53. Rotaries and Projectiles


    The East Wing corridor funneled the Wayfarers into an ‘upward’ path—in the plainest sense of the word. It was another steep climb, consisting of a lengthy Huskbound staircase with no end in sight.


    More Bone Husk statues lined either side of the passage, solemn and inert in their prayerful poses. Serac and Zacko had grown wise to the Bone Lord’s tricks, however, and they kept their eyes peeled for signs of movement, expecting any one of the statues to spring up and start (literally) throwing punches.


    Their single-minded focus on the potential threat of Pishacha Footmen slowed their reaction to the actual danger. It came first as a distant grinding noise (“ksshhh, ksshhh!”), which quickly grew to a deafening rumble that forced both Wayfarers to look up at the same time.


    “Watch out!”


    Serac had acted even before Zacko’s warning, jumping out of the way of a large object that rolled down the staircase at speed.


    In the thick dust cloud that had kicked up, it was difficult to make out what exactly had nearly run her over. But the same object made a return trip soon enough, now rumbling up the stairs to reveal itself.


    It was a spinning wheel. Taller than a Rakshasa and constructed from—surprise, surprise—skeleton parts.


    Its hub was a skull with eyes of black flame. There were spokes of femurs and a rim of melded vertebrae. Unnaturally enlarged and sharpened protrusions from said spines gouged out bony chunks from the ground as the wheel spun—just as easily as they would cut up Rakshasa flesh.


    Of course, no Aberrant in the underworld—bipedal, rotary, or otherwise—would be complete without a Pathsighted label. In this case, the skeleton wheel was identified as: [Chakra].


    Whether or not the wheel had a name, it wouldn’t have changed how Serac responded to its charge. She sidestepped the Chakra again as it spun its way back up the stairs, fanning away more dust as she did. She then squinted through the cloud until the wheel left her sight entirely. But the ominous ‘ksshhh, ksshhh’ continued into the distance.


    Having already dealt with a living castle and a shapeshifting giant, a murderous skeleton wheel didn’t seem too menacing in comparison. Serac turned to Zacko and said as much.


    “This isn’t so bad, is it? We just have to expend a little extra energy going up these stairs.”


    Yet, by now, she should’ve known better than to underestimate Naraka’s nasty surprises. For as soon as she voiced her complacency, the situation went from not-so-bad to kind-of-hairy.


    When the Chakra came back into the frame, it’d been joined by a fellow. Two murderous skeleton wheels now, one for each Wayfarer.


    The addition didn’t necessarily change what Serac had to do, which was to judge the wheels’ trajectory and keep herself out of harm’s way. It did, however, have two appreciable effects that pushed the situation into ‘hairy’ territory.


    First, of course, it narrowed the space where the Wayfarers could maneuver to safety. Second, it kicked up even more dust into the air, which thickened the cloud enough to—


    “Oh, this is more of that Bone stuff!” Zacko yelled out another warning. “Is your [Ossify] building up too?”


    Indeed it was. It made sense for Zacko to have been the first to notice, as he would’ve seen a fresh bar pop into his Pathsight. Serac’s gauge had already been partially filled, and it now resumed its incrementation as she waded up the stairs in the Chakras’ wake.


    “I don’t think we need to worry too much, do we?” she yelled back while keeping her eyes on the skeleton wheels, which even now made crisscross U-turns for the return trip. “Just need to keep dodging these spinny boys and finish our climb before the gauges fill up!”


    As soon as Serac voiced her perfectly reasonable assessment, however, the situation went from kind-of-hairy to yes-we-do-need-to-worry.


    One of the Chakras spun towards her, with its sharpened spines cutting through its own dust cloud. She sidestepped it again, choosing to squeeze herself into a narrow strip of safety between the wheel and the wall to its side. Then, something hit her in the back.


    [98!]


    Serac staggered under the impact, even as she twisted to see who or what had been responsible. Amidst the dust cloud, she caught only the sight of two Chakras taking their mechanical routes back up the staircase. The culprit, whoever it was, had attacked from the unseen distance.


    Serac then became aware of a strange sensation. She looked down to see that the projectile was still embedded inside of her—a blackened shaft and arrowpoint that poked out from just below her collar bone. The arrow ‘dissipated’ as soon as she laid eyes on it, solid black fading back into bone dust.


    “Not good!” she yelled again in a strained voice. “It’s not just the [Ossify] we have to worry about… Someone’s shooting arrows at us using the bone dust!”


    She should’ve known better than to underestimate Naraka’s nasty surprises. The Chakras U-turned and roared back down the stairs, now accompanied by a volley of black arrows to add to the sharp objects that could kill a pair of Wayfarers.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Now, the areas of safety had shrank even further. Avoiding direct confrontation was no longer practical, and as such, both Wayfarers switched up their stair-climbing strategy on the fly.


    This time, Serac dodged the arrows before meeting a spinny boy head on—or rather, with her Huskbound PULVERIZER arm. Rock-on-skeleton violence.


    KSSHHH…!!


    The high-pitched noise reached its ear-splitting apex as the Chakra’s spinal protrusions ground against Serac’s PULVERIZER shield. Her partial [Ossification] had rendered her arm leaden and unwieldy, but she still retained the mobility of her shoulder joint, enough to keep one layer of protection between herself and a murderous skeleton wheel. Even so, every mitigated hit of the Chakra’s spinning attack counted itself against her HP:


    [16!], [16!], [16!], …


    Spinny boy spun fast! Even with Serac’s shield up, if she stood under the Chakra long enough, she’d eventually be ground to a pulp. Not to mention the arrows from above that continued to be a threat. However she meant to deal with the skeleton wheel, she needed to do it quickly.


