Chapter 161: Arming The Brood
The cube continued its slow descent, and as Seo-jin tracked it with his eyes he found himself wishing the damn thing would hurry up, because when he looked back down the line of expectant faces waiting in front of him, the regret hit harder than any incoming strike ever had. He should have kept his mouth shut.
With a long, defeated breath, he brought his finger down.
[Accept Purchase]
[-2564 DP]
[Current DP // 2,172,345,786]
Even watching the number drop, some stubborn corner of his mind still insisted he was wealthy, a thought so small and fragile it barely survived the calculation that followed. A functional A-rank item ran anywhere from fifty thousand to a few hundred thousand DP, and that was before even considering S-rank or above, meaning his reserves were nowhere near enough to sustain the future he intended to build.
Still, this expense mattered.
As the transaction finalized, a compact sphere of data condensed into existence between Seo-jin and Panic, its light tightening and stabilizing as the system finished compiling, and the broodling froze, pupils contracting until his gaze locked onto it. His hands shook as he reached forward and received the result.
A chain and sickle dropped into his grip.
"They're called Reaper's Grasp. Learn both skills, and Panic, understand this now: the weapon isn't rigid. It will do exactly as much as your thinking allows it to. Train with it, push it, and there won't be a place on the battlefield you can't touch."
Panic lifted his head from the fading glow, system light mirrored in his wet eyes as he clenched his jaw, nodded once, and lowered himself to one knee.
"All hail Broodfather!"
[Name // Reaper's Grasp]
[Type // Weapon]
[Rank // C]
[Evolve // No]
[Sub-Category // Chain & Sickle]
[+3 STR]
[+2 AGI]
[Attack // 34–38 / Piercing + Slashing Damage]
[Description]
[A hooked sickle forged from dense black steel, attached to a reinforced chain of square-cut links. The grip is counterweighted, and the chain shows scoring and deformation from repeated strain.]
[Weapon Skill]
[Name // Drag to Heel]
[Type // Active (Conditional)]
[Category // Forced Movement]
[Rank // C]
[Effect]
[Pull the target toward the user up to 8m. Pull ignores terrain friction. Targets with higher STR reduce pull distance by 1m per 5 STR difference.]
[Condition to Use // Sickle embedded in target]
[Cost // None]
[Cooldown // 10 seconds]
[Weapon Skill]
[Name // Sawbind Execution]
[Type // Active (Dual-Condition)]
[Category // Damage Over Time + Restrain]
[Rank // C]
[Effect]
[For 4 seconds, deal 35% Attack damage per second as Slashing damage. Apply [Bleed // C]. Reduce target movement speed by 60% for the duration.]
[Condition to Use // Chain Wraps ≥3 / Sickle Embedded]
[Cost // 2 Durability]
[Cooldown // 25 seconds]
[Durability // 130 / 130]
[Requirements to Use // AGI>28, STR>30]
["Once it hooks, distance is meaningless."]
Outwardly, Seo-jin wore patience and generosity, offering Panic a calm smile, while internally he was already tallying costs, one silent ledger opening after another with every expectant face in front of him.
A short gesture sent the broodling away, and the next figure stepped up without hesitation. His firstborn carried himself as rigid as ever, or as rigid as a hulking demonic bear-thing could manage, his posture steady and controlled even as the fire burning through his mane betrayed him, each strand lifted and flared like a living blaze caught in a gale.
"Broodfather, if I may—"
"You may not. I already know what you require."
He leaned to the side just enough to make sure the rest could see his face.
"That applies to all of you. No bargaining. No requests. I decide what you receive."
There were no objections. Most accepted it without hesitation, though two faces tightened in unison. Min and Widow both wore their displeasure openly before letting it fade, because free gear was still free, and neither was foolish enough to reject it. Seo-jin did catch Widow glancing at Min's hair while rubbing her own bare scalp, the resentment unhidden, and the thought crossed him that female envy ignored bloodlines and species just fine.
Pushing the distraction aside, he returned to the work, locked in on the next decision, selected Pain's item, and confirmed the purchase, then repeated the process until everyone else had been accounted for.
System light flared again and again as the Network finalized each transfer, figures stepping forward in turn to receive their allotment, and as the last glow faded an unwelcome fragment surfaced in Seo-jin's mind, bright and contextless. A name. Claus. A wash of red. The lack of meaning only deepened the irritation, souring what had already become an exhausting exercise.
For Pain, the weakness showed immediately once his role was weighed against his survivability. He needed protection more than reach or power, which made armor the only real answer, but his own heat output complicated the choice, since anything that couldn't manage his flames would fail the moment he leaned into a fight.
