Chapter Ninety Seven - 097Armored Skin is level 42!
Relentless Charge is level 11!
Shadow Whip is level 27!
Corrosive Strike is level 27!
Blind Fighting is level 22!
Dodge is level 26!
Relentless Charge allowed Felix to leap up atop the nearest building, making his already sizable jump into a gravity defying display. He was gone before the Hobgoblin woman could say much else. He didn't have time to chat, not if he was gonna stop the rest of these bugs.
There were just so many. What he had first assumed was only a handful turned out to be at least fifteen. They had somehow flown over the wall and gotten into town, evading what Felix had to assume was substantial defenses. How else could this town survive? But they didn't display their flight again, instead focusing on scurrying through streets and buildings, either climbing them or breaking right through the walls. The screams of their victims was deafening.
Felix had found a discarded cloak during his first approach and was glad for it, even if it didn't sit exactly right across his shoulders and the cowl was too big. The last thing he wanted was his face being described to Guilders or Inquisitors by a hundred different bystanders.
Felix came to a stop at the edge of another roof, his Far-Afield Boots helping keep balance on the slick tile. A street beyond, he could see another few buildings half demolished and the clik-clak of the bugs scuttling feet carried through the screams. At least thirteen people were running from two more Prismatic Wretches, the insects snapping their huge mantis claws behind them. He focused.
Voracious Eye...
Name: Prismatic Wretch
Type: Insect
Level: 35
HP: 984/984
SP: 543/899
MP: 437/610
Lore: Born as Shimmer Larva, the Prismatic Wretch spends twelve weeks devouring corpses before it can pupate into it's current form. It will pupate again after it has eaten 10,000 more.
Strength: Powerful claws, quick reflexes, and hard chiton exoskeleton.
Weakness: Their underbellies are the least defended part of their anatomy.
This one was the same as the others, almost cookie cutter copies. And like all the rest he'd anaylzed, this Wretch had some sort of aura around it. A type of Mana vapor as far as he could tell; it distorted the air around the insect, like hot air above pavement.
Okay, round three. Felix grinned and sucked in a breath and activated Abyssal Skein, fading slightly into his surroundings. The oily slick sensation of the Void crawled over his skin, and not for the first time Felix wished for a mirror to see the effect. When I get back to the inn, maybe.
He bolted along the edge of the roof, running parallel to the Prismatic Wretches. The citizens of the Dust were keeping well ahead of their claws. Felix Eyed them as he ran, noting that not a single one was above level 13. They shouldn't be fast enough to evade them....Ah, right.
Felix looked ahead and perceived the lengthy shadow of another Wretch hiding behind the corner's bend.
These bastards are pack hunters.
He couldn't waste any more time, with a final leap Felix pushed off the edge of the roof and into the air. The sound of shattering tiles exploded behind him, and he felt bad about that for a brief second. The noise caused the trailing Wretch to look up in alarm, though it clearly didn't see him.
Influence of the Wisp!
Wrack and Ruin!
Wrack and Ruin!
Prismatic Wretch is Enthralled for 2 Seconds!
Blue fire crawled across him and the Wretch in an instant, while Felix summoned two dark orbs of sizzling acid. Still falling through the air, he launched them directly at the monster's head. The first spell splashed against the creature's hardened shell, weakening it. Then the second drilled through the insect's head like a red-hot knife, sending out a wave of green ichor across the cobbles.
You have defeated a Prismatic Wretch!
You have gained XP!
Felix hit the ground with a roll, but the movement sent a blade of agony through his side and up his spine. He gasped and fell to the side, momentarily incapacitated. The sense of the oily Void vanished from his skin as he breathed, and he felt more than saw the attention of the other monster.
"F-fuck," he panted, pushing himself to his knees. "Right. No Acrobatics, idiot."
The second Wretch was already scuttling toward him, it's six legs moving far faster than it had while herding the Haarwatchers. Felix threw out his hands and conjured twin Shadow Whips that he immediately split into four separate sections. The tacky shadow-stuff tangled with the Wretch's legs and sent it floundering, it's heavy claws pulling it face first into the ground.
Wrack and Ruin!
Felix bounded to his feet and summoned another acid orb as he darted at the creature. But the damn creature had learned from its companion's demise, it rolled its body in a single fluid motion. The orb blasted into the street, tearing a furrow in the stone before its energy petered out.
"Damn it!"
Stone Shaping!
Stone Shaping!
Felix kept running but threw his left arm up as he cast the spell, sending his Mana streaming out of him in a spiralling pattern. His Fire Within barely had to work at it, the effort as easy as breathing. The rubble nearby clinked and clacked, drawn together into a massive car-sized boulder and settling into the earth this a resounding THUD.
The damn bug was tearing through his Shadow Whip, flailing it's limbs in an attempt at right itself, and Felix knew he had little time. He focused his Mana and came up behind the boulder he'd made, stretching out a hand and summoning the storm.
Reign of Vellus!
The azure lightning crackled from his body, rising from the earth to impact the boulder with a crack of thunder. The rock was launched forward at speed, hitting the Prismatic Wretch and driving it into the building opposite. All that was left was a green smear on the street.
You have defeated a Prismatic Wretch!
You have gained XP!
Reign of Vellus is level 34!
Screams sounded again as the Haarwatchers found the hiding bug, and the crash of its oversized mantis claws filled the air. Felix huffed a tired breath and took off. People scattered, running to the right and away from the measured flailing of the Prismatic Wretch. Street lamps, rare here in the Dust, illuminated the shimmering carapace of the bug and cast its shadow large upon the buildlings around it.
Just let them die, Felix. They aren't worth the trouble. Or better yet, whispered that malicious voice. Eat them.