Sandblasted with nostalgia right away. Felt like a good omen to me, too - since we kind of won that fight with Elder Kong pretty decisively.
Hunger had an uneasy feeling as he carved through the legions of the Outer Temple, rushing headlong towards the Middle once more. He was making visible progress every day, growing in strength and proximity to the Imprisoned, but some ill premonition dogged him still, a feeling that, despite the life-and-death battles he'd participated in, the real challenge was still to come.
Well, there is always "real challenge" of Ber doing exact same thing elsewhere else, in order to eventually murder the fuck out of Hunger and his companions.
Focused exclusively on blood enhancement, his strength, speed, and regeneration all had increased prodigiously after the fight with the Archer, though his ranged attacks had benefited most of all. Now his blade-winds and projections struck with singing force, curving and dancing across the battlefield with easy fluidity, far less taxing to employ than before. With a substantial exertion of self, he could compress the power of his strikes even further, folding seven cuts into a single blow that would rend flesh and spirit alike.
I wonder about the visuals of it all. Does power of ruin has a colour? Or does Hunger just spam colourless waves of kinetic erasure?
Such power had served him well, rendering the entirety of the Outer Temple a trivial exercise, and yet...
The residents of the Middle Temple treated the Outer as nothing more than ablative armor, its autonomous armies culling the chaff from those unfortunates bound to the Temple's call. Any who made it to the Middle were controlled via carefully selected incentives, the carrot of bribery and the stick of the Outriders acting in concert to neuter the outsider threat. Even the weakest Outrider patrols seemed a match for the mightiest beasts of the Outer Temple.
And residents of Inner treat residents of middle like utter shit. A pretty severe case of fucked up civilization. A man murdering people again and again, wielding his soul to that of another, deserves basically nothing but treatment of a expendable asset. No magical artifact support, to armor, no nothing.
If the Middle represented so great an increase in sophistication over the Outer, then what did that bode for the Ring's guardian itself? For all that his rate of progression had been absurd, was he growing strong enough, fast enough, in the fields that mattered against so versatile and well-resourced a foe? This was no single monster, to be baited and easily hunted. It was an entire civilization bent to the purpose of keeping their Ring imprisoned and extracting its value thereby. Was his own power too linear, too physically focused, to overcome them?
We really need an EFB to break the curve in half on our knees. Oh well, hopefully Beyond and Further Beyond options are going to be sufficient in keeping up with severity of the resistance Temple is going to throw at us in the foreseeable future.
But for all that he could doubt his chances of success, there was no doubt as to his course of action. He would cut through, until the Ring was freed.
I wish we actually managed to get Cut Through vote... through. Alas.
Mid-morning saw him in the Middle Temple again, deep past the bucolic pastures of its outskirts and into civilization proper, densely-populated towns of high medieval architecture separated by sweeping, carefully regimented fields of crops. In the valley between two towns he spotted an ongoing battle: A one-armed swordsman in grey Outrider leathers against a figure clad in unadorned plate. It was going poorly for the latter, puncture holes dotting their torso, the heavy steel of their armor rent and ruptured around each exit wound.
Alas, poor R-Type. You didn't manage to matter even a little bit. I wish that was Fairbright; learning about her bloodline and the local big players from her could have been invaluable. Learning magical systems from her could have been a probability. Alas, it was not to be.
Also, we kind of mirror that guy, lol.
The swordsman spotted him out of the corner of his eye and swiftly attacked, jabbing with his blade in Hunger's direction. His movement was a blur even to the Cursebearer, and scarce had Hunger interposed the Evening Sky before it was pierced easily through, a wound sprouting across his lower torso. Whipping his cloak around he sprinted behind a nearby hill, blocking the swordsman's line of sight.
You gotta love the fact that he did it basically with no charge. Just jabbed in our direction, no special effects, and then there was a hole in Hunger and behind hunger like medivial version of Graviton Beam Emitter.
