∼ Day 65 ∼ |
[System Sanctioned Duel has commenced!] [Defeat your enemy] |
Calling my three behemoth blood puppets to my rear and two flanks, I grinned at the stocky general. My blood puppets had taken a qualitative change over the course of my little training expedition and encounter with the army scouts. And I had now finally managed to bump my blood puppet magic to the 5th-tier, adding a new rune called Transmogrify.
It allowed for my creations to be much more varied and morphed.
The blood puppet naturally seemed to adhere to a humanoid form, going farther from that only costing more mana and putting a higher strain on the magic. But with Transmogrify, my toils had become a lot looser, allowing me to create such beastly and powerful creations.
I was able to now summon three D-ranked blood puppets, but that wasn't all. These weren't like any ordinary D-ranked monsters. While wielding the power and strength of D-ranked monsters, the puppets themselves are much sturdier than their rank would suggest, almost reaching a whole rank higher in terms of defense and constitution.
With the tension in the atmosphere growing ever thicker, a deathly still silence so all-encompassing that the drop of a needle could be heard for a mile enveloped the plains.
As my nails grew to extend into lethally sharp weapons, I unfolded my aura, causing my eyes to swirl with mana and the very air to shudder.
Opposing me, the stocky man also unleashed his aura. However, compared to mine, his was much more refined, pointing at years of experience and training. So instead of causing the air to shudder, his aura seemed to become attuned with the world itself, the only physical perception of his aura being a shimmering haze around his body as if it was the refraction of heatwaves.
The second our auras met the air crackled and the silence shattered. It was in this instance, we both sprang into motion, becoming blurs as we left out after images behind.
The clang and screech of metal resounded out in each direction were the first thing to be heard. My claws meeting his claymore. I didn't block his strike, instead, parrying his blade.
I had no grand illusions of blocking his masterfully puppeteered blade with merely my own body. By parrying my claws took a lot less damage than absorbing the full strength of the strike. But even while I had already enforced my claw-nails with pushing mana into Onyx Body, and that I was parrying the strike, offloading a great amount of its power, I was shocked to find out that they were barely holding against his blade.
Conjuring a weapon from Blood Shaping, something I already knew would produce sturdier equipment than my nails provided, had been an option. However, I simply had zero skill with any semblance of weapons other than my nails and teeth. Suddenly prancing into a deadly fight with a weapon and fumbling like some moron would most likely not end well for me.
The fight didn't move to a standstill after the first strike, only increasing in intensity from thereon. Translucent blurs from a skill activated and the sparks of friction illuminated our fight, our attacks and movements so fast that no ordinary human eyes could perceive, causing our battle to look like a light show to the untrained eye rather than a heated fight between supernaturally powerful humanoids.
Not gaining any ground, even with my blood puppets pitching in from the sides, I dropped attempting to out skill the master sword-wielder. Conjuring my magic, I went through my easy-cast spells such as Stagnation but I had to touch his body for it to work. Pretty sure that his claymore wasn't his limb, although he wielded it like it was, I forsook using Stagnation.
Instead, I conjured forth the tried and true method of turning my enemies' own blood against themselves.
Rend!
[Garret has taken 25 damage!] |
His eyes went wide from the sudden internal damage and his movement slightly staggered from the shock. But true to his experience, he quickly shook it off and continued his onslaught. The damage notification was disappointing, to say the least, that Rend even already being a super-charged one; pumped full with mana. Costing nearly a tenth of my mana pool, combined with the steady trickle used to keep Onyx Body enhanced and my mana reserved for my blood puppets, it was clear I couldn't keep using that to outright kill him.
I was tempted to just recall the blood puppets and take back what mana was left in them, but the support they gave was invaluable. The extra pressure caused by them, allowing me to barely hold on against his ever-increasing onslaught. But I soon realized that it wasn't just because he was adapting to my fighting style over time that I was losing my ground.
His attacks were actually becoming stronger for each strike, and although only very slightly, it was quickly adding up.
It was another skill.
And a single strike that evaded my guard proved just how deadly it was overtime.
