What he was most keen on was the way Ultimates generated. While in a party of at least 3 people fighting, your Ultimate began to generate based on more variables than Hal could keep straight. But the key point was that the more people that worked together the faster the generation for each person.
It fostered tactics and cooperation.
A glance at his HUD told Hal that his Ultimate was at 45%. High, considering the relatively short fights they’d been through recently. Unfortunately, as they were out of combat, the Ultimate bar was already beginning to degrade.
In a few minutes, it would halve itself. A few minutes more and it would be gone. Ultimates were particularly fickle.
“I am fine, Elora, really,” Ashera was saying, pushing the concerned Ranger away and coming over to Hal and the rest of the party. “Will you tell her that I am fine to continue on? I would like to see this strange quest of Elora’s completed but if she will not stop hovering like a mother hen I will lose my mind.”
Hal chuckled and looked between the two. Ashera was the only one Elora ever worried about. They had a long and complicated history that stretched its roots deep into their childhood years.
He guessed if any of his old friends managed to stick around him for so long he would worry about them like family as well.
His worry for Ashera was more immediate considering she lost her healing powers. But he also promised he would keep her secret. For now.
In either case, the majority of them only sported minor bruises and cuts. Nothing that they couldn’t weather with time. Not to mention, the trip back to the caravan was probably just as long as pressing on. They were likely to get attacked or be forced to fight something whether they chose to return to the caravan or not.
Though Hal would have preferred to return to the caravan, he chose to back up Ashera. “She’s fine. I say we continue on so we can unravel this little mystery Quest you have, Elora. That way we can continue on to the Crystal Groves and the Mirrorlands beyond. Luda says she knows a way to get in that might be easier on all of us while offering the caravan a way to stock up on some rare supplies.”
Elora looked between the pair and frowned. She could tell something was amiss with Ashera but she didn’t know what. That much was plain to see. And though she didn’t seem to fully trust Hal, she was clearly very interested in the sudden Quest that appeared for her.
In the end, she relented. “If you say you’re fine and Hal agrees, then let’s go and get this over with,” Elora said. The look she shot Ashera said she wasn’t done worrying over her.
Taking point, Elora led the group through the copse of thick towering trees. Like the wildlife, the trees and plants had grown to staggering sizes as well. In some ways, it felt like they had been shrunk.
Flowers as big as Hal’s head bloomed a riot of color wherever they could find a sunny break in the dense canopy overhead. Vines thicker than Hal’s thigh hung in girthy green ropes like forgotten garden hoses across the high tree branches. Many of which were ten feet around or more.
Meaning to take advantage of his relative safety, Hal checked over [Brilliance’s] stats again. He had the pick of nearly all of Durvin’s stock but most of it wasn’t suited for him or his fighting style.
Dwarves, unsurprisingly, made equipment that was heavy and sturdy. Finding something that was unrestrictive and light enough that it didn’t slow him down had been a challenge.
[Equipment]
Brilliance
[Sword] (Heroic)
Item Level: 40
DMG: 29
+5 VIT | +2 STR | +5 CHR
+10% Damage to Blinded targets
Enchantment: Flash
DUR: 500/600
Chain of Binding
[Improvised] (Uncommon)
Item Level: 18
DMG: 12
Enchantment: Binds to most surfaces.
DUR: 320/450
Mana-Tempered Circlet
[Head] (Rare)
Item Level: 20
DEF: 4
MDEF: 6
DUR: 367/375
Shaper’s Coat
[Body] (Legendary)
Item Level: 30
DEF: 12
MDEF: 10
+6 INT | +5 MND
Insulation: 8
DUR: 772/800
Spaulder of the Ravenblessed
[Shoulders] (Epic)
Item Level: 25
DEF: 10
MDEF: 10
+1 INT
Restores 10 MP per kill.
Insulation: 5
DUR: 383/600
Lv. 10 All Classes
Splinted Lucidian Brass Gauntlets
[Hands] (Rare)
Item Level: 20
DEF: 4
MDEF: 5
+2 DEX
Insulation: 5
DUR: 587/600
Brave Belt
[Waist] (Epic)
Item Level: 17
DEF: 5
+2 STR
Insulation: 2
DUR: 300/400
Lv.5 All Classes
Tough Lineste Leather Breeches
[Legs] (Rare)
Item Level: 20
DEF: 11
MDEF: 12
+2 AGI
Insulation: 8
DUR: 787/800
Leaping Boots
[Feet] (Rare)
Item Level: 20
DEF: 5
MDEF: 5
+10% Movement Speed
Insulation: 7
DUR: 400/500
Bomb Ring
[Ring] (Heroic)
Item Level: 45
+75 HP
DUR: 288/300
Lv.32 All Classes
Lunette Ring
[Ring] (Heroic)
Item Level: 45
+75 MP
DUR: 290/300
Lv.28 All Classes
He still didn’t know how to trigger [Brilliance’s] flash enchantment. It didn’t seem to respond to any command word he could think of and trying to will the sword to do it didn’t seem to do anything.
