Chapter 283: The Greatest Impact

The bad-things were massive, true. But, at the moment, so was I. And though they might have been larger still, it turned out that the former blasphemer’s body was strong enough for that not to matter.

My shoulder met its chest and caved it in. Bones popped; both mine and theirs. But, while stores of death mana returned my shattered shoulder to its former state, the same couldn’t be said for the bad-thing.

It panicked.

A pair of massive arms windmilled in my direction, trying to swat me away. Unused to the body I was controlling, it almost succeeded. Only the magical wind created by my ore-flesh allowed me to avoid the blows, providing just enough resistance to slow it down.

I stepped back, breathing out heavy plumes of black smoke, and remembered my fang. Just like the ore-flesh that covered me, it had its own powers. As the bad-thing followed, I raised up its tip to point in its direction.

And then I thrust, pulling at the fang’s magic.

In some ways. I imagined it like the strike of my own fangs; the coiling of the muscles before the thrust, the speed with which it darted forward. In other obvious ways, it was far different.

I did not form fangs of wind, able to strike beyond my reach; the Coreless’ magical fangs did. The air itself rushed forward, sharpened to a point, and stabbed into the bad-thing. It bled, roaring in anger. Yet, it continued to follow. As useful as the fangs of wind were, the bad-thing was sturdy, and wind - sharpened or not - couldn’t pierce through it in a single blow.

I thrust again, and again, and again. Each time, the bad-thing bled. Each time, it roared. Each time, it advanced.

But the strikes had served their purpose. It was stumbling, for I had targeted the weakness of so many I had faced. The legs. The stupid, inefficient legs.

The bad-thing toppled, one of those very same legs giving out. I fell upon it, thrusting my glowing fang into its undefended body. Once, twice, thrice. It staggered and shook - and then, it didn’t.

It froze in place. Defeated. Dead.

It took me a moment to realize it, without the thought-light to guide me to that conclusion. There was no glorious acknowledgement of my victory. No rewards. No words lit in green fire in my mind’s eye.

It was odd. It felt wrong. I wasn’t sure how the Coreless handled it.

The Coreless, unbothered by my thoughts, cheered for my victory. A few among them clapped hands against my shoulders - or tried, anyway. They couldn’t reach, and were forced to settle for my arms instead. If it weren’t for my connection to them through their [Little Guardian’s Totem]s, I might have misunderstood. But I could sense their [camaraderie], their shared [satisfaction] in victory.

The [camaraderie] was something I’d sensed before, but not directed at me. Then again, they didn’t understand that the undead I controlled was me.

I pulled my fang free from the corpse, and moved on to the next. Between my own efforts and that of the faithful, it didn’t take long for the bad-things’ numbers to whittle down to one. And then, even less time for that one to be brought to the edge of death. Rather than killing it, I dragged the broken body towards my true form.

Then, switching my attention back, I sank my fangs deeply into its flesh.

Experience Gained! Reduced Due To Assistance Received.

I hissed in dissatisfaction. I’d hoped that, being that I was the one controlling my undead-self, that the thought-light would reward me with the full amount of experience for my victory. But it seemed that it wasn’t meant to be.

Regardless, there was more that I could gain. A hint of the creature’s life-force, pushing me closer to true reanimation. And, alongside it, something more.

A soul.

It was far smaller than the Coreless I’d consumed before. But, like that previous soul, it fought against me. It struggled. It thrashed. It hated, tearing itself into pieces that dissipated into the ether.

But not all of it.

Soul Fragment Absorbed.

My scales grew harder. My flesh stronger. My fangs sharper. I shuddered at the sensation - and, in that brief opportunity when a newly captured soul was forced into its temporary home, the first of my captured soul fragments tried to make its escape.

It railed at the confines of my mind-nest, howling in hatred. It battered itself against the great coils of my will. It -

I squeezed tighter, catching both souls - old and new - within my grasp.

Absorbed Soul Fragment Temporarily Subjugated.

[Death Boost] Extended.

The thought-light flickered, informing me of my victory.

With that done, I turned back to look at the bad-thing’s corpse again. My mouth salivated. It would take a while, but I refused to leave before I found out what new Trait the defeated bad-things would give me.

“Do you think he can actually eat all that?” one of the faithful whispered to another, a mixture of [surprise] and [awe] reflected in his [Little Guardian’s Totem].

The other whispered back; I didn’t particularly care to even make an attempt to interpret the sounds, and so I pushed the constant susurrations aside. It wasn’t the first time I’d done so in the last few minutes. After the battle had completed, the Coreless had acted as if they were ready to immediately return to their tower-nests. I had stopped them, instructing them on their proper role through the use of [Illusion Spark].

It had been a somewhat frustrating experience, as it always was. Eventually, the combination of illusions and simply beginning the process myself by controlling my undead-self had managed to get the idea across. And now, groups of the faithful had set upon completing their task.

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It was a sight to see.

They had separated themselves into groups. Some, the strongest among them, assigned themselves the role of dragging the corpses of the bad-things, piling them up for their less powerful kin to work with. Others, those with less strength to physically move the massive bad-things, set upon the corpses with an admirably religious fervor, tirelessly chopping the defeated bad-things into more bite-sized pieces.

It was a long process; the bad-things were giant, and most of the fangs that my faithful carried were ill-suited for the task.

