Chapter 26 #2
But right after that, he activated Abyssal Tether. From his chest burst forth five tendrils of utter darkness, the combined power of Abyssal Grasp and Shadow Dominion flooding forth to fly toward each foe.
The air came alive with flashes of heat, but the Servitor before him was acting like a bulwark.
Harald poured all of his combined might into his two powers.
Tyrant’s Halo blazed and dominated. The Abyssal Tether coiled around each golem, stretching forth as if without limit.
To Harald’s delight, he found that they could now siphon power directly from the shields that encased each golem, no longer needing to break through first to make direct contact.
Five sources of vitality blazed in his mind’s eye, and Harald focused on doing what the void did best: consuming.
The power didn’t augment him as Well of Starless Dominion did. Instead, the stolen vitality went into fueling the Abyssal Tether, so that their terrific drain on his Thrones abated, allowing him to only fuel the Tyrant’s Halo.
Harald summoned Shadowpaw at the back of the chamber, and the mastiff’s delighted howl filled the temple, overlaying a new source of dread over Harald’s own.
A tremendous amount of power was being drained from each shield, and Harald bent himself to the task, seeking to crush those defenses with both his searing authority as well as his direct siphoning.
Perhaps it was because he was dedicating himself absolutely to this task. Not running, not calculating, not even looking at his foes. Perhaps it was his five Thrones. Perhaps it was the nature of his consolidated powers.
But one by one in quick succession, the shields that encased the golems popped like soap bubbles, and the Tether fell upon the golems to enmesh them in shadowy coils.
All the power that flooded into him from the siphon went into empowering the Tether so that they never weakened or tired.
One of the golems died in a welter of cracking stone. Shadowpaw, no doubt. His own golem pounded forward in a charge and slew the remaining four one by one.
In moments, they were all dead.
Harald released his Thrones, opened his eyes, and exhaled. He felt lightheaded, a little dizzy. It had felt like trying to pour an ocean into a straw. His current power set could barely accept the sheer amount of power at his disposal.
But it had been enough.
The golems hadn’t even been able to launch their stone attacks, so terrible had been Abyssal Tether’s drain.
Five Zenith Tides hovered in the air.
Harald rose to his feet, inclined his head to both Servitors in gratitude, and dismissed them back to his Cosmos. Wandered the temple to collect the scales, then made his way to the glowing blue water.
How strange.
The pentagonal pool was subtle in its beauty, and its radiance hid its depths.
Harald crouched beside it. Clearly magical. Not an Artifact. Then…
Curious, he dipped his hand into the water. It felt cool, and his hand became a hazy shadow under the surface.
He watched, ready to leap away should a threat surface. Nothing did. All was quiet and still.
The classic dungeon dilemma. To mess with something, and risk injury, or leave it and risk passing on a boon?
The golems had been guarding the pool. That meant it was precious, right? Something about it was worth protecting. Therefore…
Harald cupped water in one palm, and brought it to his face. It smelled neutral. Hesitantly, he tasted the water.
It was cold, with a metallic tang, but deeply refreshing. He drained the small amount, went to drink more, then hesitated.
Checked his window. Had something happened?
Studying his stats, he was about to decide that no, it was just refreshing water, when he saw his Scales count.
Scales: 10,472,287/100,000,000
Hadn’t his Scale count just been 10,430,000-something?
Curious, he dipped his hand and drank again, and this time the numbers changed before his eyes.
Scales: 10,493,210/100,000,000
Harald stared.
He’d just drunk the equivalent of two Zenith Tides with one sip.
A grin spread across his face, and he dropped to his stomach, lowered his face right down to the water, and began to cup and drink as quickly as he could. The water was so delicious, it was easy. He drank and drank until he began to feel too full, and only then rose to kneeling and checked again.
Scales: 11,293,664/100,000,000
Harald laughed. He’d just drunk eight Horizon Whisper’s worth of scales.
Amazing.
Harald stared down at the large pool, bemused.
It would take him forever to drink the remaining nine Nightshards he’d need for his fifth actual Throne, however.
Would this pool remain? No—the dungeon was infamous for being unmappable.
Which meant this was a unique opportunity.
If he’d fewer Ascended Thrones, this would be a true miracle.
He’d have Ascended to his next one right here.
Harald looked about the chamber. All was still. The rubbled golems weren’t moving.
Fuck it.
Harald rose, stripped, and leaped into the pool as quickly as he could.
He sank in a mess of bubbles. There was no bottom, only greater radiance. Laughing, he felt the water cleanse him, and tried to drink more before breaking the surface with a gasp.
It felt amazing.
He floated onto his back. The pool was just large enough for him to remain thus at its center. The water was delicious, delightful, and he felt it filling him, suffusing him in a way he couldn’t quite understand, but which he never wanted to stop.
Time passed.
Finally, Harald blinked and came back to himself. The pool’s radiance had vanished. It was now just clear water.
Going vertical again, he looked down into the clear depths which descended into darkness.
What was below?
How far could he dive?
Might it lead to another level?
Harald pulled himself up onto the edge of the pool and checked his window.