"Ha... Ha..." Grayton panted, the mangled corpse of the ape-like creature lying by his feet. In the end, the beast hid its core too well for him to find it before it died from its wounds. "Well played... -Hah!"
Grayton took a sharp breath as he saw a red tendril whistling toward him from the corner of his vision. He managed to lift his blade to block it, but his mana reinforcement came a split-second too late, causing the tendril to push the flat of his blade into his ribcage, flinging him across the room.
He bounced and rolled on the floor, letting out pained groans. The lack of friction between the fabrics of his coat and the granite floor resulted in him sliding on the floor to the other end of the ballroom.
Despite the humiliating motion, Grayton was quite grateful that the blow propelled him as far as it did, as the distance gave him enough breathing room to recover and reorient himself.
"Hah, I'm still too inexperienced to be doing this sort of stuff..." He assessed as he got back up. "Well, this much I can still handle. Now let's see what kind of..."
Grayton's voice trailed off, and his eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of his attacker. It was an undying in the shape of an overfed dog. It had grey fur and a bulging stomach, but its most notable and disturbing trait by far was its mouth, or what was inside it. There was an oversized, skinless fetus seemingly attempting to crawl out of its slack, broken jaw. The red fetus's abdomen was melded with its jaw, had tendrils for hands, and was missing both eyes and a nose.
The dog had multiple holes in its pulsating belly where multiple red tendrils slithered out. However, Grayton could occasionally see tiny skeletal hands reaching out of these holes, grasping at air before being violently pulled back.
"W-what the fuck!" Grayton tightened his grip on his cutlass. The sight of the horrifying beast snapped him back into alert mode. "Don't undyings copy the appearance of things nearest to them? Then what the fuck is-"
His train of thought was interrupted by another tendril whistling toward him. The fetus let out what sounded like a pained cry as it lashed out with its tendrils.
"..." Grayton flicked his wrist, swinging the sword in a circular motion and severing both tendrils before they could reach him. The mad grin on his face faded and was quickly replaced by an emotionless, calculating stare. His manic, excited demeanor completely dissipated.
"You're not a human." He reminded himself as he sprinted toward the undying, keeping it in his cold gaze. The fetus screamed as more tendrils burst out of the dog's belly, causing it to twitch and tremble in pain.
"Never were; never will be." He twisted his foot and launched himself to the left to avoid the incoming tendrils. However, it seemed that the beast possessed some form of intelligence as the tendrils changed their course to chase him. The undying also directed the rest of its tendrils toward the spot where he was going to land, forming a deadly pincer attack.
Grayton stabbed his cutlass into the ground mid-dive. He used the handle of the stuck blade as a handhold to swing around into the direction of the undying and assumed a sprinting position once his feet touched the ground toward the wide open undying, leaving his sword behind to be crushed between a dozen tendrils. The undying screamed as it realized it must now pay the price of abandoning its defense.
He grasped the obese canine's neck and stepped on its tail, letting the momentum from his sprint carry his hand forward and tore its head away from the rest of its body. He let go of the severed head, letting it drop to the ground with a thump. Despite the mortal injury, the fetus continued to sob loudly, flailing its mutilated tendrils around.
"Did I not hit its core? Or are they two separate undyings?" Grayton thought as he examined the dying monster. He glanced back and forth between the two fractions of its body. "Must be the latter; its lower half is still twitching."
"Ma...ma... I'm... Hungry..." The fetus croaked between its pained sobbing.
Grayton's eyes widened upon hearing the beast talk. He stumbled backwards. For a moment, doubt flashed across his mind, but when he recovered, anger flickered behind his eyes. "Is... Is it mimicking human language to gain sympathy?"
"Mama..." The undying repeated. "Hug... Me..."
Then, he understood. The beast did not understand the words it was saying. It was simply repeating words that had helped its survival, words that fooled others before him.
"You disgust me." Grayton glared at the undying, envisioning previous mages who hesitated upon hearing those words and fell victim to it. He opened a portal on the ground and kicked the beast into it, silencing it forever.
