Shin darted through pointed magic missiles. His arms long and muscular with gray fur peeking out of the ends of his sleeves at the back of his purple hands tipped with sharp black nails. His hair gray and coarse with fur running down his neck and a purple tinge on the skin around his eyes.
He had more Strength, more Vitality, more Constitution, and a lot more Dexterity in this form. Unlike Spirit Possession, his personal stats did not decrease if the invoked stats were lower, so it could only be a benefit. But it came at a steep cost of 60 mana per minute. At his current amount he could only sustain an Invoke for less than 11 minutes, and that was without the cost of using other skills. It was not something meant for a long battle.
More magic missiles spun and curved towards him, forcing him to make use of the Dodge skill with his self imposed prohibition of Rapid. A small fire at his blindspot forced him to dart away as it burst into a blaze and he swatted his hand, shattering a firebolt into the air. Using Kong’s skill, it was as if it were his own, and thus cost merely half of the aura his cobalt sword took.
But the split second it took to destroy the attack gave his opponent enough time to follow up. Shin turned to the stream of flames barreling down on him and held out his hand. The firestream surged into his hand and split into several threads sailing around him. The flames charred his hands and singed his fur, but not enough to outspeed his cure wounds and not enough to overcome the Mana Eater trait sapping the energy from the fire and restoring his own.
The flames stopped and he darted to the side again, away from the invisible Grasp, bounding towards the mage. Mana flashed around Yen’s body for a brief moment and she took to the sky with speed and grace, moving freely as she shot another firebolt down at him. The spell exploded on the ground fiercely as Shin appeared in the air beside her.
He swung his ape like fist shattering the armament skill and a burst of destructive flames exploded around her. Shin swung his fist again and a portion of the sphere of Flame Nova broke before him. A force held him in place mid air and a second nova surged out. Shin blinked back to the ground and the transformation dissipated into the wind, leaving behind his normal form.
[Invoke has reached lvl. 10. 100 Attribute Points reward.]
[Requirements for class upgrade achieved.]
‘Spirit Caller. Onmyoji. Battlemage. Mystic.’
[Achievement: Skill Upgrade II. 50 Attribute Points rewarded.]
‘Upgrade 20 skills.’
[Class has upgraded to epic tier Onmyoji. 100 Attribute Points rewarded.]
[Acquired epic tier skill Ward.]
Shin glanced over the skill briefly, one that allowed him to create a large barrier around an area, the shape of which he could choose at will, before moving onto his option. He knew exactly what he wanted.
[Acquired epic tier skill Soul Fusion.]
A skill that allowed him to fuse two monster souls together to enhance the winner of the struggle or create an entirely new monster. Something he desired for the sake of his bonds but not a skill he could use now. There had to be some risk and at level one that risk was too great. He needed to test and leveling it on others before his own.
“Done?” Yen floated down next to him, hovering in the air.
“Yeah.”
“Good. Cutting it close you know.”
“How long do you need?” Shin asked.
“Three hours. Hey, you two be ready in three hours!” Yen called out to the others.
“Been ready.”
Kamala didn’t respond but she didn’t have to. No one thought for a second she was the type to enter danger underprepared when the choice was there.
“Right, so, kill Cesar, run the drake 8 more times, kill the last boss, that’s the plan yeah?”
“If someone hasn’t beaten it first…” Yen continued at Donny’s inquiring look. “This stage is all connected. The final boss might not be spawnable like the others, it could be just one. If we can do it now, a full party had to have done it already.”
“Guess we’ll find out when we go through.”
“That’s not good enough. If I ranked higher than Kamala even through she was a higher class and rank, then the system puts a ton of value in achievements, especially Boss Slayer. We need to make sure we get in the top 100.” She sighed before turning to Shin. “What’s your weird feeling saying about this?”
“Don’t know.”
“Great. Probably did all this for nothing…”
“What’s with all the negativity? If someone’s got to it first, we just need to kill them and we’re on top.”
“Are you smart or stupid, I can’t tell sometimes.”
