Chapter 68: The second Sin.
The tundra, once an unbroken stretch of white and silver, had been reduced to a scorched wasteland. Blackened husks of trees stood like skeletal remains, their limbs twisted and broken. The ground, once frozen solid, now steamed in places where embers still smoldered, the heat having melted through layers of permafrost. Ash rained gently, carried by the shifting winds, settling over the charred landscape like the remnants of a forgotten battle. The air was thick with the acrid scent of burnt chitin and seared vegetation, a stark contrast to the once-crisp, frigid purity of the tundra. The silence that followed was heavier than any sound—a void left in the absence of skittering legs and whispered death.
Nioh stood amidst it all, catching his breath. His body trembled slightly from the strain, the aftereffects of borrowing intent from the Sin of Envy gnawing at his bones. His muscles ached, his biocore pulsed erratically, and worse still, he could feel Ekoh’s own fatigue echoing through their link. The cost of wielding such power was becoming steeper each time.
"I figured it out," he murmured, his voice barely above a breath.
"I know," Ekoh replied, his tone steady, reassuring. The enlightenment had shifted something in both of them, a change neither fully understood yet.
Nioh watched as the last embers flickered out, the once-monstrous inferno reduced to a dull, dying glow. The battle had ended, and with it, an entire colony had perished. And yet, in the midst of destruction, there was still something left behind—potential.
Without hesitation, he moved toward the corpse of the Silent Spider Queen. Her massive frame was a grotesque monument to the fight, her once-pulsing abdomen now ruptured and still, her obsidian legs twisted in unnatural angles.
No wasted resources. Nioh worked quickly, using a reinforced blade to carve into the Queen’s body, extracting the most valuable parts. He gathered thick strands of high-grade silk, rolling them into a compact, reinforced bundle.
Next, he carefully bottled the lethal venom sacs, the toxin inside still vibrant and dangerously potent.
As he stroked one of the spider’s armored legs, he spoke again. "We still need to find a compatible S-tier biocore to rank up."
"I know where to find one," Ekoh blurted.
Nioh froze for a second before narrowing his eyes. "You’ve been getting visions, haven’t you?"