Ch: 119.3 (Patreon)

Stepping back, I slide next to Tabitha and raise my hand to my hammer's handle as the massive stone doors slowly open.

We were prepared for almost anything to come rushing at us, but we weren't expecting the veritable wave of foul-smelling humid air that exploded from the opening doors. There wasn't a single molecule of oxygen in the vomit-inducing wave, and as it washes over us, I’m thankful I can cut myself off from the outside world with my improved version of Mana Skin.

Tabitha is not so lucky. She must squint her eyes as tears gather in the corners of them to power through the obnoxious stink until it defuses into our surroundings.

The chamber was sealed tighter than I thought. Could anything other than an undead survive in such an environment? If we were in a world without magic, I’d say no, but seeing how we were, I don’t discount the possibility of there being a monster that doesn't need to breathe.

Tabitha’s complexion slowly returns to normal, and by the time the doors fully swing open, she's only scrunching her nose at the smell, but I don’t drop my defenses. Instead, I channel more mana into my skill, making the mana weave thicker and tighter. I had enough oxygen to last me for a few minutes, and until then, I wasn’t letting anything get through.

The large stone doors were now open, but neither of us was in a rush to get inside. Due to the positioning of my light spell hovering overhead, only the first dozen feet into the chamber were illuminated, while the rest was one big mass of darkness.

Silently, we stand, waiting for anything to come out of the now-open doors, but after a few minutes of nothing appearing, Tabitha and I glance at one another, nod, and slowly inch our way forward.

We walk into the large room side by side with our heads on a swivel, but nothing can prepare us for what we see. There were piles of bones everywhere, and the floor had so much bone dust on it, it canceled out the force-absorbing effect of the grey brick underneath.

I swallow a nervous lump in my throat, imagining what happened here. There had to be remains of at least a thousand people here if not more.

“So, this is why all the death mana is being drawn here,” Tabitha says, sounding remorseful, for once not trying to conceal her emotions. Tabitha's eyes slowly shift from one pile of bones to the next with a sympathetic look for the dead.

This was the first time we'd encountered actual bones in the ruins; they were a heavy reminder of where we were—a tomb. Of course, you could look at a pile of dust and make the connection that it was once a person, but it wasn’t the same as seeing a person’s skull staring back at you with empty eye sockets.

“Why haven’t all the skeletons turned to dust?” I mumble in the silent chamber, having difficulty controlling my heart rate.

"It's because they were higher leveled; each pile we see was somebody important," Tabitha answered my question even though I wasn't expecting a reply. "Keep your eyes peeled. If you think you see one of the piles of bones move, let me know.”

“Right,” I draw my hammer by swinging it over my shoulder. I was being cautious, but... "I don't sense any experience gathered around them," I note as we walk between two such piles of bones toward the chamber's center.

“You’re sure?” Tabitha asks in a hushed yet serious tone.

“Not that I can see," I reply as I scan the piles. But there was a lot to scan and quite a few more piles hidden in the dark. "Give me a sec," I tell Tabitha. First, I use Mana Manipulation to direct the hovering ball of light further up over my head until it’s near the top of the chamber. Then I use Empowered Spell to boost the brightness until my puny tier 1 spell resembles a miniature sun.

My spell is so bright, and I am so used to the dark ruins that I need to shield my eyes for a second, but it's worth it because my magic drives away the darkness, and we finally get to see the chamber in its entirety. And my breath catches in my throat.

We couldn’t see it before due to my spell not being strong enough to illuminate it, but the chamber's rounded ceiling was one giant mosaic of a grand city. The stonework depicted a bustling metropolis that would’ve given any modern city back on Earth a run for its money. There were wide streets packed with carts, flying beasts carrying people soared over the rooftops, and in the middle of it all were mansions and a large castle made from polished grey brick. The very same brick we've seen everywhere.

