Rank 2
User can conjure an invisible floating magic eye, allowing them to see things from a distance without having to move from their spot. Can summon two Astral Eyes, and there are no cooldowns.
Rank 2
An ancient power that allows the user to possess supernatural vision. With Evil Eyes, the user is currently capable of instilling fear into their enemies, making them freeze in place out of sheer terror. Other features will be unlocked when Evil Eye’s rank will be increased. This skill will be permanently active for as long as the User is alive.
Hazel mused as she examined her two skill descriptions. “So, I can summon another Astral Eye, while nothing has changed regarding Evil Eyes.”
Hazel expected this to be the case. Certain skills don’t necessarily get stronger with each rank up. Though, considering that the description stated that the other features of Evil Eyes would be unlocked when she increased its rank, she held a small hope that something would happen.
Perhaps Evil Eyes worked similarly to her markers when she reached a certain level. If she followed that logic, that meant she could unlock another feature of Evil Eyes when she reached Rank 5.
Of course, to reach that rank, she would need to be constantly using it. While it shouldn’t be difficult to reach that rank due to the skill being constantly on, something told Hazel that it wasn’t going to be that simple. Honestly, when has it ever been that simple for her?
Since she was now capable of conjuring two Astral Eyes, Hazel cast her spell to test it out. Just then, two floating purple eyes materialized in front of her, hovering before her at eye level. Taking a moment to concentrate, Hazel tried to connect to the Astral Eyes.
And instead of connecting to both at the same time, she only linked with one while the other remained in place, waiting to be used. Hazel then connected to the other Eye, seeing if she could change perspectives.
And sure enough, she could. It reminded her of switching camera views on a computer. Though, the sudden change did make her a bit disoriented. Hopefully, she’d get used to it, so this wouldn't impede her efficacy when she was in combat.
Hazel played around with her Astral Eyes, trying to adapt to the rapid change in views when she switched POVs with the eyes. Meanwhile, Astrid took a look around their current area, trying to get a lay of the land, so to speak, to figure out where they were trying to go.
“I can’t make heads or tails of this place,” Astrid grumbled, landing near Hazel. “It’s hard to navigate around here because of your city blending in with Mossley.”
“Then we’ll both just have to keep an eye out for any recognizable landmarks from both worlds to tell us where we are exactly,” She stated before going back to the panels before her.
Aside from testing out Evil Eyes and Astral Eyes, there were two other spells that Hazel was curious about. And those were Entropy Sickle and Entropy.
Rank 1
A sickle composed of both Cursed and Rot, becoming a source of Entropy; the end and disorder of all things. This sickle’s sole purpose is to destroy and end any and everything in its path until it returns to nothingness. The cooldown is thirty seconds.
Rank 1
The Final Form of Decay that possesses the sole purpose of extinguishing everything in its path, reducing it to nothingness. By being inflicted with this spell, the User will deteriorate until they are nothing more than dust in the wind. Even the dust itself will be reduced to nothing in the end. This spell can only be used once per day.
Ever since she first obtained these spells after combining her curse and rot elements, Hazel had been dying to properly test these spells. Technically, she already tried out the Entropy Sickle after what she did to that Jester.
But that didn’t mean she didn’t need more data to properly understand the power behind the spell. From what she witnessed with the Jester, anyone supposedly struck with the Entropy Sickle will instantly deteriorate until their nothing but dust or even less than that.
Even when the Jester died, instead of bursting into the purple fragments like the other Fractured, it simply disintegrated into nothing, as if even the purple fragments that burst from its vessel were affected by the spell. And while that sight did terrify her, it also intrigued the Witch and what Entropy Sickle was truly capable of.
Using it only once wouldn't provide her with the necessary information she desired. She needed to do more experiments to properly understand how her new spell worked. And if she’d be able to use it more efficiently compared to her Baneful Sickle.
Taking this into account, Hazel figured that now would be the best time to experiment with her two Entropy-based spells. And luckily for her, she found some more test subjects to take advantage of.
Appearing from out of the corner, a lone dire wolf was revealed as it turned to face Hazel and Astrid. The furry bipedal stopped in its tracks as it noticed the two players, then crouched into a pouncing position while snarling. Its red eyes glared at the pair with its lips peeled back to reveal its sharp canine teeth.
