Chapter 15: Chapter 15
The two revenants scream in a hellish chorus, palpable rage emanating from them as they stare at the headless corpse of the royal guard. Luminous red veins bulge across their bodies, chitin breaking and flaking away to reveal twisted pale flesh. The rogue’s cloak tears apart, fragments of once-luxurious cloth fluttering to the ruined cobbles. I cringe away at what's beneath, nearly retching at the most disturbing thing I've seen since coming to this world. What appears to be at least three different creatures crudely fused and stitched together, puss weeping from numerous stitches and open wounds. Two twisted and malformed faces of what are obviously humans bulge from the thing’s chest, glassy eyes locked in perpetual expressions of agony. The main head of the creature is the same insect creature as the other revenants, but half of it is formed of misty shadows that constantly shift as though trying to tear itself apart. My gaze hardens as I feel genuine anger fill me.
Whatever did this deserves death.
I call up all of my mana, drawing every last scrap of my reserves and reabsorbing my constructs to end this fight as fast as I can. By now the last of the normal revenants have been mopped up by the shadows which entered the tower once the warrior died, and the only shade that survived is my own. It emerges from the ground beside me, shadowy spears already forming as it instantly attacks the duelist. The undead blurs, sabers crossing and parrying the attacks.
A barrage from what I think is Mana Blitz follows, dozens upon dozens of small blades of darkness peppering the revenant. It blocks furiously, but despite its extreme speed it can't block all of them. A few make it through its defence, drawing small streaks of glowing blood before detonating. The duelist screams, only to be silenced as my attack completes. A massive spike, thicker than my arm and formed from my entire mana pool rips through its head and explodes. A visible wave of my orange mana shreds its body, pale chunks of necrotic flesh splattering across the street. The notification rings, but I barely spare it a glance before looking for the abomination. Read complete versıon only at 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦•𝘯𝘦𝘵
Revenant Hive Bladedancer Lvl 26 Slain
No Experience Gained (Oathbound)
A blinding pain in my wings tears a scream from me, and I whip around just in time to see the creature fade back into the shadows. Bringing my wings around in front of me, I immediately see the four black gashes, two in each wing.
Not flying out of this. Damnit.
Out of mana, only a single weapon remaining in my bag, and my summons are already all dead. My shade bursts apart into wisps of black fog, fading away and returning to my feet. Instincts flare, and I contort away from the trio of blades that appear behind my head. The fourth drives into my tail, pointedly avoiding parts covered by my dress. I cry out in agony again, gritting my teeth as the magical rot spreads from the wound. Looking at the scales of my tail, I remember the collar that I'm still wearing. With what little mana has regenerated since the start of the fight, I activate Serpent's Servant and Siren's Cry.
A howl of rage fills the area, and the abomination staggers into view from where it was about to stab me again. Black-blue scales slam into it, sending it crashing through several stone walls with a tortured shriek. Stitches tear free with sickening pops as a maw gaps diagonally across its stomach, broken ribs forming jagged teeth as all four mouths scream in anger and pain. Despite the volume of the revenant, my subsequent hiss drowns it out. It sounds like someone dragging a sack of gravel across a microphone, a single sibilant note that carries through the area. Everything falls silent, even the breeze seeming to pause for a moment at the pure malice in that simple sound.
The peace doesn't last longer than a couple seconds as I blur forward, my massively boosted physical stats outpacing the monster before me as my head connects with its rib-teeth. Cracking bone punctuates the strike as I weave back, avoiding the wild counter swing. Bobbing along to an unheard rhythm, I strike again and again, never using my fangs to avoid tasting the revenant amalgamation. Feeling its daggers and teeth skitter off my scales, my tail whips around and cracks the last few of its teeth that remain, sending it careening back through the wall it just emerged from. A pale blur flies out of the crater, corrupted blades finding purchase between miniscule gaps in my scales. Burning rot spreads, scales peeling and falling away.
Hissing in pain, I whip the abomination with my tail once more, and it slams into the bone spire with a sickening crunch of bones and squelch of undead flesh. It pops in a burst of glowing red and black fluids, making me retch even as a massive snake. The sudden influx of power as it dies breaks the little concentration required to remain a serpent, and the transformation fades as I stagger forward, panting while gripping a wall for support. My regeneration and partially restored mana fight off the necrosis, restoring my wings within the time it takes to reach the splattered corpse of the abomination and read the kill notice.
Revenant Hive Grafted Horror Lvl 34 Slain
Revenant Hive Queen Slain.
And with that simple message, I'd done it. I cleared the Breaksteel Hive, though I didn't yet know the significance of my actions.