You put your toolbox down and inch toward the door.
...Wait.
You throw a glance to Marlow. "What do you mean? How does the hall feel like anything?"
"Well," he begins, quietly, "turns out I can kind of... push how far my regular senses go. Not just how good my senses are, but the range. I can feel where the heat stops out in that hall--tell where the echoes stop, too. It's not exactly sonar--not yet, anyhow. Tryin' to juggle 'em all at once or push 'em too hard and I really notice that drain you were talking about. Smell's the big one, though. ...The thing wanderin' down the hall smells like the things we fought upstairs--the thin ones with the little feelers. Heavier, though." He pauses. "...That was upstairs, right?"
You nod, fighting back a grin. "Yeah. We're like... fuck knows how many floors downstairs from where we were earlier."
Marlow nods in return. "Probably wrong to say I can feel how things are laid out, but... it's a little bit of all of it. Smell, sound, the heat coming off the torches--putting 'er all together, I can damn near see it in my head."
You creep up to the door, peeking out through the barred window.
You ... cannot see very far.
You twist back around toward the trades man. You're torn between trying to hide and trying to face whatever's coming--but you definitely want to get more questions in while you can. The last time you were here, the trades man described this as a boring, run of the mill alcazar--he also implied (in the way he does) that this alcazar in particular might be larger than average, maybe even WAY larger than average, with (in no particular order, and assuming you're translating any of this correctly):
• Abnormal levels of 'external security' (which may account for the sky dome strong enough to keep out gods and Choir gifts)
• One or more extraneous features or additional modifications (you're not sure what this could imply, since you don't know what constitutes normal features for an alcazar--but the trades man and the striped rooms both feel out of place compared to everything else, so they may well fall under that umbrella)
• Unusual spatial positioning (where the alcazar is located, maybe? Cici said she saw a whole world outside of this one--a shitty, ever changing world, but a world nonetheless. ...Your alcazar might not be where it's supposed to be as far as coordinates in the Bad Time Zone are concerned)
• Quote, 'Were I to guess, this alcazar was originally formed by an amateur magus, likely as a first attempt. Instructions were probably followed to the letter, and nothing overly ambitious was tried with the physical arcana. My opinion: it is a very normal alcazar.' This is really the one that's been getting at you--more specifically, the word he chose to use.
Formed.
While it's obviously taken on aspects of your own mind as of your purchasing the house, the foundation of this whole thing--the magic that's manifesting all that trauma as its own little reality--was crafted by someone else, likely the original owner. In a manner of speaking, it's running your software now, but someone else had to have built the hardware. ...Someone who knew what they were doing.
You'd bet money that individual is the Hanged Man.
They built this fucker to do something, something out of the ordinary even for an alcazar. Something, perhaps, ambitious.
"What are alcazars normally made for?," you ask, keeping your voice low and an eye on the door.
"They are weapons," the trades man replies. "They are built only to destroy, and nothing more. There is no flexibility in their purpose."
...So not a weapon.
Something that protects or heals or just... exists, but clearly, the dome and its contents are not secretly a giant bomb. Not incredibly useful information but good to have regardless.
You continue. "What do the gods beating around outside the dome want from the inside?"
"Nothing," says the trades man.
And then he pauses for an uncomfortably long time, leaving you to reel from the possibility that this is in fact his entire answer.
He suddenly clarifies. "They are gods, after all. Each one is immortal and all-powerful, able to leave the xanthous at will--or tear it in twain with a thought. Each one has complete control over its own existence. Only power beyond that of a god could ever truly entice beings as powerful as they. They assault your noosphere only because they're curious--because they wonder at the possibility. They bear faint suspicion that what they seek lies within. The truth, however... is that no such possibility exists. No such power can be obtained within your alcazar at all. Their efforts are inevitably doomed to bear a meaningless outcome."
. . .
Fuck?
Fuuuuuck Cici called it they're not actually gods but they're--
they're TRYING
to...
to become gods?
Are you fucking hearing him right?!
BECOME A LITERAL GOD WITH SOMETHING IN YOOOUUUR BRAIN DUNGEON?!
Wait, maybe not--power less than "beyond that of the power of a god" or whatever could mean substantially less, these things might be waaay below god tier--
Marlow, also picking up on the ABSOLUTELY INSANE SHIT the trades man just suggested, cannot help but ask his own question. "Wait--you're saying... you're saying the power to become a god lies at the heart o' this place?"
