Chapter 16

When fighting most beasts, Diya knew what weak points to target. Thanks to his martial prowess, he’d have little trouble using hit-and-run tactics to attack them directly. As a result, the fights never lasted too long, and his opponents fell before inflicting major injuries on him. Unfortunately, the tortoise lived within an impenetrable shell and spun much too fast for him to focus on one spot. He tried hacking at the limbs with his axe, but the blade failed to penetrate the scaley hide. So, Diya retreated while Oss danced around the creature, bashing the sides of its head with his bone club.

If the creature’s head and limbs weren’t hidden, Diya was sure the glowing weapon would’ve done severe damage. He wasn’t sure what Oss had done or what manner of spell he had used. It looked more like a utility spell than an augmentation—spells provided power in an instantaneous or short burst while augmentations persisted for a long time. Oss probably needed time to charge the magic up again, and keeping the tortoise busy made that impossible.

Fortunately, the monster struggled with forward and lateral movements. Diya guessed that the limbs struggled to bear their weight after a long time of inactivity. When the creature spun, it partially retracted its limbs into the shell and pivoted rapidly using its bottom shell’s curve. Its unusually long and thick tail helped the creature rapidly accelerate and slow its rotations.

Diya and Gwyneth agreed that they needed to take advantage of the creature’s immobility. They got on opposite sides of the monster, and she charged her stave’s curved blade with lightning before poking at the creature’s limbs. Much to her disappointment, it didn’t bother the tortoise as much as she had hoped. The charged blade failed to penetrate the scaly skin and only left minor burn marks in its wake.

While his companions annoyed the beast, Diya conjured a spear. The slender weapon wouldn’t be enough for what he intended. So, he called forth his newest summon and stretched and thinned it before wrapping the length along the shaft.

“Harden,” Diya whispered, and goosebumps rose all along his back and neck. Power radiated from the weapon in his hands.

Since Oss was still dancing around the tortoise’s head, Diya stayed away from it. He hadn’t experimented with the Frost Aura enough and didn’t want to harm Oss accidentally. So, he flanked the creature, got around to its rear, and stabbed at its tail. Diya hoped that injuring the limb would lower the animal’s already limited mobility. Much to his disappointment, the creature whipped the appendage before he could land his blow, slapping the spear’s side and throwing it off its mark. The fang-shaped spearhead scraped the shell, cutting a deep groove into it. Frost bordered the cut but didn’t leave any other damage in its wake.

The missed attack didn’t discourage Diya. If the frost spell could damage the creature’s shell, he was sure it would pierce the scaly hide. So, he hopped back, adjusted his footing, and aimed for the moving tail’s base. He wasn’t sure whether he had the strength to send the weapon deep into the beast, but he’d settle for damaging a blood vessel or nerve cluster. Before he could attack again, the turtle spun again, making him miss a two-handed attack. Diya caught a glimpse of Oss staggering backward as one of the tortoise’s meaty limbs swung into him. Diya was forced to jump back as the tortoise’s giant metal-lined maw snapped at him the next moment.

Blood dripped from cracks in the monster’s scaley hide. Oss’s attacks hadn’t cracked its skull but had sufficiently bruised the dry skin to make it split. A corner of the creature’s beak was now bent too. Diya couldn’t help but wonder how much strength Oss’s blows packed. If he had enough strength to damage the tortoise’s half-metal face, then he could’ve beaten Diya during their initial fight with ease.

When the tortoise’s head stretched outwards to snap at Diya’s arm, he warded it back by stabbing at the creature’s eye. The monster jerked its head to the side, making the attack miss. Diya struck the shell once again, cutting another deep groove into it. A loud smack sounded from behind the creature, and the tortoise spun away to face the perpetrator. Diya caught a glimpse of glowing red bone before the shell obscured his vision again.

