Erin marvelled in silence at the new Magic Art she had acquired from her level increment. The purpose of the Magic Art was clear in its name. A magic related to the use of her tails. The first spell under Mystic Tail Arts was known as Iron Fang. Erin immediately tested it out on a Dire Wolf who lunged at her from a relatively vast distance away. While Erin was impressed at the gap the Dire Wolf could cover in a single leap, she was also thankful for the beast in becoming her test dummy. One of her tails hardened while retaining its suppleness, and jabbed out like an arrow released from a bow. The Dire Wolf’s head was lopped off just like that. It most likely didn’t even see it coming. 

[Experience gained +10% - Level Progression: 60%]

Erin tried to do it with more than one but it didn’t seem like it could be done. Erin was ticked off by the severe limitation but she comforted herself with the fact that the Magic Art was only at level one. Although the new spell didn’t seem like much in hindsight, it turned out to be surprisingly useful. Erin crossed swords with more Wights and she slew them all by using Iron Fang in a deceitful manner. 

[Experience gained +30% - Level Progression: 90%]

Erin’s tails looked harmless at a glance, so most of her foes didn’t give them much attention. That remiss proved to be fatal for most of her foes. Aside from its discreet nature, it was also convenient. It didn’t require her to have her hands splayed just to cast it like Lightning Magic’s spells. She could also use it on the unassuming monsters who were gaining on her from behind. 

[Experience gained +40% - Level Progression: 130%]

[Erinthea: Level 25 increased to Level 26]

[Skill Points gained +2 | 16]

[Ability Points gained +2 | 16]

[Level Progression: 30%]

As expected the Pale Stalkers did not fall for this cheap trick. However, the Pale Stalkers came to understand the various tricks Erin had under her proverbial sleeves. Thus, it increased their caution and vigilance. Occasionally, they would send one of them to probe the Fox-kin but Erin saw through their ruse and fought them off with nothing but her sword skills.

The Pale Stalkers scoffed at Erin and she sneered back at them.

During such an exchange, her Sixth Sense went off like a bell tower. Erin stopped sprinting and focused her senses on her surroundings entirely. Her nose didn’t pick up any peculiar scent. Her ears heard nothing. She felt no strange changes in the winds. Her eyes also failed as the fog had shrouded the majority of her sight. Yet, warnings were blaring off from Sixth Sense.

The monsters also stop chasing after her. Instead, they were backing away from her.

It was then Erin heard the soil move. She looked down at her feet just in time to see a vine coiling around her feet. Before she could react, the vine tightened and lifted her off the ground. The ground trembled and dead plants parted away, a large plant-like monster with a gigantic bud for a body and multiple vines protruding from below, it emerged from its camouflage. It stood over five meters tall.

A Fog Whopper. The name was simple, Erin thought. She wished killing it would be as simple as its name. She was being dangled upside down by the Fog Whopper. Many of her tools and potion vials fell out of her pockets. She tried to cut the vines holding her but it was avoiding her attacks. It was fast. 

The Fog Whopper was level thirty-five. Erin felt no discouragement but only the opposite. She was excited at the amount of experience it could yield but first thing first, she needed to find a way out of her current predicament. She tried using her tails but the vines were tougher than they appeared. It did avoid Erin’s Aura Shot which made her surmise the vines weren’t tougher than all of her skills.

“Fuck this accursed plant!” Erin shouted as she realized the most dreadful thing about her current circumstances. It wasn’t the embarrassing position she was put in but the Fog Whopper was draining her Mana. She needed to cut herself free fast or she would be drained dry. Even her Arcane Armor began to weaken due to the drain. Parts of the Arcane Armor were even fading off.

As Erin attempted to use Lightning Magic, the other vines sprouted out a stinger from their tip. Something green was dripping from the stingers. It went without saying the stingers were poisonous. Erin cast aside her iron sword and quickly conjured up a double-bladed polearm made of lightning into her hand. It was the new spell she learned upon reaching level five on her Lightning Magic. Storm Glaive was its name. She twirled the Storm Glaive in front of her, shredding all of the vines that darted towards her. She didn’t count how many there were, she just kept shredding them. 

Her Sixth Sense went off again. She glanced back and saw some of the vines had crept behind her. She tried to cut the sneaky vines attacking from her back. She destroyed all but one, which grazed its stinger across her left thigh. 

[Concentrated poison detected - Toxin Resistance activated.]

