Chapter 83 - [Bonus ] The Staff That Corrupts And A Sacrifice.

As the giant dung slinger started barking kill orders at his spirits that was when I decided to start the show. I took off into a dead sprint towards the Shaman as I had Hannah go and help Mcillian. 

I had her summon her own summons and fight them off while I appeared in front of the Shaman and surprised him.

With a look of shock on his face he stumbled for a second and I could have swore I heard a faint gravely voice.

"Kil~~~lll the~~~m a~~~lll." was what I heard but I couldn't see anybody here besides us.

'Evil staff remember, I bet you that this thing is corrupting this Apeman completely.'

Gotcha, I forgot all about that when I was sidetracked with the drama of the spiritual reunion. I tightened my fist and sent a quick punch towards the staff but a foot away from making contact a sudden purplish hexagonal shaped shield appeared to intercept my attack and bounced me away.

As I was send stumbling backwards I saw the staff seem to glow a faint purple around the tip of the staff and I could almost see a skull appear. Almost a faint afterimage like an illusion or something.

'Did you see that? It looked like a skull appeared but then disappeared just as quickly?'

'Yea, what do you think that means? is the skull the evil sentience of the staff or is the staff hiding its true appearance?' I asked the mental me as I took a quick second to do a hot take over the situation.

On one side is Mcillian refusing to attack his comrades and only defending, while my daughter on the other hand is actively trying to kill them, her summons have killed 2 of them and I saw as the snake even devoured another one whole.

'I think the staff is hiding, I think it's not revealing itself on purpose but what that is... I couldn't tell ya.'

'No prob, thanks anyway but go ahead and start drawing up some magic circles. I have an idea about having you make magic circles using our magic while I focus on the physical. That way we can share the workload what ya think?'

I didn't hear anything back but I could feel as a small part of my mana was being constantly drained to form a circle. I couldn't tell what kind it was but It was getting done so I wasn't complaining and instead focused on charging at the Shaman again. If I attacked the Shaman would the staff protect him aswell? Only one way to find out.

After I mastered the skills that allowed me to overload my body with electricity I discovered that I could control my internal energy to a certain degree to produce it to a certain point without activating any skills. I was using the power of the skill but not all at the same time. When I discovered this I was expecting a new skill to pop up but when nothing happened I was a bit surprised and at the same time a few questions popped into my head.

But that is for another time, and right now I was hurtling through the air as yet again I was bounced back by some barrier as I was a foot away from the Shaman. The electricity that I built up was quickly dissipated by the contact and I was left with a twitch as my muscles dealt with the after shock.

"You fools.... I let you attack me far to many times. You have yet to learn that no matter what you do, nothing will touch me. I am invulnerable aslong as this staff of darkness is within my grasp. AHAHAHAHAHA." The shaman cackled like a madman and then there was that voice again. Deep and gravely that seemed to echo just barely within the range of my hearing.

"Ki~~~~llll Hi~~~~mmmm, Sacrifice~~~~ Thei~~~~~rrrr Live~~~~ssss to me~~~~" 

This time at the end of the sentence I could see the skull appear more physical this time for longer before disappearing again.

"Hey fatso.... Where exactly did you get that staff from anyways?" I asked as I tried to look like I wasn't internally twitching from all the electricity that overloaded my system. I had to stall for time as my body recovered since I still didn't have a full grasp on this new ability of mine.

Thankfully he fell for it as he looked at me with almost a zealous look.

"I acquired this magnificent staff on one of my many adventures years and years ago. Before I had become the lord over these foolish creatures around me and the lord over the spirits. I was just a young shaman apprentice and was following my master into a decrepit crypt on a mission to secure and purify a reportedly evil artifact that was causing the nearby graveyard to produce endless spirits and undead."

"My master and me were almost finished with the purification when we happened upon this staff laying on an alter in all its glory, not even the dust would dare to settle upon its magnificent splendor. My master was about ready to destroy it when a voice filled with power told me that if I just sacrificed my master at the alter, I could gain immeasurable power and rule the world." 

"So with my master facing away from me, I pulled out my trusty dagger and thrust it into the back of his throat and bled him dry over the staff and let it absorb his life essence. From that day on I have been sacrificing strong lives both friend and foe alike to the staff so as to grow in power."

