Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1198: Bone Lance

Sylas opened his eyes to warning flares of danger. There was no pause, no fanfare, no moment even to breathe. It was as if the world had come with every intention to burn him down to the ground.

But he had been through such a thing too many times. It was just another fire, another bit of danger, another checkbox on the list of things he had been through.

He reached out his hand—the Scorned Wraps there, so very obvious to him now, as though the little girl had spoken their heft, their binding weight into existence.

And he caught it.

Chi. Chi. Chi.

A bone lance, thick and heavy, spiraling with a menace that seemed to want to drill through his palm and into his chest.

But with a slight clamp of his fingers, its rotation ceased, and the world fell to silence.

With a sweep of his visualization, Sylas realized that both Jala and Alex were a half step behind him, both covered in cold sweat, as though they had noticed that this attack was far from normal.

Sylas, however, just looked at the lance in his hand, then up at the creature it came from.

An enormous hornet, three meters tall, with bony wings that flapped so hard even his thick, mane-like hair was being blown back in the strong gusts.

He felt that it was almost ridiculous. What kind of beast was this?

—

[Horned Hornet (E+)]

[Level: 61]

—

’No stats?’

Sylas was a bit confused by this. Logically, this creature shouldn’t be all that difficult for him to read.

Sure, the Grade told him enough about its power that he didn’t need to see the numbers. But the lack of stats certainly meant something.

’Legendary System?’

Sylas’s wrist flexed, and his claws extended from his fingers. With a slight punch from [Chaotic Menace], the bone lance shattered into pieces.

The Horned Hornet released a shriek that shook the odd cave system they seemed to be inside. During the sweep of his senses, Sylas had picked out the environment as well.

A cave—not smooth, not natural, but rather one that looked as though melted wax had pooled to form its walls, ceiling, and floor. Bulbous, greyish white, and everywhere, yet unlike the wax it was reminiscent of, it was hard to the touch and not very brittle at all.

Sylas got the feeling from just a sweep of his gaze that there was no easy way for him to effect the environment here, and his Rune Mastery felt suppressed as a result—until he noticed something that made him realize his deduction was very wrong.

He had experienced something like this before—a long while back when the Demons invaded Earth and he was forced to deal with the problem. In fact, that gate was still very much there, and he hadn’t forgotten about it.

But that aside, back then he had tried to use the Demonic Poison Runes, only to find that his own Rune Mastery was absolutely worthless against them all.

And then he had a breakthrough later on, gaining Demonic Will. It was only then that Demon Runes became accessible to him.

However, he had never used this ability.

For one, the world he was in didn’t have Demonic Aether or Runes just floating around casually, and regions that did have them were systematically targeted and destroyed.

Earth would have been in quite a tricky situation had Sylas not swiftly dealt with that issue, but in most cases, the people here were capable of overwhelming any semblance of Demon activity.

But now…

’Is this a Demon World? Is that why I can’t see their stats? But why could I on Earth, but not here?’

Sylas frowned. He was missing a piece of the puzzle.

His thoughts were moving so lightning fast that the Horned Hornet didn’t even have a chance to gear up its second stinger to attack by the time he was finished.

Sylas pulled down on its cracked bone lance, then punched.

The head of the Horned Hornet shattered into pieces. It fell to the ground in a quagmire of pulsing dark energies.

’It really is…’

The Demonic Aether rushed toward Sylas as though to reward him with its energy, but a slight pull on the True Pride Seed and his Will shattered its momentum.

In the past, Sylas could only pass on Aether that sought to level him up to his Contracts. But now, things were different.

The abilities of the Scorned Wraps allowed him to step outside the bounds of the system… but it never said which system. As long as his intention was strong enough—and it almost certainly was with the Pride Seed—he could force any system to fumble.

Including one trying to give him Levels through Demonic Aether.

But that might complicate things for Jala and Alex. Sylas wasn’t sure if he could apply the effects of the Scorned Wraps to them as easily.

He had used them on the peacock before, but the Violet Rose Peacock had also been bound to him through the system.

If he wanted to do that, he might have to force them into a System Contract. He didn’t know what accepting Demonic Aether would do to a person, but it probably wasn’t good.

After a moment, Sylas parted his lips and spoke in Ancient Ithkuil, his words a blur of Runes and Runic formations.

“What do you know about Demonic Aether?”

’You definitely can’t afford it now.’

“Then what happens if they absorb it or I do?”

’Without Demonic Will, Demonic Aether will corrupt you. You’ll turn into a Demon.’

Sylas’s eyes narrowed. How interesting. She answered that for free.

Was that all to say, then—that the Golden Grove had a special Dungeon hidden within their guild that led to the Demonic World? But not only that—killing within it corrupted you?

It couldn’t be like that, could it? How could anyone even begin to survive if killing the enemies you faced meant harming yourself?

Was this the real reason no one had cleared this realm in so long?

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