Chapter 114.2: A Battle’s Beginning
(Again, be sure you've read part 1 of this chapter before proceeding. They were uploaded at the same time, this is part 2!)
Trying to split my attention between the approaching Infernals and the Hellions below me—Index’s warnings helped a lot with that—I cast Crippling Chill on any of the Demons that got near and prepared to start using Rays of Frost to focus them down. From what I’d seen with Erani’s Firebolts, it seemed like the Infernals had taken quite a bit of damage already from Astintash’s landing, so they wouldn’t be quite as tanky as I knew them to be.
There were about six Infernals all coming at me that I needed to deal with here, and so I picked one at random to try and kill first. The one closest to me, I decided, was going to die. I raised my hand and shot off Ray of Frost after Ray of Frost at the monster as I backed away, trying to keep my distance between me and the group.
That distance could only last so long, though, and soon enough the Infernals caught up to me. With a crowd of so many of them, there wasn’t much I could do to delay them from reaching me while also dealing damage to them. Gravity Well could’ve worked, sure, but keeping it active on six separate enemies would drain my Mana fast—even with Ethereal Armor’s discount.
But still, with Expedite active on me, I wasn’t as helpless in close-quarters combat as I used to be. The Infernals swung open-handed at me, trying to catch me in a grab, but I bobbed and weaved between their strikes, angering them further.
And the moment I saw an opening in the posture of the one I was targeting, I struck. Diving straight into it, leveraging my boosted Dexterity and the natural Strength I got from Recursive Growth to drive my body straight into its and push it to the ground, where I lay on top of it.
In the little time I had, I activated Noxious Grasp and cast Rays of Frost right up against its face, trying to take away as much of its Health as possible.
You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 24 Infernal.
You have earned 199 XP. Your XP is 1.22k.
Within a few seconds, it was dead, and I instantly moved on to my next target. I spun around and leapt at the next-closest Infernal that was just then reaching down to try and drag me off of its now-dead ally.
While I normally only ever saw Infernals with facial expressions showing some form of rage, malice, or hatred, this was the rare time I saw an Infernal look at me with some other form of emotion. In the moment when I pounced on it like a predator to its prey, arms out and ready to keep Noxious Grasp draining away Health, my new victim looked at me with fear.
It made sense, I supposed—while the Demons as a whole were an oppressive group of dictators, treating the Overworld like their playground where there were no consequences, the individuals probably felt a decent bit of fear when a Dragon crashed through their secure based and now there were a couple of ravenous Humans tearing through their soldiers alongside a couple of bloodthirsty monsters. Even if the Infernals could survive death up here, I had no doubt they’d rather avoid it. Really, it almost made me feel bad for them.
Almost.
I crashed into the Infernal’s body and threw it to the ground, too, with the help of a pulse of Gravity Well to throw it off balance. Its head slammed into the rocky path below us, and I turned around while straddling its muscly, deformed body to shoot Rays of Frost at the other few Infernals that were still trying to kill me.
The bright Rays impacted their faces and temporarily blinded them with a flash of icy pain across their faces, buying me a bit more time with my primary target.
“Arlan, another Hellion!” I heard Index shout.
I was still atop the Infernal’s body, so for a second I was confused.
Index must’ve picked up on that, though, because it continued, “Judging from the trajectory, it looks like the Hellion’s gonna come up straight through that Demon’s chest to try and hit you from below.”
Ouch. Sacrificing their own soldiers just at a chance at killing me? Seemed like they didn’t like this one’s chances at surviving being pinned down by me. Not that I disagreed with the assessment. But yeah, maybe now it was appropriate to feel bad for the poor Infernal.
“Three, two, one…” Index counted, “now!”
I leapt off of the Infernal’s chest just in time to be splattered with a warm, sticky liquid all across my back—along with a healthy number of chunks.
You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 27 Infernal.
You have earned 213 XP. Your XP is 1.44k.
I turned around and saw just about what I’d have expected from what I’d just felt. A Hellion was in the process of bursting through the ground, straight through the corpse of my now-dead enemy. It was still in its arc, headed toward the direction I’d dodged in, so I stepped back to avoid the blood-and-guts-covered beast from landing with its mouth around my head.
But in trying to dodge out of the way of the Hellion, I also opened myself up to attack from one of the Infernals—it was getting difficult to keep track of where they all were, at this point—and it swung its fist at me from behind, catching me by surprise and knocking me across the battlefield.
You have been slammed into something. 20 damage.
Your Health is 61.
