Lifeblood Chaos: B1 Chapter 57: Skybreaker (Patreon)

Ray darted a quick look at the entrance. No sign of anyone rushing in. No sound of the elevator climbing back up. He still had time. Whew.

Beyond the raised altar, at the far end of the room, a stairway led higher up. That had to be his exit. Hopefully, there wasn’t any blockage or anything because he hadn’t really completed the last Dungeon Obstacle.

Tricking the monster down the elevator probably didn’t count as defeating it.

This Tower Node looked a little… filament-y, as was the best way Ray could describe it. Instead of a solid, diamond-shaped crystal, it was partly hollow, the crystalline surfaces connected to each other and held in that rhombic shape via threads of what reminded Ray of ceramic.

Like with the last Tower Nodes he had acquired—the Tower Nodes of the Mentor and the Songstress—Ray sensed that he didn’t need to do anything further to claim this Tower Node. He reached out his hand and it began floating towards him.

[System Artifact—Tower Node]

Tower Node of the Skybreaker

With the Node of the Skybreaker, you can now lay claim to the dungeon of Sectors 1. Bring down the sky and let loose its inherent structure. Shatter clouds, break lightning, and twist out the rain. Capacity of the sky to be deconstructed can be raised with True Mana.

Hmm. That was a strange description, though it was starting to make sense with everything he had seen so far in the Halls of the Sky. The Everair supposedly wanted to bring the sky down to the earth. If so, then having a Tower Node do just that would be one way to go about it.

That made Ray curious as to who or what this Skybreaker was. An Everair who had ascended to become a Paragon somehow?

“You don’t know, do you?” Ray asked his original Tower Node. The Marauder didn’t send any replies.

Ah, well. Maybe Ray could find out himself.

As he focused on the new Tower Node, it began glowing. The filaments within it lit up to shine like strands of pure light.

Ray didn’t get any list of abilities to pick from just then. This Tower Node didn’t seem to function the same way the Tower Node of the Mentor had, which had been a lot more structured, if he was being honest.

He was locked into a vision in no time at all. The world of the dungeon disappeared. Instead, quite predictably, Ray ended up in the sky.

A storm raged around him. The land far beneath was murk and hazy, but the lightning-laced clouds around him raced past him, borne on ferocious winds. A fusillade of rain pummelled Ray’s form, though he was only here spectrally, so he didn’t really suffer anything, so to speak.

That was when the sky itself began breaking apart. The clouds tore away from each other, the streaming rainfall condensed into multiple flying rivers shooting off to different sides. Winds buffeted Ray’s form from every direction.

He tried to figure out what he was supposed to do here. Will. Focus. Those were the things that had brought him here.

Those were what would allow him to carry out what he needed and then get out too.

Ray closed his eyes, let the raging storm envelope his senses. The smell of lightning, the splash of water, the battering wind. They weren’t really things he could sense just then, not directly, but it was as though an afterimage of them rushed across his spirit.

Something clicked into place. An alignment of sorts, like at some level, his spirit and whatever simulacrum of a soul that this stormy vision possessed had become one.

Ray raised both arms and the storm grew in intensity. Thunder boomed, lightning danced everywhere, winds howled.

The sensation was euphoric. A rush of pure power coursed over him like he had been doused with gasoline, set aflame, but was immune to being burned.

He realized he could direct the storm now.

A quick flick of a finger had a bank of clouds turn into a waterfall, the fluffy grey mass plummeting straight down. A clap of his hands had the lightning ringing around him in permanent pillars of blinding light. A whirl of his wrist had the air revolving around him in a powerful cyclone, which then branched into three separate twisters with a little force of will.

When Ray opened his eyes, he was back in the dungeon’s last chamber. He looked at the new Tower Node, still glowing with its filament-like power. Now he knew how to—

The elevator came to a grinding halt at the end of the chamber. Ray twisted, heart stuttering, the euphoria fleeing.

A Sylvan stepped in, followed by the Greater Irebolt.

“Ah, just in time,” the Sylvan said, her voice as relieved as it was edged. “Any luck?”

“Are you… actually politely asking me if I managed to operate—you know what, I’m not giving you the satisfaction of stalling me. You’re supposed to die.”

Ray focused on the Tower Node again, but he didn’t get to activate it. Didn’t get to use its awesome power to wreck this whole dungeon and take care of all his problems.

The Sylvan attacked. Way too fast.

Ray only just saw her rushing straight at him with her glaive held aloft. Instinctively, he used Mottling Sphereguard. Ten orbs of shirling chaotic energy manifested around him, burning black and red. The orbs absorbing several of the Sylvan’s attack allowed Ray to leap backward and get some space.

