(I) Hunt
Chapter 203 of "Path of the Deathless" starts unfolding: -98 (I)HuntThe vampiress was scared. That didnât stop her from trying to use her Biomancy... Discover more!
-98 (I)
Hunt
The vampiress was scared. That didnât stop her from trying to use her Biomancy to flay Shiv alive.
After her on the penalties of being a rude idiot and waiting for her head to grow back together beneath his feet, the vampiressâs head regenerated againâjust in time to see Shiv crush the Lineage Core he took from another vampire.
She got extremely cooperative after that
Dread Aura 88 > 89
Apparently, the sad vampire she was torturing was called Angelo Franchetti. He used to be part of the Bloodline until he somehow managed to murder his sire and take her core for himself. After that, instead of doing what was the normal vampire thing and climbing up the bloodline ladder, he fled. This wouldnât be an issue in and of itself, but as his sire apparently was connected to a great many junior vampires, Angelo somehow managed to achieve something of a âbloodline blockageâ for the senior vampires on top of him. This meant the elders were unable to reach out and shape their descendants, and thus an entire generation of Ophereus Bloodline high vampires turned into lessers.
âThat can happen?â Shiv muttered, taken aback. He was working through slowly, but Ekkihurst was mainly focused on the intricacies of biology rather than specifically on the nature of vampire bodies. The only other stuff Shiv really knew about vampires was how much Uvaâand practically every other Umbral in existenceâdespised them. That, and that crushing their cores killed them for good.
âWithout the wizened hand of the First, the Highest Blood will sour and spoil in the newspawn,â the vampiress hissed. She glared feral hate at Angelo, who now had his hands over his face. âYou⌠. Your sire takes you in, makes you someone of note and status, and you betray her. You butcher her. You steal her core.â The vampiress sneered. âWell done. That was rightfully taken. But thenâbut then, why did you flee? Why did you seal yourself away from the elders?â
Angelo didnât reply to her. He was still too distraught. She spat a mouthful of blood at him in response. Her eyes snapped back to Shiv, and he felt her expression change. Immediately, her features shifted. She became more . Her lips filled, and her bones cracked and transformed. Immediately, Shiv felt an urge to look at herâto do with herâcome over him. But her Charisma Skill wasnât nearly as powerful as Angeloâs.
She let out a husky breath. âPowerful PathbearerâŚâ
âHeadless corpse,â Shiv greeted in return.
Her eyes widened. Her jaw dropped. âWhaââ
Shivâs armored boot crushed her skull in the next instant, beheading her for the third time. Shiv glared down at her twitching body and growled. âSee you felling fuck with my mind now.â He cast a few more laceration spells at the other vampires around him to keep them trapped in a regenerative state as well. He had a picture of what was happening, and frankly, he didnât really care about the vampires overall.
This whole thing didnât seem like his business from what was told, but the way Angelo sobbed was human. The poor bastard sounded genuinely broken. Shiv walked away from the quivering body of the vampiress and knelt down in front of Angelo. âHey. Hey, Angelo.â
The bare-chested vampire stopped weeping for an instant and turned to regard Shiv. His expression was one of wretched despair. Shiv hated seeing that on the vampireâs features. He wanted toâ
Shiv looked away and hissed. âLook. Turn off your felling Charisma Skill, alright. Iâm not going to kill you. Yet.â
âIâm not using it,â Angelo breathed.
âWhat?â Shiv said, surprised.
