C46: Side Quest Slaughter
A small warning that the math is not being super precise due to using larger numbers . I am omitting the smaller numbers though that is only in the writing as I keep actual track on my own calculator. Enjoy
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With my 1.7m[1] echoes I had, I got a few new skills to help improve my speed. The first is the three skills for speed like improving my sprinting and dodging along with one unique dash skill which itself doesnt do much except increase the distance my dashes cross but that is a massive boost when it had ended up merged with my Soliloquy of Power as the extra distance is just ending up more damage in that regard.
Because my lesser agility never advanced, it got merged with the intermediate agility, adept agility and advanced agility. The new result was Advanced agility at level 5 which is one less the lesser agility but it's effect is more than double for the reduced stamina cost along with a speed bonus. This all cost me around 300k for the skills, leaving me with 1.4m even.
Now I don't really care about my stamina at this point which is why as the last item, I got Mad Drive. An advanced skill that works similar to Solar Halo in that it chunks my stamina in exchange for a massive boost to speed and running attack damage which the system informed me was compatible with SoP. I love synergies. This has cost me 550-some thousand echoes which drops me down to 940k echoes.
With the rest, i've decided to put it all into my stats through the Doll. I use up essentially all my echoes as typically this would be enough to bring me all the way to level 89 or 90 but I have to settle for 87 (from 62) for a grand total of 25 levels while my remaining 100k echoes is used by the Doll to act as a barrier to my curse and avoid losing more levels.
As I feel my power rising as I add 8 levels to my skill stat rising it from 43.9 to 51.9. I then put in five points into both arcane and bloodtinge since i have use for it.
Bloodtinge rises from 32.6 to 37.6 and Arcane goes from 36.5 to 41.5. Im quite happy that my base bloodtinge is finally in the double digits which is 10 points but it still needs at least one or two more points before it finally surpasses triple of my mutagen points. Arcane similarly is finally in double digits of its base which is now 14.
With the remaining 7 points, I invest that into Strength as it's my best stat other than Vitality, it rises up to 69.2 from 62.2.
Left with only 3,273 echoes, I clench my fist as Ill have to check how much it is to upgrade my physique as soon enough, it will take about 50k echoes to level up once.
'Hmm, what should I do next? Just continue on to Byrgenwerth or explore the side quests?' I think of the three key items I've collected, the first being the drunken eye of a hunter for what I assume is the DLC item. The second is the tonsil stone to be used in the Yahar'gul temple which is blocked off until the blood moon rises. The third and final one being the Cainhurst Summons I got from Iosefka after bringing her to safety.
"Oh right, there is the nun and skelly boi which I haven't taken care of." I suddenly remember and use the third tombstone to teleport to the Gaol. I kill the two kidnappers near my lamp before going all the way to the bottom floor of the spiral staircase and pass by my initial jail cell when I got kidnapped. I hear the same weeping and whimpering as last time like a broken record.
Out of sight, I go put on the white church guise and go annoy the dumb nun who praises me as her savior before I direct her to Oedon Chapel as while I know she is psychotic, that is only If I ever took the blood of the prostitute who is also lusting for me based on my first conversation with her.
After informing the nun she is safe, she fucking teleports away…in a hurricane of mist and fog of all things. "I need to learn that when I get the first chance. More teleportation methods will never steer me wrong." I then return and climb up to the second level where I find two of the hags trying to scoop my eyes but instead they become the best immobile targets for my new dash skills and to be fair. I did not know that bodies could explode like that at high impacts. You would think that my cleaver would simply cut through them like the thousand degree knife challenge yet my saw cleaver is fairly thick and the saws are in set locations, far better for butchering than simple clean cuts like a normal sword would.
The walls get painted in the organs of the two witches before I demolish the villager population in the cages before doing the same to the other two kidnappers in the next room before I continue forward to a crack in the wall to see a boss arena set up beside some giant doors.
I do spot another summon sign for some sort of prospector character but I don't really care so I just summon Geralt behind me so he can go back upstairs and grind the pigs and dogs while I fight the boss.
I drop down properly and make my way to the open field where I see a giant skeleton. Yet before I can properly enter. A fog wall and prompt meets my eyes.
[Challenge mode activated. Choose NG+ level to fight DarkBeast Paarl.]
