Chương 75: Chapter 74: A man's sacrifice

Lvl Up: [Poison Body] lvl 5 CONST +1 VIT +1 META (END) +1 Lvl Up: [Sense of smell] lvl 9 DEXT +1 Every hundred meters or so, side galleries opened onto the main tunnel. At each junction, Priam stuck his nose to the ground, trying to catch the scent of the spider. Inevitably, it was coming from the front. The tunnel went deeper and deeper into the darkness. Finally, after some twenty minutes, he reached the end. Before him lay a dark well. For a spider, the path simply continued vertically.

Priam leaned over the edge and peered down. To the naked eye, almost nothing was visible. The lines of luminescent mushrooms continued, but giant webs quickly obscured the light.

"Shall we burn them?" asked Sphinx. Priam thought for a second before shaking his head.

"No. I'd rather not warn Anatole of our arrival. If he dominates the spiders, he knows an intruder is coming, but he has no way of knowing it's me."

"Except by divination," says Sphinx.

"Yes, except by..." Priam suddenly stopped. It had been several hours since he had received a level-up from his divination resistance. The climax of the Reunion was approaching, so it was more than strange: it was suspicious.

"Sphinx, protect me for a few minutes, please," he asked. Sphinx nodded as she leaped from his shoulder and grew to almost four meters tall. In these narrow tunnels, she could defend one side against hundreds of spiders. Priam sat cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes. Activating [Focus] and [Meditation], he reviewed his memory. He was pretty sure there was a problem. [Eidetic Memory] obeyed, and Priam slowly went back in time, scrutinizing his memories.

The fight against the spiders, the descent into the tunnels, the discussion with Blueberry and Sphinx, the questions to his clones and... The questions! Answer: Ask about Anatole Aely'Samael's plan, position and weaknesses. Where's Anatole Aely'Samael and what's his plan?" he had asked. Priam gritted his teeth. His clones left nothing to chance, yet he hadn't listened to them: he hadn't asked for Anatole's weakness. He hadn't even thought about it, despite his inhuman Memory.

There was only one possible explanation: he had been briefly manipulated. It was undoubtedly one of the only times as Priam's Titles, Trees of Merit and Talent synergized to increase his resistances. Trying to control him was a very complex undertaking, and he doubted any human had the strength and finesse to do it.

"Unless it's not a human," Priam murmured. He closed his eyes and invoked [Mirror of the Soul]. His reflection looked back at him, a mocking smile on its lips. It took you long enough... he seemed to say. Priam winced as he saw the chain that crowned his head. It was attached to a jar. Or rather, an urn. The chain was a metaphor, symbolizing Anatole's power over Priam. Gritting his teeth in rage, the Viscount activated the purifying power of his Talent.

The pond that held his reflection flickered for a moment, and the water receded a bit. The chain linking him to the urn shattered into a thousand pieces. POT -8 Lvl Up: [Manipulation Resistance] lvl 6, 7 WILL +6 Lvl Up: [Divination Resistance] lvl 12, 13 META (AFFI) +6 Priam was torn between anger and relief. Had it not been for Sphinx's intervention and his clones' phrase, he might have walked into a trap. According to [Eidetic Memory], the urn - or Anatole - had been very thrifty.

To prevent Priam from resisting manipulation, they had only manipulated him twice. The first time, so he wouldn't question Anatole's weakness. The second, so that he wouldn't notice the increase in his resistance.

"I would have realized it straight away if I dived into [Mirror of the Soul]! From now on, I'll be checking my reflection at least once an hour," Priam swore to himself. His Talent was mighty, but it couldn't shine in the hands of an idiot. Taking the urn between his fingers, the Viscount admonished himself. What kind of fool would pick up a cursed item carelessly? Gollum had thought he'd outsmarted the ring and paid the price. Fortunately for Priam, he was more powerful than Gollum.

