Savage Awakening 92. Dungeon Dojo

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He took a step closer. The Bark Sentinel took a step back. It eyed him just as he eyed it. He could tell just by how it moved—its little hops, the subtle ways it shifted its weight on its planks for feet—it knew what it was doing.

Zane threw a punch just to see.

He missed and ate a battering-ram arm to the face for his trouble. He heard a little gasp from behind.

Zane had two thoughts then.

First, Ow.

And then—oh, interesting.

It was a THUD now. Not a CLANG anymore. A day ago it might've really hurt. But with Echoing Clangor woven in, his thick head was now extra thick. The force went into his face. He felt the blast of it. But the shock rippled out skin deep. His face smarted, but that was it.

The Bark Sentinel watched him silently with beady black eyes. Waiting for him to rush in again.

He did and it hit him again. He got the same feeling. The force rippled off him. His skin split a little, but the important bits—the muscle, the bone—felt fine.

The next time he stepped in, he lobbed a hook at it.

It slipped out the way. And this time its hammer like arm steamed bright gray essence, gushing Steel Law.

When it hit him his head snapped all the way back; he stumbled. He heard Evan give a little gasp.

"I'm fine," he said, licking blood off a split lip. And he was. He could take a lot more than that. He was much more curious than hurt.

That blow was much, much heavier than the others… how'd it do that?

He lunged at it again, hoping it'd do it again. And sure enough it leaped back, loaded the same Skill, and blasted him. His head whipped to the left. Ah.

It was the same Law the Beetle had in its shell. Steely Density.

Well this changed things.

With Echoing Clangor, his body already got a strong upgrade. But he could always use more. And he still had a Major Law or so to go before he tapped out his comprehension... 

He felt the Law most clearly when the thing hit him. Hmm.

This time Zane didn't even bother punching; he led with his head. He walked straight into three full-force blasts. THUD-THUD-THUD!

Pain exploded on his face. He stumbled back a step. He tasted blood and grinned. Yes—he was really feeling it now. He made sure to pay close attention to the sensation of that hunk of steel as it smashed his face in. There was very little rebound or recoil—just this huge hefty mass… there was something there, something fascinating. He paid close attention. Zane came in again, got whacked again. His head snapped back. The sensation grew clearer.

The few times he'd tried this, like with the Beetles, it proved pretty darn effective. He decided to call it 'learning by experience.'

Then the Monster growled and started wailing on him. It seemed to think he was making fun of it. Uppercut, hook, jab, cross, THUD-THUD-THUD. It was like one of those master boxers teeing off on a punching bag. It sounded like machine gun fire. His head went twelve different ways in the span of a second.

Warning!

Health under 75%!

He was smiling wide now, baring bloody teeth. He wasn't really even there. He was floating over the scene, seeing the punches like bursts of color on his face, inspecting them curiously. He felt the fist digging into his cheek, snapping his head to the side, and took a moment to appreciate just how tightly packed every little bit of it was.

There was quite a lot of force going into it, courtesy of his face. But it wasn't dampening it like Echoing Clangor. It just straight-up absorbed it. Cool stuff.

Both Echoing Clangor and Steely Density destroyed force. Just in different ways. But ways that could work together. If he brought this into his body too, he felt his durability could reach a whole new level.

By now he couldn't see very well. One eye was swollen totally shut. The other was most of the way there. His face was probably bruised pretty bad, just a mess of purple all over.

"C'mon, Zane!" He heard Evan crying. "Fight back! I believe in you!"

He felt Evan getting increasingly worried behind him, so he threw up a thumbs-up sign to show he was okay. Unfortunately it came just as a haymaker landed so hard he nearly fell off the side of the Tree. He had to frantically grab hold of the trunk to steady himself.

He realized this probably didn't inspire confidence. On the surface it just looked like he was getting the shit beaten out of him. Which he was. But it was for a good cause. He tried to explain it out loud. And nearly bit his tongue when an uppercut smooshed against his chin.

Then it hit him. The revelation, that was.

Though at first he wasn't sure if he was having a eureka-moment or if he'd just been hit really hard.

To his relief—

Law comprehended!

Minor Law of Indomitable Compactness (Elemental Law of Steel) 

Then he heard a crack. And the punching stopped.

He frowned, then winced; moving all those muscles at once made his bruised face flare with pain.

What…?

He reached out to the Bark Sentinel and felt the reason. It was in a good deal of pain, just like him.

Its fist broke.

On Zane's face.

Zane was speechless.

How was that even possible? Wasn't it meant to be durable? Then he remembered his face was probably a lot harder than its fist. And it'd been wailing on him full force for a while now…

"Pathetic," Zane sighed.

He lit his fist with Stormfire and charged at it. Seriously this time. It got him pretty good as he came in—it must've whacked him four or five times clean. The problem was, it didn't really matter how skilled it was. It could've hit him twenty times. Zane just needed to land once.

And when he did it was over instantly.

The wood shattered; his fist broke through. And its head was a burning pyre. It stumbled around, flailing for balance. Zane ripped it twice to the belly, opening up new craters. After that the whole thing caught on fire. Then he just lifted a foot and punted it. It shot off the side of the Tree like an asteroid; and like an asteroid hitting the atmosphere, it burned up, broke apart, smoked to nothing on the way down.

