Sitting atop the mound of stones, Zayn watched the cursed sphere devour the turtle’s core. It went from being incorporeal to taking on a physical shape.
He licked his lips.
What kind of “ultimate weapon” would this thing grow into?
“That was quick—” Armour clinking, Faeria leisurely walked out from the undergrowth, as though spawning out of nothingness. “For a buffoon.”
His face darkened. Why was she attacking him?
But since she was putting her hand into the hornet's nest, he might as well bite back. “And why is ‘madame’ Faeria looking for me?”
Faeria seemed like she wanted to retort, but reined it in, getting right to the point, “How much do you know?”
What? This dungeon? Most of it, probably. Zayn didn’t know how much of the puzzle he was missing, but he knew enough to guess the edges. But he had time to spare while the sphere feasted.
“Some of it. Why don’t we go over it all again?”
With that, she began the dullest history lecture imaginable. Zayn pretended to be the most attentive of students—even though every word was something he already knew. He even pretended to be shocked, frowning and gasping at times.
The act must go on!
How the Stone Sage had eloped with her sister. The prophecy of the ultimate weapon. The Fae Monarch's Sylvar’s summoning a thirty-three thousand army, all that was old news.
But he wasn’t bored at all. Quite the opposite, really.
A silly smile kept tugging at the corner of his lips. He really liked being in this position—being on the higher ground. Loved it in fact, listening to her explain from down below. Certainly not because of yesterday’s incident or anything. He wasn’t that vengeful.
Now and then, he would poke at her with deadpan jabs:
“Oh! So your sister eloped with the dungeon boss guy! Are you two blood-related?”
“You told them to burn the forest down! What a brilliant idea! Burn it all down! Yes!”
“Clearly, thirty-three thousand was not enough, you guys should have tried sixty-nine—”
A murderous aura erupted out of her, choking the words in his throat. She was giving that “one more word, and you’re dead” kinda stare. Surely she hadn’t understood that reference. Surely.
He hastily diverted the topic. “So, the weapon of prophecy is the thing inside of me.”
Faeria held back, no longer looking like she wanted to cave his face in, “Half. Stone Sage split his ultimate weapon into two. He kept one half inside the house, and the other half—”
“Inside the Stone Ape.” Zayn completed the sentence.
That golem seemed designed for just that: to contain a large energy core.
“Yes.” Faeria continued. “Over the years, it has gained consciousness, seeking completion of itself. Good news is…every turtle you kill renders it weaker.”
Right. Zayn nodded. All logical. If the Turtles and Golems were all part of it, killing them should weaken it; that was textbook logic. But there was one thing he didn’t understand.
“How did the treant situation happen? The curse and all?” Zayn pointed towards the red spot—the moon that invaded the blue skies. “Cause of that 'thing' above?”
It had long been the elephant in the room. Having stitched together the rest of the clues by himself, Zayn just required a word of confirmation.
Faeria nodded after a pause, “We had the sage outnumbered and outplayed, or so we thought. But the truth was the opposite. Sage had always planned for this."
How did he plan for it?
"This forest was a cemetery, the resting place of a god’s family.”
“A cemetery of a god?!” Zayn was shocked.
“Yes. The forest we burnt was the resting place of ‘his’ family. Thus, we attracted ‘his’ gaze to us. And as punishment, we were trapped, cursed to fight forever in this twisted form.”
Zayn mentally noted all the information, digesting it. So that was how it is. Now it all added up. So this was just a cosmic play, a cosmic irony!
And soon, the sphere was done devouring the core. It crept back to his body promptly. Feeling it sit back inside his soul, he was faintly relieved.
Faeria didn’t intend to take it out right away. Which was surprising, given he expected her to just ask for it. He jumped off the mound.
“Okay, now I get the full picture.” Zayn nodded, “Thanks for the information, Madame Faeria. If you will excuse me, I need to find the rest of the turtles and prepare for the night.”
He was unsure how she was going to respond next. Would she attack and stop him? If she did, he’d have to use ‘Bloodburn’ to escape. He wasn’t delusional enough to think he could win against her.
