Luke didn't panic; any enemy with the slightest intelligence could tell he was the weak link between the two. He immediately cast Essence Bond onto the closest one to him, trying to get it to slow down. Sooty placed an Iron Feather on Luke, hoping it would be enough to let him take one attack.
Calmly, Luke took his rusty set of throwing knives from the Inventory, which he had already put Infusion on during the previous walk. He had tested it, and items kept their Infusion even in the Inventory. It only disappeared by hitting something possible to steal stats from. Even hitting a rock or inanimate object with an Infusion kept the Infusion.
Throwing one knife, a loud crack was heard, a perfect shot right at the skull, and it shattered. Sooty, not to be outdone, used her Reaver's Beak on a skeleton from behind, coupled with Luke giving her an Infusion earlier, and the skeleton turned to dust.
Being careful not to let a stray hit get in, Luke hurriedly dodged the skeleton with Essence Bond pinning it down. Luke let out another Infusion over to Sooty without thinking about it. To his surprise, the essence went through the air instantly and applied to Sooty. The last three skeletons were before him, about to slash down. Sooty let out a screech and used her Talon Strike on the skeleton nearest her. Even without the critical hit being successful, the skeleton crumbled to the floor, turning into corpse dust.
One skeleton got a hit off, and Luke parried as best he could with a throwing knife; the vibrations going through him were painful, the Iron Feather vanished, cutting the power against Luke in half. He managed to survive the strike.
Sooty became almost like a missile, and her Reaver Beak easily pierced through yet another skeleton. She then dive-tackled the last one, with it being a regular strike. The skeleton shook it off and began to strike at her. The two exchanged moves for a second until a throwing knife from behind unceremoniously pulverized the skeleton with the Essence Bond debuff.
The fight seemed easy, but Luke's line between death and life was thin. He had a feeling that even with the parry, if the feather weren't there, enough force would've gone through to damage him.
And any damage at the moment meant death. Luke heard a slow clap to his side. Veronica was looking on, very amused.
"A fine fight, young-ling, onto the next then."
Luke took a short interval to reapply the Infusion and review his log.
[5 Skeletons slain. You have stolen 1 HP, 1 Strength, 1 Agility]
[You gained two levels. Acquired four skill points]
[Your companion, Sooty, gained a level. Acquired one skill point]
His stat steal mechanic started to go off more. He'd be able to see his stats go up rapidly soon enough. Luke was happy to see Sooty gain a level as well. Luke hurriedly took his skill points and tried to upgrade Essence Infusion and Essence Bond. Essence Infusion went up a rank, as did Essence Bond. He got a notice when he put another point into Essence Bond.
[You have insufficient skill points.]
His Interface showed a one next to his skill point counter. Luke saw that Infusion did upgrade, so that must mean it took two points rather than one. The same went for Essence Bond. Having no time to mull over it, he memorized the changes to Infusion IV. The changes were simple: reducing the cooldown by two seconds, and his chance of stealing a stat increased by 1% again; the increase for attack and speed jumped from 30% to 40%. The effects of Essence Bond also increased by roughly 20%.
Plenty useful, and it came at the right time.
Five arms burst through the stone flooring of the platform. As the five ghouls came out, the platform beneath them repaired itself to perfection. Luke simultaneously sent a throwing knife at one ghoul, put Essence Bond on another, and glanced at their Interface.
[Rotting Ghoul]
HP: 51/51
Level: 5
A connoisseur of brains.
Taking charge, Sooty struck the ghoul with Essence Bond, letting a Reaver Beak go off, then raking it with her talon. The ghoul, weakened as it was, became a split corpse. Sooty screeched, having three ghouls take notice of her. Using Iron Feather on herself, she fearlessly dove in. Her Talon Strike managed a critical hit, and a ghoul shattered apart. Two arms mauled towards her, one's momentum halved by her Iron Feather. Sooty took the strike from that swing and dodged the other.
Frustrated at the flying buzzard, both ghouls released acid spray. Having one all to himself, Luke kited as best he could, throwing a few knives. He didn't strike in the best area for the first two of them, so it took three throws before the ghoul fell. Trying to prevent Sooty from being showered in acid, Luke put an Infusion on her in time. The additional speed let only a few drops strike her.
