Chapter 120: Overload: Obsession 1/4
Chapter 120: Overload: Obsession 1/4
Chapter 120: Overload: Obsession 1/4
Somewhere within a town, under the Great Ocean.
Killian rubbed his eye. Taking away his finger, a thin layer of red had coated his skin. The pain was increasing day-by-day. At first it was only slight, like an annoying headache. But now it had surpassed even a migraine, yet he refused to complain about it.
The man with the title of Archbishop told him that he had a low acceptance rate for the symbiote, but he didn’t care. Killian wanted to fuse with it regardless. For power. It was something that he craved, and clearly others thought the same as the number of deacons were ever increasing.
But if he wanted to stay ahead–the little amount of pain was nothing compared to the power it brought him.
From an Uncommon Class, all the way to Rare. It was quite literally an immense improvement. His strength soared, but that wasn’t all. It had given him new Skills–ones that were particularly useful in killing.
His mother had always told him never to harm another person, but she was long dead. Besides, they all deserved it. Ruitera had long turned into a world where the strong ruled, and the weak were left to fester and forgotten. Just like his mother.
Killian wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Him, a few dozen deacons, six priests, two bishops and one Archbishop, were tasked to scour this tropical town. He hated heat on the best of days, but along with the droning pain in his eye–it was… Killian felt his mind shift. It was becoming irritated, irrational, primal.
No. He wouldn’t complain. He couldn’t.
Killian grit his teeth and wiped the blood from under his eye.
It was scary, but as long as he kept his emotions in check, then he could enjoy his power for a lifetime. It’s what the Archbishop said. He had no reason to lie. Killian soothed himself as he took a breath.
He glanced at the white robe wearing Archbishop in awe. He had the usual mask on his face, however, it differed to the normal bland masks of the deacons. It was gilded with a golden halo that was etched onto the forehead. It had a wide smile and the sharp teeth also shone as if lights were installed within the enamel.
Yes, they wouldn’t lie. Killian reminded himself.
Killian and the others walked through a dense bush. It had already been hours since they entered. To the point that he wondered if it would ever end. If they would ever encounter civilisation. It was his first time within a town of this size.
He was also told that this town was close to a city. It filled him with anticipation regarding the future.
It was then that a strange power washed over him like a tidal wave. It seeped into his mind, he felt himself… giving in.
You have been accepted into the dungeon - Primal Jungle.
Do you wish to enter? Y/N
He really wanted to say no, but he wasn’t given a choice in the matter. The power within his mind was far too powerful to contend against. Killian had to submit.
“Yes,” Killian said.
But he was not alone. Everyone replied in unison, even the Archbishop who was practically a god within his eyes–had no choice but to say that one word.
Just like that. Everyone vanished from the spot.
Astrid stood high up on an enormous metal tower within the middle of the plains. It was shrouded in a large Major Illusion that obscured it from presumably any monster under the the Level one-hundred and thirty range.
Although that was just a guess, it might be lower than that, but maybe it was just her arrogance that believed it to be so. Either way, she guessed that it wasn't far off.
Outside of the main illusion, lay a few other, smaller ones.
They covered lengthy trenches that reached far down in the ground, and they were filled with razor-sharp spikes.
Despite her awesome work of art, she tapped her foot on the ground. Astrid had fired two more flares and that meant that she was left with only one more. Yet, the others still hadn’t arrived.
It meant that they either couldn’t see the flares from the thick canopy, they were too far away, they were too busy fighting, or…
Astrid shook her head. Hours had passed and it was already turning dark.
I’ll give it until morning, then I have no choice but to head on out and find them myself. Astrid thought.
It wasn’t long before night turned into day. The heat had already woken her from her miserable sleep when a System notification popped up within her mind.
Dungeon Mission received - Defeat the Primal Beast Lord: Avemoth.
| Reward: One piece of Epic+ grade Equipment.
Epic+, does that mean it has a chance of going higher? Astrid thought as she stretched her body. The night of peace had given her muscles a chance to repair themselves, although a dull pain still remained–they were mostly recovered.
The message excited her, if she was able to get the equipment upgraded into Legendary, another artefact would awaken within the world.
A Legendary item was not to be understated. They were family heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation. Even after one had far outleveled the item, it still had a major use because of the unique effects it brought with it.
