Monica felt a primal fury surge through her veins, hot and overwhelming. The Fury of the Phoenix took over with no hesitation. Her Vitality plummeted as the two Phoenix Feathers on her forearms started blazing, burning like embers in a forge, incinerated by the greatest bellows.
The world blurred around her as she activated Phoenix Step. With Ted's song reaching a crescendo that matched the rage, she punched through the body of the Corrupted Spider Construct that had been on the verge of killing Dotty and grabbed its jaws, ignoring the legs piercing her body, and pulled its head apart. The first spider died in an ocean of Obsidian Flame that finally, empowered by Fury of the Phoenix, consumed its body.
She turned toward the other two. The second spider lost three legs to her in quick succession as she punched at the joints connecting them to its body. While using Fury of the Phoenix and while under the effect of the Song of the Phoenix, Monica's regeneration was such that even the blows she was receiving couldn't stop her. But Fury meant that she could kill, but the damage that she was taking would soon kill her as her blood spattered on the ground.
The second Corrupted Spider Construct died as she punched its head off its body after a combo of uppercuts and hooks at its short neck. By the time she was facing the third, her body felt like a stringless puppet, ready to crumble down. She heard the others scream at her, maybe to stop or something else, but she could only hear blood pulsating in her ears, the fury taking her body so wildly that she didn't even know how she killed the third spider.
She just blacked out.
Only the notification of the kills told her what she had done.
*Ding*
You have slain [Corrupted Spider Construct – Level 81]
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature fifty levels above you.
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature infected by Corruption.
*Ding*
You have slain [Corrupted Spider Construct – Level 82]
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature fifty levels above you.
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature infected by Corruption.
*Ding*
You have slain [Corrupted Spider Construct – Level 81]
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature fifty levels above you.
You receive extra experience and skill proficiency for killing a creature infected by Corruption.
*Ding*
Class – Phoenix Healer (Rare, Enhanced) reaches Level 19
+5 VIT, +5 END, +5 STR, +5 DEX, +5 WIS, +5 SPI, +5 INT, +5 CHA and 6 Free Attributes
*Ding*
Class – Phoenix Healer (Rare, Enhanced) reaches Level 20
+5 VIT, +5 END, +5 STR, +5 DEX, +5 WIS, +5 SPI, +5 INT, +5 CHA and 6 Free Attributes
*Ding*
Class – Phoenix Healer (Rare, Enhanced) reaches Level 21
+5 VIT, +5 END, +5 STR, +5 DEX, +5 WIS, +5 SPI, +5 INT, +5 CHA and 6 Free Attributes
*Ding*
Class – Phoenix Healer (Rare, Enhanced) reaches Level 22
+5 VIT, +5 END, +5 STR, +5 DEX, +5 WIS, +5 SPI, +5 INT, +5 CHA and 6 Free Attributes
*Ding*
Class – Phoenix Healer (Rare, Enhanced) reaches Level 23
+5 VIT, +5 END, +5 STR, +5 DEX, +5 WIS, +5 SPI, +5 INT, +5 CHA and 6 Free Attributes
*Ding*
Healing Skill – Golden Flame reaches Level 28
*Ding*
Healing Skill – Golden Flame reaches Level 29
*Ding*
Healing Skill – Golden Flame reaches Level 30
*Ding*
Healing Skill – Golden Flame reaches Level 31
*Ding*
Offensive Skill - Obsidian Flame reaches Level 30
*Ding*
Constitution Skill – Phoenix Feathers reaches Level 15
*Ding*
Constitution Skill – Phoenix Feathers reaches Level 16
*Ding*
Constitution Skill – Phoenix Feathers reaches Level 17
*Ding*
Constitution Skill – Phoenix Feathers reaches Level 18
*Ding*
Constitution Skill – Phoenix Feathers reaches Level 19
*Ding*
Constitution Skill – Phoenix Feathers reaches Level 20
*Ding*
Perception Skill – Mana Sense reaches Level 29
*Ding*
Movement Skill - Phoenix Step reaches Level 9
*Ding*
Movement Skill - Phoenix Step reaches Level 10
*Ding*
Movement Skill - Phoenix Step reaches Level 11
*Ding*
Offensive Skill - Obsidian Impact reaches Level 14
*Ding*
Offensive Skill - Obsidian Impact reaches Level 15
*Ding*
Offensive Skill - Obsidian Impact reaches Level 16
*Ding*
Auto-loot is on.
