My Skill levelled up… Astrid stumbled; something was entering her mind.

  “Astrid, what’s wrong?” Leena took a step forward and grabbed her hand—only for Astrid to writhe with pain.

  Leena’s eyes widened in shock as wounds began to appear on Astrid’s body. Blood seeped from her nose, ears, nose and mouth.

  Suddenly, the pain and damage she had suffered in the trial washed over her like a tide.

  Crack.

  Her arm snapped.

  SIXTY-FIVE

  Astrid flared the mana within her eye and stopped the bleeding from her accumulated wounds, especially the internal ones.

  “What happened?” Leena said, concern written across her face. She took out a Rare health potion from a small satchel at her waist and placed it in Astrid’s hand.

  Astrid uncorked the potion and swallowed its contents. The taste was horrid, but the warm feeling overtaking her body put her at ease. From deep within, she could feel her body being restored.

  Taking a gentle breath, she could still feel soreness of her lungs, but it would heal with time.

  Astrid thought about what to say and decided to tell the others only what had happened within the Eye Queen trials.

  She hid the fact that she had obtained a Transcendent Class. She wasn’t comfortable sharing that information until she knew more about her new Class.

  After she finished her story, they gazed at her with mouths agape. They couldn’t stop looking at the eerie eyeballs floating behind her back. When they blinked, it seemed as though they had a mind of their own—sentience.

  “What is with you?” Brett asked.

  “What do you mean?” Astrid blinked along with the floating eyes.

  “Your class… What the hell did you choose? And the fact you’re Level 100 already and beating these monsters on top of it.” Brett gawked, but he wasn’t alone. Everyone was looking at Astrid with questioning eyes. “What do the Sinwens feed you?”

  “I chose the Class - Oculus Witch,” Astrid said, but omitted the fact it was at the Transcendent tier.

  “Oculus Witch?” Leena scratched her head. “I’ve never heard of it—not in the Sinwen library, anyway.”

  “Why does it sound so fitting?” Bellona said.

  “You guys are mean.” Astrid pouted.

  “Eye Queen’s disciple.” The Great No-Eyed one approached with the psychos in tow. Brett and the others raised their guard. Although Astrid knew them, to the others they were psychotic strangers. “The invaders have escaped, should we chase them? It would be a good time to eradicate them from our vicinity.”

  Astrid tilted her head for a second. She had to admit, the idea of eradicating them didn’t fill her with much excitement.

  “No, but tell me about Avemoth.”

  Brett and the others looked at each other. “You’re already thinking about hunting the big bad?” Brett said. “Give us a break here.”

  “Brett is right my lady, we have been fighting for days on end,” Leena continued. “We need time to rest and recover, especially Brett. Don’t let his bravado make you think otherwise.”

  Astrid took a good look at Brett. It was true. His eyes were dim, and his three limbs trembled with shock and fatigue, despite his best efforts to mask it.

  “You’re an idiot,” Astrid sighed. “Why did you get your arm removed?”

  “Oh yeah, cos’ I definitely asked them to do it.” Brett stuck out his neck in mock anger.

  “Alright, listen up everyone for our plan of action—you too, psychos!” Astrid shouted. She ignored the crazed cheering of her new troops. “We’ll go back to the base, rest, then find that stupid Avemoth and slay it in its home. Once I retrieve its eyes and find the gateway back home, I’ll bring you all with me!”

  “You make it sound so easy.” Bellona exhaled a long breath.

  “Oh, Calum, you’re still alive!” Astrid grinned as she spied the heavily injured young man.

  Calum’s shoulders fell. “Did you just realise?”

  “What about you?” Astrid ignored the question and looked at Jonathan.

  “What about me?” He asked.

  Astrid looked around for his Seafarer team, but none of them were there. Nor did she spot them in the distance with Psych Domain. “Well, you don’t seem to have a team.”

  Jonathan stood rooted for a second before he gazed around in the surrounding area. “No, I guess I don’t.”

