Legacy of the Fallen (Ascend Online Book 2)
Page 12
Glancing to my right as I waited for the dark elf and his companion to approach, I saw the tip of Freya’s spear dart in front of the half-orc’s upraised axe, catching the weapon by the haft moments before he began his downswing towards the charging form of Amaranth. Stalling his attack for a heartbeat, the half-orc’s timing was completely thrown off, allowing my familiar to pounce on him with a savage growl and sink his teeth into the man’s shoulder. Stumbling backward in a desperate attempt to keep his balance, the half-orc flailed uselessly with one free hand, doing little to dislodge the angry cat as he refused to let go of his weapon.
Turning my attention back towards my end of the battle, I shifted Razor into a defensive stance as Mozter and the tiger-striped Tul’Shar entered melee range. Eager to strike the first blow, Mozter lunged forward, his sword slicing out towards me and ringing harmlessly off Razor as I easily deflected the blow.
He’s not as strong as I thought he’d be, a part of my mind told me, analyzing Mozter’s opening attack, as I easily deflected a second cut with his sword while simultaneously evading a pair of claw-filled swipes from his companion. Gear notwithstanding, he seems to be only level eleven or twelve and hasn’t put that many points into strength.
“You’re weaker than I thought you’d be and I’m not exactly a juggernaut myself,” I said, taunting the dark elf as I purposefully hammered two heavy strikes into Mozter’s guard, forcing him to stagger under the attacks while simultaneously sending a short snap kick in the Tul’shar’s direction to buy myself some space. “Do you even know how to spend your stat points?”
“Don’t get cocky just because you’ve killed the weakest of us, Lyrian!” Mozter spat as his free hand unexpectedly flickered with magic, causing a spark of electricity to crackle along the edge of his sword. Eyes widening in surprise as the dark elf slapped his blade against mine, I felt a wave of burning heat shoot up my sword arm, causing me to involuntarily flinch as my muscles contorted in shock. “How do you like that?”
Mozter hits you with [Shocking Touch] for 42 points of damage!
“You’re a Spellsword too.” I stated while reflexively dancing backward from Mozter’s follow up slash, putting some space between me and the pair.
“Just like you.” Mozter looked at me with a grin as he and the Tul’Shar rushed forward to follow me. “I was inspired by your fighting style while I watched your feeds. I’ve watched them so many times; you could say that I’ve learned everything that you’ve ever shown.”
“Is that so?” I said, careful to keep my voice steady as I absorbed what Mozter had just told me, suddenly noticing the way that he held his sword and carried his weight.
His style was completely identical to my own.
“So, you’re a copycat?” I asked while wracking my memory of all the fights that had been released to the public. I never considered that I would have to hide my own fighting style in the feeds!
“Oh, I’m doing more than just copying, Lyrian!” Mozter replied as he and the Tul’Shar renewed their attacks, forcing me to continuously move backward or be overwhelmed. “You may have a few tricks I haven’t seen, but I’ve worked hard to improve on your build! Granted, I don’t have the levels to show it all off just yet.”
“Sounds to me like you’re already making excuses!” I goaded the dark-elf for a second time, as I dodged another one of his attacks and sliced a deep wound along the Tul’Shar’s knee, causing the limb to buckle and sending the cat man to the ground. Reacting at the speed of thought, I sidestepped around Mozter, shifting our battle until the wounded Tul’Shar was directly behind Mozter.
Does that mean that he’s also learned the same spells that I have? I know I haven’t shown everyone some of the new ones I’ve learned. I asked myself as an idea bloomed in my mind. Only one way to find out, I guess.
Stopping hard on my heels, I stopped my gradual backward retreat and launched myself at Mozter, using a simple four-stroke combination that I had used a thousand times before. Reacting instinctively to my attack, Mozter easily caught the strikes on his blade, a wide smile forming on his face as he stared into my eyes.
