Rise of the Devourer

Pain erupted across Noah’s body, fire burning through every inch of him. Even with the Crimson Rot battle he had not felt something quite like this. His soul shuddered under the pressure, aching and cracking, and Noah lost all awareness of where he was and what he did. The visage of a brilliant woman standing in golden light bathed him, as a pulse echoed in his soul. He felt like he would die, in fact, he wasn’t sure how he wasn’t already dead.

[Devourer] resists [Light of Judgement]

Noah felt something echoing in his soul, rising from the depths as it smothered the light, absorbing it. Unconsciously, Noah found himself activating his Pain Tolerance ability, as the sensations vanished instantly. As awareness returned to him, Noah realized he’d been standing silently without moving an inch. The pain had been enough to make him pass out just as he had been.

Blinking his eyes, Noah looked at his health bar, finding whatever minor damage was done had already been erased by Lifeblood. A moment later, the light faded away, as Noah looked at his arm, noticing it burning with golden flames.

“What?” Erwest muttered, staring at him as he drew his blade. “Just what are you?”

“Uhh,” Noah stared, unable to come up with anything. His mind was still stuck taking everything in.

Aurelia stepped between him and the blade, and Nae walked up, having Erwest put the weapon aside. “I did expect this. He’s got an Abyssal Symbiote as his arm. That’s why it’s burning,” Nae said, before glancing at Noah. “He himself is unaffected. If he was a cultist, he’d be burning all over and rolling on the ground in pain.”

Erwest looked at Noah, assessing him for a moment. The flames slowly dwindled on Noah’s arm, before fading entirely.

“Why are we bringing in a man who would use something as filthy as an Abyssal creature to be his arm of all things,” Erwest asked, blade still pointed at Noah.

“Because we do not discriminate against Void users. The void is neither evil nor good. You cannot rage against pure destruction,” Nae said.

Erwest turned to look at Noah, glaring at him for a moment. “I finally understand why I had such a bad feeling about you now,” the paladin said, withdrawing his sword. “I do not approve of this. This man has, as you already mentioned, put his teammate’s life at risk, and not only that, but he has half merged his body with a creature from the abyss. I had made the assumption that his black eye was from some injury or a prosthetic, but I see now that it was a choice.”

Noah gave a shrug to the man. “Losing an arm isn’t much of a choice.” His voice was somehow calm, but he felt a cold sweat drenching his back as he did. That had been close. If there was an acting skill, he should really unlock it by now.

“Please, Erwest. We need to focus on the real target. The Abyssal cult has slipped right under our nose for gods know how long. We need to bring these guys back, and all the others that we can identify to find out how they’re doing it and stop it. Don’t lose focus of who our real enemy is,” Nae said.

Erwest looked at the woman, before giving a nod to Nae, and then Aurelia. “You’re right. My apologies, Nae, and Aurelia. We need to stay focused on the enemy.”

Noah noted the man’s distinct lack of apology for drawing a blade on him, but he ignored it. Conflict would not serve him here.

“Good. Thank you,” Nae said, before turning towards Noah. “Alright, then you two are in the clear. We can start working on our plan now,” Nae said. Walking up to the table, she took a seat, as a map manifested in her hand.

“Due to the nature of this event, we can’t really contact the guild in Aquaris to tell them to capture the team. We have to assume all of them are compromised, since we don’t know to what extent the infiltration has occurred. From my divinations I know they’re still in Aquaris, but that is about all the information I have at the moment. The last quest they picked was within the city, to clear out some stray monsters that had spawned near the water source, a standard quest. The location is slightly outside the city itself, in a nearby village. So chances are they will most likely be there when you arrive,” Nae said, as a marker lit up on the map, highlighting the location.

“What do we know about the party?” Noah asked.

“There’s three of them,” Aurelia answered. “Garett, Evans and Alta. Garett has a Brawler type path, close combat, hits hard. Recently reached D grade and is the party leader. Evans is a ranger, fast, long range, likes to use daggers with poisons, smoke bombs, and traps alongside his bow, but will also use martial arts, he’s E rank. Alta is a healer, blood mage really, but she specialises in healing abilities, also E rank.”

“It’ll be a three on three, but ideally you want to ambush them and not give them a chance. That’ll entirely depend on the situation to situation case though,” Nae said.

