Shoutout to Andrew Bernard for becoming a Patron and not punching a hole through the wall!
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Maybe Eden had been naive to believe his Soul Steal Binding Vow would truly allow him to snatch any souls, but seeing one get wrenched away from his control was still very disappointing.
But he knew the reason why. Although he tried not to think about it to avoid affecting his Binding Vow, Eden knew perfectly well that the ability to snatch the souls of anyone he killed with his Cursed Energy was extremely powerful. This not only gave him a way to recover and improve his Cursed Energy, but it also negated most forms of Immortality.
This belief was just shattered, however, as his target's soul had been snatched away from him, and he had been unable to do anything about it. It was not that Eden intended to go against their contract, but his inability to snatch that soul meant that his Soul Steal was not as potent as he thought.
Maybe it could only target unclaimed souls, maybe it was only for one's below a certain threshold of power, or maybe he was not snatching their whole soul. Whatever the case was, it left Eden unsatisfied, and he would have to remedy it.
If he used a Binding Vow though, which was the only way he could think of at the moment, he would have to sacrifice something quite consequent…
This could wait for later.
Pocketing his rewards, Eden turned to Karlach, some of his frustration vanishing as he glanced back at her status. She was Tier I. And thus more than likely Level 5, which the rest of the Party would soon reach.
She had suffered from some injuries, but she seemed fine overall, although she was on guard against Eden. That Cambion appearing had probably not helped.
Seeing she was not speaking, Eden observed, "Your infernal engine is burning. You should probably watch it, if you don't want it to overheat."
The flames did not stop, and the barbarian instead asked, "Who are you? You're working with the devils?"
Eden looked down at his target, and squatted to start looting as he explained, "I'm not. This guy," he picked up his target's head, "made a deal with a devil to kill me. But he did not read the fine print, and that devil came to me with an offer. I kill them, he gets their souls, and I get my reward. But I know that was not was you were really asking. I'm not with Zariel, or affiliated to her in any way."
Karlach, although still suspicious, relaxed slightly, lowering her weapon as the flames around her receded, and she said, "Well, thank you for the help. I normally could have taken them all without breaking a sweat, but…"
"But the tadpole in your brain drained your power? You're not alone."
Karlach looked surprised, "You too?"
Eden smiled and shook his head, explaining to her his mission, the party and everything he already had revealed to the rest of the party. He finished looting the corpses as he did so, which might not leave the best impression, but he was a looter at heart.
By the time he was finished, Karlach looked a little overwhelmed, but Eden reassured, "Once we get back to my group, your tadpoles should communicate, and any doubts should be erased. For now though, I believe we still have something to do, don't we?"
Seeing Eden give a pointed look at the Toll House that towered over a nearby cliff, Karlach asked, "Sure we do, soldier. Shouldn't take much effort from you, right?"
Eden shrugged, replying, "Depends. Do you just want them dead, or do you want to kill them yourself?"
Karlach scoffed, "As much as they've annoyed me, chasing me all the way from hell, I'd be more than fine with them just popping out of existence."
"Good. Then, while I take care of this, you should move up along the road. Follow the Chiontar to a broken bridge, my party should be there."
Karlach's voice went up a notch as she asked, her tone laced with disappointment despite what she had just said, "You don't want my help?"
Internally wondering how she managed to make killing people sound cute, he sighed and said, "Sure, you can come if you want. But then we'll have to hurry on the way back. Well, I would have anyway, but you'll have to follow."
Karlach laughed at that, placing her axe on her shoulder as she flexed her legs and boasted, "Don't worry there soldier, Pit Fiends have taught me how to run."
Then, she made one giant leap forward, and started making her way up the hill with multiple jumps, laughing boisterously as she did so. Enhancing himself with Cursed Energy, he followed after her, quickly reaching the Toll House itself.
A group of humans were waiting inside, all of them NPCs, but only two among them were Tier I. One of them was obviously their leader.
[Name: Anders]
[Title: Paladin of Tyr]
[HP: 250/250]
[MP: 320/320]
[Strength: 32]
[Agility: 19]
[Physique: 25]
[Intelligence: 32]
[Wisdom: 21]
As far as Eden was concerned, this hardly posed a threat. While Karlach attacked the rest, Eden rushed at Anders, taking out his sword this time.
