Unchosen Champion-Chapter 385: Groundwork
When the Hellhound suddenly twisted backwards, canceling its biting charge at the last possible second, its momentum sent a wall of scorching fire cascading forward. The hexagonal tile it shared with its target brightened with heat while the flames that cloaked its body threatened to smother its opponent.
Coop shifted ever so slightly, unflinching as the demon rose to its full height, setting up for a more devastating attack by pushing itself upright in an intimidating fashion. He completely ignored the fire, concentrating on the monster as it transferred its prodigious weight to its hindlegs. The aggressive display of the enormous Hellhound left him unfazed. His steadfast grip on the hilt of a narrow two-handed longsword held it steady and he used the subtly glowing ethereal blade to split the wave of flames, partially reducing the impact as the real clash drew closer.
The remaining blaze licked his skin, the proximity enough to cause every exposed portion of his body to immediately redden while the burning damage chipped at his health. The scent of sulfur wafted across the arena behind the fire, stinging his nostrils and threatening to make his eyes water, weakening him before the monster committed itself for the kill. For a moment, the demon loomed over Coop and his sword, like a grizzly bear preparing to fall into a pounce on a vulnerable target.
As Coop approached the battle, he had taken a firm grip on his wandering thoughts in order to concentrate and step into the zone. He recognized that he couldn’t be complacent against the fully unleashed forces of mana, especially after he struggled so much with the first representative of his enemies. He entered the Lucid Dream as the necessary focus bubbled up from within, preceding the exchange of a single blow with his opponent. When he took control of his mind and body, the Principle of Calm empowered him so that he could perform at his absolute physical peak, before desperation limited his options.
The hound’s breathing was like a massive bellows pumping an infernal furnace. The atmosphere pushed and pulled along with the monster. He could feel the vibrations of every step made by the monsters through the soles of his sandals. The thud of the hound’s feet followed by the scraping of its claws and the chugging of its breath made it seem like Coop was standing on the train tracks of a steam engine.
But his heartbeat was slow, his own breath was unwavering, and his focus completely unbreakable, eyes locked on the flaring red embers beneath his opponent’s brow. Coop felt like he had ice running through his veins to counter the fires as he drew upon his accumulated internal power in order to properly prove himself against a powerful enemy.
He didn’t move backwards when the hound charged. Instead he shifted partially to the outside on his left, already anticipating the monster’s feint because of where it terminated its previous leaping bound. He declined to avoid the bite unless it was fully committed, and it was clear before it was in range that the teeth wouldn’t quite reach his flesh before it was forced to leap a second time. If he was wrong he would have a split second to react, but he hadn’t been wrong.
Next, he expected a delayed swipe from the right claw of the monster after it reared backwards. His subtle movement had already partially countered such an attack by essentially jamming the hitter. After the swipe, the hound would execute a quick leaping retreat to cap off the entire quick attack combo. From there the fiery demon could either reset the battle, utilizing the space created for another empowering howl to bolster its flames, follow up with an aggressive tackle and bite combination if the swipe debilitated its target’s defense, or transition into one of the various powerful tail swipes to keep whittling away at Coop’s health. The Hellhound was an open book when presented with the totality of his experience after seeing them in action a single time.
Instead of matching the blows, strength for strength, Coop matched the hesitation in the assault, conceding his relative standing compared to the demon and stepping to its rhythm as much as he could. He slid beneath the massive flaming nails after moving slightly beneath the elbow, limiting the danger zone of the claws and weakening the anticipated blow by preventing a full drawing motion of the arm. He used his dodge to push his weight forward, planting a foot to precisely guide his blade upwards at the exact moment the monster committed to its attack. The edge of the glowing longsword intercepted the swipe on the inside, combining the power of both contenders into a cleaving chop straight through the limb.
Before the Hellhound hit the ground at Coop’s side and leapt backwards to complete its combination of attacks, it lost the end of its foreleg. The massive scorched stone claw scraped across the hexagonal platform before slipping off the side of the tower with a trail of black smoke. The stump of the severed limb exploded with liquid fire, and when it was planted into the ground to brace for the jump it failed to provide the leverage necessary for the next movement of the monster’s tactical plan, exposing the Hellhound to follow up attacks. Instead of leaping backwards, it partially stumbled maybe half the distance it had hoped.
