“First kill is mine!” Aaron shouted and shot toward the base with reckless abandon.

  He hadn’t spotted any D-grades, and so far hadn’t had much difficulty with anything the dungeon had thrown at them, so he figured they might as well have fun with it.

  Cultist of the Sunken Chapel [ Level 96 ]

  The figure before him was mutated, with bulging cysts and extra digits, and when his fist crashed into its jaw, he felt bones snapping, and it crumpled before him.

  “Huh, that was easy.”

  But the fight was only just getting started, and the defenders started to throw Molotov cocktails that exploded spectacularly with flames that seemed far bigger than they had any right to be.

  But his group wasn’t deterred, and Zero shot straight through the flames and gripped one of them by the neck, and shook the man dead like a chicken.

  And Talia was only a step behind, her avatar’s huge sword swatting a couple of unlucky cultists from the walls, sending severed limbs raining down over the central courtyard between the walls and the main building.

  But if the cultists had one thing going for them, it was their numbers, and more and more of the zealot warriors flooded out of everywhere, screaming battlecries and waving rusty weapons through the air.

  It was pretty great, though, Aaron thought, and a devilish smile came over his face. He was bouncing through the junkyard fortress like a Jackie Chan movie, crippling and destroying mutant cultists with every punch, and feeling his energy flowing through him, and his hungry ring in the process.

  It wasn’t just throwing punches, though. Just because he had a free slot now didn’t mean that he could be reckless. He was fighting enemies that really weren’t particularly strong for him, and the System would penalize him for it. To make up for that, he needed to focus on the gains he wanted, and he channeled his [ Reverse Cycle Faux Core ] as he fought.

  The Skill had been on his mind for a while now. He hadn’t focused on it because it was, quite frankly, a good Skill. There was no immediate need to improve it, or at least there hadn’t been.

  But he couldn’t get the faux part of the skill out of his head. Surely there must be a normal, or true version of the Skill, he figured, and if this version was as useful as it was, he could only imagine how much more powerful he’d be upgrading it.

  And so, his mind consciously worked on it as he fought, channeling energy back and forth through his core, never using an ounce of it directly, but forcing it all through the core.

  With any luck, this constant usage, even when unnecessary, would pay dividends, and his eagerness to test his theory drove him onward as he sent cultists flying through the battlefield and crushing into nearby structures with every well-placed fist.

  But as eager as the zealots were to get themselves slaughtered in new and excruciating ways, they weren’t all that effective. Up until the duel, bolt throwers were brought online.

  The rapid-fire weapons were rather impressive. Hundreds of explosive bolts filled the air in seconds, blasting away their own camp and followers as Aaron and Zero dodged.

  Talia raised her protective Skill, and shields brightened with light as they ate explosive energy.

  Ragdolled bodies and severed limbs were flying all over the place, and blood was literally raining as Aaron flew toward the closet bolt thrower, and ripped the man firing straight out of the seat, and quickly ended him.

  Zero was equally fast, taking out another at the other end of the fort, and the two of them flew at the final bolt thrower from two sides, and shoulder slammed him against one another, and the man was squeezed out like a gory tube of toothpaste between their powerful shoulders.

  The carnage was impressive. Revoltingly so. These cultists seemed to have even less respect for their own comrades' lives than they did, and Aaron was fairly certain more cultists had been killed by the explosive bolts than by his own party.

  But ultimately, it had been futile. At level 73, and 58 levels in his Profession, and with more Titles and better Blessings than possibly anyone else on Earth, anything that wasn’t D-grade was barely a speedbump for Aaron. Even if they had deadly tricks up their sleeves, like the bolt throwers. The reality was that his training had pushed him so far above these regular enemies that he didn’t even need to really pull on his energy reserves, and every second he spent engaged in combat, led the dozens of enemies crushed beneath his well-aimed fists.

  But the cultist fortress wouldn’t be put away that easily, and as the last zealots were beaten down or cut in two by Talia, a creepy choir began to sing. The shrill and grinding choir was no ordinary church music; instead, it was guttural and disturbing. And while he wasn’t too threatened by the cultists themselves, the music made him rather uncomfortable.

