Once Xavier countered all small energy blasts, it was only a matter of time before he reached the Kobold Shaman. His energy was rapidly being drained and he noticed that he was slowly getting overwhelmed in terms of energy utility, but his enhanced Agility and vast variety of Cards made up for the lack of resources.
Xavier used Thunder Step and Dash a third time right before using Elemental Aegis thrice in a row to block the Kobold Shaman’s vision.
The Kobold Shaman’s eyes flicked from left to right to strike Xavier once he attacked. Xavier used Camouflage to hide his presence and dashed to the left. Unfortunately, the Kobold Shaman found him. It released a large compressed energy blast with the intent to kill Xavier in a single attack.
The energy blast pierced through a thick tree trunk and some bushes before narrowly missing Xavier. It was not as close as it had been when the Kobold Shaman unleashed the large compressed energy blast the first time, but Xavier had to increase the distance to the Kobold Shaman to evade the attack.
Fortunately, he had been prepared for this. Three Air Bullets amplified with Coat of Fire, Pierce Armor, and Armor Break burst through the Elemental Aegis. The creation of the three Air Bullets had been hidden by the Elemental Aegis, and they propelled toward the Kobold Shaman, whose eyes stared wickedly at Xavier.
It noticed that something was wrong when its danger sense tingled, but the Air Bullet was faster than the Kobold Shaman. The Kobold Shaman twisted its body and manifested two small energy blasts at once. The energy blasts destroyed two Air Bullets, but the third met its target. It crashed into the wooden wand of the Kobold Shaman. Crackling noises rang through the surroundings when the Air Bullet impacted hard upon the wand and cobweb-like cracks spread through the entire wooden tool.
The corner of Xavier’s lips curled upward.
The wooden wand fell apart and crumbled into pieces.
It would have been great to bring the wand back to Haven and have it analyzed, but Xavier couldn't risk it. His energy storage was already being drained rapidly whereas the Kobold Shaman looked like it could continue to throw the compressed energy blasts all day.
Xavier couldn't take the risk. He destroyed the wooden wand, hoping that it would weaken the Kobold Shaman.
And that it did.
The Kobold Shaman squealed out in fury and hurled the wooden wand, or what was left of it, in Xavier’s direction. Xavier was about to cut through the remnants of the wooden wand to charge straight at the Kobold Shaman when the broken pieces of the wooden wand exploded.
Xavier managed to cast Elemental Aegis a few times, but the Blazing Elemental Aegis didn't have the strongest defensive properties. The explosion hurled Xavier through the surroundings. He smashed into a nearby tree trunk, resulting in a dent in the tree and Xavier’s bones to crack.
Or did he just imagine the last part?
Xavier was not sure if he had broken a few bones or not, but he felt a little miserable.
He took a second to get up from the ground, groaning in frustration as he stared at the Kobold Shaman. The monster had retreated a few steps while casting multiple small energy plants alongside a large compressed energy blast.
It was still capable of unleashing the energy blasts. The good thing, however, was that it took the Kobold Shaman much longer to conjure the magic circles and keep them stable.
Can you not cast dozens of magic circles simultaneously anymore? Or can you still do that but…you’re not powerful enough to stabilize that many magic circles without that wand?
Blood trickled down his temples, and his body felt like it would crumble to pieces like the wand, but Xavier ignored the pain. He used Thunder Step and Dash again while conjuring two dozen Air Bullets. He didn’t amplify the Air Bullets but released them with a burst of energy right away. The Kobold Shaman expected the Air Bullets to be as destructive as before. It was forced to block the attacks by conjuring more magic circles to release several small energy blasts at a time.
Xavier disappeared from the Kobold Shaman’s field of vision and activated Camouflage. A notification popped up in front of Xavier, but he put it aside with a simple mental command. He circled the Kobold Shaman while releasing dozens of Air Bullets at a time. The Kobold Shaman had a higher Energy Foundation, but it didn’t have Cards like Xavier. Air Bullet required almost no energy to be conjured, yet its destructive power as a Level 20 Card was decently high. The Kobold Shaman with its low Vitality Foundation couldn’t ignore the Air Bullets or let them impact its body, otherwise, it would turn into shredded cheese.
Is its’ Star of Wisdom’ weaker than I expected?
After circling the Kobold Shaman twice and releasing more than 200 Air Bullets in quick succession, the downpour of Air Bullets ceased suddenly. Several Elemental Aegis appeared around the Kobold Shaman, blocking its field of vision. The monster released several energy blasts in all directions, but it didn’t notice that something suddenly appeared from above until a shadow covered its entire body.
