Infinite Evolution: My Idle Evolution System - Chapter 281

Chapter 281: A Soul Eater
“Any second now,” Cassius muttered.

Just then, space warped; the white light beneath him started to swirl. Something blinded him in that same second. To his surprise, when he opened his eyes, there was neither the eternal darkness nor that odd white light.

“An altar?”

What lay in front of him was most definitely an altar—a larger-than-average one—but one nonetheless. Lit torches lined the altar’s sides as well as the isolated area around him. Raised a few feet off the center of the ancient altar was a man. A man kneeling with his back facing Cassius.

Opening up the System tag of this man, Cassius was astonished to find a familiar name. A name he expected to see, but was too confused to understand why it would be here in such an odd environment.

However, upon reading further into the man’s description, everything pieced itself together.

BLING!

[William Chamberlain (Male Human)]

[Realm: 2nd Class Slayer (3rd Stage)]

[Approximate Rank: SS+++]

[Age: 19]

[Place of Origin: Chamberlain Duke Family]

— [Reason for being here: After setting up a trap with his younger brother and Platoon 49, William became temporarily distracted by the appearance of a mysterious black temple that wasn’t previously there. However, upon entering through the top of the temple and descending to the bottom, he was met with the appearance of an Ancient Nightmare entity—a Soul Eater—one over 400 years old. His current state is a direct result of resisting the Soul Eater’s might…]

“I must say,” Cassius said, overlooking the dangers of this area, “to be capable of reaching the 2nd Class Slayer Rank at 19 is a feat far exceeding the talents of anyone I’ve seen thus far. Even I, someone with a System, only managed to achieve the same 3rd Stage cultivation in my most recent battle.”

He was impressed.

Yet, it didn’t seem like the person who impressed him was still among the world of the living. William Chamberlain was dead.

“Ahh, but it appears that the Soul Eater is still in the process of fully devouring the guy’s soul,” Cassius noted, observing the same blue fire from before—which now ominously levitated above William’s spasming head. “That thing is definitely a treasure.”

Greed surged within his heart as he phased forward and appeared in front of the kneeling William. Getting a proper look at the man, he observed several streams of blood running along his veins. William’s eyes were also bloodshot, with what appeared to be a crooked, fiery blue star embedding itself into the center of his forehead. This star signified the soul-devouring process; the more completed it became, the closer the soul was to being fully devoured.

“This idiot seems to have done me a favor,” Cassius said as he called for Lilith. “The Soul Eater or whatever doesn’t even know I’m here, does it? Because surely, two people wouldn’t jump down an unknown black hole within such a short period of time. Only overconfident lads would do something so foolish—”

Just then, a tendril of fiery blue darkness shot out of the star symbol on William’s forehead. The tendril wrapped itself around Cassius, obtaining what it thought to be a firm hold on him.

Despite the predicament he found himself in, Cassius’s shadow-shrouded face was suddenly interrupted by the formation of a wide smirk.

“Gotcha,” Cassius said, his figure flashing behind William’s kneeling body. What the blue tendril had been attempting to strangle was nothing more than an afterimage.

Did one actually believe that he’d let his guard down in an unfamiliar place—one that was obviously meant to trap people? Even several people at the same time?

Cassius may have been a bit arrogant, but he was no fool. If this Soul Eater thing built this place specifically to ensnare people, then one could be sure it was proficient at what it did.

Even while in the midst of devouring a soul as substantial as William’s, it would not completely lower its defenses.

“But…” Cassius said as his face and body flashed in and out of the time stream, “that doesn’t mean this devouring state of yours hasn’t greatly weakened you. Normally, it probably wouldn’t restrict you in the slightest, but that idiot’s soul was no ordinary commodity, was it? To have as much Nightmare Talent as he did, heh…”

“Buddy,” Cassius continued, Lilith flaring beside him, “frankly speaking, you’re f*cked.”

Biting off more than it could chew would be its downfall.

“!!!!”

The Soul Eater whipped its fiery blue tendril around at ludicrous speeds, trying to hurt Cassius. Yet, with another increase in speed, he blurred through the tendril and once again reappeared in front of the kneeling William. Once there, he noticed that the idiot’s eyes had turned a very dark and profound shade of black. His blue star also neared full completion.

“A Soul Eater, huh?” Cassius said as he calmly raised Lilith. “I wonder what you’ll taste like.”

SHING!

Lilith was slashed down but was blocked by a second fiery blue tendril before she could cut into William. However, for some reason, Cassius’s smirk only broadened. Suddenly appearing in his left hand was Mora, which, within an instant, was slashed horizontally.

Panicking, the Soul Eater pushed its power to its limits and created a third fiery blue tendril. Each tendril was capable of instantly erasing the existence of even someone half a step into the SSS-Rank; all it had to do was have one of them touch the hum—

“—an…”

A weak voice escaped William’s lips as his head exploded like a watermelon because of Cassius’s unexpected punch. “You may have blocked both my weapons,” he coldly whispered next to the twitching William, “but you couldn’t block me, could you?”

Just then, the Soul Eater’s original blue tendril finished circling back. It condensed into something akin to a spinning drill before zipping toward Cassius at speeds far surpassing that of sound.

Cassius grinned. Then he vanished.

The flaming blue drill passed through his afterimage, and without being able to stop in time, it pierced William’s chest. Bluish-red blood splattered out of his back, with the drill’s tip sticking out ever so slightly.