Rise of the Devourer

Chapter 15: Viktral Nayfar's Legacy

A shiver crawled down Noah’s spine at the horrifying shrieks that came from the man’s mouth as the void tendrils continued to grow from its body. He watched, keeping his blade clutched tight, as the man mutated. Tendrils extended from the miner’s backside like multiple tails with gaping maws of endless teeth akin to a lamprey’s. His face was covered in dark bloated skin, his eyes hidden behind a smooth covering that took over his upper face, leaving only the man’s lower jaw exposed that grew with fangs, dripping drool that fumed like acid.

Noah saw the single question mark floating above the creature from Identify. But something about the creature made his gut churn. It felt dangerous, more so than the Flesh grafted horror.

“Gerome, step back slowly, and stay away,” Aurelia said. Gerome followed her directions, nodding as he slowly backed off. “I’ve not questioned you about your abilities too much since Outerworlders tend to rarely follow common sense in their strengths. So right now, I’ll be trusting you to keep yourself alive. Stay on your guard.”

Tense moments passed as they continued to watch the creature twitching and transforming. Noah was tempted to rush in right now while it looked vulnerable, but his instincts held him back.

Soon, with a piercing shriek that made Noah flinch, the creature moved. And then it vanished.

Sheer reaction saved Noah, as he blinked away in the next moment, finding the void-creature standing behind where he had been moments ago. Aurelia screamed as she launched a plume of fire, rushing the beast, but the creature melded into the dark wisps, vanishing once more.

Noah scanned the chambers, using Void Hunter’s Eyes to pick up on the traces of mana, as he found the horror clinging to the ceiling above him like a bat. The beast leapt down, talons bared forth and Noah blinked once more, avoiding the attack.

Teleportation ability. And frequent ones. That’s so fucking unfair. How dare it have my ability?

The beast howled as it missed twice, likely not having anticipated someone else with an ability similar to the one it had. With a shriek the creature jumped, slashing at Noah. The attack was followed by another teleport and slash combination, that soon turned into a barrage of teleports and slashes. Attacks continued to hit Noah as the beast jumped madly. The creature was fast, faster than he was. Noah blinked, trying to dodge, but the beast would chase, and it would get there faster. Blood coated Noah’s clothes as cuts began to rack up on Noah’s body. He needed to do something, or he would be outmatched.

I’m thinking too much. I need to stop thinking and start reacting.

Taking his eyes off the beast, Noah focused on the trails of void. Using his blades to block, he swung, letting the beast’s claws clang against them. The monster growled, frustrated. Changing targets, it turned towards Aurelia. Running on its elongated limbs, with its lamprey like tendrils extending from its body, the creature rushed towards her. A piercing shriek tore itself from its mouth, as wisps of void similar to when Noah used obliterate.

Flames coated Aurelia’s fist, as she ran away. The void-beast howled in anger as it gave chase. Aurelia continued to shoot balls of fire behind herself as she ran up to a giant slab of rock cut from the mines that had been stacked near the walls. Rapidly moving behind the boulders, she grabbed it, digging her fingers in as they cracked the surface of the rock. With a powerful shout that shook the caverns Aurelia lifted the giant rock taller than her, and likely at least five time as heavy. Fire erupted from her hands, coating the giant boulder as she flung it at the creature.

A deafening crack echoed through the cavern as the boulder exploded into flaming rocks that scattered everywhere, and covered the chamber in blinding dust.

Noah didn’t wait for the dust to settle, his eyes capable of piercing through the haze as they tracked the void mana. The beast had dodged the attack, but it had let it’s guard down, which gave him an opening.

Using Blink, Noah appeared right behind the creature. Bleed and Obliterated mingled across his daggers, extended their edges into jagged curved spikes as he stabbed into the creature’s shoulder.

A howl of agony shot through the beast but Noah didn’t stop, pulling his blade through the oozing dark skin and tendrils as he drew dark purple goo from within.

You’ve inflicted [Bleed] on [Void-grafted Human].

Not wasting his chance, Noah used Blood Drain on the creature right after, as the dark purple goo began to flow into him.

You’ve used [Blood Drain] on [Void-grafted Human].

