[1.72] Unleashed (Part 3)
Where am I?
That was a rhetorical question. Gelic knew exactly where she was, inside the Malignant that had eaten her. The wondering was more pertained to her overall positioning in its massive body. She’d fallen for what felt like quite a while, bumping against the fleshy walls of the innards before finally managing to grasp something solid to stop her descent. Thankfully, it wasn’t completely dark, since Scrying Eye worked like a pseudo nightvision. Not great, but better than nothing.
Her best guess was that she’d latched onto some sort of vertebrae, but that still didn’t give her a proper clue, since its backbone probably ran the whole length of its body. Her ocular Skill also delivered some bad news. With each passing second, the Malignant was healing, already back up to the thirties. Damn it, I was so close! She shouldn’t have been so reckless and stuck with her companions. Though if the eel was targeting her, could somehow sense her, then they could have been swallowed too. So maybe this was for the best. She’d die as a snack alone.
Wait… actually. This was ideal. The fool, the stupid stupid Malignant fool. It had just dealt its own death. Once the Imp managed to pull herself up onto the bony ledge and got a good grip, she couldn’t stop from throwing her head back and laughing. A gutteral, maniacal laugh that echoed throughout the beast’s body, as if the very spirit of Malice was channeling through her. The absolute worst place to send a poison Demon was inside of the monster’s own body. Now she really couldn’t miss!
Coat of Arms, Frostbite, Multi-Bounce! Armored up as a spikeball once more, for her weapon this time, she gave herself igloo-like gloves with claws sticking out of them. Accuracy wouldn’t be important here. Every hit would land. Up she went, then down she went, bouncing around the Malignant’s insides as if she were a rubber ball with endless momentum. Each crash only built her speed even more, inflicting stacks of Toxic endlessly while also providing direct devastating damage, tearing the monster up from the inside out.
It was incredible, exhilarating, destructive. Gelic had become the monster, the literal beast within, a deadly parasite. But instead of killing the scuffer slowly, no, she’d end this as quickly as she could. Faster, faster, hit it faster! The Multi-Bounce chain never broke, building up more speed and momentum with each hit, making the eel’s body jerk and shake. Angelica had to laugh again when she thought about what it must look like from the outside, the massive Malignant swaying as it dealt with what would look like tummy problems.
What didn’t keep up with the assault, however, was the ice. At such insane velocities, both the armor and weapons kept shattering, eventually breaking with each and every hit. But that was fine, she just made them again and again, as many times as it would take! Had she destroyed any major organs, did Malignants even had organs? Well whatever she’d done, it had taken its toll
Almost there!
[Malignant Lv.189 | Health 8%]
Just a bit more! Just a bit more! Just a- huh? After the latest hit, Gelic triggered Frostbite once more to get back her gear, but it didn’t come. And after the next ricochet, she did not bounce back with the expected oomph. There was still a hit, a good solid splat into the fleshy wall, but her confusion made her lose concentration, breaking the Multi-Bounce chain, and she started to fall once more. Angelica desperately checked her screen, fearing she already knew the answer, but had to verify it herself. It flickered to light just long enough to see the devastating results.
[MP: 0]
Oh no, she’d been too careless. All those rearmaments had drained her again. She hadn’t been monitoring it as closely as she should have been, since she was previously full up, thinking it wasn’t even an issue. But her greed had been insatiable, and she’d now fallen victim to her own poor resource management.
What happened next was unexpected. She landed with a splash into some liquid. Oh please don’t be urine. That was Gelic’s immediate thought, but a moment later, she was practically wishing that she’d been right. It was so much worse. “Gah, it stings!” With every second, the pain increased, and she desperately tried to bounce out of the liquid to no avail. Since she couldn’t activate the Jump Good Skill, she was trying to desperately use her own buoyancy to ricochet her.
Gelic gave up after a while and swam until she bumped into an edge, blinded since she could no longer use Scrying Eye. She had half a mind to spit out her phone for light, but that would likely be dissolved quickly, plus she needed MP for the upcheck. Angelica understood her situation. Even though they feasted upon mana, Malignants also apparently had working digestive systems. Must have been just in case something entered their body. Now she would genuinely be eaten alive.
Hell, she didn’t even need to check it to know her Health was draining rapidly. It felt like her skin was being boiled. Did she even have hair anymore, or had it all been dissolved away? Was this the end of the puffball?! She tried to climb, but the sides of the eel were way too slippery. Damn it! She could use Return to escape, and genuinely would try it if there were no other options, but the act would break both her Orders. Yes, she could cancel her own, but Vystal’s would still compel her to see the job to the end instead of fleeing like a coward.
