Raze (The Completionist Chronicles Book 4)

by Dakota Krout

  *Ssssit* Poppy’s rapier went right through his target, the armor-piercing effect of his class and weapon causing the otherwise frail creature to fall and spasm in its death throes after a single attack. Conversely, the first arrow that Alexis sent at one of the bugs skittered off and nearly damaged Bard. Seeing the issue, she switched over to a stiletto and prepared to defend herself if the creatures got too close.

  “Hold them off while Poppy finishes them!” Joe spoke over the quiet scuffle happening on the sand, not needing to get anywhere near shouting.

  “How abou’ ya focus?” Bard growled at him, fending off another stinger. He had managed to smash the pincer that had gripped him, though he was heavily bruised under his armor. Jaxon rolled forward and to the left of the scorpion he had been straddling and collapsed on to the ground. The bug also fell, its head entirely caved in.

  “That’s… how it’s done.” Jaxon was breathing heavily, and black lines were tracing his veins. “Entomologist, baby! Down with bugs of all kinds!”

  “Heal!” Joe sent an orb of healing water at Bard and then rushed to Jaxon’s side. “Cleanse!”

  Black water spun in Joe’s hands, flooding out of him and into the gaping wound on Jaxon’s back. Thick liquid started to pool out of the Monk’s back, causing secondary damage as it touched his skin. “Corrosive poison? Now I get why my acid didn't even phase that nasty bug.”

  Poppy lunged forward again, creating a picture-perfect thrust with one arm extended behind him. Another scorpion down. Bard and Alexis worked together to fell the one that had been trying to re-establish a grip, and all of a sudden, they were alone amongst corpses. Jaxon shuddered as Joe's work continued. As the last of the poison left him and red blood began flowing from the deep stab wound, Joe used his Lay on Hands spell and fixed the damage.

  “Looks like you’re gonna need to get your gear fixed up, Jaxon.” Joe touched the ragged hole in the Monk’s robe. “Unless you know how to sew?”

  “No, too expensive of a skill for me to learn.” Jaxon sat up and smiled around at the group. “Anyone else not get experience yet?”

  “Are we still in combat?” Poppy whipped around, looking for danger. The others, who had been relaxing after the event, went back on high-alert and grouped together. Since it was a very dark night around three in the morning, only Joe was able to see what was going on outside of the light provided by the campfire.

  “I see nothing, but that only means that there might be something stalking us stealthily.” Joe paused, feeling a tremble in the ground. “Or it might be right below us.”

  The group scattered as the sand split, and a tree-like tail pierced through where Poppy had been standing. From the amount of sand that was displaced, it seemed like a sandstorm was arriving. As the wind caught the dust and blew it away, a massive scorpion was revealed. Jaxon took a single look and seemed to fly into a rage. “Kill it with fire!”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Monk was the first to charge, but the huge beast spun and sent him flying with a mere brushing of its gargantuan body. Joe readied a Shadow Spike, thinking about the terrible luck that had led to them fighting this monstrosity. Had it been here the entire time, or had it somehow dug to their location during the night?

  “No one breathe this in!” Alexis called out, the only warning they got before a huge crossbow flipped up on to her shoulder and she launched a bolt that was more wine bottle than arrow. The bolt landed under the bug and released a cloud of gas that was sucked away by the steadily increasing wind. “That should disorient it. It's a hallucinogen that causes accuracy to drop by half!”

  “Ya missed its face!” Bard informed her with an odd glance.

  “Scorpions breath through ‘book lungs’ under their body. I got it good,” she assured him. He nodded and charged forward, his axes landing and being just as effective as if he had struck a rock wall. Sparks flew as his axes chipped and turned, and Bard only barely managed to avoid hurting himself.

  The Shadow Spike that Joe had cast was being channeled, and the dense armor of the bug was screeching under the strain of the continuous damage to its carapace. Still, the armor hadn't succumbed, and Joe hadn't managed to damage it yet. The stinger shot down toward Bard, slamming into the ground next to him and retracting in an instant. Bard gasped and looked at the fresh crater. “It missed?”

