Reborn: Demon's Legacy (7 page)

9-8

The next day Ash was taken by four guards along with Tolarea to the labyrinth. Ash didn’t know what was coming, but was looking forward to it. Entering the labyrinth and not fighting was like entering the bath, but not washing. It just didn’t make sense.

The first monster was on the seventh floor and was a simple low level goblin warrior. He had fought them before, but the skin of the goblin was light grey and was slightly larger than the others he had seen before.

As the guards killed the goblins, Ash noticed that he wasn’t the only one that wanted to fight as Tolarea kept reaching for the massive sword that was strapped to her back. Ash absorbed the dead goblins, one after another while Tolarea stayed close to his side with her eyes ever wary. As he was absorbing the third goblin, Ash heard an expected sound.

“Tring.”

[You have reached level 36.]

With a smile on his face, Ash started absorbing the dead monsters at a faster pace. Seeing that he got a level up, Ash decided to check his page while he was putting points on his luck stat and check his absorption level as well. It was currently at 82% of the needed experience to reach the next level. He had been absorbing a lot of monsters and it was getting close to reaching its next level.

After absorbing the number required, Ash heard the sound he had been waiting for.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the required absorption rate needed for Goblin Guardian. Abilities available: Slash (active).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Slash.]

[Slash- cost 5SP: create a blade of light that extends the reach of your blade. Level 1-0%.]

The skill was simple and not very strong as far as Ash could tell, but he didn’t see the harm in obtaining it. After the goblins were finished, they moved to the thirteenth floor where they fought ice ogres. Just as before, Ash could only follow behind while the guards did most the work. When Ash let out a heavy sigh, Tolarea nodded her head. “Normally the Maoh would fight his way through the labyrinth gaining abilities one week and training them the next. It is faster this way, but not nearly as satisfying,” Tolarea complained with a slight frown.

Just like the goblins, the ogres didn’t give the guards any trouble. With just one swing of their massive blades, the ogres were cut down as if they were nothing. It didn’t take long for Ash to gain his second ability for the day.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for Ice Ogre. Abilities available: Sunder (active), Ogre’s Strength (passive).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Ogre’s Strength.]

[Ogre’s Strength: +.1% to strength. Level- Max.]

Sighing, Ash took notice of the new ability and then continued following behind the guards trying to keep up with them. Once again, Ash noticed the dissatisfied look on Tolarea’s face. “Why don’t you fight with them?” Ash asked, knowing that she was more than skilled enough after their spar the night before.

“How can I?” She asked with her eyes narrowing. “My duty is to protect and stand by my lord. To do any less would be a dishonor to my family and clan.”

The sudden anger in her voice forced, Ash to take a step back. When he did so, her eyes softened and she turned away from him. “Hurry up and keep absorbing. The sooner you finish, the more time we will have to spar later.”

Watching her, Ash couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t tell if she liked him or hated him, but he was relieved to see that she acted on her thoughts. After meeting Celina and Seia, Ash had feared that all the women meant to be on his guard would be as… serene. It wasn’t that he didn’t find them charming in their own way, but they lacked a certain willfulness that he found charming. Once again Ash’s thought about Emelia and how she would be beating him over the head from some of his actions. She never cared what others thought and did what she wanted. Part of him wondered if that was what he truly loved about her. Ash quickly shook off that thought. It was surely a part of her that he enjoyed, but he knew that there was far more to her than her thorny attitude.

While Ash was thinking he moved from body to body absorbing them paying little attention to his surroundings. It was at this time a loud roar sounded near him. As her turned his head, Ash found himself looking at a large ogre that had seemed to appear out of nowhere. Before he could draw his own sword, the beast was already on him, swinging a crude club of stone at his exposed head. Cursing his own inattentiveness, Ash tried to put power in his legs to dodge, but he knew that no matter how fast he moved it was impossible to completely evade the attack.

Just before the stone club hit Ash, a feeling of wind touched his cheek as a black and silver blur flashed through his vision. The club was turned to dust and pebbles as Tolarea’s massive sword collided with it, stinging Ash’s eyes and peppering his face. Before the ogre had a chance to understand what happened, Tolarea’s sword flashed again and the ogre’s head was quickly separated from his neck.

“Are you ok my lord?” Tolarea asked, her voice holding a hint of panic.

“Yes,” Ash said, his voice nearly sticking in his throat. After a few breaths to calm himself, Ash looked up at the slight from on Tolarea’s face as she continued to look around for further threats. “Thanks to you,” Ash said as he returned to his feet and gave her a slight bow.

For the briefest of seconds Ash could have sworn that her cheeks had turned red but it happened so fast that he was unsure of himself. “You should continue,” Tolarea said turning her face away from Ash as she continued to look around.

Ash had the slight urge to tease the giantess, but he quickly thought better. Tolarea might not permanently hurt him, but there were many ways for a woman to see her own version of punishment though he doubted that Tolarea would do anything underhanded. Most likely she would just drag him out to the sparing ring and beat him until he was black and blue.

As he was thinking, Ash kept his sense of awareness moving over to the now dead ogre and started to absorb it.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for Ice Ogre. Abilities available: Sunder (active.]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Sunder.]

[Sunder- cost 25SP 5MP: hard strike that has a large chance of crushing or cutting through armor. Level 1-0%]

Upon seeing the new ability, it wasn’t hard for Ash to understand how useful it could be. If he had been able to use the ability when he was fighting at the fort, things would have been much easier.

