Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

still had a long cool-down period remaining. The beginnings of an idea began to coalesce. “Nick, play Cherry Bomb by the Runaways!” The thrum of the song energized Gus, and he set his mental focus on the spear head lodged within the Mantid. He waved his own spear back and forth in time with the song. Giving in to the beat, he imagined each attack and feint was pushing energy toward the Mantid.

Focusing on the energy being absorbed by the spear head inside the Mantid, ever increasing the tension between the molecules. I hope this works… Gus had very little experience so far using Wreck-It-Gus, or Wreck-ord but maybe they could be used offensively. Hopefully.

While most of the thrusts appeared as mere feints, the Mantid began to sense something was off. Cocking its head suspiciously, it furrowed its brow and looked quizzically at Gus to see what had changed. It could neither hear the inner soundtrack Gus was using, nor could it feel the slight warmth building up in the embedded spear head. The same changes that allowed the Mantid to fight without feeling pain also prevented it from detecting anything as subtle as what was happening with the spear head. The Mantid continued to sidestep the attacks which were not intended to connect.

Subconsciously, Gus felt power channeling from his core upward and then extending out of him, coming slow at first but becoming easier and flowing more as the process continued and the music approached the guitar solo. It was vaguely reminiscent of when he had lit the coconut husk fibers, but the quantity of power he was using was much more dramatic. His MP bar was quickly draining, and he worried that he would run out of juice before anything happened.

The pulses began to coalesce into a virtual beam, partly emanating from his chest, but mostly funneling down his arms and down the length of the spear. His low MP alert began to chime, but Gus pressed on, just a little longer.

“…Cherry Bomb… Cherry Bomb… Cherrr-y Bomb!” the song finished, and the spear head finally detonated. Gus hit the trail and covered his head as shrapnel whistled through the air, shredding the Mantid’s torso. The last thing Gus saw before covering himself was the separated head flying off into the foliage, an expression of wonder and disbelief upon its ugly face.

Getting to his feet, Gus cheered, “Scott Pilgrim, eat your heart out!” Luckily, the force of the blast extended mostly sideways and backward, so Gus remained thankfully clean from the entire ordeal. A ding sounded and Gus checked his display.

Mantid added to bestiary and estimated stats added based on battle.

You have defeated a Level 9 (Mantid) 1000 XP gained!

You have defeated a Level 9 (Mantid) 1000 XP gained!

LEVEL UP! Congratulations, you have reached level 6!

500 FP awarded

3675 XP to level 7

You have (5) stat points to assign.

Your apt use of Wreck-ord has unlocked a sub-skill of Wreck-It-Gus: Indi-Wreckt (Level 1).

Allows you to destroy items not directly in physical contact with you, given they are suffused with enough energy.

Range of effect: 10 feet

Damage done: 1:2 ratio of MP invested to HP damage

100 XP awarded

3575 XP to level 7, 2400 FP total

Gus looked at his MP bar and it was at 3%. That would have been almost 350 HP of damage, possibly more because it had been delivered internally. He quickly dumped all five stat points into constitution, to improve his increasing stamina needs and buff up his HP pool. This brought his constitution to fourteen. Stamina and HP jumped to 260 as a result, giving a nice buffer against new dangers.

Checking out his new suit, he noticed that the tiny splashes of Nth blood had beaded up and rolled off the suit, not even leaving a smell. That in and of itself was a feature worth wearing the suit for. The added flexibility during battle and not having to worry if everything would rip or fall off was another.

Hopefully, he would never have to find out how resistant it was to being cut or punctured by an attack. His spear had also saved him, but it made him much more aware of how most of his body was only protected by a spandex-y fabric. Another trip to the armory should be on tomorrow’s to-do list.

Grabbing what was left of his gear, he jogged back down the trail, just in case there was a second wave of reinforcements coming. Grateful for the earlier training that kept him alive today, Gus mentally committed to double down on training and to try to come up with some new tactics in case the enemy came in larger numbers. Now it was time to eat and evaluate the battle. He had a lot of questions for Nick that he intended to get answered, about his own powers and the Mantids.

###!###

The One began to feel a feeling that had eluded it for so long that it was unfamiliar in classifying it. Doubt. What was that? He had been in total domination for so long. Resistance was non-existent. He commanded. He was obeyed. This was how it happened. The severing of these two higher tendrils introduced another feeling that was foreign in its scarcity. Pain. Uncertainty. More control could be placed in the fast ones. They retained more of themselves and were more effective tools. The anger. This was familiar. It came stronger. From the loss. From the pain. From the defiance. The One wanted to send a large attack. But the doubt. It said no. The anger said yes. The One decided.

Chapter Twenty

Take the Long Way Home

Day 5 8:51 PM

9:15:45 remaining

Gus was teeming with emotions as he jogged back toward the manor. The fight was unexpected and the jungle encompassed him oppressively the darker it got. He had been surprised and afraid when the Mantids first appeared. Reflecting now that the adrenaline had burned off, he was a bit conflicted. There was an undeniable exhilaration during the battle, of being able to confront