Chapter 9: Status Effect.
This wasn’t the first time Seris’ Dormant ability had failed to affect Damien. The first time was when he had been thrown into the cage; she attempted to check for a pulse and found nothing.
Now she was trying to heal him directly, and yet again, her powers had no effect. Her Dormant ability; Life Thread, allows her to perceive and biologically regenerate damaged tissue in any living being.
This had never happened before. Not with anyone else.
The only reasonable explanation she could come up with was.
"My Status is undead," Damien said ambiguously. He paused for a moment before adding, "You guys have mentioned status effect before. What is it exactly?"
Seris didn’t really hear the second part of what Damien said. Her mind was locked entirely on his unusual status. If Damien had never been alive to begin with, then that would explain why her ability had no effect.
It wasn’t that anything was wrong with her, it simply meant he existed outside the rules that governed her Dormant ability.
"Status effect is a little complicated to explain, but basically everyone has it," Chad said with a friendly smile. "It doesn’t manifest the same way Dormant abilities do, but it still makes up a large part of our combat strength. It’s just not usually as obvious as yours... for example."
He gestured toward Yuri. "Yuri herself still hasn’t fully figured out hers, and she probably won’t anytime soon. As for me... my status is Ammut."
He paused slightly, choosing his words.
"It’s a physical amplification effect. My body reinforces itself in combat, making me stronger than most Dormant humans in raw strength. But it doesn’t work in a simple fixed way."
Chad flexed his fingers slightly before continuing.
"If my opponent is weaker than me physically, I gain a small advantage over them. If they’re stronger, the gap doesn’t flip in their favor, I’m still slightly ahead in raw physical output. No matter the matchup, I always end up on the stronger side when it comes to pure strength."
By the time Chad finished speaking, Damien’s expression had turned uglier than a newborn duckling.
"Why is everything about this guy so broken?"
Seris finally gave up and pulled her hand away. "My dormant ability only works on living creatures, I can’t heal your injuries".
Damien blinked. "Wait, do I have to walk around with my brain dangling out of my head?".
"Look". Yuri said. "It’s healing on its own, it’s just a little slow".
The moment Yuri spoke, the others finally noticed the squirming flesh, the healing was dozens of times slower than Seri’s, but the wound was still closing gradually.
That made Damien breath a heavy sigh of relief. "Come on, we need to go before the Eidolons in the settlement notice that their priest hasn’t returned to start the feast yet".
They all nodded in agreement, but after some time, nobody moved. Seris couldn’t help but ask. "How exactly do we get back to the camp, it’s on the other side of the Eidolon settlement".
Damien nodded in agreement while rubbing his temples. "Good question... Chad, how do we get back?".
Chad was flabbergasted, but he was the oldest in the group, he couldn’t exactly shift responsibility to Yuri, her plan would probably be to kill our way out from the front.
They could try laying low, but for how long. Every month, the Eidolons have a habit of making sacrifices before they feast, and for the feast to begin, the priest will have to return to the settlement and declare their sacrifice accepted by their goat head deity.
Chad had another option, they could go deeper into the ruins of humanity, but even the Eidolons don’t dare trespass beyond their ritual dais, what if they come across something scarier than the Eidolons there.
His eyes suddenly narrowed, Chad pointed towards the distant undead priest.
"What’s your undead doing?".
Damien and the others finally noticed the strange behavior. The undead priest was moving in tight, restless circles around the goat-head statue, its steps uneven and almost frantic, as if something about the goat head was unsettling it.
Damien raised a hand and gestured for it to return, immediately obeying its master. The priest turned and walked back to him without hesitation.
When it reached him, Damien placed a hand on its broad, muscular chest, patting it lightly as though calming an animal. His tone softened, almost like a mother speaking to a restless child.
"What’s wrong... are you scared?"
Seris instinctively stepped away from Damien.
The undead priest did not answer. It couldn’t. It only stood there, releasing low, guttural growls that vibrated faintly through its chest. Damien was fairly certain undead couldn’t speak, but the sound still felt like something trying to communicate.
"I’ll go check the goat statue," Yuri said indifferently before walking toward it.
When she reached it, she paused. The statue itself wasn’t the problem, behind it, partially hidden in the snow, was a giant slab of rock, unnaturally placed. It didn’t look like part of the ruins. It looked like something had been used to hastily seal an entrance.
"Hey guys, I found something".
Yuri called out, but before anyone could respond. The snow packed on the goat-head statue and the surrounding human monuments began to slide off in clumps. The ground itself started to tremble.
The undead priest went silent, standing perfectly still. Seris took heavy steps toward Yuri, her gaze locked in the direction of the Eidolon settlement.
The Eidolons in the settlement had somehow noticed the sudden silence, now they were rushing towards the stone dais.
Chad’s expression tightened, twisting with urgency. He grabbed Seris by the wrist and broke into a run toward the goat statue. Damien and his four undead followed close behind.
"What you found better be a way out!" Damien shouted.
The moment Chad saw the sealed entrance, he yanked Yuri aside and pushed his shoulder into the rock, he pushed with all his might, but to no avail, the boulder remained unmoved.