“This is going to suck…” Kal muttered to himself as he felt around for something to hold onto on the rock wall. Not only was this wall annoyingly sheer, but he was virtually blind. His mana sight helped him find things in the dark but he could make out any kind of detail. The wall was a uniform black to his eyes and he actually found it easier to deactivate his mana sight and just feel around the wall rather than be distracted by the crimson energy moving around him. His new strength and agility were helping already, making climbing the wall possible as long as he could find something to hold onto. He couldn’t tell how much progress he had made since he began climbing but he assumed it was decent when suddenly the walls started getting bloody sharp. He still couldn't see anything but by moving his free arm over the wall above him he could feel several protruding spikes, "Damn, I'm lucky I didn't hit these on the way down," at least now his hand-hold problem was solved. Kal used the spikes to continue climbing.
He cut his hands a few times on the way up but nothing worth worrying about. A few more minutes passed as he felt his way further up the wall until he felt that he had reached the overhang. He would have to hang from the wall and use only his hands for the next part. He activated his mana sight again to see if it would help at all now that he could position his next handhold between himself and the mana. Luckily it worked and could just barely make out a few more spikes to use to make his way past the hard part. "Well, here it goes…" Kal reached above his head grabbed onto one of the vertical spikes and let go of the wall. It was easier than he expected to hold on in this precarious position. His new attributes were definitely helping him out now though his stamina was slowly ticking down.
Kal was starting to sweat by the time he got to the edge of the overhang. It had taken longer than he had hoped to get past it and his stamina had dropped to almost fifty percent in that time. He had gotten stuck for a moment finding no spikes to hold onto about halfway into the overhang and was forced to double back and search for another path. But now he was reaching for the next spike just above the overhang-
*Crack*
Kal gasped as the spike he was holding broke in his grip and he fell. He was about to yell but his head hit the ground before he could, "Fuck! Ow, ow ow!" Kal's head throbbed from the impact but he knew that had fallen as far as he should have so he sat up with one hand on the bump that was slowly forming and looked around.
He had actually managed to get over a segment of the passages and now he was in a small section that had a wall that turned back on itself making Kal now picture the passages to be in a kind of narrow "S" shape. Kal decided to rest for a while to let his stamina recover and siphon some more Wrath.
Health:
404/450
Stamina:
376/630
Wrath:
26
He hadn’t gained any Wrath during his time in the bunker but at least he hadn’t lost any. The siphoning went as it normally did. Painfully, his siphoning speed was slowly increasing. He had been able to increase his Wrath by another fifteen points before his Stamina was fully recovered. Hopefully, soon he would be able to get a skill to use his Wrath with other than healing. Either way, he activated his Wrathful Regeneration and gritted his teeth as he felt the lump on the back of his head slowly shrink. It didn’t heal him much but at least now his head was aching.
Health:
414/450
Stamina:
630/630
Wrath:
0
Not wanting to delay the climb any longer Kal got to his feet and started his climb up the wall opposite the one he started with. He was even more cautious with his approach on the way up this side. He really didn’t want to fall again, he was lucky he didn’t get himself impaled or fall all the way back to the bottom of the passages.
Kal’s climb continued and after about nearly an hour of scaling the second wall he could finally see the next overhang above him but what was even more encouraging was that he could see the barest hint of light making its way past the edge of the overhang. It was nowhere near enough to see by but it was still a big difference compared to what he had been dealing with up until this point. He pushed upward along the steep overhang and finally made it up to the next section of the wall. It was getting a lot more narrow now, which just gave Kal more hope as he continued his climb.
His stamina had dropped by about thirty percent during the last section, but he didn’t feel the need to stop just yet. This section, though narrow, had far fewer spikes to use to pull himself up, but he still made slow progress toward the light. By the time he had gotten to the top of this section his arms and chest were burning with fatigue but finally, he could truly see again. There wasn’t much light but it was finally enough to see by and the rest of the climb looked short enough that Kal felt confident he could make it. So he continued.
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He was starting to struggle as he made his way to the last dozen feet to the top of the stone wall. Finding handholds was much easier now that he could see. As he reached for the next crack to wedge his hands between he scrambled to grab something else as the sound of crumbling rock reached him. It took him a moment to realize it wasn’t his handhold that cracked. Kal flung himself to the side, letting go with one hand and hitting his back against the stone wall just in time to avoid five needle-like claws and the body of something he hadn’t seen for a few days now.
[Kuroxet Reaver | Abyss Spawn 9]
This was the highest level he had seen so far. But he barely had time to take that in as the creature pivoted faster than any of the others he had seen before and came at him again. It had fallen down past him but kicked off the opposite wall leaping back up towards him. Its claws and fangs bared.