[Lifeblood] partly resisted [Necrosis Poison]. You’ve been inflicted with [Necrosis Poison-I].

Health partly regenerated.

Noah cursed, as the dark blood burnt like fire through his veins. The momentary lapse cost him heavily, as the creature slashed through Noah’s chest, drawing blood and cutting through the muscles on his shoulder.

“Fucker!” Noah screamed, blocking the talons partly with his blades as he blinked away. Aurelia jumped in to draw the creature’s attention, allowing Noah a moment to recover. Blood dripped down from his shoulder, now pulsing with poison. Noah looked at his health bar dropping, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn’t have [Blood Drain] to heal himself with, and the poison would continue to eat at his health.

Shit. This is bad. This is really bad. I need to end this quickly.

Tearing his shirt with his blade, Noah wrapped the wound on his shoulder as quickly as he could to stop the bleeding. Taking out the remaining potion from his inventory, Noah drank a sip, before returning it back to his inventory. He could feel Lifeblood burning against the poison, but whatever the creature’s blood was made of, was potent. His skin was turning black, and he could feel energy leaving his body.

You’ve gained Poison Resistance!

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The notification chimed, as Noah felt the effects of poison slow down just a little. Without any time to observe the effects, he moved on, rushed into the battle once more. Aurelia fought, as the voidbeast teleported and moved rapidly. The creature was fast, and as the battle kept going, it seemed to be getting even faster. Noah rushed in with a blink, slashing with bleed coating his weapon before dodging the void-creature’s attack. Aurelia covered his gaps, taking the moment to strike the creature’s chest with a fire coated punch that launched it into the walls. A crack went through the cavern, boulders and rocks collapsing as the creature was flung across. Noah channeled his mana, ready to blink closer when Aurelia stopped him.

“Wait. Something’s wrong,” she said.

Noah paused, turning towards the beast. He watched the creature pulsating and moving, as wisps of void mana poured through its body.

“It’s… changing,” Noah murmured, unsure how he knew. He reached out to identify and found the creature’s name change as well.

[Abyssal-Grafted Human lvl - ?]

“We should kill it, before it can finish transforming,” Noah said, eyeing his dropping health bar and the dark taint that was rising from his shoulders as the poison spread, before rushing ahead. Bleed and Obliterate hummed around his blade, as he slashed into the mass of tendrils flowing over the creature, and notifications blazed in his mind. A dark cocoon of energy gathered around the creature as Noah continued to stab.

“Noah get back!” Aurelia shouted from afar. Noah failed to react in time, as a pulse of void energy exploded outwards.

Pain dominated his mind, as he was flung across the cavern, his ears ringing. He could hear screams and shouts, but his mind danced in a daze, as notifications played in front of his eyes.

Critical Hit! You’ve lost a limb!

You’ve gained the [Stunned] status effect.

You’ve gained the [Bleeding] status effect.

Health: 21%

[Lifeblood] has activated. Health regeneration increased to 500%

Noah stared in a daze, as his vision slowly came to. It took him a moment to realise what had happened as he tried to push himself up, and found air in the place where his left arm used to be. A bloody stump with bones protruding from his flesh greeted Noah, as blood gushed like water from a stream.

A stunned daze filled his mind, as his eyes remained rooted on his missing arm. He tried to move his fingers, to move his wrist, and found a numb pain go through his body as the muscles near his elbow twitched.

It didn’t feel real.

None of this felt real.

Vaguely, he noted his flesh moving visibly in front of his eyes as the flesh in his stump grew to stop his bleeding. Noah tried to pick himself up, and stumbled over, unable to balance himself properly. A second later, he felt the blood dripping off the right side of his face, and he realised half of his right ear was missing too, only a bloody flap remaining in its place.

In a daze, Noah looked around, before finding what he was looking for. Stumbling ahead, he walked where the stump of his hand lay, still clutching onto his dagger. Reaching down, he picked it up with his remaining arm, watching the dark flesh of the poison eating through it now that Lifeblood did not work on it anymore. Silently, Noah put the arm into his inventory.

Poison Resistance has reached level 2!

