Where the hell are we?
? Unable to determine location. The enemy has either placed a spatial lock or has similar abilities. ?
Shit.
Spatial lock meant no easy exit. No convenient shadow-step back to reality. Jin was trapped in here with this thing until one of them stopped moving.
He forced himself to look. Really look.
The chamber stretched in every direction—massive didn't even begin to cover it. Underground, definitely. He could feel it in the pressure against his ears, the way air moved sluggishly in enclosed spaces. Torches burned along distant walls, their light mixing with the sickly glow of corruption-tainted essence crystals embedded in the ceiling.
"Worry not..." The aberration's voice scraped across Jin's consciousness like broken glass. Its smile widened. Impossibly wide, teeth stretching too far across that bone-white mask. "Master Vella will have everything from your dead body."
Jin's fingers tightened on Iron Howl's grip.
What the hell is that thing?—Narrator, tell me how to not die here!
? Understood! ?
? Overdrive [x3] sequence initiated. ?
The world slowed.
Colors bled into washed-out motion. Every detail sharpened into clarity—the way dust motes hung suspended in torchlight, the micro-expressions flickering across the aberration's face, the subtle shift of its weight as it prepared to move.
And then Jin's stomach dropped.
Because the thing tracking him with its eyes was moving just as fast.
Its bone-masked face split into a wider grin.
Oh, you've gotta be shitting me.
? Warning: Enemy can observe at x3 cognitive acceleration. Overriding protocol. ?
? Overdrive [x6] Over-sequence initiated. ?
Pain slammed into Jin's skull like someone had taken a sledgehammer to the inside of his head.
He gasped. Vision graying at the edges as pressure built with every heartbeat—steady hammer-blows against the inside of his skull that made his teeth ache and his eyes water.
Fuck fuck fuck—
His Pain Resistance skill clawed upward in real-time, adapting to the cognitive overload, but the pressure remained. Constant. Relentless. A hammer banging against bone that wouldn't stop.
? Assigning Echo #1 to use [Harvest] and [Assimilate]. Gather essence at maximum efficiency, damage irrelevant.?
? Assigning Echo #2 to maintain Over-sequence. Allocating all harvested essence to cognitive load management. ?
Somewhere deep in his awareness, Jin felt the split—two parallel thought-streams branching off from his core consciousness like fractals. Echo #1 immediately started ripping essence from the ambient corruption saturating the sealed pocket-space, feeding raw power to Echo #2, which redirected everything into keeping his brain from cooking inside his skull.
? Target identified: Vellakin, The Favored of Hand Vella. ?
? Appraisal complete. ?
Information flooded Jin's vision in cascading layers:
???
? ANALYSIS FRAME: ACTIVE TARGET ?
...
? TARGET: Vellakin, The Favored of Hand Vella
? Rank: UNDERLORD [ORDER IV (Pseudo-Class)]
? Threat Level: EXTREME
? Classification: Divine Fleshbound Aberration — Soulless Vessel
? Origin: Sangvath Anor
? Status: Active Combat State Detected
…
? ESSENCE PROFILE
? Type: Corrupted Divinity Construct
? Composition: 58% necrotic bio-essence | 29% unknown substrate | 13% adaptive skeletal armor
? Core: Fused pseudo-heart. Divine Blessing fragment instability noted.
? Core Fluctuation Index: 63.7% — oscillating under emotional surge
? Predicted Output: 112–147% standard Underlord-level physical capacity
? Essence Efficiency: 74% (degrading gradually due to internal corrosion)
…
? PHYSIOLOGICAL DATA
? Height: 3.1 meters
? Mass: 610–640 kg (density varies with essence surge)
? Armor: Exoskeletal bone-plate composite; kinetic absorption threshold ~Tier V
? Mobility: High burst acceleration; moderate sustained agility
? Weapon: 'Darkness' — adaptive essence weapon capable of altering form (bludgeon, cleaver, spear)
? Observed Property: Weapon self-repairs by consuming ambient corruption and blood
…
? ABILITIES & TRAITS
? [Divine Husk] — Retains fragment of divine essence. Grants superior regeneration and corruption field (~5m radius)
? [Entropy Field] — Constant AoE decay. Neutralizes weak sorceries and slowly erodes physical and essence-based matter. Avoid prolonged contact.
