(I) Jealousy
Chapter 92 of "Path of the Deathless" opens showing developments: -47 (I)JealousyIt had been some time since Shiv conducted a proper monster hunt. But this... Keep reading!
-47 (I)
Jealousy
It had been some time since Shiv conducted a proper monster hunt. But this time wasnât the same as all the ones heâd been on before, either. Before, he was just a desperate Pathless sneaking down into the ruins to slaughter nests of lesser vampires, hoping to earn a Path through triumphant bloodshed. His allies were daylight, fire, surprise, and a deep knowledge of his enemyâs habits.
Now, he was going after a Greater Demonâa powerful dimensional being offering its services and skills under the conditions of a contract. A pretty massive leap from the lesser vampires. The bloodsuckers were something a prepared and fearless Pathless could hunt. The Jealousy was something that cracked Shivâs Heroic-Tier Mind Shield with its Psychomancy in mere moments. All things considered, this was, like Leu said, practically suicide.
And that just upped the thrill.
âShiv⌠are you serious about this? Itâs a Greater Demon. A Greater Demon.â Tran, meanwhile, was on the other end of the excitement spectrum. âCreatures like this⌠it takes a dedicated force of Slayers to defeat. A group of Masters working in concert. Orâor even a Hero! I donât think Roland Arrow would enter this beastâs lair alone and take this fight.â
âWell. I guess Iâm not Roland Arrow.â Shiv chuckled. It was kind of strange being more enthusiastic about killing a monster than a Slayer, but Shiv kind of got why Tran was worried. The man was traumatized, wanted out of this hellscape, and if Shiv died, his fate would be up in the air alongside Heather. Leu didnât regard the Slayers or the goblin mercenary much. Most of her obsequiousness had been spent buttering Shivâs ego, and that mostly because of his association to Valor and the fact that he just might help her fulfill her lifelong desire of killing her brother's murderer. Follow current novels on novelhall.com
But if this went wrong and Shiv got his mind broken, well, things might not go so well for Tran and Heather. Even if they got out of the gateway over to the surface or the Abyss, they likely couldnât fight off a small army of enemies. And then there was the small matter of them knowing too much.
Shiv wasnât a complicated thinker, but basic secrecy and suspicion wasnât that hard to grasp. If he was Leu and purely self-interested, he might just see Siggy, Heather, and Tran dead if this thing went wrong. That way, she could go back to hiding in plain sight and not risk anything. It was an ugly thought, but something Shiv thought Leu was absolutely capable of doing. After all, she served as Confrigaâs Guardshead for a good while, and being a Guardshead for a slave-runner usually demanded a lack of morals.
Over the course of a half-day, Shiv crafted three more sets of heavy bone armor, six bone drills, ten bone daggers, and harvested thirty skin decoys. This was all of the adamantine variety. He had much more in terms of the older Diamond Shelled category, and he fully intended to use materials taken from his Adept-Tier corpses when faced with lesser enemies.
However, the Jealousy was a monster, and a Heroic-Tier monster at that. From what Leu elaborated, though only its Psychomancy and Physicality were in the Heroic-Tier Threshold, its Toughness was Master-Tier as well, with only its Reflexes lacking at Adept. And there was more she didnât know about the beast, such as if it had weapon proficiency skills and just how intelligent it was.
Much like a cave biter, most Jealousies started out as non-thinking parasites that devoured the minds of conscious beings. From there, the ones that ate and leveled enough would ascend and attain a metamorphosis into a higher formâthat being the colossal, angular, mind-crushing octopus-thing Shiv saw guarding the gateway in the Abyss. This Jealousy had been alive for well over five hundred years, so its power and experience had to be staggering.
But that provoked a question from Shiv. âWhyâs it only Heroic?â
Leu was bewildered by his question. âOnly? Master Shiv⌠You must understand that most simply do not accumulate the experiences and stresses required to progress at your prodigious rate. In fact, if what you have claimed about your rate of advancement is true, then you are truly a monster among prodigies.â
But that still didnât sit right with Shiv. âBut still. Five hundred years is a time.â
âConsider how it spent the five hundred years,â Leu said. âIts initial growth, like most Pathbearers, is likely rapidâreaching Adept in months to years.â
âYears, usually,â Heather commented from the side. âNot weeks.â
âTechnically, I got my Adept-Tier Toughness in days,â Shiv corrected.
The Jump Mage looked close to being dangerously ill.
âBut after it ascends to Adept-Tier and undergoes the initial stages of its metamorphosis, it will start to think and learn,â Leu continued. âAnd among the first things a thinking creature learns are more sophisticated acts of self-preservation. Its natural lifespan is long, and its advancements in Physicality only lengthen the time it has. It need not hurry to progress, as most Pathbearers do not. It is also not uncommon for most Master-Tier Pathbearers to slow their progress and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Or face a bottleneck that leaves them trapped. After all, it is hard to achieve greater and more significant acts of legend as you evolve your skills and rise through the thresholds.â
Shiv didnât get that at all. âI thought the whole point of being a Pathbearer was to claim more freedom through skills and power. To face stronger enemies and do greater things.â
âYeah, but most of us want to live too,â Heather remarked. âCanât exactly do any of the great and history-shaping stuff if youâre dead.â
The Deathless stared at her. And slowly smiled under his helmet. He made sure it came through with his voice. âWell. I suppose thatâs true for most people.â
âStill, Shiv,â Tran interjected, interrupting their one-sided bickering. âIf this plan goes wrongâthis is a Heroic-Tier Psychomancer. Death isnât the first thing it might do to you.â Tran looked uneasy, and he sounded genuinely worried about Shiv. âYou said your mask got cracked by its mind magic. How many more hits do you think it can take?â
Shiv regarded his Mask of False Paths.
