Chapter 1178 (2/2)

Then Lady Iellaya froze up again as she felt her Class reach its apex, the 99th Level. There was a moment of hesitation where she worried that Randidly Ghosthound was stumped by what to do, but then she felt that same deft touch moving within her.

But what shocked Lady Iellaya was how she felt her Great Path change. Originally, she had taken the Great Path ‘Raven who Wore a Cloak of Blood’. As far as Lady Iellaya was concerned, it was a Path that did a good job of encapsulating who she was. She was the Raven Winged Vanguard that had to sacrifice countless lives to get to this level of strength.

How often had Lady Iellaya been forced to swim through rivers of blood and fear in order to grow and survive? And because she always knew that fear that stunk like coppery blood was lapping at her heels, she never dared slow down in her quest for power. She thrust herself forward, finding more and more individuals with potential to plunder. She couldn’t hesitate, or everything she had worked for to get here would become lost.

She would be drowned in it. She would be consumed by all the things that followed her. The things that had followed her for years, waiting for an opportunity just like-

A tremor ran through Lady Iellaya’s body. Her hands instinctively came to her chest, as though to rip the foreign image that was currently remaking her System presences, but her fingers just pressed helplessly against the steel front of her armor. Her feathers flexed and her back arched as the feeling intensified. Everything was finally coming to an end, and it felt so-

But then the potential that had been woven through her Class surged upward. It seemed to liberate her from the hesitation, bringing her to an emotional completion that Lady Iellaya hadn’t known she needed.

Congratulations! You have completed the Great Path “Ritual of the Final Darkness”! You have reached Level 100!

Due to your accomplishments, you have obtained a Great Fate! You have obtained the Great Fate “Avatar of Apep, the Peregrine Serpent Lvl 1”!

All at once, Lady Iellaya collapsed, breathing heavily. That strange presence in her chest withdrew lightly as if it was never there. And her first response was to feel a flash of rage that this man had seen her while she was so weak. That he had held her at his mercy. Even though Lady Iellaya knew it was for her own benefit, she felt such a horrible need to erase proof of that part of herself.

Yet Lady Iellaya mastered that childish impulse. Resting on her hands and knees, she took the time to slowly breathe and calm herself. Once she had full control of her body once more, Lady Iellaya turned her focus inward. The name Apep was unfamiliar, but as for the rest of her Great Fate...

And there she found a pure darkness, unlike anything she had ever known. A darkness that was so complete and hungry that it would slowly consume the sun until the daytime hours were hollowed out and dim. In its wake, the night would rule for eternity, covering every aspect of existence.

And in that darkness she found power.

“Hahah….haha… hahahahahahahahah…!” Lady Iellaya began to laugh, almost uncontrollably. Although she still felt extraordinarily strange inside of this remade body, she could feel the weight of what she had gained from this process. She could feel all of the potential from her subordinates, part of every move she made.

In comparison to the influence she exerted with her image before, Lady Iellaya now felt like a giant. Compared to her, everything was small. Suddenly, all of the control that Lady Iellaya had regained disappeared. Her hand was trembling as she held up a hand and darkness pulsed from her pointer finger. The air around it shook.

Still trembling, Lady Iellaya dropped her hand and pressed that finger of darkness into the ground. It instantly began to corrode, with thin veins of darkness slithering outward from the point where Lady Iellaya touched. Within a few seconds, the ground in the surrounding area began to disintegrate into nothing. The darkness devoured it. And it was still hungry.

It was the beautiful thing Lady Iellaya had ever seen. She raised her finger and looked at the darkness pulsing there in wonder.

“...satisfied?”

Lady Iellaya looked up sharply. Then she straightened and brushed herself off while she cursed herself for forgetting that Randidly Ghosthound was still there. At least he had the decency to look thoroughly exhausted, standing arms akimbo and panting.

“Yes, thank you.” Lady Iellaya favored him with a little bow. Then she turned and looked upward. “However… perhaps its time we part ways? I wish to test the changes to myself. And there is no better way than this mountain ahead of us.”

Randidly just nodded, watching her go with a curiously blank expression.

Still, Lady Iellaya couldn’t be bothered with his expression. As she felt the tantalizing darkness within her, all she felt was excitement. With a rapidly beating heart, she rushed upward toward the hill.