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Lifeblood Chaos [LitRPG Apocalypse]
B2 Chapter 45 (112): Shifting Tides

B2 Chapter 45 (112): Shifting Tides

The Lostcaller shrieked at Ray. It almost sounded like an insult. He didn’t get what it was complaining about. After all, he had allowed some of the souls to reach the monster.

With a sharp inhale, the Lostcaller absorbed them. Ray frowned. Was that a new ability he didn’t know about? These Lostcallers were of a higher Tier and level than the one had fought the first time. It would make sense if they possessed powers that the first one he had faced hadn’t.

The flesh on the monster appeared to writhe far faster than they had already been doing so far. Maybe the souls it had absorbed had powered it up. Maybe it was now stronger than before.

“Big, fucking deal,” Ray said.

Almost as though the Lostcaller had heard his derisiveness, it shrieked once more, then charged.

Ray was ready for it. Now that he had Deathlife Corral keeping the souls in place, he had basically extended the range of his spells a great deal. Something the Lostcaller didn’t know. Ray had learned that surprise was one of the biggest tools in winning a fight. He now had a lot of that to spare.

The Lostcaller tried a direct charge at first. Half its body was already translucent due to Spirit Phase.

Ray was having none of it. He used Soulstrike, but instead of the True Mana arm appearing off his shoulder as it always did, now he had a choice. Ray focused on one of the nearby souls, one that his enemy had rushed past and now had its back to. The Soulstrike limb emerged from the floating spirit with a spurt of black-red energy and lashed out.

It struck true. The Lostcaller screeched out in surprise as it was smacked away by the huge spell. Most of its body might have not been present, but not all. Ray’s True Mana arm was large enough that it managed to hit that tangible bit of the Lostcaller and ram it away.

The monster still recovered quickly, of course. With a little shift of which part of its body was a spirit, it phased through the True Mana arm to attack.

Only to be faced with three Greater Windbane Maw constructs that had taken to the air. Chaotic flames burned in their huge jaws for a second. Then the constructs fired at the Lostcaller all at once.

The exchange was a nice reminder to Ray just how fast and powerful his opponent was. With its flesh pulling off its skeletal frame to form wings, the Lostcaller took to the air to dodge the lasering breaths and attack the maws directly. Just as Ray had foreseen, his constructs didn’t last long.

But it still gave him enough time to call up a couple of salvos of Mottling Spiritguard. The orbs revolved around him, some black and red and filled with chaos, while some glowed molten orange thanks to Origin Resonance and Abstract Conversion and his Viledrake tail.

They weren’t all around him, though. As soon as the Lostcaller finished dealing with the constructs in record time, it landed and made to attack Ray directly again.

If only several Spiritguard orbs hadn’t materialized through a soul and rushed at the monster out of its line of sight.

Ray had made sure that only the ones with Molten Mana attacked the Lostcaller. Just as the burning orbs reached their target, they exploded. He knew that hitting the monster directly would be difficult because of its ability to turn most of its body into an intangible spirit. But an explosion of lava was a lot harder to evade.

As evidenced by the Lostcaller shrieking out. Its screech made the air itself warp under pressure, half its body burning as it tried to get away from the splatters of liquid rock.

The monster countered pretty quickly. Ray had drawn up the draconic maws around his hands with Primal Spiritcraft, but he didn’t get the chance to use them. The Lostcaller had thrown out a ring of dark flame pillars.

Black Ember.

Ray couldn’t allow himself to be hit with those. So, foregoing any attacks, he simply made his Spiritguard orbs focus on protecting him.

But the Lostcaller had never focused on targeting Ray directly. Oh no. It was smart. Smarter than Ray had given it credit. Since it couldn’t absorb the souls Ray had captured, for whatever reason, it destroyed them instead. The black flames began devouring the spirits.

Ray cursed. As if the black fire weren’t bad enough, the monster was now flinging its Dark Lightning everywhere too. Damn it. Ray’s advantage was dwindling.

