Chapter 160: Loth is Scary

“Hah. Hah,” The leader of the Hunt half-laughed, half-panted as he pointed his saber at Loth. He was looking pretty ragged after being battered around by traps for the last few minutes.

I wonder if that saber will be any good for my Build, Loth wondered idly as she absentmindedly maneuvered the fae closer to his demise.

Her insects were loving the environment, burrowing through the ground with lightning speed, dragging wires and blades through their tunnels to set up traps where none had existed heartbeats before.

“You…kobolds. You couldn’t have done this by yourself. You, bottom-feeding scum, have to rely on INSECTS to help you!”

He’s trying to spread the credit for fighting him across me and my insects? Ah, he’s going to try and seize control of them.

“My insects are carefully cultivated tools and the catalyst through which my Abilities are used.” Loth said, maintaining a neutral tone. “Do not ascribe them nonexistent traits, like the ability to ‘help’ me with anything.”

Now cap it with a statement that brings the balance back to neutral.

“I understand your frustration and forgive your frustrated words.”

“GAH!” the fae bellowed in frustration.

Loth was fairly certain that any of the other fae would’ve succumbed by now. Either the one in front of her was significantly stronger than the others, or the ivory badge on his chest was doing a lot of work behind the scenes.

I wonder if that will be any good for my build, Loth thought, eyeing the badge. She’d heard everything that Will had pried out of that minor fae. If that lord had a natural Ability that was able to buff minions, he might be an excellent capstone for her Master of the Vivarium skill…assuming she could get more upgrade slots after she got her class advancement.

As the battle progressed, Loth had noticed the ground itself had begun to react more sluggishly to her insects. Likely he’d found a way to exert a certain level of control over it.

Ever since she noticed, she had been leading him in a widening spiral pattern, trying to prevent herself from spending too much time on ground her opponent had claimed for himself.

The fae lunged forward aiming for a quick thrust with his saber.

Loth slid backwards, gliding across a newly created trap, which armed itself as she passed. The fae’s leading foot sank into the earth an instant before Blessed Steel spikes erupted out of the walls of the punji trap and perforated his leg.

“You shameless cheat!” The fae shouted, flailing wildly at Loth as he attempted to pry himself free.

“’Cheating’ only exists in the context of things that have rules. A battle to the death is outside the bounds of such conventions.” Loth said.

The fae’s eye twitched for an instant as he stared at Loth. A moment later, he tore his leg free of the punji trap.

I’m going to have to recollect all of those blades. They were expensive.

One of the problems with being reliant on traps was that the more powerful her prey became, the more expensive and voluminous the gear she would have to transport from Floor to floor. she had just recently upgraded from steel to Blessed steel for the pointy bits.

That somewhat limited the ‘freestyle’ nature of her trapmaking.

My webbing is getting stronger every floor, but stabby bits are a concern…If I could just take sharpened materials from the Floors I was on, that would cut down my expenses and carry weight significantly…

Note: Find a way to bake potency into Floor-native materials such that they will damage Floor-native fauna.

“Listen when I’m speaking!” The Fae shouted, swinging his saber down across Loth’s body in a vicious swing that should’ve bisected her from shoulder to hip.

Loth offloaded the damage to her soakers, who died by the dozens. As a result of their deaths, Loth’s entire array of insects gained a potent boost.

“I don’t owe an enemy my attention, so please, don’t interrupt when I’m thinking.” Loth shot back. Naturally she wouldn’t apologize, as that would cause a cascade of ‘bad stuff’, so instead, she added a weight of her own to the Floor’s scale, rebalancing the Debt in an instant as she maneuvered her insects for the next exchange.

Loth savored the fae’s sour expression as he realized that he would never outmaneuver her with words.

“How vexing. Very well…My Lord Kincaid has granted me his Favor. Some of the effects you have already felt. Some you are ABOUT TO!”

The Fae’s voice deepened as he began to swell, his skin distending as his body gained mass, lumpy, cancerous limbs erupting from his body.

Loth craned her neck to watch as the fae began towering over her.

“The lord of Flesh can turn Debt into raw muscle. Watch as I tap into his Ability and leverage every favor I am owed to increase my strength!”

Muscle? More like mass, Loth thought, eyeing the quickly expanding creature. Sure, a massive lump of flesh would probably hit harder and be tougher to kill, but that was about it.

“Seems kinda basic.” Loth replied, arms crossed. The only response from her opponent was a wordless howl. Then again, I can see why a Lord of the Fae wouldn’t trust his backstabbing minions with a more valuable Ability. I shouldn’t underestimate their leader just because this one’s kind of lame.

Stolen story; please report.

As the creature gained size, Loth felt her insects underground subtly speed up as they encountered less resistance from the earth itself.

I wonder if he has no control over what Debt he collects in order to fuel this Ability, loth mused, rubbing her chin as she decided how to handle this.

She had a couple seconds to think while the creature rapidly swelled.

Now that the ground is a little less restricted I could open up a pit trap and simply bury this thing, but it probably wouldn’t stay down.

Since he seems to be activating a trump card that relies entirely on dealing physical damage…

“No damage absorption Ability is infinite.” The mutated fae said, pointing down at her from it’s new height. “I will crush your petty traps and your petty body until it sticks.”

“You’re right. It’s not infinite,” Loth said, arms crossed, bringing her modified Cuirass to the forefront of her mind.

Cuirass of the Blood Lord

+10 Resistance

+3 kinesthetics

+1 Acuity

+14 Focus

Damage done to you is done to your minions first. Scales with Focus.

Whenever you kill a minion, all allies gain a boost to Strength, Resistance, Kinesthetics, Movement Speed, and Damage for the duration of combat or until an hour passes.

Yeah, that’ll work.

The Fae brought down a massive fist that should’ve caved in her skull and crushed her spine.

Another several dozen damage soakers died, while the rest got stronger.

The monstrosity bellowed with rage and unleashed a flurry of blows, each absorbed by her Cuirass and redirected to her bugs. Each attack killed less and less of her minions as all of them rapidly got stronger.