Chapter 171

The Wild Ride

“ARF Disruptor.” I crowed out loudly, and instantly regretted the statement as soon as the words of power managed to leave my lips, I knew that was going to be on some highlight gag reel for years to come.

Still, I couldn’t refute the claims of what happened, as the blast that escaped from me was much more powerful in scope than what I had originally envisioned.

Part of this discrepancy is the size and scale of the initial attack, which is a massive ball of death energy the size of stadium that is hurtling towards the lands we are in the process of claiming as part of our Guild’s Lands.

Sort of the world’s attempt to flip the game board when you worked your way to a perfectly laid out victory. Rather than settling for the fact that you outthought the problems at hand, instead the world goes and decides to throw a tantrum, by introducing a giant stadium sized monster of death that can spew clouds of death energy at random intervals to destroy the lands you would otherwise claim.

Basically, making the victory a pyrrhic victory at best, and yet that is where we currently stood. Me staring down a disastrously large comet of death hurtling towards my home, the place I had built and grown with my own two hands. And this monster decided to come here and play spoiler, not even having a true link to the area.

Oh, I’m sure there were likely clues, details of a hidden ancient dragon that was part of the legendary Tribunal court, but I missed them. Knowing this world, this was likely just the first of many, as the elves of Deolar likely had truce with the neighboring dragons. A truce that didn’t directly apply to us, as we were not officially one faction because Mallory didn’t marry my alternate avatar, the King of the Deolar elves.

These thoughts and more raced through my mind, as I watched my word infused spell fire off and intercept the hurtling boulder sized ball of death magic aimed at the northwestern most parcels of land we were claiming.

Fizzle-Hiss.

The two spells collided, but even with double infused power what I cast was not enough to fully break down the spell. All I managed to do was break away a few outer layers of the spell. Like a rocket shedding external parts as it left the atmosphere, so too did this spell shed away the loose external parts, leaving just a hard inner shell of death. While the scope of death will be lessened, it will still be deadly for all who get before it.

Realizing that I am uniquely capable of withstanding Death Magic, I move without thinking.

One second, I am over a kilometer away from the inevitable blast site and the hurtling ball of Death Magic, and the next I am squarely in between the projectile and my fellow guild members who can do little but stare on in amazement as to what is happening above.

A few have the wherewithal to cast shielding spells, or to duck for cover, but most are caught out in the vast openness and realize that they might as well stare down death as it comes.

Poof.

My Teleportation Trait comes in handy, instantly taking me from my external approach vector, to being in an intercepting spot of the massive ball of death.

Oddly, staring down the giant ball of death I feel calm.

My Danger Sense and other skills that should be alerting me of inherent dangers are oddly quiet, as if they are either so overwhelmed that they cannot feel the true danger before me. That or the danger that is before me is so obvious that a skill telling me about the danger would be redundant, and unnecessary, and superfluous, you get the idea.

However, staring down this ball of condense energy, I don’t think any of those are the reason for my lack of danger. As I can feel some part of my body warning me of impending danger, but it is dull, muted. The same I might have from charging into a ball being thrown at me, or that I might expect from falling down a flight of stairs. Yes, there will be physical pain, but so long as I am prepared for what is about to come, I can avoid most major injuries.

Being this close to a hurtling ball of energy, I decided to try to slow down most of the impact.

Telekinesis.

Unfortunately, Telekinesis only works on physical objects, meaning that an incorporeal mass of moving energy is all but impossible to stop with Telekinesis alone. Fortunately, my days of being a one trick pony are over, as I have taken a more diversified role in dealing with magic.

Namely, when you can’t stop magic with magic, use your fists instead.

Silver Disruptive Palm Burst, right hand.

Silver Mana Devouring Palm, left hand.

New Skill Gained: Silver Mana Devouring Palm is now level 1. Silver Mana Devouring Palm is a Strength X 2, Dexterity X 2, Endurance X 2, Perception, and Willpower X 2 based skill.

Huh, odd, I thought I already created one for dealing specifically with Death and Spirit magic, but apparently not. Though I can see why, as this one is for a special distinction of power that is slightly further down the line of death than I have been subjected to recently.

Mentally something clicks in my mind as I begin to see the distinctions being made by the different skills I am given.

Golden skills relate to the mortal realm, and spirits that are close to being human or have not fully lost their former traces of humanity.

While Silver skills are not necessarily worse, just different, as they are skills that pertain to powers that originate from individuals who have fully embraced death and decay. I don’t know why it took me this long to make that distinction, though now that I realize it, it makes a lot of sense.

Swoosh!

I feel the wave of energy a split second before the meteorite that is hurtling towards me strikes. This is enough time for me to focus my mind and use Celerity.

Woom.

For a second the world around me pauses, as time seems to completely stop. This is perfect as it gives me a second to see the hurtling boulder towards me.

