Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Eight - 128Felix had thrown the eel creature (a level 43 Veelo), and was delighted to see it coil instinctively around the Initiate. Yanked from the cold water below, it had struggle mightily against Felix's Shadow Whip, and now it's gasping fear became a surge of panicked strength. Its scales were broken in a few places, but they were still plenty sharp. It's body was gouging lines of smoking light from the incredible phantom armor the guy was wearing.
It's like he's a mecha pilot. The Initiate was safely suspended in the center of the conjuration, and based on how he was fighting off the eel creature's constriction, it also afforded him enhanced Strength and Endurance. If not more. No way that's less than Epic rarity.
While the Initiate struggled with the Veelo, Felix fought down his transformation. Slowly, over perhaps five seconds, the Skill pushed back. He bore down on it, applying his Willpower against it, and with a burst of transcendent pain his arms and hands reverted. Fangs fell with a muted clatter onto the bridge, and Felix finally glanced at his friends. They were battered and wounded, their armor covered in scorch marks and no little blood. They looked beaten to hell but were still standing, somehow.
"You guys okay?"
"We are, ah. Excellent." Vess looked at him with bright eyes and spun her spear, though she winced. Four more spun sympathetically, ten feet above her head. He didn't miss how her eyes slid the length of his arms, curiously. How much did she see?
"Just waiting on you," Evie quipped. She wiped a trickle of blood from her hairline and straightened her shoulders. "We gonna finish this or do you have more fish you wanna throw?"
Felix smiled and shook his head, trying to ignore the rumbling in his guts. The golden arrow's Mana still roiled in him, sending strange, golden sparks through his core flame. He wasn't sure what was happening. By this point, he'd usually been able to gain a Skill or Memory, but neither had occurred. He tried to ignore it for the moment.
They had other things to worry about.
Voracious Eye.
Felix tried to push past the wall that blocked his Skill, bashing into it with the hammer of his Will. Chips went flying, but the wall remained. Still, he was able to pull free one fact; the name Crell Sovos.
Two Apprentice Tiers and one Beginner on the cusp against a Journeyman. Felix swallowed, watching as Crell's Mana armor slowly ripped the Veelo apart. The massive eel covered over half of the giant warrior, and Felix detected more than a little pained panic in its eyes. We can do this, right?
Wrack and Ruin!
Felix summoned a dark orb of acid and launched it at the Initiate. It flew true, but splashed harmlessly against the panels of shimmering Mana.
That's not gonna work. I'll have to get in close.
"Evie, Vess, can you two still dodge his attacks?" He looked at them, sure they would say no. They both nodded, though.
"That Skill of his is immensely strong, but slow," Vess offered, leveling her spear. Four more hovered above her, bobbing slightly. "If we are fast we can strike effectively."
Evie nodded to hide a grimace. "We got this. Just don't get hit, right?"
"We'll hit him from all sides, then. Evie, take the right. Vess, the left. I'll take him head on. Unfettered Volition." Felix burst forward, his stride so smooth he was almost gliding over the rubble strewn bridge.
"He has grown confident," he heard Vess say, followed by a snort by Evie. But then he closed with the enemy.
The Veelo finally gave up the ghost as Felix approached. The Initiate's magical mecha triumphantly ripped its arms through the wet flesh of the eel's corpse. He felt a small trickle of the beast's power enter his core.
You Have Defeated a Veelo!
You Have Gained XP!
"You dare! You common gutter trash!" His face twisted into a smirk. "That you survived that fall is impressive, but you'll not survive me!"
Crell sneered at him from within his transparent shell and drew the massive, conjured sword at his hip. The blade was easily six feet long and a foot wide. A greatsword made for a giant. Felix had experience with giants.
And so did his friends.
A length of chain zipped in from the right, rotating so fast it buzzed, and drilled into the Initiate's upper arm. The conjured armor was broken there, but there were still several layers before someone could hit the Redcloak hiding inside. Instead it chipped away at the golden light, casting off shards that turned to mist. Crell grunted and swung at the chain, taking some minor damage on his construct's fist but easily knocking it aside.
Back exposed for a moment, two silver spears raced into it, followed an instant later by the black cloaked Vess and her main spear. Crell shouted in surprise, but she leaped explosively backwards, speeding through the air to land nimbly back where she'd started. The spears burst in a flurry of air Mana, localized windstorms that chipped apart yet another section.
Fully distracted, Felix rushed up on the man and lashed out.
Influence of the Wisp!
Corrosive Strike!
Reign of Vellus!
Blue-white fire flickered briefly around the Initiate before failing, but Felix landed a solid, heavy blow on the bastard's midsection. With a sparking trail of electricity, he hit with Corrosive Strike and Reign of Vellus at almost the same time. It hurt like hell, though, and felt like his bones were splitting apart. The Redcloak was sent stumbling three steps back. Crell's face was the picture of shock.
"You are the Fiend," he gasped and felt at his abdomen. A gash in his armor leaked a hazy golden vapor.
Felix looked down and saw that his hands had shifted and blackened again. Wicked talons showed.
"Too bad for you," Felix said, and flared his Will.
Unfettered Volition!
Aenda twitched her fingers, barely moving so as to complete the illusion of her death. Niall twitched right back, confirming her plan. The two of them had been beaten soundly by the heretics, but Aenda's increasing mastery over light magic gave her some utility with illusions. She wasn't as hurt as she appeared, and Niall...
...well, he wasn't dead, at least.
An unholy racket sounded behind them, just out of eye shot. It sounded like a dire struggle, the clash of steel and Mana constructs clear to her senses. But that made no sense. Initiate Crell was Journeyman Tempered, far above the heretics in terms of stats. How did they still survive?
What foul magics did they possess?
Aenda added another layer of flames to her spell, pulling its heat and combustion tighter. Compressing it. She feared the capabilities of these heretics, feared that the both of them only had one more strike in them before it was over. So she was gonna make it a good one.
What she was attempting was extremely dangerous. She was skirting the edge of acceptable Mana Skill usage. In her desperation Aenda was altering her Searing Bolt in a way that felt terribly close to dreaded Sorcery. There was a...hum to the air, something that she held tight to as she wove fire over flame, condensing her focused bolt into a truly fearsome weapon. But, Sorcery or not, Aenda would not die without taking at least one of the heretics with her.
After condensing the fire, it was so dense it was almost like a jelly. Its very presence warped the air, and it was all she could do to hide its presence and herself. Her illusion magic was at the Beginner levels, only just enough, yet still she was burning through her Mana. She was nearly empty, and as her headache worsened Aenda sensed one of the women land within range.
She made her move.
"Ascend into the Light!" Aenda cried as she stood and began to release her coin-sized ball of flame. "Die--"
*HURGK*
Aenda tottered on her feet and looked down. A...a blade was sticking out of her chest. It...it came from...behind her..? Distantly, the Acolyte heard Niall stand and shout, but soon it was just a rush in her ears. Not even the nearby concussion of her altered Skill cut through the thickening silence. She felt all the heat within her leech outward and her vision darkened.
What...what happened?
As she fell, she saw a boy leap down from the ladder. He scurried toward her, another long knife in his hand. It's blade a match for the one in her chest.
Why...? Pathless...why?