Battleforged
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Chapter 402 - Treasure Hunt IV
🕑 Added 2024-03-08 04:00:03 +0000 UTCYou sense your party’s PERIL!
Willpower check successful.
You have avoided Overwhelming Despair!
Eric’s heart was pounding with something painfully close to panic when the earth exploded, unleashing an inconceivably massive wyrm erupting free of the desert sands like a massive skyscraper, only bigger, exploding free of the earth with such force that the AFV it had been under was sent hurtling hundreds of feet into the air.
Eric’s stomach knotted with horror, seeing several bodies fly free, before snapping his focus back onto the threats that could so easily kill him.
Perception Check successful!
Yet even as his gaze was absolutely captivated by the sight of the massive scaled desert titan exploding free of the desert sands like a volcanic eruption of serpentine doom, radiating the potency of a Deep Bronze monstrosity so hideously powerful that it might as well be called a Half-step Silver, its triple jawed maw opening wide to reveal multiple rows massive grinding teeth spiraling all the way down its gullet, he caught sight of something almost as chilling.
Each and every one of the oversized half-step Bronze velociraptors, instead of hissing in surprise or fury or terror at the massive erupting titan-sized desert wyrm, they paid it no attention at all. As if it was no threat to them at all. Instead, each and every raptor kept their glittering orbs locked upon to the vehicle spinning through the air before crashing into the nearby ravine with such devastating force that Eric thought it a miracle that his party link showed no one dead.
At least not yet.
And then he spotted it, a quick flash of the AFV’s chassis. Strobing once to Mana Sight, radiating crimson magics he knew all too well.
Eric felt a lurch in his gut, now seething with outrage. Suddenly certain that he knew why they had been so furiously swarmed so quickly.
Not that such knowledge would do him a lick of good right now. All he could do was lash out one final time and lessen the tide of destruction surging for his friends by a tiny amount before he was forced to pour every ounce of his attention on the titan that could so easily destroy them all.
You have critically struck 2 Velociraptors with Bloodfire!
Bloodfire Strike is now Rank 17!
The desert thrummed and Eric found himself struck by a sonic blast as he was sent hurtling back, momentarily deafened as the titan wyrm roared its fury. And no matter how adept he had become at forging furious focus where fear normally fled, he couldn’t deny the fluttering in his chest, the cold chills racing up and down his spine when he felt a Deep Bronze titan’s killing intent focusing on him and him alone.
You foe attempts: Crushing Barrage!
Eric dispelled extraneous thoughts and just – MOVED!
The air exploded in sand and basalt rock pelting his frame as he dodged the massive abomination of a worm. The air roared and the ground shook with the passage of a multiple stadium sized abomination crashing into and through the sand and stone as if it were no more solid than water.
A desperate scream crawled up the back of Eric’s throat, Speed Racer and Battletime perks white-hot in his mind’s eye, barely giving him the friction free speed and processing ability needed to avoid being smashed to pulp, like a furious titan pounding the desert sands like a fly swatter.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Each time the earth exploded as if multiple bunker buster bombs had struck. It was only because the Titan Wyrm erupted completely out of the sands, flinging itself through the air before crashing back down where Eric was, that allowed him to dodge obliviating death and the shrapnel that would send even his extremely well-padded and protected form flying.
“Sanguis Fulmen!” Eric screamed, snarling against his own desperate panic just long enough to glare behind him and lash out with crimson lightning as the massive wyrm dove back into the sands.
The good news was that a titan that large was hard to miss.
Yet the almost mocking blink of the interface message made it exquisitely clear just how utterly and completely fucked he truly was.
Your foe possesses Essence of Impermeability!
Your foe is IMMUNE to ALL White Tier arts!
Eric’s eyes widened with dismay. All the more so when he realized that, unlike the swarm of reds flooding the ravine below, he couldn’t sense the massive worm at all, not even his with his Dominion Interface Map, when it was under the sands.
Which meant that it was blocking all forms of divination, even System information gathering arts as well. It also meant that Conceptio had done him a solid hidden beneath the System snark, when it spat out that final message.
If he wasn’t VIP, he doubt he’d know anything at all.
“Fuck!”
Thoughts racing, he was forced to appreciate just how utterly fucked he was, with so many deadly tools forbidden to him. His thoughts raced, desperate to find some way OUT of this death trap, even as the sands rumbled beneath his feet.
