The Ascender's Legacy [A CHAOTIC STORM LITRPG]

The portal to the 26th level snapped shut behind Aodhán, and he wrinkled his nose in disgust as the metallic scent of blood and decaying meat instantly accosted him. He was in the lair of the blood orc, evidenced by the river of blood flowing only a few meters away from him.

Grimacing at the sight of half-eaten corpses and bloodstained walls, Aodhán turned his attention to the left, behind a wall of jagged rocks where he could sense the core of the orc, blazing with bloody purity.

Gritting his teeth in determination, Aodhán readied himself for a brutal fight. This wasn't the first time he was facing the blood orc, so he was a little familiar with its tactics. Nevertheless, the orc wasn't an easy foe, and for the first time since his ascent through the tower, Aodhán felt a thread of nervous energy curl tightly in his gut.

A menacing growl reverberated through the chamber, and a moment later, the orc stepped out from behind the jagged wall, its entire body drenched and dripping with blood. It wore filthy, blood-soaked rags that served as a loincloth but hid nothing of the monster between its legs. In its right hand, it carried a large, rusty axe that looked like it could cleave him in two with minimal effort, and when its crimson gaze landed on him, Aodhán felt a shiver run through him.

Growling, he pushed down his fear and attacked. However, he only managed a few steps forward before his own body turned against him.

His muscles locked, his joints twisted, and his blood began to boil.

Screaming in annoyance, Aodhán unleashed his willpower, letting the fiery energy pour out of him in a wave. It filled his spirit, reinforced his pathways, and drenched his muscles. Still, the orc's hold on him refused to break.

His body vibrated. A finger cracked, and Aodhán knew he had to act quickly. Gritting his teeth from the surge of pain and pleasure, Aodhán opened his spirit to the origin plane once again and channeled all that chaotic storm energy into his bloodline.

With willpower still cascading off him, his aura erupted out of him in a disastrous wave. It slammed into the orc with the force of a dozen boulders, and the monster stumbled.

It was only for a moment, but that was all Aodhán needed.

Wrenching back control of his body, Aodhán lashed out, sending a spear of crackling red electricity streaking straight toward the Orc. It exploded on impact, causing the Orc to stagger once more, but the moment Aodhán moved to attack again, his legs stiffened mid-step. His balance faltered. His knee jerked sideways as if his own body sought to collapse him, and cuts opened up on his skin as his blood threatened to erupt out of him.

Aodhán overpowered the intrusion with another blast of chaos and willpower, but the Orc was already prepared for that, and the moment he wrestled control of his body again, the Orc lunged forward, swift despite its large body. It closed in with its axe, the weapon slicing down in a precise arc towards his neck.

Aodhán twisted, barely dodging the crushing strike, but it gave him an opportunity to attack, and he didn't miss it. Stabbing upward with a lightning spear, Aodhán pierced the orc's right arm—blood splattering all over his face and body. The orc roared and stumbled backward, but Aodhán couldn't let it get away so easily.

Channeling chaos and willpower into his pathways, he activated {Lightning Beam—Green} and fired it directly into the gaping wound.

His arms, however, bent backward before the beam could strike, altering its trajectory. But that didn't stop the Sylvael lightning. It zipped into the open wound, and with Aodhán's intent aligned with its effects, it bloomed into something truly nefarious.

Acting almost immediately, webs of diseased purple veins spiraled out from the wound. They arced out like an army of hungry spiders, draining the life out of the Orc's limb. However, before they could take over its entire arm, black blood erupted out of the wound, carrying with it every iota of green lightning that had entered the wound, and the formerly dying limb suddenly erupted with life once more as clean blood flowed into it once again.

The Orc turned its crimson gaze toward him and fixed him with a bloody glare.

"Oh, fuck!"

Aodhán barely dodged in time as a torrent of blood whips exploded from the river, tearing into the spot he'd just vacated. Another whip lashed out—then another—and within moments, he found himself besieged by two dozen of them, each one incessantly lashing and stabbing at him with bladed tips.

Cranking {Eye of the Storm} to the absolute maximum, Aodhán just barely managed to stay ahead. In that moment, he realized that it wasn't enough to be faster or stronger than his opponents. He might be physically stronger than Orc, but this was its domain. Every single thing within this cavern had been crafted to suit it.

