Chapter 77: The Rage of A Titan (1/2)
”[Swords of Liberation.]”
The cold energy swords swirled into existence and impaled the golems from their heads right through their entire torso. The freezing energy bound them in place and affected the liquid form of their body as it tried to heal.
With the Greatsword in hand, Rakna dashed at one of them, and as he injected mana into it, a red and black aura appeared around it. It solidified into a sharp manifestation that cut through its target like butter. At the same time, the other golem had its chest melted by acidic poison and its head corroded and fissured by Pronos.
Even so, the two stone puppets were not defeated yet. The weird slime-like substance continued to repair their missing or broken parts. They shattered the Swords of Liberation in a few seconds and retaliated almost instantly.
The one that had its head beheaded stepped forward and tried to ram Rakna, which was easily dodged with a swift Artzpul. However, the golem seemed to have expected that development as it grabbed its own head lying on the ground before throwing it at its opponent.
Rakna's pupils dilated ever so slightly when he saw that and performed a midair kick that conjured a wind blade with his boots. The spell slashed the head before it exploded in the same way as the fist from before.
But he wasn't done after that. Rakna gripped his weapon tighter and the Greatsword's handle sprouted a few attachments similar to thorns. They pierced his hand to draw blood and he barely showed a reaction as the edge of the blade started dripping with a crimson liquid.
After a few seconds, Rakna swung the sword in a wide motion and a coagulated sweep of blood zoomed toward the golem and bisected it right down the middle.
In a similar fashion, Pronos cast a liquid jet of purple acid that was potent enough to tear through the entire golem he was fighting. He did that while also using his entire body length to crush the magical puppet.
When those two events were over, Rakna stood in front of a headless golem desperately trying to reconnect its body parts and Pronos jumped off a crumbling pile of rocks. When both of them thought this was over, the liquid stone stopped its attempts to regenerate and began to release a faint energy signature.
”Can't be serious…!” Rakna muttered and rushed to grab Pronos. The fragments of the golems splintered and he boosted his wings to get away from their location. When he heard the explosion go off, he landed and wrapped Pronos and himself inside his wings like a cocoon.
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Liquid Stone Golem killed!
Liquid Stone Golem killed! (Partial Contribution)
Level up!
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+0.1 Strength, Speed, Intelligence.
+2 Free Points.
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Requirement for level updated.
Current Progress: 2/200
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Rakna grunted when he saw those pop-ups and spread his wings again with an invisible wince at the pain. Thankfully, it didn't seem like it was enough for his Ireful Shell to trigger. It probably was because other than the pain, the injuries his wings suffered didn't affect his health much.
He stood up with a huff while Pronos climbed back on his shoulder with an apologetic and thankful expression for having protected him. ”Nothing too bad, little guy. You could have easily survived that but either way, I would have had to do this for myself,” Rakna consoled him as he traced his steps back to the tomb.
He glanced at the two craters on the ground and as well as the damages it had made to the walls and walked past them to enter the room from earlier. He looked around with a suspicious gaze then began to wander inside whilst staying close to the edges. Though, he also was shamelessly putting every valuable he passed by inside his ring much to the baffled amusement of his pet.
But, in contrast with his actions, Rakna wasn't focused on the riches he was accumulating but, on the pedestal, and the ominous stone sarcophagus on top of it. He would be lying if he said that he was feeling unbothered by it. Just looking at it made his fur stand in alertness.
Additionally, his Fabled Sight was showing him odd things such as weird transparent waves of light coming from the ceiling and merging with the ancient coffin.
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❮◈❯ Fabled Sight has leveled up! ❮◈❯
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Rakna almost snorted. 'Couldn't ask for a better sign that something is weird,' he thought and he decided to cast Appraisal on those weird things he was looking at.
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Ethereal flows of life force and soul force. They seem to be attracted by a dark force and siphoned of their purity and potency.
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You have inspected something that cannot be perceived by natural means; Appraisal has leveled up!
