Chapter 553: Mantle of Death

“If you use your beast’s skill on that core, it’ll take this bird’s form, won’t it? Now that is a real treasure,” Artemis said.

Luke glanced at the serpent.

“It would be useful having a flying Spectral Beast… but I’d rather use this to strengthen her.” He stored the core away. “Once she reaches Rank E, she’ll unlock the option to absorb D-Rank cores.”

“Still, keep it as backup. You can always replace your serpent form with the bird afterward.”

“I thought about that while I was hunting near Camlann, when you stayed with Charlie and Angie. I don’t think it works that way. It has to be immediately after I kill the beast. The more time passes, the worse it gets. Maybe the leftover soul residue fades from the core. I don’t know.”

He looked at the corpse of the bird. “Letting the core sit in a pocket dimension and then trying to use Form Devourer later doesn’t work. It has to be recent.”

Artemis considered that. “Makes sense. You need the new beast’s soul to blend into yours so you can subjugate it. If it died too long ago, what remains inside the core is just mana, not will.”

She stepped beside him and looked upward. “If you climb the walls here in the center, you can reach a rope that leads to an island high in the sky. There are three treasures scattered up there. I think you’ll find them useful. Consider it my challenge.”

“And what will you be doing while I’m up there?”

“I’ll be right here. Resting. Enjoying my vacation.”

***

Luke sprinted through a forest toward a massive fortress, and the skeletal inhabitants spotted him immediately. Arrows shrieked through the air. With Sariel’s Eye, he picked out archers repositioning long before they released their shots.

Arrows hit the ground around him as he wove between them. Then a ballista bolt slammed into the dirt ahead, forcing him toward the treeline. Flaming stone spheres began raining down through the canopy. He shifted the range of his vision constantly, from near to far, snapping from target to target as he calculated his route. Launching off a tree trunk, he hurled several knives at the stone watchtowers.

[Shadow Mana Explosion activated]

The towers detonated, collapsing in cascading bursts of rubble and dust. He kept advancing, flicking knives at skeletons lining the battlements. Each blade struck the center of a skull, and the bones collapsed. With another knife in hand, he flooded it with mana and threw. The impact against the fortress gate erupted into a blast, blowing open his path. Luke moved through the smoke at full speed.

A creature waited inside the courtyard. It roared and charged.

[Bone Colossus – Lvl 86]

The giant skeleton slammed its massive hammer down, and Luke slipped to the side. Ballista crews inside the courtyard swiveled toward him and fired. The colossus towered over him, grotesquely bulky, with only a single hollow eye socket like a cyclops carved from bone.

Luke responded by firing [Shadow Ball] toward the wooden towers, igniting them as he dodged the hammer swings. One kukri in hand, a throwing knife in the other, he dashed across the courtyard. He launched the knife at the creature’s leg.

It exploded, staggering the giant. Luke didn’t hesitate.

He leapt.

[Crimson Fang activated]

The impact split the colossus’s skull, launching the head across the courtyard. Luke immediately followed with another thrown blade, empowering it with [Burst Throw].

[You have slain a Bone Colossus – Lvl 86]

He walked across the courtyard, firing off [Shadow Ball] to shatter wandering skeletons, then stopped at the entrance of the fort’s main hall. He pointed a hand at the ground.

[Teleportation Circle I activated]

The doors groaned open. Inside, the place was dark and dust-choked, the air heavy with the smell of old stone. Signs of collapse lined the walls, and a long, faded red carpet stretched toward the center of the chamber, where a treasure chest waited.

“Finally.”

Luke advanced with the Sariel Eye’s [360-Degree Vision] active. It didn’t have the range of [Long-Distance Sight], but in tight spaces it was invaluable.

He reached the chest just as something detached from the ceiling. Luke dashed backward, barely avoiding the impact. A scythe slammed into the floor where he had been standing.

[Fort Reaper – Lvl 97]

A black, floating figure wrapped in tattered veils hovered above the ground, gripping its weapon. It lunged at him with unnerving speed. Luke ducked beneath the sweeping blade, only for the scythe’s haft to stretch unnaturally toward him. He dropped low again, rolled aside, and hurled knives. They slipped through the creature harmlessly.

Intangible?

He sharpened his focus with [Long-Distance Sight]. The veil wasn’t reacting at all. The knives hadn’t missed, they’d passed straight through because there was nothing under that dark mantle. The scythe carved through the air again. Bones across the chamber jerked to life, reassembling into skeletal archers who snatched up bows and began firing.

Luke dove into a nearby shadow.

He emerged behind the reaper and launched a knife with [Burst Throw]. The creature deflected it with its scythe. Luke threw another and sprinted, weaving between arrows that thudded into the rugs and rotted wood. The reaper surged toward him.

His foot hit something carved into the floor. A sigil.

[Teleportation Pentagram activated]

Luke vanished mid-stride. The reaper paused, thrown off for a fraction of a second, and that was all he needed. Luke reappeared high above, yanked downward by a wire attached to a knife lodged in the ceiling beam, and dropped like a guillotine. His twin kukris tore straight through the floating veil.

The creature screamed as a chorus of dissonant voices, the black cloth shredding into dozens of drifting scraps. They aged in seconds, crumbling into ash before they hit the ground.

[You have slain a Fort Reaper – Lvl 97]

The skeletons collapsed instantly.