Because the noble families shared Classes, the Legendary item had bonus effects related to that Class–often being very powerful. For that reason, they were protected as the lifeblood of the family.
It was the same for the Sinwen. There was always a fear of it being plundered. So, only the strongest were allowed to keep it on their body. The current holder of the Transcendent Crown was none other than her Father, Christian Sinwen.
With no one in sight, Astrid was forced to move from her position. Finding her friends was the priority, but now she had another task in mind. She had to hunt down Avemoth.
It felt like something within her body was burning. Her blood was boiling. Or maybe it was the damned insatiable heat. The only thing she knew was that she wanted to pull out the Primal’s eyes from its sockets.
Your obsession has reached 82/100
It’s not a damned obsession! Astrid fumed as she Levitated onto the ledge of her tower, letting gravity work its magic, she fell straight down to the verdant grass below.
The air tousled her hair. The wind caused her eyes to weep. Just as she was about to hit the floor, she halted her body, then shot through the air.
She used Psych Domain and used a bunch of mana to make sure she was able to spot anything that lurked. Knowing that the monsters here had camouflaging abilities, Astrid checked the tree’s for any unusual shapes.
Just as she was about to break past the tree line, she stopped. Something didn’t feel right.
Within her Psych Domain and behind the trees, raised bumps covered the bark surfaces. They were unlike the smoothened tree trunks she had become accustomed to.
With a smirk, she took out a chunk of Voidbent metal. In theory, she should be able to conjure it from nothing with Psych Warp. But Voidbent was an Epic rarity metal, something that she couldn’t yet form with her current abilities.
However, if she had the metal in hand, that was different.
She thought of something to create. Astrid was about to start, but she paused. She adored the look of knives and swords, probably because of her long time practising with them, and due to the fact that it was in her bloodline. But she steered away from creating knives with the ore. They were too big. A waste of precious metal.
Instead, Astrid formed the needles that she was getting used to.
With a command, they levitated above her head, then shot forward. Like they were attached and guided by a piece of string, they entered the dense jungle, then pelted the strange protrusions.
Her assumption came to fruition as the monsters screamed in pain. Some thumped to the ground, while others turned round the tree and displayed their frightening fangs.
They were Femoras, and they were angry.
The monsters seemed to have a strong familial bond as they leapt towards her without a care for their safety. And knowing full well there weren't any trees in the vicinity to use their evolved legs to their advantage.
Astrid grinned and pulled out their eyeballs one-by-one in rapid succession. Blood sprayed through the air and coated the pure green grass in a deep scarlet.
Four managed to get passed, mainly because she wasn’t able to connect to so many eyes that fast. Which caused a frown to appear on her face. She didn’t like failing.
Just as the monsters were about to slice into her body, multiple illusions sprouted out of her body. They were exact replicas of her. Everything from her aura, expression, to her moving hair, and smell.
They hesitated.
With a pull, the needles shot backwards and penetrated the back of their necks, and straight into their brains.
Astrid jumped into the air as their bodies crashed into the floor, then continued to roll past where her body used to be. They were dead as can be, yet Astrid connected to their eyes and pulled them anyway. Three of their skulls exploded, yet the last one was lucky.
Not happy with the result, she shot down and slammed her foot into the monster's skull. With a crack, it caved in as her boot was covered in sticky brain matter, and blood.
She refused to let anything come back to life. Not after those damned skeletons back in the Underbelly–and the ghouls.
Finally satisfied with the result, she safely flew through the trees.
Calum glanced at Bellona. The woman was a fierce warrior. Blood dripped from her bandaged hands as she finished off the last jumping monster with extreme efficiency.
He was barely keeping up as wounds were etched all over his body, even with being injured, she still ended up throwing some of the weaker/injured monsters his way.
Is she doing it on purpose? Calum thought while panting. He resisted the urge to place his hands on his knees for a rest.
One moment of relaxation was all that was needed to have his throat slit. Especially by those damned jumping bastards.
But for his revenge, this much was nothing. More than that, he was grateful. The experience gained was incredible with only two people fighting. He had already Levelled twice. Besides, the woman could have left him for beast food the moment they entered and just told Astrid that she couldn’t protect him.
Any excuse would work in this place.
“Come on.” Bellona wiped the blood from her face. “I need to find Astrid.”
Calum took a breath and nodded.
They headed further into the jungle.