[You have taken 43 damage!] |
Slicing a deep cut into my shoulder like it was any common meat to a blade, I was shocked. But that wasn't all that was to the attack. Added with the slashing power, an unstoppable kinetic force was added, presumably by his ramping power skill which took an additional small chunk with it. When the wound closed with a visible speed, it obvious in even the stern general's eyes, that he was shocked to see a mage with such defensive and regenerative powers.
Realizing that this battle was turning into one of attrition, both of our general power being about equal, we finally launched into the final stage of the fight. It was clear that neither of us had used our triumph cards or had gone full out, these first rounds of exchanges being more to test out the waters.
The sudden shift in the fight caused our auras to flare, even causing hazy apparition of our auras clashing in the air. Sword light and skills that made his claymore hit like hurling boulders were mirrored by the flashing of crimson light and sanguine mist rising to the air.
A cacophony of both sounds and damage notifications flashed through my head, but I simply discarded them to the side, wholeheartedly indulging myself in this exhilarating fight. Suddenly, we both exploded away from each other, returning to a distance of a dozen meters separating us. The smatter of blood and various wounds staining both our bedraggled bodies told of the nature of our heated battle.
While the general was staring me down with a troubled gaze, I was grinning like a maniac; completely suffused in battle lust. However, this wasn't the same mindless savagery that had ailed my mind under the clutches of the Mistress. While it was a wholly primal desire to battle such a powerful foe, it was controlled, guiding my skills and mastery to achieve a whole new level.
One of my blood puppets were destroyed while the two other weren't much far off either from that. My mana was close to spent and my health was the only thing steadily ticking up, however, my energies were running low, meaning that Lesser Eldritch Vitality and Mana Mending wouldn't be able to keep me alive for much longer.
But that was not to say that the general was faring any better.
-Appraisal!-
Appraisal - Garret |
|||||
Information | Attributes |
Traits. Titles. and Skills | |||
-Name- | "Garret" | STR | 162 | Skills | ??? |
-Race- | Human | VIT | 120 | Traits | ??? |
-Sex- | Male | AGI | 82 | Titles | ??? |
-Rank- | D+ | DEX | 85 | Resistances |
|
-Level- | 80 | INT | ??? | ||
Health | 222/653 | CHR | ??? | Physical Resistance | ??? |
Stamina | 107/422 | WILL | ??? | Magical Resistance | ??? |
Mana | 0/0 | MAG | ??? | Mental Resistance | ??? |
Class | Tier | ||||
-Main Class- | Highlander | 5 | |||
-Sub Class- | Master Leader | 4 |
His wounds were severe and he had lost a ton of blood which I had been steadily stealing with Blood Shaping to activate Blood-Born. Somehow, he had another skill that seemed to allow him to be liberated by the hampering of his wounds and move just as if he was completely unharmed.
But such a skill should definitely have a time limit or some cost, meaning that he wouldn't be able to keep it up forever. Wanting to take advantage of that, I burned more of my blood; causing shadows to suddenly coalesce from everywhere.
Encasing us both in a thick mirage of shadows, the general lost all vision. I could still easily see through the shadows as they were conjured directly from my very own mana.
Now having to defend from a blind position against my sudden attacks, the general was pushed into a corner.
He attempted to escape the shadows, however, not only did the shadows move with him, an occasional swipe from the remaining blood puppets would shove him back into the darkness.
The only reason why he managed to block some of my attacks while being utterly blind, was because his aura control and expertise were just that much greater than that of my own; being able to sense my presence just before I attacked even though I was shrouding it with my Shadow Magic.
But lethal sneak attacks weren't what I was going for.
I was slowly but surely wearing out his skill, promising an inevitable death. The grim regret in the general's eyes was the only precursor to the sudden worsening of his wounds and him falling to his knees; the skill clearly having worn off.
I dissipated the shadows to reveal the stocky man, barely hanging on by a thread. Grizzly wounds and blood riddled his body. The sight caused the humans to gasp and stare in shock at the sorry state of their leader, a paragon of their country, defeated, while the greenskins hollered with wild abandon.
"Thank you for this fight. I learned a lot." - Me
Smirking self-deprecatingly, the general locked eyes with me.
"I accept my fate. But, don't seek to hurt my people." - Garret
Glancing at the many humans in the distance, I simply nodded. This man had completely earned my respect, this fight giving me insights that I never even thought possible. Even though his perspective was one of human hypocrisy, I did not care.