She stood unfazed. “You’re assuming that as long as you keep surviving, you’d eventually become strong enough to take on the ape, and even the dungeon boss.”
Zayn halted. Wouldn’t he, eventually?
“Allow me to remind you once more, this is Hell Zone. Levels would never prepare you for the things you’d face next,” Faeria explained and faintly gestured towards the red spot in the sky, “And we’re running out of time. Tonight is our single shot at leaving this place alive.”
Our? Zayn snorted, having never agreed to a party. She can’t leave him unconscious, then come back and expect him to ‘play party’. More so, he hadn't planned to beat these things with levels. Not for once.
He tried to walk away—only to find he couldn’t.
No matter how many steps he took, he was rooted in place. Like being on an escalator that went down while he tried to go up. Shadows coiled around him in an ensnaring coil, binding him to the ground. His own shadows.
With a snort, Fire flooded out of his veins, roaring in defiance, releasing him from the bind. He turned around, only to stop at what he saw.
Dark and immense silhouettes stood behind Faeria, shifting, phasing between existence and non-existence. Looking at their shifting shapes, he suspected what they were—but didn’t believe it until the system notifications began popping up.
Stoneborn Turtle - LV 48
Forstride Turtle - LV 49
Stonecoil Turtle - LV 46
Faeria waved her hand, and the next moment, one of them poked its head out of the shadows. A reptilian head peeked out, blinking as it scanned the surroundings suspiciously.
A hint of happiness flickered in its eyes.
That was until it spotted him, and once it did, its entire demeanor shifted from joy to anger. Roaring, it poised to leap at him.
Before it could, Faeria once again hid it back within the shadows with a wave of her hand.
“You were hiding them?” Zayn shot her a puzzled glance. There were half a dozen of them inside, he’d counted.
But why?
“The Ape is as powerful as the will it holds. Each of these turtles contains a part of its will. Had these merged into the ape, it would have grown more powerful.” She snickered and pointed at her belly, “And by now, you’d have been digested.”
He ignored the last remark, busy picking all the pieces together.
No wonder The Ape had vanished. No wonder there were almost no stone golems around. She’d collected them all like Pokémon…and kept them within her shadow dimension. Evolving into some real monstrosities.
He grinned.
Bloodmetal pulsed out all around his body, wrapping him. Hard, metallic extensions sealing his vitals. Double-plated armour, ready to shed friction. An experimental model, but it should help grow his fire rapidly.
“Oh?" Faeria was surprised, shrugging, then she mocked. “How enthusiastic.”
“I just have to defeat them all, right?”
“That, or you just have to beg me to help you.” Her hollow gaze provoked him. “Get at least one, alright? Otherwise, it’d be too disappointing.”
Zayn snorted at her.
Hollowfang in his hand, he readied himself. Heart beating so loud that it rang inside his skull. From the shadows he’d seen, they were vastly stronger than earlier turtles.
The serpentine head tore out of the shadows and peeked into reality, and stared at Faeria. It took a while before it believed that it was free. The air sizzled as soon as it walked in. Then, a loud footstep dented the ground like wet clay.
“That—” His pupils shrank, Hollowfang faltering out of his grip. What the hell? That was no friggin turtle.
Forstride Turtle - Lv 49
Well…fuck it. The system did count it as one, but it was built…different. If this were a game of ‘Who’s that Pokémon’, he had guessed so off that it was embarrassing.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Its front legs were disproportionately longer than its hind legs, and it stood way taller than any stone turtle had the right to. Weird choice of evolution. Tracing its grotesquely corded limbs, he wondered: What can those legs do?
BOOM!
Using its long legs to propel itself up, it leapt forward. As the immense thing blotted the skies, he found out what the legs could do.
BOOM!
At a speed that was too much for its mass, it flew towards him. It sent trees rocketing like dry sticks. Barely holding himself straight, Zayn darted out of its path.
The entire terrain of the jungle shifted, shuddering in impact. He felt his bones rattle even from a distance. A sense of deja vu struck him. He’d done this all before. All of this…
Skill detected!