"Hmm. let's set it a bit higher since I remember that this guy was pretty easy. I believe this because I don't actually remember much about him. So let's set it to NG+ 22"
[Accepted]
[Two modifiers have been added to the boss: Thunder Lord and Calcium Count]
"What are these modifiers?" I ask as the fog wall glows as the area shifts like a mirage before I can properly enter the boss arena to find the beast skeleton rising up slowly. Another prompt appears as I lay eyes on the boss.
[+1 insight gained upon discovering the boss…Corrrection, +9 due to extra modifier of Caryll rune saturation]
Sparks begin to gather just below the chest of the boss that a ball of energy gathers before shooting out into a domain of lightning around the boss.
From that domain, multiple streaks of lightning come shooting out towards me as I use my updated dash to completely dodge out of the way before dashing towards the boss. My close presence prompts the boss to swipe twice with his front claws but another dash sends me underneath where I strike at one of it's legs and while I see the health drop, I do not even see it flinch in response.
"I see, lightning lord diversifies it's bolt powers to make lightning shoot out under its controls while the calcium count is like tempered but closer to anti stun and anti flinch as the bones become closer in style to hitting walls and monoliths than actual bones stuck to a skeletons body.
The boss soon sends out another electric domain nova which I dodge out of, sending out multiple strikes at the same leg at the same time before cracks begin to gather around it. As the boss's health begins to get lower, the more lightning bolts I have to dodge before I can retaliate. I am somewhat nervous about taking a hit as it could very well be an instant kill on me due to the 120% increase. That means they deal double damage to me.
"Was I wrong and he is just naturally durable due to the higher difficulty and it's closer to a 1.25 style boost?" I murmured to myself as I kept wailing on that leg before landing a heavy blow on Paarl's face, knocking him over for a riposte.
"Oh ho, I can hit a heavy strike on QoP dash? Very very nice" I state my joy as after releasing the bone fragments of its skull from my visceral attack and dashing away.
The boss soon enters into its hyper electric state with the electricity flowing through all the bones and making me feel all tingly the longer I remain near the boss. Yet I do not stop dashing and heavy jump striking its head which knocks it down again for my ripostes. It's a good farm as I get closer and closer to reaching level 10 with that skill and evolving it again.
Thankfully the knockdown effect of my stunning it and then striking with visceral strikes negating the lightning around it as I finally realized what the tingly feeling was. When the electric sensation on me reached its peak, Paarl gathered the electricity in its mouth to create a breath attack but it appeared closer to a frenzy attack in Elden Ring than a regular lightning though that soon changed and the bolts of lightning sped towards me even as I dashed out of the way with them heat seeking me until I realized that the charge became the targeting system on me.
The Lightning Lord proved his worth as he entrapped me within a circle of lightning and I finally got struck by a few bolts. Leaving me with only a few bits of health that my bit of regen was slowly mending but it was far too slow for my liking and I downed three vials at once before I was in optimal setting. I just barely survived there as thankfully the bolts only counted as one attack on me and invulnerability frames had saved me from the other strikes.
Knowing of the threat now, I began to dodge a far enough distance from the bone boy when the charge got too high for my liking. This has given me the opportunity to rest up more often to restore my stamina better rather than dodging at the last moment and leaving me with quite a bit of time to regain it all.
This slowed the fight down but was much safer and I got to fully experience my speed and power in the truest sense.
I've noticed that the longer I stay in this world, the more I find myself changing. The most notable change is that I'm far more patient than before as any fight lasting longer than a minute or two would be unacceptable to the old me but to the current me, it's just good fun and helps me in the grind of my skills.
The most obvious change is the one happening right now as I plunge my fist into the boss's skull one last time with my visceral strike. I grab at the pathetic creature's soul. Because it's was stunned, it's lightning is negated which grants me the full privilege of ripping it's soul out.
I've already activated the halo and with my +3 regen, I can easily regain the bits of health I lose when the soul damage hits me and is immediately healed by my halo before the hp regen properly hits and I get my full health back, or at least I create a situation of equilibrium as I keep pulling out DarkBeast Paarl's soul.
It comes out looking like a random human which throws me off for a bit but I don't stop pulling as the beast slowly gets up from it's stunned position. It attempts to crush me under it's jaws but I instead flip over onto the top of it's head.
I do lose some progress in the soul extraction but it's a small price to pay as it seems incapable of summoning its lightning while my hand is latched onto its soul at all which benefits me more as that means it's unable to hurt me at all. It's a quadrupedal creature which means it's barely able to even rub at its own skull much less get its claws over its head to get at me.
