Ashley found herself straining from effort. Not necessarily physical, thought certainly there was an element of that present. No Ashleys' issue was mental strain. Each precise dodge, each adjustment made to maintain the best possible position, to avoid overextending herself, was stretching her mind to it limits. the worst headache of her life was radiating pain through her skull and it was gradually getting worse. But she couldn't stop. The first time they had fought, the encounter with those wolves when they first entered the Tutorial, had given them a false confidence. A confidence that had resulted in them getting caught of guard by the Inferno Bear. A confidence that had waned even further when Lilac had 'unlocked' her physique. The System did make them more durable, more able to survive absurd injuries, it even seemed to make them more resilient to pain up to a point. But it definitely did not make them immortal, and Ashley was not willing to die to the damn Tutorial, glitched or not.
Her Family was counting on her, after all.
Ashley barely sidestepped a [Bark Blast] and watched as Chloe ran towards the Ent she'd been fighting since the start. A branch came towards her and Ashley assumed Chloe would dodge out of the way. Instead, she felt Chloe's Mana surge. The branch made contact, but dealt less damage than it had previously. Chloe grinned as she swung her blade, embedding it into the body of the Ent. Another branch came down, striking the Martialist in the flank. Her [Skinshield] held and her grip remained firmly on her blade. Chloe's leg came up as her hand tightened on the hilt. A kick and a tug brought the Martialists Blade free, the combined action caused Chloe to stumble back, but also spelt the end for the Ent, it's bark splitting outwards as it fell. Ashley could see a grin spread across Chloes' lips.
Lilac took a moment to consider her options. Obstensibly, she could run; flee through the floored caverns that she had just emerged from and not attempt to fight the wolves before her. the problem with that was two fold. First, the only route she knew of through the tunnels led to that Cathedral and those EqL 2+ and 3+ beasts guurading it. She could, perhaps, find another route. But that would still leave her with issue two; she would be split from her team permanently. And in this place, she didn't much fancy her odds of surviving on her own. Lilac already knew what her choice was, and she could already feel her fire responding to her as she steeled her resolve.
As the first Sonic wolf jumped towards her, Lilac channelled her magic, casting [Fire shield]. Her Flames provided the base of the spell, with 2 MP expended to make up the deficit as a barrier of fire-aspect magic formed around her. A split second late a claw bounced off of the protective construct. The wolf bounced back, and irritated growl passing it's canine lips. Then a yelp. Lilac's barrier was a hybrid spell after all. It burnt those that struck it, 25% of Lilac's INT wasn't that much force on it's own, but with the power of her physique and the Flanmepledge amulet she wore, the effect was not something to be taken lightly. A fact that the wolf realised as it's paw was engulfed in a small blaze.
Lilac hopped about to limber up and readjust herself to being on solid ground as the Sonic Wolves took a few seconds to try and get her measure. This girl looked helpless at first glance; she was alone and there was four of them. And yet they'd failed to set the Tempo with that first attack, failed to get her on the back foot. It was suddenly unclear who was predator and who was prey in this situation. Lilac finished her stretches and immediately launched into action. As her feet touched the ground at the end of her final hop, she flung a [Fire Arrow] at the one that had already been damaged from striking her shield. The wolf attempted to jump out of the way, but it's paw, wounded from the earlier fire, gave out at the sudden attempt at movement. The beast stumbled and the spell struck true. Within Seconds the first of the beasts before her was turned to ash.
Lilac smiled as she prepared her next attack.
Chloe flexed her hand. She'd always been a fighter, always. she had always fought for thing she thought was truly important, sure; she was usually the first in line to punch out a bully, and punching was almost always her first choice. The point is, she had the instincts of a fighter, no matter how hard she'd tried to supress it in recent years. She was no stranger to battle highs. And her [Body Strengthening] skill gave one hell of a battle high. She'd activated the skill before, usually in quick bursts for a similarly quick boost and it had already proven it's worth multiple times over. But those bursts were never long enough to feel the high. This was the first time she'd turned it on and let it run, even if only for two seconds. Two seconds, and the feeling she had gotten was frankly amazing. The fact that her kick had worked as well as it did honestly surprised her, now that she had a small lull to think about it. She'd been rewarded for it as well.
Now, Chloe wasn't entirely sure she agreed that the kick itself was entirely responsible for the kill, but if the System thought it was good enough, she sure as shit wasn't going to complain. Especially not if she got a new skill out of it. She felt the grin on her lips. One of the wolves bit into her arm with enhanced strength while she was distracted. Her remaining barrier absorbed most of the attack, but the beast still managed to sink it's teeth into the flesh of her arm. The Martialist let out a pained grunt as she drive her knee into the stomach of the clinging creature, causing it to release it's grip. Then, with a swift motion, she brought her blade down upon it, finishing the wolf off. Chloe checked her wound as she reactivated [Skinshield] and decided it wasn't too serious a hit. She checked her remaining MP next; 9 left. Should be enough to see this through. At least the wolves they'd actually set out in search for had come to them.
