Magic_Smithing
patreon
Ch: 117.7
🕑 Added 2023-04-15 05:29:03 +0000 UTCThey were coming from everywhere!
Grabbing Tabitha by her armor, I quickly dragged her to the center of the room as a spectral hand reached for her through the wall I had her propped up against.
“Gods!” Tabitha exclaims as multiple ethereal shapes phase through the walls and ceiling. They looked like featureless people made of silvery smoke, but Tabitha looked at them like they were the embodiment of death.
“Are these remnants?" I nervously asked, spinning around and counting over a dozen such figures surrounding us, with more slowly emerging around us.
“Worse,” Tabitha sounds defeated. “These are soul horrors, one of the strongest forms a ghost can manifest as.”
“That sounds bad,” I step forward and try kicking the closest one.
“Don’t!” Tabitha yells, but it is already too late. My foot passes through the silvery specter like it wasn’t even there, and at the same time, it reaches out lightning-fast and plunges its hand into my chest.
For a brief second, I feel like I'm dying again as the soul horror tries to rip my soul from my body. Too bad for it because I'm in no mood to die. Activating Soul Devourer, I pull a reverse card and devour the intrusive limb before it can damage my soul.
I’d never thought I’d ever hear a ghost scream before, and I don’t think I ever want to again. The ear-bleeding sound the soul horror makes when I tear its arm from it has me staggering back, desperately trying to cover my ears with my hands. At least my counterattack made it retreat, and the others pause their advance.
‘What did you do?” Tabitha exclaims once the ghost finally stops screeching. “You need special gear or skills to fight off a soul horror. Even Master must be careful around them because they can directly attack the soul."
“So, you’re saying I can’t touch them with normal attacks,” I purposely avoid Tabitha’s dumbfounded stare as I move back next to her.
“You shouldn’t be alive right now,” Tabitha’s astonished look says it all; this wasn't something she would just forget about or pretend not to notice.
“I think we have bigger problems at the moment,” I hiss. My hammer was still resting at the bottom of the shaft off to the side; I could reach it if I tried, but it was still covered in the winged serpent’s poison. I only glance at it briefly before ignoring it entirely; it wouldn't do anything anyways. "If physical attacks won't do anything, can you use magic to injure them?" I ask Tabitha, who was looking at me like I had sprouted a second head.
Thankfully, my question reminds her of what's happening around us, but she has no good news for me. "No, they're resistant to magic too. It would take a tier 4 spell or higher to harm them, and neither of us has the mana supply to cast such a spell even if we knew one,” she explains dejectedly.
Fuck, I guess there’s only one way out of this. I’ll need to openly use Soul Devourer in front of Tabitha without holding back.
“Leave me,” Tabitha again tries to sacrifice herself for me, but her voice sounds different this time. Maybe she finally realized that it was pointless to suggest such a thing and she was just going through the motions.
"Yeah, no," I bring my hand to my chest. I’m projecting an air of confidence, but in truth, I was worried. My soul felt off after absorbing the soul horror’s hand. The appendage contained a lot of experience, and it wasn't being absorbed as cleanly as it should.
“You have some sort of resistance against their attacks; I do not,” Tabitha pleads. “If you leave me behind, you can find a place to recover and maybe hide until Master arrives.”
“Or I can just kill them until they stop coming,” I boldly proclaim. Soul Devourer flares to life, and ten ghastly appendages sprout from my back. Two ghostly arms swing around and merge with my real arms, like astral gloves.
I look at Tabitha to gauge her response to my skill, but she doesn't react outwardly. She must not be able to see my skill’s manifestation without having Sense Soul. That's good; at least she won't look at me like I'm a monster.
“Don’t move, and don’t worry,” I tell Tabitha, ignoring the pain in my chest. The ghosts were still frozen in place after I injured the first one, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to strike first.
"What are you?" Tabitha's voice trails off as I step forward again toward the nearest specter.
I don’t know if they had any sense of self or were emotionless beings, but as soon as I approach the apparition, it jolts back to life and tries to shove its hand in my chest just like the first one did. Yeah, no, I wasn’t going to let that happen a second time.
Bringing my right hand up, I grab the ghost by its wrist before it can touch me.
Thanks to Soul Devourer, I can touch them.
I can hurt them.
I can kill them.
