51 Monsters of the Deep (1/2)
I mean that literally. Once I passed a bit deeper into the cave, the walls bent and turned wet. I glanced around, wondering where the snails met. A few more turns down the passage, I found my answer.
This was an underwater cavern, mist floating over the water like white cotton. I neared the water, walking along a shore made of stone. A set of crawling legs clacked as a crab walked out of the water. One of its overgrown pincers dragged behind it, like it was dragging a club.
It stood five feet (1.5 meters) tall, and around twice as long. It turned its claws towards me, the right one far larger than the left. I stood a solid distance from its snapping range, observing it.
Deep Dweller(lvl 376) - This is a weak but fully grown Deep Dweller. This crab species has an enlarged claw that it can snap to produce sonic booms above air, and it can produce stunning blasts underwater.
The way it works is the crab will snap its claws, producing a stream of water. This creates a low pressure bubble in its wake. When the bubble collapses, it sends a ripple of force that stuns nearby prey. During the collapse, the temperatures inside the bubble reach heat that matches the surface of the sun.
It's only for a fraction of a second though, so the damage is minimal. Below water, you may struggle against this enemy. Above water is your domain, however.
My runes charged as the creature snapped the right claw towards me. It didn't even come close to me, but the sound echoed louder than a missile's explosion. My eardrums busted immediately, but my pain tolerance prevented me from falling to my knees in agony.
I ran towards the creature, oddly off balance. It was strange to run without hearing, but I gained a sense for it after a few steps. The crab didn't enjoy me coming closer, so it snapped the claw again, booming a loud sound.
Didn't do much to me now that I couldn't hear though. Once I reached it, the crab snapped the claw at me. It clamped onto my right arm before I pulled it back. Being heavier than it, I lifted it into the air before running over and smashing it against the wall.
Like squishing a giant cockroach, the shell smashed. As it squirmed and twitched in pain, I walked over and shot a quick punch into the face of it. My fist dug a few feet deep into the monster before finishing it off. A quick absorption of my armor later, and the fight was over.
Turning back to the pool, I glanced at the edges of the cavern. It was enormous, the size of a football field at least, and that was only the size of the top of the pool. Who knew how big it was below.
Of course fighting giant crab and slug monsters underwater seemed like a jolly good time, but I sat down and thought for a bit. If I entered the water, I could easily drown. That wasn't the easiest way of handling this. Instead, I walked up the edge of water with oppression on.
The odd energy of oppression stretched out, covering most of the pool. I grinned before things started swelling to the surface. Dark, squirming things writhed in the water. The neared the surface, darting back and forth.
I created a long spike with my armor. The further out it went from me, the harder it became to control. It let me create a spear stretching half my body length. With a quick, puncturing stab, I pierced into one of the dark shapes underwater.
The moment my armor stabbed into it, I let it shoot out like needles. The needles caught the thing, letting me pull it out of the dark water. It was a glowing blue eel, short but muscled. Two dark blades grew from the back fin, looking razor sharp along with a swordfish’s nose. It squirmed on my spike, trying to get away from me. I pressed it against the stone before heel stomping it.
Spectral Eel(level 421) - Though not the strongest eels, they make up for their lack of strength with an unparalleled speed underwater. They swim and dart around their prey, which is often much larger than it. Their fast metabolisms let them out speed their prey, then they eat until they are swell up to ten times their normal size.
This food turns into a nutrient rich liquid that it then feeds to the queen of the pond they reside within. They give the queen tribute so that they can live. If you fight this monster underwater, be ready for a long and frustrating fight. Otherwise, this fish is useless.
Another heel stomp later, and the monster died. My armor absorbed it, and I went to work. Dozens of fish later, and an option finally showed up.
Evolution gained. V Harbinger of Cataclysm unlocked. Evolve Y/N?
I stepped away from the edge of the coast line, giving myself some distance before pressing yes. Of course, the pain came, though not like before. I spent some of my skill points from to max out my pain tolerance, giving me 99.9% pain reduction. If anything, it amazed me that the pain was still notable. Just imagining the pain at full force made chills crawl up my spine.
