JaceVAmor

Chapter 229: The Bone Titan

The Void Queen’s shield undulated with energy after the ethereal morning star smashed against the surface a second time. Ripples scattered all the way around the protective layer, blurring the inside while light was pushed to the edges. The pointed spikes of the mist-formed mace pinned the shield in place, concentrating the immense force of Coop’s attack, and threatened to puncture the shadowy magical defense.

The void energy flexed beneath the pressure, allowing the blun...

Chapter 228: The Council

Coop should have expected more minions. He had zeroed in on the manipulation of experience conducted by the Cult of Chakyum, but after he realized the leader of the Cult, the Lich, was a necromancer, he could have recontextualized the relationship between the members and their Master. The link between the Oathsworn and the Binder of Souls went beyond simple experience sharing.

Coop summoned a fresh volatile spear, giving it the weight necessary to overcome the pressure of the...

Chapter 227: The Void Queen

Coop didn’t just fight for himself. He didn’t seek glory or recognition, though he enjoyed topping the leaderboards. It wasn’t even for experience, as much as he valued his personal progression. No, what he actually fought for, deep down, was an idealized version of Ghost Reef that he had subconsciously built up in his imagination. He genuinely believed in his interpretation and fought to protect it.

For Coop, Ghost Reef was more than just a chain of islands. The fact t...

Chapter 226: The Covenant

Coop blinked as the light of Chakyum’s level gains ultimately faded. The heavenly spotlight had come steadily at first, forming a solid beam of light that made his eyes water while the levels overlapped. It could have been a tractor beam for the density. Over time, the experience slowed such that there were full seconds between each level. Coop numbly assumed diminishing returns had kicked in pretty heavily, reducing the rewards granted to the leader of the Cult.

Coop’s m...

Chapter 225: Soul Bound

The Elite High Priestess clearly believed she had crippled Coop. She looked down on him, as if to say ‘Checkmate,” after dispelling his ethereal weapons and armor. Coop couldn't fault her for the confident attitude. It had been the experience of all those undergoing the assimilation that those who rose to power did so with heavy reliance on the abilities granted by mana, and she had already dissected his skills one after the other. 

From her perspective, Coop weaved ...

Chapter 224: Event Horizon

“Sister Luc-Hau?” The Elite High Priestess and Champion of the Yucatan settlement calmly addressed the battered Deathstalker, not bothering to wait for her ally to recover. She slowly pointed at the fleeing Cloud Dancer, watching her skip through the air toward the still growing Colossus. “You take care of that one.” She ordered impassively. “Brother Lom-Hau can deal with the other three, even without the support of Brother Sip-Hau.”

“...But I want to taste the ...

Chapter 223: Dance of Death

Coop was biding his time, waiting to see how the two unoccupied High Priests would aid the Totemic, while chipping away at the High Priest’s defenses. Both the Deathstalker and the Herald were equally focused on the confrontation between himself and their companion. Coop knew that he had to consider the Priests’ ability to support and work together if he was going to have continued success against the group. So far, they had answers for his phantasms and his unleveraged stats, at least te...

Chapter 222: Chaos

A flash of heat and energy burned long strips of Coop’s Fog of War away. For a few moments afterwards, his domain was divided into three individual parts. Wide channels devoid of any mists were carved in between each section, and for Coop, it felt like he had gone cross-eyed. A very confused Presence of Mind fed him information from three different domains in unison.

Luckily, the strange feeling didn’t linger long enough to interfere with his concentration. The split doma...

Chapter 221: 1,000 Steps

At some point stairs stopped making sense. As a vertical mode of transportation they demanded a lot from the user and when a structure exceeded a certain reasonable size it called for a more efficient method of traversal. It was just poor planning to build an enormous monument without a plan to facilitate visitation. For the Great Pyramid of Chakyum, at least an escalator would have been nice. Surely, someone could have managed an alternative to creating a long climb of monotonous steps with ...

Chapter 220: The Great Pyramid of Chakyum

“Zero levels.” Coop huffed with agitation.

He had lost count of how many of Chakyum’s Cultists he and his phantasms had defeated, but there had been no signs that the enemies provided any experience at all. After an extended battle where he and his ghostly summons waded through untold numbers of Oathsworn, he had received zero levels.

It seemed like the only thing that changed throughout the battle was the mass of the stone monument that he drove toward...

