Chapter 125 - TFF (Patreon)

Alan fought recklessly and with unbridled joy, a dark shadow among the faceless masses. He helped Zirida whenever he could, although she didn’t seem to be having any difficulties. Her style now was the total opposite of the first time he’d seen her fight, and while it was slower, it was also more sustainable and destructive.

Solorim was doing quite well for himself too as he was mostly focusing on defending and helping out by defending the true damage dealers. Not that Alan cared that much about the [Rune Apprentice]. He was an afterthought.

And Kalyntha was a natural disaster in her own right. Everyone gave her a wide berth, afraid to be caught in the wave of destruction her orbs were delivering. Alan saw her grab dolls with her bare hands and rip limbs of their sockets, then use them as bats to beat on the now legless and armless monsters. He almost felt sorry for the things, but at least Kalyntha was having a good time.

That girl has some issues.

The group pushed deeper into the ruined temple despite the constant waves of monsters. Some shifters started making an appearance as well, but they too were just fodder for their strong even if disorganized group.

He caught a glimpse of Byrr and Feyrith a few times and made sure to pass by while delivering his dose of carnage. He tripped one of the dolls in a comical move, by making his staff into a cane and grabbing at its leg from behind. It fell straight into Byrr’s glowing mace that took its head off. The larger man laughed with glee.

Feyrith was a weird sight as he fought. Strange flowery creatures surrounded him, one defending, one attacking from afar, and a third one doing most of the melee fighting. The elf himself was leisurely standing in place, the smile he always wore plastered on his face as if the world was not a mess of death and suffering all around.

Alan nodded at him, and in return got a wide smile and a look of surprise. He didn’t stay to chat. The system messages were coming in a steady wave, although his leveling speed had slowed down quite a lot. Tagging or sabotaging didn’t seem to bring about as many levels as killing things one-on-one, but in the time he managed to fight one alone, he would be able to hurt at least twenty, so the choice was clear.

The deeper they moved into the temple the stranger the sights were. Symbols, places of worship, and corpses of animals that had become one with the ruins littered every wall and corner. The ruined buildings covered in calcified branches and roots were a good place for Alan. His [Monochrome Armor] was holding on well even though it was well over the usual time limit of the skill, and he wasn’t about to complain about how good he felt.

He still checked the description when he found some breathing room, but it was unchanged. Was he missing something to complete the advancement? Probably levels. He was sure that’s what was going on and the thought only made him more excited. It was nigh time for him to join the powerhouses of the universe.

There was a commotion on one of the nearby streets and as he rushed to do what he did best right now, and support whoever needed it, he felt [Mortal Peril] activate for the first time. The whispers coming from the shadows all around grew stronger too.

A beam that swallowed all light passed through the nearby buildings obscuring his vision and disintegrating them into nothingness. He dodged only thanks to [Monochrome Armor] and laid flat on the ground until the beam was gone and the strange buzzing of space lessened.

It was a familiar skill and he cursed as he once again shot up and rushed to one of the holes that allowed him to see. His bones kept aching.

A large parasite stood behind a line of dolls and shifters that were fighting together against a few groups of outpost members. It was comparable in size to the one Alan had cursed, although there was a difference in appearance.

The gaping hole that was its face spun rapidly and Alan grit his teeth as a large tear in reality appeared amidst one of the groups fighting the line of dolls. A male dressed in shiny robes didn’t react in time and his scream barely had time to leave his lips before the void swallowed most of his body, leaving only half of a head and an arm.

His group panicked for a moment but kept their attack.

Alan licked his lips. He hadn’t prepared any curse marks apart from the one in the Tome, but he wasn’t planning on using that anytime soon. He also wasn’t sure if what was happening to his bones didn’t have to do with the curse and the constant stream of vitality he was draining from the large parasite still there, among the mountains.

Still, he wanted to know if he could hurt it. He felt the signs of another skill starting in the large parasite’s face and cast [Mana Zap]. The bonus distance from his staff proved invaluable. He felt his small burst of mana disrupt the charging skill for but a second, but then it went on without restarting.

I’m expecting too much. [Mana Zap] is too weak on its own. However…

He jumped off the ruins and used his speed to narrow the distance in but a moment. He unleashed [Synaptic Failure] which made a large portion of the bark covering the large parasite fall down. Still, most of it remained intact, but that certainly got the thing’s attention.

It slowly turned toward where Alan was and [Mortal Peril] sang again.

Alan didn’t wait as he ran quickly behind the monster, hiding from its sight. If the large parasite decided to fuck with his mana Alan would be in deep shit. He decided to now allow the thing the privilege though.

Putting away the staff he once again took out his daggers. Stabbing them into the bark covering the thigh of the creature only made the shadows covering his blades dissipate, but a burst of Alan’s will strengthened them. It was the bark’s turn to start cracking and falling. It was a slow process, nothing, unlike the bomb he’d created with [Mana Zap] days ago.

But it worked.