A perfect shot to the liver, punching clean through to daylight. Were it not for his Ring of Blood, it would quickly become a lethal wound. As it was, the relatively small cross-section of the attack meant it would only be the inconvenience of seconds. And yet there was no time to lose. Once the outrider dispatched his current opponent, Hunger would be next, and the enemy's incredible speed meant that pursuit would not favor him. What did he know so far? High physical parameters, already wounded, ranged thrust attacks with apparently infallible aim. His best solution was to meet offense with offense.
Gotta love the fact that we picked up H E A L I N G when we had the chance. Gotta love how much utility/offense/regen the ring gives. Gotta adore how goddamn useful the ring has been, even if other options of that choice-point actually had far more raw power. Bloodmight is still very mighty, and very utilitarian besides.
Wasting no further instants, he quickly leapt out from the hillside, launching a sevenfold blade projection directly at the swordsman as he charged. Eyes flickering briefly, the enemy intercepted his blade projection with one of his own, the thrust every bit the equal of the cut, spearing it in twain. Collapsed blade-force carved a meters-deep divot into the ground as the attack folded in on itself.
The visuals of two attacks like this are probably pretty cool. Shifting planes of transparent force flickering, collading like haze of the bonfire in the air, kinetic forces buffeting everything and everyone in the vicitinity as a result. If power of the ruin has some sort of colour, then it is even better, as things get outright pretty.
Hunger was already lunging, sword like a flickering thresher as he fired forward consecutive blade-winds, Ring of Blood flaring to exacerbate the outrider's wounds and repair his own. Without hesitation the swordsman turned to face him, effortlessly countering the swarm of blade-winds while a strategically placed thrust put a hole through Hunger's heart.
Pity that Fairbright didn't leave the sort of wounds that are prone to bleeding. That could have ended the fight right here. Although, as the rest of the update shows, perhaps even draining him to the state of a husk-life mummified corpse wouldn't have stopped him. Goddamn anime determinators.
A critical organ for most, but not for the bearer of the Blood Ring. Without so much as breaking stride Hunger continued brazenly forward, and the swordsman was forced to leap back in order to avoid a close-range grapple. At that moment the armored figure fired, its arm falling away to reveal a cannon-like apparatus before launching a thunderous salvo.
Dark plate, cannon for an arm... Guts? Is that you?
Wait, no, lacking a giant sword and a robot. Nevermind, still cool. Pity that he is a secondary character at best, I wouldn't mind some robo-bros like Versch making more appearances in this quest.
With unerring grace the outrider shifted in midair, blur of his sword a deflecting dance to answer the storm of bullets. Hunger joined in, charging again for the grapple, exerting the full power of his Ring to denude his enemy's blood in erratic, disorienting fits. At last the swordsman appeared to falter, but sensing a feint Hunger juked to the side in the moment before contact. Wisely so, as the outrider spun and thrust twice, displaying heretofore-unseen speed even as his blood was further suppressed. Light jabs both, but Hunger felt his eye put out all the same, and a corresponding groan from the armored figure.
I am surprised that we weren't killed right there, tbh. "Light" jabs of this guy seems to have pretty much no ranged limit. Was it a moment of weakness? Or Hunger's eyeballs are just that strong? Magical eyeballs superior to sharingan, hah.
Blind, but he still had his blood sense. No time for despair. And yet what could he do? The enemy was simply too fast, his reflexes too sharp, form and instincts impeccable, every attack landing exactly where it was placed. Desperately he exuded raw Pressure, sheer murderous intent, the cruel shining sun of his spirit blazing ceaselessly over his foe. At this finally the swordsman relented, reeling under that supernal might. For all his strength, there was a seam in this outrider's spirit, a thin dividing line that was only imperfectly sealed.
Equivalent of exploding with power like a DBZ character, a valid attack in its own right.
And yet, how to exploit this weakness? His uttermost extrusion of Pressure had given the man pause, but it was not feasible to continue for long. A spirit-rending attack could harm him for sure, but he had no way of targeting that specific fault-line, and no way to reliably land such an attack against an enemy of this speed. If he let up the pressure for even a moment, the outrider would have time enough to prepare a serious thrust targeting Hunger's brain, and that would be the death of this flesh body. His ghost form, bereft of blood to enhance, would be completely outclassed by this foe. Idly he noted that the armored figure, his erstwhile ally, had no blood at all.
