Shin sat in front of a brand new inscription desk, one finely crafted, gilded and furnished to grandeur bordering on excess. In his hand he wielded a brush equally as luxurious, carefully painting symbols on a talisman of far more complexity than he had before receiving the knowledge. Shin still didn’t like learning from books all that much but with no one around to teach him, he had to make do.
Mujin dodged and deflected the blades of a puppet, scythe-like with bent segmented arms. Insectoid in appearance and Jean fittingly named it the Mantis model. One of the joints spun and Mujin vaulted over a slash from the side as the end of his snow white spear parried the other away.
The dragoon actually had some difficulty against it, albeit with the caveat of not trying to destroy it in the process. The Mantis puppet was epic tier, but puppets operated more like equipment than monsters. Provided the model well designed and the puppeteer skilled enough, it could be more threatening than creatures of the same tier.
However, that potential was still yet unlocked. Jean had managed to build the base but he lacked the supplements to bring it to the next level. To that end, Kamala and Dante were training their alchemy and runeforging, Kamala developing various poisons to be use in both liquid and gas form and Dante painstakingly carving runes on hundreds needles to give them all a passive rare tier Greater Keen Point. Jean also needed spell scrolls to take his puppets to the next level beyond that, but Shin had hardly any experience with them, thus he had to wait for the Invoker to practice a bit more.
The others were nearby training their skills normally. The group had decided to no longer split up unless absolutely necessary but Ashley decided she was bored and left to rectify that, with Donny electing to join her. Basem aimed an arrow at the tree with great strain on his face, the sparks of progress flickering from his bow but a massive barrage of fire blasts in the distance shocked him out of his concentration.
“Use your whore magic quieter!”
“If you wanted peace and quiet, you should have went vampire hunting.” Yen wholly unbothered by the insult with the last vestiges of light shards fading around her.
Basem clicked his teeth and burst further away to resume his attempts in a foul mood while light sparked off of Shin’s talisman as well. An epic tier Blast talisman, similar to Yen’s combustion skill rather than a fireball, albeit much weaker. Still, they had their uses.
“West.”
Karla shot in the direction at his words towards the lurking vampires. Dark red aura surged in her fist as she slammed it up into the chest of one. In an instant, the aura swam through its upper body and burst it all away. Three more strikes gave the same devastating result.
Karla’s latest mythic tier skill Crush, upgraded from her amazon class skill Smash, was not mere damage but complete and utter destruction. What she destroyed with the skill disappeared entirely, an incredibly dangerous skill. If she found a way to destroy the whole body at once, then even those with Unfettered like Shin could be killed at any time.
Whether she could in the near future remained to be seen, however. Her sparring partners were mostly epic tier vampires, usually between the ranks of Greater Lord and Intermediate Monarch. They had intelligence and tricky skills but even then, they weren’t much of a threat. Even their innate ability to inflict vampirism was a non issue as it counted as a curse.
More importantly on the subject of monsters, Shin had yet to find the right monsters to upgrade Mara and Kong with. Naturally, he was looking for rare and lower tier monsters to fuse up, making the most of his Vestiger ability, but none gained the abilities he envisioned. Still, he did not find that much of an issue. This was only a new world like theirs and they had only been here for less than a month. He would find the right ones, he knew.
Inari appeared besides him carrying several snarling vampire torsos removed of their limbs, and killed them with a single stroke. Shin raised a hand and casually harvested their souls as she sped off again in search of more. The kitsune throneguard had been especially keen to kill vampires ever since they first encountered them, making it her mission with a vengeance. Shin let her do as she pleased. Few were her equal and for anything that was, she had a safety net.
[Mana Projection has reached lvl. 10. 100 Attribute Points rewarded.]