SHIT! It was SMART! It knew that flinging itself in the air gave him too much time to dodge, even if the weight and force of that titan crashing down, churning the earth and stone to liquid before forcing it all down its grinding spiraling maw would probably spell instant death for anything below Silver… that was the wrong tactic for a pesky little bug like Eric.
A cold chill racing down his spine… a sudden spike of terror that was danger sense telling him to MOVE! Was all that saved him.
Quickness Check SUCCESS!
Rank 2 Danger Sense & Speed Racer perk lets you AVOID Crushing maw!
And the sands erupted once more in an explosion of fifty yard wide bubbling sand crushed and snapped together by massive jaws as the titanic wyrm sought to catch Eric as it erupted from the sands… not when it crashed back to the ground.
It made sense in a horrific way, Eric thought as the wyrm sprung completely free once more before hurtling back down into the sands a distance away. Who cared if the death wasn’t instant when it slowly closed its grinding jaws? Eric was a gnat in comparison and would be in its power, utterly, as the creature exploded through the air… before crashing down once more. All Eric would have was a few extra seconds to appreciate his doom before impact was made again.
He choked back the desperation crawling in the back of his throat, having absolutely no time to focus on the words to a chant he really, really should have always at the ready!
All he could focus on was his pounding heart, his wheezing gasping breath as he tore across the basalt flats, his inner ear focusing desperately on ground tremors and danger sense before sensing… NOW!
Just the moment to leap, before sudden death tore free of the sands, snapping shut its triple trap jaw once more.
Before forcing his cowardly, panic-strucked legs to STOP! TURN AROUND! - STRIKE!
And then in an act of supreme madness, he was racing toward the massive wyrm as it exploded from sand and gravel once more. Stones ricocheted of his mithril armaments and helm, inhuman Damage resistance all that saved him from crushed ribs and shattered bones as shotgun slugs of stone pounded into him.
Yet Eric clenched tight to his terror, now lashing out with his mithril blade furiously hot with crimson flame.
Burst of Strength enhanced Bloodfire Strike FAILS to pierce Rank 2 Essence of Impermeability.
You have FAILED to harm your opponent!
Only to gaze in dismay when the bloodfire that he was pretty damned certain could cut through tungsten carbide as fast as he could flick his blade, did naught but scatter across the beast’s prismatic scales.
He screamed with frustration, even as he weaved and dodged for all his was worth as the beast’s body continued erupting forth, before the entire thing was airborne, twisting in the air to crash into the sands, maw first, right where Eric was standing. And still… even as the shock-waves of basalt becoming temporarily fluid as rock nearly rocked him off his feet as the massive wyrm plunged deep underground once more… his map was showing him nothing! No signs of the devastated battlefield, no clue that this horrific abomination that, for all he knew, was just a half-step below Silver—and why the hell was it in a red zone!??!—STILL wasn’t even showing up on his Dominion Interface Map!
“This is utter fucking bullshit! Why the hell isn’t it showing up in my map? This is absolute—”
His panicked curses cut off as awed terror became desperate hope, even as he sensed the ground vibrating underneath his rapidly pounding feet once more. Suddenly knowing, and dreading, the move he’d have to make. The only move available to him if he didn’t want to be harried right out of the desert, abandoning both the doomed mercenary companions and the meteor crash sight he was betting so much on.
Which would no doubt fill the Bronze Tier Shaman that had cast the ritual on the chassis of the now destroyed AFV with cackling glee. Because it had crawled under the chassis right in front of them while the barrister served to distract them. And who the hell else would be using the dark ritual magics that looked so damned similar to the glyphs and sigils he had seen in Malice’s temple of soul steel and horrific depravity?
No one.
It was all out war.
Even with their race shattered, the remaining goblins, clearly the rotten cream on top, wouldn’t surrender until they had clawed every advantage and resource they could get their vile little claws on, before purging their opponents as ruthlessly and vindictively as they ever had before.
And Eric was more than happy to return the favor.
But first he had to take care of a massive abomination a good quarter of a mile long.
A sand wyrm titan that was immune to white-tier magic by some insane twist, and that was completely invisible to even System standard divination map interfaces.
And that alone gave Eric a fierce surge of hope.
Deliberately slowing his pace, even as he turned fear into FOCUS! Ignoring the fucking terror crawling down his spine as he screamed out words that his life would soon depend upon.
