Chapter 240: Without Any Cost (4)

"Are you scared?" Isaac asked out of nowhere.

"..."

"You’re scared you might die."

I didn’t bother denying it. I was indeed afraid this would be the end. The suffocating pressure from being surrounded by Purson’s followers reminded me of when I died without even realizing what was happening, my skull melted by Lime.

However, Rubia was still imprisoned in the northern tower as an experimental subject. I had to save her! Collapsing here wasn’t an option. Isaac snickered as he wandered around me.

"You freak out just from running into those small fries, yet you’re still interested in Ember?" Without waiting for my answer, he went on. "Don't think it'll be as easy as snatching some tiny altar like this."

It’s not like I ever said I’d go.

Still, I had been piqued. Corpses of powerful beings were bound to lie around, ripe for essence absorption. Isaac seemed to read me like an open book, or maybe because I was one. Both Rena and Rubia seemed to understand me far too well, too.

Whik!

I threw aside the blade that had pierced a thick iron plate. Then I picked up another longsword that had been abandoned by its former owner.

Uuuung...

Dark aura pulsed from the blade. It was as if a deep, chilling darkness had slowly stained the blue sky. Purson’s followers trudged forward over blood-soaked ground. The pressure of stiff corpses made them shift their posture slightly. Roughly twenty of them had formed a perimeter around me.

I'd have to run if I wanted to avoid the worst-case scenario, but it was probably too late for that.

The harpy with vibrant, multicolored wings wasn’t just fast. Hunched on a tree branch, she stared down at me, her forearms and thighs thickening like a bear’s. It was anything but human.

"You dare... defile the altar..."

Even her voice began to distort.

Ssssss...

The snake with vertically-slit pupils blinked, slithering closer. Its humanoid upper half had long since lost its shape. Rapidly, it flicked its crimson tongue. Even with its mouth closed, the stench of human blood was thick in the air.

"Must be war season or something. Looks like they’re eating well."

Isaac, as usual, seemed completely unfazed. Maybe he had something prepared for the decisive moment, like with the desert turtle, Wadluth. That gave me some comfort. At the very least, he’d let me run away.

The harpy bared her sharp claws threateningly. "Choose."

"Choose what...?"

"Restore the altar to its original state or die, mangled and broken."

Isaac was baffled. "Don’t tell me... these idiots don’t even know how to draw a proper altar?"

I thought of Aezar, the deer-headed creature who claimed to be the Empire’s Third Division Commander. Maybe only beings like him could create such altars. I wondered if his antlers were still intact.

"How’s Aezar doing? And Brody... Valdorf?"

Brody Valdorf was the name of the werewolf. I could still vividly picture jet-black aura rising over his gray fur, and the deadly black energy that lingered on his claws and fangs. Those two had been the strongest. I was somewhat relieved that neither they nor Lime were among this group.

The harpy flinched. "How do you know those names?"

The snake, who had been watching silently, hissed loudly. A pair of fangs, each the size of a sword, glistened inside. That creature... Just seeing her before had been enough to paralyze me with fear.

"Don’t be fooled! Break his bones first, we’ll think after!"

Oddly enough, she seemed more nervous than I was.

Craack!

The giant snake charged forward, snapping thick trees like twigs. Sticky blood and green venom dripped from its wide-open jaws.

Ssssskk!

It slithered in a wide arc, circling me. Each time it coiled its neck in preparation for a strike, I locked onto its movement and raised my blade in response.

Wham!

Debris, splintered wood, and body parts scattered everywhere, but not enough to obscure my vision. Strangely, the snake didn’t seem that fast. Its increasing momentum had reached a plateau and then stalled.

Shhhht!

It kept flicking its tongue and circling behind the trees. However, because I constantly adjusted my stance to counter, it couldn’t find an opening to strike.

"Ashishi! What are you doing?!"

"Shut up..."

Flap!