[Human Invoker (legendary) - Greater Lord]
Strength - 200 (420)
Agility - 600 (1260)
Constitution - 50 (105)
Vitality - 152 [228] (479)
Dexterity - 33 (69)
Perception - 300 (630)
Force - 24 (50)
Spirit - 793 [1190] (2499)
Control - 150 [225] (472)
Willpower - 100 [150] (315)
Skills:
Heal lvl. 10, Greater Mystic Protection lvl. 10, Summon Skyward Kitsune Throneguard lvl. 10, Ultimate Martial Combat lvl. 4, Greater Rapid lvl. 10, Spirit Communion lvl. 10, Greater Mana Meditation lvl. 10, Invigoration lvl. 10, Greater Harvest Soul lvl. 5, Greater Invoke lvl. 10, Pulse lvl. 10, Greater Channelling lvl. 10, Greater Spirit Gyro lvl. 10, Greater Ward lvl. 10, Greater Soul Fusion lvl. 10, Truestrike lvl. 10, Sense Through Spirits lvl. 10, Invoke Skill lvl. 10, Overshadow lvl. 10, Mana Absorption lvl. 10, Meld lvl. 10, Mana Projection lvl. 10,
Traits:
Body Supremacy, Eyes of the Spirit King, Ethereal Soul, Vessel of Spirits, Unfettered, Instant Regeneration, Martial Eye, Third Eye, Summon Master, Great Control, Great Spirit, Great Willpower, Poison Immunity, Disease Immunity, Curse Immunity, Golden Body, Golden Mind, Golden Soul, Great Vitality, Vestiger,
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Another talisman succeeded before him, his ninetieth in a tenth as many days, thanks in part due to his greater control over the flow of mana. From Emission to Coating to Infusion to now Projection, and according to Dante, Harnessing afterwards, each had given him greater control and options over the handling of his skills than ever.
Soon he would be able to move onto scrolls for Jean and then focus on training a few specific skills of his own. He needed to kill the so called King of the Night, something they all agreed would cement an impact. Shin wielded his brush against a talisman once more. He hoped Virgil understood what he had told him now.
---
Donny and Ashley mowed down a tribe of Hill Giants with ease. Large and brutish epic creatures, but lumbering to their eyes and slow of mind, fitting their lopsided features. Aura of higher quality shrouded Donny’s axe as he cleaved through flesh and bone like paper.
The giants just threatening enough that he couldn’t relax entirely and of hardy stock, making for excellent training dummies, though his partner held not a trace of seriousness or tension at all as she severed all in her careless dance. Reap, her mythic tier skill, a fusion of Greater Assassinate and Grim Blade, bypassed all material objects and even lesser tier skills as to cut only flesh with souls, and did so with extreme sharpness.
A massive Hill Giant Wrecker swung down its destructive club and she stood still with a smile, failed attempts of upgrading a skill sparking off of her. Donny caught the attack on his shield in a burst of movement. His dull golden one handed axe cleaved through the monster’s knees, bringing it low and a second took its neck. Blood splattered lightly on the still very tangible Ashley to her amusement, who wrapped around his back in a giggling flash.
“Let’s go to a city~”
“Off limits right now.”
“C’mon~” Ashley tightened her squeeze and leaned her head against his lightly. “I won’t tell~”
Donny jolted alert and shifted around in a blur to behead a wiry vampire clean that lunged from behind. But his vigilance did not slacken, as they found themselves surrounded by two dozen vampires of superior presence and among them an elegantly dressed man, pale skinned with vampiric features.
[Vampire Stalker (epic elite) - Greater Monarch]
[Vampire Duke (legendary elite) - Greater Monarch]
“We’re in trouble~” Ashley beamed, though Donny did not share her levity.
The vampires lunged without warning and a Thunderstomp knocked them back a step. Serenity washed over Donny’s face and was quickly replaced by surging rage. Donny shattered the skull of a leaping vampire with his shield and carved another in half but a second swing missed and claws shredded his throat.
His wound healed in an instant but a stalker darted through the chaos to thrust its piercing palm at Ashley’s back. Donny caught the attack on his axe just barely, weathering the weight of the blow as a second vampire clawed out his eyes.
“Attack the girl.” The Duke ordered from a distance as slight realization found his face.
Immediately all the vampire underlings swarmed. Through the shadows and carnage, Donny fought like a focused madman. Ashley clung still to his back with the utmost amusement, forcing him to take blows in place of her, just as the duke foresaw. He was at a disadvantage.
