NOVEL NEXT Chapter 267: Pins and Shadows.
ABYSSAL PINS LEADERBOARD
Aodhán Brystion—680 points
Baxterion Valenhall—440 points
Mirith Vaelys—400 points
Serenya Serenity—390 points
Destra Mrazek—380 points
Sebastian Rune—340 points
Monica Weber—330 points
Cyrus Valerion—310 points
Daruk Brystion—290 points
Zareen Tahrizaar—260 points
A full hour had passed since the attack, and in that time, Destra hadn't been able to think of anything but the brutal way that woman had died.
Aodhán hadn't spoken a word since they'd left the clearing. He hadn't even made a sound. He'd simply gone about adding more abyssal pins to their already massive pile as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Again and again during that hour, Destra had tried to reach out to him—an easy joke, a casual comment, anything to cut through the heavy silence between them. But each time, her voice failed her.
She was afraid—scared shitless of the man she was traveling with. And who wouldn't be, after witnessing what she'd just seen?
She had known Aodhán was strong—it showed in the way he walked and moved—but she hadn't quite realized just how strong he was. Aside from the casual way he'd brushed aside the two men traveling with the spatial awakened, he hadn't shown much hesitation when fighting a trio of people more than four tiers above himself.
That much he'd at least told her while she was searching the bodies for abyssal pins, and Destra couldn't believe it. Six tiers! The spatial awakened was six whole tiers above him, but aside from his initial caution, he hadn't shown even a hint of panic during their fight. He'd even asked her to leave, suggesting he could have taken all three assailants alone.
And to her disbelief, he had.
If anything, Destra suspected he'd even held back—muting the full effect of his power just to spare her. For all intents and purposes, she'd been in his way.
But it wasn't just his power that terrified her—it was the last skill he'd used. The beam of green lightning that had first seemed to heal before turning into something terribly insidious.
How could a person create such a skill? And if he hadn't created it but had gained it from the system, then that was even worse, because it begged the question: What sort of class or profession was he involved in to gain such a skill? What sort of evil did he dabble in during his spare time?
And to make things worse, he had a familiar. A fearsome dragon of lightning. Just how was all this possible?
She had heard rumors of it back in Unoros—whispers of an evolved awakened gaining a familiar—but she'd thought it was just Ragnarian propaganda, a ploy to show that the war wasn't weakening their power at all.
But it turned out that rumor was true, and the prodigy of epic proportions Ragnarok had been so proud of was the same person walking five feet ahead of her now, his aura so utterly leashed that he could have been mistaken for a mundane awakened if his bloodline manifestation wasn't so severe.
She had heard of his feats at the Steppin' Plains—how he'd turned the tide of an entire battle all by himself, or how he'd caught the changeling plaguing Ragnarok's military camp, a feat even their champions hadn't been able to accomplish.
It was scary how powerful this one man was for his tier. How utterly heaven-defying his skills were.
But even amidst that terror, the question burned: How?
How had he become so powerful so quickly? How could he possess such a breadth of strength that even here in Abyssos, he remained a threat the cultists took seriously?
Destra remembered the bounties from the last level. She hadn't connected the dots when he'd first told her his name, but the spatial awakened had reminded her.
How was it possible that he'd gained so much power and skills from the system in what—two years? He couldn't be more than seventeen. Even she, who had been cultivating for the past three years, couldn't boast of his litany of skills or power, though her case was slightly different.
Shaking her head in wonder, Destra followed along, the silence between them stretching further as Aodhán poured all his attention into hunting for pins, seemingly following a map in his head as he weaved through the forest like a hunter following a path only he could see.
This continued for another half hour, the tension between them thickening, until Destra couldn't take it anymore. Bracing herself, she stopped walking and called out to him. "Aodhán, stop. We need to talk."
Aodhán stopped and turned to look at her with a neutral expression. "What do you want to talk about?"
Destra stuttered, suddenly tense despite the neutrality in his gaze. "I… I don't know. Don't you think we should talk about what happened back in that clearing?"
"No, I do not." Aodhán replied evenly. "My skills and abilities are my business—just as yours are yours."
Destra's lips pressed into a thin line, unable to disagree with that. "Still, I feel like you were… shaken by what happened. Maybe we should talk about it?"
Aodhán studied her in silence for a moment, his face giving nothing away, before speaking. "I met you less than eight hours ago. Even if I were shaken, why would I share that with you?"
"Because," Destra said softly but firmly, "I'd rather not spend the next eight hours drowning in this unbearable silence. And besides, eight hours is enough time for people to grow close. We might've walked in silence these past few, but I'd like to think we've become… friends."
