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System Error: The Imp Who Shouldn’t Exist (Web Novel) - Chapter 49: Blood Contest
Chapter 49: Blood Contest
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Chapter 49: Blood Contest
Azakh-Tur watched the slaughter unfold, his broodlings carving a wet, thrashing hole in the swarm below. Grin stretching, teeth bared, he lobbed stones into the chaos. Each hit broke flesh, ribs caving, skulls bursting, limbs folding the wrong way.
'This feeling it's intoxicating.'This wasnt a war, no banners, no victory worth song. But seeing his choices take shape in blood...it gnawed at him in a way that felt too good to stop. Power got under the skin like nothing else.
Grimm! Get over herewatch with me!
His voice carried an edge of excitement, but no answering glow came to join him. He turned, brow tightening, and saw the little ghost low to the ground, his glow dull.
Grimm? Whatre you doing?
The skull turned away, spine and dangling guts sagging with him.
Irritation prickled. He crossed the space, but the closer he got, the heavier the pull between them felt. Standing over the little shade, he could feel it. Why he was sunk so low.
Jealous? Cause they can level?
No flicker.
Dagger, then?
Nothing.
He thought on it, and only one reason stuck.
You pissed cause they can kill and you cant?
Grimms head turned slow, eye-lights dim, hollow with want.
Something tightened in Azakh-Turs chest. He knew that ache...wanting to rip, to hear something break under your hands, and being denied it.
Ill look into it. Maybe we find a way. But for now, your brood mates are making their first killsyou should watch.
Grimm turned away like he meant to refuse, glow trying to stay dim, but it betrayed him, brightening. He hesitated, then floated up to perch on Azakh-Turs shoulder.
They turned to look down together, just in time for painful warning to stab through his gut, spiking with urgency. He quickly found the source and cursed himself for looking away.
He jumped.
Butchers Wrath tore out from his arms.
Brood Feast!
[-2 SM]
[Brood Feast // Active]
[Target // Elderwarren Rabbit Kit Lvl 9]
Pain was bleeding out. His way of fighting, face-first, all teeth and bone, meant his Feed healing couldnt keep pace. With his HP under ten percent, Azakh-Tur triggered the class skill and marked the target.
Bloodlight burst off both broodlings. They immediately hit the level 9 kit together, teeth and claws ripping straight into meat before it could even scream.
[Class Skill Profile // Brood Feast]
[Type: Active]
[Category: Summoning]
[Rank // F]
[Evolvable // Yes]
[Sub-category: Buff]
[Description]
[Command all Broodlings to feast on a corpse or wounded enemy, rapidly healing themselves and you slightly if successful]
[Cost // 2 SM]
[Effect]
[Target // Dead body or enemy under 25% HP]
[On success // Heal you + Broodlings for = % of health consumed from victim]
[If no target found // Broodlings turn frenzied for 10 seconds // Attack faster]
[Cooldown // 30 sec]
[Time active // Instant // Frenzy lasts 10 seconds if triggered]
[Flavor Text]
["Dead or dying, it is all fuel."]
The rest of the swarm didnt wait politely. That was fine, he hadnt jumped to watch.
He hit like a falling weapon, cleavers carving in wide, meat-hungry arcs. Fur and skin split under the blades; heads came away half-attached, jaws still twitching.
The XP gain was thin, most kills too far beneath him, but every cut bled HP and Soulmass back into him. And slaughter was slaughter. It never disappointed.
Even Grimm joined in, invisible to everything but the carnage. He drifted through the mess, pushing through warm viscera, curling his intangible claws in the loops of rabbit guts as he giggled.
[Brood Feast // Deactivated]
[Health Consumed // 21 HP]
[+21HP]
[HP // 300/300]
[SM // 36/36]
Health full, his fingers had grown back, skin still dark at the seams. Pain stood taller now, chest rising slow, his health creeping back with every bite taken. With only a handful of kits left, it didnt take long to finish them.
When the last body dropped, Panics laughter filled the air...high, low, overlapping, cut with the stink of iron and shit.
Good job, boys. Hurry up and finish"
Butchers Wrath began to slice back into his arms.
"Get your health back up.
Both broodlings grinned, red to the teeth, and fell on the nearest corpses. Flesh tore loose in strips, wet chewing filling the space.
'Lets see who took it.'
He pulled their profiles.
[Broodling // Pain]
[Classification // Demon Spawn]
[Subclass // Broodling (Imp)]
[Rank // E]
[Level 6]
[Core Stats]
[STR // 14 -> 17]
[VIT // 12 -> 14]
[AGI // 11 -> 14]
[INT // 12 -> 14]
[AP // 5]
[HP // 35/180]
[EXP // 999/1384]
Pains potential spoke for itself, thick frontliner, made to hold and break. Panic, though, he was the opposite. Fast, erratic, always on the edge of frenzy, and thats what won it for him.
[Broodling // Panic]
[Classification // Demon Spawn]
[Subclass // Broodling (Imp)]
[Rank // E]
[Level // 6]
[Core Stats]
[STR // 11 -> 14]
[VIT // 12 -> 14]
[AGI // 16 -> 19]
[INT // 12 -> 14]
[AP // 5]
[HP // 87/140]
[EXP 1110/1384]
'Fast little bastard that speeds gonna play a major factor in his development'
He glanced over just as Panic draped a scalp over his head, lifting the dead ears with his claws. The broodling gurgled as he chewed, tongue working the meat behind the teeth.
