39. Rock-on-Rock


    Serac Edin, by virtue of the Instrument she’d transmuted, was a Wayfarer of the gunslinging variety.


    Every problem she’d encountered so far in her journey she’d been able to solve by shooting it in the face. Granted, some problems required more creative solutions than others, but—by and large—she’d been happy to rely on REVOLVER and its six chambers to come through when it mattered most.


    Imagine her surprise and dismay, then, to discover that here was one problem she couldn’t shoot to bits.


    The first thing she tried was a garden variety unimbued shot, only to find she might as well have blown dust on her enemy. The bullet barely left a dent as it made contact with Hanuman’s Huskbound armor.


    Across the battlefield, Zacko the NINEFOLD master sidestepped Hanuman’s stomp before laying into the giant’s foot with a right-fisted punch—thrown from a wide, solid stance. [The Third Dao—Cestus].


    Badoom! Along with that meaty sound effect, more of the Sentinel’s body burst into powder. Hanuman reacted by backing off a step, regrowing a new foot as it did.


    The giant shrank down by another size, but that only seemed to make it nimbler and more aggressive. It demonstrated this newfound aggression by throwing a punch right back at Zacko. Mano-a-mano and skill-to-skill.


    Serac watched it all go down—was allowed to watch—because her opponent had already decided to ignore her completely. This wasn’t a case of Zacko drawing aggro, but rather of Serac losing aggro entirely, due to just how little threat she presented.


    This won’t do. For all she knew, Zacko could take this Huskbound Sentinel all by his lonesome, but that would result in 100% of the Karma being funneled his way. It wasn’t that she begrudged the Manusya his Karma (gods knew he needed it), but more that she couldn’t forgive herself for sitting on the sidelines and losing out.


    She needed to find a way to ‘contribute’ to the fight and quickly. By now, she was experienced enough to be cognizant of the breadth of options at her disposal. No need for either version of Trippy to prod her into action.


    The next thing to try was to switch up the damage type—a recent lesson taught to her by Bhootas.


    [Chamber One: BLOOD FOR BLOOD]


    [HANUMAN Status Effect: BLEED]


    [Wayfarer Status Effect: BLEED]


    [TRIBULATION active (x3): current buff at 15%]


    Serac had intended this exchange only as a means to imbue her bullets with Infernal damage. Knowing the boss’s lack of an HP bar, she hadn’t expected [Bleed] to produce any discernible effects on Hanuman itself.


    Imagine her surprise and wonderment, then, to discover that even a Huskbound giant could leave a visible trail of blood.


    “It’s really not as surprising or wondrous as you make it out to be, Wayfarer,” Trippy was quick to offer his two ?. “You should know that our bones—or, more specifically, the marrow within them—are the very wellspring of our blood. Which is to say, bones do bleed, and you shouldn’t except this set of bones to behave any differently. Besides, you’ve already seen ghosts bleed. Is it really a bridge too far for statues to bleed too?”


    That bit of characterful (and lore-friendly) anatomy lesson aside, Serac refocused on the task at hand. If Physical bullets were a no-go, could converting them to Infernal make the difference?


    The answer was a callous and unequivocal no. The newly magical bullets, even when imbued with a visibly black aura, merely bounced off the Huskbound armor, not even leaving a mark. Meanwhile, Hanuman and Zacko continued their crunchy, dusty duel, with neither paying a Rakshasa gunslinger the slightest of attention.


    Okay, okay. The .44 Special can’t even tickle this giant statue. Could I maybe… set it on fire?


    [Chamber One: CATHARSIS]


    [173!]


    If Serac hadn’t imagined it, the gut punch she inflicted on herself with every activation of [Catharsis] seemed to increase in severity, proportionate to the amount of HP lost. As powerful a spell as it was, she hated casting it. And on the rare occasion she did, she’d hope for it to at least make a difference in the fight.


    No such luck. [Catharsis]’s black flames of penitence fizzled out just as soon as it touched Hanuman’s armor. Reminiscent of its inefficacy against Ashvanaga’s castle walls, except on this occasion, it didn’t even come with a damage notification as a consolation prize.


    [TRIBULATION active (x2): current buff at 10%]


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    The reduction in [Tribulation] stacks told Serac that the [Bleed] effect had run out on both Hanuman and herself. Now, she was back to square one with a cylinder full of unimbued bullets that could do nothing to their target.


    Welp. Now I’m well and truly out of options. I guess this fight just isn’t meant for me. All I can do is sit on the sidelines and watch—


    “Aren’t you forgetting something, Wayfarer?” Trippy again, and if Serac hadn’t imagined it—was that a note of annoyance in his voice? “You’ve got limbs. Consider putting them to use.”


    Serac gasped in surprise. Now, where have I heard that one before?


    But there was a time and place for reminiscing about old friends, and in the middle of a boss fight wasn’t it. She quelled her own shock, ignored a slight prickling sensation just behind her right ear, and refocused on the task at hand.


