Edited by: Flubbykin
I had to admit one thing - Blanka knew how to fight. I am not only speaking about slicing and dicing enemies, no, such thing can be done even by morons such as Giselle. Blanka was a wonderful tactician. She picked smaller groups of enemies to handle, maneuvered in such way, that beasts were actually disturbing one another and when the situation would become just a little bit dangerous she retreated a little whilst managing to injure her opponents.
She wasn't going for quick, clean kills as those were risky, instead of aiming for the body’s vital organs, she would first damage limbs and tails - greatly reducing battle potential and mobility of creatures.
I reminded myself of one of Jericho's lessons.
"Three at the same time..." the old man would say "... this is the number of enemies that can attack you at the same time with full battle potential. Any more than that and they would keep messing one another’s footing or even disturbing the attack's execution. If your enemies would have a brain between their ears, they would separate their roles, for example, one would attack after another, not letting you to counter securing the retreat of his companion, but also giving time for a third ally to prepare focused, strong attack. Or, if there would be even more enemies, remaining would fight on medium-range with projectile-type weapons. As adventurers, we mostly fight with monsters. You can't expect them to know the principle of effective fighting, you have to use it to your advantage - support warriors should keep taking down enemies off vanguard's back. Vanguard should keep focusing on himself the main forces of the enemy. Rogue should eliminate isolated foes while mages... well, mages would be doing rest of the damn work."
Well, his teaching had one minor flaw, one could say - it all described a fight with a group of sapient humanoids. When enemies were much smaller than you they could easily increase the number of danger-zones from three to four or five. When the enemy had the ability to climb vertical walls and drop at you from the ceiling, that number would increase further to six and more.
Because, you see, while fighting, the power of your enemy isn't that important - at least not while dealing with a swarm. Swarm monsters are usually venomous, thus all it takes to defeat you is landing a single attack - it would weaken you, slow you down allowing next two stings or bites to inject even more toxin into your body. These two would be followed by four, four by eight and so on, till they would eventually stop injecting venom and started feasting on your alive, numbed body.
Coordination, reflex, and speed of reaction - that what it takes to deal with our current situation. And Blanka had it all.
She always managed to reduce the number of possible threats merely with her movements alone. Her footwork was on master-level, if instead of fighting she would decide to become a professional exotic dancer, damn, she wouldn't have to worry about money for a long, long time.
Still, such divagation should have no place here, even if she was more or less doing fine and she didn't need my assistance... People would start talking if I would return alone - better not to risk another foolish avenger emerging just to annoy me with his or her presence.
Three monsters were charging from Blanka's front with the one in the middle zig-zagging a meter or two in front of his companions. Blanka dropped on her knees and slashed vertically her blades from the sides in X-shaped attack. Corpus of monster got opened up splashing its insides all around. Two more creatures were about to fall on still-kneeling warrioress, but shadows from behind her back jumped over her.
Creature, using its colossal paw-hands grabbed heads of remaining creatures and pulverized them into the floor. Then it straightened its position and roared across the room causing an echo to resonate with his malicious scream. Kaito, in his new vessel, presented himself quite dreadful. He started resembling humanoid a little bit, quite werewolf-ish, one could say, yet his body was much smaller than morphed Johann, way more crooked around joints and spine - walking in a bipedal manner was still extremely problematic for him, he could try supporting his deformed body on his rear limbs to sweep his clawed arms keeping himself standing with a mere impact of blows, but once he lacked anything to support his body on, he would collapse on all fours again.
Kaito - Frenza'ier of the Void
Level:
25
Skills
Trading Blows [Level NA] [Passive]
Bite [Level 24] [Active]
Tracking [Level 12] [Passive]
Zealous [Level NA] [Passive]
Trait/tittle-skills
[Mark of the Shadow-lurking Hunt]
[Servant of worthy]
[Loyal-in-death]
Once a lesser devil that under the guidance of his summon-master managed to rise in rank and power
Obsessed with battle and hunt, once given a target would never stop chasing it
Grateful to the summoner for rising him up he became fanatically loyal to his master
[Mark of the Death-Sworn]
Summoner of [Kaito - Frenza'ier of the Void] may curse his target marking him as [Death-Oathed]
Whenever [Kaito - Frenza'ier of the Void] is not accompanying his summoner he may tear through the veil of reality and enter mortal-realms to hunt and kill his target.
[Death-Oathed] curse may be only lifted by [Mark of the Death-Sworn]-caster or [Grand Master]-rank purification spell.
No matter how many times [Kaito - Frenza'ier of the Void] would be defeated/killed/unsummoned/banished - he will always return to execute his vow.
[Servant of worthy]
Absolutely loyal to his first summoner [Kaito - Frenza'ier of the Void] promised to never serve under those who he deems unworthy.
[First Summoning] of [Kaito - Frenza'ier of the Void] has [97.25%] chances of resisting the [binding pact]
To cast a [binding pact] upon [Kaito - Frenza'ier of the Void] - he has to be either dominated or his special quest needs to be completed
[Loyal-in-death]
Forever-loyal to his first summoner, [Kaito - Frenza'ier of the Void] will cast [Eternal Mark of the Death-Sworn] upon his caster's killer.