[Name // Pyroclast Aegis]
[Type // Armor]
[Rank // B]
[Sub-Category // Buckler]
[Description]
[A compact round buckler forged from fire-absorbing alloy, strapped directly to the forearm with reinforced bindings. The surface is darkened and heat-scarred, with internal channels that store thermal energy without warping the metal.]
[+30% Defense to all physical damage types]
[+50% Fire Resistance]
[Armor Skill]
[Name // Heat Reprisal]
[Type // Active (Conditional)]
[Category // Counterattack]
[Rank // B]
[Effect]
[After absorbing 300 Fire damage, the next blocked attack releases a frontal flame burst. Deal 160% Attack damage as Fire damage and knock affected enemies back 6m.]
[Heat Requirement // 300 Fire damage absorbed]
[Cost // None]
[Cooldown // 15 seconds]
[Armor Skill]
[Name // Cinder Wall]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Defensive Transformation]
[Rank // B]
[Effect]
[Expand the buckler into a large shield wall for 6 seconds. While active, block frontal attacks within a wide arc and gain an additional +40% Physical Defense and +40% Fire Resistance. Movement speed reduced by 50% while active.]
[Cost // 8 SM]
[Cooldown // 40 seconds]
[Durability // 170 / 170]
[Requirements to Use // STR>38]
["The fire does not break the shield. It arms it."]
Once fixed to his arm, the buckler still left Pain free to swing his greatsword with both hands, and the paired skills didn't just keep him standing longer, they turned his own excess heat into something that punished anyone reckless enough to press him head-on.
Next came Snare, and once again the limitation was protection. Watching Bile and him stand side by side as they showed off their gear, Seo-jin had to concede that his most dependable broodling carried himself well, the equipment settling on him as if it had been waiting for him.
[Name // Quietus Scholar Robes]
[Type // Armor]
[Rank // C]
[Sub-Category // Robes]
[Description]
[Layered scholar's robes woven from dense spellcloth and reinforced with thin internal binding threads. The outer fabric hangs loose and unmarked, while the inner layers are stiffened and weighted to resist cutting and penetration without restricting movement.]
[+30% Defense vs Slashing Damage]
[+30% Defense vs Piercing Damage]
[+8 Vitality]
[Armor Skill]
[Name // Low Profile]
[Type // Passive]
[Category // Threat Reduction]
[Rank // C]
[Effect]
[Reduce aggro generated toward dungeon monsters by 25%. Does not affect boss-class entities.]
[Durability // 110 / 110]
Requirements to Use // None]
["The robe draws no attention. That is the point."]
The robes settled into a deep purple, trimmed in blood-red along the seams, and symbols were stitched throughout the outer layer in repeating patterns Seo-jin couldn't place. Snare, however, was already tracing them with his eyes and fingers, copying lines and angles with quiet focus, intent on breaking down whatever logic had been woven into them.
Bile had no use for armor at all. His class thrived on punishment, so steel went to his hands instead, a matched pair of katars that clicked and shifted as he tested their mechanisms, the movements smooth enough to show he'd adapted to them almost immediately.
[Name // Twin Fangs of Severance]
[Type // Weapon (Dual-Wield Set)]
[Rank // C]
[Evolve // No]
[Sub-Category // Katar]
[Katar I // Splitfang]
[+3 STR]
[+2 AGI]
[Attack // 32–36 / Piercing Damage]
[Description]
[A compact katar with a segmented blade housing a concealed tri-prong mechanism. The frame is reinforced at the hilt to absorb stress when the blade deploys.]
[Weapon Skill]
[Name // Shatter Spike]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Weapon Destruction]
[Rank // C]
[Effect]
[Deploy blade into three prongs and strike the target weapon. Deal 110% Attack damage. If the target is wielding a weapon or shield, reduce its durability by 40. If durability reaches 0, the item breaks.]
[Cost // 4 Durability]
[Cooldown // 18 seconds]
[Katar II // Longspark]
[+4 AGI]
[+2 INT]
[Attack // 30–34 / Piercing + Lightning Damage]
[Description]
[A slender katar with an extendable blade rail. Internal channels along the spine conduct electrical charge when the blade is lengthened.]
[Weapon Skill]
[Name // Volt Lunge]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Lightning + Crowd Control]
[Rank // C]
[Effect]
[Extend blade by 0.8m and thrust. Deal 125% Attack damage as Piercing + Lightning damage. Apply [Stun // C] for 0.6 seconds.]
[Cost // 3 Durability]
[Cooldown // 15 seconds]
[Set Effect // Dual Katar Bonus]
[While dual-wielding both katars, gain +5% Attack Speed.]
[Durability]
[Splitfang // 120 / 120]
[Longspark // 115 / 115]
[Requirements to Use // AGI>26]
["One breaks what they hold. The other stops them from holding anything again."]
