The corpse weaver’s axe struck the street, unleashing a torrent of sparks as Sanguineus dissipated back into his vessel. Another wave of agony struck Lanek, speaking of the many broken bones the blood wolf had suffered. He remained kneeling on the ground, almost wailing in grief. Lanek’s mind repeated the same thing over and over again to his companions. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.
He couldn’t help but curse himself for letting his disgust at the corpse weaver’s existence overpower his common sense, despite the fact that the corpse weaver’s [Taunt] had compelled him to attack. He cursed himself for the greed for loot that caused him to come back to this city. Most of all, he cursed himself for not being strong enough to actually aid his companions in this battle, much less protect them from harm.
In the background, Lanek could hear the thump and scrape of the weaver’s approach. I get a second chance at life and start to feel content for the first time and what do I do? I almost get my only friends in the world killed. This damn thing is going to pay, I owe Kazuma and Sanguineus that much.
With rage-filled eyes, Lanek looked up at the weaver, staggering back to his feet. The abomination froze for a moment, as if expecting a trick. It was at this point that Lanek heard the now-familiar whispers of the Void pick up all around him.
How disappointing. Is this really all you amount to?
We had such high hopes for you, yet you fall this easily despite the effort we put into you.
Lanek snarled in defiance. “I can’t fucking hurt the thing, what do you expect me to do?”
I expect you to fight until the end and exterminate this vermin. I expect you to prove yourself worthy of my attention and the efforts of your pets.
“Not pets. They are my family.” he snapped back at the whispers.
Even worse. They fought and almost died. They experienced and continue to experience agony as they rest in your soul. And why? Because of the decisions you made.
Lanek began shaking in anger. He knew the Void was telling the truth.
They threw themselves at your foe, following YOUR lead. They didn’t care about your goals, they only knew that you wanted the monstrosity gone and that your FAMILY couldn’t allow you to fight it alone.
You owe your family more than this. You owe them a true battle where you utilize everything at your disposal. A battle where you will fight until the end even if you must tear at the enemy with your teeth. More than that, YOU OWE THE VOID. WE DEMAND RECOMPENSE FOR OUR AID. YOU. WILL. DELIVER.
With rage building within himself at every word Lanek looked at his foe with burning eyes. He glared at the still frozen weaver, noticing that the entire world seemed to have been frozen around him. “Fuck you. Whatever the hell you actually are, you are right.”
Better. Now go, show us your determination.
Time resumed around him, the weaver resuming its approach. Lanek focused on the creature before rushing to the side, chain whip lashing at its flanks. It’s not enough. I need to hit harder. He focused all of his might into every lash of the whip, to no avail.
Lanek danced away from the weaver’s attacks, easily able to keep his distance. The only problem was that the weaver wasn’t getting tired, and the strain was going to slow Lanek down eventually. While moving away from the undead monster, he heard a footstep behind him. Acting purely on instinct, Lanek spun and launched his chain whip in a straight strike at this new enemy.
He was rewarded with a gurgle and the sight of an ash goblin impaled upon the blade of Sanguineus’ Vessel. However, the weapon was not draining the creature, Sanguineus’ injuries appearing to negate the life-draining ability of the weapon.
He could feel a resonance along the chain length, emanating from the goblin’s soul. His blade had stabbed straight through the soul, doing no damage to it, but making contact due to [Etheric Presence]. Lanek could also feel something else pulsing from within him, something new. Something hungry.
Running out of options, Lanek called out to the hunger, summoning it. With a horrified look from the goblin, its soul was ripped free and traveled along the chain into Lanek. The body of the goblin burst into ash, just as the crypt stalker had when Lanek took its soul.
You have ingested the soul of an Ash Goblin. Would you like to assimilate it?
Before he could consider the ramifications of his actions or reconsider, he felt the hunger of the Void pull the answer from him.
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Yes.
A staggering amount of energy flowed into his body. Unlike the healing he had received when he had declined to assimilate the crypt stalker’s soul, this energy infused his very being.
Your soul has grown more powerful. SPI 9 → 10.