  A second later, the doors from the main building burst open, and dozens more cultists charged out, led by a huge man with a bag over his head, with swollen pustules all over his muscular body.

  Big Brother Memphis Festus [ Level 110 ]

  Titles: [ For the Family ] [ Zealot ]

  “Who dares threaten the family?” The big, bag-wearing man named Memphis roared. His two hands had been replaced by chainsaws, and they roared to life angrily as he waved them through the air. “They give their blood for the family! They dine in paradise! Come, brothers and sisters, let us join the slaughter! Let our bodies be sacrifices for the great one! For the family!”

  “Fuck, mate,” Aaron shook his head. “Talia, how do you think they became so mutated?”

  “I don’t want to think about that,” Talia said as one of the female cultists came up and rubbed Big Brother Memphis’ shoulders.

  “Come, sister! Let us make the apostates bleed!”

  “Gross,” Aaron grimaced as the cultists charged toward them.

  Memphis led the pack and slammed his two chainsaws together, causing a shockwave that blasted out, rippling through the sky and hitting hard against the group, pressing them backward. But he’d need far more than a simple shockwave to defeat the trio, and they immediately countered with their own whirlwind of attacks.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Within seconds, several cultists were already slain by the maelstrom of chaos that unfolded.

  Big Brother Memphis Festus was no pushover, though, and his chainsaws ripped through the land and even the crude walls with ease every time he missed an attack.

  The mutated cultists even managed to take off one of Aaron’s arms after an exchange, but he wasn’t an elite, not like the warriors he had fought previously. And if he really wanted, he could have blasted him away quicker without the ring.

  But the entire reason they were attempting the quest was to grow stronger, and so Aaron kept the ring on while concentrating on his core, pushing aether and mana through it and converting HP at a ridiculous rate.

  It almost didn’t matter that he lost a limb, as he was so focused on overclocking his core that it grew back in seconds as their attacks were thrown back and forth between one another.

  However, the suicidal cultists wouldn’t just sit back and let Aaron dismantle their big brother, and he was charged by several, including bombers that had either swallowed explosives prior to the fight, or had some kind of Skill that allowed them to blow themselves up.

  He dodged the first couple that came at him, but then was struck by their explosive shockwaves, blasting him back and sending him smashing into a wall at his back.

  And that was all they needed to descend upon him, and a dozen more suicide bombers charged him, blowing Aaron up in spectacular fashion.

  “They actually got me,” Aaron nodded, kind of appreciating their ingenuity, in a sick kind of way as he reformed. Against anyone else, it would have been rather effective. Unfortunately for the family, they’d have to kill him more than once to put him away.

  And with the bombers distracted by Aaron, Talia could make her move on Memphis, and she did just that, striking at him with powerful light-infused sword swings.

  Sparks and flames flew all over as Memphis met the sword strikes with his chainsaws, but the blinding light coming from the swords whipped across his gnarled flesh, opening wounds every time they clashed.

  The last remaining bombers turned toward Talia, but Aaron intercepted them. She had her own powerful defensive abilities, but he didn’t want to test that. He knew firsthand how powerful their explosives were, and it was best that he ate that kind of power.

  As he punched several of the remaining bombers, they exploded, flinging Aaron back across the fortress, and he got up, a torso with no limbs.

  “That all you got? I’m not even done yet!”

  The last two bombers were outraged, flying into a fury at the thought of a bloodied, limbless man challenging them, and they flung themselves at him with destructive power.

  Of course, once they had blown themselves up, Aaron reformed.

  “Ha, better luck next time,” he said, dusting himself off.

  He recovered just in time to catch Talia landing the final blow against Memphis, and his chainsaws exploded in flames, and the sword passed straight through, splitting the giant muscle-bound man in two.

  The courtyard was completely covered in gore, and Zero was hunting down the last couple of cultists with glee.

  Everyone had done their part, and he realized just how strong his little group had become.

  It hadn’t been too long since their flight from the jungle, and it wasn’t just he who had grown a decent amount in that time.

  Not only that, but this world wasn’t like the trials, and he could level up quickly here, at least until he reached D-grade.

  “Not bad. Not bad at all,” he said as the final death throws took Memphis.

  Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!

