Kal had noticed the feeling of demons entering his fear aura while he tested his construct. He wondered how they were able to force themselves to continue. Just being in his presence was enough to make the weaker demons freeze and basically line up to be killed but still, they never fled. The ones that were significantly stronger were able to fight but were definitely less capable.
It was only the strongest of the demons like the seeker shadow, butcher and the garghound royal guard that seemed to ignore the effect or at least show no obvious signs. Kal didn’t know the mechanism for that part of Wrath Incarnate’s passive effect but it had proven useful when he was surrounded by large hordes of weak enemies.
Kal siphoned for a while bringing his wrath up to a comfortable amount and stood checking his status one last time before he started his next marathon of slaughter.
Health:
2400
Stamina:
5240
Wrath:
4200
Kalum Lesta
Status
Class:
Slayer of Fate [Epic] [Anomalous]
Level:
49
Race:
Human?
Health:
2400
Stamina:
5240
Wrath:
4200
Attributes
Strength:
481
Agility:
247
Endurance:
524
Vitality:
240
Intellect:
213
Perception:
237
Will:
559
Wisdom:
349
Available:
10
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, Planar Binding I, Soul Seer
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 was about to head toward the entrance when he realized he had forgotten something. He had forgotten to loot the place.
He didn’t bother looking over the butcher’s corpse, what hadn’t burned away was just foul-smelling flesh but he did start going through all the cabinets and drawers looking for anything useful. Most of it was just a heap of disgusting-looking ingredients for the butcher’s cloud serums. That stuff Kal didn’t even bother identifying but when he moved onto the drawers where Ilgathar kept all of the array implements his eyes lit up.
Concentration Array [Rare]
This array is used to concentrate atmospheric mana into a specific area for the use in other arrays.
Kal had hoped he would get his hands on this the moment the demon showed it to him. Ilgathar had said he could take it but Kal had forgotten until now. There was only one problem, there was no way he could carry it around and continue to fight as had been the last month.
None of it was big by any means but there were just so many pieces he couldn’t fit them in his cloak and pant pockets. Annoyed, Kal looked around for something to carry it all in but he found nothing but more array runes and other ingredients in the other draws. Frustrated Kal tried to stuff what he could of the array into his pockets, when he lifted one of the runes out he noticed something shining beneath it, surprised Kal used Identify.
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Amulet of Dimensional Storage [Rare]
The owner of this amulet may at-will insert any non-sentient object held in hand into a small personal pocket dimension. Any object contained within this amulet can be retrieved at any time to a space within 5 feet. If the selected space is already occupied by non-gaseous matter the retrieval will fail.
Dimensional Storage items of rare rarity or higher place the inserted objects in a state of temporal stasis.
Current Owner: Ilgathar of the 1st [Deceased]
Kal immediately picked up the amulet and inspected it. It was made of brass similar to what the torches around the chamber were made from but polished to a shine. It looked far too clean for anything the butcher should own. Kal was still paranoid about wearing items he found lying around after discovering Soul Maw but he doubted it was the case here. Besides, if he could wear it he could easily test it to make sure.
Putting the amulet on Kal felt a slight tingling sensation as the amulet’s chain touched his skin before receiving a notification.
Do you wish to claim the Amulet of Dimensional Storage [Rare] ?: Yes/No
Kal smiled and claimed the amulet. Apparently being dead lets someone else claim the amulet, it made Kal wonder if killing Ilgathar’s shell counted as dying or if he had actually fully killed the demon. He probably should have asked more about the terms of their contract but honestly, Kal didn’t really care.
The tingling sensation returned but he received no other notification. Now he just had to figure out how to use it. Kal held the amulet in his hand and mentally commanded it to open. Nothing happened so he tried to actively perceive what was inside it like he did with his body and core space. This time it worked and he could suddenly see a black void with dozens of tiny orbs spinning inside of it. Kal couldn’t make out what any of the orbs actually contained but he knew they must contain something.
Excited that he might have gotten even more out of finding the amulet Kal tried to reach for one of the orbs. He didn’t really know how the retrieval function worked but his clueless attempt didn’t go unpunished as the only warning he had was the squelching sound before the object burst from the amulet directly into his face.
A torrent of reeking gray chum splattered him in the face and directly into his eyes. Kal immediately dropped the amulet and staggered backward, wiping the foul stuff from his face. If he hadn’t already been used to smelling the constant stench of rotting flesh and decay Kal would have been bent over retching but instead, he just spent the next few minutes gagging and scraping what he could from his hair and now his cloak.
“Well I guess I should be happy it wasn’t a sword, “ Kal muttered. He would have to get some practice with the amulet but for now, he could at least store all of the array supplies.
Putting things into the amulet was easy, all Kal had to do was pick up the thing he wanted to store and will it into the amulet. When he knew something was in there, its associated orb was easy to spot. He still couldn’t actually see what was in each orb but his eye was drawn to the orb that had the item he wanted.