It was just yet another confirmation of a theory he'd been nurturing for a while now.

It didn't really matter how smart or skilled the enemy was. If Zane just got big enough, he could overcome anything.

And now he was about a third of the way to becoming even bigger. He could sense what he needed. Two Minor Laws to go.

He licked his lip—it was whole now.

Skill up!

Fiery Renewal I -> II

He blinked. Well that was a pleasant surprise. Maybe he should get beat up more often.

***

Fiery Renewal was patching up the worst of the damage. For a while there he was pretty much blind, but now the swelling was dying down he could kind of see out of his left eye.

He came back and found Evan in a bit of a daze.

"Were—were you trying to learn another Minor Law just now?" said the boy, eyes wide.

"Not trying to. I did." Zane was pretty pleased about it, too.

"That fast?!" Evan looked so confused. "Is this how World Rankers normally train?!" Suddenly he was full of doubt. "Maybe I've just been doing it wrong this whole time," he mumbled. "Maybe that's why I'm so slow…"

He seemed to be having a bit of an existential crisis. He started frowning at the Titansteel like he was wondering if he should start bashing his head on it.

Zane patted him before he got any ideas. "No," he said reassuringly. "Don't worry. I do dumb things. Don't copy me."

“…oh…” Evan still seemed confused.

"You're not slow," Zane said. He scratched his head. "I think… I'm fast."

"…oh!"

They moved on.

***

Zane was realizing that as long as you lacked enough common sense, a dungeon could be a very big dojo. This whole Tree could be his personal Steel Law treasure area. He'd once had an elementary school teacher who liked to say 'everything is a learning opportunity'. He'd thought it was silly then, but it turned out she was right.

Though… he had a feeling this attitude might get him in trouble eventually. Looking up, he could see the underside of the first bough coming up fast. He saw bulging shadows drifting over the leaves… Hmm.

Those bird-things…he had a feeling they had some good Steel Laws on them. But they were birds.

He looked at Evan, pluckily coming up behind him. He had some insurance.

"I'm going going to do some dangerous things," said Zane. "Maybe things that will put me at pretty low Health. Like with that wood Monster back there. If it gets too bad, I'll need your help. Are you ready?"

He doubted he'd need it. He planned to turn things around before they got too bad. But if he did, he got the feeling Evan would be pretty good at that kind of thing.

Poor Evan had been in a state of confusion all morning. "Can you maybe not do dangerous things?" Evan said hopefully.

Zane stopped cold and thought about it. The idea really didn't agree with him for some reason. Since Evan seemed to look up to him, he decided to impart some advice. "If you don't do dangerous things, how do you know you're alive?"

"Oh!" Evan bit his lip. "I guess that makes sense…"

They kept walking. He felt a growing bundle of confusion behind him. After a while he heard Evan mumble, "Wait…that doesn't make sense at all…"

Zane tried to put it simply, in a way the boy would understand.

"If I need you to save me, can I count on you?"

It was like he'd said the magic words. Evan nodded vigorously. "Yes! You can count on me!"

Zane smiled. "Good."

***

He'd probably find plenty more of those Bark Sentinels on the way up. For now, though, the first giant bough was coming up quick.

The ridge opened up into a branch. It was thick and sturdy, like a little road leading up. They made it up and saw the Monsters waiting for them, strutting around the glinting field of silver leaves. There were a dozen or so spread out there.

Steelwing Eaglet (Monster)

Essence Level 93

Laws:

Major Law of Steely Density (Elemental Law of Steel)

Major Law of Undying Might (Elemental Law of Steel)

Major Law of Tempest’s Fury (Elemental Law of Wind)

Major Law of Absolute Sharpness

Key Skills:

Beak Hammer Strike (Active) [Rare]: The wielder uses its beak like a hammer. It delivers powerful, crushing blows capable of cracking magical and physical defenses, causing significant damage.

Cannonball Roll (Active) [Epic]: The wielder tucks in their limbs and roll at high speeds towards its target, making its body a devastating projectile.

Steelfeather Guard (Passive) [Uncommon]: The wielder's steel-like feathers provide a natural armor, offering great resistance to physical attacks.

Zane was eyeing them, looking for one specific Law… Steely Density. Perfect.

"Stay back," he told Evan.

Evan looked at him, worried. "Are you gonna do a dangerous thing now?"

"Yes."

"Oh." A pause. "Okay!" He gave Zane a thumbs up. He was still nervous, but he smiled, trying to be encouraging. "You got this!" he called.

"Thanks."

First, he got out all his C-Grade Law Fruits. And ate them one by one. A pleasant tingling filled his head. 

The leaves were thick and stable enough to walk on. And as Zane took his first steps, those giant Wrecking-Ball birds started chirping and stamping their talons.

Then he took a deep breath, summoned his Axes, and dropped them like anchors. Deep into the boughs.

And as one, they charged him.

When he looked at them, he wasn't really even seeing Monsters. He was seeing two new Minor Laws barreling toward him. It sparked joy in him.