Chương 24: Spoils of Torment

Alcyr tried a few more methods to kill the creature over the next few loops. Being able to finally hit it was an achievement on its own, even if he couldn't do any damage. While it was slow, he finally had an avenue to level up his martial skills with. Cleave, Dagger Discipline, Mortal Defiance, and Red March Swordplay all gained a level sometime within the next five loops, making Alcyr more optimistic about his long-term success despite his recent deaths.

It's interesting that Mortal Defiance only starts levelling up now and not before, Alcyr mused. I suppose there must be a semblance of a 'fight' for experience to be gained for that skill. Instant death or mere pain isn't enough. To call his battle with the creature a 'fight' would be overstating things, since all he could do was land one ineffective attack, but if the System counted that as viable experience, then he wasn't complaining.

What he would complain about was the fact that the creature seemed dead-set on repeatedly torturing and eating him each time he tried fighting it at the end of a loop. The freakish monster was capable of excruciating sadism. Neither the Battle of the Red Rime nor the ambush by Warlord Bjorn's warband had ever enacted this much torment on his body before he died.

Being eaten alive had to rank among the top ten worst pains he had ever experienced, and the creature was very creative in how it would extract its pound of meat from Alcyr's body. Sometimes it would use its sliverite axe to chop off his limbs. Other times, it would instead tear them off with its monstrous strength alone, as if it relished his suffering. Once, it simply fell upon his prone body like a feral animal, teeth ripping into his torso before it pried open his chest as if he were a can of meat.

It would then drag out his heart from its cavity before feasting on it as it pinned him helplessly to the ground. All in all, while the pain was unfortunate, its sadistic actions were causing his endurance skills levels to skyrocket, even going so far as to gain him another skill.

[Pain Tolerance has improved to 46] [Tempered Flesh has improved to 9] [Mortal Defiance has improved to 35] [Slash Resistance has improved to 11] [New Skill: Bleed Resistance 1 (Uncommon)] On the morning of the fourty-ninth loop, his self-imposed torture finally bore yet another new fruit, and what a delicious fruit it was. [New Skill: Pierce Resistance 1 (Rare)] He now had all three pure damage resistance skills in his System.

The pleasure of that realisation drowned out the all-encompassing phantom agony that assaulted him the next morning, even as his heart exploded in his chest from stress. How many warriors in the Morwyn Kingdom could even claim to have one of the three pure damage resistance skills, let alone all three?

Even gaining a single one of them normally required years of excruciating training to obtain, with expensive skill tutors performing careful feats of agony upon the trainee day and night to constantly bring them to the brink of death without killing them. It was a long, arduous, and expensive journey that only the most ardent and richest of warriors would undertake, just to get one of the three skills. And now Alcyr had all three. He almost felt guilty about his fortune. Almost.

Because from that point on, the subsequent loops became even more horrifying. Alcyr's new suite of endurance skills, alongside the levels he was constantly earning in them, meant that each of his deaths was taking longer and longer, the damned monster now having even more opportunities to torture and consume him. By the fifty-eight loop, it took three full minutes for Alcyr to die, even with the monster's most enthusiastic efforts to dig out his heart and eat it.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm better off without some of these endurance skills. Alcyr grimaced as he heard the creature chewing labouriously and vigorously on his toughened flesh. What does Tempered Flesh even do? Is it a skill that makes my flesh less edible? Or does it have other more useful defensive capabilities that I'm not aware of? Either way, it was making his deaths a lot longer and a lot less tolerable.

On the bright side, the dragged-out time-to-die made each loop more efficient in levelling him. I'm finding silver linings even as I'm being eaten alive, Alcyr mused as his heart was ripped out. And people say I'm not optimistic…

In the sixty-sixth loop, Alcyr decided to take a break from his self-imposed suffering and attempt a different approach. He was going to use one of his other Artes to stun the creature instead of Perfect Parry. Deathbound Dirge had been sitting quietly in his arsenal over the last sixty or so loops for a good reason. Alcyr's throat was still incredibly fragile, and Lenore's warning that he would permanently damage himself if he used it had stuck with him.

