[06: 05: 56: 51]

  ...

  Cassian sat cross-legged near the edge of a pulsing, vein-riddled wall, eyes closed in meditation. The flesh beneath him squished slightly with every breath, the temperature in the nest thick and humid like the inside of a beast’s gut. The stench of acid, bile, and rot clung to the air, but he had already grown used to it. Survival, after all, demanded adaptation.

  Beside him, the Behemoth stayed silent, watchful. Occasionally, one of its bone-bladed arms twitched, reacting to distant sounds from the upper levels of the sinkhole.

  He’d been down here for close to forty minutes, and though the clock ticked relentlessly toward the scenario’s end, he hadn’t moved forward yet.

  Charging blind into the heart of the nest would be suicide—especially against the Mother of Kalrach. He needed every ounce of strength at his disposal. So, for the past half hour, he had replenished himself. Essence. Stamina. A single protein bar was all he had left, and it now sat half-eaten in one hand as he sipped from his canteen with the other.

  Cassian had already topped off his core essence well and even his temporary reservoir by using sindivinity. Turns out any monster, or rather anything, he kills or stabs with his artifact.

  Its unique ability is triggered, which the system calls “soulsteal” and it drains the target of his HP and Essence along with inflicting a soul curse on them, which is so cool by the way, and the best part is I gain a portion of that drained HP and Essences.

  The last twenty minutes had been spent testing it, stabbing at different spots along the fleshy, organic walls of the pit. He hadn't expected much at first. But every time the blade pierced the wall, a faint but undeniable surge of essence flowed back into him.

  The Nest itself has transformed into an extension of the Mother of kalrach.

  Grinning to himself, Cassian rolled his shoulders, stood up, and let his hand rest on the hilt of his dagger. “Alright, let’s see if this bitch notices this.”

  He flipped the blade in his grip and drove it straight into the wall beside him with a wet squelch. The wall trembled faintly. The red veins pulsed violently around the dagger’s point of entry, and a dark ripple spread outward like a heartbeat skipping a beat.

  Immediately, a message pinged across his vision.

  ? Sindivinity unique ability “soulsteal” triggered, target unique entity “Mother of kalrach” ?

  ? Drained 11 HP and 5 Essence points ?

  ? Mother of Kalrach is afflicted with “Lesser Soul Agony” ?

  Phew~

  Letting out a steady breath, Cassian leaned against the quivering wall of flesh, his shoulders rising and falling in a slow rhythm. He’d probably stabbed the pulsing biomass around him a thousand times by now, and while the act itself had grown routine, the results were far from effortless.

  His artifact, ?Sindivinity?, continued to drain small threads of the essence, but refilling his temporary reservoirs was another matter entirely. They resisted him, like trying to force water into a sealed vessel. It wasn’t enough to simply absorb the energy—he had to guide it.

  Every strand of essence needed to be manipulated, coaxed into a specific flow. A spiral pattern. Cassian had to focus deeply, tuning out the shifting groans of the surrounding nest, tuning in to the rhythm of his breathing and the sensation of essence trickling under his skin.

  Only then could he push the gathered energy into the reservoirs, one patient pulse at a time.

  It was slow work, mentally taxing, and exhausting in ways that had nothing to do with his body.

  But it’s working, and progress is progress.

  Perfect.

  “I swear, Sindi, the curse should get evolved any moment,” he said aloud, glancing down at the pulsing dagger embedded in the wall, “I can feel it…”

  One last time…

  ? Sindivinity unique ability “soulsteal” triggered, target unique entity “Mother of kalrach” ?

  ? Drained 11 HP and 0 Essence points ?

  ? Mother of Kalrach is afflicted with “Lesser Soul Agony” ?

  Yeah, just one more this should do it… fuuu

  He stabbed and pulled it free with a jerk, dark pus trailing from the dagger’s edge, and a deep roar came from the depths.

  Success… yes, finally, after 1337 stabs!

  ? Sindivinity unique ability “soulsteal” triggered, target unique entity “Mother of kalrach” ?

  ? Mother of Kalrach is afflicted with “Soul Agony” and “Soul Fracture” ?

