Chapter 189: Atreus Vessel

[You have reached the threshold for Tier 76 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the threshold for Tier 77 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the threshold for Tier 78 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the threshold for Tier 79 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the threshold for Tier 80 Lifeforms]

"Advance!"

Boom—!!!

A shockwave exploded from the core in his chest, knocking out the rest of the flame arrows raining down on him and raising a cloud of smoke and dust that covered the area.

His armour was battered, and painful blisters were spread across his skin. That was when the three health elixirs he’d taken effect in his body and began regenerating his injuries, at the same time his armour began self-repairing.

With his Infinite Mana still activated, Kaelen could see the shooter outside the cloud of dust using his mana perception. They looked confident that he wouldn’t be able to survive the hit, even if he didn’t die immediately. They believed the battle was already won and let down their guard to go after the golden chest lying beside the dead Tier 70 guardian beast.

That was the least of Kaelen’s problems, because now he was almost healed up, and even if he managed to take down the shooter, there was simply no way to bridge the gap between 7,000 and 60,000. Not with Infinite Mana.

He used the Heaven’s Window eye on the woman, only to see she was a Tier 82 lifeform with two skill slots.

One was the Infinite Flaming Arrows she had used earlier, and the second was a Homing Death Shot she hadn’t used yet, which would make it impossible for Kaelen to dodge.

Most importantly, she had two skills, which should be impossible in the first ten floors... except she and probably her team were from the second ten floors, where candidates were allowed to own two skill slots.

There was so much mystery to it that hesitating felt like death. So, without a second thought, Kaelen took out the Fate-Rewriting Pill and popped it into his mouth.

The taste was even worse than the suppression pill and made him double over, but he forced himself to swallow it, and almost immediately, the ability selection wheel appeared in his vision.

[Tap the wheel of fortune to decide which ability to choose for your first slot for the next ten floors.]

Kaelen’s eyes widened in shock on seeing the familiar wheel. He never thought the Fate-Rewriting Pill would follow the same protocol where he’d have to spin the wheel to choose.

The last time, the suppression pill saved him. But now, Kaelen didn’t have the suppression pill and had already lost the Infinite Mana Talent to the wheel of fortune. His selection now would have to be totally random, and there was a high chance he’d be getting a useless ability this time that wouldn’t be able to save him.

Shit.

Kaelen stared at the influx of abilities on the wheel that further decreased the odds of selecting something that’ll save him at that moment, but before panic could overwhelm him, something caught his attention on the wheel.

An ability he couldn’t remember extracting at any point. Even more strangely, it bore the name of his mother’s bloodline, which made his eyes widen in surprise and disbelief.

Atreus Vessel.

Each skill bore a soft hue that indicated the rank of the skill through its colour, but this ability was different. Of all the abilities on the wheel, the [Atreus Vessel] was colourless, and this made him remember what Kelsey had said at the introduction.

This was probably the ability she’d seen that made her believe it was supposed to be the system his mother had bestowed upon him, but Kaelen knew it wasn’t.

Emir was right about one thing... the Atreus bloodline indeed flowed through his veins. The only question that remained was if he had the ability to create systems just like the other Atreus.

There was only one way to find out.

Heaven’s Window.

[Atreus Vessel]:

The founding authority inherited by the descendants of Atreus. A bloodline ability whose origins predate the established laws of existence.

Those who possess this authority may transcend the limitations imposed by the laws of existence, creating and altering the very foundations upon which abilities and bloodlines are built.

The Atreus bloodline does not merely inherit power—it inherits the authority to define what power can become.]

Kaelen stared at the description for a moment, memorizing every bit of it, before he shut his eyes and spun the wheel.

He didn’t want the voices in his head to distract him from the danger right in front of him. He was going to get back to it later, after he made it out of this hellhole alive.

The wheel spun wildly in a blur before it began slowing down until it stopped above an ability that made Kaelen breathe a sigh of relief.

The Nameless Shadow God.

Without wasting a second, he used the cover of the dust cloud to expand his shadow behind him and summoned all his shadow warriors, including SKD, to spread across the snowstorm and kill everything on sight.

Then he grabbed his two blades, activated the Maws of Annihilation at the last minute, and shot forward towards the hooded figure that had their back to him.

He didn’t expect to catch them by surprise, hence why he set a trap. His sneak attack was merely a distraction to make them turn their backs on the Maw of Annihilation, and as everything went according to plan, he could only smile coldly as the woman pulled out a second bow and nocked her arrows.

He didn’t give her a chance to shoot before making her aware of the impending doom.

"You should watch your back."

As expected, the arrows paused through the spectral maw. If they didn’t, Kaelen was ready to strike her from behind. Either way, he had already won the battle. And seeing the rest of the team surrounding him now, he forced himself not to smile. Because every second they spent wasting their breath on him only bought more time for his shadow summons to close the gap between their points.

And while they were astonished at the realization, Kaelen decided to merge with all his shadow summons at once to quickly end the battle.

It was like the leader had said, except in reverse.

They would’ve beaten the odds if it were any other deadbeat party... but their luck ran out the moment they were paired with him.