âIâm not using my Charm on you. Iâm not.â
âThen why do I feel it pulling at me every time I look at you?â
âItâs just the passive effect,â Angelo muttered under his breath. âI canât help it. It came with the skillâs evolution to Master-Tier.â
The Deathless blinked. âSo⌠This entire time, you werenât even using the skill at all?â
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âNo. Not at all. I wonât use it again. Never again.â
Shiv grunted. âCouldâve fooled me. Listen: was what she said true?â
âYes,â Angelo admitted readily. He hugged himself and closed his eyes. âIâI did murder my sire. I did take her core. I did all those things. And I just wanted to be left alone after. I just wanted to be my own person again. This wasâit was never my choice. I never wanted⌠I just wantedâŚâ
âCome on,â Shiv said, holding Angelo by the shoulder. He kept the vampire from doubling over and collapsing into the blood-soaked soil. âLook. I donât care what you did. I was just surprised you were a vampire too, and that they were trying to hurt you. Never saw that before.â
That got a hollow laugh out of Angelo. âHurting each other is all the Bloodlines ever do. Itâs all vampires ever do.â After a moment, he righted himself and looked at Shiv. âIâm surprised you bothered to speak with us at all. I did not know some of your kind still held mercy for me and mine.â
âMy kind?â Shiv asked.
âNecrotechs. You are a Deathstalker, are you not?â Angelo whispered. âYou have proven your power. You have broken the others with your Biomancy and might. I will not resist anything you intend to do.â Angelo almost snarled then as his nails dug into himself. âI can never resist anyone anyway. Never. I am just a thing⌠I canât stop being a thingâŚâ
And something told Shiv that the vampire was on another level of traumatized altogether. The Deathless regarded him for a moment and stood up. âYeah. Well. Youâre not my thing. I only kind of know whatâs going on, but frankly, if you hurt the First Blood, that makes me want to cook for you, not kill you. Also, Iâm not a Necrotech. Iâm just a simple Pathbearer, making my way in the world, looking for a hydra or something that has good natural regeneration.â
Angelo looked up again, an expression of genuine surprise dawning on his features. âYou arenâtâbut the armor you wearâŚâ
âJust how I like to dress. Itâs convenient for me.â Shiv let out a laugh. âAnd I donât think they know death nearly as well as I do.â
âSo⌠you are merely monster-hunting? Here? In the Umbral Depths?â Angelo sounded confused and skeptical. âYou do know that this is conflicted territory, do you not? Both the First Blood and Compact have laid claim to these landsâand Compact does not allow unregistered Pathbearers to poach here, to even walk these lands without a proper license.â
âYeah, I donât really care what Compact wants,â Shiv replied. âThe First Blood, neither. As far as Iâm concerned, both of them are made up of bastards who need killing, and thatâs all they are to me. Speaking of which, why the hells are you here, then?â
âI ownâI a plot of land nearby,â Angelo breathed, a haunted expression returning to him. âI bought it. From the Lords of Law. It was . And I was to be safe here. Safe with my people. A town of our own⌠Just a small⌠small plot of p-peace.â And then tears spilled forth from Angeloâs eyes again.
Shiv was about to ask him for more details, and then he noticed most of the scar-armored vampires he had killed earlier had regenerated. âGimme a second.â Several laceration spells later, the conversation continued. âAlright. Whereâs your place? And tell me what exactly happened.â
Angeloâs tears trailed down his cheeks, but his eyes remained locked on Shiv. âWhy? Why do you care?â
âBecause there might be other vampires there, and I think itâs best if there â
Angelo looked upon Shiv, his face fraught with near-hope and disbelief. âWho are you?â
âI told you earlier. Just a simple Pathbearer. I need to be back somewhere with food in a while, but I think butchering a couple of vampires wonât take up too much of my time. Besides, the System would have forced me into some bullshit sooner or later.â
And somehow, Angelo understood. âYouâre a .â
âSomething like that. So. Whereâs this town of yours? And whatâs its name again?â
âHawthark,â Angelo breathed, a surge of hope filling his gaze. âHawthark. Iâyou truly wish to help me?â
âI didnât say anything about helping you. Iâm just in it for the vampire killing. And if there are other innocent people there, it might be best that they get saved.â
Slowly, Angelo rose to his feet, a renewed purpose lifting him. âIâI can show you. Itâs not far. But the First Blood, they sent an entire to recapture me and put my people to the fang.â
Shiv cocked his head. âA Court Leviathan?â Shiv wasnât fully sure what that was, but it sounded like it might be interesting. âDoes it regenerate?â
âWhat?â
âDoes it regenerate? Is it edible?â
Hope was usurped by confusion on Angeloâs face. His mouth hung open slightly. âIâyes? Possibly. Iâve never thought of such a thing.â
âAh. To hells with it. Iâll figure it out after I kill the bloodsuckers and cook the thing.â A groan came from nearby as several of the other vampires finished regenerating again. âHm. Nah. Iâm not cooking them. Feels too close to cannibalism for me.â
Angelo blinked twice. Shiv ignored the flabbergasted vampire as he dragged his cancer flail over to the vampiress, who had only just grown her head back. Once more, she blinked, once more, she looked up, once more, she saw Shiv. âSo. About you trying to seduce me earlierâŚâ
âNo! Mercy! My sire canââ
She made a fine test subject for the first proper swing of his new cancer flail.