  ?After a whirlwind of flashing steel and precise, deadly strikes—facing foes with sheer finesse and ruthless elegance—you have gained “SKILL: LIGHT WEAPONS MASTERY” ?

  Huh! Damm nice! It took forever to get weapon based skills, and I almost forgot about them.

  System show more about the skill.

  Nice! That good and a new stat dex… I feel like this one is going to be in creation again.

  ?STATUS?

  Damn... so Dexterity was tied to Destruction attunement, huh?

  And I’ve got forty-five points in it. Assuming five came from my current skill bonus and another ten from the bonus granted by my Truth, that meant thirty points were part of my core attributes.

  Must’ve been from the Ascension.

  Cassian’s thoughts drifted back, unbidden, to the memory of that brutal process of his body torn apart and reforged into something new.

  Cassian was just about to sit down when his comms crackled to life. Dr. Elira’s voice came through. “Cassian, I’m priming the core and initiating the detonation sequence. You have one hour before this place blows up… also take care of the kids…and goodbye”

  “Understood,” he replied, rising to his feet. I’ll take care of them, worry about joining Dorian. Leave the rest to me…”

  Silence.

  His brow furrowed. Cassian tapped the comm again. “Dr. Elira? Doctor! Hello?” Nothing but static. He tried once more, but the channel remained dead.

  Frowning, he switched frequencies. “Dorian, do you copy? Elira’s not responding. All I got was confirmation that the core's primed—”

  Again, nothing.

  Must have been interference from the nest… time to do my part…

  But before he could speculate further, the ground beneath him buckled violently. The entire pit groaned, trembled, and shuddered like a living thing in agony. Both Cassian and his behemoth lost footing as the walls of the sinkhole convulsed.

  Then came the sound.

  A shriek—no, a roar—ripped through the air, tearing into his skull. His vision swam with red as blood trickled from his ears, the pressure unbearable. He fell to one knee, clutching his head, gritting his teeth as the pain surged like a drill boring into his brain, before the situation could get out of hand, he forced the words out.

  “Holy Blessing!”

  The moment the spell activated, a golden aura erupted from his chest, wrapping around him in a halo of divine energy.

  ? You have used [Holy Blessing] incantation, gained [Faithful Strength (strength ? +20)], [Unwavering Mind (mental focus? +20, Resistance to mental attacks increased)], [Strengthened Vigor(HP? +100)] buffs for 300 seconds ?

  The moment [Unwavering Mind] took effect, the chaos in his head stilled. His heartbeat calmed and the pain receded. He exhaled shakily, lips pressed together as he wiped the blood from his ears.

  And then, without warning, a series of blood-red notifications burst across his vision.

  ? Hidden Scenario: Kalrach’s Nest | Time to maturity: 16 HOURS 25 MINUTES 46 SECONDS) ?

  ? Mother of Kalrach severely injured, Ascension halted ?

  ? Mother of Kalrach in an enraged state ?

  Cassian stood still, the weight of those words settling, as his gaze drifted toward the pulsing abyss ahead. A slow, wicked grin curled across his lips.

  “So… she felt that,” he muttered under his breath, voice low and laced with grim satisfaction. “Good.”

  The world quaked again beneath an unholy screech, a sound that tore through the bowels of the facility like a banshee’s wail. Somewhere in the dark heart of the facility, the Mother of kalrach had awoken and she was pissed.

  Cassian spat out a mouthful of blood, wiped it from his lips, and grinned. “That’s our cue, buddy”

  He vaulted onto the Behemoth’s back in a fluid motion, one hand slapping against the summon’s thick, armored shoulder. “Let’s go”

  The Behemoth answered with a roar, and then it surged forward—massive limbs slamming into the ground as it barreled down the flesh-laced corridor.

  Cassian narrowed his eyes, bracing himself as the wind lashed his face. He could already feel it—the wounded fury and agony radiating from the core of the Nest. The bond they shared because of his truth told her how injured the boss was. The failsafe had worked.

  Still, I need to break the 3 meteor fragments first and then somehow break the original core meteor.

  Seems simple enough… not sure how good our reception would be.