If he wanted to win this battle without using his seals like he had done the last time, then he had to come up with an ingenious plan. Something the Orc wouldn't see coming.

Flaring his aura again, Aodhán unleashed a condensed beam of red lightning at the Orc. Using {Lightning Manipulation}, he shaped the beam into a spear and poured willpower into it to give it an added boost. Yet, the Orc was no simple foe.

It sliced the beam apart with its axe and roared, unleashing a wave of bloodlust so dense it threatened to break the stability of his mind. His necklace flared before such a thing could happen, and Aodhán smiled when the Orc frowned in confusion. It had been a while since he had felt the protective effects of his necklace that he had almost forgotten it, but now he couldn't have been more grateful.

Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, Aodhán attacked again, forming a spear of crackling black lightning. A moment before he released the spear, though, his fingers clenched into fists against his command and pulled the spear back.

A surge of power rippled through his veins—not his own. His heartbeat stuttered, then raced wildly. His arm jerked upward; his spear tip aimed at his chest. He barely stopped it an inch from his heart, muscles spasming from the internal battle as his own body worked against him.

Blood thundered in his ears as the Orc closed in on him, axe outstretched, but Aodhán pushed down the growing panic before it could cloud his judgment. Groaning, he pushed back against the Orc's intrusion, pitting his pool of willpower against that of the Orc, and for a fleeting second, he broke free—just enough to release a shockwave of black lightning that sent the Orc and spear skidding backward.

Another flare of his aura sent the orc staggering, but it was up again in a blink—its blood control reaching for him again.

Aodhán tried to resist, flaring his aura and willpower in desperation, but the Orc seemed to have had enough of his dallying. It clenched its fist, and Aodhán collapsed, his knees completely failing to hold him up. His blood boiled and began vibrating. His heart pounded erratically, and his vision blurred as his lungs refused to expand.

Aodhán flared his willpower again and again, trying to resist, but the Orc's hold on him was too strong. He couldn't break free, at least not without help, and at first, he contemplated summoning Varéc, but he soon dismissed the idea and decided to save himself.

He had walked into this battle hoping to beat the blood Orc without utilizing any seal, knowing what lay ahead, but it seemed that despite all of his spiritual growth and advancement, he wasn't quite there yet.

The bitter realization hit as his body rebelled, his limbs resisting every command. His vision dimmed under the orc's relentless grip. His strength slipped, and with no choice left, Aodhán harnessed his seal, pulling out half the quintessence of one seal all at once.

Heat erupted within him, surging through his spirit like a river of lava, and with only a thought, Aodhán broke free from the Orc's grip, his body sliding back under his control seamlessly.

The orc staggered from the backlash, and before it could regain its bearing, Aodhán channeled all that he had—chaos, energy, willpower, and his seal's quintessence—into {Lightning Beam—Red}, unleashing two massive beams of red electricity from his palms.

The beams merged into one halfway toward the Orc, and in one swift move, Aodhán shaped the gigantic beam into a spear, using {Lightning Manipulation} to force its tip into a pinpoint.

It struck with a thunderous boom—and then it exploded.

An agonized roar shook the entire cavern as the spear pierced the orc's chest and then exploded, spraying blood and body parts everywhere. The orc staggered, coughing out blood, but it wasn't dead yet. It stretched an arm to the blood river, trying to draw blood into its gaping wound.

Half a dozen tendrils of blood slithered out of the river, but Aodhán would be a fool to let them reach the Orc. And he wasn't a fool.

Scattering the tendrils with a beam of necrotic lightning, Aodhán harnessed the other half of his seal and activated {Lightning Beam—Red} one more time, taking a few seconds to charge the skill before releasing it.

This time, the beam struck with even greater force, and when it detonated, it drowned out the orc's scream, obliterating its body and showering the cavern in blood.

By the time the explosion faded, all that remained of the orc was its head and legs—the entire midsection had been vaporized, and its remains were splattered across the cavern walls like grotesque decorations.

The portal to the next level appeared, and Aodhán sagged in relief, taking a moment to breathe and assure himself that his body was still under his control. He stayed that way for ten minutes—just breathing—before looking back at the portal.

He knew what waited for him on the other side, had seen it the last time he had challenged the tower, but if he couldn't even defeat the Orc without harnessing his seals, then what chance did he stand against the monster waiting for him?

