“Come on,” Lev taunted, grinning from ear to ear. “You can do better.”
Beatrice growled under her breath, entirely focused on the epic battle taking place in the bubble. The clinking sounds of clashing barriers echoed in the closed space, accompanied by a lot of mana that she was constantly pouring into a skill to buff Lev’s mana regeneration.
“This is not what I had expected,” she eventually voiced, manipulating one of her four tiny barrier warriors to jump high while the other circled the enemy.
Lev’s knight, on the other hand, had nothing but a simple tower shield as opposed to the four bladed weapons. It wouldn’t have been fair otherwise. Where he only needed to soften his “soldier” in places to best imitate natural movements, Beatrice had to consciously change the properties of her warriors to make them fight.
“Oh?” Lev voiced. “Were you expecting something else?”
Beatrice paused for a moment, not at all embarrassed as she smiled at Lev. “Are you sure you could’ve handled something else?”
Lev held her gaze for a second before looking away. He hoped his face wasn’t the way it felt to him in that moment. And she wasn’t wrong, either. He wasn’t mentally equipped for a date, let alone one so abrupt.
“Thought so.”
For absolutely no reason, Lev’s knight accelerated a bit and smashed two of her soldiers apart.
“Someone’s a sore loser, hehe.”
“Oh, come on,” he whined. “You know I can’t handle teasing. Stop.”
She giggled, furthering his embarrassment. Lev looked at her pleadingly, but he didn’t get the reaction he was expecting. Beatrice stared into his eyes for a long moment before a sad smile appeared on her face.
Okay, this is going south way too quickly.
Lev stood up from his seat, destroying her remaining barrier soldiers with a few precise movements of his knight. It wasn’t a fair match, nor did he ever expect it to become one. Such was their reality.
“I think I’ve recovered enough by now,” he announced pointedly. Beatrice didn’t refute him, given that ten hours had passed since his arm had finished regrowing. “How about we go impress some hunters?”
She exhaled in exasperation, though that couldn’t quite hide the spark of anticipation in her eyes.
****
A single spider was all it took. Her team was forced into a corner, overwhelmed by the numbers surrounding them. Anise was supposed to be the frontliner, a spellblade with ice to go along with her physical prowess.
She moved in to support the shield, and that was her mistake. Two web threads, dense and glowing with mana, latched onto her arm. Ice shards almost cut through them before she was dragged through the air, launched away from her teammates.
The force behind the throw was unexpectedly strong. Anise tumbled for several dozen meters before ice formed beneath her feet. She transitioned her momentum into a slide, a skillful application of ice slowing her down while letting her remain upright.
I can’t see them, she noted, calm. Currently at the end of the platinum rank, she had been in her fair share of trouble. A cool mind had seen her through them all. Why are there so many monsters around this area, though?
No more time to waste on thoughts. Identify shot out rapidly, bringing her nothing but renewed determination.
[Gray Spider - ???]
[Root Stalker - ???]
[Wooden Shade - ???]
Anise’s grip became slightly tighter. Something was wrong, for there was no reason for stealthy monsters to be so deep inside their lines.
She didn’t have the luxury to ponder. The ground beneath her was coated in a thin layer of ice, serving no purpose except distributing water in a radius around her. The spider pounced first.
A misty gale froze its venom, targeting the water in the substance’s composition. Anise surged forward, sliding underneath the spider’s trajectory while cutting deep into its underside. Frost failed to take hold on its body, and the wound didn’t seem to slow down the monster either.
They’re still too far, Anise realized while making a run for her team. She was strong, but not enough to take on second-threshold monsters without them. I need a distraction.
Unfortunately, the two feline monsters were upon her. The first, covered in scales of bark, dove at her. Ice tripped it, though before she could take advantage, the whole monster swam into the ground.
Caught unprepared, she had to detonate a burst of frost around her to slow the second monster behind her, dodging its claws. Instead of creating distance, she jumped backwards and within its range. Her sword flashed backwards as well, passing just by her armpit to stab the monster in the face.
She missed the eyes and brain, only scoring a gash along its snout. The monster didn’t press and instead jumped away from her follow-up mist, eyeing her warily while blending into the weaker monsters ganging up on her.
This isn’t ideal, she mused, then shut off thoughts entirely. Letting her skills guide her, she cut through orcs, took a stance, and waited. It didn’t take long for the slightest tremors to reach the frosted ground.
