Chapter 101: The Reaper

Chapter 101: The Reaper

Diamond, standing back from the fight, watched Priam confront the various monsters that populated the floor. The thief didn't consider himself a coward, but was aware of his strengths. Stealing a ghost's underwear was right up his alley. Exorcizing it was not.

Combat wasn't for him. Even several meters from the epicenter of action, he was risking his life. [Supernatural Camouflage - Epic] wasn't always enough to distract ghosts. Only the [Decoy - Rare] he had attached to Priam prevented him from being attacked.

Apparently, a ghost, as an entity that had lost its eyes, no longer used conventional light-based vision. It was both predictable and annoying. Especially as it was challenging to achieve silent theft with half a dozen vengeful souls in pursuit.

Three walls exploded as Priam finally succeeded in destroying the specters. Diamond winced as splinters of wood embedded themselves in his skin. The Champion's strength was truly terrifying. Coupled with his misty garb, this had discouraged the intrepid thief from attempting larceny.

Malbius screamed in pain, and the chilling sound soothed the thief. The mission still had a chance of succeeding. It wouldn't be the stealthiest heist of his career, but it would be worth it as long as he got his Achievement.

The ceiling made an ominous cracking sound, and the thief winced.

"Hey, load-bearing walls aren't called that for nothing, you know?"

Priam grunted as he tried to finish off the boss. The lack of response worried Diamond. The young warrior had started the fight very well. Crushing most of the armor like tin cans, he was awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, things went wrong after that. The Champion's wounds accumulated until he found the specters' weak point.

Diamond stood back from Priam, observing the changes caused by the Depths. His skin seemed redder than at the start of the fight, and his nails had begun to grow.

A thought crossed the thief's mind, making him shudder. If Priam returned to the dome and turned into a monster... Right now, humanity couldn't stop its Champion.

Suddenly, Priam turned and threw his weapon. Diamond felt no enemy, but a noise confirmed that a suit of armor had perished. Two more walls exploded, and Diamond winced.

The ceiling must have been fed up too, because the floor collapsed.

Tons of wood fell on Priam. The warrior thought of Diamond. I hope I won't have to dig him up...

A gigantic wooden beam fell on his thigh. Priam absorbed its kinetic energy. The rest of the building collapsed with a sound like the end of the world. Tons of beams, tiles, furniture, and stone collapsed. According to his mist, the top floor had collapsed, taking the roof with it. Like a house of cards, the rest of the manor had followed.

Once covered in all kinds of debris, Priam stood still. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on his perception. First his Domain, then his hearing.

Two seconds later, a terrible roar was heard above him. The sound wave shook the rubble and burst Priam's eardrums. A Marquess, Priam guessed. The attack was too powerful to come from an Earl.

Priam began to summon large quantities of mist. Some of the mist rose up, seeking its way through the maze of rubble. The Earl wanted to be able to reach the open air. If a Marquess was here, he wanted to observe it. Another part of the mist began to crawl towards the trapdoor. It was always helpful to have an escape route.

Suddenly, his Domain felt vibrations. A heavy mass was approaching. The Marquess must have been looking for the man who had ruined its lair.

Priam tried to apply [Stealth]'s advice. Slowing his breathing, he then lowered his heart rate thanks to Micro. Manipulating his mist to capture the molecules carrying his scent, Priam prayed to the System not to be discovered. His prayer was half-fulfilled.

Lvl Up: [Stealth] lvl 19

AGI +1

His newfound draconic instincts urged him to move, and Priam straddled the mist. The next moment, he heard a violent explosion. Reappearing in the open air, he contemplated the disaster.

Priam had found himself two or three meters deep, buried under a few beams and other pieces of wood. All that remained of his hiding place was a crater of sawdust.

Averting his gaze from the crater, Priam looked around. Around the manor house lay a haunted Dome.

The trapdoor must have been some kind of magical passageway, for the city was no longer the same. The districts looked the same, but [Eidetic Memory] confirmed that the architecture of the buildings was slightly different.

The real difference came from the inhabitants. They were all ghosts or bloodthirsty monsters. Tens of thousands of enemies were looking in his direction, and Priam waved to them.

Suddenly, Priam realized he was feeling a kind of absence. The mist! Omnipresent on the Moon, it was lacking here. His perception was seriously affected. He activated [Moon Mist] to take over the environment.

The final difference: there was no longer a barrier protecting the Dome. Priam looked up and contemplated infinity. In the starless sky, a ravaged planet hung.

