The System Seas-Chapter 152: Horror of the Depths

The System Seas-Chapter 152: Horror of the Depths

It didn’t take much time to convince the system priests to let the unique classes go. Marco and Elisa knew enough about the temples to convince the system priests that holding the power in reserve had been a mistake. Enough of their leadership were missing or confirmed dead after the storm that they didn’t have much fight left in them anyway, and they seemed to accept that there was nothing they could do about Marco taking the power with him as he left the capital.
“But what do we do?” One young system priest looked towards the group in despair. “What’s our job now, if not keeping this region under control? What if Frisk…”
“I think you have the wrong idea about Frisk,” Marco said. “He doesn’t want to take everything over. He probably never did. As to what you can do now that I won’t let you kidnap kids anymore, I think I might be able to help with that.”
Conquest Complete!
While no more power can be gained from temples in a generic sense until you set your course, you have still grasped control of a new temple network enough to change its configuration and purpose, within some limits.
Your first option is to choose the Control configuration and leave things as they have been. In its controlling configuration, the organization under your control and currently known as the System Church will continue to enjoy powers related to the tamping of others' system classes, able to render even powerful classes powerless. Those with the System Priest class will attempt to use their abilities to create weakness in others to promote order or to seize power.
If you choose the Enhancing configuration, almost the opposite will be true. Rather than a debuff, the skills of System Priests will shift to a variety of buffs. The specifics of these enhancements will vary from class to class but will invariably focus on making others stronger and more efficient at their work, whether individually or in groups.
Each decision comes with its own upsides and downsides. If you seek the quick acquisition of power, then the Control class will…
Marco stopped reading. He had read enough temple power notifications to know there was usually a good choice and an evil choice for selfish people. Having just seen firsthand where the particular brand of selfishness offered by this temple led, he didn’t need a lot of details to know which decision was better in the moment. He flipped the switch, then watched as every System Priest around him was suddenly stunned by the alterations to their classes.
“Wow. I mean, wow.” The same priest kid who had despaired before now looked hopeful. “This feels so different.”
“Good. I’m glad for you.” Marco grabbed his shoulder, turned him towards the city, and gave him a little push. “Now go out there and use it. Hurry. There are people who need you.”
The kid didn’t need to be asked twice. The rest of the System Priests and unique classes scattered soon after, hopefully to do whatever good they could manage. The crew looked over the temple one last time, then started strolling back towards their ship.
“You look worried after all that?” Tatric laughed and clapped Marco on the back. “I think you saved the day, boy. You can’t enjoy that?”
“I can. I do. It’s just this whole course setting thing. It’s still not resolved. I was hoping it would be by now.”
“What’s that? Explain it to me.” Tatric hobbled along by Marco’s side. “I might be able to help.”
“It’s… Well, it’s like this. The system seems to be guiding me, most times. We follow what it wants us to do. Lately, it’s been saying it wants me to choose my course.”
“Good.” Tatric said. “That’s what a good parent does. Sooner or later you have to let them grow up.”
“I can believe it’s something like that, but I’ve tried to do what it wants, and it ignores it. If I think I’ll just sail the seas forever, it doesn’t listen. That’s one choice. If I wanted to, I could point my ship towards the horizon and just never come back. Ever. I think we have to go out there at least one more time anyway.”
“Why?”
Elisa broke in then. “It’s the temple power. We’ve read a lot about it, and whoever built these things didn’t expect them to stay stagnant. Eventually, Marco needs to move all the power he’s carrying far, far away from people. That’s where it will do the most good. The more power you have, I think the further you eventually need to go.”
“What good does that do, by the way?” Marco asked. “I get that it keeps the power from ripping everything down, but what else?”
“From the notes I’ve read, I think it’s like setting up a water pipe,” Elisa said. “Like setting up irrigation to feed a field. You’ve amassed a lot of what the temple system thinks of as a network, a huge territory. I think when you finally take that energy back out where it came from, all the way to the outer seas and beyond, it uses that network to pump that system power back in a safe way.”
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“So it just makes the temples work better at whatever they do?”
“Maybe.” Elisa scrunched her eyebrows. “Or maybe something different, but the dead temple-dweller who wrote this notebook thought it would be good for everyone.”
“And you have to go do that right now?” Tatric asked. “As soon as you leave this place?”
“No, we have some time. I've been moving around plenty. As long as I make some trips to find temples, we can keep going for a while. I have some time, at least. It’s just that eventually I’m either going to have to choose to stay still the rest of my life…”
“Not going to happen,” Tatric said.
