Chapter 42 - Colossus and Growth (Patreon)

Echo slid a few meters before reaching over and planting his hand into the ground, grabbing Fumi as she slipped into him. “It’s rolling!” He shouted as they went vertical and saw the ground rising to meet them.

Echo activated his teleportation bracelet in quick succession, ensuring that they stayed at an angle where they could run against the roll, and stay on top of the creature. They sprinted against the odd angle, and just like a hamster on a wheel, kept ahead of the rotation under them.

After a several-kilometer sprint, the Colossus righted itself.

“How do we stop it?” Echo asked aloud.

He knew it was too big for their weapons to harm, it would be like poking a person with a toothpick. And his Magic Potency was obviously not high enough to get past its exterior.

He glanced over at Fumi who sat in seiza, also in thought. Echo sat next to her and closed his eyes, breathing deeply.

If we can’t hurt it with our weapons or spells.

He reached into his pocket dimension and pulled out the Aether Shard, turning it over in his palm.

Maybe a miracle can do something.

Echo focused his Quintessence into the shard in his palm. The silver energy cascaded and was absorbed as the red sparks flickered around and off the shard. He felt the energy drain prodigiously from him and even consume stored reserves in his blade, armor, and ring.

“Fumi, put your Quintessence in this.”

Fumi nodded and put her hand over the shard. The crystal-like gemstone surged in Echo’s hand as it radiated a soothing, comforting Heat – just like the Gods did when they performed miracles and feats of divine strength.

Fumi quickly pulled her hand away as she visibly sagged from fatigue.

Echo gripped the shard tightly. He focused his will on a singular desire and directed his thoughts into the shard.

I want this Colossus to die.

The effect was immediate as the Heat surged in a shockwave around him. The shard responded to his will and drew upon the affinity most suited to the task – sending an enormous sound wave into the creature and vibrating its interior to the point that, whatever constituted bones in a creature of this size, disintegrated as they hit the perfect frequency to shatter the molecular bonds.

An enormous shaking could be felt by both monsters as they stood up in a ready posture, crouched to absorb impact. There was another ear-splintering roar as the mass they were on top of shook violently before suddenly falling.

Both Echo and Fumi braced their legs for impact as the giant creature inexorably began to fall.

With an enormous rumbling, an earth-rending BANG, and an enormous shockwave of dirt and air – the Colossus collapsed into the ground.

Echo put the shard back into the pocket dimension and jumped slightly when a hand gripped him from inside the portal.

“What happened?” Rose asked as she extricated herself from the pocket dimension using Echo's hand to pull herself upright.

Echo gestured around them, “We made camp on top of the thing.”

Fumi sheathed her sword, “You didn’t keep guard well.”

Rose was stunned for a moment – shock written across her face – before it reverted to her usual, cool demeanor. “I see. Is this one of Tiberius’ monsters?”

Echo shrugged, “Not sure.” He put his hand on the ground and began to channel Quintessence for a spell before collapsing.

“Echo!” “Are you okay?” Both women spoke overlapping each other.

Echo coughed once and pushed himself up, “I’m fine.”

Rose nodded calmly and began making her way to the edge of the creature. Fumi helped lift Echo up and provided an extra bit of support as the winded adventurer recovered his composure; still trembling after his expenditure of most of his innate magical power.

The trio eventually reached the edge of the earthen expanse and hopped the now-five-meter distance to the ground. Near instantly the two monsters felt their stomachs grumble.

Consume…

Evolve…

The duo immediately felt their Evolution Instinct push them towards the creature’s corpse. The earthen, ashy, leathery skin posing no issue to cut through. They carved a miniature tunnel into the dead flesh, salivating as they made their way deeper into the creature.

Eventually, they carved their way to the heart of the monster, slicing off chunks and consuming it.

Echo’s body crumpled, and he screamed in pain as he went through the forced evolution process – redoubled as Bulwark was still active on Fumi. He convulsed as if possessed, writhing on the floor as every muscle spasmed and warped – his skin peeling away and regrowing over new muscle as his Eternal Youth forced his body back to its usual appearance.