The notification snapped Noah out of his daze, as the sounds of the battle finally reached him. He looked out to the cavern, and saw Aurelia struggling as the void beast teleported all over the cavern. She continued to throw fiery boulders at the creature to retaliate but the beast would merely teleport away when she did.

I need to snap out of it.

Noah’s eyes kept returning to his missing stump, but he forcefully peeled them away. He had magic now. It would heal. It was not permanent.

Right now, he needed to help Aurelia and he needed to survive.

Picking his other dagger up, he placed it in his mouth, biting on the handle to make sure he had a grip. Keeping the other dagger in his hand, he let anger flood into his mind, and numb the shock and arm. Fury rose within Noah, anger and pain tearing itself out as he screamed.

With a kick off the ground, he rushed, Blinking closer to the Abyssal beast. Obliterate covered his body, moving in wisps as he coated himself with it and head butted the abyssal beast. The creature squakwed, taken by surprise as Noah twisted, both his daggers slashing through the monster at once as his blades cut through its shoulder. The Beast howled, and Noah put the dagger in his mouth into his inventory as he bit into the tendrils. With a pull, he tore through the flesh, the dark oozing flood burning his throat as it flowed into him.

Poison Resistance has reached level 3!

[Lifeblood] has reached level 2!

Noah screamed a raw primal scream of fury, as he tore into the creature with abandon. Aurelia joined him, pummeling the Abyssal beast with pelting flames.

“Teleport away!” she screamed, and Noah blinked away as flames gushed from her hands, drowning the Abyssal beast.

The creature howled, fire burning it’s body as Noah panted, stumbling from the blood loss and poison, as pure adrenaline kept him on his feet. He waited for the creature to teleport away, but the monster continued to shriek. Then, as the fire dimmed, the creature jumped, teleporting to the end of the cavern, as it melded into the shadows once more. A moment later, something clicked.

“Aurelia, flood the cavern with fire! It can only teleport through shadows!” Noah shouted.

Aurelia looked at him in surprise, before nodding. Putting her hands out, she let her mana gather, as flames poured out from her. A giant ball of fire began to manifest, floating into the air, and lighting the entire cavern up.

The abyssal-creature shrieked, howls of anger and rage as embers still clung onto its body. The abyssal beast dashed ahead, clinging to the scant few shadows that remained as it jumped out, but it was far more predictable now. Noah moved, attacking as the beast manifested in one of the shadows. His blade cut through the beast’s body, dark flesh splitting up with sizzling ooze of black wisps. Obliterate pulsed as Noah’s mana dipped rapidly, and the creature roared, teleporting away once more.

Noah turned, trying to find where the creature was, when a scream made his gut drop.

In the distance, he saw the abyssal-beast, standing with tendrils around Gerome’s throat, as he clutched the miner, and put a claw at his throat.

The beast garbled, as if trying to speak words to say something, before he pressed his claw further into Gerome’s neck.

Noah watched, fear coursing through him. He’d known the monster was smart, with the way it fought. But smart enough to take a hostage?

He saw the creature’s face, cut from his blade and burnt from Aurelia’s fire, revealing the miner he had seen underneath. A dim light of intelligence glimmered in his eyes. Noah wracked his mind, trying to think of something, anything, when he remembered an item he had kept with him.

Reaching out to his inventory, noah pulled out the voidbeast’s letter, opening the seal as he let the pure energies of the void ooze out. The creature froze, sensing the energy within the letter, as Noah raised it up.

"You recognise this, don’t you?” Noah said, presenting it to the beast.

The creature rasped a hoarse growl, as it raised Gerome further up in the air. “If you know this, then you should know that I’m tied to it too. You can feel it can’t you?” Noah said, slowly stepping closer. He tried to reach out to his [Voidborne] perk, trying to imbue his voice with mana as he spoke.

The abyssal-beast growled, baring its teeth as Noah moved closer.

“Let him go,” Noah said, trying to put mana into his words.

The beast moved a step back, holding Gerome tighter.

“Let. Him. Go.”

Something snapped, a tension that Noah could feeling connecting him to the beast. He felt the creature’s spirit brush against his, before crumbling, as he felt his [Devourer] aspect flare.

