The Oracle Paths

Jake and Will were most shocked by the extent of his injuries. Not so much for their severity as for the fact that they were not healing. A high-ranked Evolver of this level should have attained at least an Aether Vitality and Constitution consistent with his reputation.

Little did the two friends know that this Garrow was one of those players that went for a full glass-cannon build. The speed and offensive techniques of this swordsman were formidable but his defense and endurance left something to be desired.

Of course, that was only from the perspective of an Evolver of the same league. To Jake and Will, his Aether stats should have made him exceptional, even without a bloodline.

In other words, it still didn't explain why his condition seemed to be getting worse by the second. His skin had turned a greenish hue and his veins had turned black, as if his blood had coagulated into coal. His sneezing was not accidental, but it wasn't to get their attention either.

Garrow was sneezing and coughing for real. He wasn't faking it, and his symptoms were those of someone with a severe respiratory virus. Between the first sneeze and the time they had unstuck him from the gray mucous membrane he had begun to hyperventilate alarmingly.

At this rate, he would eventually suffocate with or without the Dungeon walls previously preventing him from breathing.

On the other hand, his skeleton had indeed been blown to pieces by a blow of unreal power, but his tight-fitting black armor combining some type of leather, straps and metal plates had held up. Although this kind of damage was visually more impactful, it was nothing compared to the evil that was eating away at his health.

No matter how bad his fractures were, Garrow should have started to regenerate by now. But something was stopping his body's natural healing process.

Jake scanned him with his bracelet and was able to confirm that he was indeed poisoned, or rather infected. At first he thought it was a specific poison or virus, but the situation was much more complicated than that.

There was not only one virus and there was not only one poison. Moreover, these entities were not explainable by conventional science.

Although the molecular structure of these poisons were recognizable under the light of a microscope, namely polyamines and other charybdotoxins usually found in venomous spiders and scorpions, they were imbued with corrosive properties and a lethality far exceeding their natural toxicity. It was as if these things had their own Aether Bloodline, or rather they had been fused, strengthened and boosted by other Aether abilities.

The viruses were of the same ilk. Although they were alien viruses, they were in essence enhanced cousins of the worst stuff on earth. Still, it wasn't enough to kill an Evolver high-Rank in a short period of time as was the case here. Whoever had created these things was a highly dangerous individual.

Even Cekt grew sullen as he examined the swordsman's wounds.

"This Kokoon didn't go easy..." He groused to himself as he quickly pressed several vital points on the warrior's body with the tip of his cane.

It was less obvious on Citro, who was an extremely tough Oracle Guardian, but on an Evolver like Garrow, it was an unstoppable and deadly biological weapon. It was a safe bet that it was this poison that had killed the Dungeon Digestor's avatar.

Filaments of emerald light coursed through the wounded man's body from those vital points touched by the tip of his cane, and the greenish skin returned to its proper color. The blackened veins regained their usual healthy redness and the swordsman's labored breathing evened out.

Garrow was out of the woods.

All the while, the human had remained conscious but unable to speak. His mind was also paralyzed and he was unable to mobilize any Aether. When his vocal cords were finally repaired, he thanked them sincerely, without holding out on his immense gratitude.

"Thank you for your invaluable help. If you hadn't come in time, I would have used my Oracle Teleport to send me away from here, but God knows where I would have turned up. Paralyzed and lost in Digestors territory, I would have likely died..."

His tone was very factual and humble as he said this, but the cold sweat oozing down his face betrayed that he was definitely not optimistic about his chances of survival.

"Doesn't an Evolver of your standing have the Oracle Heal skill?" Will asked candidly.

Garrow's face turned ghastly upon receiving this question. The urge to slap the impertinent businessman briefly crossed his mind, but he restrained himself by virtue of the fact that this was one of his saviors.

Cekt and Jake also gave Will a dumbfounded and pitying look. His lack of tact was jarring. The Aetherist's reassuring presence seemed to have rendered him a bit too bold.

Not knowing if the businessman was a complacent bastard or a truly naive and ignorant jerk, Garrow still made an effort to answer, so as to avoid offending them.