? [Echo Communion] — Speech-layer resonance manipulates neural rhythm. Audio-based psychological interference.
? [Maw Blessing] — Soulless. Immune to aura suppression, charm, mental interference, and spiritual erosion. Cannot produce Aura or Lord Flame.
? [Endless Maw] — Able to latch onto mantles—devouring them, causing severe damage to one's connection with their mantle and mantle hearts.
? [Minor Blessing of the Darkened One] — Strength scales with nearby death essence. Avoid fighting amid corpses.
? [Minor Blessing of the Blood Mother] — Converts damage received into a temporary regeneration multiplier. Continuous attacks strengthen vitality if not fatal.
? [Minor Blessing of Sangvath Anor] — Minor divine resistance. Dampens essence-based precision targeting.
…
? WEAKNESSES
? Core Instability: Heart fusion node flickers rhythmically every 6.8 seconds. Predicted window for lethal strike: 0.4 sec exposure after heavy movement.
? Essence Corrosion: Cannot maintain defensive barrier while regenerating. Overlapping attacks or essence-burning ammo can overwhelm the system.
? Environmental Vulnerability: Corruption field decays faster in sanctified or purified terrain. Flame or light-aligned artifacts reduce efficiency by 37%.
? Overload Risk: Prolonged energy accumulation (>10 seconds continuous channeling) causes partial recoil backlash. Triggered by forcing repeated defense cycles.
…
? TACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS
? Hybrid assault: fire-based + kinetic damage
? Maintain: 6-15m engagement range (outside Entropy Field)
? Disable regeneration: via core overload or essence compression
? Simultaneous strikes (opposing essence types): 61% success probability
? User fatigue onset: 3.7 minutes
…
? OBSERVATION SUMMARY ?
The Blessed One endures not through will, but worship etched into flesh. Its strength is reactionary. Force it to defend—its divinity will eat itself.
? PROBABILITY OF VICTORY (CURRENT CONDITIONS): 39% ?
? PROBABILITY OF SURVIVAL (UNTIL EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE): 57% ?
? WARNING: DO NOT USE YOUR MANTLE IN ANY FORM AGAINST THIS ENEMY. YOUR MASTERY IS INSUFFICIENT TO SUBVERT THE ENEMY'S DEVOURING. ?
???
? Falling back to Overdrive [x3] to sustain mental capacity and avoid neural blackout. ?
? Good luck. Narrator will actively monitor and assess threats in real-time. ?
The world regained a fraction of color. The hammer in Jin's skull eased from crushing to merely constant. He could breathe again.
Sort of.
This is gonna hurt.
His lips twitched. Not quite a smile—more like the ghost of one, bitter and sharp around the edges. "Guess we're doing this the hard way."
The aberration's massive frame shifted. Muscles rippling beneath that nightmare fusion of flesh and chitin.
"A fate variant," Vellakin rasped, voice like gravel scraping over broken glass. "Master Vella promised me one."
The thing's grin widened further, splitting its face into something that shouldn't exist outside of nightmares. "I am Vellakin. The fifth creation of Hand Vella, the aberrant alchemist." It rolled massive shoulders, joints popping with sounds that made Jin's stomach turn. "I will savor peeling your soul from flesh."
? Warning: A type of mental attack detected. ?
Yeah, no kidding. Feels like he's talking directly into my brain.
Jin's grip tightened on Iron Howl—an anchor in the chaos spinning up around him. His other hand flexed, and Essence Edge materialized, the blade humming with power, essence reserves full and eager.
He felt the rush of it flooding the channels in his arm. Ready. Waiting.
? [Essence Edge] reserves fully charged. ?
"Tell Vella I'm allergic to dying," Jin said, voice steady despite the hammering in his chest. "Breaks me out in hives. Really disagrees with my complexion."
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Vellakin's grin somehow widened further. "Then... let us test that claim."
And then the aberration moved.