Seeing him approach rapidly, Anders made an overhead swing with his sword, and surprisingly, Eden felt a moderate amount of danger from the blade, so he dodged it. As he did, and time was slowed, he noticed the greatsword's edge shone with a faint golden light.
This had to be Smite, the skill exclusive to Paladins. Quite powerful, though it had to hit.
As Eden was about to dodge however, he suddenly felt something try to freeze him.
[Wisdom Check…]
[Wisdom Check overruled by 'Soul Overlord'!]
The spell completely failed as Eden dodged the sword, and slapped him in the chest, cleaving a large gash into his chest. His heavy armor, though ruined, had saved his life.
Anders retreated, swinging his sword back, but Eden stopped it from gaining momentum, kicking its tip just as Anders started to swing it, not only killing any momentum but even forcing Anders to spin back. Eden himself felt a stinging heat under his foot, but his boots were rare, so they easily resisted against the Smite.
Eden was not expert at close quarter combat, but he knew physics, and his Talent gave him uncanny precision.
Sent sprawling to the ground, Anders whizzed, trying to roll over, but Eden slammed a reinforced foot into his chest, sending him flying into the wall. At the same time, he turned to look at the other Tier I, a female ranger who was doing her best to avoid Karlach, even if that meant sacrificing her subordinates.
Her head was lobbed off by a Dismantle. However, as her Evil Spirit left her body, it was suddenly snatched away.
Turning back to Anders, Eden finished him off as well, but the oathbreaker had his soul snatched away, presumably to Zariel.
His jaw clenching a little, Eden turned to Karlach, and watched her decimate the rest of her pursuers, raging. Once the last of them were dealt with, she heaved, slowly calming down as she rasped, "I… My chest is getting tight, my heart is overflowing. You should leave."
Eden nodded silently, picking up Anders' sword before exiting the building as Karlach continued her rampage inside, her mechanical heart cloaking her in flames.
Outside, Eden first moved to the first floor, where he found yet another Soul Coin, and quickly looked through his loot. He got a few more potions and 3761 Dream Points. There was also what they had carried on them.
Most of it was Uncommon equipment, which he would give to the party, but there were two Rare items.
One was a chest piece for an armor, and the other a pair of gloves.
[Piercing Gloves]
[Rank: Rare]
[Defence: 60]
[Strength: +3]
[Physique: +3]
[Pierce: All unarmed attacks can deal either bludgeoning or piercing damage, depending on which is more effective.]
[Pound: Has a chance to stun with every strike.]
Eden did not have great expectations from the gloves, considering who they had belonged to, and was thus pleasantly surprised by what he found. Not to mention the party, they suited him quite well as it would make his unharmed attacks, which he relied on to use Cleave, even more dangerous.
However, in the end, it would only be a minor boost, and Eden mostly used his Cursed Technique to deal with foes that were much weaker. Once he found someone actually capable of challenging him, he would switch to his magic and sword, his Cursed Energy mostly being used for reinforcement, and his Innate Technique falling to a secondary position. So these would go to Sylfine, who would no doubt make a better use of them.
He also absorbed the four souls in the Soul Coins, increasing his total Cursed Energy to 1681, thus pushing his Sorcery to 49. He was only 19 units away from 1700, which would mark the threshold to Tier II. This meant he only had 18 before he would stop himself.
He also examined the Scroll of True Sight he had received. It was the real deal, no doubt, and the contents within were much more complex than the First Level spells Eden had learned before. This was the equivalent of a Fourth Circle Spell, after all.
As for why Eden had chosen this one out of all the Sixth Level Spells, it was because he believed it to be one of the best. Coating his eyes with Cursed Energy allowed him to see some invisible energies, but it did nothing against invisible enemies.
True Sight extended beyond seeing the invisible too as it allowed the user to see through all magical illusions, which was especially potent in this world as they would come to face Shapeshifters.
Eden also had the suspicion that this would allow him to see more with his Analysis. Analysis was the most basic form of the skill, and there were plenty of ways to improve on it.
Eden knew nothing about divination, but learning a spell from a scroll was always easier than creating one oneself. Adding to that Gale's help, Eden hoped to learn it rapidly.