But by this point, he recognised that his odds of survival were effectively null no matter what he did, so he figured it was worth trying everything, long-term consequences be damned. That loop, when the creature walked through the door, Alcyr allowed power to surge into his throat, and he howled. Right into the creature's ear. [Deathbound Dirge has improved to 2] Every glass within the infirmary instantly shattered.

The window, the alchemical flasks, and even the exotic brass furnace Lenore always used exploded into shards instantly. The creature didn't even flinch. Meanwhile, Alcyr instantly collapsed to the floor, already half-dead. He hacked up a piece of his lung through his mouth. Blood would not stop pouring from his lips and his neck. Wait. From my neck? He brought a shaky hand up to his throat. There was a fleshy hole where his larynx should be. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent.

Report sightings. Incredibly, the Arte had just shouted open his windpipe. What kind of Arte hurts its own user like this? Alcyr thought, baffled. At this level of self-inflicted damage, even if his body were at peak condition, using Deathbound Dirge twice in a row would easily tear a gaping hole in his neck and kill him. There was yelling in the distance. His Arte had been loud enough that it had alerted the nearby soldiers in the base. With great effort, Alcyr rolled his body over to look up at the creature.

It was looking at him, but it wasn't moving. Wait. Is it stunned? To his shock, he saw something red drip from the side of its head. Its ear was bleeding. Alcyr tried to say something, but all that came out was a wet wheeze, whistling from his open throat. The shouting from outside was getting closer now. The creature shook its head as if to clear itself of its daze — a surprisingly human gesture. Then, it lifted its foot and pressed it down on the side of Alcyr's head.

It could have killed him quickly, but perhaps it was feeling vindictive. Slowly, inexorably, it used its foot to crush his skull, the process taking agonising seconds to kill him. [Pain Tolerance has improved to 50] It was an unpleasant death, to say the least. But it was faster than usual, and the fact that the creature didn't indulge in its usual sadism was telling. It was angry, Alcyr realised, recalling the drop of blood that leaked from its ear. That time, I had actually managed to hurt it.

Not only that, his shout had drawn the attention of the nearby Regulars. The creature was smart enough to realise the threat and had not wasted its time in feasting anymore. I also managed to gain a level in Deathbound Dirge. If I get it to a high enough level, would I be able to paralyse the creature entirely? With that in mind, there was only one sensible choice of action going forward. Let's do that again. Again, and again, and again.

Alcyr was relentless, dying over and over for the smallest skill gains and the tiniest drop of information on his opponent. He endured agony beyond description, half of which he inflicted upon himself as he pushed his body repeatedly beyond its limits. So much pain and suffering should have broken any normal mind long ago. But Alcyr was not normal. He had not been normal for a very long time. It's just pain. Nothing more. So long as he got stronger from the experience, what did pain matter?

The passing of loops became a blur in his mind. Through the haze of agony and the pleasurable flood of level-ups, one notification stood out. [Pain Tolerance has improved to 51] [New Title: High Elite] I might be the first person in existence who became a High Elite through the Pain Tolerance skill. For some reason, that thought made him laugh. Though his mirth sounded nothing short of terrifying, he did not care. Only one thought persisted in his mind, indomitable and unyielding. Let's keep going.

The seventieth and eightieth loops came and went. Through countless trials and experimentation, he was slowly uncovering more of the creature's secrets. First, its hazy illusion could be disrupted by contact. While the creature's hide might remain undamaged, any attack that connected with its body would locally dispel the shadowy mist cloaking its features. Through repeated attacks on different parts of its body, Alcyr had successfully drafted a mental framework of its overall appearance.

It was definitely humanoid. Its fingers ended in claws, and its body appeared to have grown horrific mutations, but the overall height and shape of the assassin resembled a tall and athletic human. Second, the creature was capable of shapeshifting. Though rare, there were instances where he caught the assassin's flesh churning beneath its skin after he managed to dispel the illusion. Furthermore, when he stood upon death's door, the creature usually let down its guard and transformed into a more human form.