The vampire stalkers were faster than him by half a fold, only his raw combat skill and well timed use of skills enabling him to fight equally. But his energy was draining and he could gain nothing back from these bloodless creatures, the duke smart enough to push the fight away from the hill giant corpses the moment he saw Bloodthirst in effect.
His own red blood coated his axe and hardened in razor sharp jagged brutality, making each lethal swing less draining on his aura. But still, his mana drained rapidly. Flesh tore around and his blood split over the dirt, and he fought on still.
With a charging swing, he cleaved through the last of the stalkers and the duke made his move. Three times as fast and striking at the perfect moment. Donny shifted in turn, bringing down his weapon with a mighty swing, and the duke sneered. His clawed palm shattered the knight’s head but to his shock the orichalcum axe cut into his skull through Greater Phase, the raging blood knight chose to strike with greater spellbreak over any attack.
The passive skill Mangle mutilated the vampire duke’s head as Donny’s body fell to its knees. But with the last of his mana, his own mortal wound recovered faster than the vampire’s, and Donny carved the vampire to pieces until its body turned to ash.
“Go to a city~” Ashley whispered in his ear. Donny took a step in that direction and strained against himself, brute forcing his way out of greater rage with the little sanity he had remaining. “No fair~”
Unbothered by the smiling reaper’s antics, Donny assessed the situation before him, and headed back, Ashley still clinging to his back. This had been a significant step up in quality of vampires, a circumstance he decided best to share with the others.
---
Johan paced quickly within the cathedral, no particular target in mind this time. He had other more pressing things to concern himself with. Too many. Chief among them was Duchess Lorraine’s continued existence. She had proven to be a bigger threat than he thought, and worst still she was growing more powerful by the day. A common enemy of the church in all but official decree. While she lived, the cardinals had reason to cooperate and restrain their worst desires. This could not be. He needed the church to gain complete control, and with it the landscape for individual strife and intrigue to rise boldly from within.
“Cardinal Johan.” A sly voice affronted his ears, Johan turning reluctantly to find the person he least wanted to be near. Curled shoulder length dark brown hair and a thin goatee around a sure smile. The egregiously casual arrogance and attitude that he had everything in the palm of his hand but pretended otherwise.
“Cardinal Luther…”
“I’ve just received word of the house of Amsberg’s demise.” Luther spoke with a casualness almost disrespectful to the unfortunate fallen, but none so much that he could be rightful called out on it. “All living members slain or stolen, every object of value pilfered. No doubt the work of otherworlders engaging in banditry.”
“I grieve for them…”
“Yes.” Luther agreed, though he didn’t mean it.
“Speaking of which, that troublesome duchess had her own scare, did she not? It seems she had the good fortune to escape with little harm, but one can never know what is in store when handling beasts.”
Johan did not answer. The cardinal beside him had a deceitful way with words bordering on remarkable. Slyly probing and prodding for information with petty tricks. Even a child could understand the dual meaning behind his words. The duchess employed otherworlders. Only a naive fool would think otherwise. But Johan was sure that Luther’s own family, Krause, did exactly the same.
The two were at odds currently, competing over dominance in the aristocracy, both recruiting to their own territories. Cardinals are forced to discard their surnames and secede from their houses, but of course, familial and political ties cannot be severed so easily. Even before the Change, there was no shortage of corruption and cooperation between the noble cardinals and their families. Such schemes had only worsened in the new world.
“Such rigorous security Reinolt has designed. It is so hard to get out now, isn’t it?” Johan’s heart skipped a beat at Luther’s sudden and dangerous revelations. To admit such things within these walls was nothing short of madness. “The streets of the capital just aren’t safe anymore. I’ve half a mind to lock myself in my study.”
Luther turned an knowing eye to Johan and Johan knew he made a grave mistake.
“Indeed… I must take my leave now, Cardinal.” Jonah cursed himself as he briskly walked away.
Luther knew now without a doubt, that he snuck out of the capital. Such a simple trick he had fallen for so easily. And from that small knowledge, he would be able to glean many of crucial things. Such was the danger of the wretched fox. As Luther smiled amusedly with deep contemplative eyes, Johan resolved himself to accelerate his plans. Now more than ever, time was not on his side.