The Warped Caprigor scrambled through the darkness as fast as its feet could carry it. Its vision, a blessing from their Shepherd, allowed it to see easily through the tenebrous alleys. One of its horns, which proudly adorned its head previously,
It tried to scream out for help from its kin, but it couldn't. By the Shepherd, it was hard to even take breath. One of its clawed hands clutched its hemorrhaging neck where its vocal cords had once been. Now, only a mutilated area of flesh and fur stained with wet tainted blood remained.
Its consciousness was growing faint with the continuous blood loss that didn't appear to be stopping anytime soon. To make matters worse, its heart continued beating like a drum - whether it was out of fright or from the blood loss, it didn't know. However, it knew one thing for certain: It had to escape from the beast chasing it.
Suddenly, it heard a faint Crack! and the sprinting Warped Caprigor got pushed forward. It tumbled over the stone ground and crashed into the wall of a sturdier-than-most house. It pulled itself against the wall by it last dying breaths, which was easier by the fact that it felt much lighter somehow.
The goat-like creature looked down at its chest and saw a gaping hole occupying most of it.
"So... that's whyyyyyyy," it said in its own twisted language before disintegrating into dark mist and flying into the air.
============================
William brought down his right hand that still crackled with the remnant profane energy from the [Doombolt] spell. The Nightmare Spell confirmed his kill (D100 = 88) and told him that he got a tool memory [Lockpick].
It was the last kill required for him to advance into a monster. He didn't plan for his evolution - in a way - to be out in the open since if Sunny's experience was universal, then it was going to leave him defenseless for a good while.
His original plan was for him to capture his last target and kill it back at his base; however, it was at the moment after he mutilated its throat to prevent it from screaming did the whole kingdom shake as a leviathian slammed against the magical dome surrounding it. The vibrations were more violent than usual, and it made him lose his footing; thus giving an opportunity for the Warped Caprigor to escape.
"No use crying over spilled milk," he muttered as he felt something beginning to change inside himself.
Thinking fast, he entered one of the many houses and securely barricaded the door with whatever he could find. It wasn't going to do jack shit but at least it was something. Also, his hand lit up with a dull white glow as he prepared to cast one of the most recent spells he was able to engrave into his mind tower.
[Sound Barrier]
From his hand, a nigh-invisible translucent bubble stretched out into a semi sphere with a radius of about 3 meters. Based on what he read on the spell from the Profane Grimoire, it is supposed to create an area from which no sound can escape past its borders. He was going to need it in case he ended up screaming from the torturous pain that was going to come.
Having done whatever he could in terms of preparation, he sat down and ruminated over what he had done to reach this point. He managed to kill twenty-one Warped Caprigors, five Warped Juggernauts, and seven Darkspawn Soldiers until he reached his target of one thousand soul fragments.
{21 Warped Caprigors slain (Dormant Demon)} {D100 = 84, 87, 87, 88, 94, 95} (Armor x1, Tool x3, Garment x1, Charm x1)
{5 Warped Juggernauts slain (Awakened Monster)} {D100 = 82 ) (Armor x1)
{7 Darkspawn Soldiers slain (Awakened Demon)} {D100 = 77, 83, 97) (Weapon x1, Armor x1, Charm x1)
It was admittedly much less than his previous hunts, but that was unavoidable since both species of nightmare creatures seemed to be extremely on edge somehow. At first, he thought that it may have been due to him, but after he thought about it, he hadn't hunted enough to put a noticeable dent on either of their considerable forces. No, there was something else going on in this cursed land - or so his gut told him.
The Nightmare Spell's voice brought his train of thought to a halt as shimmering Spell Runes began appearing in front of his face. Its voice was eerie and solemn. Yet, there was something else mixed with the monotone voice that he couldn't put his finger on.
[Your soul is overflowing with power.]
[Your soul fragments are coalescing.]
Boom!
His heart beat with such force that it shook his very core. A searing pain tore at his soul core as if something was trying to break out from inside it. Even though he was expecting it to be bad, the pain he was currently feeling was beyond his wildest imagination.
Crick! Crack! Crack!
The sound of a crystal shattering came from within him as he felt his soul core beginning to break apart. He wanted to scream out his heart, but when he opened his mouth to do so, no words came out.
He didn't know how long he was in that state as the seconds stretched to minutes and minutes into hours. All that he knew was that by the time the Spell's voice rang again, he was already a convulsing mass on the floor.
[Your Soul Core is complete.]
With the announcement, the pain immediately vanished as if it were all a dream. However, his still trembling hand begged to differ.
