If she managed to get to the point where a body would decompose instantly then, in theory, the Skill could be applied to walls and other objects. Or Skills. Although her control would have to be at its peak—maybe even Stage 4—for that to be the case.

  Well, there was no rushing it. It was a thought for the future.

  Astrid hurried past the open root door and entered yet another chasm. However, this time it was far larger than even the underground jungle before it.

  An enormous river cut straight through the cave, and light shone from above—not from glowing mushroom spores or any monster, but from above. To be exact, from the pillar of light of the extra dungeon mission.

  The sky? Astrid’s hopes were dashed as she squinted her eyes. The roots created a metal cage that covered the skyline. I wonder if I can blast it, now? What better way to display her newfound power than to blast a hole in the sky?

  As Astrid was about to fly up to test the tree king's defences, she saw multiple figures moving incredibly fast toward her. Six from the river.

  Preparing herself, Astrid sent out a fist energy from her Phase Wave Skill. She timed it perfectly; just as the monsters breached the water, the attack met three of them, blasting their bodies into the distance, where they crashed against the rock walls. The fact they didn’t blow up meant that their Level was considerable, or that they had heightened Constitution.

  The other three breached from the other side. Astrid looked in surprise at the unexpected visitors; froglike heads topped their humanoid bodies. Two sets of drooping gills adorned their faces.

  Spawn.

  Astrid instantly [Crashed] the matter in front of two of the Spawn. Unlike the Phase Wave, the psychic crash obliterated their bodies, sending blood and guts into the water below.

  With no time to [Crash] again, Astrid relied upon her Mind Barrier. There was no pink within the sixth monster's eyes, just the familiar dark green and black.

  The Spawn, which was armed with a large anchor, was obviously the strongest of the six. Still, out of arrogance or just the desire to test her strength, Astrid let the monster finish its attack.

  Just as the anchor was about to clash with her barrier, the water around it turned frigid, as did the Spawn’s eyes. Clad in ice, the anchor slammed against her shield.

  The weight bore down on her mind but the extra 100 of points of Intelligence held against the monster. Next up was the remaining test.

  Suspended in air, the Spawn stood on her barrier and gazed down. Astrid had never seen eyes that held such an animalistic desire. The desire to end her life.

  If Astrid had learned one thing over the course of her adventuring—from the backstabbing, treachery, and bloodshed— it was that she would kill anything that attacked her. This world was all about survival, and if she wanted to see her family again, the monsters had to die.

  Astrid wasted no more time, but yanked the Spawn’s wrath-filled eyes, tearing them from their sockets. The effect from her ring activated and, with a sudden explosion, the matter behind the monster’s eye sockets exploded the monster's skull. Fragments splattered against her shield.

  Astrid gazed upon the monster’s eyes. The ice ability that the Spawn had displayed—she wanted it.

  Accepting one of the Spawn’s eyes, she absorbed it into her third eye and felt a frigid cold. It reminded her of the days when she and Leena had raced to finish their ice cream. Of course, Astrid had always won, despite the brain freeze that almost shattered her mind every time. She always persisted. She wanted to win.

  Dominating Sovereign’s Eye has extracted the Skill - Ice Touch - From the Spawn Frost-Warrior.

  Ice Touch: Turn any water you touch into enchanted, frigid ice. The ice increases attack power. Scales with Intelligence.

  Would you like to merge with - Ice Touch Y/N?

  Astrid accepted the ability and focused on it. She activated the mana within her eye and felt the cold energy travel from her container to her palm. A layer of ice covered her fingertips.

  Sprinting to the edge of the river, she touched the water and a solid layer of ice formed on top of it. Because it scaled with Intelligence, the power of the ice was great.

  Astrid had come to a realisation about this new Skill, though. Because she didn’t have a Class that synergised well with it, it would remain weaker than her other Skills. She either would have to find two Skills that complemented her psychic abilities so that her buffs would remain on the chosen Skills, or she would have to pick some other Skills, for instance, passive buffs.

