The Legend of William Oh-Chapter 252: Battle in the Void

William Oh once retrieved lumber for the god of the forge, but just any lumber wouldn’t do. The god of the forge would only accept lumber from the undead flame-ent that harkened back to the age of the gods, Vargos.

Vargos was surprisingly fast for a dead tree, soaring through the night sky on lances of flame, but William Oh was able to use his magic axe as a hook and drag it out of the sky before he chopped it down to size.

“I feel like a lumberjack.”

Will used some of his precious air to speak. He wasn’t sure if it made it to Void or not. The air was very thin.

Or perhaps there was none?

There was a constant force tugging on the air on his lungs, like someone had tied a string to it and was trying to yank it out of him.

Between the environmental resistances granted by Aspect, and his unusually high Resistance…Will was fine. He could hold his breath for more than half an hour.

Void was also fine, his undead flesh immune to the harsh environment, which made this even more awkward.

‘Me axe-forest person.’ Will signed in between chops to Void’s face and neck. There was no Climber sign that Will knew of for lumberjack, but Will improvised.

Void met Will’s awkward joke and his axe-to-the-face with a flat stare. The axe buried itself a hair’s width into the man’s face before recoiling away.

Will could use Coiled strike to really get the axe in there, but he didn’t think that was the play just yet.

Once he was absolutely sure that Void’s undead were taken care of, then Will would use Coiled strike…but even that wasn’t enough.

What Will was really interested was Psychic Venom. Of all the offensive options he had, this was the one Will believed could penetrate Void’s outrageous defenses.

*Psychic Venom applies psychic damage over time and incremental stat penalties until the target is dead or the effect is cured. Scales with Acuity

Did he cure the Psychic Venom I applied earlier somehow or just offload the effect to a different undead?

As a necromancer, Void’s Focus was his highest stat, which meant he would be among the most highly resistant to the effects.

Psychic Venom’s incremental stat penalties should decrease his focus and allow the damage to accelerate over time…as long Void wasn’t resisting 100% of the effect, or somehow curing himself in an instant.

I need to make sure he doesn’t have any Charge left. But how the heck do I do that? Are we in a simple Focus battle? I’m not sure I’d win that.

Void stared back at him with his arms crossed as they tumbled through the empty black air, the world a green sphere below them.

Isn’t there supposed to be a snake holding it up? Will thought, glancing at the Floor below them. At this distance, he should be able to see Ouroboros’s coils supporting the Floor.

I guess it was just a myth. Not Ouroboros, just the idea that he’s holding everything up.

Motion brought Will’s attention back to Void as the necromancer un-crossed his arms.

‘I yield.’ Void signed.

‘One chance, gone already.’ Will signed back. Void had thought he could win, so he’d decided to fight them. Now that he’d made that decision, Will wasn’t going to let him take it back when it was convenient. To the Abyss with that.

While doing his duties as the Lord of the Burned Stronghold, Will had long since learned to only give people one freebie. And even that one free pass made him one of the most lenient Lords, by anyone’s standards.

It was Will’s iron-clad reputation for not giving a second chance that kept people from exploiting his kindness and prompted them to take the first free pass.

Void nodded with a scowl, re-crossing his arms as Will hit him with the axe again, inflicting zero damage.

They stayed like that for a couple minutes, Will chopping away at Void to test his damage offload while Void seemed to be deep in thought.

Will was about to land another strike when Void’s expression flickered. It was the only thing that allowed Will to keep his head on.

Void exploded forward at the speed of sound.

He tore himself out of Phantom hand’s grip, his fist cutting through the empty space where Will’s head had been an instant earlier

Void’s shoulder caught Will’s chest and drove the air out of his lungs, aided by the incessant tug of the empty air.

Great. less air.

Will grabbed Void with Ring and Middle and shoved him back, aiming to go back down and grab another lungful of air while the Phantom Snakes kept him company.

He didn’t have the corrosive fire anymore, so he didn’t pose a threat to Will’s eidolons.

