Reborn: Apocalypse (Volume 3): (A LitRPG/Wuxia Story)

by L. M. Kerr

  They certainly wouldn’t be go sortieing out to attack.

  It didn’t make sense.

  He and his team, in coordination with the Sea Division, had spent months preparing for this mission, part of that involving long-term intelligence-gathering operations.

  They knew about the elite, hidden Shadow Guard, the three Shadow Captains, the true power of the Lord Justiciar, the power of each Tribe Leader.

  Silverback was extremely confident that he had a good grasp of the overall strength of the Farian Tribes, with the sole exception of the Kowalsi Tribe, which had abandoned the rest of the Tribes and thus wasn’t his concern.

  This situation here, however…

  The Division Leader thought it through once more.

  If the Farians had activated one of their ‘Beacons’ to call for help, the Ape Division would immediately abandon all attempts at secrecy and move forward in a mad rush, using some very noticeable, explosive techniques to find the research center.

  This would force the Sea Division to unleash their ‘gift’ a little early, occupying any reinforcements, especially the Lord Justiciar, and buying the Ape Division extra time.

  In the worst-case scenario, they would use that to simply fall back and plan a new strike. In the best-case, they would kill the target and use the time to escape.

  “Could it be a stray Magic Beast?” The thought was ludicrous, but it was the only thing he could think of.

  If nothing else, the activation of any Bloodline Magic in the nearby area was something that couldn’t escape his notice. Blood Auras resonated with his Celestial Aura, just enough to stand out in his senses, yet he had felt nothing.

  White 1 didn’t intrude on Silverback’s thoughts, but instead waited patiently.

  After a few split seconds, Silverback made a decision, balancing the facts with his judgement and experience.

  “Rejoin your Squad and circle around to join the Sixth Squad in searching the south. Stay with Plan A for now.” The Division Leader sent out the command, his tone brooking no argument.

  “Yessir. Destiny awaits!” White 1 immediately turned around and headed for one of the exits.

  “Destiny awaits.” Silverback muttered halfheartedly on reflex, his eyes narrowing as he watched his subordinate break off into an unnaturally silent sprint.

  The Fifth Squad was dead.

  If they weren’t already, they would be soon. As soon as he made this assumption, his plan of action became much clearer.

  “They would’ve died within the last minute or two.” Silverback waved at his two allies, motioning for them to fall in behind him as he moved towards one particular north-facing exit.

  “That means there’s only one question left.” Keen intelligence flashed in his eyes as he reached the doorway and silently slipped outside.

  As soon as he emerged, a bright, silver glow enveloped the Division Leader, quickly spreading to his two subordinates.

  “How hard are you to find, little killer?”

  .. .. .. .. .. ..

  “Alright, perfect. That should make it basically impossible to find me.” Micheal smiled as he wiped some dust off his shoulder, looking around at the roof of the mid-sized warehouse he had just landed on.

  After he killed his first three targets and stopped the Seeds from returning to the Vile King, he used his Life Orbs to fly away from the house he’d ambushed them in. He kept himself low to the ground, hunching down while creating several accelerated time bubbles to pick up the pace.

  He then made several hurried movements, sticking to the outskirts to avoid being spotted by the warriors that were hunting for the Farian research center. Their attention would be directed inwards, not outwards, making his hurried journey significantly easier.

  He crossed by several buildings before he picked one warehouse, in particular, to fly on top of. His senses were extremely keen thanks to his powerful Soul and experience, making it easy to avoid his enemies. Luckily, he didn’t actually sense anyone in this area. The rest of his foes were likely searching other buildings.

  Because he flew, he functionally left no trail at all. His Aura Nullification Necklace would ruin most attempts at tracing his position, while conventional tracking would be useless. It was a perfect escape.

  ‘You seem to have quite the history with these fellows. The black clusters of energy they gave off had a very... interesting… feel.’ While Micheal was in the midst of flight, an ancient, wizened voice appeared in his head.

  Micheal couldn’t help but to frown when he heard Yvvtal speak up.

  The Fallen Deity had remained mostly silent ever since the incident with the undead Drake in the Dragon Mountains. Hearing the ancient Toren’s voice now, when Micheal needed to be focusing on the present…

  It made him realize how dangerous this unwelcome parasite was. After he settled things here, he needed to prioritize getting rid of the Toren's Spirit Body.

  ‘I have a history with all of my enemies.’ Micheal replied back, short and to the point.

  ‘I see.’ Yvvtal didn’t add anything else, so Micheal returned to ignoring him.

  As Micheal landed on one particular rooftop, he adjusted the new Silk Strider Glove he had acquired, quickly loading it up with several clumps of titanium.

  Every time he killed one of these elite warriors, he obtained a sizable amount of Points. These guys were at least Second Rate Warriors and had a slew of powerful Abilities to match that, making them veritable treasure chests in Micheal’s eyes.

  Right after he dealt with that squad, he’d purchased this Artifact from the Shop. He’d opted to leave the house before he finished setting it up, not wanting to risk the chance of being caught.

  As soon as he finished stocking the glove up, Micheal stored the rest of the titanium in his Spatial Ring.

