Legend Xanatos
“Hmmm. Soone is causing trouble. Things have shifted. They have shifted greatly,” I casually said while letting the currents of Mana blow past . “What do you think?”
The male elf tried to scream, but I had already removed his vocal cords and tongue. I had the information I wanted from him. The war ch had been lost in the dungeon. A sha, it would have made for a useful weapon in so many ways.
“How rude, not answering . Well let vent my frustration so more. I have to thank you for that,” I said kindly as the elf kept trying to free himself by trashing about. So weak willed. But it probably didn’t help that I had stripped him of his Pain Resistance and the ability to pass out.
It was always more enjoyable harvesting body parts when the subject was awake. It also ensured their freshness. “You elves really have the best hearts. After that cursed Institute started making trouble no one wanted to really dig into the biology of Mana and the soul. Quite interesting. I could talk for hours,” I said as I carefully began disconnecting the elves heart from his body.
The trick with such a procedure was to ensure that the Mana flow remained steady even after it was removed. The elf had enough potions flowing through his body, he wouldn’t die. Dark Healing wasn’t my favorite set of skills, but it had such wonderful applications.
Right now I had issues with my body that needed fixing. The heart was the key. It didn’t just pump blood around, but it acted as one of the key anchors between the body and soul. The brain was another such organ. But the heart was unique in that it provided the primary interaction point, fueling the body with Mana.
I had remotely observed the battle the self-proclaid Eldarin Emperor had participated in against the Great Ocean Empire. They had interesting skills, but the skill of that man was far more intriguing.
Even now, I shuddered at its sheer power. A tier 6 social skill that could instantly kill soone. Well maybe not instantly, but when you were dealing with legends, anything that killed in under a minute was fast enough to be considered instant.
If I had been there in person I could have dissected the skill instantly. But that would have been too risky in my weakened state. I was trying to reform and get back on track. That was why I ignored the subtle lure of whatever had erged into the world.
Probably so ancient weapon if my divinations were correct. Those were always fun, but I wasn’t ready to tangle with the Seraphim. There were so individuals and groups I knew had to be avoided at all costs.
The Seraphim were one of them. Those bastards liked to stop anything truly fun. The volcano had been the most I had been willing to push things. If I made a massive breach into the dungeon, they would intervene.
In fact that is how one of the past leaders of the Dark Cabal t their end. So stupidly large ritual ant to suck up all the dungeon’s Mana. Thankfully a mber of the Dark Cabal had recorded that nonsense and had hidden that information in the Dark Library.
I gritted my teeth at that stupid Dark Library. Still hiding away, it would regret that once I found it. Unfortunately, divination skills were truly hit or miss, mostly miss. That was another reason why I didn’t go bothering looking for the newly erged ancient weapon. It was too far away.
“There we go. Doesn’t your heart look amazing?” I asked the elf. He tried to scream as his heart beat in front of his face. The entire ti his Mana didn’t fluctuate in the slightest. The runes carved into his flesh were doing their job quite nicely.
“Now, let put it in this homunculus. I am going to draw your potential and stats into this body now. I can only imagine the pain you are about to experience. That is why I left your eyes free to move. I have read that if soone is in enough pain and they can’t do anything, their eyes have a chance of exploding.”
I patted a bloody hand on the elf’s cheek. “Consider it a contribution to my knowledge. Perhaps I can make it a skill. An exploding eye skill linked to suffering. Oooh, I feel myself getting all excited. Now let’s get to connecting this heart and reprocessing your soul.”
A sha that so many people didn’t appreciate my contributions towards advancing the field of understanding. Exploding eyes from sheer pain was definitely sothing I would check out.
I needed to take whatever joy I could after my recent setbacks. At least my soul was still being fueled by that curse skill I had put on Justin. I couldn’t sense my curse skill for a bit and thought he had removed it, but it reappeared.
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A unique area of the dungeon or a monster that had interfered. An Abnormal most likely. Those were always annoying and troubleso. He would have been a good investnt if his mother hadn’t been so upset. It was just so experience, and she got all hot and bothered. At least she was dead and gone.
But there was no main level experience. That was annoying. Well nothing I could do about that now. If I saw him again I would teach him a lesson. Killing him, not yet, the skill experience that was coming in was being put to good use. That was the best part of the skill, allowing to decide which skill to improve.
