Chapter 29
*** Congratulations on being the first to conquer the twenty-sixth through thirty-seventh levels of the dungeon, Madness of the Manticore. You have been awarded 1,300,000 XP, and the following item. ***
The Manticore’s Claw
Although this item deals with damage, it is not considered a weapon and takes up an item slot from your allowance instead. The claw may be attached to either forearm. Expending its charge will turn the next successful blow into a venomous strike.
A venomous strike deals 120 points of damage per level of the wielder and a chance to inflict the Envenomed debuff that bleeds off an enemy’s stats. This damage is not affected by mitigation factors, either positive or negative, though it can be affected by venom immunity.
Charges can only be replaced when the item owner is exposed to a suitably potent venom, either from an enemy attack or by voluntarily injecting one.
Charges 1/1
Durability: 1,000/1,000
*** Congratulations on completing the dungeon Madness of the Manticore for the first time. As this was a conquest, the reward has been doubled. As you completed the dungeon with a party under the recommended strength level the points reward has been doubled again. You have been awarded 44 upgrade points.
Congratulations on completing a dungeon at character level thirty-seven. As this was a conquest, the reward has been doubled. You have been awarded 4 upgrade points. ***
The battle had been won, but looking around at the devastation, it almost didn’t look like it. Nine of the party were dead. Doc was amongst the slain. He and I hadn’t been especially close outside of the faction’s operations, but he’d been a good man, and I would miss him.
Brant, Amber, Danny, Nazz, and Fang Mei were also in no condition to continue. Neither was Greenfield who had somehow managed to avoid being pounced on by the countless mobs running rampant before we killed them.
Some people are born lucky, I suppose. Although, Greenfield might not think so with the debilitating softball-sized swellings that covered his body.
That left Tavar, Crynn, and two other crewmen, Stoll and Gibbs, to help with the fragment problem. Despite the official messages about the dungeon’s completion, the instance field hadn’t dropped, and the three hundred other soldiers remained stuck outside. So far, there had been no sign that the Wisconsin forces in Horicon had broken through the defensive perimeter that LT commanded. This was good, but that didn’t mean we could afford to dally.
We moved fast and carried the wounded off to the side where they could shelter in the lee of the dungeon’s walls.
Afterwards, I attached the new piece of gear to my right forearm. The rewards for this out-of-the-ordinary dungeon completion were as equally unorthodox as the speed run itself. The experience reward was insanely high, over a million and that was with it being split eleven ways. This had to be the Framework attempting to incorporate the dungeon being boosted an extra eleven levels by the Fragment.
I also suspected that the Manticore’s Claw ought to have had only done ten, not one hundred and twenty, points of damage per level of the wielder, but I wouldn’t complain. As things stood, it could add 4,440 extra points of damage to a single attack. The recharge method was a bit of a…downside, but that was a bridge to cross later. Regardless, it made the item one hell of an ace up the sleeve.
When I pushed a firemane lion off Brant which had helped conceal him, he expressed a natural concern that someone who had run the Crypt Keeper’s Tomb might fear. “Thanks, I’m glad to be out from under these mobs. I was a bit worried they would rise from the dead and do that soul-sucking thing. Maybe this dungeon can’t do that.”
“It can,” I told him and set him down beside Amber who had passed out when Tavar popped her knee back into place. “But the fragment overlooked a vital requirement. Secrecy. The dungeon’s avatar can only pull that trick on a delving group in person and if no one but the intended victims can witness the event. The audience outside might not have been able to get physically involved but it doesn’t mean they didn’t contribute to the win.”
“I’m not sharing the experience,” he joked. “I think almost being eaten alive by lions is a decent enough excuse to be selfish.”
I patted him on the shoulder and straightened up to address the four other party members who could push on. “Okay, we aren’t finished. Hudson is inside and we’re going into the cathedral waiting area. Keep your wits about you, he will know his gambit with the dungeon has failed.”
The steps up to the entrance were covered in the bodies of slain mobs. The wyvern Tavar killed was the largest roadblock and had to be navigated around.
