Apocalypse Healer - Path of Death-Chapter 12B3 - New Toys

Crumbs of dried blood fluttered to the ground as David’s eyes snapped open. He leaped to his feet, his eyes drifting vigilantly to Deryadus’ Arm, which rested unmoving. He felt the strength and resilience within the Relic, but there was no more vicious resistance. Something within the Relic tried to block him out even now, but David easily squashed the resistance of the remnants that had prevailed—momentarily, at least.

Should I destroy it wholly? Maybe not now. It may come in handy in the future.

David contemplated.

It felt right to leave the remnants alive even if it was trying to fight him.

Being forced into submission after being torn apart did a great deal of damage to the prideful creature. As it turned out, hurting the Sacred Beast’s Will was even worse than killing its weakened physical form. David couldn’t tell why that was the case, but he was happy regardless. Even better was that he survived, which was mostly owed to [Indomitable Will], allowing him to keep his calm in the face of the monstrosity’s might.

“Are you fine?” Maja appeared beside him, her hand resting on his shoulder.

“Hmm?” He met Maja’s eyes and nudged his head slightly. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. The Sacred Beast’s Will was a little bit stronger than expected. It nearly killed me.”

His words were light, but the meaning behind them wasn’t. Scales clattered as both the Tirac Artificer and Dwarven Blacksmith stared wide-eyed at him.

“Seriously?” the Blacksmith asked. “I mean, we were aware of the Sacred Beast’s revitalized Will, but while it was surely strong enough to kill us if we’d dared to bind it, it didn’t feel strong enough to do the same to someone like you.”

David smiled lightly. “I think it fooled you. Electra suppressed her Will and allowed you to modify it as you pleased. After all, you never tried to harm it. If anything, you enhanced its willpower with every piece of armor you bound to it. And the broadsword, of course.”

Before doing anything stupid, which he was bound to do either way, David accessed [Blood Manipulation] and extracted the blood seeping into his clothes and clinging to his naked skin. He removed it and stored it inside the spatial necklace before cleansing his body with [Purity], finishing all preparations.

Once done, he flicked his left wrist and a sword with a long, double-edged blade manifested in his hand. The ivory-colored blade was straight and longer than David. However, most surprising was not the blade’s length or its unusual width. Neither was its weight.

David smirked at the black lightning currents crackling across the blade’s surface. A heavy pressure descended upon him and everyone nearby as the blade materialized, and it only intensified as the scaled armor pieces appeared one by one, fitting him like a second skin.

The armor didn’t look much like armor. If anything, it appeared like scales had grown from all over his body. The sole exception was a particular set of scales that added details, and more protection, to his neck and other more fragile body parts.

Black lightning currents crackled across the armor as well, adding charm to it. At least, David thought it was charming, whereas Maja and the artisans groaned, their limbs trembling like leaves in a storm as the Sacred Beast’s pressure filled the room.

Interestingly enough, only those with a weaker Body stat suffered from the pressure, meaning it was a physical aspect similar to gravitational force. Zachariah acted oblivious to the pressure, but his eye twitched ever so faintly, his fingers coiling around the handle of his sword.

“No need to attack me. That’s more or less normal,” David pointed out, pressing his will into the armor and sword, reducing the pressure they naturally emitted drastically.

He called upon [Origin Lightning], lips curling upward as pristine-white lightning currents joined Electra’s darker currents. David filled both armor and sword with the white lightning before applying [Herald’s Blessing] with little difficulty, testing their compatibility and efficiency. It was a bit of a challenge but worked regardless.

I can work with that. He nodded slowly, turning his attention to the next stage—the most important point of all of this.

Albeit at odds with the headache creeping up the back of his head, David willed Blood to flow toward Deryadus’ Arm. He spread traces of Blood across his body to drip out and seep into Scalemore—courtesy of David’s excellent naming sense—and repeated the same with Serpent Fang, which he decided to call the oversized claymore made from Electra’s fang.

Traces of Blood seeped into the Scalemore and Serpent Fang without any problems. However, that was within his expectations. What mattered was how much Blood his newest assets could hoard and for how long they could preserve it. If the Blood within the Scalemore and Serpent Fang deteriorated too quickly, it would be detrimental to keep them full at all times. Yet, his first impression told a different story.

There did not seem to be a rapid depreciation yet. Nothing had changed, David registered, nodding in satisfaction. Perfect preservation of an exceedingly large amount of Blood droplets was what he was hoping for, and he was sure he would make it work.

Even if it did not work out immediately, the Scalemore and Serpent Fang would grow alongside the Sacred Beast Core. Moreover, everything would change and improve with Deryadus’ Arm. After all, they were now one and the same, allowing further modifications through everything the Ancient Relic consumed!

At least, that was the plan. Depending on the success of his work, he might have transformed Deryadus’ Arm into the perfect Relic for him—or not.

Pooling Blood into the Sacred Beast Core worked as well. It was contained and preserved in a similar fashion as the Scalemore and Serpent Fang, though it also increased the pressure hanging in the air. And, as it turned out, filling the Sacred Beast Core empowered Electra’s remnant, making it more violent.

But as annoying as that could potentially be in the future, there were also benefits. As more Blood gathered in the Beast Core, David gained stronger control of Scalemore and Serpent Fang.

Even if you're not fully subdued yet, you'd better listen to me, David told the remnants, Bloodlust leaking into the Core, silencing it momentarily.

He steadied his stance, ignoring the headache plaguing his mind, and turned to the others, who were looking at him like lost lambs. Maja and the artisans appeared to be still caught in the heavy pressure even though it had already faded, while Zachariah threw him a curious look. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

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“I have been working on Deryadus’ Arm for the last few months, and the System labeled it as a Modification in my status not too long ago. Since that’s the case, I thought fusing the Beast Core with the Relic would work well, ensuring they’d grow alongside me,” David explained, leaving out how much could go wrong.

