Placing Whispering Edge back into its sheath, Luke sprinted forward. Sooty had already taken the initiative to Talon Strike the void beast under the horror effect, bringing it to a swift end.
Luke noticed an issue when bursting into the mirror realm containing the void beasts. This realm had little air. Exerting himself here was risky. The current Luke, high stats or not, still needed air to use most of his speed and strength.
The ground was a mix of surging blue and hints of purple. A dim mist surrounded him. All his perception could notice was a bright silver moon in the sky. No sun could be seen. The thin air still managed to have a cold bite to it. A damp smell stimulated his senses.
Most of that didn’t matter. More critical to Luke was the faint pattern of steps he could hear all around him. The sounds didn’t match the amount of void beasts he could see.
“Keep your eyes peeled lad, and the birdie should stay close. This place is going to test your reaction and perceptiveness. Most of these beasties are ambush predators; your peepers won’t see most of them.” Wayfinder said.
“Let me at em’! Stop looking around and start blasting or slashing.” Xera was good at driving Luke forward.
Sooty had taken to circling him like an aerial guard. Through Reaver’s Link, he got the intent she’d be more focused on defending him than going on the attack. That was just the issue, then.
Luke felt he no longer was someone who needed a guard.
Letting his rough combat sense guide him, Luke got to work. He pointed Xera toward the ground near him, allowing plenty of void beasts to close in. The shift in the air became rapid. He could feel several beasts flashing just behind him.
His excitable sword wand let Essence Lance rip into existence. The lance imploded in the air, just above the ground. Like a frost bomb was thrown, the world around Luke became a winter wonderland.
Without missing a beat, he shifted Xera back into a sword. The ruinous echo effect degraded each monster in range. The formerly invisible beasts around him were slowed and revealed by the frost.
The forceful strike managed to kill those closest to the epicenter, freeing up the space around Luke. Letting the Essence and Infusion-powered Xera get to work, he cut into the void beast foolish enough to charge behind him.
Sending a command to use Polar South, the ability activated. A haze enveloped the back behind the circle of void creatures around him. To his senses, they were the last layer of monsters here. His insight into the situation around him vaguely increased, and fewer questions came to his mind. Instead, he gleaned answers.
“So even the blast couldn’t fish them all out then,” Luke said as he dismembered the same void beast he had struck earlier.
Driven by his strength, Xera sliced through the toughened monster hide like butter. Placing an Essence Bond on the last void beast he could perceive, Sooty took the initiative to fly just behind it.
She let out an Essence Screech. Not checking how effectively she spread Essence Bond, Sooty rushed back to Luke. Upon reaching her Reaver, she released a Reaver Beak on a beast that decided to get too close.
Letting Sooty cover his back, the two were like a whirlwind, one this mirror realm was not prepared for. The few remaining beasts that managed to stay invisible would have their locations inadvertently revealed by their feet moving or cracking the frost on the ground. Luke’s heightened insight wouldn’t miss such an obvious mistake. He would bound forward more than once and pierce Xera through such void beasts.
If they were still out of his range to strike quickly, Sooty would use her wings and take care of the job for him. Trusting his eyes less in this scenario, Luke came to rely on sound.
The beasts still breathed and made sound while they moved. The combination of those two clues was enough for him. Dicing up a seventh void creature, Infusion danced around Xera’s blade again.
The heightened state of insight left Luke, and the feral instincts he momentarily gained came back to its ordinarily dormant state. Stepping back, a beast flashed into existence, crushing the frost he just stood on a moment ago.
Arching Xera as he slashed, the creature’s head was chopped off. One of the ambushes finally worked on Luke, and he took a strike to his back. A [-50] popped up over his head. As he was turning to take care of the intruder, Sooty had already gotten to work for him.
Trusting his bird partner would take care of it, he turned to cover the other side. Three gaping maws greeted his eyes. His blade, Xera, met them, giving back his version of a hello. Like a sweep of wind, the three predators were pushed aside. Akin to leaves more than deadly monsters.
The three beasts thrashed on the ground. Taking the opportunity, Xera was thrust into the cranial cavity of each creature. Soon after, they no longer had to thrash around in life ever again. Luke grew numb to the state of combat he entered.
The paint of blood all over his clothes and sword felt natural. The struggle so far in this mirror realm was more the thin air than the monsters. His movements were forced to be minimal, and often, he had to wait for the creatures to come to him instead. Only striking when a monster was within one or two strides.
Keeping in mind to stay around Sooty, the two covered each other repeatedly. With the strong trust and bond between the two, the stealth-covered attacks were minimally effective.
Round after round, the creatures came. His constantly strengthened body could take the strain much better. There just wasn’t quite enough air to cover his needs. Xera began to guide his strikes slightly, aiming for a more efficient style than the most deadly one.
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“Let me do the bloody death-dealing work! You stay focused and alive.” Xera said.
He heard a rapid flapping behind him. The pressure or amount of monsters increased on Sooty’s side. Luke expanded his share, taking out creatures on his upper peripheral right and left. Sooty hadn’t used Shadow Wing yet, meaning the situation couldn’t be dire. The crashing waves of beasts became more gentle. Their numbers thinned considerably. The beasts, perhaps aware their tactics weren’t working, became cautious.
There was a lull in the battle. Sooty took a short rest on his left shoulder, facing away from him. Keeping watch as best she could. The void beasts circled. The frost hindering them had run its course. Luke began inching back to the exit to the mirror realm. The air wasn’t quite as thin there. The encirclement broke only a few steps away from returning to the mirror hall.
The void beasts had lost their nerves, trying to overwhelm Luke as one. This tactic rarely worked against his party. Sooty’s eyes flashed with a stratagem. She sent a feeling of confidence over to Luke through Reaver’s Link. She activated the on-use of Spatial Feather. Her next three attacks turned into true magic damage.
