Luke prioritized understanding the changes within his body.
While he ensured the corrupting creatures remained controlled, he got a feel for the upgraded strength, greater agility, and enhanced magic power. He danced combatively within the positioning gaps the small monster legion revealed.
Sooty tore in tentatively. Luke commanded her to focus on recovery, only taking golden opportunities rather than every one that presented itself. The mental fatigue from acting as a frost reactor built up at a reduced cadence.
Authoria’s brilliant grave land turned from lavish gold to a white-blue ice sheet. Luke began to sink a Swamp Cursed Guardian every five to seven strikes. At last, the Reaver and Crow duo killed at a rate above replacement. Playing it safe over the course of fifteen minutes, the vicinity was cleared of any hostiles.
“That was a lot closer than I hoped for. Pulling through by the skin of my teeth is stressful.” Luke pointed out Xera and reformed her into a wand, “The mist is thickening,” Luke asked Authoria, “How long does this last?”
The golden ghost pressed her two index fingers together and hesitantly raised five fingers afterward.
“Five minutes?” Luke ventured to guess.
Authoria shook her head slowly.
“Fifty minutes?”
Luke received the same answer as before.
“Five hours?”
The spirit jumped up and down while giving a double thumbs up.
Least it’s not five days. I would have to strangle a ghost for giving me a death sentence.
Another wave of beasts rose from the marshes, stepping out the mists. Luke analyzed the situation while meeting them with Xera, slicing into their spiritual bodies.
The situation is only limited by my health, my stamina is close to bottomless in this dungeon, as is my essence pool. Fatigue from using elementalization lowered after breaking the intellect threshold. If Sooty and I rotate when needed, we can handle this.
Thinking out loud, he said, “It’ll be tedious, but that’s all. Stay alert, and make sure the damage I’m taking doesn’t outstrip the health steal from the Blood Weaver Ring. If those two conditions are met, this event is good as cleared.”
Putting the plan into action, Luke dispatched the two latest nuances to invade. Two or occasionally three Cursed Guardians would spawn, and he’d take them down before the thirty-second interval was up for the next round. He realized the interval was slightly extended if they threw three at him instead of two.
During the gaps, Luke would finish wrapping the double-stitched dryad bandage, switch off elementalization to ensure mind fatigue never became too much, and stay near the edges of the golden land. When the exhaustion inevitably set in, Sooty would take over.
She failed to cull the monsters faster than they would arise, but for the first set, with Shadow Wing and the two abilities from Spatial Feather, she nearly kept pace. Thus, depending on the situation, Sooty would tap out after varying three to five minute rotations, and Luke would return.
Honed from dodge training, when Luke regained the stat advantage, fighting these things became child’s play. Admittedly, if he had no method to force them into the physical world, these creatures would be the death of him.
But since he did, they became fuel for growth instead. With every set, Luke would steal a wide range of stats, usually one of the primary four: strength, agility, intellect, or HP. Very rarely would another one be siphoned away by his greed.
“Ether Body?”
When he stole the first point from an unsuspecting monster, the air around him changed. Luke could only articulate it as if he belonged more to the world than before. Ignoring the strange feeling, the Reaver continually repeated to reap the monster crops coming to feed his greed graciously.
----------------------------------------
Falling into a lull, four hours passed. Somewhere along the way, Luke failed to keep stealing any of the four primary stats from these creatures, but the abnormally occurring Ether Body stat built steadily.
The feeling of ‘belonging’ increased. Essence caressed his body with its normally invisible tendrils. After every few points of Ether body built up, the hidden costs to elementalization or using his abilities plummeted.
Luke’s previously halted understanding of combat, and techniques started to inch forward again. His frost creations turned a shade darker for blue and brighter for white, heightening the contrast. The visions he saw when he evenly spread frost essence to his eyes peered further. Instead of one step ahead, the false shadow would go two steps ahead of its master.
Is it some sort of future sight? Or a materialized prediction of what the target will do?
