ATREUS

I closed my eyes and kept my ears wide open, patiently waiting for the footsteps approaching me. As the footsteps sounded clearer, I could hear a couple of voices. Probably about three? I guessed based on what I caught with my ears. Fuck, how can Darak handle this sticky coat in this heat? I mentally noted that I had to take it off once I was out and maybe get something lighter.

"Jeez, what is a level ten doing down here? Would you heal him, please, Jonathan?" I heard the female's request to heal me. Meh, I didn't mind free healing, but I wanted to get rid of some Dark Matter, so I had to get up before the healer overdoes it. On the other hand, that name reminded me of my best buddy. How could I make my friends wait? Yes, just let the healer do his thing and then head out home directly.

Screw it, no time to waste. I waited calmly just to hear his whimper. Why the fuck are you hesitating now, Jonathan? I would appreciate it if you start already. "Are you sure about that, Ellen? Don't you see his class?" of course, you can see my class, you have [Identify].

"Just heal him! What could a level ten do regardless of his class?" Yes, tell him! I won't act like Darak, I promise. I had to thank that guy somehow.

"Heal him, but prepare to fight in the worst-case scenario. Anyone below level twenty isn't allowed to go down the abyss." Well shit! How and why? The Volcanic Region wasn't this dangerous, or am I outdated?

"Okay okay, but if anything goes wrong it's on you three!" Yes, Thank you! I relaxed mentally once I felt the healing effect start, I had to think of a way out of this situation. Fly the fuck out as a crow or blame Darak? Will they even believe me? Well, I wouldn't know unless I tried. They probably saw the fight from afar. Four wasn't a big deal, I could fight them but I had no interest in any conflict. Wimping out was far easier.

About five hours, or maybe more, have passed waiting for the healer to finish his job. It would have taken longer, probably, if [Regeneration] worked on its own. Once I felt good enough, I pretended to wake up, acting confused. "Hello?" I tried my best not to ruin the impression as I allowed my vision to wander around. Five faces came into view— one young girl, two older women, and two men. They all had military clothes similar to the ones I saw in the city fortress. The youngest girl had pointy ears, probably an elf or half-elf. I didn't need to bother myself with such trivial matters; one of my companions was a half-elf, and I never really minded it. They were hated or looked down on by most humans and elves. I never understood why; there was never a good, valid reason for this pointless argument.

"Hello, Atreus." The eldest-looking man responded to me greeting me right away as he offered his hand to pull me off the ground.

"Hello again, thanks for the heal" I took his hand as he assisted me to rise, I wanted to go right away but he beat me to it by introducing his ground, "Let me introduce us to you!". I couldn't do anything but hope it's quick.

"This is Lissy, she is the youngest among us. This is Elen, she is the eldest and our squad leader, and next to her is her younger brother, Jonathan. He is the one who healed you. I'm Theo and this is Ame."

"How did you get down here while just level ten?" Ew, fuck. I didn't even get the chance to introduce myself and the one next to him is already asking.

"Well, I can show you but does it matter?" I answered her question with another as I shrugged my shoulders.

"Please tell us, the military of our kingdom does not allow anyone below level twenty from going down." Whatever, I will just do it, and escape. I answered Elen's question as I planned out my trick. I think it's up to you to understand or fall for it.

"You see, this is my ability. It is called [Shift]" I said as my form started shrinking as I morphed into a small cobra, yet some of them still didn't understand.

"Do you mean you sneaked in?" I heard the elf's question and decided to respond to it, "Half right, half wrong." but it didn't seem like they understood anything I said as they had confusion painted over their faces.

"I think none of us can understand you; all I can hear is your hissing," I heard Theo say as he decided to speak up. I kind of understood, but that wasn't my problem, so I was just over it. I shifted into my crow form as they looked at me in amusement. Was I the only living creature with that skill or what? I had no time to waste; I started flapping my wings rapidly, and then I shot into the sky, flying toward the fortress. Maybe I was an ass, but I didn't plan to interact with them in the first place.

I didn't wait for them, common sense told me they would chase me to the fortress since that wasn't a trivial matter for them. I took a look behind me as I made my way there, and my guess was correct. The group was on my tail, but I was faster. Hopefully, I'd pass the upper gate before they managed to alarm any personnel; I didn't know if they had contact with the surface. I accelerated as I crossed ditches, making my way to the visible entrance. I witnessed the group make contact with some guards near the building as I entered the high tunnel, leaving the abyss behind.

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You may want to come into our domain, we have another phantom that I can't handle alone. I received Darak's call as I slithered my way up the tunnel. Another phantom, wasn't he the last of his kind? I guessed he could hold for a little while until I got myself out to a safe place. After two hours of going at my maximum speed, I found the heavily guarded exit. I wasn't surprised about the defense waiting for me as I just pushed my way out the same way that Darak came in. Once I was in the air, I switched my Direction to Ares City.

