Kade somehow weaved through the attacking falcons and survived their first combined dive with no harm.
He quickly backed himself to the chamber wall. He blocked off their option of surrounding him and striking him at a blind point. The less area he had to pay attention to, the more he could focus on retaliating.
The falcons were about to make another attempt. This time, he had a concrete plan.
Kade’s fingers twitched as he waited for the right time to take action. Two falcons would reach him first, with the others following shortly behind. Having the wall to his back screwed up their original plans quite a bit.
It was all in his favor.
Now.
Kade summoned his [Soulrend] and slammed the shaft first on the ground. The falcon screeched in alarm when the [Soulrend] blocked it from reaching him. He noticed a purple glow protecting the falcon, but didn’t care. He had already achieved his goal of summoning his [Soulrend].
He barely shifted in time to avoid the sharp talons of the second falcon. His shoulder still caught some damage since he wasn’t as fast as he needed to be, but it was an acceptable trade-off.
At the same time Kade had summoned his [Soulrend], he had thrown as hard as a punch as he could well to prepare for the second falcon. It might have caught his shoulder and left some deep gouges in it, but his fist landed directly on the underside of his body.
Ferocious flames exploded out of the injured falcon as it gave it’s all during its final death throes. The spiteful attack that attempted to take him with it into death would’ve worked with most other things, but he was stupidly immune to fires.
It gave a last indignant squawk before it disintegrated into white powder.
Five left.
The falcons that could’ve taken a few chunks of his flesh retreated instead of pressing forward. They must have gotten frightened by the sudden way he had killed the falcon.
Kade thought it was a shame. He had expected to come out of that encounter in a much worse shape. He had even planned it in order to allow himself to take out an extra falcon.
Now he had to come up with a new plan.
The falcons circled above him far longer than they ever had before. The bird-brained falcons were trying to come up with a plan of their own.
Kade subconsciously played with the [Soulrend], twirling it with these as he considered his remaining options. Leaving aside his [Soulrend], two things might guarantee him an easy victory.
However, one of those required his health to be below ten percent. The boarhide belt’s attribute would increase his [Speed] and [Dexterity] by twenty percent when he was dangerously short of health.
The problem was not getting into such a dire straight. It was doing so at the correct time, so a level-up would fully heal him before he faced the karnathis waiting for him outside.
Kade resisted the urge to close his eyes and bang his head on the wall. He never thought he would need to plan the perfect time to get dangerously injured to win the fight.
There was another option. Just be skilled enough to kill these overgrown chickens without hurting himself like a moron.
He noticed a shift in the circling pattern. They decided on their attack strategy.
Kade was prepared to perform impressive acrobatics to avoid being sliced open, but instead of seeing diving falcons, he saw them tighten the flying circle into something much smaller.
Brilliant flames pulsed around each of their bodies, exploding to the circle’s center before entering a single falcon. It looked empowered, as if it had become the incarnation of fire.
That falcon broke from the circle, screeching in triumph as it rocketed towards him.
Kade was ready. He put on a fierce expression and gripped his [Soulrend] with both hands as he aimed the blade directly at the falcon.
This will hurt.
The air around the falcon shimmered from the heat emitted from its body. The ground below its flight path lit up in flames in an impressive show of power.
Kade couldn’t help but think that the falcons were exceptionally unobservant. They would’ve noticed how unaffected he was by far otherwise.
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He put himself directly in the path of its talons. At the last second, he stored his [Soulrend] and allowed himself to be slashed open.
Warning: Your health has fallen below 10%!
Warning: You are experiencing heavy bleeding!
Kade crashed into the chamber wall with a muffled grunt. His shirt was a mess. Gashes were crisscrossing his torso as he bled heavily from them. He could have planned it better, but it didn’t matter anymore. It was too late, and it was done.
[Adrenaline Rush] active: +20% on [Dexterity] and [Speed]
He had noticed something very interesting when the falcon had gotten close to him. There was a thin tether that connected the falcon to the four that were flying the circle above. While that single falcon apparently had all the fire element power within their grasp, the other four were stuck in an almost sluggish, circling path.
Kade needed to wait for that to happen again.
He allowed the falcons to recharge undisturbed.
Warning: Your health has fallen below 5%!
The wait was almost too long. It took several minutes before the falcons pulsed. Fire rushed to the center. It all entered a single falcon again, which broke off from the group.
Kade had been about to take drastic measures since he would’ve bled out to death if he had needed to wait any longer, but once again, the bird-brained falcons proved to be seeking death.