  He had just enough time to finish the thought when the corridor came alive.

  Tentacles lashed out from the walls, barbed tips snapping like whips as they struck toward them. The Behemoth veered hard to the right, claws scraping the floor as it twisted its massive frame.

  Cassian jolted back, almost thrown off his summon back. “Shit!”

  Another tentacle snapped down from the ceiling—then another. The tentacles weren’t random, Cassian was sure the mother of kalrach could sense his movements, then his gaze fell on the floor and on the wall.

  Of course, the whole place is damn Mother of Kalrach’s extension why wouldn’t she feel my movement.

  Cassian reached inside, pulling on the well of essence stored within him.

  “[Mana Shield]”

  A pulse of blue light shimmered out, wrapping around the Behemoth’s form.

  ? You have cast [Mana Shield] spell, Gained an LVL 0 Mana shield 10/10 DMG absorption ?

  ? You have fed 10 Essence points to your mana shield spell, Current saturation: LVL 10 Shield 100/100 DMG absorption ?

  ?Your Mana Shield has taken 3 points of direct physical damage, current saturation: 97/100 ?

  The next tentacle struck the Behemoth’s flank, but there was now a shield protecting them.

  ?Your Mana Shield has taken 4 points of direct physical damage, current saturation: 93/100 ?

  ?Your Mana Shield has taken 3 points of direct physical damage, current saturation: 90/100 ?

  ?Your Mana Shield has taken 4 points of direct physical damage, current saturation: 86/100 ?

  But soon the Nest adapted.

  Where the tentacles failed, the terrain began to twist. Flesh-walls surged upward, twisting into barricades, trying to funnel and trap them with the wall forming before their eyes.

  “Fucker!… that bitch is stalling us” Cassian cursed.

  The Behemoth slammed into the first wall, cracking it—but it wasn’t enough.

  “Forget defense,” Cassian growled. “Mad Charge now, I’ll keep the shield up”

  The Behemoth howled, and Cassian felt its essence surge. Crimson aura flared from its armor, trailing like burning ribbons behind it. Its muscles tensed, coiled, then exploded with force.

  BOOM.

  They shot forward like a cannonball. The sheer pressure from the acceleration rippled outward, forming a shockwave behind them. Tentacles snapped mid-air, trying to keep up. Barricades of flesh and bone shattered, exploding outward in bursts of gore.

  They were close, Cassian could feel from the bond.

  Then the walls and ceiling of the nest exploded in small holes and from within Kalrachs began pouring in. Dozens—hundreds.

  You got to be kidding me; how in fuck are there so many down here as well.

  Reaching out with his hand, Cassian muted all the sounds apart from his heartbeats as he called his essence and activated a card according to his will.

  ?You have slightly strained yourself, HP -100 ?

  ?HP → 1174/1074?

  Space warped and a dense, obsidian orb formed midair ahead of them, crackling with black lightning. The atmosphere warped around it as the orb pulled, crushed, and shredded everything within five meters. The rushing Kalrachs were suddenly sucked into the orb, pulled mid-leap into a crushing ball of limbs, and shrieks.

  Exhaling, Cassian channeled even more essence into the obsidian orb and launched it forward.

  Follow the orb

  The entire nest shuddered again. The Mother of kalrach was calling her children.

  Too late bitch, find them in the afterlife.

  And as they broke through the final barricade, they saw the full view of the nest.

  Even knowing it was coming, he hadn’t expected… this.

  The Nest’s core wasn’t a chamber. It was a womb. A circular hollow of impossible size, where the ceiling rose into nothing and the floor pulsed with veined flesh, glittering with Kalrach eggs.

  At the far end, enraged and maddened, she waited.

  The Mother of Kalrachs.

  Half of her body was still fused to the floor, veins the size of trees pulsing out into the walls, feeding the Nest. Her torso was twisted, arms long and jointless, her face constantly shifting—eyes, mouths, tendrils phasing in and out.

  Cassian gaze snapped onto the 3 meteor fragments by her side, pulsing as tentacles wrapped around them, penetrating the fragments and draining them.

  ...

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