You obtain:
Corrupted Spider Construct Leg (Corrupted) x6
Corrupted Spider Construct Core (Corrupted) x3
Mithril Thread (Corrupted) x2
Gold Coins x35
*Ding*
Quest Reward Updated – ‘Eradication I/III’
Progress: 6/80
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
When Monica woke up, she realized she had been carried into a building. She slowly sat up from the bed and groaned in pain.
Damn it, she thought. I died while Fury of the Phoenix was active. Now, the malus is on for the next 24 hours.
She looked at the ever-broken Nightshade Battle Wear inside. Then, rising unsteadily on her legs, she opened the wooden door to this room made of huge blocks of gray stone and entered a common room with a long table where Ted, Heidi, and Dotty were sitting.
"Monica," Ted said, "dude, how are you feeling?"
Monica ignored Ted and unsteadily walked up to Dotty. She grabbed the girl's arm and squeezed.
"Ow," Dotty said.
"Why did you jump in?" Monica growled.
"No, Monica. You're hurting me."
"Why did you jump in?" Monica said, not releasing the arm of the teenager. "When I told you to stay back! These monsters are too strong for you. You are a melee fighter. You cannot fight monsters this much stronger than you. Even if Tristan pinned them down, it would be too dangerous. Do you understand?"
Dotty, finally let go by the redhead woman, cradled her forearm.
“I just wanted to level up, just like you."
"You are not me," Monica spat those words with venomous rage. "I can't die. You, you can die so damn easily."
Monica looked at the gash on Dotty's thigh and pushed through the pain caused by the after-effects of dying while having Fury of the Phoenix activated and used the Golden Flame to repair the damage.
"If you had gotten any more damage, any serious wound, you would have died on the spot because I couldn't have healed you."
"Wrong," came the booming voice of Sir Tristan, who entered from a side door. "You shouldn't have dived in like that. The girl could have taken one more hit. I could have dispatched the monsters, and you could have healed her without a problem. You actually put her life in danger. Because if she had bled any more than that, considering we don't have any other healer or strong potions with us, the girl would have died because of you."
Both Heidi and Ted froze when the large man reprimanded Monica like that. Monica was quite literally the Avatar of the Twin Phoenix, the ultimate warrior. And the Knight was just criticizing her as if she was a spoiled child.
Monica's fists clenched, and she looked at Sir Tristan. However, surprising everyone, she didn't say anything back. That was because she knew that Sir Tristan was... well, he was actually right. Dotty would have probably dodged, and Monica could have either chosen to let Dotty take one hit more and healed her or just attacked one of the spiders, not all of them. She didn't need to give in to the Fury and kill all three. She could have simply killed the one that was a threat to Dotty and let Sir Tristan, Heidi, and Ted help dispatch the other two. There was no reason for Monica to freak out like she had just done.
"Now we have to wait 24 hours for you," Sir Tristan said. "Is that true?"
"Yes," Monica replied through gritted teeth.
"Well, very mature of you, wasting us 24 hours, Avatar of the Twin Phoenix. The boy says you're supposed to be the ultimate fighter. Is this how the ultimate fighter operates? Because I know hotheads in the military with more common sense and discipline than you."
"He's not a boy," Heidi said, looking with a displeased expression at Sir Tristan.
Sir Tristan looked at Ted, who, to be fair, could barely grow stubble and had a very boyish look and lightly regarded the Knight.
"Sorry about that," Sir Tristan apologized without missing a beat.
"What now?" Heidi asked. "We can't go out without Monica."
"We can," Sir Tristan said, "but we shouldn't. You all leveled up from the fight. And this place is safe. I just checked the entire perimeter. The spiders didn't get close to the dwarven fortifications near the entrance for some reason."
"These are the barracks that we saw?" Monica asked, looking around.
"Yes," the large man replied.
“Alright, we can rest,” Monica agreed. “Then, we make a beeline for the Spear of Dhoznil. That’s our target.”
“We would have been there if it wasn’t for you,” Sir Tristan pointed out.
"Yes, we would have," Monica admitted reluctantly. "I lost control. It won't happen again."
Sir Tristan studied her for a moment, then nodded curtly. "Good. Use this time to rest and plan. We need a better strategy than just rushing in."
Monica sank into a chair at the long stone table, her body still aching from the aftermath of using Fury of the Phoenix. She pulled out the Mithril Threads they'd collected and laid them on the table.
"Ted, you said these were valuable," she said, changing the subject. "What else do you know about them?"
Ted leaned forward excitedly, grateful for the break in tension. "Well, according to the stories, Mithril Thread was what made dwarven armor so special. They would weave it into the metal somehow, creating these incredible patterns that could channel mana. That's partly why their artifacts were so powerful - the Mithril acted like a conductor for enchantments."
