SB: Chapter 247 – Dominate Soul (Patreon)

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We were ascending now to the beastkin continent as the Compass Of Desire pointed to a passage on its surface. We were making remarkably good time, without having to stop at intervening locations. Weird that some parts of the dungeon would be easier to get to than others when it shuffled everything about.

After clearing out another chamber with a Champion, that Ozy had killed, I felt my skill Soul Link maximize. I had prepared for this moment at the College. I had two paths before me. I could go with Soul Bond, which was a Tier 5 skill and stronger version of Soul Link, or I could go with Dominate Soul, a Tier 5 curse skill.

In the end a monster was a monster. Ozy was not my equal. Focusing on the maximized Soul Link, I twisted the connection. Ozy’s head snapped in my direction. I could tell he felt betrayal and sadness, but he was a tool, not a thinking being. I would never allow a monster to have any leverage over me.

The skill Spark was what pushed me over the edge regarding this decision. If Ozy became a thinking monster, then I would be at risk. That link between our souls was a huge vulnerability I was no longer willing to tolerate.

Boris was still hiding out in the tunnel while the battle was ongoing, so I didn’t need to worry about him thankfully. Ozy flew up into the air as I rushed forward. I kicked off the ground, leaping to the side as a Alchemic Bounded Field snapped into place where I had been, locking space.

Ozy swooped down while I made sure to avert my gaze. “Lightning Beam.”

Ozy spun in a spiral, letting the attack pass between his coils. He unleashed Empowered Toxic Breath. That was something I could easily handle with my Poison Immunity.

“Slice!”

I hadn’t used that skill around Ozy or in the dungeon so far for this very reason. I had been waiting for this moment. Ozy countered with Ward. I had trained him well. The Ward held, but was draining his Mana.

He spun up into the air. I took a deep breath. He was going all out, which meant he was going to use a strong skill that had a chance of killing both of us, Greater Quake. I couldn’t give him the chance.

“Lightning Beam. Fireball. Slice.”

I unleashed multiple attacks at once as he continued to use dodge and Ward to defend himself. After three rounds of those skills, Ward broke and he was hit with Lightning Beam. His body locked up and began to fall.

I leapt into the air and swung. Ozy recovered, and I only managed to nick him with the tip of my sword. Fire exploded on that area. His Harden Scales stopped my sword from cutting him and countered the worst of the fire damage.

Another Alchemic Bounded Field snapped around me as I was falling. I felt a spatial effect slow my movements as Ozy swooped around to target my neck. He was still a monster and I was a thinking being. I knew how he would attack, which was why I had created this opening.

“Ward. Lightning Beam.”

Most spell skills were used from the hands since gesturing helped increase their power quite a bit. But if one was skilled enough, they could use them from any direction off of the body with enough Mana control. The aim was terrible and it was normally never done.

But since I knew how Ozy would target my neck, it was the perfect chance to stop his momentum, and then lock him into place at close range.

We fell together as I reached out and grabbed him, my hand barely reaching around his body just below his head.

“Soul Shield. Soul Strike.”

Ozy screamed in pain as he thrashed about in my grip. My feet touched the floor. The rebound from that soul attack skill was countered by my soul defense skill. Something Ozy didn’t have.

While his Strength was double mine, I had hurt him enough and had leverage, that he couldn’t break free. Soul Shield was still active and I attacked again.

“Soul Strike.”

Ozy let out a pained scream and hissed. I could feel his pain and rejected it. He was a pet, a tool, nothing more than an instrument to be used for my will. He wasn’t a thinking person. And I would never let him threaten me and would remove the chance of that happening entirely.

I could feel the Soul Link between us shifting. “Dominate Soul,” I said and focused on how the skill should work, as indicated by the books I had studied. Soul Link faded away. The understanding between us slowly disappeared as a far more brutal connection took its place.

Ozy was an extension of my will now. While he could think and act, he could never harm me. If I died, he would be severely injured. If he died, the injury would be minor in comparison. The feelings I got from him faded away.

“I am sorry Ozymandius. But I couldn’t take the chance,” I whispered as the Tier 5 skill Dominate Soul settled. Ozy no longer had a skill, but a cursed skill now. The improvement would only be from my end. I felt a bit of sadness, but I knew in my heart it was ultimately the right decision.

If I had waited and Ozy grew too strong, he could have done this to me. While he lacked the knowledge, it was still a possibility. I didn’t plan on limiting his growth, but I was taking a longer, slower path.

