2024-10-10 01:35:4310 "Ahah!! I see you have killed him, now we are even," Beauty said, a disturbing giggle escaping her lips.
"Yes, I did. That should tell you just enough about me," Neo said placidly, attempting to play the formidable and dauntless assassin. He was already on his last legs. It would be unfortunate if she chose that moment to attack, so he had to put some contingencies in place. "You should understand that there's strength in numbers, right? So why did you kill him?" Beauty said, staring daggers at him. Neo tilted his head. Beauty's understanding of "strength in numbers" made him shiver. Her concept of strength in numbers meant wraith baits, most especially the ones that would transport themselves to the point of slaughter. "How sinister." Neo cleared his throat and replied, "He tried to kill us all, so I killed him first." He tried to maintain his elusive behavior. Beauty walked up to the corpse, confirmed its death, and with her usual sinister smile, she replied again. "Now that there's two of us, we wouldn't want to do anything silly, right?" "But of course. That's why you are going to help me with this computer, while I'm going to check the situation outside," Neo replied. "Ohh, I see. Your plan of escape is quite ingenious," Beauty said, maintaining the same sinister smile Neo already started to loathe. "Ohh, I see you are getting me wrong, friend. There's no way I'd be leaving without you. There's strength in numbers, remember?," Neo replied, trying to wear his own facsimile of her devious smile. Neo walked up to the corpse, closed its eyes, and retracted the bone from his heart in one forceful jerk. "I'm sorry, Scholar. I had to do this," Neo thought inwardly. Leaving the room, he walked outside. Neo suddenly frowned. There was something quite different about… everything. First of all, the scratching sound of the wraiths against the barrier in a mindless attempt to phase through them was gone. Secondly, there were huge dents on the barrier, which Neo suspected was the obvious doing of the mutated monster. Thankfully, the barrier held the onslaught of the rabid monster. It was beyond Neo's imagination to think of what would have happened if it didn't hold. That thought alone made him shudder. As if reminding Neo of the third abnormality, a drop of rain fell on his nose, making him look straight up. The cloud of rain rose from all sides as if trying to rebel against the moon. A lightning bolt illuminated the world, followed by a thunderous rumble, announcing the coming of the rain. Without the light of the full moon, they'd be technically blind. He had to report to his untrustworthy counterpart immediately. Walking inside the dimly lit room, Neo spared a glance at the corpse, sighed, and said, almost simultaneously with Beauty, "There's bad news." Neo could have sworn he sensed worry from her voice. "You go first," Neo replied, trying to mask his own worry to no avail. "The technology this guy's using is called Complatech. I can only do so much on it, so I'm happy to tell you that I can't switch off this nuclear decontamination thing, and that the gate is opened for only hundred seconds. After that, the nuclear decontamination will activate, making this place go up in flames." Neo's eyes narrowed as he snapped, "You mean the gate is open now?" "Yes." "Then what are we doing here? Let's get the hell out of here!." "Alright, but not before you tell me your bad news," Beauty said, pursing her lips. Neo's eyes twitched violently as he replied between gritted teeth. "You creepy bastard! You will see it for yourself once we get outside!." "Ohh, who am I kidding?" Neo added, running out of the room with the little strength he had. Once outside, drops of rain washed away his clouded thoughts as he quickly made out the shape of the barrier door with the help of the moon's light seeping through the clouds. Once in front of the door, Neo suddenly paused. He just couldn't help but think that the monster was waiting silently for them on the other end of the door. As Beauty approached him from behind, he felt quite relieved. At least, if the monster was truly there, it would only take one of them, leaving him with a fifty percent chance at survival. Well, if the monster practiced gender equality, that is. But nevertheless, a fifty percent chance of survival at that moment was a generous offer, so he was more than willing to embrace it. Talk about strength in numbers. If only Scholar was there, then the stakes would have been higher. Beauty caught up with Neo, and both of them slowly pushed the door open. To Neo's greatest relief, nothing lunged at them, but what he saw made him shudder. There