With a brutal swipe of an unusually long lightning sword, Aodhán cleaved an already decapitated Tier 22 Gremlin in two. Blood and viscera poured out, staining the muddy ground with acid and bile, but Aodhán and Varéc were already on the move towards the next portal.
Aodhán had always considered Varéc a partner, but as they flew into the swirling portal for the 23rd Level, he came to the understanding that they were much more than that. They were one, like two sides of a coin or like an extra limb, one which acted with its own mind, yet remained an integral part of him.
Their minds were fully in sync despite their unmerged form, and, their emotions were one and the same; a raging pool of determination and focus, that threw Aodhán’s natural reaction to being covered in blood and viscera out of the window. There was no room for disgust or hesitance, only a singular desire to ascend and skewer those who would dare stand in their way.
They arrived within a lush forest that was the 23rd level an instant later, but unlike the last time when Aodhán had fallen prey to the relaxing atmosphere, this time, he was prepared. Varéc swerved right—without his direct input—just as a mass of thorny vines erupted out of the dense canopy of trees. Growling, Aodhán and Varéc turned around, both activating {Lightning Beam—Black} at the same time, and in an overwhelming cascade of decay and disintegration, black lightning was unleashed on the spot the thorny vines had erupted from. Trees withered immediately, and in only a few seconds, a large area of the forest decayed to ash. However, the Kanima guarding this level seemed to have escaped the attack.
With a glance at each other, a new plan was hatched. Aodhán jumped off Varéc and let himself fall. A lightning construct caught him just before he crossed the canopy line, and he only managed to dodge another mass of vines by sheer luck. One of the vines grazed his arms though, easily tearing through the armor he had built out of his storm scarf to inject poison into his veins. Aodhán didn’t bother wasting willpower to fight off the toxins, instead he created a bolt of green lightning, and injected it directly into the wound.
A hiss of pain escaped his lips as the green lightning rushed into his veins, but Aodhán pushed his pain aside and searched for his prey. The last time he had ‘injected’ himself with {Elemental Lightning—Green}, he had seen no side effects, so he figured that if used in small amounts, he could avoid any possible mutations.
While the vitality lightning battled the toxins in his body, Aodhán dodged another eruption of vines, and opened his spirit to the origin plane of storm. Chaos rushed in, inadvertently activating the rage that lay dormant within him and he groaned as his spirit strained to contain the infusion.
The sensation was agony and ecstasy mixed together, and Aodhán's gaze turned red with bloodlust as his crazed determination mingled with the blazing rage that fed off the chaos rushing into his spirit.
With a nigh feral grin, Aodhán dove into the forest and channeled all eight strands of willpower his technique allowed into {Lightning Surge—Black}. Like lightning, silver strands of willpower rushed into the skill, and the next instant, a river of black lightning exploded out of him.
It expanded in an ever flowing wave of disintegration and decay. Trees withered and died. Fruits fell to the ground and burst in a shower of pus and maggots before disintegrating to ash.
Aodhán didn’t stop channeling the skill though, not only because he was yet to wipe this forest away from the map, but also because his spirit was straining with so much chaos essence and he wanted to reduce it to a manageable extent before cutting the skill off.
Hundreds of vines attacked him from every angle, however they decayed before they even reached him.On the other side of the forest, Varéc roared and unleashed a torrent of red lightning that bathed the forest in fire and explosions. Trees collapsed by the dozens, and the earth shuddered with each explosion.
Slowly, destruction overtook the forest, shrinking it as decay and fire swept towards the center, and a few minutes later, when only a strip of greenery remained, the Kanima shrieked; Its cry so piecing that it threatened to shatter Aodhán’s mind.
Aodhán gritted his teeth in pain, and bolted forward, an overwhelming amount of decay essence swirling in his wake. The Kanima's shriek heightened the closer he got, but the piercing sound was suddenly cut off when Varéc released another torrent of red lightning in its direction. Taking advantage of the temporary lull, Aodhán hastily closed the distance between himself and the Kanima, and willed a storm cloud into existence.
He needn’t have bothered though because Varéc’s claws sliced the Kanima’s head off just a second before he reached it. The Kanima wasn’t dead yet though, so Aodhán raised a hand to it and released a fully empowered {Lightning Spear—Red} at the neck stump.
The spear exploded on contact, spraying blood, tissue, and viscera everywhere. The bloody spray drenched him, coating his body in pieces of bloody tissue, guts and an eviscerated liver, but Aodhán barely noticed, his gaze trained on the portal for the 24th level that appeared in the distance. He climbed unto Varéc’s back, and with an expression brimming with determined rage, they shot towards the next portal.
The 24th level was a turbulent sea, and immediately they arrived within it, Varéc dove towards the center where they knew the colossal octopus-like creature identified as a [Juvenile Kraken] would emerge from.