After fulfilling his [Death-Oath], [Kaito - Frenza'ier of the Void] will protect his summoner's remains till everything he was and owned would turn into ashes
That's... bit creepy. Like an overly attached girlfriend. The yandere type. His last skill is quite useless to me and will serve as nothing more than comfort that the fucker that would backstab me wouldn't be living a happy-ever-after life.
Monstrous wolf-beast raised from the ground with its hands covered in insect's blood and turned his face at Blanka showing all his teeth while growling with quiet, low tone. That gesture of aggression caused Blanka to prepare her stance.
- "Kaito. Leave her be. She is a friend." I said while scorching three monsters with a single spell - remember kids - never walk in one group against magician that specializes in area-of-effect spells.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
As if someone turned a switch in devil's mind. His bristled fur softened, his claws returned back into his paws as he shut his mouth hiding his teeth. Then he just turned in placed and bolted onward looking for another pray.
- "S-since when are we friends?..." she pouted while adjusting her weapons "... also, I was fine by myself."
- "I didn't tell him to help you, Kaito just targets closest enemy. Also, his human-language is quite rusty, I am afraid that he may not know the meaning of word
Blood was evaporating from the floor, turning into red mist which would be absorbed by codex. An ornament of flower started appearing on one of blank pages telling how much more is till needed for completing the spell - which was a lot.
I would have to bleed dry the whole village or two to gather enough in terms of quantity.
Now, let's not get bothered by this - I came here with one main goal - to train. With help of Blanka, my familiars and few trusted-fireballs the place became way less crowded. It should be easy now to pick a smaller group of enemies to train close-ranged combat.
Speaking of the devil - two bigger chimeras were approaching me from the side, unlike the poor fella I killed in previous corridor, those were much bigger than me in every aspect - taller, wider, mass of body, and at same time their movements were fluent and swift.
I ceased the fire in my palms and brought the spear.
Creatures, that up until now were zig-zagging shoulder-by-shoulder split up and charged at me from different sides.
Not-as-stupid as we thought you were? Still not sapient nor self-aware, but intelligent in their moves. Experience of older specimens... or maybe controlled by the hive-mind-like creature?
Their sickled slashed the place in which I was standing a moment ago as I jumped back just in time. Spear danced in my hands as I pierced at the creature's "chest". It twisted in almost a snake-ish body avoiding strike while trying to tackle me with his whole body mass.
I managed to slip through the gap between their bodies avoiding another barrage of sickle-limbs attacks of the other creature. I changed the grip of the weapon grabbing it with both hands close to the middle and attacked beasts with a spear like with an ordinary staff. The blunt edges reinforced with iron would be more than enough to shatter bone or two on every human, though the exoskeleton of those creatures appeared to be much more sturdy.
Still, beasts hissed in pain and gathered a distance, once again I changed the grip and pierced once again, this time my strike met its target burying the tip deep into the skin as it managed to find weaker, unprotected flesh close to the joint.
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Who is this guy? - this was the thought that kept occupying Blanka's mind as she watched the magician fight.
The true power of magician is measured by the number of different spells that he or she can cast in short period of time - this is why multicasting was considered the first step of becoming an advanced warlock. It is said that around 10% of magicians can cast so-called double casting.
What he did just a few moments ago was not just dual-casting, but tripple! That would already put him in the top...5%? 3%? Of course, it is all said while taking in consideration that there is very few battle-mages across the world as well as thousands of witches, priests witch-doctors and shamans that may know three or four proper spells yet still calling themselves magic-users…
... but still. That Grimoire - the spell he chanted from the pages of the book wasn't something to joke about. Blanka was gifted as a child - she had a natural ability to sense the flow and nature of mana. Even if she herself wasn't a magician, by reading the flow she could easily foretell from which direction that attack would come, how strong it was and what was its nature.
Barrier? Shockwave? Or merely a decoy cast to make her stop her attack and proceed with caution.
In the moment the book open, in the moment she heard the dreadful words of the chant, her throat became dry and her whole body got covered in goosebumps. Her senses were screaming and her mind was telling her to leave this unholy place as soon as possible...
... and all of that after first few verses that were nothing more than foreplay.
He was assisted not by one, but at least two powerful devils. She watched them fight - the wolfish beast jumping into greatest masses of enemies tearing limb from limb. Like an avatar of aggression. Oh, it did receive the blow every now and then, but instead of feeling pain, the sparks of wrath mixed with enjoyment would dance in its eyes. With every blow it received, it became even more violent, faster, brutal.
Berserk-devil - a creature that would get more and more deadly the closer to death you would bring it.
At the same time, the bird-devil was keeping his distance attacking only the fragile places - every now and then an abnormal monster would come - the one that would spit the acid from afar. As soon as so-called Sebastian would spot that enemy in the crowd he would shake his wings - and a single feather would be sent as projectile aiming the vital points of the monster. A single arrow-shard iron-hard feather was enough to take down a beast located dozen of meters away.