She did at least have some salvation. Dirt to the rescue once more. Thank Vissiem, or rather Ferrul, that Second Stomach didn’t cost any MP to send items to her real gut. And as a second act of self-preservation, her Order acted of its own volition once again, suddenly transforming Angelica back to her human self. She was confused by the act for a moment but then understood. Bigger body, more to dissolve, longer to live, more chance at survival. And her human self was the only thing she could transfigure to with no cost.
Things were looking just a bit brighter, but she was still pissed. It wasn’t the pain. It wasn’t the stomach acid warring with her regeneration, meaning her life was on a ticking clock for when the dirt lost its potency. Yes, that was a worry, but what really upset her was that with each moment she lived in this agony, her hard work was slipping away. The beast was clawing itself back from death as well, and it would do so at a faster place. If she lost all her progress now, it would never be defeated.
No, I won’t give up! C’mon, c’mon, c’mon. I just need a bit! Damn it! Devastatingly, the Summoners wouldn’t be able to give her mana in here if they couldn’t see her. Maybe Vystal could, but the woman herself had said she was out. She’d likely recovered a bit, but not an amount of use. Did her Summoner know that she was still alive? She had to, right? Or their Contract would be broken. Maybe that’s what she should do with the last of her energy, send some telepathic messages, see if she could get some help. And if it wasn’t looking good, which it definitely wasn’t, maybe ask that a message be passed along to her mother.
But no, no, no, no! I won’t lose to this oversized unprepared unagi! C’mon, just a few MP. Take it from my Health if you have to. I just need enough!
Angelica held out her hands, as if squeezing in the air, desperate to feel the could touch she was attempting to will into existence. And there they were, two Frostbite daggers, the last of her power. Rargh! She slammed both of them into the monster’s flesh. Since they were embedded, she knew it was best to just let them sit and let the Toxic stacks do their work. But she just couldn’t. Her anger, her frustration, they wouldn’t let her be idle.
She pulled the daggers back a bit, trying to make sure that the tips didn’t stop touching the Malignant and then rammed them back in again. With all of her fury, she let out a flurry of stabs, again and again, trashing every ounce of remaining injury into her attacks. Maybe with Malignant Bane, she did more damage this way. She didn’t know, couldn’t check, but it made her feel better, so she kept hacking away.
Her arms started to burn, not from the acid, though that wasn’t helping, just from the insane exercise of the repetitive action. But she’d keep going, until somebody was dead. Her or the Malignant, it didn’t matter. She would stab the fritsing scuff until her last breath. Apparently, she got enough MP back for Scrying Eye to kick in once more, allowing her to see the hole in the side of the monster that she’d carved along with another proof of her efforts.
[Malignant Lv.189 | Health 1%]
Gelic didn’t get to linger on the number long, didn’t even really get to process a single emotion upon seeing it before the message vanished entirely. But not because she ran out of MP again. No, the target was gone. She had to close her eyes, damn near blinded in the other way, her eyes overwhelmed with white. The Imp braced herself as the flesh prison around her rapidly deteriorated, exploding into countless particles of Essence.
So she fell again. Damn, Angelica was getting so sick of falling. It wasn’t too long this time, deep down the Runestone mine, but of all the falls, it definitely hurt the most. She could barely let out a whimper after she careened straight into stone, hovering for just the slightest moment before impact. Flutter had saved her from it being fatal, but it hadn’t let her down gently either, perhaps due to her already weakened state. Frankly, she wasn’t entirely convinced she was alive, seeing light at the end of a long dark tunnel.
After a few seconds of anguish, she realized that it was actually the geyser hole, just seeing it from underneath. The way the daylight twinkled down the mineshaft, reflecting off the shimmering Runestones, damned if it was beautiful. Her eyes started to well up at the sight, but that also definitely could have been from the pain.
[Health: 3% | Situation Critical | Recommendation: Lay still and recuperate until you can move. You are in no immediate danger]
Sure thing, you got it bud. The DGS wouldn’t lie to her, right? It was made by Demons, yes, but it had been a trustworthy, albeit sometimes moody and unhelpful companion through and through. There must have been no more Malignants around, and she wasn’t bleeding to death, or it definitely would have mentioned that. But yeah, she wasn’t moving anytime soon. Angelica thought for a moment that her back might be broken from the fall, but she could wiggle her toes, so it was probably fine. Undoubtedly, Punching Bag had reduced the impact to keep her body from shattering.
