Monarch of the Calamity Beast

Chapter 5 Prey Cloaked in Light

The violet air of Aethelgard tasted like battery acid and decay. Kaelen Thorne crouched atop a massive, half-buried jawbone. He casually tossed a brass identification tag into the dirt below.

It landed with a wet smack in a pool of thick, black blood. The butchered corpses of three Venom-spine Basilisks surrounded the bait. Their corrosive blood hissed as it slowly ate away at the dry earth.

"Leaving breadcrumbs for men who think they own the sun," Malakor hissed. The ancient entity's voice vibrated directly within Kaelen's skull. "I can smell the cheap polish on their armor from here."

"Let them come," Kaelen replied, flexing his hands. Tiny obsidian scales shifted along his knuckles, a byproduct of his recent evolutions. "I need the EXP to feed the Void."

Heavy vibrations pulsed through the cracked earth. Four figures emerged from the toxic purple smog.

They wore heavy gold-plated armor, marching in a tight diamond formation. Three carried polearms sparking with fractured yellow mana crystals. The leader wore a pristine white surcoat and a smooth golden mask.

[System: Aegis Paladins (Level 5) detected.]

[System: Inquisitor Vane (Level 7) detected. Threat Level: Negligible.]

"The tracker stopped here," a paladin muttered. His voice was muffled inside his closed steel helm as he pointed at the glowing brass tag.

Inquisitor Vane stopped abruptly. His boot slipped slightly on the coagulated beast blood. He stared at the cleanly severed basilisk limbs with narrowed eyes.

"Hold your positions," Vane commanded, his hand dropping to the hilt of his blade. "Beasts do not cut this cleanly. These are blade marks."

Vane drew a jagged longsword that pulsed with holy mana. "Find the pariah. Tear him apart and burn the pieces."

From the shadows of a petrified crystalline pillar, Kaelen smiled. The cold power of the Void surged through his veins, demanding violence. The hunt was finally starting.

[System: Skill Activated: Void Step (Lv.2).]

The world dissolved into freezing darkness for a fraction of a second. Kaelen bypassed physical space entirely. He materialized directly behind the rearmost paladin without making a single sound.

Before the holy knight could react, Kaelen struck. His fingers elongated into pitch-black talons. He plunged his hand straight through the weak chainmail of the man's neck.

Blood sprayed across the wasteland in a heavy arc. Kaelen ripped the man's spine out with a sickening, wet crunch. He tossed the dripping chunk of bone aside.

[System: Aegis Paladin killed. +150 EXP.]

The lifeless armored body crashed into the dirt. The deafening thud alerted the remaining three men. They spun around, leveling their weapons in absolute panic.

"Formation!" Vane barked, his voice wavering behind his mask. "Purge him in the Sun God's name!"

The two paladins thrust their spears forward. Blinding holy light erupted from the cracked mana crystals, superheating the toxic air. The energy seared the ground, leaving scorched trenches in its wake.

Kaelen didn't bother dodging. He stepped directly into the strike. He let the nearest spear point pierce the side of his ribs.

The holy heat sizzled furiously against his flesh. It boiled away muscle and skin in an instant. Yet, Kaelen didn't even blink.

[System: Minor Holy Damage received.]

[System: Passive Skill: Void Regeneration initiated.]

Thick, corrosive black blood spilled from Kaelen's wound directly onto the paladin's weapon. The basilisk-derived acid melted the spear shaft in seconds. It splashed upward, covering the knight's visor.

The reaction was immediate and violent. White smoke poured from the steel as the acid ate through the metal. The paladin dropped to his knees, screaming as the fluid burned into his eyes and skull.

He thrashed in the dirt for five seconds before going completely still.

[System: Aegis Paladin killed. +150 EXP.]

Kaelen didn't wait. He grabbed the remaining paladin by the throat. He squeezed his iron grip until the heavy gorget buckled inward.

With a brutal twist, he snapped the man's neck. He tossed the ruined corpse aside like a broken toy.

