Single for Eternity
Chapter 98: Whisper of the Deep

Chapter 98: Whisper of the Deep

The sky had turned a ghastly white—a canvas painted with spectral arrows as they rained down in unending waves, blotting out the sun with their sheer number. The air hissed with the sound of incoming death.

"Simpy," I murmured, voice low but steady, "can you take them?"

The symbiote stirred inside me, purring like a content predator. Its voice echoed within my bones—an unspoken affirmation filled with pride and hunger.

Crimson tendrils surged over my body, coating me in a dark suit that pulsed with malevolent energy. Blood-red veins shimmered along the armor’s surface as if alive, writhing with purpose.

I stood alone in an open field of ruin—no solid cover, no reliable defense.

Only me.

The arrows fell like divine judgment, and I knew I couldn’t dodge them all.

So, I chose to endure.

Still, that didn’t mean I would just stand there like an idiot. With a grunt, I kicked off the ground, breaking the cracked earth beneath my feet as I propelled myself toward the remains of a towering statue.

Its form was barely recognizable—a figure of some forgotten three-eyed god. The moment my feet touched down behind it, the arrows struck.

CRACK-CRASH!

The barrage tore through everything in its path. The statue’s three stone eyes shattered, pierced clean through by multiple arrows. The body crumbled, and the air was filled with dust, debris, and the haunting shriek of death.

The symbiote growled around me, its armor rippling as it deflected dozens of arrows. I could feel its glee at proving its worth, even under such intense pressure.

But it wouldn’t last forever.

As the dust settled, I heard the unmistakable sound of bows being drawn again.

A second volley.

I barely had time to react before another wave descended. The ground behind me exploded in violent bursts of force as spectral arrows shattered what remained of the ruins.

They weren’t just breaking stone—they were erasing it, wiping the history of this ancient place clean.

Even my cover, or what little had remained of it, was gone.

My symbiote hissed, no longer purring but straining. The constant barrage was draining it. I could feel it weakening, its usual warmth now distant and faint.

It was... hungry.

I clicked my tongue in frustration. "Tch. No use playing defense if they’re going to level the entire landscape."

With a sharp breath, I made a decision.

Retreat was pointless. Cover was nonexistent. Hiding would just delay the inevitable.

"I guess the only way out of this mess," I muttered, eyes narrowing, "is straight through it."

The next moment, I surged forward—into the storm.

The spectral arrows lashed against my body like whips of fire, burning and cracking against the symbiote’s shell. I felt each one rattle through my muscles and bones, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop.

A skeletal archer came into view, tall and grotesque, its frame hunched beneath rotted ceremonial armor. Before it could nock its next arrow, my fist—wreathed in seething crimson energy—slammed into its skull.

CRACK!

The head exploded like glass, fragments scattering in the air.

[ +20 Trial Points ]

[ +30 Exp ]

I landed among the horde. The smell of rot and arcane death choked the air. Skeletons surrounded me—dozens, maybe hundreds—but they were clustered too tightly. Not all of them could draw their bows now. Perfect.

"Long-range fighters," I muttered with a smirk, "are pathetic up close."

One of them lunged at me with a rusted dagger. I parried it with the back of my gauntlet and crushed its ribcage with a spin kick. Bones crunched and scattered.

Another arrow sliced across my back, embedding shallowly into my symbiotic suit. It sizzled, burning. I ripped it out and used it to stab the next skeleton through the eye socket.

[ +20 Points ]

[ +25 Exp ]

I became a whirlwind of destruction.

My fists, legs, elbows, and claws tore through the undead ranks with increasing savagery. Each kill fed the symbiote, its power surging back like a tide. I felt it heal, felt it rejoice.

The battlefield lit with bursts of red and black as my armor pulsed, alive and hungering for more.

