Chương 121: Chapter One-Hundred-and-Twenty-One

Adam flew up through the middle of the tower until he reached the laboratorium. This Stage will be a pain to navigate without the ability to fly… he considered as he looked around for Mikhail's body. The flesh smiths' vats, operating rooms, and deeper chambers were crisped and charred by fire, but since there were no signs of Mikhail on the landing, he went into the smouldering remains to look. Using one of the vats as a loot sack wasn't a bad idea, he thought as he passed by the remnants of the creature vats.

From what Sarah said and the Eye implied, Mikhail died outside on the landing, but maybe Kate had me throw his body into the burning ruins to get rid of it?

"Where did I last see Mikhail's body?" Adam asked. [On the landing of the Laboratorium floor,] replied the Eye.

"Then where the fuck is his body?" [I cannot say.] Adam frowned and went deeper into the chambers, stepping around glowing embers and the charred remains of a flesh smith and a mana hoarder. Then he went down the long hallway that led to the large chamber where the Master Flesh Smith's spider-like body hung from the ceiling above dozens of operating slabs. Only a few limbs remained and all organic matter had been completely consumed by the fire that'd passed through.

He came to a halt as he saw the figure sitting with his back against one of the empty slabs. It was Mikhail. Adam pulled the blood out of his fur coat and floated it into the air.

"Adam," said Mikhail. It looked and sounded just like him, but it clearly wasn't the original.

"Do mimics try to replace the Players that cause them to appear?" Adam asked.

"I'm not a mimic," Mikhail said and got to his feet.

"Where is Kate? Where is Sarah? Let's beat the Stage together." I'm glad Sarah isn't here to see this, Adam thought as he prepared his Spidersilk Needle with the blood under his command. I don't have all my Health back yet, so I need to be cautious. And since human mimics have bodies that are like metal, I doubt I can use my flesh and blood magic directly on it. Mikhail held the Blue Shard in his right hand, and his large two-handed sword was nowhere to be seen.

He also wore all the same Relics as Mikhail had at the beginning, but Adam remembered how the Hahn mimic had appeared with Relics as well. They aren't real. Just like its face and body. It's just a very convincing lie. If this had been the real Mikhail, he would've attacked me on sight I think, just like Sarah. Instead he's trying to be my friend. Adam clenched his jaw and took a large step forward, shooting the needle ahead of him with a spike of Mana.

It flew across the space between them in an instant and dug into Mikhail's torso before he could dodge. Then the spiral overlaid onto the needle triggered, digging the weapon deeper into the mimic's dense body. A loud bang erupted from within as the Push pattern he'd added triggered as well. It blew a large hole into the mimic's body, revealing an almost-black metallic interior without any organs or bones. Even though Adam had known that it was a mimic, he was still relieved to see verifiable proof.

Unfortunately, his attack had not been enough. I can't fight it here. Adam turned around and used the Mana in his flesh to fly out through the tunnel. Heavy metallic steps chased after him as the mimic came in hot pursuit. Let's see if you can fly, you bastard. Adam flew through the operating room past the tunnel and then out through the open portcullis. His Blood Mage Choker triggered as a dark metallic limb whipped right for his legs, rebounding the attack.

He quickly pulled the blood to him while using his ring to fire a bolt back at the mimic just as he soared up towards the next landing. The mimic didn't even try to avoid the blood bolt, and when it hit it didn't seem to do any damage. As Adam pulled away from it thanks to his flying magic, the mimic watched him from the ground for a moment. Then two large wings grew out of its back, the rest of its body getting noticeably thinner as a result.

With a big leap and flap of its new wings, it jumped from the laboratorium floor and all the way up to the landing that came after it. This time around, the first floor after the lab seemed to house the brutes and the golden chamber where the Slugwhale Key had been hidden. They had of course already cleared it, so there were no monsters for the mimic to concern itself with.

As Adam continued to push his body up through the middle of the tower and the mimic repeatedly leapt up to try and catch him, he spread the blood he'd absorbed from his choker's activation onto his spidersilk string and wove a Snare spell pattern. It was a fair bit harder to reproduce than the Push pattern, but he'd practised weaving a lot, so even while on the move it didn't pose too big of a challenge for him.

The way the mimic jumped after Adam was quite predictable and he was able to accurately gauge its trajectory as he threw the woven spell onto the platform of the last landing before the library floor. As the mimic's feet hit the sticky thread infused with Adam's blood, the spell triggered and a dozen silky threads whipped up around it, binding it in place as though a spider had caught the mimic in its web.