"No," the trades man replies. "Incorrect. Absolutely wrong. There is nothing of the sort. This alcazar was built around nothing significant. What lies at the heart of this alcazar falls short of god-like in its potential."
. . .
Fuck almighty, what does the power of a god even mean
The trades man rattled off immortality, being all-powerful and leaving/destroying the xanthous at will, so that's probably a start. Is Acedia the source of that power? The amnesiac? Are they with the thing what grants the power? Did they get trapped trying to harness that power? The alcazar was built around THAT? Is that its purpose--to protect the GOD-POWER from whatever the fuck the sub-gods outside the dome are? Is that what's so unusual about its location--that it was BUILT AROUND A THING THAT TURNS KAIJU INTO GODS?! Is Acedia a god? Was the alcazar built to keep Acedia CONTAINED? You have hundreds of god damn questions--
"Gettin' closer," Marlow whispers.
You lower your voice another peg. Deep breath. Focus. Worry about now, ask the questions you already have prepared, worry about godhood or stopping giant monsters from achieving godhood later.
"The miasmatic wound--you mentioned it last time, and you implied it's tied to the alcazar's health and well-being."
"I do not recall ever implying that, no," the big green liar you owe a lot but not literally to replies.
You nod. "Would healing the wound strengthen the sky dome? Would it... reinforce my noosphere?" Mmm god new words
"No," says the trades man.
You haven't even seen it yet--you honestly have no idea if you can heal the wound, or how, but-- just to cover all your bases, you ask-- "What if I just kinda... blocked it off? Sealed it, like a bandage over a regular wound?"
"Absolutely not," the trades man says firmly. "That would do nothing to stave off the barrier's breaking."
Interesting.
"It's here!," Marlow hisses.
You focus a little mana yourself.
You can hear it.
Tap-tap-a-tappin' its way down the hall.
Definitely not human feet.
No time left. One last question, barely above a whisper--you're not even sure the trades man will hear you.
"What's the best way to relax right now?"
To which the trades man simply responds,
"Seek a nearby hiding place."
Good enough.
You ready up to kick the fucking door open.
Marlow protests-- "Plaire, wait--!"
You need to know.
You need to see this thing, know if it's hostile, and if it is--
you need to know if you can take it, because you're sure it's not the only one you'll run into down here. If you've learned anything from Crush Souls, it's the value of fighting a new enemy one at a fucking time, instead of being surprised by a group of them with no clue as to the basic strategy.
You charge out of the room. Marlow, after a bit of hesitation, follows.
The large silhouette of a bug--an ant, maybe--stands down the hall from you. The faint glimmer of multiple eyes darting about in the darkness.
The second it spots you, your halberd in hand--
it leaps.
High. And far.
Straight at you.
You rush forward, manifesting a huge shield and rocketing it ahead of you--
The bug slams into it... and keeps going.
Pushes the shield back.
Pushes you back.
It jabs with the pointed ends of its limbs, quickly forming cracks in the surface of said shield.
Marlow's assessment was accurate--
it does smell like a monster you've fought before, and for good reason--
you're pretty sure it is a type of monster you've fought before, just...
Bigger.
Stronger.
Faster.
Evolved.
"Holy SHIT!" You push forward, but every strike sends you and the shield skidding back. Preventing the shield from shattering beneath the series of blows is escalating the cost of maintaining it, and quickly. This shield is not going to last long.
Marlow tries to assist with his tractor beam, but appears to struggle--either because the shield is so large, or because it's made of light, you're not sure which.
You wait until the bug is really coming in for a punch before you leap backwards, letting the monster overextend itself in the process of breaking the shield. ...Which it does, in a flash of golden energy and fading, harmless shrapnel.
With half a second and a little distance bought, you follow up with the arrows. Just a... fucking shit ton of them, everywhere, as many as it takes, you don't give a shit MORE ARROWS
You discover... two things.
Three, really, but you already knew your aim was garbo.
One: your arrows, while capable of severing this thing's limbs, barely break the surface of its... er... body. The tendril-musculature-exterior that makes up most of its form is much, much denser than you anticipated; you hurt it, certainly, but the arrows aren't exactly piercing through it.
Two: the moment it has a limb damaged, the ant just... kind of...
lets it go.
