Mage Tank

Chapter 174: The Raaaaage Caaaaage!

The Abyssal Atrocidile Titan was four times the size of the Atrocidile I’d fought during my Creation Delve. The creature’s pale flesh was covered in rows of translucent scales with the texture of poorly maintained fingernails. Two humanoid arms reached out from the water and dug thick fingers into the cavern’s stone floor as though it were made of loose sand. Dark liquid dripped from its widely stretched mouth, filled with an ocean-blue tongue darting behind flat, gnashing teeth.

It rose, six reptilian legs lining its sides and bulging with muscle. Its feet emerged and stepped down onto the liquid surface beneath it. Soon enough, the creature stood atop the small lake like it was a stage of glass, its hands the only part of it making contact with solid ground.

The haunting scream it emitted sent ripples across the lake and did more than just announce the beast. A burst of water vapor propagated throughout the room as a pressure wave rocked everything within. The walls trembled and stalactites fell from above. The sound was enough to chill my bones, and I wasn’t even there.

“I’m gonna call you Nottagator.”

Abyssal Atrocidile Titan Nottagator smells blood!

Nottagator gains 10 stacks of Rage!

Nottagator uses Titan’s Roar!

Nottagator spends 20 stamina to increase Titan’s Roar’s range!

Nottagator’s STR attacks are maximized against smaller targets!

Despite being caught by surprise, the Littans were quick to respond. After downing his potion, Guar returned to watching the room with his shield raised. When the Atrocidile appeared, the tank immediately activated the barrier that had failed against the Gekkogs. However, unlike the Gekkogs, the Atrocidile’s attack broke against the fortification. The barrier exploded to annihilate the pressure wave, kicking up dust and debris to either side of the Littans.

While Guar’s action saved the group from damage, there was more to the Atrocidile’s attack than an attempt at bodily harm. It reached into the depths of the target’s evolutionary programming, tearing at the wires that governed a hard-coded flight response. I remembered the sickening terror that sound evoked in my own group, and how it had ultimately resulted in Chilla Stormreiss’s death when she got separated from us.

Guar’s eyes darkened in concentration as he resisted the Fear effect, his body glowing as he burned stacks of Blessed to shore up his defenses. Captain Pio sprung up from where she’d been squatting to treat Sgt. Baltae. The sonic attack would have caught her unaware, but Guar’s quick reaction had saved her. She didn’t even flinch under the mental attack, and threads of light spread from her body to each of her nearby allies.

Lieutenant Madel was still lying on the ground and she flinched when the Fear hit, but her body blurred and she instantly regained her composure. She floated up to hover and scowl at the monster. Sgt. Baltae rolled onto his side to stare at the creature, and the tether between himself and Captain Pio bulged, then burst into mist. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing, but whatever it was had allowed him to resist the mental attack as well.

I also did not spot any small blue birds flapping for the hills, so I assumed the stealthy Littan mimic also ignored the ability somehow.

[They have a robust suite of tools to augment their mental defenses. Good. I was worried this battle might be too quick to gather useful information.]

“What did they all use? Can you see their notifications?”

Grotto and I had our Psychic chatter turned up to max speed, thoughts flying between us ten times faster than speech would have allowed.

[Most of their notifications are obscured to me, but I have seen more than enough Delvers to know what happened.]

“Oh, care to share? Actually, can you tell me what’s going on in real time? That’d be helpful.”

The two sides of the fight had entered into a 1-second stare down as the Littans waited for everyone on their team to get to their feet and while Nottagator came to terms with the fact that its flashy opener had been completely negated.

[You wish that I narrate the battle as it occurs, using my superior knowledge and experience to elucidate the most salient points?]

“Fuck yeah, be the fight announcer.”

[Hmm… Very well.]

*****

SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [GROTTO]

ADDENDUM NOTE: Squad Pio vs Nottagator, The Void King’s Pet Lizard

READY?

FIGHT!

*****

The stalemate between Nottagator and the Littans ends when I deactivate the minor weaves holding their platform aloft, plunging three of the Littans down to the steel spikes below, their tips crackling with space-warping Dimensional energies!

The Littans have shown incredible hubris in attempting my Expansion Delve without any information on the hazards contained within, but I must admit their performance so far has not been abysmal. Regardless, as a whole, this group displays an abject lack of Agility, and I estimate that the tank, party leader, and the spatial mage have failed to invest even a single point into the stat. The platform collapsing should be a simple pit trap–the first hazard any Delve Core learns to facilitate–but for this group it is possible that such a simple measure is their undoing!

