13. Moving Forward._Magnifique

I equip my Infernal Sword and start jogging forward. Ambushes are likely to be Infernal in nature rather than undead. I don’t manipulate Light yet. My mana pool has not yet been filled. Minor Regeneration is hard at work still.

As I move, I try to use my Observant Eye with my Spectral Vision. The two should work together, but it takes some mental effort.

I spot the Infernal Lynx from further out than the Spectral Vision can go and watch as it comes into view and lights up with a red tinge.

There are two, one behind the other, and I dispatch them with the longsword easily. Some more specific weapons skills on top of Thrust and Holy Strike would be good, but they will come either as I learn them or skill stones.

Spectral Vision is interesting. I experiment more. It seems like I can’t use both the heat and the Spectral Vision (See-thru) together. I decided to call the other option the Spectral Vision (See-thru), as that is what it does. If I look at my hand, it is not completely see-thru; I can see an outline of where the outer skin is, but I can also see what is underneath. If I look at my finger, the bone is close to the skin, and I can see the change to the harder bone. The leather and bone in my trousers are the same, and looking at the hole that was punched through by the arrow is very interesting in the layers. I definitely need to get some levels in this, and it should become clearer.

I switch back to Spectral Vision (Heat) and move forward. The lynxes are getting tougher, and then there is a change.

I see them well off, as they are not trying to hide like the Lyxes. I alter my course to avoid them, but of course, they pick up my scent. This Trial is out to kill me.

I picked up my pace. Free Runner is one of my new favourite skills. The Pride of Infernal Lions started after me. I am sure the mane of the male was trailing smoke, so it has some sort of fire affinity or fire skill.

I needed somewhere to fight so that they couldn’t surround me. As far as I could see, there were nothing but rolling hills. No handy village with a wooden palisade, no cliffs, no nothing. Why would that be? It couldn’t be because the Trial is out to kill me, could it?

I picked up the pace and started thinking. Surely, this couldn’t be as hard as the palace of the upstart prince. I need to kill, but maiming some will help. They are Infernal, not Undead. Illusions will partially work, but they also hunt by smell and hearing.

As the lions gained on me, I peppered them with darts. I was going for the eyes as this was the most vulnerable for such a small weapon. Even with Precision Throw, the fact that we were both not quite sprinting made my accuracy shit. Adding some sort of poison to the darts would help, but guess what? The trial didn’t drop a poison skill. Surprise, surprise.

Shit! I Dodged and brought the sword up and sliced the Infernal Lynx that tried to ambush me. I can’t just concentrate on the lions, no, of course not. I am pretty sure the lynx is too wounded to follow me, but I am not stopping to check.

Okay, the next thing is, can I string out the lions so I can fight one at a time? They are fairly closely bunched, and they are catching up to me, so they are likely faster than me.

What do I have Skill-wise that can help? OK. I have a plan. Timing and positioning are critical, or I will die.

I grab the sword with both hands. I slow down and turn, so I run backwards, relying on steady footing. The first lion looked like it was about to leap because I slowed. I positioned the sword, angled my body, and engaged Light Speed. Two meters was enough to the side of the pack. I felt like my body was jerked violently, and it was. From running backwards, I switch to Light Speed forwards. I aimed for the edge of the pack of lions, so I didn’t kill myself. Light Speed moves my body in the direction I am facing as the speed of light, well, it seems that way anyway. My sword was held out horizontally to my body at the height of a lion, and it also moved with me at the speed of light, empowered by Holy Strike.

I was lucky. The Lions were moving faster than I thought and, therefore, were closer than I thought. The blood near the hilt of the blade demonstrated how close I came to losing both hands. The front lioness was bisected in two lengthwise, and the one behind her had a deep cut into its chest, and the heart was also destroyed. Another had lost a paw.

The Lions didn’t know what had happened, and I had the advantage for now. I struck using the Basic Longsword Dance, and in my offhand, I got out a knife. I was tempted to try the haladie, but this was not the time. An ordinary knife and Razors Edge were what I was most familiar with. Leaning on Quick Hands and Ambidextrous, I waded in, doing as much damage as I could.

The lions didn’t take long to rally, and the remaining three, plus the big guy, were surrounding and attacking. I was very thankful for the trousers, and the bone reinforcing saved me a lot of injuries. The Big Guy burst into flames on me, and my shirt was burned, and the trousers took a lot of repairs. So will my skin, but I got out of the worst with Light Speed and then Dash and Dodge and Holy Strike for the kill. I scooped up the loot and kept moving. I knew I was going to end up leaving a lot of loot behind as I kept moving, so when I had a chance to grab some, I grabbed it.

