A loud screech sounded across the crimson labyrinth.
The carapace scavenger was immolated with countless flames as its body grew lifeless and eventually fell down.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger.]
Standing in front of the corpse, Leon simply stared at it, while the corpse burned.
His invisibility was proving to be too useful.
Turning his head around, he checked the runes of his egg.
Vile Thieving Bird Spawn
Trace Type: Devil
Trace Class: Awakened
Trace Description: [Born from greed too ancient to be called sin, the Vile Thieving Bird's Spawn exists as a trace.
Traces are fundamentally more connected than echoes. Their souls are much more well defined.]
Trace State: Dormant
Lives Reaped: [67/100]
"Hmm close."
Why was the Spawn awakened rank? Because the Spell was the most cruel thing to ever exist.
After Leon had excitedly converted the egg into a trace, even though he had a logical reason not to — his impulses won over him.
Now, the egg was a mere Awakened rank, which meant killing enemies with it would be much, much harder.
Which was when Leon learned that perhaps, a Trace would trace his rank. Which meant that each time he would convert any Echo into a trace, no matter the rank — it would trace his current rank.
Which could be a boon or a bane. Losing the Great rank of the egg was a humongous loss. But then again, if it meant that the egg could hatch and trace his rank, it would be worth it in the future.
The only weird part, was that Lyka had no counter. Why was the egg so different?
Would the counter disappear after the egg hatches?
Would the egg even hatch in the first place?
'Only one way to find out...'
After another few days of hunting in the crimson labyrinth, he had come close to filling the egg's counter of lives reaped.
Winds grew stronger as the flames died down. The large gray egg below the scavenger emanated bright orange light through it's cracks.
Leon looked around. After travelling for a week, he had finally understood where he was on the forgotten shore.
After rough estimations, he deduced he would take a week of travelling to reach the giant wall. Unless of course—
He hatched the egg.
Leon had read the runes over and over for the past week. Vile Thieving Bird. The egg must hatch into a bird.
When Leon had told his revelation to Noah, Noah's only reply was,
"Oh my god. You might be a generational genius."
He walked toward the egg, picking it up in his arms.
Smiling, he started walking toward the next horde of scavengers he had seen.
So far, the egg had only absorbed and reflected flames and nothing more. Since fire was the only viable source — other than true darkness of course.
But tampering with the dark sea could be too dangerous, even for someone like Leon.
"All those kills and not a single memory..."
As he was walking around, he noticed something approaching him from the sky.
Narrowing his eyes, he tried to concentrate on the object.
The object approaching him looked to be some kind of locust monster. Even though, locust monsters usually travelled in hordes, this one seemed to be separated.
Flying forward at great speeds, the monster continued approaching Leon, as though it wanted to pierce him like a spear falling from the skies.
Leon simply smiled as he stared at the locust approaching him.
Even though the locust was fast, it was still very small in size, so dodging it wasn't difficult.
'But that's... how losers think.'
He grinned.
Summoning the broken halo, he commanded it to take the shape of a net, similar to the ones secreted by the iron spiders.
After a while of fighting them, the spiders had grown smarter, and tried to trap Leon multiple times. He simply avoided fighting them altogether rather than trying to outsmart them.
Making sure the strings were the color that would blend into the environment, he carefully formed it a few meters away from him.
The strings were like a net that could catch something heavy.
After that, he feigned indifference, provoking the locust.
What made him more curious was the fact that the locust was separated from its horde.
The locust finally reached him as it had gained further speed, but right before it could reach Leon, it's body jerked uncontrollably.
A screeching sound was produced by the strings as it cut the locust into multiple pieces, led by its own speed.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Flesh Reaver]
Having already killed one of these in the past, he did not receive a resonance fragment. However...
[You have received a Memory.]
Raising his eyebrows, Leon summoned the runes for his new memory.
Reaver's Descent
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Type: Weapon
Memory Description:
[Carved from the chitin of a Fresh Reaver — a black locust that devoured harvests and left fields silent — this arrow remembers the ecstasy of the dive.]
Enchantments:
Ravenous Momentum:
[The farther the arrow travels through open air, the faster it becomes. Velocity compounds over distance.]
Summoning the arrow, he noticed it looked completely black. The arrow seemed to have a tip made out of onyx metal, its body comprised of the same material. Instead of feathers, it had been made from the same material as the wings of the locust.