Claws reverted to slender fingers, and its vicious fanged maw morphed into soft human lips. So either I'm dealing with a human who can change into a beast, or a beast who can change into a human. Neither case was outright impossible. There were a myriad of Artes, spells, or Mysteries that could grant a person shapeshifting abilities. As for the latter case, the corrupted energies in the north birth many monsters with esoteric powers and mutations.

Alcyr wouldn't be surprised to learn that there was a creature capable of mimicking the human form. Theoretically, the barbarian shamans could have bound such a fiend and then used it to their own ends. Speculations, speculations… Even after so long, all I have is guesswork. On the few occasions it spoke to him, the creature's voice was too distorted for Alcyr to discern anything. Like its appearance, it took great caution in hiding its identity.

Even when Alcyr was certain to die, it still chose not to reveal its true form. That in itself could be a clue to its identity. But in truth, its identity was not all that vital to Alcyr's success. The crux of the problem was that he still hadn't found a way to kill it. Eyes, throat, groin, joints, heart… His scalpel had sought every weak point he could think of. Each time, the blade simply broke. There was only one true weakness discovered thus far.

Deathbound Dirge had been the only thing that drew even a sliver of blood from the monster. Repeated tests through the time loop allowed Alcyr to quickly form a conclusive realisation. Its hearing is sensitive, far more so than a normal human's. It could be that the creature's shapeshifting abilities carried a bestial aspect that improved its senses. If that were the case, then exploiting its enhanced hearing might not be the only way to harm it. Sight, sound, smell… All were possible avenues of attack.

Aside from that vital weakness learned, there were some unexpected boons he gained along the way. On the eighty-fifth loop, right after he yet again broke a small portion of the creature's illusion with his scalpel, a notification came up. [New Skill: Illusion Discernment 1 (Rare)] A Rare-tier skill was always welcomed, though in this case, Alcyr was a little disappointed it wasn't a more offensive-orientated ability.

As far as he could tell, the skill made it easier for him to disrupt the creature's illusion with his strikes while also lessening the disorientating mental effect looking at its shadowy form caused him. It was a niche but useful skill overall. However, it paled in comparison to the other new ability he received on the awakening of the eighty-eighth loop.

[New Skill: Restorative Slumber 1 (Uncommon)] Alcyr had been so shocked by the message that he had completely ignored Lenore's concerned questions when he woke up. A regeneration ability! The constant hours he spent severely wounded and under sedation in each loop must have given rise to a skill solely focused on helping his recovery while he slept. Alcyr hadn't thought his daily plight of wasted hours would have earned him such a valuable boon, but he was glad he was wrong.

Regeneration skills were among the rarest and most coveted subset of abilities, being so difficult to obtain that they eluded even the clutches of bluebloods or for skill tutors to teach. In a world where conflict was rife — and effective healing expensive — any skill that could restore the body or mind passively was immensely invaluable. At first glance, the skill seemed underwhelming, since it only worked while he slept. But free healing was still free healing.

The Restorative Slumber skill was likely not as powerful as the highly coveted 'Regeneration' skill, but it was still a damn sight better than nothing. The benefits began to show themselves in the subsequent loops. Since it was still low-levelled, its rate of growth was relatively fast. By the ninety-fourth loop, Alcyr usually awoke with his fatigue, physical wounds, and mental pains noticeably soothed.

If the loops only return me to the morning of each death, then I likely only have a handful of hours for the skill to repair my body in each iteration. That limits the amount of recovery I can receive before I wake up. A pity that the time loop had not sent him a few more days back instead of just a few hours. It would have given the regenerative skill more time to work its magic, maybe even enough for a complete recovery.

For the moment, the effects were too marginal to restore his body to full fighting capabilities by the time he woke up in the afternoon, but as the skill levelled, its benefits would be more acutely felt. The situation was stacked heavily enough against him. Every little bit helped. With each morning, he could feel a bit of his previous strength returning. With each death, he could feel that promised moment inching closer. It would come soon. The loop where he would finally kill that damnable assassin.