  Moments later, three bodies appeared on the roof in quick succession as Micheal withdrew the corpses from his Spatial Ring and set them down.

  After he finished laying them on the rooftop, Micheal tapped on his Spatial Ring again as he took out three steel crosses. Each cross was slightly larger than his hand, ancient-looking Artifacts that looked as if they might shatter at any moment.

  After Micheal absorbed the remnants of Yvvtal into his bones, he had taken a number of treasures from Yvvtal’s Treasure Hall.

  Specifically, he took two main types of treasures.

  Ones that were useful in a fight and ones that were useful when it came to building up the strength of his body.

  These three metal crosses were Artifacts that belonged to the latter group…

  A set of Necrotic Burners.

  These tools were considered heretic by the Torens, the Byrens, and even humanity once a famous team of British female berserkers managed to obtain them from the Inheritance.

  Micheal didn’t let that thought bother him as he methodically placed each cross on the respective chest of each dead warrior. He carefully aimed each one, laying them down just above each body’s heart.

  He paused for only the briefest instant as a loud boom shook the air.

  Up above, in the sky, the grim storm clouds echoed as they began to unleash a light rain. Micheal shook his head slightly as he ignored this, focusing on the present.

  Micheal had only been here for a few months. His current stats placed him as decently strong, monstrously so considering how long he had been here.

  However, closing the gap between himself and those that had been here more than 10 times as long, well... normal means weren't going to cut it.

  And thus, here he was now, using some ‘less-than-normal’ means.

  Necrotic Burners were Artifacts created by a group of ancient Torens that had been obsessed with the concept of immortality. They wanted to live forever, to break free from the river of time and set sail on their own path.

  These Burners were their greatest success in the ultimately futile path that led to their demise.

  In simple terms: these Artifacts were used to absorb energy f
rom the dead. Specifically, from dead humanoids.

  When a human killed a creature, the ‘Shop’ power that was ingrained on every human’s soul acted like an active leech, siphoning off a mixture of life energy away from the freshly killed being.

  This was why humans found their efforts to obtain Spirit Crystals foiled, time and time again, whenever they killed a Magic Beast. These efforts grew even more futile the more powerful a human’s Soul became. Some warriors could kill someone from five thousand meters away and still see a Points notification, absorbing the energy from seemingly ludicrous distances.

  Micheal, and humanity as a whole, never managed to figure out how exactly the Shop determined who got the Points for killing something, beyond striking the last blow. Dozens of expansive experiments had been done, testing things like one person setting off a bomb while another person threw it, two people striking to kill one Magic Beast at the same time, and more.

  In the end, humanity merely confirmed that the Shop would only give a single person the Points for a kill, that the range a person could get Points from depended on the power of their Soul, and that ‘indirect’ kills could still count as long as there was a relatively short chain of actions caused by a human to engender that kill.

  The Shop seemed to tap into the mystical webs of Fate itself when it determined who was responsible for what, beyond the understanding of normal science.

  While the Shop absorbed a large portion of energy, the lion’s share present within any being, it didn’t absorb everything.

  When it came to human warriors, there was always still a large amount of ‘Ki’ left over that did not get absorbed, energy that would gradually dissipate over time if a corpse was left alone.

  And it was this Ki that Micheal had plans for.

  Micheal took a deep breath as he looked at the three dead bodies, and the three metal crosses that were resting on the chest of each corpse.

  For the sake of staying alive, for the sake of humanity’s future, he couldn’t afford to back down now, just because of his own squeamishness.

  Micheal clenched his teeth as he stuck out his left hand, raising his pointer finger up. He concentrated as a red strand of Advanced Tier Sword Energy enshrouded his finger in a raw glow.

  He brought this finger up to the palm of his right hand and, without hesitation slashed into it.

  Immediately, bright-red blood began to run down his wrist. Micheal didn’t make a sound as he jerked his hand over towards the Necrotic Burners, touching the upright tip of each cross, smearing his blood on the edge of each Artifact.

  As soon as he finished doing this, Micheal grabbed the crosses, one by one, and stabbed the opposite ends deep into the heart of each dead warrior.

  The air around Micheal shivered. The hair on the back of his neck began to rise, causing his entire body to tense up. Several odd sensations flooded his mind, a feeling of connection rising as he bonded with the Necrotic Burner.

  Moments later, a silent blast of invisible energy rocketed upward from each of the three crosses. This energy smashed upward roughly 30 meters into the air, visible only to Micheal’s senses.

  The three dead bodies instantly began to wither, flesh, bone, and muscle turning to ash. In just a split second, the only thing left was the armor that had held their bodies, crumpling into a dirty pile atop the roof.

  Three invisible balls of energy hovered in the air, standing perfectly still despite the cascading rain all around.

  Micheal took a deep breath and then exhaled, forcing himself to stay calm as he looked up. His eyes slowly traced down as he looked at the three Necrotic Burners.

  Without the corpses to hold them up, each cross had fallen to rest atop the armor they had stabbed through, waiting almost patiently for him to grab them. Micheal didn’t hesitate as he did exactly that, picking each one up until he was holding all three.