Aodhán's expression didn't change for a few more seconds before he eventually sighed. "I'm not traumatized, Destra. I'm just processing things."
Destra nodded, relieved to finally be making some headway. "And the lightning you used on the spatial awakened, what was it?"
Aodhán's lips stretched into a small smile. "It's called Sylvael lightning. Corrupted vitality."
Destra blinked at the name, a little taken aback when she remembered its effects. "That makes sense. At first, I thought it was a healing skill."
"Me too," Aodhán chuckled, but it was self-deprecating. He rested his head against the bark of a tree and sighed. "That's the first time I've used the skill on a human being. I wasn't expecting…" He shook his head. "I don't know what I was expecting."
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Destra regarded him for a moment, weighing whether this was the right time to bring up his familiar. But before she could, he spoke again.
"Don't worry about me, Destra. I'm fine. Just… concerned."
"Concerned that more of those resurrected will come after you?" she asked, deciding to bring up the topic of his familiar later.
Aodhán nodded. "Them and those who took the oath." He shook his head. "I don't even know if the resurrected are also bound by oath or if the spatial awakened was just a different case. But more than that, I'm pissed at myself because despite how much I hate the cultists and everything they stand for, a part of me is really enjoying this competition."
He raised the wristband to his eyes, and a crimson screen appeared before him. "I'm still first, of course. And you—" His mouth quirked faintly. "You've climbed to fourth, surpassing Serenya Serenity."
Destra allowed herself a small smile. "Well, don't be too hard on yourself. This certainly beats fighting for our lives by a mile."
"It truly does," Aodhán admitted, chuckling. He glanced toward the thinning tree line. "Come on—we're already nearing the end of the forest. Let's find more pins."
They began moving once again, the tension between them eased, and Aodhán even had a slight spring in his step. However, they'd barely covered a few meters before he came to a sudden halt, his body going rigid as his gaze snapped sharply to the left.
"What is it?" Destra whispered, eyes wide with alarm. "Is it another resurrected one?"
"No." Aodhán replied, the tension in his shoulders melting away as a smile broke across his face. "It's a friend. He's about a quarter-mile away."
Excited, he started walking again, his pace quickening slightly. "Come on, let's get the nearest pin and then go meet him."
But Destra couldn't move. She stood frozen in place, her mind struggling to process what he'd just said.
A quarter mile?!
He could sense his friend from a quarter mile away?! That was—her thoughts raced as she did the calculation—four hundred meters!
That wasn't instinct. It wasn't even enhanced perception. It was omnipresence!
Before she could stop herself, the question burst out: "How is this possible? How can you sense someone from a quarter-mile away?"
Aodhán paused mid-step, his brow furrowing in confusion before realization suddenly dawned. He grimaced, mentally cursing himself for the slip. "Ah. I meant—"
"Do you have a mental map in your head?" Destra pressed, cutting him off before he could speak.
Aodhán shook his head, his lips stretching in amusement. "I don't have a mental map. But I do have my instincts."
"Wh—what?" Destra sputtered. "These aren't instincts. You can sense someone from a quarter mile away."
"Not quite." Aodhán shrugged, trying to sound casual despite the hint of satisfaction in his voice. "The interference is affecting my range."
Destra's eyes widened even further as the implication hit her. "Wait. So normally you can sense even farther?"
"Half a mile, give or take." Aodhán shrugged, unable to hide his satisfaction.
Destra faltered in shock, her mind reeling. "How… how is this even possible?"
Aodhán laughed and continued walking, gesturing for her to follow. "Come on, we have a few pins to gather before meeting him."
Destra stood frozen for a moment longer before finally following, a dozen questions swirling in her mind.
They reached the nearest abyssal pin a few minutes later, and Aodhán simply yanked it out of the ground, ignoring the cloud of null essence that rose up into the air before dispersing. He studied it for a moment before handing it over to her.
Destra accepted the pin without comment, adding it to the pile of pins she had gathered so far.
After giving the area a quick once-over, Aodhán began moving again, and just as he'd predicted, it didn't take them long to exit the forest and its comforting verdance.
Destra let out a small sigh of relief as they finally stepped into direct sunlight—a vast expanse of ice and snow stretching out before them, the cascade of white only broken by the occasional mountain or snowdrift.
For Aodhán, it was a deeply uncomfortable sight, but for Destra, it was heaven. A smile broke across her face as they left the stifling forest behind. Rather than continue forward, though, Aodhán stopped and suggested they wait, his hands clasped calmly behind his back.
"I hope you realize we're out in the open," Destra whispered after a moment. "No cover whatsoever. Anyone could strike us down with an arrow construct."