One day, I’ll figure it out.
5
Though Durvin had better boots among his stock, none of them came with the 10% Movement Speed modifier, making Hal’s [Leaping Boots] better than anything the surly dwarf could have provided him.
In fact, the equipment he could wear was wildly disappointing. He was still missing equipment from several slots. His neck, both ears, and his back. Not to mention he lacked any kind of ranged weapon.
The goods Clan Bouldergut had were far from the sort you’d expect to find at a jeweler. They had good sturdy tools and a surfeit of dwarven-made weapons and armor but they lacked some of the fineries that would have filled Hal’s equipment slots.
With a shrug, Hal picked up the pace to get alongside Ashera toward the middle of their group. Angram took the right flank while Mira took the left, leaving Hal or Ashera to anchor them.
At the moment that meant Hal and Ashera were relatively alone.
“You mind telling me what you were thinking back there?” he asked. “You know you can’t heal.” Hal waved an arm to indicate the party at large. “They don’t know that. What will you do if somebody gets hurt because you don’t want to tell them you lost your healing?”
Despite having sided with her – and agreeing with her, though she didn’t need to know that – he wanted to know how far she was willing to go to hide her loss of power.
He had seen a very different side of her within the deepest reaches of her soul. And to his dismay, she had shown herself to be an exceedingly capable liar even though she ultimately chose not to lie to him.
That she had been so ready with lies he would have believed had forced him to reassess his view of Ashera.
As the healer of the group, Ashera took on a pivotal role. Without a healer, they would need to carry – and make – many more potions and change a few of their tactics.
It was ridiculous how easy it was to
begin relying on a person that could touch you and close up the worst of your wounds in seconds. It made it easy to take greater and more reckless risks because you knew so long as you didn’t die immediately you had a good chance to be on your feet again moments later.
Now that Ashera was out of commission, if anybody was fatally wounded they were screwed.
Ashera folded her arms, rounding her shoulders in a hunch Hal recognized as a stress reaction. He bit his lip, wondering if he pressed her too hard.
Placing a hand on her back he said, “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pressure you. I told you I’d back you up and I will. But Ashera, they have to be told. You know how often we rely on your healing. Eventually, we’ll have to do something about this.”
Her shoulders relaxed and she glanced to the side to look at Hal. She nodded. “I know, but I figured that we are just as likely to get attacked going back than going forward. This way, Elora can finish her Quest and we can continue on. When we are back at camp… I will stay there when you go out. You could bring Buffrix along. His powers of healing are different from mine but they are no less potent.”
Hal pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was afraid you’d recommend him. I love the little guy but a stiff breeze could knock him out.” The look Ashera gave him was wry and she almost turned up the corner of her mouth. “Yeah, yeah,” Hal said, brushing off the look. “I know you could have said the same of me not too long ago. I’ll give him a shot.”
“I will work on it,” she promised. “But Hal… there is a very real possibility I may not be able to heal again. At least not in the way I am used to. It is no small thing to break a Covenant.”
“About that,” Hal began, but a shout to the side had them both readying their weapons and turning to face the threat Angram called out.
The lithe elven Ranger fell from the branch he was perched on. Like a cat, he managed to twist in the air and stick a three-point landing. Angram leaped out of the way just in time to avoid a large blurred form that dove at the ground, throwing up thick clods of dirt from the impact.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Hal assured her, coating his body in shadow essence.
Angram straightened, slinging his bow over his shoulder and pulling free twin curved swords. “Watch out,” he said, seeing Hal race to his side. “It’s fast, whatever it is.”
The obscuring cloud of debris began to fade but there was still no sign of the creature. When the dust finally settled, there was nothing but the impact site. Both of them looked around, wary.
There was only one place it could have gone. “The ground,” Hal called out. “Look for anything digging through the dirt, it’s got to be burrowing.”
Even as he spoke the ground began to rumble beneath their feet and the grass bulged, lifting the pair. The orange-gold glow of his Premonition trait triggered in a column, warning him of the danger to come. They barely had time to dive to the side before the creature burst through and took to the air.
Hal got a good look at it as he rolled to the side and got to his feet. It was a large bird of some kind with shimmering blue-black feathers but it had some strange spiny protrusions all over its body.
The creature twisted in the air and extended its ten-foot wingspan to halt its momentum. It hung there for a heartbeat before it dove straight at Hal like a missile.
Hal stood his ground, crouching and tensing the muscles in his legs. The more he fought monsters the more he began to understand them as a whole. On some level that he couldn’t explain, he knew that this creature was going to attempt to dive and impale him. If it couldn’t, it would burrow back under the ground and attack somebody else.
The closer the creature came, the more he was sure what it was about to do. It was almost as if he had the Azure Lore perk. Only, that perk required that he touch them to gain insight into their next attacks and what they were thinking. This was something different, a mirroring of intent that he could read like his own thoughts.
