Stygian Mage

Space Snatcher!

After getting close to Carla’s corpse, Soren tried out this new spell of his. Although he didn’t expect that she would have a Storage Pearl, he still gave it a try; after all, he had nothing to loose in trying. But contrary to his thoughts, Carla did possess a Storage Pearl.

As Soren finished casting his spell, a black colored glass sphere came out of her body and floated in front of him. This glossy sphere was the Storage Pearl in which an Initiator could store his things.

While Soren was surprised at first, he didn’t delay in adding it to his Soul Form. The process wasn’t much complicated; he just had to eliminate Carla’s Mana from it by adding his own Mana and then push the pearl into his Stygian Grimoire. As he finished the process and added it to his Soul Form, he felt a strange space open up inside his Stygian Grimoire. This space was not large at all; about one cubic meter. With this size, he would only be able to keep some small stuff inside. Of course, the good thing about this item was that it could expand if one added another Storage Pearl to it. Although the size of expansion would depend on the Storage Pearl being added, it was nonetheless an amazing feature.

Inside this new space that had appeared in his Soul Form, Soren only found two things apart from some Mana Crystals. One was a stack of paper, and another was a bunch of Spell Vessel containers. The containers already had the name of Spell Vessel written on top, so Soren didn’t have to check them one by one. Every container contained the same type of Spell Vessel; it was the one-time use Spell Vessel ‘Soul Search’.

After seeing this Spell Vessel, Soren’s face lit up with glee. This was because the level of knowledge he possessed about souls could easily turn this one-time use Spell Vessel into his Innate Spell. He then wouldn’t have any need to think about the limit on its uses.

And so, after putting his backpack in there, he took out one of those containers and added the Spell Vessel inside to this Soul Form.

“Spell Learned: Soul Search [1/1]. Mana cost – Negligible.”

“Spell Mastery Increased. Soul Search – Level 10/10.”

“Spell Vessel Assimilated. Innate Spell Learned: Soul Search – Level 10/10.”

“Spell Evolution Possible”

“Start the evolution process. Pick the strengthening path of evolution.”

“Understood, Master”

[Initiating Spell Evolution: Soul Search]

[Forming the Base Spell]

[.…]

[....]

[Spell Evolution Complete: Spell Strengthened]

After Soren was done adding this Spell Vessel to his Soul Form, he moved on to the next part. He was going to use his newly evolved ‘Devour’ to absorb Carla’s Quintessence. So, he started the process and focused the ‘Devour’ towards Carla’s Mana Core. Similar to Mana, the Quintessence also slowly dissipated from an Initiator or a Beast after their death. If Soren wanted to take the Quintessence from anyone, he either had to do it when they were alive or just after their death. As for how much he could get, he had already tested that back when he was in the Vestige. From Rank 0 beings, the amount of Quintessence he got was almost negligible. Also, that small amount of Quintessence could not excite his stat nodes at all; it meant that, as a Rank 1 Initiator, he could not use the Quintessence from Rank 0 beings to increase his stats. Only the Quintessence from a Rank 1 or higher being had any chance to increase his stats, and he was going to try that out right now.

As the process continued, a small droplet of white liquid started forming above his Stygian Grimoire. It took a little while but the white droplet was finally formed and the process stopped. This droplet was then absorbed by the Stygian Grimoire which started purifying it and refining it for Soren’s use. After a few moments, an even smaller droplet came out of the Grimoire and went into Soren’s orifices after turning into tiny tendrils.

Isaac was already ready for this as he controlled these tendrils and sent them into the stat nodes which Soren had previously decided on. After the process was finished smoothly, Soren opened his status screen to check the change.

 

After checking everything, he realized that the increase in his stats was much lower than he had expected. With this kind of increase, he would have to kill multiple Rank 1 Initiators just to increase one stat by a good amount. Seeing this, he completely removed the notion of depending on this ability of ‘Devour’ to increase his stats by a huge amount at once. At most, he could keep absorbing the Quintessence from all those he would kill and it would slowly add up.

……….

While Soren was checking out his status screen, Ervin and the others had already started fighting against his undeads. Although the Rank 1 Initiators like Ervin and Faron could easily take care of the Rank 0 undeads, they were unable to do so right now as they had their hands full with Soren’s Forsaken Knight. Ervin, Faron, and Captain Brady used all that they had, yet, they could only fight this undead to a standstill.

