The Apprentice of Ouroboros [Monster Evo LitRPG Adventure]

Neska let out a sound of confusion. Say that again? That sounds like a name for a cult. But how did you see the Titles?

When he grabbed you during the chase. I didn't think I could, but I saw a flash of it. You might not have noticed it. I don't know, however, if he saw yours.

This was truly disturbing. That meant he could know of her [Blood of Ouroboros] title! That was one bit of information others should not have.

In the meantime, she had to give a debrief. Nevin dispatched urgent orders to riders already in the air to locate the missing griffin, but he did not sound hopeful they would catch up or find them. There were many, many places for such a creature to land in the mountains to the west, east, or the giant forested area north of the academy.

She continued her discussion with Vivi. Can you sense any titles?

I think it only works when I'm focusing on it. There was...resistance. physical contact makes it possible. Titles are the tale of our souls, our accomplishments, shortfalls, great triumphs and unspeakable acts. They leave a mark.

Can others sense titles?

Inconclusive. But I would surmise, yes. Though our circumstances are somewhat unique, given the nature of your Awakening. Oh, I know you tuned out the updates, but, you got some improvements.

Lay it on me.

Ability Proficiencies Increased

Spring Scales 6 > Spring Scales 8

Venom Bolt 8 > Venom Bolt 10

Woven Root Hex 12 > Woven Root Hex 13

Venomous Bite 8 > Venomous Bite 9

Sudden Molt 2 > Sudden Molt 3

It was a small consolation, given that the cost of these improvements was at the expense of Serkin's health.

That would be a lot to stew on for a while. Meanwhile, Hadley recounted her pursuit of the assailant, and she'd thrown every trick she could to stop him, including snare arrows, landing knife wounds on him between his shadowy evasion ability cooldowns.

Judging by the way Hadley clenched her bow with her knuckles turning white, she was furious about failing to catch him.

While Nevin was discussing the assailant with Jurik and theories about the attacker's identity, Hadley leaned in close to Neska. “Whatever you're working on with your venoms, I need one that renders foes disoriented, debilitated, or one that paralyzes, or can track them. Think it's possible?”

“You know, arrows can still kill depending on where you hit.”

“If I want a target to keep breathing, I've got the aim for it. And a few other abilities,” Hadley whispered back. “Side project?”

“Gladly,” Neska whispered back. It was already on her list of capabilities to add to her roster of venoms and alchemical effects. Now that she’d demonstrated proof of concept of envenomated arrows, mass production was the next goal. If not for her own arsenal, then for Hadley and Jurik, or whoever else might want to have an extra kick to their attacks.

The rest of the debrief was quite dry. Nevin picked at details, including anything the assassin had said. There wasn't much else to add, other than he sounded like he had intimate knowledge of the campus and everything he'd said to Neska.

Nevin pointed out somewhat awkwardly that the assailant hadn't targeted anyone who would have been an incalculable loss. Neska felt her scales bristle at Nevin’s comment and chose that moment to speak up.

“He knew something. Something so important that they risked exposing their inside man and capabilities. We need to know what he knows.”

“Cassia,” he said with a subtle tilt of his head, “this will fall under the investigative branch of the Valos military. I understand your concern for your professor, but we need to conduct this search for facts by the book. There is also another problem.”

“And what would that be?”

“A professor was almost murdered either by a student or a corrupted Awakened. The Seekers will likely receive word and try to insert themselves into the investigation. This does fall under our purview, but…they may very well push their way in. Seekers are not exactly well-regarded on the campus. Never have been, and tensions could flare.”

Oh, dragon crap. Those were the last people she wanted to see on the campus right now. Especially considering some of them were mimicoids running around unchecked.

She folded her arms. "We'll...keep a wide berth, should they show up." After a short while, Nevin finished with his note-taking and rose from his seat.

“I think that about wraps it up. Thank you, everyone. I know things are tense. I imagine this will likely add fuel to rumors, and not good ones. But for what it's worth, you have my personal thanks for saving Serkin's life.”

“Will he live?” Juni asked, tail tensed and her ears outstretched.

Nevin let out a quiet breath. “Thanks to Cassia’s intervention, yes. I have confidence in Chief Healer Selkie’s abilities; she has brought many students and faculty members back from the brink, time and time again. But… as for when he regains consciousness? I don't know.”

Neska flexed her claws against her folded arms. I'm not letting that fiend catch us by surprise again. It didn't feel like a win, even if the professor's survival was the best possible outcome.

She knew what she was doing with her time between classes for the immediate future: Finding the assassin.

And dealing with him, permanently.

"Neska, wake up!"

"Five more minutes, Mom."

"Neska, you’ll be late for studies! Vivi is already dressed and ready, and you're still in bed!"

"That's fine. I was up late last night…doing…"

What was I doing?

