Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 496: Threads of the Devourer

Passive Skill: Mental Attunement Loop (Mid Arcane) - The user’s mind functions in an unending attunement loop, immensely reducing the mental toll of continuous large-scale mana and energy usage, seamlessly sustaining even the most demanding skills and traits. This allows unrestrained mana and energy manipulation over extended periods without fatigue.

Almost five hundred thousand shards disappear, and the passive appears in my status. The description though simple is perfectly aligned with my ever-growing goals and the increasingly intricate ways I find myself using mana.

There were passives that could have offered more—for instance, those designed to help my body better withstand the strain of mana, others that would’ve enhanced my mental capabilities—but I chose to pass on them.

This passive is straightforward, and its simple description assures me that it will deliver exactly what I need. And the rarity only reinforces its effectiveness. Impressively so.

The pain immediately hits me, but this time I don’t really have the luxury of waiting it out as hell descends outside, the eye maintaining its position high in the sky as threads resembling veins stretch their way down towards the ground, connecting themselves to the bodies of those who died during the Frameworks activation.

Their corpses twitch, bloat, and quickly grow in size until they stand towering over most houses—giants of exposed viscera with bones peeking through their bloated flesh and twisted expressions fixed on their mangled faces as blood drips from them every time they move, burning holes in the ground.

And the eye in the sky gradually grows stronger and stronger, despite its weakened state, creating more strands that seek out the ever increasing victims of the giants. They don’t have any text over their heads, but the eye does.

[Bloodroot Devourer - lvl ????]

This prisoner doesn’t seem like the type to hold a conversation.

(Do we bail?) Aaron asks through the link.

(Sophie, have you gotten ahold of the off-moon teleportation array?) I ask.

(Beatrice escaped to the palace before we could get to her. She was extremely aware of Lily, and she was gone the moment Lily attacked.)

(I gave it my all.)

(I know you did, Lily,) Sophie sighs and I sense her keeping a constant watch on Izzy. (The good news is that I deployed my web over the Archon’s palace, so he shouldnʼt be able to teleport away just yet.)

Our communication continues, question and response firing off at rapid speed in a rapid stream of messages as Sophie, Maya, and Lily make for the palace at high speed. And I take note of their movements, keeping tabs on them through the connections I’ve established with [Ley Line].

(So you recommend staying and trying to get there while the eye, which is probably a soon-to-be-full-power Champion, hunts us. Sounds good.)

(Dennis, don’t talk to me like that. My sister’s in just as much danger as you.)

(I’ll hold it off.)

After sending my message, silence follows, and I’m grateful to finally be alone in my room. My hand rises to my lips, and I feel the corners curved upward. My rising heartbeat, confirming its presence.

The eye looms above all, towering over the chaos. People lash out at it with a host of powerful attacks, only to have them deflected by the once-human figures the creature has transformed into an army of fleshy golems—those with wings, fly around the eye as the main line of defense, while the others remain on the ground, creating more corpses.

It’s still weak, far too weak to be called a Champion, but it’s growing stronger by the second, making me curious if it was ever truly crippled or if it still has some hope of fully regaining its title.

(Nat, do you think you can fight a Champion?) Aaron asks carefully.

And I answer honestly, (No way. A Champion would beat the shit out of me in a second, but that thing—it’s not it yet.)

And with that, I push the link to the back of my mind, monitoring for urgent messages.

“Use Trait strengthening token on Mana Wavelength Iris.”

The pain from the application of my new passive intensifies as the strengthening token goes to work. Even though it hasn’t been fully applied, the new passive should help with this damn powerful trait.

It wasn’t long ago that I strengthened this trait for the first time, and it should have taken me another few months before I felt like I could do so again. But now? With my new passive?

I extend my hand, and Fracture rises to meet it, still in its sheath, pulled along by a [Ley Line].

The mana in my crown begins to spin, and I shatter the window in front of me with a surge of kinetic energy and leap out of the tower. Far in the distance, I notice a huge mana mech form—slender and deadly, equal in size to the towering flesh abominations. Maya fights to create a path for Lily and Sophie to reach the palace.

At the same time, blue flames explode around the tower, along with dozens of lifelike projections the twins are using to distract the attacking flesh golems.

I boost myself and fly into the air, heading for the eye, using Mana Weaving to create a huge projectile behind me.

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A few monsters attempt to block my path, but javelins streak past me at incredible speed, sounding off with a terrifying whistle. Red and white lightning arcs around them, annihilating the monsters in a single strike before the javelins pivot and surge toward new targets.

I launch the massive javelin at the monster, but the eye shifts focus to intercept the attack. Vein-like tendrils extend from it, effortlessly swatting both attacks out of the air.

As I form another weapon and battle the fleshy monsters, a constant barrage of javelins supports me.

The monster releases even more fleshy veins—hundreds of them—twisting, shifting, and forming a shape, an inscription. Then a single pulse of mana flows through them and activates it.

I find myself unable to fly no matter how hard I try. My kinetic energy is still there, but it’s impossible to direct it in the ways I need to maintain flight.

My Mana Wavelength Iris takes in that incredible structure made by the fleshy things. Forming an immensely intricate design, capable of generating such complex effects with ease. The sheer knowledge and control needed for something like that—complemented by a beautiful movement of mana to put it into effect.