Fast.
Too fast for something that size—physics screaming in protest as six hundred pounds of abomination closed ten meters in a blink.
Darkness—it’s living weapon—shifted mid-swing, morphing from claymore to cleaver, the blade expanding as it descended in a brutal arc aimed at Jin's skull.
Jin's world compressed to motion and reaction.
No time for banter. No time for anything except actions.
Zephyr Boots flared to life. Silver wind-essence wrapped his legs as he launched sideways, air-stepping three meters off the ground to gain distance. His hand snapped up with Iron Howl, the revolver rising in one smooth motion born of desperate practice.
Bang. Bang.
Two rounds—both standard ammo, both infused on-the-fly with cryo essence he pulled from his affinity. The bullets left frost-trails in the air, glowing faintly with pale blue light.
Vellakin's arm blurred.
The sound reached Jin's ears wrong—not the wet punch of bullets finding flesh, but the brittle crack-crack of metal on chitin.
The bullets shattered against bone-plated forearms. Frost spread from the impact points—white crystals webbing across exoskeletal armor in beautiful, deadly patterns.
For half a second, Jin thought at least his affinity was working—
Then the Entropy Field flexed.
The frost died. Corruption ate through ice in an instant, reducing crystalline beauty to nothing.
Shit. Even without a proper aura, that entropy field's doing the same job...
? Recommend essence-infusion or armor-piercing ammunition for effective damage. ?
I don't have any more of those!
Reduvia, help me out.
Jin's boots touched down—
—and Reduvia answered.
Darkness erupted beneath him. His stomach lurched as shadows seized him, and then he was eight meters back, momentum that shouldn't exist absorbed by living armor that defied physics.
He hit solid ground. Knees flexed to catch himself.
Distance. Breathing room. Precious seconds to think.
Vellakin didn't slow.
The aberration surged forward again, its weapon reforming into a war-hammer mid-charge. The entropy field rippled outward—five meters of invisible rot that made Jin's skin crawl even from fifteen feet away.
Damn it, I don't wanna reveal Harvest chains yet...
Jin triggered another burst from the Zephyr Boots, skating sideways as the war-hammer came down.
CRACK.
The hammer hit where he'd been standing a heartbeat before. Stone exploded outward, dust and debris filling the air as the underground chamber remembered the impact.
Focus.
Jin was already channeling again, essence bleeding from his core into the next round. Pale blue frost crystallized along Iron Howl's barrel.
He fired mid-dodge, relying entirely on the Narrator's aim assist.
Crack.
The infused bullet punched through Vellakin's shoulder joint. The bone plate underneath buckled inward with a sound like breaking pottery. Frost spread in crystalline veins, locking the joint for a fraction of a second.
Half a second was long enough to see Vellakin's face twist.
The roar that followed scraped across the inside of Jin's skull like a cheese grater dragged over exposed nerve endings. The aberration ripped itself free of the momentary freeze, shoulder snapping back into place as corruption-fueled regeneration kicked in.
"Mere tricks," Vellakin snarled, voice scraping. "You'll need more than ice to—"
Jin fired again.
This time targeting the leading knee.
But Vellakin twisted. Impossibly fast for something that massive—body-defying inertia as it jerked sideways. The bullet grazed its thigh instead, flash-freezing a patch of dark flesh.
Not enough.
The thought cut through Jin's focus like a knife.
Not nearly enough damage.
? Enemy demonstrates advanced combat instincts and awareness. Predictive countermeasures advised. ?
Yeah, thanks for the tip.
Jin's muscles coiled with something approaching desperation.
He needed an opening. A real opening—not the phantom opportunities this thing kept dangling before snatching them away.
His lips moved before conscious thought caught up:
? Stone beneath, yield and flow— ?
The ground under Vellakin's feet turned to liquid mud.
The aberration sank ankle-deep, momentum disrupted just long enough for Jin to line up another shot.
Now.
This time, he didn't hold back.
Essence poured into the bullet—everything he could channel without collapsing his core completely. The sensation burned cold, frost spreading across his palm as Iron Howl's barrel iced over, crystallizing along steel as the bullet inside drank deep.