The bird flapped in the air, angled to Luke’s right. Once the beasts were in her preferred position, she used Shadow Wing. A shade version of Sooty mirrored her, taking the same place on the left. Two beaks opened wide, and a piercing screech left them. Before Essence Screech had finished rippling through the air, the two dove, each taking a side. The shade, as usual, left its Iron Feather on Sooty first.
The scene awed Luke. The crow had stopped the last tide of void stalkers all on her own. Taking advantage of the few seconds gap, he tackled the same side as Sooty. The two tore deeply into the remaining ranks. Xera cleaved two or more beasts regularly, and Sooty ripped her talons across necks in a display of stunning accuracy. Essence Bond ended in duration, and Xera’s effectiveness degraded.
Even without that synergy, Luke’s blade still shredded monsters. Only taking more effort this time. He only focused his blows on one creature at a time to compensate. In the rush of slaughtering one side, Luke took a few blows. Observing the situation and the remaining monsters, he made a decision.
“Sooty, cover my back.”
Luke took Whispering Edge back out and rushed past all the remaining void beasts. He switched Xera to her wand form. Casting Infusion, Essence enveloped both him and the sword wand. The extra speed would make the last part of his plan easier to execute.
“Wand time? Ok, I’m ready when you are. Let’s blast these stealthy slow pokes!”
While getting behind all the void stalkers, Whispering Edge was purely used for defense. The sword deflected or redirected attempts to attack him. Taking in what air was available, he ran to the other side. His faithful bird companion kept his pursuers at bay.
The two groups of beasts began to merge. Running out of steam, Luke paused in place. The beasts lowered the last of their guards and rushed in with no hints of tactical thinking.
Disdain crossed Luke’s features. Sooty settled beside him, waiting. The beasts began turning invisible again, preparing to warp forward to him. They would all be too late. His wand was placed in front of him, and Essence Lance fired. The spell fragmented, becoming a cone of death in front of Luke. The beasts reappeared, frozen still and no longer moving.
“Seems you’ve become something of a puppet master, lad. Those beasties were dancin’ like fools in the palm of your hand. Almost feel sorry for the warping buggers.” Wayfinder broke his silence.
Stepping past the corrupted land, Luke steadily left the mirror realm. The lack of air and alien aesthetic made him want to go; the sooner, the better. Coming into the mirror hall, the once-dark crystal above the mirror changed to a radiant light. The beam was now directly above his head. Luke thought he likely could clear either mirror in the next portion. There were only two more sets of mirrors down this hall left.
“Nearly there, at least for the main objective.”
A single sentence from the hooded human still bothered him—mentioning a hidden piece. While there was no guarantee it would be as crucial as Xera became, he couldn’t leave such a thing behind.
Call it a sixth sense, but every aspect of him screamed that the third type of crystal had something to do with that last possible advantage. Especially since he encountered a different problem once he examined the Interface log.
“These beasts don’t drop anything at all.” Luke aired out his thoughts to the party.
Sooty let out a caw in agreement. Not a single piece of loot dropped since they left the main cave and dropped into that death zone of statues.
Intentionally trying to ignore the pressuring timer at the edge of his vision, Luke continued to plan.
“For now, we clear this row, fulfilling the main condition to move forward. Depending on the remaining time by then, I want to figure out what’s going on with those gray crystals. Thoughts, Wayfinder?”
“What about my thoughts? Huh?” Xera said.
“You’ll get your turn, Xera. Wayfinder seems to have insight the rest of us don’t. Prove me wrong often enough, and I’ll start asking you first.” Luke replied.
Xera grew silent, accepting his point. Likely placated she would get her turn to talk later.
“Well lad, since you asked, I’ll give you me view on this game of mirrors.” Wayfinder started, giving himself a second to organize his words, “ If you want to give yourself the best chance of living through this nightmare, don’t finish the last pair of crystals.”
Not expecting that answer, Luke couldn’t help but ask, “What do you mean, Wayfinder?”
“Think about it lad, do you seriously think those big doors will open, and that spectral big suit will just sit there twindlin’ his thumbs? Call me an overly cautious fool, but I bet on all the magnetic fields, you’ll be in for a surprise.”
There was always a chance Wayfinder was wrong. But the risk of him being right was too significant to ignore. To play it safe, Luke immediately decided he wouldn’t finish the final pair of mirrors in any row, at least for now.
“Fine, we’ll leave the final pair of mirrors alone. I’ve still got a few hours left. It would be a waste to show up not having used them. There’s still the next set, anyway. Alright, Xera, you can go now.”
“Finally! Well, I think this is all very fun, as for opening the doors, what could go wrong? Doors are meant to be opened. Let’s go for it. You’re completely underestimating yourself by now, Luke.” Xera disregarded any sense of caution.
Xera’s view was a mixed bag to Luke. The start ignored the real possibility the Spectral Lord was behind those “meant to be opened” doors. The other part was a valid perspective. He underestimated himself. The previous mirror didn’t strain the capability of the party.
Judging from his experience so far in this tomb, it was better to err toward taking his time here. His party could continue to grow, not to mention himself. Shuffling any mirror fragments away, Luke sat down. His back pressed against the mirror’s remaining frame.
The ceiling above was an ancient sight. The hooded figure would be positioned to watch him. The white stone was easy to get lost in. In this room, the first Reaver was watching over Luke. The hood covered the first Reaver's eyes, but Luke could feel a gaze all the same.
“Take a break with me, Sooty. Then, get ready to give our class foremother a show. We’ll be taking down this trial.” A quiet determination colored his voice.
Sooty sat on Luke’s knee, letting out a few clicks.
Closing his eyes, Luke entered a calm state, refusing to let circumstances muddy his insight.