Shortly, I landed on a house and then vented into my domain right away. Two creatures bearing matching appearances fought wildly; one towered above the other, and what distinguished it from Darak was probably its size and large tail. As Darak didn't have a tail at all. Other than that, everything else matched, just like... a father disciplining his son. Well, except the son was not being very cooperative in this instance. I watched in amusement as my counterpart was getting pushed back; what was missing was some popcorn. Despite the enemy's hulking size, he wasn't able to inflict any damage on Darak, no matter how many times my partner fell; he would rise again. It looked like he was unaffected to a certain degree.

I could tell this was a pointless fight from a glance since the enemy seemed to be unaffected just like Darak. Hmm, I could take this opportunity to test my new [Skill]. I called my [Status] directly and as I focused on the skill to bring out its description what came out was a status page. How and why? This was quite interesting, a weapon-summoning skill. Such skills weren't rare, but one with skills of its own? that was certainly new.

"Buddy, won't you support me against this massive chunk?" As I was lost in thought I heard Darak's voice which caught my attention. Now I had both of their attention as the massive phantom decided to speak up.

"Tall and thin dwarf!" I listened to his voice as he pointed his large claw at me. I was confused, and so was Darak. "What?" escaped both of our mouths at the same time then I corrected the phantom.

"I'm a human, but what are you doing in our domain?"

"Human, heaven assisted my kin and made me a servant! But I'm no one's servant," I didn't understand; this confused me further. Why do you seem angry? I didn't do anything to you, did I? I didn't know what heavens was and who was assisted. Was I even involved? Servant? Ours? Maybe that was why he was unable to harm Darak and why my partner couldn't hurt him. I dismissed the thought as I called [Narco] to test it out.

I waited for a brief moment but nothing happened then I noticed the grumpy phantom morph into a lightning bolt. I watched in amusement about what was happening till I noticed it heading in my direction. I heard my counterpart scream at me to dodge, maybe he didn't know yet? I could just catch it and it would probably take on its weapon form, but I wanted to know what would happen if it phases through my body. I felt the light impact against my body, it felt like a surge of energy spreading through it then it started to gather at my stomach once again.

Once I felt it was complete, it started making its way up through my veins, then it sped through my right arm. Calmly, I witnessed a chunk of metal materialize slowly, taking the form of a sword. Its pitch-black, soft hilt felt comfortable against my skin; I felt its sharp scale as I massaged its blade. The red pupil located directly below the hilt snapped open, staring at me, and the chains coming down from the end of the hilt started spinning around my arm with a soft lock. Then I watched them speed slowly and fade under my skin; maybe it was a method to connect us, but I felt nothing from it.

"Narco?" I addressed my new weapon as I gazed upon it, which seemed quite angry about calling him by that name.

"My name is Mordus! I would never accept a name given by others," It looked like we had another stubborn crew member. I made a mental note as I felt Darak's footsteps coming closer.

"What is this sword? I don't recall having it. And where did the other phantom go?" I tilted my head as I waved the sword that reached about one meter in total, just a little longer than average swords. Maybe it wouldn't even be noticeable from a long distance. "This is the guy you were fighting. He is a skill but calls himself Mordus," I answered his question as I recalled Narco's info. I wanted to test his [Predation] and [Shift], but it was tricky; how would I make him eat a weapon? He wasn't very cooperative.

I declared my plan to Darak as I went to the Axe laid on the cold floor, I aimed the sword at the axe a commanded it to eat it "Eat!", the demonic eye looked at the axe once then turned back to me, "No, I prefer meat. I won't eat rough crap.". That was a headache, how should I convince it? "Just strike the axe down until it eats it," I heard Darak's voice once again as I was thinking about a way to do this, and then I just decided to follow his advice.

[Name: Narco]

[Food: 0/1 | Dark Energy: 0/0]

Base abilities:

Predation - (Max)

-Restriction(s): Owner-controlled, Weapons only.

-Allows you to keep the form of what you devour.

+Manual Trigger

+Trigger Condition(s):

+The entire weapon must be devoured.

+The weapon must be intact.

Shift - (Max)

-Restriction(s): Owner-controlled, Weapons only.

-Allows you to imitate the form of a weapon you consumed using [Predation]

+Manual Trigger

Phantom Form - (Max)

-Take on your monster form.

-Restriction(s): Owner-controlled, Weapons only.

+Manual Trigger

Energy Control (Max)

-Locked, successfully pass the first evolution to unlock.

I held Narco aiming it vertically above the axe then I struck down rapidly until the moment came, I watched the blade's scales warp around the axe consuming it slowly. A moment passed and the scales aligned back returning the blade to its base form. I wasn't into asking anymore, I called its [Shift] skill on my own. If the blade itself was my skill then I should be able to call them. I watched it shift to the shape of the axe, I guess my logic was correct.