บท 313: Ascendance (XIV)
Chapter 313
Ascendance (XIV)
A string of screeching noises interrupted her brief and frequently-bothered sleep, forcing her to quickly jolt outside and draw out a sword. Just some fifty yards ahead of her temporary shelter, Quinn saw three people fighting a Timebeast--a massive, long-necked rat-like creature with six tails and dozens of concentric circles carved into its flesh, revealing organless void within.
Two had swords, just like her, while one wielded what looked like a mace on a chain, keeping some distance. She was surprised to see a group as, in the last four days, she'd only ever seen people on their own. It made sense, however, especially if people knew each other prior--at least in the early stages before the inevitably blowing the groups up.
She herself had no intention of grouping up; in fact, she spent the last four days trying to find a way out rather than trying to 'win'. She was well aware that the promised reward was a cheap bait. There was nobody outside the top-tier Divines who could make someone a Demigod out of the blue. That was simply unreal and the fact that so many people seemed to have bought into it... worried her.
People were keen on going insane when presented with a seemingly life-altering choice. They'd drop all their reservations and become utterly mad overnight if necessary--and that was exactly what seemed to have happened. She'd already ran into six fights between two people screaming madly at each other that they'd be the ones to 'Ascend'--people who previously had no interactions with one another fighting with such fueled hatred that it looked as though it had been brewing for decades.
Shaking her head, Quinn spun around, ready to leave; she was neither interested in helping them nor ambushing them. She'd already hunted a fair share of Timebeasts, getting enough food to last her at least two weeks, and was more interested in finding the Void Scrolls. She'd seen one being used, and it was a must-have, life-saving treasure as they were effectively just skills. Something that she had a myriad of, she was now in a desperate need for.
A painful scream forced her to stop and turn around once again--she saw the Timebeast coral one of the people with one of its tails, wrapping them around and, like snakes constricting their prey with the difference being that the tail didn't suffocate the person, but caused it to implode into a shower of blood and gore. The other two fell into panic, targeted shortly after and killed off without much fanfare.
"Don't," just as she was about to rush forward and kill it, a voice startled her into nearly shouting--however, as it was familiar, she held back and looked to the side where she saw Cain standing there with a curious look on his face.
"C-Cain? What... how--did they get you too?!"
"Hm? Ah, no, I snuck in here," he replied.
"You... what?"
"Yeah, I got kinda curious," he said. "So, I snuck inside. Wasn't as hard as I thought, actually. Could have probably snuck Lear in with me as well, to be honest. Oh well. Anyway, you should probably throw away that Timebeast meat you've got in the pseudo-inventory."
"... what? Why?" Quinn was on guard, suspecting Cain might have been an illusion. After all, no matter how strong he was, she highly doubted he had the ability to just 'sneak in'.
"'cause it's corroding the shit out of your Mana," he glanced at her, raising his arm suddenly and coating it in starlight before suffusing the tiny dot into her forehead by force. She was unable to fight back--namely because she couldn't use her Mana. The trickle of starlight phased through her body and seemed to 'key' the locks that were gating her access to Mana. From feeling suffocated, as though a huge part of her was missing, she took a breath and felt it once again--Mana. She gained access to it. And, to her horror, she saw the corrosive effect he spoke of--nearly one tenth of her Mana was simply unusable and was slowly corrupting the rest of it.
"What the hell is this?!" she mumbled angrily.
"Don't worry," Cain reassured her. "Just use the healthy chunk to clean it up. Should take you a week at most since it hasn't progressed far."
"... won't that thing notice?"
"Nah, I got it," Cain shrugged, turning his attention to the Timebeasts. "I'm more interested in them."
"Why? Because their meat corrodes Mana?"
"In part," Cain nodded absentmindedly. "But there's more to it. I know it's gonna sound insane but... I think all Timebeasts are part of a singular organism."
"... doesn't sound as insane as locking up thousands of people and making them fight each other in a death-style arena."
"Oh no, it's way more insane than that. That shit's child play. Even I could have done it."
"... what?"
"What?" he glanced at her, smiling. "Ambush people, and create a skill that will explode their Mana if they try using it. And then promise them the stars and the planets if they do what you ask of them. It's a great way for a psychopath to express himself. Luckily, I ain't one."
"Pretty sure you are."
"No, no, I'm just an asshole," he said. "Drawing the line there."
"What's the difference?"
