Luke didn’t bother to try to use the Interface to inspect each monster. Over several battles, he started to get a general feel for the relative level of monsters. Not a single opponent around was lower than level 17.
He was up on a hill, with a higher black mountain behind him. Quickly getting his bearings, Luke saw no way out of the place. There was a pit in front of him and the mountain behind.
The sky had a silver moon, similar to Earth’s, except it was sliced in half. The two pieces loosely floated together. This was his only source of light. Thanking his lucky stars for improving his vision constantly since entering the cave, Luke could make out several details.
The hill was steep and wet with mud. None of the monsters had wings or were able to fly. Furthermore, they were waiting. Zero of them came up to charge. Puzzled by the turn of events, Luke opened the Interface Log. A notice that shed light on the situation came to his vision.
[Quest Auto-Accepted: King of the Hill]
Objective: Become the rightful claimant of the black mountain. Must defeat all monsters in the mirror realm.
Reward: Your companion gains three skill points. You obtain one piece of rare equipment.
Failure: Become a Reaver Lich, forever joining the legion of monsters.
“This is one hell of a deadly hidden piece. Then again, I should’ve known with how this tomb is.” Luke quickly got over the initial shock. He had better things to do.
Like figuring out how to come out on top.
Once the Interface log closed, the monsters began to move. They didn’t act in unison. In fact, they all seemed at odds with each other. While the vast majority made their way up the slope, aiming to reach Luke, others began to slaughter each other.
“First time I’ve seen monsters fighting each other.” Switching to a low volume, Luke said, “Sooty, looks like none of the other monsters can fly, but be careful. Be ready for a long fight, pal. Let’s take the initiative.”
Wayfinder spoke, “Lad, gradually back up the mountain. You’ll need the terrain advantage here. As long as you refuse to get surrounded, anything is possible.”
Nodding, Luke cast Essence Lance. The ability swirled around Xera, still waiting to fire.
“This is going to be a blast! Literally.” Xera said.
Sooty left Luke’s shoulder and used her sole aerial ability to the team’s advantage, swooping down on the forerunners struggling up the muddy hills. Mage and archer monsters split their projectiles between Sooty and him.
Magical spells and arrows filled the night sky.
“Ridiculous.”
Sooty would be fine on her own. Luke knew her shadow wing was a nigh-get-out-of-jail-free card. But he had nothing equivalent. Luke wanted to rip the sky, but just before he was to use Essence Lance to create a safe zone for himself, another idea came to him.
With no time to question, he cast Essence Fissure high in the air. Pushing aside the thought he indeed did rip the sky, Luke paid attention to the spell’s effects. The Fissure spread along a line perpendicular to Luke, and the ruinous echo effect of Xera degraded each monster in the entire zone.
The fissures pressure caused all but the most hardy creatures currently rushing up the hill to roll back down, often smashing into other monsters. Amid their volley, the rain of arrows and most magical spells lost momentum, falling into the muddy hills below him. Various craters took form, and unlucky creatures took arrows to the knee, never to be monster adventurers again.
If they ever they were, that is.
The spells were the most deadly. Various arcane, fire, frost, or shadow blasts returned, decimating enemies still struggling up the hills. The destructive spells steepened the slope, making the footing further tenuous. Embers and smoke spread, and Luke couldn’t help but slacken his jaw. Remembering Sooty, he hurriedly searched for her. But for the life of him, he couldn’t locate the bird among the shadows of night.
Before growing too worried, he felt the spiritual line Reaver’s Link threaded between them. She was alive. That was all that mattered for now. Taking the opportunity before the Essence Fissure lost its pressure, he aimed Xera toward the densest part of the monster horde. Essence Lance shot off, freezing the mud beneath its spell path. Moisture in the air turned into snow. The frosty projectile smashed into Luke’s targeted area, shattering just before impact, as he mentally commanded.
The fragmented ice resembled explosive shrapnel, tearing the least fortunate monsters in half. Freezing others, injuring more, and slowing all in its range. The frost worked further to Luke’s advantage until it thawed. Monsters would have to go around that ice patch to storm the hills. The Essence Fissure had ended, but the monsters had yet to show any semblance of regrouping.
