25 Kessiah Crow (1/2)
My eyes snapped open as I pushed through the pain and cold and anger. The arms wrapped around me like bands of steel, but I overwhelmed them as I pressed out. Heat returned to my blood as my blood boiled.
It literally boiled. The arcane bonds keeping me together reformed as my armor evolved. No longer did they saturate my flesh with chaotic bands. Instead, they reoriented into long, smooth lines that connected in a smooth flow, weaving around the tendrils of armor piercing into my bones.
The millions of armored spines in my body connected, wrapping between my nerves. The pain receded as the armor pierced deep into my body. Removing it now would be like removing all the bones in my body.
The reorientation of the arcane bonds reheated my body, and the pain had subsided. The evolution had only taken minutes, not hours like I assumed. When I thought about it later, I realized that I didn't necessarily pass out for a long time before. I could have just been out for a few minutes. I had neglected to ask anyone how long I'd been passed out.
With that in mind, I activated oppression. Usually, I could flick it on like a light switch. This meant I had no control of how much power it had. This time, I felt the aura press outward like a menacing fog. The summon of Yawm holding me lunged back as the aura scraped him. I fell onto the ground with a sharp clank of stone on steel, surrounded by the walls of the tunnel.
As I lifted myself up, I pulled up one of my hands. With a thought, the metal bended like putty. I turned behind me, the thrall of Yawm shaking near a wall. This thing had almost taken me to that piece of shit Yawm. I charged towards the creature, my feet digging into the stone.
With the enhanced perception, I landed my feet onto flat parts of the stone as I whipped my fist in a wide hook. I angled my fist as it landed directly against the creature's skull. The crisp connection of my fist caused the dull thwack of metal on bone. My fist shot back like I had fired a cannon in it. Hitting the creature had nearly forced me back.
The summon's robed head shot away from my fist. The skull smacked against the wall, bouncing off with the sickening thud of breaking bones. A pair of footsteps echoed behind me. Two cold arms wrapped around me, the summon gripping around me like bending railroad tracks.
I pulled my arms forward, unleashing a flurry of armored spikes through the summon. I turned myself, retracting the spines from the creature. Pieces of the monster fell from under its robe as bounced off a nearby wall. I stampeded towards the damn thing, turning on my heels as I unleashed another heavy hand towards it.
My fist dug into its side, keeling it over before I turned on my heels once more. I swung my fist like a hammer, tucking the blow close to my side as it smashed into the monster's mouth. The momentum of my blow blew my hand back, like I detonated a handful of gunpowder in my palm. The jaw broke as the face shot back into the wall.
The body slumped onto the ground before cold arm slammed into the side of my head. My face mashed into the wall. The precognition saved me as I pulled myself down, avoiding the next blow of the creature before a bone spear slid into the head of the monster. The weight of the bullet sent it flying back before I turned and faced the next monster.
The robes of the creature slipped off, revealing a set of glowing blue sacs. Several eyes glanced around, scattered across its body. A set of fat cheeks, mouths, and necks led up to the bulging skull of the creature. Two squirming tentacles writhed with glowing blue veins pulsing down the tips of them. It was fucking disgusting, just like everything else this Yawm fucker sent my way.
It turned sideways, whipping a tentacle towards me. Instead of dodging, I caught the tentacle against my side. My feet dragged on the stone for a few feet, but I stayed firm. I slid sideways on my feet before pulling on the tentacle. The body of the creature whipped with my pull, clobbering into the stone. I pulled it again, crushing it into the stone. A spear flew into the cavern, bursting one of the blue sacs.
The blue glop gushed out as the creature squealed. I nearly vomited before pulling the creature towards the center of the cavern. As threw it out into the colosseum, one of Althea's bone spears shot passed the summon of Yawm. The bullet barreled right for my for my chest.
With precognition and my enhanced dexterity, I whipped my hand outwards as fast as I could. My tendons and muscles screamed at the effort, nearly snapping in the process. My hand hit the spear at an angle before the projectile slid past me.
The impact on the back of my hand shot me back as I stumbled sideways. I fell onto the side of the wall before gaining a level in deflection. I sighed out before losing tension in my body. Goddamn that was that hard. I shouted towards Althea,
”Watch where the fuck you're shooting. Why can't any of my allies aim correctly.”
The proud voice from earlier said from inside the colosseum, ”She may have been aiming at you instead. You never know.”
I rolled my eyes before glancing at my notifications. Dealing with another smartass could wait till later. The first thing I noticed was the evolved armor.
III Harbinger of Cataclysm(Skin, Legendary Unique) - Skin that can absorb rift energy(Ambient Mana) for evolutions. These evolutions may add other special effects. Cannot be removed, only altered. This skin is regenerated with health. 0/16,000,000 Mana left till next evolution.
A Harbinger's Might - Increases Damage reduction cap by 2% | Current Max: 97%
Skin of Eldritch - Additional 15% increase to total health | Current Total Health: 115%
The Walking Calamity - Gives unique ability III Oppression | Current Damage: (8000 + 25% of health/min) within a 150ft/45m radius
An Undying Force - 2% of health added towards health regen per minute | Current regen added before multipliers: 2% of 2733 = 54.66 Unyielding bonus = 109.32 Determinator Tree bonus = 219 hp/minute
Loathed and Abhorred - Decreases Charisma by 20% | Current Total Charisma: 80%
- Endless hunger and eater of Eldritch, but we eat more than the new. We eat the old as well.
