Luke hated to admit it, but he had only two options. Go on defense, or use Frost Fall Reave earlier.
To add in nuance, he had ‘other’ options as well. But with elementalization mentally exhausted for at least another minute, Luke could no longer recklessly charge in. The cursed touch would wreck his health pool. It’s not like he had healing spells at his disposal.
While mainly using Xera to keep back the monster’s aggression, the damage done was modest. The creatures would reform their sludge, Sooty, on the other hand, rained terror down. Coming to a compromise, Sooty would go full Rambo while he was struggling.
The style adjustment meant Sooty would tear a head off with a well-placed Talon Strike or obliterate monster brains with a critical Reaver Beak every thirty seconds. She stemmed the tide this way, but it grew at a faster rate.
Luke flung an Essence Lance and noticed its normally blue hue and frosty ‘air’ was absent. Instead, it was pure essence, deadly enough, but would be heavily resisted nonetheless. The Reaver formed Xera into a wand and flew the rotating lance; Ruinous Echo bolstered the damage, the usually present ‘punch’ was neutered without Frost Essence.
It was true, I started putting in frost from the first Essence Lance cast. But how? Luke shook his head, This is the worst time to ponder the past.
Even with the various setbacks, Luke’s stamina stayed at its peak. Dodging never became taxing. As long as he held the speed advantage, doing the deadly tango with one monster was doable.
The problem came in when two tried to tackle him at once. Luke couldn’t effectively parry with elementalization to stop these creatures' swipe ability, which left dodging as the only option. That had its own constraint: dodge too far into the wrong spot, and he would get Marsh Charged.
Slowly, the fog around his mind receded. He instinctively wanted to coat Xera in frost immediately. With self-control, Luke waited for a more comprehensive recovery. This fight had to be fought in bursts. Fortunately, Sooty seemed to have the same environmental effect applied to her, so she had no stamina issues.
He reminded her through Reaver’s Link not to overextend. If they had to lose ground, so be it. Hacking away at one Cursed Guardian tens of times, it died with a deathly wail. The golden radiance lit the ‘old’ Swamp Monsters on holy fire. Luke witnessed increasing damage tick above their heads.
“The glow ball ghost ain’t all talk. She sets em ablaze if they’ve stuck around too long.” Wayfinder discovered, pausing, and said, “—the newly made ones aren’t affected; guess they’ve each got their own borrowed time.”
Black muck evaporated against the golden land. Harsh winds swirled above the headstone. The cursed groaned and moaned in undeath. The Reaver refreshed Infusion on Sooty and Xera, rapidly dicing into another monster. After the sixth strike, an excruciating pain ripped through his brain.
This is like when—now of all times? A threshold?
Yelling out, Luke commanded, “Sooty, Gigantification, now.”
[You have broken the first intellect threshold]
Xera swung his arms for him, but he offered no strength. She tried to parry, but Luke was swiped on his shoulder, and he was batted like a ball to the headstone. He had the presence of mind to turn off the boots effect. Staying there was no option.
Sooty had utilized the maximum twelve times size, guarding Luke yet staying near enough to a Cursed Guardian to avoid receiving a Marsh Charge. The Reaver clutched a hand over one eye.
Due to the constraints, she remained passive, and their situation worsened. The building wave marched on, gaining ground on the group. Luke ripped Whispering Edge out the golden land and used Wraith Wail, slowing down the bunched up Swamp Monsters and pushing one back for Sooty with the one second horror effect.
He dropped the weapon immediately. Ten seconds later, a wet stomp against the solid land echoed too near Luke. Sooty begged for his instructions through Reaver’s Link. Unfortunately, the already strained mind underwent a moderate reconstruction, exactly as what happened to Luke’s body when the vitality threshold broke. He failed to form coherent commands.
Wayfinder took over, “Bird lass, grab the lad and come to the skies. That nifty move lasts a minute, aye? Use it till the last moment, then give em’ a nasty screech.”