“If it has already been defeated, we will need to form an alliance with others to fight them.” Kamala walked out of her grove. “There are some with powers we cannot match at the moment and that number has likely increased.”
“Even with Shin?” Yen seemed doubtful.
“Yes.”
“My patron said there’s someone I’m not supposed to fight.” Shin added.
“Fuck…” Yen’s stress seemed to grow a bit worse, and she glanced at Kamala. “You going to tell us what skills you got now?”
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“...a golem creature made of plants and a trait that improves affinity and potency of plant based abilities.”
“A trait?” Yen pressed. “Why would you do that, it’s a waste of potential at this tier?”
“It is the most useful to me now.”
“It’s fucking shortsighted.” Yen snapped. “...what did you pick for your rank reward?”
“Summon Malakh…”
“Are you serious?! That’s something you could have gotten from your class from low tier shit. These rewards are a goldmine to pick something you can’t normally get!”
“It was the strongest nonthinking close combat summon of that tier.” Kamala declared calmly as she walked straight up to Yen with an intensity from her cold stoicism. “Making naive decisions is how fools make things more difficult for themselves.”
Yen balked a little under the pressure Kamala exuded, averting her eyes. “...optimal choices builds the foundation to be stronger than anyone… There’s nothing wrong with my way.” Yen looked ahead with renewed assertiveness.
“You were being chased through the woods at the start.”
Yen’s head snapped back towards the boy who had betrayed her so egregiously, then tentatively back to the priestess’ whose expression emotionlessly looking down from above emanated such silent judgement she couldn’t find the words to respond.
“Well, all that aside, we should coming up with a plan to deal with our first problem.”
“The watchtower man said he’ll get others to fight Cesar too.”
“When did you set that up?”
“Yesterday.”
“Trust him?”
“Not really.”
“Even if he does come through, it’s going to be on us. Kamala wall off the goons, your spirits make some noise to keep them busy, and we rush the man. If Cesar’s dead the rest will fall apart. Sound good?”
“Yeah.”
“Yes.”
“Good enough…”
“Alright. Just need to wait now then.”
----
The party stood at the entrance, ready for a fight.
[Human Onmyoji (epic) - Intermediate Lord]
[Human Pyromancer (epic) - Intermediate Lord]
[Human Grand Knight (epic) - Intermediate Lord]
[Human Forester (epic) - Intermediate Lord]
Shin passed through with the others right behind and glanced in the direction of the gate. “They’re waiting.”
“Right into it, then.”
The four walked calmly through the quiet town towards a crowd of nearly a hundred with a dark blond man at the helm bearing his usual cocky smile with an air of calmness and a subtle cold glint in his eyes.
“Need something, mate?”
Cesar looked at each of them in silence. “I do. You four, are going to take me to the center.”
“Bit late in the stage to get started now.”
“It wasn’t a suggestion. You have room for six so you will take six.” Cesar walked off and all but the five who followed behind stepped aside, making a path for the gate.
The party shared a few looks and began to move, Donny and Shin placing themselves at the flanks, keeping an eye on the eerily quiet crowd. They passed through the gate without incident and continued trailing Cesar’s party, two men shooting steady glances back at them. The six came to a stop just before the dungeon amidst the tension and Cesar turned back.
“Need to be in the same group, no?”
Shin sent the invitations and three others besides the women Cesar kept at his side nodded towards town lord.
“Let’s go in together.”
Shin walked nonchalantly by Cesar’s side, not a trace of worry on his face. Cesar smiled and they entered the portal at the same time. Shin looked back from the entrance as the rest trailed in after a few moments, first the two women, then the remaining three on each side, sticking to the edge their leaders had crossed through, joining up.
“Lead the way.”
The party glanced at Shin before taking his glance in return as an answer, heading on ahead of him, Donny at the head and Shin bring up the rear. The full party of ten passed through the empty cavern and through to the end of the next tunnel with the same dozen intermediate drakes as usual. An estoc and axe found Shin’s hands and Donny took notice.