A loud thud echoed off the carved stone when Oss landed an empowered blow on the monster’s skull. The tortoise hissed, and its half-retracted limbs shot out of the shell. As the creature struggled to lift its own weight, the tail’s movements slowed, and Diya jumped at the opportunity. He tightened his grip on the spear, planted his feet firmly on the ground, and lunged, putting his weight into the attack. The spearhead grazed along the tail’s length slicing open the hide before disappearing into the meat underneath. The monster shrieked, whipping its tail once again, and Diya released his weapon to avoid losing his balance. He reasoned that the spell’s chilling effect would continue to inflict damage if he left the spear in the beast.

Diya guessed that the armored monster wasn’t used to cuts and lacerations. Its giant body must’ve developed long ago to help it avoid significant injuries and absorb everything as blunt-force trauma. The tortoise dropped onto its shell, and the monstrous legs retracted to safety. The tail tried to flee too, but Diya lunged forward and grabbed the spear. The spearhead was now firmly stuck in the tortoise’s flesh. Diya imagined the flesh had frozen around the pen’s nib and was now holding it in place. If he wanted it back, Diya could reabsorb the ink, but the spell was killing the beast from the inside for the time being. The creature pulled, but it didn’t have its previous strength. The spell’s chilling effect was more potent than he expected, and Diya couldn’t be happier.

“Hit the spear with lightning, Gwyn!” He exclaimed. As Diya struggled to maintain his footing, He made a note to update the ink coat afterward. A couple of Spiderlegs on arm-long chords of Slimeskin could double up as tethers and additional weapons.

“Get clear!” She called.

Diya released the spear and leaped backward. A crackling lance of lightning shot over his shoulder before changing trajectory and jumping toward the pen’s nib. It struck the open wound on the tortoise’s shell just as it retreated into the shell. The monster shrieked once again, and Diya’s instincts demanded he withdraws too. When Oss leaped away from the beast, Diya knew that he needed to as well. Just as he got out of the way, the tortoise’s hard exterior hummed. A second later, metal shards burst out of where the top shell met the bottom.

“We need to flip this bastard!” Diya yelled.

“Good idea, Diya Sen,” Oss replied before charging at the beast.

Before he could get close, the humming pieces of jagged metal shot outwards. They cut their way through the grass before embedding themselves in the stone steps beyond the field. One of them grazed Oss’s side, and Diya spotted a flash of red as the odd Climber continued his charge. He planted his club’s skinny end and used it as a lever trying to fit the beast.

“I’m going to need a hand with this!” He yelled, and Diya rushed to his aid.

While the pair worked, liquid metal seeped out from the gaps in the giant tortoise’s shell, forming barbed spikes all over its back. It didn’t deter them, though. While tucked away within its shell, the monster couldn’t move and as a result, didn’t have the momentum to use the spikes as weapons. Diya trusted his coat to protect him from them, so he didn’t bother with defensive measures and summoned the fountain pen into his hand. The inky shaft sticking out of the tortoise’s tail disappeared as the soul manifested in his hand.

The familiar wave of exhaustion from overexertion washed over Diya, but he had no trouble ignoring it. Instead, he used the adrenaline pumping through his veins to pump Slimeskin into the gap Oss had created under the tortoise. Once the pen’s inkwell was near empty, he willed the material to expand. Shards of metal jutted out of the tortoise’s shell where Diya stood, and he whispered, “harden.” The Slimeskin coat hardened immediately, protecting him from most of the deadly points. One scratched his lower jaw, and another shredded through the coat’s sleeve, but Diya got away mostly unharmed. His attacked forced the tortoise into a harsh angle, and then Oss took over.

Every bit of bone on Oss’s person glowed red, and suddenly, his strength doubled. He lifted the titanic creature until the shell stood on its edge at a right angle to the ground. Then Diya gave it the final push to tip the tortoise onto its back. The bottom half of the shell bulged in the middle over a shining metal cap. Diya recognized it as the spot the creature used to spin rapidly. Gwyneth struck it with her lightning spell without hesitation, and the tortoise shrieked again. She charged her staff’s tip with a spark and threw it to Diya. He thrust it into the opening that housed the tortoise's head and, much to his surprise, didn’t feel much resistance.