He knew what the problem was. Passivity. He was letting the Lostcaller call the shots of this fight, choosing only to react. That had to change. With a growl, Ray converted half of the remaining Spiritguard orbs into attacking stance, then used Spectral Step.

When he reappeared right behind the Lostcaller, all the offensive Spiritguard orbs shot towards their target. Ray had made sure to infuse them with Molten Mana.

The Lostcaller was ready for it. Even after it suffered a direct blow from one of the lava orbs, it powered through the agony and used its Black Ember to counter the rest of the orbs. Then it phased through the salvo and once again tried to attack Ray directly.

But Ray had already countered the monster’s counter. This was a fight about staying one step ahead, about holding the initiative. Ray was not about to relinquish control.

The Spiritguard orbs had transformed into curving shields to keep him safe against the constant barrage of Dark Lightning flying everywhere. That meant Ray was mostly obscured from the Lostcaller’s sight, even if it knew his specific location. Which further meant that he had a clear opening to use Lifeblood Soulform to turn the Imitator construct into himself again.

His enemy barged through his defences, the monstrous arm phasing through the Spiritguard barrier to reach Ray. But all it reached was the Imitator construct.

Which Ray then converted into a storm of bees. Why fix something that wasn’t broken?

This Lostcaller, just like the last one he had killed, panicked at the dozens of little insects that turned into lava to attack the monster from within. Unlike the last one, however, it retained its smarts. It used Black Ember again. This time, on itself.

The dark flames burned out the bees and their Molten Mana in barely a second. Well, so much for Ray’s first plan.

Good thing he had the second to rely on.

The monster was already moving, already attempting to redirect its attacks on the real Ray. He had moved to a different spot again with Spectral Step. Still, the Lostcaller located him even before he managed to fire off the compressed breath of chaotic fire from the draconic maws on his arms. The monster was already moving to dodge and attack.

But Ray was never looking to hit it directly. He would have failed abysmally if he had tried. Instead, he relied on the fact that the Lostcaller had already spelled its own doom.

Ray fired both his arms at two nearby souls.

He had already used the Mana Infuser ring to raise the Tier of Primal Spiritcraft to 7. This had made both of the summoned draconic maws turn huge and menacing. Their breaths came out geyser-sized. As soon as they struck a soul, they reappeared from a different spirit farther off. Only to hit another and reappear elsewhere. And again. And again.

Until the diverging and teleporting streams finally connected. All in the blink of an eye, long before the Lostcaller was able to reach him.

A connection that led to an erupting explosion.

The detonation rocked back Ray himself. He cast Impervious Shell to safeguard himself against the furious shockwave that burst outwards, but it wasn’t strong enough. The shell cracked apart under the stress, and it was all Ray could do to keep his own feet on the ground.

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Thankfully, his opponent took the worst of that blast. As debris rained around Ray and the dust grew thick, the notification popped up.

[Enemy Defeated—Lostcaller]

Tier 12 Monster: Lostcaller [Level 39] x1

Essence: +4,680

Knowledge: +3

True Mana Restored: +390

Essence to Level 42: 29,460/150,700

Knowledge to next Threshold: 2,196/2,500

Ray waved his hands before his face to get rid of the dust. It was getting a little hard to breathe without coughing.

The Lostcaller might be dead, but he wasn’t done here. The Dungeon Obstacle still needed him to get out of this place. He looked up. Using his wings was out of the question, but hmm… maybe he could use a different combination of spells.

The souls around Ray had all been destroyed in that blast. He silently thanked them for their part in defeating the Lostcaller, then got going.

That plinth-like structure in the middle was a lot bigger than he had thought at first. It really did look like it had held a Tower Node there, just as there had been that Tower Node of the Skybreaker in the last dungeon on the First Floor.

Ray looked up. Hmm. He felt like a photographer, trying to get just the right angle.