This monstrous creature had been the one to halt Aodhán’s advance the last time he’d challenged the tower, but this time, Aodhán was more than prepared to deal with it. As they neared the center of the turbulent sea, the kraken emerged out of the depths, its tentacles waving in annoyance, as the sea began to gather into a whirlpool around it.
Aodhán was unmoved by the terrifying display, instead, he watched until they reached a satisfactory distance before opening his spirit to the origin plane once more. Chaos rushed in, and since there was already a sinister convergence of dark clouds above him, he raised his hands to the sky and activated {Storm Manipulation}
The dark clouds moved, converging faster than was normal until they merged into a single colossal cloud that covered an area hundreds of meters wide in darkness. To manipulate the natural other of things in such manner drained an immense amount of willpower from him, but Aodhán barely registered it.
With furious determination, Aodhán activated {Lightning Descent} and channeled all the chaos essence from his spirit into it. Immediately, the giant storm cloud above exploded with a river of electricity that descended with enough power to wipe out a small village. However, as the kraken raised its head, Aodhán realized that his attack wouldn’t be enough. Unwilling to let the Kraken survive or even worse, escape, Aodhán harnessed his seal and pulled.
Heat engulfed him as a tiny strand of gold lightning, barely the size of his pinkie, emerged out of his seal and into his spirit. It shot into his pathways, and despite its small size, Aodhán almost had a seizure as the tiny bolt rushed through his spirit and into the still descending skill. It felt like he’d plugged a bolt of electricity right into his brain, and although the pain was immense, the pleasure was unfathomable.
Shuddering, Aodhán kept his eyes fixed on the skill, not wanting to miss out on the effect his seal would have on his most powerful skill, and it was absolutely wondrous.
Thunder boomed so loud it was like the earth itself cracked, and the once colossal storm cloud tripled in size. Lightning gathered around it, swirling in an amazing cascade reminiscent of a collosal wave.
Water rushed up from the sea, to form a sort of shield to protect the now frightened kraken, but it was a futile effort. What descended from the cloud this time could hardly be called a river. It was an entire sea of lightning and when it descended, it passed through the water shield without resistance and struck the kraken right on it’s bulbous head.
The kraken let out a short-lived cry of agony as it was simply eviscerated from existence and a moment later the sea stilled. There was not a single evidence of the kraken, not even a tentacle was in sight, and the heavy scent of ozone filled the air.
Aodhán sagged and closed off his spirit, too strained to keep the ‘opening’ open. Aside from that, more than half his energy was spent, his pathways were strained, and his body felt weak, but it was his seal that concerned him the most.
The seal had dimmed, and Aodhán estimated that he could only get another thread of gold lightning from it before he lost access to it until whatever time it recharged.
As worrisome as that sounded, Aodhán wasn’t too worried. With the chaos essence now expelled from his spirit, Aodhán was finally able to think, and he realized that perhaps it would have been better for him to have kept the seal as the last card that it was. However, his plan had been to go all out during this challenge, and he definitely wasn’t out of gas yet.
He turned his gaze to the swirling portal of the 25th level, and without hesitation, he and Varéc zoomed torwards it. The moment they stepped into the swirling portal for the 25th level though, the warmth of the tower faded and an icy gust hit Aodhán's face. Before them was an icy wasteland that spread out as far as their eyes could see, illuminated by the cold, pale light of an unseen moon.
At the center of the wasteland, a tall mountain made entirely of ice jutted out of the frozen earth, and at its top, lay a massive blue creature, identified as a [Silverwing IceDrake]. The creature was easily twice the size of Varéc, but when it stretched its wings, covered in frosty scales that gleamed like frosted diamonds, Aodhán amended that size to three times.
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Naturally, at tier 25, the IceDrake should have been an advanced class creature, however the handlers of the tower had calibrated and limited it to the evolved class. Despite its limitations, the IceDrake wasn’t to be taken lightly as it still had the power boost that came with crossing a milestone. It wouldn’t be as unbeatable as an advanced beast, but Aodhán was fully prepared to take some serious damage this time.
His uninjured ascension through the tower had come to an abrupt halt, and despite the determination blazing within him, Aodhán still felt a thread of concern. The IceDrake raised its massive head to glare at them, but rather than attack like every other creature they’d come across, the drake scrutinized them, its blue eyes gleaming with an intelligence that almost seemed human.
If Aodhán had been merely concerned before, now he was very wary. Intelligent monsters were the worst kind of opponents, as they had the innate instincts for skill creation and cultivation as well as the cunning to fight. The IceDrake stared at them for a moment later, and in a bizzare turn of events, it dismissed them as insignificant. Aodhán was shocked, but he felt another emotion for Varéc. Fury!
