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[Skill-Eater] Chapter 161: Saw
🕑 Added 2024-12-05 18:00:05 +0000 UTCEdge returned to his body, which was still sailing through the air. He landed in front of the frost-rimed behemoth, alive with the electrifying thrill of victory.
The garax’s eyes were wide with horror. It was reeling from the shock from having its epic skill—its pride and joy and the core of its identity—ripped out of its core. Edge staggered back in a desperate attempt to open some distance, as his chains threw intimidating roar into his mouth. Although he had survived the first stage of his plan, [Extraction] hadn’t been enough to finish the beast off.
While the rest of the team unleashed a hail of ranged attacks, he closed his jaws and began eating on the run. Fortunately, chomping on the mini-garax was much less disgusting than chewing up a live animal would have been. Although it took the form of a beast, the skill didn’t have any blood, organs, or bones.
Since he had wounded the skill before [Extracting] it, it didn’t have the strength to defend his assault. Which was a good thing, because the behemoth was starting to recover, and Edge was totally spent.
The flavor caressing his tongue was exquisite. So delicious that he almost lost himself in it, despite his pressing circumstances. Intimidating roar tasted like pure, undiluted might—the strength to dominate all who stood in his way.
He had an impression of looking down from a great height, with a sea of beasts arranged below—all bowing in his direction. Of overwhelming lesser minds with the sheer force of his presence, leaving them helpless to resist his advance.
As he raced to rejoin the others, he chewed as fast as he could and then swallowed. Edge didn’t have a free slot to socket his epic skill, but it wasn’t a problem in the short-term. He wouldn’t have to worry about it until the power finished digesting.
You have [Extracted] a rare skill (intimidating roar).
This skill is damaged, and its experience has been lost.
It will take 20 days to digest it.
Apparently epic skills took a lot longer than rare skills to digest, but Edge didn’t have time to process that now. The garax was rising from the wreckage of the farmstead—incandescent fury burning away the shock of having its prize power stolen.
It looked down at him with an expression of absolute loathing. A grudge beyond the ability of words to convey. He knew that it was about to go berserk. That the maddened beast would come at him and wouldn’t stop until he was dead, no matter what price it had to pay in the process.
Trapper’s crew had no chance of killing the enraged garax under the circumstances. They had blown through everything that they had, just to make it this far. Even if it couldn’t use its skills, the beast would annihilate them with its overwhelming Power.
But Edge had no intention of letting that happen. Now that he had claimed intimidating roar for his own, it was time to finish what he’d started.
The wounded behemoth’s muscles bulged, cracking the shell of ice encasing its body. Massive chunks came crashing to the ground, with more joining them by the heartbeat.
Within another few seconds at most, it would be free to exact its revenge on the puny creatures who had dared to defy it. Who had defiled the sanctity of its core and stolen the power that let it thrive in the high-threat biome it called home.
Which was why Edge had already raised his spellslinger and set its sights upon his towering foe. Praying that the last two rounds would be enough to end the fight, he pulled the trigger—prepared to fire the second shot the instant that he witnessed the effect of the first.
Thump. The crystalized skill took flight, as every eye in the farm tracked it progress. The spellshot flew toward the behemoth creature. But it detonated early, releasing an intense pulse of searing mana that tasted like sulfur and iron.
For a second, Edge thought that the spellshot had misfired. That he was going to have to use his final, invaluable round. But as the garax took one step, then another, the magic in the air assumed physical form—solidifying into something that was round, flat, and twenty feet wide.
What in the world is that? He wondered as everyone darted back to open more distance. He ran his eyes across a circular sheet of metal floating in the air, tracing the jagged protrusions running all the way around. You know, that looks kind of like a saw.
When the skill began to spin, Edge learned that a saw was exactly what it was, with one major twist on the concept. The disc began to rotate faster, growing hotter all the while, until the entire spell was glowing crimson. It lightened to yellow and then blinding white, as the volcanic buzzsaw continued to accelerate—filling the air with a piercing whine.
The garax realized that something was wrong when it saw the buzzsaw hanging in the air. No matter how angry it was, it knew that getting hit by a spell of that caliber was a bad idea. It aborted its attack and turned to run, but it was already too late.