No time, though. Behind the Sylvan, the gigantic Greater Irebolt moved in. Lightning flickered along its length, its segments switching up into an attacking formation.

Ray called on the Greater Windbane Maw construct to keep the monster busy. It wasn’t going to be that effective. Against an Irebolt that was over level 20, no way would his summoned construct last for long. But Ray hoped it would be just long enough.

Certainly, his construct believed in itself, rushing ahead undaunted despite the creature it was facing.

Ray focused once more on the Tower Node, though that proved difficult. The Sylvan was rushing in again. She didn’t attack him directly this time. He still had some of the orbs floating around him. The Sylvan had learned her lesson.

Instead of getting at Ray directly, what she did instead was rush to the other end of the room and block the tunnel.

“You conniving little alien,” Ray muttered, severely annoyed.

She was blocking his escape route. If he activated the Tower Node’s power now, it would bring down the dungeon and kill everyone within. Including Ray. Turned out his opponent was smarter than he had thought at first.

Behind him, the Greater Irebolt had more or less dealt with the construct. Lightning had burned off far too many of its scales, its flesh sizzling and blood steaming.

It was still attacking, though. Despite being wounded and clearly outmatched, the monstrous winged maw kept shooting chaotic fire, kept trying to bite down on the Irebolt, and continued to be a general hassle. But it wouldn’t be able to keep that up for long.

Cursing, Ray gathered himself. The Sylvan was very cunning. It had brought along the monster not only to help her kill him, but to be another source of distraction.

“You seem quite flustered,” the Sylvan said, making her voice extra-mocking.

Ray took a quick, steadying breath. He was letting the tension of the moment get to him. So what if the elevator had descended again, likely about to pull up more Sylvans on the chamber’s doorstep. Ray was going to end this before they could come into play.

He used Mottling Sphereguard again. This time, however, he used True Enhancement on it first.

The True Mana variant of the spell was pretty significantly different from the regular one. It still called up ten orbs. But they weren’t simple spheres of chaotic energy anymore. These spheres were more solid, like they were made of obsidian, scarlet energy crackling over their surface and golden motes gleaming within.

As an ode to their solidity, they didn’t disappear on contact with the enemy either. They flew around Ray like living cannonballs, threatening to crash in and crush anyone who dared get too close.

With his defence assured, Ray sent spiralling bolts of Chaos Chymify at the Irebolt. Unlike the Sylvan, it wouldn’t defend itself against the Insanity affliction and choose to dodge. He had already crushed a Mana crystal and called up his construct yet again after it had died, to keep the Irebolt busy until Ray made sure his status affliction procced.

The Sylvan couldn’t have been certain what he was attempting, but she attacked him all the same. She found it difficult to get past his defence, though. True Enhancement Mottling Sphereguard was quite potent.

She was slammed aside by one orb, her attacks blocked by another. Even her ranged attacks didn’t manage to get past their defensive barricade.

Alright, Ray had been stupid not to use True Enhancement on Mottling Sphereguard before this.

Critical hit!

With a sudden roar, the Irebolt finally went insane. Its segments went berserk, its attacks landing everywhere and nowhere. Just in time for the other Sylvans to show up.

“Welcome to my party, folks!” Ray shouted as the trio of aliens got a face full of lightning.

Two ducked, but one screamed as he was blasted off the platform. The survivors rushed in to attack.

Ray understood that he could just use another Mottling Sphereguard. With the spell empowered by True Enhancement, he could simply flood the entire chamber with the chaotic orbs and constrict his enemies from doing anything much at all. It was quite overpowered.

Then again, so was every other spell he had under the effects of True Enhancement.

Ray blasted out another volley of the black-and-white orbs edged with red energy. They didn’t disappear when they engaged with the enemy. He had seen that in action, and he still felt amazed that it worked to that degree. Seeing the new Sylvans stymied as well as the first, Ray cast another volley and—

The Greater Irebolt crushed two of the orbs and sent several segments in a straight line at Ray. He was forced to dodge, the ground cracking under the Irebolt’s blow.

Ray looked around. The monster had basically deleted two of the orbs a little too easily. That shouldn’t have been possible, not with the True Enhancement empowering them. Unless…

He looked around and saw the Sylvans were enjoying greater luck. Like the Irebolt, they were pushing back and destroying the orbs with almost as much ease as though Ray had never used True Enhancement to begin with.

And that’s when he understood.

He couldn’t flood the whole room with Mottling Sphereguard as he had hoped. The more of the orbs he summoned, the weaker they grew overall. His hypothesis was proven correct when, as the orbs continued to decrease in number, their strength grew in reverse. The Irebolts couldn’t crush them as easily, nor could the Sylvans destroy them.