The tendrils from the intact part of the arm 'release' the hurt section before the whole nub sucks itself back into the overall body. ...To be immediately replaced by a whole new limb, complete with pointed tip. Fresh, whole, and fully weaponized.
In short: its body is armored and its limbs regenerate. You caught at least one eye with a stray arrow, but the thing does not appear to give a shit; it is already starting to take another run at you.
You gather from Marlow's tone that this revelation upsets him at least as much as it upsets you. "How many o' those you think he's GOT in there?!"
"GOOD fucking question!" You throw an axe--practically slide it across the floor, taking out as many legs as you can.
That slows it down.
For a second or two.
It has more legs where that came from, and is making the exchange very quickly.
The trades man was right (in that he was wrong, but, trades man)--you would not be able to relax knowing this thing is just... hanging the fuck around. Hiding would save you this fight but you'd have learned nothing, and there's clearly a lot to learn. Also the idea of locking yourself in a closet or something and waiting for THIS ugly son of a bitch to pass does not feel like a relaxing affair. You need peace of mind. You need to know how to beat it.
It also hasn't said anything yet, which--given your experience with its classic, more talkative flavor--
Arrows aren't working, the limbs are largely a waste of time.
Focus fire on one side to rob it of limbs. It may only be for a second, but if you take full advantage of that second, you could do some damage. Don't get greedy, these limbs may be more modular than you think, but two or three solid hits tot he "waist" area and you might even be able to cleave it in twain. Just be ready to run if both halves can operate independently.
This would be a good time to kill it with fire, but Kate isn't here so that's out.
Yeah, -1. I mean, Plaire might bleed on it by accident at some point in this fight but getting wounded on purpose, even if it's self-inflicted, just doesn't seem wise.
If it likes charging you, get your back against a wall then jump over it (we got magic mustache going, right?) and hope it gets stunned a bit.
Fire is the classic way to deal with regenerating things, any torches around? Marlow might be able to grab one from farther away, although going too far may attract unwanted attention.
While not the best time to experiment, can we somehow infuse our weapon with Cici's power? Might help.
Oh! Maybe try the thing people did while hunting boars! Brace our spear on something and let it impale itself. Although if it doesn't work, well we would be rather boned, so last resort option?
Plaire did mention having a "ground pound" on page 178. So it probably would hurt the monster if she jumped on it, right? Or she could pound the ground to destabilize it.
Its body looks pretty smooth, but I suppose it could point one of its spiky legs upward to impale Plaire if she tried jumping on it. So yeah, -1 to jumping on it, +1 to bola tactics.
A good thought, but not worth testing on this guy. More likely to end up skewered than anything else with how he can spontaneously grow/ regrow limbs. Will need to find someone more Goomba like, where it wont potentially kill us if we bounce on top of them.
mmmmm If we can have that shield blast outwards like a bunch of sharpnel while moving back, might be able to get enough space to reform a new shield and fight the thing like some kinda hoplite, shield and spear tactics.... and Marlow can help with getting a torch to drop on the thing while it's focused on Plaire.
...... I keep wanting to spell Marlow with an extra E at the end, Marlowe, and I'm not sure why.
On a side note: we should add making thermite pipe bombs to the list of things to do in the waking world. relatively thing iron pipe filled with a blend of rust and aluminum filings with a fuse running through it, ain't the hardest thing to make and that shit burns through most things given the chance. Hell, Marlow probably already knows how, at least in theory. I don't really know the right ratio... oh, apparently it's 1:3 aluminum:iron oxide/rust. Thanks Internet.
+1 to hoplite tactics... adjusted for a smaller shield than the last one and focus on dodging first, then blocking what can't be dodged: we don't have the luxury of multiple shield-users blocking what we don't, and it's clear that standing our ground will spend our mana really fast, so a classic hoplite barrier will be just time not well spent here
(unless we can make a shield with holes, but that would make the hole a vulnerable point for the monster to apply pressure)
I see two possibilities for offense.
1. Fire. There are torches outside. Can Marlow tractor one?
2. Halberd. We can spend mana to reinforce our equipment, right? Try fucking overgarge of your halberd and see if it cuts easier.
It's covered in eyes, but I'm not seeing much else in the way of sensory organs. Maybe we could try doing something with the light part of our light weaponry, rather than the weapon part? Overlapping tons of little squares to try build a blinding light?
I think that might be a lot of mana on an experiment. But I'm definitely supportive of an initial try. Plaire should be able to feel out whether it'll work before too much time has passed and she might be able to do it while waiting on other strategies.
