Skullius’ vision was cut off before he could see what the notification said at the end of what happened when he clashed with Guddhar in a final attempt to commandeer his mind for a brief period.
All he saw was darkness but that didn’t faze him as much as the loud pounding in his mind!
Soul damage!
Through Serenity, Skullius had discovered that a part of his soul was missing and the part that he had at this moment was incomplete.
However, Serenity had neglected to tell him a rather obvious truth because she lacked the time.
A broken soul was fragile.
[Basic Evil Invasion] was a terrifying skill but in its description it warned of a penalty when the host died while their consciousness was still in it.
The damage Skullius had accrued this time was less extensive in comparison to what he had received when he was in Eldris’ body but the difference between this and that time, was that Skullius had supplemented the damage by using a piece of General Sila’s soul that he had absorbed.
However, that hadn’t been his doing, but the machination of the Labyrinth.
Now, the damage kept extending, Doom Factor 2 taking advantage of the chaos and Skullius’ spamming of [Crude World Projection] and [Basic Evil Invasion] without rest.
All this was not yet clear to Skullius as while he could not see anything, he felt himself… acting.
Something was happening… outside?
Hold on.
It seemed like he was trapped somewhere.
Yet he could feel the activity raging outside.
Clashes of vibrant power.
Was this his battle with Guddhar?.
‘What’s going on?! I need to get that bastard before my time runs out! I even saved enough mana for a full minute using [Basic Evil Invasion]! Come on!’ Skullius barked within in panic.
He felt the shuddering pain intensify and his mind whirled.
Thoughts and words screeched in his mind as he wondered.
What was happening?!
What if he was getting pummelled by Guddhar while his consciousness was trapped here?!
What if his original body was being shredded to pieces by the other Monkeys?!
And the most terrifying thought of all…
What if Stylla, Bron and Fore managed to kill Guddhar while he was still trapped inside?!
That would be… extremely dangerous.
He was struggling with soul damage right now!
If it increased any further…
VWOOOOSH!
Amidst Skullius’ apprehension and anxiety, something finally showed itself.
White appeared in his field of vision and for a few moments the pain subsided a bit with the occasional pounding at his mind like a hammer!
Snow.
The moment Skullius saw this… he almost froze.
This again!
Snow littered the ground and created a beautiful image.
A cold image.
Skullius shivered as he actually felt cold.
He looked down to see that he had a body and snow was trickling over him.
He couldn’t describe the clothes he wore but they seemed to deter much of the humid frost.
With another painful gong-like echo of pain in his mind, Skullius found a girl kneeling before him in the snow.
She wore nothing on her body, her fair skin bare with everything that should have been hidden from others’ eyes jutting out. Clothes that were vastly different from what he had seen in Aigas lay around the girl, clearly belonging to her.
The girl stared at him with emotionless eyes while quivering in the cold, her body covered in flakes.
For a few moments, Skullius kept gazing at the girl before a deep feeling welled up within him.
Rage. Fury. Hatred. Guilt. Disgust.
The emotions he felt when he looked at this girl could not fully be expressed in words.
Tears began running down Skullius’ face as his it turned ugly, scrunching up with a fierce, almost tangible hate.
“You…!” he hissed unconsciously, his gloved finger pointing at the girl accusingly, devoid of his control.
Yet, Skullius just rode the wave.
“Are you happy now?! You twisted little brat! Did it make you happy?! You feel like you achieved something fantastic, don’t you? And now you can brag to those new ‘friends’ of yours, huh?” he barked, hot breaths fuming from his mouth.
The girl before him merely frowned and rubbed her skin while shivering.
“Answer me, damn it! Are you even the same person?! Have you been on something since camp? Bro this, bro that… I should have realised it… I should have known you were up to something… distancing me from them so you could whatever the fuck you wanted!”
“So what…” the girl finally said as she looked straight into Skullius’ eyes. “I’m here aren’t I? Naked and stuff. In the cold. Will my death make you feel better…?”
