Winds of Decay

*Epigraph Unknown*

## Summary

Zac received Winds of Decay as a quest award for defeating the Battleroach King in the Underworld before it evolved its bloodline. The skill had a 70% fit to Zac's pathways and allowed him to breathe out a corrosive cloud of decay, giving him what amounted to a repeatable short range attack. The skill worked well in confined areas, such as created by Profane Seal, to help turn them into real hellscapes. The skill can be relatively easily dispersed or destroyed by strong winds and fire.

Zac fused the skill with Deathwish to create Deathmark using one of his two upgrade skill quest rewards from his Fetters of Desolation Class.

## Acquisition

* Ascension Breaker (Unique, Limited): Stop the Battleroach King from Evolving into a Primordial Warroach. Reward: **[Primordial Breath Amanita]**, Death-Attuned Skill [03:06:23:54]. **Book 4, Page 111**
* The other box looked like a small jewelry box made out of pitch-black wood. ... As he expected, a small crystal was placed inside, and Zac immediately took it up to scan its contents. ... The skill was called **[Winds of Decay**], and Zac didn’t hesitate to learn it. **Book 4, Page 147**

## Skill Location

**Top of Lungs**

The fractal found a position at the top of his lungs, right below the area that was being occupied by **[Thousand Faces]**. **Book 4, Page 147**

## Early Proficiency

* Fresh air entered his lungs for the first time in days as he took a deep breath, even though he didn’t need to breathe in his undead form. The energy from **[Winds of Decay]** entered his lungs as well, making Zac certain he was on the right track. A dark gust billowed out when he exhaled, immediately covering an area of over fifteen meters in no time. **Book 4, Page 147**
* A black storm expanded from his mouth like a hurricane, and the whole cage created by the five towers was completely engulfed in a second. Screams could be heard from the other side, but Zac didn’t stop and kept blowing and blowing, drowning the area in decay. **Book 4, Page 154**

## Middle Proficiency

* **[Fields of Despair]**, **[Winds of Decay]** and even **[Profane Seal**] had reached Middle mastery from the intense battles. **Book 4, Page 316**
* Ever since the skill had reached Middle proficiency, he had been able to infuse it with the Seed of Rot, which kicked its corrosion to another level. **Book 5, Page 9**

## Peak Proficiency

* He had spent a herculean effort on his F-grade skills, all of which had now reached Peak mastery. **Book 7, Page 524**
* *No other textual information.*

## Fusion

* The skill was called **[Deathmark]**, and was the fusion of **[Deathwish]** and **[Winds of Decay]**. **Book 8, Page 135**

## Commentary

* Having already gotten a few skills from outside sources, he could tell that while the fit wasn’t amazing, it wasn’t too bad either. He believed the new skill should be able to display at least 70% of its true power when he used it. **Book 4, Page 147**
* The air twisted around the arm of the robot until an enormous shockwave blew Zac’s **[Winds of Decay]** far away, cleanly exposing his position. **Book 4, Page 198**
* The chains were unable to pass through the purple flames without quickly melting, and even the clouds from **[Winds of Decay]** were burnt to cinders as they got close. **Book 4, Page 308**
* The battle was pretty much over by that point, as almost all of the trapped warriors had already fallen to the onslaught of the combination of the chains and the corrosive mists from **[Winds of Decay]**. **Book 4, Page 371**
* His acquired skill **[Winds of Decay]** could reluctantly be classified as ranged, but he was unable to use it underwater. **Book 4, Page 417**
* He realized that skills like **[Deforestation]** or **[Winds of Decay]** were still far superior to clear out a large number of enemies, but it was still a pretty convenient boost. **Book 5, Page 5**
* Thankfully, it turned out his summons were completely unaffected by the corrosive mists of **[Winds of Decay]**, even though they were neck-deep in it. **Book 5, Page 9**
* ... with the black clouds of **[Winds of Decay]**, ... **Book 5, Page 132**
* The second skill that lingered was **[Winds of Decay]**. The skill was made from his breath, so it didn’t matter that he changed class, as the mists remained. **Book 5, Page 242**
* However, he noted that the fit for **[Profane Seal]**, **[Deathwish]**, and **[Immutable]** [*sic*] was just fine while the fit of **[Winds of Decay]** had actually improved [*after diverging to Fetters of Desolation class upon evolving to E-Grade*]. **Book 5, Page 527**
* The werewolves tried to turn into motes of light to escape again, but their moonlight was completely overpowered by the combination of **[Winds of Decay]** and **[Fields of Despair]**. **Book 6, Page 577**