Path of the Berserker

I spent the next few days perfecting the [Spectral Projection] technique.

Not that I had a true way to even count days.

I measured time from when I woke, cultivated and trained, ate and then slept again.

It was a crude measurement, and it could just have easily been 12 hour periods instead of 24, but I trained and practiced until I lost all mental focus and then woke again when my body and soul were ready for more.

By the end of the first ‘day’, I managed to project as far as thirty feet and maintained it for about ten minutes. By the end of the second day, I could do about a hundred feet and could hold the technique for about an hour. My progression was still limited by the amount of Frenzy I could generate, but as I got used to maintaining the technique, I found I could vary the distance widely depending on how long I needed to maintain it.

I also discovered the limitations of the technique as well.

I could exert brute force through my spectral form and use Frenzy techniques as well, but manipulating objects with fine motor control was quite difficult. I’d have to use even more Frenzy to just hold something. I practiced this by hunting for the eels in my [Spectral Body] rather than fishing blindly in the pool.

I almost wished I hadn’t, because the true look of the ‘eels’ was more revolting than my imagination had conjured. They were about two feet long and rippled with segmented bodies that were blood red. No eyes, just a mouth. They were probably closest to being leeches that fed on rocks.

Seeing the things for real made eating them a lot harder, which made my need to widen my area of search even more important. By day five I found I could project nearly a thousand feet and could hold my [Projection] that distance for close to an hour at maximum. That was pretty close to what I would need to get back to the surface, I figured. I could do ten times that distance if I held it for only ten minutes.

My body was still recovering, but I needed more protein than what the ‘eels’ could provide if I wanted to recover fully. Of all the creatures I’d seen on the surface, the most ‘edible’ of them seemed to be those tentacle-rays.

And right now, as hungry as I was, the idea of barbequing some tentacle-ray meat over an open fire had my stomach rumbling. I took the first opportunity I could, to finally venture back to the large cavern where I had fallen in from the surface.

Utilizing a bit of my solid Frenzy, I watered it down back to a liquid form and then, using one of the first true manifestation techniques I had mastered, I produced a small flame in my palm to see in the dark.

I was still weak, and making the physical trek back to where I’d stumbled from in the darkness earlier was an ordeal in and of itself. I knew then that the ‘eels’ weren’t really helping me to heal. They were simply keeping my body from slipping back through [Death’s Door].

That made my struggle to find real sustenance even more desperate.

There was quite a distance from the cavern entrance to the small pool I had found. At least a quarter mile, although it was hard to gauge distance with the difference in elevations involved. As I neared the main cavern, the familiar stench of sulfur burned my nostrils.

I then looked about and saw my Axe and Glaive still laying undisturbed on the cavern floor. I joined them on the floor then, sitting in lotus position in order to project my Sacred Soul. As I performed the technique for what seemed like the thousandth time, my projection emerged near effortlessly and I went from being a weakling holding a meager flame to see in the dark, to the robust red-hued Struggler.

It was a sign at least that my spirit had not atrophied from my ordeal.

In my [Spectral Body] I left my withering husk behind and wasted no time floating up to the hole in the ceiling with [Lightning Walk]. It was probably more mind over matter considering I didn’t really weigh anything as a projected spirit. I could have probably just floated up there but that was a challenge for another day.

Right now, I needed to hunt me some food.

I entered the opening in the cavern ceiling and found my tunnel still intact.

I followed it upwards for a couple hundred feet before I ran into a dead end where I found it had collapsed.

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Damn it.

I summoned my [Spectral Weapons] and took a swing with my axe, evoking [Struggler’s Lightning Cleave of Fury] to blast away the debris and clear the collapse. To my surprise, I broke straight through, being much closer to the surface than I expected.

But then something else hit me.

My soul instantly melted as boiling rays from the Cursed Star filled the tunnel entrance. It felt like I was being doused with acid. Even engaging my [Soul Shield] did little to help. I managed to get a quick glimpse out the tunnel and saw teaming herds of demons, but thankfully no gates.

I retreated back into the shade and waited a moment more to see if any of the demons had seen or sensed me. Nothing. I couldn’t tell how high the Cursed Star was in the sky, and I loathed the idea of trying to wait until nightfall, but in my current state I didn’t have much choice.

The rays of the Cursed Star were strong enough to dispel my [Spectral Projection] completely. Much like they did the aetherite crystals. I supposed it made sense, considering I was a Frenzy-manifested form of my physical self, right now. My defenses were not really a part of me in this form. I was still like a ghost in many ways.