Not all of the city was made out of force-absorbing stone; other than the mansions and the castle that stretched into the sky, there were very few buildings made from the material. I could spot the odd tower here and there, along with a few smaller buildings, but it looked like the stone was reserved for the nobility and wealthy.

It made sense; if the entire city were made from the same type of brick we've encountered, there would be considerably more intact ruins than there were.

“Aaliyah,” Tabitha nudges me.

While I was caught up in the fantastic art above us, Tabitha had been scanning our surroundings, and it looked like she spotted something.

Following Tabitha’s gaze, I spot what had drawn her attention, and I immediately start kicking myself for not noticing it earlier. Directly across from the entrance of the chamber, on the other side of the room, was a monumental statue. At first glance, it looked like any other statue, but the longer I focused on it, the more my hair stood on end. The statue was of a hooded figure in long billowing robes, it had no definable face or other features, yet it felt like the statue was looking at me. At my soul.

“What is that?” I couldn’t keep my voice from quivering.

“Don’t look at it directly,” Tabitha’s warning reminds me I can look away. It sounded silly, but I had totally forgotten I could do so until she said something. “Did you see it?” Tabitha asks from my side while I'm bent over, trying to catch my breath. I had to loosen up Mana Skin sooner than I wanted, but I could do nothing about it.

“The statue is kind of hard to miss,” I grumble. “How can a statue even do that?”

“It had to have been carved by an extremely skilled craftsman. I don’t know who it’s of, but they must have been important if such a statue was made in their honor,” I hear Tabitha explain through my ragged breathing. The wasn’t much air in here, so I needed to take twice as many breaths as I usually would, and though it wasn’t as bad as when we opened the door, each breath brought with it the stench of death.

That wasn't a statue of a mortal; I don't care how high a person's level gets; I knew a god when I saw one, and the statue was definitely of a divinity. But, of course, I couldn't say that to Tabitha, as that would open another can of worms I couldn’t easily explain.

So that’s the seventh god Ebeon and Ilia were going on about. I may have been busy trying to save my soul back then, but I still remembered their banter about a god who was taboo to speak about. At least they looked the part of an evil god, though I wasn’t sure if that was their exact title.

“Did you scan the bones in front of the statue?” Tabitha asks me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"What was that?" I ask for clarification, still trying to piece everything together. I was on the cusp of learning something important, but I was still missing some essential information. Mainly, who was this disgraced seventh god, and what aspect did he represent?

"The bones in front of the statue," Tabitha reminds me, and I once again sneak a peek at the statue, but this time I’m only sucked in for a second before I manage to advert my gaze to the bones resting in front of it.

Kneeling in front of the statue like a zealot offering praise was a fully articulated skeleton in armor, and unlike the rest of the piles of bones in the chamber, it was still standing strong, despite how long it’s been down here. Admittedly, the skeleton armor was more rust than anything else. Still, it hadn’t turned to dust by now was a good indication of how impressive it used to be, seeing how none of the other piles of bone had any discernible gear.

The skeleton wasn’t moving from its position, but it wasn’t fooling me. “It’s definitely an undead,” I confirm what I’m sure Tabitha already knows. While it was the statue that was shielding the chamber, it was the skeleton that was drawing all the death energy. With Sense Soul, I could see the mass of experience hiding inside the skeleton's chest where its heart used to be.

“I thought so,” Tabitha sighs for some reason.

“Is something the matter?” I ask, not taking my eyes off the motionless corpse.

“I’m just marveling at another creature I thought I would never encounter. That, and I’m counting ourselves lucky it’s on its final leg,” she cryptically replies.

“So, you know what it is; don’t leave me in suspense?” I urge her to spit it out already.

Tabitha snorts, “Contrary to what you may believe, I don’t know everything. All I know is that it’s a rare version of an undead. It could be a corpse lord, a tomb guardian, or any other type of undead recorded in the annals of history.”

“Those all sound strong; how do you know it isn’t dangerous?” I ask curiously.