Sure it could technically flip it's head to rub me off against the floor but it struggles to move at all much less turn it's whole body to do it. It also doesnt seem very smart since I just kept doing the same thing over and over again and it kept repeating the exact same attacks in the same rotation.
Knowing that my Tontritus won't do anything, I instead switch to Gascoigne's axe which allows me to distinctively attack outside the norms. This come to as a form of revelation whenever I use chaos steps. It's as if I experience the aspects that which make my chaos, respectively the light and shadow aspects in greater clarity. As such i've recently come up with a new method of using shadows outside walking.
The result speak for themselves as all the spots i've walked on emit whips formed out of shadows that strike the Boss's body in all locations. This completely random pain ensures that the boss cant focus on throwing me off since im attacking from all directions.
As for why I don't use this method against normal beasts and what not.
It's because it does half of what my arcane stat is for my gun. What that means is that my arcane stat is the primary dependence for this technique but it deals similar damage as my guns do but at halved damage.
Using the kidnappers here as an example. I would likely have to use the tendrils for an entire 4 seconds to kill just one. This follows the assumption that I had already set up plenty of shadow steps around said enemy or lured them into a trap. The trap part might work a lot more than other methods as such, ill primarily retain this for when im stuck like this and dragging out a bosses soul.
The results are quite pleasing as since it began being whipped, its resistance had been greatly shunted. This allows me to drag out the great majority of its soul before it puts up newfound resistance in the form of layering its body with its lightning that it had trouble accumulating before.
The electricity is not great but it does make my body numb which my meagre bits of regeneration cant do much about.
[Chaos step]
With me activating the skill, it's as if the very space around us became rainbow like. Akin to an aurora appearing around us yet it comes with all the perks of it too. Solar radiation, explosions regarding magnetic fields and various randomly spawning gases. This all combined with the shadow whips ensures the dark beasts bolt powers remain locked down and I finally pull through the final venture.
With the soul of Paarl finally exposed, I swing my left hand to plant a nick into the crystal like structure that then spreads out in the form of cracks before it finally bursts into a shower of energy and disappearing glass. In the last moment, I switch my title to Soul Slayer for the extra harvest and greater sense skill buff.
[PREY SLAUGHTERED]
With that message, I feel tons of insight and echoes flow into my but also a bunch of system messages.
[Visceral attack level 9 has gained enough experience to level up to 10. Would you like to evolve the skill?]
[+5 souls have been added to Soul Slayer Requirements. Soul Slayer I has been upgraded due to shattering the soul of a boss. Souls: 10/10. Undergoing evolution. Evolution complete: Soul Slayer II-new requirement 0/25. While active: +4 to Greater Sense Skill and +3 to Harvest. Passive: +2 to Visceral attack]
[original Insight gained = 5. Greater sense (level 6) increases reward by 5. +8 due to Oversaturated runes. Final Insight reward = 18]
[Factors for echo gain: +10% moon rune, +30% Heir Visceral, level 6 harvest (+6%). Echoes gain for killing Dark Beast Paarl: 2.987m.]
[Host has shattered the target's soul ... .Recalculating.]
[new Reward = 3.568 echoes]
"Holy Guaq" I sputter as I slowly read through each one to not miss anything, dismissing them one by one but I do have the Visceral strike evolution set to the back as this is the first time i've found the system so… responsive to my actions.
Im for once stumped on why this change occurred, perhaps it's a reward from some hidden achievement that I wasn't told about nor maybe the feeling the pressure from all my very suicidal moves and has to individually explain how it all works for me.
It's only when I get to the visceral page that I finally pause as a thought crosses my mind.
"Wait, I've just personally killed a level 20 boss with pretty relative ease. I guess it's time for a rematch" A feral grin crosses my face as I think of my old nemesis.
The Cleric Beast.
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Word Count = 3044
[1] adding 120k of existing echoes combined with the 93k from the forbidden forest passageway along with the shadows 1.5m.
Meeting old characters and saving them as well as continuous growth before fighting a tough fight against Paarl.
Whether you like the chapter or not, drop a comment. I can't be letting myself get complacent in my writing. I still have plenty of growth in all forms.
discord channel still has the next chapter preview like usual: https://discord.gg/rE6gtg28XH
Patreon.com/Xanok to find me.