With the ogres finished, Ash was taken to another floor though he was left unaware of which one. This time, the labyrinth floor looked like a large open cavern with large pools of bubbling red liquid. At first Ash thought that it was a fire cave, but when a drop of the red liquid hit his face from the roof of the cavern he had to force the contents of his stomach to remain in place. “Blood,” Ash said as he looked at the viscous liquid on his fingers.

Before he could think of the meaning behind the blood around him, a large humanoid creature more than nine feet tall appeared from the darkness. With dark crimson skin and shining yellow eyes, the creature gave off an eerie feeling that Ash had never encountered before. “What is that?” Ash asked as the large creature sneered at them and a large yet slender red sword appeared in its hand.

“It is a blood titan,” Tolarea said calmly, as if she was simply naming a type of bird.

The blood titan moved fast, given its large size and the sword it wielded seemed to strike hard. It took two of the guards to take one down, though after watching the battle Ash was sure that one could do it, but not nearly as easily.

As Ash approached the dead titan, he had to once again hold the contents of his stomach in place. From afar it had just looked as if the skin was crimson in color, but up close Ash could tell that the titan had no skin. Its body was exposed and the red color came from the blood that dried and hardened giving the creature an earie glow in the torchlight. Forcing himself, Ash reached out and absorbed the monster. When he was finished, Ash had never been so happy to see a body disappear.

“Are you ok my lord?” Tolarea asked as she bent her waist slightly too look him in the eye. “Your face looks a little pale.”

Wiping the blood off his hand that had been left after touching the dead monster, Ash couldn’t help but suppress a shiver than threatened to run through his spine. “These titans are just a bit off putting,” Ash replied weakly.

“I have to agree,” Tolarea said though her face still showed no emotion. “They tend to leave the most undesirable stains on one’s clothes. I don’t understand why the gods deemed it needed to make such dirty creatures.”

Sighing at Tolarea’s words, Ash tried to find what was left of his shattered thoughts on the elegance of women. Looking back at Tolarea once again, Ash couldn’t help but shake his head before moving on to the next fallen titan.

“Tring.”

[Demon absorption has reached level 4.]

Just as he did every time it gained a level, Ash checked the description of the ability. When it changed from level one to three, there had been no change other than the number of monsters that needed to be absorbed but this time there had been. It no longer just needed 10MP to be used now it required 25MP. It wasn’t a large change, but if he used it a lot if could quickly drain him of mana.

Since he had already absorbed an unknown number of titans, Ash couldn’t use it as a count toward how many were needed now so he could only wait until the next time. He hoped that it was a large reduction, but he highly doubted it.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for Blood Titan. Abilities available: Blood Strike (active), Blood Strengthening (passive).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Blood Strike.]

[Blood Strike- cost 40SP 20HP: a fluid strike that ignores all defense to strike directly at an opponent’s heart. Level 1-0%.]

Ash had long since gotten used to the sight of the dead titans and gave little thought as he wiped the blood from his hand. “One more ability down,” Ash said to himself as he moved to the next downed monster. As he absorbed the dead titan Ash kept count; one, two, five, nine, thirteen, seventeen, then twenty.

“Tring.”

[You have reached the absorption level for Blood Titan. Abilities available: Blood Strengthening (passive).]

“Tring.”

[You have been randomly awarded the ability Blood Strengthening.]

“Tring.”

[You have received a new stat: Hardness.]

[Blood Strengthening- cost 10 vitality: gain 1 point in hardness. Level 1-0%.]

10 points for one. It seemed absurd to Ash, but that would depend on what the stat did. Not rushing too fast, Ash checked the description of his new stat. When he looked, Ash was surprised to find that he already had one point in his new stat.

[Harness- strengthens the bones.]

Bones were already hard, but they still broke under enough stress and while strength made his muscles stronger, he knew it did nothing for the rest of his body. Endurance had a little to do with strengthening the rest, but how much effect it had Ash didn’t know since it was hard to gage. Still unsure about the new stat, Ash could only resign himself to ignore it for now until he had a chance to ask the sage about it.

Other than his new ability, it seemed that when demon absorption leveled up it reduced the needed number of creatures by ten again. He had half feared that it would only be reduced by one. Smiling, Ash informed the guards that he had gained all the abilities and was ready to move onto the next monster.

When they left the blood titans behind, Ash had never been so happy to leave a floor of the labyrinth and he silently hoped never to meet the creatures or creatures like them again.

None of the other monsters that they faced seemed to catch Ash’s attention after having seen the blood titan. There was only a simple ice giant and a terra beast. The ice giant only gave one ability while the terra beast gave him the remaining two.

[Artic Shock- cost 45MP 15SP: send out a large wave of cold air with the fierceness of a tempest.]

[Maul- cost 40SP: unleash a series of violent strikes with each one holding more power than the last.]

[Devour- cost 200SP: completely devour certain monsters to gain 1 point in the hardness or endurance stat. Can only be used once per monster.]

When Ash gained the last ability, he started to understand the ones he had gotten earlier. With this, he didn’t have to sacrifice any vitality to gain points in the hardness stat.

By the time they exited the labyrinth, night had already fully claimed the sky. Tired and weary, Ash followed Tolarea to the large conference chamber where the others awaited him.

After a large meal, or at least a large meal to Ash, though it seemed only a snack to the larger members of the group the sage started explain the abilities he had received.

“Other than the fighting abilities, which I am sure you can see the use for yourself, the main abilities you came here for are the ones that deal with the hardness stat. The Icsorth and a few other clans have this when they are born and can put points into it as they gain in level, but for you the only way to do so is through using your gained abilities. First off, how much vitality do you have?”