Still, he hadn't come this far just to quit, and so with a frown of determination, he walked towards the portal and stepped into the lair of the Thunderveil Medusozoa.

***

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Immediately, Aodhán stepped into the 27th level; he felt an instant surge of lightning essence. It billowed around him, familiar yet foreign, filling up the space so thoroughly that it was impossible to sense anything else.

Aodhán clenched his fist and let out a deep breath. This was the level that had ended his advance the last time—which was a fucking joke because the creature guarding this level was a fucking jellyfish. Well, that wasn't exactly what it was named, but that was what it looked like.

The Thunderveil Medusozoa was a massive, semi-transparent, bell-shaped creature with dozens of long, glowing tentacles trailing behind it like ethereal ribbons. The tentacles rippled with electricity, and although it had no visible organ of sight, Aodhán felt the exact moment it set its sight on him.

Unlike the jellyfish, the Medusozoa wasn't bound to water. It moved like a ghost, gliding swiftly through the air on electromagnetic currents.

This creature should have been an easy fight for him—after all, they shared an affinity. But there was one tiny issue. The Medusozoa's lightning was no ordinary lightning. It crackled in eerie shades of gray, and from his past experience, Aodhán knew exactly what that meant.

With a screech that echoed out from an invisible mouth organ, the Medusozoa shot towards him, phasing through the air without resistance. It appeared before him in an instant and lashed out with a host of lightning tentacles. Aodhán tried to dodge, careening sharply to the side, but the tentacles were too swift, and a few of them caught him, blurs of spectral lightning phasing through his clothes like they were air.

They struck his skin, and despite his innate resistance to lightning, Aodhán convulsed, his entire body shuddering as phantom shocks tore through his nervous system.

Unleashing a river of willpower from his core, Aodhán tried to tear himself free of the tentacles, swiping a blade of black lightning to cut himself free, but the blade simply phased through the tentacles without effect. He couldn't free himself. He couldn't even fucking think. Dammit.

Desperately, he slashed and cut, trying to tear himself free as the Medusozoa pumped more spectral lightning into his body. Pain burned through him, his flesh crackling as the tendrils phased right into his organs, frying nerves and muscles alike.

More tentacles joined the others, and Aodhán's vision flashed white, pain tearing through the bastion of calm that {Eye of the Storm} enforced. Aodhán spasmed, and in a desperate need for freedom, he suddenly remembered a skill he hadn't used in a long time.

{Absorb Lightning} activated with a roar of hope and determination. With crazed eyes, Aodhán grabbed the electrifying tentacles and pulled.

Given direction, the spectral lightning rushed into his core and—

Pain!

Aodhán screamed as foreign, malevolent lightning tore through his pathways. It burned—setting his entire being ablaze as it raced toward his core. It felt as if his body was being ripped apart and rebuilt all at once.

Agony overwhelmed him, and Aodhán realized that in his desperation, he had forgotten that natural lightning was vastly different from the lightning of another awakened. Natural lightning was wild and indifferent—pure energy without purpose. But the lightning of an Awakened was steeped in willpower and intent, imprinted with the signature of their core and the nature of their spirit. Absorbing the lightning had simply given the spectral lightning a chance to wreak even more havoc in his body.

Screaming, he cut the skill off, thinking he'd made a terrible mistake. But the moment he did, the Medusozoa convulsed, its form glitching and flickering violently.

The tentacles he'd drawn lightning from withered—and for a brief moment, the Medusozoa became completely tangible. Solid. Aodhán's mind snapped back into focus, and with a roar of pain, he activated {Lightning Surge—Black}.

A massive wave of black lightning erupted out of him, and the tendrils still latched onto him decayed instantly, burned away by the barrage. The Medusozoa screamed, a grating sound eerily similar to that of fingernails scratching against glass.

Despite the lightning still wreaking havoc within his pathways, Aodhán grinned. He had found a weakness. The situation wasn't entirely hopeless. But his smile soured a heartbeat later as the tentacles he had just destroyed regenerated—this time growing even longer than before.

Aodhán blanched in disbelief. Such regenerative capacity at the Evolved class was unheard of. Not even the Blood Orc had recovered this fast. Refusing to believe the tower handlers were toying with him, Aodhán scrambled backward, barely dodging another volley of spectral tentacles.

