Chapter 299: Final Epic Skill

The list of epic skills from his class flickered to life in front of Luke. He’d saved this moment on purpose, wanting a clear head when he finally looked at it. The arguments about the Midnight War and the endless planning had left no room to process new information. He hadn’t even checked what new classes were available for Charlie yet.

I’ll have to do it soon, he thought. Otherwise, even if she kills something with that sword, she won’t gain any more class experience.

This would be his very first skill from the Demonic Predator class, and it was already epic. He hoped it would be as strong as his profession’s epic skill had been. When the menu finished loading, Luke emptied his mind and stared at the choices. This wasn’t just another power-up. It would be the last class skill he earned inside the tutorial, the one skill meant to carry him through the final battles to come.

Only three options appeared, but each one looked more devastating than the last.

[Dark Blood Arrow (Epic)]: The Demonic Predator creates a black arrow born from the power of [Dark Blood] and [Corrupted Blood of Mother Freya]. Upon hitting the target, the arrow explodes into black thorns imbued with the power of [Basic Dark Dash], piercing everything around it. The thorns also carry the power of [Profane Knife Throwing], dealing additional Bleed damage. If an enemy dies from this skill, their corpse transforms into a nest of living thorns, triggering a second thorn explosion that spreads death and chaos across the battlefield.

[Demonic Predator Hands (Epic)]: Upon activating the skill, his hands transform into monstrous forms, absorbing the power of [Dark Blood], [Corrupted Blood of Mother Freya], and [Wraith Form]. While wielding his weapons with the predator hands, his physical strength and the lethality of his strikes increase drastically. The skill emits a constant black mist. Enemies touched by it suffer continuous Acid damage. The blades wielded by these hands deal additional Acid damage with every strike. The demonic claws also allow you to scale any solid structure. A true assassin and predator can use this power both to kill silently or to unleash destruction openly.

[Darkness Tentacles (Epic)]: Using the power of [Wraith Form], the Demonic Predator can launch a fragment of dense, dark mist from his hands. Upon hitting the ground or a target, it explodes into a cloud of living shadows, from which darkness tentacles emerge, moving intelligently and dangerously while absorbing the power of [Demonic Blade Dance]. These shadow tentacles rapidly spread across the area, enveloping and temporarily immobilizing enemies while draining their Health Points via [Basic Blood Regeneration]. Trapped by the suffocating grasp of the tentacles, the targets become vulnerable, unable to escape the cruel embrace of the hungry darkness that feeds the predator with the blood of its prey.

All three skills lived up to the “epic” tag. They weren’t just powerful, they were absurdly good. If he could, Luke would have picked all of them.

Each one had a different purpose in battle. He studied them again, weighing the styles they complemented. Dark Blood Arrow screamed battlefield annihilation. The Hands were personal, brutal, a weapon for duels and climbing into impossible places. The Tentacles were pure control and sustain. Every option matched a part of his fighting style, which only made the choice harder.

Luke forced himself to think beyond his own instincts. He had to consider the war ahead, the final fights with the Midnight Lord, the Witch, and if it came to that, the Midnight King. Pushing away the spiral of what-ifs, he started categorizing the skills by utility, breaking them down by how he’d actually use them on the battlefield.

[Dark Blood Arrow] synced perfectly with his new bow style.
[Demonic Predator Hands] boosted his close-quarters fighting with the kukris.
[Darkness Tentacles] gave him crowd control, locking down enemies so he could finish them off with either blades or arrows.

Once he had sorted them by utility, he shifted focus to raw power, breaking each skill apart to study strengths and weaknesses. He had learned long ago not to be dazzled by flashy descriptions. Everything came with a cost. His Acid Blood Arrow was a monster of a skill, but its mana drain left him with only five shots. Devastating, yes, but limited. If he wanted to use one of these epic skills in the coming war, he would have to budget his mana carefully. Burn it all too soon and there would be nothing left for the “mana missile” aimed at the Midnight Lord or for whatever waited inside the castle.

Sure, there would be mana potions scavenged from chests along the way, but Luke could not count on that.

For the final battle, I can’t handle everything alone, he thought. We will have to fight as one or we will burn out before it is over.

As he examined the skills again, something clicked. Two of them were directly tied to Dark Blood, a simple choice he had made long ago, but one that had now blossomed into real power. Every skill you pick plants a seed, he realized, one that grows into something stronger later. Even Wraith Form had worked its way into the mix.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Naturally, his attention went first to Dark Blood Arrow. It was a new arrow skill, but it did not seem as sturdy as Acid Blood Arrow. If it were, the description would have said so. His profession’s epic arrow skill had two advantages built in, the corrosive cloud and a rare-tier wooden shaft tough enough to pour more mana into, amplifying its impact. Even if he skipped the acid effect, he could still Mana Infuse the arrow and hit harder.

Dark Blood Arrow did not mention any special durability. That meant no overcharging it like Acid Burst Arrow. But that did not make it weak. Its utility was obvious.

Hit a target and the arrow erupted into a storm of spikes. Luke tried to picture it. Did the spikes sprout from the victim and leap to nearby enemies? However it worked, the secondary effect was vicious. If someone died from the spikes, their corpse turned into another living nest and exploded again. Probably the chain would stop at the second kill, no third-wave detonations, but even so, it was a brutal way to tear through clusters of enemies or soften up a massive threat.