Wave: 1
Time: 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.
Kal cursed at the timer but didn’t waste any time downing the health potion and then doing the same with a stamina one. He would worry about the length of this trial later.
Health:
1115/1650
Stamina:
1330/2680
Wrath:
0
He was glad he used the potions when he saw what came out of the pillar. The horde Kal had seen leave it before was nothing compared to what came this time. His attributes had improved with his level up and the new pants but he was at a disadvantage since he wouldn’t be able to open up with Wrath Incarnate. He was expecting them to charge straight for him much as they did last time but this time they were gathering around the base of the pillar. He moved along the terrain and up another rock to get a better view of what was going on.
They were definitely gathering, and Kal could see that most of them were actually lying down on their sides with their necks bare. He could even make out a few nobles doing the same.
“What the hell are they doing? Are they waiting for something?” It didn’t seem strange like the circling sky hunters. That seemed unnatural, this was different. Soon something else came through the pillar.
[Garghound Royal Guard| Abyss Spawn 35]
Kal was starting to think that he had fucked up, and the feeling only grew worse as another one stepped through.
[Garghound Royal Guard| Abyss Spawn 35]
They both strolled past the hundreds of submissive garghounds, taking their time to glare down at their weaker kin.
They were bloody huge, easily three times larger than even the largest noble he had seen so far. They were brimming with muscle and their eyes constantly burned much like the flame seers, but these ones radiated danger. They were over ten levels above him, Kal was pretty sure he could take one or maybe both even without his Wrath Incarnate, but with the several hundred other garghounds he had no chance. He would either need to thin the horde before being forced to fight them or somehow get them on their own. But Kal had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy. For now, he needed to get some distance and get some semblance of a plan before getting stuck in a dangerous battle. Kal leaped down from the rocks and started running, gathering up the corpses of the nobles he had killed. The savage howl of the Royal Guard reached his ears and he once again heard the stampede of hundreds of the demons charging throughout the dome.
He needed to get every advantage he could get and eat these bloody nobles but he needed a chance to cook the damned things, but of course, it could never be that easy. Kal had been running for barely five minutes when the first group had found him. A pack of twelve sky hunters began to swoop down towards him, forcing Kal to turn and face them. Leaving his back to them was too dangerous. Luckily these things were the weakest of the variants other than the base types so they were dealt with easily enough… If he could bloody reach them.
The damned things kept well back now, only striking at him when he turned to run. He grabbed a nearby rock and hurled it at the nearest one but it simply avoided. He could feel their apprehension due to Wrath Incarnate's passive effect, and right now it felt like more of a negative than a positive. They weren’t brave enough to fight him but they were brave enough to lead the rest of their bloody horde straight to him. He desperately needed that ranged attack right now, instead, he had chosen Abyssal Consumption which hadn’t done him any good yet. Which was why he had wanted to get clear and cook the nobles. Kal sighed, he really didn’t want to have to do this.
Glaring up at the garghounds he tore the scales from one of the two dead nobles he was carrying and took a bite from the still-raw flesh. He almost gagged, it tasted much worse raw, like ten-day-old beef but still somehow worse. How did cooking it make it edible? This was gods damned horrible, “Ugh, I’m going to kill you fuckers. Just you wait,” Kal muttered as the foul meat finally hit his stomach. The poisonous mana of course began to seep out into his body, but now that he had the skill and knew how to cleanse it manually it was almost like second nature to confine the hostile mana and let the skill do its work.
While keeping an eye on the annoyances in the sky Kal opened the skills description to see if it had progressed much.
Abyssal Consumption [Rare]
A slayer must feast and one in the midst of battle has limited options. Your past consumption of abyssal flesh has provided sustenance for now, but are you willing to take it further? Upon reaching a certain threshold of flesh consumed, gain a particular passive trait associated with the consumed creature.
Once gained a trait can never be removed, and only one trait can be gained this way per tier.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Active Traits: Null
Progress:
Garghound 67%
Its progress had increased by twenty percent but Kal wasn’t sure if he was happy about that. Apparently eating things raw was more efficient. He scowled tore some more off the corpse and continued. Half gagging, half growling Kal continued until he had eaten most of the first noble and then moved on to the second. He had to fend off a sky hunter occasionally when one thought he was preoccupied enough with gagging that it had a chance. Of course, they never did, and Kal had dealt with them each in turn.
You have slain [Garghound Sky Hunter | Abyss Spawn 23]
You have slain [Garghound Sky Hunter | Abyss Spawn 24] Bonus experience awarded due to slaying a higher leveled being.
Level up!
When he gained the level instead of the usual rush of power this time he felt a horrible pain wrack through his chest, he almost fell from the sudden attack but it had quickly passed so he continued eating the foul meat, ignoring it for now.
