Cursed Requiem

After Vritra was out of everyone's sight, he called the Demonix soul out of his body.

[Demonix Blood Child activated.]

Just as he activated the skill, Vritra could feel a different sensation from his natural perception, as if two of him were present at the same time.

In the next moment, an ethereal figure that was blood red in color and translucent was pulled out of his chest. Its body size was only about the size of Vritra's torso; it looked similar to a small baby in appearance. Below its waist, it had no legs but just a serpentine lower body.

Like a short tail, it had sharp-looking fangs and two sharp eyes that looked as if they were filled with blood.

Vritra stared at this figure; its appearance looked unlike anything he had ever seen. The Demonix baby blinked its eyes a few times and then looked around curiously before finally fixing its eyes on Vritra. Like a little child, it laughed, though only he was able to hear the sound.

Then it circled around him excitedly as the Demonix soul floated. Vritra tried touching it, and he was able to touch the soft, jelly-like surface, though the baby also had the ability to pass through anything.

'I can share senses with the Demonix child; having it around feels so strange. Anyway, now it's time to test a couple of things,' Vritra thought. Then he decided to let the Demonix child travel out of the tent, and instantly it flew through the thick cloth of the tent and began to float around.

Vritra just sat there while seeing and hearing whatever the soul was hearing. It flew over the other attendants who were busy setting up their own tents, then he decided to have a look at the other side of the door.

Many of their companions had died after falling into the trap, by the hand of that Giant Raptor, so Vritra wanted to see the condition outside. After taking a deep breath, he ordered the Demonix child to fly to the other side.

While floating around in joy, the soul looked around and smelled the thick scent of blood as it easily passed through the heavy stone door.

The first thing that Vritra saw was Sana's corpse, which lay exactly as he had left it. Since it was winter, the corpse was still in fine condition, though her body had become quite pale as she had lost a lot of blood from the injury over her head.

The Demonix child was attracted towards her, to be specific, towards her blood, but under Vritra's command, it wasn't able to do anything and proceeded further.

Next, he saw Azhar's corpse, which was in a rather bad shape. His head was missing, and the upper part of his torso was squeezed into minced meat. Ignoring it, Vritra sent the soul further; he was wondering how far it could go from his body.

'How strange, why isn't there any sound from the Raptor? It didn't even eat any of the prey it had killed, so where did it go?' Vritra thought, and his question was answered not long after as he saw the giant but weak body of the raptor lying on the ground; it was dead.

After being locked here without anything to eat or drink, it had finally used up the last bit of its energy to kill the few teenagers.

Not too far away, in a crack, Vritra heard the sound of blood dripping. The soul moved towards the crack in the wall, and he actually saw a boy who was pushed into the thin crack; of course, Vritra recognized the dead body.

'In the end, the raptor is dead... then I can use the Demonix's abilities on it.' There was a spark in his eyes as he thought of this, and he no longer held back from letting the Demonix child drink its blood.

The child-like soul rejoiced and instantly moved towards the large corpse. Showing its dangerous-looking fangs, it bit down into the shoulder of the raptor. As its fangs passed through its skin, the blood and energy of the 4th Gate beast had already reduced to a pitiful level, but still, there was a huge difference in the level of the two.

Instantly, messages began to pop in front of Vritra, who watched this all in astonishment. He could feel changes occurring in his body.

[You have absorbed the Blood Essence of the 4th Gate Slug Winged Raptor.]

[Your talent grows stronger.]

[Talent risen from none to 1st tier.]

[Talent risen from 1st tier to 2nd tier.]

[Would you like to awaken?]

Vritra stared at the text for a moment, then he pondered for a moment and finally replied in his head: 'No.'

[Awakening aborted.]

[Change in physical attributes and Elypse had been deferred; excess energy will be stored inside the body until the awakening.]

All this had happened just from a little bit of the blood that was left in the giant raptor's body. With a satisfied sound, the Demonix child pulled its fangs out and wiped its mouth with its round hand.

Vritra had chosen not to awaken since there was going to be an event very soon where the sanctum would give a chance to a lot of teenagers to awaken any kind of talent, so it wouldn't be good if he was already awakened at that event.

'My talent has become 2nd tier; I am not sure how good it is, but this skill will be pretty good. Even my hunger meter has risen to eighty-one, so I need to drink the blood of others like this?'

Vritra thought, but this feeling was quite satisfying. Vritra was quite tempted to drink the blood of the other corpses as well, but leaving behind such things would put too much attention on them, especially him, so he gave up on this thought.

"Wait, I can try another skill on that Raptor, Cursed Requiem; I will be able to obtain a strong dead monster for me." Vritra once again felt his excitement build up, and this time he didn't stop himself. First, he allowed the Demonix child to scan the entire area, then he got out of the tent and approached the heavy stone door. Finding the switch this time was much easier.

The four teenagers stared at him in shock, wondering what he was trying to do. But seeing him press some stone and then the start of the rumbling, all color drained from their faces. They ran up to him and tried to stop him, but Vritra didn't listen to any of them, not that the door was stopping.

After it had opened enough, he crawled under the door and came out onto the other side. The air was filled with a scent of blood; without looking at anything around him, he ran straight towards the corpse of the Slug Winged Raptor. After drinking the blood, he was feeling quite full.

While running, Vritra noticed that his body felt stronger than ever. Although the changes weren't drastic, he didn't feel tired as easily, and his speed was faster. Within a few minutes, he arrived at the location where the Slug Winged Raptor lay dead.

The Demonix child moved away from the corpse and began to circle around him. Vritra stared at the corpse for a whole minute. This kind of thing was completely impossible in his previous life, and now just looking at this corpse was making his heart beat wildly; it was such a massive creature.

He took a deep breath and finally used the skill he so badly wanted to use from earlier.

[Cursed Requiem Activated.]

[Curse had been implanted on the 4th Gate beast, Slug Winged Raptor.]

[You have obtained the First Cursed Creature. The Slug Winged Raptor rises from the dead.]

[You have obtained a Rune.]

[Would you like to Bind the Rune to your heart?]

[Demonix Blood Child is affecting the Rune.]

[Would you like to turn the Rune into the Parasitic Rune?]