Regardless, it was coming along - and far faster than I could have managed myself. I wasn’t even sure if I could have managed myself. My only method of eating bodies so large would have relied on using death-venom to degrade the flesh into sludge - and, not only would that have taken a long time, but I was far from eager to let my stores of mana drop so low.

Even now, the constant touch of death mana was the only thing keeping me from collapsing. It wasn’t worth the risk. Not when the Coreless could do just as well.

Bit by bit, I swallowed the first of the deconstructed bad-thing corpses. It was a tedious process; some of the pieces were a little too large, making me feel as if I’d stuffed myself to bursting before the overly large pieces finally made their way down to my stomach and converted into mana.

But soon enough, the thought-light flickered.

Level 26 Hammerfist Ogre Consumed.

Transferred to Core.

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 1/5.

“...huh, I guess he can. Where do you think it goes?”

I hissed in satisfaction. One down. Many more to go. I just hoped that the Trait I received would be worth all the effort.

Transferred to Core.

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 2/5.

“He got another one, I told you he would!” someone shouted. Some of the Coreless, having already finished their tasks, were starting to gather around and watch me eat. I didn’t know why. What was the point?

Transferred to Core.

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 3/5.

“...do you think I could get him to eat out of my hand?”

Transferred to Core.

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 4/5.

“I want to feed him the next one! It’s my turn!” a female Coreless exclaimed, shouting something unintelligible in her [excitement]. She rushed forward, holding out strips of bad-thing flesh.

Someone else rushed forward beside her, holding flesh of their own. I chose to eat the first, which they seemed to think was important somehow.

It wasn’t. It would all get eaten eventually.

Transferred to Core.

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 5/5.

Analyzing Blooded Trait…

Acquiring Blooded Trait: [Weighted Blow I]

I paused, waiting a moment for the new Trait to settle in. It started as a weight in my tail - or, rather, the feeling that I could apply weight to it. Experimentally, I did so after lifting it into the air, noting that - despite feeling as if it should be heavier - I could move it just as easily. But when I let it slap back down against the ground, the sound the impact made was far greater than it should have been.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t even close to significant enough for me to use it for anything. But I could see that it had some future potential. Not now, but eventually.

I already knew that [Size] was a level reward that could be chosen multiple times, and that it would force me to grow ever greater lengths with each time it was chosen. By the time that I reached [Size V], two [Size]s past what I’d reached in one of my false-lives, I would be nearly eight not-Needles in length. And by [Size VI], that would change to sixteen.

With that kind of body to wield it, [Weighted Blow] would start to do quite a lot of damage.

But it would take too many levels to reach that point, and I would have to pass on too many other rewards. Maybe, eventually, I might do something like that. But maybe not. I wasn’t expecting it any time soon. For now, [Weighted Blow] would have to go relatively unused.

Which meant that, despite having enough Trait Points stored to push [Weighted Blow I] directly to [Weighted Blow VII], I wouldn’t be doing that. It was better to save them for something more useful.

Still, that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t keep eating as many of the Hammerfist Ogres as I could stomach. That kind of boost was free, and I would be doing my Creator a disservice if I were to pass up on any potential strength it offered.

And so, to the delight of the gathered faithful, I continued to eat.

Blooded Trait: [Weighted Blow I] Increased.

[Weighted Blow II] Acquired.

Progress Towards Next Upgrade: 0/20.

And eat.

Blooded Trait: [Weighted Blow II] Increased.

[Weighted Blow III] Acquired.

Progress Towards Next Upgrade: 0/40.

And eat.

Progress Towards Next Upgrade: 7/40.

Until, finally, there were no more bad-things left to swallow. I let the thought-light flow over me, announcing everything that I had achieved since my journey first began.

Name: Paradox

Species: Snake, Ouroboros, Undead

Major Title: [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail] [Little Guardian] [Reanimated]

Minor Titles: [Minor Mana Core] [Venomous Retribution] [Touched By Fire] [Ascended Seeker]

Innate Traits: [Venomous II] [Life-Death Inversion MAX]

Blooded Traits: [Paralyzing Venom IV] [Poisonous Blood III] [Illusion Spark IV] [Clinging Grasp III] [Sound Shaping VII] [Chains Of The Creator I] [Anticoagulant IV] [Constriction I] [Spore Puppeteer IX] [Ascended Sense I] [Ambusher’s Vision III] [Streamlined Scales V] [Sting IV] [Enhanced Lungs III] [Weighted Blow III]

Resistances: [Piercing Resistance - Intermediate V] [Venom Resistance - Intermediate II]

Level: 80

Trait Points: 25

Core Skills: [The Endless Cycle] [Chrono Fire] [Verdure Parasite] [The Golem’s Fading Heart] [Transient Reanimation]

Lesser Core Skills: [Mana Manipulation XII] [Mana Venom XI] [Mana Fire VII] [Little Guardian’s Totem MAX] [Life Essence Manipulation IX] [Life - Invigorating Bite XIV] [Life - Vitality XVII] [Life - Vigor XI] [Life - Vigorous Spores IV][Little Guardian’s Focus XII] [Death Essence Manipulation IX] [Death - Venom X] [Death - Enervating Bite XII] [Death - Wither XII] [Death - Weakness X]

Level Rewards: [Traveler] [Mana-Life Conversion] [Mana-Death Conversion] [Mana Restoration] [Mana Blood] [Life Hunter] [Death Boost]

Temporary Buffs: [Soul Fragment II]

Description: A growing Ouroboros, symbol of the eternal.