Demon Mandaeism
I had been laying in wait at the abandoned settlent. The other demons had moved on, but I was hopeful that soone would return. Possibly Lazarus, that demon liked to hide up in these mountains at the End of the World.
But he hadn’t shown up and he was missing on all my divinations. He had been injured before the attack and hidden away. I had paid him a visit, but he had been quite upset. I would have been upset as well if I had been hurt by a lesser being.
Looking at the snow and ice covered settlent, I let out a frosty breath. It was ti to move on. The next attack on the Wolf Clan would be soon. Foolish to kill all the beastkin, but it had been voted on and decided.
We occasionally lost a demon over the centuries, while the beastkin remained weak, but were recovering. In ti they would be able to push us back and kill us all. None of us wanted to go into the depths again.
That depths were both a lure and a curse. The sweet embrace of its Mana like a warm comforting blanket, but it was all a lie. A lie that every demon understood. To remain in the depths was to succumb to that lie.
The wind shifted. There was sothing in the air. A trace of Mana that stirred sothing within . I turned my head and looked towards the mountains and the White Waste hidden behind them.
Sothing was out there. Sothing incredibly important. A source of Mana that strong either ant the depths were acting up or a powerful demon had erged. Or sothing else had co onto the surface of this world.
Leaping off my perch over the ruins of the settlent, I landed in the snow. The force of the impact blew the snow away. My body easily fixed itself from the minor damage of that leap. I set off on a steady jog to whatever was out there.
I would be careful and cautious. The risk of a more powerful being was not to be taken lightly. If there was sothing like that I would retreat without question. But if it was sothing I could take for myself, well I enjoy the Mana that wasn’t of the depths.
The other demons wouldn’t be far behind either. They might even postpone the attack on the Wolf Clan for this matter. Or they might not. Our small group was quite arguntative and there was no clear leader.
If one of us was weak, we wouldn’t hesitate to kill and consu them. But if anyone struck first, they would be dragged down by everyone else. Or even their target. Mutually assured destruction kept peace between us demons.
We were an arguntative bunch always looking to one up one another.
A sha that a demon society beyond small tribal bands was impossible. I carried a range of weapons and gear, I had taken from the beastkin over the years. Tools and equipnt were incredibly useful.
While the other demons might scoff at such things, preferring to depend on their skills, I knew weapons were a force multiplier. My greatest treasures were the wand and spatial pouch I had managed to acquire. These were items no other demon knew about.
A wand was a surprisingly useful tool if one’s enemy wasn’t ready for it. I knew I would be able to kill another demon if I was forced to fight them. But I had always held off. Once the beastkin were killed off then we would fight, since there would be nothing left.
I had also taking to questioning beastkin about their knowledge. I knew there were other lands. More prosperous lands. The Eldarins, elves, and dwarves all ca to mind. Staying here in this wasteland was asking for death. I would find a way to leave no matter what.
Let the other demons fight each other over scraps. I would learn and grow. Knowledge was power, was what I lived by. The other demons believed that power was power. That was true, but it limited their thinking and skills.
Leaving them behind and then trying to blend in with these other beings, that the beastkin thought us demons looked like, was the best option. Unfortunately, I really didn’t want to go into the depths.
But it was probably necessary. Or I could try crossing the open water. I felt a primal fear at that. Looking up at the cloudy sky, there was also an ingrained fear of the sun. Every demon I had asked didn’t know why this was, just that it was a fear present in all monsters.
I had tested myself in the ocean water and for brief monts when there was no cloud cover and the sun shown down. I felt an imnse sense of danger and fear, but nothing had happened.
Whatever was making afraid wasn’t taking action. That curiosity which had served well my entire life would serve well in finding whatever had created this interesting sll of Mana in the air.
Fear was sothing to take into account, but I would not be controlled by it or by my lesser instincts. I was a thinking being, not so rabid monster. The other demons seed to forget that at tis. Only thinking of killing and consuming other beings.
It would have been better to kill the strong beastkin and replace them as their leaders. But the other demons didn’t like that idea of creating renewable prey. They just wanted to kill and consu everything, not thinking further than what they could see.
The sky was darkening, and the cold was getting worse. I thankfully had Cold Immunity that was at a high level. Unfortunately, I hadn’t consud a beastkin with Cold Absorption like Lazarus had. That skill was too useful, but it was also incredibly rare as a tier 5 skill. Lazarus never told how he got it, but most demons didn’t like sharing anything, in case it gave another one of us so kind of advantage.
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