Lily rolled as she came out of her teleport. The second tree was down, but two remained and the pair of wolves was had been harrying her and Chloe since they entered the fight. The wolf that was focused on her was attempting to corral her movement, seemingly working together with the Ent to drive her into the toxic bushes. She still felt the dull ache of the flesh that had partially necrotised from the first bout with the thorns. The, out of the corner of her eye, she witnessed Chloe two hit her wolf like an utter boss. Well, fuck. Not too bad for the girl that was redder than a tomato this morning. Lily certainly wasn't about to let herself be outdone. She nocked an arrow as the Ent cast it's next spell and used [Spatial hop] to dodge at the last second. The Rouge raised her bow in the direction she knew the wolf was coming from and fired when it jumped. Lily had grown almost entirely accustomed to the disorientation from teleportation and thus was able to make her aim true enough to strike the beast, the arrow going right through it's neck and taking it out of the fight in a single shot.
As this happened however, another [Bark Blast] came from the Ent. Lily raised her arms to protect herself just in time. While the wooden shrapnel still bit into her skin, it bit into the flesh of her arm and the back of her hand instead of the neck and head where it had been aimed. Lily sword, pulling a few bits of bark from her limb as Ashley's healing magic washed over her. This was the final stretch now, just two Burning Ents left. Chloe strode forward to stand equidistant between the two flaming trees. Ashley moved back slightly, enough to keep everyone in her sights. Lily could see she was struggling herself, as Ashley's eye was clearly twitching slightly and her breathing was slightly irregular, likely due to stress. Lily was reaching her mental limit as well, the dull ache of her body combining with the lingering effects of Teleporting so much was slowly catching up with her. Still, she couldn't let herself fall down. She needed to save her Sister. And to do that, she needed to accept this new life she had thrown herself into, no more hesitation, Lily nocked an arrow in her bow. It was time to end this. She waited for the right moment; for Chloe to engage first. She didn't have to wait long.
Lilac cast a [Fire Arrow], the wolf dodged. lilac cast another, the wolf dodged again as the other two wolves moved to flank her. Lilac forced a wolf back with a third [Fire Arrow] to give herself some room to move about. The fact that [Fire Arrow] had it's MP cost essentially negated by her Physique allowed her to throw them about almost constantly without too much worry. Which was probably a good thing, seeing as the wolves that were staring her down were taking her very seriously. Lilac took a deep breath as she steadied herself. All those hours caving with Uncle Dan back when she could were making it much easier to find her footing on the cave floor, even in the low light conditions she was in. She was certain her Uncle would be proud of her if he was still around.
One of the wolves let out a piercing houl, causing to Lilacs' head to throb in pain. As that was distracting her, the other two canids dashed towards her, claws ready. By the time Lilac had recovered from the howl, she couldn't find a route through which she could dodge. So instead, she cast her [Flaming Burst] spell at her own feet. The flames surged outwards, washing over her and the approaching wolves. For Lilac, the flames were almost pleasant; compared to the feeling of burning from within she had felt a few hours ago, this was frankly nothing. With her high RES Stat and her Medium-Grade Fire resistance, whatever damage she might have taken was easily absorbed by the barrier of her [Fire Shield] spell. The approaching wolves, however, did not fare quite as well. They were both badly burnt and been pushed back and knocked to the ground. One of them even landed in some sharp-ish mini-stalagmites. All three seemed terrified of her as she emerged from the flames.
The beasts whimpered and backed off as the pyromancer approached. The one that had landed in the stalagmites didn't quite managed to retreat as fast as its' compatriots and Lilac caught up to it rather quickly. The Mage reached for her Flames, watching as it obeyed her will and whim, gathering in her hands. It really struck her in that moment how flexible her fire felt. So long as she focused, she felt like she could do almost anything with them. She made a fist with her hand and wrapped it in the Flames as she dashed suddenly forward. The stalagmite-imbedded wolf was simply not able to respond as Lilac slammed her fist into it's face, the impact and the fire working in tandem to end the life of the beast. A flash of System prompts popped up at the edge of her vision.
