CHAPTER 89 SHADOW MOSES

Making it back to the block took a while, same as the trip out here in the first place. People wanted to talk with Perri, causing him to slow down to address them. It was starting to get on my nerves, but I refrained from saying anything.

When we eventually made it back to the cavern I spent a good few moments just relaxing and talking with Kayla and Max again.

Before I realized it David was calling us to line up to leave. I suppressed a groan of annoyance, I felt worn out already and didn’t want to go fight as I knew Lurks would make me.

But I stood up anyway and bid farewell to Kayla and Max before getting in the line.

And sure enough once I got outside Lurks had me escorted a different direction as usual. We headed towards the arena, and this time I was stuck in the waiting room to… wait.

And I waited. And waited. And waited.

I waited to the point that I was starting to get annoyed, only half it was actually being upset at having so much of my time being wasted having to sit around doing nothing when I could be training. The other half was anxiety at being made to wait in the first place.

I’d rather just get this started and over with if I could. But that was probably why I was being made to wait in the first place.

I got up and started to pace, much to the annoyance of the people around me. But none of them actually said anything, electing to ignore me after a few moments.

After what felt like an eternity someone finally came back to fetch me.

“Elf, you’re up. Let’s go.”

The soldier then turned around and marched away without waiting to see if I was following him. I blew out a frustrated breath of air as I stepped in behind him, wooden armor slowly encroaching up my legs over the rest of my body.

I began splitting my mind to start focusing on different tasks and getting everything coordinated so I felt comfortable going forward.

As we approached the cage I noticed my opponent was already inside. Normally I was the first one inside, was I being considered the defender this time? I felt a brief flash of pride before I felt disgusted.

I didn’t want murder and death fights to be something I was proud of. I definitely didn’t want to feel appreciative of my slaver's acknowledgment of my skill at fighting.

I stepped up into the arena and several of my minds started focusing on the person in front of me.

[Level 553]

I frowned. I wasn’t sure I liked how high of a level they were. I took in their appearance with an analytical eye, running my sensory skills over them.

The man was pretty short. I was running into a lot of short people recently. I would’ve found these people short even at my old height. Honestly a bit strange if I thought about it.

He held a pair of dual daggers that he idly flipped around in his hands with deft skill. He locked eyes with me and gave me a cheeky smile, but otherwise didn’t say anything.

I didn’t return the gesture, instead just focusing on him. If I took what I was seeing at face value he was probably an agility and dexterity based fighter. Not too dissimilar from myself. But taking things at face value seemed like a quick way to get myself killed. He could be using illusion magic. Hell, he could be a she for all I knew.

Their daggers glowed with the telltale signs of a weapon buff or skill. It was a muddied purple color, I had to assume there were both offensive and defensive skills built into it. His body glowed an almost radiant yellow. No reds or blues there’s to speak of that I could see currently. Maybe a glass cannon then? That could potentially work out in my favor.

I guess it really depended on the upper level of their attack strength. If they could chop me in half with a single swing…

Actually they undoubtedly could. If I could do it, even with a uber powerful sword, then other people could with their weapons.

I couldn’t see any other hidden weapons on them, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. I’d have to fight cautiously. Rogue inclined individuals should always be considered suspects for shenanigans.

I assigned my minds their tasks preparing for the announcement that we could begin. I had an extra mind to focus on that at this point so I could start as close to him announcing it as possible.

And only a few short moments later I heard the announcer's voice causing us both to snap into action. I did my usual, sprouting flowers all over the arena to give me a full view of everything in the arena.

I also started sprouting tendrils all over in an attempt to grab or trip the short roguish individual. I also designated about 11 individual points around the arena and sparks shot out of me to rest at those points. Four went into the corners at around waist level, another four went into the same corners except about 40 feet up. I could already scale that height myself, so it wasn’t impossible for someone else to do so. I’ve also seen mages fly at tier three so it might pay off. The last three formed a tower in the middle. One at waist level again, one 20 feet up, and one 40 feet. This would provide a nice array and allow me to vary the designations accordingly. I didn’t plan to activate more than two or three at a time, but I wanted to have the option if I needed it.

I frowned a little as those were a bit more obvious than I would’ve preferred, but nothing I could really do about that now.

While I was committing to shoring up my defenses, the rogue spawned a shroud of shadow. Initially it covered the area and coated his entire body in a layer of blackness that my gaze couldn’t pierce through.

Eventually it slowly settled onto the ground and spread out occupying a good half of the arena. Once it settled on the ground it revealed the clouded form of the rogue. He was still completely covered in the voluminous shadowy cloak, but I could at least see him so I didn’t have to worry about trying to walk into an obscuring mist to be able to fight him.

However, that might’ve been easier to deal with as opposed to what happened next.