A minority fighting each other didn’t help on that front, not that Luke would complain. The more advantages for him, the better. His eyes still couldn’t see Sooty. Finding a thin tree for cover, Luke spotted his bird as she appeared. Melding out the night sky, the black feathered crow had wisps of shadow envelope her. Sooty had ambushed a chaotic mass of creatures. She used Talon Strike on the most troublesome vampire. It looked like Vincent, although it wasn’t him. Just looking like that man was a mistake while being near Sooty.
The misidentified vampire’s neck became mangled. Not bothering with something already dead, Sooty precisely Reaver Beaked a still unaware lich beside her. Shattering the annoying caster’s skull. Unsatisfied with her ambush, Sooty flew up a few meters, sure this would give her maximum spread. Essence Screech reverberated out of her beak. Shadow Essence imbued the ability. Numerous creatures with weak defenses were highly damaged. A handful even died.
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Luke missed the opportunity to cast Essence Bond, not expecting Sooty to use her abilities so rapidly. Instead, he released the power on her, then covered her retreat as he could. Taking out the black blade, Whispering Edge, he targeted Wraith Wail on a shadow cultist attempting to cast spells after Sooty. The horror effect interrupted the cast, and the spreading slow effect caused the monsters behind Sooty’s ambushed group to become run over by their temporary allies.
Sooty flew off, blending back into the night. Luke could sense but no longer see her. The Reaver observed the freshly changed muddy hills behind him. Certain sections became closer to cliffs than hills after the Essence Fissure stunt. Icy Essence flowed around Xera, and he switched to her sword form. The hill line was long. He’d have a hard time covering it by himself. Sooty would be busy ambushing the monsters below repeatedly.
With that being her most effective use, Luke resolved not to call on her unless the situation demanded it. Their rolling counterattack stalled, and the monsters endlessly charged back up the hill, each ruthlessly crushing any being unable to get on its feet in time. Volleys of spells and arrows returned to dominate the air. Luke kept moving, using the thin tree line around him. Desiring better dynamic vision, the essence within him fed into his eyes.
Taking his two swords, Luke sliced arrows, dodged spells, and used the available cover. He would take the monster’s focus, and his crow, turned shadow assassin, would grind down their numbers. Every time Sooty appeared, corpses of monsters followed. Her talons targeted vulnerable necks, faces, and even hearts. When she had her abilities available to assist an assault, the body count would multiply.
The situation wasn’t as hopeless as Luke first perceived, but the monsters were still uncountable in number. This battle would never be won in a burst of killing. Familiar water jets interrupted Luke’s train of thought.
“Those eels are here too? Hate those things.”
“All this dodgin’ about is nice, lad, but you’ve been put into a passive state,” Wayfinder said.
“Right, let’s not lose the agency here. Falling to the pace of monsters is never good.” Xera said.
Turning his body, two arrows brushed past Luke, and he responded, “Easy to say, but my ranged abilities have always been limited to bursts.”
“A fine point, but who said somethin’ about directly attacking? Use the terrain. Don’t you have that fancy frost? I won’t spell it out. Put two and two together.”
“Blast frost and make monsters get lost!” Xera got excited again.
Luke’s eyes settled on the wet mud covering the hills. “There’s no way I can control this stuff well enough to cover the entire hill in ice. Not without Essence Feedback, at least.”
“Then choose where it’d be most effective; this battle won’t be won in a single stroke of snobby genius, but a series of choices. Make the right ones,” Wayfinder said.
Skimming over the line of terrain, several portions had become cliff-like. They were impassable enough. Luke instead searched for the sections where most of the monsters were in the process of ascending. The creatures were in large enough numbers that they acted closer to water than anything else. If water went up hills rather than down. Still, they followed the path of least resistance.
