novelraw Chapter 208: Frenzy
Chapter 208: Frenzy
Indeed, the negotiations had failed.
The "warranty salesman" pitch didn’t work; now, it was just a slaughter.
The Greater Demon, fueled by the torn banner and absolute rage, poured indiscriminate violence into every corner of the cavern.
Ignotus’s cohort fought back, screaming, casting, and bleeding. But they were fighting a hurricane with paper fans.
Ulv went down first.
The wolf knight saw a massive tail swipe coming for the unconscious Lykos. Without thinking, he slid using his [Glacial Glide] to put his body between the tail and his Lord.
CRUNCH.
Ulv’s ice armor shattered into a thousand diamonds as he was launched into the wall, sliding down, unconscious before he even hit the floor.
"Ulv..."
Aur tried to flank, zipping around the giant’s head with [Air Dash].
She was fast—much faster than ever before, but the Demon had a hundred heads.
One of the lions snapped to the side and unleashed a roar of sonic pressure, swatting Aur out of the air like a fly.
She tumbled across the ground, her wings crushed.
The poor birdfolk didn’t get up.
Gaia tried to create a bunker for the fallen, raising many an [Earth Wall]. Yet a stream of magma melted through it in seconds, burying her under molten rock and debris, only to then be backhanded with a hand made of vipers.
"Ignotus, cover me!"
Mer was the last one standing beside him.
She was glowing white-hot, burning her own life force to stay upright.
"Eat this, you ugly bastard!"
The catfolk unleashed everything.
A torrent of blue fire that momentarily blinded the Demon.
It was a magnificently desperate attack, so ’desperate’ that the recoil knocked her out cold, making her collapse face-first into the ground.
Her attack had done some damage, as expected of her, but it wasn’t enough.
...far from enough.
Silence returned to the cavern, broken only by the heavy breathing of the Demon.
Now, once more, only Ignotus remained.
He stood alone in the center of the carnage.
His sword was chipped, and his [Living Ligature] was flickering.
It wouldn’t be long before his gravity field left him.
Ignotus was about to turn Hollow—the point where a Runebearer would burn out their Soul and become an empty husk.
"Well..."
But he didn’t seem to care for that, throwing away his Stranger’s Mask.
"This went really poorly."
He wiped blood from his eye and stared up at the last of his failures.
The Greater Demon lowered its main head and looked down at Ignotus.
Its eyes were hateful.
Perhaps it sensed the residue on him.
The same scent that was on the cat.
A scent of Calamity.
"DIE, PARASITE."
Ignotus tried to lift his sword, yet his arm wouldn’t move.
His Runes were instantly made into grey.
This was death.
Eris, watching from the rubble, knew it too.
Her feline eyes were wide with horror.
But neither of them gave up.
Ignotus forced his trembling legs to take a stance.
It didn’t matter.
SHUK.
There was no dodge or lucky slip.
No amount of Luck could save him from this.
One of the Demon’s massive, coiling serpent tails shot forward faster than sight.
It tore through Ignotus’s stomach, piercing him front to back.
"Gah—!"
Ignotus coughed, a fountain of blood erupting from his mouth.
"CALAMITY!"
Eris screamed out with a broken voice, rushing towards him.
Ignotus’s eyes dulled instantly as the Demon lifted its tail, hoisting him into the air like a trophy on a pike. He hung there, limp, his blood dripping onto the hot stone below.
"UTTER TRASH."
Caring not for the danger, Eris desperately reached out with her mind.
’No, no, no! Take it! Take my power!’
She pumped all of the Divinity She had left into him. A suicidal attempt to jumpstart his heart, to make him move, to do something.
But nothing happened.
She was weakened from the failed mind-meld. She couldn’t even sacrifice Her life force for him because She didn’t have enough left to give.
Eris was utterly useless.
A Goddess who could do nothing but stare as Her Saint died.
’I’m sorry...’
But just then.
Thump.
A loud and distorted heartbeat echoed.
The Arcane glow on Ignotus’s body paused its fading, and then, all of a sudden, it flared brighter than a small star.
Runes... they were the mark of a Runebearer.
But not all Runes were created equal.
Its power depended on the source.
The closer one Ascended toward Divinity, the nearer they drew to Godhood.
Every Runebearer in Runethera was bound by the measure of the Godhood within them.
This Godhood was what truly differentiated them from mortals. Without it, a Runebearer was no more than a vessel of power with a Soul open to attack.
With it, their Soul would be shielded, allowing them to survive the overwhelming presence of Great and Ancient Runes.
But to obtain Godhood, one must first endure the trial of a God.
Whether through the test of a Lesser God or the ordeal of a Higher God.
The trial was the crucible that awakened their Godhood; those who survived would receive not only Godhood but also a Blessing, marking their body with a specialized Soul Glyph.
A piece of the God’s domain etched upon their body and Soul.
And Ignotus... where did he receive his most recent Rune?
It wasn’t from a monster or some dungeon, no.
It was from Sebastian.
A fellow "Heretic."
A Class Three Runebearer.
A man known as a Blessed.
That meant the Godhood latent in Ignotus’s Runes was incredibly high.
He had absorbed some of that Godhood when he took the Rune.
It had been sitting dormant in his Soul, waiting for a catalyst.
The moment Eris pumped him full of Her chaotic Divinity... those two energies—the stable Godhood of a Blessed and the chaotic Divinity of a Calamity—collided inside his dying body.
ZZZRRRT!
Sparks of black and gold Divinity exploded from Ignotus’s chest.
The Demon paused, feeling the sudden spike in power.
It tried to shake Ignotus off its tail.
"Ha..."
But Ignotus’s hand shot out and grabbed it.
His grip was strong enough to crack the scales.
Ignotus’s head snapped up.
His eyes weren’t dull anymore.
They weren’t red either; his Synaxis was gone.
They were a swirling void of gold and black chaos.
He had entered a frenzy.