Coughing, I moved as quickly as I could to get back to my feet. Damned Infernals, always outnumbering me. I felt like I really thrived in battle when it was one-on-one. Since when did they just get to throw as many Demons as they wanted at me? Wasn’t fair at all.
Well, I supposed I was the one who brought a Dragon into the fight, so maybe I wasn’t playing totally fair, either. Not to mention Ainash, who still seemed to consider it her sole purpose in life to kill the “bad guys.” I was constantly getting notifications from her slaying random enemies—2 XP here, 3 XP there—which was good. At least, it was good she was still alive and well enough to keep killing things.
Erani shot a Firebolt from behind the Infernals—who were now effectively sandwiched between us, unable to fully focus on one or the other—and blasted a couple of them off their feet. She had enemies of her own to deal with—Infernals that decided she’d be a nice and squishy target, or Hellions that strayed from the main battlefield to track her down—but it seemed like she found the time to assist my side of the battle every now and then.
In the Infernals’ moment of weakness, I charged forward with a barrage of Rays of Frost to accompany me. The Spells beamed into them, flooding my mind with damage notifications about all four of the remaining enemies as they were riddled with freezing patches of ice covering their skin.
My Mana was beginning to feel the effects of the fight so far, threatening to pass below 500 as I shot Ray after Ray at them, but with the group of Infernals only growing weaker by the second—and with them already having lost a third of their numbers—I was able to take down one more, then another, until there were just two Infernals left.
You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 22 Infernal.
You have earned 178 XP. Your XP is 1.63k.
You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 26 Infernal.
You have earned 207 XP. Your XP is 1.84k.
I stood against the two, now close enough that I couldn’t safely focus on just casting Rays of Frost.
Just as they prepared to attack, I heard Index’s voice again, “Two more Hellions on their way.”
Ducking under the left Infernal’s swipe, I tried to catch my footing and figure out how I’d do this. I felt for the rumbling of the first Hellion, and…
Just in time, I leapt forward, leaving the monster biting nothing but air as it burst from the ground. I wouldn’t have the time—or Mana—to retaliate against it for now, but for now I was just trying to focus on taking down these Infernals.
Which would involve the second Hellion.
When I’d leapt forward to dodge the first one’s attack, I landed right next to the left Infernal’s leg. That was by design. In the follow-through of its previous attack at me, it didn’t quite have enough time to grab me while I was close to it.
And so, right when I began to feel the rumbling of the second Hellion, I leapt away from the Infernal’s leg, leaving it alone to take the brunt of the Hellion’s attack.
The monster bit off a chunk of my enemy’s calf, leaving it roaring in agony as the Hellion took off with its meal—could it even tell the difference?
Either way, I backed away and shot a few Rays at the injured Infernal to finish it off.
You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 29 Infernal.
You have earned 241 XP. Your XP is 2.08k.
Threshold reached. 1.90k XP.
Your Level has increased to 18.
Due to achieving Level 18 in the Minute Mage Class, you have been granted the following benefits:
-You have gained 1 Endurance.
-You have gained 2 Conjuration.
-You have gained 1 Intelligence.
-You have gained 3 Stat Points.
-Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Dexterity, 2 Conjuration, and 1 Intelligence.
-Soft Cap has increased to Rank 10.
-Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 18.
-You may choose a Spell to learn.
I tried to push down the excitement of the new Level down and focus on the task at hand. More Stats, an increased Soft Cap, and a whole new Spell were great and all, but I couldn’t use them if I died. I still had one more Infernal left.
It looked at me with a look of anger, like it was ready to tear my limbs from my body just for fun. Its eyes met mine.
And then it looked up, over my head, at something behind me. What was—
“Arlan! Duck!” Index shouted.
I did so without thinking, and a split-second later, a glowing arrow flew over my head, impaling the Infernal straight through the chest.
You have offered minor contribution toward the slaying of Level 21 Infernal.
You have earned 84 XP. Your XP is 267.
I turned to look behind me, and saw the exact person I wished hadn’t shot that arrow.
“That gave me more XP than expected,” Asmo said, bow in hand. She was standing just a couple dozen paces away, with the familiar axe-wielding woman standing next to her. “Do you have some sort of Talent that increases the XP drops of monsters you fight?”
The axe-wielding woman said nothing, simply wearing a snarl like the Infernals I’d seen before. Except the snarl seemed strange—almost fake. Like she was trying to force herself to be angry at me, or maybe she was just conflicted about how to feel. But whatever her emotions were, she wielded her axe all the same, ready to strike me down.
And I was ready to keep them from doing so.
I’d fled from these royal guards long enough. It was time for a rematch.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel