Streamer in the Omniverse

WinterHord (10) – The monster in the storm.

Finally, the final battle! Well, I won't give spoilers, but I liked the outcome of the next chapter.

That said, in my (P)(A)(T), there are 3 chapters ahead of both my stories, Devas and Hunter. If you want to support me or just want to read ahead, it only costs 2 dollars.

If not, I still appreciate you reading my stories. Thank you very much!

Well, as always, good night to everyone and happy reading!

(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori

[...]---[...]

After the not-so-friendly warning, and by warning, I mean the Deerclops' roar, everyone sped things up, especially me.

I spent the next few hours focused on finishing my protective goggles and mask. I didn't try to make them perfect but rather focused on making them withstand the cold.

In the end, I was satisfied with the result, especially since I managed to merge the two items into one after finding a gas mask in my inventory that covered my entire face.

-//-

[Gas mask (Against the Cold)]

Runes: Cold Protection - Resistance

Type: Accessory/Armor

Prefix: None

Mystical Symbols (Human): Cold Protection (High - Low), Cold Resistance (High - Low), Weather Protection (Cold) (Medium - Medium),

Defense: 102

Durability: 280/281

Rarity: Orange

Ability (1): Filters air in toxic environments at the cost of mana.

Ability (2): Assists in breathing in cold environments at the cost of mana.

Ability (3): Protects the wearer's eyes, aiding visibility in "Blizzard/Snowstorm" environments at the cost of mana.

Ability (4): When worn by a (Sun Breathing) user, aids in breathing, increasing its effectiveness by 30%.

(If the breath used is a direct derivative of Sun Breathing, the effect is reduced to 10%)

(If the breath used is a non-direct derivative of Sun Breathing, the effect is reduced to 5%)

[..]

Artificial Sapphire Reservoir: 30/30 (MAX CAPACITY!)

[..]

Description: A modern gas mask, modified, engraved with Mystical Symbols and Runes by "The Streamer" to help breathe in freezing winds.

~ Would prefer a plague mask, but for now, this will do ~

-//-

I had used most, if not all, of my best materials I could think of on the mask.

Ink made from Aqua's hair, ink made from Scarlet Ore, I even used the gel from Giant Slimes to create the inks.

Overall, as armor, the mask fell short, at least for the enemy I was about to face. But as an accessory for protection against the cold and storms, the mask was excellent.

I also used part of the mask's filter to place the "Artificial Sapphires" so they could fuel the mask, and I wouldn't have to worry about spending my mana.

I had some trouble fitting the "Artificial Sapphires" in a way that I wouldn't end up breathing their impurities, but in the end, everything worked out.

Well... almost everything. As the mask description said, I would have preferred it to be a plague mask.

For efficiency, since I could put more "Artificial Sapphires" on the mask's beak? No.

It was purely for aesthetic reasons.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any genuinely useful plague masks in the inventory. The only ones I had were for cosplay, which I couldn't use since the materials used in creating those masks were quite poor.

The gas mask was a real mask, made of quality materials. I wasn't going to go out in that storm wearing a crappy plastic mask, no matter how stylish it was.

After that, I did something I should have done a long time ago. I used a prefix ticket on the Houtengeki.

I wanted to put Mystical Symbols on the weapon as well, as I had a certain confidence in doing so, even though I wasn't sure what effects it would have on the weapon. But in the end, I didn't do it.

As much as I was confident in not messing everything up, it wasn't a solid one hundred percent. Being without my best weapon in this situation wasn't a good idea, so I ended up doing two things.

The first one: I used the prefix ticket.

The moment I used the ticket, a small roulette appeared above the halberd, spinning for a few seconds, passing through various prefixes before finally stopping at one.

-//-

[Houtengeki (Prototype- HOTD)]

Type: Weapon

Prefix: Demonic +15% (Damage) +5% (Durability)

Damage: 35 (34.5) - 567 (566.95)

Recoil: 30 (High)

Durability: 1556/1673 (1672.65)

Rarity: Orange

Ability: Absorbs mana to increase its weight and blade sharpness:

Base weight: 44 kilograms (97 pounds) ~ Base damage: 35 (34.5)

Maximum weight: 444 kilograms (978 pounds) ~ Maximum damage: 567 (566.95)

Current weight: 444 kilograms (978 pounds) ~ Current damage: 567 (566.95)

[..]