Lilac gazed at the notifications with a curious look. [Novice Pugilist], a Martialist Skill. The ability to obtain this skill without actually having Martialist Levels was interesting to say the least. The System held more mysteries than expected. Though this time, Lilac would be happy to just accept this one; she didn't much fancy the idea of poking at the System more considering what had happened last time. At the very least, seeing as she had 11 STR, it wasn't a bad option to have available to her. Especially if she paired it with the second skill/spell, [Enchant: Fire]. An easy enough task, seeing as her Physique negated it's cost. Saying that, she wouldn't slot [Novice Pugilist] for now, as the ECL cost would put her ECL to 8 / 6; not enough to actually cast her spells beyond [Fire Arrow] and she would very much like to keep her spellcasting options open. She did slot [Enchant: Fire] though, and she felt the mental strain from maintaining the spell herself vanish as the System took on the brunt of the task. At this point, she felt confident in assuming that the System wasn't a necessity of using magic. It was a framework; training wheels that would guide the people of Earth to grow stronger. That being said, if one learned the raw method of using magic and then added the potential for growth the System granted on top of that, it could be interesting. That book, the one written by that Magus, it hadn't ever mentioned the System. For the first time in a long time, Lilac felt confident in herself. Her Physique might have almost killed her, but the control and flexibility it granted would hopefully allow her to figure out 'natural' spellcasting. Maybe now she could be half as cool as her Sister was. That being said, Lilac was curious what the point of all this was now more than ever. Why does the System Exist? Why do dungeons spawn?
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
the uninjured wolf tried to take advantage of Lilac's lapse in concentration, running forward and pouncing towards her. Lilac saw the movement at the edge of her vision and turned towards the airborne beast. She willed the Flames around her her hand into a new shape, a [Fire Arrow] spell. The magic flew towards the creature and hit it directly; the wolf simply unable to dodge while in the air. A short yelp echoed off of the walls of the cave as the foe was slain almost instantly. Lilac did not slow her momentum and cast another [Fire Arrow] to finish off the final wolf. Exp was Exp after all, she did need it. And the wolf had tried to kill her first.
With the battle concluded, Lilac felt her adrenaline ebb away and with it, a sudden exhaustion came over her. Lilac found a spot and sat down, resting her back against a particularly large flowstone and took in the state of the cave around her. the scent of burnt fur and flesh filled the air and scorch marks singed black a great many of the rocky surfaces around the centre, where most of the fighting had taken place. Lilac couldn't help but laugh weakly to herself at the absurdity of it all. When yesterday began, she'd never once seen true violence. She simply didn't understand what she'd signed up for. Not until the bear almost killed her sister. Not until her own body almost killed her. And now here she was, using those same flames to burn through her foes. In a way, she was lucky. without her Physique, the loss of her staff would have been her end. And really, wasn't it better to be a Systemer? Those without a System could only run in fear at even the simple beasts the poured out of the portals. Ashley had painted that picture herself. How the healers' father could only delay the beasts that burnt down their home by a handful of seconds. Still; up until now, Lilac's life had been simple, even if unpleasant. Now she had dived headfirst into the unknown in an attempt to seize her own future. At this point all she knew was that even if she survived this trial the Lilac she had been just yesterday, and whom she had been for all the 18 years prior, was gone forever.
Chloe took a deep breath. The two Ents before her were that last of her foes. unfortunately, they had also not actually taken any damage yet. She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and rushed forward. The Martialist ducked to the side to avoid a branch that was coming towards her. At the same time, the other Ent fired a [Bark Blast] directly at her. It connected, but was absorbed by the [Skinshield] barrier. Chloe activated her [Body Strengthening], feeling the rush of the mana flowing through her as she cut into the living tree. All this time trading blows with them has given her a good idea of how she should slash at them to cut deep enough to hurt them but not so deep that it caused her blade to get stuck or her momentum to be eaten. The gash that resulted from her attack was indeed quite deep. The Burning Ent responded by bringing it's branch down to hit her. Chloe took the hit, raising her arm so the fiery wood did not hit her in the face, then grabbed the branch and pulled. this action caused the Ent to loose some of it's 'footing'. At this point, Lily let loose a glowing arrow, a [Power Shot] that struck true and weakened the ferocious foliage enough so that Chloe's follow up strike finished it off. [Body Strengthening] was still going strong, with 6 seconds left until 0 MP.
The final Ent fired it's next [Bark Blast] directly at Chloe, having seemed to have marked her as the most threatening piece on the field. the Martialist did manage to avoid the brunt of the attack, but not entirely. What damage she did take was even sufficient to break the barrier of her [Skinshield], some bits of bark even managed to cut her skin. Chloe continued to move towards the Ent, not slowing. she Decided not to re-cast [Skinshield] this time; she needed all the MP she could get. The Battle High from [Body Strengthening] combined with the copious amounts of adrenaline running through her veins was the only thing keeping her going. Chloe could feel, faintly, the exhaustion both mental and physical pushing at her from the edge of her consciousness. She could feel the burning of her muscles as she got what was probably the most extreme workout she's gotten in years. She was pushing herself to her limits and she knew it couldn't last. But she also knew she couldn't let up. She let out a yell to focus herself as she grew closer to the terrible tree before her. It went to swing it's branch at her, but another [Power Shot] from lily forced it to sway out of the way instead. 5 Seconds left as Chloe finally closed the distance.