“It’s a long trip.” Donny told Cesar. “Be a lot faster if everyone pitches in.”
Cesar paused for a moment then nodded to two of the men and they stepped forward.
“Alright, regular drill. Clear out the horned first.” Donny told the casters.
Angel Wings spread from Kamala’s back and Yen floated off the ground, both soaring out of the tunnel. A firebolt blasted a horned drake dead, leaving only the guard and regulars. Shin and Donny darted away, felling drakes as the two Cesar signalled joined in. The guard drake slammed its tail into the ground as Shin dodged and his body flickered, saber in hand beheaded one of the goons. The other turned just before the immense force of Donny’s charge turned him into a mangled corpse. Yen shot a firebolt at Cesar and one of the women raised a hand shooting back a similar darker bolt, the two colliding in a meld of orange and blackened flames.
The bodies of the four remaining morphed in an instant, changing into ghastly beings from the pits of hell. The man in front into a hulking winged gargoyle creature similar to the demon Shin had faced before and the two women into hauntingly beautiful demon eyed beings with black feathered wings, one armored and bearing a flaming whip the other in cloth firing another bolt at Yen who dodged it by a hair. Cesar himself turning into a horned red skinned humanoid, lean and muscular like an orc with monstrous protruding fangs.
“Kill them!” Cesar roared, his brutal face hiding none of the frustration of falling victim to ambush.
The leathan burst towards Donny swinging a greataxe down on his shield to the reverberating gong of Fortress. A concussive force erupted from Donny’s feet, knocking the demon off guard and a massive impact sent him crashing into the wall. The leathan rose, its stonelike chest cracked heavily but the strength from its grip on the axe didn’t lessen. Donny rushed in, thrill starting to find his face.
Vines and roots surged from the ground at the armored demoness and were pruned by her flaming whip like a knife through butter. More spread forth to take their place but the rapid lashes carved them all away. Roots shot up around the demon and hardened in an instant. The demon started to struggle as long thorns skewered it from all sides. The demon spasmed for a moment then laughed as her whip flurried around her, carving away the roots and she took to the air.
Yen soared through the air dodging dark firebolts and mana blasts. The demoness glared in utter hatred then with a thought bore a malicious smile and pointed her hand at Kamala. Yen aimed her focus and the dark firebolt shot out shattered away in midair. A blur caught her eye as she glanced back to the demoness flying towards her.
Yen started to focus her mana and fear found her face. Her senses returned just in time to cast a mana wall in front. The hellfire bolt broke through and exploded on her, Yen hurling out of the flames. The mystic armor around her holding up but her mind dazed from the impact.
“You should have known your place!” The demoness charged and Yen’s expression grew fierce.
Shin flickered in front of Cesar, a tremor raging in his palm and blinked away as Cesar’s cutlass sliced the air at lightning speed. His shug form faded in an instant and Shin blitzed forward again twice as fast with the speed of quicken, just barely rolling away from the blade slashing down.
“You should have just led us there. You would have lived.” A rugged monstrous voice led Cesar’s charge, the speed of his attacks forcing Shin on the defensive. Shin leaned back from a slash at a bad angle and Cesar swung his sword in an instant. A buckler found Shin’s arm as he started to move and Cesar sneered, a burst of hellfire enveloping Shin in an instant and the blade followed.
His sneer fell at the clang of his sword deflecting away as Shin in a white fox mask emerged from the flames unscathed and struck the horned demon with a vicious condensed tremor, sending him cratering into the cavern wall, his torso gravely injured. He darted away as golden holy fire crashed in the wall behind and Shin’s invoke faded away again as he charged.
“Return!” Cesar roared but his commands fell on ears that could not obey. Donny tore his axe from the leathan’s head. Kamala hovered in the air above the armored demoness’ impaled body. And Yenny soared towards them, her opponent’s body a burnt and broken corpse. Cesar took one look and fled back out through the portal, with Shin following right behind. And the three remaining charging after.