were wraith corpses as far as the eye could see, but the culprit was nowhere to be found. This meant that the monster could be anywhere. If the monster had destroyed all the wraiths, then they were next because they also had the virus, but it used to be suppressed... used to. A seen enemy is much easier to defeat than an unseen one. The feeling of uncertainty was driving Neo crazy. Neo didn't have the time to think about anything else at the moment. He felt that there was a noose around his neck, closing in every second. He quickly searched around frantically, trying to make out the open gate's figure in the darkness. At that moment, he didn't even care about eliminating any threat anymore. His primal will to survive had taken over his thoughts. Let the threat go to hell for all he cared!! He just had to escape. He just had to live. A wave of relief washed over him as he found the gate not too far away. "Ahah!! Salvation!!" Neo almost yelled aloud. Whoosh!! He carried his broken self and raced towards the gate. Beauty was running right beside him, but he had already forgotten she existed. There was also a third figure racing in the darkness, but Neo didn't care. Wait!! He did care. The speed of the figure was almost ten times theirs. Suddenly, the mutant monster stopped in front of the escaping duo. A loud roar rolled out of its maw, annihilating the sound of falling rain for a moment. The mutant monster had a face that said, "Haha!! Where do you think you are going, dessert?"
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Death scape CHAPTER 11
11 A monster stood gallantly, its back turned to an open gate a few meters away. It looked like it was playing "eeny meeny miny moe" to decide which of the two humans before it would taste better. One of the humans, Neo actually, was struck by an epiphany in the middle of impending danger.-How timely- He had finally realized the reason for their weakness and lethargy. Since the vaccine's effect was waning, the virus was trying to take over their consciousness. He already had quite a similar experience during his test for allegiance trial so he was quite sure of the feeling. But it was of no use anyway; they were a few seconds away from being monster dessert. Speaking of vaccines, Neo had one of them stashed away in his pocket at the moment. At that moment, Neo suddenly had a crazy idea. What if he took it to suppress the virus, making Beauty—the most virus-infected—between them? The caution only said he might die; it didn't say it wouldn't work, so it was a fifty percent chance,
Death scape CHAPTER 12
12 "You are on your way to the afterlife." Neo grinned, as the cloud of darkness receded gradually, the faint light of dawn piercing his eyes. He was in a cave; there were crystal cones protruding from the roof and the floor. Neo knew they were called stalactites and stalagmites, but he didn't know which was which, not that it mattered anyway. His happiness had been quenched by the sight in front of him. One look was all it took for him to know that he was not in a human settlement; in fact, he was far from it. The entrance to the cave was in sight, the visage of a glowing white sun towered above the world. "Where is this place?" Neo mused, walking towards the entrance of the cave. He felt something thin press against his pale skin. Neo looked down to check what it was, before he could recover from the shock that he was stark naked; an arrow pierced through the air with insane speed and lodged itself firmly into his shoulder. The force sent him reeling to the ground. Al
Death scape CHAPTER 13
13 Neo checked out the skin and phantoms, and they were unsurprisingly empty. They were supposed to be extremely scarce anyway, so he didn't bother himself too much about them. As far as being cool went, skins and phantoms were also considered top-notch, albeit not as cool as specters, but in Neo's own opinion, they were as cool as specters, even much more so. The usage of skins and phantoms was rather simple. A skin will provide the wielder the ability to transform into a creature for a specific period of time. The usage time and cool-down period is dependent on the level of the creature. Phantoms work in an almost similar manner except for the fact that the wielder summons the creature whole without having to transform into the said creature. As for the perks and quirks, Neo already had a probable explanation for that. "[Bone of contention]," "[ten lives per second]," and Neo's second ability "[soul stinger]" were all Reaper's gifts, and they all had perks and quirks, so that pr
Death scape CHAPTER 14
