30 Chapter XXX: The Slums
A.N: In regards to the ranks of the [Muscle Evolution] and [Mental Fortitude], their explanation is as follows. [Muscle Evolution] has seven major ranks from F ~ S, with each having three minor ranks such as F-, F, and F+. Each minor rank increases the baseline physical abilities of the MC by 33.333%, so basically, each major rank has the MC's baseline physical abilities increase by 100%. (For example, while being at F+, the MC is twice as strong; at E+, the MC is twice as strong as he was when he was at F+ and so on.)
However, the higher up the ranks he goes, the harder it is to rank up since it requires greater stimulus to evolve.
As for Mental Fortitude, it also has seven major ranks, with each having three minor ones, but their working is different. Each major rank correlates with a soul level, such as Dormant, Awakened, Ascended/Fallen, etc. And each minor rank denotes the resistance present against the mental abilities of beings of said Soul Rank. For example, Mental Fortitude at the F- rank provides minor resistance against mental abilities of Dormant creatures, F rank provides moderate resistance, and F+ provides major resistance. Once the ability evolves to the next major rank - let's say E - then, the MC will be immune to mental abilities of the Dormant rank.
Of course, all of this is passive and can be augmented based on the memories and abilities the MC gets in the future.
F.Y.I: The innate abilities given by the [Adaptive] trait are hereditary but on a more diluted scale since I went for the Darwinian theory of evolution with this ability but at a reasonably faster rate. For example, if the MC is at [Muscle Evolution (C+)] and he conceives a child with someone, then that child would be born with innate [Muscle Evolution (E+)] but it would not increase in rank due to them lacking the [Adaptive Trait].
Anyways, this is all for the far, far future, but I still wanted you guys to know. Also, I made a discord server for this novel and any future writing projects I begin in the far, far, far, far future. It is barebones at the moment because it is my first time having a server, so I apologize for that. The link for the discord server is at the end of the chapter.
Also, I made a rudimentary map for our new area. I am no cartographer, and I admit my artistic sense isn't the best, but I made do with what I had.
(MAP)
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"Did I lose it?" William muttered through clenched teeth from behind one of the decrepit residences of the slums while holding the bleeding stump that used to be his left arm.
He heard a distinct loud Crack! as the sound barrier got pierced and immediately rolled away from his hiding place with as much grace as his condition allowed. A moment later, the old structure broke down like a wet cardboard box in the rain by a bullet-like projectile that continued on its destructive path to destroy any other structure that had the gall to stand in its way.
Not losing a beat, William started running as fast as his legs allowed him while twisting and weaving through the confusing nooks and cranies of the poor district. Running in a straight line was suicide - something he learned the hard way. He winced as pain flaired in the stump of his arm.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Things went to shit pretty much as soon as he descended from the tower. Firstly, for some inexplicable reason, the whole place is saturated to the gills with True Darkness and Corruption. He came upon this most appalling discovery when he summoned his [Teardrop Amulet] in order to request Arthas and Jaina to act as scouts for him in this unknown environment.
The moment the memory was summoned, it glowed brighter than it ever did before, and a layer of silverish light encased his entire body like a membrane. That was when he noticed that the gloom in the air that went unnoticed by him since he woke up recoiled from the light as if it was burned by it.
Also, due to his shit luck, neither Arthas nor Jaina came out of the amulet no matter how long he waited. Probably something to do with the Corruption hanging in the air, he hypothesized.
Thus, he decided to explore the region alone.
Unfortunately, the True Darkness proved to be a much more annoying opponent since it heavily restricted his vision. Thankfully, the ball of light created by his [Light] spell allowed for some visibility - if you consider the radius of a few feet visibility.
Moreover, since he didn't have the benefit of scouting ahead, he opted to travel from rooftop to rooftop in order to not get lost in the winding paths of the catastrophe of civil engineering that is the slums.
He hadn't been wandering for more than thirty minutes before he came upon some of the indigenous people - well, calling them people is a bit of a stretch.