If it wants to push, then we'll make it push. It looks like it isn't smart enough to do anything but approach you head-on, so let's take advantage of that. We need to manifest a fucking heavy push, and we need to knock it back. So far, that's the only way we can keep it from approaching Our Entire Business.
The page where we actually came to this floor mentioned everything looked like B1, but "Crumbly". Are there any rocks nearby to pick up?
Also, ditch this shield, I think maintaining it is hurting more than it is helping. Manifest a new one every time it comes in for a punch, preferably one with spikes.
alright, Choir, let's give Plaire a mind boost for now, accelerate thoughts, alleviate panic,
like mindhugs but increasing determination instead of good vibes
It likes leaping, let's give it something to leap on:
Next time it jumps, try forming a shield, with three long spikes to allow it impale itself on.
have Marlow grab a torch and projectile it
Plan B: Summon something non-rigid, instead of shields and arrows, try summoning bolas,
+1 to *plays https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApWpYmO7G28&list=OLAK5uy_l6pEkEJgy577R-aDlJ3Gkp5rmlgIOu8bc&index=46 (Undertale's Spear of Justice)* determination vibes.
After some consideration, let's not do music determination vibes (also, yup, same Another Guest from previous pages, guessed it was time to make an account : p)
I really don't want to do the mind-hug thing or give off good vibes all the time like that. It's too "active" for what I think was supposed to be like, the in-universe explanation of the suggestion comic format.
Don't get too caught up on what you think we're supposed to be. Ignoring the choir's potential just means hobbling ourselves. If we straight up can't do certain things it's better to try and know. Anyways Plaire: time to get in the zone.
Ground pound may leave Plaire impaled, and that's not good - what we would need instead is a half ground pound - some way to use the ground pound to really PUSH something down, towards the monster - best case would be an energy platform with spikes on the bottom: we use wall jumping to get high, create the platform, do more wall jumping to get higher, ground pound to, through momentum, push the platform down, then halberd + wall jump to reposition back to ground safely.
Its body is armored, but its limbs emerge from *within* it-- which means that the areas that its limbs come from are a *breach* in that armor. Try attacking the limbs at the *base* and see if we can get through the armor that way.
Wait, okay, idea. We have a ground pound ability... And a halberd. What if we get it distracted for a minute, probably with fire...
Then get our ass as high up.over it as possible as quickly as possible, maybe doin a jump from the top of the Trades Man, then ground pound straight down toward it holding the halberd down.
Grouns pound impaler baby.
Maybe make sure to put some mana into the halberd to reinforce so it doesnt snap.
+1 to this approach. I don't think it's the safest. But it does play to Plaire's unique abilities and I feel like those are going to be the strongest she has. If a weakness doesn't present itself soon, this sounds like a good option.
Try making a big fuck-off warhammer with the mana weapons. Also get Marlow to grab a torch and chuck it at the beast. We need to run through the damage types that we have available. If nothing seems to be effective we may need to pick some things up from elsewhere, maybe some of the needle grubs. Its not running away; its tactical retreating.
Be ready to throw up more shields and down one of our mana items ASAP if we begin feeling tired. We will NOT go down without a fight.
Ok, everybody so far is thinking on beat the "Mind Our Business" monster, so going to the opposite angle (bc worst case scenarios are a thing):
After any plans involving fire, ask Mallow to see if he can feel what would be a escape route and how safe is it - if it's unsafe, it may be for the monster too and we can use that environmental advantage.
Also, keep an eye on where the damaged arms are - they look like the "Right to Know", and may act independently, when outside the main body, given time.
Speculating on what I know about their world as a whole I would say what the godlings seek in the middle of the Alcazar is a trapped piece of The First Womb.
The reasoning behind this is that they think along the same lines as the Silkworm, only in their case it could be they want to devour the piece to become gods themsleves.
In short, someone who has to be either very powerful themselves or has very powerful allies has trapped a piece of The First Womb and built a prison around it.
Right now I have no idea which piece exactly it could since there are two possibilities depending on the age of the Alcazar.
Number one: Zone Fifty constructed it to trap the final piece of Harold Lasker.
Number two: Not absolutely sure who constructed it in this case but it was build to be the prison for Mine Ametsuchi.