Placing the scroll back in his Inventory, looked up at one of his undead harpies posted along the mountainside. It was perched high enough that it was nearly impossible to spot, Eden only managing to do so because he knew exactly where it was.
He already had a pretty good idea of something he could sacrifice to get a true soul steal effect, but now was not the moment. He still had a need for it, and he did not have any target he needed the steal the soul of anyway.
Soon, the Toll House was aflame, and Karlach came running out, laughing now. Rolling his eyes, Eden shouted, "Follow me!" and started running back to the party.
True to her word, Karlach did manage to keep up remarkably well. With the boost from his Cursed Energy, Eden was still faster, but without it, he actually had a lower Strength than Karlach did, even with his equipment.
It did not take them long to return to the bridge, where the party was waiting for them. Although Eden could not communicate with them directly, he could transmit basic commands to Ergon, who had stayed behind, and seeing him wait at the bridge had been enough to convey the message.
Seeing him arrive in great strides, they were relieved, but upon noticing Karlach, Wyll immediately appeared to be alarmed, taking out his sword, ready to fight.
Fortunately, Eden did not have to do anything as the Emperor sneakily connected their tadpoles, revealing to one another the truth behind Karlach's circumstances.
Meanwhile, Eden analyzed the party, but noticed that they were still Tier 0. They would probably have to wait until their next long rest to be promoted.
With one more member strong, the party resumed their trek alongside the mountainside. As they did, Eden gave the equipment he found to the party, the armor going to Lae'zel and the gloves to Sylfine.
After explaining to them how they worked, he asked, "So, I trust you had no problems with the goblins?"
Sylfine, putting on the gloves, gave him a side eye, grumbling, "That kick was pretty convincing."
Eden smiled, while Wyll said, "We followed the plan, and should be awaited at the goblin camp with you in tow. But should we really just go there?"
Lae'zel, trying out her new armor, corroborated, "If they attacked us this time, they might do the same in that camp. Escaping from there won't be as easy."
Eden begged to differ, though he did not say it. The difference between Tiers was always quite big, be it in term of stats or the difference between perks. Moreover, the vast majority of the goblin camp were mid Tier 0, with their best stats hovering around 10, while Eden himself was a Peak Tier I.
But what really set the difference was Eden's Talent. Even though he completely overpowered the goblins, once enough attacks piled up, the damage would follow, and he could fall. But it was extremely hard to land a hit on Eden, with his equipment making him hard to follow, and his Talent warning him of any danger, while also giving him basically instantaneous reaction speed.
Then, there were magical debuffs.
The other danger of facing an army capable of magic was the numerous debuffs that would stack on top of one another, and although none of them would be able to truly incapacitate him, they should normally be able to occasionally slow him down, and allow the goblins to get hits in. With an army spanning several hundred men, this would spell death in the long run.
But Eden was not normal, and no matter how many debuffs were applied to him, they would all be countered.
Adding to that something like the Elixir of Bloodlust, that would allow him to recover HP with each kill, and the Mists of the Underworld, Eden was an army-slaying machine. Actually, it could be said Eden was even better at facing armies than individuals.
The only factor working against him might be stamina, but Cursed Energy worked remarkably well at conserving his muscles, so he could fight for hours on end with Cursed Energy reinforcement applied smartly.
So, if he were facing an army of knights, Eden would be more worried, but goblins? Even with Ogres, Bugbears and some Drows, he was not too worried.
Also, what he did not mention was that the odds were that the goblins would not act against them. The Players managed to have enough influence over those in Moonhaven because it was an outpost, but their influence would be drastically lowered in the goblin camp, where True Souls ruled.
There was also the Absolute, whose interest was that the party continued unhindered. After all, it was the Absolute who had sent the Emperor in the prism, and manipulated things so that the party would form and kill her 'chosen'.
At Wyll's and Lae'zel's warning, Gale cautioned, "How about we try again with Moonhaven? When we return, let's see their behaviour. They should have already reported to their camp what happened, so their behaviour should give us insight in what they think of us."
While most of the group nodded, Lae'zel immediately said, "Kainyak! We do not have time for this, we much reach the Creche!"
Shadowheart huffed, "I warned you taking a Gith with us would be dangerous."
The two glared at each other, but fortunately, before things could devolve, they arrived near the entrance of a cave, where a small army of Gnolls were trying to enter.