-//-

Demonic... It's a good prefix, with no disadvantages, but still...

If I didn't know that this roulette was random, I might think the stream had a twisted sense of humor.

Actually, even though it was random, I was sure the stream had a really twisted sense of humor...

Well, anyway, the prefix was good. It wasn't the best, which I think was Legendary, but it was still good.

Fifteen percent damage and five percent durability were great. Even the rarity of the halberd had changed, from Green to Orange.

I only had my doubts about why it was durability and not critical, as I remembered those five percent being critical chance.

In fact, none of my weapons had a critical chance, probably because a "critical" would only happen if I hit a critical spot on an enemy.

In Terraria, the game, in this case, it wasn't like that, but this was real life; hitting an enemy's eye instead of the foot would cause more damage.

After checking the changes that occurred in the halberd, the next thing I did was attach two accessories, not to myself, but to the weapon.

They were two simple rings, made of slime gel, both on the weapon's handle.

They weren't anything fancy; they had a single purpose: to protect Houtengeki from the cold.

I made these rings instead of Mystical Symbols because they were much safer; I just had to put both on the handle, and they would energize themselves, using the mana already present in the weapon.

I only needed to add more mana to the halberd to supply both the mana spent by the rings and Houtengeki's own mana.

With these two rings, plus my own mana, spiritual energy, and nightmare energy, the chance of Houtengeki breaking due to the cold or being severely damaged was low.

There were still risks, and I was sure the halberd's durability would decrease, but much less than if I just went out with the weapon without any protection.

After that, I started the actual tests.

"Devas... What are you holding?" I heard Selina ask me with a slightly squeaky voice, looking at me as if I had brought some kind of wild animal into the house.

In a way, she wasn't wrong.

"An hallucination." I replied playfully as I swung the creature I was holding by the neck.

It was one of the longer hallucinations; this one, in particular, looked like a centipede.

"An hallucination... Sure..." She nodded slowly, as if absorbing the information.

Something similar was happening with Melissa and Robyn, who were looking at me from afar, Melissa sitting on the Humvee's hood and Robyn inside it, with a blanket over her body.

Woman, the temperature in the Humvee is adjustable, why the heck that blanket?

The only one who seemed unimpressed, or at least accustomed to strange situations, was Dylan.

He must have already accepted that strange things happen around me.

Either that, or the guy must have seen something.

With Melissa and Selina as his relatives, I wouldn't doubt it was the second option, although I'm sure it was a combination of both.

"Stab this guy for me." I said as I swung the hallucination, which strangely was frozen in my hand like prey awaiting death.

The hallucination even trembled slightly... Well, everything trembled when I used nightmare energy; it was a kind of weird sight, but in this case, the hallucination trembled more than the rest.

"Why?... Oh..." Dylan asked before nodding, realizing the reason for my request. "We created glasses that can see hallucinations, but it doesn't help much if we can't attack them," He stated.

Well, even without being able to attack them, the glasses were still useful, but yes, I wanted to see if someone besides me could attack the hallucinations.

Darnell had said before that he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried, only managing to attack his own hallucination, not someone else's.

But he couldn't see hallucinations from someone else; Dylan could, even if in an improvised way.

After putting on the new version of the glasses, Dylan didn't hesitate to draw his bow and shoot an arrow where I was holding the hallucination.

Two things happened: the first was that the moment the arrow passed where the hallucination was, the hallucination moved slightly, as if it had sensed the arrow.

The second was that the interaction ended there, with the arrow passing through the hallucination without causing any more damage.

"That was expected..." I murmured.

Hallucinations seemed to be affected only by those who could see them, as if only by someone being able to see them, that person gained the "right" to touch them.

Dylan could see the hallucination, but not entirely; he could see the "shadow," the "hole" that the hallucination left, where mana couldn't fill, but only that.

He couldn't see the hallucination itself, so the most he could do, or in this case, his arrow, was just to "almost touch" the hallucination.

"Try it with this." I said as I made Shichishitō appear in front of Dylan.

Again, the guide attacked the hallucination, this time with the wooden sword.