The monster waves ceased during his ruminations about the new special Ether Body stat and its effects. At first, Luke cautiously waited. When a full minute passed, he blinked in surprise.
“Xera, I think we made it. Good work on handling the constant frost I sent your way. Appreciate your taking command when needed Wayfinder, and of course, thanks for being my partner, Sooty.”
“It was nothing! Ice is my new middle name. I can give myself a middle name, right?” Xera boasted.
“Can’t have me new resting spot be a grave in the middle of the mists,” Wayfinder said.
Sooty strutted proudly back and forth inches away from Luke, raising her wings up before closing them in again.
“You don’t have a last name, Xera, or do you?”
“Sure I do. It’s the same as yours since you’re my Reaver.”
“If it suits you, fine, take it. It’s a pretty run of the mill surname name, though.”
Authoria snapped her fingers around Luke, trying to get his attention. Since she couldn’t make any noise, the measure barely worked. The Reaver turned to this oddball, “What did you need? Isn’t the quest done?”
Luke checked the log, but the hidden quest had yet to complete. He cycled through Infusion twice to prepare for whatever was next. On a side note, Luke found that he gained stats in the midst of combat, but none of the experience had been distributed.
“That’s why I kept going through a threshold break back to back. I literally stat stole into them while fighting. What a nasty class consequence.”
Taking the nuance to his class in account of the future, Luke kept note to learn what the thresholds were. If he brushed up near the second one of any of the four primary stats, he’d either train safely to break it or at the least, have a group around him when delving into dungeons like this.
Or for the tower, climbing would be what they call it if they follow any logic. Unless the tower floors go down? Should look into it.
That’s what the mask was for, right? Or to Luke it was, in addition to finagling a way to use the second identity for negotiating with the City Lord’s group or any useful noble he could get his hands on.
Assuming they weren’t the Pyrites or involved with Sooty’s kidnapping.
The mists around them seethed, and Authoria tried to hide behind her gravestone. She peeked out occasionally like a curious child.
“Looks like the big nasty is gearing up to give you an orientation, cut the blabber,” Wayfinder said.
The Reaver kneeled down, and Sooty hopped up to his shoulder. He pointed Xera to the surging mists and switched her to wand form. At the first sign of conflict, he’d apply Essence Bond to her and ideally, the coming monster in the same rotation. Infusion had already been stacked up appropriately. He slowly terraformed Authoria’s hallowed grounds back to frost.
Ominous wails echoed around, legions of ghosts walked up to the radiant land, fixated on Authoria in hatred. One specter stepped onto the zone, and holy flame exorcised it in seconds. The ambient air took on a different chill, one not of Luke’s making.
“A peanut gallery of ghosts?
Pressed upon by the now thousands of undead spirits, the rest of the radiant barrier shattered. All the same, the ghosts stepped onto the land and were purged before making it past more than three paces. Luke’s frost had grown to the point even spirits could not ignore the effects, making their siege slow to an ineffective crawl. With each death, the mists behind them blackened, and the marshes beneath them cracked, losing moisture.
“What on earth is going on? Do spirits lose any sense of self-preservation?”
“Maybe you held on until they couldn’t handle it anymore? The wave tactic failed, and we prevailed! ” Xera offered.
Sooty throttled a caw, siding with Xera.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“They’re setting the stage, ask the ghost lass behind you to see if I’ve got the right of it,” Wayfinder said.
Luke turned around to Authoria, “Well?” he asked, pointing out to the nearby smoke black mist, “Who did you piss off for all this?”
Authoria tried to whistle in distraction, unwilling to answer. The attempt came out noiseless, probably due to a lack of lungs in spirits. Yet, Luke realized other spirits around could make noise, but Authoria couldn’t. The discrepancy would be left for after this messy event was over. A sickening crack returned Luke’s attention to the mists. A new set of purple eyes started not at Authoria but at him.