In one of the more spacious clearings of the slums, William observed a group of twenty or so humanoid goat-like monsters attacking a four-man group of humanoid creatures that looked as if they were made of pure darkness. They wore matted black armor with a few strips of red clothing here and there. Also, they wore hoplite-styled helmets from which two glowing red eyes stared apathetically at their opponents.
(Image)
The human-goat hybrids attacked with no order or tactics other than wildly swinging their sharp claws. On the other hand, the other group of nightmare creatures, which looked like soldiers, stood in a defensive formation shoulder to shoulder with their shields poised and dark spears brandished.
The hybrid nightmare creatures slammed at the soldier's shields with their bodies, but they didn't even budge an inch. In retaliation, several of the hybrids got skewered at vital areas by the soldiers' spears and fell dead there and then. The bodies of the dead nightmare creatures turned into black mist into a dark mist and moved somewhere William couldn't see, and soul shards made plinking sounds as they fell on the stone ground.
The death of their brethren only served to drive the hybrid monsters more mad as their fanged maws foamed as they bleated some sort of warcry before charging at the formation.
In a thoughtless and savage charge, the nightmare creatures overwhelmed the four soldiers by their sheer numbers and managed to separate them but not without suffering several casualties.
Even when fighting alone, the dark armored nightmare creatures proved to be competent combatants as they made short work of the remaining hybrids.
The battle finished, and the four soldier-like nightmare creatures formed a four-man formation and exited the clearing through one of the dark alleys, not caring that they left a few hybrids at death's door.
William waited until he was certain that the four nightmare creatures before summoning an azure-colored spear memory. He didn't know the soul rank or class of the remaining hybrids, so he erred on the side of caution.
Taking aim, the silver-haired Sleeper threw the spear like a javelin at the skull of one of the near-dead nightmare creatures. The goat-like skull popped like a blood-filled balloon as soon as the spear came into contact with it. The corpse turned into black mist and moved away, leaving behind two finger-sized soul shards.
The spell soon sang in his ear:
[You have slain a dormant monster, Warped Caprigor.] (D20 = 5)
[Your soul grows stronger.]
"Huh," uttered William in as he unsummoned the [Azure Spear] and moved nearer towards the remaining two near-dead hybrids. As he neared them, he got a clearer view of their features.
The first thing William noticed was the two big horns on top of its head that were framed by a short, shaggy mane. It was buck naked except for a torn piece of cloth, which covered its loins. Moreover, its upper limbs were bare and ended in wicked claws while its lower limbs were covered in some sort of coarse, dark fur before ending in reverse jointed cloven hooves. By all means, the monster looked like the result of an unholy union between a human and a goat.
Their elongated skull held two pairs of sickly-yellow eyes with goat-like horizontal pupils and a maw full of sharp carnivorous fangs with two prominent tusks rising from their lower row. Moreover, two large, flat ears emerged from their shaggy mane on the sides.
(Image)
With but a thought, Frostmourne's weight was felt in his hands and in just two swift motions, the two Warped Caprigors found themselves quickly relieved of their heads and before he could even use his [Raise Undead] ability, the two corpses broke down into black mist and moved in the same direction as the all the other ones before it. (D20 = 1, 8)
"Great, my ability is worth jack shit here," he muttered as he let out a forceful breath through his nostrils. "At least I got a batch of soul shards for free - as useless as they are for me."
William summoned his [Scout's Sack] memory and stretched his left hand to gather the soul shards lying on the ground when he heard a deafening Crack!
Then, before he knew what happened, the armor around his arm broke, and his arm itself got eviscerated, leaving naught but a profusely bleeding stump behind.
The sudden loss of his upper limb unbalanced William's posture, causing him to fall on his butt just as a sharp projectile whistled a few inches infront of his head and slammed into an old building on the other side causing it and the six building behind it to be instantly destroyed.
William turned his head with a horrified expression and saw the face of his attacker; though, he soon wished he didn't because it was like nothing he had ever seen before.
If he could describe it in one word, it would be: Alien.
