Chapter 246: Naval Battle (Patreon)

“Milord!” a grease-stained host shouted, intruding on Vincent’s limited quiet time.

He rubbed his throbbing temple and turned in his chair.

“What is it?” He asked, carefully keeping his voice neutral.

“Lookouts spotted something coming out of Steve.” The host said, thumbing over his shoulder.

“What?”

“Some kind of island?”

What? Is stuff passing through it’s digestive system unharmed now that it’s undead? That would make it hard to do what I want to do with it, Vincent thought, standing.

If the snake was shitting out all the islands he was trying to lock down so Zodiac had no place to run, then he would have to get more creative. Possibly by sticking the islands to the outside and wrapping the snake around them.

As long as they were close enough that Steve’s Cannibalize explosion would wipe them off the map, then it was fine.

It wasn’t a major problem, just an annoyance.

“It appears to be accelerating away from st-?”

Vincent was out the door before the man finished saying ‘away’.

The walls of the barge flashed past Vincent’s eyes, and he barely felt the stairs under his feet, emerging into the cold air of the 11th Floor.

“Spyglass.” Vincent said, feeling one drop into his palm.

He raised the glass to his eye and followed the pointing finger of his lookout, orienting on a twinkle of blue light.

Vincent’s mental finger was hovering over the string of Cannibalize, an instant away from vaporizing everyone on the Floor and using a Door to escape.

Wait.

Vincent saw that the Key Site was being tugged along behind the floating island, facing directly back towards Steve.

They’re wary of the explosion.

Damn. They’ve already figured it out.

Part of Vincent wanted to detonate Steve and be done with it, but he didn’t think it would have the effect he wanted if he blew it now.

Zodiac and his illusionist were probably far enough away to buy Doors and leave before the wave of flames hit them, and the people on the island might be spared by the Key Site acting as a breakwater.

It would amount to nothing. Or nearly nothing.

DAMN!

Enemies had just spent unknown hours to days inside the undead he had been proud of. Rather than be warded off, they had gone inside the damn thing, where he would’ve been able to kill them instantly…if he’d known they were there.

And now they had a shield against the Floor-wiping explosion, stolen out from his under his nose.

It was incredibly frustrating.

Vincent took a deep breath and let go of his anger, numbing the parts of his brain responsible.

Simply a move on the board. You make your, they make theirs. Anger is unproductive.

“Bring us to the island. We need to take it from them.”

“Is it Zodiac?” the host beside him asked.

“Too slow. This is someone else.” Vincent said, handing off the spyglass. “Someone who thinks they’re clever.”

In his mind, Vincent matched the aggressive, flamboyant, near-suicidal move against the other Lords that might’ve come to kill him.

Marksman would just shoot me. Or perhaps detonate Steve from a distance prematurely.

Bakton’s approach would be more balanced. He would never expose himself to that kind of risk.

Ghoul might manipulate Cannibalize itself to counter the spell.

Akul is too old for that shit.

The only people young enough to do something that stupid are the new Lords.

The only new Lords actually powerful enough to accomplish it are Carrie Envar and maybe…William Oh?

William Oh’s Stronghold is on the 10th Floor. It would likely be much easier for him to attack than it would be for Carrie Envar, whose Stronghold is on the 14th.

…It’s probably William Oh.

William Oh: Adaptable. Rogue/Ranger, Relic-focus Build with a sub in Terrain. Able to steal Relics from other Climbers, modify terrain, rumors of teleportation Abilities, Dimensional Storage, telekinesis, and unknown-yet-powerful detection Abilities.

In short, a slippery son of a bitch.

A thought occurred to Vincent.

He’s the one they told me wounded Tassos…how?

If I come after him myself, he’ll target my Relics to try and cripple my Build, and if I send a fae, he’ll likely have improved whatever technique he used to wound Tassos.

…Let’s just hit him with everything we have then, and overwhelm any fancy tricks.

Playing it conservatively would only give Wiliam Oh the ability to adapt and counter.

He had to be crushed from the onset. He might be shifty, but he wasn’t overwhelmingly strong.

He couldn’t take everyone at once.

William Oh

World Traveller Level 55

56 + 424 Strength

168 + 296 Resistance

165 + 342 Kinesthetics

216 + 174 Acuity

110 + 207 Focus

Charges: 180/317

Free Points: 0

Non-stat Item Abilities: +30% Move/Attk, Scaling Move SpeedX2 (Kin/Res), +65% Dimensional Potency, +85% Rogue Potency, 50% A/V reduction, Ghostwalk, +40% All-radius, Homeland Advantage, +85% Detection Radius, Scaling Rogue Cooldown, 25% All Dmg Mitigation, Scaling Ranger Ability linger, +90% Ranger Potency, +40% Terrain potency, Scaling footing boost, Freedom of movement: Terrain.

