90. Gizzard (Part 1)

[Designation: GIZZARD]

[Instrument Class: ZEALOUS]

[Anchored Realm: PRETJORD (+1)]

[Item Description: Consider a creature whose entire existence amounted to feeding on dead or rotting tissue—the dregs left behind by hell's lowliest Penitents. Now, stay with this creature as it's uprooted to a new Realm, one in which its bottomless hunger is made real. It continues to feed, not out of a senseless drive to punish and demean others, but to sate a newfound desire for good, enriching food. You might imagine then, that as this creature's diet undergoes a dramatic change, so too must its digestive apparatus transmute and manifest its own kind of miracle.]

***

Hellspawn?

Serac was momentarily frozen in shock. Here was Pathsighted proof that her lunatic musings had in fact being the correct answer all along. A Flesh-fiend that somehow found its way to the next Realm up… and gotten absolutely giant for its trouble!

But she was quickly jolted out of her hesitation, thanks to her Wayfaring mates jumping straight into action. Zacko with his trusty fist, Renate with her shovel, and Lars with his OAR all had the same idea in mind. They each picked a spot on the wall closest to them and gave it all they got.

Thwack! Slam! Bang! The walls looked like they were made of flesh, and they acted like it too. The Wayfarers' attacks elicited the appropriate physical feedback, both tactile and auditory. Encouragingly, they also produced the changes that mattered most, namely to the boss's Health.

Serac had briefly wondered if this might be another 'gimmick fight', but Mulaharta did possess an HP bar. A hefty one at that, and it'd already gone down by about 5% or so, just from that triple opener. Well, that's good, right? We just need to sit tight and keep whacking away. That HP bar will go down in no time, especially once I join in too.

But Serac's hopes were dashed in short order, as she witnessed something unprecedented in her Wayfaring career. At exactly the same Ksana she imagined how the rest of the fight might go, the missing 5% of Mulaharta's Health replenished itself in full. So fast as to be all but instantaneous.

Serac blinked, wondering if she'd only imagined the bar going down in the first place. Then she watched as Zacko beside her tried a half-hearted karate chop. Same result. True damage as registered by Pathsight, only for it to be reversed at nearly the same instant.

"It's healing itself"—Serac got the ball rolling by stating the obvious—"just about as soon as we deal damage to it."

"Well, like my mama always used to say"—Zacko took the analysis one step further—"you are what you eat. A boss called 'Hewer of Roots' who uses a 'GIZZARD' as an Instrument? I'd guess this thing's been eating up the insides of this big fuck-off tree all this time. And it's obviously found a use for all those nutrients."

"What happens"—Renate moved onto solutions—"if we simply deal so much damage at once that it has no chance to recover?"

"It is worth try"—Lars put forth the motion to proceed—"assuming we are capable of such damage."

"Well"—it all circled back to Serac, who gave the final seal of approval—"there are four of us and one Health bar. I'm sure we could come up with something!"

It occurred to her then that this was by far the calmest boss battle she'd ever been party to. The Wayfarers had yet to make a dent, but neither had this Mulaharta shown any signs of fighting back. Honestly, this feels more like one of those board games Zacko and I played back in the Wayside Lotus. We've got all the time in the world to be patient and figure out solutions.

"You might not be far off, Wayfarer." Trippy added a fifth voice to the discussion, though one only Serac could hear. "Some challenges on Mount Meru do indeed present as puzzles requiring a bespoke solution. However, I wouldn't yet relax if I were you. Not when we still know next to nothing about this boss and its Instrument…"

Duly noted. Serac acknowledged the voice in her head before putting the same head together with her Wayfarer mates. The question was simple: how could we, in our combined might, produce the highest DPS possible? The solution, however, was far more multi-faceted.

"I have with me one [Pearl of STRENGTH]," Renate said, pulling out a vial of silver liquid. "It should go to whoever can output the highest damage in the shortest amount of time. I doubt that's me. [Elemental Surge] isn't exactly suited to focusing on a single target, and my Physical prowess with DREDGER isn't anything to write home about."

