Shadow Slave: The Ascencion

The pain I was feeling was too much, almost unbearable, to the point of completely consuming my attention. Every pang felt like something was being torn from inside me, unable to focus on anything else.

At least, that's what I thought until I saw her, trapped inside a cocoon of spiderwebs. She was wrapped from head to toe in that white, sharp, and deadly web.

Everything in my world stopped for a moment—a moment that felt like an eternity of agonizing pain, so intense it even surpassed the pain in my chest. Watching her face fade, the light dim from her eyes, and her expression of helplessness and regret was like a knife piercing my soul. It was worse than any physical wound.

Seeing her, who had become a pillar in my life, the most important person since I regained consciousness in this hell, being captured by those disgusting and repulsive spiders, made the pain in my soul feel like a slight abrasion compared to what was really happening inside me.

And the worst part was being unable to do anything. I keep asking myself: Could I have ignored the pain and gone to help her? Could I have used Odyssey and thrown it to kill one of those spiders?

I don't know. But that scene will never leave me. I relive it every night, every time I close my eyes in these dark and desolate caves. It's a memory that haunts me like a shadow and sometimes keeps me from sleeping.

I want to reach the surface and see her again. I should have the chance to do so… if I manage to escape this place.

Even though it's a ridiculous idea, I hold a small flame of hope inside me. I remember that time, the first time I saw the steel spiders, when they took that boy wrapped in a cocoon somewhere in the distance. Maybe… just maybe, those damned spiders have a nest, a place where they take their live prey. I'd love to get out of here, find that nest, and kill them all. But in my situation, that's still an illusion.

I still don't know where I am. I don't know if I'm still under the labyrinth or if I've gotten lost in some other level. This place is eternally dark; time has vanished for me—I don't know if days have passed or just hours. My sense of time has disintegrated in this desolate darkness.

The only thing I know is that this place is infested with Underground Hunters, those damned worms that ruined my life. I should have enjoyed destroying the fallen worm that separated me from Sara more. If it hadn't appeared, I think I could have followed the spiders and rescued her.

Now, her corpse must be lost in some hole in the labyrinth, perhaps already devoured by those repulsive creatures.

Either way, the worms are no longer a problem. My divine aspect makes me special, stronger than other humans walking the path to ascension. Maybe I should stay here and exterminate them all before finding a way out, or maybe I should look for the exit while exterminating them. I still don't know. I'll figure it out.

How many fragments have I collected so far? I haven't checked my runes in a while. I've killed quite a few of those insects; I should have accumulated a decent amount.

"Status," I whispered, waiting for a response.

Name: Grey

True Name: Legacy of Ruin

Rank: Dreamer

Class: Monster

Soul Fragments: [232/2000]

Memories: [Odyssey] [Tear] [Kalictis Armor] [Fallen Light] [Fresh Summer]

Echoes: -

Attributes: [Destined] [Genius] [Flame of Divinity]

Aspect: Nephilim

Aspect Rank: Divine

Innate Ability: [Adaptive Body]

Aspect Ability: [Opposing Energies]

Flaw: danger in duality

Oh, it's increasing faster than on the surface… I wonder if I'll reach the demon rank before getting out of here?

I looked at my memories again and summoned the one I got from that disgusting worm that tried to devour me.

A beautiful bottle with ancient engravings, with no apparent translation, appeared in my hand. Inside, fresh water could be seen, and the glass felt cold and revitalizing to the touch.

I took a sip of the water, which made my body feel as if thirst and hunger had vanished in an instant, before discarding it and looking again at its description.

Name: Fresh Summer

Memory Rank: Ascended

Memory Type: Tool

Description: [One hot summer day, a young lady drank from a bottle gifted by her beloved to refresh her adorned body, but a malicious worm snuck inside, giving rise to a plague that lived in darkness and hunted the defenseless.]

Poor woman, receiving such a gift. That worm surely invaded her body to plant its eggs or grow inside, stealing her nutrients… How fitting to call it malicious.

Before I could continue reflecting on my new memory, the unmistakable sound of a worm's body slithering through the earth reached my ears.

The smell of those creatures when they die is horrible, but in time I'd get used to it. For now, I just need to kill more of these things.

How many have I killed already with this one? 27, maybe? I don't know; I wouldn't mind killing a thousand more.

I grabbed Odyssey, resting against the earthen wall beside me, and summoned Fallen Light, which enveloped the darkness with its own light, allowing me to see in it.

There, at the edge of my vision, I spotted a dozen more worms. Their senses were far better than mine in the depths, so they had probably already detected me.

"Well, I have no problem with that. I'll kill every last one of you, disgusting things."

As I said that out loud, the eyeless worms began slithering towards me at full speed, and I kindly approached to keep them from wearing themselves out.

I began channeling my defensive energy over my entire body in a torrent, making the darkness on my skin more prominent and my eyes gain a more bestial gleam.

Claws grew from my fingertips, allowing me to grip Odyssey better, while my body grew slightly larger.

Odyssey was also enveloped in darkness, and its strikes gained a devastating affinity that would easily crush the boneless heads of the worms.

Now that I possessed two cores instead of one, my body had become much stronger, and the abundance of both energies in it was evident.

I felt my normal strength doubling, as if another me had fused with me. But now, with two cores, that single presence multiplied, making me three times more powerful.

The worms didn't expect my speed and didn't see the devastating blow coming that caused two of their heads to explode at the same time.

Sometimes I wonder… Doesn't this way of using Odyssey resemble a mace? Those iron balls used to crush enemies.

Odyssey, in this way, was strangely similar in its result.

The worms tried to surround me, but their size, about two or three meters, made them easy targets.

Despite not being slow, the enhancement I had received and the relentless power of Odyssey made these worms easy to eliminate.

Their viscera and green, foul-smelling blood splattered everywhere, even leaving my blue armor a mess, with sticky remains trapped between the scales.

Disgusting, really.

But it doesn't matter; what matters is extinguishing these things. I'll kill every single one I encounter along the way, regardless of rank or class. All of them will die by my hand… Well, by Odyssey's, which is being wielded by me.

At that moment, the last of the worms was attacking from behind, but Odyssey shifted from its crushing darkness to a radiance that illuminated the gloom.

With a precise, delicate, and terrifyingly swift movement, it split the creature in two with a backward swing of my arm.

Odyssey was a great blessing I received since I started my life, a high-level ascended weapon, likely, which is a great help against mere awakened beasts.

If I had a lower-ranked weapon, I wouldn't be so sure I could finish off so many awakened beasts. And, of course, it's also thanks to my armor of the same rank.

It seems that my Destined attribute had done a good job of preparing me for this hell.

The smell I'm sensing… It's just too disgusting.

I raised my hand and discarded the blue-scaled glove, then stopped circulating the dark energy within me and covered my nose.

I'd better get out of here soon, the stench is too much, and I still don't think I'll get used to it.

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Note: Well, tell me, do you prefer a third-person POV as always, or do you want Grey's POV in the first person? Or a bit of both?