Chapter 128

Merder Arena, Merder Stadium, Atlanta - 12:09 PM

The Uuska’s midnight black skin stretched and tore, the white dots spiraled across its body shifting to accommodate. Its hand elongated to form an axe not unlike Manny’s at the end of its long arm. Jumping down from its platform, the creature landed on the ground and its eyeless face tilted towards the sheer amount of stuff I had left in the pyramid before it collapsed.

I gave it time to figure out its environment, but I was ready to go. A steady tapping noise rang out as I kept hitting My Golden Bowling Ball with my Vague Spear like a warrior beating his weapon against his shield. My instincts were telling me to fight, but I held back on it in an attempt to simmer down.

[[Patron Quest: Defeat the Uuska!]]

I can see the expression on your face, Ant. Breathe and relax. You’re too tense.

It’s just an Uuska that watched three halves of different tournaments. It can’t match you without the Medallion, so take your time and get the blood lust you have boiling up out of your system.

Objective: Kill the Uuska.

Reward: 1,200 points, Wisdom-based skill book.

The quest screen caused me to snort involuntarily, but I did as she said and started breathing deeply. I did it while pacing back and forth and watching my prey, but I still did as she said.

All in all, she was right, and I was set up for disappointment. Even with the final match heavily showcasing my martial prowess, there was no way it was going to give me the challenge I craved. It simply hadn’t consumed enough. It was best to temper my expectations now.

The Uuska started to pace with me, copying my movements. I twirled my spear, and it did the same with its axe. I banged my bowling ball, and it created its own to mimic me.

“Nothing but a half-baked copycat,“ I accused.

Its head split in two as it opened the mouth covering its skull, revealing several rows of teeth and a long, drool covered tongue. “Embrace chaos,“ the Uuska said, its voice a garbled, barely understandable mess.

“Embrace chaos, indeed,“ I replied before I put my body into motion.

I cleared the distance between us in a mere second and stabbed the boss monster. It dodged to the side and brought its axe down. Not at me, but the Vague Spear. I allowed it, and the weapon was sliced in two.

The grass helped me slide to a stop as I Spun the pointed head of the Vague Stick and shot it directly into the Uuska’s chest. Its mouth opened again as it screamed, and I felt a shooting pain in my head from the proximity.

As it tried to recover, I swung My Golden Bowling Ball backwards. The Uuska brought up its shield and blocked my backswing. It slashed at me, but I ducked under and thrust my Vague Stick towards the piece still sticking out of the monster’s chest. They connected together despite the erratic movement, and I pushed it further as they fused.

A third hand erupted out of the boss’s chest next to the nearly remade Vague Spear and reached for my hoodie. I was forced to back away, pulling my weapon out of its chest, and the hand only barely missed grabbing the Medallion under my clothes. In anger, the boss screamed again, its mouth opening wide. The pain felt like my head was getting pounded by a jackhammer.

I Pulled two of the javelins on the ground behind the enemy towards me as I thrust my spear again. The Uuska completely disregarded my threatening stick as it suddenly lurched towards me. My weapon pierced almost all the way through its chest before I could reposition it, and I was thrown backwards as it slammed into me.

My body shook from the blow, but I managed to recover by rolling onto one knee. It was easy to recognize Crash Test, and despite my expectations I felt my blood rising again. While the Uuska couldn’t learn abilities from watching people fight, it could learn skills.

From one skill to another, the Uuska surged forward again with its axe pointed straight for my face. This one looked like Explosive Thrust though it could have been a basic charging skill, of which there were many. I raised My Golden Bowling Ball as I switched the grip on my Vague Spear. The boss’ axe scraped against the shield even as it raised its own.

I heard two more hands rip  out of the Uuska’s body, and when it was right on top of me the two javelins I had Pulled were in its grip. Throwing up my Shield, the weapons slid off though not before making it shimmer. While its skill might have been lacking, there was no shortage of Strength.

Dropping the bowling ball and Vague Stick, I wrapped my hands around the Uuska’s leg and lifted it off the ground. Attempted to, at least. Its leg got longer as I forced the main body upwards. Holes started to appear on its skin, opening up from the white dots, and wasps started flying out. I immediately let go and tried to roll away.