“Is this really his doing? Was he a Necromancer?” Ervin said while panting as he was pushed back by a slash of the sword from the Forsaken Knight. His body was currently covered in a white armor which he had created by using his Soul Form and his Bloodline Talent. His Soul Form was actually a white metal cube that had a unique ability to be ‘endless’. It meant that Ervin could temporarily create as much metal as he wanted just by supplying Mana to his Soul Form; given that his soul could support it, of course. Actually, this ability was pretty useless by itself. But Ervin’s Bloodline Talent supplemented it in a perfect way and turned it into a powerful ability; his Bloodline Talent was Metal Transmutation. This meant that he could change the form of any metal that he came in contact with.

“It must be him. As for him being a Necromancer, this situation is pretty much its proof.” Captain Brady replied as he also took a breather from the fight. He had partially transformed into a Dosoross Alligator right now. His hands had transformed into claws while a thick red-skinned tail had grown from his hip. This was his Soul Form: Dosoross Alligator. It was a Beast whose Bloodline Brady possessed. In fact, the ‘Animate’ type Soul Form only appeared in those Initiators who possessed some kind of Beast’s Bloodline. After the Initiation process, they would awaken the Bloodline Talent related to that Beast whose Bloodline they possessed. Combining their Bloodline Talent with their Soul Form would then allow them to transform into that particular Beast. As for the Spell Vessels, they could store them in their bodies.

“But where did he get so many bodies from? Also, this black-armored undead, it’s clearly a body of a higher level being. How did he get his hand on that?” Faron spoke out his doubts about the situation as he slashed out a few wind blades towards the Forsaken Knight. These wind blades were not very strong and the Forsaken Knight easily blocked them.

Faron’s Soul Form was a Wind Avatar which gave him a very high affinity with the Wind Element. The disadvantage of such Elemental Avatar type Soul Forms, though, was that while it provided the Initiator with a very high affinity towards a particular Element, it drastically decreased their affinity with other Elements; even if those Elements didn’t conflict. This meant that although they would be able to use that particular Element’s spells and skills in a very efficient manner, they would be unable to use the spells and skills of other Elements properly.

The red-haired man that Soren had encountered after coming to this world also had a similar Elemental Avatar type of Soul Form; his was a Fire Avatar. He had chosen to use the ability of his Soul Form in a straight-forward manner and had become a fire focused Spellcaster; a Pyromancer.

Faron, on the other hand, had decided to use the ability of his Soul Form only for support purposes. He had chosen the path of a Warrior while using the spells of the Wind Element just as a support.

“I don’t think these are real bodies. After we killed those weaker undeads, they turned into black mist and disappeared.” Ervin said as he used his Bloodline Talent to extend the spear in his hand and jabbed the Forsaken Knight at a high speed.

“Do you mean that he created these undeads? Using just Mana? That’s impossible!!” Captain Brady exclaimed in a loud voice as Ervin’s words brought him to that conclusion.

The situation between them and the Forsaken Knight had turned into a stalemate. Although Ervin and Faron had already realized that this could very well be a diversion tactic from Soren, they were not able to leave and go back; no matter how much they wanted to retreat, they weren’t able to do so as the Forsaken Knight didn’t allow them to.

But the situation did not remain like that for long as reinforcements soon arrived at the scene. The reinforcements included the remaining Rank 1 Initiators from the other Families who were left in the town after Princess Azure recruited many of them. Even if the Forsaken Knight was very strong, getting besieged by multiple Rank 1 Initiators was something it could not handle. And so, after being continuously attacked by these Initiators, it died while leaving behind a soul-shaking roar.

……….

A smile formed on Soren’s face the moment the Forsaken Knight died.

“They sure took their time.” He muttered while looking at the person who was blocking him from entering the mansion right now. It was the old man whom Soren had met when he was taking up the missions.

“Don’t get in my way, old man,” Soren said as he moved forward. He still had some reservations about killing those who had been on good terms with him. So, he wanted to avoid fighting this old man as much as he could.

“There are only children left in this Mansion right now. There’s no need to involve them in this fight.” The old man stood up to Soren while trying to control his trembling hands. The speed at which Soren had killed Carla had thoroughly scared him. But no matter what, he had to protect the children of the family.

“Please move. I don’t want to kill you.” Soren asked once more.

“If you don’t want to kill me, then turn back from here. You have nothing to gain from killing these children.” The old man had already guessed Soren’s identity and was opposing him based on whatever relation they had before.

