Souls Online: Mythic Ascension
Chapter 280: Snake Venom

Chapter 280: Snake Venom

Elise froze for a moment, stunned by the rejection, before her expression twisted into something vile and contorted. Her eye pulsed. Her teeth gnashed in crooked rows as a bubbling snarl built in her throat.

"You dare scorn me?" she rasped. "You’re just the bastard child of one of my pathetic brothers. A mistake. A stain. You think this means anything? You think you’re safe?"

Her mangled hand shot forward.

Penny didn’t flinch.

She braced herself, one arm shielding Moku. She was ready to die standing on Adam’s side.

The hand never reached her.

A gunshot cracked the night.

Elise’s head snapped sideways as a bullet tore through her temple, spraying black slime against the stone. Her body twisted from the force. Then another shot rang out. The other side of her head burst open. Her eye bulged and twitched.

Lily was walking toward her. Steady. Silent. Her rifle raised.

She fired again.

The top of Elise’s head peeled back like rotten fruit. More slime. More rot.

"You killed her," Lily said, voice shaking.

Bang.

"You left her in a river."

Bang.

"You made her die alone."

Bang.

Elise tried to pull away, fingers scrabbling against the cracked dirt. Her ruined head writhed as it tried to reform. It couldn’t. Lily’s bullets never missed.

"Did you laugh when they lied about her disappearance? You tried to make everyone think she ran."

Bang.

"You used her life for your own shitty politics."

Bang.

Tears streamed down Lily’s cheeks, hot and silent.

"She was like my sister. You took her from me."

Bang.

"You took her and dumped her like trash."

Bang.

Elise moaned. Her face no longer looked human. Just a pulped mass of twitching muscle, bone, and slime. She tried to crawl again, but Lily stepped closer.

Bang.

"You want Companionship?"

Bang.

"You don’t deserve it."

Bang.

"You don’t get to speak. You don’t get to exist."

Elise’s body convulsed as another bullet struck her in the head, forcing her back onto the blood-soaked soil. Her face no longer held shape, but it refused to fall apart. The twisted flesh wobbled, then began to slowly reform, bones snapping back into place, veins slithering like worms beneath the skin.

Lily stepped closer.

Bang.

Another bullet hit dead center between where Elise’s eyes used to be. The impact cracked the dirt beneath her skull. Her body twitched, spasmed—but did not die.

"You’re nothing without your monsters," Lily said.

Bang.

"You’re nothing without your mask."

Bang.

"You’re nothing without people to hurt."

Bang.

Elise shuddered. Her mouth reformed in a warped half-smile, teeth crooked and black. Her eye twitched, leaking pus. She was alive. Every shot only bought a moment of stillness before the slime and gore knit back together again.

Lily didn’t care.

She kept firing.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Each headshot echoed like a drumbeat across the shattered graveyard. One after another. Methodical. Inevitable. She advanced until the muzzle was pressed to Elise’s forehead.

Bang.

Bang.

Elise could no longer scream. Her jaw hung loose, shattered again and again. Her limbs twitched uselessly. The damage should have been fatal a dozen times over. Yet still she breathed.

Still she existed.

The others began to approach, drawn in by the endless storm of gunfire.

Adam was the first to step from behind the stone, eyes narrow, face unreadable.

Crystal followed. Sword sheathed, arms crossed.

Aria approached slowly, her hum gone. Her gaze was wide, stunned.

Leo stopped behind Lily. He didn’t say a word.

Even Penny stood, clutching Moku to her chest, one hand gripping the plush tighter than ever before.

Lily kept shooting.

Twenty shots.

Thirty.

Each one cracked through the air, breaking what little of Elise’s face remained before it tried again to crawl back into shape.

Blood sprayed her boots. Slime misted her arms. Her sleeves clung to her like wet paper.

Still, she fired.

Her breaths turned shallow. Her legs wobbled.

The glowing glyphs around her gun began to flicker.

Mana depletion.

Still, she fired.

Thirty-five.

Thirty-eight.

Forty.

Click.

Silence.

No more rounds.

Lily stood there, drenched in ichor, chest heaving, eyes full of tears. Her finger trembled on the trigger. The barrel of her gun smoked where it pressed against Elise’s ruined forehead.

The thing beneath her was still alive.

Twisting.

Stirring.

Trying to come back.

But it was afraid.

It could not move.

Adam stepped forward. He placed a hand on Lily’s shoulder.

She didn’t turn to look at him. She only stood there, shaking.

"I’ll finish this," Adam said softly.

Lily said nothing.

She let go of the trigger.

Her arms dropped to her sides as she slowly stepped aside.

Adam stood over what remained of Elise, gone was the prideful and arrogant heiress, all that remained was a mass of slime and broken bones trying to wriggle free to safety.

He knew that if he did nothing, the dungeon would be cleared and they would be able to leave but that didn’t sit well with him. He had set out to kill the Samael family and yet she had survived and came back to haunt him.

He had learned from his mistake and it would no longer happen again. He glanced back at Leo, grateful to the man who he had formed a bond with. It was because of him that he had a chance to end the chain of hatred that he carried with Elise.

He would put an end to it tonight..as well as her. His bone limbs and dagger were raised before he brought them all down at once, lashing out at the remains of Elise.

He knew he couldnt do any damage to her this way but that was never his goal.

His bone blade pierced through her shoulder, then her stomach, then her chest again. None of it mattered. Her health bar remained intact.

All but the final sliver.

She wasn’t dying.

But she wasn’t healing either.

She was trapped. Pinned. Drenched in blood, her body trying and failing to piece itself back together.

Adam inhaled slowly. Deeply.

He looked at his own hands.

Then at her.

He didn’t feel rage anymore. He didn’t feel hate.

Only a quiet resolve.

He then drove his dagger into where her heart was supposed to be and a soft chime echoed in his ears.

[Snake Venom: Passive effect activated.]

[Applying damage over time.]

The passive skill he had gained due to the Snake Zodiac bond had activated.

The reaction was immediate.

Elise’s eye went wide, what remained of her face beginning to tremble violently. She thrashed with what limbs she had left, her body convulsing in place as the venom worked its way through her form.

"No," she gurgled, her voice a wet hiss. "No—this isn’t—"

Her body jerked violently as veins across her surface blackened. The slime around her limbs began to crack, harden, and flake.

Adam leaned closer.

"You never got to be the final Chapter," he said. "You were just another mistake. And I’m done letting mistakes live."

The venom worked fast.

Elise’s body began to collapse inward. Her flesh dried and shriveled. Her voice broke into static and gurgles as her body began to melt into the dirt, bubbling like oil over fire.

"No one will remember you," Adam said. "Not the name. Not the company. Not the monster."

A final tremor ran through her.

And then, she stopped.

[System Notice: The Demon of Companionship has been defeated.]

[Congratulations. You have cleared the Raid Dungeon: Hinder the Procession.]