Chapter 60: [60]: Mutating the Blood, Sanguine Engine

Declan had been wandering the Bone-Ash Wastes for two hours. His Absolute Zero Aura made the extreme environment trivial.

He casually strolled over rivers of lava. He froze the surface into a solid bridge with every step.

He killed dozens of Flame Hounds and Ash-Lizards just by letting them run into his freezing radius and shattering them with a casual kick.

His digital storage was slowly filling up with chunks of jagged and dark purple rock. Void-Ore.

He had collected about fifty pounds of the stuff. It was enough for Bram to forge a decent weapon, but Declan wanted enough to build turrets.

He needed a high-yield spawn point. He needed a boss.

He found one at the center of a massive and sunken crater. The ground here wasn’t just cracked rock. It was a sprawling lake of bubbling orange magma.

Sitting in the middle of the lava lake and resting on a large island of black stone was a monster that made the Flame Hounds look like puppies.

It was a scorpion. But it was the size of a commercial dump truck.

Its carapace was made of dark and glowing volcanic rock, and its massive stinger dripped with liquid fire.

[Target Information]

↳ Name: Obsidian Death-Stalker

↳ Level: 45 (Zone Boss)

↳ HP: 120,000 / 120,000

Declan cracked his neck. "Alright, bug. Let’s see what you’ve got."

He didn’t bother with stealth. He walked straight across the lava lake.

His frost aura created a pathway of solid black stone over the glowing magma.

The Death-Stalker heard him coming. It let out a terrifying and clicking screech that rattled the rocks.

It spun around with its massive pincers snapping aggressively.

Declan reached into his inventory and pulled out his +20 Carnage Cleaver. The jagged and blood-red blade pulsed with dark energy.

He didn’t pull out the heavy halberd. The scorpion looked fast, and he needed speed.

The boss didn’t wait. It whipped its massive tail forward.

The stinger shot across the distance like a spear. It aimed straight for the chest of Declan.

"Void Blink."

Declan vanished. The flaming stinger smashed into the frozen rock where he had just been standing. It shattered the stone into dust.

Declan materialized right above the back of the scorpion. He dropped down and drove the Carnage Cleaver directly into the joints between its heavy armor plates.

Schwing!

[Trait Activated: Hemorrhage. Drains 50 HP per second.]

Dark and corrupted blood sprayed from the wound. It sizzled as it hit the hot rocks.

The scorpion shrieked in pain and violently bucked its body.

Declan was thrown off balance. He rolled across the stone island.

But before he could stand up, the boss lashed out with a massive pincer.

Declan raised his left arm. The +20 Black Aegis riot shield materialized perfectly.

CLANG!

The heavy stone pincer slammed into the titanium shield.

The Kinetic Repulsion trait triggered instantly. It blasted a shockwave of force back into the claw of the monster.

The pincer cracked loudly. But the sheer weight behind the strike of the boss sent Declan skidding backward.

He slid dangerously close to the edge of the lava. He checked his health bar.

[HP: 82 / 100]

Even with his shield blocking the brunt of the attack, the blunt force trauma still transferred through his stats.

He frowned. He didn’t have Sloane here to cast a green healing spell on him.

He had standard health potions in his inventory. But drinking those took time, and they healed incredibly slowly.

"I really need a self-heal," Declan muttered. He dodged another frantic tail strike.

The Hemorrhage stacks were doing their job. They were draining the massive health pool of the boss.

But Declan didn’t want to play a game of attrition.

He dodged a sweeping claw and stepped inside the guard of the monster.

He swung the cleaver three more times to apply multiple bleed stacks. Then, he raised his left hand and snapped his fingers.

SNAP!

[Trait Activated: Blood Burst]

The massive scorpion violently exploded from the inside out.

The concentrated bleed damage detonated. It blew a massive hole right through the tough carapace of the monster.

The Death-Stalker collapsed. It twitched once before dissolving into millions of blue pixels.

[Obsidian Death-Stalker Level 45 Defeated! Origin Points +5,000]

Declan let out a breath and put his cleaver away. He walked over to the loot drop.

There was a massive pile of high-quality Void-Ore. It was exactly what he needed.

But sitting on top of the rocks was a small and glowing red glass vial.

He picked it up. The liquid inside moved thickly just like fresh blood.

[Item: Vampiric Draught]

↳ Tier: Rare Consumable

↳ Description: Drink to temporarily alter your avatar’s biology. Grants 5 percent life-steal on all physical attacks for 30 seconds. A favorite among berserkers.

It was a temporary buff. But Declan didn’t do temporary.

He pulled up his enhancement menu. He linked the vial. He had over two million Origin Points sitting in his treasury.

"System. Apply Boundless Enhancement. Push it to plus thirty."

He knew enhancing a consumable was dangerous. It wasn’t an item he held. It was an item he had to put inside his body.

But he was tired of relying on low-level medics.

The system chimes blared wildly. The white light flooded the small glass vial.

It flashed faster and faster until it turned a deep and menacing purple.

The red warning boxes popped up and were instantly crushed by his SSS-Rank talent.

[Vampiric Draught has reached +30.]

[Triggering Ultimate Conceptual Mutation...]

The glass vial melted away. The liquid inside didn’t spill.

It floated in the air and transformed into a dense and pulsing sphere of pure crimson energy. It looked like a tiny beating heart.

[Item Mutated: Sanguine Engine]

↳ Tier: Sovereign Consumable

↳ Functionality: Permanently overwrites the cardiovascular code of the host. Natural HP regeneration is permanently disabled.

↳ In exchange, the host instantly absorbs 50 percent of all physical and magical damage dealt to enemies as true healing.

↳ Any healing received over maximum HP is converted into a temporary and stacking physical blood-shield.

Declan stared at the prompt. Fifty percent life-steal permanently. And an over-heal shield.

It was a completely broken mechanic.

He didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the floating crimson sphere and shoved it into his mouth.

It didn’t taste like liquid. It tasted like raw electricity.

The energy shot straight down his throat and directly into his chest.

Declan dropped to his knees.

His physical heart seized. It violently stopped for one terrifying second before restarting with a heavy and booming rhythm.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

He could hear his own pulse in his ears. His veins flushed with a dark and glowing red light.

He breathed out, and the pain vanished. It was replaced by an overwhelming sensation of raw and boundless vitality.

He stood up. He felt completely different.

Across the lava lake, a pack of six Level 30 Flame Hounds respawned.

They spotted him and immediately charged across the frozen obsidian path he had made.

Declan didn’t pull his shield out. He summoned his +20 Carnage Cleaver.

He just stood there. He let the first hound jump up and bite his shoulder.

[HP: 90 / 100]

Declan smiled. He swung the cleaver in a wide and brutal arc.

He sliced through three of the hounds at once. The massive damage numbers popped up.

Instantly, a wave of red energy flowed from the monsters directly into the chest of Declan.

[HP: 100 / 100]

[Blood Shield Generated: 4,500 points]

A faint and glowing red barrier appeared over his skin.

He was at full health. He had just generated a shield forty-five times stronger than his base health pool in a single swing.

He snapped his fingers. The Blood Burst detonated and instantly killed the rest of the pack.

More red energy flooded into him.

[Blood Shield Generated: 12,000 points]

Declan laughed. A genuine and terrifying laugh that echoed across the dead wasteland.

He was a self-sustaining engine of slaughter. He was unkillable.

"Alright, Ezekiel," Declan whispered as he looked toward the horizon. "Let’s go find your demons."