“Those children…..”

A sigh came out of Soren’s mouth as he moved forward a couple of steps and whispered in a low voice, “Frost…Domain……”

Freeze!

Suddenly, a white transparent sphere with a radius of around 2 meters formed around Soren. This was his spell <Frost Domain>. The moment this spell took effect, Soren froze the old man and turned him into an ice statue with just a thought. The old man was just a peak Rank 0 Initiator and had no way to defend against Soren. And so, he died like that.

After taking one more look at the lifeless statue with a hint of guilt in his eye, Soren continued on. He started casting <Create Undead> and created multiple Rank 0 undeads as he moved forward inside the mansion. After he was done creating the Rank 0 undeads, he once again created the Rank 1 Forsaken Knight. He then ordered the Rank 0 undeads to move inside the mansion and start the massacre. As for the Forsaken Knight, Soren ordered it to accompany him.

.…

Shrieks filled with despair echoed in the mansion as the carnage began. Soon, the corridors were littered with mutilated corpses as their blood colored the mansion in red. Many of the Rank 0 Initiators who remained in the mansion tried to fight against the undeads but they were completely outnumbered, and very soon, were torn apart into pieces.

Soren walked in the corridor which was covered in blood and body parts with a particular destination in mind. Also, he had already ordered some of his undeads to block the entrance gate so he didn’t have to worry about someone running away. The current value of his ‘Spirit’ stat meant that he could control around 180 of these Rank 0 undeads at once. So, he was not lacking in the ‘manpower’ department at all.

As for his destination, he had sent out his Weak Wraiths to search for certain people before and they had already provided him with a result. He was currently moving to that place.

“Stay in there for a little longer. It’ll all be over very soon,” Soren gently patted his jacket and said to Argus who was currently hiding inside the inner pocket. He had no place safe to leave Argus behind so Soren had decided to bring him together.

“Hmm?” As Soren was walking down the corridor, he saw one of the doors suddenly swung open and two people rushing out from there while screaming and shrieking. Coincidentally, he was well acquainted with these two people. In fact, he had even slept with one of them. These two people were Leah and Cole.

After seeing them, the whole situation suddenly became clear in Soren’s mind as he quickly speculated the reason they were there. It was obvious to him that these two had lied to the Liston Family about Leah being pregnant with his child to get those rewards. Thinking back to it, it was probably because of these two people’s lie that the Liston Family had not tried to get Soren’s seeds while he was being tortured. After all, according to what these two had told the Liston Family, they already had Soren’s seeds.

A laugh escaped Soren’s mouth as he thought up to this point. They had somehow helped him in an indirect way.

So, Soren did nothing to them and just moved on. Of course, he might not be acting against them but that didn’t mean that his undeads wouldn’t. And Soren wasn’t so free that he would especially order his undeads to let these two go. It was now up to them if they could survive this massacre or not.

.…

Seeing Soren just walk off without doing anything to them made these two people heave a big sigh of relief. As Soren was currently wearing a mask, they hadn’t been able to recognize him. But the aura he gave off was enough to completely frighten them. So much so that if not for the constant death threats around them, they wouldn’t have been able to even move.

Walking forward, as Soren passed them and moved ahead, a thought suddenly came into his mind. He had already added the <Soul Search> spell into his arsenal, and so, he could now use it to know about the changes that might have happened while he was locked in the Black Chamber. Acting on that thought, Soren suddenly grabbed a middle-aged man who was trying to run from a Rotten Zombie. He then pointed his finger at the forehead of this man who had now fainted from being too scared.

A burst of information flashed through Soren’s mind as he used his <Soul Search> spell on this man. This was the first time he was using this kind of spell so it took him some time before he could make any sense of this information. Isaac also acted as his support and helped him in sorting everything. After a few minutes passed by, Soren finally got everything that he wanted; of course, as a result of this spell, the middle-aged man’s soul was completely scrambled and he died soon after.

From the memories of this man, Soren found out that Carla was indeed telling the truth. There were no other Rank 1 Initiators in this mansion right now. Not only that, but he also found out about the whole situation regarding Princess Azure.

A grim expression appeared on Soren’s face as he learned that the majority of the Initiators from this area had already left with Princess Azure; even the tournament that was supposed to happen around this time was canceled due to this. Before, Soren was planning on staying in this area for a little longer to destroy anyone who knew about him and the red-haired man. But now, there was no need to. Many Initiators who knew about that had already gone with Princess Azure. So, even if he could kill everyone here, there would still be people who could connect him to the red-haired man.