Turning the halo into a bow — the strings collapsed, returning to Leon's hand, turning into a magnificent black colored bow, with a crimson red string.
He knocked the arrow onto the bow and aimed at a distant carapace scavenger.
Releasing it with a snap of the string, the arrow travelled at a considerably great speed.
But as the arrow travelled further, its speed seemed to increase more and more.
The scavenger was quite a distance away from him, since he had climbed onto a tall coral platform.
Wind whooshed around the arrow as it continued to cover more and more distance.
Finally, it made contact with the scavenger.
The arrow pierced the head of the scavenger, completely lodging it off. It wasn't chopped off in an elegant manner — the arrow destroyed the head completely, turning it into bits and pieces.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger.]
Noah whistled.
"Cool arrow. You should learn how to aim though."
Leon's eyes twitched.
"Its head is gone, can you not see?"
Noah smiled.
"You think I don't know you tried aiming for its legs?"
Frowning slightly, Leon lowered his bow.
"Let's go hatch the egg shall we?"
Letting the arrow disappear into a puddle of white sparks, Leon began walking away.
***
A few days later, Leon was standing on top of another high coral. But this time, in front of him, a few dozen kilometers away was the giant wall.
In the end, he could not fill the bird's counter...
The wall was built from massive slabs of grey granite. Still wet from the cold touch of the cursed sea, the ancient weathered stones looked almost black. It stretched endlessly in both directions.
He summoned his bow and knocked at arrow on it. Taking out his clay bottle, he poured some oil on top of the arrow.
Snapping his fingers, he lit the arrow on fire and charged the bow. He aimed at a distant group of spider, where they were inspecting a giant gray egg.
The spiders had circled around the egg, trying to investigate the mysterious round shaped object.
With a loud snap, Leon released the arrow as it travelled toward the spiders at a great speed. Growing faster with the more distance it covered, the arrow landed near the egg.
'Damn it.'
His original aim was one of the spiders. It did not matter however, as the egg consumed the fire on the arrow through its cracks.
The spiders grew wary, and began attacking the egg. However, before they could, a large sea of flames covered them as the egg released a hurricane of fire.
Summoning the arrow in his hand once again, he knocked the bow and aimed at the spiders again. The flames would not be enough to kill the spiders just yet.
'Come on...'
He took a deep breath and held it. Trying to achieve complete stillness, Leon froze his entire body, including his breath.
His eye looked directly at the fire below him as the muscles on his fingers tightened to the grip of the arrow.
The crimson string glistened to the sunlight shining on it as Leon looked like a statue, holding a bow.
After a few seconds, he released the arrow once again. This time, the arrow struck one of the spiders, pinning it in place.
A smile grew on Leon's face.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Iron Spider.]
Summoning the endless spring, he drank greedily from the bottle as the spiders continued to burn in flames.
A few minutes later—
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Iron Spider.]
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Iron Spider.]
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Iron Spider.]
Leon exhaled as he summoned the runes again.
Vile Thieving Bird Spawn
Trace Type: Devil
Trace Class: Awakened
Trace Description: [Born from greed too ancient to be called sin, the Vile Thieving Bird's Spawn exists as a trace.
Traces are fundamentally more connected than echoes. Their souls are much more well defined.]
Trace State: Dormant
Lives Reaped: [99/100]
'Greedy little bastard...'
Sighing, he then checked on his ember charge.
Ember Charge: [402/1000]
Leon grinned, watching the number on the counter. Since he had avoided using the crown too often, the amount of charge on it had grown largely.
He was just one kill away from possibly hatching the egg, or evolving it. Sighing, he wore his cloak as he began descending the coral rock.
***
A while later, as he was walking with the egg in his hands, Leon was closing in on the wall with each step.
It still looked very far however, so he was trying to find nightmare creatures to kill as he was petting the egg.
The egg seemed to feel his hand as it cracked open, red light glowing out of it.
'You seem to be nothing like your parent mentioned on the ichor.'
He had kept the drop of ichor, without consuming it, saving it for Sunny. However deep down, he knew something was fishy about it.
Noah never talked about it, or even answered his own questions, so Leon decided it's best to find out more about Weaver before consuming it.
Until then, he would not give it to Sunny either.
Right as he was walking, his leg was suddenly bit by something. Leon's eyes twitched as he looked down, seeing that he had stepped on some sort of... rock?
