Ashley

The two Primordials end up bickering like an old married couple for the entire ten minutes of the disabled broadcast before they vanish. And for some reason I get the feeling that they continue their arguing even after they leave. Just in person instead.

After they leave, Blake and I are left to discuss our plans going forward. Along with what we’ve learned from the recordings.

Which generally comes down to all of the successful hunts using the items infused by the True Damage skill of the UM, the territory of the UM slowly shrinking throughout the span of its two months of being open, and the progression of the monsters’ strength through the domain.

The first part of the plan is to go after the two mini bosses that were part of the death march. The drachne lord and the alpha dracoraptor.

Since they are probably almost dead by now. If they’re not.

At the very least, one of them should still be alive.

I hope.

Then the second part of the plan leaves the two of us quickly planning attacks against various different fortresses. So that we can gather the King of Destruction’s gunpowder and put it in special storage rings that Blake learned how to create through Etheria’s teachings. Something I’ll have to do myself.

And the third part of the plan is to hunt down mini bosses from other parts of this outer territory. Since we should be strong enough to fight them with the benefits from the last mini boss and these next ones we plan to hunt.

After getting the plans all decided upon, Blake teleports me out of the cavern before we use his tracking spell to head towards the drachne lord first. And the very fact that the tracking spell works in the first place proves that it’s still alive.

Except, the moment we make it a few dozen meters from the cavern, the King of Destruction chooses to go on a rampage again. Leaving the two of us taking shelter in a ruin until it blows over and we continue traveling towards the drachne lord.

The trip ends up taking an entire hour before the spell leads us to a large cave. One of the larger caverns that isn’t an actual spider or ant nest.

I share a glance with Blake, then we both nod and enter the cavern.

What we find are a bunch of spiders and webs in the cavern, implying that the drachne lord is rebuilding a new nest instead of fixing its old one. But it’s still too early for them to be a threat against us. So much so that, when I test my new High Destruction Resistance on the spiders, the basic ones can barely even scratch me. At all.

One of the lowest ranking spiders at around the mid-level forties that tries to slash its claw through my shoulder but doesn’t do more than a tiny little scratch. Startling the creature in the process.

And when I test it on a level fifty-something spider, the thing manages to do a small cut. Bigger than the last one but still not very large.

I find myself rather pleased with every flash of the crimson cracks that emerge across my body the moment the attacks land, only to fade again seconds later.

Something else I managed to learn before from studying my skills is that skills of the same type don’t stack. So Minor Destruction Resistance, Moderate Destruction Resistance, and High Destruction Resistance all end up with just one of them actually working. Just the highest ranking one.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

But High Destruction Resistance in and of itself is quite nice. It’s also much higher level than the other destruction resistances.

Probably because it was a mini boss who had the skill and not a regular elite.

Although I’m not sure how regular an elite is, but whatever.

The two of us travel through the caves removing the spider infestation inside of it. All the way until we begin to get close to the last room. By which point I can personally sense the drachne lord with Destructive Sensory Pulse.

We slow down a little and tense up as we get closer to the final cavern. Only to pause when we reach the opening to the cavern and find the drachne lord.

With the mini boss itself struggling to climb to its feet while covered in wounds across its entire body. Not to mention the missing limbs and eyes.

The spider mini boss has half of the carapace on its back torn off, exposing flesh beneath. It’s missing three legs, five eyes, and one of its pincers. And it looked like it was trying to breed spiders to fill its nest when we arrived. Considering the eggs beneath it.

Blake and I share a glance before nodding. Then he teleports up into the air and spreads both of his hands out while spell circles appear around them. Meanwhile I activate multiple skills at once. Transforming my hands into talons, summoning forth my mana claws, creating spikes of silver above the spider, summoning dozens of bolts of destruction mana, summoning vines to grab the spider and hold it in place, and even sending feathers from a single flap of my wings at the creature.

And at the same time as half my attacks hit the drachne lord, Blake slams his palms together along with the magical circles, making a second image of the drachne lord appear from it before he teleports forwards and slams his fist into the image. Shattering it in an instant.

The already-wounded drachne lord screeches loudly in pain from the attacks hitting it as its blood pours out in a purplish green goop.

I rush forwards as well and stab my mana-claws-coated talons into the open wounds of the drachne lord. Gripping them around whatever random organ I grab onto before ripping it out.

Blake and I attack one after another, over and over again, in a constant rush of attacks that leave the drachne lord unable to respond. Albeit largely due to its already-present wounds.

At some point I activate Assimilate, then the creature finally collapses a couple minutes later.

I feel rather surprised by how many attacks it’s taking to kill the drachne lord even with all of its wounds. But it eventually gives in a few minutes after collapsing to the ground.

Finally dead.

{You have been granted 100 Skill Points for killing a mini boss within a Unique Domain.}

{You have slain a being while Assimilate is active. You have now unlocked the Skill Tree: Destruction-Touched Drachne Lord}

{You have unlocked a new Skill Tree, therefore the root skill of the Skill Tree, Cocoon of Destruction, is now unlocked for your usage.}

{Congratulations, you have now reached level 80. Your PHY and MEN have increased by 1 point, and your MAG by 2 points. Please choose where you wish your 1 Free Point to be allocated.}

I quickly allocate my free points before opening the description for the new skill.

{Cocoon of Destruction – Allows the user to surround themselves with a cocoon made purely of destructive mana in a special way to the destructive-touched drachne lords. This cocoon is self-regenerative and destroys everything that touches it except for the user of the skill.}

Not bad. Not bad at all.

“Get something good?” Blake asks, making me glance at him before nodding.

Both those one hundred Skill Points and the new Skill Tree.

Actually, on that note, I look at the skills branching from the root of the tree. And immediately find the corners of my lips quirking upwards a bit in the barest hint of a smile.

One of the branches is silk generation and I get the feeling that it’s going to be a mutation skill, so I’m going to avoid that branch entirely. But the other three branches are good.

There’s a skill branching off of the root skill that is an improved version of the poison that the other drachne gave me. A skill that is the usual High-Stage Destruction Mana Manipulation. And a new skill that is actually called Mana Vision.

One that lets me directly see the mana within a person along with their aura.

Too bad the skill is five hundred Skill Points.

So I can’t afford it right now.

Which is unfortunate.

I sigh at that before looking at Blake and asking, “Next?”

He nods his head, and after we dump the drachne lord’s body into a storage ring, we leave the caves and begin heading towards the dracoraptor through another tracking spell.

But I can’t help but glance at Blake as we fly.

His spells sure are convenient…