I've been wondering for a while if the alcazar is derived from one of Zone 50's random projects that got stolen or auctioned off. As for what it was intended for, we just don't know a lot about the timeline and who used it.
Traditional ways to defeat enemies with regeneration are Fire and Acid. Our initial strategy should probably revolve around one of these two strategies, possibly both if we can find a source of Acid -- though considering their counterparts hang out with the WORMY BOIS, acid's probably less likely to work. We could see if the Grenade Trap has reset, and if so, lead the bug into it? I'd like to see it try to regenerate from *Explosion* damage.
The tradesman said to hide, so presumably the best course of action is to run. We should be able to delay until we can teleport, and barring that, we should be able to run to the castle. Mario powers make you pretty fast. If we have to fight, use fire or try manifesting a bunch of light inside the thing like a bomb.
Did the eye regenerate? Eyes are typical targets in games.
Leg sweeps followed by shotgun of arrows might not be a bad technique if eyes need popped.
Marlow can throw torches or pointy monster parts, or make Plair's aim better.
Definately have Marlow improve Plair's aim, this might be very important if we get to a low number of eyes... assuming eyes are the primary target.
Allowing a wall charge to stun, followed by ground pound downthrust might work. Proven technique in multiple games. Hack and slash also good.
Lighting it up with fire from torches might make for an uncontrolled charge attack that facilitates it colliding with a wall. Try shield surfing to enhance dodge. IE parry instead of block.
"Hide" was the Tradesman answer so "run" and "fight" are remaining options. Lets maximize fight.
Proposal:
Light with torches
Bait into wall charge to hopefully stun
Ground pound with or without downthrust on the polearm.
Continue with leg sweeps and eye popping arrows while setting up a stun with wall charge.
Learn to use the shield to redirect a blow instead of trying to stop.
Alright, this mofo reminds me of the robot from the Incredibles, in that I think we should try to stab it with itself. Namely, Marlow should vacuum up its discarded limbs, aiming the sharp bits at the monster, and go all stabby shooty with them.
Excellent catch.
+1 to that idea. +everything, really.
It goes together with what Plaire deduced in #179 - the dungeon WILL provide tools to deal with situations, in a (so far) vidya fashion.
Using what an enemy drops against itself seems like a perfect fit to that.
I disagree about the priority: if we can learn how to defeat the monster but don't get away alive I'd say that's better than getting away alive but learning nothing.
Standard operating procedure against things that regenerate: don’t try to damage it directly, hinder it first so it can’t fight back. Tie it up with bolas, nets, chains, anything that gets its many legs tangled up and inoperable. After that, apply something that can do steady damage over time, like fire or acid or drowning it in water. Until we get strong enough to damage the main body directly, we might have to resort to whittling it down slowly or even running away.
I saw some other people suggesting spikes, that’s also a good fallback option. If we aren’t strong enough to take it down directly, using it’s own strength against it is a good idea. And if it isn’t hampered by the chains, spiked chains around the main body might be more helpful.
Form a sort of wide and low ramp, set it close to the floor and let it fly at the critter and burn the thing while it's tripped up. For the future however carrying a blunt instrument (mace, hammer) might work better in cases where piercing and slashing don't work. It doesn't matter how immortal something is it isn't a threat if it's bent and broken. Though, thinking about it, I'm not sure why it wouldn't shed broken legs.
...Wait.
You throw a glance to Marlow. "What do you mean? How does the hall feel like anything?"
"Well," he begins, quietly, "turns out I can kind of... push how far my regular senses go. Not just how good my senses are, but the range. I can feel where the heat stops out in that hall--tell where the echoes stop, too. It's not exactly sonar--not yet, anyhow. Tryin' to juggle 'em all at once or push 'em too hard and I really notice that drain you were talking about. Smell's the big one, though. ...The thing wanderin' down the hall smells like the things we fought upstairs--the thin ones with the little feelers. Heavier, though." He pauses. "...That was upstairs, right?"
You nod, fighting back a grin. "Yeah. We're like... fuck knows how many floors downstairs from where we were earlier."
Marlow nods in return. "Probably wrong to say I can feel how things are laid out, but... it's a little bit of all of it. Smell, sound, the heat coming off the torches--putting 'er all together, I can damn near see it in my head."
You creep up to the door, peeking out through the barred window.
You ... cannot see very far.