At the last moment, Hal sprang away with all the gathered shadow-infused strength he could manage. It was a narrow miss, Hal could feel the rush of wind from the creature.
As the bird-creature crashed into the dirt, Hal slapped a hand to the grass below him and cast Enchainment. Thick spectral chains sprang up from the dirt and lashed around the creature, halting its momentum so suddenly that Hal heard the thing’s neck snap from several feet away.
You defeat the [Corvid Stalker | Lv.24].
You absorb 35 Aberration Essence.
Monster Attunements Available.
Aberration: 1
You gain 600 Experience Points.
You earn 50 Sparks.
You obtain:
1 [Bundle of Crystalline Feathers]
1 [Vial of Aberrant Blood]
Flork, he thought, getting to his feet. I was going to try out Soul Drain on it. Though hitting the next tier of Aberration Attunement is a pretty good consolation prize.
Hal rolled his wrist, looking around for any more of the creatures. The forest was silent. A squawk echoed in the boughs above, followed by another shortly after and another after that. More than a dozen of the creatures squawked back and forth to each other, communicating.
Elora and Mira were the farthest away, Ashera was close by but when the cawing began, none of them dared move. It felt as if the slightest movement might trigger them.
Aberration Essence? Hal looked at the dead Corvid Stalker not too far away. It wasn’t terribly strong but if dozens attacked them – and without a healer – they would be sorely pressed.
Small features that were easy to miss at a distance or during its swift divebombs became clearly visible. Instead of a single eye, it had a cluster of three right behind a larger milky-white eye. Its feathers were black and oily with a blue sheen. But they didn’t ruffle in the wind, they were hard as glass.
And those spines that stuck out of it at regular intervals looked like bone. The longer Hal looked at the creature the more disturbing mutations he discovered.
He didn’t have much time to look though, as the canopy overhead suddenly went silent. The creatures nesting within began their attack.
One black-streaking man-sized mutated crow fell from the canopy and gouged a line through Ashera’s armor, spraying bright red blood into the air. She recovered quickly enough to dodge the second but her left arm hung limply at her side, trailing a stream of blood.
Elora bellowed a warcry that would have given any sane animal pause. But Hal realized why he understood these things better. As part of gaining more aberration essence, his connection to that type of creature grew. He understood them like an old enemy he had studied many times over.
They were not afraid.
They were altered, mutated into an unthinking horde of creatures that would mercilessly attack anything in their territory. Now that Hal’s group had attracted their attention, there was no distance they could put between them that would stop the creatures.
They were out for blood and wouldn’t stop until either Hal’s party or the Corvids were dead.
Another Corvid divebombed Ashera and would have taken her in the shoulder if Elora’s well-placed shot hadn’t hit the creature first. Knocked off course, the Corvid squawked in protest and landed on the ground in a flurry of black crystal feathers and talons.
Ashera joined Elora, who was already sighting down another drawn arrow. As remarkable as Elora was, Hal could already tell they were outmatched. He counted at least three dozen distinct calls. Though he couldn’t see even a quarter of their number as the branches high above them shifted and creaked ominously.
Another Corvid divebombed at Mira. The lean Dragoon shot into the air, her signature move for removing herself from danger. It was the calling card of her Fabled Class.
It also made her vulnerable to enemies that could fly and swarm her.
As soon as Mira invaded their air space, the Corvids that had been lying in wait attacked en masse. The air above was filled with streaking black b
lurs as they struck her, one after the other.
In a matter of seconds, the air cleared and all that remained was the falling, bloodied form of Mira. Her HP went from full to red-lining. In less time than it took to yell her name, the Corvids had taken out one of their strongest fighters.
And now they didn’t have a healer.
6
“Mira!” Hal called out as the Dragoon fell, but she didn’t respond.
Sonnuva bench! He would never make it in time. And the way Mira was falling, head-first, she was liable to break her neck if the Corvids didn’t finish her first.
Hal tried something he never had before. He took a moment to focus, to feel his shadow essence, and to force it into his legs. What he needed now was speed. As much of it as possible.
Usually, whenever he used Convergence it was a general empowering of his entire body. But this time he bent all of his willpower to making just his legs stronger and faster.
Even as he did, he took off toward the falling Dragoon. Each step grew stronger, blasting out thick chunks of sod and earth with each press. He was so focused on getting to Mira that he hardly registered the speed he was moving at.
Dropping [Brilliance] at the last moment, Hal skidded to his knees and held out his arms to catch Mira. They collided solidly, the impact knocked Hal sideways – he had misjudged the descent slightly – and they rolled across the ground.
Hal did his best to wrap his arms around Mira’s unconscious form, trying to shield her. They came to a stop with the Dragoon limp and unmoving atop Hal. Rolling her onto her back, Hal checked to make sure she was still breathing and had a pulse.
It wasn’t necessary. It would have been keenly evident in the status of her HP bar from the party menu but some habits were hard to break.
Beastborne Page 5