“I’m in your way, and you’re in mine.” Luke leveled Xera at the disembodied eyes. This newly formed being would be what all the theatrics were for.
When a ghost was burned to death, the outline around the eyes grew thicker, more corporeal. Luke sent out an Essence Lance to test if he could land a preemptive strike, but the ability passed right through, crashing and freezing the marsh grounds some yards away.
Even frost essence can’t force it to reality yet? What is that thing?
Ghosts died by the dozens, the outline grew armor, and the purple eyes were no longer hazy. The black mist failed to conceal the growing threat any longer. Winds swirled vertically around the form. Another buffeting gale gusted from its back, the velocity building, a two-handed red and white spear materialized up from the swamp, sucking in most of the black mists. Physical hands grasped onto the spear. The enemy began to breathe.
After the legions of ghosts all sacrificed themselves, brands etched themselves to every piece of armor and the new spear. The figure stepped out into the radiant land. It steamed but remained relatively unaffected by the sacred ground. A green and black knight stood in full plate armor; its purple eyes challenged Luke, extending its spear at the Reaver.
The winds behind it streamed at such speeds the mists around it pushed back for a mile. Luke saw other wanderers of the marsh smashed out of the trajectory. Those weaker in body were cut to literal shreds, dead on arrival.
Gesturing with its left hand, a floating wind lion spirit rose around the knight. A vortex slowly started to swirl around its front. Winds coalesced around its spear and enchanted the wind lion. Green ground with streaks of gray pushed against Luke’s white-blue frost.
Amarok’s Eye activated to Nelth’s threat, and a red glow overlaid one of Luke’s eyes, increasing perception. Every detail extruding from Nelth magnified. The wind patterns and its eye of the storm points, the softer fluctuations, and the harsher streams all became easier to discern and track.
“Someone else who uses elementalization. Similar thing happened when Iona brought hers out.” Luke cast Essence Bond onto Xera, and white runes blazed onto her surface, “I don’t suppose I can ask you to return back to the marshes peacefully?”
The knight stabbed his spear into nearby lands, streaking it through and creating a widening crack.
Signing, Luke said, “It’s your second funeral.” He inspected the monster.
[Nelth, The Vanquished Wind Knight] (Hidden Boss, Enervated)
Tier: 1
Level: 50
HP: 10,000/10,000
Once the most loyal protector of Authoria, his winds revered by many. Corrupted by mists.
Realizing he had his work cut out for him, Luke took the initiative. He applied Essence Bond to Nelth, and the winds around the Wind Knight calmed somewhat. The Reaver summoned a rotating essence lance, launching it while consuming the three shards around it. The force multiplier rocketed the lance into the Knight, cracking his breastplate and applying frost to the wind lion and the boss.
The blast back ruined Nelth’s posture and disoriented the wind lion. Luke took full advantage, applying Siphon to Nelth. Siphon’s effect of stealing stamina and resources made him feel like an overfilled container.
“The lion’s yours,” Luke told Sooty as he reformed Xera into a sword, closing the distance.
Sooty seared through the skies, screeching during her charge. Essence Bond and Siphon duplicated onto the wind lion; the sudden weakness created a prime opportunity. Sooty Reaver Beaked the lion in the snout, and it roared in pain. The two tangled, trashing off to the other direction Luke took the Wind Knight.
Nelth thrust his spear at Luke, but the false shadow alerted him too far in advance. The Reaver parried with Xera, the frost essence enchantment prevented the wind-enhanced spear from getting through.
Wind gusts fought, Nelth’s gale supported him, and Luke’s chilled arctic winds gave an equivalent counter. The vortex around Nelth’s front swirled faster, its force trying to bring Luke in to ruin his spacing.
The Ice Blessed Boots all but negated the attempt. Luke sidestepped another attack, but the slicing winds around the spear cut into his arms. He created frost layers around his body, canceling the harsh winds. Now was not the time to worry about being conservative to avoid mind exhaustion.