  “Then you can come with us. Or not. I’m still angry with you, you know?” Astrid frowned.

  “I will, and thank you, Astrid.”

  “This is the Great No-Eyed one, he’ll take you to the base. I need to finish up here.”

  As the others left, Astrid walked over to the mountain king and tore out its eyes, then used Disintegration on its body.

  She repeated the process with the other kings.

  Skill level up!

  Disintegration Level 5 -> Disintegration Level 9

  Dominating Sovereign’s Eye has extracted the Skill - Solid Restructure - From the Mountain King.

  Solid Restructure: Anything you create with earth as its foundational element has its strength increased by 150%.

  Would you like to merge with - Solid Restructure Y/N?

  Astrid chose against it, although the thought did cross her mind that if she used Matter Absorption, she might be able to change her Mind Barrier to a more solid state, for instance, like earth.

  It was something to test later.

  Next up were the eyes of the draconic bird.

  Dominating Sovereign’s Eye has extracted the Skill - Born for Flight - From the Bird King.

  Born for Flight: If you have a Skill for flight, increase your airborne speed by 100%.

  Would you like to merge with - Born for flight Y/N?

  Oh, that’s a good one! Astrid beamed; it would effectively double her speed in the air. Although it wasn’t technically a movement Skill, the effect was pretty much the same.

  It was a good choice for her. She decided to exchange it for Ice Blood.

  Astrid would lose the utility of having her [Crashes] freeze the enemy, but having increased mobility meant she could dodge more attacks and gain the distance she needed to fight freely.

  Ice Blood -> Born for Flight

  She immediately tested the ability, shooting up into the air with increased speed. She then let herself fall; tears wicked away from the corners of her eyes as she swooped down with crazy momentum.

  As the ground rapidly neared, she connected to the matter in her body and gave it a powerful pull. Her body halted a few feet above the ground.

  That was close. Astrid chuckled, then looked at the other System message. It was the last Skill from the kings.

  Dominating Sovereign’s Eye has extracted the Skill - Inborn Might - From the Ape King.

  Inborn Might: The primal might of an ape king is not to be ignored. Increases Strength by 75% and Constitution by 50%

  Would you like to merge with - Inborn Might Y/N?

  It seemed that not every Skill would be useful. As much as she loved fighting at close quarters due to her training, she thought it best to avoid it.

  She needed to stick to what she did best, and that was medium-range magic attacks and control. Her increased flight speed only reinforced that conclusion.

  Besides, what she truly wanted was a passive Skill that would increase her Intelligence by a percentage. Although it would be difficult to choose between extra speed, or more damage. Well, she would face that problem when she received the Skill.

  For now, she turned her attention to the masked man. Judging by his words, he had been part of the group of masked terrorists that had attacked Rebirth seeking the black blob.

  She approached his body and crouched to touch his mask. She wanted to know who her attacker was, and whether his face was familiar.

  However, the moment she touched the mask, the man’s Skill began to bubble away. It was as if acid had spread over his flesh, eroding it at a breathtaking speed.

  Frowning, Astrid connected to the matter within his body and dipped into his veins. She examined his blood, and spotted a strange type of cell rampaging through and destroying everything in its wake.

  Astrid connected to it, and [Crashed] it. The man's body blew up in a mess of blood and flesh. There might have been a more indirect method, but it was the only way Astrid knew to stop the virus—or whatever it was.

  Her Mind Barrier prevented any of the fluids from touch her. With the decomposing stopped, all that was left was a head. Astrid carefully grabbed the mask and removed it.

  One side of the face was destroyed, bubbled away, and she could only half make out the other side, though even that was a struggle as most of it was burnt or covered in boils.

  But it was recognizable.

  He was a noble. Not a high one, but a noble, nonetheless.

  It was a troubling discovery. Were the nobles in control of his organization, or had he acted alone and joined it of his own free will?

  Astrid pondered for a moment. This placed his entire family under suspicion.

  This can’t go on. The noble families need to be investigated from top to bottom.

  Astrid scowled.

