Chapter 224: ...Autarch's Key (8)

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One more, the translucent curtains made entirely from the combination of Magic and the [Autarch]’s will were summoned into existence.  Stretching from floor to ceiling, unbreakable and unpassable –even by any [Teleportation] type abilities if my guess was correct– it separated the room into four differenct sections.  The parties that were not involved shoved into their own little corners, and the party that would undergo the trial in the center.

Magic breathed life into a portal.

“Everyone, keep watch.”  I ordered.

Skaris stood at my right.

And at my left, where Kyrian usually would have been…

Aurora.  The ever-dependable [Shielder] of my party.

Freier and Stole were behind me.

“Mr. Lock, Sir Zenom and the others… they don’t look good.”  Aurora muttered under her breath.

In the direction where she was pointing was Jared’s party, separated by the arcane walls.

He caught us looking and shot me a soft smile.

Jared Akka Xalud had jumped in the chalice… and had come back from the dead.

[Phoenix] - Grade 2, [Rebirth] could do it.  But there had been no flames, no ashes to signal the activation of said Core.

[Lich] - Grade 2 could do it too… though I doubted it, since I hadn’t scented anything remotely resembling undeath from him.

An [Item]?  A Grade-1 Core?

Running through the list of dozen or so Cores… none of them applied to Jared’s way of reincarnation.

I’m no fool.  I know myself and what my capabilities are.  I neither underestimate nor overestimate my knowledge of this game.  I know what I know and I know enough to acknowledge what I don’t.  At this point, I had to reach one conclusion.  Unless I missed a clue, I had to admit it.

The existence of [Monsters], [Cores], or [Items] that I didn’t know about.

I felt my fingers clench into fists, digging into my palms hard enough to draw blood.  The acrid scent of scarlet reached my nose.

Regardless, I saw Aurora’s point.  Besides Jared, no one else was in any shape to continue the expedition.

Which meant that there would be no second trial for them.

In MSS, there are armies, nations, and powerful heroes.

But above them all reign the Monsters.

Monsters are the true inhabitants of this world.  If they wanted to, every single country could be wiped off the map in a single night.

“Sssslaveborn, look.”  Skaris hissed, bringing my attention back to the fight at hand.

The portal crackled open, an anomaly in the MSS space-time continuum to bring forth another Grade-2.

The Bishop turned to one of his bodyguards.  Both of their faces were hidden behind a veil, but a lock of colored hair stuck out from underneath: blue for the Kojisan bodyguard, and orange for the Akkan Xalud.  The Bishop spoke to the one with orange hair.

“Oren, you’ve done well.”  He said grandly,  “This is your final duty.”

The Akkan Xalud turned to the Bishop.  “It has been an honor to serve, Father.”

“Go with the light.”

Just as they said the words, the portal flared with bright light.

And the air was filled with malice.

I felt the two warriors, Skaris and Aurora, stiffen next to me.

Sweat beaded on my brow.

And I smelled it naturally.  Not with my [Smell] stat… but with everything.  Every single fiber of my being went into sync and they cried out one word.

Death.

A single paw stepped out, no smaller than an SUV from back on earth.  Matte black fur.  No, not matte black.  True black.  Vantablack.  The type that doesn’t just absorb light, but light avoids the its entire existence.

And the creature was covered in it.

It’s jaw stuck out, open just enough for us to hear it breath.

A soul-wrenching wheeze that froze Arione, Clover, the Bishop and his two bodyguards in their tracks.

The canine jaw gave way to a lupine head, the muzzle too long or too short to belong there but I could not imagine it belonging it anywhere any by elimination it could not belong anywhere else.  

Then it opened its eye.

A single pointed eye on its forehead, filled with blood and swimming within them, three pupils.

Then another.

And another.

And another.

And a dozen more.

“Mr. Lock… what is…”  Aurora’s voice shook.

“[Malice Wolf].”  My voice was trembling too.  “Grade-2.”

The [Imugi] had been a massive world-swallowing snake, whose head and tail I literally could not comprehend in a single look due to how massive it was.