He visualized whirling winds all about him, growing tighter and tighter, tasting those four words that he understood so well, before attempting to infuse it with the sense of so many wonders forged out of transcendent insights, desperation, and dream. Forging miracles from nothing but profound need.
Acts of sacrifice, devotion, and creation.
Something from nothing.
A concept so profound, so inverted from the path of furious destruction and absolute oblivion he so often walked that it shook him to the quick.
An ephemeral flicker of meaning that he desperately leaped to claim.
A teasing wisp of potential.
A light which hadn’t been there before.
The tiniest spark of potential Eric grasped and claimed holding tight to the kindle of possibility, illumination and desperation as the tiny spark roared to brilliant life.
THERE! He HAD it!
He gave a cry of wonder almost equal to the terror consuming him when he finally understood the profound word of power that had, in a sense, been a word he had known from the very moment he had transformed Gilton from an orc infested ruin to a natural life-giving wonder of arboriums and multilevel hydroponic farms.
A revelation of creation so great thahe stumbled under the weight of its profundity, which came so close to killing his as he leaped free of massive building-sized jaws snapping shut once more.
Jaws he was determined to avoid at all costs…
Until it was time to leap feet first into oblivion.
“Creo! Ventus! Incurvo! Unos! Dies!”
“Congelo! Terra! Plures! Dies!”
The instant the words were said his face was surrounded by a flood of life-giving, oxygen rich air. Fresh, pristine, and utterly free of particulates or the tang of iron, magic, sulfur and blood that the air was otherwise so rich with that he noticed it only it its absence. Even as his feet felt like ice, the sands underneath clumping as his mind blazed with not just one word of meaning pulled free of Peril’s Crucible but two. For the commonalities of both bedrock and desert sand blazed upon his mind upon these moments where all was in such utter flux, including his very life. He could only hope that both chants would work. Otherwise...
He flashed a desperate smile, even as he slowed his pace once more, praying that his madness would—
The sands boiled under his feet once more. Speed Racer and his chant feet all that kept him from sinking in the quicksand-like effect as massive maws snapped shut. He could see his doom seal shut so clearly with near 800 Quickness Battletime in effect.
Yet he did nothing to break free.
Even as his heart pounded, knowing he had only seconds before the creature was entirely airborne and crashed into the sands once more, manipulating G-Force as well as physics itself. The pressure of all that grinding sand he was now safely on top of would then disorient and crush him utterly when the quarter mile long creature slammed into the ground once more.
Terror clawed at his throat, no matter the sweet breath he gasped.
His death was now all but assured.
The whirling mask of air keeping him from choking in the fume and dust-filled maw he was presently trapped in was only buying him a few extra precious seconds of life.
Yet despite his heart pounding with dread, he flashed a fierce smile even as a the gullet of an absolutely massive half-step Silver prepared to grind him to pulp.
“There are disadvantages to perfect White-tier magic immunity, motherfucker. Especially when the System can’t even detect you. Let me show you just ONE of them!” He screamed in his mind as fast as thought, even as he raced for one of the three jaws already pressing inward, already increasing the pressure within to unfathomable degrees. Had he been trapped in the sand that his freezing feet solidifying under him, his flesh would have already been pulpified. Already as hard as concrete, as the air pressure shot up to ear rupturing, eye rupturing degrees, even for Eric. Yet he didn’t stop his furious charge, safely on top of the sands, Unified Perception and Find Weakness STILL sensing his target, where the brain and sensory organs of this creature happened to be in relation to its massive maw, for even it needed to be positioned to sense what would be titan sized prey.
You are experiencing Half-Step SILVER Pressure Wave!
You have FAILED to save versus Deafness.
You have FAILED to save versus Blindness!
You have taken 1342 damage!
You have saved versus collapse!
Fury (and Unified Perception) guides you forward!
The words echoed through his mind as his mental screams of anguished mirrored that of at least one party member suffering at the hands of the Velociraptors.
Men and women he could do nothing to help in that instant, except BRING DOWN THIS ASSHOLE RIGHT NOW!
It was with a furious scream that a deaf and blind Eric lashed out with absolutely everything he had, relying on heat sense alone.
A heat sense boosted by 461 Perception that spotted the tiny pulses of heat from the firing neurons of a monster so hideously powerful that it was just a heartbeat away from Silver.
Eric could sense it.
Sense how close it was to ascending into something truly horrific.
