"Iustitia!" - Regular Speech
'Mistress!' - Thoughts/Telepathy
[Justice For All!] - Skill/Ability Being Used
Beta'd by BigCC
Quest 2.3
The Captain's Cabin
I don't know what I expected when I entered the only room left on the ship/rogue dimensional remnant, but seeing a large room the size of the main room of a decent-sized church was not it. Whatever else, this dimension was playing shenanigans with space, because there's no way something this size could fit in a ship's forecastle. Despite its expansive size, the theme of rot and decay were just as pronounced here as the rest of the ship, the wood making up the floor and walls was warped and rotted, causing murky light and dripping water to leak through the entire expanse and coating over half the room in shadows.
I was sure to watch my step carefully as I moved across, I wouldn't put it past this place to collapse beneath me like some kind of booby trap.
The only places in the hall not stained by the overwhelming miasma of despair were the picture frames that lined the rooms walls. Each frame was gilded gold and shined beautifully even in the dim light, but the photos inside were another matter. Rather then being rotted, it looked like they'd been torn to shreds by hand, the small pieces Taylor could still see in the frames still bright and clear despite the water and dread surrounding them.
Memories that Hamlin couldn't stand to remember (or look at in the metaphysical case) but were still too precious to let rot away. I remembered that his family were killed when they had gotten caught up in the crossfire of a clash between two groups of A-to-S Class Parahumans and then the Nine had come along and killed his girlfriend a few years after that. That meant these portraits were probably his memories of them.
'I don't like this.' I sent to Iustitia as I advanced through the room. Something about this place was screaming 'trap' to me right now.
'Neither do I, Mistress. The aura of despair here overpowers even the reek of the rotten wood.' my Embryo sent back as I kept her gun form pointed forward, ready to shoot down any threat that emerged from the shadows ahead of us.
As I moved forward, the décor began to shift and change around me, gilded portrait frames being replaced with broken and shattered mirrors of every size and design. Remnants of wooden furniture, obviously once beautifully carved and cared for but now broken, rotten and molding, were carelessly thrown against the walls. Dimly, I could make out the end of the room; a large raised dais with an equally large throne situated on top of it.
Resting in the throne, a solitary figure was seated, slumped back against the throne, though its eyes were glowing an eerie green as they watched me approach, my pistol already leveled toward it.
"So you've come again, 'Justitia.'" the figure offered tiredly as I halted a good four meters away; hopefully out of reach of any nasty surprises while keeping it in range of my pistol. "Wasn't killing me once enough for you? Was your bloodlust not sated then?"
"Don't give me that crap. Hamelin started this, he kidnapped me with the intent of using me as a living battery before threatening to kill my family when I managed to beat him." I growled out. I wasn't about to let some knock-off remnant try and guilt-trip me about what I'd done. "Face facts, we both know you're not Hamelin, you're not even a part of him. You're just a projection, a twisted reflection made from a single shard of a broken mirror."
"You can't blame me for trying." the Zone Boss sighed theatrically. "I knew that it would come to this from the moment I sensed you setting foot in my domain. Still, I would rather be allowed to wallow in my despair peacefully for a while longer, so kindly entertain yourself with my pet in the meanwhile."
A barrier of sickly green light shot up from the base of the dais and a massive clawed arm suddenly smashed upward through the floor in front of me. I bit out a curse as I quickly backpedaled away, watching as a second arm joined it, tearing a massive hole in the floor. From it emerged the massive form of a giant, black-shelled crab. It was huge, with a main body bigger than a fucking minivan, with a set of beady little eyes peeking out of the holes in the front of its carapace, and legs longer than I stood tall extending outward to either side of the hole it emerged from, digging into the wood and anchoring it in place.
Not like the beast had much of a choice, if it moved too much the floor would likely collapse under its weight.
'Right now, I would love to be able to see how powerful that thing is.' I sent to Iustitia as I eyed the crab warily. 'You got any clue?'
'It's an OBM, an Ordinary Boss Monster, Mistress.' Iustitia replied seriously. 'Far weaker than the [Rat King] that you faced in Hamelin's unified dimensional pocket, and thus you will likely only receive a piece of gear with minimally powerful effects from it. Still, whatever you receive will still be a vast improvement to most of the equipment you currently possess.'
Yeah, that was pretty obvious. Most of the stuff I was wearing was made of rat leather, not exactly the height of defensive fashion. Outside my helmet and maybe the gloves and scarf I'd found aboard the ship, normal body armor would likely be an upgrade compared to what I'm wearing now.
I blinked in surprise as a small portion of the carapace beneath the monster's eyes seemed to unhinge, revealing its mouth as the oversized crustacean disgorged a flood of bubbles at me.
