The thing that climbed from the coffin was...wrong. Not a lich, I'd seen one of those before. This thing was corrupted on a fundamental level, to the point where even its Impact felt like a distortion. And it HAD Impact. A lot of it. Maybe not as much as Crighton, but I'd put it at thirty eight probably.

"Sacrifices." It cooed. "Always so curious." The raspy voice held a hint of mockery, and I could definitely tell why. I hadn't seen many situations where the word sacrifice was a good thing.

I shrugged. "If you're planning to kill us anyway might as well answer the questions. If we're dead we can hardly spread it around." I was kind of hoping this thing predated the concept of monologuing by too much to worry about what he said. I was ALSO a bit worried about getting murdered before we had a chance to act on his information.

But something about all this Moon Lady stuff was bothering me. The things I'd noticed about the dungeon and how deliberate it seemed. Something here was off, and I had the sneaking suspicion it would kill us if we didn't find out what it was. This dungeon wasn't what everyone thought it was, and with my luck I was pretty sure I'd gotten sucked into the endgame of whatever was happening.

"Foolishness does not become wisdom in death." It clucked. "But very well. Amusement, then. If only for a short while. Ask your questions, sacrifice. Though know too that your suffering will not be abated. Merely postponed."

I grimaced. Shit, this thing really loved to talk. "What are you exactly? And are you a servant of Suvaya? I-"

The undead stomped once, the floor cracking as we as stumbled to get our bearings. "Heretics!" It howled. "Speak not the Lady's name! Find Her magnificence squirming twixt your unworthy lips again and I'll rip them from your faces to sew myself a coat!" We all stared for a minute, and it stared back before hissing, seeming to calm down for a bit. "Very well. I am undead. As for my specific provenance, that is irrelevant. Simply know I was a great power who allowed myself to be diminished in service to my Lady."

I didn't even realize that was possible. I mean...I did, but you could only do that if you didn't have too many stats. Unless...I considered what Zeke had said, about being able to diminish Impact safely if you hadn't exceeded the stat threshold. You could have stats taken too. So maybe..."Did she strip all your stats away? Before...diminishing you?" What would that even be like? Valk said even losing a few was horrible.

The undead cackled. "A necessary toll. Millions of points of me, ripped away, dripping my soul out. Once they were gone I was primed to be the fuel for her ruse. Not alone, no, there are others. Other servants. We give the weight of our existence to fatten Her prey. She waits for the harvest, to recoup from them all we have given and more. Enough to make us all as She is. A new PANTHEON of gods!"

"The flowers?" I said, appalled. "She's squeezing out your Impact through the moon and allowing people to absorb it through the Dew. How is that going to give you MORE Impact. Hell, why would she even NEED to do that...she's hurt too, isn't she? Did she get injured by the other gods?"

"Jealousy!" It wailed, the sardonic sadism fading into literal lunacy. "Despicable pretenders, envious of her majesty. They'll pay! They've fallen into the trap already. So many of their children and descendants have supped of our strength. It seeps into them, becoming part of them, infecting. When She reclaims it, the interest will kill them all! They'll suffer the fate they visited on Her. Emptiness, nothingness, condemned to exist as a whisp of a thing, if they continue to exist at all!"

So...this whole fucking place was a trap. Some old god who had been killed by the six wanted to return to life and she was going to kill a shitload of Ascendents to do it. Which was a huge problem because WE had used that fucking Dew. I saw the others shifting uncomfortably. They understood what he was saying too, and they weren't any happier about that shit than I was.

"Alright." I said firmly. "I've heard enough. Abel, Gabe?" The undead cocked it's head in confusion...right before a massive fist train wrecked him into a stone wall hard enough to leave a psycho shaped hole in the wall. There was the sound of hooves and a lance slammed into the spot his head should have been.

Sadly, 'diminished' or not, he was a fucking monster. The lance bit into the stone deeply, but Gabriel had to release it and hurl himself sideways to avoid a vicious claw of sickly green flame aimed at his throat. The big warrior rolled seamlessly to his feet as the charger he'd been astride dissolved into silvery starlight, and the lance returned to his hand with a snap of his fingers.

Peak F-rank stats then. His Impact wouldn't be enough to hold any more. Being able to strip him away layer by layer was crazy, but it didn't change the rules. What he'd said about the others though...that wasn't great. How many more of these crippled old monsters were in sub temples like this around the core? Tombs that were resurfacing now presumably because it was almost time for the 'harvest'.

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It seemed less crazy we'd stumbled on this place. Or that Gabriel had at least. I was betting more than a few people might have walked into places like this. I hoped it wasn't anyone we knew. Because we'd gotten REALLY lucky to have come here together. Probably. We might still die. Speaking of which.