"Could we use it to repair my armor?" Monica gestured at her battered Nightshade Battle Wear.
"Not without knowing the proper techniques," Ted shook his head. "But maybe if we find the Blacksmith District..."
"Which is deeper in Viscera," Heidi pointed out. "Where the monsters are probably even stronger."
Monica glanced at Dotty, who had been unusually quiet since the scolding. The girl was examining Twilight's Edge with intense focus, likely trying to avoid everyone's attention.
"Dotty," Monica said more gently this time. The girl looked up warily. "I'm sorry I grabbed you like that. But you need to understand - it takes one mistake to get you killed."
"I know," Dotty said quietly. "I just... I don't want to be useless. Everyone else can fight except me."
"You're not useless," Sir Tristan spoke up unexpectedly. "But you need proper training before engaging enemies like these. There will be plenty of opportunities to prove yourself, but rushing in recklessly isn't the way."
Monica raised an eyebrow at the knight. For someone who had seemed so rigid earlier, he could be surprisingly nice.
“Monica trained me already,” Dotty said.
“Did she?” Sir Tristan raised an eyebrow.
“I taught her the basics of how not to flinch and how to exploit the right opportunities. If that spider had been one of the monsters we had been fighting previously, Dotty would have killed it,” Monica explained, rubbing her forehead. “The problem is that every monster is different. She’s got the rhythm down for the Crystal Wolves. But these constructs are a different beast. Quite literally.”
I guess I should have told Dotty about this, Monica thought to herself. I could have warned her.
Monica wrestled with wanting to keep Dotty safe and wanting the girl to flourish. She wished the girl could have done the flourishing somewhere else, though—not in the lair of an Old God.
“There’s a courtyard down there. I have already memorized the movements of the Corrupted Spider Constructs, and I can teach you them,” Sir Tristan said. “Yours is a rogue Class, right”?
Dotty nodded.
“Let’s go then,” the large man said.
However, when he walked up to the door, he turned to look over his shoulder at Monica.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“Me?” Monica asked.
“Aren’t you the immortal Avatar of ultimate fighting? Do you want this girl to survive? Come.”
* * *
Monica sat at the edge of the courtyard of the barracks. It was a small training ground for an entire city but more than enough for Dotty and Tristan. Tristan was simply showing Dotty the correct way to hold the sword so that it wouldn't escape her hand once again and how fast Corrupted Spider Constructs could react.
Sir Tristan briefly explained that being a Knight and being the tank of the group meant he was the one tasked to know how the monsters moved so that he could anticipate where they would go and how they would attack. He wasn't fast, and that meant he had to know how the monsters would move so that he could protect his teammates.
Monica was honestly surprised. The man was so thorough in his understanding despite his level being quite high for their current predicament. In the large scope of things, it was nothing. The Healer God had mentioned having several paladins at Level 400. So, Monica suspected the strongest followers of the New Gods to be even higher leveled than that.
"Spiders can jump from the ground easily. They have too many legs to be caught unaware. So instead of going for their bodies like you did, look at their legs. They can only catch you if you enter their range." Sir Tristan took out his large sword and told Dotty to take a few steps back. He extended the sword until his shoulder was about three feet from the body. He kept the tip of the sword aimed at the girl's chest.
"This is their furthest reach. This is how far they can get you even while you're on the ground. I can take those hits easily because I have Skills that empower my armor, my defenses, and my attributes. If you take one hit at your level, you might die. So when you see a spider on the ground, and you want to deliver damage, the best thing you can do is to feint an attack. Let the spider try and pierce you, and lean back immediately. Spiders' joints, at least these spiders, are best suited for piercing movements. They won't slash. It wouldn't be efficient for them. They could only muster so much power. So you know that they will come in a straight line."
Dotty frowned. "Okay," she said. "So what do I do?"
"Take up your sword," Sir Tristan said. "What's the best angle to slice their leg off?"
They all looked at Twilight's Edge and then at Sir Tristan's sword. She tried awkwardly hacking the sword from below, but Sir Tristan's sword barely moved.
"Not a good idea. Even if you had the sharpest sword in the world, this wouldn't be a good strike. Try again."
Dotty frowned and, this time went for a diagonal slash from overhead. Sir Tristan let the sword move away from her and smiled. "As easy as that. Let's practice a few times for your reflexes, then you can practice on your own. Imagine the fight in your head and keep slicing the air."
