Chapter 52: Beyond Flesh and Bone

The stone chamber roared with the thunder of battle. Or rather, with the impacts of Cerys being driven into its walls.

The titan, apparently growing somewhat tired of the girl’s persistence, raised his arm, and the black mist gathered into a ball of energy.

It shot forward, aiming to vaporize his enemy, but Cerys managed to dodge it, losing only a few red locks in the process.

The dark energy exploded against the rock, opening a hole so large it almost looked like a new adjoining cavern.

“I thought I was lucky the Godscript had given me choices that looked like attacks…”

[Soul Rend]

[There is more beyond flesh and bone]

“But what is this…? A direct attack on the soul? Will that cause damage, or is it more like a debuff?”

Nerez crossed his arms thoughtfully while Cerys flew over his head and crashed once more into the stone wall.

“Well, no matter how I look at it, there’s no way to build a strategy around something so unknown… I suppose there’s no choice but to test it in actual combat.”

Nerez raised his hand toward Erebion.

“Soul Rend.”

Either way, I don’t think this can be a bad thing for us.

Just as the titan was about to strike Cerys again, his movements faltered, allowing her to carve a massive gash into his arm with her scythe.

The black mist making up his body split apart and failed to close again. It was clearly an enormous wound.

“…”

Erebion leapt backward, dodging Cerys’s powerful follow-up strike, then unleashed his black mist against her again and hurled her through the air.

[Proficiency UP!]

[Soul Rend]

[Proficiency E -> D]

“Even if you tell me that…”

The Godscript window clearly showed an active debuff on Erebion. But its specific effects remained a mystery.

[Soul Rend: 10%]

At least, it looked like a debuff.

The titan’s movements had clearly grown sluggish, and Cerys was no longer being sent flying quite as far each time she was struck.

“Well, since it works… Soul Rend.”

[Soul Rend]

[Proficiency D -> C]

“Soul Rend.”

[Soul Rend]

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[Proficiency C -> B]

“Soul Rend.”

[Soul Rend]

[Proficiency B -> A]

Erebion now moved nothing like he had only moments earlier.

[Soul Rend: 50%]

The titan’s eyes locked onto Nerez again and flashed, perhaps with fury or perhaps with pain. It was impossible to tell on that shadowed face.

“This must end at once,” Erebion declared. “The fact that you exist is not permitted… it must not be permitted.”

“I don’t know who gets to decide that my existence isn’t allowed, but if it’s just your opinion against mine, that makes it a technical tie…”

As if responding to Nerez’s comment, Erebion stretched out his hand, and black mist poured from it in a controlled vortex, shaping itself into a spear as dark as the titan himself.

“Don’t think I don’t know the weakness of spears!” Cerys exclaimed, closing the distance between herself and the titan to slip inside his guard.

But what attacked her instead was the black mist, sending her rolling across the ground with one powerful lash.

“Gah!”

Cerys finally crashed into a rock near Nerez, and he could see that his servant was covered in wounds and blood.