Striking Shadows

Senka grit her teeth as she blocked another lunge from one of the hounds, then quickly flourished her Black Thorn at a hound pouncing on her exposed flank. She had fared better than John so far, but she had a feeling that their adversary was more focused on pushing John to his limit sadistically than putting in the effort to bring her down.

‘He must think me of little consequence,’ she thought as their currently empowered enemy began to attack John, Aeolia and Brenda. ‘If he assumes me to be an elemental, then in his mind I will fade away when he’s dead or too drained of mana to keep me here. Not exactly too far from the truth. I am somewhat close to elementals in that regard from what I’ve been able to read.’

She frowned as she tried to understand just what had transpired. John and Aeolia had Bill dead to rights, then something happened. For a brief second, her connection to John’s mind went dead. It came back just as quickly, but she knew that, in that moment, John had experienced far more.

There was no time to dwell on it as the renewed Bill summoned new, stronger hounds and resumed his attack. With John nearly tapped out of mana, they had little option left but to weather the attacks as best they could until more relief could arrive.

‘Or do we?’ Senka thought, an idea popping into her head as she scored a hit on one of the hounds, drawing a splash of sap from the wound over an eye. Her small attacks had done modest damage to half of her attackers, the other two having been to her left and far from her blade.

‘We’ve taken out four hounds,’ she recounted. ‘That’s around 400 experience for John. And he was less than 500 away from a level up, if I recall correctly. If I can take one of these out, he’ll get a full refresh of mana and health.’

A plan began to formulate in her head. Taking out one with a few focused attacks would do, but it would still leave her with three to deal with. But with proper timing, she could deal the killing blow and retreat into John’s aura, letting his mana recover to full.

‘My mana doesn’t recover fast enough to be of use after such an expenditure,’ she thought. ‘Best to use my power to create the most optimal conditions for our overall victory.’

With eighty-seven mana, Senka was confident she could carry out her gambit effectively. She cast a glance towards John and reached out to him.

‘John,’ she began, letting the urgency of her plan show, ‘I’m going to finish off one of these hounds then retreat to your aura. If my math is correct, that should push you into the next level.’

‘Wait, really?’ John questioned and he narrowly avoided the swipe of a hound’s paw. ‘Haven’t been paying attention. That's going to help. But why return to me?’

‘I won’t have much mana left,’ Senka answered. ‘I have been holding these hounds off, but they are only keeping us separated. With a full charge of mana, you could corral all of them close and set them ablaze in one shot.’

‘Alright,’ John thought. ‘Don’t do anything too risky.’

‘I’ll try not to,’ Senka replied honestly and let their conversion end, returning her focus to the fight. The hounds circled her, but they had a pattern. The ones she had already damaged always attacked her right. They were the sacrificial pieces in this game, she had come to believe. They would draw her attacks, inflicting what damage they could while being the ones that took all her counterattacks.

She admitted it was a good plan. No point in going all in before either knowing the extent of an enemy’s power or having such an overwhelming advantage over them that it didn’t matter what hidden power they had. There was, however, a downside to such a stratagem in her mind.

By not pressuring her into revealing more of her abilities or expending more of her mana, it opened the door for her to make one hell of an exit.

Senka chose her target carefully, the hound she had wounded right before coming up with this plan, the wound over its eye making it easy to keep track of as the pack circled her. She struck before they renewed their attack, taking the offensive for the first time in this encounter.

Darkness coated the conjured thorn she used as a blade and she made a quick horizontal slash as her target stalked before her, its flank exposed. Cutting Shadow struck true; a dark line mimicking her swing bloomed on the hound before the plant flesh was rent open, cutting from foreleg to hind. It wasn’t enough to kill it, but that had been her plan.

She quickly stuck two of the other hounds with Cutting Shadow, their wounds far less severe given the poor angle of attack she had on them. She spun on the spot, stopping completely once she was in alignment with the one unwounded hound, the one that had so far evaded all damage.

Her last Cutting Shadow struck the hound as it leapt to attack her. Its belly was sliced open but momentum still carried it forward. Senka blocked the wounded beast with Shadow Veil and shoved it aside as best she could, her body feeling the strain of the battle.

‘I don’t think I could have kept this up much longer,’ she admitted, lamenting her lack of physical prowess. Given her casting focus, she never thought she would need to build up that part of herself. ‘It would seem I may need to reassess that once we get out of this mess.’

Getting her mind back on track, Senka spun and brought herself back to face the most damaged hound, its wounded side dripping sap as it struggled to level itself. She would not give it the chance to right itself or let any regeneration be cast by its master.

She let go of the Black Thorn she had held since her manifestation, and fired it with a pulse of mana. She didn’t get to watch as it struck true, passing through the open wound and piercing its core. Instead, she faded away back into John’s aura, hopeful that her plan would work.

104(6) EXP Gained

Level Up!
Five Skill Points Gain

John felt both Senka settle back into his aura and his mana surge as it refilled along with his health pool. It did little to alleviate the fatigue that had been building over the fight, but knowing he had full health seemed to push that weariness away.

With renewed vigor, John put his all into batting aside the hound that sprang at him, activating Rushing Winds from his unmanifested wind spirit for the boost to his Agility for a few seconds to deftly avoid it and smoothly counter attack.

‘Looks like my plan worked,’ Senka commented as the hound hit the ground, a small spurt of sap shooting from its wounded shoulder.

‘Yeah,’ John thought back, his gaze shifting back to where Senka had been a few moments prior. The three remaining hounds had begun to stalk towards them, their wounds doing little to slow them.

