Chương 160: Chapter One-Hundred-and-Sixty

Since the Relic Chest was still open and no one had grabbed the Shapeshifter's Claw, Adam took it and gave it to Sofia.

"You'll make the most use out of this for now," he said.

"But try and let Luo use it so we can figure out if it works with his weapon."

"How did you do that?" she whispered, a bit terrified of how easily Adam had killed Aeran. He shook his head.

"Aeran died to the bloodfiends, and that is the story we're going with." Kateřina slept next to Aeran's dead body, which was kind of disturbing, but she had resisted any attempts to move his corpse, though she had allowed Father Mathias to bless him once he had stopped breathing. Of all the ways Adam had killed someone, this was by far the worst.

It felt vile to bleed someone to death slowly, but he had failed in delivering a decisive blow to Aeran's brain, and any further manipulation of the blood could've given Adam away. It reminded him that he didn't fully understand what he was doing when he tore his magic through someone's insides. Hopefully I won't have to make a choice like that again, but Aeran would've been a threat if we let him be, and if I had been obvious about the way I killed him, then I would've had to fight Kateřina.

She has killed other Players purely to get Points, so she is not without sin, but I'd like to believe she could be someone good if given the chance, now that she's free of his influence. While the bloodfiends rampaged outside in the dark, Adam could tell how they kept prodding the church's defences, trying to find a way to break through.

If a second-generation vampire is similar to me in terms of weakness to holy magic, then I don't know what's stopping them from forcing their way in or using ranged attacks to put holes in the building. But I guess I shouldn't look a gift-horse in the mouth. Without the church, we would've had to find a basement we could defend, and that would've definitely led to casualties. Aeran was torn to shreds within a few minutes by himself, and he was by far the most agile and quickest of us all.

I may have a chance alone since I can fly, and I might even be able to pull the others to safety for a bit, but it wouldn't last, since a lot of the bloodfiends can apparently fly, whether by magic or literal wings. Adam had yet to see what they actually looked like, and only having their melodies to go off of was not helping his mental image. Hence why he was working on a solution. Luo sat down on the pew next to Adam. He seemed quite stressed and his melody was tense.

"What are you working on?" he asked, clearly hoping for a distraction from the horrid sounds coming in through the window.

"It's supposed to be an eye," Adam replied without looking away.

"You're making it with your magic?" Luo asked.

"Yeah. It's a bit difficult though." Luo leaned closer to look at what Adam had made so far.

"It's missing a cornea." Adam frowned.

"That explains why the vision is so blurry… Thanks."

"You can see through that?" Adam lifted it up to show the flesh cable connected to his forearm.

"I can't really make colours work, but yeah, I can see through it."

"Are you trying to make it able to see in the darkness outside?"

"That was the plan. I'd like to know what we're dealing with before we end up having to actually fight them." Luo took on a contemplative look.

"If you're modelling it based on a human eye, then it won't be able to see well. I think you need something like a cat or an owl's eyes."

"Good idea, you wouldn't happen to have one on hand, right?" Adam asked. Actually, I think there may be a few cats roaming the city that I could study. He'd sensed a lot of animals, but hadn't actually seen any yet. Luo laughed.

"What I meant is that they have a lot more light-sensitive photoreceptors." Adam first added a cornea before attempting his idea. It took a bit of calibrating to get it to work well with the lens he'd made, but after a few attempts he was able to get a clear image from the eye. Once he started adding more photoreceptors though, he ran into the issue of the pupil always being dilated to the maximum amount and it was blinding him with the light in the church.

"You need an iris to control how much light enters," Luo said.

"Like the aperture on a camera."

"You seem to know a lot about this," Adam remarked.

"My older brother was an optometrist. I helped him study for a few exams many years ago and some of it stuck, I guess." Based on Luo's melody, Adam could tell that it was a fond memory, but it was veiled in old sorrow, which he took to assume that his brother had died a long time ago. Luo watched patiently while Adam meticulously shaped an iris with his power.

The fine control required was mentally quite exhausting, but once he had something that worked, he would keep it around rather than discard it like he'd done last time. Since he hadn't found a way to connect all the right nerves and fine musculature, Adam had to manually operate the iris aperture to control how much light entered, but after some adjustments, he found the best setting for being able to see the interior of the church without being blinded.

"It's working," Adam said. Sofia came over to look, but frowned in disgust when she saw the eye that Adam was holding, opting to go back to where the priest was sitting. The two of them had talked a lot about religion, and Adam got the sense that she needed guidance from the priest, though he clearly worshipped something quite different from what she believed in.

"It's still monochromatic," Adam went on as he shifted the eye around and played with the iris aperture, since it also controlled depth of field. Although, with some flexing of the eye's lens, he could control what was in focus without needing to rely entirely on the iris. It was, however, incredibly difficult to control and he hoped to find a way to connect his own optical nerves and muscles to the third eye, such that all of the fine control would be handled by his brain automatically.

"If I remember correctly, you need cones to detect colour, while rods detect light and should be responsible for seeing in the dark."

