[ Aero ]
Acolyte
Wind Shield
46
From the moment he fought and escaped his first encounter with a flying valkyrie, Dream had been contemplating ways to defeat such opponents should he face another one in the future. He knew it was only a matter of time before he encountered another aerial foe, and he was determined to be better prepared.
One of the ideas he had considered was equipping himself with wings made of Odo. Although it would heavily tax his Odo reserves, it seemed like a viable option to level the playing field against flying adversaries. However, Dream had never put this plan into action for two primary reasons.
Firstly, he was still trapped in the gray wasteland, where airborne creatures ruled the sky. Attempting to fly with makeshift Odo wings in such an environment would be risky and ill-advised.
The second reason, and perhaps the primary one for his decision not to, at least not yet, stemmed from prior experimentation. Although he didn't truly achieve full flight in the conventional sense, Dream had previously attempted to grow Odo wings on his back as part of an effort to mimic the valkyrie's flying abilities. He quickly realized that true flight, as the valkyries achieved, wasn't solely due to wing strength. The key to their aerial prowess lay in the golden, dusty residue they produced with each wing flap, which was, as one could guess, composed of Odo.
Dream, as an Odo-wielder, knew how to create this golden dust-like residue. It did require a lot of O.P to produce, but he definitely knew how to do it. He did know how to use it; however, he was still a novice when it came to how to properly wield and use it. In a battle against a valkyrie who had spent a lifetime perfecting this art, he knew he would be at a severe disadvantage. So, against the Level 90 valkyrie before him, Dream chose to remain grounded on familiar battlegrounds, where he could employ the tools he was most familiar with to the fullest.
The valkyrie's assault continued as she unleashed another of her sword-thrusting attacks from midair. Dream, reacting swiftly, dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the deadly blade. Yet, the valkyrie was unrelenting, immediately following up with another attack. Then again another, followed by yet another. Then another.
[ Aero ]
Acolyte
Wind Shield Lvl.2
116.42
The golden dusty particles that she used to form replicas of herself, which she hurled forward, operated differently from the ones she used to fly, on a couple of levels it reminded him of some of his aero-mantra.
Dream, being an Odo user himself, had a basic understanding of the principles behind this technique. However, he knew that replicating it would be a challenging feat.
Realizing that the battle was taking a dire turn for him if he allowed this to go on, Dream wasted no time and immediately summoned his aero-elementals before unleashing them at the hovering valkyrie.
[ Aero ]
Novice
Hurricane Slash Lvl.1
142
With a swift motion, he summoned his power and unleashed [Hurricane Slash], conjuring a gigantic wind blade that hurtled toward the valkyrie just as she was about to unleash another of her thrusting dust-like replicas.
The valkyrie, seeing the enormous wind blade approaching at breakneck speed, flapped her wings, not to evade the blade but to meet it head-on. She shifted her initial stance to a cleaving one and, with a powerful flap of her wings, plunged forward to confront Dream's wind blade with her golden sword.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
With a resounding clash, the valkyrie's golden blade met the hurricane slash, and to Dream's surprise, she successfully cleaved through it with a powerful whoosh.
“Freak,” Dream mumbled with an amazed yet frustrated grin on the corner of his lips as he watched the valkyrie cleave through his Hurricane Slash Lvl.1 with relative ease.
“What the—”
Dream was about to follow up with a more powerful Hurricane Slash when suddenly, the valkyrie made several swings in the air, sending ripples of golden blade-like particles whistling through the atmosphere in Dream's direction.
Startled by the unexpected attack, Dream hastily gathered his Aero-Elementalis to form a protective barrier around himself. The golden blade particles struck the barrier with tremendous force, causing it to shimmer and ripple under the impact.
As the valkyrie took advantage of the momentary distraction caused by her barrage of golden blade-like particles to close the distance between herself and Dream, he quickly dismissed his protective barrier. With a sense of urgency, he summoned his Electro-Elementalis, forming a pulsating aura of electricity around him.