Skullius’ emotions tangled within as he felt the unreal amount of frustration.
It was too much…
He raised his hand and dropped it to his side.
He opened his mouth and closed it as tears flooded nonstop.
The next thing he knew, he lunged at the girl with his hand raised and…
BAM!
A thunderous amount of pain struck Skullius’ mind and he screamed, the vision before him shattering like glass.
He roared in the empty space he appeared in once again, feeling himself clashing outside, a brutal fight happening but without a way to know exactly what…
However, right at this moment, Skullius’ emotions from the scene he had just laid his vision upon carried over to this moment and he felt a berserk rage clasp his mind!
A primal roar sounded from him as with its reverberation, Skullius blacked out in the black.
….
BA-DUM! BA…DUM! BA…DUM!
Skullius heard the dying calls of a heart while feeling the hard ground beneath him.
He opened his eyes and saw the familiar sunless skies above, partially blocked by white fur.
“Huh?” he mumbled as he pushed away the mass above him, scanning around to see that he was surrounded by the dead and dying bodies of Mountain Sage Monkeys!
They were everywhere, grotesque injuries all over their bodies with some of their blood on him.
“The… hell…?”
He no longer felt the raging pain from his soul, but it was still detectable with a faint tinge.
Skullius rose and saw the devastation around.
The ground was ploughed deep all over with circular craters as large as tens of meters ripping away the beauty of the Mountain.
Most of the white vegetation was gone, trails of criss-crossing cylindrical gouges in the earth having effectively crumbled much of its mass.
What on earth had happened here?
A flurry of notifications started appearing in Skullius vision and he welcomed them, though with a great amount of surprise.
[You have crossed a wide gulf of power as a result of utilising the Fruit of World Myths partially as intended]
[‘Evil Darkness’ has been promoted to ‘B’ rank, and can now manifest a portion of its true nature]
[‘Basic Evil Invasion’ levelled up!]
“I see…” Skullius said. Strangely, he didn’t feel all too excited.
Instead, he felt.. overwhelmed.
Not by the information from the notification, but from what he had experienced.
Even the state of the mountain didn’t quite capture his shock as his mind was still digesting what he had seen.
However, the notifications were not done.
[You have successfully completed your Seventh Task, invading the mind of a Cluster General]
[You have reached Level 7!]
A surge of strength powered through Skullius as he felt his body react happily despite its shredded nature with flesh hanging down.
“Wait! I did?” Skullius questioned.
He looked around, ignoring the increase in his stats.
How had he succeeded?!
That didn’t make any sense!
He hadn’t won the battle when he blacked out and he didn’t remember anything at the moment.
The Discount Human rushed up, trying to go in the direction where he had flown to when he was using [Crude World Projection].
It didn’t take him too long to see even more disastrous scenes, the one that caught his attention the most being a humongous crater that oozed of mana and heat.
Within it, bare, scorched land could be seen, with the large body of Guddhar sitting within it.
The Greater Sage Monkey was missing an armour, with blood staining its golden fur.
What made Skullius even more confused was that it was alive but it looked… lost, mumbling gibberish while bobbing its head to and fro as if in a daze.
Beside it, was the Yamogogofafa, broken into six pieces that no longer held the authoritative air and in front of the monkey that leaned against the edge of the crater, Stylla stood before it with a hard expression, her sword pointing at Guddhar’s neck.
A few meters behind her, Bron could be seen leaning over Fore who laid down, the lower half of his body crushed into a bloody paste.
…
[Author’s Note]
Please support my book ‘Cursed Child: Eater with the Odd Eye’. It’s a WSA entry and a dark fantasy novel. If you like the genre please give it a try and support. Its not a conventional fantasy but a more traditional one with deep lore and archaic beings. I hope I can see your following as I write the book and I ensure you that I won’t neglect Skullius while writing it. Thanks!
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