Chapter 2: God of Abyss

As darkness was starting to fade, Wren heard multiple sounds of hoofbeats and himself was on a black steed, he was in the center of an entire army composed of thousands of soldiers, marching towards their destination which he didn't knew.

Considering his appearance, Wren understood that either he was the one who was leading the army or was one of the important person in the army, not wanting to waste any time he summoned his runes to understand his current standing in the nightmare he was facing.

Name: Wren

True Name: —

Rank: Aspirant

Soul Core: Dormant

Memories: —

Echoes: —

Attributes: [???], [Curse to Divinity], [??? of Darkness]

Aspect: [King]

Aspect Description: [A king can be either a useless wretch with no skills or a powerful individual with an arsenal of skills. Conviction is the key of victory for a King.]

Wren was about to check his attribute descriptions, but was interrupted by a hoarse voice:

"Your Majesty, Our soldiers are exhausted from the journey we set from the kingdom and one of the scouts has found an abandoned tunnel I suggest it for setting the camp there, and we have reached halfway to our destination, please give us your orders, Your Majesty."

Wren smirked a bit, but quickly pulled himself away from his useless thoughts and said in a commanding voice:

"Very well then, Soldiers! Halt! now that we have reached halfway to our destination, we will make a camp in the tunnel that one of our scout has found an abandoned tunnel, and continue our journey tomorrow."

The soldiers with tired expression were now filled with some energy, but before they began to move, Wren gave them another command:

"Before we begin to move, everyone get yourself ready for any unexpected battle as the tunnel has not been inspected."

Keeping that in mind every soldier in the army get themselves ready for any danger lurking inside the tunnel, Wren grabbed the hilt of his double edged sword, the hilt was metallic in touch with strange runes written on it, the handle of the sword was covered with smooth leather, and the blade was in a black wooden scabbard. Though he couldn't see the blade, he was sure that it was capable of slaying an awakened beast at least, He summoned his runes again to read the attribute description.

[???] Attribute Description: "It will be revealed on awakening the dormant powers."

[Curse to Divinity] Attribute Description: "Your soul bears a curse though it not bring harm to you and other people, it is a poison to other divinities who try to mark their presence on your soul."

[??? of Darkness] Attribute Description: "Darkness recognize you as their #@%&!e."

'Hmmm...'

On reading his attributes, he was not very complicated but sill it was lacking few points in it. [???] attribute was pretty straightforward so he didn't think about it much, as it will be revealed after the nightmare if he survives, [Curse to Divinity] attribute was rather intriguing, he has heard of a an attribute related to divinity, but this was something which didn't have any data on, maybe he was abandoned by the dead gods that's why he has received this attribute, similar case for [??? of Darkness] attribute description and the name was incomplete and Wren believed that it was an important part for his survival.

Soon he was standing in front of the tunnel entrance with his army, he took a deep breath and left his steed, the soldier's followed the suit around 100 caretakers were left with 50 guards at the entrance of the tunnel. The rest followed Wren with their weapons out, surprisingly Wren could see in the pitch black darkness, a special ability of his [??? of Darkness] attribute.

Though others had lit a torch for clear vision but many parts were still covered in darkness, Wren was on high alert, that is when he felt a shadow move in the darkness, at first it was one but soon he felt many of them. He gave the soldier a hand sign to get ready for the combat, many felt a chill ran down to their spine as their King has declared that they were going to engage in a combat with enemies they can't see due to the darkness ahead.

That is when a shriek was heard from one of the men in the front line, with this the fearsome battle with darkness started.

***

Wren took his sword out and took a battle stance, and with an astonishing speed ran towards the front line where the battle had started. On reaching the frontline, he saw that the beasts the soldiers were fighting were ant like creatures, that was — if standing would be around 2-3 meters tall and were covered with armor made of an alloy.

He sprinted towards the soldier which was overwhelmed by one of the huge ant, his sword stuck on the mandibles of the beast, due to the pressure they were exerting the word was on verge of breaking, Wren didn't waste his time and pushed the beast with his shoulder creating a distance between them, he was analyzing the structure of the beast to find any weak point, but he was short on time and was now battling the beast.

The nightmare creature followed it's instincts and once again tried to use it's hard mandibles to finish the person in front of it, but that was the grave mistake it had made which sacrificed it's only weapon, that were cut by the teal blade of a double edge sword. Now the nightmare creature as lost it's huge advantage, seizing this as an opportunity Wren struck the blade in the eyes with enough strength to crush the skull along with the brain, the beast was slain but he wasted energy more than required, soon he heard the sweet voice of spell.

[You have slain a dormant beast, Ironclad Ant]

'A dormant beast.'

He studied the creature's anatomy, and based on his finding he speculated methods it can be killed with. Based on his study of the beast, he commanded his soldiers:

"The beast has weak joints and it is not covered with it's armor in the abdomen, there is also a crevice present on it neck, make sure to kill every single beast show them why they are the prey!!!!"

