Xera was entirely correct in this case. Luke had his strength, intellect, and agility surge up from where they were before he came to this death zone of statues. The hit points made him feel healthier than ever, and the strain on his heart relaxed.
Having a veritable wave of stats hit him at once made Luke able to sense the changes in his body. He had more essence than before, and its density was higher. His mind felt clearer, the strength within him exploded. His hands were nimble, and his feet quick. The amount of air he needed to recover himself decreased. From a physical standpoint, Luke was a superhuman. The only way to fully see the changes was to throw himself back into combat.
Most of his exhaustion wiped away, or rather, it’s like his tank enlarged enough that he was no longer tired. His body looked battered and bleeding, but looks could be deceiving; all of his wounds were closed. The only negative feeling was excess soreness in every corner.
The struggle made me stronger. He observed. Quickly, he looked over his primary stats. [217 HP, 63 Agility, 54 Intellect, 72 Strength] The change in status had been accelerating lately. Yet, there seemed to be something off again about the numbers. He couldn't put his finger on it. If anything, Luke was grateful to progress, small mystery or not.
"I'm all for a wee celebration, laddie, but that crow of yours is flagging in exhaustion. Best deal with those tusked oafs sharply," Wayfinder urged, his tone pressing the urgency of their situation.
“That’s right. Let's sword down some trolls. Stab, pierce, thrust, whatever! I can go in the other hand now, right?” Xera agreed with Wayfinder, although for a different reason.
The air around smelled of sweat and blood. The pungent scent of trolls was thick, even if they were on the other side of the room. Luke could hear the faint flapping of Sooty’s wings. Pushing off with his feet, he nearly smashed into a statue. Stats were great and all, but too many at once had caused Luke to have to recalibrate.
With Sooty at the helm of control, Luke came into a position of two trolls. Sooty began to attack the two, her talons gleaming. Luke had already Infused his weapons on the way here. With Sooty’s distraction, neither troll noticed death’s descent behind them.
Luke tested the sharpness of Xera. She ruined his stealth, screaming, “Woohoo!” as he swung her. It didn’t matter, though; even with his one-handed swing, the sword cut off both heads.
“You have some meat on your bones and strength in your veins now! Sword time will be even better from now on.”
Sooty came down, looking at the sword. Then, at Luke. She seemed…disappointed.
“You wanted to help me take them out, Sooty?” Caw! Sooty flapped her wings around. Strutting as she did so.
“Go nuts, pal, I’ll stay in the area, attack whichever troll you want, I’ll play side-kick to Sooty’s playground.” Sooty was satisfied by that and took back off.
“How come you don’t treat me like that?” Xera said.
“Because you aren’t my Sooty, Xera. You’re a sword wand I met less than two hours ago.” Luke stated as a matter of fact. Unperturbed at admitting to a plain difference in treatment.
The cheerful and excitable sword let out a pout. “Whatever. Oh look, more trolls to sword! Let me at 'em.”
She never stays down for long, does she? Luke admired.
Sooty had rounded up three trolls, and Luke helped her mow them down with a pincer strategy. This time, he let her get to use her talons and beak, taking out the third troll when it tried to interrupt Sooty’s fun.
These warriors didn’t have any ranged attacks, and with their abilities back, it was time to end this drawn-out battle.
“Sooty, let’s go back to the open space, gather up the trolls together, we’ll take them out in one spot.”
Sooty circled in the same spot repeatedly. The trolls were growing tired from all the running. Luke slowly stepped out the sea of statues; Sooty brought the remaining 19 trolls with her.
Upon seeing the human again, the trolls finally roared, and a few stupid ones threw their weapons at him. Luke barely moved, instead having Xera deflect them. Sooty immediately picked off the few trolls without a weapon. Before they even came close to Luke, only 15 remained.
"Who would’ve thought a horde of trolls rushing at me wouldn’t get a reaction out of me anymore? Not so long ago, I had to struggle against a fish." The potential for growth in this new world astounded Luke.
He cast Essence Bond on a warrior troll from the back. Sooty was about to hit them all with her cone when Luke told her to use Reaver Beak without killing it first. Quick on the uptake, Sooty tore the shoulder off the troll, nearly having the poor warrior blackout; her Essence Screech spread the Essence Bond to the rest of the trolls. The debuff was more potent than usual.
