Chapter 209 - Fierce Lady
Cracks surfaced on the metal lob, it started off small but within seconds they turned to large fissures that ended with a limb blasting off part of it
"It was an egg?"
"It sure looks nothing like one"
Following the limb the rest of the creature's body blew off its shells before Belinda and YuJu's eyes, revealing a more humanoid statue than the previous hunched back gargoyle like figure, two more wings and hell of a lot new tattoos
"Hmm, the tattoos look familiar..."
YuJu attention was instantly stolen by the bright red symbols writhing on the hard surface, something told him he'd seen then before but couldn't pin point exactly where
"B-b-blood shackles?!"
Meanwhile Belinda started stuttering, very unlike her who usually acted composed under any situation, even his evolution skills didn't garner such a reaction
"Blood shackles?....!"
It took a moment for the words to register but he soon remembered what they refred to
"So that's why they felt familiar...this is a bit of a problem"
"A problem? Mister you must be joking, if we research your servant then we just might have a break through and find our own way to break through the blood shackles! Open entirely new paths for ourselves! Nothing could stop....us....right?"
No matter how lost on her own speech Belinda eventually realized YuJu was glaring hard at her, enough to shush her crazy talk
"New paths are not only good, they could also lead you to quicker dead ends, the shackles were put there for a reason, and if you want to break them then you must be prepared for the consequences"
As he spoke he recalled the time when he saw these symbols, back then the first batch of the Unshackled were truly....monsters
Though seemingly unconvinced Belinda still nodded, realizing that he was defending his servant in a way, perhaps this was what set him different from that man, at least he did not consider every servant a means to an end
Done with their little talk thr two finally turned back to the newly evolved parasite who'd been awkwardly swinging his limbs about in an attempt to get a hang if the new body
"How do you feel?"
"Master....I feel like I have been born anew, it feels nothing like my usual advancement, this power, this hunger, though I can barely control either I can tell they would prove to be of immense use on the path of ascendance"
A little drunk with power it spoke proudly, though not giving much information which lead him to check on its status
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Name: None
Race: Faceless Devourer
Gender: N/A
Level: 112
Class: EvoBeast
Second Class: Uncoffined
STR: 249.9
AG: 249.9
VIT: 312
INT: 117
INS: 11.1
AP Available: 0
Titles:
-Predetor: Your blood draws you to hunt worthy prey
-Natural Disaster: The Infidome recognizes you as a threat
Special Status: Contracted Master: Yuju
_________________________________
"Uhh..."
"Is something wrong mister"
Watching YuJu's jaw almost drop Belinda became curoise, did he see something in the creature more surprising than the blood shackles
"It's nothing....I hope"
'The Infidome recognizes it as a threat? Does it mean the world is out to get us? Oh boy'
He could feel a headache incoming, a huge one at that
'It's Class seemed to have evolved from BioBeast to EvoBeast too'
Opening the skills he expected to see some improvements, and he did, just not 'some'
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Mutator: As an EvoBeast you are capable of mutating at will [Muation trait depends on consumed prey]
Harvest Festival: All prey will nourish the devourer
Apex Inheritance: Predators only acquire the strongest traits
DeadLeech: Remain in a state of death inside an unsuspecting creature, dormant until full revival [If Host dies, parasite dies]
Unbridled Blood: Consume. Spread. Overtake (Advanced-Low)
Puppet Shrine: A Nest you become, from which any parasite can be spawned
Contagious: Every drop of blood can spread to consume nearby living organisms indefinitely
_________________________________
".....I can see why it's a threat"
"?"
"Master, I am in dire need of food"
"You already ate everything...haah, I will take you to hunt in the nearby desert, it dosnt have much but nobody would bat an eye of you killed everything there, plus its a good place to dodge Genus Insania's radar"
Feeling like he made a bottomless pit YuJu let out a heavy sigh, then turned his attention to the confused snake who didn't seem to follow given her inability to check its status
"We will leave to feed this fellow's endless hunger, I believe I left enough blood from the bodies to help you back to normal and fill up the baths with blood?"
"More than enough, though the absence of my servants may be an issue"
"Have your last remaining one storm out in a fit saying that they up and disappeared, should have the blame shifted to me"
Strong and weak members were slain so it wasn't an issue to rake up on the kill count, Ellis would handle 'negotiations' anyway, hopefully barring further reason for slaughter, at least anytime soon
With such thoughts he departed the eighth floor along with the parasite who turned into a Scitoc, one vastly diffrent from before, just one look at it and one could tell it was an entirely diffrent breed of the red writhing wings were any indicator
"Haah, haah, hiding your energy signature is a chore all on its on"
"Apologies Master"
"Haah, it's alright, let's get going"
The two decended the hidden passageway, unknowingly passing by two groups geared and ready for battle on the other side of the wall
"Cawcaw, Verbrand! What is the meaning if this mockawry"
"What might you be referring to"
"How dare you act ignorant! Do you think playing dumb will save you from our wrath?! Sending that sneaky man to kill our own was the last straw!"
