Chapter 91: 92. A Better Picture

Frost’s heart wrenched at the sight. The barbaric man drew his blade as if possessed by an evil spirit and plunged it straight down into Snap’s head.

But this had not yet occurred.

It was no more than a product of her foresight. However, it was only seconds away from becoming a reality. Snap carried the remaining 6 adventurers on its back as it took cover behind a clump of debris and risen earth.

The unsuspecting spider only possessed a single eye, rendering it incapable of sensing the danger it had suddenly befallen. It was not just this man alone either. Several others also reared their blades overhead and aimed to strike Snap dead.

The distance was too far for her to inflict Scrutiny. A couple hundred meters separated them, rendering Frost useless as she relied entirely on Nav to save Snap.

“TELL SNAP TO THROW THE ADVENTURER'S OFF!” Frost rapidly relayed. “THEY’RE GOING TO KILL SNAP!”

Snap’s HP was only 2,500 and with the average ATT at around 400 they would nearly kill it in a single hit.

“RELAYING NOW!”

Frost’s blood boiled to unprecedented levels. The act of betrayal was one that singed her heart more than anything in this world. To witness it occur to a person she cared deeply about, and to the one that wished for nothing but their safety, caused the ground to rupture under the sheer weight of her rage.

The blades reached their apex. And with one simultaneous plunge, the adventurers thrust their weapons downwards. All save for Perla, strangely enough. It was in that moment that Snap disappeared entirely from underneath them.

It had thankfully received the warning in time and acted before Frost could even blink.

The Adventurers collapsed along the ruins, with one meeting their end as the giant blade sliced their face open. The man screamed out at the top of their lungs, clutching at his gaping face as the other adventurers surrounded him, taking offensive stances.

Perla was, once again, the only one exempted from this. Rather, she was in a state of mental anguish, clutching at her head as the floating value above her blinked from green to blue.

 

< [Corporeal Value] >

 

The Greed Counter placed values upon every single individual within its presence. Frost bitterly watched on as the people she so desperately tried to save hysterically ran with red values above their heads.

Her efforts to save them were rendered agonizingly futile.

“Nav! Get Jury on Perla! I suspect the other Adventurers are done for! Let the triplets deal with them! If the Subjugation Requirement is anything to go by then we need to get rid of the Hired Arms!”

“Have you confirmed that they are these Hired Arms!?”

“Not yet – but I’m heading back there to confirm it!” Frost exclaimed, turning to the masses with solemn eyes. “These people… Tch. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry… This whole situation is a fucking MESS!”

Frost deeply lamented their impending deaths and turned her backs to them. There was truly nothing she could do to save them short of killing this Corrupted. Or, if she was anything like the Wandering Healer, then to kill them as a form of salvation.

It was the final straw that bellowed her raging heart and surged her emotions high enough to finally enter the First State.

 

< The Will of the Amalgam Has Been Raised to The First Sate >

 

< Borrowing the Active and Passive Skill of the Listening Bird >

 

Frost’s hair fluttered far behind her as she battled with the golden tentacles, weaving between them with ease. The difference in AGI combined with her foresight made them a trivial threat. A nuisance at most.

“GET OUT OF MY WAAAAAAAY!” Frost’s intense emotions surfaced in the form of a roar, propelling flames straight from her hands.

[I am Fire!], [Backfire of Dual Embers], [Flame of a Fleeting Ember].

A flurry of explosions followed her every movement, causing the very air to boil as an illusive haze lingered the wake of her destruction. The red, bizarre symbols appeared all around her and fell like bloodied snowflakes. Her hair became grey towards the end as if singed by the flames.

 

You are reading story Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story) at novel35.com

< The First State has manifested as the Listening Bird >

 

She traversed the lands, her mere presence incinerating these Touch of Golds as the unfortunate souls she left behind were snatched. They were dragged in to the depths of the Greed Counter’s diamond visage like snagged fish at the end of a reel.

The countless hands were nestled and intertwined like a box of blue worms. They grabbed, caressed, and broke the bones of their victims as their limbs sunk into its surface, leaving their entire torsos vulnerable to the whims of this entity.

 

< [Mangled Coins] >

 

< “True value comes from the soul. They sought to materialize it.” >

 

 < “There is a price that we are all willing to accept to betray our hearts.”

 

The voice of the Corrupted caused Frost’s blood to chill in an instant. An instinctive dread washed over her as she turned to the captured souls and, to her dismay, watched as the hands began to peel at their flesh and harvest their bones.

Once boneless, they were molded into various shapes like putty by the hands right before a mechanical syringe emerged from the blue diamond.

“Nav… The Wandering Healer… Didn’t her needle look just like that!?”

Frost was nearly at a loss for words as she locked her sights with the suffering, agonized by her inability to save them.

“Just what the hell is this Corrupted referencing!? Coins!? Inflow Direct!? What piece of civilization is it referring to!?”

Res promptly fired a barrage of electric lasers to end their suffering right as a stake-like needle sunk into their chests. They were reduced to nothing but smoldering corpses, and yet the needle kept flooding their bodies with a blue liquid.

“Likely the creation of the coins and the inherent greed of people.”

“Creating coins…? By what, requiring people? Creatures? THE LIVING!? As materials!? Is that why they mentioned foodery back then!?” Frost was understandably disturbed by this.

“That is most certainly the answer.”

She could not begin to comprehend the notion of creating coins out of people. The value of coins was not tied to anything but itself, and this was meant in the most visceral sense imaginable. No. She could never had imagined this to be the case if it weren’t for the blatantly horrific truth painted before her.

Frost split her thumb open with a tooth and left a trail of coagulated blood. They merged with the upheaved ground and then arose as giant crimson slabs with a triumphant choir.

And with it burst forth a massive ring of flames.

Unlike the previous iteration which was inscribed with healing magic; these were inscribed with [I Am Fire!]. It worked as an area of denial weapon, preventing the Touch of Golds from progressing as it reduced them to cinders in mere seconds.

After all, it dealt her maximum MAG ATT with each pulse, which occurred at every 10 second interval. It greatly helped that they overlapped with one another, so when one fired off another would finish an already injured Touch of Gold.

When she was close enough to the Adventurers, she checked their statuses and confirmed her suspicions.

 

---