Sgt. Guar decides to eat the damage from the spikes, failing to use even the simplest of mitigating abilities to prevent the damage! Regardless of the Littan’s intense bravado, the harm suffered is minimal. His robust mana-woven armor halts the spikes before penetrating his meatbag and his high Fortitude score provides a counter to the Dimensional damage archetype.

Captain Pio burns through Blessed stacks to render herself immune to the trick, twisting her body as her chest strikes a spike to land on her feet, recovering from an otherwise miserable display of athleticism. While Blessed is a potent resource often reserved for extreme situations, an astute observer will notice that Captain Pio has gained at least 1 stack of Blessed every time she grants Blessed to an ally, and Captain Pio grants Blessed to her allies with practically every breath. Yara the Godqueen must have a great deal of free time on her hands to issue so much favor to a single devotee and her party.

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Sgt. Baltae uses Telekinesis to keep himself above the trap, to no one’s surprise. Spatial mages are notoriously difficult to pin down with movement-related perils. Sgt. Madel continues to abuse her Heroic Flight passive to avoid ground-based threats, as she has done the entire Delve. It is unfortunate for her party that she is focused almost entirely on Agility, and thus lacks the Strength to carry anyone heavier than a moderately full bag of sand. She might have been able to save them a great deal of trouble otherwise.

Having conquered the mighty and ever present foe of gravity, the party of Littans is now faced with the wrath of the Abyssal Atrocidile Titan, Nottagator!

Sgt. Guar manages to take the initiative, leaping across the field of spikes the moment his body makes contact with the ground! He flings himself hundreds of feet, hammer winding above his head and lands with a forceful blow to Nottagator’s skull!

Guar’s body erupts in Divine might as he thrusts Blessed into the strike. His body becomes a blur and the hammer lands again, striking Nottagator in the same exact location, showing off what must be the Zeal passive. Guar can attack multiple times in an instant so long as he is willing to burn through stacks of Blessed! Not only that, but each attack lands with the force of his deity, imbuing Holy damage into every hit!

Sadly for the ardent fool, Nottagator laughs in the face of Yara’s paladin!

“Nottagator doesn’t seem to be laughing as much as it’s screaming at the universe with slightly less hatred than it did before.”

[Do not interrupt me. I was just starting to get into the flow of things.]

“Oh. Sorry. Please continue.”

Nottagator entered this fight with 210 Shielding from its Biostatic Field Fortitude evolution and has an astounding health pool of 3185. While Sgt. Guar’s strikes stripped Nottagator of most of its Shielding, he failed to inflict a single point of damage to the creature’s health. Each of Guar’s strikes normally apply stacking debuffs to the target leading to Stun, Immobilize, or knock-down, but Nottagator is entirely immune to debuffs if the attack fails to deal damage!

Muahahahahahahaha!

While Sgt. Guar is busy delivering himself to the Atrocidile’s maw, Captain Pio struggles with the terrain. She’s avoided damage from the spikes, but lacks any serious movement abilities to help her navigate the difficult path before her. Regardless, the party leader is able to stumble her way through the obstacles orders of magnitude faster than an ordinary person by flexing what must be a Speed stat of at least 40! Not only that, but her body lights up as she grants herself Celerity, doubling her movement speed. It will not keep her from twisting an ankle, but it will certainly allow her to twist them much faster!

Meanwhile, Lt. Madel rushes the Atrocidile alongside Guar, flying around to the monster’s flank and activating her Weapon Master combo. Each time Lt. Madel makes an attack, she is able to make another near-instantaneous attack with a different weapon so long as it is governed by a different weapon intrinsic skill. She cannot use the same weapon skill more than once, but the effect has a rolling cooldown of 6 seconds, allowing her to become a thresher of death with little or no stamina use!

Madel’s fist glances off Nottagator’s hide, her shortsword fails to find purchase, her spear is repelled, her throwing dagger bounces away, and her hammer strike lacks the force necessary to take advantage of the weapon’s armor penetration!

This thresher’s blades are too dull to matter!

Not only that, but each strike only serves as a whetstone for Nottagator’s own seething hatred!

Nottagator gains 1 stack of Rage!

Nottagator gains 1 stack of Rage!

Nottagator gains 1 stack of Rage!

Nottagator gains 1 stack of Rage!

Nottagator gains 1 stack of Rage!

Nottagator is Berserk!

Nottagator gains 5 stacks of Rage!