You have learned [Soul Shackle] [Unique].
Lanek spun back around to face the weaver, having expected it to have closed the distance. Shockingly, the corpse weaver was backing away from him rather than advancing. The lights in its eyes flickering as if in apprehension. Why is it nervous? Could it see me take that soul? Could it feel me get a new skill?
He allowed the monster to fall back and took a moment to consider his new ability.
[Soul Shackle] [Unique]
Soul Shackle is a unique skill created from the Soulbinder class and the essence of the Void growing within you. With every soul assimilated into your own, your attacks will become more potent, imbued by the power of those you have subordinated. In exchange for such power, you are no longer able to increase your SPI without shackling souls and lose all free attribute points going forward. Scales with SPI.
Note: The power imbued into your attacks will decrease when your contracted companions are summoned due to your need to dedicate portions of your soul to keep them in the physical plane.
Oof, that hurts. I can see the potential, but I’m not sure losing nine free points a level is worth it. And I DEFINITELY don’t like that bit about Void essence growing inside of me. A ghost of a laugh drifted through his mind. Yeah, that’s not encouraging.
Shaking his head, he closed with the weaver, lashing out at its chest. The weaver, despite its odd hesitation and retreat, trusted in the strength of its bones. This trust was misplaced. The blade not only struck pushed the weaver back a step, it cleanly sliced a large piece of bone from the creature’s sternum.
The undead beast looked down at its injury before attempting to grab the whip. Lanek snapped the whip back and lashed back out at the skull. A secondary arm moved to block the strike only to lose the lower jaw of the small skeleton mounted on it. With another significant injury dealt to it, the weaver decided it needed to close the distance, galloping at Lanek with significant speed.
The Soulbinder simply watched calmly before rolling to the side, chain whip lashing out to pierce the monster’s flank and the soul stored in the chest cavity of the rear half of the monstrosity. No longer hesitating and still furious over the damage done to his family, he immediately ripped the soul free and absorbed it.
Your soul has grown more powerful. SPI 10 → 11.
A loud crash from the weaver startled Lanek as he turned to face it after his roll. He had expected to hurt the creature when taking one of its four souls, but he hadn’t expected every bone around that soul to cease functioning. The weaver was now dragging its centaur portion and secondary arms like a massive and ungainly tail. The two small skeletons now clawing ineffectually at the ground without the secondary arms providing them with mobility.
A grim satisfaction passed through Lanek at the sight, but he wasn’t done with the corpse weaver yet. It could still kill him if he wasn’t careful. Besides, it wasn’t dead yet and Lanek was not going to let it escape his retribution. In fact, Lanek wanted a more visceral feeling from his enemy’s destruction, so he calmly dropped the whip and pulled the mattock free of his belt with a predatory smile.
He relished the feeling of uncertainty from the weaver at the sight. Lanek charged, ducking a wild axe swing and braced himself to put all of his force and momentum into driving the pick end of the mattock into a skeletal knee joint. The knee did not crack, it exploded in shards of bone, completely detaching the lower half of the weaver’s leg.
Unbalanced, the monster flailed as it fell, dropping its axe. Lanek eased up to the axe, pulling it out of the weaver’s reach. He maneuvered around the weaver’s one combat effective arm, the arm that had held the axe braced against the ground. Another explosion of bone shards flew from the weaver’s remaining leg, dropping it to the ground fully.
The mighty corpse weaver could now only swing wildly with one arm as its other arm was needed to lift the torso up enough to allow the weaver to lash out. With an almost leisurely pace, moved behind the weaver and severed the bracing arm, and stepping onto its back to force its face into the ground and pin it there. It writhed wildly while the human considered it.
With another strike, he took the last arm away from the thing. He put the mattock away and regarded the glowing points of light signifying the three remaining souls. For a moment, he hesitated at the sight of the children’s skeletons and who these souls had belonged to.
His hesitation did not last long. These monsters had nearly killed him. Worse, they had nearly killed his Kazuma and Sanguineus. He pulled the kanabo out, taking a two-handed grip and began swinging at the body beneath him. They had made this personal and he would consume.