Neska’s eyes fluttered open to the sight of a tawny mouse the size of a child hovering over her, standing on her bed. A long, trailing tail hung over the side of the bed, and dark brown eyes stared down at her.

“You were thrashing in your sleep. You okay?”

“Tired.” Her long tongue felt thick, and the brain fog from sleep wasn't fully cleared yet. “Playing back the chase. It was possible to catch him.”

Juni's clenched jaw loosened a little, and her whiskers were less on end. “You saved Serkin's life, let's take that as a win. Now everyone's guard is up. They made a misstep, to our advantage.”

“And he's unconscious, with internal damage. The venom could have done permanent damage to his nerves and brain.” She slowly rose, pushing a strand of feathery mane out of her face. Juni hopped off the bed while she slowly stretched.

She uncoiled her lower serpentine body and felt a slightly satisfying pop of a joint, then rolled her neck to one side, then the other. “But, he’s alive. It's also my sign we need to prepare a lot more, now."

The mouse nodded as she closed her notebook and put it in a satchel to swing over her back. “Admittedly, yeah. We need to up our game. I wonder how the rumor will spread on this one. A lamia chasing a shadowy figure all across campus, springing onto rooftops, flinging spells…it must have been quite the sight.”

“Yes, very not low profile of me.” She wondered about the fallout from that one. “It’s gonna get pretty hard to sell ‘unusual lamia variant’ if anyone was paying attention–oh.”

Her stomach, feeling like it was devouring itself, interrupted her musings. “On second thought, I could use a meal first. I think I'll need…a lot more than usual.”

“Eat Kasfew, and you'll kill two birds with one stone,” Juni suggested.

“Wouldn't fit. Plus the appeal of eating people…ugh. I ate Zhuren only because he tried to kill me first. I mean, it was a dignified end…what's with the look?”

Juni’s edged smile had returned. “I find it unsettling that you ate one of your adversaries. Memo to never piss you off.”

“Mice are permanently off my menu for eating, Juni. And other small forest animals,” she sighed, then tapped her snout in contemplation. “Unless I run into a rodent of peculiar volume. I wonder how big they get? Risha said they could get to the size of a large canine. I hope she was joking.”

“Your morbid fascination with how big a meal you could chow down is noted. My candid prediction is that you'd choke before you got it down,” Juni pointed out in a dry tone. “So, no clue what happened to our professor. It’s our first week, and already another brush with death, sort of. We need to break this damn streak.”

“Agreed. I have an assassin to catch.” She let out a soft sigh. “Juni,” she called out, with Juni’s paw hesitating on the door latch. She folded her hands together and bowed her head. “Did I do the right thing?”

“Saving a life is almost universally the right thing,” the mouse answered. “Would I have chosen something other than biting his neck? Probably…if I’d had a better choice.”

“Corvin said it kicked something fierce when I reversed the venom effect. Maybe it's tied to the strength of the venom, and his body was already badly damaged.”

Juni considered this for a moment, frowning. “You can only reliably predict what you understand. But the more uncomfortable notion is that someone tried to kill Professor Serkin after we showed up. And with him currently in a state of unresponsiveness, and those wounds on him…what does it mean?”

“Someone tried to kill him. And failed. A reptile-type Varadur infiltrator.”

“Or…a student who went bad.” Juni knew how to kill the mood entirely. “We didn’t get a particularly good look, Neska. could go either way."

“Corrupted? Or just plain old grudge-holding?” Neska shook her head. “We don’t know all the facts. Drakeans would be a strong match, but venoms and poisons for them are rare. It could be a naga, or its variants. I’d say lamia, but he had…well, legs.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Juni said dryly. “Any other candidates?”

“Gilamera and their evolutions have potent venom. Or deadly infections from their bites,” Neska pointed out. “Those are also the only three that can carry that kind of paralytic venom, plus the hemorrhage. Selkie mentioned it. So either it was one of those, of which the Drakeans and the naga are humankind species, or someone who managed to acquire those venoms, which they do keep for study, to throw us off the trail."

Juni blinked. “You figured that just from those few observations?”

“I could taste the venom. It’s really gross, by the way.”

Juni’s eyes went wide. “You did what?!”

“Yep. Also, I have a theory that there is a corrupted Awakened nearby who is in hiding.”

Juni’s eyes went wide, and she gripped her ears with her hands, tugging gently. “Why is it that every day with you is an existential terror? How do you even have evidence to support this theory?”

“The Voice visited me again when I was dreaming. He’s…not happy about me being iron-willed and immune to his influence. There’s more, though. Juni…please wait for me to finish, okay?”

“Neska, I trust you. I always have.” Juni hopped up on the bed, with Neska settling down and drawing the will to explain everything.

She started with the corruption attempt. Juni sat calmly on the bed, listening silently while she detailed everything. Then she layered on Kalloway’s discussion about the Corrupted, which Juni scribbled notes for her own reference.