Before anything else, Priam obeyed his clones. What's Anatole's weakness? Answer: Anatole seeks to resurrect his wife and their daughter Rose. Priam sighed. As usual, love was the cause of great sacrifice. A man like him, capable of creating chimeras by merging people, loves his family? The idea seemed ridiculous, but if Pablo Escobar could burn thousands of bank bills to warm his daughter, then anything was possible. The urn in his hands glowed darkly and Priam wondered for a moment if Anatole had always been mad.

If a well-known ring could corrupt its wearer, why not the urn? Observing the corrupted object from every angle, Priam refocused. Now was not the time for guesswork but for action. He began by raising Anatole's danger level in his mind. The man was an outstanding manipulator, but above all, he was an incredible magician. Watching and manipulating someone from kilometers away was impressive. But perhaps he could be caught at his own game? Priam closed his eyes, keeping the urn in his hand.

He projected himself back into [Mirror of the Soul] and invoked the image of his jar. If Anatole had been able to monitor and manipulate Priam through the urn, perhaps it wasn't just a receiver. The Grand Master of the Revenants certainly had to check regularly that Priam remained a good puppet. If that was the case, if the urn could communicate with Anatole, it had to be able to find him... Connecting to his Potential, Priam observed his reflection.

Using [Eidetic Memory] to recall the shape of the chains, he visualized them. The Potential invaded his mental space and he materialized the chains again, crowning his reflection. They were projections, but their power was real. Priam nearly forgot the danger represented by Anatole. Only a surge of willpower prevented him from innocently continuing on his way. POT -15 Priam wished to continue observing the chains without succumbing to their power. Looking at his reflection, he had an idea.

His Potential vibrated, and the mirror image trembled for a moment. A weight lifted from Priam's shoulders. The chains still existed, but they now exclusively chained his reflection. The reflection and Priam were temporarily disconnected. The disadvantage was that if an enemy manipulated him again, his image would not be chained. Thus, [Mirror of the Soul] would no longer warn him when his freedom was hindered. It was a dangerous decision, but Priam had to take risks to deceive Anatole.

However, it did have one considerable advantage. [Mirror of the Soul] was powerful because it did not concern itself with the link between cause and effect. In practical terms, the reflection was chained by the urn, and thus under Anatole's yoke. By restoring the chains, Priam had restored Anatole's skills, so he would see no change. He would manipulate the memory of Priam's reflection - thus increasing his resistance - without affecting the real one. But it gets even better...

Back in the real world, Priam analyzed the cursed urn. By channeling his Potential into [Aether Perception], the jar revealed a kind of thread, so fine it was almost invisible. Lvl Up: [Aether Perception] lvl 11 META (PERC) +3 POT -3 The wire was taut, disappearing into the ground and connecting the urn to another point below Priam. Moving the urn from left to right, he watched the immaterial thread follow the movements. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Bingo." Lvl Up: [Aether Perception] lvl 12 META (PERC) +3 POT -4"Sphinx, no need to be discreet after all. I've found our friend."

"Is Blueberry here?"

"... No, I'm sorry. I mean I found Anatole. He's our enemy, but I call him friend ironically."

"Why?" asked Sphinx. For a moment, Priam was tempted to tell her to forget their conversation, but he remembered that she was very young. Sphinx had no parents to explain such things to her, and if he wanted to be a good friend, he had to help her.

"Well, it was ironic. Simply put, we humans love to laugh, as it makes us happy. There are several mechanisms for making someone laugh. One of them is to say the opposite of what you think. It marks a contrast between reality and what you're saying. When it's done on a subject that's not very funny in the first place, it's often ironic," he explained.

"Get it?"

"Not at all, you're explaining it extremely badly," Sphinx replied in a neutral voice.

"Ah. Uh... Then I'll find an example," Priam said, scratching his head. Suddenly, Sphinx burst out laughing and Priam looked at her, dumbfounded, before understanding.

"Okay. That was pretty good," he laughed.

