Chapter 160: The Price Of Leadership
A pulse tore through the broodlink, and the ruin answered. Screeches rolled back in layered waves as bloodlight flared, and like sparks thrown from a furnace, nearly a thousand lesser broodlings peeled from alleys and rubble, swarming toward the shattered tower and climbing its broken face.
Across the roof, Grimm drifted with his head low, intestines dragging as though each coil weighed a ton. The ghost's sulk was plain enough that Seo-jin didn't bother ignoring it.
"Got a job for you, bud."
The hollow eyes lifted, their glow sharpening.
"You see the dungeon? I want eyes on the ground. Scout it and report back."
Grimm snapped upward, spinning once as his teeth clacked in rapid bursts, then streaked off into the night.
"Stay out of trouble!"
With that settled, he flicked his empty tankard into the fire and felt heat rise under his skin, his blood tightening with purpose. He glanced at Min. Whatever weight had hung between them was gone, burned off and replaced with something meaner.
"Pull everyone together."
Her eyes flashed gold as a wide grin split her face, and she vanished down the stairwell to gather the Dead Hands.
Moments later, the roof filled. Pain and Panic took position without being told, the rest of the brood forming up around them while rings of lesser imps pressed close, chittering and eager. The aftermath of the elven slaughter, fed through [Corpse Harvest], had bloated their numbers far beyond what he'd planned.
Seo-jin had meant to give them time, space to settle, to understand their roles before he stacked more pressure onto their backs. But a B-rank dungeon wasn't something you circled or delayed. Not if you intended to own what crawled within.
Pulling his panel open, he scrolled to the broodling roster and selected Hex first.
[Lesser Broodlings x50 // Assigned to Hex]
[Commander Trait Detected // Hellchanter]
[Class Adjustment Applied To All Assigned Units]
Hex's axe hung ready in his hands, fingers brushing the strings without sound, and the instant the assignment locked in, his eyes flared hard with bloodlight. Behind him, fifty points of glow ignited at once as the lesser broodlings began to shift, their bodies grinding through the adjustment.
The change was immediate and unnerving. The constant screeching and wet chitter cut off mid-breath, leaving a sudden, disciplined quiet in its place. Their bodies barely altered, but their gazes did...fixed, focused, waiting for instruction instead of instinct.
Through the link, Seo-jin felt Hex's elation crest. The broodling lifted one hand and snapped it down with authority.
A single, crushing chord tore from the guitar, and the lesser brood answered as one, voices dropping into a deep, unified chant that locked perfectly to the rhythm. It wasn't learned or practiced. It was alignment. Tempo imposed and accepted.
Hex laughed, raw and unrestrained, before turning and bowing low to the Broodfather.
"We will forge music that drowns the world in your name! PRAISE BROODFATHER!"
Seo-jin didn't raise his voice, but bloodlight began to rise from his aura.
"Hex, my Hellchanter. From this moment on, you are my trumpet. Your sound will drive my forces forward and grind the world beneath it. Command them well."
Hex struck the strings again, harder this time. The chord rippled outward, rattling stone, steel, and bone alike as the chant surged in answer.
The Broodfather felt satisfaction settle into his bones.
But the next assignment pulled his attention. Bile.
[Lesser Broodlings x50 // Assigned to Bile]
[Commander Trait Detected // Noh Bloodmask]
[Class Adjustment Applied To All Assigned Units]
Beneath the rolling layers of his living crimson mask, Bile's eyes burned brighter as the bond locked in. Behind him, every lesser broodling folded at once, bodies hitching as their hands flew to their faces and blood began to force its way out...spilling from eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouths in thick streams. When Bile turned toward them, the convulsions stopped, and as if pulled by an unseen command, they rose together, the bleeding sealing as masks finished forming over their faces.
What stood in his wake was a field of deliberate nightmare. No two masks matched in shape, yet all carried the same living churn of blood, surfaces flexing and tightening as though breathing. Their flesh had darkened, skin splitting along glowing red seams that fed upward into the masks, every crack pulsing in time with Bile's own.
The weight hit him all at once. Not power alone, but command. Bile's chest tightened as pride surged through him, and when he roared, the sound tore free of his throat and was immediately echoed by fifty voices layered beneath it.
When the sound broke, Bile stepped forward and dropped to one knee, head lowered in submission.
"I will lead them into slaughter. Praise Broodfather."
"As your brothers were shaped, so are you. You now exist for more than yourself. You will be my symbol. Your mask will be the fear that opens our enemies' eyes and the terror that keeps them from sleep."
All fifty-one bloodmasks flared at once, crimson light flooding the rooftop as their voices rose in unified praise.
When Min and the rest of the humans reached the rooftop, they stopped short at the edge, instinct warning them not to intrude. Only Min stepped forward, moving to Seo-jin's side, jaw set. Human or not, she wasn't backing away from her place.
Her gaze burned as she surveyed the forces that had just been shaped.
The next decision pulled Seo-jin's attention inward. Since Widow's mutation, the brood had shifted around her without understanding why, steps hesitating, instincts misfiring, an unease moving through them that none could name.
