[center] [img]https://i.imgur.com/C7nwoGY.png[/img] [b]Words:[/b] 1,326 (+3) (+3) (+5) (+5) (+3) [b][color=ea590c]Edward Portsmith: Level 9 (26 cells) (2 level ups stored)[/color] [/b][color=ea590c]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]//////////////////////////////////// (53/90) [b]Location[/b] Frozen highlands - The Midnight Walk [/center] Having gotten the alchemist’s supplies safely across the pit hallway, Edward could have headed back to the dice room right away, this side of the locked down maze now more or less dealt with. However, instead he found himself gazing down into the pit, recalling a threat he had discovered below, but not dealt with due to assuming it would stay there. Now that he knew this to be false, he took it upon himself to deal with that mistake. So, after a small amount of preparation, he stepped off of the edge and plunged into the dark, before unfurling his wings and gliding towards a hidden cave found half way up the vertical shaft he had been hauled up by gargoyles at the start of his maze exploration. He cushioned his landing with a front roll, before coming into a kneeling position with one fore arm hand crossed over for support, before pulling the trigger of his magelock pistol and sending an oversized slug and a shower of nanotech shrapnel into the [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/8e8b0bf8d33e.png]Premetamorphic Green Hunter[/url] that called this place home. Already prone to violence (as it had proved by smashing up the scout drone he’d sent down here earlier) the grotesque mutant showed zero hesitation in charging towards him, moving with a great deal of speed and momentum despite its crawling gait. In response the man hurled a pal sphere he’d been holding in his other hand over its head, before lunging to the side into a portal. He appeared a few feet away, and used a flap of his wings to arrest his motion and to pull himself up onto his feet. Man and monster turned to face each other, but Edward had preemptively thrown out the wildcard for this potential duel, namely the pal sphere. Having bonked against the far wall, and then fallen to the ground, it now burst open, revealing the Dreadnought's thoroughbred Reindrix, surrounded in its chilling aura. More often than not, that same said aura made it mostly unusable, given it would freeze his own battle lines. Down here, where most of his forces could not reach, and without the other seekers, it was finally the surviving member of their original stagecoach’s pulling team’s time to shine. It began by lowering its head and then jerking it up again, causing a spear of ice to lance up from below the green hunter, staggering it as it began to try and charge Edward. The man in question took this time to draw Odden’s Pinky with his free hand, who’s mag he promptly emptied into the hunter, igniting it with its incendiary rounds. Being on fire didn’t deter the hunter much, it seemed, as it puked up a lash of its own guts out of its mouth, and then came at Edward with them. It slammed them down in an overhead blow which Edward dodged by lunging forwards into a portal, warping through the beast, only for it to come swinging around faster than he had anticipated, smashing into the man, sending him tumbling, his pistols clattering to the floor has he lost his grip on them. He landed next to a [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/b0ed6217cab4.png]crackling blade[/url] he’d seen earlier, one which he seized the handle of and used to haul himself to his feet as the hunter lunged for him. He would have been too slow to avoid this despite the blade’s help, but fortunately for him, his Reindrix had responded to his being knocked down by charging to his aid. Its freezing cold antler slammed into the hunter, backed up by considerable amounts of mass that allowed the pal to ram the monster to the side. Its freezing cold aura washed over them both as it skidded to a halt, flash extinguishing the flames burning on the hunter in the process, while Edward’s frostkin ring protected him somewhat from its chilling effect. Having hauled himself up with the cracking blade, he now pulled it out of the ground and cleaved into the hunter with it, carving into flesh with the heavy blade, though the electricity crackling in the blade didn’t seem to do much if any extra damage. When the hunter recovered from their blows, both man and pal backed off and away from a rather telegraphed yet powerful looking slam attack. Then they backed off even more when the hunter tried to spew acid at them. The reindrix used the distance they’d gained to take the time to whipping its head around and send a crescent blade of ice which spun towards the beast, while Edward, having examined his new weapon, channeled his two unused mana cells into it and then thrust the weapon forwards, sending a bolt of lighting slamming into the hunter. In response it came charging towards them again, something that Edward could avoid with another portal dodge, but which his reindrix tried to meet head-on, only for the hunter to overpower it in its fury, driving the pal back and slamming it into a wall. The hunter then rose up and started slamming its fists into the pal, only to freeze up and be stunned when Edward struck it with a burst of flame from his whipped out Illumina baton. The reindrix pushed the hunter off of it, and then hobbled away as best it could while Edward cleaved the crackling blade into one of the hunter’s legs, fully toppling it to the ground. Rather than press the attack with his blade, Edward immediately expended the mana cell the strike had regenerated to cast a grenade spell, dropping the bomb on the body while backing off and commanding the retreating reindrix [color=ea590c]”Iceberg, now!”[/color] The pal obeyed, despite its wound, pivoting and channeling a massive lump of ice above it, so large it scratched the ceiling of the cave, before sending it hurtling down towards the hunter. The hunter tried to rise and get away, only to be shoved back down by the exploding grenade, keeping it down long enough that the iceberg could come crashing down atop it, dealing devastating damage. Despite this, it lingered on, but not for long, as Edward retrieved his (now self reloaded) magelock pistol, and put another round into it, one accompanied by a hail of icy spears formed and fired by the Reindrix. Having done what he’d come here to do (remove a threat that might be dropped on the dice room civilians) Edward retrieved his other dropped handgun, as well as the Reindrix’s pal sphere, to which it was returned (though not before healing it with his feather staff striker), before preparing to set off. The only thing that caused him to pause was the green hunter’s fallen spirit, which he scooped up and crushed in hand, not wanting to waste any more time with hats or proper storage, but also not wanting it to go to waste. [hider=Edward received] [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/c6be32d19ebf.png]Quartz[/url]: A colorful, tiny Ergo fragment, useful for upgrading a puppet's P-Organs" [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/b0ed6217cab4.png]Arche's Guardian Handle & Blade[/url]: A sword blade and handle, currently joined, which could hypothetically be split and combined with other parts. The Blade can call down lighting to strike it and empower the wielder, moderately increasing dodge and attack speed for 15 seconds. The handle meanwhile can allow the attached weapon to charge up and then unleash a short range explosive lighting bolt. Both abilities take two mana cells for Edward to use. [/hider] Interesting crystal and new sword in hand (he was going to need to sort through his melee weapon collection soon it was piling up) Edward spread his wings and ascended back up the pit, reuniting with Loona and the SomnaDrix. With them at his side he headed for the dice room, iIntending to hit up the other route to at the very least call back the snoruyo holding open those doors, if he couldn’t evacuate the likely stubborn wand seller and wiggly frederik from that way (assuming others had not done so already).