He sighed as he watched the undying fizzle as soon as it touched the liquid, its very fibers dissolving in the endless ocean. The sight filled him with a strange sense of satisfaction. He closed the portal once the monster was fully submerged and turned his gaze away from the floor. The sight of a swarm of similar, strong-looking humanoid undyings greeted his eyes.
In the time he had been fighting the dog-like beast, the rest of the undyings had surrounded him without him even realizing.
"What a blunder." Grayton scolded himself. "And of course you all look like human corpses..."
He balled up his fists and raised them in front of him, taking a fighting stance. He let his mana flow into all of his limbs, no longer bothering to preserve it.
"Well? You lot look like the final wave anyway; let's get this over with."
----------------------------------------
For the next few minutes, Grayton was swarmed by undyings from all sides. They overwhelmed and overpowered him handily. For a while, all Grayton could do was flail around as he was knocked down again and again. He quickly realized that these undyings actually had the power to hurt him.
"Gyah, fuck!" Grayton exclaimed upon receiving some deep gashes on his hands and chest after an undying in the shape of a fleshy scarecrow managed to dig its claws into him. He carved a hole into the undying's chest with one of his portal shots and backed away.
He then stemmed the bleeding by coating it with a layer of mana.
"Hmm... I can do better." He squinted at the coating on his arms, unsatisfied. He dispelled the layer and opted for a different, more effective solution. Using his extensive knowledge of human anatomy, he reconstructed his blood vessels, only using mana to replace the broken artery walls, stopping the bleeding completely. "Nice, I'll last much longer with this."
Now that he had gotten rid of all the weaker ones, the only undyings left to challenge him were the strong and the intelligent. Ones that survived his continuous onslaught, ones that waited for him to tire himself out before striking. Fortunately, he was able to break out of the encirclement by carving his path with portals and punches.
By the time he got to his sword, it became painfully clear that Charles's observation had been correct. The closer an undying resembled a human, the stronger their power. He looked at the swarm, and more than a few human faces met his gaze, though all of them were in various states of decay.
"Am I in trouble?" Grayton questioned; the wounds on his arms stung with every movement. He hadn’t had the experience to properly gauge the opponent’s strength. "Sure, they're strong, but why do I feel like I can beat them fairly easily as long as I play it safe? Is this hubris?"
He lifted his sword and started to slash at the nearest undyings. Unlike last time, he didn't surrender himself to wildly charging without a plan. Instead, he focused his mana in his legs, focusing on dodging away and repositioning. He only struck back when a free opportunity presented itself to him.
Stolen novel; please report.
Whether it be an unholy amalgamation of limbs or a corpse hanging off a floating noose spilling maggots out of every orifice, one by one, the undyings fell to his blade. He also made sure to sacrifice the stronger ones to the leviathan when his portals were up for the sake of growing his contract.
Soon, their numbers dwindled enough to the point where Grayton felt comfortable taking the initiative and attacking instead of waiting for opportunities.
"It's not that bad as long as they don't talk." He thought as his expression started to soften. He brought his sword down on an undying in the form of a ghoulish corpse, splitting it down the middle. Even as the beast fell, it stared at Grayton with burning hatred behind its soulless eyes all the way down. "Still, this feels wrong; It's not as fun anymore... Right, I almost forgot."
Grayton knelt down and pulled out a small metal box from his coat. Inside the box were four syringes, which he promptly filled with the golden core liquid. He stood back up and observed his surroundings. He saw the last few undyings cowering at the edges of the room. Most of the survivors were at least vaguely humanoid, but Grayton still spotted some animalistic ones among them.
"Survived this long by hiding behind their peers, no doubt." Grayton thought. He reached into the well of power within him and found that his mana reserves were getting quite low. "I need to end this quickly, or I'll bleed out once I run out of juice."
"You look annoyed." Charles finally made himself known, peering out from his shadow. "What's wrong? The rift finally gettin to ya?"