Sonic Stride (Initiate–Adept): Using its massive forelimbs, the Forstride turtle can make massive leaps. Each successful stride increases the Dexterity by est. 15% speed, up to ten strides(1/10).
It is the evolution of the skill ‘Sonic Rush’!
“An evolution of Sonic Rush, of course!” He remembered that one golem fondly.
How could he forget The Ninja Turtle—his first, real battle after getting a class? How could he forget their challenging stare? How could he forget its many...phases?
That one battle was all he had won without any trickery.
Such a golem of honour and benevolence it was! It even gave him the chance to attack first. Totally unlike this pesky Turtle. This thing had no honour.
Immediately repositioning itself, it stampeded toward him again. And with every charge, it grew faster, its momentum unreasonable. He took a large breath. This was going to be…really, really annoying.
Bending his knees, he bolted off again. Narrowly avoided another crushing impact. Logs and water flew in the air, splashing down from above. Standing in the middle of ruin, he grinned.
Since life gave him a lemon, he was going to make lemonade out of it.
Multiple glasses.
***
Or so he thought…until senses were slapped back into him.
Health under 30%!
[Undying Cockroach] active!
The shock trickled into fire in his veins, quietly eating away at his health.
Flame: 6.80%+
Barely standing straight on his feet, Zayn took a swig of the spirit wine. To wash the taste of blood. The turtle turned around for what it felt like the millionth time, and made him rethink his entire life.
He tried.
He’d tried real hard to stop its strides. Fat chance, as his mass was laughable compared to it. Reinforced strike did nothing to stop it.
He’d been sent back flying tens of feet, and the only reason he survived was due to a timely intervention by the spores, growing into a shield to cushion the blow.
Thump
It flew towards him again.
All the trees were razed and torn beyond recognition—like the second coming of the apocalypse. Air thrummed with a silent pressure as the monstrosity charged at him again.
He charged out of its path, cursing Faeria, the system, system admins, gods, demons, and anyone watching this.
Life hadn’t given him a lemon. This was a goddamn nuke. With this kind of mass, needing to stop its charges made no sense….
Huffing, he rushed under the fallen logs, hiding himself within the ruins. Mentally, he was calculating his options. Its shell was too thick to break—almost a few meters of stone.
Charge: 18/25
Not like he didn’t have the firepower to burst through, he had enough of it, but draining himself all to defeat one of them wasn’t part of his plan. Neither was relying on the yellow mana.
His eyes flickered towards the volcano-like protrusion on the creature's back, watching mist waft out of it. Between each charge, there was a gap of three to four seconds. For the distance it covered, it wasn’t enough to reach it, let alone a counterattack.
And worse...it was a flat ground all around—no cliff, no cover, no terrain advantage to exploit.
“Giving up already?” Faeria walked out of the shadows, gleeful at his dismayed appearance. “I expected you to defeat at least one.”
With a hurrumph, Zayn darted out of the cover. He had a plan. He just had to get on top of it.
So he changed his weapon. Instead of the sword, he held a two-handed spear twice his height in a ready grip. Not because longer was better, it was just cheaper to lose.
He drew in a deep breath, chest swelling. “Oi! Heard your mom fucked a giraffe!”
It worked far better than he expected. The turtle-like beast bellowed, rage vibrating through the ground as it barreled towards him like an enraged rhinoceros.
“Perfect.”
Mana surged to his right foot, coiling like a spring. Then—boom. He rocketed upward, wind whipping past his ears as he soared above the charging monster. From up here, he could see the mound rising from its carapace, its molten crown pulsing faintly with heat…like the rim of a sleeping volcano.
Now.
He twisted midair and hurled the long spear down. Sylvan Weapons Mastery ensured he was in the perfect position. His vision was like a hawk, turning every breath, every shift of wind into a precise line of trajectory.
The spear stuck home, piercing through the mound with a hissing steam. That wouldn’t kill it. Good thing Zayn hadn’t counted on the spear to kill it.
Bloodmetal chains—conjured and attached to the spear beforehand—sprang out, snapping taut as they yanked his body forward.