"Rest easy, so long as they don't go against me, I will not lay a hand on them." - Me
Sensing the sincere tone in my voice, he just nodded, surprisingly satisfied by my promise. I approached him and kneeled by his side.
As I plunged my deadly sharp claws into a crack in his armor, I pierced his heart. The only thing he let out was a small grunt from the pain, his life quickly fading from his eyes.
[LVL: 80 - Human "Garret Ardent" has been slain!] [You have been rewarded with 132054 points of EXP] [Congratulations! You've reached levels 5-8] [You've been rewarded with 4 skill points for reaching levels 5-8] |
[System Sanctioned Duel has ended!] [Victor - Xavier Tal'chor!] [Reward: 10-year non-aggression pact - (Mordria)] |
But as he fell to his side, a shrill scream sounded out, accompanied by the heavy gallop of hooves.
"NO!" - ???
I had already sensed her approach when I kneeled before the defeated general, but I paid her no attention as she only wielded the power of a weak D- human. Conjuring some shadows beneath her speeding steed, I simply tripped it, causing the wailing woman to suddenly bolt forwards and crash heavily to the ground.
Coming to a halt before my feet, I crushed her aura beneath mine, not even allowing her to raise her head as I used Blood Shaping on the blood in her body. I was surprised that the obvious aggressive act of the woman seemed to prompt no breaking of the non-aggression pact that I had just gotten, but the instinctual information prompted into my head told me that I wouldn't be breaking my pact if I decided to kill her either.
Picking up the stricken woman by her throat, I stared into her eyes. It immediately became obvious to me that she was related to that general, making it clear why she so stupidly attempted to attack me. Grief and hatred in her eyes, signaling that she was in no calm state of mind. I was just standing there, scrutinizing her, not sure if I should kill her or not.
I respected to geezer I had just fought and didn't want to spit on his body by immediately killing off one of his blood kin. But before I could put her down gently, another rider approached, calling out.
"Don't, it's not worth it!" - ???
Raising my brow and casting a curious eye at the lithe figure that approached, I grinned.
None other than Lily, the guild master, was charging through the plains, towards me.
Stopping some meters away, she had a look of extreme uncertainty, but behind that, a hint of hope.
"Why not?" - Me
"She's the daughter to Modria's commander and niece to the Justicar and two of the generals. Besides her uncle you've just killed, if you hurt her, you will incur the wrath of this country's three strongest warriors, non-aggression pact be damned." - Lily
"And why are you telling me this?" - Me
She was looking even more uncertain now, a stark contrast to the confident and charming woman I originally met.
"Y-you... are... him, aren't you?" - Lily
"I sure am. Nice to meet you again, Lily." - Me
I said, a sly smile tugging at my lips.
thanks for the chappie-naw f*ck u and ur cliffhangers
Seconded. we should force author-san to make more chapters and never make cliff hangers again while locked in a metal box. Jkjk, thanks for the chapter.
@DarkeReises
@Konge don't worry, I can't do it if I don't know where you live. yet.
@DarkeReises
yet.
@Konge I am Detective Apple Fritter, we had been tipped off that some fine Baked Goods have gone missing. Judging by the crumbles on your shirt; it seems you might be... willing to make a deal. All this can disappear if just give us what we want - no cliffhangers and heroin. We'd hate to see such a fine man, such as yourself, have to go to Candy Jail.
@NickTehKnight - I don't know what you talking about detective.
@DarkeReises I second your seconding and the locking up. I don't however second you just kidding
@LordRimuru more people on the team makes the operation easier.
@DarkeReises Indeed, we should hurry up with the recruiting so we can then make the plan, execute it and get ourselves some chappies.
@LordRimuru Right right. We need people and weapons. We must get some chappies.
@DarkeReises People is easy to get, but what kind would best fit our situation? And where/how are we going to acquire them?
@LordRimuru i have a few swords and a shield. As well as bows, and guns. I think sword and shield would be best, we surround the target and capture 'em.
@DarkeReises Hmmm, yes. I agree, that would indeed be the best plan of action. Now all we gotta do is either find people willing to help us, or force people to do so.