  And for what? Power? It was despicable. Astrid doubted that anyone wanted power more than she did, but even she wouldn’t fall so low as to betray what was left of humanity.

  She took a deep breath to calm herself. She gazed at the head, then yanked out its eyes—if they could be described as such.

  They were shrivelled up and black as an abyss. The matter within them was nullified, dead. Alongside the bloodshot eyes, Astrid came to the conclusion that they were black blobs.

  So, he did have two black blobs, same as me. Astrid tutted.

  She didn’t remember the noble’s name, which meant that she couldn’t tell her father who to investigate. But there was an easy remedy for this situation.

  Astrid threw the head into her Void Storage.

  With her work completed, Astrid headed toward the jungle—and her team—at high speed.

  SIXTY-SIX

  Leena and the others looked at the psycho camp wide-eyed.

  “This is the camp?” Bellona tilted her head as she gazed out at the noncombat psychos doing various tasks: drug making, animal skinning and taste-testing, smashing their heads against boulders for fun.

  Wherever she looked, bizarre things were happening.

  “Friends of the Eye Queen’s disciple are friends of ours.” The Great No-Eyed One waved his arm across the valley. “Here, you can make yourself at home.” “Th-thank you for your hospitality,” Leena said through an awkward smile as she watched the psychos scream and run around on dinosaur-back, crashing into the surrounding buildings.

  “You are welcome!” The Great No-Eyed One shouted and made a beckoning motion toward one of the psychos. “Butcher-fingers, display the prized meat to the visitors—we will have a grand feast today!”

  From the valley, Astrid and the others could hear the jingling of chains. Before long, a tall man with blades for fingers approached.

  Leena and the others gawked. Attached to his spine was a large metal rod with branching arms. Each arm had a jingling chain attached, with a large chunk of meat hooked onto the end.

  “Right away, Great No-Eyed One.” He nodded to the enormous man, then bowed deeply to the floating golden-haired girl next to him. “Praise to the Eye Queen. With my finest selection of meats, I will make a meal befitting a person of such greatness.”

  He talked with a slight lisp almost like a snake. Looking more closely, Astrid saw that his tongue was split down the middle.

  Butcher-fingers gazed at the dangling pieces of meat with pride before heading into the valley with a hop in his step. The chains jingled with each step like a bell on a cat’s collar.

  Astrid nervously chuckled. “It’s beast meat, right?”

  “Of course,” The Great No-Eyed One said. “Don’t worry disciple, we don’t eat human flesh. That would be… unbecoming of a sacred race blessed by the Eye Queen.”

  “Right… Unbecoming.” Brett shook his head with a wry smile.

  “That’s good.” Astrid nodded. At least the Eye Queen isn’t that crazy. Maybe.

  The Great No-Eyed One led Astrid and the others to an enormous hall with a huge table that filled most of the space. The smell of cooking meat wafted through the air as they sat waiting at the table.

  About fifteen minutes later, dozens of psychos wearing white aprons entered the hall carrying huge platters of food on their shoulders.

  Astrid sat up to get a closer look, but the platters were covered with metal domes. It reminded her of dinner back at the family manor.

  Even the plates looked similar. Her father refused to have gaudy ornaments like silver plates or crystal glasses. They used simple porcelain plates and plain glassware.

  The psychos placed the platters on the table.

  Astrid glanced around at her friends' faces with amusement.

  They were gazing worriedly at the metal domes, wondering what might be under them.

  The Great No-Eyed One clapped his hands and the psychos lifted the covers. Expressions changed from worry to shock to wonder.

  Leena’s eyes lit up. Then her cheeks reddened as her stomach growled.

  “Have you got a monster in there?” Brett joked.

  “Shut up.” Leena jabbed his side with her elbow.

  Brett grimaced with faked pain, then grabbed a fork and stabbed a huge, juicy steak. The fat was rendered perfectly and juices escaped from the holes made by his fork. The meat was perfectly crusted with what appeared to be seasoning. It looked to have been hand-applied with great care by the chef.