Varéc was furious that he’d been casually dismissed by a kin of his even though they bore different affinities, and before Aodhán could take control of the situation, Varéc dove forward and unleashed a condensed beam of red lightning. The drake blocked the attack with an ice armored wing, and the entire mountain shook as it let out a thunderous roar. Its eyes glowed an eerie blue, and with a powerful beat of its wings, it surged forward, sending a wave of ice and snow cascading downwards.
Since Varéc had already begun the battle, Aodhán had no choice but to join in. While Varéc unleashed another torrent of red lightning, Aodhán jumped off his back, raised his hands to the cloudy sky above him and activated {Vortex of storm}. The clouds descended and began to revolve into a cyclone of cutting winds and water. It wasn’t his most dangerous skill, but it was extremely useful when he needed to be a nuisance. The vortex surrounded the drake, impeding its sight and flight.
Aodhán gathered more clouds with {Storm manipulation}, merging them into one colossal cloud, and when he was finished with that, he activated {Lightning Spear Rain —Red}. Usually, Aodhán worked with storm clouds he’d created himself which were usually small if he were to be honest, or more appropriately, they were tiny compared to the mammoth of a cloud he’d just put together. So when he activated {Lightning Spear Rain—Red} through the colossal cloud, he felt the energy drain like a punch to the gut.
The effect of the skill however was much more spectacular than he was used to. Hundreds of lightning spears as thick as his arms rained down and struck the still struggling IceDrake. They smashed into its armored wings with terrible force, cracking ice and exploding erratically. However, unlike how the skill usually worked, the lightning spears didn’t fizzle out after explosion, instead they stuck to the body of the drake, causing minor damages over time.
It wasn't nearly enough to be a bother to the IceDrake though, as the next moment, Varéc was sent flying out of the storm vortex with so much force that he caused a large crater when he crashed onto the frozen ground. Aodhán let loose a condensed beam of black lightning in the interim, but Varéc was already halfway back into the sky before he could blink, and with another roar of anger, Varéc unleashed a torrent of black lightning which merged seamlessly with his own beam and the vortex of cutting winds to form a cyclone of wind and necrotic electricity.
They were making headway, but it wasn't nearly enough and as much as Aodhán wanted to delve head first into the battle and pull out his biggest guns, he hadn’t fully recovered from his battle with the kraken, and he would rather attack from afar than engage in close combat.
He bombarded the IceDrake with lightning spears and beams, even intensifying the swirling vortex of storm and black electricity by adding a red lightning vortex. Despite the significant damage they were doing to the Drake, it seemed to be more of an annoyance than a real threat to the drake, and eventually it broke free.
With a roar, the IceDrake tore its way out of the swirling vortexes and let out a blast of freezing energy that spread out in a shockwave and smashed both Aodhán and Varéc to the ground. Varéc got back up quickly, only a little affected by the blast, but Aodhán’s entire left side was frozen over.
Aodhán was still struggling with his frozen side when Varéc came crashing down once again, but when the IceDrake opened it’s mouth to unleash another blast of freezing energy, Aodhán knew he had only one option. His seal.
He harnessed the glowing imprint for the second time in less than an hour, and heat engulfed him as another tiny strand of golden electricity emerged from the seal and into his pathways, freeing him from the clutches of cold just as another blast hit and sent him tumbling back several meters. Fortunately, he managed to keep himself from freezing this time with a hastily created construct, and with a snarl, he launched himself towards the IceDrake while Varéc battled it from the rear.
When he closed the distance with the Drake's head, Aodhán took hold of the golden lightning, tore off a part of it, and channeled it into his bloodline. He released his aura the next instant, and a massive pressure descended, the force of which sent the IceDrake crumpling to the ground in a sudden and violent motion.
Bones cracked audibly, and without hesitation, Aodhán and Varéc took advantage of the opportunity. While Varéc dove forward to tear the drake to pieces, Aodhán raised his hands to the cloud, activated {Lightning Descent—Red} for the second time in less than an hour, and channeled the rest of the golden lightning into the skill.
The IceDrake managed to erect an ice shield to protect itself, but the construct shattered as soon as the river of red lightning struck it. The armor around the drake’s body was next to go, and when the skill eventually lost its strength, Aodhán sagged in exhaustion.
Unfortunately, the drake was nowhere near dead yet. One of its wings was broken and it’s entire right side was riddled with deep wounds, however, from the drake’s expression alone, Aodhán could tell that it wasn’t anywhere close to giving up yet.
Aodhán on the other hand was running on fumes. The only thing he still had in abundance was willpower. His energy was severely low, his seal was completely dead, and his spirit ached at the thought of opening it to more chaos. He was on his last legs, and if he didn’t deal with this drake in the next five minutes, Aodhán was certain, he would be progressing no further.
