Chapter 217: Death And Venom

Chapter 217: Death And Venom

As I shattered another swath of mana beneath my will, forcing it into the shape I needed, I couldnt help but think about the difference I had found between the essences of life and death. Between the way I coaxed one into shape and brutalized the other, the formation of the opposing essences requiring similarly opposing viewpoints.

There was a part of me that was willing to admit my perceptions were skewed; off-kilter, twisted to the side like a broken neck. Turned away from its natural place by an irresistible force. There was another part of me that didnt care.

Maybe there was another way that [Mana-Death Conversion] could have worked; maybe someone - or something - else could have done things differently. To them, its bitter cold might have held an element of peace; the chill that it gave off something to fall into, a sort of languid torpor. There might have even been a sort of comfort in it, in the relaxation that came with that chilling touch. An acceptance of the end, or of whatever might be.

But, just like my perspective, my relationship with death was skewed. Off-kilter. Twisted. It couldnt be peace, because it was just the symbol that my struggles were to begin anew. It couldnt be calm, because death was failure, and there was nothing calming about that. It couldnt be the end, because the Great Core could always ensure that it wasnt.

Maybe that was why I could only use [Mana-Death Conversion] in the way that I did; like a claw or a fang, meant to mangle manas flesh until death took its place. Or maybe it was just that, after being under the thrall of a Lesser Core that controlled death, I couldnt let myself form it unless I was sure that it was under my dominion.

Under my control.

Broken.

Just a cold, bitter tool - but an effective one. Stronger than my venom, and - with [Mana Restoration] to sustain it, far more plentiful.

And yet, it was the combination of venom and death that gave the greatest results. I had always called the most dangerous of my two venoms death-venom. Giving it that name seemed wrong now. Death-venom - or, rather, [Death - Venom] - was something different. Something better.

It wasnt quite the same as its less-effective variant, [Mana Venom]. [Mana Venom] could be used to boost the strength of my venom for as long as I had mana to infuse it with. My entire store of mana could dry itself out before any issues appeared.

[Death - Venom], while stronger, was different in that respect. Mostly due to the death essence itself. It justwasnt safe.

Then again, death never really was.

It crept across my mana channels with a horrible viscosity, a thick and frozen solidity, painful and jagged. Bitter-cold needles cut through my flesh. Horrible tingles urged my length to twitch and writhe. And through it all, the death essence that I had created, that I had inflicted on myself, inched along. Found its way to my stores of venom. Infected them with its touch. I knew, from seeing it earlier, that the infected venom shifted black as the essence itself. I knew, from feeling it earlier, that it had a greater weight to it - not physically, but in some way that was visible despite that.

Some way that just was.

And, when the [Death - Venom] grew too cold to contain, and when my mana channels couldnt handle any more of the death essences touch, I was able to let it go.

Down into the flesh of the Darkweaver beside me.

Lesser Core Skill: [Death - Venom III] Increased.

Then again, so did my enemies. And, as long as I was careful, and I gave the death essence time to seep out of what remained, that was more than enough to make up for my lack of [Size].

Corpses were far easier to devour when they fell apart in your mouth.

[Ambushers Vision] was mine again, and the first step to defeating the Lesser Core was already well on its way - and that first step, the defeat of the Darkweavers, was coming far easier than before.

I had learned from my false-lives. Learned how the Darkweavers thought. Learned where they lived.

And, most importantly, learned new ways to fight. Being forced to hide from the Lesser Cores undead had reminded me of the beauty of ambushes and remaining hidden. Of my oldest form of battle, one that I had started to forget as I grew more powerful.

Down in my cage of stone, I laid still, mouth clamped down on tail. I focused. And, as the Darkweavers scurried above me, I watched. [Verdure Parasite] created a map in my mind, the tiny spores that I had tagged a large number of the nest with more than enough to let me make out the nests overall shape.

The many-legged bad-things above me moved, scurrying back and forth, legs scratching against the stone that stood between us. Some stepped upwards, climbing stone-spikes or waiting threads, while others continued to creep on the ground, the jittering of their many legs betraying their fear and confusion.

They werent used to being the prey.

A spore-tagged Darkweaver passed over me and I lunged upwards again, breaking free of the earth. A clod of mud stripped itself from my scale-flesh, thrown violently away as I reached open air. A black underside greeted me, with thick and bristled hairs and all too many legs.

I bit down, [Death - Venom] scouring my flesh in passing. The Darkweaver collapsed into a crumpled heap and a flicker of the thought-light, and I let [The Golems Fading Heart] pull me back under the earth again. The other spores, and the bad-things they had attached to, scurried about in a maddened frenzy again.

And little by little, I brought the nest to ruin. By the time I was forced to slither free from the stone floors protection entirely, there was hardly anything left to defeat. Just a few stragglers, easily dealt with.

Even the strongest of the bunch were disappointing, their flesh easily breaking down under the assault of multiple inflictions of overcharged [Death - Venom]. It wasnt pleasant, and I was forced to heal myself between each one, but it was effective.

I did what I could to devour the remains. It was absolutely disgusting, and some of the bodies had become more liquid than solid, but it needed to be done. A chance to strengthen [Ambushers Vision] wasnt something that I was willing to pass up. Some of the ruined corpses were still too large to swallow, and I was forced to leave those behind. Still, by the time I was ready to leave, I had managed to get enough to be satisfied.

Blooded Trait: [Ambushers Vision II] Increased.

[Ambushers Vision III] Acquired.

Progress Towards Next Upgrade: 5/40.

With that done, I happily slithered in the direction of the leviathans. The second step in the plan to conquer the Lesser Core, and one of the most important. I wasnt planning on making any thread-traps to capture the leviathans in this life. I had killed too many of the Darkweavers for that; I only had a few many-legged spore-puppets under my control, and they had all been captured on my way to the nest itself, and left to wait at this lifes [Little Guardians Focus] while I handled the ones at the nest. There werent many. Enough to create a thread-trap to catch bad-things in the much-thinner river, but nothing more than that.

I - hopefully - wouldn't need more than that. By the time I encountered the Lesser Core again, my mastery of both [Life Essence Manipulation] and [Death Essence Manipulation] needed to be powerful enough to keep me safe. Taking the leviathans on more directly would be a good test of that. Between [Mana Restoration], the mana-water itself, and a few other ideas I had, I was confident that I could get there.