"Nor me." This, surprisingly, from Lars the muscly-armed sturgeon. "Without Hans here to activate COASTER, I do not have access to the most destructive of my spells."

"You can't use your Instrument without your brother?" Serac asked incredulously. "That sounds… awfully inconvenient."

Lars shrugged, then said simply, "Co-wielding an Instrument has its pros and cons."

In any case, that narrowed the option down to the two outrealmers, who now exchanged a look of appraisal. By this point in their partnership, they were well familiar with each other's 'highest-DPS' move. Serac's, of course, was [Catharsis], and she could buff the damage even further by hurting herself a little more. But she also knew that even [Catharsis]'s multiplicative damage potential paled in comparison to—

"Come on, Serac, just say yes," Zacko pleaded with an insincere pout. "We both know this is as good a time as any for me to dip into the ol' Karma bank."

"Oh, fine," Serac conceded, "but only because you just finished leveling up."

"Think of it as an investment. Whatever I put into this, I'm sure I'll get it back double or more. I mean, just look at the size of this boss!"

With that, Zacko unclipped the wooden mask from his belt and brought it up to his face, angry Prajna side up. He stopped short of putting it on, however, as he turned his gaze onto Renate and the silver vial in her hand.

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"The Manusya then?" Renate asked mildly, evidently having no horse in the race. "We're decided?"

Both outrealmers nodded their confirmation. Renate handed Zacko the [Pearl of Strength] and watched him down it in one swig. He seemed to be more agitated than he let on; drops of the silver liquid dribbled down the side of his mouth before settling on his manicured beard. He then made a face as he came up for air, almost as scrunched up as his Prajna mask.

"Eugh. What do you put in this thing? Shit tastes like the hokey herbal teas Mama made me drink when I was little."

"Maybe once this is all over, I could compare notes with your mother," Renate said indifferently. "For now, I need you to focus. The buff only lasts for 30 seconds."

"Yeah, and I'm definitely feeling it! Alright, folks, to your stations. Let's do this thing."

With that, Zacko jumped down to the next tooth below, giving himself plenty of room to maneuver. The two Yakshas turned to follow suit, each staking a claim on a piece of Mulaharta's fleshy wall. Which left Serac scrambling for a way to deal herself some extra damage.

"Wait, Lars!" she called after the sturgeon man. "Before we start, could you, uh, hit me? With your OAR. As hard as you can."

Lars looked at her like she'd just told him to hit her as hard as he could.

"Is this Narakite joke? I do not—"

"No time to explain! Just do it. I promise it's for a good cause!"

The request was so strange that Lars, incredibly enough, turned to Renate for confirmation, who merely shrugged in response. But the clock was ticking, so the sturgeon man gripped his OAR with bulging muscles and swung for Serac, pulling no punches as he did.

"Wait, I'm not—oof!"

Before Serac could finish wondering if she'd made a terrible miscalculation, the flat part of STROKE-SIDE OAR's blade landed in her stomach with a heavy thud.

[162!]

Serac doubled over in pain, doing her darnedest to keep her head in the game. Even when combined with the ongoing DoT from [Bleed], the damage wasn't quite enough to get her where she wanted. She then consulted Trippy and his bird's eye view of the situation.

"You could take one more, Wayfarer," he informed her immediately, clearly on board with the plan.

Serac looked up at Lars with watering eyes and made a looping gesture with her finger. One more. This time, the sturgeon man didn't hesitate to oblige her.

[174!]

The second hit in the combo landed even more heavily (and painfully!) than the first. Serac gritted her teeth as she held her ground, kept her Poise, and checked her HP. Just about a quarter left, she thought tearfully, perfect!

"Okay, I'm ready!" she announced, turning around to aim REVOLVER at the opposite wall.

"On your marks!" Zacko didn't miss a beat as yelled up from one tooth below. "Get set, go go go!"

