I'll upload another chapter if we reach 295 power stones.
...
Gilgamesh was scouting ahead of their current position with the help of his portals.
It was the next day after the storm, and with everything back to normal, he had decided to proceed.
He teleported through the air, memorizing the fastest way to reach various hills, cliffs, and monuments above the level of the dark sea.
While Gilgamesh was scanning everything, he couldn't help but reminisce about his fight with the Centurions yesterday. He hadn't expected them to be strong, but he also couldn't have known just how weak they were. After that fight, Gilgamesh had briefly thought about battling the Nightmare Creatures with his bare fists to make the fights against them actually interesting.
He had immediately decided against it; he didn't want to touch them with his hands.
He wasn't planning on using another weak sword either, not only would that be a great disrespect to Ea, but also because he needed to reach ten thousand kills with it as quickly as possible.
Coming to a stop, Gilgamesh looked at the Ashen Barrow in front of him. A tall hill capable of becoming a real island once the water rose in the night, its shape resembled a colossal barrow. It was covered in gray sand left behind by dead coral, and this hill looked like a mountain of ash crowned by a giant red tree.
'Would I have to remove the roots of the Soul Devouring Tree as well to kill it properly?'
Gilgamesh wasn't sure how that worked; he was planning on just chopping it down after stealing all its fruits.
Turning his attention away from the tree, he instead tried to find the Carapace Demon.
Unfortunately, the Nightmare Creature was nowhere to be found.
"Did bro go on a vacation?"
He doubted that holidays were a part of the contract the Soul Devouring Tree made him sign.
Suddenly, a filthy centipede jumped into the air, trying to snap him up. But, like the nonchalant King he was, Gilgamesh didn't even have to look down as a sword shot out of his portal and pierced the Nightmare Creature.
These filthy creatures had been trying to eat him from the moment he had entered their domain.
Clicking his tongue at their annoying antics, he turned away from the Ashen Barrow, retracing his path towards where the cohort was staying, memorizing the most efficient paths again.
Halfway back to the base camp, Gilgamesh saw the bone ridge protruding from the ground.
He stopped to admire its sheer scale. It was a towering landmark that sharply contrasted against the crimson coral and the gray sky. Made of the skeletal remains of a colossal sea monster, it lay on an enormous mound of chaotically growing coral, with its arching spine protruding especially high above the ground.
Looking at it, Gilgamesh couldn't help but be reminded of the Gargantuan Leviathan from Subnautica.
"Detecting multiple leviathan class life forms in the region. Are you certain whatever you're doing is worth it?"
Gilgamesh laughed at the words while staring at the immense bones of the leviathan-like creature.
It had to be at least a Great rank Nightmare Creature.
Gilgamesh turned away, not before throwing one last glance at the dead creature.
On the way back, he couldn't help but wonder if this world still had some good video games. Since that Dreamscape thing was pretty immersive, surely there would be other ones like it, right?
...
Gilgamesh's feet finally touched the ground of the cliff while he was lost in thought.
He took a look around himself.
Cassie was petting his Echo of the Carapace Scavenger, who looked way more happier than a Echo should be. Nephis was busy meditating with flashes of pain running across her face at random intervals, while Sunny was doing the last of her one thousand strikes.
The first one to notice his presence was surprisingly Cassie, as she smiled brightly at the sound of his feet.
"I have found the most efficient path towards our next checkpoint. Let's go."
...
The week passed quickly as they marched on from cliffs to hills, quickly and efficiently eliminating all that came in their path. Every Nightmare Creature they encountered was killed as swiftly as possible. Gilgamesh himself had killed over half of the creatures they had encountered on the way towards the Ashen Barrow.
With Soul Shards, Golden Fragments, and treasures flooding his [Gate of Babylon], he had crossed the two hundred mark and was almost at three hundred already.