The three eyed three legged crow speed flames with every word in its anger, Verbrand saw this and realized playing dumb really wouldn't work
'It was worth a try'
There goes the easy way, now he had to- "If you are speaking of my Master then I would require you provide proof of your accusations"
Ellis stepped out of turn, speaking up for the absent YuJu as his representative
"Proof? The only proof we need is not finding any! Who else could infiltrate our floor and kill to their heart's content without a single being noticing"
"I don't know, neither do I care, thats your problem of the security of your home is so lax, furthermore osnt the only way in and out from our floor through that big mouth? Ask him if you doubt my Master went through, and if he lies I could come forth and do it myself"
The pressuring aura if hers and the blunt wording shut the bird up, truly her presence was as intimidating as a general if anything, plus they all knew MiMi was scared witless of this woman, without doubt if she went and asked it herself it would honestly admit that no one went through
'Who knows maybe it was that loud coward who let them in to begin with'
Seething on the inside the craw tried to spin the conversation away from their method of entering
"So you want me to believe that our poeple coiconcidently started disappearing right after the last occurrence"
"What occurrence?"
"What are you playing dumb for?! I'm obviously referring to-mfh mhm mm!"
A tail quickly bound the blabbermouth's beak, shuting it up before it admitted to anything it shouldn't
"Nothing, the bird brain ate too much rancid food that it got to its brain, I will do the talking from now on"
With a flip of ots flexible tail the long armed monkey threw the crow back as it took the front of the pack they brought down into the fifth floor
"Here is what we came to say, your guy killed our people and we doubt anyone else could do it, in demand of their death we propose you compensate us...with the blood of your own"
It smiled evily, knowing how vicious of a request it was putting forth
"You think we would agree to your request? Even if we did kill some of your own we woul-" "Alright"
Putting a hand to stop Gremm from playing them into the enemy hand Ellis agreed to the request, confusing the general wether to get angry at being interrupted by a mere guard or happy that she was so cooperative
"Merciless arnt you lass?"
"Merely going for a trade, since you here to demand compensation I guess we can use the opertunity to demand our too"
"Your compensation?"
"Yes, you see we happen to have spotted quite a few bloody parasites in out midst, and given that we doubt anyone other than Genus Insania could develop then we would like compensation for the servants that died"
"Hahaha, what a blunt negotiating"
Having his words thrown right back at him the monkey giggled, almost like a monkey, then agreed
"Sure, how many have died?"
It already knew the answer, I fact that's what the craw was talking about, but the amount was so few that it couldn't be compared to their number of deaths
"One thousend"
"? What nonsense are you spouting"
"Only the truth, we spotted thirty five sources of the parasite, each slowly but surely spread out parasites until the death tole reached a thousend, what? Do you have any proof that's says otherwise"
Certainly he didn't, if he did then he would be admiting that they had insiders, which would make them look guilty instead
'I hate these games'
To begin with he knew coming here that ni war would break out, just as Aminta's faction did not want to initiate one their faction also wanted peace for the time being, their visit was in the name of requesting compensation only
'If I admit that I know everything about the parasites then I am admiting my guilt while they have yet to do so, so we lose, revealing that we have insiders os even worse, this means I can't play off the number she gave, in which case...'
He smiled once more, options still present before him
"Only a thousand? We lost two thousand"
So what of he couldn't refute her number? He could lie too you know
"Two thousend? Good"
Ellis drew her sword all of a sudden surprising all those present
"What are you up to, I advise you not to take any blatant action triggering a war that you cannot bare the consequences of"
"Why I am only doing precisely that, if you lost two thousend and your populations is only so little then we can wage war without worry"
The money almost flew into a rage, what was with this woman?! She didn't follow logic at all!
"Forget it! We will go back for now, don't you dare strike"
With their guards up they slowly inched backward until fully retreating onto their floors where they turned heels and ran, if that man could kill inside the floors there was no stopping his servant from killing them out of it
"Young lady, you are a bit too fierce"
Verband commented seeing her scare them off with their tails tucked between their feet
"I am only acting how Master would"
"Haha, truly you are"
With a good mood about them the crowed dispersed, leaving only Gremm who was still confused what exactly happend