Mana surged into Percy, and his strength increased little by little.
What’s going on? Oh, right. My Tier increased by one rank!
He didn’t have time to focus on this before and only sensed something changing once it was clear that Tarlek would make it. Percy was still unclear about what exactly Tarlek did to end up like that, but Erik’s reaction explained it a bit.
Erik has seen his brother in a similar state before. It’s something ‘regular’, which means the Demons have nothing to do with his state. It’s probably related to his Ego. His Ego must be draining his Lifeforce, or something like that.
Percy was aware of how powerful Tarlek’s Ego was, even more so because he survived fighting an Elite Demon and dozens of Lesser Demons. Either he killed everyone, or the Demons escaped because no Demon pursued him. They were either dead or didn’t dare attack Tarlek.
That was a little shocking, but Percy didn’t have enough time to waste with thoughts and doubts. There might not be anymore Demons charging out of the Wintermoon mansion, there were still enough enemies in the clearing. Many Lesser Demons had already been killed, but the shadowy figures didn’t stop attacking either. Even worse was that nobody could reach the shadowy figures. Melissa’s icicles were evaded or blocked with mana techniques, and the melee fighters couldn’t get close to them without killing the Demons first.
That was what the nobles and their retinues tried to do, but the constant reminder of the black lightning bolts’ lethal danger was certainly not helpful. The Elite Demons had killed a few knights, yet the Doomfeeders were restrained and about to get killed. Deep gashes could be seen all over their bodies. They might be regenerating faster than some Gifted could inflict injuries, but the number of attacks and cuts exceeded the Doomfeeder’s natural regeneration.
Still, the Elite Demons died only slowly while putting on a ferocious fight. Percy didn’t know how many knights and nobles had already been killed, but he witnessed the death of some Glacia Knights and Commonbirth Ego. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, yet what worried Percy most was how his Ego reacted.
His Ego wanted him to claim possession of the human bodies and consume them all!
I am not going to end like that! Maybe I cannot fight against you when I killed those Adventurers, but I am not going to give you the bodies of these innocent men and women!! There is a fine line between devouring the bodies of ruthless murderers and the innocent!
Consuming demons and humans might reward him with Prosperity and accelerate his progress to the next rank, but if he surrendered to greed by forsaking his ideals, Percy might as well stop being human. He wouldn’t be better than a monster in human skin. At least, that was how he felt. If he gave up everything for power, Percy wouldn’t have a place among his brethren anymore.
It didn’t seem like the Coin of Prosperity liked what he thought, but his Ego stopped trembling in excitement. It calmed down – even if it was just a little –, granting Percy enough mental capacity to think about the next course of action.
His eyes still lingered on the corpses, and an idea surfaced in his mind.
I cannot tell whether we are winning or losing, but it doesn’t look too great. The corpses don’t need their Artifacts anymore…right?
Percy’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits. The plan forming in his mind was simple, but he couldn’t tell if it was morally acceptable.
Either I leave everything behind and die because I’m too weak, or I take their stuff, devour it, and survive. In the worst-case scenario, I’ll apologize to everyone involved. But…will there be a problem in the first place? If I’m stealing the knights’ armor and weapons to rescue others, everything will be alright, but plundering the bodies of some nobles’ dead children…
Percy was conflicted, but the screams of terror and desperation helped him come to a decision.
I want to survive. I HAVE to!!
The battlefield had shifted a little, and everyone had moved to the camps outside the Wintermoon mansion. Percy located a few corpses outside the active battlefield, but he didn’t dare approach them. The masked traitors were too close to the corpses as they moved closer to the active battlefield, following the crowd of demons.
That disrupted his initial plan, forcing Percy to change everything once again. His attention drifted to the Wintermoon mansion, and he swallowed hard. No more demons emerged from the mansion and the masked traitors were also moving elsewhere. The mansion was empty, yet the corpses of some instructors and nobles were still there. So were the Infernal Lair Seeds.
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Percy took the risk and skulked to the Wintermoon mansion, his attention lingering on the masked traitors. The Demons focused on the other Gifted and Egos. They ignored Percy’s presence altogether, leaving only the masked traitors who strode toward the retreating knight retinues.