Equipment:
Condition: Moderately Damaged
âProbably at least another good hit or two from a Heroic-Tier adversary,â Shiv said. âBut Leu says the thing will be sluggish, confused, and weakened while in its digestive state after eating the minds of the slaves. And itâll be distracted and unfocused trying to eat the slaves. That, and its sanctum will be sealed during its feeding time to protect the rest of the gate from⌠what did you call it, Lue?â
âPsychoactive Overflow,â the Vulteg reminded him.
âPsychoactive Overflow. Meaning, if I manage to sneak in with the slaves, itâll just be me, them, and the big ugly bastard for a good few hours. Plenty of time to either kill it, or get my mind broken for good. Preferably the former. That being saidâŚâ Shiv tossed the last of his bone drills into his cape. It felt like it was nearing capacity in terms of weight and storage by now, but Shiv had a feeling it would get a lot lighter soon. âIâm probably going to ask you to return that armor to me, Heather. Way this fightâs going to go, Iâm going to need every bit of Magical Resistance I can afford. Especially since I got none.â
âWhat?â Leu said, her voice low with disbelief. âN-none?â
âYeah, the mask got a Heroic Mind-Shield, but aside from that, I got my Master-Tier Biomancy, and⌠well, the other magical skills are still growing. Just⌠not as fast.â
The Guardshead just stared at him, her glowing eye shrinking at its core. âMaster Shiv, your skills and evolutions are⌠The nature of your capabilities is beyond my comprehension.â
Shiv blinked. He wasnât sure if she was insulting him or praising his power. âThank you?â
Leu gawked at him for a few moments longer before turning to stare at Heather, Tran, and Siggy.
âDonât look at me, Iâm just a hostage,â the goblin muttered.
âIâm as grossed out as you look,â Heather said. Beside her, Tran just shrugged.
âAgainst a Greater Demon like the Jealousy, a damaged piece of equipment will not do.â Leu hesitated for a moment, before turning, staring in the direction of her personal armory and wardrobe. âPlease wait here, Master Shiv. I may have something that might be of service to you in the battle ahead.â
As the Guardshead departed, Shiv flinched as two of her slugs began smashing into each other in the spatially expanded enclosure below. It seemed like they were fighting over some largeâ
âShiv, hey, listen⌠I know you donât trust me, but can I take a look at the mask again?â Tran asked, interrupting Shivâs thoughts.
Shiv paused, and after a beat of consideration, removed his helmet and mask before handing the item off to Tran. Its surface was veined with deep fissures, but the mask was still holding together. It was surprisingly resilient for something that was supposedly just made from bronze, but magical items were weird that way.
âHow many Enchantments is this thing running?â Tran asked, running a finger across the cracks in the mask.
âAbout four. Perfect Semblance. Adept and Initiate-Skill Thief, and⌠uh, Heroic Mind-Shield.â
The Slayer whistled. âThose are some pretty hefty Enchantments, Shiv. Iâm guessing this mask is pretty close to its current mana capacity, so I donât know if Iâll be able to apply a Self-Mending Enchantment to it, but I can try.â
âYou can enchant?â Shiv said, taking in Tran with new eyes. âI didnât know that.â
Tran smiled miserably at Shiv, and he laughed. âWe barely know each other, Shiv. Lots of things you didnât know about me, and I certainly didnât expect about you. Iâm no dedicated enchanterâmostly got the skill because I wanted to avoid spending money I didnât have at the academy⌠But I should still have a few skill levels in repair that I can invest into the mask. If it takes, the damage should go away.â
Shiv didnât know what to say. âYouâre willing to do that? Just⌠give up some of your skill levels.â
âIâd be willing to give up an entire Skill Evolution if it means keeping you alive and getting all of us out of this miserable place,â Tran said, sighing. âEven if thatâs impossible to do.â
Shiv frowned. âTran, I know itâs going to be a rough and ugly fight even with the demon weakened, but I wouldnât call the odds impossible.â
âNo, not that: Investing a full Skill Evolution into an item is impossible.â
âHuh?â Shiv blinked. âIt is?â
âYeah,â Tran said. He looked around and muttered something under his breath about needing to ask Leu if she had an enchanting table somewhere. Heather, meanwhile, was looking down at the slugs, appearing lost in thought.
âSo,â Tran continued, âskipping through all the academic theories, items usually have Tiers of their ownâa bit like a Pathbearer or a core. But an itemâs Tier determines how many skill levels it can contain with its mana. The thing about investing skills into an item is that our skills are shaped in relation to us as people, and with how mana is actively attuned by the mind⌠Well, most skills transform a bit once they get put into an item, because thereâs usually no longer a mind that can mold them and due to a lot of other details thatâd take all day to explain.â
âSo, the reason why you canât just give an Evolved Skill to an item is because it wonât be the same skill?â Shiv asked.
âThat, and you canât invest anything below your evolution thresholds. Skills donât exactly back to what they used to be, no matter how much some people might want to get another try at a better Skill Evolution. Itâs like a crystallization of who you are to some extent. A hardened aspect of your soul formed by your mind, vitality, unattuned mana, and other experiences.â
âIs that why my body and mana fields change too?â Shiv asked.
âYeah,â Tran said. âSomething like that.â The older Pathbearer closed his eyes and shook his head, letting out a stressed, humorless laugh. He ran a hand over his short beard. âBroken Moon, Shiv. You really just fought your way across the Abyss and just made it through by dying over and over again, huh?â He met Shiv's eyes, and his expression flattened into something bordering on apologetic and regretful. He breathed in deeply. âI wanted to tell you.â
As he looked upon Tranâs face, Shiv understood. âAbout keeping tabs on me for Roland?â