The Lion, The Healer and The Labour
We rushed forward, looking everywhere for a good healer.
Ulric said he would be fine, but sent his clones to look anyway. They rushed all over the country, hundreds of them, looking for anyone with a healing skill.
The first healer we came across was supported by Chiron, who killed the clone that asked him, the second was Trita, who tried to kill our clone before being killed himself. The third; however, was willing to help us, under one condition.
His supporter was Dhanvantri, the physician of the Hindu Gods.
When we reached him, he made a rather strange request. He claimed that he would heal Ulric, if we killed a nearby vessel who'd been bothering him. This alone wouldn't be a problem, we'd killed plenty of vessels before, most of them rather easily.
When we found out who his supporter was, we did begin to worry.
The Nemean lion, the subject of Heracles' first labour, a monstrous lion that could not be scratched or cut, only beaten to death.
A vessel with this power, and knowing their own weakness, would be deadly. Still, if we had any hope of healing Ulric, we had to do it.
Dhanvantri told us where he was hiding, and we left Ulric's main body with him.
He wanted it done quickly, so we rushed. I rode Paundraka, Cain rode his horse, and Vladimir became one.
I did decide to leave Shyama and Sharvara to guard Ulric, making sure Dhanvantri didn't take advantage of his situation to get revenge for Surya.
Then again, as the Hindu God's physician, his allegiance to Yama should've been just as strong as his allegiance to Surya.
We followed Dhanvantri's directions and found our target.
He was hiding on the edge of town, in a small house.
When we got there, we attacked immediately. I ignited the house, while Cain shot through the walls, and Vladimir stood at the exit, waiting to catch our target if he ran out.
As he did, he ran full speed. He was stronger and faster than expected, easily knocking Vladimir down, before extending his claws and attacking him.
Vladimir, being a shapeshifter, decided not to put up with this attack, turning into a snake and avoiding it.
Cain and I rushed towards the lion's vessel, both activating our fire skills. Myths said that it couldn't be cut, but that didn't necessarily mean it couldn't be burnt.
It couldn't be burnt.
We stood around, launching flames at him pointlessly, making absolutely no difference.
I activated sleep inducement, making the enemy drowsy enough for Vladimir to constrict him.
He tried to resist, thrashing and slashing, but Vladimir had already wrapped around tightly and wouldn't budge.
We did worry that things would be a lot harder, but we got lucky. I had to admit, it felt strange, ever since the descent, I'd gotten far luckier.
We returned, with the severed head as proof.
Dhanvantri kept his side of the deal. He'd fully healed Ulric and even took care of the dog's wounds.
As he had, we had some preparations to take care of. Especially since there was another message on the way.
[The next round of inheritance is imminent]
We hung around, waiting to see what skills we got.
[You have inherited more of your supporter's powers]
Naturally, I had to check.
[Skills (7)]
[Judge of the dead Lv 4]
[Can select the fate of those you kill]
[Hellfire Lv 4]
[Can summon and control hellfire]
[Freeze Lv 2]
[Can stop time in 5 meters, for 40 seconds, 5 minute cooldown]
[Hell's subpoena Lv 2]
[Can see any information on those you judge]
[Sleep inducement Lv 2]
[Puts a target into a light sleep]
[Private heaven Lv 1]
[Can enter the user's private heaven at any time]
[Boon transfer Lv 1]
[Can give a target a lv 1 version of one of your skills (One per person)]
Ulric then showed me his skills.
[Ulric's skills (7)]
[Body out of body Lv 6]
[Can summon a replica of anything, 60% strength]
[Golden fiery eyes Lv 4]
[User's vision is enhanced, effect of illusions is lessened]
[Summersault cloud Lv 3]
[User can jump 100m in an instant]
[Emergency hair Lv 1]
[User can escape from any situation. Max 3 uses (3 remaining)]
[Fire protection Lv 2]
[User takes reduced damage from fire]
[Weather summoning Lv 1]
[Can summon and control different types of weather]
[Transformation Lv 1]
[User can shapeshift into a number of forms]
Cain agreed to share his as well.
[Cain's skills (8)]
[Headless Lv 1]
[User can survive without their head]
[Spirit physique Lv 5]
[Can become intangible for 3 minutes, 5 minute cooldown]
[Weapon proficiency Lv 4]
[User is very good at using all weapons]
[Oxygen independence Lv 2]
[User can survive longer without oxygen]
[Undead sense Lv 2]
[User can detect nearby undead creatures]
[Cursed appearance Lv 1]
[Anyone who looks at the user for too long can be sent blind]
[Dullahan transformation Lv 1]
[Can transform any corpse into a weak dullahan]
Even Vladimir let us see his.
[Vladimir's skills (6)]
[Illusion Lv 5]
[Can create illusions]
[Shapeshift Lv 5]
[Can shapeshift into several animals]
[Cryokinesis Lv 4]
[Can control ice and coldness]
[Pyrokinesis Lv 3]
[Can summon and control fire]
[Spatial rend Lv 1]
[Can create small rifts in space]
[Telekinesis Lv 1]
[User can move small objects with their mind]
All of us had become incredibly strong, but I got the best end of it. Boon transfer would be incredibly powerful, allowing me to buff my allies.
I let them each pick one of my skills to inherit. (I did try to give Ulric boon transfer, but it failed, perhaps it would work at a higher level)
Ulric obtained freeze, while Cain and Vladimir both took sleep inducement.
Private heaven was also incredibly useful. Not only was it a personal pocket dimension, but there was also a room for every person I sent there, so I could infinitely expand it by killing more people.
Still, there was one other thing we had to attend to.
It had been just over a week since it all began, and still neither Vladimir or I had gotten a weapon.
We employed Ulric's body out of body, now capable of producing a 60% strength replica of anything, to create weapons.
I asked for a sickle, specifically the one used by Cronos. Made from adamantine, it may not've had any special power, but was more than capable of cutting one of the most powerful Gods - the sky itself.
I got Ulric to make a few copies of everything, and to give me a couple of hairs, all of which I stored in my private heaven.
As of yet, I couldn't bring other people directly in or out, but Yama told me I would be able to in the future.