[Faceless Hunter 2] Chapter 41: Grand Ritual (Patreon)

"I refuse to sit around and do nothing. We need to go and help Ghostwire!" Hina insisted. She was perched on a slanted amber crystal, surveying their surroundings with a scowl.

Alex sighed as he sat on the floor. "Hina, he told us not to. We... would only get in the way."

"As shameful as it is to admit, Alex is right," Daisuke added. "We are too underleveled to do much against the abyssal-tainted monsters, let alone the Guardian that's likely S-rank."

"If anyone can solo the Guardian, it's Ghostwire," Alex said, looking up at the ceiling. "All we can do is wait for the system to inform us of his victory."

Hina scoffed. "You saw how slow-moving that boss monster was. There's no way it would pose us much of a threat if we stay well away from it."

Alex chuckled. "And how exactly do you intend to help him as a Nightstalker from so far away that the boss can't harm you? Maybe throw your dagger at it? Leave a little scratch, and that's it?"

Hina ignored him, but he could feel her frustration radiating through the air.

Alex didn't reprimand her too harshly, as he understood her feelings. Ghostwire had done so much for them that it was natural to want to go and help. Also, none of them had reached their level by shying away from battle. The life of a Hunter was filled with danger, but that is what they lived for. Sitting around like ducks made all of them twitch with irritation; even Alex barely managed to restrain himself from following.

Luckily, Ghostwire didn't give us a trail to follow. We have no choice but to sit here and wait for good news.

"Hina, there's nothing we can do. I understand your convictions," Alex stared into the back of his shield. "But we are simply not enough—"

A flash of light made everyone flinch. "What was that?"

Alex scrambled to his feet, his hand tightened around his tower shield's buckle. He glanced around but couldn't see anything.

"Hina, what was that?" Alex asked again.

"Lightning in the distance, twelve o'clock," Hina replied.

There was another blinding flash right as the roar of thunder from the first echoed loudly through the cavernous 11th floor.

"Could that have been Ghostwire?" Daisuke asked aloud as the second wave of thunder enveloped them.

"Possibly," Hina said as she squinted into the distance. "It could also have been Yuki. I saw him use a smite skill once with a similar effect."

"Or the Stormbringers strike team," Kenji offered. "If the Ether Technocrats knew beforehand, I wouldn't be surprised if the Stormbringers also caught wind of the Abyssal Rift."

Alex shook his head. "The strike team's captain, Cassius von Stormbringer, is supposed to be on business in Korea. So unless the strike team is down here without their leader, I doubt that's possible."

"Wait," Hina said, silencing them. Her eyes blazed with the gold of her appraisal skill, and whatever she saw horrified her. She dropped down from the crystal with a thud and canceled out her skill. "Kenji is right," she said, pointing into the distance. "Whoever unleashed that lightning is going to attract every Hunter on this floor, them included."

"Who is them?"

"The Stormbringer's strike team."

"Impossible," Alex said, shaking his head. "Their leader is in Korea."

Hina pointed at her eye. "My appraisal skill confirmed it. The towering man at the center of the group I saw moving toward the lightning in the distance was Cassius von Stormbringer. He's a Tempest Vanguard and level 84, right?"

"Level 84... he must have done some level grinding in the Korean area of the World Dungeon, as he was level 76 the last I heard." Alex's jaw clenched.

This is bad. Ghostwire can handle the boss alone, but if an A-rank strike team gets involved and tries to go after his bounty, it will get messy.

Hina seemed to share his thoughts as she began to panic. "They are going to kill Ghostwire for the bounty. We need to save him. Now!"

Daisuke shook his head. "I'd say they are more likely to watch as Ghostwire whittles down the boss, and then move in to steal the kill. If the Stormbringers strike team is the first to take down an Abyssal Guardian, it will greatly improve their public image and stock value. As Cassius von Stormbringer is part of the family, he is no doubt to profit from this—"

"Then he will definitely kill Ghostwire! You think they would let him walk around freely after they stole his boss kill?!" Hina yelled.

Daisuke snorted. "Cassius von Stormbringer is an A-grade Hunter, but he's nothing compared to Ghostwire."

"Ghostwire will be exhausted after trying to solo an S-rank boss, though," Alex sighed. "There's a chance he may fall."