With the Medusozoa's regeneration now in play, the battle had just gone from difficult… to painfully difficult. The only way to kill it now was to absorb all of its lightning at once, then strike in the instant it became tangible.

But that was only easy in theory. The pain he would experience from such a feat was so great that he shuddered just imagining it. He tried to come up with another strategy, anything less suicidal, but the Medusozoa didn't give him the chance.

It attacked again—its entire mass warping space around it as if lightning itself had collapsed inward. Aodhán barely managed to activate {Lightning Beam—Red} before it was on him. The beam passed through the Medusozoa harmlessly, and Aodhán cursed himself. He had no other skill that could work—and the one that might, he was too afraid to use because of the pain.

Principal Zatya had been right. He still needed those classes with Eldrith, however insane he might be.

Summoning a roiling storm cloud, half a dozen meters wide, Aodhán tilted it vertically and activated {Lightning Spear Rain}. It was a waste.

Dozens of lightning spears, each as thick as his arm, shot toward the Medusozoa—but like everything else, they phased through without effect.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Aodhán twisted his platform, barely dodging another barrage of tentacles. He almost escaped.

One lashed out from behind, slamming into his spine and lighting up his nervous system in an instant. More tentacles attached themselves, pumping electricity straight into his body, and Aodhán nearly passed out.

Vision flashing white, Aodhán had no other choice but to activate {Absorb Lightning} once again. But with the spectral lightning practically frying his nervous system, thinking, let alone activating a skill, became nearly impossible. His mind felt like it was unraveling.

So, he did the only thing he could.

He forced his willpower toward his brain, shoving it like a burning wedge into his mind, fighting just to think.

The rush of willpower granted him a moment of mental clarity, and Aodhán quickly opened up his spirit to the origin plane. The infusion of chaos bolstered his strength a little more, and with all the chaos and willpower that he could gather, Aodhán activated {Absorb Lightning} for the second time and nearly blacked out.

Pain engulfed him like an inferno, and Aodhán screamed.

But he wasn't the only one in agony.

The Medusozoa shrieked—a piercing, unnatural sound—as energy was ripped from its core with such brutal force that its pathways burned and its tendrils decayed mid-air.

Aodhán barely heard it over his screams, but when he did, something in the Medusozoa's torment spurred him on. Encouraged by the shared suffering, he pulled again, draining the creature nearly to its end before collapsing, his body contorting and convulsing with phantom shocks.

Bones cracked. Wounds tore open. The lightning, too immense for his body to contain, sought exit points, clawing for release through torn flesh and fractured bone.

The Medusozoa was no better. Its once-luminous body had dimmed to a dying glow, gray and wrinkled, like a desiccated husk. Its tentacles now hung from it like rotted vines, stripped of their electrifying vitality.

And yet—it wasn't dead.

Spectral lightning fizzled weakly around it, sputtering in dying sparks. A few tentacles still twitched, faint arcs dancing along their lengths. It was weakened, dimmed, yet it burned with fury.

Screeching that accused sound, it launched itself at Aodhán, intent on finishing him off while he lay convulsing, utterly defenseless. Aodhán couldn't fight back, not with his entire system failing and convulsing, but he didn't need to.

Varéc burst out of his spirit with a roar of fury and unleashed a concentrated beam of black electricity directly at the Medusozoa. The creature tried to phase through the attack, but with its energy so thoroughly drained, only fragments of its body escaped without harm. The others burned away, crumbling to ash as the necrotic lightning took hold.

Yet the Medusozoa's regeneration was no joke.

For every part of its body that disintegrated, new tendrils regrew in its place. The effort, however, cost it dearly, and by the time it put itself back together, it was barely a quarter the size it had once been.

Still, with its form fully reconstituted, it began phasing through Varéc's attacks again. It zipped through the air, swift and relentless, angling straight for Aodhán. But Varéc stood firm, unwavering in his defense, allowing Aodhán to purge out the foreign electricity from his system.

Channeling Aodhán's willpower, Varéc roared and unleashed explosive bolts of deadly lightning—each strike powerful enough to vaporize lesser foes. The Medusozoa, however, phased through them all, its eyeless focus locked entirely on Aodhán's convulsing form.