The harpy, who’d been watching, spread her wings wide. "Fine! Everyone, attack!"

She flew low and fast toward me, claws aimed straight at my chest. I predicted her trajectory and swung my blade upward with force.

[Skill: Slash Lv. 3 activated.]

[Battle Shout Lv. 3...]

[Defense and Attack...]

[Reaper’s Scythe Mastery (Rare) Lv. 1 is automatically activated. Additional damage to soul-bearing beings...]

After cutting down a thousand humans on the battlefield, skill overlaps had become second nature.

Thunk.

The harpy stared blankly at her severed right arm. "Wha...?"

The clean-cut stump pulsed as blood gushed out. I spun with the momentum, slicing through her right wing. The large wing fell away without resistance. I stepped forward and swung again, aiming for her waist.

Shlkk.

She realized what was happening and tried to vault backward, but it was too late. My blade had already cut halfway through her torso.

"

K-kiiieeek!

"

Clutching her spilling guts, the harpy howled in agony and shock. Her innards were already melting and tangled. The moment I struck, I’d triggered both Absorption and Acid.

"A, atac...!"

Shlkk!

I stepped in again and plunged the sword straight into her heart. Leaving the blade embedded in her chest, I reached for another longsword nearby. This battlefield was littered with them. The harpy died standing, eyes wide open. A strange silence followed.

Isaac broke it with a cackle.

"Starting to get the hang of it? Why were you even scared of those guys in the first place? Just do whatever you want!"

"What the hell did you do to them?"

It was odd how easily I’d taken her down. Maybe it was Isaac’s doing, a barrier or debuff?

"What? What are you even talking about? I didn’t do anything."

Maybe he was lying. Trying to boost my confidence, perhaps... But that wasn’t really Isaac’s style. Either way, if this was truly the best they could offer, then striking first was enough.

Sprint.

Looking back, it was laughable that I hadn’t even used the Sprint skill during my fight with the harpy. The facial muscles of Purson’s followers, who had surrounded me, twitched.

They’ve... lost track of me.

With a light swing, I sliced through one of their necks in a single motion. Three nearby enemies thrust their spears simultaneously, but I spun and severed the arms of two of them. An orc with dark skin leapt back quickly, but my blade still sank halfway into his shoulder.

"

Graaah!

"

One of them charged with a massive iron shield. I kicked him squarely in the chest. Perhaps due to my martial skill, the impact sent him flying over twenty meters, and he slammed into a tree.

This is too easy.

Just then, the massive snake’s head dropped from the trees above. It was a quick, sudden strike, aimed at a moment of hesitation, but my Detection skill didn't miss it.

I sidestepped and grabbed a nearby spear, thrusting it upside-down into the ground. The snake’s head scraped against the spearhead as it fell, tearing off a long trail of scales. I turned and brought my sword down with force.

The blade bit into its log-sized form, tearing through the scales with the length of a finger joint. Green blood sprayed into the air.

Ssssskk!

The snake didn’t scream, nor did it counterattack. It simply turned and fled at full speed.

"Running...?"

I was caught off guard. Who would've expected it to abandon its dying comrades so easily?

"Where the hell’s it going?"

Thud!

The fleeing snake crashed to the ground. It had only fallen from a height of about two meters, but the sound echoed as if it had dropped from several stories. The one they’d called Ashishi now lay twitching in place, pinned by her own massive weight. She couldn’t move forward.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

It felt like that same binding spell I’d used once to restrain a servant’s remnant. Compared to then, her reaction was far more dramatic. Maybe because she was weaker now, or maybe because Isaac had grown stronger. Instead of simply being restrained, her face was smashed into the dirt, unable to move an inch.

I dragged over two unconscious followers of Purson, two black-skinned orcs, and stood before the snake.

"T&T’s collapse... how did you survive it? What are you doing now?"

"

Ghk... guh-huhk...