A plank cracked, drawing Priam's attention. He swallowed as he discovered his adversary. A monster stood some twenty meters away. The seven-meter-tall winged giant, covered in bone plates having a metallic sheen, was watching Priam.

Suddenly, it opened its mouth, and Priam detected vibrations. Without an eardrum, Priam couldn't understand the abomination.

[Identification]

[Balsha'c - Duke - Tier 1] - The third Duke of a vanished civilization. Betrayed by his own people, corrupted by the Depths, its spirit seeks an impossible revenge.

The monster's description was short, but every word made Priam pale slightly more than the last. Tier 1. Duke. Damn. It wasn't a boss created by the System. It wasn't a new trial to overcome. It was Death's emissary.

I'm supposed to steal from it, not fight it, understood Priam.

Clearly annoyed by the human's silence, Balsha'c took action. Micro sent Priam a ridiculous piece of information. Looking down at his left arm, Priam confirmed its veracity. His arm had disappeared.

Lvl Up: [Cut Resistance] lvl 8,9

CONST +2

Lvl Up: [Star Iron Body] lvl 14,15

CONST +6

Neither his mist nor his instincts had reacted. Only his Domain had briefly detected something. Priam's eyes widened in shock.

At last, his stump began to hurt. The pain woke him up before he could silence it with Micro. Mentally, he directed some of his mist toward the lower floors and the trapdoor. He had to run.

'Can you keep it occupied for a few seconds?'

Hearing Diamond's voice, Priam stared at his adversary. Should he trust the thief or flee? Claire's betrayal was still fresh in his mind, but... The Moon Key could be critical. Returning to the Moon once everyone had left opened up a wide range of possibilities.

Above all, Diamond was different from Claire. The thief was ambitious.

The Duke grunted, and Priam took stock of his wounds. His fingernails were now almost four centimeters long. The air smelled of the rottenness of the Depths. Looking down at his left arm, anger flared in both Priam's hearts. He was the Champion of Humanity and had defeated a quadruple Tribulation. Yet the virus would soon kill him.

"I might as well go for a grand finale," he grinned.

He was going to die, but first, the Duke would pay.

[Three-Headed Hydra] restored his arm in a second. The Duke roared, and Priam teleported away. A violent explosion sounded in the corrupted Dome. A crater some ten meters deep lay where he had just left.

His Domain informed him of a new ambush. Priam teleported back, retrieving Promesse. Thousands of ghosts and mutants were approaching from all sides. Drawing on his Potential, Priam fully deployed [Moon Mist]. A titanic cloud began to take shape. [Mirror of the Soul] transmitted the fragment of steel concept to the cloud.

As Balsha'c turned to face him, Priam's version of Damocles' Tears began to fall. Merging with his mist to dodge another attack, Priam looked around for a moment.

The deadly deluge destroyed the weakest mutants and hampered the strongest. The latter would die from a thousand cuts. Even the ghosts seemed slightly bothered by the concept infused in the rain.

Sneering, Priam reappeared behind the titan and threw Promesse with all his might. The faithful spear broke the sound barrier instantly before striking a bone plate in the monster's back. Despite the power of the shot, Balsha'c's protection didn't suffer a scratch.

Howling with rage, the boss turned and seized the spear. Grabbing it with both hands, it twisted and shattered it.

The spear exploded in a colossal fireball. Priam wasn't the only one to have evolved.

The blast threw Priam backward. His head hit a wooden beam with a terrible crack. It had split in two.

Stunned, Priam's brain lost consciousness. [Tenacious Spirit] took over, and Priam quickly got to his feet, massaging the back of his neck.

"Promesse..."

Ahead of him, the rubble of the manor house was ablaze. The rain continued to fall, gradually exhausting the steel fragment. Hundreds of mutants were dying every moment as the cloud grew. Priam's aether reserves were dwindling, but his rage was rising. Promesse deserved vengeance.

The fragment of vengeance ignited his wrath and made his blood boil. His second heart quickened. [Tribulation Dragon], the affinity that now ran through Priam's veins, was awakening.

The Dragon's wrath, the fragment of vengeance and the Depths virus found a common ground. Howling with rage, Priam charged into the flames. Obeying the Phoenix's will, the fire parted, opening the way for the Duke.

With blazing fists, Priam delivered a terrible uppercut to the Duke. Still dazed by the explosion of Promesse, it didn't dodge.

