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Chapter 180: Hunting Acidlances

Apparently acid pits appropriate for crystal refinement were rare enough that every city state had to make do with what they had, some even forced to trade with other nearby cities. Philaster had drawn a mediocre hand, with an acidic chasm uncomfortably far from the city walls.

Kai thought he was familiar with the acid pits by now, but he spent a while cultivating and watching, and he was glad that he did. The mechanisms of this pit were entirely different than the one he\'d seen. Workers lived at the top, not choking on acid fumes but always under lock and key except when they were being lowered down the sides. Soldiers maintained various ladders, ropes, and work platforms, lowering and raising them to allow the workers to descend the risky acidfalls.

There they worked on the crystal refinement, which was different as well. Instead of a wide work area, they moved the crystals up in discrete stages. It seemed like there was a hierarchy even within the pit, with the lowest workers laboring within the heaviest fumes before passing their work up to higher levels that polished in relative safety. If the pits near Yulthens had been like this, Kai\'s experience would have gone very differently.

But he wasn\'t here for them. Kai set the small crystal ship to float off to a safe distance, then leapt directly over the side.

He plummeted through the air toward the pit, no more than a flicker to most of those watching. But from his perspective, flashing past the camp at the surface and then into the acid falls, it took more time. Hopefully this tip had been good and he wasn\'t chasing legends.

The city of Philaster had been suffering from increasing costs for crystals, and everyone thought they knew the reason. Most likely, the real reason was the cascading wave of economic slumps from the Frontier, but they preferred another explanation: the monster in the pits. It was one of the only cities where people mentioned the acid pits, because apparently there had long been a monster living inside them. Some even said it was the source of the acid and gave their crystals unusual ferocity.

If that turned out to be a legend, he was going to have an irritating climb back up.

First came the small problem of the bottom of the pit rushing up toward him. Kai extended his hand and felt his fingers stretch into claws, then his power extended even further. He tore great rents in the side of the cliff, sending more acid spilling in several directions, as he slowed down his descent.

At the end he dropped into a pool of acid, but Kai wasn\'t particularly worried about that. He pushed off the ground and leapt out before his clothes could burn away. It seemed like he\'d only lost his shoes, which was an acceptable price to pay for monster essence.

No workers were visible anywhere near the bottom of the pit, which sprawled in all directions compared to the controlled shaft above. Kai glanced up, shielding his eyes against the sun glaring directly down, and didn\'t see anything paying him much attention. The bottom was a tumbled mix of weak ground and acidic flows, so if anyone had seen him fall they must have assumed he was dead. That left him free to explore the caverns at the base.

The light rapidly faded, so he relied on his hunger: he could definitely smell monster flesh in the air. Kai headed further in, avoiding the acidic pools only because he didn\'t know how deep they were. As he moved further into the shadows, he tried to pinpoint the exact location.

He couldn\'t master his monstrous senses before his qi senses took over: there was something rising from one of the acid pools underneath. It was being stealthy by normal standards, barely causing a ripple in the burbling acid, but he had pinpointed it and turned to look before it could attack.

Monster: Acidlance

Threat: III (Gamma)

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Kai had never seen a creature exactly like it: the lower body emerging from the acid was segmented and spiky, similar to a crustacean, but the upper half curved into a sinuous head that arched forward. Beady little yellow eyes fixed on him, the only recognizable part of the strange head. Instead of jaws, where it should have had a mouth the front half of the face shrank down into a sort of tube pointed in his direction.

The monster reared back slightly, and with no more warning than that, it launched a jet of acid at him. This one was far more potent than the acidspitters he\'d eaten before, hitting his chest hard enough to knock him back. But it used exactly the same kind of acid as in the other pits, so Kai grinned and lunged forward.

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With one snap of his jaws, he\'d eaten the acidlance. It must have been a threat for its offensive power, because its defense couldn\'t stand up to him even briefly. The taste was definitely strange, a mix of acid and seafood. Kai was chewing on it when he felt another acidlance rise from the pits.

This one he ate before it could even attack him. Their essence had some durability, but he wasn\'t quite satisfied. Once, a Gamma-level threat had been enough to persist in his soul and provide a useful ability. He wasn\'t sure if these were worth less or if his hunger was growing more intense.

Something emerged from one of the larger pools, yellow eyes fixed on him. Kai realized that the tube at the front was larger and raised his arms to either side.

"Take the shot, then!"

Acid exploded from the creature\'s mouth in a jet that crossed the distance in an instant. Kai had no time to think, and even his combat instincts were barely enough to start him moving. The jet of acid hit his shoulder and pierced through, sending him tumbling back through the acid pools.

The sheer speed and power of the jet took him aback. Since the acid itself was less of a threat than the impact, Kai pushed off the ground, turning his tumble into a somersault that threw him into one of the other pools. Under the acid, temporarily shielded from harm, he took stock.

