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990. The White Horseman - Conquest
🕑 Added 2025-04-30 11:55:50 +0000 UTCCer had faced many nightmares beyond comprehension for over thirty years. Creatures whose stats put the soldiers of the Nexus (the Moons) to shame, and whose terror would wipe the minds of the most hardened Adventurers clean.
She knew she hadn’t seen everything.
The sky was no longer the limit as an Awakened. Inversely, the depths of insanity did not end at the ocean floor.
She had always known about this cold truth. But the War in Grandis had etched the extent of this truth into her mind. The existence of the Expanse, that people could become more than just Corrupted, that Sins and Qliphoth were in the bigger picture… and even the fabled Stars.
Her mind went over this thousands of times in the span of a single second. Her immense AGI and the electrical activity of her neurons granted her the ability to perceive time much slower, as well as link her mind with her body without the inherent delay found in normal bodies.
I’ve been fighting Corrupted all my life as a Moon… And now I’m a ‘Star’ or a ‘Glimmer’ or whatever they want to call me. True, it’s a given we’ll go up against the top dogs. I’m down for a good hunt.
Faces of fear appeared on the faces of the Moons, Stars and the skull-headed Beholder around her. Yet for Cer, she wore a look that was torn between perplexity and thrill. There wasn’t an inkling of terror in her round eyes.
Of course not.
This was Cer for crying out loud!
Tch. Yeah. I can do a hunt. However–
But if she had to put a finger on the emotion swelling in her chest…
–WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE STATS!?
The White Horseman
Aberration of Elysia
< Conquest >
Soul Rank: Unknown | Status: Semi Sealed
LEVEL : 290 ORIGIN : Aberration HP : 2.4 Billion ATT : 800,000 MAG ATT : 800,000
ATT DEF : 550,000 MAG DEF : 550,000 MP : 120 Million RESIST : 10,000 AGI : 200
Level 245 isn’t gonna cut it in the future. Tch. Here I thought I was the big dog here. I might as well be the appetizer. Heh. Over two billion HP on her alone. How many me’s would Frost have to eat to get to reach that much HP!?
Cer’s high from beating a Fallen Beholder was squashed under the weight of an entity that stood a level above the shoulders of a Beholder.
That level’s a cheat. Beholders were already powerful enough to gouge out a Region if they really wanted to. This thing is closer to a force of nature. Where have I heard that before though? ‘Conquest’? Those monsters?
She kept her eyes on the Aberration.
The hairs on her tail stood on all ends as she approached the group with a nonchalant look, only to then pass Cer like she was no more than a pebble on the side of the path.
Then it hit her as she peered over her shoulder.
“The First Night…”
Her voice was tiny.
She subconsciously attempted to hide her voice, but the inner ‘Cer’ defied this, resulting in a small meek squeak.
The ‘First Night’ referred to a phenomenon that occurred in Regions that were caught in two-night cycle. Monsters would emerge during the night in a frenzied state and leave their territories to hunt.
Anids in particular who were known to remain within the proximity of their Nests swarmed settlements in the name of conquest.
Due to their immense levels and the many dangerous monsters in Regions such as Emvita, the nights were far more dangerous than even the nights in the plains of Brandar when the Impuritas used to sweep its lands.
Cer had no doubt in her mind that the entity responsible for the First Night phenomenon was the White Horseman.
Am I screwed!?
No. She wasn’t. Far from it in fact.
A crystal shard spanning ten meters across was flung from the great spire. It had been hacked off and thrown by floating robed entities that harvested the crystals growing from the spire.
They accumulated it, then, they hurled it across the desert.
It transformed its immediate surroundings into a field of crystals. One mere brush of that along the skin and one would contract Silicon Rot.
That spire had a name.
One that robbed Cer of her breath.
Heart of the City
The Sites
Infecta Rot
< Radix Immunditiae >
< We learned. We worked for them with practiced efficiency, unaware that it was all prewritten. Our gears churn. We swallowed their fuel. To eat is to be eaten. To think for them gave us the right to replace them. They will fade eventually. We will remain. We will embrace them in their redundancy. And we will fill the shape they leave behind >
ORIGIN : Impuritas HP : 700,000,000 ATT DEF : 80,000 MAG DEF : 80,000
A Heart of the City. Its immense size caused her to recall her first encounter with the Crimson Hunger Heart of the City. It required the full might of an Atelier or a Beholder at the minimum to appropriately remove a Heart of the City.
But the stats of Infecta Rot’s Heart of the City and their minions were absurdly high compared to other Impuritas. Their metal composition and liquid slush innards meant that they could afford to take a beating.
Paired with their inability to feel and their blind obsession, and you had monsters that no ordinary person could dream of fending against.
I can definitely kill it myself. I have the power to. But will this Aberration let me?
< I recommend waiting until we understand the motive of the White Horseman >
Cer had many ways to initiate a dialogue with the Horseman.
But the first thing that came to mind was to utter Frost’s name.
“I’m with Frost.” She hoped this would convey that she was on Frost’s side.
Calling out Frost’s name without context would have made her appear like an enemy.
“I am aware, child.” The Aberration responded in an instant, as though she had comprehended Cer’s words before she had even finished speaking.
The holy blade attached to her tail swiped at the air, and it cleaved the crystal meteor into two halves.
She continued:
“1800 hours marks when the First Seal breaks. Night in this day and age is caused by the motion of the cosmos. Burn the image into your mind, child. Let this be a reminder of those ancient of days and a warning of the eternal night.”
Her voice was serene despite the swarm that poured from the portals. They reminded Cer of the portals where the colossal firearms emerged whenever Jury used [Retrocausality – Smite].
What connection did it have to it?
From where did these creatures even come from in the first place?
The Aberration spoke again without ever turning back as she graced the Moons and the Stars with her presence.
Good… I think I’m in the clear. Frost did say that she got along with the Black Horsman and the White Rabbit. Aberrations shouldn’t be our enemies if I’m getting this right.
< Incorrect. We have two enemy Aberrations present >
< One fights in your location with Dark Memoria. But they are kept hidden within the Reminiscence >
Cer never allowed her guard to falter.
But neither did she make any abrupt movements.
This was not an entity she could dream of taking on as she was right now.
“Children ought to be spared from such sights. How desperate those Lightless husks must be to attempt to crack the Site Core. You. The Light bearer. Avoid wasting your Light. There is a lesser Aberration of an old Star that will delight in reducing you to a husk.”
Again, the White Horseman spoke as though she could hear the conversation occurring in her head.
She doesn’t seem that bad. But why the heck does she look like a Beastkin wolf?
Once she had confirmed that the White Horseman would not kill her, she finally asked:
“Are you going to deal with this yourself?”
“Partially. I am only permitted to fight those who are not in direct contact with the Site Core.”
The White Horseman’s eyes fell onto something in the distance and gave it an acknowledging blink.
She felt like this Aberration was not like the arrogant bastards who were usually paired with immense power.
“Meaning you need someone to deal with the Heart of the City, huh?”
She was asking for assistance. Whatever law it was that kept her from touching the Site Core meant that Cer would have to deal with the Heart itself. Electricity cackled from her fingertips, as though to prove to the Aberrations that she was worthy of taking up this task.
However–
“No. I will destroy that Heart.” The Aberration vowed as though she had already destroyed it.