Angelo led Shiv through a dense thicket packed with feathery plants. As they continued on, Shiv continued plucking new ingredients to try out later. Even now, with blood dripping from his flail and gore painting his armor, he reminded himself to stay immersed in the world.
The rogue vampire moved with terror and caution in his every step. He had some kind of Adept-Tier Stealth Skill that allowed him to dive from shadow to shadow. It was a bit like the Umbral Shadowalker Skill stored within Shivâs Mask of False Paths, but rather than going invisible, Angelo basically treated shadows like they were pools of water.
Shiv strolled forward casually. He wasnât going to use his Stealth Skill until Hawthark was in sight. The Creeping Void was awesome at concealment and confusion, but subtle it was not. It was a very âShivâ skill in that sense, and for now, he just wanted to get a look at his enemy and the so-called Court Leviathan that carried them into battle.
Once more, Shiv realized the value of possessing a variety of skills. He was hyper-specialized for two things, mainly: combat and cooking. In terms of combat, he had an additional specialization in close-quarters, high damage, low precision, and mass devastation encounters. He was hard to kill, inflicted a great deal of harm, and, more importantly, he kept coming back. But when it came to predicting what his enemy might do, or sensing hidden foes, seeing them over the horizon, that was where he had no capabilities whatsoever.
After fighting alongside Adam and Uva for so long, Shiv suddenly remembered how limited he was alone. If he had Adam with him here, the Young Lord would have simply cast his awareness afar, and through Uva, they would all get a good glimpse of their enemy. If he had Uva, he wouldn't need to interrogate and threaten a vampire for information. She would just pull it out of their memories.
When they fought together, they all shored up each other's weaknesses and made one another exponentially more dangerous. Enemies with massive Physicality and Toughness skills were vulnerable to mind magic or surpriseâUvaâs specialty. High Magical Resistance adversaries that Uva couldn't easily get to would be torn apart by Shiv or shot down from afar by Adam. And what they couldn't notice, what they couldn't easily react to, would be seen by Adam. He, the hawk in the sky, Uva the whisper on the wind, and Shiv, the storm fated to fall thereafter.
Right now, he was a restrained storm, holding himself at bay, creeping through the shrubbery and peering afar over the shoulder of a peculiar vampire to save the rogue bloodsucker's village. Shiv spotted the town of Hawthark immediately once they got near it.
He and Angelo were at the very top of a slope, still mostly shrouded by feathery plants. Hawthark wasnât a big village, but it did have one huge building. It seemed to be some kind of church, judging from the religious iconography decorating its surfaces. Its front end was the shape of a massive sloping triangle, and there, a colossal entity with many limbs, a large glowing body, and colorful fractals where its head was supposed to be was depicted. To Shiv'sâadmittedly amateurishâeye, its architecture was quite beautiful.
Flayed bodies had been nailed to every wall of the building.