Instead of feeling afraid, Hazel and Astrid simply stared at the monster with a pitying gaze. The reason why was that after taking a look at the monster’s level, it possessed no chance of defeating either of them.
The direwolf still held its ground, waiting for when Hazel and Astrid chose to attack it. However, before it could take a single step forward, a malicious sickle formed in front of the witch, startling the creature.
Much like before, the Entropy sickle possessed a different aura compared to its predecessor, the Baneful Sickle. The energy that made up the spell was a much dark purple, almost bordering on fully black. And the malicious aura it emitted was far more deadly and intimidating, to the point where even Hazel felt unnerved by the sickle.
This wasn’t some cursed sickle spell...this was a sickle of death. A sickle of disorder. A sickle of pure entropy.
Hazel curiously stared at the sickle, keeping it hovering in the air with the help of Telekinesis. She leaned her head to the side, contemplating over the changes her spell went through upon achieving an evolution.
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She could tell that it wasn’t like her Baneful Sickle spell. She couldn’t sense the cursed energy that her previous spell emitted. In fact...despite the malicious aura, she couldn’t sense anything from it. Which only made the sickle more intimidating for her.
It was like the spell didn’t need its cursed energy to strike fear into its enemies. If anything, that didn’t seem to serve its purpose. It wasn’t trying to show off or intimidate the caster’s opponent. No, it held only one objective; to kill and reduce anything in its path to atoms.
And all Hazel needed to do...was hurl it at her enemy to get the job done. And so she did.
Just as the Direwolf could no longer bear to be in the presence of the deathly sickle, it expelled a whimper before turning around to flee. However, it didn’t get the chance to as the Entropy Sickle easily tore through the monster in a split second.
A bit of blood and gore seeped out of the wound inflicted by Hazel’s spell. However, just before any more could gush out, the blood along with the rest of the monster’s body slowly turned to dust. The dust particles dispersed into the air before completely dissipating, leaving Hazel and Astrid with no remains of the DireWolf.
The two players stared at the scene for a moment, completely stunned by what they just witnessed.
“Well...that experiment went well, I think,” Hazel spoke up, still a bit taken aback by what just happened.
“I think it went a bit...too well,” Astrid noted, her voice barely on the verge of remaining calm.
“Yeah...you’re not wrong.”
Hazel did not expect the Direwolf to just disintegrate like that. Well, she did, but not in just a...morbid way. It just took one hit, and the monster went down in an instant. Not only that, but its remains were reduced to nothing. No blood, no internal organs, nothing. Even the blood on the ground was completely gone now!
Any remnants of the monster that she had just slain were no longer there. It was...almost as if the creature never even existed in the first place.
And that came from just one of her Entropy Spells. Which begged the question; if Entropy Sickle possessed that kind of devastating power, just how powerful was the Entropy spell?
Despite wanting to know, a part of Hazel hesitated to even attempt her next experiment. If the Entropy spell was just as if not more powerful than Entropy Sickle, then she had no idea how she could even utilize such a spell.
However, by not knowing what kind of spell she was dealing with, she would cause more problems for herself in the future. Having an untested and powerful spell in her arsenal was honestly way too dangerous to allow. Especially if she became desperate enough to use it as a last resort when she didn’t even know how powerful it was.
Like it or not, she needed to know its capabilities, since not knowing them could get her and Astrid killed if they weren’t careful.
Moving on to use the Entropy spell, Hazel looked around to find the perfect target. Sadly, there didn’t appear to be any living creatures in their current vicinity. Thankfully, there were plenty of inanimate objects to choose from cars to the ground, to even the buildings.
Taking a look around, she dismissed using the ground or the surrounding buildings as her test subjects due to the potential collateral damage she would cause. If she used entropy on the ground, she could risk causing some kind of sinkhole, and if she tried it on a building...well, something told her that she could potentially obtain a career in demolition.
Knowing that those two options were out, Hazel then set her sights on another choice; a car. Her eyes then spotted a turned-over vehicle over to her right. From the looks of it, it appeared to have been some kind of SUV.