The coordination between Nephis and Sunny had increased considerably, with both of them progressing more or less at the same pace. Surprisingly, Cassie was the one who had grown the most out of them all. With Gilgamesh and Nephis both giving her Soul Shards from their shares, she was quickly filling up her Soul Core. The blind girl no longer needed his Echo to travel, yet she insisted on keeping it after growing attached to and treating it like it was her pet. While she hadn't managed to kill any Nightmare Creature as of yet, she had grown considerably stronger and could dodge any attack launched at her by a weak Nightmare Creature.
Gilgamesh had given the [Starlight Legion Armor] to Nephis since he had no use for it, which he had gotten from killing the one of the two Carapace Centurions while he had gotten a Echo from the other. He had also given [Gloom-Weaver Hood] to Sunny, which had increased her efficiency at killing the Nightmare Creatures immensely.
After all this fight this fighting, his treasury had started to fill up with actual treasures instead of rocks and stones.
A few days ago Sunny had also asked them whether they were also getting a weird ominous feeling from something at the evening. While Nephis and Cassie weren't sure what she was talking about, he had realized that it was the Shadow of the Crimson Spire that was disturbing her.
With one week passing, they only had enough food for at least another week, which he was fairly certain would last till around the time they reached the Dark City.
Suddenly, he felt a Nightmare Creature sneaking towards him, with a bored look on his face, Gilgamesh slashed at the Centipede Monster as it slithered under the ground along with its friends, hoping to ambush him.
Before they could even realize it, they were cut in half by Ea.
[You have slain...]
Gilgamesh had gotten used to ignoring the sound of the Spell whenever he killed something.
With practiced movements, he deposited the sword he had gotten into [Gate of Babylon].
After that was done, he turned back and saw Sunny sitting on the dead body of a Carapace Scavenger while calmly wiping its blood from her sword.
"I see you're taking my lessons on how to aura farm properly."
She nodded her head seriously, trying to farm more aura by making the [Gloom-Weaver Hood] float in the air without the help of the wind.
Unfortunately, that was something only experienced aura farmers like himself could do. On cue, the red cape around his waist started fluttering heroically in the air without any wind while he folded his arms with an arrogant look on his face.
Sunny's eye twitched.
"How do you always manage to do that!?"
A condescending grin spread across his face as Gilgamesh ran his hand through his soft hair.
"You still have a lot to learn, little one."
Without waiting, he turned to look at Cassie and saw his Echo shoving its pincers inside a Centipede's head, ripping its brains out. It screeched into the air with its arms raised, while Cassie was still sitting on it.
The thought of a blind seer riding on a bloodthirsty monster while directing it wasn't pleasant.
At the same time, Nephis came back carrying Soul Shards and the oil of the Centipede Monster in a seaweed bag.
Since they were all done, Gilgamesh commanded them on the next course of action.
"Let's head towards the Bone Ridge today; we still have a little time before the sun is down."
Getting in formation, they started to make their way towards the huge protruding bones of the leviathan, without any creature attacking them.
In this area, there were barely any Carapace Scavengers; most of the Nightmare Creatures they faced were Centipede Monsters, rarely did they encounter a different creature here.
Just as the sun was about to set, they had made their way towards the highest point of the spine after confirming that there were no Nightmare Creatures hanging around there.
They ate their dinner, accompanied by a comfortable silence. After they were done eating, Gilgamesh excused himself, letting them take their bath.
Walking towards the edge where the dark sea was closest to him, he sat down.
Out of boredom when he was on night watch duty, he had resorted to sniping the creatures residing in the waters.
For now, he hadn't encountered anything above the rank of Fallen.
What Hilgaymesh was, however, curious about was how he would fare against a Corrupted Nightmare Creature. Peering into the dark water with his eyes, he tried to find one.
Unfortunately, Gilgamesh still couldn't find any Corrupted Nightmare Creatures.
Instead, as usual, he found the boring, Nightmare Creatures that were just prey for the bigger things. So he let out a warning shot towards one of the Fallen Beast swimming around which looked similar to a hammerhead shark but with four eyes instead of two. The creature was alerted of his presence and tried to swim towards him before it got killed by a sword of the Ascended Rank flying at it at Mach Fuck.