  “You’re welcome!” Alexis called to him.

  Poppy dashed forward and sunk his rapier into an interlocking joint of the bug’s leg, dealing the first damage to this massive beast since combat began. The bug squealed, turning and *clacking* its pincers at the Duelist in an attempt to not only damage but threaten the group. In the group—though it hadn't been tested—Poppy was currently thought to be unmatched in one-on-one combat. He flipped in the air, passing over the right pincer and dashing forward as soon as he landed. Just before he went under the scorpion, he forced himself to halt before jumping upward on to its body.

  The bug, thinking that the human was attempting to get under and attack its less-armored underside, dropped downward to crush the foolish prey. Instead, Poppy was given a handy way to climb on top of the creature. He leaned back, aimed carefully at the space between segments, and focused all of his strength on the penetrative power of his rapier.

  “Solidified Shadows!” Joe had been building an orb of shadow on the tip of the stinger and dumped mana into the shape just before it plunged downward.

  A massive force dropped on to Poppy, firmly pressing him to the back of the scorpion. The tail retracted a moment later, and he stood and tried to skewer the creature’s head. This time, he finished his attack and drove his rapier through the plating of the scorpion and into its brain. The creature spasmed, twisted, turned, bucked… then dropped and went limp. Poppy rolled off the bug and looked around. “What just happened?”

  Exp gained: 80 (20 * Giant Scorpion x4)

  Zone alert! Members of the guild The Wanderers have killed a local [animal] field boss! For the next twenty-four hours, all Scorpions in the zone–having lost their protector–will have their armor rating reduced by thirty percent! The Wanderer’s Guild gains +50 fame with the city of Ardania!

  The area alert faded, leaving only the reward for the battle in the group’s view.

  For being the first to vanquish the field boss [Sheila, The Fat-Tailed Mankiller] you gain +2 skill points and +100 personal and guild fame with Ardania. Exp: 450.

  Title gained: Pierce the Earth. By being the first to defeat this Earth-attributed field boss, your party has gained a bonus to the type of damage used to defeat it! Effect: All damage dealt now includes 5% armor piercing.

  “What in the actual fecal matter?” Poppy looked at his rapier and shook his head. “You all got the same reward as me? Do you guys even understand how difficult it is to gain armor piercing bonuses? You need special, specific weapons and tools! Now Jaxon can punch something, and he deals piercing damage?”

  “What? I do?” Jaxon looked at his hands in awe. “Nifty!”

  “All damage?” Alexis looked at her bolts. “How is that going to work with my poisons and such?”

  “Maybe some kind of corrosion?” Joe offered, pulling up his status screen to take a look at his current bonuses, wincing as a new notification appeared.

  Caution! All current title slots are filled! Either replace a title or the newest title gained will be lost! Time limit: 10 minutes.

  Joe looked over his titles and tried to figure out a way to keep this new title as well as all his others. He currently had a broken title, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to use it up. Joe also had a cursed title, but that one wasn't going anywhere. He had a couple weaker titles from the start of the game, but if he could keep them, he would. The sign of a hoarder? Perhaps. “Combine title ‘Pierce the Earth’ and broken title ‘in darkest night’.”

  You are attempting to combine titles! You may align them as you like, but be sure that titles with ellipses are placed in the correct position. After arranging them, you
have the option to make small changes, such as adding the words ‘an, a, the, of’ or something similar to create a sentence. The fewer changes that need to be made, the more potent the effect! Good luck!

  Title accepted! Calculating… Title condensed.

  New title gained: Pierce the Darkest Night. You stand between your people and the darkness of the world, standing steadfast and potent where all others would flee in terror. Effect: 50% resistance to dark-aligned magic. All damage dealt now includes 5% armor piercing. The piercing bonus increases to 10% with dark-aligned spells and weapons.

  “Well, now,” Joe muttered as he read over the effects. “Oh, I like that. What… I have twenty skill points to spend?”

