The walls were covered in murals depicting coiling serpents, plague-stricken cities, and a lone, hooded figure ascending a throne of bones beneath a sky of swirling green fog.
Damon’s gaze shifted from the etchings to the more substantial stuff. Ancient urns lined the walls, each filled with preserved venom sacs, dried serpent scales, and brittle roots that reeked of alchemy.
Clearly, Ouroboros hadn’t touched these for so reason but Damon did not care. He took everything that could be lifted off and tossed them into his spatial ring. Inheritance sites like this were extrely valuable. Every little thing here could potentially go for a fortune.
He even tried removed stone slabs from the shrine as they seed to have so sort of power but they proved extrely difficult to uproot. So he left them and casually continued strolling.
In the background, Ouroboros screeching beca louder and louder. His many eyes saw what was happening and bleeded in rage. "You miscreant! You dare defile my god’s sanctum?"
His massive form thrashed against the barrier, sending shockwaves through the already-weakened dungeon. Poison fountained from his gaping maws, hissing as it splattered harmlessly against the invisible do encasing the shrine.
"Don’t mind ," Damon called lazily over his shoulder, brushing dust off a jade vial capped in bone and slotting it neatly into his ring. "Just taking what’s owed. You know, paynt for the welco party and all."
He moved calmly, running a hand over the altar’s edge once more before stooping to retrieve a curved ritual dagger embedded at its base, its hilt wrapped in dried sinew, its blade green with crusted venom. The weapon thrumd faintly as he lifted it. Damon grinned wider.
Outside the shrine, Ouroboros was losing what little mind he had left. His voice was now just a mangled roar, no longer words, just raw hatred and desperation. "THIEF! DEFILED! CURSED BLOOD! I’LL DEVOUR YOU!"
Damon tapped the dagger lightly against his shoulder, casually turning toward the heart of the shrine. "Relax," he muttered, lips curling. "I haven’t even started the main business yet." Ignoring the screeching monstrosity he entered the main hall of the small shrine.
Outside the barrier, Ouroboros howled in disbelief. "Liar! Filth! The sanctum will reject you! It’s mine! It’s MINE! You will not be able to step in! You will rot and die! You will perish! You will be erased into the oblivion!"
Damon smiled and took a step inside. Runes glowed faintly under his feet but nothing really happened. "I seem to be doing fine." He laughed and continued inside.
The entire place wasn’t all that big and there was only a singel altar at the center of the hall. "Oh?" He stepped closer to the altar. "What do we have here?"
Right next to the altar, there was a body on the ground that was missing a head. Damon crouched and cautiously examined the body first. He already had a feeling whom this might belong to but the screeching outside quickly confird his doubts.
"...You dare lay eyes on my forr self?!" Ouroboros shrieked.
"Let guess," Damon muttered. "This was before the whole ’giant eldritch worm’ phase?"
He gently lifted a worn dallion still hanging around the corpse’s neck. The symbol etched into it was identical to the one pulsing under his feet, an ouroboros serpent devouring its own tail, but with an eye in the center of the loop.
Ouroboros raged, but his voice was beginning to fray, growing more feral by the second. "Put it down! Put it down now! You are unworthy! You cannot wield my god’s legacy!"
"Oh?" Damon rose slowly, slipping the dallion into his pocket like loose change. "You an this legacy?"
He turned toward the altar, eyes glinting with interest. It was made of so dark green stone and looked like a serpent, coiled onto itself. Above it floated a vial, sealed, suspended mid-air. Black and green liquid shimred within, twisting like a living serpent inside glass.
A prompt finally blood before Damon’s eyes.
[Would you like to participate in the Legacy trial of the Venom King?]
Outside, Ouroboros slamd into the barrier again, a tidal wave of putrid sludge erupting from his back. "NO! YOU WILL DIE IN AGONY! YOUR BLOOD WILL CURDLE AND YOUR BONES WILL SPLINTER!" he howled, his voice cracking like a dying storm.
But Damon barely heard him. His mind was already ticking, calculating.
A trial.
An especially powerful one at that. Given what he’d seen of Ouroboros, the man had clearly failed and devolved into a bloated monstrosity. That made Damon think for a mont. Was he prepared to attempt this? Was he in his best condition to attempt this?
But then again, if he failed he should be able to attempt it again. After all, this guy was trying to do the sa thing. His finger reached forward, tapping the prompt without hesitation.
[Yes.]
The next second, the vial exploded, becoming a spiral of toxic mist that coiled around him. The shrine trembled. The runes beneath his feet ignited in sickly green fire.
[Legacy Trial Initiated.]
[Trial Objective: Survive.]
Outside, Ouroboros scread in horror, and rage. "How dare you?! A lowly bloodsucker cannot even step into my God’s sanctum and yet you dare to attempt it? Nooo! Nooo! Stop it! Stop it right this second!"
However, the monster’s horrendous voice and everything around him quickly disappeared into darkness as Damon found himself standing in the midst of endless darkness.
A new notification flashed in front of them before that as well completely disappeared.
[You have entered the Venom King’s Trial Grounds.]
[All outside interference has been severed.]
Damon exhaled slowly. Suddenly his vision was flooded with green mist and a few seconds later, the mist parted before him to reveal a towering temple, a grander version of the shrine he’d just left.
But this one wasn’t weathered or crumbling, it was grand and powerful. Veins of erald venom ran through its walls, and a colossal serpent statue coiled around the top like a divine guardian. The structure radiated ancient majesty and unbearable pressure.
***
Mass Release sponsored by Danny_Marek
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