The set fit the flexibility demanded by his Noh Bloodmask class, and the moment Seo-jin saw the pairing, the decision locked in without debate. Watching Bile roll his wrists and test spacing, it was clear his effectiveness in a fight was going to be something worth paying attention to.
"Can I try?"
Min's sharp, eager voice pulled his attention sideways. When he turned, the three females were clustered together, talking with the ease of people who'd skipped past introductions entirely, and the sight of Min, Lynn, and Widow sharing space that comfortably sat wrong with him on instinct alone. Min was many things, but a model example wasn't one of them.
[She needs to learn. And learning from you would turn her into something worse than Min. Let the girls have their fun.]
He rolled his eyes and let a curl of contempt slip through his expression.
'Still don't like it. What if she gets masculine?'
[She won't. Look at her.]
Hands clapping, his only daughter was watching the gorilla draw her arm back and set her footing, lining up a lesser broodling several hundred feet out. Muscle coiled, balance shifted through her hips, and just before release Min glanced back at Seo-jin.
"Mind?"
"Go for it."
She laughed once and threw. The javelin left her hand under full torque, the shaft bending for a split instant before the force carried it clean, and the lesser never registered the sound. One moment it stood where it was, the next its head was fixed to a tree trunk by iron and momentum, its body still upright several paces away, waiting for gravity to catch up.
Approval flashed across him as the throw landed, his eyes tracking the sequence as the javelin vanished from the trunk, the lesser's head finally dropping, and the weapon snapped back into Min's grip as if the distance had never existed.
She barked a laugh, clearly riding the recoil of the throw, and passed the javelin back to Widow with an expression that spoke its praise.
The urge to take it for a test run tugged at Seo-jin harder than he liked to admit.
[Name // Riftcall Javelin]
[Type // Weapon]
[Rank // B]
[Evolve // No]
[Sub-Category // Thrown Weapon]
[+4 STR]
[+3 AGI]
[Attack // 62–70 / Piercing Damage]
[Description]
[A long, narrow javelin forged from dense alloy steel, balanced for rotational stability in flight. The shaft is etched with shallow spatial runes that interrupt clean lines along the metal.]
[Weapon Skill]
[Name // Recall on Impact]
[Type // Passive]
[Category // Spatial Return]
[Rank // B]
[Effect]
[On a successful hit, the javelin teleports back to the user's hand after 0.2 seconds.]
[Cooldown // 5 seconds]
[Durability Loss // −1 per successful recall]
[Durability // 85 / 85]
[Requirements to Use // None]
["Only in death, does life return."]
Paired with the shield he'd chosen for her, the javelin gave Widow reach without stripping her of survivability, letting her harass targets at range while still holding ground when things collapsed into close quarters. The shield itself had been selected with that balance in mind.
[Name // Bastion Disc]
[Type // Armor]
[Rank // C]
[Sub-Category // Shield]
[Description]
[A round shield forged from layered steel plates riveted over a solid core. The face is worn smooth from repeated impact, with a reinforced rim and a weighted central boss built to absorb force.]
[+25% Defense to all physical damage types]
[+6 Vitality]
[Armor Skill // Shield Break]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Crowd Control]
[Rank // C]
[Effect]
[Deal 120% Attack damage and knock the target back 5m. Apply [Stun // C] for 0.5 seconds.]
[Cost // 4 HP]
[Cooldown // 12 seconds]
[Durability // 140 / 140]
[Requirements to Use // None]
["Step forward. Let the wall answer first."]
Watching Widow trace the edge of the shield with slow, deliberate fingers pulled an unexpected lift into his chest, the sensation unwelcome enough that he nearly scowled. The sight of Min's big, stupid grin a moment later cut it short, the gorilla already showing Lynn her new necklace as they drifted deeper into their own noise.
The blonde brute already wore solid armor and didn't need another weapon in her hands, leaving only one gap worth addressing, and that was her agility. Speed kept you alive when strength stalled, which made the pendant the cleanest fix.
[Name // Mirage Thread Pendant]
[Type // Item]
[Rank // C]
[Evolve // No]
[Sub-Category // Necklace]
[+8 Agility]
[Spell Slot // 1]
[Description]
[A thin chain necklace bearing a small, faceted crystal core suspended in an open metal frame. Faint internal fractures glow when mana is present. The surface shows scoring from repeated crystal insertion.]
[Spell Stored]
[Name // Mirage]
[Type // Active Spell]
[Rank // C]
[Effect]
[Create 2 perfect visual clones of the user for 6 seconds. Clones mirror the user's movements with a 0.1 second delay. Clones cannot attack, interact, or receive damage. Clones vanish immediately if the user is incapacitated.]