The system kept chiming in my ears:

[ +20 points ]

[ +30 Exp]

[ +20 points ]

[ +30 Exp]

[ +20 points ]

[ +30 Exp]

[ +.... ]

Their formations collapsed as I shattered through them, the archers unable to reposition in the chaos. Bones flew like shrapnel. Tattered remnants of ancient cloth fluttered in the air. I danced through the ranks, an unrelenting force of carnage.

Dozens of the skeletons had fallen beneath my relentless onslaught. Bone shattered beneath fists wrapped in crimson death, their spectral forms collapsing into fragments that faded into the earth.

I carved through them with merciless precision, a one-man catastrophe amidst the tide of the dead.

Then came a familiar chime—harmonious, almost celebratory.

[ Wild Symbiote has gained an ability: Whispers of the Deep ]

[ Description: The Symbiote injects the opponent with whispers beyond the veil of creation. Dulling their minds and making them submit to its host’s will. ]

My eyes glinted. That was... interesting.

’System, show me Simpy’s stats.’

——« Wild Symbiote »——

Name: Simpy

Level: 25

Exp: 1250 / 2500

State: Bonded

Strength: Awakened

Abilities:

– Probability Warp (Minor)

– Fleshcraft Tendrils: 3/3

– Whispers of the Deep: 0/20

——« Close »——

A grin curled onto my lips, slow and hungry. Simpy had been feasting—gorging itself on the flood of experience and soul fragments from the skeletal horde. Each crushed skull was fuel. Each destroyed corpse, a stepping stone.

The symbiote was euphoric now.

And I... I was starting to feel drunk on the power it granted me.

I leapt again, bouncing between the scattered undead like a predator mid-hunt. My next target was already in my sights—a skeletal archer trying to nock another spectral arrow. I slammed into it midair, grabbing its brittle skull in both hands.

"This one will do nicely."

With that murmur, the symbiote responded to my intent. A sliver of its armor peeled away from my palm, oozing like liquid shadow.

The tendril slithered over the skeleton’s face, embedding itself deep within the skull like a parasite burrowing into bone.

The change was instant.

The skeleton began to thrash wildly—its limbs convulsing, its bones cracking under the pressure of something far beyond its comprehension.

It flailed like a puppet on broken strings, clawing at its own skull as if trying to rip the whispers out.

Then—stillness.

Its hollow sockets ignited with a vibrant, otherworldly red. Its bones, once pale and decayed, darkened into a crimson-black hue that pulsed faintly with power.

Even its bow twisted in its hands, reshaped into a sleek and curved dark weapon, nocked with a blood-red arrow.

The system chimed again.

[ +1 Vassal ]

[ Chaos Skeleton ]

The creature raised its weapon with a graceful, precise motion. Then, without hesitation, it turned—firing its arrow into the nearest undead archer. BOOM. The target exploded into a cloud of ash and splintered bone.

I blinked. Then I laughed. Low and sharp.

But the transformation wasn’t over. My new vassal waved its skeletal hand toward the dissipating remnants of the fallen undead.

A stream of blackish energy—undead aether—flowed into its form. It absorbed it greedily, its frame pulsing with a faint surge of power.

It had grown stronger. Not by much—but the effect was there.

A grin split across my face, unbidden and instinctual. "Isn’t that interesting?"

My voice was a whisper lost in the howling winds of the battlefield, but I felt something stir within me. Not just power—but control.

The tide had begun to turn. Where once I had been a lone figure against an endless horde, Now, I was building an army.

And Simpy?

Simpy was singing.

I could feel it in the way it pulsed against my skin, the way it shuddered with delight at what we’d just accomplished. It wasn’t just eating anymore—it was evolving. Learning. Adapting.

This battlefield was no longer a trial for survival.

It was a harvest.

And I was the reaper.

"Let’s see how many more we can turn, Simpy," I murmured, my tone laced with twisted amusement. "Let’s paint this graveyard red."

With a surge of movement, I leapt into the fray again—my new vassal following behind, bow drawn and ready, its gaze locked onto its former brethren.

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