Monarch of the Calamity Beast

Chapter 4 Traces of Acid and Blood

Kaelen's heavy boots crushed the shattered Aether-glass beneath him. He didn't stop to empty the crystalline dust from his boots. The Wasteland of Echoes demanded forward momentum, and he had no time to waste.

Toxic violet clouds choked the sky above Aethelgard. The air tasted of rust and heavy Aether radiation. Kaelen breathed it in deeply, feeling the Void in his chest thrum with anticipation.

The slaughter at Eldermire Village was already a distant memory. Kaelen wiped a smear of dried blood from his jaw. He raised his hand, swiping a finger through the stagnant air to summon his interface.

[Essence Resonance Status]

[Name: Kaelen Thorne]

[Race: Human (Void Assimilated - 12%)]

[Level: 5]

[Void Essence: 340/1000]

Twelve percent. The Aether Cores he had ripped from the Scythe-tail Prowlers had pushed the void deeper into his marrow. He breathed the heavy, polluted air without his lungs seizing.

He focused on his unallocated stat points. Without hesitation, he dumped all four into Endurance.

[System: Endurance +4. Initiating physiological restructuring.]

A deep, heavy pressure clamped down on his skeleton. Kaelen ground his teeth together, his jaw muscles bulging. Deep inside his chest, his ribs popped and shifted as his bone density forcibly compacted.

He didn't drop to his knees. He embraced the brutal, burning sensation. Power always came with a price, and pain was simply weakness leaving his body.

"Still so eager to mutate, boy?" Malakor mocked. The ancient entity's voice vibrated at the base of Kaelen's skull. "You are turning into a monster faster than I anticipated."

"Shut up and watch," Kaelen replied coldly. He rolled his shoulders, feeling the newfound durability settling into his muscles.

Before Malakor could respond, a heavy vibration shivered through the crystal earth. It was a continuous, grating scrape, followed by a wet, bubbling hiss.

Kaelen turned his gaze forward.

Fifty meters ahead, a massive shape pulled itself over a ridge of jagged crystal. It moved low to the ground on six thick, muscular legs. Its lower jaw was split straight down the middle, the dual mandibles clicking together in a restless rhythm.

Translucent spikes lined its spine, dripping a thick green fluid. Where the drops hit the ground, the dirt violently hissed. Plumes of toxic white steam erupted into the air.

[System Warning: Calamity Beast Detected]

[Species: Venom-spine Basilisk - Mid-Tier Threat]

[Affinity: Corrosion / Aether Poison]

Kaelen's eyes locked onto the beast. He didn't draw a weapon. His bare hands were more than enough.

The beast stopped its advance. Six compound eyes, dull and yellow, locked onto Kaelen. It opened its split jaw, stretching thick strings of acidic saliva, and shrieked.

It lunged. For something the size of a siege wagon, it covered the ground with terrifying speed. Its claws tore deep gouges in the earth, kicking up a cloud of glass dust.

Kaelen pulled the heavy, dark essence from his core. He channeled it straight into his boots.

[Skill Activated: Shadow Step]

The world vanished into a brief, suffocating darkness. Kaelen reappeared fifteen feet in the air, directly above the charging Basilisk. The creature bit down hard on empty space, its heavy jaws snapping shut with a concussive crack.

Gravity took hold. Kaelen channeled the Void into his right fist, the black mist swarming his knuckles until it swallowed all ambient light. He plummeted toward the beast's armored skull.

He drove his fist downward, targeting the cluster of yellow eyes. The impact sounded like an exploding cannon shell. Kaelen's fist punched straight through the thick ocular fluid, shattering the skull beneath.

A geyser of black blood and caustic venom sprayed upward. The acid splashed against Kaelen's chest, but his Void-enhanced aura immediately neutralized the burn.

The Basilisk thrashed violently, unleashing a gargled shriek of agony. It whipped its massive, spiked tail upward in a desperate counterattack.

