Chapter 10 - Struggle (Patreon)

Rickard ran by him towards the cavern exit, a panicked look on his face.

And the Brightsteel helmet in his clutches.

Coward! Thief!

Bertram ran over to Echo and gave him a grimace, "Sorry. We can't take this guy." He shook his head and began to run towards the tunnel exit.

“Oh no you don’t. Reshape to my will, Transmute Substance.”

The tunnel closed right after Rickard escaped into it. Bertram slammed the hilt of his dagger into the stone, trying to make a hole – but to no avail.

They were trapped.

Ingrid looked helplessly at Echo, a dead look in her eyes as she processed the difference in power between their foe and herself. How she had nearly died a moment ago. She sagged to her knees in shock.

Velu loosed shot after shot which simply clattered against the shadowy figure’s aura.

“You lot need to stop struggling. Mass Paralysis.”

All the adventurers froze and fell in place.

All except Echo.

Echo shook his head and struggled to his feet.

"That's better. Now, come quietly.”

Echo planted his sword in the ground and tightened his shield down to his forearm. He grabbed yet another healing potion and drank that before slamming the vial on the ground.

All out of those.

"I won't surrender." Echo readied his sword and shield, taking careful, staggered steps to advance towards this figure.

"I could play with you a bit. Swords, is it?" A bone grew from this figure's hand, and he snapped it off before wielding it like a blade. "Have at you!"

The two clashed blade and bone; Echo's Tempeststeel sword whizzing through the air. This figure caught the strike with a parry and stabbed in return, which Echo barely managed to block.

But block it he did. In a fight of pure martial skill, his Perfect Defense would instinctively guide his body to safety. The bone-blade whizzed by as Echo shifted his body weight back, countering with a shield bash which knocked his foe off balance before slamming him again and swinging down, his sword carving a gash into the man’s shoulder.

The bone-covered man staggered backward, cackling madly. "Good! I like that fighting spirit."

The bone-man’s body flashed with a dull, brown color as the wounds healed instantly.

He can Regenerate also?

Echo knew that was a rare Ability – it’s why he chose it.

“Let’s try something different.” The bone-man chuckled and the sword warped shape into a large flail. He began an assault with the dizzying weapon, swinging it with reckless speed before wheeling it towards Echo.

He tried to duck it, but the bone-man’s hand spasmed and the flail redirected course, impacting Echo in the torso and flinging him sideways into a wall. He crashed into it, air leaving his collapsing lungs before they regenerated. Echo coughed up more blood, splattering the ground as he collapsed.

I’m not dying again!

Echo touched the ground, “Transmute Substance – Worldbreaker!” The stone underneath the bone-man arced upwards and pierced through him from groin to neck.

“That’s irritating.” The bone-man grew more bones out of his legs that lifted him up and off the spike while Echo struggled to his feet.

Then, the room began to dim.

Rickard's spell faded, and the room darkened once more. Shadows enveloped the bone-man.

Without Ingrid’s light, or his now-shattered lantern, Echo was blind in the darkness.

Echo closed his eyes. From his right, a scuff of boot on stone. He instinctively raised his shield as a flurry of dart-like bones flew. He blocked them.

"Mhmm. I want you.”

Echo felt his body lock up. He could not move at all.

“The single target version is much harder to resist.”

The figure held up a hand as an orange light appeared on his fingertip. He stepped out of the shadows once more and smiled cruelly, his pearly white teeth reflecting the dim light cascading off Echo's armor.

His voice didn't seem to project anymore, and he spoke in a flat monotone.

"Now that you're restrained, I think I'll remove that pesky equipment." He waved a hand as tendrils of shadow began to move towards Echo.

Echo willed his Quintessence to open the pocket-dimension stored on his ring, banishing all his equipment save for his underclothes into the space.

At the same time, he used the rest of his Quintessence to try and mentally cast a spell.

Reshape to my will, Transmute Substance.