"As you know... the Oracle Heal costs 1,000 times the healing cost of a Green Cube..." The swordsman rasped with a livid look, about to faint as he thought of what it had cost him. "I had to wait 5 minutes and 16 seconds between the moment I was injured and your arrival. I used the Oracle Heal 11 times and the Oracle Detoxification 7 times in that time frame... I'm broke."

Jake, Will and even the Nosk inhaled sharply as they learned the sad truth. These last three words were spoken with a dry throat and a trembling voice, full of deep despair.

How much Aether did it take to use the Oracle Heal eleven times in a row? Jake remembered that to heal a whole but heavily damaged body, the Green Cube fee was about 10M Aether points. In other words, the Oracle Heal had charged 10B Aether points per use.

If the Oracle System had judged the swordsman's injuries to be even more serious, the bill might have been even higher. Jake didn't know how much the Oracle Detoxification skill activation cost, but he doubted it was much less.

The most despairing part of all this was that those Oracle Skills hadn't worked. The skeleton had remained broken and the viruses and poisons had continued to spread.

"This Kokoon is a traitor. I'll report what happened here when I get back." Cekt solemnly promised Garrow, though he had no intention of compensating him. "You can thank your bloodline or you'd be dead like the rest of them."

Garrow's face darkened when he heard him mention his bloodline, but he took it upon himself not to let it show.

"But the demon I was chasing survived." He confessed with clear shame and disappointment.

A demon? Jake and Will perked their heads up hastily.

"Was it the veiled woman?" Will asked with a restless tremolo in his voice.

Garrow considered the businessman seriously for the first time and answered slowly,

"It is indeed her. The archdemon Hecate, but some people think she's some kind of goddess. She was my prey. She's the only reason I came here. Everything that happened in this Dungeon was not on my agenda."

Jake and Will had finally gotten a lead. The swordsman seemed to know her well and was used to tracking her. Maybe they could work together.

Will went on to tell what had happened to their friend and why they were looking for her as well and Garrow didn't change his expression throughout the explanation. Jake, on the other hand, was hearing most of these details for the first time and was inwardly shocked.

Will had only just arrived on the Fourth Floor battlefield with Fumdalf and his bunch of creatures when he had found Kyle, but the carnage was already in full swing and he had just witnessed a strange scene to say the least:

Kyle viciously slitting his own sister's throat while screaming the name "Bhuzkoc." The Bhuzkoc in question was standing a few feet sideways, astonishment plastered all over his face.

The next second, Kyle had come to his senses and realized the horror of his crime. Bloodshot eyes and convulsing with grief, he had let out a heartbreaking wail of rage before bursting out with overwhelming hatred towards himself and the one he believed to be responsible.

At that moment, a stunned Bhuzkoc had appeared in his field of vision and he had pounced on him like a kamikaze gone mad. Already in his ogre form, the Nawai tyrant was unexpectedly unable to react, as if something invisible inhibited him from moving.

Only Will in the distance had noticed the sinister red glimmer in Hecate's amused eyes, passively observing the tragic scene like an indulgent spectator before a hilarious play.

Kyle had then, under the influence of his emotions, delivered hundreds of sword swings, lacerating, mutilating and dismembering little by little the helpless Nawai warrior. When Bhuzkoc seemed to be finished, the force preventing him from moving had miraculously disappeared and his inalienable thirst for life had been embodied in the form of a downward war hammer strike of phenomenal power.

The ogre had put all his Aether into it and activated all his Warrior Aether Skills to maximize the destructive potential of this attack. It was a suicidal, fury-laden blow that he hoped would push Kyle into retreat, but the Playboy was like a demented bull and he had just gritted his teeth and continued his upward slash fearlessly.

The result was that Bhuzkoc had been decapitated, but Kyle's head had been nailed into his own torso, completely reduced to mush. His rib cage and internal organs were also pulverized and flattened in the process.

The two sworn enemies had killed each other, in front of a Hecate smiling ominously.