Death: Genesis

The monster was bigger than the cyclops had been, and Zeke knew it was far more dangerous. Death-attuned mana wafted off of it like heat from the sun, visible as whirling mists of aquamarine. The flesh abomination itself was only humanoid in the most basic sense of the world. It had all the appropriate pieces – two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head – but that was where the suitability of that descriptor ended. The misshapen limbs were all wrong, and they bulged in the oddest of places – like writhing tumors composed of disparate hunks of dead flesh.

It loomed over everything like a grotesque building, casting the retreating army in dark shadow. Only Zeke stood against it, and despite the normally impressive size of his titanic form, he looked positively tiny. Like a metal insect that would stand no chance of felling such a monstrosity.

So, it was a good thing that he had no intention of attacking such a creature directly. Instead, his job was to kill the necromancer first. Otherwise, the flesh abomination would simply rise again, ready to wreak havoc on the world.

And it would.

Zeke had no doubts about that. With the macabre creature’s stature and power – which had climbed all the way to level ninety-five – there wasn’t much that could stand in its way. If Zeke failed to stop it, here and now, the entire Eternal Plane would pay the inevitable price.

“No pressure,” Eveline said.

Zeke ignored her useless comment. She often helped him – not least by simply being the companion he needed so he wouldn’t descend into abject loneliness – but in battle, she was best ignored. It wasn’t Eveline’s fault. Not really. Even when she’d been a demoness, she hadn’t been combat-focused. And her transition into a mind spirit hadn’t changed that. She had no head for tactics, and what’s more, Zeke couldn’t afford the distraction she represented.

So, he focused on what was important – namely, the hundreds-of-feet-tall monstrosity standing in the center of the graveyard. It took a step that shook the world, crushing a mausoleum that looked hundreds of years old beneath its bulbous foot. Then, it let out a gurgling roar, the shockwave of which sent Zeke staggering backward. Finally, he used [Inspect], seeing the result he’d expected – and dreaded – since the thing had formed.

Flesh Abomination – Level 100

Zeke regained his balance just in time to see another enormous foot descending in his direction. Without hesitation, he used [Shifting Sands], slowing perceived time and, even as that gigantic foot fell, inch by agonizing inch, he slipped into the earth and raced forward. When he emerged, he was hundreds of yards closer to the necromancer that controlled the abomination, but the second time returned to normal, the undead monstrosity’s foot finally hit the ground.

It was no mere step, but rather a stomp meant to end the battle before it had a chance to truly being. Yet, Zeke was no longer where the thing had expected him to be. Still, that didn’t mean it was entirely ineffective.

The simple attack hit the ground with the force of a bomb, sending earth, dust, and mana billowing outward in a shockwave that Zeke felt even hundreds of yards away. More, it cratered the turf, and the ground erupted in a ripple of dirt and long-rotted corpses that made the entire cemetery look like a storm-driven sea.

Even after increasing his weight via his racial trait, Zeke couldn’t resist such a degree of force, and he was thrown hundreds of feet away. When he hit the still roiling ground, he tumbled a few times before coming to a stop after tearing through a huge and elaborate mausoleum. The entire structure collapsed atop him, but Zeke couldn’t be hurt by a few falling blocks of marble. Nor was he injured by his unplanned tumble across the graveyard. However, it did highlight the degree of danger the flesh abomination represented.

Certainly, it was of a size with the cyclops he’d killed what felt like a lifetime ago. Similarly leveled as well, though the dungeon monster’s power had been hidden behind a couple of question marks. Yet, they were close enough in both size and power that Zeke couldn’t help but make the comparison between the two gigantic creatures.

The key difference, though, was that the cyclops had been incapable of focusing on him. Indeed, it hadn’t really been a fight at all, with him defeating the creature by burrowing through its ear canal and skull, then destroying its brain. If he’d had to make a comparison, he would have likened himself to annoying bug – so miniscule that the cyclops could barely even detect him. He’d used that to his advantage, killing the creature from the inside.