"I'm already at my wits end about how to shape all of this," Adam admitted.

"If not for the System nudging me in the right direction, I would've been completely lost. Regardless, I only need the ability to see in the dark for now."

"Can you shape anything with your magic?" Luo asked.

"Like, could you make a crossbow out of sinew, muscle, and bones?"

"I haven't tried it, but it should be possible," Adam replied.

"Although I can't manipulate bones. Not yet. And the power of what I sculpt out of flesh depends on how much it resembles a real limb or organ."

"Interesting. When I get Second Sheath, I should try out Blood Mage as well," he said.

"You would be better off getting a bow or crossbow weapon from a Stage so you can fuse it with your current weapon," Adam advised.

"And maybe you can get the Barrage Master's Coat from Lucca if you're lucky. One of my friends from the last Stage got that, and it was incredibly powerful when paired with the Ranger's Lucky Charm." Adam started moving the eye out in front of himself, lifting it up towards the window that Aeran had broken when he'd escaped from the bloodfiends outside. A thin cable still connected it to Adam's forearm and he'd coated it in a layer of second-generation vampire blood to hopefully avoid detection by the monsters.

"You should also rely on your Blink Ring more," Adam told Luo. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"I know," he replied.

"It's just difficult to hit things with it. I'm always slightly off. If I could activate it after firing, then it would've been perfect, but sadly that doesn't seem to work." Adam nodded. It was the only real downside to the Blink Ring, since it only fired charged attacks instantaneously when you blinked, not after they'd been fired, since they were no longer considered 'charged' at that point.

The crossbow would alleviate some of the inaccuracy a full blink caused, but not all of it, since Luo still had to hold the weapon steady and aimed correctly. They'd found during Lasse's experimentation that blinking could affect the secondary effect of his evolution, but only if he timed his blinks correctly.

It wasn't entirely clear what about the Metallic Cascade that was considered 'charged', but Adam's personal guess was that the 'summon' part of the fused evolution's description implied that there was a charge-up before the three secondary bolts appeared for each hit. I wonder how the Blink Ring might work on my Heart Lance spell. I think it could be really powerful.

After carefully snaking the eye out through the shattered top window, Adam moved it up towards the roof, away from the light spilling out of the building. He couldn't see anything until he manually opened the iris' aperture, filling the photoreceptors in the eye with as much light as possible. The darkness became grainy at first, but then it shifted into a weird greyscale view of the Pious district. I wonder if I could sculpt an ear as well, Adam considered as he allowed the eye to soak-in the darkness.

There were spots of brightness dotted around the district, but the plaza outside the church was completely dark. Pale shapes leapt back and forth across the tiled streets and rooftops, but most were too quick for Adam to get a complete sense of their appearance. But they definitely don't seem human anymore. He watched for a few minutes while he relayed what he saw to Luo, as well as Sofia who had joined them to listen in. Then something big landed on a nearby rooftop and Adam panned the sculpted eye towards it.

He got a very good look at it. It was almost twice as big as a human. Its ears were like sharp antennae rising up above a head of ruffled and blood-stained hair. Its face protruded into a snout with the canine fangs grown to half as long as Adam's forearm. Liquid dripped down from the fangs as the bloodfiend panned its head around, sniffing the air. Underneath its bulked-out arms with talon-tipped fingers and wing-like webbing between the upper arms and torso was a dead man who had been ripped in two at the waist.

As the monster feasted on its prey, ripping chunks of skin and flesh from the human's face, Adam panned the eye to the left to take in the lower half of the bloodfiend. The hip bones protruded out to the sides, giving its abdomen a weird shape, and the muscles of its legs were bulked out significantly, which along with its enlarged feet and toes would make it a powerful jumper.

Although Beck had said all but the lesser bloodfiends had wings, the one Adam was looking at seemed more like it was a glider, but there were a few that were clearly able to fly, given how high in the air he'd observed their melodies. Adam lifted some of the blood off of the sculpted eye and floated it out in front of it in the shape of a thin needle.

Then he shot it into the side of the monstrous bloodfiend's head, rapidly tearing it through its brain before splitting off half the mass, leaving some in its head and driving the rest down into its body, where he lanced it into its heart. Adam activated Blood Crystal, and the bloodfiend immediately slumped down onto the ruined body of its victim, before sliding off the side of the sloped roof and down onto a street beyond where Adam's sculpted eye could see. [Third Generation Bloodfiend defeated.] That range upgrade was quite useful. I think I can reliably kill these things without them ever seeing me. The bit of blood and flesh I use is apparently not enough to draw the attention of the third-generation and lesser fiends.

"I killed it," he told the others.

"I got an announcement as well," Luo said.

"Me too," Sofia added. He continued watching the area around the church, but aside from a few fiends passing through the plaza, he didn't see any others until his cube alerted him. [It has now been two hours.] Adam reeled the eye back in through the window and hid it under the sleeve of his right arm, before he got up and went over to where Kateřina slept. With a gentle shake, he woke her up. She slowly got to her feet, pulling away from Aeran's body with a mixture of sorrow and disgust in her melody.