[Chamber One: CATHARSIS]

[Auxiliary Technique: ELEMENTAL SURGE]

[VISAGE Aspect: SINNER]

Plus some good ol' swings with the broad side of a paddle.

[235!]

[136!], [245!], [490!] -> [871!]

Not as much damage as Serac had hoped, but it was honest work nonetheless. She emptied the rest of REVOLVER's unimbued cylinder for good measure (producing a modest [136!] each time), then peered down to catch the final moments of Zacko's heroics.

The man in the angry Prajna mask was imbued from head to toe in an equally angry-red aura. Despite his comparatively inferior Karmic Level, his burst potential far outstripped even those of the two Yakshas. Every sequence of his wrathful combo produced a visible impact crater upon the fleshy wall, all while taking massive chunks off Mulaharta's Health.

However, Serac saw to her dismay that even these massive chunks wouldn't be enough. As long as there was even an inch of red left, Mulaharta filled itself back up immediately. At a furious pace to match a [Berserking], [Strength]-buffed NINEFOLD master.

The 15 seconds of [Berserk] were up. Zacko's red aura dissipated instantly as he fell to his knees, Poise-broken. His HP was down to its absolute last hair, as part of the price he'd paid to open up [Sinner Aspect]'s burst window. It was doubly ironic and infuriating then, that Zacko's hard work bore no fruit. Mulaharta's HP still chugged along at 100%, and even the wounds upon its walls healed themselves in record time.

It was like the Wayfarers weren't even there.

Not even a scratch. Literally. Serac thought bitterly, herself looking not much better off than her long-time partner. A barrage of self-inflicted wounds had whittled her HP down to its last 5%.

"That… didn't work." Renate re-opened the floor for discussion, first by stating the obvious. "I suppose we might've expected as much. No boss I've come across has ever sat idle while allowing the opponent a free smite."

"There must be gimmick." Lars stirred the pot by invoking the G-word. "Weak spot we are missing… or alternative method to make damage stick."

"Well, if it's GIZZARD that's responsible for the instant healing," Serac hazarded a guess, "should we maybe go after it directly? Maybe there's a way to disable GIZZARD, just enough for us to finish off Mulaharta."

"I'm with Princess on this one," Zacko yelled out his contribution, noticeably out of breath, "which probably means we have to dive down even lower to find the damn thing. But listen, I'm literally down to one point of HP, and Serac isn't doing so hot either. Would you two"—he nodded up toward the Yakshas—"mind terribly if we went back to the Waystation real quick? I mean, this giant worm thing isn't going anywhere, and it doesn't look like it's in any hurry to—"

Bwwwwhhhhaaaarrrr…

There was that sound again, noticeably louder (and windier!) than the last. Even as Serac hastened to grip her toothy platform, she heard something more in the creature's baleful roar. Words. Or rather, thoughts. Carried by wind to be then imprinted on the Wayfarers' bodies as ripples.

It's so good to see you again, Mully. And my, look how you've grown!

Serac widened her eyes and looked frantically for the source of the voice. But it hadn't really been a voice, and therefore, it didn't really have a source. Rather, it'd always been a part of the world. To be dredged up, chewed up, and spat back out to suit the needs of the zealously living.

What had startled Serac most of all, however, was just how familiar the 'voice' had sounded. It resonated with something etched deep within her bones. Something that sang of home and long-forgotten bonds.

But she was quickly jolted out of her bewilderment, thanks again to her Wayfaring mates jumping straight into action. Well, two of her mates, at least. Renate first, then Lars immediately after, hopped off their respective teeth to resume their spelunking at breakneck speed, without so much as a word of explanation to the outrealmers.

"Yo, what is this?" Zacko complained loudly, but to no avail. The two Yakshas were already well out of earshot. "So I take it that's a 'no' to the potty break then?"

"Sorry Zacko!" Serac shouted, even as she too dove into a solo parkour run. "No time to explain, but I think I know why they're in such a hurry. And we'd better follow them!"

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