Path of the Slayer B3 19. Soul Damage & Bigger Gains

[Your Bonded Treasure is heavily damaged! Please dismiss Railcannon Warrior Armor for one month to fix the damages. If you decide to conduct self-repairs, please be careful. A crafting failure can terminate the bond!]

My ragged armor remained on my body. Part of me wanted to fix it up myself, especially when I had the crafting materials from Merlin and Syleth’s shopping spree.

In a way, the damage to my Bonded Treasure wasn’t too big of a deal.

Things, of course, got much worse.

[Oh no! You’ve suffered Soul Damage! Your Slayer Level Ups are patching the Soul Damage!]

[Oh no! You’ve suffered Soul Damage! Your newest Great Skill is patching the Soul Damage!]

[Oh no! You’ve suffered Soul Damage! Your evolving Great Skill is patching the Soul Damage!]

[Congratulations! Your Soul Damage has been patched! Please meditate more!]

Okay, lesson learned.

Recharging myself with alternatives shouldn’t outright replace meditation.

Hell, I’d seen Merlin suffer Soul Damage. He and Thumper had warned me about this, too. But I hadn’t taken the Soul Damage threat seriously enough.

The soul had its limits. Even mine.

Still, it sucked to experience it this way. The soul had to be patched first before I could gain something new.

“Fuck every Nemesis,” I grunted.

“Damn straight,” Thumper added.

“I’m there with you.” Merlin nodded.

Sabretooth howled, revving her engine in agreement.

Moving on, an actual new thing in my System Logs caught my attention. My mood buoyed upward. I hadn’t come out of this fight completely worse off.

[Congratulations, Pathwalker! Your Bonded Treasure is evolving!]

[Commencing Bonded Treasure Evolution. Commencing. Commencing….]

Everything slowed down until all time stopped.

My heart stopped beating, but my awareness remained. The mist froze above us as dim rays of moonlight shone down like still spotlights.

Merlin’s eyes were shut halfway in the middle of a blink. Thumper was in the middle of shifting his weight.

Frozen flashes of magic in my peripherals caught my attention. It was in the direction where Veteran Sharia drilled my juniors for me.

I still didn’t know what to make of her. I knew she hated me, yet there was no point in apologizing, only providing results.

Thankfully, the golden energy streaming around Hellion’s form pulled me out of my worries. My mood rose further as the divine light filled me with excitement and wonder like all the times before.

Then the spiraling streams of golden light parted and left a sleek and dangerous crimson arm that looked similar to the last version. It still had a pull cord. It still had a vent, although smaller than the last one. It still had claws at the ends of the fingertips.

Yet, something about Hellion’s evolution was far heftier, denser, and more complex than before, at least on the inside. The way the toxic green runes pulsated was even brighter and more dangerous.

He was way stronger. It said so in the description and some.

[Congrats! Bonded Treasure Evolution complete! From Hellion Half Ripper to Hellion Boss Shredder!]

[Hellion Boss Shredder: Level 61 (Epic): Sometimes, we have to suffer the bad to get to the good. And this isn’t just good, it’s freaking edgelord fantastic! Just like before, you have autosaw energy, autosaw channeling, cursed magic, and the power to drain Vitality to feed Hellion’s appetite and your own. That’s all being improved upon while introducing a few new things. Example One: You can shoot autosaw bolts. Example Two: Every enemy slain by autosaw bolts or slain plainly by Hellion while you’re full will make it rain absorbable orbs. The orbs are either pure Vitality or half Vitality/half Path Energy. Obviously, the victims need to have these energies.]

“My liege, if I could sacrifice my new abilities and bring back our dear Hooker Slaughterhouse, I would!” Hellion shouted, his suave and deep voice resonating beyond his crimson and toxic green chassis.

I blinked.

Merlin blinked.

Thumper tilted his head.

Hellion hummed. “Huh … that sounded louder than it should. As if I’m speaking aloud. Are you all able to hear me?”

Merlin slapped his hands over his ears. “Uh, yeah, I’m hearing you. And it’s driving me insane.”

Thumper waved. “Hey, Hellion. Also, can you stop talking to us, please?”

Hellion’s smooth voice spoke into my ears alone next “Ah, there it is! It looks like I have both options now! But for the preferences of your loyal subjects, I shall retain my vocal patterns for you. As I was saying–”

I cut him off. “There’s no need, Hellion. Your evolution is to be celebrated. We’ll … hold a ceremony for Hooker and keep going as always.”

“Perhaps we should take dear Merlin’s advice and slow down?” Hellion offered.

“No.” Standing to my feet, I wobbled a little. Even with the Soul Damage gone, the personal stuff wasn’t so easy to shake off.

Warrior Nomad Mentality couldn’t help that much. I wasn’t suffering from an event. Yet, I shrugged my shoulders and strode toward the juniors, Sabretooth and my friends following behind me.

My autocycle bumped my side like an attentive feline. She rolled close to Hooker’s dangling form and let loose a blubbering howl.

I couldn’t bear to look at her.

Hellion’s toxic green runes lost their luster. Merlin and Thumper remained silent.

Together, we stopped at the edge of the training perimeter where Veteran Sharia swatted around my juniors one by one.

Thankfully, she was being fair, giving each one a chance by letting some of their magic land on her body. Then she struck back while acting closer to their Levels, pushing them to their limits.

It was obvious that she was great at combat and was a competent instructor. It would be interesting to bring her and Veteran Rex together for future training exercises if we came around to it.

If anything, Grimmy had the biggest smile on her face as she dashed around and waved her shortsword at Veteran Sharia’s legs. The little half-gob girl moved with more gusto and greater success than expected, surprising the Veteran Raider a few times.

