Chapter 90 - He Who Would Undo the Heavens (IV)

Chapter 90

He Who Would Undo the Heavens (IV)

The sheer amount of notifications had Ethan scrolling through them for nearly half an hour. The most prominent ones, naturally, were the ones associated with reaching Level 30–he’d unlocked one more Core Ability, two passive abilities, a new feature, and the first Class Quest which was the hint for understanding the ‘First Law’.

In addition to those, there were rewards from clearing the third wave–namely [Warping Needle] and the Rare-rank item that they were rewarded: [Ring of Grace]. It was a golden ring with a strange, runic inscription that seemed to shimmer in the light. Looking at its stats, Ethan sighed–it wasn’t meant for him.

He’d noticed something amiss, however, when he was reading through his unlocked Core Ability–from his memory… Logan did not have this ability. Though, naturally, Ethan didn’t really know precisely which abilities Logan wielded as the man never shared the details, he’d still seen the videos of the man fighting so things like Crimson Blade and Hemomancy could easily be inferred. However, the third Core ability was simply a bit too specific for Ethan to have never noticed it. Either Logan didn’t have it… or he never used it.

It didn’t make sense for him not to have it, however–the Class was ‘Unique’ and, as such, should have a singular path. But then again, it didn’t make sense for him to not use it either as it was a rather prolific one.

Sitting down, he looked deep at the abyss surrounding the arena. There was weight on his mind, a gut feeling that his life wasn’t going down the path he wanted. It had been gnawing at him for a while, but particularly so here–he’d watched the video of the people clearing this Tunnel, but his version… was much more difficult. It wasn’t obvious at a first glance–he’d faced the same monsters and in the same numbers to boot, but there were subtle differences that gave him a start.

In fact, it wasn’t even in their raw numbers–such as health and damage–but something not entirely corporeal and tangible–in the way they behaved. It became especially clear in the last wave, where he saw quite a few try to go around him and toward the kids. They were subtle movements, ones that Ethan immediately caught and stopped, but there was a finite limit to how much he could do on his own. Sighing, he went through the rewards once more, reorganising his plans for the time being.

[Ring of Grace]

Rarity: Rare

Level: 30

+23 Intellect

+18 Wisdom

+3 Mana per 5 seconds

Special Effect: every 10% of maximum Mana spent generates a Grace. At 3 Grace, unleash a wave of holy light in a frontal cone, healing all members of the party for 80+Intellect Health. Cannot generate a Grace for 15 seconds after.

[Unbeatable Heart (Passive)] – being pierced through the heart no longer kills you, but inflicts a ‘Lethal Bleed’ status that drains 13% of max Health per second.

[Unbent (Passive)] – each kill grants a stack of ‘Torment’. Upon reaching 10 stacks, gain 2% Leech until the end of combat. Upon reaching 30 stacks, gain 20% bonus damage until the end of combat. Upon reaching 60 stacks, gain 100% base Health Regenreation until the end of combat. Upon reaching 100 stacks, gain 25% bonus to all defensive stats until the end of combat. Upon reaching 200 stacks, Awaken for 30 seconds, resetting stacks of ‘Torment’. While Awakened, all stats are doubled; all single-target spells hit additional 2 targets; all multi-targeted spells hit the targets twice; all self-buffs grant 80% more value. Cannot gain stacks of ‘Torment’ for 3 min after Awaken expires.

[Invoke, G’huun <Core> – invoke the wrath of G’huun, the Blade of Blood-God, suffusing the ancient spirit within. For 30 seconds, gain access to the ‘First Law’ and 2 of the G’huun’s abilities:

<Blood Storm> – surge in a circle and unleash a tormenting torrent of blood, dealing 12,000 + 3*Vitality damage to everything within 30 yards per second for 4 seconds, leeching 35% of the damage dealt. At the end, explode in the shower of blood that scatters across 120 yards, inflicting ‘Lethal Bleed’ effect to everything. Costs 80% of current Health.