  There were countless possibilities, but she first had to focus on gaining a movement Skill—something that would give her a burst of movement, or maybe even hide her presence entirely, like an illusion, but stronger. Then she needed a passive strengthening to her Intelligence stat, or psychic power.

  Astrid shook her head. There were more Spawn coming from the depths of the water. Just as it had been since the Leviathan appeared. There were always so many.

  From the corner of her eye, Astrid could see two hovering eyeballs. One was cold like ice, the other was strong like a wave. They reminded her of the Eye Queen. She had been surrounded by hundreds, maybe even thousands of eyeballs all at once.

  Did the Eye Queen have thousands of Skills? Or maybe she was lazy and they all held passive abilities like Astrid had in mind.

  Astrid slapped the water. The entire river became crusted in ice at her touch, but it didn’t stop the Spawn. They smashed through the thick layer of ice, their movements impeded only slightly. But that was all that was needed.

  With the added buff from her Oculus Sovereign Class, Astrid ripped the eyes from their skulls. It was so easy—like tearing a sheet of paper. There was no resistance.

  A warm tingling began in Astrid’s hands, not because of the new collection of eyeballs that spiralled around her, but because of what was down below.

  Through the crystal clear icy waters, the thing looked at her. It was as if an ancient sea serpent had awakened from its deep slumber.

  It had such big, beautiful eyes. Astrid grinned.

  FIFTY-ONE

  Brett had no time to worry about the fact he was missing an arm, as a warrior in heavy armour charged forward holding a two-handed axe.

  “Brett!” Leena screamed and sprinted forward, intercepting the warrior.

  The warrior swung his axe in a wide arc. Leena immediately formed a purple shield on her arm and took the hit. The impact drove her feet into the soil and the sound of the axe hitting metal screeched in her ears.

  The axe glided off the shield and slammed into the ground, but the warrior seemed to have expected that. He snapped his knee to Leena’s chest, but she was more solid than he had thought.

  Leena had activated her Metal Condensing Skill and didn’t move an inch. She used the warrior’s rooted stance to her advantage and as she employed Thrust. Her metal lance weighed as much as a building as it aimed straight at his throat.

  His eyes widened.

  Just as her lance was The haloed man clicked his fingers, creating a spark. about to penetrate the man’s throat, the smell of rotten eggs permeated the air. The haloed man clicked his fingers, creating a spark.

  Brett acted in a flash, grabbing hold of Leena and gritting his teeth as they dissolved into a cloud of black shadow, then reemerged a few metres away.

  In the next moment, a wide area where Leena had stood suddenly and violently exploded.

  “Your arm—” Leena murmured.

  “Quiet.” Brett interrupted.

  Leena gazed into his eyes. With every passing second, his expression became more eerie and uncaring. It was as if his humanity was slipping away. Being so close to him, she could hear him grinding his teeth.

  “Brett Matthews,” The haloed, masked man sauntered a few steps forward. His golden black robe with golden accents flapped gently in a stray breeze from the explosion. “Son of Steven Matthews, bound to the group of the Severing Paths created by Lord Christian Sinwen many moons ago. Like father, like son—a repugnant tumour of the shadows.”

  Brett ignored the taunting words and glanced at Leena from the corner of his eyes, his focus remaining on the group in front of him.

  “Get out of here⁠—”

  It was Leena who interrupted this time. “Don’t you dare—I won’t be able to escape regardless.” Her expression turned serious… and wild. “Besides, I am a battle-maid of Sinwen.”

  Leena stepped forward and the purple Voidbent metal covered her face, muffling her words. “I made an oath to my lady—to Astrid. I will never back down again. Fight, bleed, and die.”

  “You’re an idiot.” Brett smirked, a hint of feeling returning to his hollow eyes. “That’s why I like you. But I don’t plan on dying. I have so many things to experience in this life. I will not turn into the monster my father was.”

  “If I attack you, don’t be mad.” Brett said as a cloud of shadow emerged from his heart, then swirled around them both.

