Healing System

"What... the fuck?" Amanda exclaimed at the sight before her. The miniature eyes did not seem to be doing anything yet; however, from the pressure alone, she knew it was not safe to be here.

The energy they gave off felt ominous, yet at the same time, she could not see its depth, as if she were staring straight into deep waters.

It was impossible to see through it; furthermore, the green energy did not fail to suffocate her, or the others around her.

The people who, just a moment ago, were happily walking around, even dining, were now nothing but splatters of blood on the ground.

There were only a few people left who managed to survive, one of them being Rebecca, thankfully.

But she was not looking good either; her mana was decreasing at a steady pace.

Amanda could feel a few people back in the cathedral; the numbers had decreased to merely four of them. Seemingly, the others were not as lucky.

She looked up and saw the two massive eyes that had been summoning all those miniature eyes, and upon doing so, they looked directly back at her.

This time, she did not look away, instead, she summoned a whirlwind and infused it with her most potent poison, sending it upward straight at the eyes.

The attack contorted the air around it, even shattering the very essence of the lowest-level world, causing all sorts of fissures to appear.

Nonetheless, she could deal with the consequences after this was all over. For now, she just wanted to survive.

'Father won't be coming,' she stated to herself, steeling her resolve further as she enhanced the poisonous whirlwind with more of her mana.

Immediately, it connected with a few of the eyes, but instead of her predicted destruction of them, they were simply flung away into the air; they took no damage.

As her attack finally traveled close enough to strike one of the two massive eyes, the mana began dispersing, as if it was being canceled out.

She had full control over it. She could even add more mana if she wanted to, but the problem was, it felt like her poisonous whirlwind was being reverse-engineered.

The massive eyes invaded her mana, extracting bits of it and converting those fragments into their own. This caused the spell to destabilize, stripping it of its form and effectively dispelling it.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

'Shit...' Amanda stared on as the full brunt of her attack was practically absorbed-canceled before it could even reach the target.

She attempted to send a few more similar attacks, but this time, she focused on making them a bit more difficult to decipher.

To do that, she performed her usual casting process; however, she added a little precaution: a mana signature, her own. It was effective at reducing the chances of spells being dispelled; the side effect was that the mana usage significantly spiked, which was why she did not use it often.

But in this particular scenario, it was a necessity. Therefore, she did not hesitate to use it.

The spell formed as per usual, looking identical to the previous one. She sent it straight upward, and this time, the miniature eyes seemed to glance at the spell as it headed toward the two massive ones.

It felt strange. The pressure she had felt from the eyes disappeared for a moment, and instead, she could see her spell slightly shake, as if growing unstable.

Nonetheless, it held on until, finally, it was within ten meters of the massive eyes. But just as it was about to connect, a single dark green tentacle made its way out of one of the eyes and slapped her spell away straight at the cathedral.

'What...?' Amanda watched as one of her strongest spells was flicked away seemingly effortlessly, though the destruction that followed was anything but effortless on her side.

The whole cathedral was lifted into the sky and suddenly dissolved. The four people she had felt earlier were now reduced to zero; not a single one managed to survive.

It was not surprising. She was a Tier 6, while most around here were Tier 2. It would be a miracle if they could even survive a punch from her, let alone an attack at full strength.

As she trembled from sheer powerlessness, a voice suddenly resounded inside her mind, eerily similar to the one she heard just before all of these events started.

It is futile, Amanda. This area is a part of our domain now; try as hard as you wish. Nothing will go in your favor.

'Why are you doing this?' she asked cautiously as the previous tentacle, which had come out of the eye, now seemed to be stretching out even more, as if there were some kind of being in that eye.

If she were to guess, that tentacle being was most likely the one she was talking to right now.

Continue your adventure at empire

The Dragon Monarch Fafnir recently used our services without permission. A debt must be paid, and you know how your father is, don't you? He never pays debts.

Amanda could hear the eerie laughter resound inside her mind. It said something about her father using their services, but what even were those services?

However, just as she was about to contemplate further, a pair of steps resounded from behind her. Upon turning around, she noticed it was Rebecca.

She was all battered up, her hair and eyes both white once again. The spatial disturbance seemed to be too strong, either from Amanda's attack or even that being's interference.

After all, they were supposedly in some kind of domain.

"You okay?" Rebecca asked with a shaky voice. She seemed to still be worried about her despite the many injuries that riddled her own body.

Amanda winced in response. "You should be worrying about yourself... anyways, this is very bad."

"Mhm. Yeah, I think I can see that," Rebecca said matter-of-factly before standing right by her side. "So? Any genius ideas you have in that little mind of yours?"

As she asked that question, the air around them suddenly began twisting again, applying even greater pressure than before.

This time, Rebecca was not spared, as blood began gushing out of her mouth at volumes much greater than one could imagine, almost as if she were vomiting out all of her blood.

But a quick observation told Amanda that she still had mana remaining. As long as one had mana, it was difficult to die. It was especially the case for those higher in tier.

Amanda listened on as Rebecca kept coughing in pain, but there was nothing she could do. After all, their best healer was nowhere to be seen; she had sent him back herself.

'Though... I am starting to feel the effects,' she thought and glanced at her arm, which had begun turning red. She had been suppressing the pressure's influence; however, it was focused much more on her than the others.

Not like there were others left. It was only the two of them and the many eyes above them.

There is a courtesy we would like to extend before we continue. Would you be interested in becoming an apostle of ours?

'What are you even talking about?' Amanda asked the being, not masking her malice in the slightest. She found it a bit odd how it referred to itself as we, after all, those eyes looked like summons and not actual creatures.

An apostle is someone harnessing Eldritch abilities, ones that are personally bestowed upon you by none other than us. You would be becoming an apostle under a contract. You should feel honored.

'What kind of contract?' she asked, trying to stall for time. It was highly unlikely anyone would come to save the two of them, but it did not hurt to try.

In exchange for our powers, we will give you a task. Since I, Pardoth, would be personally overseeing this contract, I will give you quite favorable terms. How about this: I will give you Eldritch abilities on the same level as your tier. In exchange, you help us lure your father and kill him.

Amanda froze at those words, but in the next moment, she couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

"Pfft... hahaha."

"Urgh... Did it infect your mind or something?" Rebecca asked cautiously, but Amanda chose to simply ignore her.

After a few moments, she stopped laughing and asked another question, likely her final one. 'Are those really the terms?'

Of course. We Eldritch beings honor the contracts, the only stability in our realm. If you want, we could even give you a position in the council once you reach a sufficient tier. So? What do you say?

The being seemed eager, much more than before. However, her answer had been set in stone since the beginning.

She looked at the massive eye and especially the dark green tentacle in the sky, before expressing,

'I'll pass. You can fuck off.'