14 Neo was trying to fight himself free from the creature that was hell-bent on snuffing out what was left of his life. What's worse, Neo was bleeding from multiple places as blood cascaded down his naked body like a crimson stream. Speaking of blood, upon closer inspection, one would notice that Neo's blood wasn't touching the ground at all. Once close to the ground, it would suddenly turn into a spark of red lightning and dance out of existence. Neo's body also seemed to be undergoing the same transformation. His veins were slowly being replaced by red bolts of lightning as they flickered, and red sparks erupted from and around his body. Then the bolts of lightning made their way around his body, dancing and flickering. Neo's eyes shone a deep red hue as his strength exploded in leaps and bounds. He moved with inconceivable speed, grabbed the Herknidae, and pummeled it with his fists. A huge chunk of flesh vaporized out of existence, revealing the blood-soaked innards of
Death scape CHAPTER 15
15 "So uhm, a mutant beast would give me a beast soul, berserk two, and Amok three. The same logic should work for the monsters, devils, and the others I guess." Neo thought, finally alighting from his train of thoughts. Then he moved on. Innate ability— Crimson nebulae Remarks: You wield a tremendous power; its prowess can only be limited by your mortal body. Neo suddenly paused. The memory of him wreathed in crimson red lightning and the backlash to his body that followed flashed through his mind. "Now it all makes sense." Neo nodded weakly in understanding. He then continued. Reaper's gifts— soul stinger Reaper's remark: Energy is the foundation of all things. Perks: You gain great affinity to souls of the living. You can repair or destroy it. Quirks: During each attack, your souls become exposed. Progress— 2 Specter— Ten lives per second (soul tied), bone of contention (soul tied), cave mantle Skin-? Phantom-? Neo stared at "[soul stinger]" for a
Death scape CHAPTER 16
16 It was a mural. There were three people, and two heads were missing. Neo stared at it in bewilderment, straining his eyes to make out its shape under the light bioluminescent insect lantern placed in the center of the room. After studying it for a while, Neo discovered the mural was only quite familiar with the portrait in Neo's house, but it was definitely not the same. Neo and his elder brother's head was intact in the portrait, but their parent's head was faceless, for a reason Neo would kill to find out. And strangely enough, as far as Neo knew, that was the only portrait that survived the fire. But the mural in front of Neo contained only three figures: two headless tall people, and a relatively short person with his/her head intact. It was just a bogus cave wall painting made with makeshift colors after all. So Neo couldn't quite figure out the gender or the facial features of the short person. Neo studied the mural for a while, but he couldn't figure out anything s
Death scape CHAPTER 17
17 Come night, Neo's bizarre host was back, with a scary creature that looked like an ape from head to torso, and then had the lower limb of a walrus. Neo was… definitely not going to eat that."Dinner here," he said, dropping the carcass with a loud thud. "Nice mantle by the way," he added, his voice as husky as ever.Neo nodded in reply. He then swallowed and summoned up courage. "So what can I call you?" Neo asked grinning."Seeker… call me Seeker," he replied, walking towards his boulder. Seeker shifted the boulder with one hand, making Neo's eyes widen in surprise. As he was about to enter, he suddenly halted. Throwing investigating glances around the room. Neo's blood froze.But his fears didn't come through. Seeker entered, oblivious to Neo's infiltrations. Neo breathed a sigh of relief.*The next morning, Seeker went out to hunt and Neo decided to tag along. He wanted to get familiar with the environment in case he needed to beat a hasty retreat. Walking along with him, Ne
Death scape CHAPTER 18
18 "Welcome, kid, to the valley of endless battle," Seeker said to the still discombobulated Neo. Neo was still reeling in shock when he suddenly felt a strong push from behind, and he lost his footing, falling from the cliff. His voice echoed, accompanied by a series of loud curses, but his voice was quickly drowned by the sound of battles below. He really wanted to arrange his thoughts, but the sight of the ground that kept growing bigger and bigger made his eyes twitch violently."What to do... What to do..." Neo thought as he tried to swim in the air. He only ended up looking stupid.Suddenly, a large arm grabbed his waist and glided over the battle below to a relatively safe place. It turned out it was Seeker after all. His feather mantle wasn't for show; it was actually a makeshift wing suit. "Never gets old," Seeker said, putting Neo down after the landing, almost laughing out loud. Neo, still exasperated, walked up to Seeker's towering figure. His voice was stifled amids
