Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

as gravity carried them down, Gus shoved the glaive laterally and severed the Mantid’s spine. The Mantid hit the ground and began scrambling with its foreclaws like someone who had fallen through the ice on a lake, trying to pull itself to safety, entrails spilling as it crawled along.

Spinning, Gus jabbed the polearm at the base of the skull and the Mantid sprawled out in death. Gus began dashing in earnest when another Mantid dropped right in front of him, tilting its head and letting a spine-chilling open mandible hiss inches from Gus’ face. Jumping backward, Gus saw the talon pass right in front of his eyes as he instinctually activated his Dodge skill. Momentarily startled, Gus almost missed the chance to counter-attack.

Gus punched the Mantid on the forehead by reflex with one fist and activated Wreck-luse, then continued his flight. He scrambled to regain the proper grip, realizing letting go of his weapon was not the best idea during a battle, even if he was using an ability. He had wanted to save that skill for a clutch situation, but with the mob of zombies on his tail, he had no time to allow them to catch up with him and overwhelm him.

Why didn’t I prepare some fight playlists in case this happened?! Gus thought in his frenzy. Gus scoured his memory with songs with fighting themes but his mind was unfocused from the stress of trying to escape. Finally, he had two songs and yelled, “Nick! Play Kung-Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas, then Fight for your Right by Beastie Boys.”

You have created a song chain! (Barely)

Success with activities related to musical themes increased by a factorial multiplier based on the quantity of songs in series.

Kung-Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas. Success rates x 1. (Chain anchor, no bonus)

Thanks to him dashing, TimeSight let Gus sense the next Mantid before it dropped onto the path and Gus attacked. While the Mantids were still fast, his recent boost to agility gave him just enough speed to keep up with the talon swipes and feints. Almost.

The Mantid made a swipe with a talon, and Gus raised his weapon to block, when the Mantid pushed, knocking Gus onto his back. The rabid mob leaped on top of him, talons clacking. Gus held up the metal band on the shaft and caught both the clawed appendages as they pressed down, reaching for his throat. The Mantid clenched, locking the weapon in place as it pressed with more and more pressure.

Gus was in an awkward position and it was difficult to bench press the monster up and away from him. Despite his efforts, the tips of the talons kept coming closer and closer. Gus shook sweat away as he fought, and could see the other Mantids approaching in his peripheral vision.

Fight for your Right by Beastie Boys. Success rates x 2.

With the opening ‘yeaaah!’ and guitar strum, Gus felt a surge of strength and the tug-of-war that he was losing shifted direction. Getting enough leverage after extending his arms a bit, he twisted and hit the Mantid with the butt of the shaft and knocked it off of him. He got to his feet and managed to parry one attack, then two, and finally landed the counter on the third parry, killing it as other Mantids kept attacking relentlessly, giving him no time to regroup or catch his breath, his stamina dropping precipitously, already sapped from the recent struggle.

Wreck-tums! activated sometime in the flurry of attacks and Gus managed to kill one more Mantid, but there were just too many. They harried him, toying with him, secure in their superior numbers. Tiring him out, which was evident in the slowing and increasing inaccuracy of Gus’ parrys, none of them managing to trigger a counter.

Exhausted, Gus stood over the dead Mantid and raised his eyes wearily as he saw at least a dozen forms converge on him from the forest path beyond. “That’s it…” Gus said. “So close, but like always, it’s never enough,” He had only managed to kill two. A chime notified him that Wreck-luse had leveled up, so Gus took one last peek at his logs.

Skill upgraded: Wreck-luse (Level 2)

Current level: +10% chance to trigger during a successful attack.

You can now trigger Wreck-luse at a distance of 6 feet, not needing direct contact.

50 XP awarded

100 FP awarded

You have defeated a Mantid (Level 12) 1200 XP awarded, 600 FP awarded

You have defeated a Mantid (Level 12) 1200 XP awarded, 600 FP awarded

You have defeated a Mantid (Level 13) 1600 XP awarded, 800 FP awarded

LEVEL UP! Congratulations, Level 10 reached!

6000 XP to level 11

500 FP awarded

Know this: Functionality of your Song-chain subskill of Wreck-ord has been modified! For levels 10-19 multiplier has been reduced to a geometric progression. Each successive song will add 2x multiplier to effects. Cooldown extended to 12 hours. Keep on rockin’!

What Gus had experienced when he was running at his fastest was nothing compared to what happened next. There was a bright flash and time stood still. He felt his body slowly float and his back arched as he was lifted a foot above the ground. His left arm jerked out to the side as a beam of light shone out of his watch, forming an oval window to the side of his body. A familiar voice he couldn’t quite place emanated from the watch:

Requirements met…

Dimensional unfolding progressing…

Fractal unfolding level one…

Gus felt an intense compression as if he were suddenly deep underwater. It was intensely uncomfortable, but when he couldn’t expand his lungs to catch a breath, he began to panic. He gasped and flailed his arms as he was suspended in the air, staring the whole time at the Mantids frozen around him.

What is happening!? Suddenly the sensation reversed, and he felt stretched. No. Stretched was too mild a way to describe what Gus was feeling. Being rent asunder was too mild. Every layer of him felt like it was being ripped one from the other.

It was an incredibly focused