Kalum Lesta
Status
Class:
Slayer of Fate [Epic] [Anomalous]
Level:
43
Race:
Human?
Health:
2230
Stamina:
4760
Wrath:
56
Attributes
Strength:
436
Agility:
231
Endurance:
476
Vitality:
223
Intellect:
193
Perception:
259
Will:
538
Wisdom:
224
Available:
Titles
Ascendant, Core Bane, Core Smith, Defier of Dhinir, Planeswalker, Planar Appetite, Slayer of the Strong, Endurance Elite, Strength Elite, Will Elite, Demon Slayer, Paragon of Man
Skills
Soul Forge [Rare], Wrathful Regeneration [Uncommon], Wrath Incarnate [Uncommon], Abyssal Consumption [Rare], Flames of Wrath[Uncommon] [Soul Forged], Slayer’s Intent [Rare] [Soul Forged], Slayer’s Apathy [Rare] [Soul Forged], Edge of Malice [Common] [Soul Forged]
Race
Birthright: Confined
Kal read over his status as he ran, carefully watching his wrath to see how fast it dropped while maintaining Edge of Malice. Luckily it seemed to be similar to how Flames of Wrath worked, it had a cheap upkeep once it was produced. He suspected that once it was used in battle however the damage done to the edge would require him to constantly be feeding wrath into it.
Which, judging by the sounds Kal was beginning to hear, that would not be a problem. He hadn’t even broken through the last of the pillars before he could hear the sound of combat, and once he did it was obvious why.
Just outside of the haven’s barrier, there was a horde easily twice as large as the one he was forced to deal with during the first wave, but this one was a mixing pot of at least a dozen different variants. On the plus side, they clearly weren’t getting along. At least three hundred garghounds were surging across the ground towards a bunch of those disgusting gorefiends, and despite their lower levels the sheer quantity of the garghounds was enough to do a surprising amount of damage.
The only problem was that with each garghound death, its corpse immediately began to convulse and tear itself apart producing more of those toothed worm things.
[Gorefiend Flesh Burster | Abyss Spawn 9]
Kal regretted identifying the things again immediately. They weren’t the only things fighting out there, however. For every garghound that was present there were at least as many kuroxet, most of them were a smaller variant than the slaughterers but annoyingly there were a few slaughterers too.
They could be a problem. Last time was a close call and that was when they were the only demons involved. If he was going to have to fight this horde he would have to deal with them first but there was no sense in charging through the barrier here if there was a more advantageous location so Kal moved along the edge of the pillars to try and find a less dense location.
Disturbingly however the density didn’t lessen at all, just the variety. The garghounds were concentrated back with the gorefiends, but here fighting a bunch of kuroxet was a type he hadn’t seen before. They reminded Kal of the seeker shadow but where the shadow was cloaked in black and shadow mana, these were wreathed in green flames.
There were a few dozen of them all with their backs to the barrier.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Felflame Conjurer| Abyssal Spawn 52]
Kal didn’t bother identifying but he did take note of their capabilities. Each of them had their hands held in front of them and were expelling large bursts of green flames that incinerated kuroxet in droves.
Occasionally those on the edges would throw their arms in a wide ark and out of a flash of bright almost white flame came a variant he had seen before.
[Felflame Imp | Abyssal Spawn 25]
Each time the imp would take flight on wings of flame and dive directly for the nearest slaughterer. Most of the time the slaughterers didn’t have the time or space to avoid it with their weaker kin getting in the way.
Whenever an imp hit a slaughterer it sunk into its target's flesh immediately making it ignite and fall to the ground writhing in agony. It wasn’t enough to kill it but was clearly enough to stop them in their tracks. Kal knew the felflames would kill him if they got the chance but right now he was starting to like them. They might be his ticket to doing some real damage out there without worrying about getting a corrosive claw in the back.
He still had about half an hour before the haven collapsed, exploded, or simply vanished so Kal decided to siphon some wrath before he left. He had also noticed something. Normally when he was this close to something he could feel the passive effect of Wrath Incarnate take effect, especially when there were so many that were at a lower level than him.
Right now he felt nothing at all, almost like it was being blocked. Kal suspected the haven’s barrier was to blame. He also noticed despite being practically in the open just outside the pillars, not a single demon had taken any notice of him. He guessed the barrier prevented them from seeing inside the haven, which was probably why they were so spread out around its edge.
It encouraged Kal not to waste time running along the edge to find an opening. He didn’t know if his greater fire resistance would be enough to allow him to ignore the conjurers and imps but it was better than having to deal with those fucking gorefiends, disgusting things.
Health:
2230
Stamina:
4760
Wrath:
653
His siphoning speed had sped up considerably over the last few weeks but it would never be a fast way to regain wrath. Killing would always be the best. But he only had a few minutes left now and he wasn’t going to cut it any finer.
Outside the fighting hadn’t slowed at all. More kuroxet continued to rush the conjurers. Clearly, the allegiances between the factions, assuming there were any, had collapsed once the nearby hordes had found out about the haven.
