Kal didn’t waste any more time thinking and left the cave in search of more things to slay. One thing became abundantly clear very quickly. The mist of the seeker shadow’s territory had diminished so much that Kal didn’t need his mana sight at all to navigate it anymore. His suspicions of there being more demons entering the area were also confirmed just minutes into his run toward the seeker shadow’s conduit. It was another group of those disgusting gorefiends. They had apparently been formed from a nearby dark serpent corpse which was now torn to pieces with most of its inside simply missing since they made up the bulk of the gorefiend's bodies.
[Gorefiend Shaped Ones | Abyss Spawn 32] x 7
Using Identify Kal was happy to see that these ones were a bit stronger than the last group he had killed. He wondered if the quality of the corpse they came from determined their strength. Either he wasn’t about to skip the chance of killing more of those disgusting things so he activated Flames of Wrath and coated his weapon and charged straight for them. They noticed him well before he was in attack range as the passive effect of Wrath Incarnate washed over them, making them all freeze for a moment before turning to face him.
Since they were all the same level Kal just picked the closest and activated Slayer’s Intent
[Entities Marked: Gorefiend Shaped One | Feared]
To Kal’s surprise, barely a trick of wrath was being generated by the skill but the fear effect was clear as day as the gorefiend practically melted into a pile of gore, completely losing control of its disgusting body. It would seem that Slayer’s Intent wouldn’t be that great against weaker enemies for wrath generation but against weaker ones, it wasn’t as needed.
Mopping up the batch of gorefiends was almost too easy. Their trick at twisting their form to avoid his attacks was laughable while they were under the effects of his aura, and their gross tentacle weapons and flesh-implanting attack were only dangerous if they all attacked at once. And again while they were feared they hesitated, making it easier for Kal to judge their next attacks.
Level up!
Kal did as he always did and split the points between agility and intellect before moving on to find the next group of demons. He wanted to test out whether or not killing a variety of demons was better than killing singular strong ones. Either way knowing the difference between the two speeds would help him plan in the future.
He ended up backtracking over the ground he had covered during his dark serpent hunt in hopes of coming across more gorefiends that he assumed would be appearing from all of the serpents he had killed. If all the serpents had been close together Kal thought the number of gorefiends would have been a problem but if they were yet to bunch up he could probably take care of them easily enough. He wasn’t disappointed when he got to the next dead serpent. This time there were several more of the weaker gorefiends.
[Gorefiend Shaped Ones | Abyss Spawn 27] x 12
It was pretty clear to Kal that the amount created was definitely proportional to the level they were at least. It also seemed strange that the combined level of all the gorefiends was far higher than the level of the serpent, but he guessed it made sense since their strength was definitely far lower than the dark serpents. Kal was pretty sure the dark serpents were a rare variant since their attributes were definitely no joke, if a little specialized. Whereas the shaped ones were pretty weak all things considered. The garghound nobles seemed tougher than the gorefiends but on mass, he could see the gorefiends being hard to manage with their freaky intestine tentacle crap.
Instead of leaving Slayer’s Intent on one unlucky gorefiend Kal tried to mark a few at a time but each time the previously marked gorefiends were simply unmarked. It was disappointing that he could only mark one for now but the amplified fear effect was still incredibly useful to prevent hard-to-avoid attacks from landing. The moment he marks any of the weaker gorefiends they practically melt.
Kal used Wrath Incarnate sparingly through this fight, his mental state still wasn’t great after the nightmare and he felt that letting his birthright’s emotions out probably wasn’t healthy. After hacking his way through another onslaught of tentacles, finishing this batch off was easy enough. Some tactical usage of Slayer’s Intent to stun and Flames of Wrath sent along the remains of their tentacles was enough to kill them even without him needing to enter melee, but he did anyway for the mutilation bonuses.
With that group dead Kal hadn’t leveled again but he could feel it growing closer. If the gorefiends continued to come from the dark serpents he had killed, Kal knew exactly where to speed up his growth. His hunt for dark serpents was over. Time to kill some gorefiends then move on to the seeker shadow.
----------------------------------------
Vorayx smiled as the shadow returned to the trial zone after its report. Letting the mortal kill the serpents maintaining the concealment of the shadow’s territory and allowing the gorefiends to start converting the corpses had worked perfectly. Now he would likely be killing off as many shaped ones as he could. Vorayx figured the mortal would still aim for the shadow’s conduit the moment it was sick killing gorefiends but every delay was a success.
What was even better, the loss of gorefiends meant nothing in terms of the relative power on this plane. The longer the mortal spent killing the gorefiend spawn the longer Vorayx had to plan. Keeping the mortal alive was a pain but a necessary one if he was to get what he desired. The shadow had proven useful in manipulating the other demon factions gathering around the mountain. But disappointingly it appeared that most of the “lords” would be able to enter the trial themselves and were completely uninterested in bargaining when evolution was the prize for greed.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
This meant several things for Vorayx’s plans. The need to allow the mortal to grow enough to survive the next waves was even more important if he was unable to force any of the other factions to leave him alive. The shadow’s forces were essentially spent now that the mortal had killed most of them. Those he didn’t kill would be overwhelmed by the encroaching garghound hordes and the gorefiends spawning in the territory.