Tightening his resolve, Aodhán rushed forward once more, this time, aiming for the drake’s injured side while Varéc distracted it. Pulling on the energy he had left, Aodhán activated {Lightning Beam —Red} and fully empowered it with willpower. The beam of electricity burst out of his palms and punched through the drake’s side, drilling a hole the size of his head through its stomach. The drake roared in pain, and Varéc released a condensed beam of red electricity into its mouth at point blank range.
The beam exploded within the drake’s throat, punching several fist sized holes into its neck yet the drake refused to die. Angered, Aodhán squeezed his core and unleashed another beam of red lightning at the drake’s injured side. The beam exploded on impact, blasting the drake backwards and tearing off its second wing, but the drake was unyielding, and with sheer force of will, it pivoted to the side just as Varéc dove to attack again, and snapped it jaws around Varéc’s neck. With a brutal twist, it pulled and tore out Varéc’s neck.
Varéc of course couldn’t die while Aodhán was still alive, however, the pain Varéc felt in that moment was so intense that Aodhán staggered. The drake flung Varéc's body carelessly to the side, and the sight of Varéc's limp body caused a sudden explosion of rage within Aodhán.
This wasn’t the dormant rage that resided within him as a result of the twisted effect. No, this was something much more primal, raw and hot. It blazed within him with an unquenchable intensity, and in that moment, Aodhán discarded any fear of pain or worry for his own safety. He had no energy left, and all of his boons were used up, but he had willpower. He had an abundance of willpower.
With a fury void of conscious thought, Aodhán rushed forward, activated his {Merge} perk—which forcefully drew Varéc back into his spirit—and attacked. Long black claws replaced his fingers, and he used them to literally tear the drake apart. The drake retaliated, slashing at Aodhán with ice claws that ripped his skin, leaving deep, jagged wounds that caused a deep chill to seep into his bones. Each wound caused Aodhán to feel stiff, but he pressed on, overcome with a need to inflict the worse amount of pain on this creature for what it did to Varéc. Each strike from the drake was met with a savage retaliatory force, his claws tearing through scales and flesh with abandon.
Aodhán’s vision blurred with rage and pain as he sank his claws into the drake’s belly, ripping through the thick hide and the tough muscle beneath. He widened the Drake's wounds, and when he created a whole wide enough, he clawed into the beast’s innards, the stench of blood and bile filling the nostrils.
The drake thrashed in agony as it attacked itself to rip Aodhán out of its stomach, but it was to no avail. Aodhán had clawed his way too deep inside its body. He carved his way through tissue and viscera, the gore splattering his face and body, mingling with his own blood, but Aodhán was past caring. He just wanted to tear the drake to pieces, to rip it to shreds from the inside out. He cut, sliced and carved his way through the drake’s belly, tearing through bone and tissue until he emerged out of the other side, completely drenched in blood.
He shuddered as the reality of what he’d done came crashing down on him, and when the adrenaline subsided, Aodhán collapsed to the frozen ground and simply lay there, gasping for breath as he returned to his human form. He was completely spent, his entire body ached and he was bleeding from too many cuts, but he was covered in so much blood that he couldn’t exactly tell where his own ended and the drake’s began.
He lay there for almost an hour, just trying to regain his strength again, and when he recovered enough to stand, Aodhán pushed himself to his feet and slowly turned around to glance at the next portal. He was completely spent and at this point, he just wanted to exit the tower, but he’d already beaten the 25th level. He needed to at least enter the 26th even if it was only for a second If not this entire fight would be in vain.
Slowly, warily, he trudged towards the portal, and a few minutes later, he stepped through it. He appeared within a shadowy cavern thick with the metallic scent of blood. Blood covered the walls, and to the left, a small stream of blood flowed. Aodhán heaved at the pungent scent of stale blood and turned his gaze to the far end of the room, where a blood core blazed with absolute purity.
A growl echoed through the entire cavern, followed by heavy footsteps, and a few seconds later, the guardian for this level revealed itself.
[Blood Orc—Tier 26]
The towering figure wore a dirty rag around its waist that served as a loincloth, but that was the only piece of clothing on it. The rest of it’s body was covered in blood, and a large rusted axe was strapped to it’s back. Beneath all the blood, it’s skin was ashen. It’s eyes glowed crimson, and when its gaze landed on him, Aodhán felt his blood begin to boil.
Not willing to risk fighting this thing in his weakened state, Aodhán immediately clicked the ejector on his neck and sighed in relief when the world blurred away and reality returned.
Aodhán found himself on the stage of the arena the next instant, and a roar of excitement exploded from the crowd, A flurry of system messages followed, but the first one was the only one he could read before collapsing to the floor, too weak and energy drained to even open his eyes.
Congratulations! New familiar perk gained.
Berserk: Harness a bestial rage that provides strength in exchange for willpower.
Leaderboard updated.