He felt more than heard that figure's next movement, steamroller charge of pure crushing force, fury and clangor like an ironworks onrushing. Hunger redoubled the expulsion of his Pressure, hollowing himself out, pinning-in-place the outrider by sheer verity of spirit. Even so, at the last moment he felt the enemy throw off his influence, violent force as the outrider's very soul seemed to nearly rupture in twain, one-half of it absorbing the brunt of his assault so that the other could go free.
Theories and stragegies were good for something, at least. Pity we didn't have enough power and exotic attack vectors to actually do something about that whole "spiritual frankenstein" deal, but what can you do when your arete gain is only mildly alright instead of absolutely insane.
...I miss EFB and its absolute singularity of compounding EFBs. I hope we'll manage to pick up at least one in this quest. Discounts should surely enable at least one.
Blind and briefly spent, Hunger could barely react to the outside world as he marshaled his reserves once more. Through his bloodsense he saw the figure of the swordsman, blade outstretched, and heard the tinkling of armor plates falling to the ground.
Typical anime "And then the opponent slowly falls."
Except that was our potential precious ally. Alas, roboguts, we never managed to learn about you. He probably had some way to scale if he managed to get through to the inner temple; perhaps sort of a recovery mechanism too, if he managed to avoid accumulating major amount of wounds despite his mechanical nature.
....I wonder if we could pick up some good loot from his body. Maybe gift arm-cannon to Letrz, she seems to have good taste in media, she'd appreciate a guts-like armcannon.
Slowly his Ring's regeneration restored his sight. The swordsman was a ragged ruin, raw muscle and bone naked to the winds, blood dribbling and pooling from countless tears across his form. In the last instant he must have met the incoming armor with a counter-charge of his own, a full-bodied piercing lunge that cored out the mass of plate in a single fell stroke. Indeed, there was a swordsman-shaped exit blown out the back of the hulking machine, which now slowly toppled. Of course, such an attack left no protection for its executor against the terrible crushing momentum of the armored figure's charge.
Yet another Rihakuverse "this is just a flesh wound" moment. These never cease to jerk me behind fascination of sense of amazement and slight frustration at the sheer degree of how irrelevant flesh-wounds of the "not 100% immediately dead" sort are in Rihakuquests. This one is a bit more impressive than most though.
Panting, Hunger gave his opponent a nod of acknowledgement. He could respect the tenacity, the sheer force of will behind his unswerving technique.
Politely, the outrider inclined his own head. Neither had the strength in this moment to summon an attack capable of bringing his opponent low. Hunger could only hope that the Ring of Blood rejuvenated him faster than the swordsman adapted to his own wounds. Trauma that would have killed a normal man seemed to only briefly faze him. Under the influence of his Ring, very little blood now remained in the man's veins, but the outrider stood stoic and nearly upright, a blade bent but unbroken. And like a blade, chipped and marred, damage to his physical form would weaken, but fail to render useless, so long as the edge was sharp.
Here we see... Benefits of rank, I suppose. A man supposed to be dead thrice-over, looking down on somebody capable of combat-relevant regeneration. Rightfully so, even. Got time for polite ceremony and giving his opponent a measure of dignity before cutting them down. Urgh. I hope that Ring of blood eventually going to be capable of healing brain injuries and massive body mass loss, lesser sorts of combat regeneration just sort of fall into irrelevance eventually, I feel.
"Vanreir, Amarlt," said the outrider, breathing heavily still, his voice a whispery croak. "The strength, of your spirit, is commendable."
"The spirit," Hunger remarked, his breaths equally ragged, "is willing; but the flesh, is weak."
Vanreir raised his hand and waved it slightly, as if to say that he had seen worse.
Slowly, painfully, he turned his blade to face Hunger, its tip pointed unsteadily at his eye.
"I, regret, the necessity of this," he said, "but know, that it's for, a good cause."