Chapter 219: The Jaguar Strikes

The Jaguar Sun had no chance of winning against the Cult of Chakyum in a head to head battle. Coop knew it, Juliana knew it, and so did everyone else with any sense. That was why they never had any intention of conducting a straightforward invasion with the intent to besiege the Cult’s holdings. The reason they took such circuitous routes on the way to the Yucatan settlement was because they remained justifiably guarded against their opponent. It was their method of picking their battle. Th...

Chapter 218: The First Gathering of Chakyum

The Yucatan settlement was massive. Coop knew it would be, but he was still caught by surprise at the sheer scale demonstrated by the Cult of Chakyum. The settlement leaderboards had given its large population away, yet he hadn’t really appreciated how it had been bolstered by virtue of its location. The only settlement in Central America had drawn a significant number of people, and they had clearly been pulled into the Cult during the process.

In comparison, the number of...

Chapter 217: Monsters in the Jungle

The trek through Central America hadn’t been a complete disappointment. The Jaguar Sun hadn’t been able to liberate as many people as they had hoped, for a variety of reasons, but their unwavering progress through the jungle had enabled many of those who avoided the ire of the Cult on their own to catch up and join the procession. Coop wasn’t able to keep track of the constant flow of newcomers. It seemed like whenever he looked away, the number of warriors would multiply. Still, Julian...

Chapter 216: Howls in the Jungle

Coop used the entire palm of his hand to rub Felix’s massive head, right between the ears, to the absolute satisfaction of the black jaguar. No matter how hard he scratched, the cat just pressed his head harder into Coop’s hand. The big cat’s coat was far thicker than a regular house cat. His pelt was made of multiple overlapping layers that provided defense, camouflage, and waterproofing, but all that protection just made his fur so much softer to the touch. Felix responded to the pett...

Chapter 215: Reset

After Coop received an eighth rank of the Slayer title while escorting Sierra to Corozal, he reflected on the gains he made during the expedition in the Yucatan. The level 175 threshold had been broken relatively early, when he defeated the Avatar of Huracan and claimed Vaporform. At the time, he felt like he was gaining levels rapidly, but since then, he had only been advancing at a pace of approximately one level per day. One level per day may have been a reasonable baseline when ignoring a...

Chapter 214: Bamboo Chickens

Coop had been treading water for the better part of two entire days. The sea was an unforgiving opponent that Coop would never defeat in a test of endurance. The continual procession of waves firmly established the constant struggle of remaining above the surface. There was no end in sight. Fighting to keep his head above water was an extreme challenge that intensified when the largest swells rolled through, forcing him to dig in and exert himself unceasingly lest he be dragged down.

2024-03-25 15:11:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 213: Mobilization

Tzultacaj jerked his axe in the air in a futile effort to rid the blade of the thick layer of viscous blood that was coating its edge. The shaking did nothing. His gaze darkened at his failure to easily clean the ancient inherited weapon. If there would be time for proper maintenance, it would come after the Cult of Chakyum was eliminated, but that was in the distant future. The stains upon his heritage would remain for now. His axe already bore the evidence that the journey had been long, bu...

Chapter 212: Combo Generator

Sierra had a bird’s eye view of the arena within the submerged cathedral. She kept as much distance from the developing conflict as she could, sticking to the perimeter as she sought opportunities to contribute, but she couldn’t help but feel as though she was trapped inside a collapsing glass cage with two absolute monsters.

From her perspective, the overall situation didn’t look good. The arena had a razor thin layer of water coating its entire surface while the outer vestibules...

Chapter 211: Retribution

There wasn’t anything particularly special about Coop’s heavy ethereal spears. When compared to the other weapons in Coop’s arsenal, the primary difference was how unbalanced they were. In fact, they were essentially identical to his regular spears in every way except for one; they were really, really heavy. The only change he made to his regular summon was to push the imaginary slider that determined the manifestation’s weight all the way to one side. The resulting density defied con...

Chapter 210: Cathedral of Tides

Hidden deep beneath the surface of the ocean, a solid glass-like palace contained a vast circular arena. Coop had been swept onto the lower edge by unnatural currents, and he was now standing on what was clearly a landing meant for receiving guests.

Nothing about the setting could be explained without taking into account the extensive application of mana. There were no external supports to be seen holding the construction in place and he couldn’t see anything that would provide buoyan...

Chapter 209: Sinking

Pure luck had Coop returning to Corozal right before a suspicious figure ripped across the bay toward the outpost. If he had been an hour later, he would have arrived to find the town annihilated by a tidal wave.