Chloe swung her blade, expecting the Ent to step back slightly. Instead, it stepped into it. The Blade cut very deep, but also got stuck in the wood. the Martialist swore as she was forced to abandon her blade to dodge another [Bark Blast]. 4 seconds. Chloe began to feel another distinct ache spread through her body as her Mana started to get low. The Ent did not let up, turning quickly to face the Rouge and firing a [Bark Blast] towards her. Lily used one of her teleports to dodge. She stumbled and grabbed her head as she came out of it, a groan of pain pushing past her lips. Chloe could only assume that she was starting to run low as well. They needed to end this quickly. Chloe dashed forward, body screaming louder as she wrapped her hand around the hilt of her sword. 3 Seconds.
Chloe gripped the handle of her sword as tight as she could and pulled her leg up, kicking the trunk of the tree with a grunt. Both the Chloe and the Ent stumbled back slightly as the blade came free. 2 Seconds. Chloe's eyes burned. It felt like the veins in her body were constricting. Lily fired another arrow, this time striking true and extending the Ent's stumbling long enough for Chloe to regain her balance just enough to take her stance and throw herself forward with her sword ready. The blade cut deep, but the abuse was too much for it and it snapped. Still, it was enough to get the job done; the final Burning Ent fell.
[Body Strengthening] ended with 1 second left on the clock. A smile spread itself across Chloe's lips, a small laugh escaped them. Then Chloe fell to the floor, her exhaustion exerting it's full force upon her.
Surelia awoke slowly. She ached all over, her body hot as though she had been standing near a blazing inferno. She sat up cautiously and trailed her gaze over her surroundings. The rectangular stone slab she sat upon had the vague shape of a bed, though much larger than herself. At the end of the stone bed was a robe, just about her size, along with some basic undergarments. She took the obvious gift at face value. It wouldn't do for a high elf like her to wander around naked after all. Surelia turned her attention to the chamber within which the bed resided. If the bed was large, one might consider the chamber itself cavernous, but it was no cavern. The walls and pillars were decorated with geometric shapes and skulls, clearly to break up monotony. The Sconces on the wall took the shape of clawed hands holding an orb of magical fire that shed more light than one would expect, had the flames been mundane. The decorative style could charitably be called 'Gothic' though most would likely skip to 'Demonic', even if few Demon-kin truly went for décor like this. The only means of egress from the chamber was a simple stone door that led into a corridor that curved gently to the left. With only one option, the Elf decided to just press on.
Walking out of the chamber and following the curve of the corridor, she soon found herself in a larger room that logically should have intersected with the room she was just in but didn't. In the centre of the new chamber was a strange floating orb-like device that showed within it's depths a fight between a woman and four Sonic Wolves. Watching the fight from atop a stone throne was a man, almost 8 feet tall with grey skin and copper coloured eyes. What one might have called his 'hair' was in fact just long, fleshy growths that fell about his head like dreadlocks, each with a gold ring attached near its' end. His form was muscular and his flesh itself was covered in arcane runes that seemed to glow as if on fire. A single horn emerged from the centre of his forehead and split into two as it curved back to follow the shape of his head. His main clothing consisted of dark red leather with various metal plates; a metal Surelia was certain was highly enchanted Orichalcum. A few pieces of Ornate cloth, gold jewellery and what appeared to be an Elven-made Mythril shortsword completed his look.
He turned to Surelia and smiled "Ah, you have awoken. Hello, young Elf. I am Gl'Cthno; The Crimson Duke. May I know by what I may call you?"
The high elf took a deep breath to steady herself "... I am Surelia Nilia, My Duke. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance" Surelia gave a respectful bow, moving based on muscle memory she thought long buried.
The Duke gave a light chuckle "Well met, Surelia. And please, do not overly worry with formality; it will make the coming discussion much too difficult" Gl' gestured to the floor near him and, at his command, a seat of stone rose from the ground. "You're likely suffering some mental instabilities, likely related to memory. An after-effect of the method my... compatriot used to bind you. Please sit, we must discuss your past, present and, most importantly, your future."
It was true that Surelia was having difficulty recalling any memory with any real clarity and the fact that it took the Duke pointing it out for her to notice was deeply concerning. The high elf sat on the chair that Gl' created for her and took a deep breath.
"Alright. I'm ready"