“Easy, my skills aren’t going crazy like they were with the soul horrors or the lesser dragon,” Tabitha says calmly. "If it were hiding its power, my skills would've picked it up after I noticed it. But seeing how they are only slightly ringing of danger, I think it's about ready to collapse like everything else here.”

“You seem quite sure of yourself. Then should I just?" I mime, walking over and absorbing the corpse king.

“You’ll still need to be careful,” Tabitha reminds me. “It might not be as dangerous as the soul horrors, but physical undead aren’t to be underestimated. They’re just rare in this day and age, is all.”

I nod in understanding. It’s common practice to cremate people, so it's rare for any to spawn. Types of ghosts can still show up, but even those are rare. "Then, do you have any pointers?" I ask.

“Treat it as you would any other person,” Tabitha cautions me. “It probably won’t react until we get closer to it, but unlike other creatures, undead don't get tired once they start moving. And an undead of that size must be strong.”

Tabitha wasn’t exaggerating the size of the skeleton. Even kneeling, the skeleton was as tall as me, meaning once it stands up, it’ll be over seven feet tall. I didn’t see any weapons on its person, but I'm sure it could do some damage with its fists even without them. And if we were going to explore the chamber, we would first need to deal with it.

“After you then,” I playfully tell Tabitha.

“Alright then, back me up,” Tabitha draws her sword and steps in front of me. “Treat this as a dry run for the winged serpent.”

Clutching my hammer with both hands, I follow behind Tabitha as she circumvents the piles of bones on the ground, closing the distance between us and the waiting undead.

How close would we have to get before it started to move? It looked like it was in some sort of hibernation, absorbing all the death mana it could, but it wasn’t like the room was that big. We were less than 50 feet from the kneeling skeleton, practically a single step for high leveled individuals. Was this all an act by the skeleton? Was it even smart enough to do that?

As far as I could tell, from remnants to soul horrors, all undead acted on impulse, but until now, I've only encountered ghost-type undead. Were physical ones different? I wanted to ask Tabitha, but she was primed for combat, and I didn't want to distract her. From behind, I glance at her left shoulder. I let Tabitha take the lead because I knew how pent-up she was, but if it looked like she was having trouble because of her arm, I was ready to step forward if need be.

Just then, while I was thinking of ways to protect Tabitha, the undead finally started to move. The sound of rusted metal scraping against each other grades against our ears in the silent chamber as the massive undead stands up.

Fuck, he was big. Now that it was standing tall, I put the undead at seven and a half feet, a truly colossal size for a human. If it was human.

As the colossal mass of bone and rust turns to face us, a cloud of bone dust falls from its frame. Instead of attacking it immediately, Tabitha waits for it to face us, and while it's under her breath, I hear her mutter a short prayer. "Warrior of old, may this battle give you the rest you deserve."

Huh, I told Tabitha undead were nothing but experience, but apparently, to her, they're still the remnants of people. In a way, she wasn't wrong, but I couldn't afford to look at them as such. If I did, I would have to deal with the idea all the soul horrors I absorbed were now inside me. Was that how Tabitha saw it? But my thoughts would have to wait until later.

There was no signal for the fight to begin. As soon as the undead's empty eye sockets land on us, it rushes us like a charging bull. Besides the sound of its armor scraping together, the skeleton made no noise as it closed the distance between us, kicking up puffs of bone dust with each powerful yet silent step.

Tabitha and I easily dodge in different directions as the undead tries to hit us with its armored fists. I'm about to snicker at how slow it is and how easy this will be when its clumsy punch finally hits the ground and an explosion of dust happens. There was so much force behind the undead's punch that it created a shockwave, and I could feel the grey stone under my feet tremble from the force of the attack.

“Okay, note to self, don’t get hit,” I dodge back as the skeleton doesn’t pause its attack. In one swift motion, it swings its arm in my direction as if swatting at a fly, and when it passes harmlessly in front of me, another blast of wind slams into my chest. How was it doing that when it wasn’t moving that fast?