Deciding to avoid finding out what those suds could do to me for as long as possible, I leapt to the side. I managed to dodge the stream and brought up my pistol as I rolled to my feet, firing a single shot to see how well its chitin armor could handle a bullet.
Turns out it could handle them just fine, since the bullet bounced off it, barely leaving a few cracks from the impact.
Fine then. If I couldn't break through the armor, I'd aim for the most obvious weak spots of the beast instead, namely those bloody eyes. They were creeping me out.
Adjusting my aim, I used [The Bullet Strikes True] in combination with [Headshot] to bounce a bullet off of the stupidly hard shell and the right claw to successfully score a hit in one of the eyes and, thanks to [Headshot], I must have scored a critical hit, as the socket exploded in gore and started weeping some kind of green-black ichor that I assume was the crab's blood substitute.
The crab literally screamed in fury at me (and a crab's screams are just plain freaky, like nails on a chalkboard mixed with fizzing soda) and lashed out with its claws, destroying the floor with wild abandon. OK, ranged combat was just going to be impossible at this rate, and the sword wasn't going to do much in the way of damage against such solid armor. That left me with a single obvious choice...
"Iustitia, Form 2!" I ordered.
"Yes, Mistress!"
Seconds later and the gun was a tipstaff and I was actually running towards the giant armored killing machine crab…and I can't believe I just said that. My life had gotten so weird since Iustitia had woken up.
'Wouldn't change a thing.' I thought with a smile.
The strength that I had gained, which was only unleashed in combat, allowed me to leap into the air above the crustacean and avoid its flailing claws. Swinging my weapon up, I used the only offensive skill of the [Maceman] class that I possessed.
"[Mighty Blow]!" I shouted, bringing the tipstaff down upon the back of its shell, smashing it to smithereens with that one blow.
'That's odd...' I frowned as I back-flipped away from the crab, enhanced dexterity and agility also had some nice bonuses as well after all. Acrobatics were so easy when they were unleashed. 'Even if this thing isn't on the same level as the [Rat King], there's no way its defenses should be that easy to crack!'
'Mistress, look!' my Embryo cried, drawing my attention to the shell, which had already started fixing itself. The hole I'd made was already half the size it had been when I landed my hit and it was shrinking before my eyes!
"What the hell?! That's hax!" I shouted.
'Be calm, Mistress, it does not seem to be regaining health, merely repairing it's defenses.' Iustitia soothed me, before I felt her frown in my mind. 'Though, from the looks of it, the armor is denser now than when you originally broke through. Intriguing, a defensive regeneration ability that enhances itself every time something manages to break through…my, what a useful ability this boss possesses.'
Iustitia and I were thinking the same thing at that moment: how useful an item with that kind of ability would be if I could get my hand on it. Rather than finding the renewed defenses discouraging, I was emboldened to get my hands on it.
From what I could see, the only part that had been affected by the armor regen was the area that I had struck on the shell's dome, and perhaps the outermost parts which had only been cracked by the impact were possibly strengthened as well. This made the solution obvious...smash the shell and start stabbing and smashing the soft insides before it got a chance to regenerate. I had to deal as much damage as I could as quickly as possible and kill it before it could build up its defenses to a point that I couldn't break through.
Perhaps the crab was smarter than it looked, or maybe it was just a coincidence, but the monster was keeping its massive right claw up as it thrashed about, which was acting as a shield to keep me from getting on its back again. However, this left the legs on that side wide open. With a roar, I rushed forward and slammed a solid [Mighty Blow] on the closest foreleg, shattering it and making the crab wobble unsteadily. The creature responded immediately and instinctively, bringing its claws down to grab/smash me.
Instead of leaping away, I surged forward, bringing my tipstaff around and smashing through the next leg in line. I repeated the process twice more in quick succession, destroying the final two legs and causing the monstrous crustacean's right side to tilt and slam into the floor, cracking the rotting wood. Even with its claw waving around frantically, its shell was a wide-open target just waiting to be cracked.
"[Mighty Blow]!" I snarled, slamming the [Cudgel of the Law] down on the shell, shattering it with ease yet again...although the amount of shell broken was perceptibly less than it had been last time. More evidence that I was right and needed to end this as quickly as possible
"Iustitia, Form 1!" I shouted as I brought my bludgeon back.
"Aye, Mistress!" my Embryo shouted, shifting into her sword and scales form.
Even as the sword shifted and manifested in my dominant hand, I decided to try my newest attack skill right off the bat. "[Rending Slash]!" Granted, I wasn't sure if its special effect against unarmored enemies even applied against an enemy that'd had its armor broken, but if nothing else, it would still deal base damage against the monster and I had my other skills to try again.