Once he was satisfied, he raised his arm again. This was probably going to be a good test of just how far the range of the draconic maw’s breath extended. That hole in the roof was pretty far up. He wasn’t going to be surprised if the laser breath failed to get even halfway towards it.

Surprisingly, it went really far. Three-quarters of the way there easily. Probably a little more. Ray wasn’t the best at estimating.

More than close enough for Spectral Step.

Ray had already crushed another True Mana shard before reaching the central plinth. Now, as he nearly reached his true destination, he let the draconic maw around his hand fire again to its heart’s content. Well, he supposed it didn’t have a heart, but whatever.

The laser burst through the hole in the roof. When Ray used Spectral Step once again, he was finally free from the Tier 15 dungeon. He had escaped.

Right back onto Cliff One.

He would recognize the golden grass and the black-barked trees anywhere. There were even those white tufts flying through the air around him. No doubt about it. Ray was back.

His surprise was cut short when the dungeon clearing notification popped up.

[Dungeon Cleared—Giants’ Cradle]

Rewards

* 30 True Mana shards

* 10 Origin mana shards

* 2 True Mana Tier Points

* 1 True Mana Skill Tier Point

* 1 Origin Mana Skill Tier Point

* 1 Skill Tier Point

* New Origin Mana Skill: Core Deconstruction [Offensive] [Tier 5]

* +3,000 Essence

Essence to Level 42: 32,460/150,700

Ray grinned wide. Wow. That was a heap ton of rewards. Although, he did notice that a lot of them weren’t dungeon-specific. There was nothing themed about the dungeon that he had received.

By the time Ray had reached the end of the dungeon, he had pretty much realized what he was supposed to have found there. Giant’s Cradle. All that talk of growth. The mention of Amplification Mana way back by Kredevel, and the fact that there were Lostcallers placed here. Lostcallers—monsters that had been in the employ of the Everstead as far as he had seen.

Each of those pieces of information made him connect the dots. The dungeon had held a Tower Node that allowed its controller to wield Amplification Mana.

And he was pretty sure he knew exactly who had taken it from its rightful location.

He laughed. Ironic that the Floor Lord had chucked him down to the exact spot where she herself had started all this.

Ray sobered quickly, though. It was kind of sad to realize that he hadn’t received any clues about the Tower Node’s exact properties. He still didn’t know how to counter it or its effects. That was important because he was pretty sure countering the Tower Node was tied to fixing whatever it was that had caused the plague.

Ah, well.

Ray checked his new Origin Mana skill. An actual offensive skill wasn’t something he had received yet, so he was rather intrigued.

[Information Request—Skills]

Core Deconstruction [Offensive] [Tier 5]

An Origin Mana skill that allows the wielder to summon a simulacrum of the wielder’s core with which the wielder can then attack foes. All damage is transferred internally to a foe’s Mana conduits and Mana Core, causing Mana ruptures that make foes unable to use their Mana-based abilities. This skill requires a direct connection between the wielder and the target for full effect. At Tier 5, this skill creates a core of deconstruction up to 50 centimetres in diameter.

Huh. That sounded ridiculously broken, if Ray was being honest. One blow and he would basically seal away all of his opponent’s abilities. How overpowered was that?

He supposed he had already seen a variation of it. The Lostcallers used their Black Emeber ability in much the same way. Except, the monsters could only target the ability last used by their opponent to seal away. Black Emeber only worked on one power at a time. Not the ability to channel Mana itself, like Core Deconstruction did.

Ray shook his head. There were limits, he supposed. It seemed the main restriction was that he’d have to hit his opponents directly? That was all he could understand from the “connection” bit.

Ah, well. Just sounded like he’d need to do some testing.

He put away all the new shards in his Bag of Holding—he really ought to find a new one at some point—and focused on his other rewards. He held the Origin Mana Skill Tier point in reserve, for now. First, he’d test to see just how effective the new ability was, then decide whether to use the Tier point on it or not.