Coop kept up with the half-committed escape, lunging forward while expertly slashing his sword like he was a veteran gladiator in a show match as he claimed the advantage. Each attack extended his blade with raw energy, expanding on the momentum of the previous strike with an increasingly potent glow of mana, adding a bit of magic for the absent audience. Every cut carved deeper strips across the monster’s torso as Coop turned the assault into a flowing dance. The Hellhound flinched backwards, desperate to avoid the increasingly devastating blows.
At the same time, a phantasm appeared on the opposite side, leaping from a burst of mists and surprising the large Hellhound as it focused on the pressure being applied by its primary target. Its scrambling retreat exposed several openings and Coop wasn’t above exploiting any minor advantage with his active skills when they were fighting to the death. Why should he let the enemy reset and try to utilize its many advantages all over again?
The sudden attack from the demon’s blindside caused it to twist, despite the phantasm vanishing in the fiery aura after landing a single chopping attack. Just as the culmination of Coop’s sweeping strikes unified, the Hellhound turned away. It was the worst possible time to be distracted.
All of Coop’s physical attributes fused with his absolute control of his personal mana, transforming the blade of his sword into a splash of liquid energy. The ethereal edge cut through the air and the weight of the abyss bled from the tear, changing the perfect execution of an overhand sword strike into a watercolor splatter of glowing paint that was on the verge of breaking through the canvas of reality. The end result was a clean strike that lopped the Hellhounds head from its oversized shoulders just as it exposed its neck to turn away and perceive what had stung it from its flank.
As the explosion of fiery mana spread from the defeated monster, Coop was already transitioning his focus to the stone golem that had been forced into circling the fight. It had been unable to close in on Coop so long as the Champion kept the Hellhound in between them both.
Without the obstacle represented by its demonic companion, the golem charged forward, its outer shell smoldering with heat, sending long strips of steam into the air. Its plodding footsteps created a series of low resonant thumps that shook the hexagonal compartments while Coop stepped forward with far more grace. As they drew closer, the golem swung a massive, blocky arm, less of a fist and more of a wrecking ball, with enough force to easily shatter steel, but Coop was already reacting, finally having an advantage in speed when not facing one of the hounds.
He bounced off his feet, sidestepping the titanic blow with his arms splayed to his sides, the wind buffeting his hair as he leaned past the solid stone limb. Individual droplets of sweat hissed as they were caught on the stone surface and boiled away. His still empowered sword flashed in a quick counter strike that followed a full rotation of his body, aiming for the fiery elbow joint that had extended past him. He saw it as an obvious potential weakness in the infused stone creature.
Sparks flew as the solidified mistblade scraped across burning alien rock, leaving a shallow gouge that easily resisted the blast of abyssal energy that followed. The color of the monster’s fire shifted to the ghostly green and darkness of the abyss that drowned the hellish orange flames for a moment as the limb was temporarily debilitated.
While Coop backed off to gauge the effect, the golem appeared to shrug the blow off, maintaining its physical composure despite the potency of the attack. It was too dense, demonstrating increased hardness compared to the Hellhound, sacrificing dexterity for durability that Coop was too weak to overcome without proper preparation.
While it worked the fire in its elbow back into shape, the red glow gradually returning, it roared at Coop, a sound more like a geyser of lava than what should come from an actual creature. Magmatic spittle flew as it redirected its momentum into its torso and swung again with the same, slightly limp arm. The backhanded strike forced Coop to step further backwards, his gladiator sandals sliding on the molded hexagonal tiles as he claimed a new position. He had expected a one two combination, and cut off the potential power of the second attack by crossing the body of the monster, but the golem had surprised him with the same limb. The golem proved it would take more than a longsword to crush its armor or disable its arm.
Coop would have preferred a little more room to maneuver against this particular opponent, but Lyriel was doing her best to distract the second golem that had accompanied the Hellhound to the first floor of the tower. He didn’t want to ruin their current advantageous situation by crowding her.
When he had initially taken point, he called for Lyriel to take the one on the left. His suggestion that Palisteon distract the golem on the right was met with the smaller alien retreating behind Lyriel’s legs. The worm-like ally actually seemed offended that Coop would so casually risk its life, but it was just an idea shouted in the heat of the moment.
Coop ended up claiming two of the three monsters on his own instead, forcing himself to be comfortable with the idea of meeting more Hellhounds in the future with a trial by literal fire. This bout would add one type of the stone golems to his repertoire.
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He was unconsciously analyzing every enemy movement, cataloguing their demonic skills, tendencies, and inclinations. He was already anticipating future bouts against similar foes purely through habit, one developed as he sought more efficiency in every grind. What had once been simple instinct was significantly more refined through his experience.