William turned over and lay with his back on the ground. Droplets of sweat that formed from his body's sympathetic reaction to the pain streamed down his forehead and back.
He wanted to vent out his frustration out loud in the safety of his spell. However, he was too tired to do so; not physically tired, but rather, it was a deeper kind of fatigue that emanated from his soul.
Curious about his new changes, he closed his eyes in meditation and entered into his soul sea.
When he opened his eyes, he was greeted with he familiar frozen tundra of his soul sea. It always appeared to be perpetually snowing here. Also, it surprised him that his body had both arms here. The feeling of moving his left arm felt relatively alien to him after spending so much time without it.
(A.N: For anyone wondering, he has been in the slums for about 1 ~ 2 months already. The MC doesn't accurately know how much time has passed due to there being no day/night cycle.)
He observed the statues of his mother and sister, which he had previously created, for a while. Various emotions bled out from his eyes as he gazed at their icy faces. He dreaded the moment when he would forget what they looked like or even their names; it wasn't something he was looking forward to.
Forcibly ripping off his eyes from the statues of his dead family, the white-haired youth looked towards what seemed to be the center of his soul sea where a large sapphire-colored crystal previously stood proudly surrounded by a bunch of revolving white sprites - keyword 'previously'.
Now, he could see two such crystals standing several feet apart. Also, the number of revolving sprites had considerably increased, making them look like a slowly rotating tornado.
William moved towards his soul cores one step at a time as the sprites made way for him to continue. Soon enough, he was standing in front of the frigid soul cores.
"So, this is my new soul core, huh? I just hope that all that pain was worth the trouble."
After making a wish that was destined to go unheard, William summoned his status runes. His eyes scanned through it until he saw a new addition.
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Name: William
True Name: Malevolent Star
Rank: Sleeper
Class: Monster
Soul cores: [2/7]
Soul Fragments: [0/2000]
Echoes: [Warped Caprigor], [Warped Juggernaut]
Attributes: [Fateless], [Eidetic Kinesthetic], [Adaptive], [Living Undead], [Monarch Beyond the Grave]
Undead Monarch Abilities: [Mantle of Death], [Undead Resilience]
[Undead Resilience]
Ability Description: [Your body is ever more resilient to punishment, much like your undead kin. It makes you harder to kill.]
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"That's.... quite useful although a bit vague," he said after a moment of silence. He didn't know in what way he was harder to kill, but if it could delay the inevitable even by a little bit, then it was worth the effort he put into it. Taking a final look at the ice statues of his loved ones, William closed his eyes and exited from his Soul Sea.
What he didn't notice, however, was the smallest, most negligible of cracks that had formed on the statue of his mother.
When he opened back his eyes again, he was back in the old wooden house he took refuge in for his advancement. He rose up from his position on the ground and dismissed the [Sound Barrier] he had previously erected. While he was busy observing the changes in his soul, his body had shaken off the after effects of him forming a new core.
With a thought, Frostmourne manifested into his waiting hand as he walked outside the house. The loot of his previous fight - i.e. soul shards - was still lying undisturbed on the ground. He was about to pick them up when his ear picked up a faint sound and he immediately lunged to the side just as an audible BOOM! Crash! resounded.
A sizable hole had formed through the ground where the soul shards were previously lying. A whisp of smoke was rising from the projectile stuck in the deepest section of the hole.
"So you finally show your ugly mug you son of a bitch!" called William with palpable malice as he looked at the direction the projectile had come from. His stump tingled at the sight of the pale nightmare creature. He didn't know how this creature found him now of all times. He was sure that the [Sound Barrier] spell had prevented any noise from escaping. Did the advancement leak some sort of energy? Or was he simply just that unlucky?
'No matter,' he thought dismissively as he eyed his assailant, 'I was already itching for some payback. I have some nasty surprises ready for you, you ugly motherfucker.'
Seeing that its surprise attack had not been effective, the teleporting nightmare creature screeched in anger; its tentacles whipping around in the air frantically.
In a flash of white light, it vanished from its spot just seconds before an azure spear flew through the space it was previously occupying. William embedded Frostmourne into the ground then summoned another spear into his prosthetic hand while his right hand crackled with a prepared [Doom Bolt] spell. His cerulean-colored irises scanned the darkness in search of his quarry.
In the edge of his vision, he saw it - the burst of light - from the top of one of the houses a few meters away from him. Immediately, the Azure Spear was thrown with all the strength he could muster towards the source of light. The memory whistled through the air as it flew towards its target.
The monster was caught flat-footed by the rapid attack and tried to move out of the way. It was marginally successful in being able to dodge the incoming projectile. Yet, the spear was able to severe one of the many tentacles that sprouted out of its back. The monster screeched in anger as its severed appendage gushed out blue blood.