Wren shouted and the soldiers let out a battle cry, filled with a newfound energy the beast which were the hunters before, now were at the mercy of their prey, Wren and the soldiers of the army. The beasts were now cornered but still persistent let out shriek, calling more like them but this time they were coming from the walls and the ground.

'Call hundreds of them, even then they all will die from my blade' Wren thought darkly.

Another fierce battle took place, but Wren and his army appeared victorious, the beast were in a state of fear, in front of them were devils who had wore the skin of a human, they all had lost their will to fight.

[You have slain a dormant beast, Ironclad Ant]

With this the last of the nightmare creature was slayed by the teal blade holder. All of them there were exhausted and their were many wounded, but this wasn't the end knowing that these creatures were present here in large numbers there is a chance that this place is their nest. Wren was also exhausted not much like others, but still he also need rest, sighing he said tiredly:

"Soldiers! the battle is over with our victory for now, but there is a chance of a nest present in here, all of you are suggested to take rest and help the wounded to recover, after that we will move further and clear this whole place."

All of them were relieved, but were now more alerted than before. The words of their King bring them some relief, and also blazed a new flame for the upcoming battle. Wren commanded one of the scout to bring him information, to confirm his theory.

He then laid on the wall near him, and took out a leather pouch which was a type of water bottle, and greedily drank cold water from it, satisfied he decided to check his runes, his good mood was ruined as he hadn't received a single memory even after killing hundreds of those huge ants.

"Tch.."

Not wanting to ruin his mood more, Wren dismissed the runes an was now looking at the teal blade of his sword, which was now drenched in blood, he clean the blade using his sleeve revealing the lustrous blade which hade runic engravings on it, Wren didn't know what it meant but understood that this is what made the blade stronger, an advance form of sorcery he thought.

Soon the scout he sent came back, with information he needed. The scout confirmed the presence of nest but the whole nest was filled with eggs and the Ant queen was at the center of the nest from what they had speculated, while the whole place was devoid of the adult ants. They also informed that the tunnel had another opening which align with the direction of their journey.

During his rest in the tunnel, Wren heard many sorts of conversation about their destination, based on the information he had gathered all he knew that they are going to destroy a temple of an unknown god, and all six of the gods that were dead in his era are alive and are furious of the appearance of this unknown god, the king whose body Wren was now using, had taken this as an opportunity to get the blessings of the Gods.

He relayed this message and increased their hours of rest, also ordering a knight to bring the part of the army that was waiting outside, soon meals started to be cooked and everyone started to enjoy boasting their victory against the monsters, but only one person was not taking part in the celebration, because his instincts were screaming that a danger is lurking around, his hand was resting on his sword ready to face any beast that is moving in the shadow.

He wanted his instincts to be wrong this time but the fate didn't wanted this and soon a soldier which was drunk stumbled upon a three meter tall terrifying figure, it had obsidian skin, bestial features, eyes that seemed like pools of liquid darkness, and twisting horns, there were four of them. It had four arms, each longer and stronger than that of a human, and a long twisting tail. Its face was like that of a demon, with sharp features and a mouth full of terrifying fangs and it's legs were long and digitigrade, bending backward and ending with powerful, sharp claws.

As soon as the drunk soldier looked upward his head was ripped of by the mouth of the beast, blood splattered everywhere and soon screams full of pain and fear were heard, Wren didn't know what kind of beast it was but he was sure that it was an awakened nightmare creature.

The nightmare creature started slaughtering soldiers by ripping there arms, head or splitting their body in half, in few minutes blood was splattered everywhere, not wasting time Wren grabbed his sword and went straight to the beast aiming to decapitate it, but was stopped by it's sharp claws.

The nightmare creature let out a loud growl before beginning it's assault on Wren, the beast tried to slice him using it's claw but was stopped by the same teal blade that tried to decapitate it's head. Wren used all his strength to kick the beast away from him, maintaining the distance, Wren changed to a different style that aimed less on the vital points but had more destructive abilities, this time he moved so fast that it look like he teleported for mundane humans but for the beast it was just a bit fast. Appearing at side of the beast, he aimed for it's arms and slashed but the beast had evaded at that time.

When the sword touched the ground a huge longitudinal crevice appeared similar to a mark of a sword slash, the beast smiled showing it ferocious fangs, but it soon turn to frown when it saw a deep gash on it's arm, of course if it was not life threatening but the beast understood that the playtime was over for it. Considering Wren as a threat, it used his full speed and appeared in front of him, Wren who was somewhat exhausted, was surprised at the beast movement, the beast used it's claws attack to tear him, Wren knew he can't escape such attack, so to minimize the damage he created enough distance so the sharp claws cannot shred him, receiving such attack was still devastating, three long gashes formed on Wren's chest, who was now thrown to the wall due to the blow.