Coop’s patience kept his Lucid Dream active for a few more seconds before he would need to dismiss it. Calm wasn’t something he could rush. He needed to fight smarter while embracing the Principle, exploiting his enemies' inherent limitations and countering when it became possible. A narrow dodge was the opening of a window to calmly exploit.
In this case, the golem was powerful and tough, but it was slow, its movements exaggerated and therefore telegraphed. It allowed him to be more reactive, relying less on the prediction that was necessary against the demonic hounds.
Unlike his first fight with the Hellhound, he wouldn’t be caught by surprise with superior Agility and freakish dexterity, and the advanced levels held by his opponent were just a matter of course rather than a revelation. He decided to avoid testing the golem’s strength even once, accepting that he had plenty of room to grow before he out muscled a creature of such solid stone and superior attributes. He wondered what level the system would have assigned to the forces of mana.
Coop patiently circled the golem while the Lucid Dream started to fade, lining up the monster so that their bout wouldn’t interfere with Lyriel’s hovering assault on the other. His movements were fluid, adopting the same predatory grace as the Hellhound, seeing it as a natural counter to the bulky armored foe, letting it inspire his animalistic posture.
The gray light emanating from the massive flow of mana in the central tube reflected off his gladiator armor as he changed angles and better assessed his opponent. The golem mindlessly tracked him, always moving in the shortest possible path toward its target, recognizing that it was too slow for anything else. It turned awkwardly, pivoting slowly, and overall, seemed extraordinarily straightforward when considering it was a creature representing the armageddon.
Coop abruptly switched directions as he decided on his tactics, darting in the opposite direction he had been circling before the Lucid Dream drifted away. He closed the distance in a flash, one step forward, another step planting his weight and transferring his strength, all in an effort to build power behind a quick and devastating horizontal strike before the golem could settle its stance. The unempowered flail of the golem’s arm was easily dodged as he planted his foot and struck.
Immediately after the attack, he killed his momentum and leapt backwards with a grunt from the strain on his abs and thighs. It was exactly the same hit and run tactics as the hounds, but there was no penalty for copying their homework.
Coop had already slayed an absurd number of enemies before the Eradication Protocol initiated, each with their own unique advantages and disadvantages. What he was doing with the forces of mana was treating them like individual variants of the Primal Constructs. The robotic invaders were really the only general type of enemies he truly understood, considering his otherwise peaceful history before the assimilation, but he was trying to leverage that experience on a wider variety of enemies.
There was always a tiny bit of trial and error before he settled into a simple set of tactics that worked for him. They may not have always been the most efficient methods, but as long as they were effective, he could work with them, iterate upon them, and transform them into progressively better and better methods to fit into his grind.
With a normal set of enemies, he would eventually exceed the target's threshold for resistance, whether through simple levels or stats, but it seemed like the forces of mana would hold up for significantly longer. While he felt the pressure to step up and reach another echelon of expertise, he was also excited by the prospect of overcoming new challenges. The satisfaction of leveling up and increasing his stats was practically an addiction that he wasn’t quite ready to give up even without the system jingling keys in front of his face.
His horizontal strike on the golem had been different from his first elbow joint attack. This time he targeted the base of the massive golem, basically aiming for its ankles as he probed for weaknesses. Before he leapt backwards, the blade bit deep into one leg, finding a minor instability in the top heavy bulk of the monster.
The golem was staggered, simultaneously trying to attack in a way that shifted its weight onto the weakened limb as Coop retreated. He could hear the low groan of stone as it fought against its own bulk, trying desperately to keep its balance. Coop pressed his advantage, sliding all the way around the side while the golem flailed. He swiped at the other leg, further crippling the monster before it could regain its stature.
The golem roared as it stumbled, flames exploding from its head and shoulders, seeming frustrated at its impending defeat. It swung wildly as it toppled, but Coop danced even further backwards, slashing at the air with swishing strikes as he maximized his range, encouraging the fissures that had formed to grow wider with the tip of his blade and the energy that extended beyond.
Finally, as the golem crashed onto the ground, Coop left the dream, quickswapped to his heavy two-handed mace and pounced more like a barbarian than the elegant swordsman he had been imitating. He dragged the weapon above his head as it grew heavier, then forced it straight down with all of his might. The 50,000 Strength blow on the fallen torso of the golem seemed to shake the foundations of the tower. Cracks spiderwebbed across the stone armor, chunks of rock broken away, revealing magma beneath. The external fires were extinguished by the explosion of wind drawn from the heavy attack, the air pressure a result of simple physics rather than anything special occurring through mana.
