"Yes, my Lord", the tentacle replied as it split up.
Three isolated tentacles detached themselves from Nathan as it crawled on the ground, tracking the location of Arabelle. In no time, it disappeared from Nathan's sight.
Upon closing his eyes and sharing senses with the tentacles that were already dozen of meters away, Nathan felt satisfied. He then opened his eyes and motioned his body backward, facing Alab that laid on the ground.
"There is no need to kill her yet, she will bring us to the other survivors", Nathan uttered as he extended his hand. Soothing aura emerged from his hand that rapidly seeped in to the body of Alab.
Alab felt a dejavu with the similar aura that healed him earlier. Just that this aura appeared to had gone stronger as it healed his cracked bone in an instant. Alab couldn't help but be amazed by the skill of Nathan.
"I wont kill you yet until I find a way to get my skill back.", uttered Nathan upon seeing that Alab had recovered fully. Nathan then sat on the ground as he closed his eyes. His feet closed in lotus position as his chest expanded and contracted from a pattern of breathing.
Alab felt the surrounding breeze permeated Nathan's body.
Apparently, Nathan had used up his mana. Restoring it through breathing remained the most efficient way. It took only 5 minutes before he opened his eyes. His mana once again reached its full 50.
A young boy, sitting in similar lotus position, with a rather irregular breathing. His eyes closed as his nostrils surged, vacuuming the surrounding air to his chest.
Seeing this, Nathan pondered.
'Is he trying to mimic me?', he thought.
Nathan raised his body, dusting his pants after. As he walked past Alab, the loud breathing of the latter pricked his hear.
*breathee breathee
*twitch
"This boy"
Nathan couldn't help but be annoyed by Alab mimicking him. His mouth opened as he directed Alab.
"Dont just breathe, feel the mana around you. Drew that mana to your body", vaguely uttered Nathan. It was just a brief overview of the lengthy process.
'That should make him stop', he pondered as feeling the mana was a completely difficult process. Much more for the newly awakened like Alab.
Nathan speculated that Alab would grow tired eventually. Nathan then went towards the corpses meters ahead of them, leaving Alab who breathed roughly.
Thirty to forty corpses sliced to pieces greeted Nathan as he reached the area. Blood dyed the barren soil red as Nathan's azure eyes blazed. Through his upgraded SSS-grade skill [Omniscient Eye], Nathan peeked through the information of the deceased.
[Name: Karl Marasigan (Deceased)
Level: 5 - First Awakening (Temporary)
Exp: 2%
HP: 580/580
Mana: 430/430
Attributes:
Strength: 14
Endurance: 14
Agility: 12
Intelligence: 13
Stat points: 75
Talents:
Taunt (C) (Active)
- You can attract aggro by taunting the target.
Mana Cost: 10
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Stone throwing (E) (Passive)
- You can now throw stone accurately. ]
Apparently, the headless corpse that he examined was the madman from earlier. His skills were no longer remarkable but his stat that surpassed most average people and nearly reached the maximum limit of unawakened humans of 15 each stat made Nathan nod his head.
Even he at level 1 only fall short to average people. Only few humans awakened with stats above 10. With that, Nathan made sure to take note of this corpse. He then strolled for more, his azure eyes blazing red as he scanned each corpse.
After a long hour, taking a break at times to restore his mana, Nathan gradually came upon the 39th corpse. The blaze in his azure eyes died out.
Among the 39 corpses, only 3 was deemed useful by Nathan. As he was thinking of calling out to Alab, the latter had timely went dashing towards the area.
In Alab's face, a joyous smile dwelled in. He was waving his arms, yelling the name of Nathan. His voice resounded.
"I did it! I did it, master Nathan!", Alab screamed as he waved his arms. Nathan wondered what Alab meant with his words. He used his skill [Omniscient Eye] as his eyes set ablaze once more.
On Alab's skill list, a new skill was at.