From the ground roughly a dozen forms started rising out of the shadows. Those forms took on the shape and appearance of the shadow cloaked rogue, complete with daggers as well.

They then charged and I immediately activated my new skill. A surge of lightning exploded between the two arc points and cut through two of the clones causing them to dissipate. I had one of my minds keep track of the original so I didn’t lose him in this chaos and began working to cut down the rest of the clones.

I managed to get the first two through the surprise, but the rest were fast. They immediately closed the distance between us and engaged me in melee. I manipulated tendrils of wood to funnel them and force them into one on one engagements if I could.

I exchanged a few quick blows with the first one that reached me and activated [Second Strike] in the middle of our duel. Unfortunately the clone was way faster than I had been expecting. It blocked my attack and then smoothly side-stepped the return strike from the skill. Its movements left me open to an attack from its buddy that was coming in from my side.

Thankfully I had omniscience in this cage and had seen it work its way around to flank me. I cast [Chain Lightning] from one of the tendrils I had set up towards the outer edges of the arena. I then jumped on it and rode it in behind him. I didn’t hop out of the skill as it connected with the clone and jumped from one to the next.

The first clone it connected with exploded, the rest managed to take the hit instead of dying. I waited until it shunted me out by force after hitting the fifth opponent and immediately swung into the clone with my sword carving through it. I then immediately sidestepped and moved out of the way of a downward swipe from behind me.

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Activating another section of [Conductor Points] cut me off from about 4 of the clones leaving me with… eight? That wasn’t right. There should only be four left…

What was… Ah, the dastard was bringing in more to replace the ones I defeated. This wasn’t good. I didn’t know how long he could keep this up, but he was very clearly planning to make this a fight of attrition, and if he was confident he could win I wasn’t confident I would be able to outlast him.

I fired several [Paralyzing Blasts] at him from multiple angles. One coming from me, two more coming from tendrils to form a triangular angle of attack. Immediately three clones poofed and appeared in line of the attacks and ate them, exploding into smoke. Only for the smoke to be collected and start forming back into clones again.

I grit my teeth in frustration. Why couldn’t I just have one easy fight? Like the first one I’d been in. He’d died in a single attack. I bounded forward and engaged two clones in a furious clash of blades. They could each defend and attack with their two blades while I could only do one or the other. But I could also control my tendrils, which I used to great effect in slowing their attacks by grabbing their arms, or by tripping them, sending them stumbling and allowing myself to get easy attacks in.

I wasn’t sure how much damage I really needed to do to actually destroy one of them, I assumed it had to only be a little since [Paralyzing Blast] had managed to do three of them in. But I wasn’t entirely sure either.

I darted around at high speeds activating [Dodge] to enhance my perceptions for a brief moment which gave me an advantage over them in terms of speed I carved through two of them and casted [Chain Lightning] from one of my tendrils to get me close to another one which I cut through as well shortly after [Dodge] wore off.

I bounded backwards to the edge of the arena and casted a few [Paralyzing Blasts] as it was one of the more cost-efficient aoe’s I had in this situation. It gave me a few moments to breathe and think about a course of action.

I was cutting down the shadows quickly enough, but that didn’t matter if there were an infinite amount of them that I had to deal with. I needed a way to get in close and hurt him, either force him to move or stop using this skill. But how was I going to do that when he could move a clone in the way of any attacks?

I danced between a few more clones deftly, making heavy use of my ability to see the entire arena to dodge attacks coming at me from angles I normally couldn’t see. [One With Nature] was a godsend, I wouldn’t be doing half as well as I was without my ability to see practically everything that was going on. [Parallel Minds] were a big help as well allowing me to focus on more than one opponent at a time.

I parried a few blows and gave return strikes, but nothing definitive happened and I was pressed back from the sheer number of clones building up at my location. I fired a [Chain Lightning] at the opposite end of the arena and rode it to get clear, meanwhile I began snaking a tendril of wood under the bottom of the arena.

I activated three [Conductor Points] in an attempt to stall the clones but they either just hopped or slid under it with zero hesitation. I grimaced, I had been worried about that. They were starting to get used to my attacks. And while I was starting to get used to their attacks as well, they definitely had the upper hand simply by having more numbers to work with.

I kept working the tendril of wood underneath the arena. I started summoning [Barriers] to defend against attacks I couldn’t get to in time. I would block one attack and then immediately drop that barrier and counter-attack, cutting through the clone and causing it to dissipate.

After a few clones that trick stopped working so I changed it up. I kept blocking with my barriers, but I would alternate opening up and keeping them closed. On top of that I would also alternate firing a [Chain Lightning] into their back or cutting into them with my sword. I chose each action completely at random to prevent the movements from being predicted. I also varied the directions the attacks came from. Sometimes they came from behind, others underneath, even a few from above or from directly behind me.