"It wasn't really irony, but it was funny. I must be an excellent teacher." Sphinx laughed harder and Priam smiled before squinting.

"Wait, that wasn't ironic, though!" Sphinx's laughter echoed through the tunnel. The shaft went down for almost a kilometer. Titanic cobwebs covered it, and Priam had to destroy them regularly with Promesse. Fortunately, no web remained clinging to the tip of his spear for long. The Phoenix's blessing enabled him to summon small flames along the weapon's length, burning away the accumulated threads. For the moment, the flames were too weak to be dangerous, but this could change in the future.

Clutching Promesse in his right hand, Priam tried to communicate with it. Indeed, until it lit itself, he had no idea of its ability to ignite. The System's description didn't mention it. Perhaps there were other techniques hidden at the heart of his spear. If so, Priam wanted to find out. Unfortunately, the weapon only sent him a happy feeling. It was glad to fight and be with him. That's already something, Priam comforted himself.

The end of the shaft soon appeared, and Priam carefully placed his foot on the ground. Four tunnels were visible, but Priam didn't hesitate for a moment. The wire linking Anatole to the urn pointed toward one of the tunnels, and his instincts told him that his enemy was relatively close. Without missing a beat, Priam began to run. Using Micro and [Athletics] to the maximum, he shot like an arrow. Sphinx was on the lookout for possible traps, and he was no longer afraid of being spotted.

Indeed, the rock had replaced the earth beneath his feet. Spiders could no longer place alarms every centimeter. After a few minutes, he saw the end of the tunnel. Slowing down, Priam concentrated on [Stealth]'s directions. Crossing the last few meters in a crouch, he stopped at the edge of a cliff. The young Viscount's eyes widened. Before him was a gigantic hall, larger than a hundred soccer fields put together and almost a kilometer high. Oval in shape, the top of the hall was occupied by a titanic root.

Priam stood at the edge of a tunnel that opened halfway up the cavern. The walls were lined with spider cocoons. At the very bottom of the cavern was a veritable army of arachnids. Some were gigantic and exuded powerful auras. So many Nobles are packed here... Gigantic silk threads enabled the spiders to traverse the room both vertically and horizontally. The room's brightness was very low, and all Priam wanted to do was create a spark. Perhaps there was a Title for killing hundreds of thousands of enemies?

But first, he had to take care of Anatole. Lvl Up: [Stealth] lvl 17 AGI +1 Lying on the tunnel's edge, Priam watched the spiders move about. The urn in his hands indicated that his enemy was below. Priam had no way of getting there without being spotted. Even if he was the most invisible, there were too many threads stretched out on all sides to dodge them. Suddenly, all the spiders came to a halt at once. An order had been given.

The next instant, the largest specimens began to climb the cave walls toward the root. Behind them, their fellow creatures followed. Priam retreated into the tunnel and surrounded himself with mist, camouflaging his presence. Seconds ticked by, as spiders continued to climb en masse. Seconds gave way to minutes, and Priam stood still, attentive. Finally, the stream of spiders dried up. The ground shook as if an earthquake of great magnitude had been unleashed. The tunnel cracked, and fissures appeared.

The epicenter was in the spider cave, and Priam stepped forward again to inspect the damage. The ceiling was now covered with these vile creatures. Under the carpet of spiders, Priam could barely see the root of the Jubokko. Suddenly, a few spiders jostled each other, and he understood. The tree had moved. Or rather, the root had moved. The spiders were biting the Earl en masse, and it seemed powerless to stop them.

As soon as one spider had finished pouring its venom into the root, it retreated and another took its place. The sap circulation system carried the toxin throughout the tree. The Earl was immensely powerful, but being static was his weak point. Still, it wasn't completely defenseless. Every few seconds, spiders were falling. Most fell to the bottom of the cavern and exploded against the rock. But some were stopped by the taut wires. Their legs, retracted under their abdomens, betrayed their death.