Unlike last time, where the hallucination just moved, as if it had felt a light touch, this time it writhed, its mouth opening in a silent scream, at the same time a cut appeared where Dylan attacked it.

Not only that, but the hallucination seemed more... "real" in a way.

I found out why when Dylan spoke.

"I can see it..." The guide made a disgusted face, taking a step back as the hallucination tried to attack him.

"With your 'I can see it.' You with your eyes without the glasses?" I asked as I slammed the hallucination on the ground, making it calm down and go silent again.

It was as if the hallucination had remembered it was still being held by me and just returned to being a statue.

"Yes..." The guide replied. "When I attacked it, it became visible." He explained. "Now it's more... transparent; before, it looked like a living shadow, deep black in color, now it's gray, but still visible." Interesting...

"And you two? Did you see the hallucination too?" I looked towards Melissa and Robyn, who were watching the tests that Dylan and I were conducting on our guinea pig, who, by the way, had completely agreed to be our lab rat.

"No... and yes." Melissa answered with a confused expression. "I didn't see it fully, but for a moment, I saw a silhouette, like a mirage." She shifted her gaze to Shichishitō in Dylan's hand. "What the hell is this sword?..."

She seemed curious, as well as Robyn and Dylan, who examined Shichishitō, turning the weapon from side to side in his hand.

"It's a gift from a friend of mine." I explained as I observed the hallucination, to see if the cut on its body would close or if it would at least start to heal. "It's an effective weapon against shadowy things, so to speak."

"The wood seems to be pine..." Dylan muttered as he observed the sword. "The Mystical Symbols are well-organized, a light matrix?... No... enhancing the light attribute?..." He continued murmuring, analyzing the sword.

"The ink is made with a special mineral." I spoke after Dylan started speeding up his murmurs. "It's basically iron, but a special kind, extracted from a mountain that has been bathed in direct sunlight for years." That and the spiritual energy from Kimetsu.

Dylan nodded slowly, as if starting to understand why Shichishitō worked.

"Try attacking the hallucination again. This time, with another arrow." Let's see if this works... "Can you still see it?"

"Yes, but as I said, it's more transparent, gray." The guide replied at the same time he placed Shichishitō on the hood of the Humvee, next to Melissa, and shot an arrow at the hallucination.

Unlike the last arrow, this arrow hit the hallucination, still passing through it but causing a slight cut, a scratch on the hallucination, which tried to attack the guide again, but this time, in a less aggressive manner.

"Curious..." I murmured again as I slammed the hallucination on the ground, making it calm down.

I could hit it with the other hand, but I was afraid of accidentally killing it; finding another one was relatively simple, but I didn't want to waste time.

"It got darker again." Dylan said, lowering the bow.

"I saw that 'mirage' again too." Melissa said, and Robyn nodded, agreeing with her.

"I did too, it was like the air took the form of a snake, or something like that, but with legs." Well, the hallucination was similar to a centipede, which was long like a snake.

After a few more tests, attacking the hallucination with both Dylan's arrows and Shichishitō, and finally, a regular iron sword, but coated in Scarlet Ore ink, we found out what we had to discover.

Basically, the hallucination became more "tangible" if someone looked at it with the glasses, and even more "tangible" when attacked by something that could really hurt it.

Of all the tests, Shichishitō was the weapon that damaged the hallucination the most, so much so that whenever Dylan attacked it with the weapon, the thing went into a frenzy, trying to kill the guide.

The second weapon, or in this case, weapons, that damaged the hallucination the most were the iron swords coated in Scarlet Ore ink, which even Melissa, who couldn't see the hallucination like Dylan, managed to damage.

"Well, continue the evacuation then, if possible. I don't want to see what will happen if the barrier breaks and people are still in the city." Neither do I, I've never been a big fan of statues, especially ice ones made from corpses.

No one also asked why Annabel had ordered the resumption of evacuating the city's residents; the answer was also obvious.

Devas. The guy had spent a good part of the morning literally running through Winterhord and killing dozens, maybe hundreds of hallucinations.

The morale of the residents was probably through the roof; since the storm started, the weather lightening up without the presence of those things, well, from what Devas said, there were still many hallucinations and many emerging even with all he killed.

