We reached the boss chamber and then saw a large ice slime breaking from a massive block of ice… The creature immediately began to roll toward us while firing a barrage of ice bullets. Impressively enough, they all came from the same angle and toward my head, but that only helped me since I fired an explosive arrow that exploded and the blast pushed away half of the bullets.
After the smoke and steam spread around, the monster kept coming at me, but it hit nothing since I had used Shadow Step to move to the side and then resumed my attack.
Explosive arrows were fired toward the side of the beast, but the creature summoned several ice walls to block them… all of them were destroyed after the first explosion and soon the creature began to lose pieces of its body with the next explosions on it.
‘The arrows aren’t piercing the body… it is completely made of ice, apparently…’
The wounds I created were essentially holes in its body, and they were closed in as the monster decreased in size, but the parts that were blown away quickly began to move back to it.
‘That kind of mechanic, huh? Well, it is flawed.’
The pieces tried to return to the body, but the continuous explosions made the heat in the area increase and soon those pieces began to evaporate as they got closer. The monster tried to use Ice Spears against my arrows, but I could fire my projectiles faster, so they didn’t help all that much. My physical strength also made the arrows have more power than them.
Before long, the monster had completely evaporated… at the last moment, it tried to explode and wound me with ice shards, but Glacien used her Ice Fortress and protected me. I could have blocked the attacks with Fire Wall, but she was probably trying to show that she had my back and she probably wanted more experience, too.
“Smart. A bit too cunning, perhaps.”
You received 1100 experience points.
You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Acolyte (Dark Acolyte), Paladin (Cursed Paladin), and Mage (Venom Mage).
I wanted to facepalm so badly… It finally happened. The chance was a bit more than three percent, but it should be really close to fifty percent considering my luck. Now, I literally had to pick my poison.
‘Well, it can’t be helped… if I have to make a choice, I should make one that agrees with my current skills and classes. Even if my vampiric hunger keeps growing, I just have to learn to control it.
You obtained the Venom Mage class.
You improved the Magic parameter.
You unlocked the Aptitude: Toxic Knowledge.
You unlocked the skill: Venom Bolt.
You unlocked the skill: Miasma Cloud.
Toxic Knowledge: Gain 1 point of experience per second for every enemy afflicted by your poison magic when the poison successfully deals damage.
Venom Bolt: Fire a bolt of magical venom at an enemy, dealing poison damage over 10 seconds. Each tick of poison reduces the target’s defense by 2%. The damage is based on your magic and the level of the skill. Cost: 40 Mana.
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Miasma Cloud: Summon a cloud of toxic gas in a targeted area, poisoning all enemies within it. The miasma lingers for 10 seconds, dealing poison damage and reducing their movement speed by 30%. Cost: 100 mana.
The skills were close to useless considering my current goal, but at least it indeed increased my magic. However, that wasn’t the real problem… The problem was what I felt after it. The hunger returned at full power, which made my body flinch when I looked at Glacien. She looked at me like she had suddenly become an enemy and even jumped away from my shoulder.
In the next moment, the hunger weakened, but then something else came. A heavy weight settled over me, sapping my will to move, to think, to act on anything at all. At the same time, I felt my hands turning lighter, my whole body did… in the next moment, I saw my body turning into mist for a moment, before I returned to normal.
“Damn it…”
It was really happening. At this point in time, awakening my vampiric side was pretty much unavoidable. My only option was to stop exploring labyrinths, but that would be insane. I checked my body again and confirmed that I was fine. When I looked at Glacien, she looked more confused than anything.
“Sorry, girl. Just fighting my inner demons…”
I tried to recall the feeling that made me turn into mist for a moment, and then soon felt my body getting quite sluggish. Still, I realized that I was floating in the air instead of stepping on it. My mana began to decrease by ten points per second. Then, I returned to normal.
‘I can avoid attacks like this, but that annoying feeling is quite troublesome… I feel more hungry, but not exactly for blood.’
I slapped my cheeks to change my mood… right now, the abyssal worm was a lot more dangerous than my vampiric powers, so soon I began to dash to the next section and Glacien jumped on my shoulders. She got some experience, but it was unlikely that she would be useful in the next section.