The poison took effect fast. She could already feel her thigh burning up. If she didn’t have Toxin Resistance, she doubted she could still be moving around. The poison was extremely lethal and her Toxin Resistance was only slowing it down. She reached for the antidote in one of her pouches but it was empty.

Erin ignored her poisoned condition for now and focused on taking down the Fog Whopper. The vines were regrowing. Left with no other option, she infused lightning into her whole body. The vine holding her absorbed the lightning in tandem. There was no screech of pain aside from Erin’s own cries. The vine merely tossed Erin away immediately after it was seared by the lightning.

[Innate Skill: Lightning Resistance Lv. 1 - Acquired]

Erin did not have any opportunity to be grateful for the new skill as she went sliding across the ground from being tossed. The Pale Stalkers seized the opportunity and pounced at her. With the Storm Glaive still in hand, Erin threw the lightning-made weapon. It spun gracefully as it shredded through the opportunistic Pale Stalkers. The Lightning Glaive flew in an arc before returning into Erin’s hand.

[Experience gained +60% - Level Progression: 90%]

Although dozens had attacked, the Storm Glaive had only slain six of them.

Erin sniggered and gloated over the Pale Stalkers’ failed attempts. The abominable creatures didn’t spare Erin a glance and ran away. Erin knew why as a huge shadow clouded over her. She slanted her whole body to the side, avoiding a few vines plunging into the ground that would have otherwise pierce through her body.

She distanced herself from the Fog Whopper and sheathed her saber. She also didn’t forget to retrieve her iron sword. The Fog Whopper couldn’t move much. It was rooted in one place and its range of movements was limited.

Erin was pressed on time but at the same time, it was difficult to fight against her desire for glory and experience. It was a conflicting feeling. At a sensible level, she didn’t want to fight the Fog Whopper but leaving it alive would surely not bode well for the future. It was more dangerous than the other monsters due to its poison and its ability to drain Mana. The more blatant evidence was that even the other monsters avoid the Fog Whopper. Erin also didn’t know how far those vines could reach. She wasn’t about to take any chances. She needed to slay it now.

Erin gathered almost all of her Mana into her palms. She clasped her palms together before opening her arms wide, conjuring a Lightning Spear. The Lightning Spear now was unquestionably more powerful than the one she used on the Razor Grizzly. Even the Fog Whopper sensed the severity of the Lightning Spear’s threat. More vines emerged from the soil around it. All of the vines brandished their stingers and darted towards Erin.

[Warning: Mana Vigour has reached below 25% of the threshold.]

Erin stayed her ground as the vines came for her. She didn’t move… until the last second. She jumped, a second before the vines reached her. The ground beneath her exploded from the barrage of vines. She was in the air, a shivering Lightning Spear in her hands. She didn’t offer any words and threw the Lightning Spear with all of her might.

The Fog Whopper tried to submerge itself back into the ground but it was too slow. The Lightning Spear hit its colossal body and a large explosion ensued, blowing everything back, including Erin herself. She underestimated the power of her spell. Dust clouds were raised and she even heard yelps from other monsters.

Erin managed to hang on by stabbing her iron sword into the ground before the force could sweep her away further. When the dust settled, there was a small clearing at the heart of the explosion.

Erin clicked her tongue and the absence of the experience notification. The Fog Whopper was still alive. Half of its body was blown off. The remaining half was smoking with seared wounds. Erin wasn’t surprised that the Fog Whopper survived. After all, this was The Singularity.

Still, it would be easier to finish it off since all of its vines were destroyed and its body volume was much smaller now, making it easier for Erin to kill it with just her usual skills.

But before she could even get close to the near-death Fog Whopper, the ground trembled once again. The sound was familiar to Erin. The way the ground shook, Erin didn’t forget.

Erin took off in a sprint towards her prey, the Fog Whopper. She drew her saber and coated the blade with Arcane Edge. The ground beside the Fog Whopper burst apart and the Grave Wyrm made its appearance with its jaws wide open. It was trying to steal Erin’s kill. Erin didn’t have enough Mana to throw an Aura Shot.

The Grave Wyrm shut its jaws tight, crushing the Fog Whopper in its mouth. Erin could only watch from the distance as her prey was snatched. The Grave Wyrm dove back into the ground with the Fog Whopper in its mouth, leaving Erin to grief by herself, though sorrow wasn’t the emotion she felt.

“This son of a bitch!”