The beast roared, throwing Gerome aside, as he rushed towards Aurelia. Noah blinked, but instead of teleporting away, he moved in closer, using the monster’s momentum to stab it in the gut. Not waiting for the beast to retaliate, Noah teleported back.

Aurelia rushed after him, the giant ball of flame she’d maintained all this time moving with her. Noah watched as the globe of fire crashed into the void beast, and the cavern shook with a horrible shudder from the explosion.

Noah ran closer, blade clutched in his hand as he waited for a sign from the monster. Walking through the dust cloud and flames he moved closer to the abyssal monster. The tendrils on the creature’s body burnt with flames, revealing the miner underneath. The man looked pale, burns, wounds, and cuts covering his entire body as the void-tendrils grew from his skin, like festering wounds that were draining his life.

Slowly, Noah walked up to the man, as he twitched, before gasping.

“P-Please…” the man begged, and Noah clutched his blade tighter. He could not be merciful. This was a monster.

But the words that came next, made Noah’s gut drop.

“K-Kill… me…”

He stared at the man, body mutated, and mind overtaken by this monster, and nodded. Bending down, he pressed his blade at the man’s throat, and slit it. Blood flowed freely from the wounds, and Noah used [Blood Drain] to accelerate the process, as his own wounds healed.

You’ve used [Blood Drain] on [Stone Carver lvl - ?]

[Necrosis Poison] removed.

With a final shudder, the man closed in eyes. And for a moment, Noah felt as if he’d heard the man mutter thank you to him.

You’ve defeated [Abyssal-Grafted Human (Rare) lvl - 59]

You’ve defeated [Rock-Miner (Common) lvl - 42/Stone Carver (Common) lvl - 48]

[Exsanguinator] reached level 15!

[Astralwalker] has reached level 13!

[Void Hunter] has reached level 13!

Power increased to 55.

Agility increased to 33.

Constitution increased to 39.

Mystic increased to 54.

+24 free attribute points awarded.

[Blink] has reached level 4!

[Void Hunter's Eyes] has reached level 3!

Quest: Viktral Nayfar’s Legacy Complete.

Reward: [Tome of Abyssal Summon (Epic)] obtained.

Noah stared at the two notifications, as the horrible sinking realisation came to him. “He was alive. The miner was still alive. Trapped in his own body by that creature,” Noah said, glancing at Aurelia.

“What a terrible fate,” Aurelia said, watching the corpse.

Noah nodded, ready to move on when another notification came in his vision, taking him by surprise.

Would you like to consume [Abyssal-Grafted Human]?

Yes/No?

Noah gave it some thought for a moment, before selecting yes. The corpse began to dissipate, breaking into ash like motes that flowed into Noah’s body.

[Devourer] has absorbed [Abyssal-Grafted Human].

[Progress till next rank: 11/100]

Memory absorbed.

A vision played through Noah’s mind, as he saw from the man’s perspective. Felt the torture, and the pain the man had undergone, as his body had been mutated and changed beyond recognition. He felt the horror, the anguish, as the man was made into a prisoner within his own body, and forced to eat people and kill them as the beast within it demanded. Noah saw the flesh grafting, the experiment that Viktral Nayfar had done, and the inhumane acts the man had to suffer through. But through the pain, at the very end of it, he also felt… peace. Death was what had finally let him have comfort through his suffering.

Noah closed his eyes, clenching his teeth. Anger filled him, the anguish, the suffering that had been inflicted by a single man. He bared his teeth, growling as the fury of the memory overtook him. He would hunt them. Each and every last one of them.

New Quest obtained!

Quest: Abyss Hunter

You’ve seen the atrocities of the abyssal cult, and found fury boiling in your heart.

Objective: Destroy the Abyssal cult, and hunt every member within it.

Difficulty: Impossible

Reward: Unknown.

“Let’s get you out of here, and to a healer,” Aurelia said, giving him a shoulder to support him. Noah let her, leaning onto the woman. The support snapped something, the tension in his body leaving at once, as the anger and adrenaline that had kept him going faded, and his eyes drooped.

Before Noah could realise it, he passed out.