Pain cracked through his head like a splitting axe. His body arced through the air, twisting like a hooked fish as he swung himself towards the beast's back. Barely avoiding the rain of debris, he plunged straight into the red fissure in its back.
Searing magma burst through his double-plated armour. Verdant Skin rushed to disperse heat, but minor fire resistance wasn’t enough to disperse the heat from lava. Heat detonated through his muscles, but he grinned through the agony.
Flame: 8….9…11..13...15%+
He plunged deep down towards the heart that was twice his size. Then, he tore his fists at it with a blinding red streak.
All the flame he gathered so far rushed from his veins towards his fist. Injected out.
Explode!
The heart shattered like glass, leaving behind a glowing shard the size of his hand. He plunged into the magma and shattered the heart for the shard. It took no more than a few seconds, but by then, his body was already overheating.
His long hair had burned up.
Shit
He panicked and told himself to rush out. Before he could, an armoured black hand phased out of nothing and pulled at him. The next thing he knew, he was out somewhere else. Air struck his skin, and Verdant Skin did its best to flush out the excess energy.
***
What a madman.
Faeria glanced down at the writhing Zayn. He curled up into a ball as his body exhaled out the heat in the form of mist. Another of the Fae’s foundational skills: Verdant skin. He also had Sporogenesis, a high-level skill that used to be secured by the elders and was only rewarded to those deserving.
He was lucky he had met her and not any other Fae.
And yet, he was not at all grateful.
“I didn’t need your help.” He shot her a glare.
Yesterday, he was the same. He’d jumped at The Ape without a warning, catching her off guard. At least back then, he was in a half-drunk state, so she attributed it to his exhaustion and mental strain.
What about now?
All that was done in a cold calmness. This wasn’t about the skills or classes. Nor was it about the understanding of the elements. This was recklessness that went beyond mere reason or purpose.
“I would’ve gotten out without your help.” He muttered again. Then, without wasting time, he let the accursed thing out again. Complex feelings rose inside of her, watching it slowly take a physical form. But she didn’t forcefully tear it out of him.
It must be complete first.
She watched the buffoon in red, and inside the hollow armor that was her body, something stirred—something she hadn’t felt in a long time: a sense of wonder.
Amongst the madmen with no care for their lives, there were two types. First rushed into danger until it shattered them. Leaving them crippled or dead. Mere fools, these.
But the other type—these were the scary ones. They moved with a purpose beyond anyone’s understanding. A purpose that forged them into something far greater. The sage of stones had been that. All the great, powerful people of Eldera had been that.
Gazing at this foolish madman in front of her, she couldn’t help but wonder.
Which one are you?
***
Ten minutes later, the sphere once again stormed back into his body. Watching it churn and slowly shape itself into a physical form felt…weird. He stared at the notification glowing on his screen.
Flame : 5.07…5.09…5.13%+
The heat he was struck with, most of it he couldn’t absorb, but some lingered in his veins. The kinetic force turned into his own, channeling within his vein as fire. He wasn’t sure how much he could hold inside him. But there was something that helped.
Ding! Feat Unlocked!
Flame Resistance (Bronze): Are you sure you are not turning into a cockroach? Just look at you.
Effect: +2 Constitution, +1 Vitality. Plus, 30% flame resistance.
Snorting, he sipped wine from sage’s gourd, attracting a glare from Faeria. Oh? He drank with even more gusto.
Once he gained {Weeds}, gravefruits, and Spirit Wine became secondary to his natural healing. Long before that, gravefruits stopped being as effective. He had to devour gravefruits in dozens to have any significant effect.
{Weeds} healed flesh injuries completely within a few hours, depending on the depth of the flesh damage. But bone and internal injuries were trickier; more stubborn—tendons and ligaments were the hardest to heal even now.
He inspected his right leg, where his flesh had detached and twisted. That’d take a couple of days, usually. Hours if he finished the entire gourd of spirit wine before. But now, he felt it being stitched, fiber by fiber.