Fine. Even if Ray couldn’t exactly overwhelm his opponents with endless casts of Mottling Sphereguard, using it multiple times allowed him to reach a sort of equilibrium.

Giving him the opening he needed to work on the Tower Node.

Ray glanced around the battlefield. All he needed was an opening to get to the passage at the other end of the chamber. He just required a bit of safety from which to operate the Tower Node. Otherwise, he’d be swept up in the storm he created too.

The Sylvans were aware of that. Having realized she couldn’t get to Ray easily through the storm of chaotic orbs, the first Sylvan had decided to remain in position. That allowed her to prevent Ray from “escaping”. The other two Sylvans had realized the same plan. They weren’t trying to defeat Ray or any of his orbs any longer.

No, they were heading straight towards the passage.

Cursing, Ray charged at the Sylvans. He used Occultic Apparition, then evaded the Irebolt’s blows. Wind and lightning buffeted him from behind, but Ray was determined to reach his targeted spot.

How, though? With the Sylvans fighting that intensely, with the Irebolt storming from behind, his opportunity was limited.

Sudden inspiration struck Ray. He called the majority of his orbs back towards him, making them focus entirely on defending. Then they all charged forth together. Ray and his chaotic orbs, ramming straight at the Sylvans, whips of wind and bolts of lightning bouncing off his rock-solid defence.

One Sylvan’s glaive was brushed aside, another’s curved sword blow deflected off an orb. The last Sylvan tried to bodily stop Ray but was flung back when they all collided.

And that was when Ray was through.

Blissfully free from his enemies, from the press of Sylvans and the constant threat from the Irebolt, Ray decided to call up the Tower Node. It was time to unleash the broken sky.

“No, you don’t!” a Sylvan shouted. He rushed at Ray, but he was already sending several of his Sphereguard orbs to keep the annoyance away.

Probably why he didn’t see the glaive flying in.

Ray screamed as he staggered backwards, the glaive jutting out of his shoulder. Blood dropped to the ground around him. Shit, shit. He shouldn’t have sent the orbs away, shouldn’t have gotten distracted that easily.

He didn’t know when he had fallen to his knees, but ironically, the butt end of the glaive was helping him stay somewhat upright. At least he hadn’t fallen to his face.

For just a second, his conviction wavered. If he hadn’t been so dogged about going at this all by himself, he would have had someone to look over his back. If he hadn’t believed that working together with someone else was the same as being dependent on another person’s efforts. If, if, if.

Theses ifs didn’t matter. Ray was here, on his own, and that was that. He didn’t need anyone else to control his fate.

The Sylvans were attacking. One of them had managed to get past the Sphereguard orbs and was heading straight for him. Ray grimaced against the pain, pulling out the glaive’s blade and letting it drop even as he applied nearly a third of his Recovery to deal with the wound.

A quick succession of spells was enough to see Ray through the confrontation. Vengeful Plunder to boost his stats, then a cast of Mottling Sphereguard just as his opponent reached him.

The Sylvan was blasted back by ten chaotic orbs striking her all at once. Ray didn’t get to see if, or how much, she suffered from that blast. Those ten blows had taken all his primary stats up 1 point each, boosting his power by more than three levels.

He repeated the process, this time against the Irebolt. One blast of orbs to force it back, then another, then yet another. It didn’t cow down. Despite suffering obvious damage, even ten enhanced Sphereguard orbs weren’t enough to bring the monster down. But Ray had been counting on its large health pool, on the Insanity driving it and forcing it to attack the Sylvanas well as Ray.

Energy rushed into Ray. It was as though he had turned into whatever the inverse of a faucet was. A sink? That didn’t feel quite right. More like a small vacuum, suctioning in the nearby power. He made sure to convert the gathering Mana into True Mana.

One of the Sylvans had gotten free from the remainder of the orbs, rushing in at Ray. He was ready for it. This was what Vengeful Plunder had been all about. But he didn’t act too fast. Blows and counterblows would just be a waste of time. He didn’t want to give his opponent any chance to react.

As such, Ray waited, and waited, and was even struck for a minute moment. Then he slammed his arm to the side. The True Mana variant of his Shatterclaw arm materialized in the next instant. The Sylvan was sent flying.

Finally. With the last Sylvan distracted by the Greater Irebolt trying stomping everywhere, Ray was finally free to conduct the sky breaking ceremony.

