76 || Soul Bead Awakening

The Undead they had been fighting through the Dungeon had been of his own creation! Worse yet, his form changed as he grew a foot taller with his body bulky and mismatched like a Ghoul. His eyes glowing went from a peering emerald to a wild ghostly green while Lightning stronger than the Jianshi's pirouettes at his fingertips. The Boss had experimented on himself!

Syringa could not take on the Boss alone, so she ran back through the doorway to aid her friends. The Necromantic Engineer didn't try to stop her but instead started loudly cackling, the sound making a haunting cacophony.

With Syringa's inclusion they were able to quickly take out the Mecha Guards, but as they all reentered the laboratory, all went downhill from there.

Only twenty some monsters were guarding the space between the entrance and the machine, where the Boss stood just before the moat. Their levels, tier, and rank had not changed thankfully but the group could see the results of the Necromantic Engineers work:

The Cyborghouls had the rotting places patched up with mechanical parts embedded in their bodies; Mecha Sabers using Ghosts as fuel to enhance their abilities with Wind energy; Jianshi are piloting newly made Mecha Gunners, enhancing their Lightning ray ability while strengthening their defenses with a Lightning field.

The party finds that their previously overbearing damage that allowed them to gap levels and one tier is sharply reduced. Meanwhile these undead machine-based monsters dealt higher damage that Hammerhead couldn't get by with only single heal Crafts anymore. While he begins to use healing over time spells, the Summoners Opal Bat and Storm Kitty have to rely on more than their Familiars for once!

This wasn't even the worst part. The moment they were getting a good foothold against the Mobs, the Wind Silo would occasionally release a pulse of energy. This energy would then increase the monster's health regeneration from 1 percent to 2 percent per second for a minute.

This might not seem like much but take the Cyborghouls for example. They had 12,000 Health Points which meant they healed 240 back. With a minor delay between active Skills and fending off other monsters who worked in a party fashion, it was plenty of time to make the received damage almost negligible.

It wasn't an entirely hopeless situation, thankfully! Syringa Fang's damage showed no serious reduction thanks to her pseudo-Obsidian/Elite tier Essence usage.The current threat was putting enough tension for Dark Avenue's path as a Strength Expert, Opal Bat and Storm Kitty as a Sensory, and Straw Monkey as a Speed. They could literally feel themselves growing closer to their goal than ever before.

Lilac Alexandrite showed off great Spellcrafting ability with rapid yet accurate strikes into weak points she could discern. Despite not having Twin Sphere energy, she was doing even more damage than the other caster classes. Livid Tourmaline displays all that he learned in this final bout. Using his positioning and balance well gives him enough leverage to overpower the Cyborghouls and Ghost Infused Mecha Sabers. His physical strength in these moments is only matched by Syringa herself!

"Hit the deck then open up a path! I have a plan!" Syringa yells to the group. They all duck as their leader is no longer holding back. For the second time she uses a full power Horizon Slash knowing it will use a lot of Stamina and Focus. Fusing it with the penetration ability of Shade Cutter able to ignore some of the monsters' defenses, the damage won't be easily regained.

Her friends take advantage of this to do what they can, making it so Syringa can weave through the crowd. She pushes her virtual body so hard, she's leaving afterimages. Syringa throws her glaive at the Boss like it's a javelin but he easily side steps as it sails past him.

Using Shadow Travel once more, Syringa appears with a punch pulled back. The Necromantic Engineer shows surprising reaction speed by catching the fist.

"They say Travelers have Immortal Souls. I wonder how many of my machines you and your friends will power?" He says with an evil grin and crazed look in his eye.

Syringa smirks. "I don't think we'll find out."

Syringa snaps her fingers like the Boss had done before, causing all the Mobs she had struck earlier to explode with destructive Darkness energy! Before he can commend her for mirroring his Essence marking technique after seeing it once, a much bigger explosion occurs from behind him.

"NO!" He cries, his head turning all the way around unnaturally. This Porcelain Explorer had not been aiming for him from the start.

Instead, there was now a giant hole in his Cloud Extraction Machine. It will take him two weeks to fix the damage and even longer to regain the lost wind energy.

"Forget using your Soul as a power source, I think I'll use yours for even worse experiments." Fury and madness twist his features as he lifts Syringa into the air before slamming harshly. He quickly grabs her face as she feels her mind being separated from her body. The stealing of her virtual Soul is a pain unlike any other that she can't even scream. Then, almost immediately, she gets two notifications.

[WARNING! Your Immortal Soul Is About To Be Stolen! Such Damage Will Cause You To Be Unable To Enter Renovel For 3 Natural Days!]

[Mysterious Item Soul Bead Detected! Essence Guidance Path + Storage Space Soul Realm Located! Would You Like To Combine And Awaken?]