This evolution took far longer than the others, probably due to the increase in mana needed for it. Unlike with the other transformations, the pain wasn't severe enough to prevent me from analyzing the reformation.
So far, the armor had covered my skin, and become my bones. Now, tiny little tendrils of the armor laced within my muscles and tendons. Like cords of metal, these tendrils made my muscle and flesh harder to tear apart. When I charged my runes, the energy pulsing through my armor would conduct with those tendrils. That made using my mana even easier than before.
They acted like copper wires through a house, giving electricity the conductor it needed to power the home. In this case, the electricity was my mana and the home was me. Having these cords infest my muscle hurt like a thousand needles digging all throughout you. Well, 0.1% of that at least.
As with all hard things though, it eventually ended.
V Harbinger of Cataclysm(Skin, Legendary Unique) - Skin that can absorb rift energy (Ambient Mana) for evolutions. These evolutions may add other special effects. Cannot be removed, only altered. This skin is regenerated with health. 0/65.5 Billion Mana left till next evolution.
A Harbinger's Might - Increases Damage reduction cap by 3% | Current Max: 98%
Of Eldritch and the Unknown - Additional 25% increase to total health | Current Total Health: 125%
The Charging Calamity - Gives unique ability IV Oppression | Current Damage: (15,000 + 40% of health/min) within a maximum of a 200 ft/61 m radius. Affected by physical damage reduction.
A Perennial Force - 5% of health added towards health regen per minute, which is affected by regeneration multipliers | Current regeneration bonus including multipliers 20% of maximum health per minute
Wielder of Souls - Soul Forged Runes reduce total mana cost of spells by 20% | Current mana cost: 80%
Malignant - Decreases Charisma by 30% | Current Total Charisma: 70%
- And so, you wield me. One day, I will wield you.
The main difference I noticed was the boost in health regen and oppression. Those aspects of the armor became much stronger. Combine that with a solid boost to my runic boosts, and I felt far stronger. That extra health regen acted as extra mana, due to my arcane blood. Multiply the bonus mana regen with the extra conductivity from the wires running through my muscle, and my mana charging increased by leaps and bounds.
Itching to test me new limits, I neared the pool once more. Easy as taking a step, I elongated my armor, producing a spike three quarters the length of my body. Controlling it became easier after the reformation. With that extra range, I walked near the pond, ready for fishing.
As I did so, something under the water swelled. A hump appeared under the water, racing towards the edge of the pond. The monsters I worked so hard to pull from the water began flopping from the pond. Pufferfish covered in glowing spines of violet, anglerfish with hooked whips that shined yellow, even crocodiles with steel scales polished to a sheen, they all sprinted form the water. I took a few steps back myself, wondering what the fuck was going on.
A tentacle came out of the water, covered in eyes and warped mouths. The tentacle slammed on top of a steel crocodile. Blood squirted from the mouth of the reptile, before the tentacle wrapped around it. It writhed in agony as the monster pulled it back into dark depths of the pool.
Claws snapped from the alligator’s hands as it dug them into the rock. I snapped at the rock ground, trying to get a hold on anything. With a desperate howl, it submerged into the water. Glancing at the tentacle, a message appeared.
Krakow-Wahl(lvl 700) – The fully formed version of the Krakow, this monster has amazing sight with its innumerable eyes. With tentacles covered in mouths and those same eyes, it can hypnotize prey with sweet sounding words.
Even then, its combat prowess is amazing. Underwater, this beast rivals a creature 500 levels higher. Its unseen body shifts in the water faster than the eyes can follow. It is but a writhing shape in the water, unknown and spelling death.
The only known piece of its massive body is the eye that opens when it swims near the surface. Many of its powers stem from this mechanic. Avoid its clutches, for if it drags you out, you will drown.
Not the most comforting message. The welp of water disappeared as water poured from the top of the creature. A giant eyelid opened, revealing a giant eye. A glowing mist poured from it, but opened eye met my own.
A voice shook into my mind,
“Hello there, little lamb-“