This is neve-

Even thoughts could not enter his mind as he experienced pain worse than anything since the Mimic Cube first turned him into a monster. His stomach churned as every fiber of his being begged for the release of death – but refused to do so. The mind-shattering agony was wholly incapacitating as he went limp. His body tried to expand rapidly only to be recompressed once more. Muscle, sinew, bone – all cracked and distorted to fit into his mortal shell.

His Quintessence reserves refilled as his body’s evolution gorged upon the new material, and just as quickly as it had begun, Echo was left panting and shaking.

His head was settled on Fumi’s lap as he calmed his breathing and gasped with parched lips and throat. She tipped some water into his mouth, and he greedily gulped it down.

“…Better?”

Echo weakly nodded as he slowly sat up. Rose had followed the two into the tunnel and was holding a small notepad as her eyes glowed with a blue aura.

“I was watching what was happening to your anatomy.” She tapped her temple, “But that was…interesting.”

“What was?” Echo asked as he slowly shuffled upright with Fumi’s help.

“Well…both you and Fumi’s Quintessence seemingly devoured this Colossus’ own.” She put a hand up on the interior flesh-tunnel the two had carved. She quickly explained that creatures were composed of the body (the physical form), the mind (the thoughts and emotions), and the soul (which contained echoes of what the body experienced, and the mind knew).

“Right. What was interesting about it?”

Rose cleared her throat slightly, “Are you once more able to perform spells?”

Echo nodded and held up his hand and a burst of flame erupted up.

“You didn’t have Quintessence before – you were tapped. And now you do.” She crossed her arms. “Normally, when something dies – and I know quite a bit about that – the body and mind expire at that moment. The soul moves on to be judged at The Last Light Temple. When the soul leaves, just like the body and mind, the Quintessence leaves as well.”

She scribbled a little more on her notepad, “But, this Mimic Cube changes that up a bit.” She explained her hypothesis: the Quintessence did not leave the body instantly. Instead, it would hole up in the heart of the monster, waiting to be consumed.

Echo stood up, feeling strength once more as he gently squeezed Fumi’s hand. “So, it’s like we planned – we just keep eating monsters and getting stronger.” He grimaced, “Even if they were once people.”

How many is that now?

He felt sick. He couldn’t even remember how many people he had eaten.

I don’t even know if this thing was a person or not.

Rose nodded, “Yes. I’m curious to see what this Mimic Cube could do if the intent was directed differently.” She stared past the two and grinned, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have power to gain.” She held up her scepter as the two walked past her, “Improve upon my form, Siphon Strength.”

Then, she followed them outside.

The body decayed rapidly and was crushed under the weight of the earth above it as the trio escaped the corpse that returned to the dirt. They all pulled out their adventurer identification to see what improvements had developed.

Name   (Race / Rank): Echo Asheron (Monster / S)

Strength: 20,710

Agility: 20,710

Fortitude: 20,710

Defense: 20,710

Offense: 20,710

Magic Resistance: 20,710

Magic Potency: 20,710

Equipment: Brightsteel-Kevlar Armored Clothing,   Titansteel Shield, Skysteel Bastard Sword, Pocket Dimension Ring, Short-Range   Teleport Bracelet

Active Abilities: Alacrity [Overcharge], Bulwark, Enhanced   Regeneration, Guardian's Embrace

Innate Abilities: The Blessing of the Artificer, The Dragon God's Blessing, Damage   Immunity (Cold, Sonic), Damage Resistance (All), Darkvision, Detect   Abilities, Detect Magic, Disease Immunity, Eternal Youth, Evolution Instinct,   Far Sight, Feral Senses, Immovable Object, Perfect Casting, Perfect Defense,   Poison / Toxin Immunity, Regeneration [Regrowth], Tideborn, Wallwalk