I had an ominous feeling that I had to keep moving. These feelings have saved me before, so I don’t neglect them. Usually, I walk away from jobs where I have this feeling and refuse to do them. Now, I am running away.

The next days, possibly weeks, merged into a pattern. Run, fight, run, rolling battle, run. Higher-level fleshlings, Skeletons of various types, and I started seeing more Undead knights and hounds. Then there were the infernals, and I was seeing more Lesser Devils.

I also started to understand the benefits of an Advanced Class. It wasn’t just the Skills. The bonuses it gave to Consitution, Agility and Intelligence were very noticeable. It was harder to damage me, and the Constitution was working with Minor Regeneration to heal faster. It was keeping me going longer with less sleep. The Agility was faster and better. The fancy move I did with Light Speed should have seen me flat on my face regardless of Steady Footing and Sure-grip. And my Mana pool was noticeably larger, but it also seemed to use Mana more efficiently.

I pulled out the Haladie and the Parry knife and practised new dance moves with Steel Serpent. The Haladie was a very different type of knife; with a twist of the wrist, I could double slice. It was classed as a small blade, but it needed the advanced technique of the Steel Serpent. This technique was going to be awesome if I needed to fight people. It was unknown. It got around defences and was partly an unarmed combat. The thing was, there was a lot of synergy with Razor's Edge, and I never really had techniques that synergised together.

I picked up some new ones. I learned Chop using the axes, which I can also use with the longsword, and Slash using the longsword. Both Skills increased the damage dealt with my weapons, and they were needed as the enemies were getting harder.

My Slayer Class is pretty insistent on me raising my weapons skills through the kill requirement. Holy Strike was a weapon skill that counted as a weapon kill, but Cutting Light did not. I was really starting to like the Haladie and the Steel Serpent Technique, but I had to make myself use the longsword as I needed to raise its level. The axes were still the best against the undead, and as such, it was the Basic Axe that got to level 5 first.

When I could pick up the loot, I did, but I had to use the monster cores, or I would run out of room in my bag. That was my excuse and I was sticking to it. Not a single skill. Mana Manipulation went up, though, and I feel I am very close to maxing out Mana Control.

I did get some interesting items as loot. There were several swords, axes, maces, bows and knives, with bonuses against Undead and Infernal monsters. I even got some arrows with bonuses, but I have not used the bows yet.

I didn't get any shields or shield skills, which was noticeable as I felt shields would be very useful. I did get a skill stone with the skill Block in it, which could be used with a shield but was also useful with weapons. Most of the skill stones I collected were attack-focused, not defensive. Bloodletting was only useful on infernal creatures. Long Slash did what it said but was only useful in certain situations. Crushing Blow was best with Blunt Weapons, but it was fine with axes, and it helped get through armour and shields. The undead knights had shields and shield skills, but they didn’t drop any.

Quick Strike was by far my favourite. Combined with Quick Hands it was usually too fast for my opponents, and when used with the Haladie and Steel Serpent, it was even better. Quick Strike and Steel Serpent were made for each other because they could be used with punches as well as knives.

Basic Axe hit level five before Longsword, but I finally levelled Spectral Slayer and assigned the points. I still needed more strength, so I put two into strength to bring it up to 30.

The class's level requirements increased: 2000 XP, Kill 200 enemies, and have two basic Weapons skills at Level 10. The requirement that enemies be killed with weapons has been removed, but I will need to concentrate on either the longsword or axe to get to level 10 to join Small Blades. I actually like both weapons. I like the longsword for the extra reach and because it works well with a knife or the haladie in my other hand. I like the power of the axe.

The terrain was getting steeper, and rocky canyons and cliffs started appearing. I saw a Castle on the top of an escarpment. I veered away from it, but it was like I was being herded towards it. I am not going to stay in a single fortified position. That is a death trap for me. The Trial is out to kill me, but I am not going to let it.

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I veered up another valley to avoid the approach to the castle and shit. That wasn’t a lesser Devil or even a Devil. It was a Greater Devil with its own horde of infernals. I turned away before they saw me.

I was being driven to the castle. I couldn’t make out much of it except for high, strong walls and corner towers that seemed in OK repair. The stone was in good repair, but the roofs had collapsed. I examined the road up to it. I could probably veer off the road and climb away. I didn’t really think the Trial would let me, but it was worth a try.

As soon as I hit the base of the road up to the tower, I received the Quest Notice.

Monarch’s Raiment

The Al’rashian Stronghold of Windshire has been overrun. Retrieve as many items of the Monarch’s raiment as possible.

Reward: Dependant on the number of items retrieved.

Well, shit. This Trial knows how to lure people to their deaths.