[You have slain...]
Ignoring the Spell, he summoned the memory and put it inside the portal that had opened beside him.
He looked up as his Runes shimmered in the air.
Golden Cores: [2/7]
Golden Fragments: [289/2000]
Not bad for just a week, not bad at all.
Next, he summoned the Runes of [Sword of Rupture].
Conquered Foes: [63/10000]
Nodding his head at the amount, he heard Sunny coming towards him, telling him it was his turn to bathe.
...
After breakfast in the morning, they discussed their plan for the day.
"The next stop will be at a place called Ashen Barrow. There is a Carapace Demon over there along with a mind-controlling tree. I'll engage the Demon while you three try to go around it towards the tree and climb on top of it while I go kill it."
All of them looked shocked at the mention of a Carapace Demon. Before Nephis smiled—you heard that right—at him. It was still honestly pretty creepy seeing her smiling.
"How strong is the Carapace Demon?"
"Eh, not that strong. Should take me about a minute or two to kill it without Ea."
After everything that had happened, no one doubted his words. With their plan settled, they moved towards the gray sand of the ground.
Gilgamesh was going to summon his Echo but stopped. Instead, he walked towards Cassie and held her hand. She looked up at him with a blush on her face, which morphed into surprise once he transferred the Echo to her.
"You already use it more than me. I have no real need for it. So take it without complaining."
Cassie opened her mouth to refuse, but Gilgamesh patted her head and walked away.
Once they were ready, they immediately started moving towards the Ashen Barrow.
It was honestly kind of weird to see all those corals disappearing after having traveled through them for a week. It felt wrong to see the open expanse of the gray sand that surrounded them, with everything being clear around them for the first time.
"Stop!"
Sunny's voice interrupted his musing as she pointed at a Carapace Centurion carrying a large Transcendent Soul Shard towards the Ashen Barrow.
They slowly followed behind it as it reached the edge before stopping and bowing down.
The sound of multiple heavy feet gliding through the gray sands of the Ashen Barrow could be heard.
Finally, the thing appeared in their view. Its eight segmented legs resembled tall pillars. Its form was similar to that of scavengers and centurions, comprised of a crab-like carapace and a protruding, somewhat humanoid torso.
Instead of chitin, the behemoth's shell was seemingly made out of polished, lustrous metal. It was as though its whole body had been once submerged into a crucible of molten steel, emerging from it encased in an impenetrable suit of shining armor.
The demon's head was more pronounced than that of a scavenger and crowned with several tall, sharp horns. Its metal face was almost human-like, but simultaneously repulsively monstrous and bestial.
Gilgamesh immediately felt the urge to fight against this creature.
The Carapace Demon turned back and started walking towards the Soul Devouring Tree after picking up the Transcendent Soul Shard from the Centurion's hand.
Once it was far away, the Centurion hesitantly got up and started walking away. It didn't make it very far though, as Gilgamesh moved in front of its path. Just when it was about to screech, a sword went through its brain, ending its life immediately.
"Will... you even be able to win against that thing?"
Sunny's expression was terrified at what she had seen. That thing was a pure monstrosity of metal and evil.
Gilgamesh had the perfect response to that question.
"Nah, I'd win."
He wasn't planning on becoming a KitKat either.
Sunny's faith was somewhat restored after hearing his voice; Gilgamesh barely struggled against Centurions after all, so obviously this thing would not pose much of a challenge to him either.
Having faith in his abilities, they started to move around the Ashen Barrow. At the same time, Gilgamesh jumped onto the Ashen Barrow.
The Carapace Demon, noticed that something was wrong and turned around quickly with fury in its eyes.
"I hope you give me a good fight, filth."
Gilgamesh was not planning on summoning Ea until at least the end of the battle. Still, he had something he wanted to test out.
Immediately, multiple portals opened behind his back as the Nightmare Creature ran towards him after dropping the Transcendent Soul Shard on the ground.
Numerous pebbles shot out of it at the highest speed he could manage. Flying through the air at terrifying speeds, they struck the Metal Armor of the Carapace Demon.
