NOVGO.NET Chapter 80: Fangs In Rift
Chapter 80: Fangs In Rift
"Plant your boots flat on the shelf, Ruby, don’t stand on the wet kelp."
A spray of phosphorescent brine erupted through a jagged fissure in the sea cave floor, crackling with violet static.
"I have my heels dug into the dry ridge, Fin, but the air in this cavern tastes like burnt copper."
"That is ionized mana bleed from the rift mouth, keep your respirators sealed."
"Maya, how are our supply reserves looking from the support van?"
A burst of radio static buzzed through their earpieces before Maya’s crisp voice cut through the cavern damp.
"Three emergency mana ampoules remaining in Nila’s pouch, Fin, and your Warp Slip cooldown has four seconds left on the timer."
"Copy that, four seconds is plenty of cushion."
"Do not get reckless with that short jump, Fin, the spatial density inside this rift is twice as thick as normal."
"I am not jumping blind, Maya, I know where my feet are landing."
The rift entrance pulsed like an open electrical wound forty yards ahead, illuminating the cavern walls in strobe-like flashes of electric purple.
[ Contract Status: Coastal Rift Eradication ]
[ Target: Abyssal Shock-Eels and Rift Scavengers ]
[ Stamina: 85/100 ]
[ Mana: 35/40 ]
The dark water churning below the basalt shelf began to bubble with violent, erratic tremors.
"Here comes the vanguard wave, Fin... three large signatures surging up from the submerged trench!"
"Ruby, take the high shelf, let their initial lightning arc ground itself into the stone wall."
"Moving up to the ledge now, shields locked!"
Three sinuous, serpentine monstrosities vaulted from the foam, their translucent skin webbed with crackling discharge coils.
"They are firing their discharge nodes, duck!"
A blinding web of purple lightning arced across the cavern ceiling, shattering stalactites into hail-like debris.
"Nila, do not jump into the air to engage them!"
"Why not?"
"The current will arc straight through your boots if you lose contact with the rock floor!"
"Understood, staying grounded on the stone slab!"
Nila swept her rapier low, deflecting a shower of charged water droplets with a rapid clockwise parry.
The alpha eel coiled along the center ridge, its glowing dorsal fins flaring wide as it prepared a concentrated shock beam aimed directly at Ruby.
Fin’s boots surged across the basalt floor, driven by the instant responsiveness of one hundred and twenty-seven points of agility.
"Apex Gaze!"
[ Class Skill: Apex Gaze Activated ]
[ Mana Cost: 10/40 → Current Mana: 25/40 ]
[ Target: Abyssal Shock-Eel Alpha (Rank D+) ]
[ Psychic Disruption: 3 Seconds Interruption ]
The creature’s glowing dorsal coils flickered and died as the predatory pressure crushed its concentration, causing its long body to slam awkwardly against the rocks.
"Ruby, now!"
"Coming down with the bronze spear!"
Ruby dropped the weighted point of her short spear directly through the eel’s cranial plate, pinning its thrashing coils to the bedrock.
"Nila, take the flankers before they re-arm their coils!"
"On it, Fin!"
Two precise thrusts from Nila’s foil severed the nerve clusters behind the secondary eels’ gills, leaving them twitching in the shallow tide pools.
Fin stepped between the twitching corpses, hatchet raised, listening for the deep hum of the rift core itself.
The purple vortex at the cavern’s center groaned like stressed steel as its spatial anchor destabilized.
A final concussive wave of ionized wind blasted outward from the fissure, snuffing out the glowing spatial tears until only dark basalt remained.
[ Rift Neutralized: Coastal Cavity Closed ]
[ Clearance Verified by Autonomous Escrow Telemetry ]
[ EXP: +4,700,000 ]
[ Total EXP: 9,200,000 / 250,000,000 ]
The heavy, satisfying surge of experience flooded through Fin’s core, marking another substantial step toward the quarter-billion milestone.
[ Extraction Available: Shock-Eel Alpha Conduit ]
[ Predator’s Claim Active: Target Selection Verified ]
[ Available Passive: Mana-Grounding Marrow ]
[ Effect: Significantly reduces conducted magical shock while operator maintains solid contact with stable ground ]
[ Constraint: Zero protection provided during aerial leaps or free fall ]
[ No attribute increases attached to this passive ]
[ Harvest Passive? Y/N ]
"Fin, are you seeing another passive in the alpha remains?"