The soul horror is more than a little caught off-guard by my grabbing it. It tries to pull its hand back and flee, but I don’t let it. Instead, with my free left hand, I grab the angry ghost by the neck. Then I start pulling. The soul horror lets a soul-shaking wail of pain, but I don't stop trying to tear the thing apart.
The creature tries to swipe at me with its remaining hand, but too bad for it; I have eight more. It’s so easy to control Soul Devourer’s eight remaining limbs to reach out and grab the struggling spirit that it felt second nature to me. They wrap around the ghost like living chains, and as soon as the last one makes contact, I do what comes naturally.
All at once, each hand of Soul Devourer rips a chunk out of the ghost and channels the foreign experience toward my soul. The mass of experience hits me like a fist to the gut, but I don’t stop using my skill. As soon as a hand rips off a chunk of the ghost and absorbs it, I direct it to grab another, and in a few short seconds, the silvery form of the soul horror breaks down and crumbles. But as a last act of defiance, it lets out one last soul-turning scream, and all hell breaks loose.
The death wails of the soul horror did something to the others who seemed more than willing to stand by and not interfere until now. It was like a dinner bell was rung, or maybe they were out to avenge their ally; either way, all the soul horrors rushed to attack at once. Worse of all, they weren't only after me.
Jumping backward, I had just enough time to rip a chunk out of a soul horror that was about to attack Tabitha. No matter what, I couldn't let one of them touch her!
The pain in my soul was steadily growing with every chuck I absorbed. I try to rip the ghosts apart and not take in the experience, but when I do that, the experience takes on a life of its own and remerges with the soul horror I ripped it from. I had no choice but to absorb everything, so that's exactly what I do!
I wasn’t going to let them get Tabitha, I swear it! Ripping apart another soul horror, my soul feels like it’s about to burst.
I’ll kill them all!
Another falls by my hands.
Kill them all!
So much pain, but I must continue.
Kill them!
Don’t stop.
Kill!
**********
Tabitha’s Point of View:
I couldn’t move, and it was killing me that I had to leave everything to Aaliyah. She wasn’t even half my age, and she was giving everything she had to save me.
I’ve never felt so useless before in my life, but strangely at the same time, I’ve never been prouder. Aaliyah was my junior, facing a group of monsters that would give even Master pause; why wouldn't I feel proud of her? She used her Dancing skill to expertly doge and get close to the soul horrors while defending me. I couldn’t tell how she was hurting them, but whatever she was doing, the strong ghosts were evaporating in quick succession.
I hadn’t had the chance to explain to her how dangerous soul horrors were. When we camped outside the magic-dense region Aaliyah said it was the first time she came across remnants, so there was no way she understood the danger of the creatures she was fighting. Remnants were harmless, creepy to be around, but harmless; all the other forms of ghosts were less so.
When enough creatures die in a relatively small area, Remnants are formed, but if there are mass casualties, like in war zones, their stronger versions shades can appear. Unlike remnants, shades can influence the world around them and could physically attack people. They’re easy to kill if you can cast basic magic or have a decently enchanted weapon, but they are still considered dangerous to the average individual.
Remnants and shades are the most common form of ghosts, and most warriors go their entire lives without encountering anything stronger. Mainly because if a person is unfortunate to run into any other form of a ghost, they don't survive the encounter. I have never seen anything stronger than the two until now, having only been told stories of the more dangerous versions, such as revenants and soul horrors.
Unlike the primary two, who can form where a large amount of death mana acclimates, revenants and soul horrors needed more to manifest; they needed strong emotions. Because of this, revenants and soul horrors were exclusively found around where sentient creatures had died, mainly humans. You would think they would pop up everywhere during wars, but it was more complicated than that.
Every person dies differently; some curse their enemies, others laminate their misfortune, but most die so quickly they can’t feel anything. Revenants supposedly only form around areas of great tragedies like mass suicides or sacrificial acts where everyone is experiencing the same heightened emotions, whatever they may be. And it was a good thing because, unlike remnants and shades, revenants were quite deadly. They’re said to be as strong as a level 70 warier, but they were genuinely feared because they were tough to pin down, required specific gear to combat their soul attacks, and demanded strong magic to fight.
I heard from Master it takes entire hunting parties to track down and slay a revenant, and soul horrors were considered a hundred times worse, mainly because of how they come into being. While it takes a group to form a revenant, soul horrors were the opposite, they formed from the death of a single being, somebody above level 140.
In this waning era, few people ever reach the level required to form a soul horror, and fewer suffer the kind of death it takes to form one. So why, in the gods’ names, are there so many of them here!?