The blood on the thread turned into a serpent, much like what he'd seen in the Player House while practising, and this too coiled around the mimic. It was completely bound in place, wriggling methodically to try and break loose. I have to hurry. Adam continued up to the library floor where the two dead chimaeras remained, alongside Kate's flattened body. Without giving propriety much thought, Adam stripped the blood and flesh of the corpses, gathering it to himself.

Then he flew back down to where he'd incapacitated the mimic. Since it was unable to move, he could easily gather his materials into three floating limbs coated in a layer of blood and get to work dismantling its metallic body. It didn't feel like a fight in the slightest, but Adam was just glad that it was over, once he'd broken the mimic into countless heavy chunks of organic metal. He used one of the floating limbs to pick up the mimic's head, which had turned into a dark featureless sphere of metal.

I wonder what would happen if I use this in the ritual. The 'recipe' for the Corruption Demon he'd been planning to summon was extremely simple, since it just required water, salt, and the heart of a demon, for which the Nightwing Heart clearly worked. The Sloth Demon required the heart, as well as 100-year-old dust and the fur of a hibernating bear. The special ingredients for the Gluttony Demon was spoiled meat and the rendered fat of a cannibal.

For some reason, the ritual chamber in Alepheria's Tower had all of those things. I didn't see any descriptions of summonings involving mimic flesh, but I'd imagine it could summon something related to Nharlla. After pushing the mimic's remains into the chamber on the landing, so that Sarah wouldn't run into it, Adam carried the metallic head with him as he flew back up to the library. The bones of the corpses he'd harvested greeted him as he landed. Inside the ribcages of the chimaeras were the special cores.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > > < Chimaera Stone (Epic) — Once consumed, the transformation quickly takes hold > That's interesting, the Hardmode for this Stage spawned two of them, but I assumed it would only give one special reward. Aside from doubling the Elites in the Stage, Adam couldn't tell what else had changed with the special challenge mode, although twice the number of mini bosses was no small thing. However, since it also doubled the related rewards, he considered the benefits to outweigh the demerits.

At least it didn't add another Tower Crawler… Worried he might've jinxed himself, he looked up, just in case, but didn't see anything. It may add another summon from the ritual though, so I need to be careful about that. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Adam placed his obsidian hand on one of the chimaera stones in an attempt to learn its secrets. Before he'd been able to try it last time, they'd been interrupted by the Tower Crawler.

His mind was pulled into a vision of the stone being brutally forced down the broken-open mouth of a midnight-blue felid, which looked almost like a panther, but it wasn't exactly the same since its ears and tail were fluffier, and its body was larger. As the stone sunk into the body of the animal, it immediately started to convulse and change into a scaled lizard hybrid, becoming the chimaera that was housed inside the library's hidden chamber. He gasped as the vision ended.

Using this on myself seems pretty awful… I'm quite sure I'd have to swallow it, which would require me to unhinge my jaw, and that is to say nothing of getting it down my throat. I would suffocate first. But maybe if I manipulate my own flesh I could just push it through my body and into my stomach. When he realised how insane that idea was he shook his head, as though it could clear away the thoughts.

After taking off his bag, Adam pulled the Nightwing Heart out to make room, relegating it to a floating arm to carry. Then he put the two Chimaera Stones into the backpack and went over to Kate's remains.

< < Loot ­— Katherine Joan Williams > > < Mage Aspirant's Cowl (Epic) > < Duellist's Glove (Rare) x2 > < First Strike Earring (Rare) x2 > < Slothling Fur Coat (Rare) > < Slothling Spring Boots (Rare) > < Vigilant Fighter's Vambrace (Rare) > < Bone Breeches (Uncommon) > In his hurry, he hadn't realised that she was wearing the cowl that gave Manasight, and he quickly looted it and swapped it out with the crown he'd been wearing since Stage Four.

The crown didn't do anything for him, since it only bolstered summons and 'subordinate allies', but he needed it for the secret boss in Stage Nine. < < Relic > > < Mage Aspirant's Cowl (Epic) — Allows you to see Mana and absorb it > As the hood appeared around his head, Adam could immediately sense the foul Mana that permeated his floating flesh-and-blood limbs, as well as the crimson energy he'd infused into his own body. Even if you can't see this energy, I'm sure you can feel it instinctively.