He let that tension sit, then chose to lean into it. Elevating her would force the reaction he wanted, and whatever surfaced from her brothers would be useful.
He extended a hand and summoned her without a word.
The brood parted on instinct, bodies drawing back as she advanced. Firelight slid across her chitin, catching along the ridges of her thorax while the markings carved into her body pulsed like firelight under the moon. When she reached him, she bent low, posture tight and formal, head lowered in submission.
What followed nearly pushed her brothers into open violence.
His palm settled on her head, fingers pressing once in a deliberate pat.
[Lesser Broodlings x50 // Assigned to Widow]
[Commander Trait Detected // Lust Spider]
[Bloodline Refinement Applied To All Assigned Units]
The demonic visage embedded in her back ignited, its stretched grin leaking blood as fifty lesser broodlings seized in place, bodies jerking while faces warped and muscle fibers knotted. Seconds later, the night split open with the sound of rupture as hundreds of jointed legs tore free from their backs, chitin ripping through flesh in wet, snapping bursts.
Widow lifted her head, smile stretching from horn to horn, and stepped in close, pressing herself against the Broodfather with a possessive nuzzle.
"Thank you, Father. I'll make you proud."
Catching the reactions flashing across his sons' faces, he pressed further, resting his hand on her head again as she rubbed against him.
"You already have."
Pain's fire guttered out. Panic flailed, shrieking as he lashed out and sent a lesser tumbling off the edge into the dark below. Snare locked both hands around his staff, knuckles whitening as the wood creaked under the strain. Hex and Bile remained absorbed in their own ascensions, while Synapse crouched nearby, fully engrossed in examining the segmented leg of a newborn spiderling, oblivious to everything else.
As Widow turned away to inspect the brood now bound to her, Min fixed Seo-jin with a stare he could feel pressing between his shoulders. He left it unanswered. Their shaping was his concern, not hers.
He motioned Lynn and the others closer, waiting until they gathered before sweeping his gaze across them and then toward the violet cube sinking through the clouds.
"We're entering a B-rank dungeon. We don't know the structure, the realm influence, or what it will turn into once it seals, so I'm assigning command authority now. If we get split, follow the broodlings. Every one of them is tied to me and will lead you back."
His attention moved down the line, assigning without pause.
"Min. Snare. Pain. Then Bile. If none of them are present, seniority defaults to age."
Heads dipped in acknowledgment, all except Panic, who scuffed a loose stone with his foot, shoulders hunched and gaze fixed on the ground.
Leaving the display alone, Seo-jin judged the cube's descent, counting distance and speed.
"Fifteen minutes to get prepared. If you're missing anything, let me know."
The rooftop snapped into motion as weapons were checked and gear was shifted into place. Pausing at the edge of it, Seo-jin reached inward, brushing his awareness along the living growths bound to him, following the pull until he found Teal curled deep within, breathing slow and even. He withdrew without disturbing her, deciding the quiet would serve her better than orders.
Returning to the fire, he lowered himself onto the broken concrete and opened his inventory, pulling up his armor piece by piece. Nothing needed replacing, but he ran the diagnostics anyway, tracing damage and stress from the fight with the elf king, starting with the gauntlets.
The memory surfaced unbidden: a sky-choking bloom of dragonfire rolling over him, heat crushing down hard enough to melt steel. Without these on his arms, the blow would have carved far deeper than it had.
[Name // Greenwarden Gauntlets]
[Type // Armor]
[Rank // B]
[Sub-Category // Armguards]
[Description]
[Heavy green gauntlets grown from layered Fae bark and plated with compressed emerald-vein ore. The surface is smooth where the hands close and ridged along the forearms, built to take hits instead of throw them. The guards lock from knuckle to elbow, forming a solid brace when struck.]
[+25% Defense to all physical damage types]
[+15 Vitality]
[+5 Strength]
[Armor Skill // Vital Rush]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Damage Conversion]
[Rank // B]
[Description]
[Absorb the full impact of a single incoming attack. The damage absorbed cannot exceed the user's current HP. One tenth of the absorbed damage is converted into temporary Vitality for 1 minute.]
[Effect // 100% of absorbed damage added to total HP]
[Cost // None]
[Duration // 60 seconds]
[Cooldown // 4 Hours]
[Durability]
[172 / 200]
[Requirements to Use]
[STR>35]
"The gauntlets do not strike back. They endure, then make you harder to kill."
'Roughly thirty points gone. That's higher than I expected.'
[Likely the skill eating the impact.]
'Yeah. Makes sense.'
Even so, the structure was intact and the plates still held true. No need to intervene yet. He shifted the panel aside and brought up his leg armor, the contrast catching him off guard. Barely a sliver of durability lost.
[Name // Shadowstride Guard]
[Type // Armor]
[Rank // B]
[Sub-Category // Greaves]
[Description]
[Dark purple leg armor formed from layered nightsilk and dense alloy plating. The plates wrap tight from hip to ankle, built for movement rather than weight.]
[Special Function]
[This armor becomes soul-bound on first use. It cannot be traded, or sold. Growth of the embedded skill is tied to the wearer's soul.]
