Cyril Sarnath
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Chapter 161
🕑 Added 2023-04-18 23:07:15 +0000 UTCAnd so it begins.
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Vivena breathed out in relief. The rift boss, huge deformed larvae, finally succumbed to her stack of poisons. Since she’d created her dominion, every rift inside it gained poison affinity. Most of the time, it benefited her as items, raw materials and skills often had poison affinity as well.
The issue was that as often the rift monsters had poison attacks or poison resistance. This made delving the rift tedious as she had to spend more time killing poison resistant bosses and champions.
But Vivena couldn’t stop now. After she had gained Level 5 and had gone through the nightmare of picking a minor upgrade, she was on her way to Level 6, although her progress climbed slowly and was currently at 4%.
She still had doubts about her choice.
- +7 stacks of poison.
- You can stop allies or enemies from purging poisons from your body.
- You are immune to lesser poisons.
Each choice was game changing but she had only one. Also, the magnitude of these choices told her and Haruka that rift essence and higher spiritual stages made the choices far better. Her parents’ choices had been a fraction of what she was offered. It was scary to think what a Perfect State ascender’s choices would be although Haruka’s sister Pandora had no luck maxing out her attributes again. She was stuck at Level 3 and the second degree Perfect State.
Eventually, Vivena went ahead with the second choice. She still remembered the fight with Reglant Ravencroft and how he’d purged the poisons from her body. Her Talent was her main weapon and she couldn’t afford losing it during a fight to something as banal as purge.
She took a look around the nightmarish rift. Sometimes the theme or biome changed into an otherworldly place no one wanted to venture in. So she usually ended up delving these rifts alone. There was no point pushing people against their will. Not everyone was born to be a fighter. She smiled thinking about the future of her dominion. The death of her grandfather brought many of her family members to her place, including her father. Her mother stayed behind, trying to salvage anything that was left from the Sael’s House wealth. It didn’t matter. With their rifts and bountiful wilderness, they didn’t need to worry about anything. She was even ready to move on and forget about Keynes.
The reward chest had an unidentified raw material. Another one to a growing pile. For some reason, the drop rate of the scrolls of identification was far lower than she expected. The hastened out of the rift wanted to have this abominable place behind her.
She reached the rift exit and walked out into… mayhem.
Chaos.
Slaughter.
Instinctively, Vivena pulled out another poison serum and injected it without thinking about the consequences. Her every attribute climbed to 87 points turning her into the true monster. She didn’t bother with her sword, her naked hands were harder than Level 3 steel.
Despite her inhuman speed and strength she couldn’t be everywhere and there was an never ending stream of Level 4 monsters. Her dominion was overrun. Bodies of her people lay scattered everywhere. There were only around a hundred people left inside her dominion and even with her buffs, they were losing.
“It's an outbreak!” Haruka shouted when he noticed her. “You must find the rifts and close them, Viv. We can’t—”
“Take everyone to the rift and stay there for a couple of hours.”
Haruka slammed his forehead and immediately started ordering people around.
Vivena covered their retreat until the reminder of her people escaped into the rift. The monsters at large didn’t pursue them inside. She then turned away from the rift and bellowed in rage.
“KEYNES KID, I WILL DESTROY YOU FOR THIS!” And kill everyone you care about.
***
Hunter was relaxing in the warm bath when the reply from the Solar Council came. His failure at taking down Sandman was barely mentioned though. The message came directly from Blackwood, a rarity.
Apparently, Keynes Kid and Columbus Curt were visiting the Resistance in New Columbiana and the Solar Council’s spies learned that they were there to unseal Level 4 rifts for the Resistance. Blackwood wanted Hunter to wait until Keynes Kid did his job then slaughter the entire leadership. Was Blackwood trying to start another war?
Hunter read on. Oh, so there were Blackwood’s people on standby, ready to take over the Resistance. Hunter left the bath and slowly strolled onto the roof-balcony where the rest of his members enjoyed the sunset. No longer they complained about his nakedness, they’d learned to live with it. Hunter liked to ponder things wearing nothing but his skin.
He leaned against the railing. Miami’s highest hotel was pricey but the view was absolutely worth it, even during the night. The ocean view was breath-taking and the breeze made him forget where he was. He deeply hated cities and loved nature, especially the one populated by monsters. Thinking of going after the Resistance put a smile on his face. It meant returning to the wilderness. It also meant Level 4 rifts and monsters. His smile widened at the thought levelling up. Level 9 was near and he couldn’t wait to finally hit Level 10 and pick the major Talent upgrade. After his minor Talen upgrade had bestowed him with a deep understanding of essence, he expected the major upgrade to be a real game changer.
He frowned as a spiritual pulse passed through him.
A few seconds later the alarms in the city started blaring. His people jumped to their feet in confusion and alert. Then Jack shouted, “There!”
Monsters were screaming out of nowhere. No, not out of nowhere. They streamed out of a rift…
Is Keynes Kid here? Hunter asked himself then they opened the Web.
“It’s a fucking outbreak,” Hunter said and rolled his shoulders. “Get ready, we have a job to do.”