Taking that blow to the shoulder had disabled his right arm and it would take a while for Behemoth\'s Heart to fully heal it. This was going to be a challenge, but he grinned and tasted the acid between his teeth. Finally.

When Kai emerged from the pool, he ducked down the next second as a jet of acid cracked over the air where his head had been. He poked his head up again, this time focusing on the larger monster. As he\'d hoped it couldn\'t unleash acid jets constantly, so he had a moment to look at it. This one looked like a larger and spikier version of the others, and his spiritual sight confirmed it.

Monster: Acidlance Queen

Threat: V (Epsilon)

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"Alright then, Acidlance Queen." Kai pulled himself out of the pool and took a bow with his good arm. "Let\'s see what you can do."

Of course the monster didn\'t respond, since it was a mass of pure hunger and malice. As soon as it was able, it shot another jet of acid and he had to dodge aside. Then he ran in, leaping over the other pools and streams to close the distance.

Another jet of acid shot out and he only barely threw himself aside. Apparently it had been able to shoot acid at a faster pace and it had intentionally waited. Maybe this one was cunning enough to try to trick him, or maybe it just held back until its life was threatened. Either way, getting close to it was going to be difficult.

Kai swung his hand and launched a Tyrant\'s Claw across the acid pit. To his surprise, the Acidlance Queen dropped back into the pool and didn\'t appear again. He hesitated a moment, then began advancing closer. No monster he knew would simply run away, so it would come up again. Unless...

When he heard the monster rising from a pool behind him, Kai whirled and struck out again. His Tyrant\'s Claw crossed the distance first, but the Acidlance Queen still released a jet. The attack actually punctured the force of his claw and nicked his shoulder, drawing another line of blood.

His Tyrant\'s Claw was too wide to be destroyed, though, and the rest of it had still connected with the monster. It sagged back, bleeding from several wounds. Kai shrugged aside his own injuries and began closing the distance, watching the tube closely for the slightest hint of a counterattack. So far the queen lay still, sides heaving as if mortally injured.

Just as he drew close, he realized too late that the bubbles in the other pools had changed. Several smaller acidlances popped up, unleashing a coordinated assault. Their lances couldn\'t injure him like the queen\'s could, but they pummeled him backward at the same moment that the queen reared up again, summoning forth an even more powerful jet of acid.

The power was rising, ready to shoot directly through his chest, and all Kai could do was glare at it. Even if he caught his footing, dodging at this range would be nearly impossible.

Acid leapt from the monster\'s spout... and suddenly froze in the air. It dropped a second later and Kai stared at the showering acid in surprise.

He realized what had happened in the heartbeat that followed: after the failure of the acid spitter essence, he had returned Void Gaze to his active monster essence. Now, after so long struggling with it, the ability had finally worked for him.

After only a moment of hesitation, the Acidlance Queen reoriented itself and prepared another jet of acid. Kai kept moving in, fixing his gaze on the attack, ready for it to emerge.

Acid punctured his thigh and Kai crashed to the side. The smaller ones were still pummeling him with jets of acid while the queen prepared for a killing blow. He should have known better than to try to use a monstrous ability that he hadn\'t thoroughly trained with in the midst of a battle as intense as this.

There was no time to get up, but Kai raised his hand and clenched a Tyrant\'s Claw around one of the smaller monsters. With the slightest flick of his wrist he threw it at the queen, knocking its head to the side and sending the next jet of acid off course. While it was stunned, Kai pushed himself up and lunged to another small acidlance, consuming it with an Isulfr\'s Bite.

So far he\'d taken wounds to the shoulder, arm, and leg. The holes in his shoulder and leg would take a little longer, but Behemoth\'s Heart was regenerating the rest, especially after he sated his hunger on the other monsters. The Acidlance Queen was also reeling, pushing past its injuries to try to finish him. This might all come down to who could recover faster.

Kai swung a Tyrant\'s Claw before it could spit at him again, forcing it to hide under the acid. But this time, he was ready. While it swam in the acid lake beneath the surface, he pretended to be focused on consuming the smaller monsters that couldn\'t run fast enough. Those did help him recover, or at least made him feel better, but the entire time he was focused on the queen moving underneath.

The Acidlance Queen started to emerge and Kai was already in the air.

Its head drew back.

He sailed closer.

The acid welled up in its mouth.

And Kai\'s teeth clicked shut.

When he landed he skidded into the edge of the pool, his mouth gushing acid and blood. It felt as though he had tried to swallow the explosive jet and it had definitely hurt. But the headless body of the queen pitched to the side and slumped over the edge of the pool.

As Kai felt the new essence settle within him, he grinned. The Krysali system was thoroughly protected, with numerous countermeasures to all conventional attempts to challenge it. But now, with this new monster hungering inside him, he had something they\'d never anticipated.