Regardless, it was the perfect object to test her spell on. Hazel walked over to the vehicle, making sure to keep an eye out for any danger that could catch her off guard. Stepping in front of it, she then pressed her palm against the metal before activating the spell.
A split second later, Hazel nearly collapsed, feeling a good portion of her energy suddenly drained from her. It was so abrupt and out of nowhere that she could barely stay steady before finally collapsing on her knees.
“Hazel!”
Astrid rushed over to the witch and tried to help her up. As she did, both players spared a glance at the car, noticing the effects of Entropy. Pieces of the vehicle began to turn to dust in the blink of an eye. The Entropy spell continued to spread across the car, like an infection festering within its victims until it was completely infected while leaving dust in its wake.
Hazel and Astrid watched, somewhat surprised by how much the spell was spreading across the car. And it didn’t appear to be stopping.
Just then, Hazel looked down and noticed that parts of the ground were being influenced by the spell as well, becoming dust while dispersing in the air. When she saw this, she felt her stomach lurch along with a morbid premonition of the range of her Entropy spell.
“C-crap...!” She yelped before turning to Astrid. “We need to get away! Now!”
Astrid faltered for a moment, not knowing why Hazel was panicking, but after seeing a piece of the ground start to become dust as well, she pushed away any irrelevant questions and focused on a single task; get the hell out of there.
The dark elf lifted Hazel, carrying her princess-style, and ran off in the other direction. Behind them, the Entropy spell continued to spread as loud cracks echoed throughout the street. The ground below them began to tremble, making it seem like there was an earthquake occurring.
But Hazel knew better. She knew that what was happening now...was that the ground was slowly losing its stability and structure. And once it was weak enough...it was going to give.
“Jump to one of the rooftops!” Hazel shouted. “I’ll use Telekinesis to help you move, but do it now!”
Astrid didn’t bother giving a response and simply followed the Witch’s order. Her legs bent slightly as she then leaped into the air. They weren’t that high, but with the help of Hazel’s telekinesis, the pair zipped up in the air, making their way to one of the rooftops.
As they landed, Astrid’s feet skidded across the roof, scraping her shoes from the friction. But that was the least of their concerns at the moment.
Once they were across the street from the carnage, Hazel and Astrid peered down to continue witnessing the devastating work of the Entropy spell. A good majority of the ground near the entrance was already reduced to nothing, leaving a large hole in the middle. And that hole only got bigger when more cracks formed around it and caved in from the weak support, falling into the hole as well.
Several cars were caught in the crossfire and ended up getting dragged into the hole as well, making the chasm even larger. This continued for a while until a massive sinkhole was created in the aftermath.
Hazel stared wide-eyed at the pit she created, unable to process what she had just done. Even Astrid was speechless as she simply stood there in shock, completely overwhelmed by this sudden turn of events.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse...it somehow did.
While the pair continued to have their eyes glued to the chasm they just made, a stream of notifications flooded Hazel’s vision, completely obscuring her view of the massive hole in the ground. Despite getting startled by the sudden message stream, Hazel was more focused on what types of panels she was seeing.
They were...kill notifications.
[Level 2 Infant Spider has been defeated!]
[Level 1 Infant Spider has been defeated!]
[Level 1 Infant Spider has been defeated!]
[Level 2 Infant Spider has been defeated!]
[Level 2 Infant Spider...]
“Infant spiders...” She muttered with a pale expression. “Just what the hell did I...?”
Before she could read the rest of the panels, Hazel’s attention was pulled away by the sound of a loud-pitch roar coming from the chasm. It was so loud that both she and Astrid were forced to cover their ears to mitigate the noise. The ground once again trembled, this time to the roar from the mystery monster within the hole.
A moment later, the roar ceased, allowing the players a brief moment of silence. But that moment was soon ruined when they saw something crawl out of the hole. A lot of somethings, actually.
Looking down, Hazel and Astrid watched as multiple spiders began to crawl out of the chasm. It wasn’t just one or two or three of them. It wasn’t even dozens upon dozens of them. It was hundreds upon hundreds of spiders, all of them coming out in droves.
The street below them was slowly being engulfed in the black swarm as if a flood had broken out. And in a sense, it did. But instead of a flood...Hazel feared that she hit something else. A Nest.
A goddamn spider nest...