"Thank you, Alex," Hina said with genuine relief. "So then—"

"I didn't say we should do something about it," Alex quickly countered, making Hina scowl. "This is the Stormbringer's strike team you're talking about stopping. There are also abyssal-tainted monsters between them and us. I think the best course of action is staying put like Ghostwire asked us to and letting him figure it out."

"While I agree we can't contend with the strike team, nor the boss, our presence should prevent the strike team from acting rashly," Daisuke reasoned. "Unlike the Ether Technocrats, they aren't total savages—"

Hina bolted.

"Wait!" Alex tried to grab her, but the Nightstalker was too fast.

"I'm going to warn him at least," Hina shouted as she wove between crystals. "If we leave now, there's a chance we beat the Stormbringer strike team to the boss, as they have to go around the corrupted area."

Alex hooked his tower shield onto his back and barreled after her. Kenji and Daisuke dropped in behind him.

"You idiot," Alex yelled, but couldn't help but smile.

It was the illogical thing to do. But he'd rather go down fighting than sit around and wait for a miracle, and it seemed everyone else agreed.

Hold out a little longer, Ghostwire. We're coming whether you want us to or not.

***

Xen's abyssal chitin-covered Vampiric Bat body slammed into the Abyssal Rift as though it were solid stone.

He felt the impact instantly as he skidded across its surface with a shriek of grinding chitin, his skull compacting and every bone in his body snapping from the crash. The rift flung his mangled body off its far edge, and his flight ended, impaled on an amber crystal that split down its length from the force.

[Vampiric Bat form has sustained critical damage]

[Biomass expenditure required for repair]

Xen groaned. No shit. Repair me.

Putrid steam billowed from his wounds as biomass poured from his reserves, filling the Vampiric Bat with life. His bones snapped back into place and regrew. He clawed at the amber crystal and slowly hauled himself off it so his organs and ribs could regrow.

If I had still been nothing but a slime hidden inside a skull, I might have died from that impact.

The ground trembled as the Guardian moved his way.

Xen scrambled to his still-healing legs and tried to flap his broken wings. They made a horrible creaking sound, and he felt a shot of pain. Ow, why is the healing taking so long? He began running on his legs like a bird with clipped wings and discovered the Vampiric Bat's high agility stat didn't translate well to running.

A shadow loomed over him as the Guardian raised its titanic leg.

Left with no choice, Xen dove to the side and used his remaining charges of Ghoststep in quick succession to avoid being stomped to death. The resulting shockwave of the Guardian's foot barely missing him sent him spiraling.

"Ugh," Xen spat black blood and realized he was tainted by abyssal mana.

Maybe that's why I'm healing slowly?

The Guardian turned its featureless face toward him and began moving again.

Xen spread his wings and waited for the last moment for them to heal before attempting flight again. It was messy, but with a few desperate flaps, he finally took flight and was safe from the lumbering Guardian, who lost sight of him now that he was airborne.

Alright, note to self. The Abyssal Rift is basically a wall of solidified abyssal mana and can't be breached. The question is, did my strike do anything to it?

He glided between the Guardian's legs toward the rift.

Surprisingly, the answer was yes. Where he had impacted it, he could see clear damage like hairline cracks through glass. It could be damaged, unlike the Guardian.

His target was now clear.

The problem was, he needed to figure out a way to remove the Guardian, if only temporarily. It was feeding far too much abyssal mana into the ground, which was in turn feeding into the Abyssal Rift and healing it.

He looked at the hulking monster and sighed.

But how can I do that? Maybe there's a skill I'm overlooking that could help?

Opening his status screen, he glanced past all the debuff spells that clearly had no effect on the Guardian. Not that one, already tried that one, mhm, are all of these useless... wait. What about this S-rank skill I've never used before? What did it do again?

He focused on it, and the system provided the answer.

[Grand Ritual: Reclaim the Fallen (S)] 

Upon skill activation, your mana pool is sacrificed, and in return, all magic-related stats are switched to physical ones. A ritual is then started that absorbs all nearby summons to craft armor around you. The durability and style of the armor depend on the type and number of summons absorbed.

He never went down the necromancy path and had never unlocked a skill to create summons, so most of this S-rank skill's power was wasted, but the first line interested him.

