34. The Color of Bone

[REVOLVER Spell: BLOOD FOR BLOOD]

[MP Cost: 18]

[Spell Description: Chamber One imbuement. Inflict self and one other target with [Bleed]. REVOLVER's cylinder receives the imbuement effect for the duration of [Bleed], thereby converting all bullets to Infernal damage type. [Bleed] lasts for 60 seconds.]

***

Along with the matter-of-fact notification of a new status effect, Pathsight also introduced a new overlay element to worry about. It took the form of a fourth bar, which—annoyingly enough—occupied the front and center of Serac's conscious awareness.

This particular bar, unlike its red-blue-and-green cousins, started out empty and slowly worked its way up. Its color was of pale stony-gray, perhaps what Ashvanaga's castle walls might look like if someone scrubbed them clean, or—

Serac gasped, realizing that a perfect analogue to the bar's color was already floating all around her. The dust particles! These were the exact same color as the new status bar that ticked up and up, even as the particles themselves grew thicker and denser.

"Trippy?" Serac called out, subconsciously covering her own mouth as she did. Somehow, she suddenly hated the idea of inhaling any of these stony-gray particles. "Any idea what we're dealing with here?"

"Apologies, Wayfarer. [Ossify] is not a status effect I'm familiar with. Perhaps its integration into Pathsight is more recent than the scope of my knowledge. What I can tell you, however, is that the new overlay element is what one might call a 'build-up gauge'. Whatever the effects of [Ossify] may be, we can safely assume it'll reveal its full nature at the exact moment its gauge fills to the top."

"Oh, yippee. Just a fun mystery for us to solve the moment it blows up in our faces!"

"Well, at least it's a mystery with a clue." Zacko cut in, picking up the thread of the conversation despite missing Trippy's portion of it. "Just look at the word itself: ossify."

"The word means nothing to me, Manusya man. I haven't got your fancy college education."

"OK, to be fair, it's my first time seeing it too. But I'm pretty sure it's to do with the root word 'os', which means 'bone' in one of the lost languages. I think it makes sense. Just look around; we're practically covered in bone dust."

"Uh, I dunno which universe you came from, but this"—Serac flung her arm through a dense cloud of the particles in question, which felt noticeably heavier than before—"isn't what bones look like. Bones are black, shiny, and sturdy. Like my horns, see?"

Zacko looked at her like she'd grown a second pair of horns.

"Are you for real? Bones are white. Like the color of chalk. Ever heard of the phrase 'white as bone'?"

"There are clear differences in worldview between you and Zacarias Borges-Juventus, but I do wonder if now is the optimal time for inter-Realm cultural exchange."

Trippy was right, of course. In the time Serac and Zacko had debated the color of bone, [Ossify]'s gauge had already built up to nearly a third. Soon enough, the mystery would lose its 'mystery' tag, with or without the Wayfarers' ability to piece together linguistic clues.

"OK, let's actually get a move on." Serac urged, already taking the first step to lead by example. "With any luck, we can maybe find a cave or something to hide in. Somewhere that would let us get rid of this [Ossify] build-up and maybe even put down a Waystation."

"Well, speaking of something to hide in," Zacko said, staying put in his original position, "why not just call Ash back? We could sit in our castle and see if we can't 'weather the storm', so to speak."

Serac stopped, already caught in two minds. Her first reaction was: no, why would we make Ash suffer through something we won't ourselves? But her second thought was: on second thought, that is kind of what fortresses are meant for…

That was when her indecision was interrupted by yet another change to the environment.

Chuh chuh chuh…

"What was that?"

"Huh? What was what?"

Chuh chuh chuh…

"That! Don't tell me I'm the only one that can hear it!"

"I heard it too, Wayfarer."

"No, yeah, I heard it this time. What in the—oof!"

Serac spun toward her Manusya companion, only to see him doubled over and clutching his chest, his face contorted in pain. No, not really pain. More like… fear?

Which was enough to put Serac on high alert. She knew Zacko was less stoic than he liked to pretend, but she'd also never seen him so visibly afraid—not even when he'd faced down a KL-185 Deva. Whatever had spooked him must've been really spooky to elicit this kind of—

Chuh chuh CHUH!

Serac got to experience it for herself.

It began much like a gust of wind. The so called 'bone dust' around Serac's person suddenly shifted en masse, as if lifted by rising air. This was almost immediately followed by a flash of searing heat that ran through her person, chest to back.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"Ow!"

[91!]

The sensation came with its own damage number. Of course it did. Acting on pure instinct, Serac spun again, this time reaching out in an attempt to grab the thing that had just passed through her. She caught nothing but air and bone dust.

Chuh chuh chuh chuh chuh!

And now, she heard the strange sound for what it was. Laughter. Whatever was striking at the Wayfarers from the bone-dusted shadows was also having fun at their expense.

Serac saw red. And in her anger, she fired back indiscriminately, emptying a whole cylinder into the 'space' where she thought the laughter originated. Most of the shots missed… except one.

[0!]