A red glow surrounded the [Sword of Justice] and my arm lashed out in a gouging slash that ripped through the assorted innards of the giant crab, making it shriek in fury. I followed up with a [Blade Charge] and [Blade Sweep] one after another, the swinging and stabbing of my blade managing to chip away at the armor before it could fully reform and solidify. Then I repeated the entire process over again. When I finished the second [Blade Sweep], the crab collapsed with a gurgling roar and started to dissolve into motes of light.
I noticed the floor was repairing itself as well, the gouges and rents caused by its swinging claws as well as the massive hole it had emerged from closing as the wood seemingly regrew and restored itself while still looking as old and rotted as before.
As I leapt back to avoid getting caught up in the death of the boss, a voice spoke up in my head as it had done when I defeated the Rat King and Hamelin.
You have defeated the Boss Monster [Black Crab of Regressive Misery, Karkinos]! You receive 1000 EXP and $2000!
Generating Boss Loot...generated!
You receive [Black Buckler of Unending Regression: Karkinos]!
Huh...so, going by the name alone, the buckler got the destructive regeneration of the armor that had been the selling point of Karkinos itself. Weak initially, but useful the more it broke and fixed itself. Neat.
[Congratulations!]
You have leveled up! Please select where you will assign this level!
I added it to [Swordsman], succeeding in my plan to get it to LV10 before I did the same to my other two of my Job Classes.
You are now a [Swordsman] (LV10)!
You gain +50 HP!
You gain +5 Strength!
You gain +5 Toughness!
You gain +5 Endurance!
You gain +5 Wisdom!
You gain +5 Intelligence!
You gain the skill [Lesser Sword Art: Sword Dance]!
You gain the skill [Lesser Sword Art: Vacuum Blade]!
That's new...two skills at level ten. One was a skill I could activate that would briefly increase the striking power of whatever sword I held for a set period of time, while the other was a skill that allowed me to swipe my sword in the air and fire off an air projectile that was just as sharp as my sword and had the full power of my Strength stat behind it, giving me a ranged attack while using a mainly close-ranged class.
Nice!
"So then." I drawled out easily as I turned to face the figure lounging on the throne. "Are you going to set another one of your pets on me to give me another free workout, or are you going to get off your depressed ass and fight me yourself?"
The Boss of this Remnant sighed theatrically. "You're disturbing my reverie, you know? I hope you realize that I will make you pay for that?"
"Yeah...sorry, not sorry. Your original told me what you lost and why, and I could honestly feel a bit of pity for him, even if he let it turn him into a monster just as bad as the ones he was fighting. But you're not Hamelin, you're not even really alive. All you are is a shattered bit of his already broken mind left over after he died." I answered simply. "At best, you're a revenant, not even a real ghost. Just a twisted shard of what a man once was and his lingering attachments; his doubts, losses, and regrets. If anything, I'm simply putting Hamelin to rest."
The figure on the throne showed no hints of anger, if it could even feel such an emotion. "Hamelin." it breathed out in reminiscence, pale green eyes glowing slightly brighter. "Did you know my original chose that name because it was his children's favorite bedtime story? A constant reminder of who he was fighting to avenge." It slowly started to rise from its throne. "I suppose you're right though, I'm not him, so I should take a name of my own. Hmm…how about…Pequod? The original me did enjoy Moby Dick after all."
It was a good book. Pequod was the name of Captain Ahab's ship, the one he attempted to carry out his vengeance on the titular whale that had bitten off his leg. Although for some reason, the resonance between a monomaniacal captain's ship and the embodiment of the despair of a man who'd turned into a monomaniacal supervillain after losing everything made my hackles rise up in warning.
"Yes...yes...and just because you killed my original doesn't mean that I'll lose as well." the newly named Pequod muttered as he finished rising from his throne. "And once you're dead, I can try and reassemble all of my original's emotional fragments to continue his work!"
Well…it looks like ambition, or maybe obsession, wasn't going to be one of the fragments if a fragment could still show that much of it. Those particular emotions were likely still spread out amongst the collective fragments.
Lovely, just bloody lovely. That meant I was going to have to deal with hordes of obsessed psycho fragments to keep them from breaking out and turning Brockton Bay into a battlefield.
"Not while I'm around." I stated firmly. "I stopped your original, and I'll stop you and the rest of your kind as well."
Pequod's only response to that was a dry, tired laugh as the barrier between us faded away. Suddenly, the wooden debris stacked against the walls suddenly lit up with eerie green flames. The flames didn't seem to damage the soaked and rotted wood of the walls, but still filled the area with a ghostly light, giving me my first real look at the Area Boss. The man-shaped thing standing there looked more like a drowned corpse, the skin pale, off-white and bloated from being submerged in water, the ragged, waterlogged remains of a black captain's coat rested over an equally ragged white shirt and black pants. One of the coat's sleeves and both pants legs were missing, exposing the large, dented metal prosthetics covered in rust and grime from a lack of care that replaced both its legs and its left arm, leaving only the right arm looking remotely human.