Attempting a roundhouse kick, Nelth nearly connected against Luke’s sides, but the Reaver ducked beneath and sliced up with Xera. His sword-wand was stopped the spear, the grounds beneath them changing from green-gray to blue-white every other exchange.
Miscalculating against the hurricane winds, Luke stood still for too long. Nelth’s spear shaft smashed into him, and the Reaver slid back, subconsciously canceling the Ice Blessed Boot’s effect. Forcibly keeping ground would make the damage worse.
Exchanging blows, the two tried to crack the other’s armor. Luke’s frost would shatter, reforming immediately, the gusting winds would be pierced and replaced. The reserves of both men seemed endless. The damage between the two minimal. Their fight a game of concentration rather than one overpowering the other.
Wind shackles formed around Luke’s ankles, slowing him. He knew Nelth would come in for a grievous blow. He fulminated the ice, shoving Nelth to the side, causing the Wind Knight to stab his spear into the ground rather than Luke’s lower abdomen.
Luke smashed Xera into Nelth’s side, and the crack on the breastplate spread further. Winds gusted against him, halving the momentum from the strike. Luke tried to jump back, but the shackles kept him all but rooted.
He switched to stepping back rapidly, which worked, but not at the usual pace. The speed advantage Luke gained from Essence Bond’s weakening was lost. Nelth’s agility now even to Luke’s.
Essence Lance refreshed. Luke clashed his sword against Nelth’s spear while planning how to use the ability best. A wind blast interrupted his train of thought. He twisted his body to avoid getting skewered. Nelth consumed wind to accelerate the thrust, ripping into Luke’s side.
The Reaver pierced Xera into the armor cracks, widening them. He shattered the frost in the exposed points, tearing off a piece of armor on the left breastplate. Frost Essence flooded toward his new wound, cutting down the bleeding.
A green, rapidly rotating substance merged in Nelth’s body. Luke analyzed it as a similar technique to when he used ice to staunch his wounds, except adjusted for the wind element. Each element had its limiter. Wind wasn’t as effective for treating wounds as when Luke did it with ice.
Repeatedly slicing and dicing into each other, Luke strengthened while Nelth weakened. The Reaver mechanic of stealing stats made long-lasting fights to Luke’s benefit and Nelth’s detriment. Luke continued to press, but not too forcibly; his ability to heal was limited, and he had a lower health pool compared to Nelth. If he traded deadly strikes one for one, he’d die.
Nelth rapidly spun his wind spear. Luke saw the false shadow step beside Nelth. He’d parry, and it’d spin in, curving to pierce through his heart. The organ was spectral, but the winds around the spear would likely turn it corporeal. Luke used the same method against the Spectral Lord. He’d be a fool to assume this boss creature couldn’t do it.
The spear curved in, and Luke tried to dodge instead of parry. When that measure proved the wrong method, he tried to redirect with Xera, using the counter force of detonating frost layered on his triceps. Nelth consumed wind, the vortex sucked in with greater power, sliding Luke toward him and ruining the stalemate.
Breathing out iced respiration, Luke ripped open a Frost Essence Fissure, flipping the table on the situation. He anchored it above Nelth, pressing the knight against the ground, leaving no strength to skewer the enemy with his wind spear.
Hearing Sooty screech in pain, Luke spared a glance. The wind lion lacerated Sooty, but the two clearly saw better days. Gritting his teeth, Luke sent an Infusion to Sooty and the other to Xera. He chose to take the opportunity in front of him, sinking Xera in the exposed armor. He pulsed frost out from Xera and transferred the frost around, channeling it up and into Nelth before shattering it inside.
Nelth turned into an ice sculpture, the winds around him, frozen. The rumbling winds from his back vibrated the ice, and cracks immediately appeared. Pushing the envelope, Luke changed Xera to a wand, applying a new Ruinous Echo. He imploded an Essence Lance within the corrupted knight, eviscerating the chest area.
