Icicles hung from the ceiling, and thick frost coated every surface, but Elijah forced himself to ignore the biting cold as he raced through the corridor as quickly as he could manage. Behind him, two hulking ogres, both covered in icy spikes, followed with deceptive speed. Each stride of their long legs ate quite a bit of distance, and they had the Strength to propel their massive bodies forward with alarming alacrity. Still, Elijah narrowly outpaced them.

But he had no idea what to do next.

Two facets of his mind whirled with one idea after another as he searched for some way to salvage the situation, but there were no clever tricks to be found. Especially when he turned a corner and ran headlong into two more icy ogres that should not have been there.

He ducked, sliding across the icy-slick floor as he avoided a similarly coated axe as it descended on the spot he’d just vacated. It sent shards of ice flying, but by that point, Elijah was already leaping high into the air.

But not high enough.

Thinking quickly, he used Venom Strike before raking his claws across the face of yet another ice ogre. As it reeled back in pain, Elijah kicked off the creature’s shoulder, bounded off the wall, then hit the ground running. The whole thing had only taken little more than a second, but even that was enough to give the pursuing ogres the chance to catch up. Fortunately, they hadn’t expected to run into their fellows either, and as a result, one pair collided with another, resulting in a tangled scrum of hulking monsters.

That was the opportunity Elijah had been waiting for.

He dug his claws into the floor, grinding to a stop. The moment his momentum had been arrested, he whipped around, shifting back to his human form. Even as his body morphed, he threw out his staff and shoved Ethera into Calamity. He released it only a moment later, and the fury of nature descended upon the fallen ogres.

Lightning cracked. Thunder rolled. And the ground was rent asunder, ripping through the prone monsters without mercy. However, Elijah paid little attention to that. Instead, he was already casting a second spell. As he forced Ethera into Swarm, hundreds of crystalline rats formed from the ice on the walls, then scurried forward to fall on the reeling ogres.

Even then, Elijah wasn’t finished casting.

With the influx of levels as well as his advancement in cultivation, his core had grown quite a bit larger than it had been in the beginning. That translated into the ability to cast more spells before he ran dry. So, he had plenty of fuel to use in the attempt to salvage the situation his carelessness had foisted upon him.

So, he channeled Storm’s Fury through his staff, sending a thick bolt of lightning out to join the storm summoned by Calamity. It struck the closest ogre directly in the upturned face, sending a powerful electrical current arcing through the massive creature’s body.

But it didn’t stop there.

Because it was touching all the other ogres – who were conveniently clad in iron, which made for a great conductor – the electrical current flowed from one to the other, effectively extending the single cast to four targets.

So, seeing how effective it was, Elijah cast it again. Then, he went for a third cast, but by that point, he knew he was pushing his luck as well as his core’s capacity. So, he stepped forward, cocked his staff back, and used Venom Strike before hitting the closest ogre in the face. The staff took the creature in the jaw, and Elijah was rewarded by the sound of breaking bones – or cracking ice, perhaps. More importantly, he delivered the neurotoxin of Venom Strike.

Ability:

Venom Strike

Imbues an attack with fast-acting neurotoxin. Usable in all forms. Damage doubled when in Predator form.

He used it again before hitting the next closest ogre. However, the moment he connected, his good fortune truly did run out, and the first monster caught him with a wild backhand that sent him stumbling into the frosty wall. Elijah quickly recovered, but by that point, Calamity had ended, and despite the afflictions Swarm had delivered, the ogres had begun to pick themselves up from the floor.

That was when Elijah decided to once again run.

This time, though, he didn’t switch into his Predator form. Because he had an idea. Dashing to the end of the hall, he turned around to see that the first ogre had climbed to his feet. He stumbled forward in pursuit of Elijah, but his body lacked the Strength it had once possessed.

Elijah waited.

The next ogre found his feet, too. Then, the third. Finally, the fourth lurched upright. By that point, the first creature had reached the halfway point, but still, Elijah held his ground.

Just before the last monster resumed his own pursuit, Elijah cast Snaring Roots. The prickly vines exploded from the ground, eagerly wrapping around the already weakened ogre’s legs. For a moment, it looked confused that its legs wouldn’t move, and then, it tipped back over. The vines continued to snake out, wrapping the ogre in a prone cocoon, but Elijah didn’t stick around to watch.

Now that he’d slowed one down, he needed to run.

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So, he took off down the corridor, turning down paths he’d memorized. The ogres followed. Although, because they were fighting the afflictions of Swarm as well as the neurotoxin of Venom Strike, their steps were slow and plodding. Due to that, Elijah easily managed to outpace them.

So, after a few more minutes dedicated to racing through the halls, he finally felt Essence of the Wolf take effect. When it did, he didn’t hesitate to shift into his Predator Form, then adopt Guise of the Unseen. However, he didn’t stop. Instead, he padded forward with as much speed as he could muster, then slipped into one of the empty side rooms.

It was just in time, too, because the first Ogre thundered past the entrance only a second later, completely oblivious that he’d lost Elijah’s trail. Even so, he didn’t relax. That was what had nearly gotten him killed the first time.

But in his defense, how was he supposed to know that the ogres would be able to detect him? He still didn’t even know what had prompted their discovery. One second, he’d been sneaking along as he searched for a way to separate them and kill them one-by-one, and the next, one of the huge creatures had wheeled around and aimed a herculean kick in his direction. It was only due to his faceted Mind that he saw it coming and managed to leap aside.

What followed was a desperate chase through the corridors that had mercifully just ended. But Elijah wasn’t finished. Throughout his flight through the tunnels, one facet of his Mind had been working overtime trying to come up with a plan to make the best of the situation, and, through some good fortune and quick thinking, he’d managed to engineer just such a chance.