"The Jubokko kills with its Domain," explained Sphinx. Priam nodded. He was witnessing a fight between an elephant and ants. The spiders were numerous, but the tree was immense. It would eventually heal itself and resist the venom if it didn't die soon. It was possibly the creatures' only chance. Priam turned to Sphinx.

"Why doesn't it destroy them as easily as you destroyed the little spiders?"

"Its Domain is vast. It chose size over power. Besides, killing adult spiders is a lot harder than killing babies. I don't know if I'd be able to do it," Sphinx admitted.

"Mmh." On average, a spider died every second. About a hundred thousand adult spiders were in the cave. The fight would therefore last around twenty-eight hours. Priam didn't have that much time. Taking advantage of the raging battle, he decided to find Anatole. A glance downwards confirmed that reaching the bottom of the cavern with his mist was impossible: the distance was too great. Priam then observed some of the tunnels below him. It should be possible to reach Anatole in several jumps.

Unfortunately, most of the tunnels produced spiders every ten or twenty seconds. Choosing the wrong tunnel would instantly reveal him. Priam swore. He lacked an opportunity to descend undetected by hundreds of thousands of spiders. With eight eyes each, the Viscount wasn't sure of his chances of reaching the bottom of the cave unseen. Suddenly, an opportunity presented itself. A massive spider fell from the ceiling, and no wires were in its path to stop it. Priam quickly placed Sphinx on the ground.

"Wait here."

"Okay!" With a wink to his friend, Priam straddled the mist. He reappeared a meter below the spider and clung to its back. The monster was quite hairy, and Priam pressed himself against it, almost disappearing into its fur. Turning his head, he ignored his disgust and watched the ground rapidly approaching. Twenty meters from the end of the fall, he teleported behind a cocoon. A second later, a disgusting noise informed him of the fate of his means of transport.

Priam shivered at the thought of the monster he'd just hugged and looked into the urn to find Anatole. Anatole was right underneath him. Priam looked up, admiring the titanic oval one last time. Five hundred meters above, his eagle eyes caught sight of Sphinx, shaking one of her paws in greeting. Priam smiled as he returned her greeting. She really is adorable! The bottom of the cave was covered in cocoons. Priam couldn't take a step without crushing spider eggs and decided simply to stand still.

After all, his mist could tell him a lot about the geometry of the place. Priam found the passageway in a matter of seconds and teleported there. A sort of perfectly circular shaft lay at the center of the cavern. The walls were smooth and cocoon-free. The System had artificially created the area, and it looked like a Boss's antechamber... Priam chose to float down. After a hundred meters or so, he came to a second cavity. Much smaller, this one was essentially occupied by a ten-meter long spider.

Hundreds of workers harvested the eggs it laid every second before transporting them to auxiliary tunnels. The layer - or Queen? - was sitting in a whitish liquid that gave off a pestilential odor. In front of it, workers were continuously dropping off food. Yet none of this caught Priam's gaze. His horrified eyes focused on the layer's forehead. Just above its eyes, a human torso appeared. Anatole, half-fused into the spider, watched Priam back.

"You're faster than I expected," he sighed. Seeing Priam's gaze, he added.

"Why are you looking at me like that? You know I've fused men to build chimera. I'm willing to make sacrifices too."

Status: (Average value for a Homo sapiens male before integration: PHY 10 / MEN 10 / META 0) PHYSICAL: Strength 155 Constitution 278 (+1) Agility 194 (+1) Vitality 291 (+1) Perception 299 MENTAL: Vivacity 176 Dexterity 202 (+1) Memory 50 Willpower 295 (+7) Charisma 150 META: Meta-affinity 147 (+6) Meta-focus 98 Meta-endurance 93 (+1) Meta-perception 38 (+6) Meta-chance 114 Potential: 1297 (-14) Tier 0 [He Who Eludes Death] charge OFF. Reloaded in 2 hours 58 min 27s [Tribulation]: Tribulations are coming.

Time: 7 hours 38 minutes 21 seconds.