Luke felt Sooty’s pain through the Reaver Link. The wind lion had the upper hand. He pointed Xera at the lion and applied Siphon onto the aggressor while applying Essence Bond to Sooty after ensuring Xera had her’s refreshed.
The Reaver’s stats had skyrocketed during this event, not that he had the time to calculate it precisely, but the difference in speed, strength, magic power, and body durability was incomparable to the him of yesterday.
Roughly a quarter of those stats replicated and empowered Sooty. The crow proceeded to tear the Wind Lion apart. Relieved Sooty could handle her battle. Luke unfortunately had to increase the difficulty of his own.
Nelth’s purple eyes glowed, and the winds around him summoned a hurricane, filling in the lost chest area with pure wind. Luke hacked at Nelth’s head; the monster skillfully blocked with his spear’s shaft. The Reaver rotated on one foot, and roundhouse kicked with the other. He heard Nelth’s neck crack.
Rising with a bent neck, Nelth concentrated more gales on his spear. While the wounds from frost damage certainly lowered his speed, the weakening from Essence Bond was gone. Therefore, his speed had actually gone up.
Raging hurricanes battered Luke’s sides, front and back. His boots kept him some measure of stability but at the cost of muscle damage. Accepting the reversal, Luke stacked frost onto Xera’s Edge. Layer after layer formed, Nelth thrashed Luke with his spear, and the Reaver was stuck in a defensive position.
A first spear puncture appeared on his upper right leg, then the left leg. Next came his left shoulder and through his lower stomach. Luke continually attempted dodges and parries, but the ambient winds ruined the lion’s share. He felt the winds gradually becoming less hostile against him.
He knew that the winds were raging further. The source came from an unidentified stat, which he rarely stole from Nelth. As they struck each other and the two elements battled for supremacy, Luke’s greed continued to capitalize on Nelth.
All this time, Luke intentionally kept back from using Wayfinder’s abilities, trying to weaken Nelth first with stat-steal as Sooty needed Essence Bond to come out on top against the Wind Lion, the Reaver adjusted, activating both Polar South and Temporal North.
An Essence Lance appeared, Luke applied it to Xera; an ice so deep it nearly turned black glaciated off Xera. The winds froze, and the hurricanes unraveled. Nelth conjured up his winds like a broken record, but the winds would not play.
Assisted by Polar South, Nelth’s patterns became an open book to Luke. He feinted in, redirecting the blow, leading into another feint. Nelth tried to block both times, thus ruining his ability to respond for half a second.
That’s all of a gap the Reaver needed.
He whirled with Xera, effortlessly cleaving Nelth from the lower neck out through Nelth’s left hip. Black ice spread around the Hidden Boss, eating away at its body and slowly melting away. Stabbing Xera into Nelth’s head, Luke poured in the ice and exploded it. The helmet blew apart, revealing a disfigured once-human face, the purple eyes now mush.
Luke let Xera sink into the sacred grounds, and he canceled Essence Feedback. The Wind Lion had returned to the nether upon its master’s death.
The anticipated black lash came, and Luke’s mobility became limited.
[You have used Essence Feedback for three seconds. Essence abilities sealed for three minutes]
In an experimental mood, Luke tried to use Infusion, and a massive rejection spiked his brain. Undeterred, he flowed frost to his hands. While the effort increased, the rejection was absent.
“Techniques still work, no matter my frost resistance, the backlash is unavoidable. Makes it a matter of how bad it is. Xera, what was that black ice? Right as I started to believe I understood this elementalization thing, another surprise shows up.” Luke settled his eyes on Wayfinder, “You have anything to say about that, Wayfinder?”
Xera excitedly chattered, “Is it a problem? That version of your ice was the next level, Luke! I felt fully after that, if I could burp from that feast of a fight, I would.”
“Aye, you’re a monstrous genius with frost, and if the wrong creatures figure it out, you’ll be in for a hell of a time, lad.”