Still, it was as if the air had become purer, even with him asserting that there were still various hallucinations.

"If it's just to check the state of the barrier, the control room is in the mansion. I can show it to you," Annabel offered, causing Devas's gaze to fall on her.

"Control room?" He seemed confused, surprised.

"Yes..." Annabel replied hesitantly, which, curiously, made Selina laugh, and Melissa hit her on the back of her neck. "It's the room that controls the barrier, in the middle of the mansion..."

"Right... I'll go check the barrier still, just to be on the safe side, but I appreciate it if you can show me that control room." He still seemed surprised, but with something.

I didn't understand Mystic Symbols, so I didn't know why he was so surprised. Didn't he have something like that on the Humvee's dashboard? Those matrices that controlled all the others in the vehicle?

The next few hours were, in a way, calm, with everyone doing minor tasks.

Melissa and Selina were helping in the production of glasses alongside Annabel.

Darnell and my father returned after a few minutes and joined in the creation of weapons, the same task I was doing, which basically involved dipping the weapons in the paint Devas had provided and handing them over to the Symbol Masters to finish the job.

As for Devas, after returning from the control room with Annabel, he and Dylan had left, roaming the inside of the city walls to see if they found anything strange with the barrier, both splitting up to cover more ground.

The calm continued until around early afternoon when the fish earring, which my father had obtained from his friend, started to shake... A lot.

I didn't even need to look to know what it was, but still, I looked.

The fish's eyes on the earring were glowing in a gray color, with small red dots here and there.

A horrible shiver ran down my spine when I saw this, even when I went to alert the others, my father and Darnell who were talking a few meters away from me, my voice seemed to fail.

Fortunately, or in this case, unfortunately, very, very unfortunately, I didn't need to alert them... Not when that thing screamed... Very loudly.

▄█▆▂▄▆▅▃▂▆▅▄▆▅▃▂▆▃▄▄█▆▂▇█▄▄▅▄▇█▄▃▄█▇

Everything shook; the world seemed to turn upside down.

This wasn't like the other two screams I had heard from that thing; no, this was worse.

It was as if this scream signaled that this thing knew where we were, and from the earring's tremor, which kept getting larger every second, it was approaching, fast...

At least, I thought it was from the earring; it could be my body too. I couldn't distinguish well from the ball I had become, crouching on the ground.

I could only move after my father helped me stand up; I could only breathe properly after he gave me one of those pills Devas had given everyone.

Purification Powder, if I'm not mistaken.

"Better?" My old man asked, concerned.

"Y-yes." It was true; I was better, even if only a little.

"Devas... We need to warn him. This thing..." This thing is coming, is what I wanted to say, but my voice failed.

It was fortunate that I had let Kiki and Lili sleep inside the Humvee, both tired after scouring the entire city with my father.

Before I could try to speak again, the atmosphere became lighter, the few shadows I could see in the corner of my eye, hallucinations, disappeared as if fleeing from a demon...

"No need; Dylan and I are back."

... Which Devas might very well be, at least for these things.

[...]

POV: Devas Asura.

I knew that this thing was getting close, but I hoped we had more time, at least to evacuate the entire city to shelters and to the mansion.

Damn, at least the glasses and weapons were ready, not many, but enough.

I didn't ask Gilbert how far he thought the Deerclops was. It wasn't necessary; he hadn't appeared on my Minimap, and judging by the earring's tremor, which was something between five and ten kilometers.

"What's the plan?" Dylan asked with a grim face.

Before I could answer, Annabel appeared with Selina and Melissa in tow, all three with alarmed faces, the first, much more than the other two.

"T-the barrier." Annabel said between breaths, probably from running here.

"The barrier is under pressure, a lot, increased after the scream." Only incredibly good information! How wonderful.

"With me." I ordered, my voice echoing behind me as I accelerated, heading to the control room.

Frankly, I was surprised that this thing existed since I hadn't found anything about it in any Mystic Symbols book I had picked up to study.

I thought I had been the first to create something like a matrix control panel, spoiler, I wasn't.

Someone had done it before, and I knew that person, albeit briefly, as I had spoken to her for a few minutes.

When I entered the control room, even though I had been here before, I was still slightly amazed at the organization and efficiency of the place.