  Brett disappeared, then reappeared from the tree line as a stream of shadow seeped out from his eyes. He moved so fast that the warrior on the far flank had no time to rest before Brett’s dagger sliced through his throat.

  It happened so fast that when Brett moved on to the next masked person, the warrior's head was still sitting on his neck.

  Brett’s shadowed blade lunged forward like a viper, but was met with resistance, clanging against a heavy tower shield. The impact rang up Brett’s arm making the blood vessels pop, but he persisted.

  He was one with the shadows as he blinked to the side of the warrior with the tower shield. Brett slipped his dagger though a gap in the warrior’s armour and pierced his heart, before moving to his next target.

  He move gracefully though the crowd, each action aimed at taking a life despite the increasing injuries to his body.

  It was a dance of death.

  Brett was among the crowd for only seconds, yet five bodies fell to the floor, lifeless. Just like Brett’s eyes.

  Every second he stayed within the shadows deepened the blankness in his eyes. The emptiness. He was making a deal with the devil.

  As he claimed another life with a twitch of his dagger, a sudden smell of rotten eggs assaulted his senses. He knew there wasn’t time. He grabbed his victim’s body and fell to the floor.

  An explosion rocked the area around him. The body on top of him absorbed most of the hit, but the numb sensation in his sides—and legs—meant that he hadn’t escaped unscathed.

  Without moving the body, Brett reappeared from a nearby shadow, and leapt at the halo-masked man. His twin daggers were about to tear straight into him when a couple of warriors intercepted him.

  They were larger than the others, and their sense of superiority seeped from their bones. They glowered at Brett with crazed, bloodshot eyes. His vision twitched to the side.

  Leena had emerged from his shadows and slammed into the disordered front line. With every step, she sank into the dirt, but her high Strength, powered by her Skills, brought her forward.

  Her charge gave Brett the time he needed. He ducked down and sliced into the foot of one of the tower shield holders with his blade. At his command, the wound spiralled up the man’s leg through his armour, seeping blood.

  “Will you stop harming my guards?”

  Brett looked up at the haloed man, who looked back at him as if it were an insect, not an assassin, staring him in the face. He had supreme confidence in his abilities.

  Brett smirked. The haloed man wouldn’t be the first to underestimate his abilities. His Level might be vastly superior to Brett’s—in fact, it obviously was. But Brett’s job was to murder, and he was good at it. He was born to it.

  The shadow streaming from his heart engulfed him until it gained an almost armour-like appearance. Brett’s face was covered and a pair of sinister horns sprouted from his head.

  Brett stabbed through the haloed man’s shield as if it didn’t exist at all; the dagger passed straight through it and pierced the tank’s throat. The man gurgled blood, though there was no sign of a wound. The blade enlarged.

  The haloed man was about to move when shadow tendrils coiled around his leg. A sense of unease caused the fine hairs on man’s neck to tingle. Brett could sense it all.

  Warriors from the flank charged up to impale the shadowed figure, but Leena shot forward and slammed her foot onto a warrior's own, her empowered weight crushing it.

  Brett’s shadow blade continued, decapitating the tank, and pierced the shoulder of the haloed leader.

  “Escape now.” Brett’s words entered Leena’s ears like a phantom.

  She hesitated for a moment, but with the strongest warriors dead, her escape was a greater possibility than before. It was time to make a move—to survive.

  The haloed man laughed and with a click of his finger, obliterated his own men—Brett along with them.

  Leena recoiled at the sight, but Brett reappeared behind her; Her vision turned black for a millisecond. In the next moment, Brett and Leena reappeared at the tree line.

  They bolted into the distance, away from the beacon of light, and sprinted nonstop for about an hour until they were certain that no one was chasing them.

  Leena gasped for breath. She had overutilised her Skills and was nearing the point of exhaustion. Brett was no better off. In fact, his condition was far worse.