0? Now, that was a new one. Not even Ashvanaga in its Field Boss form had boasted a Physical mitigation of 100%. Was this thing just really hard? No, somehow, Serac knew that couldn't be it. The more likely explanation: the thing was—

"Incorporeal. I believe, Wayfarer, that you might be shooting at a ghost."

For one fleeting moment, Serac had seen the ghost, just as her one accurate hit had kicked up a puff of bone dust. Pathsight had registered the damage-less hit and labeled the target as: [Bhoota]. By then, night had well and truly fallen, shrouding the Badlands in a dark maroon veil that obscured Serac's vision of her own arm and weapon, let alone a ghost that hid in the shadows. And no, not just one ghost.

Chuh chuh chuh…

Cheh cheh cheh…

Chah chah chah…

More laughing voices joined the first Bhoota, each more infuriating than the last. Serac counted at least four, perhaps five distinct entities, their voices filtering in and out of audible range as they flew circles around the Wayfarers.

Cheh cheh CHEH!

[91!]

A second ghost passed through her, leaving its mark in the form of Health damage. This time, she swung after it with PULVERIZER, only to whiff. Not even close. Her rock-vambrace punch was too heavy and slow, while the Bhoota could dash in and out of safety at will.

"Ugh!"

Serac let out a groan of disgust. Of all the weird and wonderful Aberrants she'd had to smite so far, these Bhootas took the cake as being the most irritating.

"So I've got to shoot these things somehow, but REVOLVER won't do any damage to them anyway. How the hell do I kill them then?"

"If Physical doesn't work, you'll have to try a different damage type."

"You mean with [Catharsis]? But I haven't got enough Mana, Health, or Cartridge to deal with all of the Bhootas… and that's assuming I don't miss."

"The Manusya then? With his VISAGE imbuement?"

That sounded like a half-decent idea, assuming Zacko would be willing to go into more Karma debt. But when Serac turned to her companion to suggest just that, she was shocked to see him crouched low to the ground, his head buried in both hands.

"Zacko? The hell's wrong with you?"

"I can't…" The Manusya croaked out a muffled whimper. "I can't do ghosts."

"What?"

Here was a man who'd survived the Aviary, won a duel against Bayu, and spearheaded the assault on Ashvanaga. And now, he'd been reduced to a whimpering fool by a handful of laughing ghosts.

"Oh my gods…" Serac muttered, mostly to herself. Then, to Trippy, she said, "You think it's too late for me to summon Ash?"

"No, but I don't think it'd be much help. I'm not sure that these ghosts would leave you alone no matter how long you try and 'weather the storm'. And that's assuming Ashvanaga's castle walls could actually keep the Bhootas out."

"Good point. Which leaves me with only one option…"

By this point in her Wayfaring journey, Serac had become something of an expert at quick maths. Right now, those maths told her that she could tank six more Bhoota attacks and still be left with enough HP for a much-needed buffer.

Six. Would that be enough? It'd depend on the execution of her plan, as well as the Bhoota's Max Health and mitigation profile. Only one way to find out…

Chah chah CHAH!

[91!]

The first hit was already in the books, and Serac couldn't allow herself to miss this chance. She spun and backstepped at the same time, tracking the Bhoota's barely visible movement with REVOLVER's barrel.

[Chamber One: BLOOD FOR BLOOD]

[Bhoota Status Effect: BLEED]

[Wayfarer Status Effect: BLEED]

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

The shot landed! Which—if Serac had understood the spell's description correctly—meant all of her bullets had just been converted to Infernal damage type. Which also meant—

Chuh chuh CHUH!

[91!]

Serac spun and fired thrice in quick succession. As loath as she was to waste her rapidly dwindling Cartridge, she also needed to maximize her chances of landing a hit. In this case, it proved to be the correct decision, as it was the third shot that kicked up a visible impact cloud, along with a meaty damage number:

[140!]

CHHUUUHHHH!

The Bhoota's pathetic 'screech' coincided with a flash of light. The maroon gloom of the Naraka night brightened for a brief Ksana as a dying ghost finally showed its form in full.

The best way Serac knew to describe it was a 'winged monkey', with a bug-eyed and snake-fanged face that was disproportionately large for its scrawny simian body. In lieu of death throes, it flapped its bat wings several times before dissolving into Souldust. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, Karma to Karma.

[400 क]

As it turned out, the Bhoota had by far the lowest HP out of all the Aberrants Serac had smited thus far. She did think it was only fair, given how difficult it was to hit one!

Cheh chah chih choh!

A chorus of confused outcries followed in the wake of the first Bhoota's death. Despite not being able to see them, Serac could tell that the movement of the remaining ghosts had picked up in intensity and murderous intent. Even to them, this fight was no longer a laughing matter.

"Well, bring it on, then! I've got enough bullets for all of you."

Yet, despite her outward bravado, Serac knew that she was still very much in a bind. And not just because her Cartridge was down to a measly [2|11].

For one thing, the [Bleed] effect sapped her HP at a steady rate ([4!], [4!], [4!], …)—more than enough to override the modest effects of Froggy's [Lesser Regen] ([1], [1], [1], …).

For another, [Ossify] continued to build and build, edging ever closer to filling an entire gauge with the color of bone.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.