Monica had briefly explained to Sir Tristan what kind of Skills Dotty possessed. And the Knight had remained speechless at how powerful Magic Rend was. In fact, Monica thought that Sir Tristan had offered to train Dotty almost out of pity. But now that he knew how powerful the girl's Class was, it had become a matter of practicality. If Dotty could catch up in strength to the rest of them, she would become a great asset in the fight. As dangerous in terms of offensive capabilities as Monica.
"Do you have anything to add?" Sir Tristan turned to Monica, who was sitting on a row of bleachers standing by the side of the courtyard.
"You're good," Monica replied. "Nothing to add here."
Sir Tristan nodded curtly at her and refocused on Dotty.
Meanwhile, the redhead, after making sure that Sir Tristan's teachings were indeed effective, turned her attention elsewhere. There was only one stone dwarf on the bleachers. It was dressed in simple clothes, but something about the way it carried itself, about its straight back, its large shoulders, and thoughtful, pensive expression, made Monica wonder who that was.
"He has the air of someone very strong and very important," she muttered to herself.
* * *
The next 24 hours passed slowly. Sir Tristan kept training Dotty in the courtyard. She practiced her moves over and over. The knight made her repeat the same motion hundreds of times until she could do it without thinking. Monica watched most of their training from the bleachers.
Heidi and Ted spent their time studying the barracks. They found old maps on the walls, but most were too faded to read. The buildings had small rooms for the guards. Everything was made of stone. The furniture was simple but well-made.
Monica used the time to distribute her Free Attributes. She put most points into Vitality as Ted suggested. The rest went into Dexterity and Strength, three Dexterity to each point of Strength. She could have started dumping more into Dexterity, honestly, to maximize the speed gains until Dexterity got three times higher than Strength, but Monica also enjoyed punching hard.
Name: Monica Monroe
Race: Earther
Title: Avatar of the Twin Phoenix (Unique)
1st Class: Phoenix Healer (Rare) - Lv. 23
2nd Class: None
Talent Class: None
Attributes:
Vitality - 256
Endurance - 115
Strength - 118
Dexterity - 159
Wisdom - 115
Spirit - 115
Intelligence - 115
Charisma - 115
Free Attributes: 0
Skills:
Golden Flame (Healing Skill) - Lv. 27
Obsidian Flame (Offensive Skill) - Lv. 29
Phoenix Feathers (Constitution Skill) - Lv. 15
Mana Sense (Perception Skill) - Lv. 28
Phoenix Step (Movement Skill) - Lv. 8
Obsidian Impact (Offensive Skill) - Lv. 13
Equipment:
Steel Talons (Uncommon)
Twin Phoenix Bracers (Divine) - Twin Phoenix Set (1/12)
Nightshade Battle Wear (Rare)
Racial Abilities (Earther):
Tutorial
Quest System
Inventory
Map
Myriad Tongues
She also tried to practice merging her Golden Flame with Mana Sense. The Skill was hard to control, but she made some progress.
Sir Tristan checked the perimeter regularly. No spiders came near the barracks. The group discussed why this might be but couldn't figure it out. They took turns sleeping in the stone beds. The beds were uncomfortable, but they all needed the rest.
When the 24 hours were up, Monica felt the effects of Fury of the Phoenix fade away. Her body stopped aching. Her mind became clearer. She gathered everyone to plan their next move.
They decided to head straight for the Temple of Dhoznil. The temple stood in the center of the first floor. Four massive staircases led up to it from different directions. They chose the closest staircase and started climbing.
The climb was long, but nothing attacked them. The spiders seemed to avoid the temple area completely. This made everyone nervous. They kept expecting an ambush, but none came.
The stairs were wide enough for ten people to walk side by side. Each step was carved from a single piece of stone. The craftsmanship was impressive even after all these years.
They reached the top after twenty minutes of climbing. A large platform stretched out in front of massive crystal doors. The doors were ten times taller than Sir Tristan's. Strange symbols covered their surface.
"We should rest before going in," Monica said. Everyone agreed.
They sat down near the doors to catch their breath. Sir Tristan kept watch while the others drank water from their supplies. The artificial sun in the cave ceiling cast weird shadows around them.
"The spiders avoiding this place isn't normal," Heidi said. She was checking her equipment.
"No, it's not," Ted agreed. He was tuning his mandolin. "But the temple might have some kind of protection."
"Or something worse inside," Sir Tristan said.
"How are we going to open these doors?" Dotty asked.
Monica stood up and walked to the crystal doors. She put her hand on the surface. It felt warm.
Monica pushed, and suddenly, a notification rang in her head.