“I told you, Lyrian, I know all yo—” Mozter’s boast was cut short as my fist smashed into his face, cutting his words short.
He’s too focused on my usual patterns, I observed with a savage grin, following up my punch with a heavy kick to the stomach which caused Mozter to stagger backward and stumble as he bumped into the wounded Tul’Shar. He’s just fighting by rote based on what I’ve done before.
Seizing the advantage, I raised my sword for a killing stroke and slashed down at Mozter’s head, hoping to put the man down once and for all. Only to have it swish harmlessly through the air as Mozter vanished from before me, instantly appearing a short distance away, clutching a broken nose.
It looks like he can Blink Step too, I thought as I looked down at the bleeding Tul’Shar, who glared back at me with surprise in his eyes before launching himself upwards on his uninjured leg, clawing at me viciously.
Taking half a step back, I evaded one sweeping paw while the other harmlessly scratched itself off my armor, giving me an opening to draw Razor along the Tul’Shar’s chest, cutting through the feeble tunic he wore and into the flesh underneath. Blood welled through the cat man’s clothes, causing him to growl wildly as his attacks increased in speed and intensity, forcing me to give ground under his assault.
Free from immediate danger and with a moment to spare, I chanced a glance behind me and saw the prone body of the half-orc as Amaranth straddled the man less than an arm’s length away from me. With one hand wrapped around Amaranth’s throat, the half-orc visibly strained to keep the cat at bay as his other hand desperately sought to bring a short sword to bear, only to have one of my familiar’s paws push against the arm that held it and pin it to the ground.
Amaranth reassured me.
Shit! The thought barely had time to form in my mind as I instinctively threw myself to one side, just as Mozter’s sword swept through the spot where my head had just been, instantly appearing on my flank. Using my momentum, I rolled on the ground and sprang back up to my feet, just as Mozter closed back in on me, his sword blurring through the air.
“I knew you were good, but you’re even faster on your feet than I expected, Lyrian!” Mozter shouted at me, smiling through his blood covered face. “You played me completely! I’ll have to try and remember that for the future!”
“Uh, thanks?” I answered, not having expected the man to compliment in the middle of combat as the two of us did our best to kill one another.
“No, thank you, Lyrian,” the grin on Mozter’s face seemed to be plastered there as we fought, the dark elf’s free hand beginning to glow with a dull blue light. “But I think it’s time we started to wrap things up here! The rest of my party doesn’t look to be doing too well!”
Throwing his hand forward, a blast of freezing cold energy burst free from Mozter’s hand, washing over me before I could react, blinding me as layers of frost and ice su
ddenly built up on my armor and body. A trail of messages appeared in my vision, followed by an unbelievable cold that reached into my very core.
Mozter activates [Multi-Cast]!
Mozter hits you with [Cone of Frost] for 98 points of cold damage!
Mozter hits you with [Cone of Frost] for 102 points of cold damage!
Mozter hits you with [Cone of Frost] for 99 points of cold damage!
What the fuck?! My mind reeled in panic as it suddenly became my turn to Blink Step out of combat, choosing to teleport away to the very edge of my ability’s range, on the opposite side of where Amaranth and Freya were fighting. Scanning my combat log, I noticed that it listed an ability I hadn’t seen before. He just chained three spells in a row using Multi-Cast.
“Lyr, you okay?” Freya called out to me, sensing my sudden shift on the battlefield as she rapidly stabbed out at the now unarmed dwarf who desperately cowered behind his scarred wooden shield, bleeding from half a dozen cuts and puncture wounds across his body as he did everything he could to stay ahead of the blonde woman’s spear.
“Yeah,” I replied through chattering teeth as I forced my body to move, causing the layers of ice and frost on my armor to crumble and fall to the ground. “He surprised me, that’s all.”
And took off nearly half my health in a single attack, I added silently as I checked my stats, to see just how far my health had fallen.