@LordRimuru i may or may not have a dungeon, with quite a lot of cages
@DarkeReises Great! Now we just need a time and date to execute our plan. We should make it in about a month or two, maybe three. Now, I know you want to do it as soon as possible for more chapter but listen here. First of all, we (theoretically) have to train the (alleged) prisoners so they could (in theory) help with the plan. Secondly the people who are (allegedly) locked up in your (theoretical) dungeon have to be trained to be loyal (if they (theoretically) haven't yet). And last but not least, we could try to find more people to add to our noble cause, so we heighten our chance of succes.
@LordRimuru don't worry, they're all 2 meter tall viking-looking dudes. They train every day for atleast 14 hours, and they're buff as shit. And completely loyal to me. Nothing some good ol systematic brain damage and torture can't fix.
@DarkeReises Okay, we got the muscle and the weapons. Anyone got a place to stash the target and put them to work?
My readers are literally plotting my kidnapping...
I couldn't be more worried - and proud.
@Konge don't worry, we'll treat you as well as any of my "servants."
@DemonLordShadowheart we could do it at my place. I could set up a room in my dungeon just for the target
@Everyone
Send help...
@Konge Don't worry, that's the plan. We're sending "help".
@Konge don't worry I'll make sure to feed you three meals a day. As long as you keep pumping out chapters I'll treat you like a normal human, minus your freedom and all of your rights.
...... elp
@Konge And, there will be no evidence. Can't find any leads if there is no crime scene.
@Konge oh, I'll also give you free access to the "backrooms"() and the game room for a few hours every weekend, as long as you keep chappies coming
@Konge Glad you're proud. And yes, you should be worried indeed
@NickTehKnight It's not a crime if nobody saw you commit it and/or knows you commited it
@LordRimuru and dead men tell no tales
@DarkeReises Exactly, which is why, for the sake of no one leaking the plot upon conclusion...
*prepares sword and starts playing Princes of the Universe by Queen (Highlander theme)*
... There can be ONLY ONE!!!!!
@DemonLordShadowheart >shoots you in head with me 12-guage semi-auto shotgun. begins cackling maniacally
@DarkeReises *quietly prepares Barret .50 while you laugh over my body double's corpse* "Boom. Headshot."
@DemonLordShadowheart *chuckles while taking out PTRS-41 and pointing it point-blank at your head after popping out of your shadow* "Checkmate."
@DarkeReises *two shadow clones pop up behind you with Desert Eagles* "Say my name and tell me why you thought the Shadows were ever your ally."
@DemonLordShadowheart A powerful pressure pounds down onto your clones, following the connection all the way to your main body. Dark, ominous black and purple vortexes form as eldritch abominations reach through the Void, grabbing not onto your physical body, but your Astral one, beginning to pull you apart like taffy, but stopping just right before you snap in half and revert to dust, leaving you in mind-rending pain as they slowly drag you towards the Outer Planes where they will trap you in eternal torment till the end of times.
@DarkeReises Alright, you asked for it. Imma phone a friend. *begins playing The Call of Ktulu by Metallica* Yo, big C! Help me out here.
@DemonLordShadowheart Mate, have you seen my profile picture? I'll get Cthulhu, Azathoth, and Hastur on yo ass. Laughs as I have two HP Lovecraft collections, multiple posters, a few hoodies, and a bunch of shirts all Cthulhu Mythos themed
@DarkeReises Alright, we'll call it a draw. We're steering off topic, fighting amongst ourselves while the target is escaping!
@DemonLordShadowheart agreed. You, Rimuru, and I are all partners. No need for infighting, we're brothers in arms now.
My comment section turned from a cliffhanger comment to a kidnapping heist, then a literal battlefield with guns and eldritch horrors, to then lastly, the unification of brothers in arms.
What in the actual f*ck...
@Konge Isn't this just another Day with the Bros? My D&D friends were like this all the time haha
@DarkeReises Also if you ever need help with ideas for eldritch horrors in this story, hmu cause I got plenty of horrifying OCs of that sort
@DarkeReises I've only ever played a single session of D&D, it sucks because it was fun. I got up to some funny sh*t during the one battle we had.
