Ashley

Blake and I pretty much end up taking turns sleeping for the rest of the day until we’re both fully recovered. Then we finally leave the cavern and turn towards the Northwest. In the direction that the mini bosses were left behind. Where we teleported away.

And to my surprise, they actually still seem to be fighting even now.

“Well, you did kind of lead two of their homes to complete destruction, leaving those two nowhere to go,” Chaos comments, but I choose to ignore him.

By the looks of it, all three of them are exhausted. So much so that they’re actually trying to find ways out of their battle.

Or, rather, two of the three are exhausted.

The alpha dracoraptor is not. And it’s the reason the other two can’t get away.

Every time the drachne lord or kobold lord tries to flee, the alpha dracoraptor immediately tries to take advantage of the opening they make to attack. Dealing more damage to them and keeping them locked in the battle.

“Every bit the predator, that raptor,” I hear Blake muttering next to me as we both fly high in the sky looking out at the battlefield extremely far in the distance. With him floating with his spatial magic and me flying with my wings.

I just nod my head in response, not saying anything. Which seems to work well for him in the time we’ve interacted over the past day or so. When we were both awake, that is.

He does most of the talking.

But I do find this to be good practice for talking. So there’s that.

We continue to watch as the mini bosses fight each other. All the way till the King of Destruction starts throwing a fit again, leading to the mini bosses – and us – hiding in the little ruins-like areas. With the mini bosses still fighting even as they are under the ruins’ protection.

A stubborn bunch.

“A stubborn bunch,” Blake comments at the exact same time I have the thought, leading to me turning to stare blankly at him in surprise. A look that he notices and looks at me in confusion about, tilting his head as he asks, “Something wrong?”

After a few seconds, I shake my head and focus on the mini bosses again. Which is harder from the angle we’re at now. Since we’re not high up in the air anymore.

The two of us easily slaughter some of the raptors that attack us as we’re watching the battle. Simply because they’re the lowest level raptors here at the low level 40s. Meanwhile I’m level 75 and Blake is level 68.

And as a few raptors are cut in half by Blake’s spatial blades and more are mutating into amalgamations of flesh and blood by my feathers, we wait for the King of Destruction’s rampage to end once more. Then we fly back up into the sky to get a better view of the fight.

What we see surprises the both of us, though. Because one of the mini bosses actually looks in our direction and narrows his glowing crimson eyes at us.

Then said mini boss – the kobold lord of all things – charges straight at us with rage in its gaze. Taking multiple attacks in the back without a care from the drachne lord and the alpha dracoraptor.

“That thing really hates you,” Blake comments, making me silently nod my head in response.

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A few seconds pass as the kobold lord charges straight towards us, the thing still being quite a ways away. But we just stare at it while it does so.

“Should we run? Or do you think…” Blake trails off, looking at me with a look that says I have the final say on it.

I look at the kobold lord, then at the drachne lord and alpha dracoraptor, neither of whom are chasing it as they’ve started fighting between themselves again now that the kobold lord has left. Meanwhile the kobold lord himself is covered in far too many injuries to be healthy.

At this point I feel like I might even be able to take it on by myself with its weakened state.

Maybe.

Possibly.

Doesn’t matter though, because I’m not by myself.

“If it’s just the kobold lord, then let’s fight it,” I eventually answer Blake. To which he immediately nods and turns to face the approaching kobold lord.

Then we wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

At some point I decide ‘why not’ and start shooting out some feathers to land across the ground and form a sort of field of spikes. Of a sort.

Blake takes to my strategy of placing traps as well when I start to see spell circles appearing around him. Something that only generally becomes visible to others when someone is using a more advanced spell. Where the runes appear outside of your body and mind as well.

Of course, I have no idea what he’s doing exactly. Other than likely setting traps.

But after I set up the feathers, I go ahead and toss out some bits of destruction affinity poison as well. Making some puddles of the stuff. Both to test the new skill and because it makes for good traps.

Then again, considering the fact that the kobold lord was just fighting with a drachne lord, it’s probably used to the poison by now. If anything could possibly get used to poison whose main purpose is to destroy.

And just to add insult to injury, I go ahead and use some of the other skills I’ve gotten from competitors in Official System Events that I haven’t really used much.

I place invisible walls near some of the pools of poison and feathers. Walls that are incredibly fragile, but should at least surprise the creature even if it can break it just from walking.

Then there’s some smaller trap skills I’ve gotten that just shoot out things like firebolts and icicles.

And lastly, I place my hand on Blake’s shoulder while activating a support skill that I’ve yet to use thus far. A skill that increases his maximum mana by just a couple units and can only be used on others.

I also follow it up with two more support skills. One that makes his spells a tiny bit more accurate, and one that increases the strength of his spells a little.

Nothing overly much, but any help is good.

Blake looks a little surprised before he no doubt remembers my skill and realizes it would be weird if I didn’t get any support skills by now. Then we both focus on the approaching kobold lord.

Who is still a ways away even now.

One problem that I see building up though is that some wandering kobolds are joining it in its run, even though the kobold lord is so badly injured by now.

But we should still be able to defeat it.

The lesser traps might actually help clear out the little force it’s building up, actually.

Right as I’m about to pull out my blades, though, I hear a ringing sound echoing in my head. Following which a notification appears.

Congratulations! You have been granted gifts by the Primordial of Chaos!

Open your Successor Menu to receive them!

I blink at that before going ahead and raising a hand to Blake, making him glance at me for a moment, only for him to nod and focus on the approaching enemies. Somehow understanding what I’m wanting.

Then I open my Successor Menu and then the ‘Claim Gifts’ part.

And just like with when I first started my Tutorial, a crimson orb appears in front of me. One that I move up to and put my hands out beneath so that the gifts aren’t dropped down to the ground.

But when the orb vanishes and drops the gifts in question, I can’t help but feel my eyes widening in surprise.

Because the items are two blades of similar lengths to my current weapons.

Two short swords, each of crimson, black, and purple in color, and with Chaos Energy running through them.

And it’s not just the swords, but two sheaths as well. Making it so I can genuinely carry them around without having to worry about my makeshift sheaths breaking.

“I hope you enjoy my gift, sweetie,” Chaos says, his voice full of warmth as it echoes through my head.

I feel my lips tilting upwards in the start of a real smile.

Thank you.