I want to Teleport forward, but I find that using a second Trait while this one is active is still impossible. Though there is the benefit that I don’t lose the ability to fly or use my wings. Always good that by trying to save the day I don’t end up pulling a Hans Gruber impression by falling to my death. Instead, I can still move about weightlessly, and use my shapeshifted body to move about as I wish, I just can’t cast any additional magic, yet.

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Still, I focus on this moment, this feeling of having Magic spells fully engaged on my body, and my Qi running rampant with abilities. There is a way to merge these two artforms, I can feel it, I just need to understand how to do so. Obviously the two can’t be mixed by having two active abilities working in conjunction with each other, I would need one form to be passive, while the other one was active, but why?

Shaking my head, I realize I’ve already lost a millisecond to hesitation, which is something I can’t waste, not even now.

Instead, I glide forward, wings pushing my weightless body forward, as I infuse my palms with the most potent form of Spiritual Qi I can. Then moving in rapid succession, I make a number of quick precise jabs all along the solid chunk of magic that begins to shatter and crackle in place with each strike. While time is frozen like this, I cannot see the parts actually breaking apart, but I can identify the minor cracks that begin ripping through the rock.

Five Strike.

Ten Strikes.

I strike out with a flurry of blows, striking and attacking with both palms. One palm destroying, while the other palm absorbs energy from the site I just impacted. I end up going the entire time, not even ending Celerity as I normally do, trying to keep some in reserves. Instead, I spend every second attacking and striking the rock, slowly but methodically moving my way around the object that is not quite a solid, but can be touched as if it is one, thanks to my Qi infused hands and body.

Fwoosh!

The moment Celerity drops, the giant rock speeds up, going from stopped to full speed again in the time it takes me to blink.

Then I watch as it slowly but surely descends to the ground before fracturing and breaking apart into several pieces that end up disintegrating once they encounter the atmosphere. Then just like a real meteorite, most of it burns apart before ever contacting the ground.

Boom.

There is an impact, as the last part of the spell, contacts the ground, but the impact site is negligible, making more noise than actual damage. At least, that is the way it all appears.

Phew.

I take a second to relax slightly, as that could have been dangerous. That attack took nearly everything out of me, including my handy life saving Trait of Celerity, which wasn’t enough to fully deal with one of the monster’s attacks.

GRAHHHH!!

The dragon, seeing me still floating in the air, after having survived the most recent attack growls at me in its high-pitched whine that might otherwise be deafening, if I wasn’t mentally prepared for avoiding physical pains.

Instead, with my Willpower being as high as it is, and the fact that I am mostly floating in air, I see the wave of energy come, and then just like swimming in the ocean, I see the wave and then bounce once as the wave passes me by and then it is gone.

Jittery.

I take stock of myself, having mostly negated a primary attack, and having just lived through a minor secondary attack, I pause and realize I feel good. No, not just good, but I am amped up.

While I was in the throws of attacking the stationary spell, I didn’t even realize just how much mana I managed to devour from the Death Comet, I’m not sure what the actual name of that spell was, but in my mind, I am now referring to it as the dragon’s Death Comet spell.

After having absorbed a good portion of the inner power structure of the spell, I realize that there is a huge power gap between both me and the dragon, so much so that even absorbing a portion of its spell’s power, is now causing me to feel slightly unstable. At least at a molecular level, I feel like my body’s cells are close to bursting with energy.

If I focus my energy, I swear that I can probably complete a new Tier of my Core, going to a fourth Tier, but that is impossible at this moment. Instead, I realize that I would be better served to take this energy and redirect it back at its source, namely the dragon that is keeping me from completing this simple land grab quest for our guild.

Poof.

Poof.

I Teleport in rapid succession, zagging right, then zipping left. Each time I reappear, the dragon loses me for a second before it once again notices my approach.

This is good, as I use this to see how long it takes the dragon to notice a change in my approach.

Four seconds.

That is how long of a timer I have before the dragon becomes aware of my location. This means that I should have three seconds, once I appear somewhere to begin doing damage before the dragon can even react.

Calm.

Now that I am getting closer, I feel my Danger Sense fully awakening. In my mind I feel the deep rhythmic beat of my heart telling me that danger is close and that I need to focus.

I don’t know when I became an adrenaline junkie. By all rights I should enjoy the nice quiet life of retirement that has been afforded to me. Though looking back there are multiple times when I could have taken an easy way out and chose to go the road less traveled.

In my mind, I remember the airship caper, the one that gave me my power of Telepathy, I also remember the great chase where I caused an entire detachment of Legrand soldiers to waste their time searching for me. As much as I hated the fact that I could die at any moment, I couldn’t help but feel the thrill of hiding for my life.

This moment here was no different, sure the size of the monster was beyond compared to even the largest of dragons I saw while in the Arcanarus Tower, but being small didn’t really matter to me. I was used to overcoming larger and more terrifying foes.

As for the challenge before me, I was ready. In fact, I had mentally expected large flying monsters to come. While I initially had expected a flock of smaller, but overall, just as deadly monsters, I can’t say that having just one large adversary to deal with at a time was worse. In fact, looking at everything as a whole, I would almost prefer to face one large adversary that could likely handle a few love taps, over monsters that I might have to hold back against.