The beast knew that Wren didn't die, so it was moving toward his direction to finish him off but the horde of soldier which had stopped due to their fight now again started to fight the creature, but it was useless as their attack slid of the beast stone like skin. Wren who was laying there, breathing heavily started to think of a solution he can use to kill the beast, a soldier came to him to help but was stopped by Wren, he commanded the soldier to bring him a torch, the soldier without question did what his King asked him.

Using the flames on the torch, he heated the teal blade and cauterized the wounds, the soldier looked at him horrified on his actions, still in pain Wren gave him a command:

"Take everyone from here, and leave this place and extinguish all the torches."

The soldier wanted to deny it, but when he looked at his King's expression he was....

smirking.

Wren stood up again this time clear minded, went to fight the beast till they all the soldier leave, due to wounds Wren's attack speed had decreased a lot, all he could do was dodge it's attack with his legs. All of the soldiers had left, and with that the whole tunnel is filled with darkness again.

Although both Wren and the beast can see in the dark, but Wren was more dangerous here and the beast also seemed to realize this, when Wren was entered the tunnel, all of his senses were starting to go sharp as he ventured in the dark as if it is helping and guiding him, even at the appearance of the Ironclad Ant, Wren was only able to realize through his senses in the darkness. Wren had taken a huge risk that will cost his life, even if he hadn't done this he would have died by the hand of the Awakened Nightmare creature, so why not take a risk?

'Please! Please! Work' he prayed in thoughts while dodging the ravage beast, as if hearing his thoughts a miracle happened, the beast had stopped or rather was restrained by chains made of darkness, it was also damaged by black spikes but it was not that much effective.

Wren punched the beast hardly on the face, making it angry and quickly dashed towards the other exit of the tunnel, he grabbed the extinguished torch lighted it up and went straight to the Ironclad Ant nest, he lighted the eggs all over the place and intentionally left a path remain untouched from the flames to confuse the beast, then he quickly took the route which his scout founded that leads to the unknown temple.

The path was unusually filled with more darkness and it was chilling cold that affected Wren's speed still determined to live he put more strength in his leg's muscles to increase his speed. That's when the path end and he found himself in an unknown place. The sound of the spell echoed in his mind:

[You have slain a dormant beast, Ironclad Ant's Larva]

[You have slain a dormant beast, Ironclad Ant's Larva]

[You have slain a dormant beast, Ironclad Ant's Larva]

[You have slain...]

[You have slain...]

[You have slain...]

[You have slain...]

The sound of spell said the same thing for few minutes that is when a different message, echoed in his mind:

[You have entered Temple Of Abyss]

'Temple of Abyss? that's why this place is filled with darkness and is mostly empty.'

Wren thought while inspecting the temple, it was already strange for the appearance of this unknown temple, but things are getting more absurd as Wren venture in the temple, strangely the temple was sort of endless like the Abyss. Soon he reached near a huge statue of the god he supposed but all he could see was humanoid figure with eyes staring down, as soon as his eyes met the statue's, the spell voice echoed in his mind startling him:

[The God Of Abyss stares you]

His eyes widened and he took a few steps back and stumbles upon the altar behind and laid on it pristine black stone, the spell once again echoed in his mind.

[You have offered yourself as sacrifice to the God Of Abyss]

[Your soul possess Curse to Divinity]

[God Of Abyss chuckles and send his blessing to you] 

[??? of Darkness, receive your blessings!]

Under Wren's astonished eyes, his body that was severely damaged started to repair itself at a fast rate, his exhaustion was seen nowhere and he was filled with energy and determination to live.

But before he could fully understand what was going on, the shadow beast was standing few meters away from him, it's face showing anger, the punch was powerful that one of it's fang was on verge of breaking. The beast lunged at him but Wren now was full of energy and was moving with clear mind, dodging every attack causing the beast loose more to it's anger and it now, was acting similar to a mindless creature. 

Wren wanted to end it in a single attack and unknown to him, his desire was so strong that the darkness started to cover his blade making it pitch black, Wren dodged one of the claws and jumped back a few meter away from the beast. The beast now driven solely by it's primitive instinct dashed toward Wren and raised it's claws to shred him in to pieces, but it was now unguarded, the mistake was all Wren needed and he whispered:

"BINGO"

He moved his blade where the beast's two heart reside, using all the strength and empowered by the darkness Wren, pierced the beast chest, as the tip of the blade came in contact with the beast, the blade released all the power it accumulated without a time lag causing a huge hole in the beast body instantly killing it, the sweet voice of the spell echoed in his mind:

[You have slain an awakened devil, Shadowspawn]

[Wake up, Wren! Your nightmare is over.]

[Prepare for appraisal...]