Chapter 60: Broodfather
Sounds of battle still echoed behind her, but fainter now, muffled by stone as Baba-yaga fled...or what remained of her.
'Unforgivable! I won't accept this!'
Her swarm gone. Her two strongest shredded. Her vessel sacrificed.
'Ninety-seven, ninety-seven generations for nothing! That two-faced bastard will repay this tenfold.'
The spider-legs jutting from her torn neck scraped stone, dragging her head forward in a grotesque crawl.
First—hide. Then rebuild.
BOOM!
The tunnel shook underfoot. Dust rained from the ceiling. Somewhere back in the black, her trump card rampaged, shredding whatever stood against it. The thought eased her rage for a breath. Her monster would kill the filthspawn, then the dungeon itself.
But Nox...her mind burned with his name. If that little bastard had played her, his father was behind it, no matter how he tried to act otherwise, that boy wouldn't lift a finger without his father's say so. The old-man was going to pay in blood.
Her anger blistered hotter than the pain of losing her two favorite children. Even more than birthing the swarm inside her. What cut deepest was being forced to use Metamorphosis.
Sacrifice the flesh while the head lives. Grow something stronger from the corpse. Stronger than herself. Strong enough to kill her, and it would if it found her. A gamble she'd prided herself on never having to play—until now.
She now had a month to find a new body before her life-force ran out, if she could find one worth the trouble. The legs scuttled faster. The tunnel bent upward. She climbed to the ceiling, scurrying, filth and stone clinging to her hair as the faint glow of an exit bled ahead.
'Reduced to this. If word spreads, I'll be laughed out of the Freelands. Baba-yaga, nearly dead in a fucking D-rank. Pig-faced dogs. All of them.'
Her teeth ground. Her jaw ached. She wanted to scream, but even her rage couldn't drown the sound that stopped her cold—voices.
She froze. Scuttled forward too far.
A man's snarl.
"For fuck's sake! What the hell is—?!"
BANG!
Her vision jolted. She looked down at the ugly man and the woman who had found her. At the gun in her hand. She tried to speak.
"Wait, you cow—I'm… I—"
The world tilted. Something hot poured out her forehead. She blinked, words rotting on her tongue.
"…stupid—"
Her grip failed. Her head fell from the ceiling. Skull cracked against stone.
Silence.
Stance loosening, Lynn stared down in mild confusion, pistol already holstered. John leaned over, pale and sick, clutching his gut.
Lynn spoke first.
"We keep better watch from now on."
John nodded weakly.
"Agreed."
Blood ran in rivulets down the stone, Baba-yaga's last crawl cut short.
----
Crimson system light bled across the cavern, washing over stone and flesh alike. All three demons rose four levels in an instant. Azakh-Tur stood in the glow, watching the notifications spill out, savoring each line.
[Level Up +4]
[Level 13 → 17]
[+2 STR / +2 VIT / +2 WIL / +2 AGI / +2 INT / +2 FLH / +12 AP]
[Class Skill Unlock // Hive Pulse]
[Spawn Limit +1]
[Curse Unlock // Black Pit]
[Class Quest // Slaughter Them All // Completed]
[Quest Rewards Distributing...]
[Mutation Bloodline +1 // Scorchclaw Sentinel (Alpha Male) // Acquired]
[Broodling / Pain // Level Up +4]
[Level 8 → 12]
[+2STR/+2VIT/+2AGI/+2INT/AP+4]
[Broodling / Panic // Level Up +4]
[Level 8 → 12]
[+2STR/+2VIT/+2AGI/+2INT/AP+4]
Flesh swelled, veins pulsing as fresh bulk carved across their bodies. Heat burned through them, addictive, violent. Every nerve lit in fire, every bone humming with growth.
This was the reason they bled. This was the reason they killed.
"Boss… we did good?"
Pain dragged himself over, dripping gore in steady rivulets. Through the link, Azakh-Tur felt his broodling's anger ebb, replaced with concern. He hated it. His broodling worrying about his health tasted sour on his tongue.
His eyes hardened.
"If you'd been slower—if Rotflow wasn't ready—"
He cut to Panic. The broodling scratched mindless shapes in the dirt with one claw, staring down to avoid his gaze.
"Next time you make me wait, I'll eat you both alive, then take my time shitting you out. Understand?"
"Yes, Boss!"
"Yes, Boss!"
Their voices overlapped, sharp with fear. That was better. Still, he threw them scraps.
"You both did well with the Sentinels."
Panic shot upright, saluting with his dagger still in hand, blood spraying from his forehead. His grin stretched ear to ear. Pain only stood still, pretending calm, but his skin flushed redder by the second.
"Especially you, Pain."
The color deepened, almost glowing. Pain said nothing. He wasn't able to.
Azakh-Tur ignored the broodling's fluster, but deep down, during the fight with the Mantis, he felt it—that need Pain carried, not just to serve, but to avenge his Boss. It had caught him off guard, but pleased him more than he wanted to admit.
Grimm floated near, the blue glow of his skull circling above them, intestines dangling wet and lazy. He rattled faintly, as if amused.
"Step forward."
Pain obeyed instantly, chest heaving, eyes burning. Azakh-Tur raised a hand. System light gathered in his palm, warping into something grotesque. A knot of living flesh, small but writhing, its skin dancing with dark-red flames.
"Take this. And remember—everything I give, I can take back. Slaughter for me without end. I demand it."
