Chapter 142: It's Been A While
The kick still rang through his arms as Butcher's Wrath pulsed in his hands. Two fist-wide cavities punched through the ape's skull told him everything he needed to know about his new weapon's stopping power.
The shotgun's specs stayed razor-clear in his head even as the next wave closed the distance.
[Name // Thunderwake Doublet]
[Type // Ranged Weapon]
[Sub-type // Double-Barrel Shotgun]
[Rank // A]
[Evolve // No]
[+5 STR]
[+6 VIT]
[+4 AGI]
[+3 INT]
[+5 WIL]
[Attack // 95–120 / Lightning + Impact Damage]
[Description]
[A reinforced double-barrel shotgun forged from tempered steel and veincast copper. Thick lightning conduits run along both barrels, bolted in place rather than engraved, with visible scorch marks from repeated discharge.]
[Weapon Skills]
[Name // Static Load]
[Type // Passive]
[Effect]
[Each shot builds a Static Charge stack on hit. At 5 stacks, the next shot consumes all stacks and deals +40% Lightning Damage.]
[Name // Overcharged Buck]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Ammunition Enhancement]
[Rank // A]
[Effect]
[The next fired shell releases electrified shrapnel on impact, sending short-range arcs to up to two additional targets within 6m for 30% Damage.]
[Cost // 6 SM]
[Cooldown // 8 seconds]
[Name // Twin Thunder Discharge]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Burst Fire]
[Rank // A]
[Effect]
[Fire both barrels simultaneously. Damage is increased by +60%, and enemies struck are briefly stunned for 0.5 seconds due to neuromuscular disruption.]
[Cost // 10 SM]
[Cooldown // 20 seconds]
[Name // Grounded Reload]
[Type // Passive]
[Category // Sustain]
[Rank // A]
[Effect]
[Reloading while standing on solid ground restores a small amount of HP and reduces recoil buildup. No effect while airborne.]
[Durability // 150/150]
[Requirements to Use // C-Rank or Higher]
["Two barrels. One step forward. Everything in front of you pays."]
It fit him clean. Mid-range brutality without pretending to be subtle. Long shots were someone else's problem.
The crack of rifle fire cut across his focus. He turned in time to see Snare's broodlings bracing and dumping dwarven rounds into the oncoming mass.
Most of the shots sparked and skipped off C-rank hides. He logged the failure without emotion and flagged it for later...better firearms, higher penetration, no compromises. A simple task for the dwarves with the right resources.
With no kills yet, Snare had nothing to fuel his higher plays. So he did the next best thing and turned the field into motion.
"Pain, hit the right flank! Panic, follow and carve a wedge! Min, lock the left with the humans! I'll keep them pinned!"
Neither of his elder brothers hesitated. They moved because obedience worked, and because it pleased the Broodfather.
Heat tore through Pain like a lit fuse. He went up in fire, mane flaring as his roar split the air. The ground around him began to shimmer as temperature climbed.
With Seo-jin's title [All for One], Pain's raw strength surged past its normal limits. Forty became fifty. Seo-jin watched his firstborn lock onto the enemy line, anticipation tight in his chest. He didn't have to wait.
He roared a challenge across the field, heavy enough to stall even the charging beasts. That half-beat of hesitation was all Pain needed.
[Scorching Rush // Active]
[Dash 90 ft / Impact deals 150% STR // Knockback 2–4m vs smaller targets // 35% stagger vs equal-size // Leaves heated trail: 3% Max HP burn on contact]
Pain launched.
He hit the right flank like a burning engine, fire folding around him as he tore through the line. The flash washed over Seo-jin's face as the impact set the air ablaze.
The silver ape unlucky enough to take the charge straight on never landed. It disintegrated mid-motion, its mass reduced to drifting ash before it could even hit dirt. Bodies around it were thrown clear, hides scorched, fur smoking.
