Chapter 701: Overlord Quest [Ko-fi Donation Bonus Chapter]
[You have become the Target of an Overlord Quest]
[Your Destiny hangs in the balance]
This was the only notification Sylas received. He had no idea what an Overlord Quest was or what it represented. All he knew was that the moment this notification appeared, the snail locked eyes with him and unleashed a howl that filled the skies.
Somehow, it sounded like a cross between a whale's mourn and a wolf's howl to the moon, penetrating through his Aether skin and battering against his eardrum with every intent to shatter it.
[What is an Overlord Quest?]
[An Overlord Quest is a Destiny-changing Quest. The most common application of it is giving a non-Overlord Race a chance to become one. Usually, it is applied on a small scale, allowing one such member of a non-Overlord Race to displace an existing member of an Overlord Race. On the largest scales, it allows an entire Race to be replaced.]
Sylas' pupils trembled as he understood what was happening.
The snail had been given a quest to snatch his Overlord Race status away from him.
Sylas' jaw clenched. Without the status of an Overlord Race, you would lose the favor of the system entirely.
This wasn't just about losing the ability to Level up either. Most of the functions of the system would be unavailable. If one already had a Class, you would lose much of its abilities. To make matters worse, if you lost about 50% of the capabilities of a Class, then you would lose as much as 70% of a Profession's abilities.
Even things like Mounts wouldn't work as well anymore.
How much of Sylas' Vipermancer Profession was automated by the system? Without its favor, how far would his strength plummet?
A guillotine suddenly hung over Sylas' head once again and the undulations of the snail's howl buffeted against his mind.
It was happening again. That fear was sinking in, clawing its way into the very depths of his soul.
What made it so powerful was that it wasn't trying to compete with his Will. It was preying on weaknesses and insecurities that already existed.
His fear of this region, the stain of that day, the shadows lingering in his mind...
Those were all things that he had yet to purge.
A mad cackle echoed through Sylas' ears again and his mind seemed to clear up. His Will fed on the negative energy and a pulsing feeling thrummed through his right arm right in the location the Blackened Claw was hidden in.
Sylas' gaze regained its focus and he locked eyes with the howling snail.
He didn't understand what was happening inside of his body. This odd Demonic Will that was rooting itself in him should have been a negative. He innately wanted to feel like it was a negative.
So why was it helping him?
SHU! SHU! SHU!
Arrows filled the skies and collapsed onto Sylas' position. His mind had cleared fast enough for him to dodge, but how could the Basilisk King with how large its body was?
However, at that moment, Sylas felt a swelling of strength within his chest as a flame that was half Glass and half darkness surged.
BANG!
He held out a hand and all of the arrows came to a freezing stop at the same time. Over three dozen of them stopped in their tracks as Sylas' fist clenched.
SHU! SHU! SHU!
The arrows reversed course, plummeting down from the skies and ripping through the bodies of the Fire Monkeys that had fired them.
"Let's go." Sylas said coldly.
Since he couldn't figure it out now, there was only one thing to do.
Kill.
The strength of his telekinesis skyrocketed, doubling in power output. Now, it could exhibit equal power on over 400 pounds without losing a single Physical stat point.
In the past, Sylas wasn't able to stop arrows in the air because their force per square inch was too high. But between the effects of his Title and this new Demonic Will, his ability to exert influence on the world shot through the roof.
Sylas borrowed a portion of Nosphaleen's Charisma stat to balance out his own Charisma and Will and suddenly his telekinesis could exhibit over 500 pounds of power without losing a single Physical stat point.
Over 2000 Physical stat points, to be exact.
Ice Bolts appeared in the skies by the dozens, raining down in a violent upheaval. Sylas didn't seem to care for quantity and barely cared even if his enemies managed to dodge.
In a relentless barrage, he littered the battlefield with sheets of ice that were immediately assaulted by the oppressive heat in the region.
...
Linzie and the others gathered at the edge of the forest, their eyes bulging at the raging battle. As Sylas had guessed, they were confident in attacking earlier because other than sending out a few scouting units of Fire Monkeys, the snail was usually quite dormant. Through trial and error, though, they had come to understand that dormant or not, the snail couldn't be provoked. Doing so would bring the entire wrath of its army down on you.
They thought they would have to push or trick Sylas into it, only for him to enter the fray on his own.
But now they were hesitating. Should they go and risk being attacked themselves?
At that moment, Fire Monkeys started flying out of the forest, catching them off guard. They prepared to attack, only to realize that the monkeys completely ignored them, shooting into the battlefield to assault Sylas.
They looked at one another and seemed to understand something.
The snail was going all out to kill Sylas for reasons they couldn't quite understand. However,
this was a good thing for them nonetheless.
Wouldn't this give them an opportunity if they just bided their time?
...
In the corners of the forest, two familiar powers had already made their presences known. Among them were, of course, Under and Masquerade. Under's expression was unreadable, but Masquerade's carried a hint of shock on them.
The Second Flame gang head looked at the device in his hand as his heartrate shot through the
roof.
'Overlord Quest! This is huge! I have to inform them!'
Somehow, the little device in his hand had picked up on the fluctuations in the laws, decoding
the encrypted language of the system and deciphering its intentions.
Now, it wouldn't just be the backup of the government coming.
This matter would truly blow up.
The enemies of Earth themselves couldn't possibly sit still in the face of such an opportunity.