Pale blue-white light pulsed in his peripheral vision, painting the world in ghost-fire.
CRACK.
The recoil punched through his shoulder like getting kicked by a horse. The round—supercharged, screaming—slammed into Vellakin's center mass.
The bone plate shattered. Flesh tore. The bullet ripped through layers of protection to expose the pulsing pseudo-heart beneath.
Vellakin staggered.
Purplish-green blood sprayed in an arc, spattering stone and filling the air with a smell like rotten meat left in summer heat.
For one crystalline moment, Jin felt victory hovering within reach.
Then the wound flickered.
The damaged tissue shimmered like heat haze. Regeneration kicked in—flesh knitting, chitin reforming, the pseudo-heart disappearing behind layers of rapidly healing protection.
Jin's jaw clenched hard enough to make his teeth ache.
Of course.
But Vellakin looked hurt.
For the first time, genuine pain flickered across that nightmare face.
"You..." The aberration wheezed, voice lacking its earlier certainty. "Dirty… mongrel..."
? Core Fluctuation Window approaching in 3.8 seconds. Regeneration has taken a heavy toll on its body. ?
? Recommend forcing additional regeneration cycles. ?
Understood.
Jin's eyes narrowed. He started counting in his head, syncing with the Narrator's rhythm. Three point eight seconds. Then the window. Then maybe—maybe—he could end this.
"Stop dodging," Vellakin snarled. "I want to hear you crack."
The aberration blurred forward, closing the gap in a heartbeat. Darkness reshaping into a spear aimed directly at Jin's chest.
Shift me, buddy.
Jin twisted, calling Reduvia mid-dodge.
Shadows erupted beneath him, yanking him into darkness just as the spear punched through empty air where his chest had been.
He reappeared four meters to the left. Iron Howl is already tracking, barrel frost-rimed and hungry.
Bang.
The round was left wreathed in cold white light, trailing ice crystals.
Vellakin twisted. Almost fast enough.
Almost.
The bullet clipped its shoulder plate and detonated on impact—cryo payload releasing in a violent expansion that carved out another fist-sized chunk of exoskeleton and flesh.
Regeneration kicked in. Flesh knitted. Chitin reformed. The wound sealed.
But slower. Definitely slower than before.
"I, the great Vellakin, bleed because the Master wills it."
Jin's grin came sharp and feral, all teeth and no humor. "You talk a lot for someone who's nothing but a rabid dog on a leash."
The aberration's eyes flared—actually glowing with corrupted light.
"I remember your kindness." Its voice dropped to something that scraped against Jin's eardrums like nails on a chalkboard. "Faces full of hope." A pause. Weight in those words. "Bones full of fear."
The Entropy Field surged.
Jin's danger sense screamed half a heartbeat before it hit—a tidal wave of decay expanding outward in visible ripples, eating through stone and air and light itself.
Fuck.
If he dodged, he'd miss the window. The regeneration was slowing. The pseudo-heart was exposed. This was the opening—maybe the only opening—and it was closing fast.
Fuck it.
Jin charged.
Straight into the Entropy Field.
Decay bit into him immediately.
His coat started fraying at the edges, fabric disintegrating thread by thread like time-lapse footage. His skin prickled with a thousand tiny needles jabbing into every exposed inch, each one whispering die die die in voices that felt older than stone.
? Warning: Entropy Field causing 3% HP loss per second. Immediate retreat or Harvest utilization advised. ?
Not yet. Just a little closer—
Vellakin saw him coming.
Its eyes locked onto Jin, and Darkness lashed out in a wide arc, morphing from spear to bludgeon mid-swing, trying to catch Jin in the shockwave of displaced air.
Jin air-stepped again. Zephyr Stride burning essence to keep him airborne, silver light trailing from his boots as he moved through three-dimensional space like gravity was a suggestion.
He fired twice more—controlled pairs, muscle memory taking over where conscious thought had long since fled.
One standard round as a feint.
One enhanced.
Vellakin deflected the first with contemptuous ease.