Quietly, the group inched its way across the threshold at the top of the cathedral steps. The interior of the entrance hall was reasonably well-lit and very spacious. The swirling entrance to the dungeon proper was in the far-right corner from where we came in. In the near right corner was a collection of tables and couches. The tables were covered in a collection of playing cards, partially drunk beer bottles, and ashtrays. Some of which were filled to overflowing with cigarette butts.
It was an area set aside for the death squad members to relax and enjoy themselves between forcing sacrifices through the portal.
The scene certainly evoked the impression that they’d been rudely interrupted which was true enough. The attack on this place had come largely without warning. Apparently, not all the blackcoats had rushed out to help with the defence, though. A squad of twenty had remained inside to protect Hudson and had taken up position around his throne on the other side of the entrance foyer.
Behind the throne, hovering in mid-air was a huge translucent shape. It was hard to see, but there were faint outlines of veins, arteries, and sinew that gave it away. The fragment had begun construction of the God Body.
The giant himself was seated on a masonic throne overseeing the room.
Upon seeing the enemy, my group unleashed ranged attacks in their direction, only to witness them bounce harmlessly off a shimmering field of protection. I’d seen the golden flares of light when the weapons struck the shield before. In the flashbacks of my visit to Ashli’s pocket dimension. The one Ashli was trapped in unless the fragment finished its work here and freed the demented architect of the Framework.
“Sir,” one of the blackcoats, whose epaulette had a few more skulls than the others, said to get Hudson’s attention after we entered the inner sanctum.
The fragment-possessed Hudson seemed distracted and hadn’t reacted to the clatter of shots striking his shield. He was sitting on the throne, head rolled back, eyes closed. A thick cable had been jury-rigged into the nearby dungeon control column, and it led back to Hudson’s chair. The other end was wrapped around his left bicep. It looked like he was on a macabre drip in a hospital ward.
The giant’s eyes opened slowly and glared at the officer with disdain. “What?”
“Uh, um, sir, the invaders have got past the dungeon’s defences.”
Hudson seemed to regather some of his verve and turned to stare in our direction. “Must I do everything myself?”
“The shie…” the squad commander started to say but was cut off when Hudson’s hand rose into the air.
A thick stream of cold, condensed seawater blasted forth and slammed into Gibbs’ chest before he could move out of the way and sent him careening into the doorframe with immense force. The hose of water pushed his broken body out of the foyer and back out onto the steps.
“Holy shit!” Stoll gasped in surprise and threw himself over one of the blackcoat’s couches to avoid a second blast. The column of seawater blew the couch into the back wall taking Stoll with it where it was smashed to smithereens.
Gibbs and Stoll’s sudden removal was a setback, but every cloud had a lining of silver. “The protection field is down!”
The invisible barrier was solid from both sides, the sluggish fragment, seemingly drunk or dazed on gorging soul energy had to dispel the protection field in order to blast us with its watery attack. The slightly befuddled fragment had made a critical error.
Tavar unleashed a barrage of fire darts that peppered the blackcoats and Hudson, meanwhile, Crynn and I rushed forward to engage with the giant directly, savagely cutting through any blackcoat that rushed forward to aid their horrific patron.
Hudson angrily yanked the pad around his bicep off and a trickle of blood zigzagged down the sea-green of his sickly skin. He quickly summoned a full set of battle armour and intercepted an incoming slice from Crynn’s cutlass on the prongs of a trident. With a powerful twist, he disarmed the Acheronian woman and followed up by clubbing her in the back of the head with the butt of his weapon.
Hudson might look emaciated and in ill health, but that didn’t mean his stats had taken any kind of hit. With his species, strength was bound to be on the high side, particularly if the top-tier gear he wore enhanced it further.
Crynn was sent sprawling to the left side of the throne where a couple of the surviving blackcoats set upon her. She shook off any disorientation and summoned a secondary weapon because her cutlass of choice had been sent skittling to the other side of the room. With difficulty, she regained her feet and started to fight back against the aggressive scum who assailed her from every side.