Instead of politely getting captured, Void exploded to the side, jets of fire erupting from holes in his arms and legs as he whipped his body around, flinging the phantom snakes away from himself through inhuman speed that would have ripped anyone else apart.

That crazy son of a bitch. He’s exploding pieces of himself as propulsion!

He can probably afford it, too, with that regeneration.

I see.

Will realized that he had committed the cardinal sin of allowing his enemy time to think, which allowed him to come up with this bullshit.

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Come to think of it, there’s no atmosphere out here…Which would be great for Hammer of God if it hadn’t only been half an hour or so since we started fighting.

Even with the cooldown reduced by the Wristband of the Lookout, it was still hours to go for the Relic slot to become available again.

Will moved himself out of the way of Void’s attacks. Void wasn’t even using Strength to attack anymore, he was using his own body as a projectile, and trusting that his Resistance would allow his body to cut through Will’s like butter.

Which was fairly close to what would happen if Void rammed into him at those speeds.

Taking advantage of Will’s dodge, a huge eruption of fire exploded out of Void’s back, and the necromancer juked past him and began shooting towards the land below them.

DAMNIT!

Will shot forward, propelling himself with two snakes while the other three aimed for Void.

Coiled Strike

75 Charges Remaining.

Will appeared in front of Void and whipped the axe forward.

Void blocked with his wrist, the axe burying itself in the bone due to Coiled Strike’s damage boost.

Void’s other hand whipped out and grabbed Will’s left hand.

For a brief instant, Will felt a burst of ominous Miasmatic Structures flowing through his unprotected left hand, the invasive miasma crawling up his arm and setting up camp.

Will felt his left hand twitch, unbidden.

Nope, nope, nope!

Will coalesced miasma and drove it down his left arm, making it spikey and swirling it like a man trying to unclog a chimney with nothing but a stiff brush, elbow grease, and lots of desperation.

Will’s unstructured Ability caught Void’s, and the two crashed against each other, violently struggling for supremacy in the battleground that was his unprotected hand.

Void’s eyes widened as Will’s crude brush began to force the Control Undead Ability out of his hand.

BOOM!

Will’s left hand exploded.

Same shit, different day.

Will ignored the familiar pain and yanked Void’s other hand aside with the axe buried in his arm.

He shot forward and slammed his head against Void’s. Normally this would crush Will’s skull, but with Coiled Strike’s damage boost staying in place for six seconds, it was more than enough time.

Void tore his arm away from Will’s axe, prompting Will to follow up with the axe as he retreated, cleaving away a part of Void’s jaw as he lunged backwards.

The two of them paused for a moment. Void watched Will cautiously, reattaching his jaw, the flesh sealing itself back up without a single scar, while Will flushed the lingering fragments of miasma out of the remains of his left arm, his Phantom Snakes taking a bandage out of his pocket and wrapping it around his wound.

‘Wish I’d killed you before.’ Void signed.

‘Me too.’ Will signed back.

Some air would be really nice right about now, Will thought as the veins in his own eyes began making themselves more and more apparent in his vision.

Hmm.

Homeland Advantage.

74 Charges Remaining.

Atmospheric pressure crashed in on them as Void lunged forward, causing the necromancer to stumble and miss his attack, tumbling over a sheet of ice from the 2nd Floor as gravity reasserted itself.

Will took three deep breaths and dismissed the effect just as Void adapted to the new situation.

The air outside him went away, but the air in his lungs lingered. Possibly protected by his Class? Who knew?

Void scowled at Will.

Will shrugged. ‘I’m good at bad land.’ Will signed, putting a bit of emphasis on ‘good’.

‘…Back to work, then.’ Void signed back an instant before his back exploded with flames, launching himself towards Will.

Will assigned all but one of his Phantom Snakes to grab onto Void and drag him away from the Floor below them.

What followed was a brutal struggle to prevent Void from returning to the land below, with Void ripping and exploding his very flesh in order to slip out of Will’s grasp.