The second punched through a seam in its chest-plate, burrowing deep before the cryo payload detonated.
The aberration screamed.
The sound was inhuman. Raw.
? Core flicker imminent. Window in 1.2 seconds. ?
Jin's pulse spiked. Adrenaline flooding his system as he started weaving essence, fingers moving through the air to shape a one-verse sorcery—
Vellakin's voice hit him like a physical force.
"Mongrel, you are dust before—"
The words warped Jin's neural rhythm.
His vision doubled. Then tripled. Nausea surged up his throat. His hands trembled, the sorcery he was shaping collapsing mid-cast, essence dispersing uselessly into the air.
Fuck!
He aborted, rolling backward as Darkness reshaped into a cleaver and came down where his head had been a microsecond before.
The blade carved a trench through stone, decay eating the edges black and making them crumble like ash.
Jin gritted his teeth and shifted tactics.
Pour more essence into Reduvia. Move faster, Jin.
He fired twice more, forcing Vellakin to defend, then called Reduvia again.
Shadows erupted in a spiral around him—a carousel of darkness that defied geometry.
Jin dove through one shadow. Emerged from another at a completely different angle. Fired. Dove again before Vellakin could track him.
Floor shadow. Wall shadow. Ceiling shadow. Support pillar.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Each shot carved another wound. Each wound slowed the regeneration just a fraction more, stacking damage faster than the aberration could heal.
Vellakin roared, frustration bleeding into rage.
Darkness morphed into a massive bludgeon. The aberration raised it overhead like judgment itself, corruption bleeding from the weapon in visible waves.
Then brought it down.
The entire chamber shuddered.
The entropy field surged outward in a tidal wave of corrosion, decaying stone, air, and everything it touched. Cracks spider-webbed across the ceiling. Chunks of rock broke free, falling like deadly rain.
Jin twisted midair, instinct screaming directions faster than conscious thought could process.
Miss that shard. Duck under that one. Angle left—
Not fast enough.
A rock shard caught his left shoulder.
The impact tore through muscle and flesh, punching through and out the other side. Hot blood bloomed, soaking his coat in an instant. Pain followed a heartbeat later—agony that made his vision gray out at the edges.
Fuck fuck FUCK—
His concentration fractured. Just for an instant. Just long enough.
Vellakin materialized directly in front of him.
"Shi—"
The backhand caught Jin across the face before the curse could fully form.
The world tilted.
Sound compressed into a single high-pitched ringing note that drowned out everything else. His inner ear screamed conflicting directions. Up became sideways. Forward became spinning. Gravity lost all meaning.
Jin landed.
Hard.
The impact drove air from his lungs in an explosive gasp. His teeth clacked together—bit his tongue, copper taste flooding his mouth, mixing with blood already there. Pain exploded across his back and ribs.
His left arm hung wrong. Loose. Broken at the shoulder where the rock had punched through.
? Critical injuries received... ?
Jin spat blood, gasping for air that wouldn't come.
Adapt or die.
He switched Iron Howl to his right hand—the good one. Left hand still held the pistol through sheer stubbornness, fingers locked around the grip in a death-grip even though the arm was useless, while his good one had lost the dagger.
What a twist of fate.
The movement sent fresh lightning through his shoulder. He ignored it. Ignored the way his vision swam like looking through heat waves. Ignored the voice in his head cataloging exactly how badly this was going.
Same choice it's always been.
"Clever," Vellakin admitted, rolling massive shoulders. Almost conversational. "But not clever enough."
The aberration advanced. No rush this time—deliberate, methodical. Darkness shifted into a war-hammer, crackling with corrupted energy that made the air itself recoil.
"You fight well for a mere mortal," Vellakin said, tone almost respectful. "But you're breaking. I can smell it."
Jin reloaded with his good hand, movements shaky but functional. "Yeah? Well, you smell like a dumpster had a baby with a sewer. So we're even."
Vellakin's grin widened. "Defiant to the end. Master Vella will enjoy dissecting that spirit."
The aberration swung.
Jin feinted left—
Called on Reduvia for help—
Vellakin anticipated.
