Points!]

All right, it was probably dead.

The sound of a bell ringing in his ear brought Solomon out of his thoughts. A golden X appeared on his mini map at the same time that a golden column of light appeared in the direction of the clearing at the center of the floor. That probably had something to do with him finishing off the last monster. Well, first things first.

He headed over to disassemble the lion. If its skin really had some kind of magic protection built into it, maybe he could make some kind of defensive gear out of it. A lion skin cloak would be tacky as hell, but he was in no position to be picky.

Disassembling the lion left him with a pelt, a larger beast core than any he'd encountered so far, and a spear that had splintered in the grip of the lion's internal muscles. Solomon winced. No wonder it had died relatively quickly.

He visited his pit traps and received a similar bounty from the lionesses within, though the pelts weren't quite as impressive. Once his gathering was done, Solomon started heading for the center of the floor. He hoped he just needed to pick up some kind of prize for finishing the floor.

He'd be a bit put out if killing the lion had only unlocked some final challenge. Solomon had already had enough surprise challenges thrown at him in one day to last him the rest of his life.

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