I can hear its bones creaking and fracturing under its armor. With every attack, it hurt itself, but as Tabitha warned me, the undead didn't stop no matter what. There’s no pattern to its seemingly random strikes, but its sheer tenacity is enough to keep me on the back of my feet.

"Don't ignore me!" Tabitha comes in from the side and plunges her sword through the back of the skeleton's armor, but it doesn't even register her attack.

Again, the undead brings its hands up and tries slamming them down on me. A well-timed Flash Step lets me dodge the attack, but the force the blow generates is enough to throw Tabitha off it. I swing my hammer at the skeleton's exposed side, fracturing its armor and pulverizing many bones, but my attack does about as much as Tabitha's did, which was very little.

I can see why people are so afraid of the undead. Even the strongest beasts flinch when they are hurt, but the massive skeleton keeps attacking regardless of what we do to it. The bones that we break are held in place by the massive amount of death mana it's absorbed, and though we are doing some damage, we haven't slowed it down.

Guess there’s only one thing that will bring this guy down. “Can you distract it while I use my skills?” I shout as I dodge another haymaker attack.

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do,” Tabitha growls in frustration as her sword fails to do much against the skeleton behemoth. If she still had her shield, she might have been able to do some blunt force damage with it, but as it stands, my attacks were doing more against it; however slight the difference was.

"Swap places," I suggest, and I see Tabitha nod her head out of the corner of my eye.

We wait for it to launch another big attack, and when it finally does, the two of us use Flash Step simultaneously and swap positions. The skeleton doesn't even react to the swap, simply continuing to charge forward at the enemy in front of it.

Perfect, now I can activate Soul Devourer safely.

I could've tried activating my skill while dodging the undead, but after it gained so many levels against the soul horrors, I didn't want to risk losing myself to my now more powerful skill.

Triggering Soul Devourer, eight ghostly hands extend from my back. Seven hands were ethereal like they were supposed to be, but the eighth was less ghostly and more like an actual hand. All I had to do was look at the limb, and instantly the knowledge of how to use it appeared in my head. That wasn't freaky at all, I note sarcastically.

And as I suspected, the urge to absorb everything around me was stronger than ever, but I was prepared for that. Taking a steadying breath, I clear my mind. This is my skill, and I wouldn't let it control me without a fight.

“Sometime today would be nice,” Tabitha complains, dodging a kick from the undead.

"I'm ready," I yell, rushing toward my partner. As soon as I'm within range of the skeleton warrior, my new soul arm reaches out for its prize. It could extend farther than the others, but that wasn't its only function. With little prompting from me, the new arm's hand explodes and turns into ten smaller arms that wrap around the skeleton like snakes strangling their prey.

For the first time since we awoke it, the skeleton stops blindly attacking, turning its skull in my direction and looking at me.

Even with my ghostly hands holding it, the undead turns its body and starts marching toward me, completely ignoring Tabitha.

Oh, crap!

My seven other Soul Devourer appendages shoot out and start ripping parts of the skeleton's soul out, but nothing I do stops the hulking monstrosity from barreling straight toward me. It wasn't like stealing experience from the soul horrors. The soul horrors were pure experience, so ripping them apart and absorbing them was easy. The skeleton, on the other hand, was different. The experience was spread out, wrapped around its bones, like muscles or puppet strings.

I barely have time to absorb anything before the skeleton is in front of me again, its hands spread wide like it intended to grab me. A combination of Flash Step and Air Walk has me escaping over the undead, but losing it isn't that easy. The skeleton's skull tracks my every movement, turning 180 degrees around like an owl.

I try to hold it in place with Soul Devourer, but that works as well as it did the first time. Tabitha was next to the skeleton cutting it with everything it had, but no matter what she did, she couldn't draw its attention away from me. Nothing could be done to stop this deadly game of cat and mouse.

