Depthless Hunger

Chapter 134: Final Savage Moments

As the horde of monstrous wolves rushed closer, Kai took a deep breath. Far deeper than he should have been able to, his lungs swelling and swelling until he felt as though his chest should have been inflating. His body might have shifted slightly, but thankfully he didn't bloat up like the Infernotoad.

The flaming mass of stone definitely worked, though.

Kai finished expelling it and watched as his technique obliterated the majority of the pack. Even after practice, he couldn't expel quite as large or focused of a boulder, but it was good enough. Only a few of the three-mouthed wolves survived, and they quickly turned tail to run.

Before they got more than a few steps, Zae Zin Nim killed them with precise qi bolts. She was sitting on the side of the diamond star, which glided slowly behind them. Now that the horde was destroyed, she tucked her hands back into her sleeves and examined him.

"That was reasonably effective. You can't concentrate it further?"

"I don't think I'm going to be able to." Kai sighed and walked closer to the burned wolf pack. "I have some ability to shape the monstrous essence, but it's just like working a material, not creating something new. So I can't bend the abilities into anything I want."

He bent down, snapped his teeth together, and swallowed one of the twisted wolves whole. It definitely tasted good, but he immediately knew that it wasn't powerful enough to become a whole essence inside him. Which was a shame, because he'd been hoping that their three jaws could merge with Isulfr's Bite to enhance it. So far in his experiments, no monster ranked as a beta-level threat or below could grant him an ability. At least he could take a head as a trophy to join the others that proved they'd been effectively monster hunting.

On their journey to Yulthens they had detoured to kill several monsters, but the only one that had been strong enough was a creature called a Goreram. Its hide had been so durable that his Tyrant's Claw actually hadn't been enough to kill it and he'd needed to coordinate with Zae Zin Nim to trap and then cut apart the monster.

That was about what he expected, and he mentally thanked Krainuun for providing all the information. Kai was more frustrated by his experiments with shifting abilities. It had taken an enormous amount of mental effort to shift his monstrous nature and use the Infernotoad's power and now, after all the testing, he was just going to shift back.

He jumped into the back of the diamond star and focused internally. It was nothing like cultivation or mana exercises, but he naturally took those poses to concentrate. While he sat motionless, his spirit struggled to move the power inside him. It felt as if the monster statues he saw in his soul, normally so easy to move, had suddenly become impossibly heavy and he could only scrape them along the ground an inch at a time.

"That doesn't feel like cultivation," Zae Zin Nim said over her shoulder. "Are you switching monster abilities back?"

"Right," Kai said without stopping his work. "Tyrant's Claw is too strong to be replaced and it's reasonably long range. I don't want to give up Isulfr's Bite because it's all that gets through armor sometimes. It's probably smartest to feed the Infernotoad to some other monster to strengthen a better ability."

"Preferably something from your hands. Only monsters and cultivators disturbingly obsessed with snakes use abilities from their mouths."

"Well, the biting isn't going to stop, so I'll take what I can get."

She had been directing the star to fly onward, but now Zae Zin Nim turned back to him. "It seems to be taking some time to shift abilities."

"And I don't think it's getting faster." Kai grimaced as he tried to throw his whole soul into moving the Tyrant's Claw statue back into place. "I don't think I'll be able to switch abilities rapidly in the middle of battle, and I'm not sure I should do it randomly. Sometimes it feels like I still have no idea what I'm doing."

"I don't see it that way at all. A few months ago, you had barely begun to accept your monstrous powers. Now you can evaluate them, shift them, and even merge them. Most people take years or decades to develop a new path of cultivation. Considering that you're delving into unknown territory, you're making remarkable progress."

Unqualified praise didn't come from her often, so Kai opened his eyes and smiled. "Thanks. You're right, I just can't help but think about the powers we're up against."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Nothing to be done about that." Zae Zin Nim sighed and turned back to the driver's controls.

During their journey Kai had been making attempts to merge and otherwise control his monster essences. His goal had been to finally merge together all of his passive defensive abilities into one powerful monster, but he'd come up short. Oh, he could have done it, but he was dead certain that it would have resulted in an ability that was weaker than he needed.

If he had a different breath ability, however, he was confident that the Infernotoad would feed into it effectively. The problem was getting one. Kai had never seen a dragon personally or even heard a credible hunter's tale about one, but he knew that they factually existed and were allegedly more common away from the Frontier.

