Chapter Seventeen - 017Felix rolled to his feet, small cuts all over his arms and face from another exploding stone pillar.
GWAAAARRH!
What could only be described as a gorilla mixed with a rhinoceros charged at him as it screamed. Dusty brown Mana surged around the apes arms and legs as the ground rumbled. Felix threw himself to the side as a blocky pillar of stone speared out of the forest floor.
Would you QUIT IT? Felix spit, picking himself off the ground. Again.
Felix was exhausted, this battle had gone on too long. He was covered in wounds and his Stamina was dangerously low. Thankfully, the Irontooth Ape was also on the ropes.
Name: Irontooth Ape
Type: Chimera
Level: 20
HP: 120/545
SP: 151/324
MP: 5/21
Lore: A wildly aggressive chimera born of the earth. Do not taunt.
Strength: Strength and Endurance
Weakness: Agility
Well. On the ropes was subjective. It still had plenty of juice left to clobber Felix.
If it weren't for Pit's preemptive attack against the wounded Ape, it would have passed them by. But the little Tenku got aggressive. They had been fighting out in the forest for the past three days, testing their mettle against a variety of small game. They had learned how to fight well together, but not, apparently, how to cool off. Even now, Pit was snarling and hissing, flaring his small wings wider in an effort to appear menacing. The Ape turned toward Pit, clawing at the ground with a heavy paw.
"C'mon, Magilla!" Felix suddenly cried. He stood his ground and held his arms out wide. "Come and get me, you big stupid monkey!"
The Ape turned and screamed at him, blood pouring down its shoulders from several deep cuts Felix hadn't made. Something clearly had attacked this creature previously. It slammed the ground several times, making nearby trees shake. Then it charged.
The ground exploded into plumes of dark dirt and small stones, and the Ape rushed at Felix like a train. Its weakness might have been Agility, but it had serious power. It was all he could do to brace and hold up his hands, turning his thoughts toward his Mana as he activated Tides of Vellus.
Felix had spent a lot of time working on this spell, casting it with varying levels of Mana to replicate his trick against the Orit. It was tough. Moving that much Mana and changing the flow of the Skill itself was a challenge, one that bucked against him. He had spammed it countless times against the lower level beasts that Pit would hunt down, slowly but surely raising it's level. All for this.
Crackling blue light blasted outward, focused in a cone to his left, tearing up earth and roots before catching on the heavy rocks and trees around him. Felix was thrown bodily to the right, the force picking him up into the air. The Ape kept charging, it's momentum too great to stop even as its prey zipped out of reach. The Ape hit the massive rock where Felix once stood, smashing into it with the sound of an avalanche.
Smaller boulders the size of Felix's head sheared and shattered onto the ground, thoroughly entombing the raging rhino-ape. Felix stood up, brushing himself off gently. The beast seemed quiet, perhaps dead. Focusing, Felix used his Manasight on the creature. Through the swirl of green and brown Mana that flowed over nearly everything in this forest, he couldn't make out the Ape's signature earth magic.
"Huh," he breathed, still out of breath. "Wasn't expecting that. Good." At best, Felix had figured the Irontooth Ape would gravely injure itself against the rock, or at worst, smash right through it. He looked at Pit. "I barely had anything left--"
A surge of dusty brown Mana assaulted his senses, and Felix jumped backwards, just in time to avoid another earthspike as the Irontooth Ape exploded up out of the earth itself. It snarled and thrust a hand forward at him.
"AH!" Felix screamed, forced to jump repeatedly as the earthspikes erupted wherever he landed. "Bad monkey!"
Felix held out a hand and pumped a full blast Acid Stream into the Ape. Sizzling flesh splatted as the viscous green liquid sprayed onto it, and the Ape cried out pain. Felix poured everything he had left into the blow, the stream a torrent as it pummeled the beleaguered beast, pushing it back onto all fours.
With a final grunt, the Irontooth Ape fell to the ground. Dead, at last.
Dodge is level 15!
Pain Resistance is level 15!
Meditation is level 19!
Running is level 14!
Long Blade Mastery is level 6!
Acid Stream is level 15!
Tides of Vellus is level 11!
Manasight is level 10!
+2 STR
+2 INT
+1 VIT
+5 END
+1 AGL
You Have Gained A Level!
You are now Level 13!
+3 to WIL! +2 to INT! +4 to DEX! +1 to END! +2 to PER! +2 to VIT! +4 to AGL!
You Have 5 Unused Stat Points!
Your Companion, Pit Has Gained A Level!
+2 VIT! +2 PER! +4 AGL! +4 DEX! +3 WIL! +1 END! +2 INT!
You Have Earned A Title!
Work Horse (Rare)!
You have pushed your body to the limit, drawing every measure of Stamina until you collapsed. Then you did it again. +4 END, STR, +3 VIT
Felix collapsed onto the ground, drained. Pit flopped down next to him, blood coating his normally lustrous fur. Felix stretched out a hand and scratched him under the chin, too tired to move more than that.