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CHAPTER 45
"Crap!"Neo cursed, the word a tight knot in his throat. He ground his teeth together, channeling the last vestige of momentum from his swing, forcing himself forward. willow vine and the Bone of Contention were already plunging into the abyss below. Neo released his grip on the vine; he could summon his spectres back, but not himself from a potentially fatal fall. Spectres were expendable, but a half-insane Neo was not.The last surge of inertia flung him ten meters past below chasm's edge. Knowing the brutal impact was imminent, Neo summoned twin blades, driving them deep into the rock face. The swords bit, arresting his descent just short of a bone-shattering collision, Neo stared at the abyss below and smiled. "Not as bad as I thought ehh?"He dismissed his falling specters and began to climb, using his swords as improvised knives, hauling himself upwards inch by agonizing inch.Finally, he crested the rim of the chasm, emerging into the oppressive silence. Beads of sweat slick
CHAPTER 44
After staring at Neo for a few fleeting seconds, Blob averted its gaze back to the ice above. It seemed to wrestle with some inner turmoil. The sun was rising, its light filtering through the ice, and a cold sweat traced Neo's spine despite the chill. It wasn't fear he felt, but anxiety. He had never faced a creature of such power before. Yet, if push came to shove, he was prepared to stand his ground and go toe to toe with the creature, even if victory was uncertain. At the very least, Blob would not emerge unscathed."Blood for blood; that's the afterlife currency."Blob finally appeared to reach a decision, meandering toward the distant chasm and disappearing within. Neo finally took a breath and felt a weight lift off of him.He was still reluctant to move, though, lacking a concrete plan of action. Neo began to mentally retrace his steps, sinking into deep introspection. But something quickly disrupted his thoughts. Emerging from the chasm in droves were familiar figures, crawl
CHAPTER 43
Neo's vision and breath were momentarily stolen; the water muffled his hearing as the world spun around him. Then—Bam!!!He slammed against the floor, a jarring thud echoing in the cavern. A groan escaped his lips as he tried to roll over, but his entire body ached. To make matters worse, water continued to cascade onto his face. With considerable effort, Neo finally managed to roll out of the waterfall's path and stand, finally taking in his surroundings. The air hung heavy and still, a damp blanket pressing against his skin. An earthy scent permeated the space, a blend of wet stone and a peculiar, almost fungal, scent of antiquity. Above, a vast expanse of azure ice covered nearly everything, its light almost divine. This celestial radiance was punctuated by shadows lurking in the distance, where the light couldn't penetrate. A wide chasm, seemingly devoid of light, divided the two sections of the cavern. This was no ordinary cave; it was a subterranean chamber, a colossal cathed
CHAPTER 42
Neo sat in a meditative pose within a cave, positioned several meters above the lake on the far side of the valley. The lake's waters silently lapped at the mountain's base as Neo stared blankly into the distance, seemingly indifferent to the leviathans battling far below. In truth, he couldn't see them at all; his consciousness resided in a different realm entirely.Neo’s feet dragged along the dark, charred sand. The silent breeze of his soul nipped at his skin. Around him stretched an expanse of the same strange, silent sea of dark sand, with a thick mist billowing in the distance. The only source of light was a pristine orb looming above. Though obscured by the heavy veil of mist, Neo could still discern its form.He had been mistaken all these years. The pristine orb was the soul core, the light that illuminated his inner being. He himself was within his own soul. The meaning of the billowing cloud of mist, however, remained a mystery.In the center of the dark desert lay an oasi
CHAPTER 41