***
Level 1 alcohol was an ugly thing. It tasted like vomit and its effect rattled Tom’s head, but he needed it. After Kaito Ren had left him and Wolf, they returned to Arshem. The city was growing as the death of the first dominion sub-boss brought more monsters into the wild and the city bought several Level 1 rifts and was currently renting them though the prices were exorbitant.
Wolf thought about joining Artefact Exchange but Tom was unsure in what capacity. Something about utilising his Talent. Tom didn’t care. He had plans to ditch Wolf anyway.
He took another sip of the hideous alcohol thinking over his next step. He was broke. The expected price drop of items didn’t come as the demand kept increasing. He still had the ring but it was a joke in comparison to what he needed. Not to mention the prices of skills. Finding one was like winning a lottery.
Tom saw his future in bleak colours. Going after Windsor Freeman had lost its meaning. He needed something…to live for.
“Why the long face?” a voice from the side asked. Tom didn’t react, still staring at the glass with alcohol. “Oh, I see. A tantrum.”
He frowned. A tantrum? What—. He froze, remembering the voice.
“Aurora.”
“Thomas.”
“I hate that name.”
“You should have changed it then.”
He should have but his first name was the only thing his parents had given him. He had feared that changing it would sever the last connection he had with them. Irrational and stupid thoughts they had been. He didn’t care any longer and he might actually follow the advice. But first, he needed answers.
“How did you find me?”
“This is the first question you ask of your sister?”
Despite his best effort he couldn’t find enough contempt inside himself to send his sister away. They hadn’t seen each other since he was Level 2. Ignoring their differences, Tom exhaled and turned to her.
“So why now?”
“The king is dead.”
“It has nothing to do with me.”
“I know,” Pandora admitted softly. “Let’s have a walk, brother.”
Tom didn’t move from his seat. If she wanted to talk, this place was the best there was. Most people were too drunk to even remember their names. Tom felt their weak Level 1 auras. The adventurers didn’t come here. They chased higher Level drinks and food. If any person capable of eavesdropping was inside the bar, Tom would know. It included any higher Levels who could suppress their auras well enough to fool Tom. He was gently spreading his Talent around the room, constantly applying it on every person inside. Anyone who could resist his Talent, Tom would notice.
The fact that his Talent didn’t work on his sister was worrisome but he didn’t voice his concern.
“What’s the problem?” she asked.
“We can talk here,” he replied, not looking at her.
She snorted but didn’t argue. He felt her spiritual aura pulse once, why he couldn’t say. It could be a spell for all he knew.
“Fine. If this is what you want, brother.”
Later on, Tom stood on the wall that surrounded the city. It was over a hundred metres high wall, five metres thick, built from Level 1 and 2 stone. The city was very strict about its safety. Several cities had been overrun by monsters because their rulers belittled the threat posed by the rift and dominion monsters. Arshem wasn’t going to make the same mistake.
But it wasn’t why Tom came to the top of the wall. He needed to think. His sister wanted him to join her in an insane quest to…
A spiritual pulse passed through him. It was unlike anything he had ever felt.
Then came the sounds of monsters, followed by alarms and a message.
“AN OUTBREAK IS UNDERWAY. I REPEAT, AN OUTBREAK IS UNDERWAY. EVERY ADVENTURER MUST FOLLOW THE ARSHEM’S OUTBREAK LAW!”
Tom couldn’t care less about the city law. If an outbreak was really happening, it was an opportunity. He smiled, racing to the city’s gate. Shouts of excitement came from every direction. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one having a similar idea.
***
Michael wouldn’t call himself a seasoned adventure but he was competent enough to reach Level 4 in the wilderness. Most of the time, his Talent was doing a heavy lifting. It allowed him to create an non-violence area where all attacks were disabled. At Level 4, he could extend the area to over 10 metres in radius. But its size wasn't the important part, the lingering effect of the area was. He could step out of the peaceful area for up to 10 seconds before it faded away. Michael abused it by stepping outside, shooting [Venomous Dart], then returning to the area and waiting for the venom from the spell to do its job.
He often laughed lying in the middle of a docile monster horde. Anything up to Level 3 could not defy his Talent while Level 4 dominion monsters avoided the area completely. The mana cost of the area was only a problem if too many monsters entered it at the same time. Usually it happened when he ran into a horde of Level 1 dominion monsters. He didn’t need his Talent to deal with them. They were too weak to harm him.
Michael started when a spiritual blast passed through his body. He looked around, wondering about the source of the spiritual energy. An adventurer or a monster?
Then another pulse hit him. It was far stronger and felt different. Was he under attack? But the silence told him that he was alone. He hadn’t run into a monster the whole day, so…
A powerful spiritual signature flared to life not far from him. It was unlike ANYTHING he had ever encountered.
He stared at the tree line but there was nothing, nor was on the field…wait a minute. Fuck. What is this?
A shimmering column of light slowly came into existence about twenty metres from him, in the centre of the field. It seemed to reach the sky…
The Greater Rift is opened.