  He tried to remember how he had gained so many and could only think that it was due to the leveling after the Wolfman War as well as the skill points that he had gained in situations like this. Joe swallowed, trying to think through his options. Right now, he had enough skill points to bring a single skill up by two entire tiers. Did he want to do that? Or should he hold off and learn as naturally as possible? Yikes.

  That was a tough call. Did he want to get better now? His inner greed raven wanted to wrap its wings around the hoard of points and screech and peck at any attempts to use them. But… was that a realistic way of doing things? Maybe it was time to bring his Jump skill up to the Sage ranks. Joe nodded when he came to that decision—that was likely the best use of his skill points. He allocated the points and pressed accept.

  Nope!

  Joe stared at the system message, concerned and confused. “Nope? What in the…? No other information? That can’t be right. Let me try again.”

  Nope. I see that you aren't stopping, so a tish more info for you. Getting into the Master ranks is possible by spending skill points, but moving through them requires you to form your own insight. All Masters have wildly varied techniques, even if those of a lower ranking have skills that are nearly identical. Let me condense this message: Get good.

  “You’re telling me that I am going to have to actually jump to get my skill levels up?” Joe started the sentence in a fury, but by the end, he had already accepted that this was fair. Drat. It did make sense; how could you be considered a Master at something if you only followed someone else’s understanding of the issue? Well… at least he still had his twenty skill points. What should he use them on? Of all his abilities, Ritual Magic was his most used and useful… but he was having trouble powering his rituals. In that case…

  “Add four points to Ritual Magic, seven points to Mana Manipulation, and nine points to Coalescence.” Joe looked over his stat sheet, feeling pleased with himself. That had actually been the perfect amount of points! He was able to bring all three skills up to the next rank!

  Skill increase: Mana Manipulation (Student 0). Congratulations! You have met the requirements to be considered a Student when controlling your Mana! By reaching the Student ranks, you no longer have your mana reduced! Current bonuses applied to this skill: 25% spell efficiency (Maxed). Steady Flow: Increases spell stability by 10% and reduces casting time of all mana-using skills and spells by 10%.

  Skill increase: Coalescence (Student 0). Congratulations! Condensing your mana into a single point allows you to create a denser and more potent mana source! Current bonuses: +30% spell efficiency and +30% mana regeneration. You will be pulled into your inner self to attempt another breakthrough in 10… 9…

  I think you forgot that you can’t increase Ritual Magic with skill points anymore. Sad day.

  “Joe?” Poppy called over as the group settled back down, “you done talking to yourself? It's your turn to be on watch.”

  The Rituarchitect turned and nodded, taking a single step toward the fire before his eyes rolled up into his head and he dropped. Poppy saw him fall and sighed. Everyone else was already in their ‘beds’, pretending they didn't see what had just happened. Poppy started walking toward Joe, quickly rolling him over and checking on him. “Ugh. You did that on purpose. Somehow.”

  Joe not only couldn't hear the question, but there was also no way for him to respond. He was deep within himself at this very moment, staring at a howling hurricane; what was now an orb of power that represented all of his collected mana. “Alright, you. Time to condense!”

  He exerted his willpower and forcefully worked to bring his orb of condensed mana back to the point it had been at the last time he had achieved a breakthrough. Back then, Joe had been able to condense all of his gaseous mana into a fingernail-sized orb. Obviously, his power had grown since then, even though he had since lost the ability to pull from the well of mana granted by Tatum. “Come… on!”

  The mana shrank a small amount, but there wasn't enough of a change for Joe’s liking. Why was this such a difficult process? It was just raw mana; he should be able to manipulate it freely! Joe tried to pull at the mana, but all that happened was a cloud of power drifting away from the core of it. The orb itself didn’t change. “So wild. What if I need to make my mana undergo more of a qualitative change?”

  Joe pushed at his raging power, attempting to convince the orb to be calm. To be steady. Then he remembered that he had gained the trait of ‘Suppression Resistance’ when he was last here and made a small realization. What he was doing right now went against who he was as a person. He wanted to be free, to be able to move and do what he wanted without the restrictions that other people wanted to put on him. What if… what if his mana was a representation of him? Was that a thing?