“No, it’s not. Or I have to leave forever. And I don’t feel ready for that, even if I tell the system I am. And those are the only two courses.”
“No, boy, they aren’t. Think.”
“What?”
“I said you aren’t thinking about it right. You just told me those weren’t the only two options. Why aren’t you listening to yourself? You should just… oh, damn it all.”
“What?” Marco reached out for Tatric, worried that something had finally broken in the old man during all the excitement. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, boy. But none of us will be if that’s as bad as it looks.” Tatric pointed out to sea. “Look at that.”
Rising from the horizon was something that, relative to their position, looked almost as big as the storm front that was buffeting the city before Marco had shut it down. It was a black, evil sort of thing. Nobody who looked at it could imagine otherwise. For someone with Marco’s sensitivity to fighting and system energy, it felt like doomsday.
The energy rising from the sea started to resolve from a fog into a lump, drawing into one place as a form started to emerge within it, something vaguely human-shaped if not at all human-feeling. By the time it was formed enough for Marco to make out the shapes of shoulders and arms, the system found something to say about it.
Horror of the Depths
You have encountered something like this beast before, a monster built of ill-fitting realities, discarded powers, and errors at the edges of what is possible. It is in some ways similar to the holes in the ocean or diseased ocean spirits you have seen before, or to hurricanes or tidal waves far more powerful than nature should have been able to drive.
It is a wrong thing, a broken thing. It should not be. Even it itself feels that and seeks the means to correct itself. Some version of something like this once considered whether you had that means and was turned away by some mismatch between your power and it. This creature has felt the pulse of the power of this place and traveled to it, eager to consume the unsettled force that threatened to destroy this region.
That power is still unsettled within you. It now seeks you, and only you.
The system cannot predict what this creature will become if it succeeds. Gods both great and terrible are among the lesser possibilities. You should strive to prevent that particular die from being thrown.
“Oh, that’s bad news,” Marco said. “Bad, bad news.”
“Agreed,” Elisa said. “Can we run?”
“I don’t think so. We can try. But if it’s as fast as it looks like it is, I don’t think we will be able to. We might have to fight.”
“Then let’s fight. Tatric, you should stay behind.”
“Like hell I would. Every crew member matters in this kind of thing. I have some levels. You’ll get them.” Tatric’s voice softened a bit as he quieted to a tone only Marco could hear. “Think about what it would be to me if I watched you sink, boy. I’m going with you. All or nothing.”
Marco accepted it. It was the way things had to be. Riv picked up Tatric then and carried him as they bolted towards the ship, trying to make every second before the monster arrived count.
On board the boat, Marco added Tatric to the crew as everyone found their fighting positions. The ship glowed gold as Marco brought it up to full power, pointing it directly at what, to him, felt like the source of all fears.
It was time to fight, and he and his crew were the only people present who could stand strong.
“How is everyone on power?” Marco said. “The ship’s batteries are almost full.”
“I’m almost back up to where I should be,” Riv said. “I’m not using my power unless you tell me to.”
“I’m fine,” Jane said. “I’ll be helping Aethe with arrows.”
Marco had never really considered just how many arrows Aethe had accumulated over their time at sea, but now he couldn’t ignore it. She bought a lot of them but used them only occasionally. Now she had filled barrels with them in different categories and was setting up a firing position near the rear of the boat where she’d be able to hit every relevant angle. He had never seen one do less than a normal arrow would in any respect, and most of them did a very great deal more. He shuddered as he considered what Aethe’s collection would do fired one after the other.
“We are getting into range, Marco. Should I fire?”
“Yes, Elisa. Give it everything you can.”
Marco allocated a huge chunk of the ship’s power to the arbalest, hoping it would be enough to put a dent into what amounted to a giant monster far beyond the scope of anything they had ever fought. If he was honest, it didn’t seem likely. But barring fleeing in terror, they had to try. What he was doing for Elisa’s firepower would drain their batteries fast, but this wasn't a battle that seemed like it would take a long time, one way or another.
Any thought of running was short-lived, anyway. The giant finally formed to a point it seemed satisfied with and turned its attention to chasing down the ship, and though its motion started slow, it built up tremendous momentum within a few moments, plotting an intercept course with
The Foolish Endeavor
that Marco immediately sought to evade.
That was easier said than done. Dodging the monster’s charge wasn’t unlike trying to steer around a moving island. Marco pumped power into their speed, suddenly thankful for Jane’s and Tatric’s additions to their overall power. It still wasn’t quite enough, and things looked grim until Elisa let loose the most dangerous bolt he had ever seen come from the arbalest, a pulsing, barely contained mass of power that would have had no chance of hitting anything smaller than an unmissable target. Luckily, that was what they had.

Chapter 152: Horror of the Depths