Now, he needed to follow through.

So, after the second and third ogres rushed past, he crept out and sprinted down the hall to where he hoped to find the final ogre he’d bound with Snaring Roots. Only a few moments later, he got his wish when he nearly ran into the creature. Without hesitation, Elijah leaped, opened his mouth wide, and used Predator Strike before clamping down on the monster’s head.

The ogre was wholly unprepared for the attack, and weakened as he was, he had little chance of stopping Elijah’s forceful bite. He flexed his jaw, and his teeth bit deep. When he yanked away, a chunk of flesh and bone came with him. The ogre lurched out of control, then crashed into the wall.

Elijah bounded free, then darted back in to slash his claws across the creature’s hamstrings. Then, he repeated the motion on the ogre’s ankles. The creature tumbled to the floor, cracking the ice along the way. In a panic, the monster activated an ability that sent spikes of ice erupting from the ground, but they were unfocused and too slow to catch Elijah.

He dodged around them, then leaped on the ogre’s back. Digging his claws between the plates of armor, he once again reared back, then struck forward with snapping jaws that tore another chunk from the base of the creature’s skull. Knowing what was about to happen, he repeated the action, though this time, he didn’t let go or try to tear free. Instead, he latched on with everything he could muster.

That’s when the ogre managed to push himself to his knees, then launch himself backwards, slamming Elijah against the wall. Still, he didn’t let go. Even as he felt his bones creak under the impact, he raked his claws across the monster’s back, digging deep even as he continued to apply pressure on the ogre’s skull.

Letting out a hiss of mingled pain and fury, Elijah tapped into a well of Strength he didn’t know he possessed, and he was rewarded a moment later with the sound of a skull cracking. A second later, brains and plasma squirted into his mouth as the creature finally succumbed to its many injuries.

It collapsed, pinning Elijah against the wall so thoroughly that he was forced to switch into his Guardian form to push it out of the way. After finally winning free, Elijah switched back to his caster form and ran back the way he’d come. As he did so, he channeled Touch of Nature in an attempt to heal his aching bones. He didn’t think he’d broken anything, but it was close enough that he knew that ignoring the injuries would be a mistake.

His bare feet slapped against the icy floor, though he barely felt the cold. Ward of Seasons, which had taken the place of Essence of the Monkey, had proven invaluable. Once, he’d considered the enhancement to be mostly useless because it did nothing to block the weather. However, in the Ethera-induced cold of the citadel’s ice and fire wings, it had become one of his most important spells.

He quickly found his way to another side room – they were all empty, and it felt almost like they’d been included more to make the citadel seem like a real place than to serve an actual purpose – where he settled into a corner and continued his healing. Fortunately, his injuries were minor compared to some of the damage he’d been forced to endure in the past, so it wasn’t long before he was back to perfect condition.

As soon as he’d recovered his Ethera, Elijah shifted back into his Predator form, then set off through the corridors. After all, he still had quite a few ogres to hunt. Three of them were already wounded, and he hoped to take care of them first. However, he knew he couldn’t afford to be picky. So, he stalked through the halls until, at last, he found his next victim.

As it turned out, the ogre was not one of the ones he’d already fought.

What followed was a systematic dismantling of the force of ogres manning the frost wing of the citadel. Elijah was ruthless as he slowly picked them apart using similar tactics to the plans he’d employed in the fire wing. However, unlike the fire ogres, the ice ogres’ abilities tended more towards defense than doing extra damage, which played right into Elijah’s hands.

So long as he only fought one at a time – which wasn’t easy to arrange, but he managed – the ogres couldn’t do much to harm him while in Guardian form. Of course, that also meant that each battle was a long, drawn-out affair where Elijah was forced to use every source of damage he could muster, including Shield of Brambles. Still, it was the safest way to proceed.

Ironically, the quickest way to deal with the ice ogres was in his human form, when he could chain cast his spells. However, it was simultaneously the most dangerous as well as the least efficient. Each battle he tried to fight in that manner left his core completely drained, and the margin for error was slim enough that if he made even the slightest mistake, he’d end up splattered against the wall.

Somewhere in the middle was his scaled panther form. Each fight began with him using Predator Strike and Venom Strike, but after that, he usually switched to one of his other forms for the rest of the battle. However, for a couple, he remained in his Predator form, which proved to be effective but ultimately exhausting. It also was almost as dangerous as fighting in his human form.

But he knew it was important to familiarize himself with all the tools at his disposal, so he focused on making each form work in his favor. In that way, he slowly whittled the ogres down, one by one, until he finally killed the last ice ogre in the wing.

That last kill came in his Guardian form, when he repeatedly slammed a weakened ogre’s head against a wall until it finally succumbed to all the damage he’d inflicted.

He sagged against the wall, his hissing breath coming in ragged gasps. He’d pushed himself incredibly hard, and as a result, he’d managed to not only clear the last of the ogres from the wing, but he’d also progressed to level thirty-nine. One more, and he’d get a new spell.

But now he had a decision to make. Would he challenge the two lieutenants? Or would he assault the next two wings? The remaining two wings were located up a set of stairs, so they were slightly isolated from his current position. That also suggested that the two elves – one of light, and the other of shadow – were slightly above the ogres in the citadel’s hierarchy.

In turn, that probably meant that their guards were a little more dangerous.

In the end, it came down to one simple fact – he wanted to be at his best when he fought the lieutenants, so that meant he needed to gain at least another level. And that, in turn, made his choice clear.

He needed to clear the other wings first, and then he could assault the lieutenants. Hopefully, whatever spell he gained at level forty would be enough to catapult him to victory.