"Why the fuck do they look like people, Charles?" Grayton asked as he raised his sword, preparing himself to chase down the remaining undyings. "You didn't say anything about this."
"Oh, uh..." Charles seemed to stumble upon his words, as if he came to a realization mid-sentence. "I guess even someone like ya gets shaken up when seein' somethin' like this."
The boy didn't say a word, silently demanding a more satisfying answer from the shadow.
"I... Sorry, I didn't think ya'd have to see somethin' like this." Charles said after a moment, replacing his carefree and playful tone with a more serious one. "It's my fault; it really is, kid... You okay?"
"I'm fine." Grayton spat and began to walk at a slower pace once he made sure that none of the remaining undyings made any attempt at attacking him proactively. "It just takes a little to reduce them from... you know, to nothing but monsters in my head. But seriously, what the hell happened here? Aren't they supposed to copy from their environment?"
"No idea, kid." Charles said. "In hindsight, I should've known there has to be somethin' fishy goin' on for a rift to form here. I'm sorry, I really am..."
Grayton gritted his teeth as he continued onward. Somehow, his every step felt heavier and heavier. Was it his fatigue catching up to him? Was the thick blood on the floor sticking to his soles? He found himself unable to take the next step before he could come up with an answer.
"W-what?" Grayton instinctively said, quickly finding out that his teeth were chattering out of his control. And his legs began to quiver; it was as if there was an invisible force upon him, trying to bring him to kneel. "C-charles?"
"Looks like the rift is actually taking hold on him."
"Now I see." Charles said, beginning to fully manifest himself. "The effects of tainted mana are more mental than physical."
"What the hell does that mean?" Grayton glared as he attempted to pull his legs up for another step, to no avail.
"Think, kid." Charles said, his voice now fully serious. "Is this still fun?"
The boy's eyes widened upon hearing those words.
"That's right. Yer not crazy; yer audacity shielded you from the effects of the rift. Ya thought- no, ya believed that this would be nothing but entertainment. Just another walk in the park." Charles explained. "And it worked; it kept ya safe... Until now, yer conviction wavered."
"Don't give me that shit!" Grayton protested through chattering teeth.
"Yeah, yeah, quit yer yappin'; yer done for the night." Charles said, returning to his nonchalant attitude. He started to slowly pull himself out of Grayton's shadow. "I'll take it from here."
However, Grayton had other plans. He burst into a sprint, knocking Charles back into his shadow, taking off toward the nearest undyings.
"S-seriously?"
"I told you..." Grayton muttered, and a grin returned to his face. The undying he was rushing toward was an unholy combination of worm and man; its glowing core sac pulsated within its exposed ribcage. He lunged himself into the undying, thrusting the cutlass into the undying's neck. He jerked his sword hand downward, pinning the beast into the ground before repeatedly stepping on its core until it stopped moving despite its terrible cries. "It takes a little for me to get going."
He pulled his blade out of the undying's neck, dripping with blood. A small tremor shook through his arm as he did, and he still felt weak on his knees, but he could continue. "So don't rush me, will you?"
"Yer kiddin' me." Charles scoffed. "Is he really crazy after all?"
Charles observed Grayton as he strolled toward the remaining undyings, which were cowering and preparing for one final stand. Specifically, he observed the way he walked. He noticed the boy's legs buckling under every step, his unnaturally paced breathing, and his smile that seemed a lot more forced than before.
"No, he's not. Ya'd have to be some psycho who really holds no value for human life to be unfazed by this amount of tainted mana." Charles thought. "My guess would be that he's delaying the effects. Forcing his mind to shut down and not think too much, leaving no room for doubt, maybe? How long will that work, however?"
Indeed, not a single coherent thought formed within Grayton's mind as he marched against the undyings. He was suppressing his thoughts, allowing himself just enough thinking capacity to cut down the enemy in front of him. Despite that, he could feel doubt and uncertainty bubbling up in his mind with every step, threatening to lock his body down once again. He needed to end this quickly.