  “Alright, mana.” Joe stared at the swirling orb. “You want to be free? I really hope this isn't a bad idea.”

  With a thought, the contained mana was released, all the mental pressure Joe had been using to shape it gone in an instant. The decompression of his power caused a thump like an artillery shell landing, and Joe was thrown out of his trance by the massive concussion.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Skill increase: Coalescence (Student III). Congratulations! You have achieved a breakthrough with your ability! By understanding yourself, you have created a unique understanding with your skill! Skill rarity has increased by a rank! As a bonus, the mana regeneration provided by this skill has increased by 50%! Casting time decreased by 10%. Caution: as this skill has increased in rarity, it will be comparatively difficult to grow naturally!

  Joe’s eyes popped open, and he was treated to the nausea-inducing sight of Bard’s kilt flapping right in front of his face. He started struggling to move away, and Bard simply let him flop to the ground. “Abou’ time, ya great walnut! I though’ ya were gonna sleep ta day away!”

  Quickly getting to his feet and brushing the dirt off his robe, Joe looked around. It was already well into the morning, and it was obvious that the group had been moving for quite a while. “How long was I out?”

  “Hours, friend.” Poppy clapped him on the arm and marched past. Joe did a double take when he saw that the stinger from Sheila was strapped to the Duelist’s back, but he realized that the item could potentially be converted into a formidable weapon. After all, a wasp’s stinger had met the same fate to create Poppy’s current rapier.

  “Ugh.” Joe glanced inside himself and saw that there was mana raging through his body, and his center was nearly empty. That was… strange. Conventional wisdom demanded that mana be tightly confined within a single space. Joe had studied enough of the books that Journeyman Cel had recommended to understand at least that much. He activated his Cleanse spell and hydrated himself, narrowing his eyes at his arms as he felt the change in mana accessibility.

  “Everything okay, Joe?” Alexis asked him as her path brought her past the team leader. “We couldn’t figure out what was wrong with you, and since you’re the healer…”

  “Oh, no, I’m fine. Even had a breakthrough with a skill.” Joe looked at his hands, where water was continuously flowing from his palms into the crook of his arms. “I’m… my mana feels strange now. My skill rarity increased, and my mana is now distributed through my body. I have no
idea what that means, in terms of skills and such, but I can cast spells faster now.”

  “That’s odd,” Alexis agreed with him, giving him a push so that he would start walking. “Also, you’re lacking a certain… sparkle that you normally have. What’s up with that?”

  “Sparkle?” Joe suddenly noticed that he no longer had Exquisite Shell active and winced at the realization that he had been unprotected for hours. He exerted his will, and mana seemed to seep out of each pore and into the air around him. “There we go.”

  “You look like someone dropped you in glitter! So pretty!” Jaxon clapped his hands and looked over Joe’s body. “It is always the shiniest just after you cast this spell. Did you know that it tends to fade over time?”

  “I did not know that!” Joe excitedly exclaimed. Maybe this spell wasn't so bad after all! “I did see that there was a serious difference with how fast I was able to cast the shell.”

  “Lovely!” Jaxon reached out and touched Joe’s cheek, then looked at his finger. Joe was pretty sure that there was disappointment on the Chiropractor’s face when none of the sparkly came over to him.

  “Pardon me, I have business with your team leader.” The entire group instantly went on edge when a voice reached them. On the path, not ten feet away, was a man dressed in garish colors. His face was hidden behind a Jester mask, and he tossed aside the myriad of cloth he had bundled over him to reveal a form-fitting Jester outfit. Brightly-colored, slightly creepy, but overall, he seemed to be non-threatening.

  Joe looked around. There was nowhere for the man to have been hiding, there was no cover, and the ground was flat for hundreds of feet. How was it that this man had appeared without any of them seeing him coming? Joe decided that caution was going to be his watchword here. “I’m Joe. What can I help you with?”

  “Hello.” The colorful Jester took a step toward the group, somehow instantly crossing the distance and stabbing a knife into Joe’s chest. “I was sent to assassinate you.”