It stumbled, looking as if it was going to fall, but there were no cracks on its armor.
Feeling a little disappointed, Gilgamesh rushed towards the creature with a bloodthirsty grin on his face. At the same time, the Carapace Demon stabilized and rushed towards him, all of its four arms poised to strike and rip him apart.
After days of going without a good fight, Gilgamesh finally felt that this was it.
Not before long, they both were just a couple of feet away from each other.
With a sudden burst of speed, Gilgamesh leaned down and struck one of its pillar-like legs with his own. The Nightmare Creature stumbled due to the bone protruding out of its leg and lashed out furiously at Gilgamesh with all its four arms.
He expertly wove through all of its strikes, with an exhilarated grin on his face.
The Carapace Demon's strikes slightly slowed for a moment due to putting too much pressure on its broken leg. Having waited for this opportunity, Gilgamesh didn't waste time and dropped to the ground with his right leg extended. Performing a horribly powerful leg sweep while targeting its first leg on the other side. His armored foot struck true, making its tree-trunk-like leg fly out.
Momentarily falling to the ground, the Demon let out a screech of pain and anguish and redoubled its attacks against Gilgamesh. Barely avoiding the attack from its scythe-like hand, Gilgamesh rolled back and jumped to create some distance between them. With its front two legs gone, it had to rely on its other legs, which were located further back, causing it to lose balance and stumble multiple times.
Looking at Gilgamesh with frustration, the Carapace Demon rushed forward. While it was significantly slower than before, it was however a lot more cautious now.
Slashing down at Gilgamesh, who was still standing exactly in the same place, the creature prepared its pincers to strike at Gilgamesh immediately if he neared its legs.
As its sharp hands moved furiously towards him, Gilgamesh waited for the perfect opportunity. When its hands were almost about to hit, he sidestepped it and raised his foot, bringing it down instantly at its hand.
The foot struck at the joint connecting the scythe. A sickening crack rang out as its hand was brutally taken off its body while the other hand hit the ground, making it stuck over there.
The agonizing sound that the Carapace Demon released from its mouth almost disoriented Gilgamesh, yet he didn't stop.
The Night Creature's pincer flashed down towards the ground, aiming to crush Gilgamesh's head with it. However, he was already on the move, dashing towards the hand that was struck to the ground. The Carapace Demon hurriedly tried to remove its hand while the two pincers shot towards Gilgamesh.
It was too late.
With another brutal crunch, that hand was removed from its body as well.
With its hand freed, the Demon rushed back while stumbling, hoping to try a different strategy to defeat Gilgamesh. Not giving the Carapace Demon any time to think, he rushed forward, preparing to make the Demon completely disabled.
From beside him, two portals opened. From each portal, swords of Ascended rank shot out at frightening speeds. They rushed through the air, spelling the doom of the Carapace Demon.
Too slow to react with its broken legs, the swords struck with vicious accuracy at the legs of the creature on either side. They savagely tore through all the remaining legs of the creature on either side of its body, separating them from its body.
The Carapace Demon fell on its belly with all of its legs gone.
With its pincers finally in striking range, Gilgamesh struck out with both his legs at the same time, tearing them from their sockets completely.
Moving back, Gilgamesh admired his cruel handiwork.
The once tall Carapace Demon was lying on its stomach, struggling to crawl with all its hulking monstrosities of legs gone. All of its once dangerous hands were nothing more than stubs, flailing desperately through the air. Its once proud head, which was raised high, was eating dirt on the ground.
Brutal and cruel.
Gilgamesh had only fought it with his legs because he did not want to dirty his hands.
"Stand proud, you were strong."
Ea fell into his hands from [Gate of Babylon].
"Or, uh, lay on the ground. You weren't really all that strong anyway."
Walking towards the thrashing creature, Gilgamesh raised his sword and brought it down swiftly as Ea started rotating. With a simple slash, its monstrous head was separated from its body, putting an end to its misery.
...
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