Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 32 — Noah vs Noah vs Noah

It had taken a few days for Noah to really start feeling the effects from his Rank up. He had grown in height by a few inches, and his frame had expanded, shoulders becoming just a little wider, legs growing to subtly shift his proportions to give him a greater stride. But the greater change had occurred internally. His modified body had not had a chance to show itself off properly till this point, since Noah had not been able to increase any of his attributes. But now that he had, his body had grown by leaps and bounds. He’d found himself keeping pace with Aurelia on their runs, almost out speeding her. Though he couldn’t beat her entirely yet, he was matching the woman’s higher stats with relative ease.

The attributes had also caused a change in his mentality. What would’ve been life-threatening injuries once upon a time now felt like a minor inconvenience. Noah remembered accidentally getting stabbed in his gut during a spar and just pulling out the weapon, letting the injury heal within a few minutes. It felt surreal, the boundaries of lethality had been shifting for Noah for quite some time now, but the sudden burst made it extremely apparent that he was no longer a normal human by any means. Even though he’d known as much, the realization of what that meant had only occurred to him just now.

Noah sat in the training grounds now, meditating. Two other Astral projections sat near him, each carrying a third of his total mana pool, leaving a third for Noah himself. He’d also quickly realized he could create projections and store them in his Dimensional Pocket till he needed them. The only restriction he had on the ability was that his maximum mana pool would be divided across his projections. Seeing that Noah had promptly put every remaining free attribute point he’d had into Mystic, bringing the total up to 418.

As his mana recovered back to full, Noah pulled himself to his feet, alongside his two projections. He’d learned quickly that upon the destruction of a projection as they merged back into him, he would also receive whatever experience they had gained. Noah’s skills had been shooting up in levels rapidly. He was just at the edge of bringing all his weapon proficiencies to the Intermediate rank.

Using Quadrivium Ink, Noah formed two blades of mana, the other two projections taking the bow and axe respectively.

“I must say, this is a new level of masochism,” one of his projections said, getting in stance.

“And the fact that we can’t kill you, but you can kill us is just incredibly unfair,” the other one chimed in, drawing back the bow, as an arrow formed upon it.

Noah raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want to do this?” he asked the projections.

“Are you kidding me?” the projection said.

Noah grinned. “Get ready then.”

The projections took a stance, and then, with an unsaid command, the spar began. Noah rushed forward, blink teleporting him away from the shots of the longbow, but that had been predicted already, as a heavy war axe of mana swung down upon him. Starforged arms burst from his back, a shield forming in one axe as he held back the attack, while the axe struck at his projection.

A barrage of arrows shot at him from a distance, Obliterate charged within them, as the projectiles cut through his reinforced skin like butter. Noah blinked, rushing away from the strike, when a swarm of bloodflies gave chase, using Dimensional Pocket, he captured the swarm redirecting it towards a different projection, but the ability faded by that point, the second projection moving towards him rapidly, as black flames surged from its arm, covering the ground.

Noah kicked into the sky, leaping ten feet in the air as he shot his bow. The projections gave chase, one of them jumping up as its war axe swung heavily, knocking him into the ground. The second projection was onto him a moment later, swirling in curving arcs as its blades dug into him.

Noah sent a pulse of mana, as he sunk into the shadows, the attack phasing through him. He moved across the area, as his spear appeared in his hand. A projection was already on him, a fist striking him in his gut with a powerful blow, Noah flew back, as the projection blinked forward, Starforged Arms forming behind him as all six hands struck him with blow upon blow.

Bloodfly Swarm swirled around the entire time, covering the training arena in a swarm of red death, as Blackflames continued to swirl around eating at his life-force. Notifications flashed of bleed and flames, before a giant blood sword manifested above his head, descending upon him with a powerful blow.

Noah blinked away, trying to escape the attacks, as his mind raced. Claws formed on his hand, Tony working to assist him, as he let Obliterate charge them, sending arcs of void mana across the swarm of flies, cutting through them.

His own Bloodfly Swarm rose to match the attack, cutting back the swarm, but the other Projection moved in that time, his axe sending an arc of Obliterate at Noah that he barely protected against with his shield.

His spear spun in his arms, striking back with Bleed and Obliterate charged to the brim in the weapon, as he growled in frustration. He was annoying to fight. The projections continued to rush in, each move coordinated with near telepathic communication, and they had nearly all abilities Noah himself had, except for Tony, his spear and his cloak.