The hammer redirected mid-swing, catching Jin's already broken shoulder even as he dematerialized into shadow.
The blow glanced—still enough to send Jin spinning like a broken top, momentum carrying him into a support pillar that cracked under the impact.
Fuck fuck fuck—
Jin forced himself upright. Left arm dangling uselessly, blood soaking through his coat and dripping onto the stone.
He called his [Chains of Harvest].
Silver chains erupted from his being, wrapping around his good arm, reinforcing it with power that made his essence channels scream in protest.
Sorry, Narrator. Out of options.
"Ah, you finally show your mantle..." Vellakin's grin widened impossibly further. "How delightful."
And almost immediately, Jin felt it—something devouring his manifestation, eating through the chains like acid through paper.
? WARNING! MANTLE INTEGRITY COMPROMISED! ?
? WARNING! CONNECTION DESTABILIZING! ?
? WARNING! HARVESTING LINK UNDER ATTACK! ?
Jin ignored everything.
Reached with his chains—no, with his mantle itself—and started harvesting the links with which Vellakin was devouring his manifestation.
The sensation was wrong. Like trying to eat something that was actively eating you back. His stomach churned. His essence recoiled.
He funneled everything—all the stolen power, all the destabilized connections—and redirected it into Iron Howl.
The gun screamed.
Light erupted from the barrel—pale blue-white, edged with silver, frost, and corruption, and something else warring for dominance.
? Warning: Essence output exceeding safe parameters— ?
Don't care.
They charged simultaneously.
Vellakin swung. Jin fired.
The bullet and blade met in the space between them.
BOOM.
The collision destabilized space itself.
Black lightning crackled outward in jagged arcs. Reality tore at the seams, the space groaning under pressure it was never meant to handle.
Both were thrown back—Jin sailing through the air like a rag doll, Vellakin stumbling backward.
The pressure of collapsing space bore down on everything.
Jin hit the ground. Rolled. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. His entire body was screaming.
And then he heard it.
A voice, distant but unmistakable. Familiar.
"Knock knock, asshole."
A door tore open in mid-air.
Not a normal door. A spatial rift—jagged and glowing with silver-blue light, cutting through the sealed pocket-dimension like a knife through wet paper.
Joe stepped through, grinning like a maniac, hands already moving through gestures Jin's fuzzy brain couldn't quite track.
"You're having fun without me? Rude."
Jin tried to laugh. It came out as a wet cough that brought up blood. "Took you long enough."
"Traffic was a bitch," Joe said, then his eyes landed on Jin's mangled shoulder, the blood soaking through his coat, the way he was barely staying conscious. His grin hardened into something dangerous. "Hold tight, Jin."
He snapped his fingers.
Another door opened. Then another. And another and another and another—
All of them appeared inside Vellakin's body.
The aberration looked confused for half a second.
Then the doors inverted.
Spatial pressure collapsed inward from multiple points simultaneously, compressing the Favored from all sides. Vellakin tried to scream, but its voice was already gone, body folding in on itself like crumpled paper, bones snapping with sounds like breaking tree branches.
Oh, hell no, I’m not letting you die free!
Jin raised one trembling hand. Blood dripped from his fingers.
"Harvest!"
[Chains of Harvest] erupted from his palm—silver chains wrapping around the last of Vellakin's rapidly compressing form, pulling, draining every last scrap of essence from the dying monster.
? Harvesting: Underlord Rank "Vellakin, The Favored of Hand Vella" ?
Power flooded Jin's channels. Too much. Way too much. His core stretched, groaning under the influx of stolen strength.
? Harvest completed! ?
Jin swayed. The world tilted sideways. A manic, bloodied grin formed on his face despite everything.
"I... did it..."
Joe caught him before he could fall.
"Yeah, yeah, technically I killed the bastard but..." Joe muttered, already stepping through another door, Jin held carefully in his arms. "You're a badass. Now shut up before you bleed out."
The door closed behind them.
The pocket-space collapsed in on itself, reality reasserting dominance over the sealed dimension.
And far below, in the ritual chamber beneath Outpost Alpha, the Trojan continued to spread.
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