"

The snake blinked, its narrow pupils slowly relaxing. The front of its torso shifted, transforming into a human woman’s naked torso. A fresh, deep wound stretched from her neck down to her chest. Her green, blood-stained hair fell across her chest, oddly emphasizing her curves.

"Then... will you spare me?" she asked.

"Maybe."

"Our altar was destroyed... because of the incident two years ago. It weakened our foundation a lot."

"The incident two years ago..."

"The attempt to steal the Lurium. The imperial family came down hard after that."

She was surprisingly cooperative.

"Isaac, loosen up a little."

"Kekeke. You serious?"

"I’m serious."

I wanted to know where Purson's followers had gone and what remained of them.

"If that’s what you want, of course I’ll help."

As the restraints loosened, the woman raised her torso slightly higher.

"

Aah...

thank you, truly."

"What about Aezar?"

"He... Aezar was the one who created this altar. He’s still out there, traveling the battlefield and erecting them alone."

I stepped in a little closer. Maybe I’d hear about Lime next, naturally. "And Brody Valdorf?"

"He’s... dealing with personal matters. Something about his own situation..."

"What kind of situation?"

I took one more step closer. Her pupils suddenly blackened, contracting into sharp vertical slits.

Krrrkk!

Her mouth tore open unnaturally, stretching all the way to her jaw.

Twah!

The woman spewed an incredibly thick stream of green poison. She had probably been storing it just for this.

Too slow.

I pulled back and sliced her neck cleanly with a downward swing. The severed head twitched, bleeding across the ground, then went still.

Ssssshhh...

Her blood hissed against the earth, melting it slightly. Two orcs struck by the poison behind me had died instantly.

Isaac chuckled, entirely unbothered by the fact that our valuable prisoner had just died. "

Kyaaah...

Beautiful! How’d you manage to kill all three hostages at once, huh?"

Flap! Flap!

He joyfully picked up the snake’s severed head and flew across the battlefield. "A commemorative flight!"

After circling once, he grabbed the harpy’s corpse and flew around the trees. Red guts and blood rained down below him.

"..."

When he landed nearby, he gave my shoulder a friendly pat with his claws. "Don’t take it too hard. Honestly, she probably didn't know much."

"Got it. But are you sure you didn’t do anything? To make them that easy to kill..."

"Of course not! You were just overthinking it. They really were nothing special."

He was probably right. Isaac only stepped in at the very end.

Could that be true? Maybe the initial pressure I felt had just been a shadow of old memories. The difference between who I was then and who I was now felt enormous.

Come to think of it... I’d absorbed Marquis Leandro, the Swordmaster, twice. I also absorbed Gith-Za-Rai, the strongest necromancer in recorded history, twice. I even absorbed T&T’s founder, Naneow.

Maybe this is how strong I’m supposed to be.

Even the Blessing of Malphas, which I used right away, turned out to be more powerful than I’d imagined. An overall increase in combat capability. It felt like I’d been lifted to a higher tier altogether. There were many factors that contributed to true strength besides stats.

Isaac gave me another nudge. "So? You gonna do it?"

"Do what?"

"Absorb their essence, obviously."

"Right."

Even the decapitated snake and the bisected harpy were releasing a faint green glow. It was time. I reached out toward them.

Ding...!

One after another, messages appeared, saying I absorbed Doctrine of the Upright King and Teachings of Purson. It seemed useless at first, but after absorbing up to Lv. 3, the fragmented visions I saw before began to make sense.

Permeation. So that’s what it means. A term for territories governed by the demon realm.

Past, present, and future are all considered treasures.

[You have absorbed Teachings of Purson Lv. 4!]

There were no other skills, only knowledge. As the light faded from their corpses, I felt a strange emptiness.

Ding!

[Skill: Essence Absorption Lv. 2 has reached its proficiency limit.]

What?

[Confirmed: Epic skill holder count is within normal parameters (1).]

[Evolution process complete...]

[Upgrade approved.]