Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 61 — The Big Bad Ugly Pt. 1

A long corridor appeared in front of the specter. The castle walls glistened with murals and paintings depicting events long past. A giant metal gate stood at the end of the corridor, beckoning the specter towards it. Unlike the rest of the castle, this place was clean of the squirming voidlings and flowing tendrils. Not a single monster was present in sight, no creatures of the void, no abyssal monsters, no blood grafted horrors, or soul amalgamations. The only thing that existed was the giant creature sleeping near the gates.

The specter grinned, summoning the spear in his hands. With a tug of his will, he called upon Identify and used it on the creature.

[Void Guardian (Rare) - level 157]

A guardian beast, summoned from the void.

The creature stirred upon sensing the specter’s presence. But the specter did not give him the chance to prepare. Using Blink, he rushed in, closing the distance between them immediately. Charging his spear with Obliterate, he thrust it at the creature, piercing one of its legs as blood sprayed out like a fountain. The monster roared, as the specter used the spear as a jumping platform to launch himself towards the creature’s face. The monster growled as the specter clawed at its eyes, blinding it in one of them.

The giant creature grabbed the specter in its hands, before slamming him onto the floor. Using Blink, he escaped, pulling out his spear from the monster’s leg before striking at it once more. The creature roared, grabbing at him pointlessly. Anger surging, the monster swung its fists at one of the pillars, breaking it with a strike.

Grabbing the giant stone pillar, the Guardian slammed it onto the ground, throwing the specter back as the tiled floors cracked. Shattered rocks flew across the arena, a few hitting him with minor cuts that healed within a few seconds.

Now enraged, the Guardian rushed towards him in a dash. The ground shook from the Guardian's steps as it smashed through the pillars before striking at him. He blinked away, reappearing behind the Guardian and throwing his spear, striking at the creature’s back. The monster roared, turning over and slamming at the ground, sending out a shockwave.

He clicked his tongue. "This place is gonna break down before I can kill the guy.”

The specter dodged another barrage of attacks from the Guardian as the monster continued to smash its pillar across the arena, spraying rocks all over the place. The specter melded into the shadows, watching the monster run around in rage, as it began to formulate a plan.

I need to target its weak points. Legs are no-go, too big, too much healing, and I cannot waste too much energy.

Watching the giant Guardian, the specter’s eyes moved up its body and towards the one bleeding eye. A thought began to form in the specter's mind, an idea that could potentially allow it to kill the giant creature without having to spend too much effort.

Grinning, it melted out of the shadows, appearing in front of the raging monster with open arms, taunting it to attack.

“Hey there, big guy, looking for me?”

The Guardian paused, surprised for a brief second before it leapt in roaring anger. The specter melted back into the shadows, dodging the attack as it used the momentum of the giant creature against itself, making it crash into one of the pillars. The castle shook, pieces of the roof falling upon the Guardian, as they crushed the monster.

Taking the opportunity, the specter appeared with a Blink, letting Bloodfly Storm loose.

You’ll make for a good test dummy.

As the swarm of ravenous insects formed, they quickly descended upon the Guardian, swarming the specter with notifications.

[Bloodfly Storm] has applied [Bleed].

[Bloodfly Storm] has applied [Pestilence].

…

Bleed has increased to [Bleed-II]

As the ability vanished, the specter watched the roaring Guardian squirm in pain. But he wasn’t done yet. Calling upon Blood Drain, the specter began to absorb the blood of the Guardian with glee.

[Blood Drain] has temporarily increased physical abilities by 10%

[Void Guardian] has inflicted [Necrotoxin]

You have resisted [Necrotoxin].

“Ooh, that feels good,” the specter said, stretching its limbs as the energy from Blood Drain permeated his body. “Alright, let’s end this.”

A sinister grin appeared on the specter’s face as he stood upon the monster’s giant body, before unleashing Blood Debt. A massive blood blade appeared above the Guardian, looming like a death sentence. With a sickening squelch, the blade pierced its body, making the monster twitch and shudder as its health rapidly vanished.

The creatures shuddered, before coughing blood, as it glared with bloodshot eyes at the specter.

“Oh, I’m surprised. You’re still alive,” the specter said. “Guess that’s perfect to test one last ability.”

The specter charged Obliterate into his weapon. The red body of the spear slowly began to turn black until it was pitch dark, like reality had been cut out in the shape of a spear. A moment later, the energy began to gather at the tip of the weapon, flowing with mana.

“Death laser, go!”

A beam of black energy shot towards the Guardian, piercing its skull between its eyes. With a final shudder, the creature fell, dark brain matter oozing out of the hole in its head before vanishing into ash-like particles as the monster evaporated.

You’ve killed [Void Guardian (Rare) – Lvl 157].

The specter walked up to the Guardian, putting his hand on its head. A moment later, he let Devourer activate as the Guardian’s remnant mana nourished him.

Mana: 100%

Feeling great after that workout, the specter turned towards the giant gate. “Man, if only whatever is waiting for me in there can be this easy to beat too,” he said before chuckling to himself. “Who am I kidding, I love a good fight.”

Cracking his knuckles, the specter blinked right up to the giant gates before putting his hand on the metallic frame, feeling the mana pulsing beneath it.