However, the flesh abomination – or more likely, the necromancer that controlled it – was well aware of Zeke’s presence. And it was more than capable of focusing all of its attention on him.

Never was that more obvious than when the thing turned and began another step in Zeke’s direction.

The thing looked like it was moving in slow motion, though Zeke knew that was just an optical illusion. He only had seconds to act. Fortunately, he had no issue tearing himself free of the rubble that had once been a beautiful mausoleum. Then, he used every point of strength, agility, and dexterity to throw himself into a headlong rush, with the necromancer as his target.

The figure was still a quarter mile away and standing atop a pyramid made of marble and carved into beautiful relief sculptures depicting a battle between angels and demons, but Zeke covered that distance in the space of a few seconds. Even though he’d already put almost a hundred yards between himself and the mausoleum where his previous tumble and ceased, the descent of the giant’s latest stomping attack upset his footing and made him stumble.

But at least he didn’t go flying this time.

Zeke quickly recovered and continued his sprint across the graveyard. The time between the abomination’s thunderous steps was eerily silent, which allowed Zeke to focus on the necromancer in the distance. The figure was still ambiguously shaped and cloaked in form-obscuring robes, though Zeke did hear an ethereal chant coming from that direction.

He threw himself in that direction.

The flesh abomination followed, but it couldn’t cover the ground quickly enough to affect Zeke’s next action. The second he was within range, he stomped on the ground, sending a line of destruction tearing across the intervening distance, and a moment later, the entire pyramid was bathed in a pillar corrupted fire and earth. Zeke didn’t stop there, though. Instead, he continued on, nearly outpacing his skill. And when the fiery destruction receded, he leaped high into the air.

He descended with the force of a meteor.

The necromancer – whose robes had been burned away, revealing a spindly and charred body – could not dodge. Zeke hit them before they could recover, and when Voromir fell, it did so with enough impetus to completely destroy the androgynous figure. Bones cracked and broke, and their body burst, filling the air with the smell of rotted flesh.

But even as the thing’s body was destroyed, Zeke felt a surge of deathly mana that disappeared a second later, racing across the graveyard-turned-battlefield and into the flesh abomination.

The thing staggered, then teetered on the brink of falling.

“What just happened?” Zeke wondered inwardly as he looked up from the crater he’d just created. The kill had been far too easy. Any necromancer who could create something as powerful as the flesh abomination would’ve had to reached close to the peak. And yet, after only a couple of attacks – one of which wasn’t even accompanied by a skill – they had been entirely destroyed.

“You didn’t kill them.”

“What?”

“Did you feel an influx of kill energy?” Eveline asked.

Zeke started to answer, but then frowned. He had felt nothing, though in the confusion of his attack, he’d missed the lack of energy entering his body. In retrospect, he should’ve recognized what had happened, though. “It’s in the abomination,” he said aloud.

“I think you’re right.”

“How?” he asked, pushing himself upright and staring down the suddenly awkward creature. Was the necromancer directly controlling it now? Its movements were stilted and unfamiliar.

“One of the other undead must’ve been carrying their phylactery. It’s inside the abomination now,” Eveline said.

Zeke focused, using [Inspect], which confirmed Eveline’s supposition:

Necromantic Vessel – Level 100

“Dammit,” he breathed, knowing that he only had a slim opening in front of him. If he didn’t use the creature’s sudden awkwardness – clearly, the necromancer was having issues adjusting to controlling the new body – he would never get another chance. And if he let that thing survive, it would be even more dangerous than he’d first suspected. It wasn’t difficult to imagine it sweeping across the land and destroying everything in its path. “It’s now or never.”

But there was one major problem. With the city’s enchantment still being active, he couldn’t use [Wrath of Annihilation] at full power. And if that was the case, there was no chance of destroying the abomination-turned-necromantic vessel.

“Aren’t the others supposed to be taking care of that?” asked Eveline.