[System: Aegis Paladin killed. +150 EXP.]

Kaelen looked down at his side. The searing wound was already sealing itself shut. Dark purple fibers knit his flesh back together, leaving unblemished skin in seconds.

He wiped the remaining black blood from his stomach. Then, he locked his cold, predatory gaze onto Inquisitor Vane.

The Aegis leader backed away, trembling violently. His pristine white surcoat was stained with the ash of his dead subordinates. "You're not human... you're a monster!"

Vane crushed a jagged red mana crystal in his fist. A massive pulse of superheated light exploded outward. It instantly formed a glowing, impenetrable golden dome around the Inquisitor.

"Sun God, protect your faithful servant," Vane frantically prayed. He pressed his hands to the earth, trying to reinforce the barrier.

"Your god is a parasite," Kaelen sneered, his voice laced with pure malice. "And he cannot save you from the dark."

Kaelen walked straight into the holy barrier. The condensed light blasted him like an open furnace. The outer layers of his skin blackened, blistering and peeling away into ash.

But the Void answered the challenge immediately. Freezing dark Aether poured from his core, violently rebuilding his flesh as fast as the light destroyed it. It was a brutal, agonizing cycle of destruction and rebirth.

[System: Severe Holy Damage detected.]

[System: Void Body rapidly adapting... Defense increasing.]

Vane shrieked in absolute terror. He poured every last drop of his mana into the shield, but it wasn't enough. Kaelen kept walking until he was inches from the Inquisitor.

Kaelen raised his left hand. The fingers fused and sharpened into metallic black claws.

[System: Skill Activated: Abyssal Rend (Lv.1).]

He punched his arm straight through the thickest part of the barrier. The golden dome shattered like cheap glass, dissolving into harmless sparks. Kaelen grabbed Vane by the face.

His talons dug deep into the sides of the golden mask. The metal groaned and crumpled under Kaelen's crushing, monstrous grip. Vane thrashed blindly, kicking the dirt as he suffocated.

Dark energy bled from Kaelen's palm. It washed over Vane, invading his body like a plague. Kaelen forcibly siphoned the life and light affinity directly from the Inquisitor's soul.

Vane's struggles weakened rapidly. His internal light was snuffed out. In seconds, he collapsed into a lifeless pile of dented steel and gray ash.

[System: Inquisitor Vane killed. +500 EXP.]

[System: Level Up! Host has reached Level 7.]

[System: All physical attributes enhanced. Void Core expanded.]

A massive rush of power surged through Kaelen. The burning pain across his skin vanished instantly. His muscles grew denser, and his bones hardened into near-indestructible pillars of strength.

Kaelen flexed his newly enhanced hands. The raw power coursing through his veins was utterly intoxicating. He nudged Vane's empty armor with the tip of his boot.

A small brass projector rolled out of the ashes. Kaelen picked it up. He pressed his thumb against the activation rune at its base.

A pale gold holographic map flared to life in the smog. It displayed a massive cluster of lights moving steadily across the wasteland grid. They marched under the undeniable emblem of a blazing winged sword.

"Central Command," Kaelen muttered, his eyes narrowing. "The Aegis Order isn't just sending hit squads anymore. That's a full legion."

"They feel the anomaly you've become," Malakor rasped in his mind, sounding deeply amused. "They are terrified of the shadows, Kaelen."

Kaelen crushed the projector in his grip, shattering it into pieces. A legion meant thousands of fully armed men. Level 7 would not be enough to massacre an entire army.

He turned his gaze to the north. Through the toxic violet smog, the jagged black peaks of the Obsidian Mountains pierced the bruised sky.

High-tier Calamity Beasts roamed those unforgiving peaks. Their potent Aether cores held the raw energy he needed to force his next evolution.

"Time to hunt bigger prey," Kaelen declared. He turned his back on the ashes of the Aegis paladins and began the long climb up the mountain.