A rope slammed onto my arm, and I felt my body go numb from the same spell Tito used to slow me down before. “Wasp on wasp combat!“ I yelled, activating the Swarm Call spell to counteract the Uuska’s. The wasps flew at each other, though there were so many that I couldn’t tell if it had more than I did.

Scrambling to my feet, I started pulling against the rope that was numbing my body. It was hitting me harder than the Crowd Stopper’s, though that made sense; Tito didn’t have boss stats behind him. I hit the manifested spell with a Pull as I tried to bring the Uuska into the cloud of wasps, but the monster dug its feet in.

I wrapped the rope around my arm and Pulled My Golden Bowling Ball back into my hand. Winding up, I threw it at the Uuska. It lit aflame as I Pushed it through the wasps, creating a hole in the cloud as it slammed into the monster’s chest. I could see that it had created extra hands to stop the blow, but it didn’t mitigate all the damage, especially not the fire damage.

The Uuska tried to wrap its arms around the ball, but it started falling to the ground before I Pulled it back to me. As the only authorized user, any other person or creature that even so much as tried to hold it would find themselves unable to. I grabbed the ball and threw it again.

My body started to recover from the numbness as the rope vanished into thin air. There was no way for the Uuska to dodge when I was pulling him, not without putting itself in a vulnerable position, and it side stepped. Regardless of its intentions, I caused My Golden Bowling Ball to curve in the air after it with Orbit, and it slammed into the beast again.

Opening its skull mouth, the Uuska screamed in frustration and pain. Once again, I ignored the pounding in my skull, though it was harder now. The more it screeched, the more damage it would cause me on repeat performances. I Lifted the bowling ball, repositioned it, and Dropped it.

The screaming stopped immediately as I shattered some of its teeth before Pulling it back. “You don’t even need a mouth, why do you have so many teeth?“ I asked as I Pulled my Vague Stick back to me.

I hadn’t expected an answer, and the Uuska ran straight for me now that the wasp cloud had dispersed. It kept its shield, but the axe that made up its other hand turned into a large hammer, which it swung down at me.

Throwing myself to the side, I heard the ground break where I had just been standing. I looked back to see a crater despite the soft grass, courtesy of what I assumed was the Groundbreaker skill, and the Uuska’s hammer fist was buried deep within it. Rolling into a standing position, I turned back.

It came at me again with the same motion, and I was forced to backpedal to avoid getting smacked. The boss had made its arm longer in order to keep the advantage in reach, but it barely slowed down despite the extra distance. Every time it brought the hammer down, another crater would form in the ground. I stopped as it struck the grass for the third time and braced my Vague Spear.

I activated Crash Test, flinging myself forward. The Uuska attempted to stop me by pulling up its shield and tilting it away, but I wasn’t having any of that. I readjusted and pierced through, going for where the heart would normally be. The moment the spear was in its chest I quickly lifted the Uuska off of the ground. Its legs elongated once again, but the moment we went over one of its craters the connection broke.

Willing the Vague Spear to grow spikes along its entire length, aside from where I was holding, I grunted with effort to hoist the Uuska above me. It was flailing, trying to throw me off balance, but once I came to a stop I was able to get control of it by stabilizing the weapon with my Warmind abilities.

The spikes couldn’t grow very long, but they were very disruptive and painful. I could see the Uuska’s body shifting in an attempt to get free, slowly moving to the side where it could spit it out, and I made one more alteration. I fanned out both ends so that it turned into something that looked like a double ended shovel. Then, I brought it down onto the ground.

It crashed with a satisfying thud.

We had gotten far enough into the pile of random junk that I had no problems with finding things to throw at the Uuska. I Pushed, Pulled, and caused javelins, arrows, and ball bearings to strike it. Shifting my body, I switched my grip and brought the monster up. Its legs grew again, but it had created more craters to disrupt it.

