[Psychokinetic] Eyeball Pulling - Chapter 86 (Patreon)

Stuart and the others glanced around at the thick trees. The smell of earth and moss was a pleasure that they would never tire of. Their life was often on the seas, stealing whatever they could from travelling merchants from one island to another.

The only smell they were used to was the stench of fish, and the salt of the ocean. Even now, it was hard to get rid of the smell. It was like it had clung to the fine hairs in their nostrils.

Stuart looked down at his bandaged hand. Red seeped through the white and it was a grim reminder that the horrors he had heard of the Prince were indeed true, at least the ruthless ones.

Are all the other stories true? Stuart grimaced at the thought.

He didn’t want to find out, but he couldn’t help but feel Prince was right. He had chosen to enter this line of work to feed his family. If he died, then he would die with honour for that cause. Making excuses wasn’t something he was willing to continue. It just took a missing finger to wake him from his naivety.

But it didn’t mean he was happy working under someone like the Prince. If there was a moment then he would–

Prince raised his fist in the air as everyone stopped in their tracks. He knelt down and hovered his hand over a small imprint.

Stuart took a closer look. They were human footprints. The regular triangular tread was the common issue of Wayfaring boots.

Usually, Wayfarers would get rid of them the first chance they could as the comfort left a lot to be desired. The leather was thick and coarse, the creators focused on durability rather than comfort.

“Looks like the information was correct,” Horace inspected the footprints. “First and second years.”

Prince said, “Let’s keep moving, we have a lot of distance to travel.”

Stuart, Horace, and the rest of the squad nodded.

They were under a time limit. Leave it too late, and the Seafarers would be above clearing the ocean’s from the spawn or other sea monsters. Start too early and they would be too close to Rebirth.

Coming just at the right time meant that all the work had been done for them. Whether that was the loot the Wayfarers found from looting the monsters, or doing all the resource collecting for them without having to lift a finger.

Stuart's heartbeat rose.

He was afraid to admit it, but it was out of fear. The introduction of a Sinwen made the mission perilous at best. Although this one was just a child, it made no difference to him.

Stuart had heard that the Sinwens treated their offspring as nothing but cold warriors bred for war and battle. But he was at least smart enough to read between the lines of their thick history.

Between all those stories of the Sinwens, the number one motivator for them was not for the benefit of humanity. But for the love of their family. If the mission went wrong, and they happened to harm even a hair on the Sinwens head…

Stuart shivered at the thought. They would most likely be hunted down for an eternity. Especially the Mad Hound Tennyson. He had read the leaked reports of the auction house disaster. Tennyson arrived just in the nick of time to save his baby sister.

Prince might not care, or even understand the Sinwens. Stuart did. His brother was a Sinwen guard after all.

Prince set off once more. It wouldn’t be long now until they faced the Wayfarers.

***

Astrid has torn the body of the Demonling inside-out, yet no item was left to be seen. With a stomp to the ground, she sauntered straight for the main door.

The bland, drab, and no longer dark hallways were getting on her nerves.

What was wrong with a bit of colour now and then? Looking at the same thing for so long was quickly getting depressing.

Even the Sinwen manor had a sparkle of colour, who did these people think they were? It was a sin to be so edgy.

Your Sadness has reached 70/100

I’m not sad! Astrid fumed.

A bright light shone from the end of the tunnel. Astrid closed her dark-vision eye, and it was just merely a dull light that signalled that the long passageway was coming to an end.

She created her defences, and created a group of major images then waited for her mana to return to full capacity.

With everything ready, she made the illusions walk forward. Once she deemed it to be safe, she cautiously stalked forward. Her eyes bounced from corner to corner of the new room in wonder.

A blanket of bone coloured smoke clung to the floor like a slithering second skin. Astrid moved a section of it to the side and was relieved to discover it was regular black tiles underneath.

Tall dark beige trees with enormous trunks reached high up into the room, as if it had no ceiling at all. At the top of the countless tree trunks sprouted verdant green leaves that bent back down to the floor, almost reaching halfway down the tree.