It had Hamelin's face, but the features were wrong, distorted and twisted beyond the human norm by despair. The eyes were larger and more bloodshot, and the cheeks were sunken and hollow. Its off-green eyes glowed manically within sunken sockets as they stared down at me.
"The way Hamelin fought and the way I fight are two different beasts, Justitia." Hamelin's Embodiment of Despair stated simply, its voice still sounding tired even as it reached over the side of its throne and pulled out a rusted cutlass with its mechanical arm. "Hamelin relied on the powers he could siphon from those living batteries he collected; I draw my power from the depths of despair that fuel my home. Prepare yourself to die, Hero."
I immediately set myself into a ready position, sword held ready towards Pequod, scales to one side and legs tensed to respond to any movement on the part of my enemy. "Bring it, Villain."
We glared at each other for a moment before Pequod made the first move, although not in the way I expected. It passed his sword to his right hand, thrust his mechanical hand out...and it launched itself at me! A freaking rocket punch! I managed to divert it with a slap of my sword, but was then off balance when the rusty cutlass wielded by the Boss came at my head. I jerked back and felt the ripple of wind blow by the sword as it passed my face.
Retreating again, I eyed him as the hand that I'd deflected returned to its owner and decided that I'd better make use of my new skills.
"[Lesser Sword Art: Sword Dance]!" I hissed. A white aura surrounded my sword and I knew that at this moment, the [Sword of Justice] was sharper and stronger than ever.
'That feels nice...' Iustitia mused, just as Pequod raised his left hand again.
"[Lesser Sword Art: Vacuum Blade]!" I snapped quickly, slicing horizontally. A barely visible crescent of distorted air flew from my sword and struck the fist just as it left the wrist, knocking it askew. Pequod's surprise was something I intended to capitalize on. "[Blade Charge]!"
Flinging myself across the floor, sword outstretched, I snarled as the Boss managed to interpose that useless excuse of a cutlass and block my strike, though the force of my blow was enough to snap off a small chunk of the blade. Slipping into using [Blade Sweep] and [Rending Blade] one after the other, I smirked savagely as Pequod fell back after each skill struck, the large and heavy blade barely managing to mitigate the damage as more and more chunks of the blade broke away.
"Stubborn...!" he growled at me.
"I am that indeed!" I snarled, following my words with several ordinary slashes and stabs aimed at his right arm. If I could disable it, then he'd be left with only the mechanical left arm to fight me with, and it didn't look as if that arm's hand, which was still lying nearby (apparently it had to focus to recall it and I wasn't about to give the Boss that kind of opening), could be used to hold a weapon. Frantically parrying with his curved sword, the Despair Avatar jumped back to avoid one that would have impaled his shoulder.
"Come to me, flames of despair!" Pequod roared suddenly, raising his cutlass over his head. "Empower me with your might, that I may strike down my foe!"
The flames surrounding us flared up as one and several streams of green fire soared out of them to strike the Boss and engulf him from head to metallic toe. I flinched back and retreated from the heat generated by the sudden pyre, watching it warily through narrowed eyes. The flames gradually receded somewhat, leaving only Pequod's fleshy portions, his chest, head, and right arm coated in a thin armor of flames, and his eyes replaced with two pits of green fire. His prosthetics had also been changed by their flaming bath, instead of looking half-broken and rusted to pieces, they now gleamed a metallic silver with a faint green sheen, whole and strong. Even the cutlass had been restored, now with a gleaming silver blade coated in dancing green flames
"Now I'm fighting you seriously." Pequod said with a snarl, his voice no longer tired and ringing with power. "Die. [Despairing Flame]!"
A ball of green fire pooled over his right wrist and shot at me. I sliced through it with Iustitia, but...
'Argh...! Mistress, that flame is powerful!' my Embryo cried. 'Too many hits from it and I'll break!'
"Form 3!" I ordered swiftly. No way was close combat an appropriate choice here then. As the gun form of my Embryo settled into my hand, I considered what to do. [The Silver Bullet to Strike Down Evil] was an idea, but I could only use it once per day, and it left me unable to attack my target for ten minutes afterwards, so it wasn't a good idea in this case.
Well then...when in doubt, fill them with lead.
I fell back and started shooting Pequod as I did so, some bouncing off his metallic prosthetics, but several managing to bite through his flaming armor and into his still-fleshy chest and arm. He cursed me and counterattacked with a wave of green fire that swept across the floor, which I was sensible enough to leap over. Then came shot after shot of green fireballs, which it turned out I could shoot down. Somehow. It shouldn't work because flames were energy and my bullets were matter.