Standing at a height between 1.5 and 2 meters talls on four thin, sinewy, clawed legs was a creature with chalk-white skin that had multiple spikes growing out of it. On its front, the monster had two mantis like serrated scythes. Moreover, from its back emerged two thick appendages that ended with holes through which thin mist seemed to emerge. Its glassy, black eyes stared at him with apparent malice while viscous saliva leaked from its mutilated fanged maw.
(Image)
It only took a moment for William to recover from the shock - mostly thanks to the memories of his various deaths in his first nightmare kicking in - and he was able to scramble up with his remaining arm and began running towards the dark alleys of the slums.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
The Crack! from the sound barrier breaking reached his ear, and he immediately tried to roll away. Keyword tried, since with his balance gone to shit due to the lack of his left upper limb, he fumbled away rather than rolled. Thankfully, he still managed to dodge the supersonic projectile.
Rising up to his feet, he began running again while trying to make himself as small of a target as possible but it there was a limit to how small you can make yourself when you are a whoping 6'5 ft guy wearing armor.
He had been running for quite a while now, and he couldn't see the creature pursuing him, but somehow, it always managed to fire at him with its projectile. It was as if... as if... it was playing with him.
The thought brought a grim expression to William's already grimacing face.
"Just what I need, a fucker who likes to play with its food," muttered the boy under his breath.
If there was a single thing going in his favor in this situation, it was his unending pool of stamina that allowed him to continue running at his max speed despite his state.
As he was running while making sure to keep his ears open for any sound of the sound barrier breaking, he came upon a sharp turn to his left.
Making the turn, William froze in place came upon the group of four soldier-like nightmare creatures that had massacred the Warped Caprigors a while back.
They stood a few meters away from him; their ominous red eyes glared at him through the darkness of their helmets as they entered into formation with their shields and spears poised in perfect form.
William knew that he was in no condition to fight against four beings of unknown rank while only sporting one good arm. Thus, he made a few cautious steps back while making sure to keep his eyes on the four soldiers of darkness who took two steps forward for every one of his.
The thought of using his [Mantle of Death] ability or any of his spells passed through his mind but he quickly discarded it since he didn't know what rank these creatures were and he didn't want to agitate them more than required in his state.
The white-haired youth was not keen on losing any of his memories more than he already had.
Just then the whole area lit up in a flash of white light and William heard a shrill screech coming from behind him. He swore that his neck made a creaking sound as he turned his head to look at the source only to come face to face with the alien-looking abomination that had been hounding him.
William was indeed in a situation that could be referred to as, 'Between a rock and a hard place.'
Thinking fast, William frantically pointed his only palm at the creature and cast [Doom Bolt]. He felt something drain rapidly from inside himself as bluish-black energy coiled around his hand for but a moment before a lance of the similar color surged from his hand with the crack of thunder. (A.N: imagine the Eldritch Blast spell from BG3.)
However the attack never hit its target since it teleported away in a flash of light the moment it detected danger. Fortunately, this allowed for his retreat path to be available again.
The four armored nightmare creatures where only three meters away from him now and they were gaining land fast. Not even looking to where the teleporting monster went, William made a run for it.
The four dark soldiers followed in pursuit, their metalic greaves making Clacking sounds against the stone ground.
After several hours and countless twists and turns through the slums, William finally managed to shake off all of his pursuers.
The soldiers came upon a group of fifteen Warped Caprigors while chasing after him and strangely opted to slaughtering those humanoid goats rather than chase him. Also, the alien-like nightmare creature fired a few pot shots at him for a while before fucking off to gods know where.
Luckily, William managed to find himself a small cellar in one of the old wooden hovels of the slums where he barricaded himself to gather his bearings. Of course, he thoroughly checked every nook and cranny of the cellar while using his [Light] spell for illumination in case it was the den of any weird monster.
After blocking up the cellar's entrance as securely as possible with what he had, William sat down heavily and hissed as his stump stung. The bleeding had stopped long ago and the wound had fully closed thanks to his healing factor which unfortunately was not strong enough to regrow him his arm, yet. As a result, he has to manage with one arm... until he dies again.