'Yeah...he's gonna be interesting.'
Azakh-Tur clacked his claws once, the sound sharp in the blood-heavy air.
All right. Time to reveal who won.
Both heads snapped up at once, jaws dripping, one crowned with too many ears.
Panic takes it.
Gnarled Fang bloomed in his palm, the demon tooth glowing for a moment with system light. He held it out.
Pains snarl rose deep, tail slamming into a corpse and bursting it across the stone.
Panic froze. For the first time since hed clawed into life, he was still. Through the Brood Link, Azakh-Tur felt the weight pressing down on him...something close to awe. Then a thought came unbidden, words from the humans memories, not his...but fitting.
Panic was finding his religion.
But the stillness dragged too long. Azakh-Turs voice cut sharp.
Take it.
The blade was gone before the last word settled. Panic stood before him, clutching it like the most fragile and precious thing in existence.
Youll need to kill with it before its truly yours. Take care of it and itll grow with you. Use it well and its strength will adapt to how you use it.
[User sounds so wise.]
'Fuck you.'
Panics gaze lifted from the weapon, Grimms blue light flickering in his eyes.
Thanks, Boss. Panic promises.
Dont let him get ahead of you, Pain. I expect a lot from both of you.
Pain straightened at that, posture harder, though the loss still hung on him.
Azakh-Turs eyes swept the cave. Blood, meat, and ruin lay in every direction. The fight had been a complete success. If hed managed the field better, it might have been cleaner, but satisfaction settled in his chest all the same.
Thinking a moment, he burned through the broodlings unspent AP. Pains strength jumped to 20, vitality to 16. Panics agility climbed to 22, vitality also to 16.
Armed now, Panic was starting to pull ahead.
Bloodlight rippled over the broodlings bodies, muscles tensing and shifting under their skin.
Azakh-Turs gaze dropped to his on stats...nine AP still sitting unused.
'Havent stopped moving since I set foot here. Things are finally steadying but Im still in this dungeon, and Ive got no idea what else, or who else, is crawling around with me.'
Human memories mixed with his own, the mess of it slowing him down. This wasnt a choice to make blind. He needed to decide his stats carefully.
[STR // 25 // D]
[VIT // 20 // E]
[AGI // 28 // D]
[INT // 14 // E]
[FLH // 23 // D]
[WIL // 16 // E]
[AP // 9]
Thirteen points to bring everything into D Rank. Only WIL, INT, and VIT lagged behind. The mobs here thankfully wouldnt outlevel him by much. The boss, though different story.
Unless I level hard in here, Im gonna need humans.
Dungeons were cleared in teams, not solo, it was too much risk, especially at rank. Lower-level runs could be farmed alone, but bosses changed the equation.
Bosses were always unique. Usually they were just meaner versions of the mobs in their territory...but not always.
A memory flashed from Seo-jins life. His team in a goblin dungeon, laughing one moment, facing down a full-grown dragon the next. Nearly every one of them died before they got out.
If that happened, the dungeon would be labeled Disaster Class, and the name implied everything.
"Right now, I need survivability, not strength."
[AP // 9 -> 0]
[STR // 25 // D]
[VIT // 20 -> 24 // E -> D]
[AGI // 28 -> 33 // D -> C]
[INT // 14 // E]
[FLH // 23 // D]
[WIL // 16 // E]
Four points into vitality, five into agility. Both jumped a rank. One step now planted in C Rank.
Bloodlight burst off him in a sudden flare, spilling across stone and shadow. The heat of it pulled the broodlings attention immediately. Grimm hovered close, all of them watching with a silent intensity. They didnt know why it mattered, but the sight of their boss growing stronger hit them in a place deeper than thought.
[System // Notification]
[VIT Modifier Upgrade // 1VIT10]
[AGI Modifier Upgrade // 1AGI16]
Knowing he would get higher returns for each stat was one of his favorite features of the system. Every step steadily carried more weight, every kill brought him more and more power.
He was truly starting to love his life.
[Recommendation: Assume human form. Probability of encountering humans is high. Probability of avoiding immediate combat drops sharply if you remain you.]
'You always have to say some shit, don't you?'
Even though it had cut into his mood, the system was right...his face didnt exactly spell friendly.
Deciding he might as well, he shut his eyes. Strange enough, anticipation built low in his gut, and this time, instead of asking the system how, he reached for the skill the way hed reach for Butchers Wrath...thinking of the name, the slot, and Wohan Seo-jins face.
[Minor Shifting / Slot 2 // Active]
[Soul Foundation // Wohan Seo-jin]
The change came almost instantly, and that was the worst part. No warning. No build. One moment whole, the next ripped inside out. It felt like his guts were being dragged out his throat and rammed back in the other end.
His breath hitched as bones moved where they shouldnt, skin pulled too tight then split to make room. Muscles rolled like things alive under his flesh. Something wet hit the ground.
And when he opened his eyes...the pain was gone.
And the world had changed.