You twist back around toward the trades man. You're torn between trying to hide and trying to face whatever's coming--but you definitely want to get more questions in while you can. The last time you were here, the trades man described this as a boring, run of the mill alcazar--he also implied (in the way he does) that this alcazar in particular might be larger than average, maybe even WAY larger than average, with (in no particular order, and assuming you're translating any of this correctly):
• Abnormal levels of 'external security' (which may account for the sky dome strong enough to keep out gods and Choir gifts)
• One or more extraneous features or additional modifications (you're not sure what this could imply, since you don't know what constitutes normal features for an alcazar--but the trades man and the striped rooms both feel out of place compared to everything else, so they may well fall under that umbrella)
• Unusual spatial positioning (where the alcazar is located, maybe? Cici said she saw a whole world outside of this one--a shitty, ever changing world, but a world nonetheless. ...Your alcazar might not be where it's supposed to be as far as coordinates in the Bad Time Zone are concerned)
• Quote, 'Were I to guess, this alcazar was originally formed by an amateur magus, likely as a first attempt. Instructions were probably followed to the letter, and nothing overly ambitious was tried with the physical arcana. My opinion: it is a very normal alcazar.' This is really the one that's been getting at you--more specifically, the word he chose to use.
Formed.
While it's obviously taken on aspects of your own mind as of your purchasing the house, the foundation of this whole thing--the magic that's manifesting all that trauma as its own little reality--was crafted by someone else, likely the original owner. In a manner of speaking, it's running your software now, but someone else had to have built the hardware. ...Someone who knew what they were doing.
You'd bet money that individual is the Hanged Man.
They built this fucker to do something, something out of the ordinary even for an alcazar. Something, perhaps, ambitious.
"What are alcazars normally made for?," you ask, keeping your voice low and an eye on the door.
"They are weapons," the trades man replies. "They are built only to destroy, and nothing more. There is no flexibility in their purpose."
...So not a weapon.
Something that protects or heals or just... exists, but clearly, the dome and its contents are not secretly a giant bomb. Not incredibly useful information but good to have regardless.
You continue. "What do the gods beating around outside the dome want from the inside?"
"Nothing," says the trades man.
And then he pauses for an uncomfortably long time, leaving you to reel from the possibility that this is in fact his entire answer.
He suddenly clarifies. "They are gods, after all. Each one is immortal and all-powerful, able to leave the xanthous at will--or tear it in twain with a thought. Each one has complete control over its own existence. Only power beyond that of a god could ever truly entice beings as powerful as they. They assault your noosphere only because they're curious--because they wonder at the possibility. They bear faint suspicion that what they seek lies within. The truth, however... is that no such possibility exists. No such power can be obtained within your alcazar at all. Their efforts are inevitably doomed to bear a meaningless outcome."
. . .
Fuck?
Fuuuuuck Cici called it they're not actually gods but they're--
they're TRYING
to...
to become gods?
Are you fucking hearing him right?!
BECOME A LITERAL GOD WITH SOMETHING IN YOOOUUUR BRAIN DUNGEON?!
Wait, maybe not--power less than "beyond that of the power of a god" or whatever could mean substantially less, these things might be waaay below god tier--
Marlow, also picking up on the ABSOLUTELY INSANE SHIT the trades man just suggested, cannot help but ask his own question. "Wait--you're saying... you're saying the power to become a god lies at the heart o' this place?"
"No," the trades man replies. "Incorrect. Absolutely wrong. There is nothing of the sort. This alcazar was built around nothing significant. What lies at the heart of this alcazar falls short of god-like in its potential."
. . .
Fuck almighty, what does the power of a god even mean
The trades man rattled off immortality, being all-powerful and leaving/destroying the xanthous at will, so that's probably a start. Is Acedia the source of that power? The amnesiac? Are they with the thing what grants the power? Did they get trapped trying to harness that power? The alcazar was built around THAT? Is that its purpose--to protect the GOD-POWER from whatever the fuck the sub-gods outside the dome are? Is that what's so unusual about its location--that it was BUILT AROUND A THING THAT TURNS KAIJU INTO GODS?! Is Acedia a god? Was the alcazar built to keep Acedia CONTAINED? You have hundreds of god damn questions--
"Gettin' closer," Marlow whispers.
You lower your voice another peg. Deep breath. Focus. Worry about now, ask the questions you already have prepared, worry about godhood or stopping giant monsters from achieving godhood later.
