Myth//OS - Chapter 63 (Patreon)

Pling!

I plucked an Ether String and a stone spike slammed up from the floor, stabbing right through the route of the creature. The green-skinned creature slammed into the spike, shooting off a spray of debris and dust like a shotgun blast. The loud sound was like the bell of a ring fight, and instantly jogged my two teammates into motion.

”Damn, the Lesser Wind Oni is way more intimidating in person!” Rabbyte bounced back and her thruster lit up. She shot upward toward one of the support beams and grappled onto it. A spike slammed into it, stabilizing and granting her a superior firing position. “Initiate Combat Mode!”

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

Bullets erupted from her in a steady stream. The lesser Oni took a few of them before it flicked open the bag on its shoulder, releasing a tide of wind to create a wall. The windwall blocked her projectiles entirely like it was some kind of shield.

While it was distracted, Aggronaut slammed forward with his shield and caught the creature on the chest. It staggered back a step, but it easily stood at two times his size. It’d take more than that to make it fall. And that was where I came in.

I hadn’t remained idle after the initial rock spike. My Will Wire crawled across the stone floor like a snake and snapped around the creature’s legs. With the combination of Echoing Reinforcement and Ebonshroud, it resisted the creature’s attempts to break free.

Aggronaut slammed forward again. Ether surged from me into a new string at the exact same time, casting Arcane Boost onto the man. Usually, it was a touch type spell. I got around that by connecting myself to him through a thin strand of Ebonshroud. It was just a small nudge to assist his strength, but it was more than enough to slam the bound creature to the ground.

“GRAH!” The Oni let out a furious shout and wind exploded from its body, launching it into the air. Aggronaut’s top half bent backward sharply with the intense air pressure, though the Grounded Skill kept his legs right where they were.

The air wave slammed into me a moment later. Ebonshroud spikes shot down from my boots and ground me to the floor, and another layer trailed up my back to support my posture. With Brace added into the mix, I didn’t even flinch.  

The Lesser Wind Oni stopped midair with wind surging out of its flabby green-body. It twisted, and its tusked mask pointed squarely toward Rabbyte hanging from the rafters of the temple. 

Aggronaut grit his teeth and snapped back up with his shield raised. “Oni? More like phony!” 

The taunt enraged the creature and made its skin turn an even uglier shade. Wind surged out of its back, and it slammed down toward our Vanguard. The man skillfully deflected the blow to the side instead of taking the force squarely on his shield. He dodged the wild lunge at the last moment and got a clean slice across the Oni’s side with his sword.

A trail of bullets made it through the wind and pattered across the flabby body of the Lesser Wind Oni. Wounds tore open across its body, though it didn’t slow the boss monster for even a second. It swing a clawed hand tipped with wind blades toward Aggronaut—

Pling! Pling!

It wasn’t two string magic, but two strings played right after each other. Echoing Reinforcement filled the ether strings, making the noises echo with a slightly haunting quality. It was the best I could do with my current limitations.

A rock spike slammed up into the creature’s groin, taking it completely off guard. Just before impact, Frost Fang wrapped around the spike of earth and gave it an icy touch. 

The spike hit home, causing the Oni to twitch fiercely as its attack lost all ferocity. It staggered back and broke the stone spike with a clawed burst of wind, though not before taking a dozen more bullets and several shallow slashes from Aggronaut. 

It stepped backward onto thin air. Several more steps followed right after, and it easily left the ground using the Skill I was here for—Wind Stride. It bounced up away from another earth spike and lifted its clawed hand.

Wind surged around me, attempting to whisk me into the air. It failed, of course. I wasn’t an amateur. It did, however, succeed in distracting the Oni just long enough for Rabbyte to get a heavy hit in—

Boom!

A rocket slammed into the creature’s face, snapping its head back in a brilliant explosion. It fell from the sky a few steps, and then lifted itself once more with a burst that made my ears whine with pressure. If it was like this for me, I could only imagine how bad it was for Rabbyte with her much more sensitive rabbit ears.

The surging wind scattered the remnant explosion, revealing slightly charred skin and a cracked face mask. Knotted ropes around the creature's shoulder where it held the wind bag caught fire, trailing smoke into the air. It slashed forward with its clawed hands toward Aggronaut and I—“Look out, Moon!!”

Ebonshroud lifted into a pure white tower shield, fully protecting me from the front. The instant later, a heavy impact slammed into it and wind blades cut deep gouges into the substance. Dissonant wind continued to work against it for several moments, resisting my attempts to repair the damage.

Aggronaut wasn’t so lucky. His shield blocked most of the damage, but one wind blade slammed through his arm and sprayed a trail of blood across the ground. I cast Earth Spike right in front of him to create temporary cover. “Okay?”

“Just Peachy.” He gritted his teeth and pointed his sword forward. “Impressive! Even the wind has more direction than you!”