I started cutting them down at an alarming rate and I couldn’t help but feel a thrill of adrenaline running through my body. The precision I was fighting with, the speed, the ferocity. It was… intoxicating. Despite my life being on the line and my situation being no better, I was enjoying myself here.

I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t deny my feelings. I laughed as I twirled through the clones rapidly cutting through them, notifications ringing in my head as I fought on and on. I couldn’t keep this up forever however.

Thankfully I didn’t need to. I fired a [Chain Lightning] into the air aimed above the original. I aimed it up so he wouldn’t try to block it and then I rode it above him. I jumped out of it and at the same moment the tendril I snaked under the arena shot up and ensnared him from beneath, twirling around his whole body.

I formed a [Barrier] in the air and kicked off of it, sending myself rocketing to the ground and slammed through the shadow with my sword.

And I was met with nothing. My vision snapped to the edge of the arena where I could see where his swap had taken him. He had swapped positions with a clone. Because of course he could.

I suppressed an urge to growl and yell obscenities and instead started sprinting his way. Before I even got halfway to him I was pushed back by several clones. I cut them down even more quickly than I had the last ones and bounced backwards putting more space in between us.

I allowed a couple of my minds to take over keeping the clones whittled down with spells while I brainstormed a plan of action.

I needed to be quick, I’d run out of mana eventually, hell I was already down half and we’d barely been fighting… I wasn’t actually sure how long we’d been fighting actually. But long enough that I was starting to recognize that my body was getting tired, even if I couldn’t feel it that much anymore.

My main problem was actually covering distance across the arena. I could move fast, just not fast enough to engage before the clones got in my way. I needed a way to get to sections of the arena faster… wait.

A sinister smile bloomed onto my face as I began designating even more points across the arena in a grid like fashion. I really had to hope this worked.

The clones hesitated as the sparks flew to their positions from my body, thankfully they didn’t cost energy to just sit there and look pretty. I then activated two of the ones furthest from me and then jumped into it. My vision blurred as I was zipped across the arena to ride the spark, and then got shunted out once I hit the end of the line at the other [Conductor Point]. I grinned.

Before slowly turning to the clone master, if he was concerned about my new found capability I couldn’t see it on his face, mainly because I couldn’t see his face at all.

I activated the [Conductor Points] nearest to me and rode them and then began snapping activations with my minds and rode those ones and covered the distance to the rogue in an instant popping out and swinging. Once again I was met with a clone, but immediately I was gone again already making my way to his new location where I jumped out swinging. And this time I was met with a physical reaction as he blocked my attack.

With no hesitation I activated [Second Strike], but he smoothly stepped out of the way, his daggers blurring as numerous blows flew into me. I started snapping barriers up to block most of the attacks while I tried to parry what I could with my blade. I started rapid firing spells from all directions and activating the grid I had left on the floor in patterns to try and catch his feet.

His skill, dexterity, and agility were all higher than mine. However, it was very easy to tell that he didn’t have [Parallel Minds]. Otherwise keeping track of all these attacks would have been extremely simple for him.

Slowly but surely I started overwhelming him with my full burn of attacks as I gave no regards to mana cost at this point in time. I constantly jumped through the grid to reappear in different spots or to follow him as he traded places with a clone.

I took several deep cuts along my sides and arms that hurt really badly. But I powered through them and just relegated one of my minds to scream and bitch about the pain in the back of my head.

Slowly, more and more of my attacks started bleeding through his defenses, I also noticed that he wasn’t making as many clones anymore. In fact, he wasn’t making any to replace the ones he lost at all. Whether he couldn’t or wasn’t able to focus enough didn’t matter to me. I could taste victory at this point.

So I pressed onwards taking more and more risky attacks, exposing myself just that little bit more. I feinted in with a huge lunge that left an opening so large he couldn’t ignore it. He struck and I activated [Dodge] and jumped through the grid appearing behind him as he was still mid swing. I slammed my blade through his heart and spammed several [Chain Lightnings] from multiple directions into him and activated [Second Strike] all at once.

Whether or not he was a glass cannon or a tank, I doubt even a tier four would’ve survived the onslaught of attacks that hit him. And even if they hadn’t, a pierced heart wasn’t conducive to a long lifespan.

I waited for a short moment and was rewarded with a ping in my mind signifying the death of my opponent. I pulled my blade from his chest and caught him, laying him down on the ground gently.

A melancholy feeling overtook me, but I squashed it down. I didn’t have time to be feeling sorry for every person I killed anymore. I had my own things to worry about. My senses focused back in on the outskirts of the arena as the soldiers were cheering and being rambunctious.

I wasn’t sure if they were cheering because I won or because someone died.

But I decided to be optimistic and believe they just liked me. Even if I hated them.