The parasite certainly felt the attack and its massive body started turning. It was a slow and clumsy thing though and Alan found himself once again running around and chipping away at it. If he cut larger parts of the bark, causing them to fall, they simply floated back on to stick to the skin as if he hadn’t done anything. However, letting his daggers rest where he stabbed them for a few seconds produced a much better result. The bark fell apart and lost its luster.

It went on for a while until a large part of the large parasite's legs were naked. It released another beam, however it turned too slow to catch Alan. He still heard screams from the outpost side, but he didn’t care. Everyone was a grown-ass alien and they could take care of themselves. Or not.

He was no hero.

The constant use of his will seemed to take its toll though and a headache not dissimilar to the one caused by mana deprivation started thumping in his head. His work was largely done at this point and he stepped back to admire it. The creature’s legs were mostly naked glass-like surfaces. Bits and pieces of bark seemed to fall from its back and arms, flying toward the large unprotected spots, but there was not enough to go around.

A few casts of [Synaptic Failure] only made the parasite struggle further. It moved like a clumsy glass doll in slow motion, and Alan was simply too fast. None of the other creatures had yet noticed him, too busy attacking the rest of the outpost members.

With a grin, Alan put away the daggers and once again took out his staff. He pushed the shadows to the limit, trying out yet another idea. The mana resisted and [Shadow Weapon] seemed to reach its limit making him frown.

He poured more and more mana inside of it, willing the skill to work. It took a few seconds and quite a lot of effort that left him strangely sweaty and annoyed, but the skill finally gave in.

The sensation of a system message arriving appeared in his mind, but he ignored it. His staff was fully covered in dark twisting shadows once again, and from one end hung a string. A fishing rod of shadows. It looked incorporeal and thin. One could see the rest of the world through it. Still, Alan knew it was no less strong than the shadows covering his dagger.

He started circling the legs of the parasite, careful to avoid its face hole. One end of the thin rope became a hook that latched at the monster’s knee. Alan made full use of his speed and felt the mana drain as he constantly poured more and more into the shadowy string until the parasite’s legs were tied together securely. He felt the strain in his soul as if he was holding the monster's legs bound with his body, but it became easier the more layers he added.

However, the parasite was simply too strong and Alan lacked the strength needed to tighten his shadowy rope. He willed it to become one solid object and cut it off from the staff. It remained around the parasite's knees and he could feel the mana inside of it churning. It had taken a good chunk of his own pool, he had plenty to spare. His recent advancements had made it much easier to spam his skills without fear of running dry. The newly created brace was still connected to his mind, but it was also a separate entity. Like an object, he could control and mold. It held a large amount of mana in itself and he was sure that even without him, it would last a while.

He once again took out his daggers and forced the shadows into the shape of icepicks he had seen in documentaries of climbers. He then started hammering away. It was like breaking thick ice, but eventually, the glassy flesh gave in to his attacks. Cracks started spreading and the parasite gave a low hum as another beam tried to reach Alan. It blasted the earth around the parasite in a narrow half-circle, disintegrating a large part of it and a crescent hole that seemed to go on forever.

Alan didn’t care for it, he just kept away from the void beam and kept hammering at the legs.

As the parasite tried to turn it finally seemed to lose its balance, allowing the shadowy binding around its legs to fulfill their purpose. Alan strained as he poured even more mana into them to prevent them from breaking. The parasite came crashing down like a giant and Alan narrowly dodged being squashed.

Bark and glassy flesh went flying everywhere, but the creature didn’t shatter like the smaller ones had before. Still, more than half of its body was in pieces and it looked like it had sunk into the ground. The large rotating hole of void in its face was deathly still and unmoving.

Alan noticed the broken-off pieces wiggling as if being pulled by a magnetic force. Rather than worry, he cast [Synaptic Failure] one last time, then rained [Shadow Slashes] upon the fallen parasite’s head until finally it burst into pieces too, and with it, the rest of the body followed. Like a glass table that had had too much weight put on it.

There was a large baby-fist-sized core in the wreckage of the body and Alan took it. There was some resistance, but whatever remnant of the creature was inside of it was quickly wiped away.

You have slain: Void Risen Parasite (96)

Level up!

You have reached level 67 in [Warlock]!

+ 3 Attribute Points

+ 1 Mind, Will, and Magic

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Level up!

You have reached level 71 in [Warlock]!

+ 3 Attribute Points

+ 1 Mind, Will, and Magic

Another five levels to add to the ones he had received by running around and tagging things. Today was a good day for him and a bad day for the monsters. And the bastards back on Earth.

He briefly considered continuing what he was doing, but his mana reserves were running low. The shadows around him kept their constant churning though, like a boiling kettle of darkness. He felt the armor was here to stay. Still, it would be bad to run out of mana. And some more attributes would go a long way toward making him even stronger.

There was a system message to check too. He rushed into one of the nearby ruins that seemed to be safe from fighting and picked a quiet corner. The shadows made him even less noticeable in the darkness.

Now, what do we have here?