Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 201: Book 3: Chapter 52: No Excuses

Read chapter 201 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 3: Chapter 52: No Excuses Chapter 52: No Excuses You Have Slain Chimera Hive Captain! +2755 Experience +2250 Dungeon Points The chimera lay still, its broken form slumped in a shallow crater of cracked stone and scorched bodily liquids. Smoke leaked from fissures across its body with flames guttering down to embers. For a moment Alex thought it was finished. Then its mandibles clicked open, trembling like rusted hinges, and a voice rasped out. The sound Alex heard was not words of the Captain Chimera, but something distant, and utterly terrifying. “We are… wait-ing below, in-truder…” The tone was fractured and clipped, echoing with layers that didn’t sound as though it could come from one single throat. Instead, it felt a chorus of voices in unison. The beast’s eyes that were once full of fire and malice, dimmed to dull pits as the words continued. “…come… we w-ill con-sume you… br-ing you into... the hive…” Each syllable clawed against Alex’s mind the same way metal forks over a dinner plate screeched. He knew the words weren’t meant for him alone. They were a summons, a warning of a kind, which some foreign consciousness was sending to them. A promise for each of them all at once. The chimera convulsed one last time as it seemed the connection to it’s dead body was severed, before slumping into final stillness. The cavern filled with the stench of burnt chitin and tainted blood. Alex remained on his knees, his breath coming in short gasps. His arms trembled under the pain of his skill's backlash. His vision swirled about with blackness creeping at the edges, but his mind… his mind was racing. That hadn’t been the chimera captain speaking. Not of its own will, not its own mind. Something else had pushed its voice through, hijacked its throat after its death. The Hive? The Queen? The realization left his stomach churning and his blood running cold—or maybe that was just the blood loss from his arm, dripping across the stones. Either way, a chill clamped down over his body, one that not even the flickering aether flames around him could warm. Obby spoke hesitantly for once, “ …Meatboy. I don't think you need me to tell you this but... That wasn’t the chimera captain. Something else is watching you. ” So the evil little river rock knew it too, and yes, Alex didn't need Obby to tell him that. Alex swallowed with dry lips, unable to muster a reply. He forced himself to glance at the ruined body again, but it was truly only a corpse now, torn and smoldering. And yet the words still echoed in his skull, whispering through the dark corners of his thoughts: We are waiting below… The last echoes of battle finally died away as the others cleaned up the chimera soldier assault. No new beasts had came after the captian's death. It appeared the hive was content to actually wait for them. Dozens of carcasses littered the floor, soldier-chimera bodies twitching in their last spasms, tunnels behind them clogged with burning or pieced a part remains. The squad stood in the aftermath like ghosts, their eyes glassy, every movement slow from exhaustion. Blood dripped from dozens of wounds onto the stone floor, forming black and red stains among the rubble. Empty potion vials clinked as they rolled from tired hands, a glass trail of desperation scattered at their feet. Alex barely felt any of it. He lay on the ground, his body a screaming knot of pain. His nerves were aflame from the [Descending Demon Fist] backlash. He hadn’t just used up everything he had, he’d dipped past empty, drawing on sheer hope and soulstuff. The repercussions of which left him pale and shuddering. “Alex!” Holly was the first to reach him, dropping to her knees at his side. She slid his head into her lap, her own martial robes streaked with dirt and blood. A potion flask was already in her free hand, tilting it against his lips. “Drink. Don’t you dare spit this out, Alex.” He coughed and sputtered but eventually swallowed, grimacing at the bitter burn the System adde