Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ambrose flared mana into [Shield of Conviction] and at the same time recalled the axe to him. He thought quickly as the cursed bees tried to stung him. The nightmare insects could not pierce his shield but they could keep trying and even though Ambrose had a large mana pool to draw from, it was not bottomless.
The bees would get through eventually. The other problem was the giant cursed bear-king who didn't stand idly by and watch. The bear leaped forward in an attempt to drop on Ambrose like some sort of orbital bear turned meteor. He dove out of the way as the bear crashed into the ground, head low, the tentacles on its crown wriggling and pulsing as the bees followed him.
Ambrose came out if his roll intending to sprint around the bear to give himself time to think. That plan went down the drain as Mordred's Avatars gleaming red eyes tracked him and lashed out with a heavy paw that easily swiped him to the right His shield blocked the worst of it and Ambrose used [Infernal Infusion] to infuse his armor as he was blasted backwards, flying through the air like he had been hit by a mack truck.
If it wasn't for his shield, his strength stat and the Infusion of his armor, Ambrose would have died as his body cracked into the stone wall of the cavern and his head whipped backward like a flicked bobblehead, thudding against the stone with the force and sound of a home run baseball.
His vision blurred as pain washed through him. Noelle sent concern and alarm, but he reassured her as he shook his head to clear it. He had dropped his axe, but recalled it as he dropped to the ground.
This monster was doing its best to keep Ambrose on his toes, preventing him from forming a plan. Even now the bear bounded forward, saliva glistening in its maw as it brought both paws upward in an attempt to crush Ambrose underneath.
People often said that size wasn't everything. In some ways, this was true. A smaller, faster opponent could defeat a larger foe. It wasn't impossible.
It was just hard. Strength, size, and reach were just hard to argue with. A larger opponent could shrug off blows from smaller opponents, and dish out more pain while limiting your options.
Raylen’s voice came to him unbidden as it often did in combat situations.
“If you absolutely must fight a bigger, stronger opponent, boy, then you need to do two things. Cheat, or outlast.”
Raylen had told him that if he wasn't cheating in a fight he was being stupid and deserved what happened to him. Outlasting a bigger opponent was usually the better option. Bigger enemies used more energy due to their size. Use less energy than them over all, and you won. That was outlast.
In this case, however, Ambrose could cheat. Even with being batted around like a dogs chew toy, he had put together a connection. The tentacles pulsed with the light of the bees. It was clear that the bears crown was not only connected to the bees, but did something more with the bear somehow.
Maybe it's the source of the curse? Ambrose pursed his lips as he rolled away from the bears paws that crashed into the ground with titanic force, cracking the stone beneath them.
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Mordred was making the thing its avatar through the curse, somehow. Ambrose decided to test his theory as the bear charged him. It went like that for a while, Ambrose kept the bees at bay with his shield and did his best to dodge the bears many powerful attacks.
He made sure to not get hit massively again, but Mordred’s Avatar managed to destroy most of the small forest area around them. Finally, when Ambrose was lined up, he empowered his axe, used [Aura of Righteous Wrath], and [Infernal Smite] as he threw the axe at an angle, perfectly aligned with the bears crown of tentacles.
The axe cut through them as easily as a chef chopped through seaweed. A detonation followed as the smite began to eat at the bear anew, singing its fur and burning the undulating tentacles to ash as they fell to the ground.
Mordred's Avatar went bezerk. It fell to the ground in a gigantic, twitching mass as it keened in pain. Ambrose held out a hand and his axe slapped into his palm.
The bees dropped dead around him, little black flecks twitching in their death throes. Ambrose dismissed his shield which had been a constant drain on his mana and walked towards the head of the bear.
Its eyes swivelled to meet Ambrose’s eye.
They were no longer red. Now they were a warm, chocolate brown that held nothing but pain in their depths. Ambrose felt a single, sharp lance of sympathy. Here was once a noble and proud creature, and it had been reduced to being a puppet. A slave to a twisted, cursed will of someone who had taken its original purpose and perverted it.
Ambrose hefted his axe, allowing respect to build within his one eye
“You fought well. The death I give you will be as swift as I can deliver it. Rest, now.”
Ambrose swung the axe towards its neck.
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[You have defeated [Mordred's Avatar-The Cursed Bear-King-Level 85] for defeating a foe beyond your level you have received increased experience and have advanced to level 78. Because you have carried out your duties as the Knight of Avalon, your profession has gained experience and it has advanced to level 5. Your profession gains +1 per level at D-Grade.]
Ambrose almost whistled as he left the den and the cliffside cave of the first Avatar. That was sixteen points from the two class level ups and four more points on top of that from the profession levels.
Most certainly OP. Ambrose thought as he sighed at the rush of power. With twenty points to spend, Ambrose dropped four points into each of his stats except for wisdom. Levels themselves felt a little OP, as his resources were restored with every level up.
Ambrose doubted that it was as easy for others to level up. In order to do so you had to seek out greater and greater challenges to get enough experience for it to matter. As such, you put yourself in ever greater peril.
That sounded like a whole lot of knocking on deaths door. Ambrose knew he'd keep knocking and knocking until he threw Eric through that door.
Ambrose appeared before the second den. This one was located within a great tree with bark as black as the night sky during a starless night.
A wide hole in the tree gave off an ominous invitation, cold air chilling within it. Noelle sent him images of a white tiger cub quivering in fear.
Ambrose stroked the cloak. He sent back images and feelings of consolation. The tree, like so many other things on the island, had once been beautiful. Mordred had taken his curse and used it to twist the island.
Ambrose found himself blaming Arthur a bit. It had been he who had sealed Mordred away and cursed him. Sure, Ambrose would have never stood a chance without him having done that, but Arthur had known what was going to happen.
He had known how it would twist Vivienne. He had known how the island would become twisted, like some dark horror out of a nightmare. Arthur bore some responsibility for that.
“No need to be frightened. I'm here.” He said to Noelle. The cloak seemed to pull itself tighter around him, as if hugging him.
Ambrose eyed the tree and took a deep breath before striding into the darkness that swallowed him whole.