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'Would you look at that, a level up,' Rakna quipped inwardly. At this point, he wondered if, in the future, every action of his would trigger one. If he continued to get skills at the same rate, it might happen. With these thoughts in mind, he switched his attention to the tomb.
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A sarcophagus dating from an olden period of the System. No hints can be found on the style of the tomb but the dark energy emanating from it and the life force that is being processed within it point toward a master of dark magic, death, and curses.
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The creature lying inside appears to be gradually recovering its power as time passes from the forces it is collecting.
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”This isn't good…” Rakna muttered as he read the results of his skill. One didn't need to go far to understand what was going on. Anyone with a functioning brain cell would be able to tell that the 'curse' plaguing the dark elves was nothing more than the byproduct of this… revival.
The negative status, the weakened conditions, the fact that they can't live long… These are signs of their life force being robbed throughout their lives.
The only question in his head right now was what he should do. If he wanted to stop this curse, he would have to confront the supposed corpse that resided here. How could he do that? Even as he stood as far as possible as he could from it, something at the very back of his mind was telling that it would be suicide to get close, much less touch the damn sarcophagus.
Rakna clicked his tongue as he finished circling the room. 'Let's back off for now…' He decided and turned around. When he was about to leave, something suddenly made him stop in his tracks.
Danger. Irrational danger. He stopped breathing for a second when he heard something scraping a surface before falling on the ground with a loud noise. The feeling of danger increased several-fold and he slowly looked over his shoulder with wide eyes to see the tomb open.
A hand black as charcoal with blood vessels over it emerged from the inside and grabbed the edge of the rectangular box. A second one followed soon after and the owner's upper body slowly began to rise. The figure was humanoid but everything else about it was simply wrong.
Charcoal black skin, red lines all over it behaving like pulsing veins, a head with no hair, nose, or eyes, and a large grin displaying two rows of perfectly triangular teeth.
The creature came out of what should have been its deathbed and revealed its body wrapped in half-shredded bandages. The being stepped on the ground and staggered a bit, still with its eerie grin, and exclaimed, ”Hoho, it has been so long. This vessel is still weak, I see. How distressing. Had I stayed in slumber for longer, my power would have been restored.”
Rakna's mind was working in overdrive. His body nearly refused to move in fear of provoking a predator that it couldn't defeat. He was being oppressed in every sense of the word. He knew he could move if he truly wanted, he knew he could run, but he also knew that it would mean risking his life.
”Matters not. It feels good to wake up earlier as well,” the… monster said and turned toward him with its obviously fake and malicious grin. ”So, was it you who saw through my illusion and routed my golems? How young. Tell me, what are you? I have never seen a tailed werewolf before. Is the birth of your kind something I missed during my slumber?”
Rakna stayed motionless and so did Pronos. The former was doing his best to come up with a plan to get them out of there alive and the latter only waited for his sign.
”Hm? What is wrong? Are you perhaps mute?” The thing asked with a light-hearted tone as if he didn't know the answer to that already.
”…what are you?” Rakna finally spoke up and the being grinned wider. It stood straight like a noble and spread its skinny arms open.
”Take a look. You have an analysis skill, don't you? Come on; I won't block it.”
Rakna hesitated at his words but ultimately took his offer.
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Name: Asziquol Naberum Verias
Age: 1065 | Level: 99 (Weakened)
Race: Abyss Téras | Path: Sorcerer of the Upper Life
Affiliation: None
Title: Former Ruler of the Abyss - King of the Puppet Legion - ???
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Attributes:
Strength: 5 | Endurance: 5
Speed: 5 | Dexterity: 99
Intelligence: 99 | Luck: 0
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Sub-Attributes:
Stamina: 200/200 | MP: 1800/1890
Swiftness: 508 | Agility: 403
Senses: 508 | Atr Cap: 213
Attack: 126.5 | Defense: 20
Magic Attack: 497 | MP Regen: 12.9/min
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Proficiencies:
- Art of War (Lv. Ex)
- Art of Combat (Lv. Ex)
- Art of Mana (Lv. Ex)
…