The skeleton chases me around the chamber, doing everything possible to catch me. It had no problem trampling the piles of bones scattered everywhere and didn't care when I briefly led it outside the chamber in an attempt to get it to stop following me.

I was running for my life, but that wasn't the only thing I was doing. Soul Devourer was struggling to absorb the undead's experience, but it was absorbing it. Gradually, the undead started to slow down, not because it was tired but because I had slowly siphoned off most of its soul.

Eventually, the skeleton's legs give out, no longer having enough experience to support its massive frame. However, even without its legs, the skeleton doesn't give up and tries crawling toward me. I almost feel bad as I rip more from it, making one of its arms fall limply to the side.

"Don't make it suffer," Tabitha tells me, standing off to the side. She was staring at me; no, that wasn't right, she was staring at my back.

“Can you see my skill?” I ask as my ghostly hands tear apart the skeleton's remaining soul. I was curious if she could see my new type of soul arm.

"No," Tabitha shakes her head. "I can't see anything, but my new skill works with my danger sense. It's telling me I should avoid you. You aren't losing yourself again, are you?"

“What, no,” I wave off her concerns.

“Then why are you smiling?” Tabitha’s counters.

Bringing my right hand up, I feel at my mouth. She was correct; I was smiling; I hadn't noticed. Working my jaw, I forcefully change my expression to what it should be, remorse for the fallen.

"That's better," Tabitha notes, but she keeps her distance.

“I’m in control,” I reassure her.

"Good. Do you need to transfer any of it over?" For a second, a voice whispers in my ear that Tabitha wants everything for herself, but I ignore it.

"I think I'm good," I say, reattaching my hammer to my back. "You were right; it was on its last legs. I only got roughly 3.5 million from it, almost nothing compared to the soul horrors. Would you like me to try transferring some of it to you?”

The voice complained about my offer, but it wasn't the only one. A quieter voice was urging me to distribute what I gained. The second voice wasn't as strong as the first and was on the verge of being drowned out, but it was there.

Using sense soul, I try to find where the smaller voice comes from and am shocked to learn it originated from Experience Transfer. Like my first tier 6 skill, my second one was trying to get me to use it, though in a much less sinister way.

"Aaliyah, are you okay!" I hear Tabitha shout.

“What was that?” I look up in a slight daze.

“I said you should keep the experience,” Tabitha repeats with a frown. “Are you truly, okay?”

"Yeah," I shake my head to clear away the competing voices. "Just something with my skill, nothing to worry about. You sure you don't want any of the experience?"

"Quite," Tabitha firmly rebukes my offer. "I gained plenty for my part in bringing down the skeleton. If you can handle it, you should keep all the experience."

Tabitha leaves it unsaid that I need all I can get to help her against the winged serpent.

Two levels might not be much, but every bit helps.

Deactivating Soul Devourer, Tabitha finally moves beside me and looks down at the now motionless skeleton. Then, in a rare showing, she sheaths her sword and closes her eyes, her lips moving in silent prayer. I clasp my hands together and follow suit, though my prayer is for the skeleton's long-gone soul. Wherever it may be in the cycle of reincarnation, I hope it was doing well.

I thank the dead warrior for the strength he has given me and promise to put it to good use.

I suppose I should do something more, but what?

After a few seconds of thinking it over, I get an idea. I wait for Tabitha to finish her prayer before sharing it with her. "I know it might take some time, but I think we should bury them. It's the least they deserve," I point at not only the giant skeleton but the rest of them as well.

Tabitha smiles brightly at the suggestion. “A wonderful idea.”

Respect for the dead. Hope for the living. May it help us going forward.

*********

4,100 words.

Sorry, I haven't been feeling the best the last few days, and this chapter took longer than I expected to write. Thanks for understanding; I hope you all liked the chapter.

Thanks for reading, and as always, stay safe.