My mana pool is sacrificed, but I swap my magical stats to physical ones? Does that mean my magic stat would get converted into strength?

If that was true, his high magic stat might not be as useless against the Guardian as he thought.

My current slime plus Vampiric Bat stats are (+257 Strength, +257 Vitality, +569 Agility, +331 Resistance, +689 Magic). Not bad, but which of my forms would have the highest strength if my magic stat was converted?

He continued flying circles, looking at every form one by one and doing the math. It was a total headache, and only after a while had he figured out the answer.

Both his Human and Underworld Orc form would tie with 1,414 strength should his magic stat be converted and added to his existing strength, putting his total an insignificant 3 below the Guardian's 1,417 strength. The difference between them was that the Underworld Orc had poor agility and no unique passives, unlike the Human, which had [Duelist's Cadence], [Solo Hunter], and [Sword Proficiency].

The boost in strength will be an utter game changer. But at the loss of my mana pool. There are no corpses nearby to regen my lost mana quickly, so I will be like a fish out of water.

But did he have a choice? At this rate, he was going to run out of mana long before leaving a dent in either the Guardian or the Abyssal Rift.

Here goes nothing.

He flew up as high as he could above the Guardian until his claws gripped the ceiling.

Shapeshift me into a human.

That same putrid steam billowed out of his body as he used a large amount of biomass to swap from a Vampiric Bat to a Human. First the wings faded away, then the fur and fangs. Finally, losing his clawed grip, he began falling toward the Guardian.  

[Shapeshift complete]

Perfect Guise activated automatically, wrapping his falling body in the flawless suit and tie of Ghostwire. Rotating in the air, he landed perfectly on the back of the Guardian without a sound by using Quiet Steps.

He took in a calming breath as he felt the Guardian shift beneath him. It was aware of his presence on its back, so he didn't have long.

If I'm going to sacrifice my mana pool, you bet I'm spending every last drop.

Xen pulled out the sad remains of his mithril short sword and held it up. "Indomitable Defense." Metal mana poured into the blade, making it shine with newfound strength. "Vampiric Blade." A bloody aura surrounded it, meaning he would heal from the damage he dealt.

Not that he expected to do much with a broken blade.

"That's it for weapons, now me." He put a hand on his chest. "Windveil Agility," he wrapped himself in a cloak of wind, boosting his agility. "Indomitable Defense, Abyssal Carapace." He felt the layered defensive spells eat into his agility and leave him sluggish even with Windveil Agility active.

But Xen wasn't done yet.

"Buff of the Berserker," he cast on himself and poured as much mana as he had left into the skill. His strength stat spiked and pain dulled. His hand fell to his side. Now that all his buff spells were active, it was time for the main course.

"Grand Ritual: Reclaim the Fallen."

[Grand Ritual: Reclaim the Fallen has been invoked]

His remaining mana didn't drain—it was torn out by the root, and something vast and patient reached into the hollow it left behind. It tried to find his fallen soldiers to raise as armor, but found nothing. It seemed disappointed as it reeled back into the great beyond and rewarded his sacrifice with a swell of strength that was impossible to describe.

[Mana pool sacrificed]

[All magic-derived stats have been converted to physical stats]

[Magic: 923 → 0]

[Strength: 491 -> 1,414]

Buff of the Berserker: +282 Strength.

Indomitable Defense: +65 Vitality.

Windveil Agility: +94 Agility.

Abyssal Carapace: - 120 Agility / + 250 Resistance.

[Solo Hunter] +10% to all stats.

Human (Spellblade): (+1,866 Strength, +400 Vitality, +426 Agility, +811 Resistance, +0 Magic)

Xen let out a slow breath. He felt both hollow inside and bloated from power at the same time. Mana had been a constant presence in his life, and now it had been torn from him. His mana pool wasn't just depleted—it was barren. Not a drop to be pulled on.

Even his Geomantic Perception went dark, leaving him feeling blind.

It was scary, but Xen was grinning all the same. The power he had traded it for was indescribable.

"Let's see what this much strength does when concentrated into a tiny area rather than a stomp."

Layered with every buff in his arsenal, Xen dropped to one knee, raised his clenched fist over his head, carrying 1,866 strength, and with an uncharacteristic roar, drove it down into the Guardian's back with everything he could muster.

Reality detonated.