When Aaliyah said she would handle them, I cursed her for her foolishness, but I was the fool. I've been training with her for months now, and it never occurred to me she was holding back against me. Against me, of all people! Whatever skill she was using was obviously strong, so why didn’t she practice using it against me?
The only thing I could think of was that it was too dangerous to do so, meaning she believed I wasn’t strong enough to handle it. And maybe she was right.
Aaliyah only needed to touch the soul horrors to utterly rip them to shreds. I've had little experience dealing with such skills, but I recognized a soul attack when I saw one. Scholl had few mages specializing in curses, but the ones we did have, were extremely dangerous. Master had me train against them a few times in the past, and I distinctly remember the feeling of having all my energy drained from me without being able to do anything about it. But even with their most potent spells, they couldn't do what Aaliyah was doing right now.
More soul horrors were emerging from the walls and rushing toward us, but Aaliyah wasn’t phased by their appearance. In fact, she looked happy to see them. Aaliyah was visibly sweating but grinning from ear to ear, much like I'd been told I do while fighting.
It was only a matter of time before Aaliyah subdued the remaining soul horrors, but it was odd; for some reason, my danger sense skills hadn't started to calm down despite the reduced danger. If anything, they were louder now than when the soul horrors first appeared. Why was that?
Aaliyah was winning, so there had to be another danger I wasn't seeing, but what was it? Either way, I needed to warn her about it. "Aaliyah, be careful; my skills still say we're still in danger,” I shout as she rips apart another soul horror with her seemingly bare hands.
She was too busy to acknowledge my warning, so I tried again to ensure she heard me. "Watch out; there might be something else nearby!”
This time she pauses, and I know she heard me. As long as she was aware of the hidden danger, she could-
Aaliyah’s head suddenly snaps in my direction unnaturally, and her killing intent washes over me. Her green eyes were glowing eerily like green fire, and despite her looking directly at me, it felt like she didn’t see me at all.
“I see, so that’s how it is," I sighed tiredly. Another soul horror tries to attack Aaliyah distracting her from me, but I’ve seen enough to know what’s happening. I bet that's why she’s never used this mysterious skill against me. She's lost her mind, and her body was moving on instinct alone. And my skills were still going off because once there were no more enemies to distract her, I would be her next target.
So, in the end, I am going to die here, just not how I expected.
I didn't feel mad at Aaliyah, I knew her well, and she'd never do this if she knew she would harm me. I was prepared to die to save her, and that hasn't changed.
I don’t blame her for what she’s about to do; my only wish is that my death snaps her out of whatever state she's fallen into, lest she tries to attack the winged serpent above us afterward. Aaliyah’s skill may be able to damage it, but chances were she’d die in the process.
Only a few more soul horrors to go, I note the three remaining. Two of them were the same as all the others, but the last was massive, easily three times the size of the other ghosts. And it was waiting, waiting for the last of its allies to disappear before it engaged Aaliyah.
I had no idea how strong it was, but either way, this was it. And I was okay with that. My only regret is that I can't move my arms and kill myself before either get their hands on me.
I wanted to save Aaliyah from the pain of killing me, and I didn't want to risk my soul being ripped out of my body by the soul horror. People say if a ghost eats your soul, you won't find peace in death, only torment. Of the two, I’d prefer to die for the sake of young Aaliyah, but life rarely goes as planned.
Aaliyah brutally rips apart the last two regular soul horrors, and the final battle commences.
Unable to move, I pray Aaliyah is victorious against the final soul horror. If she wins, I'll try to break through to her with my voice, but I wasn't holding my breath.
I wish her all the success in the world because if I’ve learned anything training her, she'll eventually become strong enough to help save Scholl.
What better reason to die for?
************
2,700 words.
Good news, my mom’s surgery went well, and with that no longer worrying me, I can get back to putting out chapters on time.
Speaking of which, what did you think of the chapter? Tell me below, and as always, stay safe.
Comments
Gon of the Dra
Thanks for the chapter! Im so happy your mom's surgery went well, and I hope she recovers quickly. Ok, I love it, and I've been waiting for a Tabitha/Paccore POV. I love that the Soul Devourer skill gets a way to be exposed naturally (Aliyah would be nuts to admit to it otherwise). Also love the ghost lore, and that undead aren't a dime a dozen in this world - I feel that setting always makes a high fantasy worlds seem very apocalyptic even if the author doent intend it.