Tavar redirected the focus of his spells to help Crynn but the strain of so much mana use was wearing him down. He was already showing signs of mana exhaustion and had to step back and lean on the poker table to stay upright.
As much as I wanted to come to Crynn’s aid, Hudson’s incredibly large frame loomed over me. “Carter, you maggot. I am going to crush you beneath my boot!” he bellowed and attempted to do just that. He raised his massive foot and tried to kick me in the face. I ducked out of the way and gave him a blast of arctic ice to the groin.
Having applied one of the few charges of Shattering to the giant already, the breath attack inflicted some serious damage.
The fragment possessed Hudson stumbled backwards in shock, tripped over the throne and clattered to the floor under the developing God Body.
A smug grin of victory from me would have to wait. Preternatural Insight kicked in and with its help, I could discern Hudson’s intentions in real time. The severity of the damage from the combo of my abilities had genuinely terrified the fragment. Fighting me one-on-one with the weakened body it currently inhabited was no longer its plan. Not when it could barricade itself in the corner with the God Body and keep everything out.
A heartbeat before the shield of golden light flickered back to life, I propelled myself forward and slid under the bottom of the forming dome. I was trapped inside with Hudson, but it meant he was trapped in here with me too.
The strain of constant spellcasting had proved too much for Tavar. He collapsed and was out of the fight, but Stoll had re-emerged from the ruins of the broken furniture and fought against two blackcoats who had sought to take advantage of downed elf’s vulnerability. Crynn was back on her feet and although hard pressed, seemed to be in full control of the battle with the other three enemies who were still alive.
The look of chagrin on Hudson’s face when he realised I’d not been kept away was a joy to behold. However, to his credit, he didn’t let being irked slow him down. He rose to his full height, smirked cruelly in my direction, and slammed the butt of his trident onto the granite flagstone. “Let’s see how you fare while in my element.”
From the spot where the trident touched stone, seawater magically surged forth like a tsunami. The frothing water poured out in large volumes and punched into me with great force. I was sent backwards and collided with the inner side of the magical dome which rapidly filled with seawater.
I doubted the fragment planned to drown me. Not being able to breathe would certainly be problematic, but with the way the Framework handled magic and a lack of oxygen, it would be a quarter of an hour or more before I would be in any real trouble. No, what it did was neutralise many of my combat advantages while the body it possessed retained most, if not all, of theirs.
A breath attack required you to exhale and even if I could manage it, the seawater would diffuse the expelled energy into something almost harmless. Similarly, Dragon’s Leap would be next to useless while trapped in a bubble of fluid.
The dome filled to the brim in a couple of seconds and the intense pressure of the expanding volume ceased, allowing me to swim away from the edge that I’d been pressed against. With the dome full, Hudson lifted the trident and surged through the water to skewer me in place.
I reacted to the motion, kicked my legs, and swam out of the way, darting off to the side faster than the fragment-possessed Hudson believed possible.
It was my chance to smirk cruelly at the enemy. The tables had turned somewhat, but I was not nearly as vulnerable in the medium of water as it thought. The fragment had been far too sloppy when it dicked around and started altering dungeon laws on the fly. Particularly when your opponent has a class that revolves around owning and controlling a dungeon. It gives them all kinds of opportunities to eke out advantages of their own.
One With the Ship, the fifth-tier Dungeon Corsair ability that allowed me to filter oxygen from water, protected me from environmental effects, and increased my swim speed by eight times, was only supposed to function when within range of Marena’s Mercy.
However, I had already conquered this dungeon, and shards of its core, which I’d not collected from the control column yet, technically belonged to my ship. And I was in the range of those. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t matter, dungeon safeguards would prevent a shifty individual manipulating such a situation to their advantage. But those were the same safeguards the fragment had disabled to send the avatar and its troops out to fight us in the first place.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Using the dome, I kicked off and propelled myself deeper, getting behind the enraged giant. Hudson swivelled around with unnatural swiftness and thrust the trident at my gut; he still had the edge in the water.