Syringa agrees though she's not entirely sure what she's assenting with. But anything was better than being locked out. 3 days naturally was 144 hours in Renovel and enough time for the game to be upended.

Time around her suddenly crawls to a stop except for her Syringa, as a tenebrific bubble of black energy envelops her. She then finds herself floating a foot off the ground on an altar. Syringa felt heat and sensed Fire energy, realizing she's within a volcano!

Tara for her part had agreed and now a projection of her friend stood before her.

"A Traveler?" Ganesh asks confusedly. She had heard of Interworld Awakening Ceremonies but had never seen one herself. And now it was occurring before her eyes!

"Are you okay? What's happening?" Tara asks Syringa, who seems a little dazed at the shift of scenery. There's something different about Syringa but Tara can't place it.

"Oh, I've had worse,"-almost robotically, Syringa holds out her hands palm up as her glaive appears--"Everything will be fine, I think?"

After a moment the weapon changes into a barn owl with midnight black and snow white plumage. The owl flies from Syringa and taps heads together with Msiretsa, in a sign of respect and connection.

"You already trust her this much after such a short time? This will likely make things difficult for her. Also you don't need my permis--yes I am aware of my place in things."

Msiretsa mutters to herself aloud, as her eyes flash purple before the light washes over the owl. "If you think she can handle it then okay. You have my blessing."

The barn owl pulls away and flies back towards Syringa, its snow white feather shifting to a lilac purple! Nestling against Syringa's cheek the former Aural Beast turned into a triangle cut gemstone.

Then from the gemstone extended her glaive, though it looked different now: the blade was an umbra black with an lilac purple pole. A silver guard stops just before the blade, the pommel of the weapon having a small black chain that connects to the Soul Bead. If one looked closely they could see swirls of black within the purple stone.

Before Syringa can look at the weapon's upgraded stats, the polearm turns into a beam of light and shoots into her navel. A name rings inside her head but then Syringa blinks and she's returned before the boss.

[You Have Learned The Name Of Your Soul Guardian! Her Elemental Affinity Has Changed! You Have Access To Potential Passive Skill Alter Weightage! Prepare To Exit The Temporal Bubble!]

Time restarted without warning but Syringa as a Sensory Expert could immediately feel a difference. Among the trace Darkness energy she could pull from there was something else! It interweaves with the Darkness energy making it stronger and more accessible to her,

With a powerful strength coursing through her veins, Syringa grapples her hands around the Boss's arm that gripped her face. Then, after quickly locking him in place, proceeds to do a rapid overthrow as she twists her body. The Boss doesn't resist, thinking a simple move like this won't do too much damage. This will cost him his virtual life.

He slams into the tiled floor of his laboratory, the force behind the throw causing a crater webbed with cracks! A fierce number of -2000 appears from the impact alone. The Necromantic Engineer had somehow been throwing with more weight than before. Confusion forms on his face as he bounces slightly upon Syringa releasing him.

A foot connects with him in midair as she strikes him with a hook kick in the stomach. He's shot off into the distance away from the machine by an unprecedented force.

[Alter Weightage: Freely change the weight of your body by 4 times!]

This Skill allowed Syringa to make her body 4 times heavier or lighter as she wished. Thus, every attack she launched would have an immense weight behind it alongside her speed. Now that her Minor Artifact was completely Soul Bound, as opposed to being just bound to her character, it appears in her extended hands. Instead of going after the Boss, she turns on her heel before bolting for the machine.

Her movement speed is just as explosive, since she can make herself lighter while running. It's enough for her to cross the moat in order to rapidly approach the machine. The Necromantic Engineer moves as fast as he can, having creatures try to rush Syringa at the cost of ignoring her allies.

"Layl, pierce!" Syringa howls as she pulls back her glaive with both hands, all of her energies she could pull imbued into her blade, before thrusting forwards with a supercharged Shade Cutter! A massive explosion occurs upon contact as a vortex of Wind energy is released. The energy wipes out the mobs before they can even touch the water. Even the Boss takes serious damage, cutting his HP from 30,000 to 20,000!

Surprisingly, none of the players were harmed in the explosion. It seems this was part of the Dungeon's story to aid them. They simply needed the strength to destroy the machine!

With the Mobs out of the way, the Boss heavily wounded, and Syringa more powerful than ever, it only takes them an hour to whittle the Necromantic Engineer to zero. Alexandrite was lucky enough to get the last hit, causing double the drops! The party falls to the ground to rest, except for Syringa. Instead she marches over to Alexandrite, dispelling her helmet as she does, before grabbing the caster's arm.

"Who are you really? To use Retention Techniques with Skills but have Apprentice control?"

Alexandrite glares at Syringa for a moment before sighing.

"My elder brother is the first Novelist to die...and the strongest independent player from Dragon Cross, Arctic Shark."