The ring on his finger merged into his body, keeping his possessions safe.

Darkness clouded the edge of his vision as the spell cast with only thought drained the last of his Quintessence and unconsciousness took him.

"Fascinating. I'll enjoy experimenting on you."

Rickard exited the tunnel.

If he wasn’t here, we wouldn’t have been so confident.

He firmly believed that all this misfortune was Echo’s fault. If he wasn’t there, then their company would have turned around as soon as the tunnel shifted to a slope.

This is my chance to get rid of him.

Rickard shook his head.

I wanted that armor.

But he had the helmet. And that alone would be enough to earn him a chance to climb the ranks of Lux’s martial church – the Lightbringers.

He set off for Post 3 immediately, forgetting about his allies.

What good were they compared to the power of a Goddess?

Echo blinked awake and found himself strapped to a table with heavy chains. He struggled for a moment before realizing he was firmly bound and couldn't move.

A gag of some type was in his mouth as well. He was stripped down nude and the cold metal of the table chilled him to his core.

He heard clinking and rustling and was able to turn his head slightly.

He wasn't alone, another person was strapped down next to him. older Human woman whose skin was cracked and had hardened into plates, not unlike insect chitin. Her muffled screams were muted as her body heaved with exertion, helpless against the binds.

The same figure from earlier - once more cloaked in shadows - walked over and gently leaned over the woman.

"It's okay, my little darling. Soon you'll be strong enough to survive this harsh world." He pulled some cube-shaped object from his coat pocket, pushing it against her chest.

Another muffled scream escaped her as Echo winced. Her body contorted and cracked; her shape morphed and changed as the cube released an arc of purple electricity before emitting some black sludge that flowed over her.

She went silent as she finished a grueling and horrifying transformation out of a horror movie. She turned into a Cronenberg-like abomination from The Thing - an amalgamation of insect chitin, pincers, bones, and flesh.

Echo shuddered. He felt like vomiting but thankfully his stomach was empty, and he just dry heaved.

The creature slithered away as the man in the coat came over to Echo. "Ah, my finest specimen so far, you're finally awake." He pulled the gag out of Echo's mouth.

"Who are you? Where’s my friends?"

"Ah, how rude of me. Tiberius the Shaper." He gave a little bow as he placed the cube on Echo's chest. "I want to raise all creatures to the next level of evolution. And you’re next.”

"Reshape to my will, Transmute Substance!" Echo attempted to channel Quintessence but couldn't feel it respond to his incantation or spell.

"Tsk," the figure tutted. "I wouldn't just use any old chains on you. I had to pull out all the stops. Magic blocking but not Ability blocking restraints."

Echo stared at him with hatred, letting out a scream of rage at the helplessness he now felt. The anger and disgust for his own weakness in the moment a black pit of despair in his heart. He knew he had no chance against this figure who had decapitated him with ease.

Echo felt the cold square press into his skin; it was surprisingly heavy.

"I'm going to experiment on you. It will hurt. You will possibly go mad from the pain." Tiberius licked his lips as if he was looking at a juicy steak, "I can't wait to see what happens."

He activated the cube and Echo felt tingling as the object sparked with purple light before oozing out a sticky substance. He tried to fight against his restraints to no avail.

The pain was indescribable.

Echo screamed the loudest he had ever screamed before. Every nerve felt as if it was on fire as the slime encompassed his whole form. He felt his Regeneration drain his Quintessence at a prodigious rate as his body broke down while his physical form was forced to change. His skin shifted and muscles tore and reknit back together.

Over and over, he felt his body ripped apart only to be healed by his Regeneration, and his crackling, shifting, distorting body forced back into shape because of his Eternal Youth.

As he began to pass out, he could barely make out the feeling of the cold object leaving his chest.

"Oh! That is a pleasant surprise. You don't change shape…but I can still force evolution upon you. In doses.”

He patted Echo's head gently as the adventurer passed out from the pain. "Sleep tight…"

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