HP: 385/726
Stamina: 478/660
Mana:340/640
Where the hell did he learn that ability? I took a halting step forward as I rushed forward to join Freya in taking down the stubborn dwarf - if only to free her up so we could focus both of our attention on the rest of Mozter’s group. With his latest display of power, I mentally increased the threat he posed, silently realizing why his strength and agility was much lower than it should have been for someone his level. Depending on how the ability works, he has to have a large mana pool to afford to be able to chain that many spells after one another, so he’s been spending his attribute points on Intelligence rather than his physical stats.
As I closed with the dwarf, I spotted Mozter and the limping Tul’Shar rush around Amaranth, giving the fallen half-orc and puma a wide berth as the pair crossed the battlefield in search of me. Eyes landing upon mine, Mozter looked surprised to see me still standing, but didn’t hesitate in rushing forward towards Freya and me.
“Heads up!” I warned Freya as I moved to flank the unarmed dwarf, forcing him to split his attention between the two of us. Attacking, I feinted a thrust with Razor towards the dwarf, looking to split the man’s defenses and give Freya a chance to kill or maim him further before the rest of his party arrived.
Panicking at my sudden appearance, the dwarf practically leaped backward to get away from both Freya and me, stumbling over the half-orc’s fallen axe that was lying on the ground behind him. Taking advantage of the mishap, Freya’s spear sailed through the air towards the dwarf’s chest, only to be knocked aside at the last second as Mozter and the Tul’Shar entered the fight. Darting forward, Mozter’s outstretched sword just barely caught the tip of Freya’s spear, deflecting it just enough so that it sliced through the dwarf’s side, instead of burying itself in his heart.
“So how did you like my ability?” Mozter asked as he sidestepped away from the scrambling Dwarf while evading a retaliatory attack from Freya, the five of us crashing together in a flurry of metal and claws. “Pretty awesome, isn’t it?”
“It certainly was flashy,” I told the dark elf as our blades crashed into one another again, sparks flowing from them as Mozter sent another Shocking Touch into my body, causing me to flinch as electricity coursed through my body. “I bet it takes a lot of mana though.”
“Something that I have in ample reserve!” Mozter replied with his trademark grin wide on his face.
That’s good to know, I said to myself silently as Freya and I fell into our familiar battle patterns, the long hours that we had spent drilling together showing as we began to steadily force Mozter and his party backward. Exhausted and wounded from the earlier fight, the Tul’Shar Brawler struggled to keep up with the flow of combat, his once frenzied pace having slowed as he constantly sucked in deep, labored breaths in order to stay on his feet. The dwarf on the other hand, with only a shield to bear, was hard-pressed to make a meaningful impact on the battle, doing his best to shield himself and Mozter, the man clearly not having spent the time to train his unarmed skill or bothering to carry a spare weapon at hand.
Not that it’s going to make a difference for much longer, I noted as Freya and I worked through a sequence that the two of us had practiced endlessly.
Swinging Razor in a powerful overhand blow, I brought my blade down onto the edge of Mozter’s sword, seeing his face wince as he absorbed the blow, while simultaneously delivering a Shocking Touch to the Tul’Shar with my free hand. Coming in under my guard, Freya’s slow-moving spear darted towards Mozter’s exposed stomach, causing the man to panic and pull back from our exchange. Taking a step backward, Mozter reflexively swept his blade downwards in an attempt to knock the spear away, only to find that Freya had already pulled it backward.
But not before using the attack as a distraction to hook the wing of her spear on the edge of the dwarf’s shield, who had moved closer to Mozter in an attempt to defend him. With a powerful yank, Freya pulled the dwarf’s shield out of position, exposing the entirety of his body to me just as I whipped my left hand forward and threw a burning dagger of fire directly into the dwarf’s throat.
You hit an [Unknown Dwarf] with a [Flame Dagger] in a vulnerable location for 213 points of damage!