S10NN4CH
Thank you for the awesome work!! 🥰-- I think you may have meant lament instead of laminate? 👉👈--"Every person dies differently; some curse their enemies, others (laminate) their misfortune, but most die so quickly they can’t feel anything."
Penguin Glutton
I think it is a healer group cause Pacore wanted to spar with his commanders Mayne critically damage them so he can make everyone more less relax he was looking for one that has ties with the group
SFS
I think it's more that they are trying to name themselves after powerful types of birds
Penguin Glutton
On a lart of the chapter im rereading and Pacore said something about a phoenix faction so a healer group?
Penguin Glutton
Mostlikely store the exp imo
DANTE
I see a lot of comments about giving XP to Tabitha, I think controlling free floating XP and potentially use it to increase personal/allay XP gain is likely the last breakthrough of Soul Manipulation and its final development. I dont think Soul Devourer has a "share" path of development, I think SD primary focus is attacking and consuming a living soul, both outer shel (XP) and true soul, and the skill progress is likely focused in that direction, using it on free floating XP after a kill is probably a misuse/not the primary intended use of the skill. As for giving away XP she already absorbed in her soul, that might be possible as well with Soul Manipulation or another skill but its probably 1000 times harder and would require enough knowledge to not accidentally mess something up while dissecting her (outer) soul and donating the XP
Penguin Glutton
I think like Derek said woth giving the extra exp to Tabitha
Hayden Lux
Rather than "tainted" with death mana or in a negative sense I assume the XP is just too much or from entities that are too strong. So her soul is having trouble integrating/cleansing it of the imprinted memories/consciousness of the soul horrors. When she killed the bandits and just naturally absorbed combat XP that XP sort of took the form/appearance of the people she killed in her soul before being absorbed and integrated. So it is likely that her soul, even with her skill, just can't cleanse the EXP of these imprints/memories. Similar to alcohol, her soul can't process it because there is too much or it is too concentrated. So either she will have to expel it or (and this seems cooler to me) fight/cage the fragments inside her soul using soul manipulation, like with the trees she built, while her soul slowly processes/cleanses the XP.
Penguin Glutton
Maybe she could create it?! If it was never before seen
Jachin Nelson
No Spatial Bags as of yet. I doubt they exist but if they do they would likely be a tier 5 rune magic
Penguin Glutton
Yall we haven't seen spatial bags or rings yet right? Do they exist?
Jachin Nelson
I think mind had to do with computation and information, and Clarity has something to do with mana, given how it's mentioned. Probably something about regeneration
Jon Oliphant
Splitting XP isn't something she has been able to do. Now the way she does things that hardly rules it out but, it's a bit much.
Timo Immig
Senses enhances your 5 senses, this includes mana sense, danger sense etc. For craftsmen it helps them to accuratelly measure things.
Penguin Glutton
Yall what does senses, mind and clarity do?
Ken
This is getting so good
Penguin Glutton
And no way she will be able to hide her new levels
Penguin Glutton
Would she be even able to share exp with her in this state ?
Derek Walker
The more I think about the math (she needs about 45 million exp to reach level 100) the more I think she is likely to get all the way there, or more, from this fight. She seems to be fighting off roughly 20 mini-soul devourers, and her actual tier 6 skill, soul devourer, is stronger and more efficient at absorbing exp than when she absorbed the exp from killing the original soul devourer. The only way this doesn't happen is if she absorbs exactly that amount but has to split it with Tabitha to stop her soul from bursting or something. Even in that case that gets her to level 90 and Tabitha to like level 102-103.
Penguin Glutton
We haven't seen it so far in the story
Penguin Glutton
Now I think about it would Aaliyah be able to create spacial bags? Or rings
Timo Immig
summoners unlikely as this requires subspaces and nothing hints at their existance (dwarfs would have it) Crossdimension is not possible as gods ensure integrity of universe and would never allow a skill like this. druid possible through elves etc. but needs a lot of magic. warlock unlikely as other than ghost which are basically viruses of experience there are no known entities like demonic beings or spirits that can be reasonably interacted with.
Penguin Glutton
Btw yall think there are warlocks, summoners or druids in the world?
Undead Writer
Thanks for the chapter!
Penguin Glutton
Oh ye true!