These weren't common beasts. Fae-born C-ranks, fifteen feet at the shoulder, hides dense as forged steel. Natural armor bred to shrug off blades and rounds alike. None of it mattered. Pain was built to burn.
Behind him, his lesser brood surged in, screeching shapes of heat and bone. They swarmed the staggered apes, crawling over limbs and faces, tearing into joints and eyes. Size meant nothing once the formation broke.
At the same moment, a surge of yellow split by aqua blue dragged Seo-jin's focus left.
"Let's see who does better."
Min dropped from the air like judgment. Laughter tore from her as her aura flared, the massive spectral form of an Abyssal Shark snapping into place around her. She drew her fist back. The shark's jaws opened.
The punch landed.
Three-quarters of the ape in front of her ceased to exist, reduced to atomized blood and meat. The shockwave hurled nearby bodies away like scrap, bones breaking before they hit the ground.
Sliding in behind Min, Split-jaw bellowed as his muted brown aura flared. He threw both arms up, skin calcifying as he caught a blow meant for her spine.
He barely stayed upright, but he withstood it.
Two sharp snaps cut through the chaos. Twin penetrator bolts punched clean through the eyes of the ape bearing down on Split-jaw. Slims tore past like a rabid wind, repeater locked to his forearm, bow twanging without pause as he ran the line.
An ape's scream ripped through the din. Seo-jim turned in time to see Panic darting low, blades flashing as he severed tendons mid-stride. Beasts crashed down, and the moment they hit, lesser brood poured over them, spikes and claws finding gaps, tearing into joints and throats until movement stopped.
Then the wrongness settled in.
He swept his gaze from brood to humans. The numbers didn't match what he was seeing. The humans were too strong.
"How are they hitting this hard? They shouldn't be."
His panel flicked open. A few fast swipes. His titles filled the display. Understanding hit all at once, followed by a rush that tightened his chest.
[All for One] had changed. It now reached beyond the brood. Every human on the field surged a full rank. Ten points to every stat.
He laughed.
Lynn put a round through the face of an ape still clawing at the ground, the shot snapping its head back. Her breathing was ragged, skin flushed, strength flooding her limbs in a way she'd never felt. She glanced at her UI and saw it.
[All for One // +10 to all stats when fighting alongside the Broodfather]
"Min! You feel this?! The buff?!"
Her voice shook with exhilaration, shots landing true as her confidence spiked.
Another spectral shark tore an ape apart, ripping one clean in half and biting an arm off the next. Min's answer came back sharp and laughing.
"Quit talking!.Kill them! Kill every last one!"
That was enough. She felt the boost, and she planned to bleed it dry.
From where Seo-jin stood, the outcome was already written. Bodies carpeted the ground. Snare had shifted fully into command, skills threading through the fight to reinforce his brothers. Hex, Widow, and Bile struggled to contribute with their meager levels and bare hands, but even shallow cuts mattered. Wounds still paid. Experience still flowed.
He wasn't about to let that pass him by. This was his moment to enter the field. And he planned to make it count. The apes weren't mindless. There was thought behind their movements. He wondered, briefly, if they could understand what came next.
"Guess there's only one way to see."
System light crawled over him as the suit peeled away, leaving only the Forgemaster's Mantle clamped to his chest. Flesh darkened. Muscle swelled. Horns pushed free. Fangs split his gums. Claws tore through his fingers as bone reshaped itself.
Azakh-Tur stepped forward.
The brood reacted instantly.
Every one of them disengaged without a word, leaping clear of combat as if yanked back by instinct alone.
Min caught it fast, bit down hard, and barked for the humans to fall back. They didn't argue. They ran.
Bruised, bleeding, furious, the remaining silver apes didn't pursue. They stalled instead. Bodies twisted. Heads jerked. Confusion rippled through the pack as they tried to process the shift.
Then the sound hit them.
It drowned Pain's bellows. It crushed the thunder of Min's strikes and the crash of bodies. Azakh-Tur's roar poured across the field and sank straight into bone.