A sharp, rhythmic, metallic clang dominated the valley of endless battles, a sound interwoven with the distant echoes of death and destruction from the ongoing bloodshed.A young man relentlessly hammered a large, crystalline-looking mallet against a jagged ledge below his feet. Its head, twice the size of his own, moved with surprising ease as he struck at the base of a jagged ledge near the ground. He stood upon this very ledge, working to separate it from the mountainside. Each powerful blow sent tremors through the stone beneath his feet, sparks erupting as the mallet connected, sending shards of rock flying. This was Neo, and he was far different from what he used to beNeo’s body, once frail, was now honed and athletic. Sweat glistened on his bare chest, the muscles coiling around his chiseled form. His upper body was exposed and dirt-streaked, while below, his lower body was covered by Azure, a material that had folded itself into makeshift shorts for him.With a final, resoun
CHAPTER 40
Neo gritted his teeth, fighting to anchor his teetering consciousness. This was, invariably, the moment he loathed most: the agonizing wait, eyes closed, as the mental assault from the stronger killing intents ebbed away. Yet, on this day, he forced his eyelids open, compelled by a suspicion that had gnawed at him since he first discovered the ice barrier. With strained eyes and sheer willpower, Neo managed to pry his vision open, just as the lake's water level began to plummet drastically. Then, a grotesque, blob-like mass began to swell from within, its size expanding exponentially. Simultaneously, another massive creature, eerily reminiscent of a lion save for its deep obsidian skin and tenebrous steel wire-like veins coiling throughout its body, descended. Its enormous wingspan towered over the battlefield, an omen of death. Its mane was a thick cloud of dark mist, obscuring the evil that lurked in the depths of its eyes, and where a tail should have been, an enormous stinger, wi
CHAPTER 39
Neo's silver longsword danced through the hordes of creatures, a playful smile gracing his lips. He was resolute in his intent to "try harder," not from spite or madness, but rather as a meticulously planned strategy. What better way to comprehend the intricacies of a system than to become an active participant within it? Though a veil of depression and hollowness might shroud his inner self, a mask of feigned madness concealed a cold, calculating spirit.He battled relentlessly, consuming what sustenance he could find amidst the carnage. The cycle of fighting, eating, bleeding, and fighting again persisted until the blood moon finally dominated the horizon.Gazing at the crimson orb, a wave of nostalgia washed over him, causing him to grimace. The other creatures seemed to share in this awareness, displaying a primal fear of the night's terrors, much as he once had.Neo had long transcended the paralyzing fear of the night's beasts. While his body might still instinctively tremble at
CHAPTER 38
Neo dragged the creature aside for the Harknidae to suck dry. He then started to summon willow's vine massively, without the least care for his essence depleting. Although the Harknidae are pesky and annoying, they are the reason the whole valley is not unbearably disgusting and stinking. The sheer amount of blood spilled in the valley each day—and night—is staggering. But the Harknidae are up to the task of cleaning up the mess; they are like the valley's vacuum cleaners. Neo's essence finally ran out after a few minutes, and the cave's compartment was filled with an endless brown rope running around the place. Usually, Neo would wait for his essence to replenish before plunging into battle again, using the willow's vine as an extra reservoir of essence to sustain Asunder for a longer duration. And that was exactly what he was trying to do, until his stomach started to hurt as if he was being shredded from within. Black blood began to drip from the corner of his lips. Neo was no s
CHAPTER 37
Neo suddenly felt a constraint, and before he could react, a putrid smell assaulted his nose. By the time Neo realized what was happening, he'd already lost a few liters of body fluid to the embrace of a blue, cloth-like creature. Its presence had been utterly obfuscated by the large expanse of the blue lake. The creature, which strikingly resembled a piece of clothing, fed on the water within creatures, a method similar to the Harknidae, but far more devious. Neo immediately plunged his hand into the soul realm, crushing the creature's soul. Cracks spread across it with some resistance, but it eventually crumbled into countless particles adrift in the unknown universe once more.The announcement rang in Neo's mind, revealing that the unassuming creature was a mutant behemoth! Neo was certain he wouldn't have been able to slay that attack without a similarly devious trump card. Nevertheless, without Soul Stinger, he could have stunned the creature with his Crimson Nebulae and escaped