Not wanting to lose his chance, William aimed his hand at the monster and a lance of greenish-black profane energy bolted out of it. It managed to struck the monster straight on the head, but unlike the Awakened memory, the Dormant level [Doom Bolt] failed to penetrate the nightmare creature's hide. Yet, it managed to daze it temporarily.
The young Sleeper didn't waste any time and summoned two more memories: his final Azure Spear and a new memory he got from the Warped Juggernauts.
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[Concentrated Sewer Poison: The brainchild of a particular sadistic crimelord who didn't want to waste money on buying authentic poison.]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Tier: II
Memory Type: Tool
Memory Enchantment: [Contaminated], [Odorous]
[Contaminated]
Enchantment Description: Consumption of the poison results in variable outcomes.
[Odorous]
Enchantment Description: It gives off a considerably foul smell.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A flask the size of half of his palm containing sickly-green viscous fluid appeared in his left hand.
(Image)
Popping off the cork on top of it, he poured the entire flask onto the spear head of the memory in his right hand. The slimy fluid smelled extremely foul, so much that it took all of his willpower not to retch. Still, he managed to coat his weapon just as the nightmare creature was about to come about.
William took in a deep breath and pulled back his right arm. Then, with every fiber of strength available in his body, he threw the filth-coated Azure Spear towards his target.
The pale alien monstrosity recovered but before it could even realize what was happening, it was hit by the [Shroud of Death] spell; causing it to lose both its sight and hearing momentarily. The creature let out a startled screech at having its sight and hearing lost, causing it to delay its escape teleportation just long enough for the filthy spear head to pierce its hide completely.
"SSSSSSSSSSKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The creature pained cry made the air slightly reverberate in its intensity. [Shroud of Death] apparently had been shaken off since the pale nightmare creature was staring at William with unprecedented malice in its beady, black eyes.
The Sleeper in turn lifted the embedded Frostmourne from its place and readied himself to dodge whatever attack the monster wanted to throw at him.
The creature used one of its tentacles to remove the spear embedded at its side and threw it away. A horrible decision since the wound caused by the spear was now leaking frothy, black blood. The monster's body was starting to turn incandescent - a sign that it was about to teleport again.
William couldn't allow that! How could he let his quarry run away after coming so close to killing it? He didn't have any more spears to throw and dismissing then resummoning his thrown Azure Spears would take too much time. Thus, his only option was his trusty [Doom Bolt]. Thankfully, having two soul cores meant that he had twice the previous amount of essence to spend and was the reason he could afford summoning four memories and casting two of his more costly spells.
Crackling energy writhed around his hand as he prepared to attack but was cut short by the creature's body suddenly losing its incandescence when it started coughing up black blood while suddenly convulsing.
The white-haired teenager watched with wide eyes as the creature that took its arm fell from the roof of the house it was on and landed unceremoniously on the ground. It twitched once, twice, thrice and then suddenly became still. Then, unlike all the nightmare creatures in this cursed land, the body of the dead nightmare creature broke down into white motes of light that fizzled in the air. Leaving behind four shimmering soul shards behind.
[You have slain an Awakened Devil, &$@%#^*!] (D100 = 88)
[You have acquired a memory: Pale Ring]
[Your soul grows stronger.]
William stared at the series of runes before him before uttering the only three words he could think of.
"What the fuck?"
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A.N: Hey, John here! I was a bit conflicted on killing the aptly named &$@%#^* so soon in this arc but I believe that I have to pick up the pace a bit since I gotta admit that I bit more than I could chew and that this arc may have gotten on some people's nerves who want to go back to the previous story.
Moreover, I mean, he had all the tools to kill it. I initially thought of just letting it leave with a few mortal injuries and have it 'lick its wounds' so to speak but I realized that it was just going to prolong it and annoy the readers. I didn't write the MC into being an idiot. He knows what he has and how to use it to win battles above his pay grade.
In my opinion, in the original SS novel, Sunny was held back the utility and quality of memories in his possession and not utilizing the ones given to my MC will be something stupid to do.
Thus, the next chapter will be the last chapter the MC will remain in the slums. The chapter after it will be the long awaited Cassie, Nephis, and Sunny POV chapter.
Also, I am going to say that Noble District series of chapter will take about 6 ~ 8 chapters (depending on how lackluster I do the combat) with the finale of the arc (a.k.a. Boss Fight) probably taking 2 ~ 3 chapters to complete.
Anyways, enough of my rambling.
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Until next time!