Eyes bulging from the unexpected attack, the dwarf’s hand instinctively reached up towards the cauterized mess that was now its throat, only to have Freya’s spear dart out and bury itself deep into the dwarf’s eye. Standing in shock for a heartbeat, the dwarf let out a faint whimper before falling like a puppet with its strings cut, collapsing to the ground lifelessly.
“Damn it!” Mozter’s curse was partially masked by the crowd’s sudden cheer as they saw the dwarf fall, the dark elf and his companion taking two long strides backward as Freya and I advanced on them.
“Your teamwork leaves much to be desired,” I told Mozter as he and the Tul’Shar steadily retreated. “You all fight like individuals and nothing like a team.”
“I’m not done yet!” Mozter growled as he held up his hand before him and began to conjure a familiar blue light in his palm. “I still have more than enough in me to take you all on!”
“Not this time, Mozter!” I exclaimed as I shot forward, mentally triggering Blink Step to cross the short distance between us. “I think it’s time for me to show you one of my tricks.”
My vision blurred for the faintest of moments as I teleported just inside Mozter’s guard, thrusting Razor forward and pinning Mozter’s sword against his body. I felt the Tul’Shar’s claws run uselessly along the back of my armor as I reached out with my free hand and grabbed hold of the dark elf’s glowing palm, feeling an unearthly cold shoot up my arm as I grasped the spell that was still taking shape. Inches away from Mozter’s face, I saw his eyes widen in shock as I began to absorb the mana that he was feeding into his spell, a handful of messages appearing in my vision as I tightened my grip.
Your [Mana Leech] drains 35 mana from [Mozter]!
Pushing against the man, I was readily reminded that the weight of my Ætherwarped body was insufficient to knock the dark elf to the ground, so I took yet another step into Mozter’s guard and smashed my forehead into his already broken nose. Yelping in pain, Mozter flinched and staggered backward, giving me the opportunity to hook my foot around his ankle and take him down to the ground.
Trusting that my armor would protect me from falling on top of both our swords, I maintained my grip on Mozter as he fell, the two of us slamming into the sandy dirt of the arena beneath us. Letting go of Razor, I grabbed hold of the wrist that held Mozter’s sword, s
eeing Freya’s feet appear on the edge of my vision, her shout echoing through the air as she attacked the still standing Tul’Shar behind me.
“What are you doing to me?” Mozter gasped as he tried to fight against my grip, but was unable to match my superior strength and positioning.
“Your mana pool is the only thing that makes you dangerous,” I told Mozter as I shifted my body to straddle the fallen dark elf while twisting the hand that held his sword, gradually twisting the blade in his grip so that the tip pointed straight up at his chin. “So, I’m taking it away from you.”
“No!” Mozter thrashed in my grip in panic as he desperately tried to escape from my grasp. With his eyes staring up at me in panic, I felt a wave of mana shoot through his arm as he tried to cast another spell, only to have it fall apart as my Mana Leech ability absorbed the energy before it could be put to use. “You aren’t supposed to be able to do that!”
Several messages appeared in my vision as a gurgling cry of pain rang out into the air, followed by the sickening crunch of bone.
Freya has slain [Unknown Tul’Shar]!
You have gained Party Experience!
You have gained Party Renown!
Amaranth has slain [Unknown Half-Orc]!
You have gained Party Experience!
You have gained Party Renown!
“Looks like you’re all alone now, Mozter,” I said to the dark elf while dismissing the notifications, feeling the last dregs of mana drain away from his body as I forced the tip of Mozter’s sword upwards, poking it into the soft flesh underneath his chin, causing a small drop of blood to spill forth. “And out of mana too.”
“Lyrian, wait!” Mozter’s eyes widened in terror as he struggled to pull his sword out of my grip. “Look, you don’t have to do this, I’ll concede, I conce—”
“Shhhh,” I said to the dark elf, soothing him as if he were a small child while I increased the pressure on his sword. “You’re the one who wanted a fight to the death, Mozter, and if nothing else, I am a man of my word.”