Out of moves, Luke kept throwing his remaining knives out, keeping one. Meanwhile Sooty struck with Reaver Beak and then left. After a few more concentrated attacks, one ghoul burst apart in a corpse explosion, seriously hurting Sooty. Unfortunately, the unexpected attack didn't let her get an Iron Feather off in time; she took the full brunt of the attack.
Overpowering his worry, Luke used his remaining throwing knife and headshot the last ghoul, who attempted to hurt Sooty while she was down.
“Hands off my bird, ghoul.”
Another nasty memory came, taunting Luke mentally, We can’t trust you to cover for anyone.
Discarding the past, Luke hurried over, worried but still aware of the situation. Trying to help the injured Sooty, he took Essence Bond and cast it on her, hoping it would help. Sooty shook herself off, a few specks of blood and bone fragments coming off her. A glow of leveling overtook Sooty, and she was fine again.
The fight was over, but Luke's expression was anything but happy. The fight made him realize he could not heal Sooty or himself down here without leveling. Things may have gone far worse if it hadn't been for the level-up heal.
"Lad, could we have a wee word?"
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The moment's emotion got to him, and he said a hard "What?" to Wayfinder.
"Your feathery lass took a good wallop, lad, but she'll mend. Prolong the skirmish, and let nature do its healing work. You might be rushing to your demise if you hasten through these bouts."
"If we do that, it could end up killing us, Wayfinder," Luke responded.
"This is why you need a seasoned hand like myself, laddie. Don't flail about; take one down proper-like and leave the other half-crippled. You could even employ that snazzy ability of yours to help. Keep your wits about you, lad." Wayfinder remained steady.
Having too much worry going through him in their current predicament, Luke couldn't bring himself to thank him. But he agreed with Wayfinder's idea.
"Let's do that then."
Luke saw the log notify him and Sooty of leveling up. He gained an intellect and hit point in that fight with the ghouls. It was ironic, he thought, to earn his first point of intellect from ghouls with rotting brains. What did that say about his brain then? Luke decided not to think about it. Before turning off the log, he saw a different notice.
[You have learned a new ability, Essence Lance]
Luke couldn't get a good look at the ability as new monsters were spawning. Mentally throwing the command to get Essence Bond to rank up, he did so. Based on last time, he figured the stat drain would be higher without even looking, making the kiting style Wayfinder suggested possible.
He saw his experience bar still had a decent amount in it. In the moment's rush, he sent twenty-five points to Wayfinder, hoping a new passive would emerge. Unfortunately, based on his range of vision expanding, that didn't seem to be the case. At the least, his precision and critical strike chance should increase. Running to his knives left on the platform, Luke took most of the closer ones off the ground, having seven back in his possession.
"Can you continue, pal?" Luke asked Sooty. A resolute caw was his answer. "Good, I'll need you." Luke had figured out an exciting mechanic; his Infusion was still on him this entire time. Even if he struck with a weapon like his knife, it didn't disappear; he decided to refrain from any direct attacks with his body to keep the 40% speed boost on him. The mobility from the Infusion was too strong to ignore.
The monsters finished spawning. Seven ghostly soldiers came into being, and the area's temperature became ice-cold. Unafraid, Luke threw two knives of his at once, one being Infused and the other not, due to his ability still being on cooldown. The two hit right next to each other, the precision buff already showing its benefit.
A feedback went off, letting Luke know one attack was a critical hit. The elemental soldier dissipated quickly. Trying to give Sooty more time, Luke put Essence Bond on one and threw his last knives at the remaining four. Luke began to run for his life. Being out of everything, including rocks, Luke was at a loss.
Sooty flapped her wings fiercely and preemptively put an Iron Feather on herself, deciding to be as aggressive as possible. Sooty could feel Luke's intentions through Reaver Link. She avoided using Talon strike on the debuffed soldier and instead chose another. Stacking Reaver's Beak and Talon Strike back to back, Sooty made another soldier dematerialize. Trusting in her partner, she instead continued to strike from behind.
The tactic worked for a time, letting the two take out another elemental soldier. Wising up, one turned around and struck Sooty. The Iron Feather made the first strike bearable, and Sooty swept off, right into the direction of the mace of another elemental soldier. Luke's caught that with his perception. His combat sense going full throttle, Luke tried to use Essence Lance. A large amount of essence drained from him, and his essence infusion buff on himself dissipated. The lance, however, flew through the air far faster. The lance shattered on the elemental soldier—the impact causing it to miss its strike on Sooty.