Phantom Hand Slots: -(Hammer of God)- (Ring of Explosive Doughmaking) (Wand of the Undead Retainer) (Sickle of Malignant Silence) (Dimensional Coiled Serpent Amulet)

Primary Abilities: Aspect of the Immortal Serpent**, Phantom Hand(x6), Map**

Secondary Abilities: Sourdough** Uru Drake’s Eye

Tertiary Abilities: Phantom Eye

…I could probably take everyone at once, Will thought as he studied his stats as well as the barge approaching from a distance.

 The air in front of him was lensed in such a way that it made the distant barge filled with Climbers seem close enough to touch.

The problem was…

The hundred or so Climbers on the surface of the Barge, looking back at him with misplaced determination…weren’t actually infected with Norworms.

They were just stupid.

According to Anna, Void had stolen their support from Zodiac by removing norworms from the brains of dozens of their people and then accused Zodiac of being the real worm.

Since Zodiac had kept everything under wraps, he really did look like the bad guy.

Now, if Will unleashed Hammer of God on these Climbers, he would probably vaporize every single one of these misled bastards in the blink of an eye.

They were not as resilient as the island-sized snakes, no matter how much Resistance they had.

And if Will slaughtered hundreds of Climbers inside the Tower, the System might penalize him harshly.

Meat-shields.

Will’s current Build was optimized for overwhelming firepower, which didn’t work for this particular problem, since he didn’t actually want to kill all of them.

The sickle of Malignant Silence is also out. Even more so than the Hammer of God. It’s just too deadly.

Which leaves…the ring of explosive Doughmaking – unlikely – the wand of the Undead retainer, and the Coiled Serpent Amulet…assuming I steal it back from Heath, who it is currently loaned out to.

…And if I sneak Phantom Hand over there and hit Void with a projectile it’ll kill half his crew too, and it won’t deal any impact damage to his meatsuit, which is what I actually want.

The Coiled Serpent Amulet was ideal for single-target elimination. With his current Build, it would let him leap in and hit someone for outrageous amounts of damage before leaping back out.

Unless he’s got damage reflection or a damage chain.

With that in mind, Will settled on the wand.

He wanted subtlety.

Switch to Wand of the Undead Retainer?

Yes.

Pop!

Gods, I hate that sensation. Will thought as the finger housing Hammer of God popped and blackened, with the sensation of pulling out of the joint. It always sent shivers up his spine.

Will’s stats dropped precipitously, mostly Strength, by over three hundred. But the benefit...

Wand of the Undead Retainer

+3 Acuity

+77 focus

+193% potency of necromancer archetype Abilities.

1 charge: Heal Undead. Repairs undead tissue. Some reassembly required. Does not revive dead undead.

5 Charge: User may summon one permanent low-power Undead Retainer, to a maximum of 11.

The Undead Retainer is an intangible spirit with the ability to interact with the physical world, performing complex tasks for the wielder. They are sustained by the wand, not reliant on the wielder's Focus. If the wand is unequipped, the Undead Retainer is dismissed.

The Undead Retainer can be the target of Abilities requiring a living sacrifice and subject to lifedrain, as though it were alive.

180->125 Charges remaining.

Eleven butlers emerged from the other side, bowing as they formed out of ectoplasm.

“Stevie, Billy-bob, Noob…the other eight.” Will said, scanning the assembled butlers.

Over the course of his Lordship, they’d been indispensable for the purpose of making Will seem like he had any idea what he was doing.

Everyone wondered how his clothes were always clean, his paperwork always done on time, his home always immaculate.

It was easier for Will to let everyone believe that William Oh was superhumanly organized, competent and didn’t need sleep.

“What do you need, my lord?” Stevie spoke for the group as the senior-most butler.

“I want you to go over there and harry the enemy.” Will said, expanding the view so they could see the approaching barge as well. “Sus out if they have any tricks up their sleeve. Generate some fear of ghosts for me to use too, if you can. Don’t kill any of the Climbers save a rather skinny fellow wearing a fire opal crown. You’ll know him when you see him. Be careful around that one. He’s a necromancer, so he may be able to damage or turn you.”

“As you wish.” The eleven butlers sank into the floor and flitted away.

They were over twenty times stronger than they had originally been, but that didn’t mean they were unstoppable. Their original strength hadn’t been substantial, and they were up against level thirty-five to fifty individuals.

And now for something to distract them from the ghosts. They’re ill-suited to direct assaults.

Will took out the clay idol of Ouroboros.

Sourdough

125->124 Charges remaining.

Will flew outside the Island, and broke the clay idol over his knee, using Sourdough at the same time.

An Immortal Serpent the size of an island appeared beneath him. Will grabbed it with Phantom Hand and flung it forward as the clay idol slowly began to reconstitute itself.

“Scare them good, but don’t kill!” Will shouted after it, pocketing the clay idol.

One of the best benefits of Sourdough, aside from combining Relics, was changing a consumeable Relic, to a re-usable one, just by paying Charge.

