章 11: Shroud

Finishing bandaging my wounds, I walked over to the two dead Duskwraiths. Tess had said that the fort was filled with these things. If I wanted to escape, I needed to do it now. As for surviving the night, I guess I would need to figure that out when I got to it.

As for joining others, that idea would need to be thrown out the window. It's not like it's all bad; at least I wouldn't have to spend every waking moment wary of Aria trying to use me as a sacrificial pawn.

I reached the dead beast and crouched down. For now, I needed to deal with something much more important. Let's see if it will work again.

Concentrating on the body, I activated my skills.

Do you wish to turn the soul into a Revenant?

Yes/No

"Yes," I commanded.

Similar to before, the air around me chilled, and I watched as dark tendrils made of black smoke began to emerge out of the Duskwraiths corpse. Another dark creature, with anatomy similar to Duskwraith, emerged out of its corpse and stood beside me.

My consciousness was suddenly assaulted with a different sense of connection.

Skill Activated- Eternal Rebirth

…

Revenant Extraction was successful.

Revenants- [1/3]

Do you wish to imprint the Revenant?

Yes/No

I clicked Yes once again. This might have been a foolish decision since Duskwraiths weren't exactly the strongest of creatures, and I didn't know if I could discard a revenant. But considering the situation I was in, I had to reach out for every speck of power I could.

Imprint Initiated

Please stand by…

The process was very similar to when I had imprinted Raven. Just like before I felt something stabbing into my soul, merging itself with me. Only this time I was prepared, my legs did shook a little but I managed to stay standing.

The pain soon subsided, and I saw the Duskwraith turn into smoke and turn into a tattoo similar to a short werewolf on my shoulder.

New Spell Received- Shroud

Name- Roye Valdrin

Age- 16

Title- Apostle of Death [Unknown]

Cultivation- Body Refinement [Low stage]

Skill- Deadly Intuition [Unknown], Eternal Rebirth [Unknown]

Spells- [Static Timefall] [Shroud]

Revenants- [2/3] [Storm Raven (Lvl-1)],[Dusk Wraith(Lvl-1)]

"Alright." Without wasting any more time, I pulled on my connection with the Duskwraith and activated Shroud. Immediately, my senses turned sharp, and I found myself blending into my surroundings.

Basically, a stealth skill makes sense; I had already expected something similar, considering how their hunting style was hiding in the dark and ambushing their prey.

Nodding to myself, I walked over to the second Duskwraith and activated my skill.

Do you wish to turn the soul into a Revenant?

Yes/No

Elemental Convergence Detected.

Do you wish for [Dusk Wraith(Lvl-1)] to absorb the stray soul?

Yes/No

Simultaneously, two screens appeared in front of me.

"Absorb the stray soul? Was that how you level up the Revenants." Absolutely ignoring the first screen, I chose the second one and chose Yes.

Initializing…

Absorption Complete.

I felt a slight tug on my soul and checked my status once again, especially the revenant part.

Revenants- [2/3]

[Storm Raven (Lvl-1)] [Dusk Wraith(Lvl-1)][Progress- 20%]

Well, this changed a lot of things. Suddenly, the sentence 'the fort was filled with these things' gave a completely different vibe.

I can't leave this place now; with Aria and her goons already fighting these things, I had the perfect chance of leveling the Duskwraith to level 2.

I had to clutch down at every chance of becoming stronger if I wanted to survive this place. Taking risks was only a natural part of it.

Making my decision and making sure my stuff was packed, I ran out into the hallway while activating Shroud. Once again, my body seemed to blend in with the surroundings, but this time, perhaps because of my running, the feeling felt a little weaker.

By now, the sounds of swords and explosions had already begun going rampant. I soon reached the hall and stopped at its edge, noticing the four figures going toe to toe with several dozen Duskwraith.

In the middle of the hall was Vexis, wielding his heavy longsword as if it was made of paper, clashing against what seemed like a werewolf. His sword would occasionally clash with the werewolf's claws, causing the air to tremble between them.

Around Vexis stood the rest of the party, with Aria maneuvering around the duskwraiths with her sword, throwing ice spells at every single opportunity. Tess floated in the air behind her, shooting down arrows laced with different spells, every one of them incinerating a duskwraith the moment they flew out of the boy. On the other side stood Thorne, completely alone, facing off a large tide of beasts rushing out of a room; his movements, however, unlike others, were choppy and slow, causing the occasional beast to slip past his guard and wounding him further.

"They aren't going to survive for much longer."

There were simply too many Duskwraiths; no matter how skilled the Nyrith's personal guards were, only four of them couldn't hope to defeat a beast tide this big, especially with that werewolf thing in the center.

Tess had said that thing was at least Grade 3. Even though I had never personally seen a Grade -3 in action, from what I read, I was choosing to believe her deduction. The monsters in 'Echoes of Fallen were crudely divided on the basis of Grades, starting from 1, with one being the lowest.

If Vexis was holding his own against that thing, then he must be at Spirit Awakening Realm, or at least at the top of Essence Gathering. He would have noticed me by now if he wasn't that busy with his fights; who knows, he might already have.

If I wanted to enter the battlefield, I needed to do it soon; I just had to wait for the perfect opportunity.

And the opportunity soon presented itself. A Duskwraith managed to slip past against Aria's defenses, slashing her armor, causing her to stumble backward. The monster was just about to attack once again when his head was pierced by a arrow from Tess.

Seeing the opening, another Duskwraith lunged forward onto the stumbling Aria, his claws reaching for her throat.

This was it; I deactivated Shroud and sprinted forward with the help of Static Timefall, coming between Aria and the Duskwraith and positioning my already injured shoulder in the way of the Duskwraith's claws.

Blood Spluttered, and I secretly smiled as the Duskwraith opened my recent wound given by one of his companions. Not wasting any time, I raised my knife and stabbed it in the creature's eye.

Elemental Convergence Detected.

Do you wish for [Dusk Wraith(Lvl-1)] to absorb the stray soul?

Yes/No