The corvid charged toward Luke, grasped him in her talons and dragged him up. The growing monster raid swarmed around the golden lands, roaring up at Sooty. They flung their muck to limited success. Authoria hugged onto Luke for dear life, and Sooty circled up higher.
Thirty seconds in, Luke came to, and Sooty had time to spare on her Gigantification. Quickly surveying to get the immediate gist while he was all but unconscious, Luke formed Xera into a wand and promptly ripped open an attributed Essence Fissure. A new winter fell on the monsters below. The Fissure exerted additional pressure and grew slightly wider.
“Let’s add in some ice and snow, need to give my friendly guests a show.”
He threw an oscillating Essence Lance into the fissure, and Ice rain pelted the monsters. As with the Fissure, the Ice Rain became a notch more deadly than typical.
That threshold broke, and now my spells are—
The Reaver’s central nervous system shut down, and his eyes stayed wide open, unable to process new images. To him, all remained blank. Sooty rattled in worry. Wayfinder rose to the occasion again.
“We’ve got a mad hatter’s luck. Lad’s likely on the verge of the three thresholds, and now he’s going through the second.”
Luke’s eyes turned white, and bits of foam came out of his mouth.
“That settles it, clatter trap, screech your chords off when you’re about to slim down, but you’ll have to drop the lad onto the headstone’s top. Nowhere else is safe. Before they surround him, bring that copy of yours out to play, its tack will be to protect and cover the both of you.”
Sooty veered down, getting ready for the end of Gigantification. As she began to shrink, she dropped Luke onto the headstone. She Essence Screeched onto the center mass of monsters. The weakened died, especially those already set ablaze.
A shade appeared and hovered around Luke, fearlessly taking any swipe trying to touch the Reaver. Sooty swatted the monsters like flies, rattling in rage. Her nails tore heads, her beak pierced hearts, and her wings danced across the battlefield.
Xera, half helpless being stuck in wand form, asked Wayfinder, “Anything we do to get this knucklehead to come to? I don’t know what this threshold thing is, but he needs to fight, or he’ll die!”
Wayfinder’s needle ticked, piercing through the sounds of conflict, “Lad’s truly unconscious, the agility shock is always the worst. Adjusting the perception of time and firing up the reflexes addles things.”
Authoria stood on top of Luke, her hands slapping fruitlessly against his checks, a useless measure that the Reaver could never feel. Sooty failed to block an attack in time, and the Shade was too busy contending with the strikes of three other Swamp Cursed.
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A sickening claw bore into Luke’s lower leg, creating a bloody hole. The passive protection from the Ice Blessed Trousers kept it together. Luke shivered and convulsed, but the whites of his eyes remained without a pupil.
“Me compass springs are tied, rather force me will on you than see a monster crush your neck while defenseless.” Wayfinder’s needle ticked again, cutting through an uncanny silence, “Polar South.” The compass glimmered, and the ability washed over Luke.
Another will, another insight, guided Luke’s body. He grasped Xera and aimed her at the golden ground before the headstone. Wayfinder glowed, and the will used Temporal North. Essence Lance imploded at blank range, blasting back the encroaching wave.
Xera reformed into a sword, and Luke stood on the headstone. Xera’s will and the insight worked together. Luke danced in movement on the headstone, dodging artfully, and Xera would redirect any attacks. In its last bits of duration, the shade absorbed any swipe ability attacks head-on for Luke.
More foam and excretion came out of Luke’s mouth, including blotted blood. His eyes began to flutter rapidly. In the midst of a jump above a reaching claw, the transitory narcoleptic Reaver returned to normal.
Rearing Xera back and sinking her into a monster’s head, Luke pushed himself up into the sky for space. Another message intruded.
[You have broken the first agility threshold]
The strength one could break on any stat steal, what can I do?
“Frostfall Reave.”