Will felt a little dizzy from the lost hand, but it was a familiar wound, and it didn’t slow him down much.

He began to phase in strikes from his Phantom Snakes, using their polymorphic armor to create four razor-sharp blades to harry Void while the fifth snake was wrapped around his waist, allowing him to maneuver as well as Void in the emptiness.

It happened when Void slipped past Will again.

Void sacrificed a swath of flesh from his legs and upper body in order to slip away from Will, dashing for the Floor again.

When Will moved to cut him off, there was a brief instant where the two were in close proximity.

Will hadn’t thought much about it, but this particular escape had left Void’s left hand completely unharmed.

Void raised his hand as if to throw a punch, when a horrible sensation overtook Will.

All of his training with Bakton to read the opponent screamed at him that Void had just won. Something about his stance, his expression, his intensity, the way he favored his unwounded arm, despite not feeling pain…

Will yanked himself to the side and reached up reflexively to create a shield of air.

A thumb-width, tight beam of pure fire shot out from between Void’s clenched fingers, slightly diverted by Will’s shield, missing Will’s head and shooting through his shoulder.

Ow. He came up with a new move.

Will yanked himself backwards, expecting Void to press his advantage.

Instead, Void grinned as dozens of holes opened across the necromancer’s body and he exploded with flames, shooting backwards, towards the Floor below.

BASTARD!

Will used the family Gathering set bonus to move the wound to Thumb. The phantom snake got a hole through it, the wound in Will’s chest vanishing in the process.

Took out one of my five lives, Will thought, retiring Thumb from the fight.

Will shot forward and caught up with Void, hesitant to get into close combat with such a powerful weapon.

How did he do it? Will thought as he caught up with Void, wanting to understand how it’d happened before he tackled it again.

The necromancer must’ve created a valve in his palm and converted a large portion of his forearm into fuel, then used Cannibalize to detonate it, creating a tight beam of fire.

The valve had been hidden from Will’s sight by Void’s fingers, which he had sacrificed to pull off the sucker-punch.

It requires a long, straight section of the body. His knees, feet, and forearms are the most likely places.

Will dove back in.

Void blocked Will’s attack with his arm, lifting his leg in an unnatural way, faking a defensive stance.

Will slipped around the beam of fire that erupted from Void’s kneecap, and gave Void a brutal counter to the face.

Void recoiled backwards, unleashing another beam from his other arm that caught Will in the side, carving out a small section of Will’s torso.

Will pressed the advantage.

Coiled Strike

69 Charges remaining.

Will teleported above Void and wrenched the axe down into his skull with every ounce of strength he could bring to bear, his remaining Phantom Snakes tearing into Void’s limbs.

Even with the massive boosts, they couldn’t deal enough damage to kill Void instantly.

‘Good shot,’ Void signed, his skull split and limbs hanging on by threads. Any one of those shots would be enough to kill a regular Tank, but Void’s nigh-invincible flesh was slithering back together as his outlandish regeneration came into play.

Since he was undead, he was able to fight at full capacity until the moment he died, and with this regeneration/resistance combo, it was nearly impossible to outpace it.

Will’s eyes narrowed.

Coiled Strike.

64 Charges remaining.

Will teleported again and hacked off Void’s limbs and shattered his skull.

The severed limbs detonated, forcing Will to back off before he could put the finishing touch on Void.

Out of the corner of his eye, Will spotted a glint of light, where a tendril of flesh connected Void’s torso to a disembodied hand sporting a gaudy ring.

Time to see if Psychic Venom is having an effect.

Dimensional Storage

63 Charges remaining.

Unlike other Relics Will had stolen in the past, this one wasn’t just connected to his opponent by a gossamer strand, it was practically webbed down by thousands of steel threads.

But I’ve gotten stronger too.

Will forcibly ripped the ring away from Void’s control and stored it in Phantom Hand.

Void’s half-restored face lost its relaxed grin.

This is just cleanup, now, Will thought.