Coop had taken responsibility for the four freed prisoners of the Voice of Kukulkan, and he was leading them through the Maya Lowlands toward the safety of the Corozal Outpost. Coop was perfectly happy to travel at their considerably slower pace because of the prominence of Rui...

Chapter 208: Resplendent Quetzal

Corozal was finally quieting back down after a tumultuous string of days. Juan had been worried that it would never return to normal, but without the ragged army occupying every inch of the town, stinking up the place, the resident profession masters were able to comfortably settle back into their routines.

The fact that it was possible to return to their routines was a testament to the influence that Coop was having on their little town. Before he had come from his Ghost Reef, Fernando...

Chapter 207: Diplomacy

Marcus couldn’t hide his amazement at the sudden respectful silence that smothered the aggressive side negotiations that had dominated the basement meeting room.

He was seated among almost 20 people, all presumably working together, but espousing extremely confrontational positions between them. The fact that he was there, an outsider, had made little difference in the way they presented themselves. None of them bothered putting up airs, and most of them had already pitched Marcus or ...

Chapter 206: The Lady

Charlie couldn’t stop her fingers from anxiously pulling at the edges of the protective leather armor on her Ghost Reef Standard Issue equipment. If it wasn’t such a snug fit, she would have frayed the hems with her nails and her incessant fidgeting. The armor may have been designed to withstand actual blade attacks, but her fingertips were relentless. She was barely preventing herself from activating the battle-mode on the helmet and turning herself into a proper stormtrooper in order to...

Chapter 205: Charged Heartwood

Coop had successfully defeated yet another High Priest. This time it was the Voice of Kukulkan, a man who was named Kul-Hau by his master. Kul-Hau exploited supreme speed in his fighting style while sprinkling just a bit of deceptiveness into his tactics. The Priest’s hyper-focus on Agility wasn’t enough to overwhelm Coop’s wider spread of stats, and his speed hadn't been completely out of control thanks to the dynamic adjustments made by Mindbender during combat. As Coop used his toe t...

Chapter 204: Kukulkan

Coop had let his guard down for a split second, and the High Priest sought to take advantage immediately; he had been waiting for the opportunity, but he sold his potential victim short.

Coop twisted back toward the lunging Kul-Hau, moving like he was in molasses, but powering through in order to defend against the latter’s ambush by raising the tip of his spear directly toward his sternum. The High Priest of the Cult of Chakyum, and self-described Voice of Kukulkan, was already commi...

Chapter 203: Speed Kills

Coop was 150 miles north of the Corozal Outpost, deep within the relatively dry interior of the Yucatan Peninsula. Knowing that a settlement event was coming had lit a fire beneath him. Windchaser was immediately returning to Ghost Reef, relaying messages with Jones so they could decide how to proceed. In the meantime, Coop would push himself to accomplish his goals step-by-step, with the help of the dawning Jaguar Sun, before any deadlines reached them. Still, Coop was laser-focused...

Chapter 202: The Jaguar Stirs

As Windchaser closed in on Corozal’s longest concrete pier, Coop was leaning against the bow rail, mouth agape. He was worried that he was losing his mind. When he left the small town behind, he could swear there were barely 100 people digging in. The local profession masters had been joined by the warriors of the Crossroads and were coordinating in the defense of the Outpost, but that hardly accounted for what he was seeing. Using his knuckles to rub his eyes until he saw stars, h...

Chapter 201: The Sacred

Alpine flowers dotted the rugged volcanic landscape, faintly swaying whenever another frigid gust blew through. They encircled the edge of a vast caldera, leaving a subtle sprinkling of their soft pink petals across its surface that provided a delicate touch to the otherwise harsh landscape.

A handful of stubby dwarf pines, covered in deep brown bark, thick with age and weather, struggled to maintain hold on the outer slopes far beyond the natural tree-line. Dense winding roots carved i...

Chapter 200: Fighting Fair

Coop’s ethereal spear blasted through the mana vortex, tip gleaming with the calm blue glow of scattered bioluminescence. A gentle tornado in the center of the cavern was already in the process of collapsing, smothering the arena with a blanket of thick mana. It was beautiful, as if the northern lights were forming at knee height, deep underground. Visible waves of mana, lit by tiny motes of soothing light, rolled across the coral ground, and reflected off the iridescent walls. When the lig...