It scraped. It dragged. Like concrete hauled by rusted chains in a flooded tunnel. Corrosive. Deafening. The air bent, warping as if hellfire lived in his throat.
When the roar finally cut off, silence followed. Azakh-Tur stood alone, facing the last twenty or so apes. They were locked on him now, aggression sharpened and fixed, but they weren't his target.
His challenge wasn't meant for the pack. It was meant for what watched from beyond them. The presence still hiding. The hand that guided the silver apes.
Their alpha.
The quiet held for only a handful of breaths before the ruins answered back. A second roar tore through the streets, short and brutal, followed by a tremor that rattled broken stone and loose bone.
Min barked out, fury sharp at being forced to halt mid-slaughter.
"What the fu—!"
"SILENCE!"
Pain cut her off. His voice hit like a blast wave, heat rolling outward hard enough that Min felt it. When she looked his way, she recoiled. The fire in his eyes carried a simple message. Speak again and die.
Azakh-Tur paid none of them any mind. Pecking orders could settle themselves. He advanced on the apes, tail swaying in an unhurried arc as bloodlight bled from his frame and fogged the street.
As he passed, every broodling dropped. Hands and knees to the ground. Foreheads pressed into dirt and ash. Slims stared, eyes stretched too wide, tracing the glowing fissures in the Broodfather's jet-black hide, from horn to spine to tail. The words slipped out of him, thin and shaking.
"So cool…"
Split-jaw watched in silence, fingers brushing the scar along his jaw that named him. His face stayed calm, unreadable, but something cold lingered there. The look of a man acknowledging that whatever once stood above him was gone for good.
John and Lynn had seen this shape before. It didn't matter. The air still shifted the same way, heavy and twisted, the same presence that crept into their quiet thoughts when they tried to sleep.
"Everyone drink."
Yellow light flared as Min yanked dwarven ale from her inventory. The humans followed suit, each pulling their share. They'd been warned at the start of the run. Drink it. Every few hours. No exceptions. The burn tore down their throats, sharp and hot. It did nothing to dull what they were about to witness.
Azakh-Tur closed the distance, walking as though the apes would simply move aside. Min's people drew breath together when one of the beasts finally snapped, fists hammering its chest before it lunged. What followed carved itself into human memory.
The brood didn't bother watching.
They already knew how it would end.
Two massive cleavers. They didn't swing. They didn't arc. They swelled into being, and the ape standing in front of Azakh-Tur came apart in sections, meat and bone separating before gravity caught up.
Then he was gone.
He reappeared on the far side of the pack.
Along the line he'd crossed, bodies began to fail. Apes sloughed apart mid-breath, torsos splitting, limbs dropping free, none of them registering pain or impact. Of the thirty that had stood moments earlier, barely half remained upright.
The survivors started to howl, fury spiking, then a roar crushed it flat. Heads snapped down in unison. Chests lowered. Hoots turned submissive, throats working as instinct overrode rage.
[Suggest switching to maces. From the look of it, blades won't be optimal.]
Azakh-Tur lifted his gaze.
High above, clinging one-handed to the ruined face of an overgrown tower, the Silver Ape alpha hung in silhouette. It roared, hammering its chest once before letting go. The drop ended in a quake. Concrete spiderwebbed as it landed, fists slamming down as it rose to full height.
It dwarfed the others. Fangs curled past its jawline. Its silver coat lay thick, long and layered, fur packed dense as plated steel. Natural armor, grown, not forged.
Metal screamed.
Butcher's Wrath twisted in his hands, mass shifting, balance resetting.
[4th Weapon Effect // Activated]
[Slicing Damage → Bludgeoning / Piercing]
The weight settled differently. He felt it in his wrists, in his shoulders, but he never broke eye contact.
A thin grin cut across his face.
"I don't know if you understand me, but you showed up right on time."