However, the new True Mana Skill Tier point went to Vengeful Plunder. Ray recalled seeing some of the crazy, growth-focused abilities he had seen on the lordling he had healed. He needed Vengeful Plunder to be at least on par with those.

Of the normal Tier points he could spend on his spells, Ray placed one on Lifeblood Graveyard in case he needed another free slot in the near future. The other one went to Lifeblood Soulform.

Satisfied with his progress, Ray decided he was going to see what Cliff One actually had to offer him. Although, maybe a little rest after that dungeon crawl would do him good.

He was about to start relaxing when another notification popped up. Ray smiled. It was Kredevel.

Ray: What’s up? I just finished clearing a dungeon and am now back on Cliff One.

Kredevel: Ah, it seems I’m not the only one bearing good news then.

Ray found himself perking up. Like the dungeon rewards hadn’t lifted his mood already.

Ray: Oh, yeah? What’s going on?

Kredevel: We are moving onto Cliff Two. At this rate, I believe we may see each other before long.

Ray: Wait, what?

Kredevel went on to explain how things had rapidly changed since the last time they had talked. Apparently, the Everstead had decided to shift almost all their focus from the Sylvans to one Sylvan in particular.

The Floor Lord.

Her battle against Ray hadn’t gone unnoticed. It had alerted the Everstead that the Floor Lord had resurfaced, and they had gone into a bit of a frenzy to try and apprehend her, diverting the majority of their resources to capture her. It meant Kredevel and the other Sylvans suddenly had a ton of room to breathe.

Ray: You’re already on Cliff Two?

Kredevel: Yes. The resistance we faced was mostly token, and we pushed it aside to charge up the spire. It helped that we received some new reinforcements recently.

Ray: Reinforcements? More Sylvans from the First Floor?

Kredevel: Well, yes. And some Denizens who have appeared after completing the First Floor, from not just the Tower of Forging, but from other Towers as well. But the main injection to our forces has been the rejected Everstead as well.

Ray: The rejected? OH! You mean the Infected.

Kredevel: Yes, the ones who are afflicted with the plague and who have been abandoned by their own people.

Ray’s mind whirled a little in the deluge of information. The Floor Lord attacked? The Sylvans already on Cliff Two? The Infected assisting them? He couldn’t decide which part of all that was wildest of all.

No, no that had to be the part about the Floor Lord. That she would feel threatened enough by Ray’s slow healing of the Everstead to come and stop him personally. That she would risk discovery by her enemies—no, not risk. She had ended up facing her enemies, all because she had reappeared in her true form to take him down.

And now the Everstead had pounced on her with their full power. So much so that they had been forced to divert away their attention from the war against the Sylvans.

That was how important this plague was to the true powers at play.

Ray: How did you learn all that?

Kredevel: Simple. Gritty has maintained her infiltration among the Everstead, so she was able to fill us in on all that was going on. Ram, Lam, and Bam were also able to momentarily get in touch with the Floor Lord, though they didn’t learn much, or so I am told.

Of course it was Gritty. That she had maintained her post within the Everstead even after her last trap had been foiled and she had nearly died was… something else.

Ray: Do you know the current state of the Floor Lord?

He was hoping, for Kredevel’s sake, that the leader of the Sylvans was alive. Ray wanted her alive too. Despite the fact that she had almost killed him. No. Because she had almost killed him. He knew it would always pester him in the back of his mind if he never really proved himself capable of beating her. Ray had to face her again, just to answer her unprovoked attack.

Sure, that was probably going to cause some friction with Kredevel. But he had a feeling that he didn’t truly care that much about the Floor Lord herself.

After all, she had proven that she didn’t truly care about the Sylvans either. All Kredevel truly wanted from her was likely the truth. Some closure. He and all the other Sylvans likely wanted a reckoning as to why their supposed leader had abandoned them.

Ray: See if you can find—

The conversation cut off when Primordial Gauge went off. Ray wasn’t alone here.

Kredevel: See if I can find what?

Ray: Gimme a minute. I have a guest I need to deal with.