And Zariel? He would throw a few fireballs without aiming much causing havoc and forcing enemies to split up, he would erect few firewalls that would secure her flanks and allow her to fight in the almost one-on-one matter.
She lost vision of him for a few moments, and when she saw him again he would fight in close-range with his spear. Without magic.
She saw what he was capable of, she knew that evaporating those creatures would be waaay less tiresome for him than to struggle in melee-combat.
Why was he doing that? Was it part of the spell he was casting that deprived him of his mana? No, the mana was still strong in him, the spell was being fueled with violence and death alone. Was he doing that because of the pain he caused would help him finish the spell faster?
Or was he merely enjoying himself - like a god toying with lives of others?
She didn't want to believe it, no after what he said to her... but despite his dead-cold and focused eyes, a smirk bloomed on his lips, so dreadful, so evil yet... seductive.
Like an evil monarch - tyrant that came to proclaim that he will not be stopped.
Why did he even bother to come in a place like this?...
…
No, wait, that indeed is a question worth answering.
This whole place had a similar aura to his. Like a man that was standing for hours next to the fireplace would eventually start smelling like wood-smoke. Why is this place so very similar to him?
... wasn't missing of people reported merely two weeks before his arrival? What was he doing before that?
And why, god-damn why is he oozing same mana as the one coming from the depths of this dungeon?!
- "Something wrong, Blanka? You stopped fighting like three minutes ago?"
Lost in her thought she didn't realize that with the stab of the spear Zariel killed the last monster in this location like - 30 seconds ago, and for the past half of a minute, they were just staring at one another in absolute silence.
She just turned her head to the side in an annoyed manner. He wasn't telling everything.
- "I am just... I am just bit tired. I came to deal with this quest few minutes after finishing the previous one!..."
- "...And YOU had guts to lecture ME about taking unnecessary risk? You said something like:
- "Shut up! People are dying and..."
- "And if you would have died here many more would keep on dying." he disturbed her with cold tone "... this is not bravery. This is foolishness."
- "My life means nothing!..." she yelled "... I gave up on living! If I would die saving people, then at least..."
- "... you would die a pathetic, unnecessary death. You would change nothing, your bones and flesh would be devoured and the very next day another group of monsters would leave the dungeon to hunt the innocent. You would just delay this event by one day, maybe even just for a few hours."
- "If people were in danger what would you do?!"
- "Retreated. Evaluated options and returned the next day stronger and smarter. Then, I would clear it."
- "People would die!"
- "Indeed, maybe even a whole village. So what? It may be tragical, but if you would die here, what would change? Not only the closest village would be eradicated, but the next one. And the next one. And next one too. People are dying all the time everywhere. No matter if killed by dungeon-beasts, gryphon that nested close to the road, bandits, soldiers, plague, old age or choking on a fucking bread. You can't risk everything to save a one person, for your action may cause dozen more to die."
- "Who are you to decide who is worth living?!"
- "I am the one that saves. I can save one person, two, a whole village... or none - because I could just turn around and walk away. As long as my actions can cause any good I am the one to decide who and how to help."
He took the bag off his backs and put it on the ground as he started looking for something inside.
- "You are all foolish. So very foolish. Hiding behind the morality that serves no purpose. Following dead creeds that are simply ineffective and cause more bad than good in the long term, but hey, as long as they are keeping your attention busy and are allowing you to feel good... tell me, what is more, important and attention-worthy. A small wound or hand that was chopped away?"
Another weird lesson. Blanka decided to remain silent.
- "Everyone would rush to treat the chopped hand - every human, that is. It hurts now, and despite the fact that the cut was clean and provides no further risk you would all be occupied with that single wound for next few days or weeks. Leaving small cut untreated. A cut that could be poisoned. A cut that could start to fester and rot spreading infection across the the body. This is what you are all doing. Sometimes you had to chop your hand off to avoid poisoning. Sometimes you had to lose the battle to win a war. If you would desperately try protecting a single division you risk losing a whole army. Humans... Start looking. At the fucking. Bigger. Picture."
He pulled out a small wooden box from which he took two vials - with red and dull-white liquids.
- "Don't underestimate little cuts, these are the deadliest. Also, congratulation, you have been poisoned."
He approached her, grabbed her arm and twisted it to a bit different side revealing a small cut on the inner side of her wrist. The veins around it already started turning purple. Zariel uncorked the vial with his teeth and poured white liquid on the wound. It hurt, it stung, the whole area of cut became covered in buzzing foam which kept dragging purple liquid away.
- "Now drink this..." he wasn't asking as he forced the red vial in her mouth making her choke.
- "DON'T YOU FUCKING SPIT IT!... that sounded much more sexually than I intended, you still get the idea thought. Spit it, and I will let you fucking die."
Somehow, she managed to swallow the bitter liquid.
- "Why... why did you waste your potions on me?" that was... generous. wastings potion on strangers?
- "Because people would start talking if I would return alone. So now, be a good, little, grateful bitch and don't get scratched again. Oh, and you will pay me back in the city. Gonna tax you double."
Ok, he was not generous at all. He is an annoying, spoiled, arrogant bastard.