For now, he would let the mortal slaughter the gorefiends, only once he started for the shadow’s conduit would decide what to do about the shadow.
The shadow was a useful tool, its skill set would be useful over the coming days as more factions arrived. But it had made the mistake of entering the trial and being an anchor for its own conduit, painting a target on its back. The mortal would need to be persuaded into targeting another conduit if Vorayx wanted the shadow to live, and that was something that still remained to be seen. Looking down at his clawed hand Vorayx looked over a pair of polished black marble rings. He did have another way, but he would not waste such a treasure on shadow, but maybe another.
A grin appeared across Voraxy's face, baring his countless fangs, Yes, that would work. Once the shadow returned he would get one of the rings. It would just need some modification before then.
----------------------------------------
Dalen had lost himself in his leveling over the last few days since the Blood Hunt spell. Grief and shame had been replaced by guilt and to his disgust, fear. What’s happened to you Kal? I’m sorry.
He wished he could have done something, and maybe if he hadn’t been so foolish in delaying his progression he could have. But no, he had wasted his time spending whole extra years just fucking around making stupid half brew, half potions instead of just getting to his class evolution. Dalen knew he had done more than enough to qualify for an alchemist class, but he wasted time instead of just getting it done.
Part of what he knew was that he would have felt bad for leaving Kal behind still without a class. But he knew that Kal wouldn’t have cared, honestly, he would probably have been happy to have potions that didn’t taste like donkey spit.
No, he wouldn’t waste any more time. Kal was out there somewhere and he needed his help. Dalen would find a way to fix whatever had happened to his friend even if he killed himself doing it. But before he could do that he needed to get out of this crappy tavern keeper class and get something useful.
The Elder Jaliete had started talking about some forgotten god, but it was clear to Dalen she barely knew anything other than he was some kind of protector. Apparently, they had managed to use Blood Hunt to talk to him too, which jump-started their whole order. The creepy looks Dalen had been getting over the last two days were enough for him to want to forget the whole damned spell but apparently being the friend of “Him” was great for business.
The order’s followers were taking the brews faster than he could make them, massively speeding up his growth. He was currently using Ferment Materials almost constantly while sitting outside of his tent surrounded by several barrels just to keep up. They had also been more than willing to supply him with whatever he asked for. If they weren’t all so creepy he might have actually enjoyed the experience but every exchange with them made him feel too holy for his tastes.
A few more drinks and he would finally get his class evolution. It would be just in time too, since the order was packing up camp to continue moving north.
A tap on his shoulder made him jump so hard that he knocked over one of the barrels full of half-fermented barley. He turned ready to curse at whichever cultist idiot snuck up on him but found Melisia standing there suppressing a smile.
Dalen still wasn’t impressed and showed it with a frown. He still wasn’t happy with Melisia, but he had to speak to her at some point and it was pointless to start throwing blame around, “Melisia.”
The tiny smile there fled at his response, “I’m relieved that you’re ok. I’m sorry I wasn’t there…”
Dalen could see the grief in her eyes at her words, Dammit, it wasn’t her fault but he had wished she was there. She wasn’t a powerhouse like Leo but it would have been better. But ultimately it wasn’t up to her and he knew it.
Dalen sighed, “I’m glad you're ok too, and I know. We both have things we wish we could take back but we can’t so let's just move on and talk about options ok?”
She blinked a few times, her classic attempt at holding back tears that Dalen had seen a few times when she was younger, “Yes, of course,” she took a moment before continuing, “But I don’t feel that we have any other options, Dalen. If there is anyone that can bring Kal back it is the order or the seventh tower.”
“Then I choose the seventh tower, these people are freaks. They may want Kal back but I’m pretty sure they haven’t got his best interests at heart. I’m not even sure if they know what they want out of him yet!”
Melisia frowned, “I tend to agree with your opinion of their intentions, even I was not aware of this Fyborh they spoke of. I have already sent word to the seventh tower, of what happened at the camp. I am sure that we will receive some assistance from my master at least.”
“Thank the gods, I was starting to think I was the only one who wasn’t insane here. Even Leo has changed, what did he see to shake him so badly?” Dalen said. He knew the vision was disturbing and painful but for some reason, he had clearly been the least affected.
Melisia’s face paled, “I’ll tell you what I saw if you hand me a drink first.”
Dalen raised an eyebrow, “that bad?” Melisia never drank, ever. For her to want a drink was a bad sign, “don’t worry about it then. But here I need the experience.”
She shook her head and took the offered unlabeled bottle.
Boring Beer [Common]
It’s beer, alright? It doesn’t need a description!
“Now drink up and tell me what we are going to do to get Kal back,” Dalen smiled as the notification he had been waiting for appeared.
Level up!
Class evolution: Select one