[Experience gained +30% - Level Progression: 120%]

Though Erin didn’t land the final blow, she didn’t inflict a lot of damage on the Fog Whopper. She wagered thirty percent was half of the original amount.

[Erinthea: Level 26 increased to 27]

[Skill Points gained +2 | 18]

[Ability Points gained +2 | 18]

[Level Progression: 20%]

She wanted to hunt the Grave Wyrm down but she suddenly fell to her knees. Her whole body was burning up. She could feel her stamina draining from her.

“The poison… Shite!”

The poison had spread. Though it was still at a stage where she could still bear it, she surmised she could only last for another hour but it would be minutes before her movements were affected.

Before she could come up with any ideas, the Wights returned to finish what the Fog Whopper couldn’t. Erin cast Mana Harvest to replenish her Magic Vigour. It was less than she anticipated since the Fog Whopper’s carcass was dragged away. Still, it was enough to deal with the Wights. 

Erin counted six Wights and she sneered at the futility of the Necromancer sending inferior Wights at her. With a single Aura Shot, she decapitated one Wight while the rest dodged it. 

[Experience gained +10% - Level Progression: 30%]

She held two off with an Arcane Aegis by letting the two running into the ethereal shield. She charged at the rest with a kick. With her current Might, she sent one flying and hit a tree. She swiped and took the head of another Wight after parrying its crude sword strikes. 

[Experience gained +10%]

She blocked the other with her tails and took its head with Iron Fang. 

[Experience gained +10%]

She threw her saber at the Wight who got thrown into a tree. Her saber carved into its head cleanly.

[Experience gained +10% - Level Progression: 50%]

Erin turned her gaze to the remaining two Wights. In the face of her overwhelming skill and strength, the two Wights almost seemed pitiful to be dealt with, almost.

The remaining two Wights recovered their bearings and charged at Erin with their swords raised. The swords used steel but it was as crude as her iron sword. She let the Wights swing at her and per her expectations, the blades bounced right off of her. The two Wights looked at each other, confused.

“You have a terrible master,” Erin remarked with a sneer and used Iron Fang to take the head of one of the two Wights.

[Experience gained +10%]

The last Wight looked as if it wanted to retreat but an invisible force compelled it to stay. It lunged at Erin at such a narrow gap but Erin caught the Wight by its throat. It swung its crude sword. desperately and pointlessly at Erin. With both of her hands, Erin tore the Wight’s head from its neck with a bellow.

[Experience gained +10% - Level Progression: 70%]

Erin once again fell on her knees after exhausting the remaining strength she could muster. The poison was strong. If it wasn't for Lust Deviant, she didn't think she could have the leisure of lasting this long. She gulped and spat out a small pool of blood. She tried to stand up but she was having difficulty doing so. She had lost all feeling in her left leg. Her nose was even dripping blood. Sweat poured incessantly from all over her body. Even pain was spreading but the pain was the least of her worries. She was practically unable to walk now.

Erin hit the ground with her fist. For once, the current Erin wished the Lust Deviant would lift itself off. Her current state wasn’t allowed to temper her skills and abilities. Her despair evoked a laugh from herself.

She observed her surroundings closely. She didn’t sense any closing in on her. Most were either engaging in a scuffle with other monsters or they were simply too cautious to approach her after witnessing her prowess. She made her choice at the whim of her current state. She brought her saber to her neck and slit it all the while retaining a smile on her face.

 

Erinthea - Faerie-kin: Five-Tailed Fox-kin

Level: 27 | Status: Desire Famine: Lust Deviant, Deceased

Might: 20 (40) | Arcane: 29 (58) | Finesse: 24 (48)

Magic Arts
Spirit Magic Lv. 8 | Arcane Edge Lv. 5 | Arcane Armor Lv. 10 | Lightning Magic Lv. 5 | Arcane Aegis Lv. 3 | Mystic Tail Arts Lv 1

Combat Arts
Sword Art Lv. 7 | Fleet Foot Lv. 5 | Brawler Lv. 5

Innate Skills
Appraisal Lv. Ex | Night Vision Lv. Ex | Sixth Sense Lv. Ex | Toxin Resistance Lv. 3 | Lust Deviant Lv. Ex | Mana Harvest Lv. 1 | Lightning Resistance Lv. 1

Unique Talent
Mystic Blade Lv. Ex | Revenant Lv. Ex

 

Level Progression: 70%

Remaining Skill Points: 18

Remaining Ability Points: 18