Well short and sweet I like it. Now to figure out how to get past that barrier. 

I flexed my hands while moving my arms up and down. "Great, it sounds like you really hit the jackpot. But let me ask you this? Just how much can that barrier withstand before breaking?" I asked with a grin on my face as the mental Vexsus let me know that he was done with the circle. He had made a basic fireball circle but made it to where aslong as I funneled mana into it, it would stay active and almost like a missile launcher from earth, it would keep sending out fireballs with increased destructive properties.

I nodded as 3 circles appeared 1 in front of the other and I just put out my hand and from it sent torrents of mana into the first circle and almost instantly it filtered and transformed the mana into fire element and sent it to the second that would separate the mana  into multiple ball shapes before finally sending it through the last circle that added the highly explosive property. 

Within seconds I lost my hearing as multiple explosions sounded off and great waves of heat would assault me but ever since that incident in the dungeon with Digger where I lost my feeling, I could withstand the heat as if it was a like breeze from a oven when you first open it. I could tell that my body was actually burning away but the pain receptors weren't working right anymore so the signals they were sending was just a light inconvenience at best. 

I was still amazed at just how powerful that spell was but even happier when Vexsus spoke up next.

'Hey we just got a new skill... It's called [multi-casting]. It lets us better control and improve the magic circles that we can create.'

SUWEEETNESS. Hell yea, I love the sound of that. I turned towards Hannah to see her face but was shortly filled with horror as I saw that her hellhound and snake were in front of her and guarding against the heat filled blasts that were visibly cooking and melting the summons.

I stopped the flow of mana instantly and ran over to Hannah. She was burned badly but still breathing. I was pissed off at myself for not thinking to provide her with adequate protection before doing such a stupid move like that. But I could only beat myself up later for it and for now focus on healing my baby girl back to health.

"Its.... ok.... daddy... It doesn't hurt..... that much...." She said through gritted teeth. She was fighting the pain and still tried to console me. What a wonderful girl, and here I was being such a horrible excuse for a dad.

'Dammit how could we do something so stupid. We were to caught up in the moment and didn't consider her..... We are really bad parents.'

'Yea, I know but for now just send all of the remaining mana into creating a magic circle with a focus on healing.'

Seconds went by before a green circle appeared over Hannah's groaning body as she writhed in barely contained pain. 

I knew just a normal healing spell could do the trick but I wanted to do something more. So when the circle was completed I took one of my claws and sliced through the skin of the other arm and let my blood flow into the magic circle. It turned a deep reddish hue before finally taking on small sparks of dark energy that seemed to suck in the surrounding mana.

'I don't think this is a good idea man. What's gonna happen if this succeeds?' The other me asked.

'If this works..... She will no longer be human. But She will be stronger to withstand whatever stupid decision this poor excuse for a father will do next. She may hate me for this but for what's coming, I want her to be as strong as can be.'

'Don't regret this.' Was all I heard before silence took over my mind.

"I already do." Was the last  thing I uttered before activating the circle and forced to kneel as a wave of intense heat and pain surged through my body as my very blood itself connected my soul to that of my now very blood related daughter. I was forced to shut my eyes as I could feel the intense pain of being blasted with extreme heat that she had experienced within the last few seconds. I felt it all as I took her pain away and absorbed it into myself.

I struggled to open my eyes but what I saw was nothing more than a blur as warmth leaked from my eyes and ears, I could feel as blood started to seep out from my body and into her. My body started to shrivel from the excess loss but I concentrated on the pain to keep me conscious in order to fight off the dizziness and the ever encroaching blackness that threatened to overtake my mind. I had to make sure she survived my dumbass decision and I had to stay with her to help her through this new transition into becoming a dragon. 

However that was the last thought I had before the bloodloss was to much and I opened my eyes one last time. I saw 6 figures all running towards me, I couldn't see anything but their outlines and nothing but muffled voices could be heard.

"Take.... Care.... of... hann...ah" was all I could force out before succumbing to the darkness.

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[Multi-casting] Lvl 1 - 0/10 - User can create multiple magic circles to enhance the properties of spells aswell as even add new properties with enough training.