Roots jumped out of the dirt, over two dozen of them. The edge of Anise’s sword crystallized with white, ready to cleave them all with a slash—
A shockwave almost knocked her off her feet. Cold air cushioned her back, keeping her in place. Turning around, she noticed pale blue arrows sticking out of the ground, still crackling with remnants of lightning and blood.
Disgruntled hisses alerted her to the third feline that had joined the initial spider to ambush her. It would’ve succeeded if not for the helper.
The roots in front of her were also stuck, she belatedly realized. Similar to the arrows, three blue ropes had them all tied in a knot, mere inches away from her knees.
Shit. Anise backtracked and coated the roots with water. A bit of mana created a layer of ice that she could track, and the barrier mage noticed that as well. They let go of the roots, and then there was no more time to strategize.
The Gray Spider spat venom, though she froze it again. It was prepared this time, running at her with an unnervingly smooth gait in tandem with the two felines.
Barrier ropes became visible above her, diving as she dashed. Invisible constructs, noticeable only through pulses of mana, guided her flow. The spider lunged, its fangs crunching into the floating creation.
Anise kept track of the other four constructs. The root stalker tried to spring up behind her, only to smash face-first into the invisible thing. Two of them blocked the spider’s blurry limbs, allowing her a clear path to its head that was stuck in the final construct.
Her sword pierced deep between the eyes, releasing a burst of mist inside the head. Behind her, another feline tried to jump her. Ropes smashed into the ground, slowing it down while forcing it to move between them and right into her waiting spell. The air turned frigid and hostile, drilling into the monster’s body and making it back off with a howl of pain.
They’re not killing the monsters, Anise noted with a little fear. They want me to kill them all.
So began the dance of ice and barriers. Anise stopped conserving mana, focusing entirely on the spider and third feline.
It was small, more akin to a Shade Prowler. She let it jump and sapped its momentum by freezing the air. Her sword cut into its shoulders, opening her to a bite that would’ve gotten her hand if not for the construct.
As it stood, she created a dagger of ice and rammed it up the surprised creature’s throat. Inside, it exploded with a burst of mana into shrapnel, shredding the soft tissues and blood vessels.
The injury was too severe for it to be a threat anymore. Her sword and the monsters became the only things in her focus, combined with the ice mana supporting her.
Something odd began when she moved back to avoid another pounce. More monsters were circling her, for reasons she couldn’t place, but that wasn’t what captured her attention.
It was the barrier mage that guided her. Their ropes were always in the right place, tripping and grabbing monsters. The invisible constructs blocked all dangerous lunges and projectiles, and yet, regardless of how chaotic the wave was, Anise’s sword always found its target.
It didn’t make sense. A notification chimed in her head, signifying a skill level as she executed a flawless swipe. The second-threshold monster was beheaded, unaware of how it had been subtly guided to its death.
Anise didn’t linger, firing a shard of ice that clipped a troll on its ankle. It tripped, and just as she was about to create a spike for it to fall on, a construct smashed it to the side. With only minor adjustments on her side, it was impaled through the eye, granting her another class and skill level.
Again and again, she found herself with ample room to move, great positioning, and just enough awareness to keep track of her team. The distance between them shrank, and before long, she created a path for herself to her fellow vanguard.
Ice formed in a rigid sheet, and while the human was used to stepping on such slippery surfaces, the opposing snake wasn’t. It bounced off a final construct into Anise’s sword, and that was the last of the assistance she received from the barrier mage.
****
[
Overpowering Tempo - 2nd Level 1:
Press the advantage. Gain insight into the battlefield and its flows. Openings will reveal themselves to you, and your ability to identify them is heightened.
2nd Rank: Sensory enhancements are further improved during combat.
]
Not what I expected Trapping to evolve into, but damn this is one hell of a skill, even without any numerical bonuses.
“That was… strange, to say the least,” Beatrice remarked, still staring at the platinum team that was holding its own quite well. “She looked like someone cast a rejuvenation spell on her.”
“That’s usually how gleaning insight goes,” Lev mused. “It’s like the brain gets a linear upgrade and starts thinking in a bit higher quality.”
“You think she evolved a skill?”
“Nope,” Lev replied without hesitation. “She gained several levels in class skills, though. Likely the fastest levels in a long time for her. She looks rather seasoned.”
