Chapter 220: Not Alone

Chapter 220: Not Alone

Which way do you think he went? Valera asked. The darkness wrapped like a cloak around the world around her, an occluding barrier that blocked out what lay behind it. Only faint tendrils of light managed to pass through, and even those lasted barely a few steps before they faded away. Smothered by the far-stronger dark. Its been more than a week; even at his size, theres no telling where he is now!

Valera turned away from the darkness, her eyes falling upon the Guardian Statue that rested directly behind her. The sight of it soothed her worries, at least to a degree, even if its presence was more than a little mystifying. Their little snake hadnt been able to make those before. It was a big change.

Im sure hell be- Erik started to say, a series of clicks and skitters cutting him off mid sentence, a jumble of sounds that spilled forth from the darkness. Something coming fast. Valera whipped back around before the man even finished pulling his hammer free, her blades ripping their way from each sheathe with a metallic shing.

A single leg, reaching as high as Valeras knees, stepped into the light. It appeared as if pulling forth from an illusion, suddenly springing into existence from nothing, the darkness of its flesh near-fully camouflaged by the black of the world outside the Guardian Statues light. Another leg followed, then another, and another, until the entire creature was fully bathed in the Statues radiant light. A massive spider, soon joined by two others.

Valera relaxed somewhat, battle-ready grip on her blades loosening.

Puppets, Elara said, having reached the same conclusion that Valera did. The lines of gold and blue, running between bristles of black fur and glimmering in the light, were a dead giveaway. Not something that - especially after the living Forest marked by that same gold and blue - any of them would forget.

Still, Valera kept one of her blades out just in case, even as she slowly approached the nearest of the gold-blue creatures. A single hand stretched out in front of its fangs, ready to pull backwards at any moment. It didnt react, staring placidly at the meal she presented.

A moment later, it awkwardly shuffled its limbs, creating some weird approximation of a beckoning gesture, and the two of the spiders stepped back into the shadows. The third stopped at the lights edge, shuffling its limbs again. Waiting.

A guide through the darkness.

The Seekers followed.

I flexed my tail, my form cutting through the mana-water like a fang through flesh. Liquid streamed across my side-scales with a teasing touch, [Streamlined Scales] letting me pass with hardly any resistance at all. Moving faster than I did on the ground, as if I had been born in the lake itself.

My prey loomed before me, all grasping tendrils and sharp teeth and roughened flesh. A leviathan of the depths, looking all the larger for my lack of [Size] in this life. [Illusion Spark] kept me hidden, kept me safe. Stopped those grasping tendrils from reaching out and pulling me into its maw.

And let me move ever-closer, light shifting across my scale-flesh to match the ever-moving waters.

The leviathan never noticed. Didnt see as I slithered closer. Didnt catch my slowly-opening mouth. Didnt feel the danger it was in.

My blood hissed with power; I imagined that, if my flesh were invisible, my mana-filled blood would be a beacon of radiance even stronger than the surrounding mana-water, a fount of blinding light. With a rush of anticipation, I took nearly all of that light. Shattered it beneath my will, with only a thin coat of mana-filled blood left around it - carefully controlled with [Mana Manipulation] to make sure that it stayed that way. Like scales draped across skin, keeping what was inside from seeping out.

To protect me from myself.

It was cold; bitterly cold, frozen-over. Solid. Chilled beyond reason. In a few places, my efforts werent enough; the scales of mana too thin, bits of death seeping through. My flesh withered and died, breaking under its touch. I was forced to change some of the death essence back, converting it into mana again before shunting it out towards my self-inflicted wounds. Once there, drops of blue became drops of gold, and my flesh was restored again. [Life - Vitality XV] made it easy. Quick.

My blood surged through my body, as it always did, but in a way that I could now feel, my many manipulation abilities allowing me to track the flow of mana and essence that suffused it. When it neared my shattered mana core, that broken-walled shell where my mana still renewed, I began to pull them away. Bit by bit, drop by drop, mana-bound essence spilled its way through. Passed through one side and out the other, a torrent of power far beyond what I could have contained before.