  The shadows were no more, and as he stood with his back turned to her, Leena could see every wound gouged into his naked back. Parts of his skin were burnt to a crisp, and bloodied cuts were etched into his flesh. However, it was the scars that gave Leena pause.

  They were old, but she could tell that any one of them could have been mortal. They were raised, obviously not having been properly treated by a professional healer Class.

  “Brett, we need to find⁠—”

  Brett moved as swiftly as the wind to stand in front of her. She recoiled a step.

  Leena looked down. A black blade of unknown metal was lodged in her gut. Hot, wet liquid trickled down her stomach and legs.

  Her gaze returned to his eyes. They were void of emotion, not the eyes a human should have. They were the eyes of a demon that wanted nothing but to kill —whether it was beasts, monsters—or humans.

  Leena’s expression didn’t waver. What had he gone through? The thought surged within her mind.

  She reached out and placed her hand on his face, hoping that its warmth would get through to him.

  “It’s okay,” Leena said with a sweet smile, ignoring the wound in her stomach. “It’s over now.”

  Brett dropped his trembling hand. A spark of life returned to his vacant eyes. His gaze moved to the knife in Leena’s stomach. A twang of regret tugged at his lips.

  “Don’t be mad?” Brett dipped his head.

  “I’m not.” Leena pulled the dagger out from her stomach and handed it to him.

  Brett hesitated.

  “You chickening out?” Leena taunted.

  “Like hell, I am.” Brett snatched the dagger back with a chuckle. He took out two high-grade health potions from his belt. He swallowed one and handed the other to Leena. The stump of his arm was already scabbing over from the intense healing properties of the potion.

  He gripped the hilt of his blade to keep his hand from trembling. He was so cold.

  Leena took a step forward and embraced the trembling assassin, her hand patting his back. “If you’re cold, then remember this warmth.”

  Brett’s lips quivered behind the battle-maids ear. It was warm.

  “Mm.” Brett nodded.

  FIFTY-TWO

  Astrid stood at the edge of the river and waved her hand at the monster, but it didn’t move. It was as if it was taunting her to join it in its domain.

  “Not stupid, huh?” Astrid spat, then turned her attention to another set of Spawn eyes.

  Its body was different from the others, which was why Astrid had chosen its eyes over the others. Its hands were extra webbed, its legs larger and thicker than the rest, its tail more powerful.

  It was a powerful swimmer.

  Dominating Sovereign’s Eye has extracted the Passive Skill - Natural Born Swimmer - From the Anchoring Spawn.

  Natural Born Swimmer: Can breathe under water for a time, depending on Constitution. Use mana to form webs around your hands and feet to aid in swimming.

  Would you like to merge with - Natural Born Swimmer Y/N?

  Astrid wondered what would happen if she replied yes. She already had two ethereal eyes floating behind her. Would the new one take the place of one of them, or would it immediately go into storage? Well, there was only one way to find out.

  Accepting the request, she was met with another System message that answered her question.

  Two Eyes are currently in use. Take over one or send to storage?

  Astrid swapped the new eyeball out for the Phase Wave Skill. That wasn’t something she needed when she could just use [Crash].

  Focusing on the new Skill, Astrid covered her hands in a faint blue mana. They looked just like the Spawn’s own hands, and the same went for her legs and feet.

  The last thing she wanted was to be mistaken for a damned Spawn, the enemy of humanity. Thankfully it was only a Skill and could be turned off and on at will.

  She grinned at the monster lurking deep within the waters. Its frigid eyes glowered at her, taunting her.

  As you wish. Astrid chuckled and leapt into the water.

  She was forced to take in an immediate breath as the cold pierced her bones. It was too cold. Astrid flared her Omni-Kinesis, heightening her Constitution to the apex of her current control. That seemed to work, as her teeth stopped chattering.

  The monster was still in the depths. Astrid could guess why: It wanted to lure her deeper so that she would have less ability to escape.

  Level ??? - Spawn Serpent

  Let’s dance. Astrid kicked her legs and shot forward dozens of metres, making sure to stay out of the serpent’s presumed range.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50