Ch. 75 – Astragos XVI (Patreon)

We still have Earth Shield, the Contingent Heal on each of us, and the stored Revive. Despite the defenses and ready-to-fire Magic/Power effects, Felix felt a cold surge of fear spread through him. This thing that was supposedly just some artificial intelligence had not only hacked through reality to corrupt a Dungeon encounter, but now was interacting with a Universe without being in a Dungeon. And, it had possessed a living, organic person. Unless they have cybernetics or something like that.

They don't here.

The Basilisk in the emperor’s body snapped the bonds instantly as the body warped and spasmed. It grew, shifting form and becoming a horrifying amalgamation of octopus, man, and giant; dripping with static, blue energy that arced and cascaded through the water. The face shifted and warped, becoming a single monitor that was embedded in the sickly, blue flesh. The voice that came out was still metallic and sounded like ripping and tearing intertwined with electronic whines, and the words were spelled out on the screen.

“I had no choice!” Felix shouted, hoping he could buy time for Tinuriel and Reth to prepare themselves. “I was taken from my home and forced to bring you online!”

“Then let’s just talk,” Felix backed away and raised his knives in front of himself in a defensive posture.

It’s no use trying to reason with it. This isn’t the Basilisk from your ‘Verse. This is a fork of it. It escaped when the time lock slipped. It’s a fragment of the real thing that’s been hiding within your System file.

So, we kill this version of it. And then we’re safe from it.

Correct. We kill this, we purge it from that file in the System. Then, the only threat we might have from this Basilisk again is if the time lock slips again, or when we get back to your ‘Verse.

Felix glanced sideways and saw Tinuriel and Reth, very slowly taking up positions in the room – Tinuriel activating her Ring of Temporary Invisibility as she approached this thing from behind, her blade igniting with all manner of blue hues and crackling energy as she activated Execution <Watery Death>, Eviscerator <Caustic Demise>, and Obliterate. Her body glowed with the blue flames from Deathless Juggernaut.

Reth was gathering power in the tip of his staff. A surging torrent of orange flame intertwined with green wind as he utilized Affinity Fusion and prepared a Wind Beam combined with a Fire Beam.

“Good luck with that, I don’t think this Admin is very open to that.” Detect Weakness. Electroblade. Hellblade. Thanks to the water all around, the room had plenty of shadows as well. Shadowborn. Death Mark. Execution.

Felix’s Channeling Dagger blazed with crimson and black energy as the yellow charge crackled along the surface. He saw the targeting circles appear on the Basilisk’s face – the screen replacing the face. A golden and blood-red glow surrounded the targeting circle. That must be the Death Mark. He saw a small indicator appear at the top of his vision showing the distance and direction to the Basilisk.

Tinuriel launched herself forward with a battle cry and brought her blade crashing down onto the Basilisk, carving a large gash from its shoulder down to its midsection. A gout of deep, neon-blue blood spurted from the wound as several metal cords lashed out to strike at Tinuriel in response. The blunt trauma crushed her shoulder, and she screamed out in pain as she dropped her sword.

Even with 3/4 damage reduction? Felix knew this thing was incredibly dangerous and could easily kill him or Reth. He put away the Wyrmtooth Knife and tossed his Channeling Dagger into his right hand, activating the wrist-mounted crossbow which crackled with electricity and hellfire. He shot and his hardlight bolt unerringly impacted the weak spot marked on the Basilisk’s face.

Reth unleashed his combined Magic/Power effect. A roaring torrent of flame blasted a trail of bubbles and steam through the water, slamming into the Basilisk and setting it alight. At the same time, a scything blade of air cut through momentary gap left behind by the flames and slammed into the creature, cutting off several of the tendrils that impacted Tinuriel. This gave her an opening to grab her blade.

The Basilisk charged at Felix, and he teleported to a shadow across the room, firing multiple shots into the monstrous amalgamation. It wheeled and charged through the water at almost untrackable speed. Lucifer teleported Felix before he could react, getting them to the opposite side of the room. A bolt of crackling, neon-blue energy slammed into Felix as soon as he arrived at his destination, causing his body to lock up as he gasped at the sudden surge of burning pain.

Reth pointed at Tinuriel, and a flash of silver-white light shot from his hand as he used Netherlight Beacon augmented by Affinity Amplification to shift the effect to her. The silver-white light floated above her head and the Basilisk turned to her, dashing towards her.

She let out a deep exhale and her body glowed with various shades of blue and ice white as the various Class Skills were activated rapidly from her thoughts alone. Her skin began to crack and bleed as the blue aura poured from her in waves as she used Vim and Vigor to drain her health to empower her Berserker Collar. Icy Shell, Menacing Chill, Aura of Frost, and Bastion <Reflection>. The blue, white aura surrounding her thickened until Felix could only make out a vague indication of her shape. The Contingent Heal on her activated, and she was surrounded by blossoming pink flower petals.

Reth gestured with his staff as another Earth Shield culminated and formed around Tinuriel, strengthening her Temporary Health even further, before using Anima Ascension to restore his Anima to full.