Kal practiced a few times inserting and retrieving a few runes before he decided it was time to get back out into the dome proper. He had been down in the butcher’s flesh maze and domain for over five days.
There may be a few gorefiends still around but he doubted he would find many more since the butcher or its master wouldn’t be able to continue whatever ritual or skill they were using to produce them so Kal was expecting to see mostly kuroxet, garghounds, and possible felflame demons outside once he left the haven.
Moving back towards the entrance and opening the large bone door Kal immediately noticed that the flesh between the bone stepping stones in the passage leading to the chamber was looking incredibly pale, almost like the flesh had been drained of blood. As Kal stepped onto one of the bone stepping stones it crumbled underfoot.
Kal hadn’t bothered with the strange array the butcher had used to create the flesh tunnels assuming it would do more harm to the oncoming demons than it would do to him but apparently, the array had run out of mana or the death of the butcher was enough to disrupt it.
Rounding the corner Kal spotted the actual barrier of the haven and sighed as he saw what swarmed the area just outside of it. Garghounds, a shit load of them. There had to be at least two hundred garghounds out there and gods know how many were still coming. Kal was immediately glad that he had figured out a way to dump excess wrath because it looked like he was going to need it. There weren't just weak ones either, most of them were at least in the mid-thirties, and spread amongst them were several in the late forties. None of them were base variant garghounds, the majority were the agile seeker variant and the strongest were nobles.
This was the strongest show of force from the garghounds he had seen since the first wave. Something must have changed. Did killing the elites change something about the trial he wasn’t aware of? Probably, that seemed to be how this trial was turning out.
Kal sighed and activated Edge of Malice followed by Flames of Wrath spreading the flames along his arms and sword. There was only one way out of the tunnels and it was through the enemy, but despite the next fight likely being another tightrope of death and regeneration, Kal felt no unease. The near endless fighting was definitely starting to affect him in more ways than just experience but he couldn’t find it in him to care about the changes.
He glanced inwards as he felt his birthright- no, his soul flare up like it always did when there was killing to do. It may be a balancing act but he couldn’t help but smile as he stepped out of the haven and activated Wrath Incarnate.
The garghounds didn’t have time to react as Kal’s first swing hacked through the nearest three stalkers, killing two instantly and chopping off the legs of the third before engulfing it in crimson flame.
His Flames of Wrath spread quickly over the surrounding garghounds and the tunnels quickly erupted into a combination of whimpering, growls, and the muted sounds of rending flesh. Kal rode on the rage of his soul and cut a bloody path through the garghound horde. Every motion of his arms, every pivot and kick meant death for whatever was foolish enough to be the next motionless corpse.
Only the nobles were even worth mentioning, only they could bring enough strength to bear against him to deal enough damage to notice. Their once serious threat had become almost laughably pathetic. The damage he was taking was all superficial, a scratch on the back of his neck when he let one bite down while he tore the head from its brother and set fire to its other even more pathetic kin.
You have slain [Garghound Noble | Abyssal Spawn 45] bonus experience granted due to killing a higher leveled entity.
You have slain [Garghound Noble | Abyssal Spawn 47] bonus experience granted due to killing a higher leveled entity.
You have slain [Garghound Noble | Abyssal Spawn 42] bonus experience granted due to
killing a higher leveled entity.
Level up!
You have slain [Garghound Stalker| Abyssal Spawn 32] x 7
You have slain [Garghound Flame Seer| Abyssal Spawn 33] x 9
Many of the corpses that fell before him were stronger than even the first garghound royal guards he had seen but still, they were nothing.
Kal pulled his mind away from his soul's influence and checked his status.
Health:
2023/2400
Stamina:
4623/5240
Wrath:
5103
He barely registered the damage he was taking as Wrath Incarnate made it hard to care about his injuries but even if his soul thought the wounds were nothing they were still enough to slowly start building up.
Either way, he was still glad he checked his status as he was just in time to activate his wrath dump as he hacked the head of the next noble.
You have slain [Garghound Noble | Abyssal Spawn 42] bonus experience granted due to killing a higher leveled entity.
Wrath provided: 700/256760 -> Wrath provided: 1120/256760
Kal activated Wrathful Regeneration as well to make balancing his currently incredibly cheap Wrath Incarnate but he didn’t slow his slaughter at all, instead, he pushed himself even harder. Only sparing a portion of his focus to activate and deactivate his wrath switch.
The next marathon had begun and Kal would carve his way through it as he had done everything else. Then he received a notification and the part of him that could care frowned internally.
Warning: Quest Escalation!
The elites are now free to roam the trial zone as they see fit and the Bestial Lord has sent his most powerful forces against you as he prepares to hunt you down personally.