Chapter 88: Respite

Kaius pushed his way through another door, quickly scanning the room for threats. They’d been traversing through the laboratory for the better part of a day now, and he had grown used to flesh horrors lurking in pools of the treacle like alchemical fluid that was so pervasive in the biome.

Thankfully, this room was clean. It looked to be some sort of worker dormitory, a narrow room dominated by rows of bunk beds with one end dedicated to a rough kitchen and living area. Roughly hewn wooden tables and chairs arrayed in front of a wall of cabinetry with three enchanted cooking stoves.

“Well, I think we found a rest spot.” Kaius said, his grip on his blade relaxing. Though he didn’t drop his guard fully. While the Depths had been consistent with providing them with food and water, Kaius had no doubt that the ‘safety’ of the spaces was only relative. Thankfully, it looked like their entrance was the only way into the room, so it would be relatively easy to block the door with one of the many bunk beds.

“Thank the gods, I was exhausted after the second dozen abominations.” Porkchop said with relief.

Kaius grunted in agreement. This biome had been far higher in its density of depths-born than he had come to expect. Three quarters of the rooms they traversed through seemed to have some form of biological horror lying in wait for them. Flayed horrors were the most common, but occasionally they had run across another type of abomination. Twisted teratomas, globular rolling balls of meat that seemed like an amalgamation of every rejected creation of this hellscape.

Exposed muscle, hair, eyes and gnashing teeth, all smushed together into a formless whole. If the flayed horrors had been relatively safe, but annoying to kill, the twisted teratomas took that to an extreme. They posed little threat, individually at least. Their mouths of gnashing teeth were undoubtedly deadly, but with the way they lethargically oozed across the floor, Kaius was pretty sure he would need to be asleep for there to be any real risk.

Unfortunately, their Health and regenerative capacity was even more prodigious than the flayed horrors. It took literally tearing them to shreds to finally overwhelm their healing. Worse, unlike the skinless giants who they had never seen more than three of at once, the teratomas appeared in groups of at least six. It was awful, grinding, and bloody work. Safe work, but it was work. Not a battle.

Kaius sighed, making his way over to a bunk. The monsters of this biome were disgusting, sticky, and unnecessarily annoying to put down. He only hoped that the higher density of this region meant that they would find some Champions faster than they would otherwise.

With a grunt Kaius pushed the closest bunk towards the door, barricading the entrance as the wooden feet of the bed scraped against the rough stone floor. Thankfully, with his enhanced strength the task was easy, even if the noise did scrape uncomfortably at his ears.

“I’m going to check my stats and then have a nap, I’ll make some food when I wake up.” He said with a yawn. A hard day of travel and back to back fights had taken it out of him.

“Way ahead of you.” Porkchop mumbled, clambering into a bottom bunk, the wood groaning as the frame flexed under his bulk. Kaius chuckled as his friend splayed out, asleep in seconds despite the dubious quality of the bedding.

Walking to the bunk next to his friend, Kaius dropped his pack and went through the time consuming process of unbuckling his armour. He slid onto the bed as soon as he was finished, making sure his blade was leaning on the wall next to him. Within drawing reach, of course.

Staring up at the bed slats above him, Kaius pulled up his status. It had been a while since he checked it, and with all the battle he had seen a few gains. Unfortunately, not all that much to his Lesser Regeneration. Some, but not much. While the abominations they had been facing would no doubt do some damage to him if they ever actually hit him, they were too slow. That, and he had long since grown past the point where normal monsters were a true threat. He was quite different from the boy who had almost died clearing out a measly handful of undead from a church, that was for sure.

Thankfully, all that dodging had done wonders for the skills he needed for his last legacy skill.

His status flickered into view, pulling him away from his thoughts

Status:

Name: Kaius

Dynasty: Unterstern

Age: 18

Class Selection: 1 Year, 4 weeks, 5 days

Race: Human (Dynastic) – +1 free stats per level

Layer Reached: 2

Resources:

Health – 380/380 (2.8/min)

Stamina – 280/280 (2.8/min)

Mana – 430/430 (4.3/min)

Free Mana – 30/30

Reserved Mana – 400

Stats:

Endurance – 30 + 8 (38)

Vitality – 20 + 8 (28)

Strength – 20 + 8 (28)

Dexterity – 20 + 8 (28)

Intelligence – 20 + 23 (43)

Willpower: – 20 + 23 (43)

Stat Points: 0

Class Skills (0/10):

N/a

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General Skills (10/10):

Rapid Adaptation (Heroic) – 18 > 20

Warforged (Unique) – 20

Explorers Toolkit (Unusual) – 12 > 17

Adamant Body (Unique) – 16 > 18

True Sight (Unique) – 9 > 14

Runic Lexicon (Unusual) – 18 > 20