Kal’s time hiding away in the mists had come to an end, he didn’t see himself getting time to work on his skills again until he killed the next elite. In his mind, he had two options. Until he managed to get acid resistance he didn’t plan on going after the kuroxet bonedrinker, it no doubt had potent acid-related abilities as well and that was something Kal wanted to avoid for now.
Optional Objective: Slay the Elite
Slay the anchor of each conduit in the trial zone. Reward given for each anchor slain.
Felflame Scion: 0/1
Gorefiend Butcher: 0/1
Seeker Shadow: 1/1
Kuroxet Bonedrinker: 0/1
Reward: Temporary Haven
That left him with either the Felflame Scion or the Gorefiend Butcher. Kal wasn’t sure of the penalty for failing to slay all of the elites before the end of the wave, or if there even was one. The system had been awfully vague on several of its descriptions and “restrictions”. There had to be things he was missing.
His goal was to kill them all but the one he really wanted dead was the Gorefiend Butcher. Killing that thing might even make surviving the rest of the round easier, perhaps stopping the random birthing of those disgusting-shaped ones. Yep, that was something Kal would like to see gone, the question is where the hell is its conduit and come to think of it where was the shadow’s?
Kal had forgotten all about it but he couldn’t remember seeing it after he challenged the shadow. He had been told there wouldn’t be any interference, did that mean the conduit was removed the moment he agreed? Probably but he was surprised he hadn’t noticed, but considering the system was involved that was probably intended.
Finding the gorefiend conduit should be easy enough once he had gotten away from the haven but right now there was just too much in the way and the easier way to know which conduit was which was to look at the terrain around it and to do that Kal needed higher ground.
Kal got to his feet and checked his Edge of Malice. It was still in place which was good, hopefully, that meant it wouldn’t just vanish on its own halfway through the battle. He didn’t activate Wrath Incarnate straight away since it was too expensive without his fear effect active, but he did coat his arms and sword with Flames of Wrath. The flames seemed to crackle and pop on his conjured blade edge but he could detect any damage from the reaction.
He was as ready as he was going to be and now he had less than two minutes before the haven was finished. It was time to move. "Let's just hope Wrathful Regeneration will keep up with this."
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Lazareka conjured another flame to purge another foul kuroxet barbarian as it approached. None of this scum will be allowed to taste even a speck of the mortal’s blood while he lived. It was just a matter of time before the mortal would be bubbling in a pool of his own liquefied flesh.
“Kill this scum! Before more of those damned hounds arrive-” the fire of his felheart dimmed slightly and the horde of kuroxet seemed to freeze in place, a wave of clear terror spreading through like a wildfire. A few newly born imps missed their mark and their attention was broken as every demon within the mile froze and turned to the thing they all sensed.
A large muscled figure stepped forward cloaked in the black of the Great Seeker’s shadows, its hood drawn back revealing the face of a mortal man, its face neutral. What Lazareka saw however was in total odds of what he could sense.
Lazareka felt his felheart brighten again but a moment later as the figure continued its stride Lazareka felt something latch onto him, a terrible awareness. Something he hadn’t felt since his creation in the felfires of the 1425th layer in the presence of the First Felflame. Desolation.
The mortal-, no not mortal, the slayer’s eyes locked onto him and the already neutral expression upon its face died, as if it was just a mask covering something far worse. Its eyes burned with crimson hate but its face showed nothing. Nothing at all.
Lazareka’s felheart died, his flames sputtering as the conjurers around him shouted questions at him but none ever reached his ears. It was pointless.
A barrage of intense green-white flames slammed into the slayer but they soon parted with the slayer completely unharmed, his cloak smoking, still alight with green flame but his flesh completely undamaged. The barrage continued but the slayer ignored them, instead turning its wrath upon the kuroxet still frozen in panic.
All Lazareka could do was watch as the slayer hacked its way through the horde, its movement unhindered by the bodies of the slain.
Along the way, claws slashed and gored the slayer's flesh but in bare moments the wounds closed, only the acid of the kuroxet seemed to have any lasting effect but even so, the slayer ignored the savage injuries as it hacked its way towards a group of wounded slaughterers.
Ignoring the onslaught of fire and claw the slayer bent down and tore the limbs from a still-living slaughterer then without hesitation squeezed the blood from its flesh before tearing a chunk away with its teeth. Even the others less affected by the slayer's presence paused at that, this was no mortal, this was a monster.
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Kal’s wrath grew then fell in waves of death and regeneration, his body constantly accruing more and more scars as the cheap but less pretty healing rapidly repaired his torn flesh. None of the wounds he had gathered so far were bad enough to weaken him so scars were fine.
His burning wrath pushed for savagery but even it understood the opportunity presented by the concentration of weakened slaughterers. Dark blood dripped down his chin as he moved in fast sweeping motion bisecting demons with every strike, his Edge of Malice cutting easily through the weaker demons and when that failed his strength was enough to crush whatever resistance was left.
Fear had spread across the demons as it should, even those he could not see were buckling in terror but still they came. As he was pushed to action so were they, a battle of killers but there was only one true slayer here.