[Charges // 5 / 5]
[Charge Cost // 1 per cast]
[Recharge Method]
[Consume Mana Stones to restore charges. One standard Mana Stone restores 1 charge.]
[Cooldown // 20 seconds]
[Durability // 180/180]
[Requirements to Use // C Rank or Above]
["The eye follows what moves. It rarely asks if it's real."]
Lynn cut Seo-jin a look he recognized immediately, the kind meant to argue, but he didn't budge. For her, John, and the rest of the Dead Hands, the dungeon would decide what they got. For now, they were just too weak to waste resources on.
Then, from out of nowhere, a sharp pop cracked through the clearing, like air being crushed out of itself, and everyone froze as a tree on the far edge of the treeline burst apart. Heads snapped toward the sound.
A moment later another report punched through the air, and this time a straight line of trees answered it, each trunk punched clean through.
Tracking the line of destruction back through the clearing, Seo-jin's gaze settled on Synapse, who stood steady with his new weapon braced in both hands, eyes locked on the glowing matrices along its frame as the internal charge rebuilt for the next shot.
[Name // Manavore Coilrifle]
[Type // Weapon]
[Rank // C]
[Evolve // No]
[Sub-Category // Tech Rifle]
[+3 INT]
[+2 WIL]
[Attack // 48–54 / Variable Damage]
[Description]
[A single-shot tech rifle built around a mana-absorption coil and compression chamber. The frame is matte alloy with exposed conduits along the barrel. No magazine is present. The weapon charges passively from ambient mana between shots.]
[Ammunition Modes]
(Mode selected before firing)
[Kinetic Round]
[Damage Type // Impact]
[Effect // Deal 100% Attack damage. High armor penetration against physical plating.]
[Psionic Round]
[Damage Type // Psionic]
[Effect // Deal 85% Attack damage. Ignores non-psionic armor. Applies minor mental disruption (−10% action speed for 2s).]
[Concussive Round]
[Damage Type // Impact + Shockwave]
[Effect // Deal 75% Attack damage in a 2m radius. Targets hit are knocked back 3m.]
[Weapon Skill]
[Name // Hematic Payload]
[Type // Active]
[Category // Blood Manipulation]
[Rank // C]
[Effect]
[Consume the user's blood to form a Blood Bullet. The projectile can be freely manipulated in flight by the user. Valid manipulations include trajectory alteration, delayed detonation, drilling penetration, and shape control. Damage and behavior scale with user INT.]
[Cost // 8% current HP]
[Cooldown // 25 seconds]
[Reload Type]
[Single-shot // Mana Recharge]
[Recharge Time // 2.5 seconds between shots]
[Durability // 90 / 90]
[Requirements to Use // INT>24]
["Mana gives it force. Blood gives it purpose."]
Measured against how Synapse thought and processed the field, Seo-jin had no intention of throwing him into a press of bodies where instinct ruled over calculation. He would be kept behind the line where distance and time worked in his favor, at least until the broodling's path hardened into something less fragile, and the rifle in his hands was built to enforce that decision.
Everything was now in place, the brood coiled tight with purpose, their posture and spacing already shifting as if gravity itself were pulling them upward, each one straining against restraint and ready to hurl themselves into the sky the moment the dungeon allowed it.
The cube hung low now, its descent slowed to a crawl, with only minutes left before it completed the final drop and locked the perimeter shut, the pressure of its presence pressing down on the clearing as the last margin of time bled away.
That window of time was enough to slip back into the Network and take what had been gnawing at him, and as he opened his panel the sour weight of provisioning others drained off, replaced by a cleaner, more familiar thrill that centered cleanly on himself.
[Wait, hold up. You said nevermind. Come on, do you really need to get it now?]
He didn't pause, his finger moving straight to the auction tab.
'I'm tired of waiting. And who knows how long it might take to find another ghost.'
Locating the item took longer than it should have, the memory of it half-formed from a passing glance earlier while scrolling, but after dismissing the auction house as a drain and outfitting the brood through the Network shop instead, that artifact had lodged itself in his head and refused to loosen, growing heavier with every second until resistance stopped mattering.
His finger drove into the panel, and the Network's glow answered immediately. Data folded in on itself, until a small lantern with a short grip and worn housing dropped into his palm.
With the cube now only feet overhead, Seo-jin let himself smile, stowed the prize without ceremony, and turned back toward the waiting brood.
"Remember the chain of command. Reconvening with me takes priority over fighting."
His skin parted along the forearms as steel tore free from beneath it, Butcher's Wrath grinding into place as the weapon flexed and trembled, eager to be used.
"Let's fucking do this!"
Voice and aura exploding, Min smashed her fists together, the sound cracking through the clearing as the brood answered with a roar.
Voices silenced as the cube finished its descent.
Everyone's vision collapsed into black...
Salt filled the air.