Penguin Glutton
I think with the points she gonna have probably all of the stats over 100
Toni Pampliega
Two points. First, its factible the Big phantom still keep some setience and there is a conversation. A bit of lore and maybe teaching or indications to loot. A warning to something dangerous. This phantom could have a tier 6 skill, and maybe Aali Will get It. Second, the taint maybe are the feelings before dying ( kill, kill...), Memories and/or skills. Or they are from Another species. I guess she Will get to lvl 99.90 when she digest all. XD
WAAB
Aaliyah The Doomsmith? But I think the titles won't come until level 100 or 120.
Jon Oliphant
Before they get out they are going to find a broken statue of liberty.
Penguin Glutton
Btw what title yall think she will get from the king of Scholl? For example the Blacksmith? Would the king title her and give her land?
Penguin Glutton
Think Pacor will be already at the village when they come back?
lenkite
I think investing in stats like [Clarity] and [Wisdom] should help in mitigating the loss of control here in future. More than sufficient investment in physical [Strength] I believe. She should offload her XP ASAP to regain control.
Captdeth
7hr
phantom
Only if she eats the core. and at that point the goddesses might intervene because her losing control from eating these ghosts would spoil their challenge of whether she would use it to prolong her life.
phantom
that was one thing I was thinking. though I had not considered her doing it after absorbing it.
Viria
IMO, she's going to find a way to transfer part of the "tainted" experience she absorbed to Tabitha, to lower the strain on herself and hasten Tabitha's recovery (level ups + invest in vitality)
Tyler Machado
Better she risks becoming a monster by using the skill for the first time of mass eating than in the village or a city where she starts attacking children. At worst, she's trapped in the forest for now. I doubt Tabitha will die though even though the shock of doing that would kick her out of that phase.
LilSaint001
I wonder what her level ends up. And would be funny if she about to get tabitha she just drop convulsing. But i thought it would be milestones to get that reaction
Ermgon
Yes and no. Yes as in she probably poisoned herself with all that experience; and no, its not the soul core, so she wont become a monster.
Kitty Chan
I'm confused, the soul horrors are the manifestation of a soul right? Does that means she's screwed herself by using soul devourer to eat them?
Endymion2314
I get the feeling sheer exhaustion is going to kick her out of this mental space and just collapse after the ripping and tearing is done. Also fits with all the last times Aaliyah has added massive numbers of levels quickly.
Viria
Good chapter, nasty cliff.
Derek Walker
With the fight ending next chapter, please include a status update, even if we don’t see commentary on it from Aaliyah for a chapter or two.
Miritar
Awesome. Makes me need more.
Vincent Setiawan
Tabitha Have always been a model Knight, even in the face of death
Erriballon
Amazing 😍
Derek Walker
Hard to guess, it could be something like 5 levels. Here's a calculation where it could be a lot more. A level 140 person has about 275 million exp. If 1% remains to stick around to form a soul horror, then that's about 2.75 million exp. It seems she has to absorb nearly all the exp to kill them. At about a dozen, that's 30 million exp. That's 19 levels lol, so all the way up to about 94...
Penguin Glutton
Never devour the real soul the core or else she will turn into a monster and be banned from reborning again
Alphafenrir401
I forget what was the one thing she was never suppose to do with soul devour that the gods said would be very bad for her?
PickledTink
Lament, not laminate. Thanks for the chapter.
Penguin Glutton
With this much experience how many levels y’all think she will get?
Kyfe
I really, truly hope that she doesn't kill Tabitha while out of her mind, because that would doom Aaliyah to true soul death when she dies. That is the one thing I don't want to happen no matter what. And if the writing does go there (here or one day in the future), I hope there's a way to redeem herself.
Penguin Glutton
I would legit cry if that happened
Derek Walker
Ultimately, I think she will attack Tabitha, but she will recognize there is a full soul there and not just a shell of experience that will cause her to stop at the last second. Or, she actually just kills Tabitha lol. Wouldn't have seen that coming.
Penguin Glutton
Seems like the current era isn’t as prosperous as the old more people with advance technology and magic development also high leveled individuals
PaperMache7
Tabitha has lost all attachment to life at this point, girl has just completely embraced her doom.
Penguin Glutton
Same bro think Tabitha will tell Pacore about her ability?
Derek Walker
Every chapter, the cliff gets worse. But damn it this was exactly what I was hoping for.
Penguin Glutton
Omg love this chap! Noooo Aaliyah! Snap out of it! Glad your mom surgery went well!
Owen Wilson
Absolutely loved the chapter, and the POV loved it