He checked his health, and it had gone up from 42 to 47% in ten minutes, so he could heal about 0.5% health every minute or so by now. Only flesh damage. Bones are tougher to heal, and he wasn’t quite sure how long it would take.
With spirit wine, he could go up to near 1% regeneration per minute, which was…quite impressive. And with [Undying cockroach], the damage he took was significantly lower. He really was turning into a tank, wasn’t he?
Once done with healing, he rose and asked Faeria, “How do you plan to defeat the dungeon boss?”
He knew what her answer would be. To use the ultimate weapon forged by the Sage to defeat him—a diabolical ending.
Or so he’d thought, but her answer threw him off.
“You mean the Stone Sage?” She mocked him, pretended to look around, and laughed in disbelief, “Just the two of us? A walking suit of armour and a madman terribly out of his depth?”
Zayn snapped at her. “What’s your plan then?”
“We need to finish the ape swiftly without attracting that thing.” She stared towards the skies where the red had gathered. “And then, leave this place.”
She pushed her hands into the shadows and brought out a glowing crystal—the size of his fingernails. Light and darkness swirled around it, wrapped in a weird, mesmerising manner, as though it was trapping space and time within its region.
A line of words erupted.
Greater Teleportation Crystal — Tears open a portal between two lands up to one hundred thousand miles apart. The user must know the teleportation destination well, or the teleportation would be random.
Uses left: 3
Zayn almost instinctively raised his hand to touch it, but she coldly put it back inside. She shrugged, “Don’t worry. Our race is known for forming good karmic ties. I’ll take you to the world tree with me.”
He didn’t remember agreeing to that. More importantly…
“Isn’t your race dead?”
“Once there, you will be treated as an honoured guest and a great friend as long as you co-operate.”
He stared at her for an explanation about this “co-operation”, but after half a minute of staring, he received none. He gave up. Battling his strained muscles, he stood and nodded at her, “Let the next one out.”
Faeria scanned him and snapped her fingers again.
Out of the shadows, a second turtle skittered out on its eight massive insectoid legs. Its body was still ellipsoid, but eight insectoid eyes, disturbingly anthropoid, focused on him.
Spider Turtle - LV 48
He cursed. It didn’t even look like a turtle. Diving forward, he dodged its pillar like legs—protruding ends sharp enough to make him exhale sharply.
Mana crackling under his feet, he sped under the colossal monster. His eyes scanned its leg for a weakness. Once he found it, he jumped and swiped Hollowfang down in an arc.
One down, seven to go.
Before he could rejoice, a spray of hot water rained down on his double-plated armour.
Flame: 7.8…13.03...17.6%+
A blinding heat stormed in his veins, racing, scalding him. A few hundred feet in the surrounding area turned steamy, and once the fog cleared, everything had vaporised into air.
Skill detected!
Greater Cleanse: Clean everything in its surroundings with a boiling hot splash of water, ensuring a greater cleanse.
“Fucking hell.” He glared at Faeria, who just stood afar, arms crossed. Clearly enjoying his struggle. He barked at her, “What the hell have you made?”
The spider turtle stabbed down repeatedly, but he kept dodging and hiding as he crushed its legs one after the other. When it was down to four legs, it sprang up into the air, high above.
Tearing through the air with the signature turtle move—Turbine Slam.
“Catch it,” He suggested, forcing the nearby vegetation and roots to grow. The vines stitched and extended into a handlike formation in an attempt to catch it. Unfortunately, its insectoid legs tore through, being too thin.
By then, Zayn was long out of its range of impact. And the good news was…the hand impacted it just enough, making it land on its back. It wriggled on the ground like a cockroach.
“Lift.” The trees grew underneath his feet to raise him above the beast. Unlike the Turtles earlier, the weak point on this thing wasn’t atop its back or beneath its navel.
Rather, it was right…around its backside.
Fiercely struggling, the golem attempted to shake him off. Hard to do while being upside down. He exhaled and stared at the small opening with a look of disgust. Shooting Faeria another annoyed look, he plunged himself inside.
Life had taken him to really strange places, but never inside the ass of a golem.