His fury spiked with sudden terror when it suddenly clicked, the direction the monstrous creature had leaped. His horrified dismay echoed with the cackling mirth of distant goblin seers, knowing exactly where this horror would head, once it had digested and claimed the soul of the Contender who would dare Gold.
Freetown.
Just as soon as Eric had been ground by those massive spiraling rows of teeth even now greedily sucking down the giant mouthful of stone and sand.
The giant chamber of a maw rang with a furious scream as the doomed contender held absolutely nothing back.
“TRANSCENDENT STRIKE!” he roared in his mind as the massive maw lit up impossibly bright with pristine flame.
A hyperion core flashing as bright as madness itself.
Consuming everything save for the Phoenix blazing in its heart.
An explosion that echoed endlessly through the valley as the quarter mile long Titan Worm slowly crashed to the ground.
Burst of Strength in effect. Power Strike in effect! 18-fold Damage multiplier enhanced by 149% pristine essence damage multiplier!
You have embrace a Higher Order Attack! Golden Phoenix Essence Fusion in play! Wrath & Fire Essences have enhanced your strike 6-fold!
Your foe has 2 Rank in the Essence of Impermeability!
Contest of Powers in effect.
GOLDEN PHOENIX TRUMPS SERPENTINE DOOM!
You have overwhelmed your opponent’s defenses!
YOU HAVE CRITICALLY STRUCK YOUR TARGET FOR 164-fold Damage!
All further immunities and damage mitigators are NULLIFIED against higher order attacks!
YOU HAVE OBLITERATED YOUR OPPONENT!
Find Weakness is now Rank 27!
Unarmed Combat is now Rank 28!
Fire Fist is now Rank 22!
Essence Fusion is now Rank 11!
You have discovered one of the hidden meanings of creation!
You have discovered on of the hidden meanings of earth!
2 Lesser Runes discovered!
Runic Lore is now Rank 31!
Eve approves of this battle!
You have earned 1 additional cultivation level!
2nd Tier Core Saturation is now at 66%!
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE THE FIRST CONTENDER TO DEFEAT A BEAST READY TO ASCEND TO SILVER ON THIS PLANET! - THIS IS A BRONZE TIER FEAT! - TERRA ITSELF RECOGNIZES YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT!
YOU HAVE EARNED A 5% BONUS TO ALL BASELINE CHARACTERISTICS!
YOU WILL ADDITIONALLY RECEIVE A PERMANENT 5% MULTIPLIER TO ALL FUTURE STAT GAINS ON OR OFF OF TERRA!
* ANOMALY DETECTED *
BRONZE TIER FEAT EARNED AS WHITE-TIER CONTENDER.
ALL BOONS HAVE BEEN DOUBLED!
NOTE!! - SILVER TRUMP CARDS HAVE BEEN PUT INTO PLAY!
* YOUR BOONS ARE NOW IN DISPUTE! *
Transcendant Heritage Detected.
Golden Heritage Detected.
Gold-tier Ascendants are FORBIDDEN from engaging in games of ascension!
Silver Trump holder requests immediate extermination of Rogue Player.
Eric’s regenerating eyes widened with outrage.
Subspace trembled with the phoenix’s furious roar.
Yet before twisted chains of spite could be snapped into place, before the phoenix could blaze in furious rebuttal, no matter the inevitable horrific cost, caustic wrath was soothed by the sussurating waters of divine intercession.
VIP STATUS DETECTED.
TALISMAN STATUS DETECTED.
ALL WRITS OF EXTERMINATION ARE RENDERED NUL AND VOID.
BRONZE TIER BOONS HAVE BEEN STANDARDIZED.
Congratulations! You are the first Contender to defeat a half-step Ascendant beast upon this planet! Though only a tiny fraction as deadly as a true Silver-tier monster, this is still a feat worthy of Terran legend!
This is a Bronze-Tier Feat! Terra herself recognizes your accomplishment!
You have earned the title: Master Beast Hunter II!
You have earned a 5% bonus to all baseline characteristics!
You will additionally receive a +5% multiplier to all future stat gains on or off Terra!
You now enjoy +5 to all Find Weakness checks against non sapient (monster) opponents!
Your attacks will automatically overcome 25% of all non sapient (monster) defenses and resistances!
All Assassin and Bounty Hunter classes are now open to you!
Multiple Silver-tier class evolutions are now available to you!
You are an elite hunter, and it shows!
Quickness has ascended past 800!