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Xavier had used the Elemental Aegis to block the Kobold Shaman’s vision and to hide the next course of action. He kicked the ground and leaped high into the air with all the strength he could. With the damaged ruby katana raised high into the air, Xavier used Shadow Blade, Pierce Armor, and Armor Break together. The shadow-coated ruby katana sliced through the air and connected with the Kobold Shaman’s neck.
There was little resistance as the shadow-coated ruby katana severed the Kobold Shaman’s head, finishing it off once and for all.
Kobold Shaman(Neutral)+11 Soul Essences +2 Uncommon Card Shards
[Proficiency of Dash reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Camouflage reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Shadow Blade reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Thunder Step reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Thunder Step reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Pierce Armor reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Elemental Aegis reached 100%. Level Up!]
[Proficiency of Elemental Aegis reached 100%. Level Up!]
Xavier groaned loudly and fell on his butt when the first notification reached him. The following notifications were pleasant to look at, but Xavier didn’t waste any time recuperating. His body ached all over and he didn’t have much World Energy left either.
Minor Regeneration accelerated his natural regeneration, whereas Meditation was actively used to absorb the energy in the surroundings.
Xavier forced his legs to obey his command and got up from the ground after a minute of rest. He walked over to the Kobold Shaman’s head and glanced at its earrings.
The wooden wand had been something special, but Xavier had a weird feeling about the earrings as well. He tried to use Judgment on the earrings, but he didn’t receive any influx of information. However, that was expected. Judgment provided information about the danger level of allies and foes. But at the same time, Judgment could precisely determine the Foundation level and Combat Prowess of the target.
Xavier had been secretly hoping to gain some sort of information using Judgment. Unfortunately, there was nothing.
All he could tell was that the earrings weren’t dangerous.
He picked them up and inspected the small circular earrings made of some metal. They didn’t seem special at first glance but when he peered at them intently, he noticed small gemstones embedded in the metal that caught light and twinkled brightly. There were even some weird symbols and inscriptions carved onto the surface but he could not exactly say for sure what they signified. There were swirling patterns enveloping them, making it hard to make out individual marks. Though, even if he could see it clearly, Xavier could tell with certainty that he wouldn’t understand it.
The wooden wand had similar engravings. The only difference was that it was a bit easy to see them. They weren’t as small as the engravings on the earrings.
Though he was fascinated by them. It was the first time for Xavier to see engravings like this.
“The Goblins wielded weapons as well, but they were rather primitive. Most Kobolds have primitive weapons as well. The Archers’ bows and arrows didn’t have any engravings either,” Michael glanced over to the corpses of the Kobold Archers and inspected their weapons to check if he had missed noticing the engravings earlier but there was nothing. He felt a little disappointed at that.
A tingly feeling spread out from the Kobold Shaman’s earrings, but Xavier was not afraid that something might happen. He was more curious to find out what would happen next because he could tell that something had changed. It was almost like the earrings provided him with a burst of strength.
Out of curiosity, Xavier manifested the Foundation Orb to look at his Foundation Stars.
Foundation Orb
[Star of Vitality – Novice 50/100]
[Star of Strength–Novice 40/100]
[Star of Agility – Novice 40/100]
[Star of Dexterity – Novice 25/100]
[Star of Perception – Novice 25/100]
[Star of Energy – Novice 84/100]
[Star of Wisdom– Novice 60/100] – [+5] [+2%]
“Hmm?” Xavier exclaimed when he noticed the change in the points of the Star of Wisdom.
That’s the earrings’ doing, right? They amplified the Star of Wisdom. That’s interesting! One of them increased my Star of Wisdom by five units, whereas the other one granted a 2% increase to the Star of Wisdom.. The latter is obviously worse right now, but it will be better once my Star of Wisdom crosses 250 units. Well…that is going to take a while.
Xavier had never expected to come across items like those earrings. He regretted having destroyed the wooden wand even more than before. It would have been great to know what Amplifications the wooden wand provided and maybe try to use it for himself as a magical weapon. It would have been cool to take a monster by surprise with a wand.
Xavier sighed deeply but he gave it a shrug after a while. He cleaned the earrings and wore them. An increase of 6.2 Units might not be exceptional, but it was certainly better than nothing.
Once the earrings were firmly secured, Xavier continued to focus on recuperating while heading to his destination.
It was about time to check what was going on in Logwood.
Maybe, he could get his hands on some more treasures!