Pain held the flesh-ball as if it were sacred, his small hands trembling. Reverence rolled off him in waves, second only to the devotion he poured into their Boss. His creator. He pressed it to his chest, as though afraid the world itself might try to take it. His eyes rose, voice unsteady but sharp with conviction.
"I will end all life in your name. Praise Broodfather."
The words seemed to slam into existence like iron being struck. Azakh-Tur froze. A pulse ran through his chest, too heavy to ignore. His broodling hadn't just spoken—it had named him. Marked him. Claimed him.
Grimm flickered violently, blue light bleeding across the walls, spine and gut dangling as if the ghost itself was dragged into the weight of the word. The glow crawled over Azakh-Tur's arms, searing his skin with phantom cold, branding the name into marrow and bone.
[Interesting...]
[System // Notification]
[Title Unlocked // Broodfather]
The system's voice rang hollow, colder than usual. Even the notification seemed to hesitate, appearing slower, as if even it recognized something had shifted.
A title. His second. But this wasn't earned through blood and death. This was forced into him, birthed out of devotion, hammered down by a creature that existed because of his flesh.
His chest tightened. The brood's rage had burned for him. Their will had carved him a name. Broodfather.
Something ancient settled on his shoulders. Something heavy—a weight, not burdened by honor, but ownership.
Nodding once in satisfaction towards his spawn, Pain didn't hesitate and devoured the fleshball in one bite. Azakh-Tur's eyes widened, determined not to miss a single detail, when flames suddenly ignited across Pain's flesh.
The cavern flared red as system panels screamed into his vision.
[Mutation Initiated // Demonic Scorchclaw Broodling (Alpha Bloodline)]
[Stage 1 // Ashen Cub]
The broodling's flesh cracked in sheets, glowing lines crawling his skin like molten veins. Muscle bulged, then split. Fire burst from his mouth in choking gouts, half screamed, half roared.
[-37 HP]
[-42 HP]
[-39 HP]
The numbers flashed as fast as his skin burst.
Kling-klink!
Panic's dagger clattered to the floor as he shrieked, clawing at his own head as if he could peel away the agony echoing through their link.
Grimm wailed, the ghost's skull spinning in circles, intestines flaring. The blue glow only made the fire eating Pain's body look harsher.
Azakh-Tur's jaw tightened. He felt Pain's torture bleeding raw through the Brood Link—he was surprised at first, finding that alonside the scorching heat, their was no fear inside the broodling, only anger. Anger aimed at his own weakness.
[Core Stat Change // STR +6]
[Core Stat Change // VIT +7]
[Core Stat Change // AGI +3]
[Core Stat Change // INT +1]
[Mutation Skill Unlock // Claw Swipe (Burn Effect)]
[Mutation Passive Unlock // Fire Resistance]
[System // Notification]
[Passive Redundancy Detected]
[Existing Passive // Fire Resistance (100%)]
[New Passive // Fire Resistance (100%)]
[Merge Protocol Initiated...Successfull]
[New Racial Passive // Absolute Fire Resistance]
[Additional Effect Granted // Fire Eater]
Bone splinters jutted from Pain's wrists. His claws cracked, blackened, then regrew thicker, glowing faint orange at the tips. His back swelled until the skin split open, fire spilling like blood, ribs trying to push their way out before reknitting into jagged ridges.
[-41 HP]
[-50 HP // Critical!]
Panic screamed again, beating the ground with both fists, unable to watch but unable to turn away.
Grimm dropped low, his skull's glow pulsing like a heartbeat. He rattled, keening, the sound cutting into Azakh-Tur's head like nails.
[Health Pool Expansion // 260 → 412]
[HP // 88/412]
The broodling collapsed to his knees, coughing smoke, blood boiling off his tongue in red vapor. His horns warped forward, thickening, pushing cracks across his skull until they hardened again, sharp and curved.
[Racial Ability Unlock // Hide Thickening]
[Racial Ability Unlock // Charge]
[Racial Ability Unlock // Heat Sense]
"Endure it."
The Broodfather commanded. His voice was steady, but his fists clenched. The bond between them pulled tight, stronger with every scream. He felt it in his chest—Pain wasn't breaking. His broodling was being reforged.
"Panic. Feed...now."
The command rang out like a bucket of cold water to the second born. He froze for a moment, but then dove back into the Mantis.
The fire hit its peak. Pain's body was a bonefire, ash lifting in thick clouds. His HP bar ticked like a drum, slamming down, then just in time crawling up, stuttering between survival and death.
[-62 HP]
[+14 HP // Brood Link / Feed]
[-40 HP]
[+18 HP // Brood Link / Feed]
Amidst the chaos, the screams cut short. Pain froze. The cavern went silent but for the hiss of cooling flesh.
System light erupted, so bright it washed out the chamber.
[Mutation Complete]
[Broodling // Pain / Ashen Cub // Profile Updated]
The glow burned away to reveal a shadow in the dying embers, something crouched low, steam rolling off its body. Its shape was different now. Bulkier. Harder. The outline of horns sharper, claws longer, eyes smoldering like coals in the dark.
[Achievement Unlocked // Mutate the Bloodline]
[Distibuting rewards....]
Swiping the panel away, Azakh-Tur stepped forward, his smile stretched wide.
"Show me."
The light collapsed, and in the silence stood Pain. No longer just broodling, but the first mutation. The first shadow carved beneath the Broodfather's name.