"The difference? Well, let me put it this way: if you make a joke about your wife's singing, you're an asshole. If you consistently put her down and mock her voice every time she opens her mouth, you're a psychopath."
"... alright, whatever. What makes you think all Timebeasts are one creature?"
"They're chimera corpses controlled by Mana," Cain replied. "Similar to that thing we fought when you guys got kidnapped."
"Right! How'd you dodge that?!"
"My sense of danger was a-tingling," he replied. "So, I bolted."
"And forgot to warn us?"
"No time."
"..."
"I'm here now, right?"
"What took you so long? No, no need to answer that--you just enjoyed watching us, right?"
"Yup, pretty much," he nodded.
"Well... at least you're honest," Quinn sighed, shaking her head with a smile. "So, you snuck in here to warn me because of my Mana?"
"Yea," he nodded. "It'd have been dangerous if it went on for much longer. I imagine that was the goal to begin with--if we consider that the beast we fought was just an extension of another, the main 'brain' of it likely feeds off of Mana and uses it to grow, like cancer."
"The main brain... the creature's likely a cosmic threat at that point," Quinn frowned.
"I dunno what 'a cosmic threat' entails," Cain said. "But it shouldn't be that strong, actually. If it were, its nature wouldn't be so parasitic. Usually, creatures that use bait to trap their prey do so for a reason. If we face it front-on, we should be able to reap some nice rewards."
"What about the others? Should we warn them?" Quinn asked, hoping Cain would shake his head.
"What for?" he shrugged. "Less competition for us. Besides, outside of you and the twins, everyone else here is either once-Awakened or barely twice. You three are the outliers. Kinda funny, actually."
"I was... I was caught unaware."
"Sure you were. Anyway, let's hide for now and actually have a nice meal. We can't do anything for a few days."
"Why?" she asked as they retreated back to her 'shelter'.
"Because I've used about ninety percent of my Mana to get in here and unlock your access to it," he replied. "I'm like a well spent at the moment."
"... rest it is, then," she said while the two settled. Cain immediately took out familiar tools and began preparing a meal for the two. "You really like cooking, huh?"
"Like? I suppose," he said. "At a certain point, I had to learn it. Since then... I grew to like it."
"You mentioned you were married," she said suddenly. "Why isn't she with you?"
"'cause she's too weak for this place," Cain replied, tasting the soup for a moment. "And because there's no reason for someone normal to be here."
"Oh? Are you saying I'm not normal?"
"Are you?" he glanced at her for a moment.
"Still, cheap shot," she chuckled lightly.
"Are you married?"
"Was."
"What happened?"
"He died."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's alright," she said. "Been almost two hundred years now."
"A year or a thousand, scars tend to linger," he said.
"From experience?"
"... I wasn't always a good husband and a good father," he said, settling down for a moment. "And though both of them had forgiven me, those days... still haunt me, so many years after. If my forgiven failures stick with me, I can only imagine what it's like for you. Unless, of course, you hated him. In that case, fuck the bastard."
"Ha ha ha, no, no, I didn't hate him," she shook her head. "Though I can't say there was much love there either, to be honest. It just... seemed like a right thing to do, at the time."
"Kids?"
"One," Quinn's lips curled up in a tender smile. "A boy, Qyle. Hah. A boy."
"Yes, strange to hear someone five times my age be referred to as a 'boy'."
"Huh? How old are you?" Quinn quizzed.
"Forty," Cain smiled. "Hard to believe I could be your grand-grand-grandchild, huh?"
"... forty? Ah. You're one of those."
"Those?" Cain arched his brow.
"Divinely-inspired," she said. "Where life and success come effortless."
"... wouldn't call it effortless," Cain joked. "Though, being smooth-brained and all, I could just have had my nose up toward the sky and missed all the struggle."
"I meant strength," she said. "Not life."
"Ah, fair enough. But it might just be that I was blessed. Not with some divinely-inspired strength, per se, but people around me that inspired me to become strong. Or, as you said, I might just be a giga manwolf unlike any other."
"... just make the damn soup," Quinn chuckled.
"... let's just make sure we get back to our kids whole," he said. "And much stronger. Like, divinely-inspired stronger."
"Oh, fuck you," she rolled her eyes, though in good humor, causing him to laugh. It was different, she realized. She didn't need to be on guard with him. Not just because he wore his intentions as jokes--but because not once did he look at her as a woman. It was as though she was just a compendium of flesh and bones, with a voice attached to it. For a change... it felt good. Freeing. Liberating.
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