Just as Kal could hear the sound of the charging garghounds getting closer he finally got the notification he was waiting for.
Abyssal Consumption: Garghound Complete.
Average Rarity Consumed: Rare
Trait Gained: Greater Fire Resistance
Greater Fire Resistance
Your flesh is now much more resilient to both mundane and magical fire. This includes damage from thermal radiation of all kinds. Resistance scales with endurance and the rarity of Abyssal Consumption.
“Yes! Now I shouldn’t have to worry about losing my sword again,” Kal said, throwing what was left of the noble onto the ground. He could feel the change in his body, it was like the world suddenly cooled. There was no visible difference to his skin but it certainly felt different.
Kal was still looking over his arms as the garghounds charging towards him came into view. They were definitely behaving differently than before, he could feel his aura wash over each of them but there was much less of an effect. There were around a hundred by his guess, and this time their numbers were much more evenly spread out. For every pack of twenty or so, there was a noble, a Stalker, and two flame seers. Their sudden coordination didn't bode well. They didn’t charge him immediately, instead, the five nobles howled into the sky. Nearby Kal could hear several replying howls and another, darker, more aggressive response.
“Yeah, this isn’t good,” Kal readied his sword and prepared to charge the nearest pack to try and breakthrough. Before he had even taken a step he felt the temperature of his sword increase drastically in stages as all five of the nobles attempted to disarm him. The feeling was strange, Kal could tell it was hot but it didn’t hurt at all. The sword even began to glow orange, bright enough that Kal was worried it would melt but it held strong. Only at its hottest did he feel it sting his hand at all. Kal smiled and turned towards the closest noble, raising his burning sword.
The noble’s eyes widened and it barked a command to its subordinates, and suddenly the flame seers evenly spread amongst the pack all burst into intense flames and began to bombard Kal’s location with an intense volley of fireballs. Kal was consumed with the intense flames, each of the projectiles covering an area twenty feet across with bright orange flames. The flames licked across Kal’s skin like he was made of stone instead of flesh, not harming him in the slightest. Even his hair was seemingly immune to this weak fire, his pants caught fire but their uncommon rarity was more than enough to ensure they at least remained in place.
Kal couldn’t help but laugh, and with the sound, he felt his aura more strongly affect the demons around him. The feeling of power washed over him and his birthright called for action, once again with the song of conflict and power. He looked at his status and smiled.
Health:
1285/1820
Stamina:
2004/2680
Wrath:
470
He didn’t like running but it had been worth it. Now he had one less risk to worry about. His number one weakness in the last battle had been the ease at which the nobles could disarm him if he wasn’t ready. Now he was all but immune to that skill and even the main ability of the flame seers. Yes, he could pass this trial.
He could sense that with garghounds in these numbers, his Wrath Incarnate would last for a while at least. If he was fast he could deal with this group before the rest of the horde arrived.
----------------------------------------
“The elders are ready to see us,” Nyx said, poking her head inside the tent Dalen and Leo had been sharing since they had arrived in the Red Dawn camp. Leo was already ready to go, Dalen was pretty sure the man never slept, ever. Everyone had to sleep at some point but he was damned sure Leo never did. Sure he was level eighty-something but even still his Endurance had to be ridiculous, the man hadn’t slept since they left Farninghold. Dalen on the other hand had been trying to get all the sleep he could get. His Endurance wasn’t bad for his level but it wasn’t good either.
Dalen rushed to throw on a shirt and leave the tent behind Leo, “Do you really think these elders of yours can do anything for Kal?” The woman who had interrogated them, the moment they had arrived in the cult's camp was apparently one of the elders, calling herself Elder Jaliete. She was pretty pissed when Nyx said they lost “Him”, meaning of course Kal. Dalen was getting more wary by the second in this place.
Nyx shook her head, still somber over it all, “I do not know Dalen. But if Elder Jaliete believes it's possible to find out if he is alive, I will put my faith in her.”
The three of them moved through the cultist camp. Along the way, Dalen looked around for wherever the kidnapped children were being kept. He had tried to search around the day before when they had first arrived, but the both of them had been confined to the tent immediately after they had been seen to by a healer. It disturbed him greatly that Harlm’s son was here somewhere, held against his will. The cult had an air of friendliness that Dalen didn’t trust for a second but the few he had spoken to truly didn’t seem that bad. Which just made Dalen more suspicious. He wished Melisia was here, first so he could strangle her and second so she could figure out this mess.
Nyx led them to a large black tent that was guarded by several black-clad spearmen who nodded to Nyx as they all entered. Standing at the center of the tent were two women, one Elder Jaliete, the other Dalen didn’t know.
Jaliete smiled and looked at them all, “Good, It is time we begin.”