While I am certain Lt. Madel has many more tricks up her sleeve, this opening combination exposes one weakness of her build philosophy. She is capable of outputting consistent damage with little regard to resource expenditure, but when she comes up against a foe with extremely high resilience, she suffers. It does not matter how many times she strikes if her hits fail to deal even a modicum of damage! She will need to hunt for critical strikes to be effective!

Having had a taste of what the enemy can do, Nottagator is finally prepared to ruuummmbbbllleee!

Nottagator uses a Haste charge!

Nottagator gains Haste!

Nottagator uses Adrenaline Rush to gain an immediate action!

Nottagator uses Titan’s Bark!

Nottagator gains +22 to its attack from Rage!

Nottagator releases a devastating Sonic attack against the man committing violence on its artfully grown visage. A powerful pressure wave bursts forth from its mouth, hitting Sgt. Guar point blank with enough force to cause severe hemorrhaging in the internal organs of even incredibly stalwart warriors. Sgt. Guar has his shield up and is ready for the attack, but the sonic boom burns one use of his Impregnable passive, which prevents damage up to twice a minute!

The temporary invulnerability might save the Littan from damage, but it is completely irrelevant for the on-hit effect of sending Guar sailing across the battlefield toward an agonizing encounter with the Dimensionally tipped spikes! Guar comes crashing down on the lethal instruments, armor denting on impact and shattering stone as the spikes are ripped free of the ground. That likely hurt a great deal!

But Sgt. Guar’s suffering does not end there. Before the Littan has even hit the ground, Nottagator is already prepared for its next attack. It reaches out with a twisted, humanoid hand, large enough to lift an entire horse-drawn carriage, and brings it down onto the ground in front of it!

Nottagator uses Snatch!

Nottagator’s STR attack is maximized!

Nottagator gains +22 to its attack from Rage!

The move looks like a clean miss at first glance–Sgt. Guar is not anywhere close to Nottagator–but this Atrocidile does not have the Abyssal prefix for no reason. Space twists and the force of Nottagator’s devastating impact is transferred to Sgt. Guar, crushing the Littan into the ground in a cloud of stone dust and a torrent of fresh gravel!

Guar is one tough Littan, but this burns the second use of his Impregnable passive, opening the man up for true pain and humiliation!

Nottagator successfully grapples Sgt. Guar!

You did not think that a move called Snatch merely caused damage did you? Varrin would most likely recognize this move, as he is prone to being grabbed up by giant enemies such as this Atrocidile Titan.

Sgt. Guar blinks out of existence and reappears in Nottagator’s grip. The Atrocidile squeezes the man with enough force to grind boulders into sand and exercises its expertise with the Unarmed skill!

Nottagator has Paralyzed Sgt. Guar!

With all of his defensive cooldowns burned for the moment, Guar can do little against the paralyzing grasp of the Titan. What’s more, Nottagator is not even close to finished!

Nottagator uses Titan’s Bite!

Nottagator’s STR attack is maximized!

Nottagator gains +22 to its attack from Rage!

Nottagator’s Rage causes it to ignore Physical DR!

Nottagator spends 50 stamina to increase its damage by 100!

Sgt. Guar assaulted Nottagator’s face and Nottagator is letting the Littan know just how it feels about that insult with pure brutality! It opens its mouth wide and its gnashing teeth clamp down on Guar. I can hear the sound of his armor twisting from here! Screams of misery and distress fill the air!

“He’s not screaming at all.”

[Silence!]

Nottagator uses the leverage created to slam Sgt. Guar back into the ground, rolling its head from side to side in an effort to dismember the Littan, still trapped in the Atrocidile’s jaws! I would say that Nottagator has gotten a taste for the Littan’s blood, but Guar is immune to Bleeding! It may be the only thing allowing him to clutch tightly to his mortal coil at the moment!

And if that wasn’t enough, Nottagator uses Afterimage!

Afterimage

You gain a number of Afterimage charges equal to the number of SPD evolutions you possess. Whenever you take any action, you can spend one Afterimage charge to repeat that action instantly and at no cost.

Afterimage charges have a 1-hour consecutive cooldown.

Nottagator is doing it again! The Atrocidile hits Guar with a full bodyslam at ten times speed, smashing him into the ground and chewing the man into oblivion! These Littans are only getting a taste of the insatiable hunger of the beast, and Squad Pio is already crumbling!

Nottagator’s display is beautiful in its barbarity! Is it even conceivable for the Littans to recover?