I withdrew my staff from under my coat and started stacking attacks. I needed to wait for a proper chance to strike, but as soon as I got one I'd do everything I could to help. I cursed the fact that I'd used Afterburner earlier. The skill didn't last forever, so even though I hadn't finished all ten attacks I'd dismissed it. The weakening effect had been diminished at least, so I had already recovered.

Touch of Tears, Consecration of Flame, Mercy Kill, Marked for Death, Triple Strength Density shifted attack, I stacked the blow high. My staff was our best bet. Being E-ranked it should easily bypass the Impact difference. I assumed that was what was making Gabriel and Abel's attacks so inefficient.

They were...scary. Abel was up close, spinning around the undead like a top. He kept getting hit with vicious attacks, only for the form to melt away into one of his doubles. He was even doing damage, not much, but some. Cicada Stacking Steps was making each blow multiple times stronger than expected.

Gabriel had dropped the lance and drawn a short sword, stalking forward to engage the monster alongside my teacher. He swung the blade in short, sharp chops, mixing in stomping kicks and backhand blows, and he was somehow everywhere Abel wasn't. The two of them seemed to meld together perfectly at first glance, but on closer inspection I realized what it really was.

Abel was attacking all out, and Gabriel had just slotted himself into the attack flawlessly. Every move was perfect, the exact angle, the exact speed, the exact power needed to keep the pressure off my mentor. It looked like they were playing music almost, except in reality, Abel was just the rumble of thunder, and Gabriel was composing an entire symphony set to the crashing booms.

The others were trying to limit the damage from ranged attacks. Randall had taken up a spot in front of them as a shield, Callie had a massive shadow barrier up, and Valk had crafted a layer of his blue gel like defense in front of it to protect them further and to stop Mel's flames from adversely affecting the shadows.

It was shocking to see how much damage the green flames were inflicting. At short range they were dodgeable, but the further they went the more the attacks expanded. By the time some of the blows the two front liners were dodging reached our people they were huge. Several of Gabriel's riders had taken up places in front of the shield and were softening up the attacks with counter abilities and their own blows.

I flicked on my overlay, focusing hard on the fight with the undead, as well as using Eye of Revelation to notice any traps as I waited for a weakness to exploit. I saw nothing. But I didn't give up. Even if my head was killing me. This was so many things to hold at once, especially for an extended period of time. Despite the pain I gritted my teeth and waited.

Finally, Gabriel managed to land an admittedly shallow cut on the thing's leg. It flinched as Abel slammed a blow into it's nose, and I triggered double trouble. My staff whistled through the air as it smashed into the back of the undead's skull, carrying literally every ounce of force I could muster as I smashed my strongest blow into it.

E-rank staff plus plenty of other bonuses made the swing an absolute nightmare. If it had connected properly it would have been a crippling blow, or at least a severely debilitating one. Sadly, it was neither. Despite the surprise, I hadn't used my Moonlit Night, which not only robbed me of a stealth attack bonus, it also meant the monster heard the blow coming. It managed to impose it's arm between the attack and it's head before it landed.

There was a thunderous crack as the arm shattered, and the monster howled and leapt back, clutching the green glowing, burning limb. My mentor didn't let the attack go to waste, blurring forward and coming driving a brutal fist into the injured limb before hauling back and beginning to attack the monster's face and head.

As it spun to try to keep up, he whirled alongside it, keeping in it's blind spot and leading it away from looking at Gabriel, who had once again mounted up on his silvery charger. The blue eyed man had his gaze focused hard on the undead, and began to murmur something that I couldn't make out (maybe it was under stealth?) The lance he'd been using started to glow a brilliant gold.

With an earthshattering below, the Adamant cultivator CHARGED. Every bit of his aura and intent behind the attack. I saw why he'd chosen the combat style he had. Because his whole attack strategy was MOMENTUM. Crashing toward the enemy with all the power of an unstoppable object.

Abel, who was on the other side, saw the attack coming and smoothly flowed out of the way. The monster, still disoriented from the all but destroyed arm, took a second to realize he was gone, and actually tried to catch its breath, so to speak. That was the last decision it ever made. I felt Gabriel's attack in my BONES as the floor rumbled with a shout of "Rubrum Gloria!"

The tip of the lance smashed into the side of the monster's head like a freight train, driving the head of the thing to the side with a blazing flash of golden light. The lance point went INTO the undead's EAR, lifting it off it's feet and driving it forward with the charge...until it hit the wall. Then the charge kept going. And the undead's head did NOT.

Gabriel's charge stopped pretty much at the wall. His lance had been driven halfway into the stone, and the expanding length had exploded the head of the monster as it pushed in further. The big man was panting, looking drained, but I could see why he was an Adamant cultivator. I wouldn't have wanted to take that blow. I nodded to the others, wincing at my own exhaustion. I gestured for Jessie to come top us up. "So...we have some serious shit to talk about."