He rolled his shoulders and sank into a lower stance.
"Your pack barely counted as a warm-up."
The alpha drew breath to roar again. Its eyes flared wide as the small demon vanished from sight.
K-KRNCH!
Both maces smashed into the beast's face. Blood tore free from its mouth as the skull snapped sideways under the impact.
Still in the air, Azakh-Tur hauled the weapons overhead and drove them down with everything he had. Black fire rolled across the metal a breath before contact.
[-1 SM]
[SM // 50/51]
[Hellfire // Activated]
[+20% damage to all melee attacks // +10% Attack Speed]
The alpha's fur absorbed part of it, but the collision still rattled every tooth watching. The sound carried through bone.
[187 Damage Dealt]
[184 Damage Dealt]
'What's its defense?!'
[Calculating.]
He hit the ground and cut low, driving both maces into the knee before the creature could reset.
[!! Critical !!]
[220 Damage Dealt]
Azakh-Tur kicked off and cleared out as the ape swung from its kneel. The displaced air slapped his chest. Strength like that put it solidly in A-rank territory. Speed lagged behind, low C at best. The bulk of its threat lived in raw power and endurance.
Perfect for him.
He leaned forward to reengage when the system cut in.
[Watch out!]
He skidded hard, boots carving the stone, barely getting the weapons up as he triggered his curse.
[-6 SM]
[SM // 44/51]
[Fiendskin // Activated]
[Reduces physical damage by 15%]
[Cooldown // 1min 59sec]
His skin locked just as the ape's fur stiffened and erupted downward. Thousands of strands punched into the ground like driven spikes, the street erupting under the impact.
No time to measure speed. No room to dodge. He chose the only option left.
Rend was off cooldown. Thank the bodies from earlier.
[-2 SM]
[SM // 42/51]
[Rend // Activated]
[+15% Bludgeoning / Piercing Damage]
He forced every ounce of speed into the motion, Butcher's Wrath swelling as he brought both maces down and buried them into the ground at his feet.
The shock nearly tore his arms out. It felt like striking solid diamond. Bone screamed. The recoil hurled him backward.
But it worked.
Hundreds of hair-spears detonated from the street around him. The air filled with them, iron-hard strands tearing upward in a forest of killing thrusts. His arc carried him just beyond their reach. He twisted midair, snapped himself upright, then slammed his tail and a fang from each mace into the ground to bleed off speed, stone screaming as it tore under the drag.
[That would have killed you. Pray it cannot repeat that often.]
"Yeah. I blocked at least a few dozen."
He rolled one shoulder as pain buzzed through bone and tendon.
"Each strand hit like steel. Fuck it. After this, I'm buying armor."
[Sound judgment.]
The tremor in his arms faded as Butcher's Wrath retracted with Rend ending, metal settling with a heavy pull. Across the field, the alpha's assault ended. Its fur withdrew in rippling sheets, the ground coughing dust where the spears had punched through. It beat its chest and hopped in place, each impact cracking the street and sending ripples through the ruins.
The remaining Silver Apes answered in kind. Fists hammered ribs. Roars stacked on roars. The pack fed on the moment. From the rear, Min measured the exchange and swallowed. That attack would have erased her. The others couldn't even frame the thought. Watching something fight at this level short-circuited reason.
Pain, Panic, Snare, Hex, Widow, and Bile stayed upright. The lesser broodlings pressed their foreheads to the dirt. Every eye tracked the same point. None of them doubted the outcome.
Azakh-Tur snapped his tail through the air. The crack split the space between breaths. Bloodlight bled outward, killing intent thickening into a low fog that crept along the ground and wrapped the battlefield in pressure.
He loosened his neck, sank his weight, and launched.
'Get ready.'
Something warm answered from his chest. Not words. Not a voice. A pull. A coil tightening behind his ribs, eager and patient.
He ran straight into the roar, and the thing waiting inside him finally leaned forward.