Kal could barely defend himself as it returned, all he could do was kick down at it. Luckily his kick landed sending the demon down deeper into the darkness. Kal flung himself back to the wall and started climbing as fast he could, he couldn’t fight the thing in here. This one was different. It was some kind of variant of the Kuroxet he had killed before. Kal could feel his anger rising as he hurriedly scaled the last few feet of the wall. He could hear the demon gaining on him, the sound of its claws gouging holes into the stone pushed him to move faster. Just as Kal reached the top the demon laughed, the sound reminding him of the moan of the sick and dying but the emotion behind it was clear.
Kal reached the top and quickly over onto the top of the plateau, he would have celebrated if it wasn’t for the damned thing hounding him. He got to his feet and stepped away from the edge just in time for the reaver to leap from the crack and onto the edge. Kal drew his sword and the feeling of having it was immensely satisfying right now.
Now that Kal could get a good look at it he could tell immediately that this one was different. It was significantly bigger than the base variant kuroxet. Its appearance was also different this one had pale red skin and its claws and fangs were pure black. Kal could see that the corrosive mucus the others leaked from their mouths seemed to coat the reaver’s claws as well. He would need to be very careful here.
Kal expected the thing to charge him immediately but instead, its face distorted into a freakish mockery of a smile, its mouth filled with vile black fangs. Then it spoke.
“Excsssselent, you are the one. You will be my feassst,” Before it had finished speaking it dashed towards him. It was fast, way faster than the normal variants. Kal barely had time to react before it had closed on him. Kal brought his sword between him and the Kuroxet but the demon nimbly ducked the blade and bore its claws into the meat of his thigh. Kal cried out as he felt the claws retract, leaving some of the corrosive mucus behind. It immediately began to burn, the pain was bad but it wasn’t any worse than what he felt when siphoning from the hostile atmosphere. The demon dashed in again but this time Kal was able to fend it off and his anger continued to grow with the pain.
Kal had just gotten out the goddamned passages he wasn’t going to let this thing kill him now. Kal moved into an offensive putting his new attributes to the test. He was stronger and faster than he ever was before. He would slay this thing and grow stronger still. It was still faster than him and landing decisive blows was difficult, but he pushed himself harder with every moment that passed.
Finally one of Kal's strikes landed and he felt his sword bite deeply into the demon's side. The reaver threw itself away from Kal with a pained hiss. Kal charged after it but it was a mistake, the moment he got within striking range the demon laughed again and suddenly its wound burst filling the area with foul red mist and all Kal knew was pain. Every inch of him burned like he had just been thrown into fire. Kal’s mind blanked for a moment from the shock allowing the reaver to strike again.
Health:
212/450
Stamina:
146/630
Wrath:
0
Once again the demon withdrew its claws leaving more of that corrosive mucus behind. Kal could feel it moving through his body now, burning his veins as it went. He roared in pain and anger as he felt his birthright stirring again. New instincts began to filter through Kal’s mind, he needed to deal with this thing fast. He would deal with his injuries later. Kal didn’t immediately charge after the reaver. Instead, he acted as if the pain had disorientated him once more and allowed the creature to strike once more. Luckily for Kal, this reaver enjoyed a slow killing like the other kuroxet and its strike was aimed at his gut. The claws dug painfully into his stomach but Kal took the opportunity to grab the damned demon’s arm. Kal could sense the creature's realization of its mistake as it hissed frantically but Kal didn’t give the chance to escape before he brought his sword down bisecting the creature from disgusting shoulder to bony hip.
You have slain [Kuroxet Reaver | Abyss Spawn 9] - Bonus experience award for defeating a higher leveled entity.
Mutilation Bonus added to the total.
Level up!
Corrosive blood splashed all over Kal as the demon fell into a bloody heap. Its guts pulling all over the ground, Kal felt like it should have disgusted him but the pain and anger made him smile at the victory and he stomped down hard on its freakish skull.
Mutilation Bonus added to total.
Mutilation Bonus added to total.
Kal was still burned all over from the bloody mist in the air so he retreated from the area. His insides were still actively burning as he moved, he could feel the venom or whatever it was moving through him every second. He took a seat and looked inward, viewing the damage directly. It wasn’t good, everywhere he looked he could see damaged tissue, and even a few of his organs were burning up as he watched. His stomach was definitely the worst off. Kal activated his Wrathful Regeneration and watched in pain as some of the damaged tissue slowly regenerated. But the venom continued to burn through him.