Will’s Resistance and Ranger Archetype boost were high enough that it took just under a week to come back, rather than a month. With the Ring of Explosive Doughmaking, that became instantaneous.

To Will’s surprise, the Immortal Serpent began accelerating, somehow generating speed by wiggling in midair.

Well, if it works.

Will had been worried that it might miss entirely, but since it could swim through the air…that didn’t seem to be a problem.

Phantom Eye.

123 Charges remaining.

Will sent the eye out with his Phantom Hand for targeted strikes.

Maybe the snake would be enough of a distraction. Maybe Void would feel Undead treading on his terrain.

Would he be able to detect Phantom Hand as well?

Let’s see how this plays out.

Across the vast gulf of distance, Vincent was peering through a spyglass, when a massive snake appeared in between them and the island.

Well, it’s William Oh. Vincent hadn’t heard of a summoning ability like that, but the kid had a snake motif, so it was as good as a signature.

That means I need to watch out for Phantom Hand. Vincent thought as the surrounding hosts jumped to action, manning their whaling stations as the snake grew larger and larger.

Where is it?

Minutes later, rather than Phantom Hand, Vincent felt no less than eleven incorporeal undead flitting across the space between them, their presence as clear as a lighthouse beacon.

Does he have a necromancer with him? Vincent thought, frowning as he reached out and seized the approaching undead. Not a very powerful one, that’s for sure.

The undead showed surprising initiative, killing themselves rather than surrendering to his control.

Is that all-

Vincent felt a flicker of miasmatic structure behind them, over a hundred yards distant, just for an instant before it pulled out of his detection range again.

A grey object streaked towards them.

BOOM!

“Milord, we took a cannonball to the rear engine!” a host shouted as he emerged from the inside of the barge.

“So we did.” Vincent said as the snake loomed larger in the distance.

For some reason, his body was smiling.

Across the distance, Will frowned.

I was hoping the ghosts wouldn’t get caught so easily. Oh well. It’s good information to have.Author's note: I realized i was overdue to actually put together a kit that Will had built over the years he was on the 10th floor.Here it is. It's relatively simple without any super complex effects because it's mostly meant to make the items in Phantom Hand outrageously good....and because i didn't have the brainpower to make something outrageoulsy original 9 times in a row.This will require me to make minor adjustments to previous chapters, but nothing outrageous. you can get by just fine without backtracking.Tomahawk of the Dimensional Hunter

+ 8 Strength

+20 Resistance

+8 Kinesthetics

+25 Acuity

+14 Focus

+65% Potency to Dimensional Abilities

+30% Movement/Attack Speed

Blade of Cunning

+ 8 Strength

+8 Resistance

+20 Kinesthetics

+25 Acuity

+10 Focus

+65% Potency to Rogue Abilities

50% reduction in audiovisual effects while stealing, intruding, or hiding.

Mask of the Phantom

+ 8 Strength

+8 Resistance

+8 Kinesthetics

+25 Acuity

+25 Focus

+65% Potency to Eidolon-Creating Abilities

Ghostwalk: 1 Charges

User may render themselves or Eidolons they create intangible. Duration and movement speed while intangible scale with Acuity.

Amulet of the Homeland Advantage

+8 Strength

+8 Resistance

+8 Kinesthetics

+8 Acuity

+8 Focus

Active: 1 Charge.

Load a terrain into the Amulet for a charge, summon that terrain around the wearer for another. This does not consume the terrain. Up to three terrains may be loaded into the amulet.

Area scales with Resistance

+40% area of Abilities.

Wristband of the Lookout

+ 8 Strength

+8 Resistance

+20 Kinesthetics

+25 Acuity

+10 Focus

+25% Potency to Rogue Abilities

+85% Radius of detection Abilities

Rogue Ability cooldowns are shortened by Kinesthetics

Cloak of the Honey Badger

+ 25 Strength

+25 Resistance

+12 Kinesthetics

+8 Acuity

+4 Focus

25% all damage mitigation. Effect increases against enemies larger than the wearer.

Pants of Obstinate Nature

+ 20 Strength

+25 Resistance

+8 Kinesthetics

+8 Acuity

+14 Focus

+45% Potency to Ranger Archetype Abilities

Ranger archetype Abilities and Effects persist beyond the user’s control. Scales with Resistance.

Boots of Grounding

+ 8 Strength

+25 Resistance

+8 Kinesthetics

+20 Acuity

+14 Focus

+45% Potency to Ranger Archetype Abilities

Increased movement Speed. Increased footing on all Terrain. Scales with Resistance.

Ring of Traversal

+8 Strength

+8 Resistance

+8 Kinesthetics

+8 Acuity

+8 Focus

+40% Potency to Terrain-related Abilities

Increased Movement Speed. Scales with Kinesthetics

Environmental resistance to traversal across all terrain lowered. Scales with Resistance.