Barrages of bolts shot towards Noah, piercing his body as blood splattered and another bleed effect arose. He sensed Blood Debt activating over him, and Noah sent a pulse to Tony. With a roar, his skin turned dark, his jaw changing shape to be sharper, wings burst from his back, a tail forming behind him as his form changed.

Abyssal Symbiote has used Metamorphosis!

All attributes increased by 25%!

Time remaining: 90 seconds.

Noah had been told that Inspect showed him to be a Void fiend in this state, though right now that was the least of his concerns. He rushed in, now faster than his projections, as he cut through the swarm, flying with his new wings. Void mana arced on his claws as he set giant slashes of them across the projection carrying the bow. The clone did not stay standing, teleporting away immediately but Noah followed, and he was faster. His claws descended upon the clone, grabbing it by the ground. The clone struck with blades cutting Noah’s gut, before bursting into a final explosion of black flames that covered his body.

You’ve defeated [Astral Projection]

Noah let out a roar, as he turned to face the last projection. He moved with a rapid intensity as the clone rushed at him, axe charged with Obliterate and Bleed. Noah’s claws met the mana weapon, and cut through them, Quadrivium Ink shivered as the weapon collapsed and Noah grabbed the projection from his tail. His clawed hand pierced the clone’s chest, as its body dissolved, mana flowing back into him.

You’ve defeated [Astral Projection]

With a triumph, Noah let out a grunt of satisfaction, as Tony withdrew back and his body shifted to return to a humanoid form. He wobbled from the many clashing experiences flooding his mind, as they filled him, when finally he heard the chimes he’d been waiting to hear.

Abilities:

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[Blood Drain] level 20 → 21.

[Bleed] level 18 → 21.

[Lifeblood] level 16 → 17.

[Bloodfly Storm] level 1 → 5.

[Blood Debt] level 1 → 3.

…

[Netherflame Burst] level 1 → 3.

Skills:

Meditation level 26 → 28.

Astral Resistance level 16 → 17.

…

Aura Control level 10 → 11.

He sorted through the notifications till he got to the ones he wanted to see.

Sword Proficiency level 10 → 12.

Bow Proficiency level 9 → 10.

Shield proficiency level 8 → 10.

Axe Proficiency level 10 → 11.

Bow Proficiency has ranked up to Intermediate.

Shield Proficiency has ranked up to Intermediate.

Skill fusion unlocked.

Spear Proficiency, Bow Proficiency, Shield Proficiency and Axe Proficiency can be combined into Intermediate Weapon Mastery.

Would you like to combine these skills?

Yes/No?

Yes.

You’ve unlocked Weapon Mastery!

[Weapon Mastery (Intermediate) - level 10]

You have learned all kinds of weapons, reaching a skillful level with all of them. Now, you find yourself having an intuitive understanding of any weapon you hold.

Noah smiled to himself, as he read through the skill description. He picked up his spear, feeling a familiar understanding, but now it was accompanied by depth that hadn’t been present before. Noah summoned starforged arms, before summoning an axe, shield and two blades in them. He felt an understanding, on how he could chain these weapons together, make them bring out the strength from within each other.

Whereas before, his understanding had felt like a shallow puddle, now it was a deep lake, one he had only touched the surface of.

The door to the training arena opened, and Noah saw Aurelia walk inside. “Still sparring? You need to let your body rest too,” she said, shaking her head.

“I feel fine,” Noah replied, de-summoning his weapons and putting his spear back into his dimensional storage.

“That’s your high constitution lying to you. Your body still needs to rest, to prepare for tomorrow,” Aurelia replied.

“We’re entering tomorrow?” Noah asked.

Aurelia gave a nod. “I just got word from the guild, it opened a few days early. We’ll be meeting up at the Pit to gain information later, before heading out, so rest up.”

Pulling up his Astral script, he checked on Bun Bun. His map had now expanded to be zoomed out much further, as his familiar had crossed a large amount of distance. Realizing that he would likely not be able to tell how far his ability worked, except knowing that it worked pretty damn far, he called back the rabbit.

His ability burned, mana glowing, and with a crackle, the bunny appeared around him, sniffing his hand. Noah let it bite his finger, before drinking on his blood like a suckling baby rabbit.

“Alright, I’ll rest for the moment then,” Noah replied, picking Bun Bun up in his arms.

Aurelia gave him a nod, heading back out of the arena, and Noah followed behind. He still didn’t know how to feel about working with Vix, but it was one method he could use to free Snow.

He just needed to figure out how to do that while also keeping the Shard for himself.