"From what vantage point?" Aodhán asked without turning back and then shrugged. "Besides, we won't have to be here much longer. My friend will be here in three, two, one—"
Baxter stepped out of the tree line only a few paces away, hefting a bulging bag of abyssal pins. He froze mid-step when he spotted Aodhán and Destra standing there, his eyes widening in surprise before a wide grin broke across his face.
He pointed a finger at him, laughing. "How are you rising so fast, you little shit? I'm so glad to see you."
Aodhán laughed, immensely relieved to see Baxter in the flesh. The last time he had seen the man, they were preparing to run for the exit portal.
"I'm glad to see you too." He replied as Baxter crossed the distance between them. "And as for the leaderboards, well, I'm very competitive."
"No kidding." Baxter chuckled and shook his head. "I was so relieved when I saw you guys made it. It couldn't have been easy."
"It wasn't." Aodhán groaned. "But the most important thing is that we all made it."
"And we'll make it to the end." Baxter nodded somberly, then his gaze slid to Destra, his expression curious. "I take it you must be Destra?"
Destra stuttered. "Yes… yes. How did you know?"
Baxter scoffed. "I've been watching you both tear up the leaderboards like madmen. And when I found you together, I just knew she had to be the one."
Aodhán laughed as Baxter stretched a hand to Destra in greeting. "Nice to meet you. I really hope this young man hasn't been giving you too many problems."
Destra stared at Aodhán and shook her head. "I'm not exactly sure how to phrase my response."
"That tells me all I need to know." Baxter laughed and glanced back at Aodhán. "What about the others? We need to find each other and regroup as soon as possible."
Aodhán nodded in agreement, but before he could respond, an alarm blared, sending a familiar lance of panic straight through their skulls. A crimson screen appeared before each of them, and Aodhán's gaze widened as he read the message.
Congratulations! Thirty thousand pins have been gathered in total.
Online shop unlocked. Spend your points to buy essential materials.
The shop will remain open till the end of the level.
"I guess we now know the point of all these pins we've been gathering," Destra muttered as they all opened the online shop to check it out.
The crimson screen flashed to reveal a series of items, hundreds of them, from food to clothes to books to potions and even weapons. In many ways, it was just like the eternal emporium, though on a much smaller scale.
The items were expensive, though, each one costing hundreds of points, with many even costing thousands. Aodhán perused the shop without buying anything, his eyes scanning each item thoroughly for a clue into what the cultists had planned.
Nothing really caught his eye until his gaze landed on an inscription pen crafted purely from Ragnar steel. The silver pen gleamed with an inner light and was supposedly able to channel willpower directly into runic inscriptions, activating the runes immediately as they were completed.
Usually, runes were activated after the rune was completed;this inscription pen could supposedly save that time, filling the runic circuit with willpower before it's even completed. The only downside to that was that any mistake in the runic structure would most likely cause things to blow up in the engineer's face.
It had been a long time since he'd done anything regarding runes, and though Aodhán didn't need the pen currently, he wanted to get it. He glanced at the price and gulped, eyes widening in amazement.
Ragnar steel rune inscription pen—520 points.
"Maybe later," he muttered to himself and continued searching, but nothing else caught his immediate interest, and a few minutes later, he looked away from the online shop.
"Anything catch your interest?" Baxter asked, and Aodhán shrugged.
"Just one, but it's too expensive to buy right now. What about you?"
Baxter grimaced. "A few things, but they're too expensive. I can't buy anything right now without going completely bankrupt."
Destra chuckled. "Me too. There are things here I can't even buy."
"Then our next line of action is simple." Aodhán smiled. "We need to gather more pins."
***
While those on the surface went about cluelessly gathering pins, unaware of anything beyond their little hunt, a far grimmer truth lurked beneath their feet.
Down, down beneath the surface of the shivering plains, buried underneath several layers of essence storms and suffocating static, lay four gigantic creatures, each with lairs vast enough to swallow a quarter of the realm.
These were no ordinary creatures, their essence having been twisted into something far more sinister by the cultists—and their power enhanced far beyond the limit of what any tier 60 creature should have been capable of.
And with every pin torn from the earth, the null prisons that bound them weakened. Chains groaned and split, links snapping from their colossal restraints, and with each snap, slivers of their might seeped back into their cores.
One by one, the monsters stirred, slowly awakening from their age-long slumber. Soon, their full consciousness would return—and with it, their wrath—a burning hatred for the surface dwellers who had trapped them down here.
When that moment came, they would not rise alone but at the head of vast legions that would drown the surface in blood.