The [Kirin] had been charged with enough energy to level Seoul, New Delhi, Beijing, New York, Tokyo… an electrifying tension that sent the possibility of danger spiking through everything that your brain could compare bombs too.  Guns, Tanks, Jets, Drones, everything.

The [Malice Wolf]...

It scared me.

On an instinctual level, every cell in Lock Slaveborn’s body, that was the result of millions of years of evolution surviving in MSS was screaming to stop moving.  To stop breathing, stop blinking, to stop existing.

It screamed that the [Malice Wolf] was a predator.

And I was prey.

Simple as that.

The [Malice Wolf] slunk out of the portal, it’s jaw hanging loose in the way it should be if it was dislocated.  Swaying left and right, it’s tongue lolled out and licked the chops, tasting the air.

Every single one of its eyes all curved downwards in a loathsome smile, the corners of its jaw rising to meet it.

“Oh Flame,”  The Kojisan bodyguard let out a sob.

It took only a fraction of a second for the [Malice Wolf] to points it jaw towards her, still smiling.  A movement that was so fast that it felt like he skipped frames on a computer screen, that he was moving in a different dimension and we could only register the results of that movement with out eyes.

And Emilian Kojisan went up in flames.

She screamed.

White-blue-orange flames engulfed her from the feet up.  The woman raised her arms, but it was simply too slow.  One moment she was shaking in fear and the next…

She was burning alive.

“What the fuck.”  Delas swore.

“Oren! Go and–”  The Bishop began.

Arione stepped behind the Bishop, clasping his hand over the priest.  Then slowly, ever so slowly… Arione raised a single finger to his lips, locking eyes with every member in his party –and those outside of it.

“What isssss he–”

I gave Skaris a sharp look and shook my head.

[Malice Wolf]’s ability.

[Wicked Wordplay].

Everything you said, everything you implied, the very words that escaped out of your mouth could be used against you.

Contrary to what it felt like, [Malice Wolf] wasn’t the type to use its claw and fang to hunt.  No, it would be over too quickly.

The Wolf preferred to play with its food.

‘You have to hunt it in complete silence.’

In the game-version of MSS, your boxes to control NPC party members would be greyed out.  No orders.  No communication.  Because every time you ordered them to do something, the [Malice Wolf] could use it against you.

But that wasn’t what was so hard.

The [Malice Wolf] slunk low to the ground, like a dog ready to pounce.  It’s heinous jaw spread wide, the flickering tongue rolling back and forth.

Then it spoke.

Oh Flame.

In exactly the same voice as Kojisan.

Oren began to burn.

Most monsters have horrible synergy between their abilities.  

That starts to change around Grade-4ish.

Around Grade-2…

You are fighting against Monsters that will always have superior stats, and still have Core synergy.

That’s why MSS is a party game.

[To kill a Mockingbird] x [Wicked Wordplay].  That was what it had used just now.

Oren didn’t scream, he simply stopped, dropped and rolled.  His arms moved in a blur, taking off his clothes as fast as he could.

The Wolf began to laugh.

A wheezing, gasping sort of laugh that made my skin crawl.

It was having fun.

But the Wolf wasn’t against a group of adventurers that didn’t know its abilities.  It was versing a [Player]... as well as a chosen of Oung herself.

Oung the Goddess of Beastman, the Goddess of Monsters.

Pink motes of mana gathered around Clover’s hands and she slammed them onto the floor, sending them out in a wave.

｢ Clover Weinport casts [Water Beast’s Blessing] ｣

She lifted her hands, making complex movements in combination with her hands, forearms, and elbows.  It looked like Taichi, or Yoga.

The round motes of pink mana traced themselves in the air, forming a rhombus.  She slammed her hands into it, not speaking a word.

｢ Clover Weinport casts [Life Beast’s Blessing] ｣

The first wave of mana clung to the bodyguard’s bodies, stripping the flames off of them.  The second seal separated into two, regenerating burnt skin.

The [Malice Wolf] turned its head towards Clover, the smile widening.

And Arione appeared behind the beast, right above the Chalice.

And dropped the Bishop right in.

…The beast never lost its smile as the portal forcibly teleported it away.