That must be why the denizens on Interim Island were so wary of me when I arrived in this loop. They've warmed up to me since, but they were definitely distrustful of me at first. While Adam looted all of her Relics and put them into his backpack, he equipped the two earrings. His fighting style with the blood magic wasn't all about one decisive strike, but his Spidersilk Needle definitely leaned that way given how he was using it.

It would also be handy against whatever he was planning to summon in the ritual, since killing it on the first hit would be the safest strategy. < < Relic > > < First Strike Earring (Rare) — The first hit against a target deals 25% additional damage, subsequent hits deal 10% less damage > I wonder how it determines what the first 'hit' is. If I stack spells on my needle, each of those might be considered separate hits or part of the same hit with the needle. It's a bit hard to say for sure.

Adam also noticed that Kate had a Relic he'd never seen before. It was a simple Uncommon pair of pants made of flexible bone plates, but the effect was surprisingly strong. < < Relic > > < Bone Breeches (Uncommon) — Increases Stamina by 50 | Reduces Movement Speed and Dodge chance by 10% > It's been a while since I was in a situation where I needed a lot of Stamina, but it would probably be a great item if you're defending and parrying a lot.

With all the Relics in his backpack and the mimic head and Nightwing Heart carried by his floating limbs, Adam flew up through the library to the ritual site, dropping off the two ritual ingredients outside the door before going back down to clear the three floors. He started with the last of the landings between the ritual chamber and library, which had chimaeras guarding it just like his previous visit.

The two earrings coupled with surprise attacks using his flesh limbs were sufficient to kill the enemies in a single blow to the head. With their deaths, more material was added to his collection. Like they'd confirmed last time, the smaller chimaeras didn't have any cores within them. He went through the next two landings which were also in the same place as last time.

The middle floor had the weird sea-urchin-like human monstrosities of limbs and flesh, and the floor before the library featured the tall aviary full of bone bird librarians and with an impossible backdrop around their cage, showing floating islands and clouds. He hadn't realised it last time, but now that he'd been to Stage Seven, he knew that it was depicting the Floating Sea of Gold.

If I could harvest and manipulate bones, then I could make my own freaky monstrosities, Adam considered as he pummelled his way through the aviary, flying after the birds as they swooped around to try and flank him. Given just how significantly more damage he was dealing, he knew that the way the bonus from the First Strike Earrings was added had to be multiplicative on top of his sigil damage and overall damage.

He also used the enemies as target practice for his Spidersilk Needle and confirmed that spells laid onto it were counted as separate 'hits' for the earrings, which was a shame, but to be expected. Once Adam was done clearing out all the chambers, he had acquired the following upgrades from the upgrade chests they each rewarded.

< < Upgrades Selected > > < Luck (Uncommon) > < Movement (Uncommon) > < Health (Rare) > He returned to the library once more and decided to loot the hidden chamber that the chimaeras had emerged from, since it was open. He found the notes that the Tome Keeper had asked him to find last time, and though he didn't know what to do with them, he added them to his backpack after trying and failing to absorb the knowledge within by using his obsidian hand.

< < Quest Object > > < Chimaeral Transmutation Notes — Detailed notes about the process of transmuting living creatures together to form a chimaera > Like James had done last time, Adam broke a chunk of the sun gem free from the ceiling of the vivarium that'd housed the chimaeras. Since he could see and absorb the Mana that floated around inside the gems, he thought it might be useful to boost his damage against the ritual summon.

But before he took on that fight, Adam waited on the landing of the library for Sarah to arrive. She hadn't agreed to meet him, but he needed to destroy the library, which would block the way up, and he figured she might as well get some Points out of it too. While he waited, Adam tried to slowly and methodically absorb the knowledge of his control sigil with his obsidian hand.

He knew that if he could unravel the magic behind how the sigils worked, he would be able to utilise the power in ways that might allow him to defy the System's rules. Just like when he'd passed out, a spike rammed into his brain as he attempted to learn what secrets his weapon possessed, but he was prepared for it this time, so he retained his functions and consciousness.

But while he couldn't make heads nor tails of the flashing symbols that filled his mind, he felt how that part of him that was imbued with the Flayed Lady's power trembled with desire. He had an uncomfortable thought as he realised it bore a sentience, and that was the fact that everything he saw and learnt might be fed directly back to her.