The rock even had a mouth! Its mouth opened up trying to devour Leon's foot.
His armor however, was too resilient for it to pierce — the leg still hurt though.
Placing the egg beside the rock, he tried to pry it open with his hands, covering them with his tree armor.
The rock did not seem to budge though.
'This little...'
"Holy shit. It's the greatest Memory ever!" Noah said in an excited tone.
"Greatest Memory? This little shit?"
He summoned the azure scythe and slashed at the rock. Not even a single scratch...
"Ha! You could never kill the Extraordinary Rock!"
Leon didn't know if Noah was joking or not.
But before he could move again, the egg suddenly summoned flames.
"Wait..."
His voice was drowned out by the flames however, as they enveloped Leon completely, including the rock.
Covering his entire body with the armor, Leon gritted his teeth as the heat seared.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Rolling Stone.]
[A new pattern has been completed.]
[Resonance Fragment acquired.]
The flames soon dissipated as Leon's hair was completely burnt near the ends.
His eyes twitched as he looked down at the egg.
"Why the hell—"
But before he could speak, something happened.
The cracks on the egg grew more defined, as though it was hatching. The orange light emanating from it grew crimson red.
Red light covered the surrounding as it grew brighter and brighter, swallowing everything else around it.
The crimson dulled the sunlight around him.
[Your Trace has been defined further.]
The light gradually died down. Leon continued observing as he soon saw a figure outline in front of him.
The figure looked nearly thrice his size.
Black feathers unfolded slowly, each one edged faintly in dim crimson light, like dying embers trapped beneath ink. They did not ruffle in the wind, it moved around them.
Then it opened its eyes — two deep crimson orbs.
Its talons descended next. They were long, slender, curved like ceremonial daggers.
The bird looked quietly at Leon. It did not screech, just breathed.
Smiling, he approached the giant bird and put his hand on its beak.
"Beautiful."
Grinning, he added.
"Much more than Aurelia's stupid bird."
The crown on his head became too hot, nearly singing his hair.
His grin froze.
"I mean. I prefer black after all."
The bird purred under his touch as it continued to stare at Leon.
"Your name shall be Birdie."
He said in a calm tone.
Noah froze. He blinked as he stared at Leon.
"Birdie? Are you kidding? Birdie?"
Leon shrugged.
"It's simple and nice."
Birdie did not seem to mind however as it simply ruffled it's wings.
Noah face palmed.
"I can tell how you're friends with Sunny."
Opening the runes for his new trace, he read through it.
Vile Thieving Bird Spawn
Trace Type: Devil
Trace Class: Awakened
Trace Description: [Born from greed too ancient to be called sin, the Vile Thieving Bird's Spawn exists as a trace.]
Claims Forsaken: [0/3]
[Prismatic Abyss]
Description: The echo absorbs any elemental phenomenon that makes contact with it fire, lightning, frost, corrosion, light, shadow, and even true darkness.
Absorbed elements may be stored, altered, or reflected, but never without cost.
[Black Testament]
Description: Creatures below or at its rank instinctively fail to register its presence unless it acts with overt hostility. Sound made by its movement is dampened as if swallowed by unseen depth.
[...]
Description: Sealed Attribute
[...]
Description: Sealed Attribute
Leon narrowed his toward Black Testament.
'Why does every trace I have want to stay invisible?'
"Claims Forsaken? What could that means?" Leon pondered.
"Maybe... give up something? Like a memory you find important?"
Noah asked.
"Well we can worry about that later."
He smiled and looked at Birdie once again.
"Ready to take flight, buddy?"
Birdie simply extended its wings.
Smiling, he climbed onto Birdie, clutching onto its feathers.
Soon, Birdie took flight as it charged up with a loud whoosh. Its wings flapped, as though it had done so many times before.
Birdie did not even feel like an amateur taking flight, as it beautifully glided upward.
Laughing Leon enjoyed the wind blowing on his face. He stretched his arms as he took in the sweet air into his lungs.
Struggling against the speed, Leon took short breaths.
Smiling, he patted the feathers of Birdie.
A loud screech echoed throughout the sky as Birdie sped up.
He nearly reached the wall, but right before, he noticed a large dome sticking out nearby. Leon narrowed his eyes as he mentally commanded Birdie to investigate.
Flapping its wings, Birdie changed directions as he dove toward the large dome.