<Umbral Blade> – summon a 20 foot long blade of shadow-suffused blood and wield it with your mind for 15 seconds. The blade is incorporeal, and ignores defence while passing through all targets. Upon killing a foe, ‘Umbral Blade’ consumes it, granting you 20% of its stats for 10 seconds. Further kills reset the duration as well as grant additional stats. Stats cannot go above 30 times your base stats.

Upon the ability’s expiration, unleash an invisible torrent of energy around and knock back everything 30 yards. Furthermore, you will be inflicted by ‘Lethal Bleed’ debuff and enter a weakened state for a human body was never meant to inherit the Unspoken.]

[New feature unlocked: Scroll of Information!]

[Scroll of Information: You may spend currency to identify strengths and weaknesses of the monsters, items, and even people. The amount (and type) of currency required is dependent on the target]

He was still pondering upon the Core ability–and was beyond certain that Logan had never used it. After all, ‘Blood Storm’ dealt so much damage that it would literally one-shot 90% of the Awakened even twenty-five years into the future. It was too distinct, too… broken, by all accounts. However, he wasn’t happy about it. If anything, it made his worries even greater. After all, his current status–in terms of damage, health, resistances, and the ability to fight–was almost as good as he was more than 15 years into the future, in his past life. That wasn’t normal. It was as though there was a cosmic scale weighing his ability to fight as well as the accelerated nature of how the world was changing. And he didn’t like it.

Everything was changing too quickly, too violently, too broadly. The more it did so, the more Ethan recognised that he was becoming a one-man army more and more so. Elijah and Delilah, due to the nature of their Classes, would still be helpful, no matter what. But what about Ronald and Mingzhu? They were falling so far behind that it no longer even seemed feasible for them to catch up. Ronald was yet to reach Level 15, Mingzhu hadn’t even reached Level 10, and Ethan had already cracked 30. Their uses would continue to diminish. With Ronald, it might even make sense–however, Mingzhu was one of the most powerful people on the entire planet in Ethan’s last life. How could she, of all people, fall behind?

Sighing, he watched the minutes tick by as memories surged. This level of difficulty certainly wasn’t anything new to Ethan–in fact, in some ways, this felt… too familiar. There was a precedent for it–for all of it. A huge spike in both the difficulty of Tunnels as well as rewards, the sudden rush upward after a period of stagnation. All the signs were there–the symbols that the world only ever disregarded once. Everything, thus far, was akin to ‘seven signs of apocalypse’, if the apocalypse was a Terror.

An appearance of any Terror wasn’t sudden or abrupt–in fact, the world was aware of it for months if not years prior. They never knew which Terror would appear or even where, but they knew that it was coming–just as Ethan, seemingly against all odds, knew it now, too. The reason why it wasn’t a theory he put a lot of trust in was very simple: it was too soon. But, then again, it was too soon for everything. It could only mean one thing–the world was doing its best to prepare the few people that had the ability to run Tunnels for the appearance of the first Terror… but it was for naught.

Even the weakest Terror would be at least Level 150, and even if they were, by some miracle, Level 30 or something, it’d still be useless. They’d kneecap the entire humanity overnight and end it. The entire life post-Descent was precisely that: a battle against the current. There was never a period of grace, where the world could relax and ‘enjoy life’. It was one consistent struggle after another, all seemingly hellbent on ending the world. If there was a period of grace, it was the first few years of the post-Descent world, while everyone was still adjusting to the new reality. However, that luxury was banished.

Sighing, he took out a bottle of water and had a sip. Though he wasn’t tired, he felt tired. As though he fought and walked and thought with an extra mountain of weight and pressure on top of him. There was, however, a saving grace buried inside his heart that he was well aware of, a kindle that the King had set ablaze: he, as all others, was a Traveller. And he hardly felt like becoming the saviour of the world. Should it be that the world seemed beyond saving, he’d simply use Delilah’s ability to create portals inside the Tunnels to go into one of them. In fact, he even had a few in mind that he wanted to visit after the current issue was resolved.

Three days weren’t particularly long, and they quickly passed. Ethan felt the spacetime churn and bend, and could feel Mana dance and swirl. It was coming–the fourth wave.