Much to my disappointment, the corridor indeed got larger when I reached the next section and with that, new enemies appeared as well… Frost Trolls. A pair of them freed themselves in an ice column that was close to the wall. Their arrival also made some ice stalactites fall from the ceiling.
Frost Trolls were hulking, monstrous creatures, exuding an aura of strength and cold menace. Standing at 15 feet tall, their bodies were heavily built with thick layers of muscle encased in icy blue skin, as if they were carved from ice itself. Their skin glistens with frost, and jagged icicles protrude from their backs, shoulders, and limbs, giving them a fearsome and jagged silhouette.
Their faces were brutish and fearsome, with sunken, glowing pale blue eyes that pierce through the mist surrounding them. They have broad, flat noses and wide mouths filled with jagged, frost-covered teeth. A thick mane of white or gray fur runs down their necks and backs, providing insulation against the cold and further enhancing their imposing appearance. Their large hands end in claw-like fingers, coated in ice, capable of rendering through stone and flesh alike.
“You can’t fight them, not even in your dreams, Glacien.”
It wasn’t the first time I had seen trolls, but it was the first time seeing this variation. The other time, I only saw one at a time as well.
In any case, since I wanted their materials, I used the shocking arrows on them. That made me waste some extra seconds, but I couldn’t get everything I wanted all the time.
Those guys were quite a bit, so I couldn’t get all the parts. I wouldn’t have the chance to dismantle whole bodies either, so I just got their arms.
‘Hopefully, the bodies won’t make that annoying worm grow faster.’
I started to run as fast as possible, wondering if I should start using the parts of the monsters… the boss' parts seemed like the best options. All the decent gear that I had came from them.
I guessed that I could even just make some half-assed spears. The explosive types would do the job… if anything, I can just turn them into freezing spears and make them slow down the massive worm. Perhaps the shocking ones would actually do that job better… but it was also hard to say if the beast wouldn’t just eat them instead of letting them activate, then they touched the weapons.
‘... I should make an amulet for the arcane arrow. That way, I will have more mana to summon more arrows and fire them faster than well. Perhaps increasing my attacking speed isn’t a terrible idea. Still, I should stick to the plan that has the highest chances of working.
… …
While Regulus was lost in thought, dealing with the many issues before him, the human army’s hold on the Skarnash Tribelands had deteriorated drastically. The fierce and unrelenting assault from the clans, coupled with the treacherous terrain that favored their enemies, had forced the humans to retreat further and further. Now, their presence in the region had been reduced to a handful of port towns clinging to the edges of the coastline.
Even this fragile hold was maintained only through the assistance of the Aquarians. With their mastery over magic, the Aquarians had transformed the ports into formidable bastions. Without their help, the port towns would have long fallen to the relentless assaults of the Skarnash tribes.
Ulric and Remi were in the tent of their commander alongside some other knights that survived until now. More than sixty percent of their army had been destroyed until now, and everyone was looking for someone to vent their frustration. It was simply impossible to accept that Regulus could have changed the flow of the battle by himself, but the moment he attacked, things changed for the worse on their side. As such, everyone was already blaming him… everyone except the remaining commanders.
“Where are they… they should have arrived by now… unless they found him…”
The commander muttered those words, and that only made the young knights get more confused. They didn’t know that the empire had leaked information about their attack to the underworld in order to make some other factions invade the Skarnash Tribelands from other points.
“We can no longer lose any more terrain… the higher ups will be sending reinforcements soon, so will endure this no matter what. All of you will be granted the right to use this.”
The commander took a box under the table that had the map of the Skarnash Tribelands and then showed a couple of purple bottles. With a single glance, everyone was able to tell that those were some potent drugs. Highly addictive and that can break the body of someone from the inside out.
“I am not going to force you, but we can’t return home without results.”
Everyone looked at each other for a moment. This kind of drug was supposed to be forbidden thanks to the materials involved in their creation. Still, they all got a bottle each since they wouldn’t be able to leave with shame if they returned home like that.