The falcon diving at him screeched in victory, as if it had already killed him. The previous attempts’ success had given it far too much confidence—confidence that he intended to rip away.
Kade eyed the falcons circling above and noticed they were once again sluggish. Whatever they had let a single falcon borrow sapped them of speed, which gave them the most advantage over him.
He waited until the diving falcon was a second away from contact. He leaped towards the ridged pillar. A massive column of fire obliterated the spot where he had just stood and gave him plenty of cover to run up the pillar to a height that the falcons were circling.
Kade grunted as he kicked off as hard as he could, chipping the pillar underneath him as he launched himself toward the oblivious falcons.
The first went down without a clue of its life being in danger. The burst of embers from its death throes alerted the other three of an unwelcome intruder.
Kade used the body of the falcon he collided with as a jumping point right before it turned into a white powder. He slammed into the falcon following from behind before hammering his fist into its skull, eliminating it in one shot.
The falcons were fragile, and that played right to his advantage. Kade didn’t have the chance to use the second falcon as a springboard and almost fell back to the ground, but the rage of the remaining two falcons in the circle caused them to speed up to avenge their fallen brethren.
Kade backhanded the trailing falcon when it tried to snap his head off as he fell to the ground. He quickly clamped his hand around its leg before swinging himself around to get on top of its body.
Instead of immediately killing it, he waited for the second falcon chasing him to catch up. He easily stayed on the back of the falcon he was riding despite its attempts to throw him off. It had already spent far too much energy and was of no match for his strength.
The moment the second trailing falcon was close, he maneuvered the falcon below him by forcing its wings to tilt. The two falcons were side-by-side for a moment, and that’s all he needed.
Kade ruthlessly snapped the neck of the falcon he was riding before leaping onto its still-alive brethren on the side. He ignored the burst of flames from his old ride as it died before quickly locating the falcon that had unintentionally caused the deaths of its remaining brethren.
The falcon he was riding finally realized that its end was near. Unlike the previous ones he had ridden, it didn’t try to throw him off. It did something more intelligent.
It went full speed directly into the chamber wall. Given its lack of options, Kade found its determination to kill him respectable. He patted the falcon’s head, almost in congratulations, before he slammed his fist into its skull, ending its life.
Kade would’ve liked to allow it the death it desired, but he couldn’t risk reducing the falcon’s contribution to his [Arcana Level] growth if it died by crashing into a wall.
He jumped off before it turned to white powder and stepped lightly on the ridge of a nearby pillar. He couldn’t risk landing on the ground from this height with the amount of damage his body currently possessed.
Kade felt a burning sensation before the interface alerted him of the increase in [Free Points].
Free Points: 0—>1
He had leveled up.
Kade searched for the last remaining falcon and found it sitting on a pillar’s ridge on the far side of the chamber. It almost looked afraid to come near him. He was sure his rapidly recovering injuries had something to do with that.
“We both know how this ends!” Kade yelled across the chamber. “I’ll make it quick!”
The falcon somehow didn’t look convinced. It might have something to do with not understanding the language.
Kade almost felt sorry for it. But he was required to get rid of all of them, and that was what he would do.
He walked towards it leisurely. If it flew to a different spot, he could intercept it with a quick move up the pillars. Surprisingly, it didn’t do that.
The falcon puffed itself up before glaring at him furiously. It let out the louder shriek he had heard yet, his entire body turning into a molten form of itself. It looked like it was burning its life force and putting it’s all into the last-ditch attempt.
Kade would’ve wondered why the other falcons didn’t do the same, but it became obvious after it took nearly ten seconds to prepare itself. It took far too much time.
The falcon jumped off the ridge and let out another piercing screech. It rocketed towards him like a fireball, setting fire to everything around it as it flew.
It was impressive. He couldn’t deny that.
Kade could feel the heat pressing on his skin as the molten falcon got closer. It was nearly to a point where it could damage him, but unfortunately for the falcon, it wasn’t enough.
He shifted to the side to dodge its sharp talons, ignored the molten red heat, and grabbed its leg before grunting and throwing it down with tremendous force. The ground cracked under its weight before quickly liquefying from the intense heat.
The falcon screeched in anger and tried to snap its beak at his arms, but Kade grabbed it by its neck and held it still. It still fought with all it had, but he could see that it knew its end was near.
Kade roared and landed a punch so hard that it cracked the ground underneath the falcon even more. It instantly stopped struggling and became quiet.
Within a second, it became white powder.
Zero left.