"Yes, Mana-Grounding Marrow."
"What are the operational parameters?"
"It disperses conducted electrical shock into the earth, but only while my boots stay planted on solid bedrock."
"So if you are mid-jump, you take full damage?"
"Every single volt if my boots leave the ground, Nila."
"Does it grant any strength or agility points?"
"Zero attribute gains, strictly grounding dissipation."
Fin pressed his fingers against the glowing conduit nerve behind the alpha eel’s skull and confirmed the harvest.
[ Passive Acquired: Mana-Grounding Marrow ]
[ Source Depleted: Core Extracted and Consumed ]
A cold, tingling sensation seeped down through the bones of Fin’s shins, anchoring his lower legs with a solid, rooted density.
"How does it feel, kid?"
"Like my heels are magnetized to the floor."
A sudden hiss of leftover static crackled from the ceiling as a residual discharge pool leaked from an overhead rock fissure.
"Fin, look out above you!"
"Don’t move, Ruby, watch this."
Instead of dodging into the air, Fin planted both boots firmly onto the dry basalt bedrock and locked his knees.
The shower of purple lightning splashed across his shoulders, sizzled harmlessly through his marrow, and discharged straight into the bedrock below with a dull pop.
"Did that hurt?"
"Felt like a handful of warm gravel sliding down my spine, nothing more."
"That grounding passive is going to save your life the next time we fight electric constructs."
"As long as I keep my boots on the dirt, yes."
"Now look over there behind that broken stalagmite, Fin."
Ruby pointed the tip of her spear toward a pile of shattered limestone twenty paces deeper into the cavern.
"Nila, cover the crevice while I pull the rubble away."
"Rapier ready, no movement in the water."
Fin shifted three heavy slabs of wet stone with one hand, tossing them aside into the tidal pool.
A small rectangular casing of black synthetic polymer sat nestled in the crevice, wired to a low-frequency radio transmitter with marine sealing tape.
"Look at that casing, Fin... that is not monster salvage."
"Military-grade polycarbonate with water-tight silicone seals."
"Is that a serial plate on the corner?"
"Yes, stamped with an embossed numeric sequence... TS-nine-eight-two."
Maya’s voice came through the radio headset, sharp and suddenly tense.
"Fin, read me that serial sequence again."
"TS-nine-eight-two, with a secondary frequency dial set to four-eight-four point six megahertz."
"That is the exact same frequency band used by the platform Tartarus telemetry relay."
"Are you certain, Maya?"
"I have the Tartarus server drives sitting on my bench right now, Nila, the encryption handshakes match down to the sub-channel."
"So Genesis didn’t just operate out in the offshore waters... they had forward listening posts tucked into our coastal rifts."
"They were using the dimensional distortion of the rift to mask their illegal transmission bursts."
"Which means someone ashore is still receiving the signals."
"Exactly, Ruby... Tartarus was just one severed tentacle."
"Can you trace the recipient antenna from your terminal, Maya?"
"Not from a cold log, Fin, but the transmission logs show two short burst packets uploaded yesterday evening."
"Where were they beamed?"
"Directly inland toward the industrial warehouse sector in District Six."
"District Six... that is where the old municipal textile mills were converted into private logistics depots."
"And where the local patrol precincts are notoriously understaffed."
"We pack this transmitter into a lead-lined bag and bring it straight to Maya’s desk."
"Agreed, let’s get out of this damp hole before the tide cuts off the exit tunnel."
"Watch your step on the slick kelp, Nila, remember you don’t have magnetic bones."
"I am well aware of my lack of magnetic bones, Ruby, thank you for the reminder."
"Just looking out for your delicate ankles, fencer."
"My ankles are reinforced with high-carbon steel weave, so save your motherly advice for Fin."
"Hey, leave my bones out of this, I already took an electric bath today."
The cold ocean wind greeted them at the cave mouth, sweeping away the scent of dead eels and ionized copper.
"Maya is flashing the van’s hazard lights from the access road, Fin."
"Let’s get the transmitter secured in the van’s safe before the harbor patrol gets curious about the smoke."
"They won’t get curious, kid, they are still busy drafting apologies for Councilman Malan’s scandal."
"Good, let them draft all the apologies they want while we track down the rest of their relays."