Sooty's awareness strained, and she managed a Reaver Beak on the offending elemental solider, taking it down. With three left and only one chasing down Sooty, the pressure felt relieved, and then Essence Bond's duration expired.
Damn, I forgot about that. Luke thought.
Having two elemental soldiers focus on him, the pressure was mounting. With the Infusion he placed on himself gone, Luke's mobility was at an all-time low. He only had two agility at the moment. Luke had the sneaking suspicion these soldiers had more agility than that. Unsurprisingly, the strides of the two caught up, both slashing at him. Luke immediately attempted another Essence Lance, but a feeling of repulse came back. It must be on cooldown.
Out of options, Luke came back to his typical last resort, Wayfinder. Using Wayfinder like a third-rate flail, he took the length of the chain to have the poor compass smash against the sword coming in his direction.
That sword hit the axe of the last elemental soldier through sheer luck, letting Luke only take a glancing cut to his shoulder, taking one point of damage.
"Did you not understand? I'm not a weapon. You better level me up after this skirmish to mend these dents on me gleaming casing. Quit using me like a mere flail and stone. You'll break me at this rate," Wayfinder said.
Unable to respond due to the deadly situation, Luke dived out of the range of the next round of strikes. Sooty out-maneuvered the soldier she was facing, managing a clawing attack while doing so. Knowing that her Reaver, Luke, would die at this rate, she became like an arrow aiming toward the unprotected neck of one of the two elemental soldiers aiming to strike Luke again.
The soldier, aware of the threat to its neck, pulled its sword back in self-defense. Sooty turned, taking the other strike for Luke. The situation would've turned deadly, but her Iron Feather made the strike manageable, a far more painful fifteen damage wracked her body.
Luke racked his brain; the two would die at this rate, and Wayfinder would rust again. Infusion came off cooldown; Luke Infused himself and immediately shouted to Sooty. "Run! Wait for our abilities to come back."
Sooty let out a nod of her head and a caw in response. She, too, thought this would be their only way to draw out the fight. Sooty used her ability to fly to get out of range of the three soldiers who focused on her while Luke gained distance. Fortunately for them, Luke had taken out the only archer right at the beginning of the fight, so unless the soldiers threw their weapons, Sooty was safe. She circled above, waiting to strike.
Luke managed to pick up a throwing knife but had no time to slow down and pick up any more. The duo used the environment of the fight to their advantage, with Sooty swooping down to use regular strikes on one soldier repeatedly, distracting it enough for Luke to have two soldiers to face.
At first glance, the situation would seem no different, but the now active buff of Infusion on Luke gave him enough speed to manage this deadly dance of death. Luke tried to see if he could use the pillars to block strikes, but without getting himself in a worse situation, he couldn't. Each pillar was at the edge, with some ghostly barrier at the platform's ends.
As Luke was about to use his reacquired throwing knife to try and deflect another strike, Sooty switched targets. Her beak lit up, signifying Reaver Beak being activated. Aiming for the spot behind the neck, another specter was finally down.
After that, a few seconds later, Luke applied Essence Bond to the elemental soldier closest to him. The mobility gap became too much at that point, and its threat was low if paid attention to. With Sooty harassing the other solider, the fight was finally under control. With the Reaver link between them, Luke had Sooty wait until his Infusion was up again to apply to her before she finished off the harassed elemental with a Talon Strike.
Using the entire length of the Essence Bond, Luke and Sooty had all their cooldowns reset. Not feeling this was enough, Luke kited the elemental soldier until he and Sooty visibly recovered. Taking advantage of the increased chance of stat steal if he had Essence Bond on a target, he applied it, had Sooty wait until what seemed like the last second, and gave her an Infusion with her using Reaver Beak; the damage took out the soldier instantly. Luke was getting better at feeling the feedback of essence; he was sure that gave him a stat.
"Quite the interesting strategy you have there, Reaver. Choosing a flying creature as your companion certainly saved you that round. How will you handle what's next, I wonder?" Veronica let out an almost bored tone, contrasting her words