"Aye, I can see it now. The wee crow's beak skill gives your powers an extra kick. She primes one of the brutes, and when she lets out that screech, it's like a chain reaction across the lot of them," Wayfinder observed, piecing together the tactical advantage they'd gained.
Luke took his two swords, crossing them in front, he tackled the left side of warriors. Each strike, as long as it was in a vulnerable area, would kill a troll. By the time a troll could counter once, he could strike three times. It was no contest. Sooty rampaged as she pleased. In less than a minute, one half-dead troll was pinned to the ground by two swords, a familiar sight, as an orc had been in the same position not too long ago.
“Can’t I kill the poor thing? Look, it's suffering so much. Please?” Xera pleaded for the troll.
“Don’t think I can’t tell you’re just bloodthirsty right now.” Luke dismissed her.
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“But troll blood is tasty. Try it in some soup. It’s even good for your health. Swing me, I’ve sat around for decades longer than is fair. I need to get rid of the rust somehow.” Xera said.
Great, my talking sword wand has developed a taste for blood. What’s next, dragons? Luke was adjusting fast to having a sentient weapon.
Sooty landed on Xera’s hilt and perched there. Looking at the gem the voice came from on the hilt, she pecked at it twice.
“That tickles, Sooty,” Xera said.
Even with the substantial spike in power, Luke didn’t let it go to his head. Only when his and Sooty’s abilities were back in full did he finish the troll. Before that, he had Sooty go to a corner of the room and rest.
He hoped by doing so, she could have the Interface distribute her experience to her as was done for him. For whatever reason, if one was in the center of this room, you never left combat. It wasn’t the same if you were in the rows of statues.
The statues that once held trolls sunk back into the earth, and finally, there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of other statues moving forward. The number sharply reduced to twenty. The stone exterior had a horse creature held within. It’s top half man, bottom half horse. After jogging his memory for a bit, Luke remembered these creatures. Earth had legends of these.
"Centaurs, now? Don't go fooling yourself into thinking they'll tumble for the same ploys as those troll louts. They're sharp, those ones. And by the look in your eye, I'm guessing you haven't got a grand ploy up your sleeve this time, do you?" Wayfinder stated, recognizing the weariness behind Luke's gaze and the absence of a clever stratagem.
Wayfinder was right. Luke had no elaborate plan. The exteriors of the centaurs began to crack. He tried to discern if any had a ranged method of attack. Recurved bows were slung to the side of two, with the pair only one slot apart. Luke readied himself; he wanted to handle these centaurs alone for a while, at least until Sooty had her own rest and recovery period.
The centaurs burst out their shells with a yell. A gleam of intelligence had them survey their surroundings at the onset. Unfortunately for the archers, an Essence Lance was waiting for them.
The unexpected explosion of frost shards over the centaurs had them all lose their bearings. Luke pounced, his two swords dancing through their ranks. Xera shimmered with silver as the first archer was decapitated. Luke had miscalculated slightly. Not wanting to give the other archer any chance to survive, he hurled Whispering Edge through its head.
Bounding a few paces, Luke jumped and had his legs taunt against the slackening centaur. Pushing off, Whispering Edge came with him, and he used his backward momentum to take the nearest centaur to the river Styx early, cutting it in half by the waist.
Luke’s strength was letting him slice through bodies like clay. It took some circumstance and effort, but it wasn’t hard at all. Jumping onto the back of a centaur coming to its senses, Luke repeatedly backstabbed it.
Horse neighs mixed with human bestial noises rumbled the battlefield. Luke had practically grown numb to the feeling of his swords slicing through flesh. A war horn sounded, and the centaurs got a hold of themselves. The improvised ambush of the centaurs had overstayed its welcome.
Reorganized, centaurs were beginning to swarm Luke. A mage type had a fireball come his way.
They have spell casters? How did I not notice? Luke couldn’t be blamed too much for the error; the centaur casters wielded large maces; at first glance, you’d think it was meant for a warrior.