"Well, for my first time going in a rift..." Grayton started talking to distract himself. He cut down an undying that lunged at him a little too late, spraying its guts and yellow liquid on the floor. "I give it a six out of ten. Not bad, but not a fan."
"Actually, ya haven't stepped foot into the rift at all, kid." Charles corrected him. "Yer just standin' near it. Inside the rift is ten times worse than this."
"One hell of a motivator you are, Charles." Grayton retorted.
"Heheh, weren't you the one who talked about preferrin' facts and logic over pretty words?" Charles chuckled.
"Well, you're not wrong about that."
"By the way... Those 'bandages' on your wounds." Charles said once Grayton was done tearing apart a group of undying and was moving on to the next.
"Yeah?" He lifted his wounded arm to examine them. "Is something wrong about it?"
"No, no, on the contrary actually, they're perfect! You can fight while maintaining them?" Charles asked. He seemed genuinely delighted.
"I manage." Grayton answered, he wasn't nearly as prideful as to claim to be proficient at a trick he just picked up. "And don't pretend like it's some sort of big deal; I know you'd be able to do this in your sleep."
Charles bellowed heartily. "What an impressive drive; usin' me as a benchmark. The average mage would kill to achieve his level of precision and efficiency and yet he's still not satisfied... It really is such a shame he can't use his innate ability."
Suddenly, Grayton felt his shadow stiffen around his legs.
"Somethin's not right." Charles paused, looking around.
"What now?"
"I don't... Oh, that's not good."
"What-" Before Grayton could question the shade, a gigantic black arm burst through the walls and grabbed one of the remaining undyings. It had dark purple veins and seemed to be made of the same material as Charles, albeit less stable. Unlike Charles, the appendage was constantly dripping miasma, as if falling apart and incomplete. More hands seem to burst from the concrete walls, grasping at the undyings, running havoc across the room.
Grayton watched as the hand squeezed the undying in its grasp, spraying a thick, dark brown liquid around the floor under it. Its bones made a crackling noise as they snapped and were crushed into fine dust. He also noticed that the hand was draining the undying of its core liquid. He played enough games to know what was happening.
"Well then, I think I'm in trouble~" He thought as he sprinted forward, cutting down as many undyings as he could before the hands could absorb them. But it was too late, in just mere seconds, a plethora of hands already burst through the walls, catching every other undying in their deadly grasp. Their intrusion spread cracks and fractures along the wall, threatening to bring the whole room down.
Weirdly enough, Grayton's feet started to feel lighter, and he felt his body start to move easier.
"Alright, let's pull out, for real this time." Charles commanded, ready to wrap his body around Grayton and take him away. "Ya won't stand a chance in yer current state!"
"Nah," Grayton grinned widely before laughing. He posed, bringing the cutlass up to his eye level and holding it perpendicular to his face. "This is perfect!"
"What?" Charles said, taken aback. "His body seems more relaxed; how could this be...?"
"You've got to be kiddin' me. Is the rift no longer affecting him since he feels no empathy for that form?" Charles looked back and forth between the arms and Grayton. "Even so, shouldn't normal common sense still tell him that this is a bad idea? No... The kid probably knows, he just doesn't care."
He shook his head as Grayton continued to grin, contemplating how to defeat the giant adversary before him. "And that's because of me, isn't it? I basically promised to bail him out no matter what happens..."
Charles sighed. "Fine, how much mana do you have left, kid?"
"Like twenty percent?" Grayton answered, lightly stomping the ground to test his legs. He
"Ugh, go wild; just don't come cryin' when you lose."
"All~right!" Grayton ran forward and slashed one of the hands with his mana-empowered blade, severing it in one clean blow. The hands, which hadn't been paying attention to him suddenly froze and turned in his direction. A loud shriek rang around the ballroom as all the arms started to flail around and grasp for the boy."
"Hahah!" He laughed as he jumped backward to avoid one of the arms that slammed itself onto the floor in an attempt to crush him like a bug.
"That kid is going to get himself killed..." Charles thought, facepalming as Grayton's laughter and the undying's shrieks meshed together, echoing throughout the room.