CINDERLITH
1022 Words
The vortex soon calmed, as a new form fell to the ground with a soft thud.
Greetings, master, the creature said with a knee on the floor.
Hearing the voice, Grey was shocked to death. Did you just speak, he asked.
Yes master.
Woah, evolution sure comes with its own perks, he thought.
The creature now looked like a towering dragon-humanoid hybrid, with blackened wings veined with fire and chains wrapped like living serpents. Its molten heart pulses visibly beneath cracked armour-like scales.
[Name: Cinderlith]
[Rank: captain]
[Level:57]
[Skills:
Blazing Chainstorm: Unleashes a 360° sweep of burning chains, followed by a flame burst that engulfs the battlefield. Causes burn, knockback, and terrain ignition.
Molten Roar: A thunderous roar that burns enemies, interrupts spellcasting, and reduces fire resistance for 6 seconds.
Infernal Shell: Activates a magma-carapace, boosting defence massively and reflecting 20% of melee damage as fire. Lasts 10 seconds.
Hellbrand Mark: Marks up to 3 targets. After 4 seconds, each mark explodes, causing fire AOE damage and applying a 6-second burn effect.
Scorchrend Dive: Launches into the sky and crashes down with explosive force. The landing creates a shockwave of fire, flinging enemies and creating a burning zone that lasts 5 seconds.
Tyrant's Grasp: Chains lash out from its body, grabbing up to 5 enemies. Dragged enemies are slammed together at the centre and ignited, taking massive damage and suffering movement reduction for 4 seconds.
Winged Terror(Passive): Grants flight, aerial dashes, and dive attacks.
Scorched Field(Passive): Every step leaves flaming ground behind.
Fire Immunity(Passive): Completely immune to fire damage and heat-based crowd control from lower levels, and a certain immunity from higher levels
Draconic Presence(Passive): Weakens nearby enemies' morale and regeneration by 20%.
Devour(Level 1, Passive): Has a 0.1% chance to gain a skill from slain enemies
]
So many skills, Grey thought.
If we fought this version of Vulkrak on the tenth floor, we would have lost easily, even if I used Crypt Throne Manifestation, he thought.
His name also changed.
But the only thing that surprised him was the rank that appeared in his status, showing captain.
He had never seen a rank for his thralls before.
Then it struck him.
It was not that the rank was not there; he had never even checked any of his thralls' status before.
Ahh, he breathed in frustration.
He instantly summoned a t****l from his domain.
[Name: Fallen Lava Crawler]
[Rank: Grunt]
[Level: 10]
[Skills:
Molten trail(Passive): Leaves behind burning ground
Devour(Level 1, Passive): Has a 0.1% chance to gain a skill from slain enemies
]
Grunt, is that the lowest of them all? He thought.
And it does not have an individual name, only fallen was added to its species name.
It seems they need to reach a certain rank before they gain individual names.
Wait, if this is a grunt, then Alice and the matriarch were classified as what?
I guess I will never know that, he thought as he returned the Lava crawler and Cinderlith to his domain, before exiting.
Grey was currently sitting on a chair in a courtyard he created.
With a wave of his hand, all his thralls were sent out of the death domain.
He carefully selected 2, one each of the Lava crawler and the Blazing Imp.
Then he calculated how long it would take for him to create tombstones with his mana.
After a brief calculation, he calculated 3 days to do it.
This was calculated with the thought of him clearing the hunting ground after each respawn.
After my battle with Vulkrak, I have come to realise something. In the face of true strength, numbers are just a delay.
Grey began converting thralls to tombstones and giving them to the two thralls he selected.
He would rest occasionally to recover his mana.
Another thing I have observed is that since this game started, and I started levelling up, I have not felt hungry, he thought.
Grey continued with what he was doing and would send Cinderlith into the hunting ground alone while sending thralls to accompany him to retrieve the corpses for revival.
He also discovered that he could temporarily assign inventory slots to his thralls, although the amount differed. He could assign 10 to the grunts and 100 to Cinderlith.
Since he used corpses faster than they were replenished, and due to the stat gains from the
Essence devour skill, he was able to finish faster than he anticipated.
On the second day, he was out of corpses, and the three thralls were all done absorbing.
I was expecting the ashdrake to continue to fuse with Cinderlith, but that was just wishful thinking, he thought.
Well, that is also good news since I can have 3 main thralls now.
[Name: Molter]
[Rank: Knight]
[Level: 62]
[Skills:
Molten trail(Passive): Fire burns all around you, dealing constant damage to any one within range
Devour(Level 500, Passive): Has a 50% chance to gain a skill from slain enemies
]
[Name: Flarer]
[Rank: Knight]
[Level: 62]
[Skills:
Devour(Level 500, Passive): Has a 50% chance to gain a skill from slain enemies
Flight(Passive): Grants flight
Fireball: Shoots multiple fireballs from the mouth
]
[Name: Firetail]
[Rank: Knight+]
[Level: 70]
[Skills:
Fireburst: Deals massive AOE flame damage to those within range
Molten scales: Increases defence while reflecting 30% of damage received to the attacker.
Devour(Level 500, Passive): Has a 50% chance to gain a skill from slain enemies
Flight(Passive): Grants flight
]
Grey looked at the stats of the three thralls and could not help but laugh very loudly.
Is this what it means to be overpowered, he thought.
He was about to continue, but suddenly, his body went limp, and before he could do anything, he slumped to the ground.
Seeing their master fall, even though there was no threat in the space, they all instinctively surrounded Grey as an act of protection.
Grey was currently in a dark place; everywhere he looked, he only saw darkness.
Where is this? Where am I? he shouted.
But no one answered, he was about to talk again, when a voice spoke to him.
- Writer
