Stone crumbled and compressed, turning from dust to stone once more as the pressure exerted forced it into a ball. Zalia heated it as much as she could, the stone beginning to glow with a molten light. It was about to liquify when she came close to running out of mana and let the spell drop, the half sphere of glowing rock slowly cooling in the breeze.
The house around them had been torn down, the pieces of wood that were once a part of their structure strewn across the foundation. The building no longer existed, the tiled roof and stone walls having become part of the large chunk that now buried the elder demon inside.
Using the stone manipulation she had outside of Nature’s Wrath, Zalia started to dig up the demon at a pace much slower to the one with which she had buried it. After a minute of stone seeming to melt and flow away, she finally revealed the demon and… it was still alive.
It had a compressed body, scorched with the inside of its chest visible to the open air. Yet its eyes were open, ragged, painful breaths were taken. As she watched, its scorched skin began to flake away and its wounds started healing over.
“Just fucking die!”
She cut at its neck, the sword cutting only a few centimetres in. She cut again, and again. A fourth time. A fifth strike and its head was finally parted from its body.
She stepped back, her armour coated with its blood. Ember stepped up behind her and lay a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s done.”
Yet, it wasn’t done. As she watched, the neck of the creature began to regrow a head, skin and bone slowly forming from nothing. The regenerative powers of this demon were absurd. Were all normal Silver rank beings like this? She had only seen a few other real Silver rank beings die, the corrupted captain that Tristan had killed being one of them. That man must not have had both Resilience and Vitality as this demon did. The six legged bear in the north might have though and that had died much easier. Perhaps it had only Vitality and not Resilience. It would explain how the rockfall had injured it so much yet not killed it. The combination of both attributes, perhaps in addition to an ability around survival, resulted in a very hard to kill being.
This time, Ember stepped forward. She stabbed through the still open wound in its chest and impaled the heart of the creature, then left the sword there. Slowly, the healing came to a stop.
‘Druidic Bow, Blessed by Starlight’ has ascended to Bronze rank.
Zalia took her helmet off with bloody gauntlets, almost unconsciously cleansing her armour using a mixture of fire and stone manipulation.
Perhaps she should have used Kill Shot, a natural ability for this situation especially considering its execution nature. It just hadn’t occurred to her though. She didn’t mind either way, happy that her heirloom had ascended. She would check it out once they were back at the farm.
“I’m going to burn it.”
Ember nodded her agreement and Zalia manipulated heat from the surroundings into the body until it caught ablaze. It took a while after that for the heat to actually affect the resilient body but it eventually managed to reduce it to ash. A little manipulation later had the body buried in stone.
She stepped over and picked up the staff she had discarded on the ground after ripping it from the demon’s hands.
Illusory Mage Staff (Heirloom) - Silver rank.
She already had a few clues as to what it did, yet found it wasn’t exactly the item for her. She neither wanted to nor felt that she would be able to bond with it. Perhaps it would change to something more fitting if she could bond it but thought it would be better to give to someone else, Aylie perhaps.
Her heart slowed, the adrenaline of the fight gradually fading from her body. She needed to go check on Boreal and Aylie, yet could feel through her bond that Boreal was fine at least. If that were the case, Aylie probably was too. What they really needed to do was leave and find help for the city, someone that would be able to protect them from what was coming. If this elder had been a combat focused one, they probably wouldn’t have stood a chance. She couldn’t imagine fighting something that was equally resilient yet stronger and faster, with powers and martial abilities. Well, she didn’t need to imagine that. She had seen Larel fight as both a Silver and Gold ranker. With Boreal’s help the three of them could perhaps fight one such creature. Any more would be too much.
They left the shattered remains of the house, walking back through the city with armour stored away. She didn’t need to help Ember clean her own armour, the aura of fire enough to burn away any blood and gore that stuck to it.
“That thing was bloody tough.”
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Zalia nodded.
“I’m pretty sure you’re along the same train of thought as I am at the moment. We need to get someone stronger here immediately.”
“Want to leave earlier than we planned?”
Zalia thought it over. It might be wise for them to do just that. Ember could use her ability to help feed the people for the day, Zalia could set up a living ritual to help the farmland grow and then they could go.
Deciding the walk was as good a time as any, Zalia looked over the abilities that her bow and sword combination heirloom had gained upon reaching Bronze rank.