"I had a strange dream," she said.

"I was in an alternate version of Moonport, and someone was taking me somewhere in the Garrison district. I think it may have been where my quest objective is."

"Good thing I woke you up," Adam said.

"If you'd stayed in that dream, a bloodfiend would've invaded to attack you."

"Maybe there is a vampire with dream magic in the Garrison district," she guessed.

"Possibly." Kateřina looked down at Aeran's body.

"We should distribute his things." Adam nodded slowly.

"Would you like me to handle it?"

"Yes."

< < Loot ­— Aeran > > < Choice Ring (Epic) > < Davies' Grappling Hook (Epic) > < Bloodfiend Fang (Rare) > < Cloud Skimmer Jacket (Rare) > < Duellist's Glove (Rare) > < First Strike Earrings (Rare) x2 > < Nightfarer's Cloak (Rare) > < Portsmith's Goggles (Rare) > < Skittish Skaters (Rare) > < Noble's Mask (Uncommon) > < Potion Belt (Uncommon) > < Medium Stamina Potion (Common) x2 > While Adam looked through the things, Kateřina and Father Mathias moved Aeran's body over next to the altar, where a white cloth was used to cover him.

Once the sun was up, the priest would bury him in the graveyard behind the church. The grappling hook was the only thing Adam hadn't personally seen before, so he brought up its information. < < Relic > > < Davies' Grappling Hook (Epic) — Shoot the hook up to 15 meters and reel it back in to pull yourself towards the hooked target unless it weighs less than you. 30-second cooldown > That's a very short cooldown.

Aeran had mainly just used it to move forward and vertically, but Adam figured it could make you go way faster if used to generate centrifugal force by moving diagonally while it reeled you in, or it could be used to slingshot you further if you jumped as it started pulling. But I don't really need it, and I think it's better if Luo gets it. Sofia wanted the skaters and jacket more than the grappling hook, so it was easy enough to distribute the Relics.

Adam ended up taking the goggles, fang, and belt, along with the ring Aeran had apparently been hiding and the remaining two potions. Kateřina got the cloak, which covered up her soul wing, First Strike Earrings, and the Duellist's Glove, putting her at two, which Adam figured would work well for her fighting style. No one wanted the mask since it reduced Defence by a lot, so Adam put it in his backpack along with the skin-robe that Sofia had unequipped.

Luo got her Avalanche Boots, which he seemed quite pleased with since he was lacking close-range attacks. Once they'd distributed the loot, Adam continued watching the district outside with his sculpted eye, while the others took turns sleeping in two-hour shifts. When it was just Adam and Kateřina who were awake, she sat silently next to him, listening to his descriptions of what he could see and his ideas about what they should do during the second day.

Eventually, the sun started to rise and Adam pulled the third eye back inside the church, hiding it away under the sleeve of his jacket, where he made a pocket of skin to cover it in darkness, before severing the optical nerves that made him able to see through it. Once everyone was roused, they prepared to leave the church. They had agreed to return to the Pleasure district to clear out bloodfiends, since that seemed to be where they'd find the most.

Adam also knew there was supposed to be a quest in the Wine district centred around a masked ball, so he intended to ask around about that since he didn't know when it would take place. Sofia also wanted them to visit the Garden Isle with the hidden treasure. I think the bloodfiends take precedence for now, and depending on how bad the nightly attacks were, we may have to also clear out a lot of ghouls.

Two heavy thuds came from the wooden door to the church and they all froze, except for Father Mathias who went over and opened it. Outside stood the proprietor of the Good Drink. He was still wearing his white apron over his dark shirt and pants, which Adam thought was odd, though just chalked it up to the man having left his tavern in a hurry to come here.

"I heard the good news and had to come as early as I could to get a seat up front," the proprietor said.

"The sermon won't be for another couple hours," Father Mathias told him.

"If you would like to wait in the plaza or in the garden, then I will ring the bell when it is time."

"I wouldn't mind to wait inside," the man replied.

"It is in a bit of a state, I'm afraid," the priest said.

"The Lord won't look down upon us for it," the proprietor assured him.

"May I come in?" All of them had been watching the exchange and Adam noticed that their melodies had gone from surprised and tense to calm and relaxed, once they'd recognised the old man. He noted his request to enter as a bit peculiar, but it wasn't until the proprietor's eyes flicked in his direction for a moment that he felt a chill travel down his spine.

"Don't let him in," Adam said, though he couldn't verbalise why he thought it was a bad idea. Father Mathias must've not heard him, because he opened the door wider and gestured for the proprietor to enter.

"Don't let him in!" Adam shouted, startling the others. But it was too late. As Father Mathias turned to look at Adam, the old man walked through the doorway. With a simple gesture, he grabbed the back of the priest's neck and twisted, producing a loud crunch. Then the old man's body grew, shedding the illusion to reveal a massive pale creature with fangs the length of Adam's arms, large leathery wings protruding from its back, talons like daggers, and a malevolent red glow in its eyes.

< < Optional Stage Objective > > < Defeat the Patriarch >