The Oni dropped—and then hesitated just before hitting the ground. Instead, it darted back and lashed forward with several more barely visible blades of distorted air. While it did that, wind gathered around its feet, creating a tornadic suction that attempted to pull us in and up to it.

I formed a javelin of Ebonshroud and let it loose after a quick cast of Frost Fang. The pressure sucked it in fiercely, amplifying the strength of the javelin and boosting it right past the wind wall that kept most of Rabbyte’s spray out. It slammed into the monster’s arm, spreading ice across its skin and piercing deeply.

A moment later, a torrent of bullets followed its path and shattered the icy skin. A chunk of its arm was blown off, and the Oni staggered backward with its limb hanging backward. A wind wall surged out and blocked Rabbyte’s freshly repositioned location.

“I got it!” Aggronaut dropped his grounding skill and let himself be sucked in by the wind. He flew through the air and caught the Oni's staggered backhand attack with his shield. His sword lashed out mid block, slamming into the creature’s face—or it should’ve if the Oni hadn’t sacrificed its limp arm last minute.

Instead of getting a fatal headshot, Aggronaut’s sword cut through the rest of the tattered arm. The arm flopped and was shot off to the far wall by a burst of wind. The Oni opened its bag once more with its remaining arm and a massive burst of wind launched our Vanguard away. 

I skillfully controlled my ether and cast an earth spike. A moment later, the Will Wire snaked around the earth spike, tied itself to it, and extended up to catch Aggronaut by the foot just before he could fly out the open doors of the temple. He slammed into the ground when its bag deflated.

Rabbyte dropped off the pillar as a wind blade sliced through the wood, and her thruster guided her along the edge of the room. She carefully controlled her momentum and opened fire, hitting the Oni with over half her shots. It threw up its arm, blocking most of the projectiles with a thin wall of wind. A few got through, though, and opened up even more bleeding wounds across its body. 

The Oni dropped to the ground—just in time for another earth spike to slam up into its stomach. I hadn’t moved since the start of the fight. Ebonshroud had done more than just ground me—I spread it across under the stonework of the temple’s floor. It wrapped around the stone spike and sharpened to a deadly point that pierced the creature’s thick hide. 

Blood squirted around the spike impaling it, and still the Lesser Wind Oni resisted. It dropped its head back and stared toward the sky. “GGRRRRAH!”

Wind coalesced around it into a sphere, completely isolating the monster from the three of us. The air around it took a faintly green hue, and spikes and blades of wind spun around it quicker and quicker with each passing moment. 

“It’s the Broken Wind Howl! Get cover!” Rabbyte shouted and made a break for the statue on the far side of the room.

Aggronaut charged in front of me and slammed his shield into the ground. “Stay behind me!”

”…” I would’ve been fine, but the help was appreciated none the less. I moved a bit closer and stretched out my hand. Ebonshroud flowed and created a white layer of additional protection around us.

”RAH!” The Oni let out one final screech and the wind burst out into a spray of deadly wind projectiles that tore across the space. Wood, stone, and decorations alike were shredded and turned into flying debris that caused even more damage.

The Broken Wind Howl, the Lesser Wind Oni’s final move, slammed into us a moment later. Aggronaut’s boots dug into the floor and his shield screeched loudly. Impacts slammed across my Ebonshroud layer, peeling it back with the sheer force of the blow. 

“Haah!” Aggronaut let out a shout of his own and forced his strength into his legs. He held it up throughout the entire wind burst, and only dropped once the wind howl stopped.

The Oni lifted a weak hand toward the sky and sank to the ground. The Ebonshroud spike was still impaled into its stomach, though the rock had been sliced off by its fierce attacks. 

Rabbyte opened fire from behind the creature, and bullet after bullet slammed into the back of its head. It finally burst like a ripe watermelon, and its mask shattered into pieces. The once snarling mask scattered across the ground—and then faded away into light green tinged ether.

The rest of the Lesser Wind Oni followed a beat later and the air charged with a heavy etheric pressure.

[Code: RC-0]

[Rift: Open - 29:59]

Rabbyte dropped down next to us and her thruster blinked out. She hopped a few steps to bleed off the momentum and then twirled around to face us with her fingers spread out into a V. “That wasn’t so bad! Great job, team!”

”Nice shooting.” Aggronaut smiled and pressed a hand to his arm. ”And thanks for the save earlier, Moon. With my luck, I probably would’ve gone right over the edge of the cliff.”

”…” I silently nodded and moved over to him. Ebonshroud flowed out and created a roll of bandages. 

“Ah, its just a flesh wound.” Aggronaut tried to wave it off, though didn’t resist my effort to stop the bleeding. “There’s a med patch in my bag.”

“Yep.” The bandage followed my will and wrapped itself around my wrist to free my hand. I dug through the bag and found it buried right underneath a bunch of useless antidote bottles. 

The mad patch was pretty easy to use. Point at the wound, and then click the button on the back. A liquid shot into his arm, and a hemostatic foam followed a moment later to cover up the injury in a protective layer. 

