Chapter 80: Eldritch Class (Patreon)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iP-3F_JKyMg7ZNn9FlAJEePUk4fjMwYzgSS-qJfDVHE/edit?usp=sharing

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The monster's frame froze in place before slowly turning towards Cayden, while Cayden frantically reduced his [Inertia] to its minimum amount. He had the strongest defenses in his frontline combat class, but the gorgon girl was second, and he had no illusions about being able to tank a hit that had punched fully through her resilient body. And from how effortlessly the cloth projectiles were able to destroy the stone pillars of the dungeon, Cayden doubted those attacks would be any weaker.

No, if he was going to survive against this monster for any length of time, he'd need to dodge at least some of its attacks. And for that, he needed the boost to agility that his low [Inertia] gave him. Luckily for him, killing esprits hadn't required any mana beyond what he used for each [Taunt], and the run through the dungeon had given him enough time to fully regenerate, so even after [Taunting] and shifting his [Inertia], he had close to three-quarters of his mana pool remaining. Which was good, because Cayden worried that he would need it.

He waited for the monster's first attack, prepared to dodge...only to be surprised when the monster stared at him for only a few seconds before turning its attention back to Valeria.

That...wasn't what he'd been hoping for.

He was hesitant to cast [Taunt] again and waste his limited mana pool when the first one had such little effect. So instead, he decided to try and get the monster's attention the old-fashioned way. Angling his run towards where Delphia and Marrianne were crouched over the gorgon girl, he broke into a sprint.

Cayden had no intention of drawing the monster's focus toward the wounded student, but they had something he needed: a weapon. He hadn't brought his spear with him on this delve, as the narrow corridors of the maze, coupled with the smaller nature of the monsters they expected to encounter, had made him think it wouldn't have been necessary.

He was annoyed – being caught without useful gear seemed to be turning into a worrying trend for him.

Cayden wasn't the best with a sword. He'd trained with one, of course, but it hadn't come as naturally to him as the spear or his claws, and neither had it seemed as suited to his build. But his claws wouldn't cut it if he was planning on engaging the monster, as he doubted getting in close enough to use them would have a positive ending.

Barely slowing down, Cayden scooped the discarded sword from the ground near the wounded gorgon and turned his charge toward the monster at the center of the chamber. As he ran forward, he let loose a battle cry, a yell of fury and defiance that would hopefully draw at least some of the monster's focus.

The cry came out of his throat weak and strangled, his voice breaking halfway through. He'd obviously become overly reliant on [Taunt], and his battle cry suffered for it – if their circumstances had been any less dire, Cayden would have blushed from the embarrassing display. Luckily, the monster didn't seem to care about the quality or manliness of Cayden's yell, which accomplished its purpose: half of the wraps, which had previously been extending from the monster's cloth-enclosed body towards Valeria, retreated and then rocketed toward Cayden instead.

Cayden twisted to the side as the off-white wraps shot towards him, making use of his lower [Inertia] to gracefully dodge each of the appendages. It...was surprisingly easy, and Cayden released a sigh of relief. Close to a dozen separate cloth wraps had been launched toward him, and he hadn't even had to rely on dodging behind a pillar to stay ahead of them. After the minor success, he decided to push his luck and didn't keep running after dodging the last of the wraps, instead staying by the extended appendage and swinging down at it with his full strength behind the sword.

It rebounded as if the cloth were made of stone, and Cayden barely managed to keep his grip on his weapon as he backed away. With his lower [Inertia] he'd not had as much force behind his swing, but his skill would've only affected his own [Inertia], not that of the sword. If his swing didn't so much as scratch a single length of cloth...

He looked over at the cloth-wrapped monster, completely enclosed beneath layers of the material.

How were they supposed to hurt it? Much less kill it?

Cayden broke from his reverie as the strands of cloth that he'd dodged turned and homed in on his position. After they'd missed their initial mark, he'd expected the monster to retract its appendages before shooting them out at him again, but it was clear the monster had no such limitations. The wraps arced through the air toward Cayden, who frantically backpedaled behind a nearby pillar. But as he'd seen from the few seconds he'd watched of Valeria's fight with the monster, that didn't stop the cloth.

The pillar of stone slowed the monster's cloth tentacles down, but it couldn't stop them. Dust and debris flew as the pillar was demolished by the dozen chasing wraps, and Cayden frantically backpedaled away as he blocked one of the wraps – one that had been behind the others and hadn't had its momentum stolen from impacting the pillar – with his hand. He winced as the impact sent him flying, thankfully in the opposite direction from the monster or the wraps that were chasing the princess, landing between a pile of rubble and one of the few remaining standing pillars in the area. He quickly rolled behind the pillar and stood back to his feet, wincing again as he looked down at his hand.

His hands were the most resilient part of Cayden's body, protected by the benefits of [Clawed Grasp] on top of the rest of his defensive skills. Yet from where the edge of the cloth wrap had impacted him a thin line of blood oozed, the cut no bigger than a papercut. But the fact that the edge of the cloth was sharp enough to cut him along his palm was worrying to the extreme – he'd already resolved to avoid completely the spike attacks from the monster, and now that resolve doubled and included avoiding the wraps as well. He didn't want to see what damage the wraps might be able to inflict on any other part of his body.

Fortunately, the tentacles chasing through the pillars of stone, coupled with knocking him halfway across the room, meant Cayden had enough time to regain his bearings before they were back on top of him. Unfortunately, he'd been knocked into a section of the room almost entirely bereft of standing pillars, and the ground was littered with debris and tripping hazards that were impossible to shelter behind.