“Really?” Beatrice asked, skeptical. “Going by her reactions, it would’ve been four or five levels in a few minutes. That doesn’t sound realistic.”
“Why would it not?” Lev countered, then read out the description of Overpowering Tempo. “It’s like applying a strong Master skill to an Adept’s kit. Four or five levels are expected.”
“Still, both of you are on the same battlefield. Sure, we have a much broader view from up here, but that wouldn’t result in so many improvements.”
“It’s because of the difference in our Perception, of course,” Lev stated like it was obvious. “Think about it. She’s an Adept, and I’m a Master with ridiculous Perception. I’d be surprised if she sees even a tenth of what I do, and even then, I notice things much more keenly in comparison.”
The aura mage blinked a few times, running the mental math. “And you guided her at your level of combat…”
Beatrice trailed off, her face going blank. She leveled a stare at Lev.
“Yeah,” he grinned. “It is that strong.”
Her face became even more expressionless.
“And it has only evolved once to reach this point.”
She took a deep breath, then just exhaled in defeat. “I swear it’s like you and The System hold hands in back alleys or something. Where are the stupid skills for the rest of us?”
Lev snorted at the wild accusation, even if it wasn’t entirely undeserved. “Hey now, I’m no special boy with three golden fingers up my back. I mean, I sorta am, but not because of some favoritism.”
Beatrice sent him a side-eye. She had been burnt by his presence multiple times already, and that soured the mood quickly. Yet another reason Lev wanted to be alone for the foreseeable future, or at least, away from non-combatants.
“Why’d you phrase it like that?” Beatrice chuckled after a few seconds. “Up your back. Thank you for that image.”
“I’m not the one who brought up back alleys,” Lev retorted with a long stretch. “You can only blame yourself for instigating it.”
“Wait, stop,” Beatrice warned.
Stargazer was already in his hands, the edges of her blade crackling with trace amounts of white lightning.
“You’re still under a healer’s supervision,” she added with a sigh. “I— okay, fine. You’re not allowed to use more than a tenth of your mana.”
“Thank you, your royal highness,” Lev stated with a deep bow. “I’ll try to remember that. The end of a wave can be quite chaotic, you see.”
Then he was falling, right on top of an unfortunate… something. He identified it.
[Headless Revenant - Level 312]
A revenant? This far out?
Little wonder his instincts were telling him to go face the creature. It was, going by its aura, actively absorbing mana from spells, while also running a potent body enhancement. A decently dangerous enemy for the usual Masters; also a perfect testing dummy.
For the sake of not ending the fight before it began, Lev nudged himself to the side and accelerated more. He hit the ground like a comet, unbalancing the creature. A tiny orb, filled with white lightning, was flicked at the revenant and observed with great interest.
Several skills bounced off the construct. Two different types of mana drains failed to affect it, and when an intangible web of mana tried to stop the orb, it cleanly tore through. Lev took rapid notes in the back of his mind, discerning the unique skill while observing his new element.
Lightning, as usual, erupted as if it was owed money. The first tongs found flesh, bypassing Constitution and other defenses to sink inside. The rest of the fuel followed in a blink, blowing up a decent chunk of the impacted arm while also stunning the revenant.
A mere smidgen, except it was powered by mana, stamina, and willpower, while also controlled by all my manipulation skills.
Lev didn’t know what was scarier: The fact that it was so strong, or the way it required so many things even to create and control, let alone wield properly.
He also took the time to look at the monster clearly. It was humanoid, in a way. The creature stood on two hind legs, with a bloated torso that ended on a neck with nothing atop it. It would’ve been quite terrifying with a face, in Lev’s opinion.
As it stood, he carefully infused tiny amounts of lightning into his armor. The effects were, as expected, more deadly for himself than the foe. A hasty teleport for the lightning let him flick off another white orb before his arm was damaged again. Beatrice wasn’t going to let it go this time.
Creating more of the fierce element, Lev debated what to test without resorting to actual torture.****Author's Notes: Hello, apologies for the missed chapter. I've been busy with editing and life, and writing is getting quite difficult as a result.Beyond that though, I do want to shill two of my great friends. They just launched their books on amazon, and any support for them would be awesome.Adam vs The Apocalypse: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H2BFJMZ9Horizon's Twilight: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H2QNXW67