Death's Disciple [Sys Apoc, OP Villain MC, LitRPG] Chapter 53: 1.53 House Cleaning

Read chapter 53 of Death's Disciple [Sys Apoc, OP Villain MC, LitRPG] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

1.53 House Cleaning Chapter 53 My arm shot out in front of me and my mana moved outward from my hand, forming a wobbly circular shape in a thin barrier. The large pincers of an ant drone crashed against it, pushing against me, and the barrier spider-webbed instantly. Even against the charge of the large insect, my body didn’t move, as it didn’t have enough momentum to overpower my strength stat. My barrier broke apart as the ant came to a stop, and I reached my hand through the spiraling mana fragments to grab hold of one of its massive pincers. I pulled, tugging the creature to the side with massive force and brought my sword down on its head. The metal edge broke through it’s exoskelton and spilled its insides out over the ground. The system notification of its death flashed in my vision for a moment, but I mentally swiped it away at the same instant I tossed aside the ant’s corpse. Its next kin was snapping at me right after, but my sword’s tip pierced its eyes before it could reach me. Yet more green bug-juice erupted from the wound, splattering the front of my body. I kicked the ant away; its legs twitched as it quickly succumbed to my sponsor’s grasp. “Bean?” I looked back to see the Akhekh standing on top of one of the ants, its talons gripped the ant's head as Bean slammed their beak into the insect’s body over and over again. Each of my companion’s attacks broke through the hard chitin and buried her beak into the flesh underneath. Moments later, my little companion was happily chowing down on her kill. “Good job, Bean.” I called out with a smile. The Akhekh was still young, and still very much looking all ten yards toward cute little winged cat, bird, lion hybrid. But by now, she was actually rather formidable when compared to the ant drones. [Companion: Dread Akhekh (Mythic – Unique) Level 5: Stats: Strength: 15 Dexterity: 20 Vitality: 16 Intelligence: 9 Willpower: 9 Skills: Spirit Sense, Beginner - Lvl 2, Blood Siphon, Beginner - Lvl 2, Dark Meld, Beginner - Lvl 3 Ability: Corpse Eater (F)] Its growth was scary, with its overall stat increase per level being even higher than my own was before my class upgrade at level fifteen. Once Bean reached that level, I didn’t know if it would begin to grow even faster. It was terrifying to think how powerful the creature could be at level twenty, level forty. Her skills were also making steady progress, but I could see no indicator of Bean’s ability being close to ranking up. I had to only assume there were specific criteria that had to be met, or she simply needed to eat more bodies. Which was fine, there would be plenty of bodies for it to eat before we left the dungeon. I absorbed the souls of the ants still floating around me as I ran forward, Bean bounding happily at my side. The stream of silvery energy entered my chest, as always, and disappeared. As the ability worked, I tried to feel out the essence, discerning how it moved, and how it felt. My instincts told me that my [Soul Strike] class skill dealt with the manipulation and use of that very same unfiltered soul energy, and therefore I should be able to feel and control it as my ability activated. It was tough going though, as my new debuff bracelet seemed to also work on my senses. [Aura Mastery] for example, was also affected. My perception of the presences around me, and my grasp on my own presence, was now much lower than I was used to. That made suppressing my aura harder, as well as detecting others. It was all good training, and I continued to cycle my mana even as I traveled through the hive’s tunnels. Switching between my skills on rotation kept me from getting bored, and let me see the minor differences between each skill. How each one worked, and how they were similar in other facets. The dungeon went on like that. Bean and I carving our way through throngs of drones, walking through tunnels, and me playing with my skills and ability to try understanding them even more. It wasn’t too long until I reached