With the way things had turned out, it was evident that he now had to make changes in his plans. He had to ditch the plan of killing everyone who knew about this topic and just focus on the Liston Family. He was just going to finish off this Family and then walk away from this area as soon as he could.

.…

Bang!!

A big black broadsword slashed at the closed door and broke it into pieces. A few of the Rotten Zombies then quickly moved all the large pieces aside and made way for Soren to move in. This place was his destination. This was the meeting hall of the Liston Family.

As Soren walked in, he saw a few people huddling together in the back while a few standing in front of them in a battle stance, trying to protect those people at the back from whoever was coming.

The people at the back included Denise, Eve, Marie, Dane, Boyd, Hale, and some other people who Soren didn’t recognize. At the front, protecting those at the back, were Ellie, Phil, Ward, and a few others who Soren didn’t know.

“Is that you, Soren?” Ellie asked as she tightened her grip around her dagger. These people were the core of the Liston Family, and so, they had received all the recent news about Soren. Unlike Leah and Cole, Ellie and the others could tell that the attacker was Soren even though they couldn’t recognize him because of the mask.

“Move. I don’t want to fight you guys.” Soren said as his undeads surrounded the people inside, waiting for Soren’s command.

“Sorry, but my family’s livelihood depends on this.” It was Phil who answered Soren as he stood in a battle stance with cold sweat covering his forehead.

“I can’t move either, Soren.” Ward also stood against Soren with his Shield type Soul Form already released.

“Do you guys really think you can stop me?” Soren said as the air around him got colder and darker. The aura of a Rank 1 Initiator filled the hall as the people standing against him found it hard to even stand straight. The cold and dark pressure from his aura slowly shook their resolve as some of the people who were ready to fight him started to give up.

“I never said I’ll spare you guys.” An evil smile formed on Soren’s face as he finally gave the order to attack. The people who had given up on fighting against him were the people who Soren didn’t know, and this sentence of his was for them. He was not going to have any mercy towards these people.

His undeads flooded the hall as they attacked all the people inside. The only people they avoided were Ellie, Ward, and Phil. These were the people with whom Soren had once formed a team. So, if possible, he wanted to avoid fighting them. Of course, he was going to kill them if they refused to stand down; like the old man.

But, in the end, the aura of a Rank 1 was not something that they could fight against. With all their words about protecting the people at the back, they couldn’t even move an inch as the undeads swarmed the hall with their numbers.

Because of Soren’s orders, the undeads didn’t attack the three people at the front, but they created a bloody mess of the rest of the people. Ellie, Phil, and Ward stood there in their battle stance like statues as blood and gore splattered onto them. The people at the back were screaming their lungs out as they saw their protectors getting torn apart into pieces. The scene shocked them so much that some of them fainted on the spot. Denise and her friends were also huddling together in the back, crying and weeping, begging Soren to let them go. Of course, their voices were drowned in all the shrieks and screams filled with anguish and despair.

….

Finally, all the sound disappeared from the hall as all the unrelated people were robbed of their breaths. Only the faint sound of crying remained as Soren slowly started walking towards Denise and her friends. Ellie, Phil, and Ward were unable to move even a muscle at this point and had no choice but to stand still as Soren did his thing.

“Pl-Please…*sob*..*sob* Please don’t..*sob* ki-kill me.” Marie, who had destroyed Soren’s eye, sobbed and struggled to finish her sentence as she begged him for mercy.

“I-It wa..*sob*…was...Den-Denise..*sob*..wh-who ord-ordered me to do it.” It took her no time to put all the blame on Denise who, at this moment, seemed like a deflated doll. The current events had pushed her mind to the brink as she had almost given up. So much so that she didn’t even care when her ‘friend’ betrayed her in a heartbeat.

“Kill you? What are you talking about?” Soren looked down on these people who had squeezed together on the ground and said in a confused voice. His words stunned everyone alive in the hall as they all looked at him in astonishment. After all that had happened, they didn’t have much hope left of getting out of this situation with their life intact. But what Soren just said had suddenly sparked the last bit of the optimism that was hidden deep within them.

His next sentence, though, killed their hope and optimism in their bud and sent a shiver down their spine.

A sweet smile formed on Soren’s face under his mask as he continued, “Kill you? Why would I do that? I need you guys alive for what I am going to do next.”

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