If I wasn't fighting for my life, this would honestly be a bit bemusing. Instead, I simply filed it under 'Powers Are Weird' in my head and kept fighting.
I'd shot Pequod over three dozen times (not counting the shots fired to deal with the fireballs I couldn't dodge or outrun) before something happened. His left arm fell off and burned away in a flare of green flames, which formed a replacement arm that locked in place of the former artificial limb.
Great, a boss that had multiple forms that appeared as you reduced its health. Just wonderful.
The fight became tougher at that point due to the fact Pequod could extend his fiery arm like a whip, a far more reliable way of attacking compared to the 'rocket punch' of his mechanical arm. I had to dodge, weave and duck a lot in order to not get hit, and even than I wasn't successful a lot of the time. My armor, the rat skin versions anyway, were all burned and starting to fall apart.
"Gah!" I coughed out as I was struck right in the stomach by Pequod's fiery lash/fist.
'Mistress, your armor is deteriorating badly! You can't afford to take another serious hit!' Iustitia panicked. 'Wait...let's try...this!'
In a flash of light, a small round buckler appeared on my left arm. Pequod paused as the shield appeared, a scowl appearing on his face.
"That is the power you stole from Karkinos!" he snarled.
Blinking, I held the buckler horizontally in front of my face so I could see the surface of it without losing my vision of the boss. The surface of the shield was black, with silver embellishments that traced their way across of it were in the stylized shape of the Cancer star sign, a crab.
[Black Buckler of Unending Regression: Karkinos]
Rarity: Super-Rare
A buckler formed from the power of the Boss known as the Black Crab of Regressive Misery, Karkinos. It retains the defense regenerating trait of that monster and even contains the bubble stream that was its only ranged attack.
Defense: +20
Attack: +5
Passive Ability: [Regressive Defense ?£x%$&(/*!]: Unlike most BM-generated equipment, it is possible for this shield to be destroyed outside of specific circumstances. When that happens, however, this ability triggers. Ten seconds after it is destroyed, it regenerates back onto your arm as good as new. Better even, as it permanently gains between 2 and 5 Defense each time it regenerates, with a low chance of gaining 1-3 to its Attack Stat. There is an undetermined limit to this, however. What happens then...is up to you. (Half-Complete Skill)
Active Ability: [Bubble Stream]: An attack which costs no MP or Stamina to perform, it merely requires you to be stationary in order to fire it. This ability causes no damage. The buckler emits a large stream of bubbles that swamp the enemy, distracting them and inhibiting their movements. Can also reduce the strength of any form of constant-activation fire skills currently affecting the enemy.
Had...Iustitia just equipped something from my inventory to me by herself?! No, that wasn't important right now. What was important was the fact that I had a defense that would constantly regenerate now. Might as well give the Active Skill a shot...
"[Bubble Stream]!" I shouted as I shifted the face of the shield to face Pequod.
The shield's surface shimmered silver for a brief instant before a positive deluge of bubbles erupted outward. The stream slammed into Pequod, coating him in bubbles, dousing some of the flames covering his fleshy bits and shrinking his new left arm as he sputtered and flailed incoherently under the force of the stream.
Meanwhile, I kept the skill up as I raised Iustitia with my free arm and started firing again. Granted, my accuracy took a hit since I had to concentrate on keeping the shield steady, but I was steadily chipping away at Pequod's health, one bullet at a time.
"ENOUGH!" the drowned man roared and his legs exploded, reforming as, I kid you not, octopus tentacles made of green fire. Four of the tendrils surged forward and upward, forming an impromptu shield against the deluge of bubbles, while the others lashed out around him, boiling away the suds still soaking him and reinforcing his flaming armor.
Realizing that my attack wouldn't break through any longer, I cut the stream and started circling the monster, shield still raised and gun at the ready to start firing again.
"You seem far too willing to abandon what bits of humanity you had left from Hamelin himself. Is his goal really worth it?" I asked aloud.
"We lost everything to Parahumans, those monsters were given more power than any human should carry! Their very existence is a threat that must be removed from this world!" Pequod roared in fury, his tentacles lashing out wildly. "Unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable!"
I growled at the rant. "You know, that's what really pisses me off about Hamelin, what stopped me from really pitying the bastard." I bit out. "Do you really think you're the only one who's lost someone? That no one else has ever felt that kind of pain? I lost my mother in a car crash two year ago and it broke me and my dad, but we kept going and moved on. I accept that it was partially my fault, I was on the phone with her when it happened, but the main cause? What really killed my Mom? A Parahuman gang fight between the Merchants and the Empire that got out of control and ended up rolling into live traffic."