An explosion sounded. The titan's body was thrown into the air. Priam's right forearm exploded in a spray of blood and bone. Micro and the Dragon's rage had unlocked his capabilities, but the backlash was terrible.

Oblivious to his wounds, Priam leaped into the air. The mist froze beneath his feet, forming sheets of ice that allowed him to soar ever higher.

"Well, I'll start with a Marquess..."

Priam hesitated to bring back a sample of the virus - in the form of a mutant arm. Training his resistance was of paramount importance. Finally, he abandoned the idea. If the virus broke out in the Dome... He shuddered at the thought.

Looking around one last time, Priam tried to spot Diamond. The thief seemed to have disappeared. Grunting, Priam began to search for the exit hatch. Two minutes later, his mist detected the room that had brought him here. It seemed to have survived the collapse of the mansion.

Priam chuckled as he felt the thief try to move a beam blocking the entrance. He had cleared a small space under the rubble and was trying to use a plank as leverage. Straddling the mist, Priam touched Diamond's right shoulder.

"Boo!"

"AHHHH!" cried the thief, startled. He turned instantly, brandishing a skeleton key in Priam's direction.

"Im sure you'll scare the specters with that," Priam sneered.

"Drop the sarcastic tone and help me lift this," said Diamond. The ruins shook under another attack, and Priam hurried on.

He positioned his shoulder under the beam and lifted it with a grunt. Blocked by other rubble, it weighed several tons. The thief quickly opened the door and rushed into the maintenance room. Priam quickly followed.

"Glad to see you alive," said Diamond. "You look better, too."

Priam nodded. "I've managed to eliminate the virus."

"That too, but I was talking about the Duke chewing your body like gum."

"It was a clone," Priam lied.

"I thought so," replied Diamond as he lifted the hatch leading to the Dome.

"And the key?" asked Priam.

Diamond smiled with all his teeth. With a prestidigitator's movement, he conjured up a grey cube in his hand. About the size of a Rubik's cube, the Moon Key was relatively common in appearance.

The thief tossed it in Priam's direction. "Here, it's yours. I nearly pissed myself twice picking it up. It was hanging around the Duke's neck."

Priam growled as he realized that Malbius had lied. This seemed logical, as no one could have opened the Duke's stomach to retrieve the key. The mission was hard enough as it was.

[Identification]

[Hearthstone - Mythic] - Link it to a location.

Enables the wearer to open a portal once a month at . The portal lasts for five minutes. The link can be renewed once a month.

Currently linked to [...] - Xa'Gawp homeworld.

Lvl Up: [Identification] lvl 9

MEM +1

"You detached it from its neck without being detected? Good job." said Priam as he was observing the key. His opinion of the thief was growing.

"No, it unhooked when you threw it to the ground. The Key was lying on the floor."

"..."

Diamond coughed under Priam's accusing gaze. "Anyway, we'd better get back. I've got other missions, and the Reunion finishes in less than twenty-one hours."

"Yep, the Colosseum's waiting for me too," nodded Priam. As Diamond descended into the trapdoor, a notification appeared before Priam's eyes.

[Xa'Gawp mutant] eliminated: 50,000. Congratulations, this race now considers you a terror. You can detect their weaknesses more easily.

You are what you kill: You've slaughtered so many [Mutant Xa'Gawp] that their aethereal code is beginning to merge with yours.

High Human is a Tier 1 race. Your aethereal code has two free racial Talent slots.

Would you like to acquire [Spectral Familiarity - Bronze], the inferior version of the [Mutant Xa'Gawp] racial talent?

Title obtained: [The Reaper - Bronze]!

Status: (Average value for a Homo sapiens male before integration: PHY 10 / MEN 10 / META 0)

PHYSICAL:

Strength 236

Constitution 413 (+36)

Agility 296 (+2)

Vitality 421 (+39)

Perception 485

MENTAL:

Vivacity 280

Dexterity 333 (+2)

Memory 71 (+1)

Willpower 447 (+13)

Charisma 366

META:

Meta-affinity 236

Meta-focus 178

Meta-endurance 124 (+5)

Meta-perception 76

Meta-chance 198

Meta-charisma 12

Potential: 5906 (+41)

Tier 0

[He Who Eludes Death] charge: OFF. Reloaded in 19 hours 56 minutes 55 seconds.

[Tribulation]: One Tribulation pending.

Future Tribulations delayed until:

Time: 180 days 20 hours 30 minutes 8 seconds.