So oppression was becoming a damn strong debuff, the damage reduction and health increases kept making me tougher, and the extra regen made my health regen skyrocket. One aspect of the armor unnerved me however. The shell of eldritch had turned into the skin of eldritch. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, resolving to ask Torix about it.
I'd also gained 2 levels from the two thralls dying. When I checked my attribute screen, I gained one attribute for level 104 and two for level 105, since I already unlocked all my perks. I already lost an attribute point by facing the ugly fuckers.
I put the points into luck, leaving me with 24. I checked out my status.
Daniel Hillside Totals Regen Buffs/Debuffs
Health 2733/2733 579/min Oppression Damage- 8000+25%hp/min
Stamina 1044/1044 31.5/sec Elemental Res - 97%
Harbinger of Cataclysm 50,000/16,000,000 0/per min Plasma Res - 97%
Phys Dam Reduction - 97% Rad Res - 97%
Phys Dam Bonus - 353% Mental Res - 97%
Level 105 Attribute Totals
Strength - Increases carrying weight, maximum speed, and physical power 30
Constitution - Increases hardness, density, and weight of your body 36.3
Endurance - Increases regeneration of stamina, health, and their totals 51
Dexterity - Increases ease of movement, flexibility, and reflexes 30
Willpower - Increases internal motivation, mana regen, and Mental Res 30.3
Intelligence - Increases memory, critical thinking, and total mana pool 30
Charisma - Increases likeability, persuasion, and decreases prices at shops 9
Luck - Increases money found, odds in your favor, and chance of rare events 24
Perception - Increases comprehension, the five senses, and awareness 30
With all that handled, I walked out of the tunnel while searching for the voice. It was time to whoop some ass.
The high pitched voice from earlier chattered from across the room, ”Alright, I'm seeing a bit more cataclysm here. You're only level 105, yet you move like your over 200. Must be a tri-spec. Shitty endurance, eh?”
I glared over and found her with a hip jutting out. She was basically a human, though she had red violet skin. Dreads fell down the left side of her face, the right side shaved clean. It was like she had an edgy, urban haircut. A scar traced across her nose, leading up and through one of her eyelids.
She looked crazy, her eyes black except for yellow irises. Her white hair was vibrant, almost blindingly so. She didn't have a bad figure either, surprising for a woman older than dirt. That shit didn't matter to me though, so I raised an eyebrow and said, ”Who the fuck are you?”
She grinned, exposing a set of sharp ass teeth as she said, ”I'm Kessiah Crow. I'm Torix's friend. Who the fuck are you?”
I raised an eyebrow underneath my helmet and said, ”Daniel Hillside. I know, my last name is terrible. Don't remind me.”
She nodded before saying, ”You've got a very strange...aura. How about you cut that off and we can talk for a minute? I don't like shouting across the room.”
I narrowed my eyes and said, ”Alright then.”
Once I got in range, Schema helped me out,
Kessiah Crow, Remnant(lvl 2398) - An ancient member of the remnants, Kessiah is a wanderer like much of her species. Her species didn't appreciate most of the revolutionary changes that Schema brought about, so they ran from their duties like children. Now other races have to pick up the lost ground while the remnants just wander around aimlessly.
Their species also live unusually long lives, some even assuming they are immortal. This isn't due to any evolutionary trait. It is due entirely to how these mongrels developed. The remnants used to be a species, but they genetically modified themselves until every remnant might as well be a unique species all to themselves.
This goes against Schema's laws against genetic modification. They've been exiled for over a million years from Schema's home planet. Without a home of their own, they just wander now. They are volatile, disgusting, and abominations of nature. Never trust one and kill them on sight even if you must risk your life.
Looks like whoever came up with this message may be just a be bit biased. I was ready to activate oppression at any second in case something happened. After reading its contents, all thoughts of resistance shriveled up and died. Althea aimed from a cubbyhole in the back, her violet eye visible through the crack. I waved her off while mouthing,
'Noooooooooo. Nooooooooo.'
She got the idea.
I reached beside her, and Kessiah Crow stood an inch or two taller than me. She was like seven feet tall or some shit. Over two meters tall man. Kessiah raised an eyebrow as I said, ”Alright, what's the plan with Torix?”
Kessiah grinned as she said, ”We're going to try something fun.”
I frowned as I said, ”Anything more specific, like how we handle Yawm or what the plan with my armor is?”
She tapped the edge of her chin as she said, ”Don't worry. Torix and I have things handled as far as Yawm is concerned. For a little while at least. I was going to study these runes for a bit before Torix and I tried out any experiments. Don't want to waste you.”
I bit my lip for a moment before saying, ”Is this how every high level thing is in the universe?”
”I suppose some of us are like that, though you won't find things that are as nice as I am.”
I tapped the edge of my armor as I said, ”Alright then. I'll take your word for it. When will Torix be back?”
”Another hour or so. Maybe. Who knows how long he'll be playing with the bodies.”
I shook off this sinking unease as I said, ”Alright, great. Awesome. I'll be training over in one of those caverns.”
As I walked off, Althea finally sauntered up and said, ”How did you and Torix meet?”