Well, any case is a good cause if you did it for long enough and murder enough people for it. It does not look like he awfully cares about Moon Civ in general, so he just murdered a bunch of people for the sake of one girl. I'd say that friends and family of those would've said that murdering him is a necesity, and a good cause too.
Pity we didn't get to poke at this. Hunger needed to play a different sort of game to get this guy to drop his guard enough to land a killing blow.
Fighting through the exhaustion, Hunger took up his own stance, blade raised and poised to cut. The world contracted, static fuzzing in at the edges of his vision. He'd gone too far again, spent too much of his own essence pursuing an impossible feat. Still he dredged up what pitiful slivers remained, enough perhaps for one concerted attack.
He would let the man kill his flesh body, and hope that the surprise of his ghost form's emergence outweighed its now-lacking strength and speed. It was perhaps a vain hope. For the entirety of this battle Hunger had not landed a single physical blow upon this opponent.
Sounds pretty decisive, there. I wonder if the whole Ring-block was a moment of truth sort of plan, discovered somewhere around the time Hunger was stalling with knightly antics or even when he was starting to swing around his sword glaring death into its eye.
"I understand," Hunger said, steadying his blade. "Cut through, even if it cannot be cut. It must be quite the cause."
The swordsman frowned, eyes sharp. "You..."
Sensing an opening, a moment of weakness, Hunger still did not strike. He allowed his opponent to gather his thoughts.
Strategic preparations for the decisive blow. Just like with Seralize. Still not certain if Hunger knew how exactly he was going to murder Vanreir, but letting Hunger time to think and exploit quirks and habits of his enemies is the sureway to get unceremoneously murdred with some sort of trickery.
Hunger compensated pretty well for his inability to Cut Through.
"Hmph," Vanreir shook his head. "What are the chances... my father once said something very similar. I'm not one to believe in fate, but I'm glad you were my final opponent. A worthy enemy can be rarer than even a true friend."
"Well said," Hunger replied, idly scanning the battlefield. He raised his hand, setting his opponent's heart to beating, restoring some volume of Vanreir's blood. "Shall we decide properly which of our swords is the greater?"
"If you wish," Vanreir said, with the air of a man granting a final request.
Age and Treachery. On unrelated note, the fact that high-rank humans can persist with non-beating hearts and essentially zero blood for undefined, but respectably long - enought that Vanreir was not particularly desperate in this situation - amount of time is pretty bullshit. I guess gotta get used to the fact that "lost all of your blood and heart" is just another flesh wound in Rihakuverse.
On unrelated note n2, Forebearer's blade is definitively the great one. It's just Hunger is kind of a weakling. Cannot even Cut Through!
Hunger circled around to a particular point on the battlefield, matching the angle of his initial entry, where the sun fell in neither swordsman's eyes. Slowly he raised his blade aloft, jewel on his finger grim and subdued. The pallor of mortality was like a shadow across the battlefield. Each man knew that this moment could be his last.
I wonder if these guys would just pick up a second ring if we die. Ring of Hunger might not have been entirely powered-up as of right now, but it is still apparently a ring of power. Perhaps with proper magical infrastructuve the magical moon temple civ could have granted its populace a universal regeneration/essence potence buff... Or something.
It also probably would've resulted in doubling of the Call's strength. Maybe they would've just thrown the Blood Ring into some sort of a dark vault under a heavy lock. Can't use the bloody thing if it liable to get them all killed, double the ring-call might be simply too much. Especially for their strange caste society where the strong allow the weak ablate themself against a ceaseless stream of powerful adventurers. The system lasted for a pretty long time somehow, but there is always a limit.
Vanreir walked to match him, taking up the stance of his signature thrust. Now within melee range, tip of his blade aimed squarely at Hunger's brain pan, the crystal-steel edge caught and splintered the sun's rays, a daytime thunderbolt.
Enough of sword-projections. An opponent such as this deserved the physical blade.
Hunger baiting enemy into stupid shit. A classic. Well, Vanreir had all reasons to believe that he had this once... At first glance. He dealt with Fairbright, his primary work is to deal with R-Class which probably stands for people capable of progressing quickly enough to eventually become a threat to the Temple itself, he should have known better. But he did not.