During this swing, I used my Warmind ability to collect caltrops and put them in its path. The Uuska tore across the Vague Stick for a second time, its body shredding to pieces, before it hit the ground. Its back arched unnaturally, avoiding most of the caltrops but still getting a few lodged into its shoulders. Raising my foot, I stomped down on the part of its chest where it was trying to eject the spiked stick.

Hands broke out of its body and grabbed my foot, stopping me. A jolt of electricity passed through my body, causing my muscles to tense, though I gripped the Vague Stick harder because of it. I breathed out as a residual shock wracked my muscles. Despite the attack, I never took my eyes off of the monster.

Pulling my foot free, I started kicking its other side. The hands retracted before emerging to protect itself, and I switched sides again.

“Piece of shit, you having some trouble?“ I yelled. “Can’t figure out what to do next because all your moves are losing ones?“

The Uuska could barely do much more with its arms except block. It could have retracted the shield, but it remained pinned to its chest by the spiked stick. It could have swung at me with its hammer, but it was too busy trying to prevent me from damaging it. The monster was panicking, releasing its psychic scream, but the attack wasn’t nearly as powerful as it was before; it was running out of steam.

I adjusted my Vague Stick and yanked it out of the boss before taking a few steps backwards. It struggled to get up, and every time it moved I skewered it with some new and exciting object. The Uuska was starting to look like a pincushion.

“And I don’t feel satisfied at all,“ I spat. Pacing back and forth again, I looked up at the sky. “I should just give it the Medallion. That way, I’ll get everything I want.“

[[Patron Message]]

Anthony Franklin, you know that giving it the Medallion is an unwise choice.

Breathe. This is just the Regression Imbalance, isn’t it? Just kill it. Please.

Sincerely,

Sara

“But think of all the points,“ I said. “And the increased rewards, and the challenge! And I’ll get to… I’ll be able to use…“

Reaching up, I placed my hand on my head. I wanted to use Break Free and I wanted to fight something on par with Amlex. The fact that this Uuska was just a husk of what it could be, of what it was meant to be, irked me in a way I didn’t think possible. It crawled towards me, clearly suffering, and all I wanted to do was make it try to kill me better.

[[Patron Message]]

Ant, I can clearly see you’re on the fence about this.

I would rather you not, but if you must, then just do it.

Whatever you decide, I’m with you.

Always,

Sara

“That’s not helpful!“ I yelled before slapping my mask. “Fine, fine!“

In a fit of rage, I raised the Vague Stick above my head, changing it into a spear once again, and skewered the Uuska’s face. It started writhing even more before stopping, and I pulled away the weapon and looked at the crowd. Despite the amount of people packed inside, only a few cheered or screamed. It was almost silent.

All at once, people started screeching. It wasn’t due to the fact that I won, their cadence was all wrong for that. I spun around to see the Uuska’s body stitch back together, and my eyes widened. It had slight regenerative abilities, sure, but not like this. This looked more like-

I blinked, and the Uuska was gone. No longer was it in my field of view, and I lurched forward in an attempt to get away from its most probable location. It had to have used a skill like Kayla’s Fey Step, or something similar to teleportation. They were rare and I knew there wasn’t anyone in any of the tournaments who had one, aside from her. Which meant the administrators were cheating. Again.

Before I could make it too far, I felt a hand drill into my back. Shifting caused it to miss my spine by a fraction of an inch and it burst out through my chest. My body went limp, but I could see it clearly. Held up by the boss’ arm, I saw my Medallion of Uuska.

Unbelievable pain the likes of which I hadn’t felt for several years obliterated my thoughts as the Uuska pulled its hand back out the other side, and I fell face first onto the ground, unmoving.

[[Unequipped]]

Medallion of Uuska

(+10 hit points, +2 wisdom, +2 willpower, MP Storage skill acquired, Class Steal skill acquired)

[[Warning!]]

Your once-a-day passive, Heavenly Hero, has activated. You are invulnerable for 5 seconds, except from damage caused by demonic sources, and you will regain 4% of your hit points per second during this time.

“Meow,“ the Uuska said in its distorted, unnatural voice.

The light of monster evolution shone behind me as my body quickly patched itself together. It wasn’t how I wanted things to go down, but it looked like I was going to get my wish.