Coop drew all of his possible stats, lifting the heavy mace again, abandoning all of his other attributes in the literal practice of the Mindbender title to maximize his power in a single blow. His veins bulged as every muscle in his body coordinated to enact the attack. The thunderous second impact of 200,000 Strength led the mace to pulverize its target and ended the monster. It exploded into magma coated rubble and burning dust that dissipated quickly, like the kicked embers of an extinguishing campfire at the end of a cold night.
Lyriel hovered off the ground, floating backwards with her aura at its maximum power as she kited her enemy, unaffected by the rumbling bout between Coop and his golem. She was jabbing her hands into the inside of her aura, and each time she did so, a spike of energy exploded from the outside. Every strike chipped away at her golem, transforming its scorched rock front into a heated block being chiseled in preparation of sculpting. As the tower vibrated, the golem slowed, giving Lyriel an extra step of distance that she enthusiastically claimed.
Coop could see that she was slowly winning, but she refused to commit to anything with finality, even when the shaking ground gave her a perfect chance. Unlike him, where he had to rely on one specific aspect to get around the dominant features of his last two opponents, it appeared that Lyriel could simply overpower the golem with magic, but she leaned away, almost shy about demonstrating any of the obvious advantages. She was engaging the duel in a completely opposite way compared to Coop. Where he had engaged in the Calm of an analytical test, she was just fighting scared, causing her actual skills to be diminished.
He approached the golem from behind, but before he got into range, he shouted at Lyriel to just blast it. “Hit it with something hard!” He encouraged her, as if he needed her to create an opening, waving his oversized mace to get her attention.
He could see her sweating from the effort, her expression completely lacking the poise she normally held so dear, replaced by grinding teeth, flushed cheeks, and disheveled hair. But even as she struggled, she was aware enough to recognize he was finished with his opponents and was basically offering her some help.
At his provocation, she used both hands linked together to send a much larger spike forward. It was a dozen feet of quicksilver and gold speckled energy that illuminated the entire platform in sparkling color. When it collided with the golem, the stone head of the monster was completely vaporized, sending a shower of pulverized mana-infused stone into the air from where it had been connected.
Coop cheered as the golem stumbled, but immediately cut himself off as the golem planted one of its boulder-like arms into the ground and regained its footing. As it lumbered forward, apparently not minding that it was beheaded, he stepped in to help. He took its legs out from under it with his mace, planted his feet at its side, and smashed it a few times after it went down for good measure. When its body also exploded into rock dust he resumed his cheer as if nothing extra had happened.
“Nice! I told you we could do it!” He exclaimed as Palisteon released himself from Lyriel’s back, looking about as stressed as a bundle of snakes could. freēwēbnovel.com
Lyriel just released an exasperated breath that she had apparently been holding, letting her feet touch the ground. The pained expression on her face didn’t disappear even as her aura drifted away.
“That was reckless, foolish even.” She grumbled, sounding like the victim of a car accident dealing with shock.
“Hey, I had no idea they would be waiting for us right outside like that.” Coop defended the situation, feeling like since they had decisively won, everything had worked out anyway. “Besides, they were just the weakest minions of the demonic legions, like you said. We’ve gotta be able to deal with that much.”
After they had discussed his vision regarding the origin of the Exiles and their surprising relationship with the forces of mana, he had spent an extended amount of time trying to manipulate the ship into a different orientation. He had been hoping to just shove all the cells holding the forces of mana into some corner far away from them, but the Ark was essentially locked into its current configuration unless some specific conditions that he didn’t understand were met. For all he knew, it would require the death of the intruders to return to normal.
The access key that Coop wielded may have enabled him to override security procedures remotely, but he lacked the proficiency to get it done. Like with the hexagonal highway, it felt as though they were wasting time with him experimenting with alien menus when the path was clearly laid out. They had to reach the top of the ship and the tower was already there.
As Coop gazed up at the spiraling path, he was glad they at least had a clear destination again. The level they had encountered the three demons was exactly even with the lowest row of compartments. Even though there was a landing for each level, mirrored on both the central hub and the rings of compartments, exactly one hexagonal compartment high, it was broken up so that there were six major platforms forming checkpoints before the path fully encircled the tube of mana in the center, mirroring the hexagonal angles everywhere else in the ship. The first fight was on the initial platform, a perfect introduction to the different levels.
“How high can you jump?” Coop queried, thinking they could save time skipping hundreds of individual rows by moving straight up, to the platform directly above them, to the start of the next level and beyond.
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