"Then why are you fighting me instead of them!?" the revenant screamed. "Why don't you hate them? Why do you not avenge yourself!? WHY!?"
"That's simple." I answered, a small sad smile etching itself on my lips. "I refuse to lower myself to their level. I hate them, yes. I hate them for the harm they've caused to me, my family, and my home, but I will not let that hatred control me or change who I am and turn me into a monster like it did Hamelin. That's where he and I differ…I will not let the hatred of the world make me into a monster, I will stand my ground and hold true to my ideal of Justice. I can kill if needs be, but only when I must and when the situation warrants it. I have the strength to stand back up after I fall… and that, Pequod, is why your original lost, and why you'll lose as well."
With a wordless roar of pure rage, the half-cephalopod Boss charged at me, cutlass raised and fiery arm extended. I immediately emptied the revolver into him before deciding to finish this with a single blow.
"Iustitia, Form 1!"
"Yes, Mistress!"
In a golden glow, the [Sword and Scales of Justice] were in my hands once more. And I wasted no time in utilizing the most useful skill that they granted me.
"[Balance the Scales]!" I shouted, sending out the energy wave that was the trump card of Iustitia's First Form. It struck Pequod like a hammer, visibly making him stagger. The flames around him also dimmed in size and intensity.
"What have you DONE to me?!" He bellowed in fury.
"[Blade Charge]!" I declared flatly, not entertaining him with conversation any longer. He was going down. Now.
He was once more, despite the physical drain he was under, able to interpose his sword in between himself and the incoming attack, but I'd figured out why he'd been able to fend me off last time.
"[Lesser Sword Art: Sword Dance]!" I snarled, the shimmer around Iustitia signaling that the skill had taken effect.
Yup, it was this. Last time, I'd used [Vacuum Blade] immediately after [Sword Dance], which had enhanced the first skill at the cost of stripping away the effect of the enhancement skill. This time though...
The [Sword of Justice] met the cutlass of despair and, with an explosion of rusty metal, shattered the cutlass into fragments of metal that scattered all over the place.
"Wha-?!"
Pequod barely had time to state dumbly at the shattered remains of his weapon before Iustitia pierced through his neck and out the other side.
One thing that I had learned was that actual combat operated on a mixture of real-world and game logic; a critical hit to the heart, neck or head would automatically be fatal for everyone but me. According to Iustitia, so long as I possessed even one HP, I would stay standing, and now that I thought about it, I hadn't actually bled since I awoke Iustitia; sure, I'd received cuts, bruises and broken bones, but I hadn't shed blood as a result of any of that.
The Despair Remnant Boss choked as he slowly raised one trembling hand to try to remove it, but I silently used [Blade Sweep] to rip Iustitia from his flesh and then reversed the strike, beheading him.
As Pequod's severed head tumbled and hit the deck, the flames enshrouding his body flickered, guttered and died, even as it collapsed next to his head.
"You...defeated me..." the revenant's voice whispered, although his mouth didn't move. "Hah...this is what happens when despair tries to counter hope, I suppose. You've won, girl...but beware...my strength is weak compared to that...of the others..."
With that, Pequod's head and body dissolved into motes of green light.
You have slain the Unique Boss Monster [Pequod, Incarnation of Despair]! You receive 2000 EXP and $5000!
Generating Boss Loot...generated!
You receive [Despairflame Cuirass: Pequod]!
As soon as I heard that, I flinched as all of my rat skin armor and clothes disintegrated into ash, leaving most of my body unprotected. All I had on was my helmet, my cloak, my muffler and my gloves. Oh, and my regular clothes as well, thank goodness.
Even if I was alone in a pocket dimension, standing around naked was not a fun idea.
[Congratulations!]
You have leveled up!
Please select which class you wish to level up.
Continuing with my plan to improve my various character classes to Level 10, I added it to my [Maceman] class, as I'd been neglecting that one since I got [Gunslinger].
You are now a Maceman (LV3)!
You gain +50 HP!
You gain +500 Stamina!
You gain +10 Strength!
You gain +10 Toughness!
You gain +10 Endurance!
You gain +5 Wisdom!
You gain +5 Intelligence!
You gain the [Crushing Blow] Skill!
You gain the [Buckler Bash] Skill!
[Crushing Blow] was a skill designed specifically to reduce and destroy armor, while [Buckler Bash] was intended to use the small shield as a weapon and stun the enemy. Overall, I had absolutely no complaints about the new skills; I'd been needing a skill to deal with heavy armor and having a sneaky attack involving a weapon no one recognized as one would be useful.