It bubbled slightly, causing Aggronaut to hiss through his teeth. I touched the foam and ran Radiance through it on a bright blast to cleanse out any latent poison that might’ve snuck in. Then I simply wrapped the Ebonshroud bandage around the injury.

“Phew. Thanks for the help.” Aggronaut backed away and moved his arm around.

Rabbyte bounced over with her mascot and leaned in to inspect the bandage. The film director bunny on her helmet was a trembling mess, and looked like it was completely frazzled by all the wind. “Woah! You totally didn’t tell me you were a combat medic too! How’d you pick that up?” 

“Practice.” Over centuries on the battlefield. We didn’t have med patches. They were quite convenient.

The ambient ether in the air surged toward us and coalesced just above where the dead Lesser Wind Oni had dropped to the ground. A bright light flashed, and two items formed.

The first was a green tome, and the other was a curved dagger that partially resembled the Oni’s claws.

[Skill Tome: Lesser Updraft]

[“In the war of — — — - - —, the Wind Clans of Shanji perfected lifting — to prevent their regeneration.”

[Lesser Updraft - The wind as your instrument, whisk creatures and objects into the air.]

[Wind Bag]

[“The Wind Clans of Shanji store ambient ether in these great artifacts to unleash powerful blows at a moments notice.”]

[Wind Bag - Charges overtime. Open to release strong winds.]

“Oh, nice!” Rabbyte looked between the two items. “The Bloom Sector buys Wind Bags for a high price. Nothing like magic to supercharge wind farms.”

“I don’t need it.” Aggronaut seemed to be much more interest in the skill tome. “You want this, Moon? It seems like the perfect skill for an Anchor.”

”No.” It was kinda cool, but if he wanted it, he could have it. ‘Sides, I was here for Wind Stride specifically. Nothing else in this rift really caught my eye while I was researching it.

”I’ll take the tome, then?” The man paused just before reaching out for the items floating in ether. “Can you take care of selling the bag, Rabbyte?”

Rabbyte stretched out and snagged the Wind Bag. “Leave it to me. And the other drops, for that matter. I know a guy. I’ll send the nytes later.”

”That’s fine… we’re clearing this a bunch more anyway, right?” Aggronaut grabbed the Skill tome. It vanished from his hand a moment later.

Ether surged out, and a bit of it flowed into me. The OS displayed the usual Skills that I promptly ignored. For the last time, I didn’t want basic skills like Ether Javelin. It was kinda annoying I had to scan through so much crap every time. There were a few good ones, though.

[Skill: Wind Resistance]

[Accept?]

[Skill: Grounding]

[Accept?]

[Skill: Strength Boon]

[Accept?]

[Skill: Earth Magic]

[Accept?]

[Skill: Eyes Watching In The Dark]

The first two were mediocre. Grounding really only caught my eye since Aggronaut had it. Strength Boon was one of my first true support abilities. It was probably just Arcane Boost as a Skill. Earth Magic looked similarly related to Earth Spike. It was one of the basic magic Skills that boosted damage output on all external spells cast not from the OS.

The last one though—that one really caught my attention. The lack of an accept prompt was unique as far as I’d seen and heard. The name too… it was a bit unsettling. My instincts screamed it was a subtle warning, and yet it was supposedly a Skill from the OS.

A wave of discomfort washed over me. What could it mean? Eyes watching in the dark… it went over my head. Outside of the literal meaning, I couldn’t piece anything together. Whose eyes? Where? How were they watching us in a rift? Was it something in the rift? The clouds below the flying islands looked unnatural. Was it that? So many questions, and no answers anywhere.

”Nothing good, again.” Rabbyte sighed and her ears flopped cutely. “Ready to head back?”

”Yep.”

”When you guys are.” Aggronaught’s boyish smile returned and he rubbed at the back of his head. “You guys do remember where the rift is, right?”

“All up here.” Rabbyte tapped the side of her helmet. “Got a map overlayed. Finding our way back won't be an issue.”

“Then let’s get going.” Aggronaut took the lead, though dropped behind Rabbyte almost immediately afterward. “Hopefully we won’t need to hit this place too many more times until you guys get what you want.”

[Nighteye snickers. Flag setting, she thinks it's called. That poor man has no idea what a can of worms he just opened up on himself.]

Ugh—Nightloser? Can’t you keep stuff like that to yourself? I knocked on one of the temple’s wooden doors as I followed behind my fireteam.

— - —

AN: The rift is cleared! It only took a couple months to get through… I need to reread back through Myth//OS and ensure I still remember all the small details D:

I looked at my notes, and holy cow did I take a lot of notes for Myth//OS. I forgot just how much content I had planned for this. Everything from small arcs to major, spanning stuff similar to the circle. I can only guess how many chapters it would take, but at least a four-five hundred. There was even a Mecha battle royale, but I might scrap that and save it for Stormfall.