@Konge Isn't it a sign of a good community when the members casually plot to kidnap the author, get into disputes, having said squabbles quickly and briefly escalate towards climactic confrontations with cosmic deities, and reunite over the common goal of kidnapping the author?
@DemonLordShadowheart So true. Speaking of community, is there a discord server for this novel or just the author in general? If there is maybe I'll join it
@DarkeReises @DemonlordShadowheart
Indeed, that's why I said I wasn't sure if I should be worried or happy about it.
As for eldritch horrors, I won't really spoil anything, but just wait for the next few chapters.
And no, there isn't a discord server yet since I'm not sure if my story is big enough for that. Plus, I'm too lazy rn.
@Konge WOAH WOAH THAT MEANS SOON? Oh now I'm excited. I made a few eldritch horrors a few years ago when I was constantly playing Fantasy roleplay games, and they're some of my favorite to play as. You can do so much interesting stuff with them, I especially like possessing people's minds and driving them insane while also acting like a Stand to them by making pseudo-materialized forms to fight like summons.
@DarkeReises Sanity mechanics are always fun.
@DarkeReises Indeed.
@NickTehKnight Mhm, especially with the kind of loose game that I was playing where you can do whatever you want. Ngl, it was a Roblox game, but i had been playing it since I was like 8, and the freedom of the roleplaying got me hooked on it. That's probably why I like D&D too. I have a bunch of really cool OCs from that, but I haven't played it in a while. Some of them I even made into D&D characters and they came out amazing.
@DarkeReises Like cheap vodka; home-brew is always better. I like when sanity impairs decision making and can make dire situations fatal. It emphasizes hopelessness of fighting against an Old One. Rather than 'if' - it is a 'when' they corrupt or destroy you. Existential anxiety explored using incomprehensible force of nature is always fun. You can get the same sense of dread to a lesser extent with a good zombie horde. ?♂️
@NickTehKnight I agree. I actually was interested in getting the Call of Cthulhu table top game just because of it's sanity mechanics. But I was going to have it in a D&D campaign I planned for the longest time but never got to do because my friends left me. Anyways, I love roleplay games where you can do whatever the f*ck you want, I just have an affinity for it.
@Konge I love the fact that there was just a battle casually raging on while I was just enjoying my weekend and now I get to relive it along with my brothers-in-arms. Also, as Shadowheart said, there's nothing weird about (re)uniting over a common goal.
Lastly, if you want, I could make a discord server for you, set it all up how you tell me to, and transfer ownership to you so you can have supreme power over all of us peasants. And I'm pretty sure the story's big enough for it, and even if it isn't, having a discord server's never hurt anyone, has it?
@LordRimuru Agreed. I stopped joining discord servers(and left all the ones I was in in the process) a few years ago and I only use it to talk to a few of my friends, but I would totally join a discord server for this novel. Just be prepared to be annoyed since when I'm active, I'm REALLY active.
@LordRimuru it does sound like a good idea. I'll look into it later, but I think it's safe to say that we'll have one up and running soon then.
@Konge Aye epic, let me know once it's up I'll be joining that asap.
@DarkeReises Aight.
@DarkeReises I have the same with when I'm active I can be a bit too active, for example, during a youtube livestream that I always try to visit at least for a bit, I used to be auto-muted by youtube cause I was talking to like 8 people at the same time, including the streamer. Though these days since there are new people watching the stream, the others aren't joining as much, and I've started writing a small amount of long messages to replace a sh*t ton of small messages, it's been a lot less these days.
P.s. Pls inform me ASAP as well when the discord server is made so I can join @Konge
@LordRimuru l can already see that we're gonna be some of the most active people on the server ahah
I have gotten 50+ messages from this thread lol
@NickTehKnight Nothing compared to when I had 5000+ dms on discord from a single chat group after a few hours
@DarkeReises Speaking off, i was once the 14th most active person(ranked by a bot) on a discord server with over 3000 members. I'm proud of that.
@DarkeReises Damn, that's pretty commendable.
@LordRimuru I remember one time I was joking around with the owner of the server and the creator of the game the server was for, and he gave me the highest admin role for two seconds before removing it. I like to brag that I hold the record for the shortest time as staff for that game.
@DarkeReises