There was a flicker in Zachariah’s eyes, but David ignored it.

“Make sure you keep the beast under control,” the Regressor said sternly, earning him a smile.

“Of course.”

For a moment, silence filled the room, but only until the Blacksmith cursed something in the dwarven tongue. The dwarf walked out, his head beet-red.

“What’s his issue?” Maja couldn’t help herself and asked, glancing at the Tirac Artificer, who could only shrug.

“Whatever.” David waved dismissively and turned to Zachariah. “When are we going to leave?”

“Tomorrow morning,” Zachariah answered flatly.

“But—…”

“Suppressing the Sacred Beast’s Will consumed too much mind power. You will use the rest of the day to get used to your new toys and recover. Tomorrow morning, we will leave with the first sunlight,” Zachariah added. “Don’t think too much about it. I’m still waiting for certain updates from my network.”

Network?

David raised an eyebrow but decided against asking. Sometimes, it was better to stay oblivious, and it was not like he didn’t have enough things to think about.

He groaned as the headache tormenting him worsened. It felt like his head was going to split into countless pieces at any moment.

Resting and adapting it is.

***

Maja stood ready in the back, her eyes flicking from one spot to the next. Twinkling sparkles of vibrant gold surrounded her, yet they remained static because there was no need for her talent.

She wanted to help, but it appeared her powers were not needed in this battle.

“How did he…” Maja shuddered, her eyes bulging as she watched David vanish into thin air as he charged at a large bipedal creature.

The creature was faster and stronger than most monsters she had seen, its thick, verdant, dark-spotted hide unscathed even after dozens of projectiles had impacted, yet David was faster.

He disappeared on the spot, and a crimson figure that looked just like him appeared in his stead. But while Maja was certain the figure wasn’t David—mostly due to its crimson-glowing appearance—she felt her friend within the figure.

And it appeared the monster thought similarly. It sensed David’s presence in the crimson figure and attacked.

A withering root burst through the ground near the bipedal monster’s feet and slithered across the surface, leaping back into the ground in one moment, only to resurface a quarter of a second later, piercing the crimson figure.

It splattered, and David’s presence dispersed, while the withering root continued its havoc, draining the surrounding life and the structure’s durability.

Maja had yet to understand how the withering root worked, but it seemed to drain everything in its range, whether it was alive or inanimate. The only exception was David, whose presence resurfaced beside the monster, Scalemore and Serpent Fang’s lightning crackling like a thunderstorm.

The noises were anything but silent, but Maja doubted being stealthy had been on David’s mind.

A vibrant smile entered her view as David swept Serpent Fang through the air. The bipedal monster responded much faster than expected, its upper body twisting to evade the incoming attack. Its arms surged upward, and more withering roots burst from the ground around it, urging Maja to respond.

She wanted to help, yet she remained unmoving even as her instincts screamed at her.

How can he stay so calm? Maja wondered, her hair standing up to its end as the withering roots and claws closed in on David.

Suddenly, a grand shield conjured around David, blocking a small, pitch-black root that had emerged out of nowhere. While smaller than the rest, it was faster and felt several times more dangerous.

But the shield, a dense construct conjured from several overlapping layers of barriers and unique-looking shields, blocked the attack that would have easily pierced through most Protectors Maja had the honor to support in battle. She would have been crushed by that, yet the shield was unscathed even as the withering roots and the monster’s claws impacted heavily.

Maybe I could have…

Maja shuddered. She still had her instantaneous teleport and more than enough Class Skills to deal with such deadly attacks. However, acting as nonchalantly as David was not within her means.

I am not needed here. She grimaced, watching Serpent Fang as it swiped through the air once more, whipping out a crescent blade that severed the withering roots in one go. Black lightning currents surged forward, joining the pristine lightning bolt that had materialized out of nowhere. The lightning of contrasting colors struck the bipedal monster’s chest and charred its tough hide.

A displeased click of a tongue rang in her ears, clearly dissatisfied with the result, and David turned into a blur. The monster’s head lobbed through the air a moment later, while David’s old weapon manifested in his hands. The pitch-black root bolted at David even as the monster collapsed, but he evaded it nonchalantly and plunged the Obsidian Blade into the monster’s charred chest.

Maja watched in silence as the pitch-black root withered, following the main body’s example as it transformed into a husk void of lifeforce within seconds.

The day I get used to this is probably the day I will lose my sanity. Maja grimaced, tightly holding onto her other arm as if that would disperse the discomfort in her heart.

But as uncomfortable as it was to watch lifeforce being drained before her eyes, as frustrating was knowing that she couldn’t do the same. Not the part about draining lifeforce. The rest.

Maja did not consider herself weak at this point, but watching David fight was already shock-inducing. However, as her head flicked to Zachariah, hoping to see something else — at this point, Maja couldn’t even tell exactly what she was hoping for with that odd duo — she only watched Zachariah tear through equally powerful enemies with calculated ease. He was even faster than David, revealing strength no human should be able to wield.

Her eyes bulged and her limbs quivered as she watched the massacre before her, Zachariah and David easily taking care of monsters that would have posed a lethal threat to the Dwarven Sanctuary, feeling utterly useless.

But while it was uncomfortable to watch the pair of monstrosities disguised as humans, it stirred something deep within her as well.

If they can do it... I should be able to do the same. Maja thought, clenching her fists as remnants of the fight against the Sacred Beast and the Great Horde resurfaced on her mind.

Standing around doing nothing won’t help anyone. I... need to do something!

Determination flickered in her eyes, the twinkling sparks surrounding her jumped to life, and rocks of all sizes and density emerged from her storage device.

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