Nice. Keep looking the other way!
Percy thought, but his eyes narrowed when he saw something from the corner of his eyes. Melissa retrieved an object from her spatial ring. It was a familiar black staff. The Staff of Leech.
Is she going to kill herself?!
The Glacia Knight Captain spoke only once of the Staff of Leech. Apparently, it was a rare relic capable of unleashing powerful mana blasts by consuming Mana and Lifeforce simultaneously. Recalling how drained Melissa had been after using the Staff of Leech a few times when they first encountered the Archyeas and the Mutant Pleacis, Percy couldn’t help but swallow.
The situation is that bad, huh? That is…not good.
If Melissa was desperate enough to retrieve the Staff of Leech, especially after the last time she used it, their chances of survival had to be incredibly low. Low enough to risk her life.
Percy considered joining the battle without detour but decided against it. Percy would have to exploit his Ego’s powers if he wanted to survive.
He stopped skulking around and charged into the tremoring building. The mansion’s insides looked worse than the exterior. Everything was destroyed. The walls had collapsed, the staircases had been smashed into pieces, and the furniture was either broken beyond repair or hurled through the hall.
Percy frowned as the persistent smell of blood filled the air, but he moved forward quickly. He didn’t know where to start searching the Infernal Lair Seeds, but dozens of interfaces popping up in three different spots helped him locate what he was looking for.
[Archyeas – Mature/Demonic – 12,341 Prosperity]
[Archyeas – Mature/Demonic – 13,352 Prosperity]
[Minos – Mature/Demonic – 11,924 Prosperity]
…
[Pleacis – Mature/Demonic/Elite – 184,435 Prosperity]
[Doomfeeder – Mature/Demonic/Elite – 201,593 Prosperity]
[Doomfeeder – Mature/Demonic/Elite –211,932 Prosperity]
…
Since the interfaces showed him the dead Demons, Percy could presume that the men and women responsible for their deaths were also dead. That was unfortunate, but their deaths helped him claim possession of the demons in his Ego’s range.
He rushed down the flight of broken staircases and reached the basement, where he ended up in a large hallway. The hallway opened up to a massive hall covered in countless runic enchantments before him. That was where Percy discovered the first Infernal Lair Seed and more than four Elite Demon corpses. His eyes trailed to the human bodies, which still didn’t show any interfaces, and he pressed his lips together.
The hollow eyes – still widened in terror – stared at the Elite Demon corpses. They didn’t move an inch when Percy stepped inside, but the reason was evident. They were dead. Percy inspected the gaping wounds and swallowed hard. A wave of nausea flooded Percy at the pair of gutted corpses, and the men and women whose chests had either been ripped apart or squashed mercilessly.
He tried to ignore the emotions awakening within him, but it was hard. The terrifying massacre that had occurred inside the Wintermoon mansion shocked Percy to the core.
I need to move forward. Melissa will keep using the Staff of Leech until she faints or worse… and the others are not doing well either. I might not be strong enough to rescue everyone, but I will regret it for life if I don’t help now. Or as long as I manage to survive this.
Percy turned away from the human corpses and hurriedly walked up to the Elite Demon corpses. He used [Consume] immediately but ignored the abomination and the notifications popping up in the corner of his vision. He searched the Infernal Lair Seed and found it in no time.
The crimson marble, remnants of the terrors they’d unleashed upon the Wintermoone estate, lay on the ground, unmoving and innocent. Percy felt almost like the marble was judging him for thinking of it as the Infernal Lair Seed, which it was. The interface verified that when Percy picked it up.
[Seedling of the Infernal – Juvenile/Mutant – 1,553,235 Prosperity]
The Coin of Prosperity had been going crazy since he entered the hall, but Percy had ignored it, thinking his Ego wished to consume the nobles, Commonbirth Egos, and Instructors. However, it was only now that Percy wondered if his Ego wasn’t more interested in the Seedling of the Infernal, which was what it called the Infernal Lair Seed.
He took a deep breath, used [Consume] again, and rushed through the rooms to consume the other Demon carcasses and the remaining Seelings of the Infernal to transform everything into Prosperity.
After all, the tremors from the surface indicated something bad was happening. Something incredibly bad!