Chapter 103 – Floor 9: Part 24
Mathew’s sudden attack left everyone off guard, and he was nearly on Osmund before they recovered.
The Blood Sorcerer, whose magic was competing against the healing elixirs trying to heal Mathew’s body, raised his hands and prepared his magic in response to Mathew’s mace sweeping toward him.
“Blood Glyph of Warding!” Osmund shouted, his magic responding to his dire need for protection. A blood-red mist rose from around him, forming a barrier with a brightly glowing rune in the center.
Mathew’s mace struck the barrier with an earth-shattering force but rebounded. The barrier didn’t escape unscathed. The blow scattered the mist and left Osmund unprotected. Mathew stumbled backwards, off balance and weak.
“Enough of this bullshit! Kill them all!” Mercy shouted.
The area, which had been relatively calm since the Lords and Ladies of Lightmore had fled, erupted into violence once more. To Mathew, he had only a single purpose in mind. The Blood Sorcerer needed to be removed from the battle if he hoped to recover.
Whatever magics were at work on his wounds were constantly counteracting the potions he had taken. He wouldn’t die, but Mathew needed all of his strength if he and the others would survive this fight against the Lower Ranks.
“Rabid dogs should be put down!” Osmund screamed, punctuating his statement with a sharp jab of his finger toward Mathew. A black streak of light materialized in front of the Sorcerer and streaked in Mathew’s direction.
“Enfeeble the Blood!” Osmund yelled the name of the curse. Mathew, still off balance and too weak to dodge, could only watch the attack rush at him.
“Bulwark!” The ground rumbled and split apart in front of Mathew. A pillar of earth rose, and the streak of darkness that Osmund summoned slammed into it. The pillar turned black and decayed, turning the hardened earth into dry and blackened sand.
Aster appeared to the side of Osmund, her lance piercing toward the Blood Sorcerer like a flash of light. Even Osmund, who was at a higher level than the Lancer, couldn’t respond in time to such a lightning-fast attack.
The silver head of the lance pierced the Blood Sorcerers side and Osmund screamed as he stumbled backwards and slapped a hand over the wound.
Before Aster could follow up on the attack, a bloodied hand rose out of the ground and tried to grab her. The young woman leaped backwards out of the way and landed back on her feet near Mathew. Osmund laughed, his teeth stained red with blood.
“So close.” The Blood Sorcerer mocked. The Bloody Hand turned to a mist and swirled around Osmund’s feet before flowing up his robes and into the wound on his side. The injury healed, and the Blood Sorcerer stood upright, uninjured and ready to fight.
“It’s not polite to interrupt, Lady Aster. Perhaps I should teach you manners.” Osmund said.
Gripping the staff with one hand, he ran his other over a sharp edge of the ruby at the top. Slicing through his palm, Osmund let the blood drip onto the ground before gesturing widely with his palm, scattering the crimson liquid all around him.
“Sanguine Fire.” Osmund whispered, and an inferno burst forth from the blood he had scattered on the ground. Aster was forced backwards, shielding her face with her arm as she used her mana to protect her skin from the sudden heat.
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Mathew wasn’t so lucky. His mana was depleted. He had used the lace dregs of it to hurl the dagger that struck Ludvig; he had no means to protect himself from the flames. He screamed as the heat burnt his flesh, the ends of his hair caught on fire, and he could hardly draw enough of the superheated air to breathe.
“Mathew!” Aster shouted, seeking to protect him as well, but she was pushed back, and Osmund flicked more blood into the flames, causing them to leap higher and burn hotter.
No one could help them; the others were busy with their own opponents, and Aster could see the battle wasn’t going well for her allies. Even with their superior numbers, they couldn’t easily overcome the gap in power between the Upper and Lower Ranks.
Mathew felt like he was on fire; the heat was so extreme that it was baking the muddy ground hard. Even with the enhancements to his Body stat that the Mace of Righteous Subjugation gave him, he was weakening.
The pain of his wound, still present even with the potions coursing through him, prevented him from regaining his mana. Mathew couldn’t access any of his Blessings; he couldn’t ‘Catapult’ a weapon at Osmund or even attempt to control the magical flames the Blood Sorcerer summoned.
“So weak. Poor Mathew, are you reconsidering the offer?” A voice whispered, so faint that it could have been his imagination. Images of Emily flashed through his mind, accompanied by others who needed him.
“I won’t fall here.” Mathew growled. He forced his eyes to open against the heat and glare of the fire. Gripping the mace in his hands tightly, Mathew let out a growl as he took a step forward. The pain intensified, but he took another.
Osmund smirked while he watched Aster retreat against his magical fire. He flicked his bleeding hand to stoke the fire while building the mana inside him for his next attack. The flames were adequate for giving him some breathing room and driving back the hated Lancer, but he would need more in order to defeat her.
Then, he would have his fun. Osmund could already picture the experiments he could conduct with a high-level player like her. The locals here were fine if used in bulk, but there was truly nothing like a Player’s blood for conducting his rituals.
Osmund licked his lips, filled with anticipation, when something moved within the fires.
Mathew charged through the flames, his skin burned black in places. He moved like a man possessed, the mace in his hands raised high as he screamed against the agony. Osmund was taken aback at the unexpected development, and that hesitation cost him dearly.
Mathew leapt forward, the Mace of Righteous Subjugation swinging toward the Blood Sorcerer. With a ‘crack,’ the mace struck Osmund’s red robes. For a moment, the magical enchantment in the article of clothing held back the attack before they collapsed and Osmund was sent flying backwards.
The Blood Sorcerer skidded and rolled across the ground before coming to a stop. The flames that were being maintained by his magic winked out of existence, and Mathew could finally feel the effects of the potions begin to work.
Lowering his mace, Mathew pulled another potion out of his inventory and pulled the cork with his teeth. He spat it out onto the ground and chugged the potion before tossing the empty bottle. Hefting the mace, Mathew looked around.
“Now…who’s next?”
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“Storm Sphere!” Alivia shouted as she pulled the card from her deck and hurled it into the air in front of her. The card shimmered with light, drawing on the mana and Aether from the world around them to fuel its magic.
The card disappeared, and an orb the size of a house appeared in its place. Like a snow globe containing all of the fury of a thunderstorm inside of it, Alivia pushed against it with her mana to send it flying toward her opponent.
“HAHAHA, is that the best you have? I was born in a storm!” Lucas bellowed. The Brigand threw his axe down onto the ground at his feet and braced himself with both of his arms forward, palms outward.
The Storm Sphere reached him in a moment, and rather than absorb and surround him with its fury, Lucas gripped it as if it were as solid. His hands glowed with light, and he laughed as the storm began to calm.
“I like this! I think I’ll take it for myself!” Lucas said. The power of his Discipline, ‘Brigand,’ allowed him to steal the abilities and Blessings of others and use them for himself.
The Storm Sphere held for a moment before collapsing. In his hands, Lucas held the card that had once belonged to Alivia.
“Ahhh, too bad. There’s a lot of good Aether in this! It would be a shame to waste it!” Lucas said before popping the card in his mouth and chewing. Alivia watched in disgust as the fat man swallowed the card and belched loudly like the crack of thunder.
She could feel him absorb the mana and Aether within the card, growing stronger from her loss.