952. The Third Tribulation
Imprint of You
Life Within The Shell…? Must be… Stuffed full…!
< Imitation >
Soul Rank: Nil | Impuritas: Infecta Rot
LEVEL : 95
ORIGIN : Impuritas
HP : 132,000
ATT : 850
MAG ATT : 850
ATT DEF : 750
MAG DEF : 750
MP (Mortal Pulp): 5L
RESIST : 1,000
AGI : 30
Unstuffed, Stuffed, Possessed, and now – the human imitations of Infecta Rot descended upon them. They were humanoid-shaped machines created from smooth, refined tal, unlike those that had co before them.
Red and blue veins grew over the grey steel like constricting ivy. Nutrients in the form of mortal pulp circulated around their bodies. Three red orbs sat within the hollow cavities of their skulls, where an amalgamated mass also resided.
It oozed with pink ooze. Right in the center of these three red orbs was a green light that glowed the mont it noticed Frost.
“Don’t they look a little bit too close to Hayte?” Frost noticed their eerie similarities.
The Imprints of You were mostly steel on the outside but contained compressed flesh within their hollow shells. Their arms and legs were longer than what could feasibly belong to a human, and they worked like whip-like appendages which allowed them to scramble along the walls.
They were fast, large, and considerably powerful. 132,000 HP was close to what the One Thousand Eyed Bird possessed. Not to ntion that their DEF stats would make them a nightmare for even high-ranked Adventurers to face.
It also did not help that they arrived in large numbers.
Imprint of You
< Basic Observation >
< They compress biomass into their bodies, hoping to fill them with the aspects of humanity >
“This was their next logical transformation. They went from trying to possess inanimate objects closest to the thes of childhood. Then they took over sentintal objects. When that wasn’t enough, they tried to make themselves look human. But they don’t even understand it themselves.”
Frost retrieved her De Jure Sanguinis, loading a blood-hardened bullet into the chamber. The prongs bit into her wrists and hand, drawing blood to allow for successive shots without the need for actively reloading.
She rely reloaded because she was still used to the old De Jure.
< The contrary Frost. They believe humanity is unattainable >
< Hence why we see the depiction of them stuffing themselves with Mortal Pulp >
< Their envy is unending >
Over sixty of the Imprints of You fell.
Another twenty ran down the walls and pipework, bringing the number to over eighty in total.
Their overwhelming numbers could easily eradicate entire armies. Unprepared Kingdoms wouldn’t even stand a chance against such a nace.
But they were no more than target practice to Frost.
“Enoch reworked how De Jure works. I was always limited the speed of my reloads. It’s not slow by any stretch. But it was still a limitation. Breakneck mode off.”
Red veins that ran along it bulged as it drew her blood. The golden feathers which decorated their length blood like flowers desperately attempting to spread their petals to receive a droplet of water.
In this instance, it was her blood.
“Semi-automatic mode.” Frost proudly announced. “Jury! Block Joy’s ears!” announced,
“Already done!”
And in the next instance–
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
–Blood-crystalized bullets were spewed from the barrel of the two-ter weapons at a rate of five bullets per second. She did not require a sight to take aim. Instead, she relied solely on her precognition to determine whether the bullet would et its mark or not.
As a result, she was able to readjust her aim as though she herself was a machine. Not only that, but these bullets carried [Thermal Propagation], allowing them to explode at will to maximize her damage output.
Each bullet sprayed thousands of tiny pellets across the elevator shaft. Nothing was left unscathed.
Sixteen seconds later, the swarm of Impuritas were reduced to fragnted wreckages. They were still alive due to their imnsely high HP stat. Furthermore, she did not want to kill them all at once.
So needed to survive if she wished to study them further.
“Bullets barely consu blood so long as I keep it at its base ATT. More than enough to whittle down Plague-level Impuritas.”
A single blood-crystalized bullet took roughly 10,000 HP to create. Just in this small sixteen second window she had used nearly a million HP worth of bullets. Substantial, but a relatively small drop in her imnse reservoir of HP.
