SSS Awakening: Rebirth of the Strongest Vampire God - Chapter 623

Chapter 623: Nemesis?
Goldy hid behind Damon’s back.

The kitten peeked over his hair like a general surveying the battlefield, eyes glowing, tail twitching in predatory rhythm. She spotted Goldy, pupils dilating with unholy glee and sprang off Damon’s head with enough enthusiasm to take a clump of hair from his head.

Once again, the chase resumed.

Damon watched the kitten pinball after Goldy across the cavern walls, the spark squeaking and zipping around like a terrified snack with wings.

Damon tried to intervene. “Hey! Hey! Behave! You both are brother and sister. Well, maybe sister and sister.” He had no idea what the gender of the spark was. “Whatever. You are part of the same family. Stop fighting!”

Unfortunately, neither was listening to him. He let them go for a moment. They did not look like they were going to stop anytime now. The good thing was that the two somehow seemed to be evenly matched so atleast one was not going to end up killing the other.

“Atleast keep an eye on me when you are playing!” He exhaled slowly and shifted his focus back to the ominous lake of shadows.

This… was perfect. The pressure. The density. The sheer, oppressive nature of the essence. This environment was exactly the kind needed to force open the stubborn meridians he had been avoiding.

He settled near the edge, where the darkness lapped like living liquid. The oppressive force surged again, crushing into his ribs, trying to fold him inward. His bones screamed. His blood boiled.

But his body, his monstrous, evolving, poison-tempered body, answered back.

He crossed his legs, letting the lake’s pressure bear down on him, letting it sink into his cells. Damon closed his eyes and directed his energy inward. He focused on his neck where a set of ten meridians reached up all the way into his head.

In his last life, many players fucked up this step and ended up with their head getting exploded. It was insta death if one failed in this.

Damon had personally died twenty times before he finally got it right and he was not exactly sure how things would go this time around.

Damon inhaled once, feeling the pressure grind into him like invisible millstones. The ten meridians along his neck, thin, delicate conduits wrapped dangerously close to his skull, shivered in protest. Even touching them with intent sent a bolt of razor-edged pain up the back of his head, like a spike being hammered into his brainstem.

He tried to relax and continued to proceed onward. The little confidence he had came from his Nine Million Poison Body. Surely, a top-tier constitution shouldn’t explode on his face?

He steadied his breathing, drawing in the shadow essence and letting it pool at the base of his throat. The lake answered, its oppressive aura pressing harder, trying to crush his concentration. His vision trembled behind closed eyes. His teeth clenched.

This step had ended thousands of players in Earth Online.

If you forced the flow too quickly, your skull ruptured from internal mana shock. If you loosened control, mana overwhelmed the channels. If you hesitated halfway, the feedback tore the meridians apart from within.

Instant death.

In his past life, Damon had watched people collapse mid-attempt, blood gushing from their ears and eyes. Some begged healers for help, unaware their brains were already liquefying. His own guild had banned attempts unless a healer was nearby. Even then it was pretty much useless.

After a while they discovered a new shortcut. One could ask a experienced NPC for help and they could potentially help with the mana flow and control.

This was also why Damon was planning to open up this set of meridians back at the Blood Hall with someone watching over him but the iron was hot now and he decided to go for it.

This lake in front of him reminded him of the ice trial lake that he was yet to visit. A vicious glint appeared in his eyes as he thought about that lake. There was a reason why he avoided that place until now.

He continued to get regular updates from Sylvara about how the mysterious beast lashed out at everyone who entered the place and the whole mountain was simply out of bounds. Some people had even sighted treasure chests and such which made the place all the more alluring.

However, Damon continued to avoid it. This was because he had a strong feeling that a certain someone was lying in wait for him deep inside the ice trial.

Someone whom he simply can’t face just yet.

He wasn’t 100% sure about his reasoning. There was a chance he could be wrong and simply paranoid, wasting such a precious resource but his instincts told him to stay away from that place.

After a lot of thought, Damon also decided to do just that. Sometimes when there was danger, it was best to stay away. Not everything was a stepping stone. Some was just a cliff facing an abyss. If you fall on the other side, there was no turning back.

Damon snapped out of his thoughts and returned to the growling shadow lake in front of him. His mind had wandered a lot easily than he had expected. This was not good. If he had lost any more of his concentration his head would have exploded without doubt.

He quickly doubled back and focused again.

Shadow pressure crushed down again, heavier this time, enough to make even his reinforced bones creak. Damon’s jaw tightened. His meridians flexed against the load, spasming, threatening to snap like overstretched wires.

For a second, he wasn’t sure he would be able to handle it but then he decided to do something about the lose-lose environment he was sitting in. It was best to add a flavor of his own to make it a little bit more hospitable.

He immediately unleashed many of his poison skills, instantly covering the entire place with miasma.

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