  [ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

  73 → 75

  Looking around at all the gore, it was a pity they were humans, even if they were weird, mutated versions of humans. No matter how much Aaron changed, nor how pragmatic he felt about the multiverse, he wasn’t eating humans, nor was he taking their corpses for anyone else to eat. It was one thing to cook a beast that had consumed human souls and evolved to look like one, and another to cook actual human flesh, which gave him goosebumps to even think about.

  However, the bolt throwers seemed handy, and Aaron flashed over and ripped them straight out of the walls, the bolts that had held them down shooting out against his strength. Aaron then threw them into his scabbard.

  He needed to keep his settlement safe while he was gone, and he had a feeling the bolt throwers would help some of his quicker followers provide assistance should they be attacked while he was gone.

  But his attention was quickly stolen from looting by Talia, as light began to flash out from her. Before his very eyes, her avatar began to change.

  “An evolution?”

  It wasn’t too surprising. She had scored the kill against Memphis and done most of the damage to him, so she likely scored a good bit of experience from the fight.

  Soon, the white, blinding light that enveloped Talia and her avatar began to shimmer and change. And gradually, a darkness started to creep in, like murky storm clouds taking over a bright day. And within a few seconds, gone was the shining knight, and it had been replaced by a brooding knight of darkness.

  Obsidian black armor stood over Talia, and even the light that emanated from her as she activated Skills began to change, darkening into shadows.

  But it didn’t stop there. The transformation continued onto Talia herself, albeit in a more subtle way. Thick, dark eyeliner drew itself onto her eyes, creating little waves at the ends, and her lashes thickened and extended a little. Her once shining steel platemail then began to darken to charcoal, and the shape of the metal armor even began to change a little. And a small piece of it bent out of shape and twisted around her neck, turning itself into a black, metal choker.

  “Ahhh…. Are you okay, Talia? You look a little…”

  “Huh?” She swung around to Aaron, the emptiness in her eyes dissipating in a second. “Sure, why wouldn’t I be? I just evolved my Class!”

  “It’s just… You… um, look different.”

  Talia blinked. He wasn’t sure if it was because she had been too focused on her System menu, or something else, but she seemed not to have realized that her appearance had changed.

  “Oh, look at that,” she said, looking up at her avatar. “It’s all black. Wasn’t expecting that.”

  “You weren’t? Not that it matters, but what’s your new Class?” Aaron asked.

  “Avatar of the Knightmare,” she replied nonchalantly.

  “I see. I suppose that explains the change of attire. Why though? I didn’t take you as a nightmare kind of person.”

  “Oh. I mean, I didn’t really think about it like that. I’m not really sure why I was given the option, but it seemed like the best choice. It did, however, give me an affinity to Dark, which I wasn’t sure about. That’s what took me so long to decide. I’m still not entirely sure about the affinity, but I figured that I should pick the best Class,” she shrugged.

  “I can’t fault you for that.”

  Aaron wondered if it was the affinity changing her appearance, or if Classes in general messed with the appearance of things like armor and Skills.

  “Are we going to continue?” Talia asked. “I kind of want to test this out.”

  “Yeah, sure. Let’s move.”

  They continued into the main building, and Talia was straight up giddy to fight someone as they went looking for both the prisoners and loot.

  But before she got a chance to test out her new avatar, she walked in front of a large mirror in the sacrificial chamber.

  “Oh,” Talia said, stopping in front of the mirror.

  Her hand immediately went up to touch the choker around her neck, and Aaron caught a slight grimace on her face and a little bit of blush.

  “I see,” she said hesitantly.

  “Oh yeah. It looks good on you.”

  “You think?”

  “Different, but good.”

  Aaron wasn’t sure how things got to the point that he was reassuring Talia of her dress choices, but he tried his best to sound optimistic.

  “Let’s keep moving,” she said suddenly, and turned away from the mirror.

  Luckily, the awkwardness wouldn’t linger for long, as the echoed cries for help from the resident prisoners sounded down the hall.

  Both were thankful for the distraction and rushed down until they reached another chamber where there were several cells, and at the far end of the chamber were the prisoners.

  But as they neared, Aaron got a weird feeling and came to a halt as he peered into the cells. He had expected to find humans…

  “An ogre?” He blinked, and Talia looked across at him.

  Patreon!