Luke eyed two sections in particular. Over eighty percent of the monster wave congregated here. If he did nothing, the first portion of monsters would be over these two places in less than half a minute. Luke stopped for a split second, sending his intention to Sooty over Reaver’s Link. He needed her to slow one section down while he froze the other. An arrow plunged into his shoulder, gifting Luke with a deep, stabbing pulse of pain. A [-50] appeared over in his upper right vision. Gritting his teeth, Luke continued to move toward the nearest clogged spot of monsters.
“That looks like it stung, master. Are you fine?” Xera asked, worried.
“No time to worry about if I’m fine or not,” Luke said.
Luke cut the arrow shaft with Whispering Edge and turned Xera back into a wand. His speed covered the necessary distance. Standing in front of the concentrated monsters climbing up, he used Temporal North, ending the cooldown of Essence Lance. Refreshing Infusion onto Xera and Whispering Edge, he smashed Essence Lance atop the slope, and the ice rapidly spread. The remaining fragments shredded the frontmost monsters.
Then, he stabbed Whispering Edge down, and the blade fed the ice. Flowing his frost essence through the blade as best he could, the glacial sheet rapidly expanded. Luke switched Xera back to a sword, using her as he could to deflect arrows. The sword wand couldn’t cut spells, so he dodged what he could—being stuck with one hand on Whispering Edge, transferring frost essence to the blade, limited his range of motion. A few well-targeted spells of shadow and flame managed to land.
Various numbers in the double digits appeared in his vision, and blood soaked his right side, the most affected area. Having only used half his frost essence, Luke took Whispering Edge back and left. Staying in one spot any longer wasn’t worth the risk. The currently formed ice could do the job it was created for.
Luke's job became more manageable with only one relatively passable area in the hill line left. Rather than worrying about getting surrounded, he just had to prevent them from passing in that spot for as long as he could manage. With slightly blunted speed, he reached the proper position with little time to spare. Sooty had bought him the precious moments he asked her to create.
Sending another message through Reaver’s Link, he asked Sooty to target mages only—the archer’s arrows he could block or slash. Magic was either dodge or brace for impact. Essence Fissure had the longest cooldown out of all the abilities in Luke’s baseline class toolkit. There was no way it would be available for each volley of spells. His companion would help him best by targeting casters then. Luke was thankful this tomb rarely threw any healers at him.
Becoming a human barrier between the monsters and flatter terrain, he put Whispering Edge up. Then took Xera into both hands. The runes around the blade were dimming, a sign Essence Bond was about to end. Unable to do anything about the bad timing, Luke cut away the first monster to come within reach. The white insectoid was stabbed through the head. Luke kicked its body back, and it crashed into those behind.
Rotating his body to the side, an arrow and one spell passed by. Luke swiftly took out Whispering Edge and stabbed into the ground, using a small opening to do so. Unable to actively feed Whispering Edge, the mud didn’t turn into an ice sheet but became more slush-like. The mist wafting out slowed down nearby monsters. Luke pressed what frost essence he could into Xera. A frosty sheen was added to her splendor as the blade lost her runes.
“What a unique feeling! I’m like an ice princess now.” Xera said.
Luke took his ‘ice princess’ and cleaved through two monsters. Two bodies fell to the wayside, the start of a massive pile. While running through his possible cards, Luke considered using Polar South but refused. This would be his backup in case a hard spot came up. Luke began his real-time hack-and-slash game by batting aside arrows and shifting his body to avoid most spells.
Skeletons reached for his hands, only to become frosted bone fragments half a second later. With the blood healing and regeneration kicking in more, Luke started a precarious balance. Melee attacks rarely landed on him. None of these monsters were elites, nor was he too injured to fight at full steam. The mages were the real threat, and the archers weren’t to be ignored either. As he maimed one ice demon, which was barely affected by his frost, the amount of spells coming his way gradually decreased.
Sooty must be doing good work.
Refreshing Essence Bond onto Xera the moment the cooldown refreshed, the mixture of glowing runes and frost mist made for a mesmerizing sight. The split pile of monster bodies was getting uncomfortably large. But Luke could only continue to strain his arms with repeated melee swings.
This was going to be a long, bloody night.