    Three rapid-fire REVOLVER shots, aimed top-down from over her shield. They bounced against the Chakra’s spinning rim with uninspiring clinks. And the accompanying damage numbers proved no more encouraging:


    [27!], [27!], [27!] -> [81!]


    No good! The Chakra’s high-speed spin evidently served a defensive purpose as well, and its damage negation far outstripped the 20% AV buff Serac had received from four stacks of [Tribulation]. If she allowed herself to be lured into a mitigation contest here, she’d (probably) win, but she’d also be here all day.


    Serac’s mind raced faster than a Chakra’s spin, recalling the lessons she’d learned on her Wayfaring journey. One such lesson: if an Aberrant had high defenses, it likely came with a ‘weak spot’ waiting to be exploited.


    In the Chakra’s case, it didn’t take a genius to guess where its weak spot might lie. Even as the spin damage ticked ([16!], …), Serac screwed up her courage and committed herself to a new gambit.


    She put her entire weight behind her Huskbound arm and pushed, thus creating—for just a fleeting Ksana—separation between herself and the Chakra. She then kicked at the side of the wheel, as hard as Rakshasa-ly possible.


    Her [Substance 7] kick was so underpowered it didn’t even register a damage number. But she was far more interested in its physical effect, which was to force the Chakra into a slight movement perpendicular to its rotational axis.


    It really was just a slight movement, but it was enough to expose the ‘hub’ of the wheel—the skull face at the Chakra’s center. Serac then shoved REVOLVER’s barrel into its mouth and fired thrice more.


    [136!], [136!], [136!] -> [408!]


    No pesky mitigation there! And the [Tribulation] buff did plenty of work, pushing out nearly 70 extra points of damage. This erased the Chakra’s HP in a single burst, causing its wheel to finally stop spinning, before the whole contraption dissolved into Souldust.


    [800 ?]


    That was when another black arrow whizzed right past Serac’s head. A reminder that she couldn’t claim victory just yet. She sprinted up the stairs with impunity, with one eye on her Stamina bar and the other seeking out the shooty boy that surely waited on the other side of the [Ossify] cloud.


    She found her target easily enough. The top of the staircase finally came into view, revealing along with it another pair of Bone Husk statues, who’d already drawn their next arrows—black flames of Infernal energy nocked on Huskbound bows. The shooty boys (plural) came with their own designations: [Pishacha Archer].


    Serac readied her own projectile weapon in response. She was just about to squeeze the trigger… when she saw something that made her stomach drop.


    The ceiling above the Pishacha Archers suddenly split open. This trap door then spat out a third Chakra, which bounced on the floor once or twice before starting its spin cycle in earnest.


    Oh no, Serac muttered inwardly, how am I supposed to deal with Chakra adds on top of the Archers?


    But that was also when her Wayfaring partner offered up an immediate solution.


    “Leave the Chakras to me!” Zacko shouted from a ways behind her. “You just focus down the Archers, and quickly!”


    Serac nodded without looking back. She trusted Zacko to know what he was doing (and to do it without going into more debt!). Besides which, this latest proposal for a division of labor simply made sense: a NINEFOLD master to go hand-to-wheel against the Chakras, and a gunslinger to test her range and accuracy against the Archers.


    Final push. Serac began by sidestepping the Chakra, making sure to hold up her Huskbound arm as she did. Her caution and anticipation paid dividends right away, as a dust-sent arrow struck then faded against PULVERIZER’s frame. [35!].


    She then ducked under the flight of a second arrow before straightening with REVOLVER already locked onto the right-sided Archer. She was on a full cylinder again, which meant the next bullet sat in—


    [Chamber One: CATHARSIS]


    [192!]


    Serac gladly ate the hefty self-damage, knowing she couldn’t afford to conserve her resources in a 1v2 situation. Even as one Archer went up in flames, she’d already switched her aim onto the other, unloading a triple burst of unimbued bullets.


    [149!], [208!], [1,000!] -> [1,357!]


    [136!], [136!], [325!] -> [597!]


    The Archers, for all their long-range capabilities, proved to be squishier than their Footman cousins. Both lost their Poise after just the second tick of damage. Especially for the one that had been hit with [Catharsis], the critical multiplier had produced an ungodly amount of damage that was frankly overkill.


    Serac scrunched up her face in silent apology as she watched the Archers dissolve into Souldust. [1,000 ?], [1,000 ?] -> [2,000 ?]. She then looked over her shoulder just in time to see Zacko deal a smiting blow to the Chakra add, thereby clearing the staircase of all Aberrant presence.


    Another victory, another nice influx of Karma, and another obstacle neutralized. The Wayfarers were once more cleared to proceed and claim their next ‘reward’. Yet, somehow, Serac was unable to celebrate in earnest.


    Instead, she found herself wrestling with a deep-seated anxiety, one that kept her heartbeat elevated long after the fight was over. The anxiety wasn’t in response to an immediate threat, nor even in anticipation of a remote one. Indeed, she couldn’t identify its source at all.


    All she felt was a kind of pulsant yearning. She yearned for more… more what?


    More fighting. More magic. More dust. More opportunities to prove herself worthy of a greater plan she knew not the shape of.