You now enjoy a 50% bonus (now a total of 100%, inclusive of all other modifiers) to all additional Quickness points earned!
You are now faster than any other native-born Contender on EARTH! (This does not include opposing abominations or Bronze & Silver opponents that have slipped through the cracks!)
You have ignored ALL range modifier boons offered!
You have chosen to ENHANCE Speed Racer perk!
Speed Racer II! - All terrain is pristine! You may race through the air with zero air resistance and may manipulate your inertia at will! You may race through liquids at reduced resistance penalties! (Solid materials remain fully impermeable)
Quickness check: Success! You have transformed from Eric back to Ernest Edgelord Slaughter before residual Essence of Impermeability fades!
No Goblin seer spots the spoiled scion of the Sylvan Alliance within this territory! Your use of a Higher Order Attack was successfully cloaked by the very creature that was otherwise immune to your deadliest arts and spells!
Eric howled with triumph when the entire massive Sand Wyrm’s skull exploded, showering him with gore as the titanic body slowly crashed to the ground. Yet Eric was already moving, intuitively choosing his 800 Quickness perk, finally deducing why this stat and this stat alone was being offered awesome deliciousness at key evolution points. It was in the title even now blaring across his interface as he found his Class and World-Reigning Attribute forcefully posted to the world board, along with every other ranked stat.
He was now the fastest native-born Contender on the planet. Not just in the Northeast Quadrant of the nation of his birth… but in the entire world.
And every other Contender and Administrator with access to those boards now knew Ernest Edgelord Slaughter’s name.
His other identity was hidden, for the moment, and he was determined to keep it that way.
Even if it cost him five more Soul Points, it was a price that he knew he needed to pay. Because all it took was one fuck-up, and sure as shit, he had no wide-brimmed had for desert cover. Such gear would probably disintegrate within 10 seconds of his next fight. Besides, wide-brimmed hat or no, his party link would probably flare bright as the sun come 11AM, and somehow he doubted the ring would graciously scrub his true identity from anyone’s mind once his cover was vulnerable. Assuming he could even keep his doomed party alive. And that he was absolutely determined to do.
You have further enhanced your Soul Bound Phoenix Ring! Now Sun and Moon both heed your call! Not even midday will reveal any deception, for you now truly ARE Ernest Edgelord Slaughter, as even the deepest Silver will attest!
5 Additional points invested. Soul Reserves are now 404.
He had only seconds before all of his companions perished, and damn if he would let that happen to his party, whether they were hired help or no. Elly’s gentle concern, Bennett’s genuine love for his crew, Lone’s cheerful yet determined nature… they were all real living breathing people with hopes and dreams of their own and he knew exactly how it felt to be disemboweled by a theropod, so sure as shit, he wasn’t about to let his friends die that way.
No matter what secrets he had to reveal, he thought, even as he embraced the perk that absolutely called out to him. Because specialized slow time like archery perks in SkyDragon might be sweet as fuck, and being able to embrace Battletime on Quickness alone would be nice, but NOTHING would serve him better than being able to race through the thickest underbrush… or even the air itself… at a dead 834 Quickness sprint as if he were racing along a straight track, able to pivot on a dime, inertia his to control.
“Speed Racer for the win, baby! And why the hell are you shits sleeping on the job!?” Eric roared down at the butchered theropods below, no longer lost in free-fall as the entire quarter mile long titan wyrm slowly crashed to the ground in what would have been a massive dust cloud of epic proportions, if the air, so saturated with desperate spirits sensing his powers, weren’t still heeding his will.
Now he was racing at full speed straight DOWN at several hundred miles an hour, before abruptly turning and pivoting so he was racing in line with the ground, absolutely REVELING in this opportunity to give a big FUCK YOU to the entire Terran counsel as he screamed the words he never thought he’d be uttering as a brooding edgelord… but it seemed like he’d be role-playing a goth Vader wanna-be full out, this play-through.
Fuck it.
Why not?
“Surge Centuria! Imperator Imperat Tibi!”
Eric’s words seemed to echo and reverberate through the desert plains.
The desert winds grew hot and restless, as if the hot air itself were a living, seething, breathing mass. (So many millions of trapped souls, eager for life!) as first one, then a dozen, then the entire killing field of perforated, decapitated, disemboweled and shredded Velociraptors began to twitch and writhe, ropy tendrils of blood and entrails acting as pseudopods pulling together all the various slaughtered bits of theropods together once more, until they were patchwork Frankensteinien abominations. Then cold green flames roared across their surface, sealing their scarred hides completely shut once more as the Velociraptors all stumbled back to their feet.