I stare in awe even as I make my forced landing in between the buildings of the city, absorbing the kinetic energy generated by my fall. Three fleshy golems charge me, blood dripping everywhere and melting anything in their path—stone, people, or metal.

Mana surrounds me, forming massive plates of armor around my body, and I allow myself to compress it more than I normally would. I incorporate more threads with Mana Weaving and allow the mana to flow from me in waves.

It hurts so much, with my new passive and trait still making their changes to my body, a process that will likely take several more hours. But over time the changes make themselves known.

Kinetic energy flows through my armor, and I tackle one of the fleshy giants closing in on me. The blow leaves the construct shattered and sends it slamming into the buildings nearby. My armor moves slowly, struggling under the strain of its own weight and bulk, so I pump more kinetic energy through, enhancing its movements before slamming into another fleshy golem. Grabbing its shoulders, I tear it in half and send the last one’s head flying with a punch.

That done, my armor disappears, and I land, softly alighting on the ground, pulling the huge quantity of mana back into my crown where I set it to circle.

Three javelins, as long as a bus, form above me. Weaving themselves from mana, compressing, and filling with golden thermal energy. They shoot forth, sending a shockwave through the streets in their wake.

All three explode in the grip of the fleshy veins that manage to intercept them long before they make contact with the eye. A few of Tess’s javelins meet the same fate.

At that point I get a message, leading me to teleport through a [Ley Line], ending near the palace where Sophie, Lily, and Maya should be. The huge armor forms around me again, and I find myself clashing with a set of fleshy golems trying to follow the trio. At the same time, Min-Jae, already here, starts throwing huge pieces of broken buildings at the monsters, each one the size of a car, allowing them to build up a lot of speed, obliterating the monsters.

Just as a test, I tear away one of the fleshy tentacles connecting one of the monsters to the eye, but the monster continues to move and attack despite the effort.

One of the tallest golems falls down, unable to stand within the field Min-Jae created around it. With a sweeping motion of his hand, Min-Jae brings down an entire tower along with the smaller one next to it.

With all of them dead, I teleport to the boy and gesture at the eye. “Throw me at it.”

To his credit, Min-Jae doesn’t hesitate, nor does he ask why. I lower my natural defense, and his skills envelop me, sending me flying right toward the eye at incredible speed.

Forming armor around my body, I pierce through any monsters in my way. When the fleshy tentacles reach for me, I increase the armorʼs size so they grab the armor instead of me. Though their movements are still incredibly quick.

The eye turns to me, looking, observing, its veins forming inscriptions once again. This time, I allow myMana Wavelength Iristo take over. Observing it in the same way, reacting to the movements of its mana.

As the monster activates the inscriptions, I add a bit of speed to the rotation of my crown—an instability that releases a pulse of disruption, modified to counter the attack meant to vibrate my body and mana into a mist of bloody flesh.

My pulse and the monster’s attack collide, disrupting each other.

And I live.

The eye blinks, and the tentacles form into another shape. More of them try to attack the armor around me, attempting to pierce or tear it apart with great force. For my armor to last this long really goes to show just how durable I’ve made it.

But the monster grows stronger at the moment. Its movements become quicker, the pressure it radiates increases, and it starts moving its mana at higher and higher speeds. Another inscription activates, and I barely manage to counter it—as half of my armor evaporates into nothingness.

A red and white lightning passes by me, destroying the fleshy tentacles in their way along with the ones that try to stop it, before nearly reaching the eye—only for a last-second mana barrier to stop it. And what a powerful barrier it is. With my eyes, I can tell right away that I won’t be able to break it apart.

(Tess, there’s a box full of sand in my room. Just throw it at the monster if it looks like I’m getting my ass kicked,) I send through the link.

Finally done, I let the mana in my crown cycle one more time, the resulting wave disrupting the effect preventing me from flying.

My armor gets pulled back into me, and the mana seeps back into my crown.

The monster, now feeling at least 50 levels stronger than me, moves. Its tentacles forming an ever-changing array of inscriptions that hurt my eyes—a terrible attack I’ll have no way of withstanding.

At the same moment, an orb forms over the palm of my hand.

Light blue.

Dark blue.

Dark blue with wisps of light blue.

Dark blue with wisps of light blue and purple.

An orb on the brink of destabilization beginning to turn bright white.

Finally collapsing into another color.

An orb made of black mana. So domineering, and yet so calm here in the palm of my hand.

With my [Focus] and [Mana Manipulation] at level 60, with my body getting used to the strengthening Mana Wavelength Iris, and with the new passive still being applied, I connect the orb with the crown floating over my head.

Within a blink, the crown turns an inky black, the movement of the mana within coming to a halt in an instant. The stillness is unsettling, unnatural—yet it doesn’t stop there. The crown begins to draw mana from me, pulling from my body and reservoir without hesitation, consuming all with relentless efficiency.

The air around me shifts, growing dense with an oppressive weight. The battlefield seems to hold its breath as my crown absorbs an endless stream of mana. Building a quiet sort of power, steady and unyielding.

This time, I might just be able to make it work.