“Now then!”
She intended to keep a few alive. Those who were closest to the middle of the shaft were left to fall onto the elevator. As for the others, Frost coagulated her blood into her free hand, creating a large, twenty-ter lance.
[Progenitor Art: Civilization – Blood Crystallization]. This Art allowed her to create items using her blood.
It cost her 200,000 HP per liter of blood. This colossal lance used over twenty liters of blood – around four tis as much as what a regular human body possessed.
And to think it only totaled 4,000,000 HP.
She reeled her arm far behind her. Then, she released the wound-up attack and twirled in place, creating a violent crimson tornado. The tip of the lance shredded the remainder of the falling Impuritas, reducing them to nothing but mounds of scrap and flesh.
A rush of air drafted upwards as a result of the attack, bringing in the scent of decay from further beneath. Explosions erupted from above. A new swarm of Imprints of You fell. This ti, they numbered in the hundreds.
“Stuff… Be stuffed… Aspect… The missing piece…!”
“Want beco human? Co together.”
“Safe inside. Unfairness. Beco together.”
Their chanical, hollow cries were devoid of life. Yet there was utter desperation woven within those screeches. Each word they spoke was grating and purposefully designed to rupture the ears and ddle with the psyche of listeners.
[Analyze Skill].
< Skill Analyzed >
< ACTIVE: Screech of Eternal Yearning >
< Lost? No. Found. Yes. Integrate? Pending >
< EFFECT: Debilitate target. Reduce RESIST by 30% on targets with less than 100 RESIST. Deal 850 MAG ATT Damage >
“There’s more of them. A hell of a lot more.” She set the spear aside as she clasped onto the head of one of the surviving Imprints of You.
“Leave them to !” Jury called out, giving Frost a thumbs up through the gap in the elevator ceiling. “Acid spray go!”
“White Midnight will enjoy the acid rain.” Morgause sinisterly smirked.
Frost drove her fingers into the Impuritas’ skull. She knew that speaking to them would not get her anywhere. Instead, she allowed it to attack her. One of its arms tried to wrap around her. Various more that writhed around her attempted to do the sa, only for her flas to render them down to ashes.
“No pain… experience? Gone –!”
< PASSIVE: Imprints of The Machine >
< The process to becoming whole… is to stuff ourselves full. Like they do? >
< EFFECT: Mortal Pulp is permanently fixed at 5L. When Mortal Pulp reaches 0, then HP drops to 0. When Mortal Pulp is less than 80% capacity, seek the nearest humanoid target to gain Mortal Pulp >
She crushed its head, then stomped on the head of another.
“Humanity to you is what you make a part of yourself? What you eat doesn’t change what you are or who you beco. The only exception is .” Frost monologued spitefully. “At what point are you any different from the Crimson Hunger? The Blood Festival? Aside from your lack of a soul?”
“… That would be our inherent blindness.” A voice spoke from beneath.
A half-lted Hayte spoke calmly from a pool that used to be Usari, Icara and his lower body. The rapid descent had already claid their bodies. As his head began to subrge into the pool of liquid at, he briefly finished with:
“We could not experience the world. What we understood did not translate to what we were ant to feel. Understanding… is not feeling. If they knew the agonizing process of mortality, then they wouldn’t dare to dream of it…”
Bubbled replaced his head as he beca one with the ooze.
“So they stuff themselves full hoping to gain mortality. That’s why they die once they lose their Mortal Pulp. It’s no different from consuming in their eyes. Tch…”
< Did you expect a machine to understand the concept of humanity as humans do? >
< Humanity is not quantifiable >
< But a machine will believe in numbers first >
< Results are everything >
“Is this how you perceive it too?” Frost asked, holding a hand up high into the air towards the approaching swarm of Impuritas. “It’s just numbers to you?”
< I did for the longest ti >
< I still do today to a degree >
< But my perception changed when I first reached the First State >
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