Only two out of the thirty seven slaughtered terror birds declined rebirth, yet before their shells could erupt with those wild theropod spirits slipping free of the ether, the shells were exuberantly stuffed with multiple spirits swirling in the air that were so desperate for rebirth, more than willing to serve as Eric’s devoted revenants in return for a chance to savor the warm desert air and the sands under their feet once more.
Undead Legion perk in effect. You have successfully raised 37 Velociraptor revenants into your eternal legion at zero cost after having claimed the battlefield! Modified level of your Velociraptor Revenants is 106+33 = 139!
Note! Your act has been witnessed by: ENEMY AGENT! Multiple Goblin and Orc Shaman Seers EAGER to cause as much grief for native practitioners as possible have triangulated your Force-revealed identity on the Terran Leader Boards (Terran Counsel Directive 147-C) and DEMAND that Ernest Edgelord Slaughter be censored and eliminated!
Unified Terran Counsel has declined to rule on this motion.
Local Northeast Terran Counsel has accepted this motion!
Eric Hunter is now Persona Non Grata within the Northeast Quadrant of the former United States!
No faction within the Northeast is permitted to shelter or trade with Ernest Edgelord Slaughter. All his holdings are now considered forfeit. A ten million credit bounty has been authorized for his kill or capture. This fugitive from Counsel retribution is to be arrested by all counsel affiliated cities and free states on sight.
Note! Blue Faction has enacted Sanctuary Status! - No practitioner of heritage arts may be persecuted within Blue Corp territories or holdings. Any attempt to assault, harass, kidnap, forcefully transfer, or hinder any native practitioner of Heritage Arts will be met with significant penalties! Said parties will additionally be in Violation of Blue Accords!
Note! Sylvan alliances refuses to accept censure of any native practitioner of Heritage Arts without due process and proof of criminal intent!
Bloodtear Syndicate and 27 allied orc, gnoll, and ogre Factions demand that the Unified Terran Counsel sanction Blue Faction.
Unified Terran Counsel has declined to rule on this motion.
Bloodtear Syndicate and 27 allied orc, gnoll, and ogre Factions demand that the Northeast Terran Counsel Sanction The Sylvan Alliance.
Northeast Terran Counsel accepts this motion!
No faction within the Northeast Quadrant of the former United States is permitted to trade with The Sylvan Alliance! All Sylvan Alliance holdings are now considered forfeit! War may be invoked without penalty!
Note. Blue Faction pre-established Freemarket Trade Status is exempt from this ruling.
Eric wanted to howl with frustration. Why the hell hadn’t Elonia just kept her metaphoric mouth shut? Why had she felt the need to declare anything at all? Was she that desperate for a necromancer, any necromancer, to ride under her banner?
Of course she was.
Desperate for another miracle equivalent to the one he had pulled off just months ago? It had to be that. That was the only explanation. And of course their enemies were now happy to use his sister’s desperation against her. Even if all she did was demand proof of any crime being committed. Yet that was more than enough for a completely corrupt counsel to effectively declare war on her. Because of course the orcs and remaining goblins would use any pretext at all to eliminate his sister’s sliver a holding, a mere two mile sliver of Sylvan Alliance holdings protected by a whirling storm within a territory that the Dominion Interface still considered contested.
Thanks to his VIP Status, at least the System saw fit to inform Eric that some fucker was spying on him right now. The same VIP status that protected both his boon and his ass when he earned yet another Bronze Tier title. Even if his incredible Golden Phoenix evolution did come with the catch that he would now only be receiving the standard 5% boon to all his stats and a 5% additive increase to all future stats with each fresh Bronze-tier title earned. Still, his previous boons remained untouched, and with his combined attributes, even the 5% he had just earned was a truly phenomenal gain.
A part of him wanted to howl with joy. He had done it! He had obliterated a monstrous Titan Wyrm that had been so close to ascending to such a monstrous degree that it would have been impossible even for him to stop it as a White-tier Contender. Yet stop it he had. And the reward was leaving his limbs tingling with sweet, sweet potency, Eric never having felt so in tune with himself as he did at that moment.