Even if it was a wildly idealistic dream, part of him hoped that he could eat a dragon and then breathe pure flame.

The other good news was that he no longer felt bloated, even carrying so many different essences inside him. Holding them as unformed potential, which he'd only mastered more recently, made things easier, and his training on controlling the abilities helped. He was afraid it might be hard to increase the number available to him, but for the time being, he had complete flexibility in developing his monstrous powers.

One little doubt twisted in his mind: he hadn't been able to raise the threat rating of any of his monstrous abilities much recently. It was at least possible that the overcrowding was inhibiting them in some way. As soon as he figured out the next step that wouldn't undo any of his work, he'd be testing that theory further.

Finally he managed to shift the power within him. Kai had been avoiding looking directly at his soul, but they were getting near Yulthens, so it was probably time to evaluate himself.

Name: Kai Clanless

Total Power: 139

Cultivation: Qi Condensation 99% (25)

Physique Level: E-3 (89)

Soul Level: 5 (25)

Monstrous Hunger - VII (eta)

Direboar's Strength - V (epsilon)

Aquagorgon's Health - V (epsilon)

Gomodo's Stamina - V (epsilon)

Isulfr's Bite - IV (delta)

Tyrant's Claw - III (gamma)

-

Direclam's Shell - I (alpha)

Wallcrawler's Feet - I (alpha)

Infernotoad's Burst - II (beta)

Direserpent (???)

Goreram (???)

Shademonger (???)

Behemoth's Heart (???)

>

The more comfortable he became with his power, the less he saw his soul as incoherent symbols and the more it spoke to him plainly. He'd managed to mentally divide his monsters between those he actively used and those that slept, and after he'd done so the warning symbols had faded away. Either having everything organized made him feel more in control or his control made his spiritual sight more organized, but either way he felt like he was coming to grips with his power.

Otherwise, his Physique had improved again and he'd advanced to the very peak of the Qi Condensation stage. Zae Zin Nim told him that the next step would be the equivalent of a Physique upgrade in terms of how well qi suffused his body, but he needed to be extremely picky about how he broke through or his growth would be stunted.

For better or for worse, this was the power he'd enter Yulthens with.

Everyone said that Yulthens was the greatest city in Krysal, and the top locations almost always drew the strongest warriors disproportionately. Kai had been too strong for Romastir, but he doubted he'd have such an advantage in Yulthens. With just his human abilities, he'd probably be an average crystallier, and he didn't want to risk using too many monstrous abilities until he'd advanced a stage in cultivation as cover.

"This was good."

Zae Zin Nim spoke so abruptly that he almost jumped. She wasn't looking back at him, just staring forward as they flew closer to the city. Even as she kept speaking, she didn't shift her head, so her hair formed a wall between them

"We should try to stay together here," she said quietly. "And pick better jobs so we don't have to waste time with fools."

"I can agree with that." Kai smiled even though she couldn't see him. "Yeah, let's work together while we're here. We'll be outnumbered, after all."

"Good." Zae Zin Nim didn't say another word, and it wasn't long after when Yulthens finally came into view.

Up to that point Kai had been imagining it as a slightly larger version of Romastir, or maybe like Rayakan with a bunch of crystals. But the city was easily twice the size of Romastir and half again as tall, and where Rayakan had been dominated by its river, Yulthens had outgrown it. The river only passed through the lowest quarter of the city, which was bristling with docks, and the other side rose higher and higher, like two or three cities combined into one.

Even flying on their diamond star wasn't high enough to get a complete view of the city, so Kai just drank everything in as they approached. The little forts and farming stations in the region around the walls were as large as some of the buildings in Romastir, and they were all dwarfed by the massive outer wall.

That wall, formed of something like dark red quartz, looked like it could break a monster incursion on its own. Yet unlike almost all the city walls Kai had seen, this one was covered in balconies, walkways, even what looked like entire buildings grown onto the side. It definitely wouldn't repel an assault... but it didn't need to.

At least three massive crystals hovered over the walls and he guessed there were two more out of sight on the other side. Each was as clear as diamond and glowed with pure qi. He could see guards stationed on the carved tops, no doubt capable of directing an enormous quantity of power against any enemies of the city.

Kai glanced over at Zae Zin Nim, wondering if she would say that such sights were common on Cloudspire. But even she was silent as they flew into Yulthens.