Kaelen saw the blur of movement. He didn't bother dodging. He planted his boots on the creature's back and braced his core.

The heavy tail slammed squarely into his left side. The blunt force was tremendous, but his newly reinforced ribs held firm. Kaelen skidded backward a few feet, completely unfazed by the strike.

"Pathetic," Kaelen sneered.

From his palm, he pulled the remaining essence from his core. The black mist elongated, hardening into a sheer, jagged blade of pure darkness. The air around the weapon warped and screamed.

The Basilisk reared back, its throat swelling significantly. It unleashed a sweeping torrent of concentrated acid directly at Kaelen.

Kaelen didn't retreat. He sprinted directly into the boiling deluge.

He swung his Void Blade, the dark energy cleaving straight through the incoming wave of acid. The toxic liquid parted around him, melting the ground into bubbling sludge.

[Skill Activated: Shadow Step]

Kaelen vanished from the toxic fog. He reappeared instantly beneath the creature's unhinged jaw. He looked up at the pale, unarmored flesh of its throat.

He planted his back foot, gripped the Void Blade with both hands, and drove it upward. The shadow edge met absolutely no resistance. It sliced cleanly through the thick hide, sinking deep into the muscle.

Kaelen let out a vicious grunt, dragging the blade down the entire length of the creature's underbelly.

Hot, heavy viscera spilled out onto the crystal dirt. The smell of bile and rot washed over the battlefield. The Basilisk let out a pathetic croak before its legs gave out.

It collapsed into its own filth, dead.

The Void Blade dissolved back into mist, retreating into Kaelen's palm. He stood over the massive carcass, his chest heaving with adrenaline. His skin was completely unmarked.

He reached into the beast's steaming chest cavity with both bare hands. Ignoring the slick, burning fluids, his fingers searched blindly until they brushed against something hard and angular.

He yanked it free. The Aether Core was the size of a large apple, glowing with a sickly emerald light.

Kaelen crushed it in his grip.

The crystal shattered, liquefying into bright energy that immediately absorbed into his veins. A wave of freezing pressure rushed up Kaelen's arm, followed by a surge of pure, violent power.

[System: Aether Core Assimilation Successful]

[Void Essence: +600/1000]

[System: Level Up!]

[Level: 6 Reached]

[System: Passive Skill Acquired: Corrosive Blood (Level 1) - External wounds will emit low-level Aether acid radiation.]

Kaelen looked down at his forearms. A microscopic lattice of dark gray scales had formed over his muscle. He scraped a fingernail against it, finding the armor harder than steel.

Turning away from the carcass, a glint of metal caught his eye. Half-buried in a shallow puddle of green sludge near the beast's tail, a hexagonal plate rested in the mud.

Kaelen walked over and pulled it from the acid. It was heavy. Etched deeply into the polished surface was a familiar, eight-pronged sun.

The holy seal of the Solar Aegis Order. Kaelen flipped the plate over. Embedded in the flat back was a small crimson rune, blinking with a steady rhythm.

A tracker.

The mid-tier Inquisitors of the Aegis Order wore these. If a paladin's heart stopped, the rune broadcast their final coordinates. They always sent an execution squad to purge whatever had killed their zealots.

"The hounds have the scent," Malakor whispered, a dark amusement in his tone. "They will bring their blinding light to burn you to ash."

Kaelen stared at the blinking red rune. A cruel smile stretched across his face. He didn't crush the tracker.

Instead, he clipped the metal plate directly to his belt. If the Aegis Order wanted to send a squad, he would welcome the prey. He needed massive amounts of EXP to breach his seventh evolutionary threshold.

He looked north toward the jagged peaks of the Obsidian Mountains. There was a narrow gorge near the base of the ridge. It was the perfect chokepoint.

He would set the ambush there. The paladins thought they were coming to execute a beast, but they were walking right into a slaughterhouse.

Without another word, Kaelen marched north, ready to go to war.