22 Chapter 21: The Dark Ability

Steel's severed head dropped out of the Huntsman Spider's mouth. An expression of terrified surprise twisted on her partially destroyed face. What am I supposed to do against that monster if it killed her so easily? Thought Luca as his courage wavered, demoralized as he looked at the twisted grimace on the dead woman's face.

"Save it for later." Screamed 2Face in a desperate warning at Luca, trying to get Luca to back him up. "We can't let up just because we lost a teammate. 2Face was frustrated, tired, and trembling after he had expended most of his energy on his previous attack, and it hardly phased the monster, and despite his best effects, Steel had still been killed. Luca watched as 2Face's expression hardened into a mask of grim resolution and set off to attack the monster again. Repeating the same series of moves again and again, as he weaved through the monster's legs, attacking at the joints, doing whatever he could to damage the spider in small incremental bits.

"It's a sub-boss." 2Face yelled at Tatiana from the other side of the field. Luca watched as Tatiana rushed forward to back up 2Face, though she seemed to be injured as her left arm hung uselessly by her side. Apparently broken in places and needing to be healed. Her injury didn't stop her from attacking the spider as the steel shortsword in her hand began to glow as she spoke low words to herself. A white mist trailing out of her mouth and covering the blade as it began to store up a charge of energy she was able to collect from the environment around her.

With an impossible burst of athleticism, Tatiana jumped forward and upward through the air, easily clearing with the jump the wide gap that had been between her and the Huntsman Spider. With an angry snarl, Tatiana stabbed into one of the eyes of the monster. "Die!" She screamed as she unleashed the energy she had stored within the blade as a bolt of chain lightning that burned through the spider's eye and spread out in a web of blazing white electricity to the rest. Almost instantly, each of the eyes burst outwards in black core as the ruined retinas began to smoke

Seeing his teammates struggling against the spider and fighting it motivated Luca to start moving again. Shamed into action after he had seized up seeing Steel die. He had frozen up and was ashamed of it. Luca knew he needed to join in if they were going to survive, and his wings starting twitching from the adrenaline rush that was just starting to flood his body.

As the chemicals moved through his body, Luca stopped needing to hold his ribs. All thoughts about his own pain were banished, and he started to run. For a brief second, his wings starting flapping behind him without conscious thought, lifting him off the ground for a second. Even with the specter of the Huntsman Spider looming in front of him, Luca couldn't help but smile. He couldn't fly yet but knew he would soon be able.

As he ran, Luca was lucky to see the steel maul he had been given by 2Face, the one he had dropped when Steel had flung him aside with her ability, was laying on its side in the grass. Seeing a means to harm the monster, Luca felt another surge of energy and quickly closed the distance between him and the weapon. Even in his rush, the pain from his broken bones did not reappear.

Picking up the maul in both of his hands, Luca rushed forward, screaming in what he thought was a warrior yell as he swung the maul in a diagonal motion, aiming for the joint of the spider's front legs where he had seen 2Face shallowly cut it. 2Face and Tatiana both called out to him, "About time, you decided to pull your weight." Luca nodded and kept swinging.

With his massive strength advantage, Luca felt the chitin armor of the Huntsman Spider give way as it broke beneath the damage inflicted by his blows. After Luca destroyed the second leg, the spider began to buckle, and his teammates began to cheer him on, urging him to keep going. Buckling beneath his blow. Hearing the sound of his teammates cheering as the leg buckled.

As the Huntsman Spider began to fall, tiny dog-sized spiders began to pour out of a hole that opened it in its underside. There were too many of the spiders, and all three of them had to retreat from fear of being overwhelmed. The worry ended up being minor, though, as the spiders seemed to be unable to move far away from the shadow of the Huntsman's influence, some of them disappear in a puff of smoke as they got too far away. The monster roared furiously, unable to pursue them on its broken legs. But that did not mean they were safe. Far too late did Luca see the dark brown appendage striking out at him.

A horrible pain erupted through his back as Luca was jolted forward with whiplash. Looking down, Luca saw that one of the spider's legs was protruding through his chest. Is this how it ends for me? Luca thought as the Huntsmen Spider lifted him up and threw him across the field in the same direction it had thrown Steel's body. Thinking it had another meal stored for later.

A strange calmness fell over Luca as he landed near Steel. Lingering between life and death as he slowly started to bleed to death, most of his bones broken by the impact, causing many of his organs to burst. As the blood pooled underneath him, the last thing Luca thought he was going to see was a lingering shadow over Steel's headless body.

In subconscious desperation, Luca reached out with a mangled arm towards that shadow, willing to towards him, and the closer it came, the faster it approached. However, Luca wasn't afraid, even as the shadow seemed to want to resist coming closer. Time seemed to stop as the shadow approached, and Luca vaguely thought he saw Steel's panicked face reflected in that shadow. No, it can't be, your dead. I'm sorry. Luca reached out, seeing her in her panic and wanted to confront her shade before he passed.

As his hands passed through the shadow, it seemed to attach to the shade. Steel's lifeless lips turned in a scream of unheard terror as Luca's hand turned, grasping the shadow and pulling it close. Luca was unsure of what was going on, instinct seeming to take over. Without knowing or thinking, he shoved the shadow into his mouth and consumed it.

Notification: Soul Consumption – Steel

Details: You have successfully consumed the soul of the lingering dead woman named Steel. In doing so, you have gained a portion of the power she held in life. In the process of her soul being consumed, the person known as Steel has been completely destroyed. The resurrection of this individual is completely impossible

This power is quantified as X7 points to Strength, X2 points to Agility, X0 points to Intelligence, X0 points to Luck, X4 points to Endurance, X1 points to Wisdom and X1 points to Perception.

No experience is gained.

You have gained $7185 Sol

Notification: Passive Ability Gained – Body of Steel

Details: You have gained the passive ability, Body of Steel. The ability may be upgraded through combat and through other methods to force the ability to evolve. This ability coats the skin in a permanent layer of armor that prevents most basic attacks from having any harm on the possessor.

Name

Luca Fernandez Race

Nephilim

Aliases None Class

Angel

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.

of Death

Passives Body of Steel

Abilities Summon Nightmare (1-1000)

Level

Current Unassigned Stat Points

0

1 of 999

Current Experience 0 of 35

STR 17 INT 10 AGI 12

WIS 11 LCK 10 PHY 2*

END 14 PER 11 SOL *$7185

After unintentionally consuming Steel's soul, Luca felt a brief hint of guilt that lasted all of the time it took for his body to start healing from the massive damage he had taken. The sense of calm he had possessed was replaced by a wave of red hot anger and desire for vengeance against the monster that had almost taken his life, and an anger at himself for almost letting himself be killed.

He had never been powerless, and he had certainly never needed to get close enough to the Huntsman Spider for him to suffer a catastrophic injury. Luca admonished himself for trying to hard for the approval of these team mates of his, when he should have been far more focused on staying alive. It's not like his survival had been a concern of theirs. Otherwise, they would have taken the time to train him up on their team before heading out.

Things are going to change from now on. Luca promised himself as he coughed up blood on to the grass. At least they would once he woke up as he tettered on the edge of unconsciousness, his body needing to use the energy he had absorbed from Steel in order to heal.

Before Luca collapsed on the ground, he thrust his palm into the bloodsoaked earth and used the ability he had always had at his disposal. He barely spoke the words out loud before passing out. "Summon Nightmare."