“Hit it again, Gwyn!” Diya yelled. “It can’t harden the metal when struck by lightning!”

She did as requested, and the shiny cap on the shell rippled, looking like mercury for a second. Oss scrambled onto the beast, held his club’s thicker half with both hands, and thrust the pointy end into the liquid metal. The tortoise screeched one last time before going still. A loud gurgling blossomed within the shell before blood, and the mercury-like substance gushed out of every opening in the shell. The mixture of two bodily fluids sprayed Diya and Oss. Then cracks spider-webbed across the shell from the bits Oss had struck. It collapsed around the turtle, exposing its giant organs and the sack of shiny fluid.

Oss looked back at Gwyneth, grinning. “Claim the card,” he said. “I’ll bet the tortoise’s skull that it will get you a spell or summon you can utilize.”

“I don’t want the skull, though,” Gwyneth replied. She flumped down onto her bottom, panting heavily. Diya hoped the new card would increase her energy pool and diversify her range of spells. Even though the lightning spells packed a mean punch, he hated it when Gwyneth used multiple in quick succession. They left her much too worn out.

“But I do. If I’m wrong, you can sell the tortoise’s skull and buy us a drink.”

Gwyneth laughed. Oss was starting to speak her language. She pressed a palm to the tortoise’s skull, and her lamp’s luminosity increased until it hurt Diya’s eyes to look at it. When the glow dimmed, Gwyneth stood wide-eyed, holding a card with the most intricate art he’d ever seen. Green light and liquid metal swirled along the borders. Diya was sure Oss would win the bet.

Before starting their journey, Diya had prepared sandwiches for their trip. He and Gwyneth feasted while Oss impressed them with his butchering skills. It took Diya several minutes to figure out that Oss was peeling flesh and hide off the bones with his bare hands. The hunting knife he held only served to sever the bonds between skin and muscle. Since Oss hadn’t used his bone molding abilities while the beast was still alive, Diya assumed Oss could only manipulate the bones of dead creatures.

Within an hour, Oss had created four piles: shell fragments, hide, bones, and flesh. None of the trio had any interest in eating the old monster’s tough meat. The spearhead had shredded the hide around the tail, and the frost had damaged it even further. Since the bits around the head were just as damaged, Diya only rolled up the skin from the limbs. It was tough but light. New Calcutta’s craftsmen would have little trouble turning it into protective garments for Gwyneth. He picked through the shell fragments, too, and chose the larger undamaged pieces. He hoped the FTF would buy them off him for a reasonable price.

Cracks covered Oss’s bone club. Bashing the tortoise’s shell severely damaged the weapon. Diya assumed Oss would use his bone-softening abilities to patch the damage. The man shed the club, though. He picked through the creature’s giant bones and picked one from the front limbs. It was bigger and thicker than the last. Diya tried lifting one of the others out of curiosity, and just making the bone budge was a struggle.

Oss exhaled loudly and held the bone with both hands. Diya watched it soften, and red mush oozed out of the pores. Then the Oss massaged his new weapon, shaping it to match the one he had just shed. The new bone club shrunk as he compressed it. Diya watched the compressed material shift around the metal woven into it. When Oss finished, the club was almost as tall as him, and instead of a round, weighted head, it ended in a thick hook. The tip glinted with the shine of metal. It was a nasty tool, for sure. Oss claimed the skull bones, saying he’d work on it later.

“Where’s the door to the next floor?” Diya asked, looking around the titanic structure. “That thing was big enough to warrant a door.”

“Perhaps it's down there,” Gwyneth said, pointing at the crater where the tortoise used to lay. Stones and the loose dirt from the field had filled in the opening during the fight. The tortoise’s spinning and slamming had destroyed the grass and moved the soil around.

“Well, that’s not pleasant.” Diya sighed, toeing the area. The tortoise’s weight had densely packed the earth. Digging would take too long and didn’t guarantee results. “So, we have no other choice but to head to the FTF settlement.”

”It’s a shame,” Oss stated. “I don’t like the thought of abandoning all of these bones.”