"Whew..." I sighed as Iustitia shifted to her Maiden Form to stand beside me. "That was difficult."
"Indeed, his strength exceeded my expectations, Mistress." the Maiden of Justice replied. "The poor state of your armor is worrisome, though. You should equip your UBM reward as a start on replacing it."
Nodding, I grabbed my mirror and did so. The description of the new piece of armor was...interesting.
[Despairflame Cuirass: Pequod]
Rarity: Epic
A cuirass that possesses the mighty power of Pequod, the embodiment of Hamelin the Pied Piper's despair. As the embodiment of a person's despair given free reign in a pocket dimension infused and fueled by that particular emotion, Pequod subconsciously gained the ability to draw the energies of despair from the surroundings outside his dimensional home into him and manifest them as eldritch green flames. This cuirass possesses those same abilities and willingly gives them to its wielder.
Defense +70
Passive/Active Ability: [Well of Despair]: The power of this cuirass possesses the ability to summon the energy of despair from hundreds of meters around the user, drawing it from the conscious and unconscious minds of the sentient beings around the user and converting it into MP that is stored in special wells in the body of the chest-piece. The engravings and moldings that represent these wells glow a dull green when they are in use and a bright green when full. The wearer can either draw upon the wells instead of using their own MP pool or they can use the wells to activate the Active Abilities of this item. The user can actively draw in despair energy, using their Stamina to pay for it.
Well of Despair: 0/8000 MP
Active Ability #1: [Despairflame Shroud]: The most passive use of the MP gathered via the [Well of Despair], this skill enshrouds the user in green flames that burn anything that the user views as an enemy, be it animal, vegetable or mineral. This also adds a flame element enhancement to their attacks. Costs 30 MP per minute active from the [Well of Despair].
Active Ability #2: [Despairflame Wave]: An area of effect (AoE) attack that ends a wave of green flames out for several meters in a 90 degree arc in front of the wearer. Costs 250 MP from [Well of Despair].
Active Ability #3: [Despairflame Construct]: Allows the wearer to create fiery constructs from the green flames of despair using the wearer's imagination. They must be connected to the [Despairflame Shroud] if they are to be more complex than fireballs or the like. MP Cost Variable depending on size and complexity of the constructs.
Now, I have never claimed to have a particularly strong interest in video games; I did play the occasional one, but my knowledge was a lot more limited than you might think for a teenager in modern society. I'd had no friends for all of Highschool (and very little money to spare at that), and before then, Emma was my only friend and she wasn't a computer games kind of girl. Bearing that in mind, even I could tell that this was an excellent piece of equipment.
With a few deft touches, the chest piece appeared on me. It was seemingly forged from a baroque silvery metal, far lighter than it should be, with a wailing face embossed in the center with four more on either side of it. Even as I watched, I saw a faint green glow start to emanate from them, so it was obviously converting despair energy into MP already. Cool.
"By the way, how could you access my inventory and equip this to me?" I asked, waving the buckler in front of me.
"I exploited a loophole in that I am literally a part of you, Mistress." Iustitia replied sheepishly. "That loophole let me do that this once. The system has likely auto-corrected itself by now and locked me out of that function though, so your best bet if you want to equip straight from your inventory again without having to use your mirror is to acquire the [Gladiator] job; I think you gained access to it when you slew Hamelin."
"What were the unlock conditions for it?" I wondered.
"You have to be fighting another human and being cheered on by spectators." my Embryo replied absently as she examined the rotten wooden throne. "Mistress, I believe that the throne holds the key to the ship's store of treasure. Can you light those torches on top of it with your new acquisition?"
Checking the [Well of Despair], I was surprised to see a thousand MP and climbing already within it. Then again this was literally a dimension made out of despair, so it only made sense there was a lot of it for my armor to draw from.
Raising my hands at the torches, I muttered, "[Despairflame]!"
My little experiment worked; guided by my intent, the correct ability activated and a ball of flame appeared above each of my hands before each shot at one of the torches. This was useful, as it proved that my use of [Blade Sweep] when I killed Pequod wasn't a fluke.
With a rumble of hidden mechanisms and the groan of rotten wood, the throne slid to the side, revealing a recess containing three treasure chests and two cards sitting atop one of them.
"Ah-ha! These are what I was looking for!" Iustitia cried, grabbing the cards.
"What are they?" I asked.
"The system that governs Embryos is being throttled by these dimensional pockets." my Embryo replied, her blindfolded face turning to look at me. "These are the...central nodes, I suppose you could say, of two aspects of the system that this pocket has been suppressing. Once we leave this place, all I need do is release them and the corresponding aspects of the system will be unlocked. In the case of these two, it is the Gacha System as well as a part of the Player-Monster Interaction System, one that allows the Players to see the names and levels of the monsters they see."