He called on the Tower Node of the Skybreaker one more time, while also casting Mottling Sphereguard to form a wall before him. A wall that blocked out everything now that Ray was in the passage sloping upwards. There was no time to waste. Ray focused.

It wasn’t difficult to remember the sensations that had rushed through him the first time he had tried using the Tower Node. The awesome power of the sky. That was what bounded through him, what he had to make use of. The wind keening as it picked up speed, the rain hammering against him, the continuous bolts of lighting and peals of thunder.

Ray remembered it all—easy, thanks to the actions of the Greater Irebolt—and let that feeling flow into the strange connection he had with the new Tower Node.

The dungeon quaked. Ray shook. Thet tremor was hard. Then came another, and another. Each shake was timed almost perfectly with a pulse from the Tower Node, a blink of light that fluctuated between extremes in brightness. Something attacked, likely one or more of the Sylvans, but his orbs held firm. Especially after he added an Impervious Shell to back them up.

Then the shaking was joined by a roar. A groaning, grumbling roar like a thousand rocks crashing against one another. The knocks on his Sphereguard door had stopped a while ago. Except, they were now replaced with a constant, growing pressure.

Everything was cracking apart, even the passage Ray was within. Ah, shit. He had to get moving.

For just a second, he was tempted to see just what was going on inside there. How awestriking would it have been for him to see the massive power on display from the Tower Node of the Skybreaker. But with the way the passage was crumbling around Ray, he had a pretty good idea already.

The notifications arrived as he ran.

[Enemy Defeated—Irebolt/Sylvans]

Tier 8 Monster: Greater Irebolt [Level 21] x1

Acrobat Assaulter [Tier 3] Sylvan: [Level 16] x3

Crescent Wielder [Tier 3] Sylvan: [Level 17] x4

Crescent Wielder [Tier 3] Sylvan: [Level 18] x1

Glaive Guardian [Tier 3] Sylvan: [Level 17] x2

Essence: +26,880

Knowledge: +33

Mana Restored: +1,890

[Level Up!]

Reward

·       +3 Intellect, +3 Spirit, +2 Vitality, +4 allocatable free stats.

·       1 Class Evolution Point

Essence to Level 21: 4,940/24,300

Knowledge to next Threshold: 580/600

Ray stared. Then laughed. There it was. Finally. His long-awaited Class Evolution Point. As the dungeon crumbled around him, he decided to wait until after his class evolution to see if he ought to redistribute stats differently. Then, with slightly bated breath, he peeked at what Ascension Classes he could evolve into.

[Class Evolution]

Corruption Sage [Rare]

Corruption emerges from your every touch, leaving a trail of malformation in your wake. But they are merely one side of the same coin, a side in which the “natural” order means nothing. Unbridled growth—that is your creed.

·       + 20 Intellect, +20 Spirit, +20 Vitality, +10 Resilience

·       Direct access to True Mana.

·       All status afflictions raised by 1 Tier.

·       All attacks from all sources deal Cursed status affliction. When procced, enemies take 20% more damage from all sources.

·       Prioritized: Barrier, Buffing, and Utility spells

·       Perk: Corruptor’s Salvage [Primary stats boosted by +10 when a status affliction occurs]

Primal Soulbinder [Epic]

Your presence has left no soul untouched. All those who oppose you have but one fate—to have their very being incorporated into your ever-growing existence. Assimilate the world into yourself, wielding vast knowledge and power at the same time.

·       + 40 Intellect, +30 Spirit, +10 Vitality

·       Direct access to True Mana.

·       All summoning spells have Mana costs reduced by 25%.

·       All damage from any sort of summon is increased by 25%, and summons provide passive bonuses.

·       Assimilate abilities as well as stats and other innate physiological functions at once.

·       Prioritized: Summoning, Buffing, and Utility spells

·       Perk: Soulbinder’s Resolve [Primary stats boosted by +10 while a summons is active]

Spirit Sculptor [Epic]

The realm of spirits is one you already tread across. Harness their amorphousness and

call them forth in any way you desire across the veil of existence. Embrace acceptance, and sculpt the souls of others to your will, carving a path through realms both mystic and corporeal.

·       + 20 Intellect, +40 Spirit, +10 Vitality, +10 Agility

·       Direct access to True Mana, temporary access to other variants via diverse means.

·       All summons are now crafted from Mana.

·       All Mana and all spells can now be combined and modified, up to the limits of their capabilities.

·       All Mana-based spell damage increased by 20% and Mana shaping is enhanced.

·       Prioritized: Offensive, Summoning, and Barrier spells

·       Perk: Carving Affinity [Spell-relevant stats are boosted by +10 while a spell is active]

Please select the evolution for your Ascension Class.