Affinities: Fire, Poison, Protection, Shadow,   Sound, Transmutation, Water

Name   (Race / Rank): Fumi Medrana Soju (Monster / S)

Strength: 19,710

Agility: 21,710

Fortitude: 20,710

Defense: 19,710

Offense: 24,710

Magic  Resistance: 19,710

Magic  Potency: 19,710

Equipment: Skysteel Katana, Brightsteel-Kevlar   Armored Clothing, Short-Range Teleport Bracelet

Active  Abilities: Alacrity [Overcharge], Enhanced   Regeneration, Resonating Thrust, Rift Strike, Spatial Sever, Unseen   Predator, Waveblade

Innate  Abilities: The Blessing of the Flames, The Dragon God's Blessing, Damage   Immunity (Cold, Fire, Sonic), Damage Resistance (All), Darkvision, Deathless,   Detect Abilities, Detect Magic, Disease Immunity, Eternal Youth, Evolution   Instinct, Far Sight, Feral Senses, Immovable Object, Perfect Casting,   Perfect Offense, Poison / Toxin Immunity, Regeneration [Regrowth], Tideborn,   Wallwalk

Affinities: Air, Fire, Space

Name   (Race / Rank): White Rose (Undead / S)

Strength: 8,500

Agility: 8,500

Fortitude: 60,000

Defense: 1500

Offense: 1500

Magic  Resistance: 60,000

Magic  Potency: 60,000

Equipment: Whitestone Scepter, Ring of Veiled   Undeath, Short-Range Teleport Bracelet

Active  Abilities: Control Undead (Mindless, Intelligent),   Touch of The Void

Innate  Abilities: Damage Immunity (Cold), Darkvision,   Detect Corruption, Detect Life, Detect Magic, Detect Undeath, Disease   Immunity, Mental Immunity, Paralysis Immunity, Phylactery, Poison/Toxin   Immunity, Sated, Vulnerability (Light, Life, Fire)

Affinities: Death, Ice, Reanimation, Spirit

Echo grinned, “That was a big leap. Worth the pain.”

Fumi grinned and spoke with glee. “We need to find more monsters. I’m almost stronger than Alamayn was.”

Echo grinned and clapped a hand on her shoulder, “You’ll be stronger than him in no time…is that important?”

She nodded, her voice resolute, “He was the one who beat me. Captured me.”

Echo reassuringly ran his hand along Fumi’s back. “Soon enough we’ll be stronger than he ever was.”

He looked at the new Ability he and Fumi now shared, Immovable Object. He tried to push Fumi with all his might…and she didn’t move at all, instead looking at him with an eyebrow raised quizzically.

She pushed him back – and he felt the pressure of her hand, and the force behind it…but was fixed in space.

Oh, that’s cool.

They continued their playful shoving which – to someone without their Ability – would have flung them meters away. Out of curiosity, he thought about being movable, and Fumi’s next shove forced him to leap back to keep his footing.

Neat, I can consciously turn it off if I need to.

And it was much easier to turn off than his other Innate Abilities, which he had to really focus on deactivating. This was more like flicking a switch, instead of turning a knob.

Rose cleared her throat to draw their attention. “It’s late. And, since you two seem refreshed now, I suggest we go to that mountain range and see if we can find this lair that this Colossus was unleashed from.”

The two monsters nodded and held hands as they followed the once more glowing-eyed Lich Queen towards the mountains.

Tiberius was ecstatic.

One of his Colossi had fallen.

It must have been them.

He could feel it.

Turning back to his work, he grinned as he continued to Transmute Substance – flesh in this instance. Over and over, he wove together the forms of Ogo and Gori. Two companion races, combined into one.

“And now for the finishing touch…” He placed the Mimic Cube on the form, fusing it with the monstrous powers of Malvir.

A miracle of creation.

A new type of monster.

One that could flood the Krekyo Dominion.

One that will provide plenty of fuel for their evolution.

Next Chapter >