Focus.

Now that I understood the reaction time of the creature, and had a better understanding of its abilities, I Teleported well within the reach of the creature, and went to work.

Third Eye.

Opening my third eye on the back of the beast, I quickly saw large clusters of nerves and joint muscles. I saw the points where giant streams of improperly utilized Qi moved and then just remained stationary in the beast’s back.

Teleport.

No sooner had I landed and taken a few seconds to orient myself with the beast did I move, expecting a response.

Thwack!

The beast’s tail thrashed forward, smacking the exact area where I had been sitting a moment before. Well not just the exact spot, but the whole surrounding area as well. Yes, the impact zone was far too large for me to have avoided had I not Teleported.

Right wing, underside.

I land, and while I am aware of the tail moving and striking, I am also getting the layout of the beast’s right wing. No time to attack, instead I am just getting an understanding of the area’s nerve clusters and pain points.

Lurch, under-swing.

Due to my location, I am too far away for the beast to scrape at me with its massive paws, and while it did turn at me with its giant muzzle, this was just a feint, as I could see its tail quickly circling down and under to give an upward strike at me.

Poof.

Once again, I Teleport just before the tail would strike at my immediate area.

Left wing, top side.

This time I land on the other wing and give an inspection and just like a mirror of the right wing, many of the nerve endings are the exact same. There is however just one minor deviation, as there is a patch of scar tissue that exists on the left wing from a scrape or strike that didn’t exist on the right wing.

Odd, likely something to do with that, but I also know that generally scar tissue is dead to nerves, meaning I might be able to land there in the future and survive just a smidge longer before detection.

Lurch.

Once again, the giant beast bucks and twists about, looking for me, but unable to see me due to my now hiding behind its massive wing.

Thwack.

The tail comes with an almost straight attack pattern, once it clears the underside of the right wing, it is one smooth continuous movement right to the spot where I am at.

Or at least right to the spot where I was resting.

Poof.

The tip of the long neck, just behind the massive skull’s protective plating and massive horns.

With my left hand I reach out to grab one of the smaller horns that are more like handlebars for my size. Then without even taking a second to evaluate, I find possibly the largest cluster of nerve endings I have seen on the beast, focus my Qi into my right hand and strike.

Golden Palm Strike.

Yes, I purposefully use the golden version for a direct attack on the creature, one because it is the exact opposite of the physical form of the creature, and secondly because my skill level in this practiced skill means that even though it might not be the perfect strike, I can still do more immediate damage to the creature with this strike.

Pause.

There is a momentary pause, where once again it feels like time has stopped, except I know for a fact I haven’t engaged Celerity again. It is only after a brief momentary pause, before gravity seems to take over and pull us down towards the ground.

Only now do I realize what has happened, I apparently got a critical strike and somehow managed to stun the massive beast.

Fortunately, I still have my grip on the horn, as that is the only reason why I didn’t find myself free floating in space, while the creature slowly struggled back to consciousness.

Realizing I have at least a second to strike freely, I do just that, lashing out, over and over again. Playing whack-a-mole with the brightly glowing patches of nerve clusters that I strike at and extinguish with each blow.

Wham, wham, thwack!

I strike over and over again. Each second I try to average at least two strikes, all at nerve clusters that send jolts and shivers of pain through the creature that is all but paralyzed.

Chain-stunning, or perma-lock is an attack vector that thieves and assassins are taught if they get a high enough ranking within the Thieves Guild. While I never turned down free lessons, I always hoped that I would never have to use such extreme measures.

However, I never expected to find myself fighting against an ancient dragon that was nearly half a kilometer long, but here we are.

Wham, wham, wham.

We are so close that I can almost feel the inevitable impact with the ground. Still regardless of this, I strike, not wanting this beast to recover even in the slightest. For even now, even with each strike, I know I am doing only minor nerve damage to the beast, that even impacting the ground will be but a minor annoyance to this massive creature. Which is why I ride it all way to the ground like Air Force Major T. J. “King” Kong did. Although, unlike T. J. I make one jump just before the end.

Poof.

KA-BOOM!

The massive beast lands with such an impact that I even feel the residual energy waves pushing me further up in the air, despite having jumped nearly a kilometer away.

Bob.

Just like earlier though, I feel the wave of energy wash over and past me, as I just float freely in the air.

I take a second to let out a breath of air, having somehow survived all of that. Only now does my mind process the endorphins of adrenaline that are pumping through my body, the endorphins, along with my still excess levels of Qi fill me with a high that is almost impossible to corral.

“That was awesome,” I whisper to myself, then just as if fate expected me to jinx myself at that exact moment, I hear it.

AARRRAGGAAAHHH-ARRAAHH!

And just like that, I realize round one is still going on in full force.

Shaking my head, I get rid of any semblance of success and instead focus on the fact that this battle has really just started.

Poof.