It proved to be enough to counter my superior combat experience. We fought in the flooded dome for several minutes, neither one of us with the advantage. I was the better fighter, but my weapons were unwieldy underwater, and Hudson kept me at bay with that trident.
On several occasions, I tried to hit out at the God Body that was forming inside the dome with us but had no success. It was out of phase with the real world and couldn’t be harmed. As time passed, the body started to flesh out and it was obvious the fragment would be content to simply wait it out and let the body complete.
Something had to change. A stalemate meant victory for Ashli.
Faking a mistake, I let the fragment push me off-balance and get inside my guard. It put us face-to-face, but he was too close to use the trident effectively. Instead, the giant surged forward to prevent a retreat and grasped me in a mighty bear hug. The strong arms crushing me in an embrace like a boa constrictor.
Bubbles blew out of Hudson’s mouth as the fragment laughed with gleeful enjoyment.
I have you now, Carter. You will not escape me this time.
The words echoed down the secret channel that connected us.
With my upper arms trapped, I balled my right fist and performed a weak punch to the giant’s ribs. Hudson would barely feel such an attack, something that would do little more than tickle him, but it was enough to count as a hit. I activated the Manticore’s Claw and turned the light punch into a Venomous Strike.
*** Critical Strike! You have inflicted 4,440 points of poison damage to Hudson Reed. Hudson Reed is under 25% Hit Points. ***
*** Six applications of Envenomed have been applied to Hudson Reed. Each application reduces his physical statistics by 10% ***
The multiple applications of the status debuff were a pleasant surprise. It seemed the chance of envenomed being applied had been multiplied by twelve as well. Presuming it had a fifty percent success rate against someone of Hudson’s stature, at any rate.
With the debuff sapping more than half his strength, Hudson’s death grip around my arms slackened and I was able to break free and kick-off. I didn’t go back very far, just enough to give me room to thrust the Goresteel Greatblade into the throat of the giant.
The loss of stats and the venom coursing through his veins prevented the fragment from avoiding the strike and the blade sank through the back of his throat with ease and only gave me some resistance when it encountered the spinal cord. The loot nimbus flickered into life around the giant’s body and indicated his death. The trident slipped from his grasp and floated to the bottom of the water-filled dome.
I had won but immediately detected a problem.
Hudson was dead, the fragment along with him. I confirmed that the second I sent a tendril of consciousness through the unwanted connection between us. However, the dome had not collapsed, and every sense told me that the soul energy continued to flow from the corpse and into the God Body.
Once started, the soul organ had not stopped its perfidious task.
This was not over, not if I wanted to prevent Ashli’s return to the Darkwyrlds.
Chapter 30
I pushed Hudson’s gently floating body onto the flagstones and moved his chest armour to my inventory with a thought.
<You will have to lay claim to the soul organ if you are going to switch it off.>
“I’m aware of that Quix,” I said to the imp. Or tried to, but we were still submerged in water and my mouth filled with water instead, so I had to force it back out. The imp got the message through our bond, though.
<That thing has some serious design flaws. If you don’t want it going critical, it’ll have to be implanted in your body quickly.>
I’m aware of that too. I thought back at him and created an ice scalpel with what remained of my mana. The scalpel cut into Hudson’s flesh and carved an incision along his abdomen about where the appendix would have been. Ashli must have figured it would be a good place to store the soul organ, in the place of something useless to humans. The only problem: an appendix was a few inches in size, the soul harvester was about the same size as a brain and the energy it contained was toxic and had a tendency to seep out.
<So, you’re going through with the Shattered Goddess’ plan then? If you recall that does not end well for you.>
I! Am! Aware! The aggressive response was perhaps a little unfair, but I didn’t need a backseat driver for this delicate operation.
The imp was not wrong, the harvester did have some serious design flaws. Something which the Goddess’ information crystal made me acutely mindful of. Flaws wouldn’t have been much of an issue if the fragment hadn’t left it chock full of energy and liable to explode in a very destructive manner.