I could dish out damage still, but I couldn’t really take it.

I went back to my physical self and then checked back on the tunnel every few hours. By the time the Cursed Star finally set and the Bloodmoon rose, my stomach was killing me. I nearly made the decision to trek back down to the pool to eat more ‘eels’ but I was physically spent and had exerted far too much effort to go back empty handed now.

Summoning the last dredges of my Frenzy, I reassumed my noncorporeal form and ventured to the edge of the tunnel again. This time, when I looked outside, it was shocking to see the roaming hordes of demons looking almost placid compared to their Cursed-Star-crazed counterparts.

When I stepped out of the tunnel, I felt the effects of the Bloodmoon too draining my essence, but it was much reduced and tolerable compared to being under the Cursed Star. Still my Frenzy was burning and so was my time.

I jumped outside, scanning the star-ridden skies for any signs of the tentacle rays. With the gates gone however I didn’t readily see any. My hope faded a bit as I scanned the volcanic landscape for anything else that looked edible.

Humanoid like demons were abound but that was way too close to my DNA to stomach.

Trekking a couple hundred feet I finally spotted something that looked like a scorpion.

My hunger craved mind translated that into ‘land lobster’.

There was a group of them, but with the scorpions being close to the size of a horse, I only needed one. I waited until one of them meandered from the herd and then chopped at it with a [Lightning Arc Strike]. To my chagrin, my lightning attack cleaved the thing in two and the five others with it all turned and began to charge at me.

Shit!

I instinctively prepared to kill them all, but luckily the Struggler had enough common sense to turn and run. The point wasn’t to kill them. I needed to get one of these things to my physical body. I dove into the tunnel and the scorpion herd followed after me.

I pushed downward and when I got close to the edge of the tunnel exit, suddenly they paused. I wasn’t sure if it was a combination of them sensing the small aetherite crystal below or perhaps them losing connection to the Bloodmoon above, but either way they began to retreat. I cursed inwardly, but then thought otherwise as this phenomenon was likely what kept me safe and alive in the bottom of the cavern those first few days.

Nevertheless, I needed to eat.

I dashed backwards, leaping ahead of the retreating scorpions. With a burst of Frenzy, I punted one of them out of the tunnel with a [Lightning] charged kick. I heard it land with a crash below.

Looking over the edge, I did a mini victory dance as the thing floundered on its back at the bottom of the cavern. But suddenly the scorpion righted itself and after turning in a certain direction, made a beeline for the edge of the cavern. I was confused by its reaction at first, thinking it was trying to flee, but then something in the back of my skull triggered like a self- defense instinct.

Wait a minute...

The bastard was headed for me.

The real me!

I opened my eyes just in time to see the giant scorpion bearing down on top of me.

Adrenaline spiked and I reacted more from impulse and instinct rather than true control, the Demon taking the reigns. I flew out of my lotus position with a [Lightning] charged punch.

“[Struggler’s Fist of Fury]!”

My knuckles slammed into its thorax with a sharp pain, but I pushed through it and the force of my strike was enough to crack its shell open. Guts sprayed everywhere as its legs twitched in a violent death throw. I nearly fell back down from all the exertion, but the [Bloodlust] of my kill triggered a surprise burst of Frenzy that I couldn’t let go to waste.

Consolidating it into liquid form, I raised my palm and blasted the twitching scorpion corpse with a stream of [Frenzied Flames]. I held it for what had to be five or ten minutes before my Dantian finally gave out and I collapsed to my knees.

The thing smelled terrible but that didn’t deter me or my appetite.

Ignoring the heat of its burning shell, I tore off one of the huge scorpion limbs and then cracked it open like it was a giant Alaskan King crab leg. I pulled out a steaming piece of meat that did indeed resembled something that could come from a crab.

I bit into it and to my surprise and delight, it tasted like the sweetest meat on Earth.

Not that I was on Earth anymore.

And I wasn’t sure if this was truly safe to eat either.

It probably certainly wasn’t kosher being demon meat and all.

Ah, screw it, I thought. What happens on Fhae I’ung stays on Fhae I’ung.

I tore into the rest of the scorpion meat greedily and then, after tearing off another leg, managed to truly fill my stomach. With a satisfied belch I finally breathed a sigh of relief and laid down to rest. I could really go for a chug of muddy water, but I was too tired and spent for now. I closed my eyes and drifted off to a well needed sleep and this time, I could truly sense my body beginning to heal.