Yet he refused to play the fool. Now making the most of his suddenly enhanced reflexes and cognition not to glory in his triumph but to search desperately for the assholes that were spying on him and his doomed friends even now. Probably the same three bastards that had worked so hard to set them up. But he didn’t see any trace of them, too many other reds blinking on his interface, and he had absolutely no time to spare. The damage was done, and he had people to save.
Eric’s revenants gazed at him with absolute adoration through their bright yellow eyes, radiating such furious deadly power like razor blades and coiled springs.
He quickly pushed all thoughts of his sister’s plight away, ignoring the bitter ache in his heart, knowing he had absolutely no choice but to press forward.
To move forward and save his friends, claim the gold, rescue Blue corp from economic ruin and goblin capture.
And then he had to rescue his sister. And he had to manage all that before doing whatever he had to in order to assure that Freetown wouldn’t starve in a matter of weeks.
Eric’s jaw clenched. “Fuck!”
The revenants exchanged uncertain looks.
“No, not you. Your orders are simple. Race down the ravine and take out any velociraptor attacking any of my party members. And don’t chew the people, even if they fire at you out of fear. Don’t worry, we’ll be recruiting your brothers to join us, soon enough.”
Her flock didn’t hesitate, dipping their heads as one and racing down the ravine far, far faster than his former orc revenants could, those soldiers needing Eric to lead the charge.
“Barrett! Keep it together! Friendlies are coming your way! Don’t shoot my revenants!”
And Eric had every intention of being right behind them. Leading them, even.
Yet he sensed a strikingly profound opportunity right here, right now, in the heart of the once more howling desert sands... the air stinking of shredded wyrm, fried scales, and a potent spicy musk.
He gazed at the titanic remains of the beast before him with so much locked potency EAGER to be claimed. Potency that had been just a half-step from reforging itself from Bronze Titan to Silver World Eater. A Wyrm evolution it chilled him even to think about. And all of that glorious, horrific potential was being further enhanced by what his Necromantic affinities made clear were literally millions of souls.
Because his hunch had been right.
He had indeed saved every precious soul that had once called Freetown home.
And that wasn’t all. The millions that had once been trapped within Malice’s sanctum sanctorum were here now as well, after Divine Abjurations and his mother’s heavenly ascension served as the catalysts they had needed to break free.
Yet their desperation now threatened to rupture this entire territory that had just recently ascended from orange to red tier… but it wouldn’t remain so for long. The territory would soon go dark as night. A flash from his earlier transcendence made it clear that perilous cracks were now forming in various regions that might cause Venusian style eruptions of unbridled chaos that could destroy an entire world… and he sensed that one possible fault line was right here. Yet all of that served as nothing more than background flavor to the wondrous epiphany now shuddering through him. For in that glorious, impossible moment, Eric sensed a path that was both perilous and forbidden and promised SO MUCH POWER!
Eric flashed a fierce smile, already knowing the hideous price for overextending as a Necromancer, and deciding that he just didn’t give a fuck. Not here. Not now. Not with the whole world both metaphorically and literally out to destroy both him and the only bit of family he had left.
He closed his eyes, took a deep, shuddering breath, and slammed both his hands against the massive carcass that was nearly as wide as a skyscraper, and was as long as a string of football fields that had crashed before him.
He roared aloud the words without fear or reservation, that might shrivel him to a husk, far beyond what even the boon of a dozen Pristine Spirit Peaches might grant him in years. Or it might elevate him as a necromancer far beyond what anyone before him could possibly have dreamed.
It was an act he would never have dared, had the creature’s hot blood not still been steaming, with millions of souls and a Master tier perk waiting to be invested right here, right now.
“Surge Centuria!”
The entire desert plain seemed to tremble and shake with his words.
WARNING! You are attempting to Raise A Half-Step Silver Titan! - Level 99+ Bronze – Possessing Rank 2 Essence of Impermeability!
Chapter 403 - Treasure Hunt V
Comments
James Rountree
This kid destroys planets keep saying he is no white knight yet he keeps helping save the people who want him dead just not adding up anymore
James Rountree
Can we please get to the point where he burns the entire terran counsel to ash they serve no purpose and if they don't want to save there race just let them die already it's so aggrivating
M J
It’s beyond tedious.
Antony Haynes
At some point, the story has to move beyond endless cycles of Eric rescuing Blue Corp and then rescuing the Sylvan Faction. If these factions cannot stand on their own, then Eric should let them fall; he cannot spend all of his time trying to prevent their collapse.
Goldfish2
Let the bodies hit the floor!