Dream had learned a valuable lesson from his previous encounter with a flying valkyrie: a safe distance was crucial. In his book, as a mage, a good, living valkyrie was one that was at least twenty meters away from him. While his current stats suggested that he was more of an odo-wielder than a mage, he was not about to make the same mistake again. The further he was from his opponents, the better it was.
“No, you don’t.”
[ Electro ]
Acolyte
Lightning Torrent.Lvl.2
233
With the valkyrie closing in on him, Dream unleashed a powerful electric attack that sent countless lightning tendrils shooting towards the diving valkyrie. However, the valkyrie, displaying her adept aerial maneuvering skills, skillfully evaded the lightning tendrils and managed to reach the ground a dozen meters away from Dream.
But she didn't waste any time. As soon as she landed, she immediately flapped her wings and closed in on Dream once more.
“What did I say!” Dream barked at the charging valkyrie. He swiftly summoned his aero-elementalis, but instead of opting for an electro attack or an aero blade, he chose a different tactic.
[ Aero ]
Acolyte
Wind Blitz.Lvl.4
291
With urgency in his actions, Dream unleashed [Wind Blitz], an intensified version of Unrelenting Surge, which itself was an advanced form of Unrelenting Wave, greatly favored by Dream for both its wide range of effect and powerful knockback effect. As the mantra enveloped the area, the valkyrie rushing toward him was halted in her charge, if not outright knocked backward. Seizing the opportunity he had just created for himself, Dream quickly summoned his electro-elementalis, ready to follow up on his advantage.
Dream unleashed a Thunder Spear, sending a lance of lightning flying at the valkyrie. She was unable to evade it and was left with no choice but to panickedly use her wings as a shield. The spear struck her, and she was knocked back several meters. Although she had been hit, she was far from defeated, as her wings had managed to absorb most of the damage.
“Tsk,” Dream muttered in frustration. “I should've expected that.” He summoned Odo spears around him, preparing to hurl them at the valkyrie. However, before he could release them, she flapped her wings and ascended powerfully into the air. Dream, having already summoned the spears, unleashed them at the valkyrie, but every single one missed its target as she executed countless airborne maneuvers.
In the end, as Dream ran out of Odo spears to hurl, the valkyrie hovered in midair, her wings flapping with a metallic noise, and she stared down at Dream from her elevated position.
As the valkyrie hovered in midair, a tense silence hung between the two opponents. Dream couldn't help but break the silence with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“What happened, did simply 'observe' become your strategy, Miss Guardian Valkyrie?” he quipped.
The valkyrie, still hovering above, responded, her voice steady, “I could say the same for you... Earlier, I sensed panic in your eyes when I closed in on you. Are you that afraid of me?”
“Panic? Afraid, me?” Dream burst into laughter, finding the idea of him being afraid quite absurd. However, amidst his laughter, he suddenly realized something, causing his mirth to abruptly subside.
“What is she saying… that can't be true. I'm supposed to not feel fear. That is why he gave me the system, because of how impermeable I was to that emotion,” Dream thought.
“No,” he muttered, trying to deny the unsettling truth.
“She might be right? No. Not just might be. She is,” he admitted to himself, the weight of his revelation sinking in.
“I was afraid… I felt fear.”
In that moment, Dream reached into his chest and once again burst into laughter, but it was a laugh laced with irony and disbelief.
“How? Since when exactly? Just how long did I go without noticing anything?” he wondered aloud, his mind racing to make sense of this new awareness. “Does that mean that Suraxai made a mistake about me? No... that wouldn't be his first. I feel fear.”
Looking at the valkyrie with newfound clarity and a sense of pride, Dream replied, “That's right. I feel fear.”
The valkyrie, puzzled by Dream's reaction, couldn't help but ask, “You look proud of that?”
Dream smiled faintly. “I am. And I would like to thank you for making me realize that. But we are still in the middle of something, aren't we? So let's put an end to it,” he said, summoning both his electro-elementalis and aero-elementalis, ready to continue and ultimately finish the battle.