"Huh...cool." I mused. I was more interested in the latter than the former, as not being able to see the levels of the monsters I was fighting was a bit concerning. Knowing how strong a foe I was facing could only help me strategise. The Gacha thing might be fun to play with; if nothing else, I could possibly use it to ditch some of the useless trinkets that I'd picked up. "So what's the story with these chests then? Can I take all of them or is there an annoying mechanic to force me to only choose one or two of them?"
"So far as I can tell, there are no such tricks here, Mistress." Iustitia replied with a smile. "Take the fruits of your labors and joy in them."
The resulting haul of treasure was, to put it mildly, rather damn good. The first had another $5000, with a few books that Iustitia told me would allow me access to specific Job Classes, so I put them in my inventory to peruse later. The second had pirate armor, all of which I put on to replace the stuff that I'd lost. The last had the jackpot though; it had an odd boxlike thing that Iustitia rhapsodized over.
"This is what we're looking for, Mistress!" she celebrated. "This is the [Dimensional Astrarium], a device that can track the other dimensional pockets! With this, we can eventually find the entry points for every single dimensional pocket in the city!"
"Nice." I nodded as I placed the thing in my inventory.
Then things went pear-shaped. The entire ship shook like it had just been rammed, but I knew this feeling; the dimensional pocket was collapsing!
"Iustitia, what's going on?! Why's the dimensional pocket collapsing?!" I shouted as I tried to maintain my balance.
"I-I don't know!" the Maiden replied, falling to the ground as she lost that battle. "Maybe without the treasure or the Boss as anchors, there's nothing to keep the pocket stable! Mistress, we have to leave immediately!"
"Return to my crest at once!" I ordered swiftly. It was the safest place for her.
Nodding quickly, Iustitia vanished back into the crest on my left hand. I readied myself and shouted, "[Dimension Step]!" before moving forwards. A discordant screech, kind of like the sound of dial-up, made me wince as the area blurred around me.
[Warning!]
Dimensional dissonance has interfered with the use of your skill!
Return point has been changed to: random location in Brockton Bay environs.
Wait, WHAT?!
Before I could do more than gape, I vanished from the Dimension Pocket of Despair...and landed on my ass on top of a roof.
"Ow..." I grumbled. I'd jarred my tailbone with that little stunt. Still better than getting killed in a collapsing dimensional pocket, so I'd take what I could get.
Looking around to catch my bearings, I cursed. I was way out on the western outskirts of Brockton Bay, about as far out of The Bay as you can get without officially leaving the city. It was going to take me forever to get all the way back home.
Sighing in irritation at the stupid delay, I started heading back towards home, going through the new armor I was wearing as I did so as a way of calming myself down.
[Mask of the Pirate Lord]
Rarity: Uncommon
A full-face mask worn by Pirates who rule over others of their ilk. Adds +5 to all close combat and pistol damage.
Defense +5
[Captain's Breeches]
Rarity: Uncommon
Trousers worn by ship captains. Stealthily armored in case of mutiny.
Defense +10
[Armored Pirate Boots]
Rarity: Common
Boots that have some minor protection on them.
Defense +8
[Pirate's Sword and Pistol Belt]
Rarity: Uncommon
Worn by pirates to carry their sword and pistol, it is often decorated with accessories, and adds +15 additional damage to sword and pistol attacks.
Defense +5
Can have (2) Accessories added to it. 0/2 spaces filled.
While not exactly the absolute best I could hope for, it was still better than nothing, and was certainly better than the makeshift stuff Iustitia had thrown together from the rats that I'd killed in Hamelin's original dimensional pocket.
As I roof-hopped across my hometown, I skidded to a halt as I heard what sounded like something really heavy crashing through the streets, along with the echoes of shouting and screaming. Looking around to catch my bearings again, I realized I had been so lost in thought that I'd gone past my intended destination and was in the Downtown area.
Debating with myself for a moment, I sighed as I turned towards the sounds of the disturbance and started moving. I'd apologize to Dad later. For now, it was time for Justitia to make her official debut in Brockton Bay.
Name: Taylor Hebert
Cape Name: Justitia
Gender: Female
Level: 17
Title: None (*)
Job (s): (1) Swordsman (LV10)
(2) Maceman (LV3)
(3) Gunslinger (LV4)
EXP: 573/2400
Embryo: Maiden of Justice, Iustitia
Embryo Type: Maiden with Arms
Embryo Forms Achieved: 3/7
Stats
HP: 1090
STA: 4800
MP: 425
Strength: 90
Toughness: 90
Endurance: 92
Dexterity: 55
Intelligence: 125
Wisdom: 130
Luck: ?