**Your class [Demonic Predator] has reached Level 82!**

**Your class [Arcane Witch] has reached Level 60!**

[You have unlocked a Second Class Skill]

“At long last, I’m done hunting on this damn island.”

He approached the chest and lifted the lid. Inside lay a dark, folded cloth.

[Fort Reaper’s Mantle (Ultra-Rare);
Description: A black cloak that shrouds the wearer’s face in darkness when the hood is raised, concealing identity completely.
Enchantments:
[Lightweight (Rare)]: The user becomes physically lighter, increasing agility.
[Soft Descent (Rare)]: Falling from great heights slows before impact.
Bonus: +20 Toughness, +100 Agility.
Requirement: Level 70+ in Assassin Class.

Figures, reapers are a type of assassin.

Luke swung the cloak around his shoulders.

“Shame I had to take off the haori,” he muttered.

The cloak settled like a second skin.

He left the ruin and sprinted through the forest that covered the floating island. This archipelago drifted high above the stratosphere most of the year, descending only during specific seasonal cycles, something Artemis had explained to him. At the island’s edge, he looked down. Far below, another floating isle hung like a stone suspended in the sky.

“Time to test this mantle,” he said.

Luke jumped.

He plunged straight down toward the floating island, the wind tearing past him in a deafening rush. Only when the ground surged up dangerously fast did he trigger the cloak’s power. His momentum softened at once, the fall bleeding away into a gentle drift.

He touched down lightly. The place was… bleak. Mostly mud and packed earth, with only a few scraggly patches of vegetation clinging stubbornly to the terrain. No real trees, no shade, nothing that looked remotely alive. Luke started walking, boots sinking slightly into the wet soil. As he moved deeper across the barren island, he pulled up his system interface.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Name: Luke
Level: 78
Race: Half-Demon
Rank: E
Core: [Spectral Beast (Rank F)]
Class: [Demonic Predator (Lvl 82)]
2nd Class: [Arcane Witch (Lvl 60)]
Profession: [Guardian Botanist of Mother Freya (Lvl 77)]
Titles: [Dark Lord]
Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Dark Demon]
Health Points (HP): 7945/8700
Mana Points (MP): 8359/10500
Stamina: 5142/6100
Soul Fragments: 661/1000

Stats:
Strength: 620
Lethality: 1146
Agility: 1002 (1112)
Dexterity: 462
Endurance: 610
Vitality: 870
Toughness: 400 (420)
Perception: 918 (928)
Wisdom: 1040 (1050)
Intelligence: 982
Willpower: 810
Free Points: 18

Class Skills: [Advanced Blade Handling (Uncommon)], [Advanced Knife Throwing (Rare)], [Twin Blade (Common)], [Basic Dark Dash (Rare)], [Crimson Fang (Ultra-Rare)], [Predator’s Mark (Rare)], [Demonic Blade Dance (Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Advanced Stealth (Rare)], [Assassin’s Tracking (Rare)], [Mana Infusion (Rare)], [Basic Archery (Common)], [Demonic Predator Hands (Epic)], [Demonic Predator Throwing Knife (Epic)], [Burst Throw (Epic)], [Stealth Critical Strike (Rare)], [Shadow Dive (Rare)]

Second Class Skills: [Advanced Magic Conjuration (Uncommon)], [Teleportation Pentagram (Legendary)], [Shadow Ball (Common)], [Weak Telekinesis (Uncommon)], [Witch’s Gaze (Uncommon)], [Cursed Weapon Throw (Rare)], [Telekinetic Impulse (Rare)], [Telekinetic Pull (Rare)], [Witch’s Thread (Rare)], [Despair Aura I (Rare)], [Clear Mind (Ancient)], [Shadow Mana Explosion (Ultra-Rare)]

Profession Skills: [Herbology of Mother Freya (Ancient)], [Precise Extraction (Common)], [Advanced Potion Crafting (Uncommon)], [Corrupted Plant Growth (Rare)], [Plant Sensor (Uncommon)], [Botanical Bond of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Seed Conversion (Rare)], [Plant Manipulation of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Corrupted Blood of Mother Freya (Ultra-Rare)], [Thorn Mutation (Uncommon)], [Soil Analysis (Uncommon)], [Botanical Purification (Uncommon)], [Acid Blood Arrow (Epic)], [Soil Guardian I (Ancient)], [Vegetal Respiration (Common)], [Stomach of Mother Freya (Ancient)]

Race Skills: [Identify (Common)], [Demonic Perception (Uncommon)], [Dark Blood (Uncommon)], [Advanced Meditation (Uncommon)], [Demonic Endurance (Uncommon)]

Rank Skill: [Soul Infiltration (Rank F)]

Bloodline Skill: [Servant of the Dark Lord (Unique)]
Servants: [Unavailable], [Unavailable]

Familiar: [Unavailable]

Luke scrolled through the new Witch skills that had just unlocked. All of them were epic. Then one in particular made him pause.

Wait. The system is actually offering something like this?

He chose it without hesitation.

***

His Spectral Beast lunged at a crab, acting freely on autonomous mode. The serpent’s paralyzing gaze froze a crab mid-scuttle, and its massive jaws lifted the creature clean off the ground. Bone cracked. Slick, dark blood poured out as the beast devoured it whole.