Above that, were millions of stars that twinkled. Some were white, others were purple, and some of them were even black.

Tall stalagmites joined the trees. They didn’t seem to be made of normal material from cave drippings, but of metal from Voidbent ore.

The air was humid, and the smell was half earth, and the other was a strange aromatic smoke. Like someone had placed a bottle of perfume into a fire and it exploded, sending the smell all throughout the room.

Astrid filtered out the smell, just in case it was of toxic nature. Better to be safe than sorry, nothing that smelt good in an alien world was something that should be absorbed into one's lungs.

Astrid sent her Psych Domain forward. With the added points to her Wisdom, she could see further than ever before. It was difficult to sift through the matter, as there was just so much of it. All the objects within the room made her life much harder than usual.

After a few concentrated minutes, she exited Psych Domain. To her eyes, there was nothing hidden behind the corners, or within the thick foliage above.

Astrid took a breath, then trod forward. After a few moments, the room opened up further. She couldn’t see it from the entrance, but the room descended further.

An ancient staircase travelled all the way down into a large square, roughly the size of a small field where a pillar was erected within the middle.

Standing on the grey pillar was a small ornate chest, barely bigger than the size of Astrid’s head, which wasn’t that big. Approaching it, it had black veins and a viscous pitch black liquid seeped outwards. It travelled down and disappeared into the stone pillar.

Something within her mind was telling her to open it. Or rather, the black blob was. It was excited, to the point Astrid could feel it affecting her emotions. Astrid frowned and swirled the psychic mana within her mind as the feeling was erased.

You may be a part of me, and may be paying your rent. But if you dare control my emotions I will find you, and scramble you into eggs! Astrid shouted within her mind.

She wasn’t sure if it listened, but her words were true.

Taking a deep breath, she reached out towards the chest. Her hands touched it. It was damp and felt like soaked, hardened wood.

Astrid took another cautious look around. She was expecting another trial of some sort, but it would make sense if the demonling was the last one. She couldn’t imagine many people her level beating something like that. She recalled the blazing heat that almost stripped her flesh away, and it hadn’t even been fully casted. That, along with its defence… Astrid grinned. It was a good opponent.

Here goes nothing. Astrid unlatched the front buckle, and lifted the top lid.

Peering into the box, a black blob squirmed within with a red-velvet lining.

A black blob… Is that why my one wanted me to come here? Astrid trembled.

She didn’t know why she had been brought here, she wanted answers, not another one of these things.

Think on the bright side, Astrid. It’s mostly likely the upgraded class reward. With a sigh, she emptied one of her mana potions and moved it into the box with Psychokinesis.

She attempted to scoop it into the bottle, but it leapt forward. Astrid tried to latch onto it, but it didn’t work. It continued toward her, then vanished from sight.

Deja Vu. She had experienced it the first time she had awakened her new power. The soft wetness that struck her cheek was an exact repeat of what happened on that day.

But unlike before, she stumbled back in pain. Blood seeped from every orifice on her face. She grit her teeth and they began to chip away at the force.

An image flashed within her mind. It was like something within her mind was fighting. But they held a strange familiarity that reminded her of her own family.  Although they had never caused her this amount of pain before.

It felt like something was ripping away the organ tissue of her brain.

Then it stopped. Astrid took a deep breath as she wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve.

Dungeon Mission - The Voidwalker - Complete!

Mission Reward: Legendary secondary class upgrade gained!

That was indeed the reward… Astrid massaged her aching temples as the storm within her mind settled.

Illusionist -> Voidmare

Yay, Astrid! It’s nice to meet you! I-uh, we–will you shut up, you’re a part of me you little voidling beast! Ah, no don’t cry I didn’t mean it, we are family now! We will help Astrid become the strongest little witch! No, it’s not a bad thing, voidling. She calls herself that… It’s not embarrassing, you don’t even know what that word is!

“What the fuck.” Astrid dropped her arms in utter defeat.