She was just tired, so very tired. Angelica considered returning to an Imp for a moment but decided against it. Her pain was more spread out this way, aching just right that she could tolerate the hurt in each part of her body just enough to not break down sobbing. If she returned to a puffball, that would just condense the anguish. Plus, she didn’t want to find out if she now had bald spots from the stomach acid. So yeah, laying there for a bit was what she was gonna do. Well, that and apparently listen to what the voices in her head had to say.
[Order complete. Demon Growth System filter removed]
That must have been Vystal’s Order. The Contract didn’t end since the Demon hadn’t been paid, but that must mean the last of the Malignants had been defeated. With the eel killed, they undoubtedly made quick work of the stragglers. So it was really over, and damned if she wasn’t going to demand hazard pay, having felt a bit deceived by the scope of the job. But for now, she had to brace herself for the slew of messages from the DGS.
[Cold Resistance Lv.6, Manifest Ice Lv.7, Toxic Imbuement Lv.6, Frostbite Lv.9, Multi-Bounce Lv.10, Jump Good Lv.5, Flutter Lv.4, Stab Lv.8, Airstrike Lv.5, Wallop Resistance Lv.6, Punching Bag Lv.8, Poison Eater Lv.3, Toxic Lv.5, Divining Ear Lv.3, Suspecting Skin Lv.4, Seeking Projectile Lv.5, Biting Hailstorm Lv.3]
[Passive Skill: Laceration Resistance Lv.2 unlocked]
[Passive Skill: Decay Resistance Lv.3 unlocked]
[Might, Vigor, Creativity, Malice heftily increased]
[Might has improved from Weak to Blunt]
[Vigor has improved from Delicate to Brittle]
[Malice has improved from Hesitant to Uncommitted]
[Competence, Beguilement notably increased]
[Lucidity, Obstinance increased]
[139 Critical Hits inflicted]
[Competence absurdly increased]
[Competence has improved from Capable to Threat]
[Pestilence Attunement absurdly increased]
[Pestilence Attunement has improved from Embraced to Intertwined
[Destruction, Glacial Attunement heftily increased]
[Destruction, Glacial Attunement has improved from Touched to Embraced]
[Balletic, Suffering Attunement notably increased]
[Gnostic Attunement increased]
[65 Malignants defeated]
[A requirement for Scourge-Cleanser - Rank 4 has been cleared]
[Gained 2,744 Essence. 672 Essence was already used for Rank increases. New tally: Gained 2,072 Essence]
When the messages ended, the last bit of dirt healing tapered away. It was enough to just return Angelica’s Health to double digits, allowing her to sit upright. There was still the matter of getting out of the mine. She could just do what the DGS suggested and keep laying there until she recuperated, then Multi-Bounce her way to freedom. Or maybe they’d send Xinder down soon enough to retrieve her. Orrrrrr, she could just use Return, crawl into bed, and sort things out with the Zenmoon sect later after she was fully recovered. Yeah, Gelic was leaning toward that option.
[You have enough Essence to increase your Demon Rank. Would you like to consume 1,347 Essence to reach Imp Lv.20?]
[Note: This action is highly recommended]
Err, yeah, sure. Apparently the messages weren’t done afterall. Levelling up right now wasn’t at the top of her concerns, but if it made the DGS happy. And the euphoria from her levels eased the pain a bit, and the additional Health definitely didn’t hurt. Gelic probably should have thought to do it herself without the system reminding her.
[You have reached the requirement. Evolution is now available]
Nice.
[A citation has been issued, Evolution is no longer available]
Not nice, scuffing hell, you teasing ass system!
[You are unregistered. Imps are prohibited from Evolution until they complete registration. Would you like to be transported to the nearest Demon Services Office to complete your registration?]
Erm… Angelica didn’t have an immediate answer. That was so sudden. Where was this office? How far was it? How would she get back? Return, obviously, that one was a simple answer. But should she be worried about all of her Secrets when it came to registration?!
[Special note: This action is extremely recommended. Upon completing Evolution, your Health will be restored to 100%, and all injuries will cease to exist]
Yep, she was sold. No more information needed, all concerns quickly vacating her mind at the promise of immediate relief. Alright, send me to the registration office.
[You will be transported momentarily]
“Gelic!” A voice called out to her from above, sounding like Rastille. But she never got the chance to confirm that, the shadowy figure from the edge of the hole up high vanishing from sight. What replaced it, though, was a much less comforting vision. Not that Angelica could see it for long before her entire body was engulfed in flames.