I even noticed Grimmy using some of the same moves I’d used against the Nemesis. The girl was not only talented; she was highly teachable.

When Sharia smiled at Grimmy’s impressive maneuvers, I knew then that getting the half-orc housewife to take part was a good idea. Sure, she hated me. But the Royal Quest felt more possible with her onboard.

Thus, a plan came to mind.

“I know what we have to do next,” I said. “I need to get away. I think … ten days ought to do it. The rest of you head for the tournament. But I’m thinking the juniors should spend the time training under Veteran Sharia and Veteran Zez.”

“What about me and Thumper?” Merlin asked.

I shrugged. “Join the tournament. Show your stuff.”

Thumper hummed. “Merlin could do the tournament. I’m going to hang around. Hunt in the wild. I can float from Arden’s crafting shack to the tournament and back.”

I chuckled. “Am I that obvious?”

Thumper snorted. “What else are you going to do for ten whole days when we’re under the craziest time crunch there is? Especially when you have trillions worth of crafting material to work with.”

“True.”

“So, I’m supposed to do the tournament on my own?” Merlin edged out carefully. “Seriously? Aren’t tournaments supposed to be won by … well … y’know? The big heroic types?”

I looked down into the dwelf’s quivering green eyes and gave him a thumbs up. “You got this … dude.”

Merlin gasped.

Thumper also gasped. “Whoa, Merlin. Was that his first ‘dude?’ It was, wasn’t it?”

The wizard shook his head in disbelief. “Thumper, it’s like he’s regressing into a proper dude bro. Next, his brain will be as rotten as ours.”

“We have been imprinting on him a lot lately.”

“We might make it to the cookout soon enough.”

I waved them both off as if their silliness annoyed me. It didn’t, really. It distracted me from the greatest loss I’d suffered in a while – Hooker’s demise.

“Okay, I think Veteran Sharia’s slowing down. I’ll let the squad know what’s happening next.” As I made my way toward the circle of sweaty and weary bodies surrounding the two Veterans, something heavy dragged on my back.

Stopping, I turned to see Doomie’s eyes were pulsating with an even redder and faster beat. Her body stopped floating like a phantom and landed solidly on her feet.

She didn’t, however, let go of my neck, forcing me backward into a sudden tumble. She drew me all the way down and made my head land in her lap.

“Uh, what is Doomie doing?” Merlin asked.

“Huh. My edgelord senses are tingling. I’m guessing it’s another dark anime moment, so we better back off.” Thumper was already walking away by the time he finished explaining.

The wizard turned from the half-giant rogue to me before deciding to take Thumper’s advice, creating some distance. I remained on my back as Doomie’s hands pressed down on my chest, keeping me pinned.

No matter how much I shifted and pushed, I couldn’t escape her hold. All of that energy and weight hadn’t gone away after all. It was still inside her, at her disposal, and I had no idea what she was planning to do.

I heard some shouts and questions coming from the juniors. Veteran Sharia entered my peripherals, but she didn’t get any closer than necessary. Grimmy nearly ran up, but Veteran Zez zipped in and snatched her away.

“I think everything’s going to be okay,” I said calmly. “Doomie wouldn’t actually hurt me on purpose.”

The avatar of doom tilted her head, gazing down at me with shining eyes glowing brighter and redder. Then her eyes flashed me with a cursed light that seeped past my flesh and blood. Her hands faded into my chest as well.

The red light and grasping hands flowed beyond the physical, through my profile, and struck my soul before bouncing back and fiddling in the spaces in between. First, it felt awkward, then I felt pain so great I couldn’t even scream to voice my suffering.

Warrior Nomad Mentality blunted some of the shock, but not all. I became something akin to a cadaver for Doomie to carve, twist, and burn with her red light and torturous hands. Yet, in the back of my mind, I still didn’t think Doomie was out to hurt me on purpose.

If anything, I sensed she was trying to help me. Knowing that led to Slayer Intent helping Doomie, enhancing her efforts inside me.

The pain sharpened. I blacked out a few times. My awareness fell into the void and maybe somewhere beyond that I couldn’t remember.

The next time I woke up fully, the pain was dulling away gradually. I didn’t know how long it took until Doomie finished, but eventually the pain became a horrid echo of a memory.

Then the red light faded from her eyes, leaving them heavily shaded like before.

She lifted her hands away, releasing me.

By that point, I was too tired to get up. I couldn’t even pay much attention to the yells and shouts calling for me.

Resting my head in Doomie’s lap was all I was capable of. That was until a few notifications garnered my immediate attention.

Checking my System Logs, I smiled widely.

[Congratulations, Slayer! You’ve acquired a Path Magic: Slaughterhouse Avatar!]

[Slaughterhouse Avatar: Level 61 (Epic): Yes! This twist is deserving of my best evil laugh! Muwahahahaha! Now with that out of the way, let me introduce Slaughterhouse, a spirit devoured and reborn by Doomie! She’s kind of special because she can be summoned three different ways – the third version is my favorite. [1] She comes out as a non-physical phantom that enhances multiple nearby items and energies that are cursed, bloody, and/or highly destructive. [2] She comes out as a shifting chain and hook that becomes stronger when her favorite energies are channeled through her. [3] She comes out as one big area effect that can hardcore crowd-control and torment a group of enemies and/or a big target.] [Cost: -40%]

“Oh, hell yeah,” I croaked, letting out a half-crazed laugh.

Or maybe my laughter was all the way crazy with how the others looked at me weirdly. Of course, Hellion and Sabertooth were celebrating with all their cursed volume, adding to my joy.

Things were looking up.