I had several avenues open to me. First, let the process of creating the God Body complete, thereby draining the harvester organ of the energy it currently contained. This was not something I wanted to do, there was no way to know if Ashli could still slip into the body once it was done. It might have required the fragment to forge a path or the method of ingress for the ASI might have been part of the God Body’s construction. That made it an incredibly risky option.
Second, remove the organ, connect with it externally long enough to stop the body from fully forming and then let nature take its explosive course. If I could have allowed more of the energy to drain into the forming God Body until it was almost complete and then sever the process, I would have. Then we could have evacuated, and the equivalent of a nuclear explosion would have devastated this part of Wisconsin. The devastation wouldn’t have come with radioactive fallout that could endanger my territory directly, so it would have been an acceptable outcome.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way. The harvester organ remained linked to the energy in the body and would draw it all back before it went critical. The resulting detonation would devastate most of North America. The explosion would replicate the meteor strike that ended the age of the dinosaurs. Most importantly, Michigan would be wiped out too and that meant me and everybody I cared about.
Third, I could claim the harvester and then take up residence in the body it was creating. It wasn’t the worst option on the table, but I was also under no illusions. Doing something like this wouldn’t just change me physically, but mentally too. There were plenty of examples of the possible outcomes for me to draw from.
True, Nancy/Astariel might not be the best example given what was done to her by Fred, but by all accounts, the transfer of the other rejectors into their godly forms hadn’t exactly left them as pillars of stability either. There was a reason they’d been effectively trapped in their demesnes. A human consciousness was not meant for that kind of existence. The immediate danger might be resolved only to create something far worse waiting in the wings.
Fourth, follow the plan suggested by the Shattered Goddess. This involved me claiming the harvester, inserting it into my abdominal cavity and using its power to eliminate Titus Shiptaker via self-detonation. The goddess had promised that as her champion, she could reconstitute me afterwards.
I was 95% confident that the last part was a lie or if it were true, she had no intention of following through. It hadn’t been presented as a quest reward, something she would have to follow through on, but via the information crystal. The difference in communication methods was a red flag the size of the sun if you were paying attention.
However, of all the options, it was the one that put my growing family at least risk. I would almost certainly end up dead, but they would be safe. I was also 95% confident that the Shattered Goddess knew what she was doing would get rid of me, or at least, a part of her did. The goddess had made earlier promises of rewards that part of her might now be regretting, the easiest way not to follow through on them was to remove me from the equation.
Fifth, and the option I selected, come up with a solution of my own and do something unexpected.
I’m not adhering to the Shattered Goddess plan. I have an alternative available if we can move fast. I’m going to cheat and use Ana’s dungeon. She already knows and will be waiting.
<What? How can I not know?>
You were distracted with Quinn, and I was sneaky.
Once inspiration struck, I quickly compartmentalised the plan on a need-to-know basis and exercised precise mental control in order not to dwell on the subject, lest lurkers pick up on the direction of my thoughts. High Willpower and Mental Resistance were useful in more ways than simply rebuffing external influences. Quixbix grumbled about being left out in the background but left me to it.
Being underwater actually made the operation easier. Hudson’s innards were less slippery, and the harvester organ itself was not made of flesh, but a crystalline substance similar to the cimmeric that the Framework used for its podia. It took about two minutes to extract. By this point, Crynn was watching me worriedly from the other side of the barrier. The blackcoats had been finished off and she’d helped the other walking wounded out of the dungeon foyer to join the others.
I hauled the pulsing, misshapen black crystalline structure from Hudson’s body with difficulty. Part of the problem was that the organ did not have a seamless, solid design. Instead, it had a central sphere the size of a tennis ball with dozens of sharp columns that jutted out from that core. Each tip had to be fused to the central nervous system of the host body. It was easy to understand why the fragment had struggled to find a fresh host capable of bearing the organ.
The original would have been grown inside of Maurice, a process far easier than transplantation.