Realizing that the Medusozoa was no longer affected by his attacks, Varéc grabbed Aodhán by his storm scarf and flew, darting away just in time to avoid two tentacles of spectral lightning.

But even weakened, the Medusozoa was fast—terrifyingly so. It flickered in and out of phase, weaving erratically through the air, closing the distance with every pulse. Still cradled in Varéc's grasp, Aodhán knew it was only a matter of time before the Medusozoa caught up with them.

The few minutes Varéc had bought him had given him enough time to purge out most of the spectral lightning from his system, which had given his regeneration a chance to put him back together. He wasn't healed yet—far from it—but they couldn't run forever, and any lightning Varéc absorbed would flow into him anyway, as they were one. Better he absorbed the lightning himself.

Nudging Varéc to signal that he was ready, he created a platform and dropped down, his arms already outstretched to grab the Medusozoa. It took the bait without hesitation, phasing straight towards him.

Before Aodhán could even flinch, the two tentacles left lashed at his chest, both phasing right through his skin and going straight for his heart.

Shuddering in fear at the pain he knew was coming, Aodhán grabbed the two tentacles, harnessed half of his second seal, and activated {Absorb Lightning}, pulling with every ounce of will his broken body could muster.

Two screams tore through the air.

One inhuman, and the other—a familiar rumble of thunder.

Fortunately, Varéc's relentless assault had already weakened the Medusozoa, and the moment it became tangible from the loss of energy, Varéc attacked, unleashing a concentrated beam of black lightning straight at the Medusozoa.

The Medusozoa had no defense left.

It didn't survive. The lightning engulfed it in a cloud of necrotic energy, and its body decayed, crumbling to ash. The beam engulfed it in a roiling storm of decay, and within moments, its body collapsed into ash, dissolving into nothingness.

It was over.

Aodhán slumped to the ground, a violent cough wracking his chest as he spat out blood. His body convulsed again, writhing as he tried to purge the lightning he had just absorbed.

Time passed in a haze of pain.

It took nearly half an hour before Aodhán could think clearly again. Slowly, shakily, he pushed himself into a sitting position, every movement a protest. "We did it," he rasped hoarsely, his voice barely above a whisper. "Varéc... we did it."

Varéc rumbled in agreement and nudged him gently. Calling his attention to the shimmering black portal floating only a few feet away.

Aodhán glanced at the portal and groaned, too weary and injured to fight another battle. His pathways were damaged, and his spirit felt raw from the insane amount of chaos he had channeled into it. If he got into another fight with the way he currently was, he would most assuredly lose. Still, he had gotten himself this far. It would be a waste if he didn't at least see what was on the other side.

Pushing himself to his feet, Aodhán trudged toward the portal and stepped through it.

The 28th level revealed itself a moment later—a still lake surrounded by a wide stretch of rocky earth. Boulders lay scattered across the landscape in what looked like a natural, haphazard pattern. But Aodhán wasn't fooled.

Reaching hastily for the ejector around his neck, he tried to leave the tower without disturbing anything, but he stumbled, and his leg kicked a pebble.

That slight disturbance was enough to wake the slumbering beast.

The earth rumbled. Aodhán cursed as the boulders rearranged themselves into a humanoid form nearly ten feet tall. Burning yellow eyes flared open, and a shiver ran down his spine as the system identified the creature:

[Burmehien, Tier 28]

The Burmehien attacked before he could so much as blink, a cascade of jagged earth spikes rushing towards him and Varéc. Aodhán leapt aside, he and Varéc splitting off in opposite directions to dodge the attack—but a Burmehien wasn't so easily evaded.

The spikes curved mid-air, shooting up like carnivorous vines. They speared into Varéc's wings, yanking him downward toward the earth, which cracked open like a gaping maw, ready to swallow them whole.

Before that could happen, Aodhán smashed the ejector.

He vanished just in time, escaping the instant before a massive boulder smashed through the spot he had just occupied.

He stumbled onto the arena stage an instant later, a roar of cheers and applause greeting his arrival. Healers rushed towards him, but despite the pain he was in, Aodhán still grinned. Hands reached towards him to heal his injuries, but Aodhán had much more pressing concerns than his injuries at the moment.

He turned his gaze to the holographic screen displaying the updated leaderboards. His grin widened, and then it fell.

His eyes widened in shock. "What the fuck?!"