[Passive Effect]
[+15 Agility]
[+10 Vitality]
[Requirements to Use]
[None]
[Armor Skill // Sky Walk]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Mobility]
[Rank // B]
[Description]
[Allows the user to take up to three steps in mid-air as if moving across solid ground.]
[Steps // 3]
[Cost // None]
[Cooldown // 1 Minute]
[Restriction // Steps reset only after landing]
[Durability]
[152 / 160]
"The air gives way when the soul pushes hard enough."
'I'll need to monitor the gauntlets… maybe pick up a spare pair just in ca—'
[We already talked about this. No needless shopping. Seriously, you're gonna get addicted.]
His mouth tightened as he dismissed the greaves and pulled up his chestpiece instead. He'd put off checking it for too long, and the hesitation proved justified. The number that stared back at him was not what he'd expected.
[Name // Forgefather's Mantle]
[Type // Artifact Armor]
[Rank // B]
[Sub-Category // Chestpiece]
[Description]
[Forged by a dwarven forgemaster from pure Cerabum—a rare Fae metal prized for its adaptive density and unmatched resilience. The mantle shifts with its wearer's movements, hardening under impact and flexing in motion.]
[Special Function]
[A hidden gem beneath the single left pauldron reacts only to a fingertip, unlocking the rear plates for external use.]
[Passive Effect]
[+30% Defense to all physical damage types.]
[Rear Plate Weakness // -15% Defense vs. Bludgeoning & Piercing.]
[+10 Strength]
[+10 Vitality]
[Durability]
[134 / 180]
[Requirements to Use]
[None]
[Armor Skill // Forge Strike]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Offensive Burst]
[Rank // B]
[Description]
Channel the forgemaster's will through the mantle. After five consecutive hits, unleash a critical blow that strikes with doubled force.
[Cost // None]
[Damage // +100% Critical Damage]
[Condition // Activates after 5 consecutive hits]
[Cooldown // 30 seconds]
[Restriction // Unusable below 25% Durability]
[Armor Skill // Severborne Array]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Summoned Weapon System]
[Rank // B]
[Description]
[Detach the left pauldron and split it into five autonomous blade-shards. Each responds to mental command, attacking, defending, or intercepting at range.]
[Cost // None]
[Damage // 50% STR per Blade Hit (Physical)]
[Range // 15 meters]
[Durability // Individual Blade Pools // 93 / 100 each]
[Restriction // Blades deactivate at 50% Durability]
[Severborne Array Sub-Ability // Core Reforge]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Ultimate]
[Rank // B+]
[Description]
[Fuse the five blades into one colossal weapon for a single devastating strike. Consumes internal energy to amplify output.]
[Cost // 15 Soulmass]
[Damage // 400% STR (True Damage)]
[Cooldown // 1 Hour]
"The forge remembers. Strike true, and it answers back."
The readout made the contrast clear. This wasn't a system-assembled composite stitched together by algorithms, but the product of a living forge and a craftsman who understood stress, failure, and recovery. He'd taken enough punishment in the mantle already to prove the point; where his newer gear showed wear quickly, Thragdur's work bled durability at a crawl.
The thought settled into an itch that wouldn't go away. A trip to the dwarves needed to happen sooner rather than later.
He was halfway through imagining reinforced plating and bound golem frames when something prodded his arm. Turning his head, he met a pair of washed-yellow eyes staring up at him. Panic.
"Yes?"
The broodling's claws scraped against the stone near his tail as he stared at the floor, shoulders drawn in tight before the words finally came, thin and hesitant.
"Can I ask you for something?"
He felt the tension radiating off the broodling before a word was spoken, the kind of tight, coiled hesitation that made his own skin prickle. Panic wasn't subtle by nature; when something bothered him, he usually hacked straight through it rather than circling.
"Say it."
The broodling flinched hard enough to snap upright.
"A new knife!"
The words burst out, and Panic immediately folded in on himself, rushing to recover before the request curdled into offense.
"Not that Fang's bad! It's good! See—uh—"
He jammed two fingers down his throat, dragged the Gnarled Fang free, and slashed his own palm without hesitation, skin parting clean as blood welled.
"Still cuts! I just thought if I had two, I could work faster. Like—"
He demonstrated as he spoke, one imaginary blade peeling flesh back while the other carved through joints, hands moving with practiced certainty as if the body were already there in front of him. Panic would always be Panic. Seo-jin exhaled through his nose and cut the display short with a flick of his hand.
"I'll allow it. But you'll earn it back at double the rate. Clear?"
"Yes, Broodfather!"
The answer came so loud he nearly chewed through his own tail in the process.
Seo-jin opened his system and bridged into the network...and shapes began to gather beside him one after another.
Pain. Snare. Bile. Widow. Synapse. Even Min.
They stood in a line, eyes fixed on him, expressions far too hopeful for his liking.
[Don't indulge them.]
'I told them to ask.'
He pinched the bridge of his nose, already feeling the pressure build.
"One at a time. One item each."
Cheers broke out immediately, the brood surging with excitement as plans and wants spilled loose, while somewhere deep in his inventory ledger, Seo-jin could practically hear his reserves screaming.