    Hanuman’s attention was still fully trained on Zacko and his NINEFOLD techniques. Which gave Serac plenty of room to sneak up behind the increasingly-less-giant giant and land a left-fisted punch of her own. For any Wayfarer worth her salt should never be entirely reliant on one Instrument to come through when it mattered most.


    [Auxiliary Technique: THE GRIND]


    PULVERIZER sank its jagged teeth into Hanuman’s ‘calf’, taking no time to pulverize a whole lower leg into pale-gray powder. Thus, where pot shots with lead bullets had failed, good old rock-on-rock violence proved to be the answer.


    This, at least momentarily, caused the giant to lose its balance. Zacko, positioned on the other side of the statue, didn’t miss his chance to inflict double punishment on the boss. He attacked Hanuman’s intact shin with a rigid open palm, producing a satisfying ‘smack!’ upon impact.


    [Auxiliary Technique: THE SECOND DAO—FAN]


    With both legs gone, Hanuman dropped to the ground and tipped over. Finally, Serac thought, this must be a giant regenerating statue’s version of Poise-break.


    But, by then, the giant statue had shrunk so much that it was closer to the Wayfarers in height than to its original size. With an agility afforded only by its newfound compactness, Hanuman pushed against the ground with both arms, then somersaulted into the air.


    Both Wayfarers stood and watched, slack-jawed. The statue gracefully completed a full rotation, before landing on two feet—newly regrown while it was still in the air.


    The fight wasn’t over yet! At this point, Serac couldn’t help but steal a glance at the status bar that took up the center of her Pathsight. [Ossify] had filled up to at least three-quarters full and still ticked steadily.


    Surely, the Wayfarers were only a few more good hits away from finishing Hanuman off. And yet… could they risk continuing the fight when they were so close to becoming Bone Husks themselves?


    As Serac and Zacko were caught in a moment of indecision, it was Hanuman that made the first move. It unlocked the stand-off by… turning tail and running away.


    What the hell? Serac stared at the boss’s back, dumbfounded. The statue moved through the stormy night air with surprising speed and was already moments away from disappearing into the clouds of bone dust.


    “Oh no, you don’t!” Zacko was the first to react, breaking into a sprint with every intention to chase the statue into the dust-storm.


    Within the space of a fraught Ksana, Serac analyzed the unexpected and still evolving situation. Hanuman in its current form was fast, and it’d take Zacko some time to catch up. And even if he did catch up, there was no guarantee he could end the fight quickly enough to avoid becoming fully [Ossified].


    “Stop!” Serac commanded at the top of her lungs, breathing in more bone dust as she did. “I’ve got a better idea!”


    No time to lose, and therefore no time to explain. Serac unclipped Mini-Ash from her belt and imagined its ‘Interstitial form’ spilling back out into the physical world.


    Crreeeaaaakkkkk…!!


    Along with a war-cry only a living castle could produce, Ash plopped down on the battlefield, fully formed. Serac wasted no time jumping onto its wall and hopping to the top of the battlement with several lithe motions.


    From there, it was a simple matter of doing what she did best. Aim, lock, fire. Except, instead of a .44 Special cartridge fired from a six-shooter, the projectile that flew through the night sky was a [Blood-Tipped Javelin], thrown by Serac’s arm.


    By then, Hanuman’s escaping figure was fully obscured by dust clouds. But Serac trusted in her own instincts, and trusted in the powerful flight of Ash’s [Javelin]. After a fraught Ksana or two, her faith was vindicated by a Pathsighted notification:


    [HANUMAN Status Effect: BLEED]


    “There,” Serac half-announced half-sighed-in-relief. “That should do it for now.”


    “Wait, that’s your brilliant idea?” Zacko yelled up from ground level. “To let our mark get away anyway… except now with a [Javelin] sticking out of its ass?”


    “A [Javelin] that’s going to leave behind a trail of blood,” Serac explained patiently. “A trail for us to follow. Once we’ve freshened up with a bit of reconstitution. Now, come on! Let’s get back inside before our [Ossify] gauges fill up.”


    Zacko reluctantly obeyed, grumbling to himself all the while. Once the Wayfarers were safely inside their castle, [Ossify]’s build-up stopped, then began to tick down in the opposite direction. The healing effect wasn’t as instantaneous as when they’d been covered in Dashi’s lantern light, but at the very least, the two of them now had the time to regroup and reassess.


    “So, what now?” Zacko demanded, still in a foul mood for having his smiting interrupted. “Are we gonna follow with Ash, or what?”


    “Nah, don’t think that’s practical,” Serac replied, her thoughts forming even as she spoke them. “Can’t see shit through the eyeslit. And besides, we already know Hanuman has a way to deal with Ash before we can even get close.”


    “So then… we follow on foot? But what about the bone dust? The storm might settle if we wait until the morning, but by then, I’ll bet the trail of blood will be gone too.”


    “I’ll bet you’re right,” Serac said slowly, still thinking. “I think, for this next part, we’re gonna need some help. We’ll need the locals to do us a favor.”


    “You don’t mean…?”


    “Yup.” Serac nodded, and rather unhappily at that. “We’ll have to talk to Dashi again. See if we can’t renegotiate the terms of our quid pro quo.”