Dropping to the ground, the fireball missed Luke and hit the centaur behind him, preventing its counterattack. The sizzling of flesh and pained grunts made Luke refocus. Either he escaped to the remaining statues, or he had to kill those mages immediately.
The multitude of horse bodies blocked his vision, and with the dust clouds their movement created, Luke took the safe bet. Running toward the statues, he was being pinned down heavily. For once, out in the open, he wasn’t the one with the speed advantage.
The centaurs were circling, using the widened room to their advantage. While they didn’t have archers anymore to display the full power of their tactic, the mages certainly still made it effective.
Judging by the amount of fire and arcane bolts I’m having to dodge, there's three of them. Luke calculated.
As Luke weaved through the barrage of fire and arcane projectiles, Wayfinder's forceful guidance was palpable. "Laddie, why are you dancing around their spells like a maypole? Get your blade swinging and give as good as you get!"
Luke decided that, on the off chance these centaurs could understand his speech, he’d not respond this time. Sooty could understand him well enough before the Reaver’s Link, so these intelligent centaurs having a bit of understanding wasn’t too much of a stretch.
Misinterpreting Luke’s silence, Xera started teasing Wayfinder. “Look, master’s mad at you now. What if he gets angry enough and throws us both away? I’m not going back in that chest because of you, compass!” Xera became oddly vicious. That isolation in the chest must’ve done a bigger number on her than she cared to admit.
"The blade's got a bite to match her edge, does she? You've got it all twisted, lass. The lad's as stubborn as a mule; sometimes, you need a sharp tongue to pierce that thick hide. And cool your jets, 'little missy,'" Wayfinder shot back without missing a beat.
“Little missy? I’ll have you know, you overgrown pocket watch of a compass. I’m over-“
“Shut up, you two; now’s not the time.” Luke’s eyes started to twitch, and a frown was on his face. Did they not know the time and place?
Like scolded children, the two blamed the other, saying it wasn’t their fault. Luke was too busy dodging mage spells to pay them further attention. Letting the bickering of his items meld in the background through the dust, Luke finally caught sight of two mages. The third still hid well, but two would have to do for now.
Despite playing on the defensive for a few seconds, Luke wasn’t all that injured. The passive regeneration of the Coven Lord’s Pendant covered most of it. Since none of the three mages had a slowing spell, they couldn’t land a solid hit even once.
The centaurs with their horse bodies were fast, but Luke wasn’t a slouch. The warrior centaurs were getting antsy. While they had prevented Luke from escaping into the remaining statues, their prey lasted far better than they thought it would.
Taking action before getting charged down by over ten centaur warriors, Luke turned Xera into a wand three seconds ago. He cast Essence Fissure in a straight shot in the sky, catching one mage. Another ran into the fissure before stopping, both smashed to the ground.
The speed of the centaurs became a disadvantage in the situation, and over half of them ran into the fissure before stopping in time. Luke had dashed immediately after he cast the ability, having his swords execute the first mage while the centaurs were busy coming to a stop. Slicing both lungs and eviscerating its heart, the centaur stopped breathing in this world within a second.
An arcane bolt came from the third mage, trying to stop Luke from killing more of its friends. Taking a bolt wasn’t the worst idea. He wished Sooty was here; her Iron Feather would make it less painful.
Letting the bolt strike him, Luke had his eyes shut momentarily from the pain. His teeth clenched, and a -50 popped up over his head. Still, Xera was busy slicing and dicing the other mage with Whispering Edge. By the time the mage was fatally wounded, Luke still had half a second of Essence Fissure left. Sprinting as hard as he could, he made a beeline for the remaining statues.
The centaurs had flat expressions, contrasting the guttural noises from their mouths. Even with the half-second head start, Luke would come just shy of making it into the cover of the figures mere feet away from him.
Luke used the active Wraith Wail, targeted on the centaur closest to him. The horror effect for one second had several other centaurs charge right into it. Causing a scene oddly similar to a traffic accident. With all the centaurs under a fifty percent slow, Luke dashed into the statues, disappearing from their immediate sight. The mage had tried to get another cast-off. Unfortunately, its sight was blocked by the initial centaur put into horror.
Taking cover behind the deepest row of statues, Luke began to plan his next move.