The Orc, Brak, stared at his arm in disbelief. The glowing brand was still there, but the fire was gone. For the first time in a decade, he felt nothing but the cool air of the cave. He looked at Kaelen, who was now trembling, his skin smoking as if he were cooking from the inside.
"The Warden's Keep is three miles East, through the Bone Orchards," Brak whispered, his voice trembling with newfound respect—and horror. "But look at you. You're falling apart."
Kaelen didn't answer. He couldn't. His vision was a blur of static and purple haze. The Divine Burn he had taken from the Orc was high-grade energy, far more potent than the dull ache of broken bones. It felt like swallowing a handful of suns.
[Warning: Malice Load at 145%]
[Internal hemorrhage detected. Motor functions failing.]
Kaelen forced his legs to move. He stumbled out of the camp, ignoring the stares of the Ghouls. He needed a target to dump this agony into, or he would explode before he even saw the Warden.
The Bone Orchards were exactly what the name implied. Giant, rib-like structures of calcium grew from the ground like trees, and hanging from them were the "fruits"—souls of the damned encased in translucent pods.
As Kaelen staggered through the white forest, the ground began to vibrate. From behind a massive femur-tree, a Colossal Grave-Wurm emerged. It was thirty feet of muscle and armored plates, with a circular maw designed to grind bone into powder.
It was a Rank-2 elite monster. Normally, a Level 2 human would be a snack.
The Wurm let out a screech that shattered the nearby pods. It lunged, its mouth open wide like a tunnel of grinding teeth.
"Finally," Kaelen hissed.
He didn't try to dodge. As the Wurm's mouth closed around his torso, Kaelen slammed both hands into the soft tissue of its throat.
[Skill Activated: Malice Eruption.]
[Discharging 100% of stored Divine Burn.]
The effect was instantaneous. The Wurm didn't just feel pain; it became a conduit for the holy fire Kaelen had stolen from Brak. Because the Wurm was a creature of the dark Abyss, the "Justice" fire acted like acid.
White light exploded from the Wurm's eyes and its segmented joints. The creature thrashed so violently that it leveled half the orchard. It was being burned from the inside out by a power it was never meant to touch.
Kaelen was tossed aside, hitting a bone-tree with a sickening thud. He watched through half-closed eyes as the massive beast turned to ash in seconds.
[Kill Confirmed: Colossal Grave-Wurm (Lv. 12)]
[Massive Experience Gap Bonus!]
[Level Up: 2 -> 6]
[Attribute Points Gained: 8]
[New Skill Unlocked: Perception of the Damned.]
Kaelen lay in the dust, gasping for air. His grey skin was starting to knit back together, tougher than before. He felt a strange, cold clarity. He spent his attribute points immediately into Willpower and Agility. He needed to be fast, and he needed to be able to hold even more pain.
He stood up and looked at his hands. They were no longer shaking.
"Is that all a God's power does?" Kaelen asked the empty orchard. "One little spark of their 'justice' killed a giant. Imagine what will happen when I give them back the three years of hell they gave me."
He pulled his obsidian shard from his belt. It was glowing now, infused with the residue of the Malice.
Ahead, the black towers of the Warden's Keep pierced the ceiling of the cavern. Kaelen began to walk. He wasn't stumbling anymore. He was hunting.