On the same count they inhaled. An unspoken understanding passed between them. Time compressed, congealed, folded over on itself like molten amber. On came the thrust, that viperous lash of silver like lightning made steel. Hunger's blade descended, but slowly, far too slowly to land any serious blow. By the time Amarlt's thrust loomed before him, his hand had managed only to interpose itself between the enemy's sword and his own head.
There was a clang of steel against silver, a clarion note of pure deflection. The Forebear's Blade fell from nerveless fingers.
Knightbros unite. Well, actually, Hunger is an Isekai trash from earth who also tried to do away with feudal nature of his new world, and Vanreir is going to pay for buying into all this respect/traditions/stuff. If he just decided to cut through here, he would have walked away back to his home, and if what we heard from the previous update is any indication, as much more powerful and respected man. But he respected, he postured, he allowed his ultimate goal to slip out of his gaze for a moment and so his straight line was interrupted and his stab diverted.
Like an inverse kingfisher Amarlt was pointed skywards, his blade thrusting forwards and up, the all-piercing force of his strike no match for the indestructible Ring in its path, which had been bound to Hunger's finger by the Accursed himself. Hunger pressed downwards with his right foot, titanic strength collapsing the weakened ground around the divot that his very first blade-projection had created.
I wonder if backlash of striking an indestructible object full-force shattered every bone in his arms right there. Not that it would have mattered since he was the less injured one out of the two, but still, curious.
Also, cool visuals. A titanic clash of power, crater forming in a circle around combatants seemingly frozen in the moment, camera zooms on the surprised face of the Vanreir while Hunger...
Falling rapidly, the bones of his hand a shattered ruin, the Foebear's Blade was level now with his mouth. Snatching it in his teeth, he fired a single blade-projection, one last absolute exertion. Committed still to his thrust, Vanreir could not change his trajectory. Cleanly bisected, chest from sternum, still his arms and eyes and blade could only face up, up, up: turned forever heavenward, as if to pierce through the sky itself.
Cool anime moment number whatever (but cool nonetheless). Gotta love how Hunger once again pulls victory out of the jaws of defeat and managed to use a special attack without using any of his limbs. Just like with Seralize. Plans were proposed to have Hunger try to go for the same sort of immobilization as we did back then, using our cloak to stop her in place, but as our robo-bro demonstrated, we actually quite possibly would've simply turned into bloody mist if we allowed Vanreir to slam himself against our face. Such is the folly of fighting opponents of superior rank.
But there was always a sky above the sky. One could pierce for all eternity without finding its limit.
Cut through anyway. Sadly, he simply didn't manage. Gotta love cool memes, especially when they are valid course of actions. I wonder, how far Vanreir would've gone if his blade was the Blade of Forebearer. That sort of guy... Could have matched Undiminished Hunger, probably. Unlikely to surpass him fully, undiminished Hunger was what, rank 7? 7.5? but coming close might have been a possibility. He got that sort of a determination it takes to progress far in Rihakuverse. If only he was not a slave to the moon civ... Oh well. We tried diplomacy, we spend Arete on it, wrote strategies and implorations, but in the end, we simply did not roll sufficiently well.
Age and treachery had prevailed again, though victory tasted like ashes in his mouth. Slowly he examined the Ring, its jewel flaring crimson, the pulse of its inhalation drawing a thundering sea of power.
Rings absorbing power yet again. Absorbing a soul would've worked well here, with all that whole "Worthy opponent" thing going on. Albeit there were others strong people we fought, Vanreir managed to connect a bit; more than Seralize, even, who was a shadow of young Hunger and a warrior of justice out to avenge her fallen comrades.
Jewel and band and finger all were whole and untouched. Of Vanreir Amarlt's final attack, no evidence remained, not even so much as a scratch.
Isn't that sad, Vanreir? All that devotion and not a single trace remains. If it is any consolation, same is fairly likely to be true for his entire civilization, and for the people who wronged his family. Just another name in a loooong list of people who suffered from the Moon Temple. But now, for the first time in... I dunno, at least three generations, Vengeance is possibly at hand.