While she wasn't greedy for knowledge like the Tome Keeper, she no doubt still sought to learn more about the world, because she did not seem foolish enough to reject the power inherent to knowledge. With a sigh, Adam pulled his hand away from the control sigil. No luck so far… He felt like a child who attempted to read through a dictionary with but a nascent comprehension of the English language. Maybe I can commune with the Tome Keeper to receive the power that would allow me to understand what I'm seeing.

Since Sarah still hadn't reached the library, Adam continued on to his other weapon, the Spidersilk Needle, but he quickly confirmed his earlier suspicion when he touched the needle, because it bore no special secrets. However, when he ran his obsidian hand through the spidersilk, something did happen. Adam's mind was pulled into a forest with skinny grey trees possessed of gnarly reaching limbs.

A gigantic spinner hung suspended from an intricate web that connected all the trees like ropes, and a horde of her children watched from all around as she wove a complex shape out of silk. The way her needle-like limbs manipulated the threads made Adam realise how crude his own constructs were. When she was finished, a large life-like spider hung suspended between her limbs. By injecting just a single concentrated pulse of Mana into it, the construct came to life and skittered off into the forest on some errand.

With a gasp, Adam's mind returned to the present. I think I understand now. The Spidersilk as a medium for magic is way more versatile than blood. How the silk itself is shaped, through thickness and elasticity, changes its behaviour, and the way that the giant weaver used it was akin to building circuitry. I think that flesh magic could function similarly if I take my time to meticulously shape the skin, muscle, sinew, and meat. Adam's current method of using his magic was brutish and inefficient.

It wasted too much Mana by manually doing everything with his mind, when the best way to utilise the spidersilk and flesh magic was by constructing things in ways that a small pulse of Mana could accomplish the same as a large injection and without requiring him to mentally control it. I could perhaps even shape flesh into simple constructs and then make them work with a single burst of Mana, allowing me to technically manipulate way more than my capacity allows, since I wouldn't be actively controlling them.

Adam got up from where he'd been sitting on a limb shaped into a chair of sorts and went over to the edge of the central hole in the floor to look down. He almost immediately spotted Sarah cautiously walking up the spiralling ramp, but it would still be a few minutes before she reached him. I should get rid of the bones, he thought and quickly got to work stowing them away into the secret chamber.

Even the blood splatter that the chimaeras and Kate had left behind was pulled out of the floor so Sarah wouldn't notice. There would be no hiding the damage from the fights that'd taken place, but that would not be as upsetting to stumble upon, he thought. Adam also closed the entrance to the secret chamber, since he didn't want her to find the bones he'd stashed inside. Then he sat back down and waited. I just realised, I never did find Mikhail's remains. I wonder what happened to his weapon and Relics?

When Sarah finally came into view, she froze as she saw him.

"Why are you waiting for me?" she asked, her staff ready in her hands but not aimed at him. Yet.

"We need to destroy the library, but doing so would make it impossible for you to get to the top," Adam said.

"Can't you just do it after I've left the Stage?" she asked.

"Or would leaving force you to go with me?"

"I could," Adam replied.

"We don't have to leave together. But don't you want the Points rewarded for completing the objective?" Sarah hesitated. Anyone who had made it this far knew that Points were invaluable and getting as many as possible was necessary to survive.

"Should I climb to the top first?" she asked.

"I could lift you up there," he offered, bringing out two of his floating limbs and combining them to make a simple platform. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously but then she looked back up at how many ladders she'd have to climb to reach the part where the ramp continued onwards.

"Only to the top of the library," she replied uneasily. Adam nodded and brought his flesh-and-blood platform closer to her, keeping it hovering half a metre above the ground. Sarah carefully stepped up onto it, frowning as her shoes sunk into the pliable material. Before she could change her mind, Adam lifted the platform up into the air, flying up alongside it as it steadily moved to the top of the tall bookcases. Sarah immediately got off the moment he stopped the platform next to the ramp.

"See, that wasn't so bad, right?" he asked her. She didn't reply and instead asked, "What do I need to do for the objective?"

"Can you use your Sun Flare to set fire to the bookcases?"

"Okay." Sarah stepped up to the edge of the floor and aimed her right hand at one of the tall shelves below on the opposite side of the tower. Then her hand glowed and a bright ball of sun magic shot across the way, searing Adam's eyes even though he averted his gaze. As it struck the bookcase, it immediately set fire to several books.

"Now what?" she asked.

"It should take care of itself," he replied.

"Then let's go towards the exit, I want to leave," she said. Adam nodded.

"Of course."