CHAPTER 28: | A WORLD BEYOND THE CAVERN
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My gaze swept across the settlement, a skeletal sprawl of crumbling stone and splintered timber, teetering on the brink of collapse.
Dust motes danced in the muted light that filtered through unseen openings, and the silence felt heavy, broken only by the whisper of the currents through broken windows.
This place, once clearly a bastion of the whark elite, now felt like a forgotten tomb.
Perhaps some urgent, cataclysmic event had driven them out, leaving only a single, lone lord-class whark to guard this cavern's entrance.
Otherwise, Steven's invasion would have been laughably pointless, for he was nothing more than a mere king-class demon.
And judging by the power I felt from the skills I'd fused just moments ago, dispatching two or even five Stevens would be nothing more than a breeze.
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[Would you fuse these skills?]
• Mithril Bone Structure + Unyielding Bones
• Molten Gold Fist + Hellish Grasp
• Golden Blood + Internal Magma Furnace
[Yes] / [No]
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[You have gained.]
• Adamantine Skeleton [Ascension I]
• Golden Sanguine [Ascension I]
• Hellfire Golden Fist [Ascension I]
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Adamantine Skeleton [Passive | Ascension I | ▪︎]
The Whark's skeletal framework is composed of crystallized mithril and adamantine, making it incredibly dense and virtually unbreakable. This provides unparalleled structural integrity, rendering it immune to internal crushing, bone-shattering impacts, or any skeletal compromise, allowing it to withstand immense, earth-shaking forces with ease.
Golden Sanguine [Passive | Ascension I | ▪︎]
Alister's blood is a unique golden sanguine, pulsating with absorbed thermal energy. This grants him absolute immunity to all forms of heat, fire, and lava, which are not only harmless but are consumed by his internal processes, bolstering his own energy reserves with a warm thrum. Furthermore, this potent, superheated blood possesses remarkable regenerative properties, causing wounds to slowly stitch themselves closed and internal damage to mend, significantly accelerating recovery from even severe trauma.
Hellfire Golden Gauntlet [Active | 75 Mana | Ascension I | ▪︎]
Alister's hand becomes engulfed in a volatile fusion of blinding golden light and dark, roaring hellfire. This devastating energy coalesces into a hardened, radiant gauntlet that shimmers with infernal heat. A strike from this fist unleashes an explosive, concussive force capable of shattering bone and leaving wide, smoking impact craters. Upon connection, the infernal energy can also ensnare targets, briefly draining their vitality or binding them in place with immense, crushing demonic strength, leaving them utterly vulnerable.
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Undoubtedly, the Hellfire Golden Gauntlet would become my strongest skill, with the exception of the Cataclysmic Inferno Breath.
Even though its destructive power is a bit weaker compared to the Cataclysmic Inferno Breath, it's understandable.
The Hellfire Golden Gauntlet is a single-attack skill, while the Cataclysmic Inferno Breath is an area-of-effect attack that could be compressed into a point-blank sphere of pure, unadulterated devastation, unleashed to scorch all hell upon anyone caught within its radius.
It was entirely comprehensible, and looking at my situation now with Golden Sanguine, recovering a severed limb upon consuming an orb of Cataclysmic Inferno Breath is now a terrifyingly viable possibility.
Munch! Munch!
My irises, tinted with purple moments before, now shifted to Liora, squatting on the dusty ground, her small hands methodically munching into something unseen.
Liora noticed my gaze, her golden hair swaying as she turned her head, a wide, innocent smile spreading across her face.
She held out a gnawed the severed whark head that steven throwed earlier, its scales dull and flaking.
"Do you want to eat this?"
I shook my head, raising a hand as I gazed beyond the ruined settlement, which was truly in a desolate position.
"No need. And by the way, Liora, scour the ruins. See if there's anything you can wear."
Liora nodded with glee, her eyes sparkling as she bounded into house after house.
Minutes passed, stretching into what felt like an eternity, and Liora had yet to finish searching all the houses for anything valuable.
"Seriously, what is she doing in there?"
I muttered.
Before I could enter the house she'd last disappeared into, her voice echoed, loud and bursting with excitement.
"Alister! There's something here! Come!"
Pushing the rickety door slowly inward, I scanned the house's dim interior, then turned left, descending a creaking set of stairs to find Liora, her golden hair unfurling like a sunlit banner.
A smile escaped my lips as I gazed at her form.
She was now donned in something new, a dress, exactly colored in black, clung to her slender frame.
It was a beautiful dress, a deep, velvety black, though its elegant cut seemed almost at odds with her playful spirit.
But for now, it served its purpose, covering her.
"So, what exactly did you find?"
She jumped around like a spring-loaded toy, then danced towards me, a set of clothing clutched in one hand and a sword gleaming in the other.
Her smile was utterly cheerful.
"Look! Look! I found a sword! Isn't it cool?! And look here, a pair of sturdy loin clothes for you!"
Liora twirled and skipped with the sword, its polished blade catching what little light there was, then tossed the clothing at me.
I merely shrugged at her display of silliness.
"Silly girl. Why use a rubbish blade when you can punch them?"
Liora glared at me, as if I were someone spectacularly dim-witted.
She pointed her sword at me, its tip glinting, as I carefully changed into the new attire.
"Are you dumb? I am a woman! A woman doesn't use her hands, she uses a sword to slice her enemies in half!"
Liora resumed her graceful, practiced dance with the sword after berating me.
Her movements were quite good, and the way she perfectly executed all slashes known to swordsmanship was precise, almost poetic.
But perhaps because of her incredibly low strength, her movements were truly nothing more than a display, a mere sword-dance that showed no lethality, no true force.
Hours passed as we walked out from the settlement, venturing in a random direction she pointed, all while I observed her flamboyant swordmanship display.
She proclaimed she was a master of the sword, capable of cutting mountains and seas in half.
It was truly funny watching her perform her ridiculous sword-dance, that utterly lack any substance.
"Liora, you know you need strength to actually kill, right?"
She swept her sword in a wide arc, and it sliced cleanly through the tough, slick stalk of kelp.
Then, she raised her nose high, a look of haughty confidence on her face as she exclaimed.
"Strength is for the savage! And I am a beauty who uses the strength of my opponents against them!"
I gazed at her with a hint of pity, then reached out my hand.
"Let me try it."
Liora's golden irises gleamed with an incandescent light as she smiled, then handed the sword into my palm.
"Hehehe, you won't surpass me even with strength..."
Swish! Swoop! Stab! Shing!
Liora was silenced, her mouth closing shut as she gazed, mesmerized, at the trajectory of the sword.
The blade phased through the slender, emerald stems of the kelp seagrass, through solid stone, yet nothing happened.
No sound, no resistance, no visible mark.
And then, she understood it.
Alister had cut the very atoms themselves, not like her childish display of merely slicing through physical forms.
Liora absorbed the knowledge, her eyes wide with revelation, then reached her hands for the sword, which I handed back gladly, a slight smirk playing on my lips.
"That, Liora, is true swordsmanship."