With a hand gripping the crystalline structure, I was instantly brought to my knees. It was as if the harvester organ possessed a malignant personality of its own. Something dark and maleficent, influenced by the personalities of Ashli its creator, the Fragment, Maurice’s psychopathic nature, and even Hudson’s fucked-up family dynamics. My mind and will were assaulted from all sides in an attempt to overwhelm and seize control. It was as if this thing sensed I did not have its best interests at heart. That I did not plan to use it for its designated purpose, and it did not like that, not one bit.
Pain spiked in my head and before I was forced to close my eyes, I saw Crynn batter helplessly against the barrier, sparks of golden light flashing where she beat at it with a fist and slashed away with her cutlass.
The pressure was enormous, the malevolent will behind it seemingly all-powerful. No one man could resist its rancorous influence. But I was not alone, not in spirit. First Shana’s and then Anastasia’s hands rested on my spiritual shoulders. Their presence was swiftly followed by Fang Mei, Trisha, Claudia, and Crynn. Even Mia, who I had not bonded came to my aid, albeit not as strongly as the others. And last but not least, five tiny digits wrapped around my thumb, Dash, my son. There was even a ghostly lick on the side of my face from the fawn.
With a united front, we pushed back at the crystalline entity and forced it back into its dark, little hole, whimpering like a scolded child. It made one last attempt to change its fate. This time it whispered in my mind like a seduction. It dangled promises of knowledge and power in the hope of tempting me into becoming a cooperative partner in its endeavours.
Much of what it offered was a trap for the unwary, paths that would lead me back to slavery with it wielding the whip, but there were a few choice truths mixed in with the lies that I could make use of. I robbed the entity of its last hope; extracting what I wanted before sealing it back within its prison.
The dome burst the moment I asserted my authority and Crynn was almost washed away by the sudden wave of water as it was released. It forced her back a few steps, but the volume quickly dispersed throughout the room, and she rushed over to where I knelt and enveloped me in a heaving embrace. “We were so worried, we almost lost you there.”
Crynn was right, the harvester organ possessing a personality had been a nasty surprise that came close to derailing the plan. The crystal pulsed in my hand and the translucent God Body faded away as the energy was returned to the source. It burned my flesh just being held. I kissed Crynn on the cheek in thanks and returned my attention to the harvester. “You belong to me now and will do as I will, not the other way around.”
The response was sullen but accepting.
Crynn helped me rise to my feet and Brant’s voice carried to us from outside. “The instance is closed. Our people are on the way over.”
The battle is won, and our goal is achieved. LT, carry out an organised retreat to the waypoint. I want everyone back in Stormblade Harbour within the hour.
With the message sent to the troops, I turned back to Crynn. “Can you collect the shard reward from the dungeon pillar and help get the others back? I’ve got a ticking bomb in my hands and need to get it somewhere safe.”
“You can count on me.”
I kissed the Acheronian beauty on the lips and set off for the waypoint at a sprint. I needed to get the harvester organ back to the dungeon on Marena’s Mercy, or the damn thing would explode.
***
The run back was uneventful. I got a few curious looks from the soldiers not in the know. The captain running away was an unusual sight, after all. Anastasia was waiting for me with the larger of her two cimmeric golems when I ran up the marble steps and entered the temple in Stormblade Harbour.
“All aboard the Ripper Express!” She patted the saddle spot behind her in welcome. Under normal circumstances, I would not ride pillion, even on Ana’s mount, as there were appearances to consider. However, today didn’t qualify as normal circumstances and just getting the harvester organ to the dungeon wouldn’t make us safe. It still needed to go inside a body.
I hopped up behind Anastasia and for once she managed to refrain from cracking a joke. She tapped Ripper on the head and the rhino-sized golem took off at a rate of knots and jumped off the balcony of the temple. Susan must have had the window removed and saved us the expense of getting that repaired. It didn’t take the golem long to run the short distance down to the docks and it didn’t slow down as we approached. If anything, Ripper built up speed and leapt into the air when it was a few feet away from the ship and flew through an opening that Ana magicked into existence with a wave of her hand.