A snowstorm blasted out. Ice flurries froze over monsters, Xera glaciated in multiple layers. Luke created a set of frost armor across most his body. Frost staunched the wound to his leg. He willed a potion out the Inventory and pulled the cap, gulping on it while whirling Xera.
“Welcome back to reality, lad.”
“Was worried there for a second. You know how to make a sword wand sweat. Didn’t even realize I could do that.”
Sooty returned to his shoulder, bloodied and beaten.
“Take a rest, you’ve been the one doing most the work for the past few minutes.”
Blue wisps played from the Reaver’s eyes. The ambient cold layered and cracked then blasted the entire radiant terrain in an effort to create an ice age. Luke zipped upon the ice, Xera pierced in and out of the monsters rapidly.
Their movements had become delayed. Luke’s perception saw them all as slow. One would swipe, and he’d step into their arm, duck under their pit, and cleave through their groin in a single motion.
He jumped up, kicked one in the head to recoil, and swung Xera through two Cursed Guardians. Sooty assisted, flapping up and harassing any unwelcome targets. Frost concentrated on Luke’s soles, blasting like a spring toward several monsters.
Abusing timed detonations for rotation, Luke swung in the air, lacerating the majority of creatures still alive. Not done, the frost he inflicted on all of them pulsed inside before coming out together like a nova. Faint white ice mist crept over the previously golden lands.
Maimed monster parts fell, and beasts collapsed. Luke charged forth, clearing out the backlog of Swamp Guardians. Frostfall Reave ended, and to avoid losing elementalization again due to mind fatigue, Luke melted the ice.
He stumbled up to the headstone, and Sooty landed on the ground next to where he sat down. Authoria kept pointing out to the mists and shaking her head.
“Not done? Fuck.”
Luke scratched at his legs and arms, but they lost function; at least his vision remained. His mind was clear except for the ripping pain of tearing muscle down to the smallest fiber. Blood seeped through his clothes.
The last one—timing is….a little better.
“Again? How many of these are there?” Xera said, more out of being near her wits’ end than for complaining.
“Thought this might be a type of weakness to the lad’s class. He steals others’ power, which means they never stagger off. When it’s time to reach the next stage, they all come right after the other.”
Like clockwork, a pair of Cursed Guardians formed out the swamp and relentlessly invaded Authoria’s grave lands.
Ripping against his vocal cords, Luke said, “Sooty, keep them busy.”
The corvid rose to the air and darted to the newcomers. Perfecting hit and run after fighting so many of the same enemy type, she manipulated the two witless creatures in tandem.
Another muscle tore itself, and like a network, the connecting muscles spiraled up from Luke’s feet all the way up to the tender facial muscles. Blood cut through bruised skin, and by this point, Luke’s pain receptors deadened. The pain spikes stopped wracking his body.
“What’s all this pain for?” Luke traced Sooty ripping the two cursed apart with her talons. Her damage was considerable; her violent enthusiasm forced the creatures onto the back foot.
“I feel useless…what can I do to help you, master?” Xera helplessly said.
Wayfinder kept it together, “This hurdle is nearly cleared. That flabby body is changin’. Every one of them ‘stats’ you’ve earned are being put to use, reforming you for the better.” Opening his clasp toward Xera, he said, “You hack-and slash type, you’ll be real important in a blink. The lad won’t be half comatose forever.”
A new set of guardians was conjured up by the surrounding swamp, trudging on toward their brethren under siege by an aerial terror. Sooty managed to dispatch one as the two newcomers closed in.
The Reaver gradually recovered, and fresh, painful sweat poured from the tempered muscles. Sooty delayed the replenishing beast wave. Authoria ran around the golden lands in fear, certain the corrupters would have the last laugh.
Meanwhile, Wayfinder’s needle continued to tic calmly, reminiscent of an older clock tower, “Two-faced weapon girl, remember this should I ever be out of the equation, when things are the most dire, is when you need to keep back the fear and panic to find your silver lining.”
