Chapter 484 Blinding Fury (1)
Chapter 484 Blinding Fury (1)
[Finally, you're back- What happened to you?]
"What?" Ashton groaned as he got back to his feet.
It took him a moment to realise his physique had altered yet again. Following his instinct, Ashton viewed his stats to see a shocking change, and all of his stats had shot up by 50 points.
But that wasn't all. Mana consumption of his skills and their respective cooldowns had been reduced by 40%. It was as if he had evolved without going through the system, which was why Astaroth was so surprised, why Ashton silently thanked his father for his final gift.
However, there were more surprises in toe. While Ashton's sudden growth was suspicious, it was downright ridiculous that he bypassed the restrictions Astaroth had placed on the scythe as an Admin.
After all, Astaroth had 'locked' the scythe away, and Ashton couldn't have retrieved it by his will as he did with the rest of his weapons. But Ashton was now holding on to the scythe as if there were no restrictions on it.
[Oi brat, mind telling me what happened to you? This- Nothing about this is remotely normal!]
In his excitement, Ashton opened his mouth and almost blurted out everything when his father's parting words resurfaced in his mind-
"Remember, Ashton, while having allies and friends is important, it's also important not to blindly trust them, even the voice in your head."
Ashton didn't ask Johnathan what he meant by it. After all, without Astaroth, he would've died a long time ago. It didn't make sense why Ashton couldn't trust him. But for now, he decided to heed his father's advice.
[So~?]
"I have no recollection of what happened." Ashton shrugged, "I feel like it was a dream. You know, one of those that one can't remember after waking up, but they know it was a pleasant dream."
[Hmm, yeah, that can happen sometimes.]
Ashton felt Astaroth was taking his word with a grain of salt, but there was nothing he could do about it.
[What about the corpse?]
"What about it?"
[I thought you'd-]
"You expect me to defile my father's corpse and raise him as an undead soldier?" Ashton's voice was as cold as ice.
[In my defence, you could use him as the medium and create a lich-]
"Drop it, alright? I'm not doing it."
[I'm sorry. I overstepped my boundary without caring about your emotions.]
"Hm..." Ashton hummed, not caring about his apology.
The shroud of silence was soon torn to shreds when alarms glared above.
"It took them longer than I expected," Ashton coldly mumbled as the smile disappeared from his face.
His father's mutated corpse was still in front, further fueling his fury. It was time the undead got to know the might of the Grim reaper. But before he could exit the basement laboratory, the sound of rushed footprints alerted him.
"Balmond," Ashton mumbled, and the black sword shot out of his inventory by itself and took its place by his side.
[Great, suddenly Balmond trusts you completely! I'm not even going to ask you how that happened because of your stupid amnesia.]
Ashton didn't bother replying, deciding to focus on the task at hand. The footsteps got closer and closer, yet he refused to take cover or charge. His father might be gone, but he had no intention of abandoning his corpse.
"Whoever comes down from there, slice their head off." Ashton whispered, "Can you do it?"
Balmond took a swing in the air as if nodding in agreement.
"Ashton!"
Much to Ashton's surprise, Anna walked out of the elevator. However, faithful to his master's command, Balmond raced towards the succubus to put an end to her life.
"Balmond, wait!" Ashton yelled just in time.
A second late, and it would have been disastrous. But at that moment, Ashton knew he would have to train Balmond not to hurt those he deemed close, like Anna and his mother. Otherwise, the mad sword could kill someone if he took their name in his sleep or something.
"What was that!?" Alina gasped as Balmond went back to Ashton's side.
"A Soul weapon." Viper mumbled, "Those are rare to come by, even for outworlders like me."
Behind them were half a dozen humans and Mikosh, who was still under Anna's influence. Meanwhile, Atlas tried his best not to make eye contact with Ashton as he had failed to complete Ashton's order.
Although Anna was a bit taken aback by Balmond's attack, she rushed to check in on Ashton. Apart from a flesh wound on his cheek, he was as good as a person could have been. Then, her attention shifted towards the corpse by Ashton's side.
"Is he..."
Anna couldn't even follow through with her question. Just the mere thought of it got her choked up. But Ashton understood where she was headed with her question and nodded.
"It's him," he lamented.
"It's alright. You did the right thing." Anna wept her tears before hugging him.
Ashton took in the warmth of her heart, but his rage wasn't ready to dwindle. Being in Johnathan's vicinity wasn't helping him either.
"I don't know what's happening, but I get it's sad." Alina cried out, "Entire facility would be on our asses at any moment! We have to get out NOW!"
Ashton nodded, "Sven, Celeste, Raven, come out."
Much to Alina's and Viper's surprise, two shadowy figures jumped out of their shadow, while the third miraculously appeared beside them.
"Master, your command?"
"Guide them outside. As for you, Atlas, take my father's corpse along, and this time, see it through." Ashton then turned towards Anna and gave her the Staff of Eden, "This is for you. Use it well."
"Wait, Ashton, you're not coming with us?" Anna trailed off as Ashton acted like he wasn't leaving with them.
Ashton shook his head.
"Look, dude, we don't have time to waste-" Alina tried reasoning with Ashton as she knew staying back was a death sentence.
"In that case, you should get going." Ashton emotionlessly replied.
"What will staying back in this kill box accomplish?"
Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was eternally grateful to Ashton and did not want to see him lose his life based on his clouded judgement.
Alina looked towards Anna, her eyes pleading for help. But Anna knew it was too late. After living with Ashton, she knew one thing about his personality. Once he sets his mind to something, no one can change it.
"What can you possibly do to an army of undead and human hybrids?"
"What I should have done from the beginning," Ashton replied, holding his scythe as over a thousand shadow soldiers appeared behind him, "If you don't want to witness the worst calamity this land had ever seen, I suggest you get going. I will not ask you a second time."