I slowly lowered Ozy to the ground, as he remained stunned. “A pet is a tool, not a friend,” I muttered. He truly was my first and most loyal friend. But the scorpion was still a scorpion. Its nature didn’t change no matter how nicely I might imagine things to be. There was only the unrelenting truth that Ozy was ultimately a monster.

Leaving him there I went to let Boris know the chamber had been cleared. Then I would start harvesting Mana cores from the slain monsters.

While I harvested them, Ozy didn’t even move or glance at me or move to consume any of the Mana cores. If I was in his position I would have been in emotional shock at the betrayal as well. But it was done, and nothing could change the outcome now.

Once I was done collecting the cores, I focused on my desire to leave. Ozy jerked as if shocked and I got compliance from him. That was all I could sense, compliance.

There was no sharing of feelings or emotions between us. Only my orders and his obedience. Some day monsters and people might come to an understanding, but that day wasn’t today.

His reactions were slightly sluggish in the next chamber and I mentally berated him and sent a bit of pain in his direction. He quickly tightened up his movement and skills after that. If I was going to have a tool, it was going to be the best tool. I wasn’t going to let him slack off in the slightest.

I had invested far too much into him, both time and money, to let him off now. I knew my mother would be proud of my decision. While she might not like monsters, Ozy was insanely useful.

I also took the time to slowly layer in instructions regarding his healing skills. I would not risk him trying to kill me with dark healing. Mentally I layered in commands, that were like chains around his soul. The chains were loose at the moment, but as Dominate Soul leveled up, those chains would tighten.

The biggest downside was that I wouldn’t know if he was in trouble. Ozy could no longer mentally communicate with me. But it was an acceptable tradeoff. He wasn’t a front line combatant, but a support caster.

It was only on the really troublesome monsters that I would need him to take more direct action, such as flanking them and physically attacking them. For the most part he just needed to keep my stamina topped off so I could clear monsters as quickly as possible.

In time he would react as perfectly as I expected him to. Any thoughts of rebellion or independence would be ground down under the skill. That was a big reason why slave skills and soul mages generated such hatred. Even if a person was eventually freed, their entire personality had been ground down, leaving a shell of themselves that struggled to act independently.

Boris was as silent as ever as I kept clearing chambers to reach the next passage up to the next layer. My Depth Sense and Compass Of Desire were both pointing in the same direction, which was comforting.

While I wanted to plan ahead, my mind kept going back to what I had just done. But that was how life was, one needed to keep moving forward and becoming stronger. I also had a Tier 5 skill. I could feel the weight of it on my soul.

If a Tier 1 skill was like a feather, Tier 2 skill was a sprinkle of rain, Tier 3 skill was a heavy pillow, Tier 4 skill a head sized stone, a Tier 5 skill felt like a heavy suit of armor and pack weighing down on my soul.

I now knew why Healer Melon had warned me that I would need to increase my class tier if I got Tier 5 skills. The pressure was immense. I could tell that my Soul Immunity skill would break more easily due to the constant pressure. But that was fine, since I needed to keep leveling up that skill any way possible, since it wasn’t possible to do safely in combat.

It got a bit of a workout with my fight with Ozy, but that was like a drop in the ocean for a Tier 4 skill. Getting Soul Absorption would be a marathon, not a sprint. I had no good method for healing soul damage. While the soul had some self repair capability, once it had been damaged too much, that was it.

I knew my limits after all these years of enduring, but it was a small source of worry. If I met an Abnormal with soul skills, I would have to be exceedingly careful. The dungeon would do something like that one day, of that I had no doubt. After my recent experiences, I had no doubt the dungeon was deliberately targeting me. I had no proof, but it wasn’t hard to imagine such a thing.

Many adventurers ascribed a certain level of intelligence to the dungeon and my mother personally had held a lifelong vendetta against it. While I wasn’t that upset with the dungeon, I knew it was capable of changing things rapidly and putting me in a difficult position.

But I was prepared, far more prepared than almost anyone else, even legends. While I might not be able to fight at the deeper layers just yet, I had been able to handle everything the dungeon had thrown at me so far. Even outside the dungeon, I felt I had handled myself reasonably well in the situations I had found myself, by remaining true to myself and staying steady mentally.

Getting too emotionally invested, led to issues. While my mother had channeled such emotions into becoming stronger, for most people they led to mistakes and weakness. That was why I had been able to take a step back and plan for my confrontation with Ozy now, instead of much later on. Planning and preparation were key. Like getting that stupidly heavy and expensive sword case for the Seraphim Quest along with some other pieces of equipment.

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