Dylan's mother was a monster, at least in matrix creation. The title "Duchess of Symbols" was well-deserved.

The moment I entered the room, I realized the mess that was happening. Parts of the barrier were crumbling, the mini model of the barrier showing the locations, few but still existing.

Worst of all, they were in distant locations from each other.

My only relief is that at least I knew it wasn't internal sabotage, or at least I was pretty sure it wasn't.

Before the scream, Dylan and I had gone through the entire barrier, circling the city, without finding any flaws in the barrier, just some wear and tear on the Mystic Symbols that were overloaded with the mana sustaining the barrier.

I had taken even greater care to see if there was any red point in the city, disabling the red points that represented hallucinations, leaving only the Terrarians.

There were none, which was good; not even the guards who tried to steal the Humvee on the first night were red.

Since I also found no kind of "bomb," using the VoidBag to search everything, the only remaining option was that these points were because the storm had intensified, the Mystic Symbols were overloading even more, and the snow hitting the barrier shouldn't be helping...

Of course, that or some incredibly smart hallucination was damaging the barrier, which was highly unlikely since, if it were intelligent enough to hide from me, the barrier would have already fallen before my group even arrived in the city.

"This is not good..." Melissa murmured behind me, being the first to arrive, followed by Dylan and Darnell, who arrived practically at the same time.

Then Selina, Gilbert; finally, Robyn and Annabel, who was the last, not looking well, her face pale, and she was sweating cold.

"No, not at all..." We need to fix these points; the problem was that they weren't the only ones; since I arrived here in the control room, two more points had appeared.

The barrier was being damaged rapidly.

"We need to split up to repair the damaged parts of the barrier," Dylan quickly muttered.

"Not possible," I affirmed.

We didn't have enough people. As good as the Symbol Masters of Winterhord were, they wouldn't fix things in time, I knew that.

They were good, but not as good as Dylan, Selina, or me.

The problem was that with only the three of us, we couldn't cover so much ground, not without the Humvee. The problem was that if I drove the Humvee, we had an even bigger problem.

No one would stop the damn boss that was approaching.

This also didn't take into account that the damn EcoMirror didn't work properly inside the city; we couldn't go repair the barrier and see where it had been damaged at the same time.

"The Humvee, with it, we can get there quickly," Dylan spoke with a rushed voice.

"And how will we know the places that have been damaged properly?" I asked back.

Gilbert was good, but not as good as Dylan, and even though he had somewhat recovered, the old merchant was still weakened from the months in Jille.

I didn't doubt that Gilbert could play this role, especially with everyone's lives, including Robyn's, at stake, but I also didn't doubt that he would die in the process, exhausted.

From his dark look and the resolution on his face, Gilbert knew this too; still, he took a step forward, opening his mouth to speak.

"I can! I can! I know!" The merchant's words got stuck in his throat, prevented from coming out when Millia jumped from my pocket to the table, next to the mini model of the city.

"I watched Devas drive! I know how!" The little slime wrote quickly. "I just need someone to follow my instructions. I'm small, and I can't drive alone! D:"

The (CHAT) had basically the same reaction as me; where before they were tense, with hurried messages about the bad situation, now they were literally electrified.

Millia was an angel, it was simple.

If anyone tried to touch this slime, I will kill them.

"I'll go!" Robyn took a step forward. "I'm the most useless in battle, I'll drive."

"I'll go with her, I'll fix the barrier." Selina spoke next, before Gilbert.

"I'll escort them." No one asked why they would need an escort; the city must be in chaos.

The Minimap didn't lie; the points representing the residents of Winterhord were moving quickly, as if people were in a panic, which they were.

The worst were the red points, hallucinations; they were multiplying fast.

"Annabel, you're used to using this room." It wasn't a question; she had affirmed it herself before. "You and Dylan stay, give him the information."

"Melissa, Darnell." I turned to the two. "One protects the mansion and the two." I pointed to Dylan and Annabel. "The other goes with the Humvee."

"I'll go." Melissa offered before Darnell could speak.

The man seemed to want to argue but ended up closing his mouth. "I'll stay; no one, no one, will enter here." He stated, pulling a shotgun from his VoidBag.

I had found out about it yesterday when I talked to the man; he was the creator of Terraria's first firearm, a prototype, using black powder, Mystic Symbols, and magic.