For once, with mana wrapped around it to keep me safe, the death essence didnt hurt. Didnt rend my flesh or make it rot. Not until the end, when it found its way to my venom sacs. When death-venom became [Death - Venom] and started to spill from my fangs.

When my mouth finally closed, and the leviathan finally noticed me - though it was already too late for it to do anything else. The massive bad-thing, its coarse flesh already lined with an ominous black, started to sink. Weak. Cold. Dying.

Dead.

Dont mind him, hes just jealous. Eriks gotten a little afraid of heights ever since the Little Guardian showed him an image of himself falling into a giant colony of Flame Formicans a while back, she crooned, the sound soft and comforting - even if I didnt understand its meaning - followed by a pang of guilt as I remembered the sensation of slicing through her throat in my last life, and the strange message of the thought-light that had appeared when she finally died.. Just another evil the Lesser Core had to answer for, even if it ultimately led to my rebirth.

Even if I was sure that the Coreless would gladly give their lives for the Great Cores glory, that didnt mean that I took that sacrifice lightly. Especially when it was forced.

Not afraid, Will replied as the-female-who-was-not-Needle moved her hand away again. Justappropriately wary.

The Coreless continued to jabber on as I thrust myself back into my own body, reveling in the sensation of power that my mana-filled blood gave me - and cringing at the return of the scent-taste of rot that filled the air.

Ignoring it as best I could, I started to slither in my Coreless direction. My preparations in this life were about as complete as they would ever be, and it was past time to begin the Lesser Cores punishment.

As long as I made sure to keep making a new [Little Guardians Focus] every so often to keep them from dying, my Coreless would likely be a great help with that. Hopefully that would be enough even as we drew closer to the Death Core; the strength of its aura grew stronger the closer I had come to it in my false-life, so I couldnt be sure.

Either way, it should be enough for them to make it most of the way before they were forced to stop. And, given that I didnt have unending mana to work with, having the Coreless along to speed my travel toward the Lesser Core could only help; they moved far faster than I did, with how small my slithers were in this life.

And, I had to admit as my Coreless finally came into view, it was just nice to not be alone again.

Just a little.

Name: Paradox

Species: Snake, Ouroboros

Major Title: [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail] [Little Guardian]

Minor Titles: [Minor Mana Core] [Venomous Retribution] [Touched By Fire] [Ascended Seeker]

Innate Traits: [Venomous II]

Blooded Traits: [Paralyzing Venom IV] [Poisonous Blood III] [Illusion Spark IV] [Clinging Grasp III] [Sound Shaping VII] [Chains Of The Creator I] [Anticoagulant IV] [Constriction I] [Spore Puppeteer IX] [Ascended Sense I] [Ambushers Vision III] [Streamlined Scales V] [Sting IV] [Enhanced Lungs III]

Resistances: [Piercing Resistance - Intermediate I] [Venom Resistance - Intermediate II]

Level: 67

Trait Points: 12

Core Skills: [The Endless Cycle] [Chrono Fire] [Verdure Parasite] [The Golems Fading Heart]

Lesser Core Skills: [Mana Manipulation XI] [Mana Venom XI] [Mana Fire VII] [Little Guardians Totem MAX] [Life Essence Manipulation IX] [Life - Invigorating Bite XIV] [Life - Vitality XV] [Life - Vigor X] [Life - Vigorous Spores IV][Little Guardians Focus XI] [Death Essence Manipulation IX] [Death - Venom X] [Death - Enervating Bite XII] [Death - Wither XII] [Death - Weakness X]

Level Rewards: [Traveler] [Mana-Life Conversion] [Mana-Death Conversion] [Mana Restoration] [Mana Blood]

Description: A growing Ouroboros, symbol of the eternal.