“They are,” Zeke answered. “But it’s not done yet, and I don’t think that creature is going to sit around and wait for them to complete the task.”

“That’s probably true.”

So, the strategy before him seemed simple enough. He needed to delay the monster – or necromancer – for as long as he could, while hoping that Talia, Pudge, and the others satisfied the terms of their own task. Once they disrupted the city’s enchantment, then Zeke would be free to use his skill to the full extent of its power.

“Simple,” he deadpanned. But as was often the case, simple didn’t necessarily mean easy. That became more evident with every passing second, which saw the necromancer’s control over the abomination tighten. Moment by moment, its movements became more fluid, and what was even more concerning, it clearly knew that Zeke was the only thing standing between it and whatever goals were harbored by the necromancer.

And it knew precisely how to deal with him.

So, it once again stepped forward, but this time, it took a much more measured approach. Zeke tried to dash away, but the thing’s foot was far too large. More, when he tried to activate [Shifting Sands], some sort of ethereal force reached out and blocked him. Vaguely, he heard Eveline yelling something about counter skills, but he couldn’t hear her. Instead, the whole of his attention was occupied by the descending foot.

It was grotesque, grey-skinned, and writhing with thousands of wriggling tumors. But it was also the size of a football field, so it was impossible to avoid its descent. Zeke braced himself, preemptively channeling [Touch of Divinity]. If he was going to survive, he would have to simply take the damage of being squashed like a bug, then recover from it.

The air screamed, and then, suddenly, Zeke was buried beneath a mountain of rotting flesh. At the very last second, he’d swung Voromir upward in an attempt to knock the monster’s foot aside. Yet, that had proved just as useless as he had expected it to.

Zeke felt his bones crunch beneath a force that was more than simple weight. It was as if he’d found himself in the middle of a black hole, with a gravitational pull so fierce that even light could not escape. That description was far too tame to describe what he felt, though. He was crushed beneath the very concept of mass as the fundamental truth of the world asserted itself upon him.

It wasn’t like his Path, though. It was far too wild and unfocused to compare. Instead, it was like peeking in at the underlying rules of the world itself. And against that, no amount of endurance could ever hope to stand up.

Zeke was crushed.

His body was unmade, metallic flesh and silvery blood splattering beneath that creature’s overbearing stomp. Then, even that was broken into its base components. For a moment, Zeke blacked out. Nothingness gripped him and attempted to drag him away.

But its efforts were resisted by a single spark. A pinprick of white light that blazed with the power of a thousand suns. It was tiny, but in that glimmer of divinity – for that was what it was – lay boundless power. Zeke embraced it, channeling his healing skill, [Touch of Divinity] though that its burning light.

Even then, it was a close thing. The darkness pulled against his spirit – his very soul – as it attempted to drag him from the land of the living. An infinite abyss waited on the other side, beckoning him to join.

He refused.

In fact, he felt anger on a level so deep that he split his attention, embracing the power of pure destruction, and lashing out with his Will. The nothingness screamed silently, and for a second, it felt like it would break. However, that lasted only for an instant before it rushed back with a vengeance, wrapping around him like a living thing.

Yet, that small recoil was enough for the spark of divinity to assert its dominance and drag him away. That tipped the balance in Zeke’s favor, and he felt divine vitality suffuse his entire existence before his body rebuilt itself. Blood and flesh raced in his direction, surrounding and suffusing his soul until, layer by layer, his body was made anew.

So, when the necromancer-controlled flesh abomination’s foot ascended, Zeke’s body was entirely whole.

But Zeke knew that it was a one-time thing. He couldn’t afford to tempt that endless abyss. That was a foe he could not fight. Nor would he win if he tried. It knew him now, had branded him with its nothingness. If it had another chance, it would take more than a small spark of divinity to rebuff its advances.

With that in mind, Zeke acted, racing forward. He was done waiting for the monster. Instead, he would take the fight to the abomination.