It was inferior to modern weapons, but for Terraria? This thing was a few centuries ahead.

I didn't expect anything less from the Arms Dealer; all NPCs seemed to be special.

Without wasting time, Dylan climbed onto the mansion's roof, with Annabel staying in the control room and Darnell, along with Annabel's most trusted guards, protecting them.

Selina, Melissa, Robyn, and Gilbert followed me outside the mansion, where the Humvee was parked, with Robyn's two animals sleeping inside it.

"Here." I tossed the key to the zoologist. "I trust you guys." At the same time, I handed her the Slime Staff, along with Millia, who jumped onto the woman's shoulder.

It sucked, frankly; I would love to fight using the Humvee, but if it meant thousands of deaths, I'd accept the disadvantage.

While the four were getting into the Humvee, I took another thing out of the inventory: Shichishitō.

"Take it, you'll need it more than I do." I threw the sword to Gilbert, who caught it and nodded with a determined look.

As useful as Shichishitō was, I had a substitute that was the toothpick created with Nightmare Fuel.

I was also sure that the sword would break in the cold outside the barrier; it was better for it to be useful here than shattered out there.

As a cue, an arrow shot from the mansion's roof, pointing to the south.

"Go." I ordered, glancing briefly as the Humvee started moving with Robyn following Millia's instructions.

Even in this crappy situation, a funny thought came to me.

Thank goodness there were no traffic laws in Terraria; the number of fines Robyn and Millia would assure me would bankrupt me.

Without hesitation, I ran to the city gate, accelerating at the same time as I manifested my cold-resistant clothing, then my armor over it, and finally, my mask.

Not the best fit, but it would do; the more protections against the cold I had, the better.

By the time I reached the gate and entered the small area where the smaller barrier existed, it activated, Dylan probably telling Annabel that I had arrived.

The guy's eye was good; with the glasses? He probably could see me as if I were right next to him.

I took advantage while the barrier was rising, separating me from the larger barrier surrounding the city, to pull something from my inventory.

A drink, alcohol with some other things; it was a drink that Annabel gave me as a gift the first time I went to the control room, saying it should help against the cold, an old family recipe. Something she didn't know how her ancestors had learned.

Well, now we knew since Cael, apparently, was a Fae.

Best of all, I recognized what Annabel gave me was a Warmth Potion, to be specific.

I've never been so grateful for someone hating the cold as much as Cael seemed to hate it. I drank the potion in one gulp, causing the "Warmth" buff to appear in the corner of my screen.

Basically, it reduced the effects of the cold "Moderately" for an hour, which in this situation, was excellent.

I doubted it would last an hour, if it was anything like Purification Powder, but it was already helpful.

By the time the second barrier fell, and I was exposed to the weather outside the barrier, I realized things were bad.

It wasn't just cold; it was fucking freezing.

Even with all the protections I had, with the Warmth Potion, with my mana protecting me, with my spiritual energy energizing my breath, which was from the damn SUN! Along with the nightmare energy mitigating the effects of the storm, still, I was cold.

I, who could stand in the damn cold of minus thirty degrees in a tank top and feel nothing but a light breeze, was cold.

I didn't know how many degrees below zero it was, but I was certain: if the barrier fell, everyone would die, that was for sure.

Forget minutes, seconds, no one outside the Humvee would last more than a few seconds before simply freezing and dying.

I looked at the (CHAT) quickly before tossing it aside, disappearing with it so as not to distract myself.

As a signal, the moment I did that, the Deerclops screamed again, a scream that I ignored, paying attention to the Minimap and the red dot that appeared on its edge, at the limit of five kilometers.

This point was larger than the others, practically double, and the biggest difference was that besides being bright red, it had a white skull in the center of it.

At the same time this point appeared on the Minimap, at the same time the scream occurred, a message appeared in front of me.

[Deerclops has Awoken!]

[...]

Finally, the beginning of the battle.

I'll refrain from commenting on anything; I'll try to convey everything I want to convey in the fight, as this is one of those battles that holds more significance than just a mere fight.

Well, as always, thank you for reading; this chapter is longer than usual, and the next one is likely to be the same.

That said, have a good night and happy reading!