  He set them down carefully on the ground in front of him, keeping his movements quick, all too aware that time was of the essence.

  “Alright…” He whispered quietly to himself as he picked one up, wiping off any remnants of ash.

  “Let’s get this over with.” He raised the cross up towards his own chest.

  Necrotic Burners were powerful Artifacts, but they were also very dangerous. They did, indeed, possess the power to transfer energy and life force from one being to another.

  There was only one issue with that.

  The way the ancient Artifacts had been designed, and the only way they could function under the so-called ‘Laws’ of reality, had a rather stringent requirement. And it was this requirement that ultimately led to the demise of the Torens that pursued this path, and to these objects being called heretic.

  To absorb energy from a corpse, you needed to stab the cross into the heart of that corpse.

  Likewise… if you wanted to transfer that absorbed energy from the Artifact to yourself…

  You needed to stab the cross into your heart.

  “It shouldn’t waste any Orbs…” Micheal muttered as he held the Necrotic Burner right above his heart.

  The Artifacts were supposed to heal you, using the rush of energy to recreate and reform your heart.

  And usually, they did.

  But not always.

  Sometimes the energy wasn’t enough, sometimes the power the Artifact imbued went straight to boosting one’s strength, sometimes the Artifact simply didn’t fully work.

  Each Necrotic Burner could only be used once; they would shatter after use. There was no way to tell if the Artifact would work perfectly, even for the ancient Torens that had made it. Artifacts like this were considered incredibly taboo, ones that were banned from usage and sale by most human organizations throughout the Layers.

  Micheal wasn’t too concerned about dying. After all, he could come back to life. However, the number of lives he had was limited in the immediate moment. Losing a life now could have a huge impact.

  Micheal grit his teeth at the thought.

  He didn’t really have a choice.

  He might be able to ambush a few of the three-man enemy teams, but that wouldn’t last, especially if he ran into the leader of this group. These were elite warriors; eventually he would get found out, no matter how careful he was. In direct combat, he was strong, but it wasn’t enough.

  It was never enough.

  He sighed one last time as he hardened his heart, steeling himself. His right arm flexed as he looked down at the first cross.

  A moment later…

  Micheal stabbed himself in the heart.

  .

  Chapter 41

  On a lonely rooftop in the middle of nowhere, a quiet, shirtless human could be seen sitting down, steam rising off his shoulders as the rain that fell onto him instantly vaporized. The air around this human took on a foggy, clouded look as the rain silently collided with the steam.

  Micheal’s veins bulged, blood pulsating through them as he sat still, his body screaming to break free and collapse. His pupils were dilated as he focused, relying on his iron-clad self-control to hold him steady. His back and shoulders, broad and muscular even after he modified his body to appear slimmer, stood rigid, tensed and tight.

  A torrent of energy was currently rushing through him, enveloping every corner of his body in a mad rush that was impossible to stop. It was painful, but at the same time, incredibly intoxicating.

  His cells felt as if they were truly alive, the energy tantalizing his senses in a way that was difficult to describe. It was glorious and amazing, raw ecstasy that ran unfettered.

  It vaguely reminded him of Bracken Enhancement Fluid.

  It gave a boost in power that sent shivers of delight through his body, one that was almost addictive in nature. Just like Bracken Enhancement Fluid, it was like a drug, giving incredible sensations with potentially deadly side-effects.

  For many that experimented with Necrotic Burners, once you started, there was no going back. This feeling was extremely difficult to replicate, large
ly because the rush of power stayed with you. Unlike Bracken Enhancement Fluid, which had side effects that practically crippled its users for a period of time, Necrotic Burners often gave no negative results at all.

  You gained a boost in power and, if the Artifact worked properly, that was it. No negatives.

  Abruptly, Micheal’s pupils began to return to normal. His veins began to lose their swelling, his entire body calming down.

  He exhaled slowly, his shoulders heaving a sigh of relief.

  On his chest, the remnants of a Necrotic Burner cracked and fell apart, dissipating to ash.

  He blinked several times, his breathing unhurried and calm as he assessed his body.

  After a few moments, he exhaled sharply.

  It was a success. He had just used up the third Necrotic Burner.

  ‘It's about time someone put those old relics to use.’ Yvvtal made another observation that Micheal promptly ignored as he reviewed the past few moments.

  The first Necrotic Burner worked perfectly. His absorption had taken only a few seconds, just like the records he had read described the Artifacts working. His body felt swollen with power, a sizable portion of Ki merging with his own as his Cultivation advanced.

  He received no side effects and was left whole and hearty. He immediately used the second cross after he used up the first, not leaving any time for hesitation.

  The second Necrotic Burner worked… almost perfectly.

  After he stabbed his heart with the cross, like before, the energy had rushed into him and was absorbed, merging with his Ki.

  However, when it came to fully healing him, Micheal noticed that it didn’t quite finish. His heart was hale, for the most part, but the veins and areas around it had notably scarred up. The Artifact was not perfectly made and left him with injuries that his body was unable to fully heal.

  Everything worked fine, but he could tell he had accrued notable damage that, while not too dangerous, would hamper a normal human’s future growth.