"The miasmatic wound--you mentioned it last time, and you implied it's tied to the alcazar's health and well-being."
"I do not recall ever implying that, no," the big green liar you owe a lot but not literally to replies.
You nod. "Would healing the wound strengthen the sky dome? Would it... reinforce my noosphere?" Mmm god new words
"No," says the trades man.
You haven't even seen it yet--you honestly have no idea if you can heal the wound, or how, but-- just to cover all your bases, you ask-- "What if I just kinda... blocked it off? Sealed it, like a bandage over a regular wound?"
"Absolutely not," the trades man says firmly. "That would do nothing to stave off the barrier's breaking."
Interesting.
"It's here!," Marlow hisses.
You focus a little mana yourself.
You can hear it.
Tap-tap-a-tappin' its way down the hall.
Definitely not human feet.
No time left. One last question, barely above a whisper--you're not even sure the trades man will hear you.
"What's the best way to relax right now?"
To which the trades man simply responds,
"Seek a nearby hiding place."
Good enough.
You ready up to kick the fucking door open.
Marlow protests-- "Plaire, wait--!"
You need to know.
You need to see this thing, know if it's hostile, and if it is--
you need to know if you can take it, because you're sure it's not the only one you'll run into down here. If you've learned anything from Crush Souls, it's the value of fighting a new enemy one at a fucking time, instead of being surprised by a group of them with no clue as to the basic strategy.
You charge out of the room. Marlow, after a bit of hesitation, follows.
The large silhouette of a bug--an ant, maybe--stands down the hall from you. The faint glimmer of multiple eyes darting about in the darkness.
The second it spots you, your halberd in hand--
it leaps.
High. And far.
Straight at you.
You rush forward, manifesting a huge shield and rocketing it ahead of you--
The bug slams into it... and keeps going.
Pushes the shield back.
Pushes you back.
It jabs with the pointed ends of its limbs, quickly forming cracks in the surface of said shield.
Marlow's assessment was accurate--
it does smell like a monster you've fought before, and for good reason--
you're pretty sure it is a type of monster you've fought before, just...
Bigger.
Stronger.
Faster.
Evolved.
"Holy SHIT!" You push forward, but every strike sends you and the shield skidding back. Preventing the shield from shattering beneath the series of blows is escalating the cost of maintaining it, and quickly. This shield is not going to last long.
Marlow tries to assist with his tractor beam, but appears to struggle--either because the shield is so large, or because it's made of light, you're not sure which.
You wait until the bug is really coming in for a punch before you leap backwards, letting the monster overextend itself in the process of breaking the shield. ...Which it does, in a flash of golden energy and fading, harmless shrapnel.
With half a second and a little distance bought, you follow up with the arrows. Just a... fucking shit ton of them, everywhere, as many as it takes, you don't give a shit MORE ARROWS
You discover... two things.
Three, really, but you already knew your aim was garbo.
One: your arrows, while capable of severing this thing's limbs, barely break the surface of its... er... body. The tendril-musculature-exterior that makes up most of its form is much, much denser than you anticipated; you hurt it, certainly, but the arrows aren't exactly piercing through it.
Two: the moment it has a limb damaged, the ant just... kind of...
lets it go.
The tendrils from the intact part of the arm 'release' the hurt section before the whole nub sucks itself back into the overall body. ...To be immediately replaced by a whole new limb, complete with pointed tip. Fresh, whole, and fully weaponized.
In short: its body is armored and its limbs regenerate. You caught at least one eye with a stray arrow, but the thing does not appear to give a shit; it is already starting to take another run at you.
You gather from Marlow's tone that this revelation upsets him at least as much as it upsets you. "How many o' those you think he's GOT in there?!"
"GOOD fucking question!" You throw an axe--practically slide it across the floor, taking out as many legs as you can.
That slows it down.
For a second or two.
It has more legs where that came from, and is making the exchange very quickly.
The trades man was right (in that he was wrong, but, trades man)--you would not be able to relax knowing this thing is just... hanging the fuck around. Hiding would save you this fight but you'd have learned nothing, and there's clearly a lot to learn. Also the idea of locking yourself in a closet or something and waiting for THIS ugly son of a bitch to pass does not feel like a relaxing affair. You need peace of mind. You need to know how to beat it.
It also hasn't said anything yet, which--given your experience with its classic, more talkative flavor--
leaves you slightly uneasy.
You need a plan.
You need a real good plan.