***
Standing on the dome, Leon walked toward one of the holes on them and looked down.
Down there, he saw a mountain of white skeletal bones.
'Woah...'
Leon stared at the pile of bones as he then noticed something. A faint golden light emanated near the pile of bones.
"Here we go again..."
Noah exhaled softly.
Wearing his hood on, Leon calmed his excitement as he took deep breaths.
After a while, he summoned the halo and turned it into a form of a rope. He gave one end of the rope to Birdie, who held the rope in his mouth.
Tugging slowly, he gripped the rope tightly, and descended down the dome.
The giant underground chamber was circular in shape. Its walls seemed to be built out of the same stone slabs as the ones he was trying to reach.
Slowly landing near the bone pile, he walked over it calmly, trying to reach the golden light emanating from within the bones.
He also glanced around the chamber and looked up. A giant stone hand was reaching down through the broken dome, its palm open.
After observing for a while, Leon realized something.
The vast underground chamber was situated directly underneath the headless statue of the graceful woman who had once saved him and his friends from drowning in the black waters of the cursed sea.
While he was searching for the key, Leon found a piece of bone that looked awfully like a sword.
He picked it up and examined it. Its one end was sharp and narrow, while its other end seemed have a sort of hilt to it, ending with smooth edges.
Smiling, he grabbed the sword and kept it to his waist.
Throwing a few bone pieces aside, he finally found the source of the light. It was an old, rusty iron key.
He narrowed his eyes as he observed the key, but before he could, he sensed the ground shake. Leon slowly looked up at the mountain of bones as it started shaking.
Widening his eyes Leon realized.
"It's alive?"
Noah remained silent.
Slowly getting up, he walked toward the rope again and tugged at the rope.
Birdie pulled on the rope as Leon ascended toward the hole in the dome again.
After getting up, he looked down at the pile of bones again.
The pile of bones was indeed alive.
He also noticed that the pile of bones didn't belong to one giant creature, rather it belonged to multiple... humans.
He narrowed his eyes as he imagined the countless humans that perished to form this monstrous abomination.
'Now, how do I kill you?'
In the end however, he only had one singular idea.
Nuke it.
Sighing, he stood up and summoned the crown.
The sun was slowly descending, so he had to hurry up.
Leon knew he could not kill the giant monster with sword play or an arrow. So his only viable option was to blow it up.
Thankfully, he had saved quite a large amount of ember charge.
Emptying every single bottle of flammable oil he had, Leon grinned. This amount of oil was laughable compared to the explosion he was about release, but he thought something was better than nothing.
Leon climbed onto Birdie as he stared down at the giant creature.
"Aurelia? Some help perhaps?"
He said in a low voice.
Just as he said that, crown seemed to glow brighter, as his body was surrounded by warmth. The warmth felt welcoming.
He smiled as he raised his palm.
Ember Charge: [402/1000]
Ember Charge: [2/1000]
As soon as he did that, he commanded Birdie to take flight.
BOOM!
A loud explosion sounded throughout the forgotten shore. The explosion was massive in scale, as it reached for the skies.
The sun had just descended then, so the entire area was covered by a large bright light. The light seemed hungry to cover more and more distance as it simply grew.
Leon gripped onto Birdie's feathers as he was propelled further and further. Birdie absorbed most of the flames trying to harm Leon as they flew further away.
The sound of the explosion covered a large area.
The light from the explosion felt like a miniature sun, that had descended onto the shore.
[You have slain a Fallen Beast, Corpse Eater.]
[A new pattern has been completed.]
[Resonance Fragment acquired.]
[You have received a Memory.]
"Corpse eater? That's a rather anticlimactic name for a huge pile of bones."
Noah froze.
"Leon. It's called Lord of the Dead."
"Ohhh. Wait I didn't get any—"
The dome burst open, with the flames parting way for a huge abomination.
Leon turned back, to see a huge silhouette behind the rising cloud of dust and ember.
The pile of bones had gathered together, piling on top of each other, eventually forming a giant skeleton like creature.
The pile of bones eventually took shape, with each bone glowing red. Then, very slowly, it turned around, looking directly at Leon.
'Wait... Birdie isn't invisible?'
He looked down to see Birdie exhausted from absorbing the flames that had headed toward them.
He turned back again, looking at the Lord of the Dead.
"Oops."