Outcast Chapter 251.5 (Book 6 Chapter 36.5) (Patreon)

Author's Note (Read This)

1. You must have read the previous chapter (36) before this one. I'll be adding a bunch of spaces below this so that people who haven't caught up on 36 yet won't click on their email notification and immediately get spoiled.

2. Chapter 37 will still come out on Monday.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

--

The universe had won.

It is impossible to understate how many lives were spared by the death of the Second Will. Not just the people of Elatra, but the people of all the worlds it would have gone on to devour. While Rob possessed some inkling of this concept, it wasn't a scale that mortal minds were fully equipped to comprehend. He would never quite grasp that he and his allies had performed one of the most morally virtuous acts since the dawn of existence.

Nor did he need to. Saving the people he cared about was reward enough. He would soon be able to greet his friends with a smile on his face, congratulating their victory and making them sigh with humor only he found amusing. And although he knew full well that his trials were not yet over, for this one, shining moment...he could relax.

Nature itself agreed with him. Thin rays of sunlight were beginning to pierce through the dark clouds blanketing the skies. Right now, for the first time, the Deadlands were filled with joy and relief. Every member of the alliance had stopped to celebrate their great deed, all worries temporarily forgotten.

Every member except one.

Perhaps things might have turned out differently if Rob had awoken under different circumstances. His thoughts were slow, his mind was addled by reckless endangerment of his soul, and he'd been sidetracked by speaking to his allies. Those distractions led him astray, preventing him from doing the first thing he always did after awakening from forced unconsciousness:

Checking his log of system notifications.

Perhaps things might have also turned out differently if not for Purge Corruption's final explosive flash of light. It was positively blinding, obscuring the truth from everyone in sight. Only Rob could have potentially discerned what happened, but unleashing the killing Purge had stolen his consciousness. A fair tradeoff for executing an eldritch god – without needing to sacrifice himself in the process, even.

Still, it meant he wasn't awake to notice the order of how things transpired. How his body shut down when it nearly overloaded on Purging energy. How the final Purge ended just a fraction too early. How the Second Will was, for a brief moment, still alive.

Perhaps if he'd noticed any one of those things...

Rob would have realized that he hadn't scored the last hit.

--

Ragnavi stood transfixed. Soldiers were celebrating around her, but her attention was focused solely on the litany of system notifications cascading down her vision.

Starting with three lines in particular.

Reached Level 97!

Reached Level 98!

Reached Level 99!

--

Thanks for reading!