Chapter 17: Ritual Gone Wrong
Morden’s eyes were locked on the beating heart and the expanding that was partly visible in the poorly closed chest.
It couldn’t even be considered closed; instead, it barely passes as knitted together at specific points, and then the rest are left bare.
’The last time I saw him, that place had a nicely healed scar, which I guess must be because it closed back nicely after that ritual, but now, now it’s something else,’ he thought.
Morden wasn’t the only one shocked by the Mountain Lord’s appearance; even all the surrounding villagers looked at their leader with horror in their eyes.
The adults even covered the children’s faces; they would surely have nightmares after this.
The open chest wasn’t even all of the problem; it was obvious that some parts of the Mountain Lords body were already rotting away, producing a foul odor.
Seeing him like this, Morden couldn’t help but feel a bit of pity.
"Is it worth it?" he asked.
"I don’t know why you are doing this, but is it worth it?"
The Mountain Lord, still in his sorry state, looked back up at Morden, his gaze emotionless before he opened his mouth to speak.
"Grrrghhh...It...absolutely...does."
"It... is... worth... every... single... life."
"So you turning into such a disgusting abomination is worth it."
" this.... it’s..... just a...minor...minor... inconvenience; all...I...need...is...your life... and it’s...all...gone."
Those Words hadn’t fully escaped his mouth when he started his charge straight at Morden using all his strength.
Unlike what he had expected, his massive size didn’t hamper the Mountain Lords speed at all; he was still crazily fast.
In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Morden with his arm swinging downward with full force.
Morden instinctively dodged the attack by crouching under the massive frame.
He immediately called out the Ghost Piercing Sword and sent a direct slash towards the rotting flesh on the Mountain Lord’s open left hand.
But instead of a clean cut like he had expected, Morden felt his sword touch something really soft, which in turn absorbed all its momentum.
"What the hell was that?" he thought in shock while he stared at the contact spot, trying to figure out what just happened.
But that moment of hesitation was all the Mountain Lord needed; with a sharp turn of his waist, he sent his rotting arm flying at Morden.
Snapped back to reality, but with the air-splitting attack heading straight at him, his first thought was to dodge, but then he noticed something.
’It’s short; the attack shouldn’t reach me.’
But he couldn’t be too wrong.
Truly, as he had anticipated, the hand didn’t reach him, but when it arrived about 3 inches in front of his face, he suddenly noticed the rotting flesh squirm violently, followed by long tendrils jutting out.
’I can’t dodge; it’s too close.’
[Durability +20(temp)]
Ding!
The tendrils hit his face with dangerous force, their momentum pushing his head backwards, but it still wasn’t enough to pierce his face after he used Boost.
"Now... you... are... open," the Mountain Lord said before attempting to ram straight into Morden.
Those words did more to Morden than warn him about the impending attack; they also exposed another secret.
’How did he know my body is currently weakened, does he have some other abilities?’
His lack of experience was costing him now; he couldn’t get vital energy back to everywhere in his body so fast, meaning he couldn’t focus it to another point to use a boost.
An obvious limitation of the ability ’Boost.’ It must follow the pattern Focus-Balance-Focus again.
Since Boost wasn’t an option to save him from his current circumstance, then he would have to change to something else he had obtained in the Omnisphere.
Morden looked down at the sword in his hand, which he had been barely using due to the fear of hurting himself while using a weapon he had no experience with.
"What do I do with this?" he said out loud while simultaneously scanning the Mountain Lord.
The surrounding villagers were still there; no one dared move a tiny bit , they all just remained frozen as they watched the battle unfold.
"That could work,"
The charging figure had already arrived in front of him with all his power and momentum, but Morden made sure he didn’t falter.
His eyes were only locked on that opening in the chest.
When his target got close enough, he plunged the sword straight at the chest opening, aiming for the heart itself.
Weirdly enough, his attack landed. It was a critical hit.
A sword to the heart was enough to kill an ordinary man instantly but Mountain Lord was far from ordinary.
The sudden attack was enough to slow him down, but it couldn’t stop him, and then
BAM!
He hit Morden straight in the chest, sending him flying out like a kite.
But the Mountain Lord didn’t press on; he couldn’t, the sword was currently lodged in his chest with a massive amount of blood oozing out of it.
He took the first step back and then the second and then the third.
He couldn’t take the last one at all before he completely fell to the ground flat under the gaze of the surrounding villagers, but he wasn’t dead.
His eyes were wide open, and even the flesh around the stab site was already squirming strangely. Not too far away from where the Mountain Lord lay, Morden was trying his best to stand back up to his feet despite the pain roaring through his body.
"It’s over; I win," he said with a gentle smile.
"Are...you...sure?"
"It’s not over until everyone here dies; It’s not over until you die; it’s not over until I become a real person," the Mountain Lord said in a clean, unbroken breath.
"Become a real person? what the hell are you talking about, you maniac"
"If they all die, I become a real person, and then I can freely leave this damned place. If you die, then the same happens."
"So, I CHOOSE THE EASIER OPTION," the mechanic shouted with an excited voice.
Shocked by his sudden burst of strength, Morden failed to realize something was wrong until it was just too late.
A reddish ghostly figure was already behind him before he could do anything.
It dove straight into him.