If he were being honest, he was not that enthused to die again even if it meant getting back his left arm. Yet, he knew that it was an inevitable outcome; he had only been exploring for an hour before he got into contact with a monster that can punch holes through his Ascended ranked armor while also somehow being able to teleport at will.
Also, even if the Warped Caprigors were merely Dormant creatures; what they lack in strength, they more than make up for in sheer numbers. Just while he was running he came upon large hordes of these creatures that roamed the whole slums.
Moreover, there was the problem with the armored nightmare creatures that patrolled the streets. He came upon two more squads of these dark soldiers hunting down Warped Caprigors while running for his life.
His head started to hurt as he thought about how many of these monsters roamed the streets of the decrepit slums.
Taking in a deep breath, William summoned his runes to check up on his progress and to take his mind off his predicaments.
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Name: William
True Name: Malevolent Star
Rank: Sleeper
Class: Dormant
Soul cores: [1/7]
Soul Fragment: [338/1000]
Memories: [Osseous Exoarmor], [Teardrop Talisman], [Soldier's Locket], [Azure Sword x4], [Scout's Sack x3], [Sea Shell x3], [Azure Blade x3], [Azure Rapier], [Whetstone], [Azure Spear x3], [Azure Warhammer x2], [Foot Soldier's Armor x2], [Scavenger's Carapace x2], [Soldier's Insignia]
Echoes: -
Attributes: [Fateless], [Eidetic Kinesthetic], [Adaptive], [Living Undead], [Monarch Beyond the Grave], [Mental Fortitude (F+)], [Muscle Evolution (F+)]
Undead Monarch Abilities: [Mantle of Death]
Aspect: [Living Lich King]
Aspect Rank: [Semi-Divine]
Innate Ability: [Anomaly]
Aspect Legacy: [Frostmourne], [Profane Grimoire]
[Frostmourne Description: The fabled, nigh-unbreakable mourneblade,
Frostmourne has chosen you as its new master and is the new conduit of your immortality. However, its powers have faded due to its long slumber. et, even in its weakened state, Frostmourne will not sit to be wielded by a weak-willed coward. Strive to stand at the top lest your soul be consumed as many previous unworthy masters.]
Memory Name: Frostmourne
Memory Rank: ?
Memory Tier: I [122/1000]
Memory Type: Weapon
Memory Enchantments: [Soul Rune]
Memory Name: Profane Grimoire
Memory Rank: Dormant
Memory Tier: -
Memory Tyре: Тооl
Memory Enchantment: [Magic]
[Magic]
Enchantment Description: The owner of this grimoire can cast spells written in it by consuming essence.
Spells Learned: [Prestidigitation], [Light], [Mental Acupuncture], [Shroud of Death], [Doom Bolt], [Comprehend Languages], [Crown of Madness]
Flaw: [Hollowing]
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William stared at his flaw with a grim expression before dismissing the runes and laying his head onto the dry, dusty wall of the cellar with his eyes closed.
He wished that when he opened his eyes again, he would wake up in his bed in his original world. Hell, even waking up in the Forgotten Shore was leaps better than being wherever he was.
Of course, such things can only be termed as miracles; and miracles died with the Gods.
At any rate, he needed to rest. That [Doom Bolt] spell put a sizable dent on his Essense reserves and he needed to be at his best if he were to ever survive in this hellhole.
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A.N: Hello, everyone! John_Doe here, sorry about the unbidden hiatus. I am sure many are very mad at me for it, and I deserve every bit of it.
I can only say that the last month and a half that I had could only be described as a 'Series of Unfortunate Events'. Many things happened that caused my posting of the new chapters getting more and more delayed. However, I believe things have settled down, and I am able to write again.
FYI: I had to redo the draft of this chapter four times before I got something somewhat eligible to read. It really is hard to create OG content, hats off to G3, and all other amazing authors who create these vibrant and cruel worlds.
Anyways, here is the Discord link for anyone interested:
https://discord.com/invite/485CavWqnm
Have a great day, guys!