The swirling portal of the dungeon entrance was just behind the new hole in the hull and then we were inside the dungeon proper. Ripper rushed through each of the chambers in rapid succession, the resident mobs looking curiously on until we reached the end of the dungeon and the room which Ana had specially prepared at my direction.
It had the appearance of an operating theatre or mortuary with several large, sterilised tables in the centre and a trolley loaded up with dozens of sharp surgical instruments. However, the surrounding décor was straight out of a 1950s Frankenstein movie.
“You’ve gone a bit overboard on the aesthetic.”
“This is where I create life,” she enthused doing her best mad scientist impression. “A proper golem experimentation laboratory. Having second thoughts?”
“On the contrary, I’ve updated the plan. It’s even sneakier than before.”
“At this late stage?”
Shocking Anastasia with recklessness was an achievement in and of itself.
“New information has come to light. Don’t worry, the plan is mostly the same, I just need to do a little something extra for the endgame. It might make the insertion a smidge more complicated.”
While Anastasia prepped for the parts of the procedure that would remain unchanged, I knuckled down and performed the minor alterations based on the information I’d extracted from the harvester organ. The organ didn’t like it but had already accepted who was boss in this situation. It helped that the malignant personality wasn’t entirely averse to the fate I had planned. It would be better than simply exploding and self-eliminating.
“That will work better,” she admitted when I was finished and pointed to one of the operating tables in the room. “If we’re going to do this, you better assume the position.”
I hopped up and sat on the edge.
“Everything off,” she commanded.
I disrobed quickly and lay back down on the cold metal of the table. “Is the coldness entirely necessary?”
Anastasia shrugged. “I’m not a real Doctor, you’ve got to expect a few errors, and aren’t you supposed to be immune to the cold.”
“That’s not the point. You are not filling me with enthusiasm.”
She smiled and let loose with one of her signature cackles. “Lie back and get comfortable, you’ll be here a while. Let’s get cracking.”
Following her instructions, I lay back on the uncomfortable table and glanced over at the body a few feet away from me on the twin operating table.
“I hoped this works,” I said when Anastasia attached a clamp to my temples. There was a zap of electricity, and I lost consciousness.
***
“How do you feel?” Anastasia asked me once everything was finished, and she woke me.
“Full,” I replied and patted my bloated stomach that now contained the harvester organ.
The operation had been a complete success, the crystalline bomb was safely ensconced inside and no longer primed to explode. I slid off the side of the table and would have buckled if Ana hadn’t caught me with her small, but surprisingly strong frame.
“Take it easy, this is a big change, and it will take a while for you to get used to it. I’ve been through something similar, and it was an…adjustment. Now, as much as I like having you buck naked and at my mercy, put your clothes on. The familiarity will help.”
The suggestion was a good one and mentally I summoned my gear. The feeling of the armour, perfectly shaped to my body was familiar and welcoming; it did assist in getting used to my new circumstances. I flexed muscles and did a few exercises. As part of the movements my new item, the manticore’s claw caught my eye. Thinking about the procedure we’d just performed a big grin broke out on my face.
“If this works, I think we’ve found a convenient way to recharge you,” I whispered to myself.
Within a minute, everything felt natural and back to normal again.
“You good?”
“Yeah, let’s head out. Make sure everything is working as expected.”
Anastasia waved her hand, and an exit portal appeared in the air. She took my hand in hers and we walked through and arrived back out on the outside deck of Marena’s Mercy.
Trisha was waiting for us pacing up and down the deck with a grim expression on her face. “Thank God, you’ve emerged.”
“You can calm down, Trish, everything is going according to plan.” I patted my gut to reassure her. Not that she knew all the details. Only Ana and myself knew everything.
Her eyes followed the gesture and then she looked back up. The worry had not been dispelled. “Oh, that, yes, that is a relief, nobody wants to explode but we have another problem. A serious one.”
Of course, we did.