“I wasn’t afraid. I’m a fearless sword that slashes and wand that crashes magic onto everyone who comes master’s way.” Xera deflected.
“Fear is natural lass, feelin’ it is not shameful, only lettin’ it control your decisions is.”
Luke coughed furiously, and a river of blood launched out of his mouth. He slumped over, breathing faintly. Authoria froze up and appeared to start praying to whatever ghosts prayed to. Perhaps the World Spirit.
“Lad, if you can hear me, the instant you regain control of your body, wrap yourself in one of those bandages. It’ll put you together enough after the temperings of strength.”
Luke blinked with his eyes in acknowledgment. He spied on Sooty, the monster’s raid had grown to seven. The bird maximized her aerial ability to keep them from advancing, but she was slowly accumulating wounds, and none of the monsters appeared more than modestly injured.
This is going on too long. If by some miracle, Sooty holds the monsters back and I manage to recover, we’ll still be in deep shit. Frostfall Reaver won’t be off cooldown for nearly an hour.
The Reaver entered a deadly calm, and silence returned. He scanned the battlefield, but his eyes returned to the ring on his left hand. He activated the on-use of Patch Work ring; the healing effect fought against the tempering force within. The clash intensified the process but also sped it up while amplifying the strengthening.
As the ring had yet to patch up, the internal damage and the threshold shedding continued to reform it. The ring on Luke’s hand burned hotter and turned red as if under a flame.
Withstanding two opposing forces tested Luke’s willpower. He could choose increased pain or an extended duration of being immobilized. The Reaver chose the pain route. The monster wave was mounting. Any second now, the seven cursed would increase to nine, and so on.
Sooty dived in and out of monster shadows, avoiding swipes, kicks, grabs, and punches. What her element lacked in the offense department, made up in spades with mobility and deception.
Two wars raged on. The monsters sieged, with only a lonely companion trying to stem their tide. Another internal battle was within Luke, his organs became mush and reformed, on cycle. Occasionally, a new blood bolt would rocket out of him through his pores or other openings.
“This one’s much worse…fuck me, what’s going on, Wayfinder?”
“You’re tryin’ to accelerate a natural process, you bloody pincushion, normally that’d knock you out if you’re lucky and kill you if you’re not. That ring is forcing a stasis, push through it. You’ve already cast your die.”
My fault, is it? I mean, I expected as much, not to this degree, however.
Enduring the cycle, Luke watched as the wave built to eleven, thirteen, and finally fifteen. All the while, Sooty took more damage, a wing held up oddly. A deep gash remained around her body. The golden territory was being intruded upon, Sooty’s efforts bought time, and the creatures were within a ten foot radius of Luke.
They ignored the Reaver mistakenly, only due to the annoying black flying terror harassing them. Luke’s leg muscles snapped back into place, no longer reforging. His arm muscles followed, and when his abdomen repaired, the patchwork ring ceased its work, cooling down.
His left ring finger was as good as seared meat, yet Luke experienced only a burning sting. The rest of his body’s shenanigans had killed the pain receptors, which were in the process of reforming. He steadily rose from his position, every bone popping, joint cracking, and skin cell stretching.
Experimentally swinging Xera, a rush of air buffed the monsters before him. Luke formed a frost style Essence Fissure, blasting back the fifteen monsters ganging up on Sooty. The bird flew back to him; Luke took out a health potion and fed it to her. With the other hand, Luke triaged Sooty with a double-stitched dryad bandage around her gash and wing.
Hurrying, he managed to wrap his stomach with another bandage partially. Time waited for no one, and Essence Fissure closed back up. Stuffing the rest of his wounds with frost, Luke threw an Essence Lance above the dazed monster crowd.
Reapplying his Infusion and Essence Bond to the correct targets, he bounded in. Enchanting Xera with created frost, Luke cut into a Cursed Guardian. The strength upgrade cleaved through the creature, nearly bisecting it.
“Back in business, baby.”