It took seven steps in the opposite direction before the great flaming saw took flight. The beast never made it to eight. Before its foot came down again, the white-hot buzzsaw hit it square in the back of the neck. It might have been able to dodge that if it wasn’t injured. Possibly the first round too. Saving them for the finisher was the right move.
It was the most powerful skill that Edge had ever seen. It could have destroyed City Hall in five seconds flat, then moved on to demolish the rest of the block. Even then, it wasn’t enough to kill the behemoth instantly. The garax’s insane Durability and Disruption let it withstand the volcanic buzzsaw—at least for a few more seconds.
The saw started spinning faster, while pressing harder by the heartbeat. Its teeth began digging through scale and carving into the flesh below. The spell was cauterizing the wounds as fast as it dealt them, and the stench of burning meat rose to fill the air.
The garax tried to resist—putting everything that it had into fighting for its life. Mana congealed across its body, as the beast activated multiple defensive powers in combination with the last of its reserves.
It was too little too late. The high-rank skill contained within the spellshot overcome its protections one by one, then continued its relentless advance.
With one last roar that was cut off by a whimper, the buzzsaw severed throat and jugular. Then it kept right on going—shearing through spine before bursting out the other side in a spray of shredded meat.
The spell must have been designed to deactivate when its target was dead, in order to preserve the body. It dissipated while there was still mana left in its matrix—creating a pulsating lightshow as it blended with the ambient magicytes flowing across the Breadbasket.
The beast’s severed head toppled to the ground. It landed beside Edge with a ground-shaking thud, sizzling like a steak on the grill. Its body fell forward a few seconds later, with an impact that knocked everyone to their knees.
He let out a long sigh and let his body go limp. He was completely spent from his magical invasion of the garax’s core, not to mention the perfectly ordinary exhaustion of surviving a prolonged battle for his life.
In the heart of that surreal moment, everyone stood in shocked silence while taking in sight of the behemoth’s severed head. Then his Guide appeared in front of his face and Edge began to read.
Congratulations. You have completed a quest and received the following rewards:
2 Skill Merger Tokens.
1 Auxiliary Skill Slot (implant).
The tokens will appear in your inventory, and the implant has been automatically installed.
You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle-up your core. Your new cycle is [13].
You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle-up your core. Your new cycle is [14].
You have accumulated sufficient experience to cycle-up your core. Your new cycle is [15].
You have nine attribute points awaiting allocation.
When Edge finished the last line, another notice appeared. It informed him that he had earned even more from winning the fight than he’d thought.
You have accomplished a notable feat and have been awarded a trait.
Trait: Big Game Hunter
Holy shit. That. Was. Fucking. Awesome!
You managed to score a kill on a colossal and behemoth creature, all in the same afternoon. I’m shocked to my circuits that you’re still breathing and loved every second of the show.
I hope that you try something that batshit crazy again soon. Here’s a trait that should incentivize you to do just that.
Effect: 50% more damage with weapons and skills to creatures at least twenty times your size (excluding magtech weapons, traps, and spellshots).
25% Extra Perception when sensing creatures at least twice your size.
Edge sat there, shaking with delayed fear and exhilaration. In a few more seconds, he was going to have to answer a mountain of questions that he’d been hoping to avoid. Learn whether the crew would be willing to protect his secret or try to claim his bounty.
But for just a little longer, he let himself savor what he’d accomplished. He considered the last item on the list while everyone read through their updates.
Another trait with a weird description. The effect is top-tier though. I don’t plan on fighting anything that big on a regular basis, but Big Game Hunter will come in handy if I do. That bonus to Perception will be useful in the field though. I’ll equip the trait after I deal with this mess.
Jumo was the first person to break the silence. He turned to look Edge straight in the eyes with a penetrating gaze. Then he took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
“Edge. I don’t know how else to say this… That. Was. Amazing!” The athletic warrior broke into a beaming grin. “I have so many questions. Before we get the rest of them, is that Warren Ellington’s spellslinger you’re holding? The only way you could have that is… Edge, did you kill the manslayer too?”
Comments
Bryan Dickerson
Thanks. Really appreciate the comment.
Robert McCarter
That was very fun. Thank you! :-)