Then, Neska finished with the part she thought she’d keep hidden, but realized she couldn’t. Not to Juni.

She told her about the [Ritual Infusion] specialization. A temptation of power that could very well be another attempt at corrupting her by a different means.

Juni let out a long sigh, then hugged Neska tightly. “No wonder you didn't tell me at first. That's terrifying. Sacrificing lives for power? It's a cruel joke: a power so tempting, but at such an unconscionable cost.”

“The calculus changed when Serkin was attacked. I believe the voice is targeting me specifically. I don't know if the other Corrupted are aware of me or not, or of each other. I don’t think they’re connected; not fully. If they were, why was Felix not aware of me? Or Tanileth? It's like each of them is an arcane relay, but transmitting corruption influence, and they’re not as thoroughly networked as people claim.”

Juni nodded slowly. “Still scary enough how they can organize. So the Voice guy–we really need a name for that bastard, by the way–he can continuously beam into people's heads, wearing them down over time?”

Neska shook her head. “Unknown. There are still too many variables in understanding corruption and dealing with it; that’s a longer-term problem. We need to solve the short-term one: tracking down who attacked Serkin." She thought the title might help, and mentioned it to Juni, who recoiled in surprise.

"You can see Titles? interesting. I thought only certain classes could do that."

"A witch can." She pulled out Kalloway's book. "Though I didn't think my Interface would actively find it. It's handy, and it might be a clue."

She was now thinking of how many could have evolved a specific paralytic toxin, along with a hemorrhage effect, and be in a cult. It narrowed it down more. “We also need a monster expert. Jurik knew it was reptiloid venom, as did you.”

“It’s an easy assumption. Using poisons produced by humanity isn’t a very Varadur-type strategy,” Juni pointed out. “Poison frog-likes exist, and there are other venom-producing creatures, but reptiloids are the only viable candidate based on the known evidence. Besides, we are in an academy filled with professors who have fought the Varadur. Pretty sure they're already looking into it.”

“Maybe.” Neska leaned back. “But here’s the rough part: explaining what I know means they might think I’m being corrupted. Even though I would rather die than ever join the Varadur.”

“Crap. Which means our choice of people we can consult and pool information on is limited,” Juni muttered. “Jurik and Hadley would be our go-tos. What about Syra?”

“Syra’s working on her academics, but…fighting’s her thing,” Neska admitted. Juni laughed at that. “Hey, she’s taking on challenges. You think she’d be in alchemy and rituals without us? Put her as a maybe. At some point, if we want her to really trust us, we’ll have to tell her everything.”

“Hang on, let’s go back a step: why is this voice entity after you?” Juni pondered. “This is what I don't get. I mean, yes, you have unique powers. Yes, you have a weird corruption resistance that really would be helpful to everyone if we could replicate it. You have thwarted concerted efforts to disrupt their attack behind enemy lines. But how can one person make something as massive as a leader of the Varadur terrified?”

“Because he can't control me.”

Juni raised a brow. “The soul resistance could be that important? Is that what you think?”

“Kalloway said it was in Risha’s notes, but not explained. Even he’s scratching his head.” Neska let out a soft huff, folding her arms. “Or, I am a literal daughter of Ouroboros, a divine beast, one who is possibly working against the Voice. And the divines, in theory, have exceptional power and resilience.”

She glanced out the window, noting the welcoming sight of the campus. “What if Tanileth was looking for me, specifically? What if that other serpent was running because Tanileth had been pursuing them?”

“Which one?”

“The one the Seekers were chasing near Earthspire. They killed a villager over their lack of cooperation,” Neska answered calmly. “If that's the case, how long were those tunnel vipers waiting, and what is that mirage serpent doing now?”

Juni folded her arms, sighing. “We've gone from venom-tasting to divine influences, either keeping you alive or insistent on hunting you down, in five minutes. I need breakfast to process this. Then we have a weekend to take a breather."

Neska let out an approving hiss. “Breakfast. Then existential problems.”

Before she could move, a heavy, agitated knock emanated from the door. “Just a second.”

She slithered over to open the door and was greeted by a livid-looking Syra, fists balled up like she was about to hit the door again. Standing taller than her was Brent the wolfling, pointing a claw at Syra and looking apologetic towards Neska.

“I told her to be gentle.”

“Don’t tell me to be gentle, Brent! You’re the biggest battering ram in the building! And that's considering we have a golemoid down the hall!” Syra fumed. She then turned her ire toward Neska, jabbing a finger her way.

Neska ignored the drizzle of water that matted her feathery strands. “Hi, Syra. Hi Brent. We’re tired, and it’s the weekend.”

“Dragon shit. You were leaping over buildings and chasing a criminal halfway across campus. Brent saw it, who wisely told me. I want details on why you’re risking life and tail. And the worst offense of all, you didn’t clue me in!”

Ah, fiddlesticks. Why couldn’t this wait until after breakfast?