“Ah, one more trap,” he said, feeling the gate draining his mana. It was a subtle spell, and he wasn’t sure he would have noticed if not for the mana resistance training. “They really wanted to make sure I was weakened before I entered. I have to make sure to thank Zax for that mana resistance.”

The specter closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he allowed himself to feel the flow of the mana within the gate. Normally, he would need to put mana into the gate to unlock it, and if his mana sense was correct, it would drain him till he barely had anything left before opening.

Thankfully, there was an alternative solution.

The specter slowly began to feed his mana into the gate. But he did not relinquish control. Steadily his mana drained till it was somewhere around 50%, when he reversed the flow of the mana, activating Mana Reversal.

The gate shuddered, fighting against the pull, but he continued as energy flowed into his arms. The runic chain imprints on his shadowy body flickered to life as the mana began to course through them. Slowly but surely, the gates began to be drained as more and more mana continued to pour into his body. The energy burned before being consumed by the runic chains.

The gates groaned, the spell on it trying to resist the mana reversal, but he simply continued to push.

Let’s see who has more resistance.

Mana: 110%

Glowing runes flowed across the gates as more and more mana poured into the specter. Chains grew from his arms, binding themselves to the gate as he began to pull.

With a creaking noise, the giant metallic gates shuddered, and he grunted, pulling at it with all his strength.

Mana: 125%

The lights on the gate flickered before finally running out. Slowly, the heavy metal gates shuddered open, revealing the chamber inside. Taking a moment to catch his breath, the specter wiped sweat from his forehead. The chamber inside was a massive circular hall, with multiple thrones set across it in a circle, overlooking the central platform. Yet, what caught the specter’s eyes more than anything was the object in the middle of it all.

Within a giant pillar of light leading up to the roof floated a piece of something. The object looked rather ordinary, made of some kind of stone, like the shard of a mural.

Not even the barest hint of Divinity or magic was present within it.

Yet, the specter did not doubt for a second what the object actually was. Something in his soul, in their soul, screamed that there was a lost piece of him, a piece he had left behind somewhere. Perhaps in the void where he had first arrived, or perhaps from even before that.

Walking inside, for a moment all thoughts fled the specter’s mind regarding the trap. The only thing in his vision was the Shard. Nothing else mattered. Walking up to the center, the specter reached out with a hand, into the light.

“AAAAHHHH!!”

A scream tore itself out of the specter’s mouth. The light burned. It burned his soul. The fire spread up his arm, into his body, breaking it down. The specter reached for pain tolerance but found the skill ineffective. There was something primal in that light, something greater than he was. And it knew. It knew who he was. Or rather, what.

Pulling his arm back out, the specter panted. He would have to think, he would have to think of a way to break through that light. But first...

The sound of clapping came from behind him as the specter turned.

“You have surprised me, Noah. I never expected you to get this far. From the start, you've just been full of surprises,” a familiar voice said.

The specter turned to see Vix standing behind him. “What are you...”

Before he could finish, the specter felt a pulse of magic flow through the entire chamber. Mana flashed around him, before flowing into the floor as a giant magic circle appeared. A powerful force pushed onto him, sinking him into the ground, before chains of light, similar to the ones on Zax, bound his arms and feet.

The specter pulled, trying to break free and destroy the chains, yet with the direct suppression effect upon him, he found the task difficult.

“Don’t bother,” Vix said. “These chains can hold a dragon. You will never break them.”

The woman walked closer, kneeling as she leaned in towards the specter’s face. “I’m so curious. What did you do to the dragon? It seemed to have just vanished. There is absolutely no chance that you killed it. We would have known. Neither could you have broken the chains,” the woman said, reaching out with a pointed finger that she put upon the specter’s head. “Ah, if only I could keep you alive. You would have made for such a great pet. Unfortunately, I need that Shard in your soul.”

“Why are you doing this? Didn’t we have an agreement?” the specter asked.

“Ah, you’re right. I completely forgot. I should fix that,” Vix said, glancing back at the shard. “Thank you for bringing this shard to me, Noah. With this, our contract is complete.”

Quest completed!

“I should have never trusted you,” the specter spat, anger reflecting on his face.

“Yes, you shouldn’t have,” Vix replied. “Goodbye, Noah.”

Mist flowed around the woman’s arm, forming a curved blade with runes inscribed upon it that glowed with an ominous aura. The specter pulled at the chains, trying to free himself pointlessly as Vix sunk the blade into his chest.

As the weapon sunk in, its magic activating, the specter looked into the woman’s eyes. Slowly, as his body began to fade into darkness, he saw Vix frown and gave her a smile.

“Gotcha,” the specter said, vanishing.

With a burst of magic, Noah and the rest appeared, weapons drawn, as they struck at the woman. Magic flared, fire swirling around Aurelia, as she punched Vix. Erwest swung his blade, slashing at Vix, as he drew blood. Snow snarled, dark magic rushing from her as Shadow leapt from within her chest, pushing the woman down onto the ground.

Noah walked closer, looking down at the bewildered woman, and smiled. “Guess it’s a good thing I never trusted you.”

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