Druidic bow, Blessed by Starlight (Blessed Heirloom) - Deeply bonded Bronze rank
Tin - Arrows fired from this bow gain a powerful seeking effect.
Iron - When this bow is drawn without an arrow nocked, a Starlight arrow with the ‘Starlit’ effect will be summoned in its place.
Bronze - Upon firing an arrow, you become invisible and can move slightly faster for a short time
Druidic Blade, Blessed by Starlight (Blessed Heirloom) - Deeply bonded Bronze rank
Tin - Druidic Blade, Blessed by Starlight is magically sharp and remains so permanently.
Iron - When wielded by you, Druidic Blade, Blessed by Starlight gains the ‘Starlit’ effect.
Bronze - After parrying an attack with this blade, your next strike will be infused with a powerful cosmic force.
It seemed like both blade and bow were evolving in a way that promoted a more reactionary and distanced fighting style. It was somewhat counterintuitive to how she was sometimes forced to fight, yet would allow her to fight more how she preferred. From a distance, with a bow. With two abilities now based on parrying enemies, she would be able to hit pretty damn hard. It was somewhat reminiscent of how she liked to set up for fights. Prepare and strike when the time was right. Obviously, that wasn’t always possible and she sometimes got carried away, like she just had. Running in there had probably been a stupid idea, despite it turning out well.
As they walked, she also had a look over her few ability rank ups.
Congratulations! Hunter’s Mark has reached Bronze 3.
Congratulations! Fight or Flight has reached Bronze 4.
Congratulations! Hunter class has reached Bronze 3.
Congratulations! Nature’s Wrath has reached Bronze 5.
Congratulations! Protection of the Wilds has gained two levels reaching Bronze 3.
Congratulations! Druid class has gained two levels reaching Bronze 3.
Happy with any progress at all, she was particularly happy to rank up the Druid class a little. Being bonded with Wisdom, each level brought a bit more mana for her to use. Something that had only really become necessary in recent times. She really needed to use Protection of the Wilds more often. Though… it being the ability to rank up last and evolve might yield something powerful for her.
She hadn’t really decided whether or not it was a good idea to manipulate that or not. Did the purposeful evolution of key abilities yield greater results, or was it better to let the ones she used the least evolve by the simple reasoning of it being the one she used the least?
Thoughts for another day.
They arrived at the park, now farm, where both Aylie and Boreal were playing in the sun. Boreal must have sensed Zalia’s emotions and realised the danger was over.
Tristan was there once more, thankfully, as they needed to tell him of their plan to leave today instead.
Stepping down the slope towards the park, he saw them approaching and came up to meet them.
“Hey Tristan.”
“Zalia, Ember.”
Zalia looked at Ember.
“We’re planning to leave today instead,” Ember said.
“What, why?”
“We encountered one of the demons and actually managed to get some answers out of them. The right of preference is what we thought, the city now being open to any ‘clan’. You can expect stronger attacks to be coming so we need to get someone stronger here to help you immediately.”
Tristan seemed to age a decade, the weight of responsibility bowing his shoulders.
“I see.”
Zalia felt a little bad as Ember delivered the news. Last she had seen Tristan, before the rituals had gone off, he had been living a wonderfully relaxed life as a baker in his own shop. The joy in his eyes from those days had long since disappeared as he struggled to keep his town safe.
Zalia gave him a hug.
“I know it’s hard. I wish you could just go back to your bakery and make us some nice loaves of bread. You’ll get back there, I promise. We’ll get you back there.”
She felt the tear drop onto her shoulder and she held him even tighter. He’d probably not had anyone to be vulnerable with since this had all begun. He had to be the strong one, the leader and guardian of the people. Should they see him lose hope, what should they feel?
The warm and healing power of Ember washed over both of them and Tristan began crying for real. It was at this moment that Zalia realised Ember’s power didn’t just heal emotional wounds, it gave space for them to heal on their own.
In this case, that meant opening up Tristan’s emotions while he was in a safe place where he could deal with them.
She held him as his tears took their course and when he had some semblance of control once more, Zalia let him go.
“Don’t worry too much, we’ll get help back here before you know it. Just hold out for two weeks, alright? That’s all you have to do. After that, you’ll have all the help you’ll need.”
He seemed to take solace in the promise, now all Zalia had to do was keep it.