  Brett shoved a massive bite of steak into his mouth. It was so tender it almost seemed to melt on his taste buds. He nodded with enthusiasm and continued. Within a few minutes the slab of meat had vanished into his bottomless stomach.

  Witnessing Brett’s rapturous expression, the others followed his example.

  Piece by piece, the food disappeared, only to be replaced as the psychos ran to and fro with haste. They were on a mission to feed their guests.

  “How dith woo wearn to cook?” Astrid’s asked through a mouthful of food.

  Leena glared at her as a reminder about table manners. Astrid scowled, then swallowed her food with a gulp.

  “How did you learn to cook so well?”

  The Great No-Eyed One nodded. “The Eye Queen taught our ancestors how to treat guests. She wanted good food and we wanted to make her feel at home.”

  After they had eaten, silence ensued, but not for long. Astrid hated silence. And she was getting bored. She clapped her hands for attention. “Alright, now that we’ve rested, I want to talk about Avemoth.”

  Astrid took a sip of the red liquid from the cup beside her. She felt a strong buzz as it made its way to her stomach.

  She burped, avoiding a death glare from Leena, and continued, “Where is it, and how do I get to it? We can’t stay here forever.” She looked at the Great No-Eyed One.

  He shook his head.

  “You don’t think I can beat it?” Astrid asked.

  “Honestly, I’m not sure. Judging from the battle, I would say it’s uncertain. Maybe you win, maybe you lose. I truly don’t know.”

  Astrid pinched her chin in thought. If it was uncertain, that could only mean one thing. “Then I need to go and see for myself. It’s no good dawdling about twiddling my thumbs. I’ll see for myself whether I can defeat it or not.”

  “Astrid, isn’t that too risky?” Leena said.

  “It’s a risk I need to take,” Astrid continued. “If I don’t, how are we supposed to get out of here? The main mission of the dungeon is to defeat the Avemoth.”

  “But does that truly mean that the dungeon gateway will open if we defeat it?” Calum asked. He seemed nervous speaking up, but Astrid could see his desire to help.

  Astrid had the same question. The dungeons were still unknown; who could say that the gateway would open if she defeated the Avemoth?

  “This is the first time I have been in a dungeon.” Jonathan pressed his hands together. “I’m confused, worried about not being able to get out. But what if the dungeon gateway is elsewhere?”

  Astrid shook her head. “Then where? Regardless of your questions, I need to find the Avemoth. It is the first and only clue we have right now. Maybe the gateway is elsewhere, but my statement still stands.”

  The others nodded at her words. They made sense.

  The Great No-Eyed One nodded, then ordered the psychos to clear the table. He left, then returned with a large roll of paper in his hands. It was tattered and yellowed, but still mostly in readable condition.

  He rolled it open from one end of the empty table to the other.

  Astrid levitated and lay on her stomach. With her elbows in mid-air, she cupped her chin in her palms. The roll of paper was a map consisting mostly of an endless green representing the jungle of Eyamos.

  As the Great No-Eyed One had described, there was Braniatia to the west, Estetia to the east, and finally the Wrentsend Icelands in the north.

  The map focused mainly on Eyamos, with only a little information about the other kingdoms.

  In the mountainous region of Eyamos, the map depicted an active volcano and an enormous insect with mothlike wings. Lava spurted from the volcano and highlighted the moth monster from behind.

  Avemoth.

  “Avemoth’s lair lies within the active volcano named Mount Ire. We don’t know when the next eruption will be, but the legends say that when Avemoth awakens, the mountains will split, and the earth will rend.”

  “Whoa.” Brett bobbed his head up and down.

  It sounded like monsters from the myths— and just like the Leviathan story. When the Leviathan awakened, the oceans would answer its call and the Spawn would come forth in an army capable of contending with the might of humanity.

  Astrid was still curious to know why the Leviathan didn’t act. There must be a reason. Perhaps it had been pulled into a dungeon just like Astrid and the others.

 

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