“I’ll take on Garett, I know his abilities, and though he’s a rank above, with my Berserker ability I’ll be able to keep up. I believe with divine abilities most poisons should not affect Erwest, and as a Paladin you’ll be well suited to fight Evans.”

“Guess that leaves Alta to me,” Noah said.

“It does. She may be the lowest levelled, but be wary of her. She’s crafty, and she’s got some nasty abilities that can cause you to trip up,” Aurelia said.

“Alright, so we have a general plan in mind. Now, I’ve arranged a wyvern for you guys. Called in some old favours. It’ll get you to Aquaris within the day. You will be leaving before first dawn tomorrow. So, you have all of today to make any and all preparations you need and to rest up. Now if you would, please leave, I’ve got a hundred other things to do,” Nae said.

“Alright,” Noah said.

The three made their way to the elevator, as it slowly began to descend. Noah felt a strange awkwardness as he stood behind the Paladin in silence, watching the guy clenching and unclenching his fist everytime he looked at him.

Deciding to distract himself, Noah pulled up his Astral Script, investing another 25 Attributes in Agility and Constitution.

Agility: 108 → 121.

Constitution: 114 → 127.

Noah checked his free points, noting sixty six still remaining. It would take him two days to get through most of the remaining ones, which would be cutting it really close for the quest.

Moving on, he opened his skill menu, before selecting Soul Resistance.

[Soul Magic Resistance (Intermediate) - lvl 10]

Your soul has weathered the void, absorbing pieces of the Astral interdimensional rift, before being put back together. It has grown resistant and rigid, resilient to change. Soul magic will struggle to take hold of you. Become capable of resisting soul suppression.

Noah noted the added bit about soul suppression, wondering if that was what the shackles did when they locked all his abilities.

With a ding, the elevator ride ended, and Noah closed his menu, walking out.

“Hey,” Noah called out to the Paladin who stopped, before turning back. “I know you don’t like my paths and all that, but I hope we can still work together to bring these guys down. Which, trust me, I want to as much as you.”

“I highly doubt that,” Erwest said, looking down at Noah. “But I will not do anything that will jeopardise the mission. My goddess has asked me to do this, and her word, I do not break. Do not mistake this for friendliness, our interactions will be limited to a shared goal within the quest.”

Without waiting for Noah’s reply, the Paladin turned around, walking away.

“That is one grumpy dude,” Noah said, watching the Paladin walk out.

“Don’t mess with the Paladin, Noah. He’s stronger than both of us, and you wouldn’t want to make the church of Hellion your enemy,” Aurelia said.

Might be too late for that I’m afraid.

“So, where to now?” Noah asked, changing the topic.

“I believe Josiah should have my gauntlets ready, so I’d like to get them,” Aurelia said.

“Sounds good,” Noah replied, as the two made their way out of the guild.

Silence persisted on their walk, as Noah found himself glancing at Aurelia to study her expression.

“I did mean it, by the way,” Noah said, turning to look at Aurelia. “When I apologised, I mean.”

“I know. I could tell,” Aurelia said, looking back. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you want to die?”

Noah paused in his steps, staring at Aurelia. “What… do you mean by that?”

“I've seen adventurers like you. They grow really fast, but they also die just as fast. Jumping into one thing after another recklessly. My father had a friend like that. I called him uncle Dan, because my father always told me they were brothers. He was the strongest man I knew. I thought nothing could defeat him, he would always win in the end, and come out stronger than ever,” Aurelia said.

Noah found the look in her eyes distant, as if mourning a lost memory.

“Until one day, he didn’t win. And just like that, he was gone, along with everything else I ever knew. I lost two fathers that day,” Aurelia replied, before glancing back at Noah. “I’ve avoided joining parties because of this. I don’t want to get attached. It’s why I only stick around temporarily. But I’ve been with you for… almost a month now? It’s not the longest I’ve spent with people, but a lot has happened, and I’m starting to feel happy about traveling with someone. So, tell me now if you want to die, and I will help you the best I can before I leave.”

Noah stared at Aurelia, not sure how to reply. He paused. He wasn’t sure. Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to say no. Did he want to die? No. Not really. But… if he did. He would not care much either.

“You told me you didn't want to go back because you wanted to run from your past, just like I had,” Aurelia said, looking into Noah’s eyes. “But to me, it looks like you're still running.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

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