[Name: Alab Sebastian Hytes
Level: 1- First Awakening (Temporary)
Exp: 0%
HP: 60/70
Mana: 80/80
Attributes:
Strength: 6
Endurance: 7
Agility: 6
Intelligence: 8
Stat points: 5
Talents:
Skill Switch (S) (Active)
- You can switch skill with others.
Mp Cost: 50
Cooldown: None
Lord of the Souls (SSS) (Passive)
- The power to conquer death has been bestowed upon you. You can summon the dead to do your bidding.
Mp Cost: 80
Cooldown: None
Grimace of the Dead (A) (Passive)
- You can consume the souls of the dead for holistic restoration.
Nathan glanced at Alab's skill. His hateful expression twitched at figuring out the potential in Alab's third skill [Breathe of the Dead]. He couldnt help but visualize himself battling the armies of demons, should he be equipped by such power, alas even mere A-grade, he could have won with just considerable losses.
'This skill, it seems to be his original unawakened skill, Nathan pondered. Temporary awakening meant that they would lose their awakening upon exiting the portal. They would also awakened two out of their three skills, with the third one needed some means to be unlocked.
Having this thought, Nathan felt that this skill was tailored to be paired with the SSS-grade skill [Lord of the Souls]. A desire to get this skill as well arise within Nathan.
"Ehh? You are smirking, arent you?", Alab asked as he closed in to Nathan. His joyous expression turned confused.
*cough
"Enough with the nonsense, summon these deceased immediately. We still have to chase after the survivor", Nathan uttered, changing the topic, his complexion full of hatred once more.
Alab knew what Nathan meant. He wanted him to use his skill [Lord of the Souls], instantly, Alab did as he was told. He kneeled in front of the headless corpse, the solidified blood and protruding organs only made Alab a little nausea.
He knew that he had to get used to such sight if he wanted to become a Hero.
'Death is inevitable in eaach portal raid', Alab solidified his conviction.
As Nathan instructed, Alab extended his hand as he closed his eyes. The [Passive] skill [Lord of the Souls] made him able to feel murky fogs around them.
There was not only one but about 30 of such fogs. As Alab fell deep in concentration, he could feel the fogs materialize and began forming human silhouette. There were kids, women, and even huncheback old ones among the silhouette.
Kids wondered aimlessly, clueless to their destination. The other large silhouettes glanced towards Alab, somehow, they knew that Alab could help them.
Alab saw the fogs dashing towards him. He couldnt help but shiver at the sight of several dark fogs heading towards him. His body trembled as the massive fog before him held him, lifting him up the ground.
It was the madman from earlier.
Nathan could only see Alab rise in the air, seemingly lifted by unknown force. As a prior owner of the skill, he was all familiar with what's happening.
"Dont let them overwhelm you. Deads could do nothing against the living. Materialize your power as the Lord of the Souls.", Nathan paused as Alab was lifted higher, his body shaking mid-air as he attempted to free himself from the madman.
"Solidify your power! Solidify your will!"
Alab hurled downwards, stumbling meters away. His body was coated by blood as he fell on sliced corpses. Then, several murky fogs enclosed him, scratching his body with their claws, giving no leeway for escape.
Alab could only twitch in pain as he wailed. Blood oozed out of the scratches in his body as the fogs overwhelmed him.
"ARGHHH!"
"Solidify your will, boy!", Nathan screamed.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!", Alab screamed as he he started to lose his senses. The murky fogs began permeating his body. Alab couldnt breathe.
Then at this moment, a larger murky fog leaked from Alab's mouth. It took the fog no time to materialize and form a massive mouth that shortly consumed the frantic souls. The fog dispersed as they seemed to run away from the mouth. It was futile.
The mouth accelerated, widely opening itself as a powerful vacuum dragged the surrounding souls towards itself.
*burp
Nathan could not see the massive mouth but its horror was deeply imprinted in his soul. The suction force was too strong that even the soul of alive could be snatched off its body.
"This skill, I want it.", Nathan murmured, smirked plastered in his face once more.