The wraps being able to chase him beyond their initial trajectories from the monster had been a surprise, but now that he knew they could adjust mid-air, he'd be able to account for it. So, once more prepared, he jumped and rolled away from the pillar as the wraps chased him, destroying the last of the limited obstacles in the area.

The next minute passed in a blur of near misses. Cayden didn't have near the speed of Valeria, but his lowered [Inertia] proved to be just enough for him to stay one step ahead of the chasing tentacles. He tried one more time to sever a wrap with a sword swing to the same disappointing result, and he was forced to block another wrap with his claws as punishment for the attempt. Thankfully, it was only a glancing blow, and he managed to stay on his feet this time. He'd hoped to get closer to Valeria or the monster as he maneuvered, to somehow come up with a plan to take the thing down for good, but the tentacles didn't give him that luxury. All his focus was needed to keep himself uninjured, and after a minute of frantically dodging, he was left right where he started.

Until suddenly – unexpectedly – the tentacles retreated back towards the monster, and Cayden allowed himself a single moment to relax.

"Look out!" a voice called as a shrill whistle sounded through the air, and Cayden activated [The Moment] – just in time.

Moving in slow motion, Cayden turned toward the monster and the dozen spikes that were already in the air and shooting toward him. The cloths wrapping around the monster had unfurled, revealing a black gaping hole in the center of the 'mummy' as the origin of the spikes, but even as he watched the cloths began weaving together to re-seal the opening.

Cayden didn't have time to consider the potential vulnerability, as his full focus was on the dozen spikes that crawled through the air toward him. His timing had been good; [The Moment] and its boost to his stats and slowed perception of time would last long enough to get through the wave of projectiles. With his slowed perception, Cayden could see a path through; he just needed to execute.

With the grace of a dancer provided by the [The Moment’s] thirty-eight percent boost to his dexterity, Cayden pirouetted around the leading spike and then ducked under the second. The third, fourth, and fifth spikes were too close together for him to dodge, even with his boosted agility. So instead he reached out and slapped at the third spike. He wasn't heavy enough to meaningfully adjust its trajectory, not with his [Inertia] turned all the way down, but it did give him the extra push he needed to get out of the way of the following two spikes. And now that he was on the edge of where the monster had been aiming, there were only two spikes remaining that were still a threat. He turned sideways to dodge, his chest barely narrow enough to squeeze between them – only to realize his mistake a second later as he heard a low ripping noise coming from just behind him.

His backpack. How could he have forgotten about his backpack?

The spike punched through the backpack as if it wasn't there. Unfortunately for Cayden, it was there, and the force that tore through the fabric and destroyed his supplies had to go somewhere. In this case, it was transferred through the straps to his body, and he was flung to the ground.

Time resumed its normal pace as he impacted, and he immediately scrambled to get back to his feet, sure that either a cloth or another wave of spikes was about to impale him. But instead, a soft hand grabbed him under the arm and helped him up.

"We have a few seconds before it attacks again," Valeria said, and Cayden allowed himself to catch his breath.

"What's the plan?" he asked, looking at the once again fully-wrapped monster. Part of him wanted to charge forward and attempt to stab it, to use the moment of opportunity to test whether the cloth had the same resiliency when it was wrapped around the monster, but he quickly dismissed that idea as foolishness. More than finding a weakness to exploit, they needed a plan, and Cayden did not want to be close and personal with the monster when it started to spit out its tentacles again.

Valeria didn't immediately respond, and Cayden turned to look at her. This close to the princess, he noticed the sheen of sweat that covered her completely and the blood that dripped from a cut on her cheek. Otherwise, she seemed fine – though she was now looking at Cayden with...suspicion?

Belatedly, Cayden realized how it might have seemed to her; this was the second time he'd randomly shown up when the princess was in mortal danger. He was a firm believer in the old saying, 'once is a coincidence, twice is happenstance, and three times is enemy action' – now he just had to convince the princess that this was all a coincidence.

"I was taking my test and heard the scream, I swear," he claimed, holding up his hands. "I didn't even know you were involved until I got here."

The princess' eyes darted over to the monster before resettling on Cayden, and then she nodded. "My damage dealer teammate is preparing a chant skill. We just need to distract it until then." She nodded toward a corner of the room with the most remaining undamaged pillars. "Try not to lead it over there."

Cayden craned his head to look where the princess had indicated but could see no sign of the princess' team's fourth member. Although if he or she was trying to hide from the monster, that was a good thing.

"Why don't you..." he twiddled his claws near his temple while jerking his head toward the monster. "[Compulse] it, or whatever?"

Valeria shook her head. "I tried. It's an eldritch class monster. Highly resistant to mental effects."

Cayden nodded, pleased that he had guessed correctly and now had an explanation for why [Taunt] was so ineffective. But that left their only option as putting their hope in Valeria's mysterious damage dealer – and Cayden wasn't a fan of putting so much trust in someone he'd never met.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he had any choice in the matter, and their time for planning quickly ran out as the cloth tentacles slowly floated away from the monster's body.

"How are you doing? Gonna be able to keep this up?" he asked with their limited remaining time, and Valeria just responded with a flat glare before turning and sprinting away. "Guess that answers that..." he mumbled to himself before sprinting in the opposite direction, dodging the first of the cloth wrappings that shot out toward him. "Back to it."

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