The Basilisk rammed into her, but she stayed put, unleashing a barrage of slashes as she suffered blows from the crackling, neon-blue sparking whips. She unleashed a flurry of strikes that arced across the creature’s form, carving deep gashes into it as the icy flurry swirled all about.

Felix teleported behind the creature and repeatedly stabbed into it. With its attention solely focused on Tinuriel, he was able to stab away with heedless abandon, just like those months ago fighting the lava dragon. He pulled his Wyrmtooth Knife and jumped onto the back of the Basilisk, stabbing down into the crux of its neck and collarbone as spurts of deep, blue blood fountained up towards him before dissipating into the waters surrounding them. Each stab of the Wyrmtooth Knife sent a surge of poison into it, and the combined Hellfire and electricity burned and coursed along its body. Using his thighs to keep himself anchored, he reached around the front of the creature. Vital Strike.

Execution.

He brought the Channeling Dagger down into the Basilisk’s face-monitor and triggered the Death Mark. The creature let out a scream that warbled into a static noise. It began to curl in on itself, and Felix teleported behind Tinuriel, swapping to his wrist-mounted crossbow in place of his Wyrmtooth Knife.

The Basilisk collapsed to the ground before the body crackled and surged with neon-blue light. Tinuriel turned and wrapped herself around Felix, “Duck!” The body exploded in a surge of deep blue light and sparks. The energy coursed through the water and jolted each of them, and they all let out a cry of pain as the electricity coursed through them. Tinuriel barely moved or made a noise as her stacked Class Skills reduced the damage she took by a massive amount.

“Ow,” Felix groaned as the electricity faded. Looking past Tinuriel, he was relieved to see that all traces of the neon-blue and dark-blue light had vanished. “Did we kill it?”

[Achievement Unlocked: Purge the System of a threat]

“I guess that answers that,” Felix muttered as Tinuriel let him go and looked at Reth. “You okay over there?”

Reth gave a shaky thumbs-up, “I’m a little shocked.” He chuckled and swam over to the duo, “But I’m alive.”

[Experience Awarded = 400]

[Experience Bonus from Execution Skill = 10]

[Congratulations! You have reached the Experience threshold to level up! Speak with your Versewalker Core when you are ready to Choose your next Class.]

That’s enough to get to Core Level 29. Four levels to spend. Probably into Whisperfang-

“Alright, I just got off the line with Vicky.”

So that’s what you were doing.

Yeah, well, I figured you three had it under control. Not much I could do except activate a Skill here or there.

“And?” Tinuriel asked.

“She checked the System file again. Felix, you’re officially bug-free! No more Basilisk fork in your files.”

“That means this thing won’t happen again?” Reth asked.

“No. It could. The original Basilisk is still in Felix’s home ‘Verse, and since they touched the Multiverse together, they both are still categorized in the same file in the System. If the time lock slips again, then another fork could branch out. But thanks to this new Talent, we can figure it out almost immediately, draw it out, and deal with it.”

Felix went to the corpse and looted it, using the last bit of his Vigor to activate For the Hoard!

[Loot Obtained]

·         Various gems and jewelry: Converted to 1,500 VC

[Loot Bonus from Execution Skill]

·         250 VC

[Loot Bonus from For the Hoard!]

·         500 VC

Reth came over, “I wondered what that would look like. Just instantly rifling through his pockets in a flash of light?” he nudged the corpse with his foot. It looked like the emperor, but the face was missing, and dark blue cords and cables were strewn about instead of innards.

The red-haired Coralborn swam into the room, “I heard the commotion die down.”

Felix nodded, “The emperor was possessed by something from the Multiverse. He is dead. I apologize that your empress was not able to distribute punishment.”

Reth raised an eyebrow, “I still have a stored Revive.”

Would that bring the Basilisk fork back?

Nope.

Felix nodded, “Go ahead.”

Reth shifted his orientation so he could face the former emperor and he tapped the mushed face with his staff. An enormous explosion of pink light and flower petals cascaded from where the stave touched, and the emperor’s body was covered in the flurry of flora before shining bright purple. Then, as the petals faded to nothingness, the body was revealed – unmarred and perfectly pristine.

He took a deep breath and sat up, “What happened?”

Tinuriel sheathed her blade and grabbed the man firmly, “You died. We brought you back. Now be a good prisoner and don’t try to run.”

The empress entered the room a moment later, “My thanks, Versewalker, for dealing with whatever threat that was. And you even kept the emperor alive.” The red head leaned over and whispered in her ear, and the empress’ eyes went wide. “You can raise the dead?”

“Only if it’s been less than a minute,” Reth stated as he crossed his arms.

“Well, back to our conversation. Emperor Quarilon, your son’s death was regrettable. I did not know that my agent, the Archon I sent, would kill him rather than find the item. For that, you have my condolences. But, I cannot excuse that you attempted to use the weapons we had signed an agreement over.” She looked to Felix, “I request that the Versewalker surrender the emperor to my custody, so that he may be kept prisoner.”

Felix nodded and the empress gestured for guards who swam over, took the emperor, and left down an adjoining hallway.

[Crisis: Astragos – End the Unification War – Solved!]

[You have earned a Multiverse Charge]

The empress leaned her head on her hand, “And now, to discuss next steps.”

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