‘Though it seems I did not do enough to hinder the leftovers,’ Senka chided herself. ‘I should have used my mana better. Nearly spent all of my pool and they’re still functioning.’

‘Even if you did cripple them, they could have regenerated,’ John pointed out. ‘We’re not going to make real headway as long as he can do that or summon more. And whatever’s going on has given him more mana. We’ve got to take him out before he wears us down.’

John focused his sight on Bill’s aura, hoping that Observe could shed some light on just what was happening.

Crimson Shroud
A blood colored aura that bolsters the mana and key attributes of the one coated in it. A sense of malice radiates from it.

It didn’t tell John much but at least it confirmed that it was enhancing Bill’s mana. He suppressed a shudder, as the aura reminded him of his out of body experience.

‘We need to take out the root,’ Senka advised. ‘Before he begins to really bring his power to bear.’

‘Yeah. Right now he seems almost out of it, high on the power. After that jump, all he’s done is summon these Alpha hounds,’ John thought, eyeing the three beasts that stalked them. ‘He didn’t even heal the ones you fought.’

John tightened his grip on his blade, a plan coming together. ‘Dark wind boosted Pursuit to slow the Alphas down, then go in at full power with Rushing Winds and Verdant Surge and take Bill down.’

Senka hummed in agreement and John shouted to Aeolia, “Take care of the one’s coming up behind us, I’ve got the big ones!”

Aeolia caught his eye for a second, her gaze trying to parse his plan. Then she nodded and shifted her attention to the common variety hounds.

“Teach them not to mess with us,” she growled as she moved to intercept the approaching hounds.

For a moment, John was about to address Brenda, but found any words of reassurance ringing hollow as he thought to speak them, especially after he had already given her his best attempt at it prior. Instead, he rushed towards one of the hounds.

The Alpha met his charge with its own, maw opened wide so it could tear into him. John activated Rushing Winds for a second, using the boost to quickly dip to the side of the monster’s lunge.

14 DMG

With a two handed swing, John slammed into the Alpha’s flank, knocking it towards one of the other hounds. The third hound raced towards him and John triggered Rushing Winds once more and dodged out of the way. Keeping up the momentum, John spun and struck the hound’s hindquarters.

5 DMG

The blow was less about the damage than it was getting all the Alphas into a tight grouping and John felt a wide smile bloom across his face. With a thought, he switched out his sword for Senka’s vessel, using two of its stored dark mana to manifest his wind spirit. He then cast Fiery Pursuit and threw it at the pack, directing the wind spirit to flow into the fireball.

60 DMG Super Effective
60 DMG Super Effective
60 DMG Super Effective

The dark wind stoked flame detonated like before, though without Aeolia’s contribution, it was far less of a bang. Still, the dimmed fire did do a good amount of damage to the hounds, though John had no idea just how much as he hadn’t focused on the various notifications the last fight had produced.

With the hounds aflame and taking healing resistant wounds, John swapped back to his sword and charged at Bill, his wind spirit flying back to float over his head. The brickhouse of a man grinned maliciously, opening his arms wide, inviting his attack.

“Finally found your balls, eh?” he taunted as John neared. “If you want to get up close, I’ll make sure your **** isn’t too drawn out!”

John didn’t respond; instead he activated Verdant Surge and Rushing Winds. With both Strength and Agility increased dramatically due to the resonance effect, he moved with a speed Bill didn’t anticipate, the distance between them closing in a blink. John felt incredibly strong, stronger than his previous use of this combo had made him feel and each step felt more sure than any he had ever taken.

‘I think this is benefiting from whatever Thaumaturgy got when it leveled up. Can’t exactly pull up the info.’

John swung his blade in a wide arc, aiming for Bill’s exposed side. The hunter was just able to get his arm in the way of the blow, his tensed bicep taking the strike. But John’s speed and strength were too great for Bill to truly brace himself and the **** of the impact drove the red coated man off his feet and knocked him away.

Bill hit the ground hard, rolling further away from John, and the Gamer was quick to follow after him. Before he could reach the prone Bill, the blood red aura deepened in color and grew larger, spreading out like a foul cloud.

John let out a pained gasp as it washed over him, every inch of his body burning like he had been sprayed with acid. More worrying was the sudden heaviness of his body, like a great weight had been dropped onto his shoulders. It took a second for John to realize that the effects of Rushing Winds and Verdant Surge had been stripped from him.

With fresh panic, John stopped his advance and backpedaled, trying to escape the burning aura. He succeeded, but at the cost of Bill managing to recover his footing, though his right arm hung limply at his side. John could barely make out his features through the increased haze but could see that Bill’s face was an odd mix of rage and glee.

Then, with a speed to rival his magically enhanced one, Bill surged forward. John tried to dodge, but only managed one small shift of his feet before Bill’s left hand seized his throat.

- 5 HP
-12 HP

John let out a choked cry as Bill drove him against a nearby tree, his neck on fire both from the pressure of Bill’s finger and caustic aura that flowed around them. John tried to cast anything, but found his mana unresponsive. Even Senka’s presence seemed far away, her cries barely distinguishable over the pounding of his pulse in his ears.

Bill let out a sick chuckle as the aura’s intensity dropped, clearly displaying the twisted glee on his face.

“That hurt, you bastard,” he growled, his grip tightening slightly. “Can’t even feel my arm. So I think I’m going to pay you back for that. Have one of my hounds gnaw yours off while the rest go to town on those bitches.”

Righteous fury bloomed in John at the threat to his loved ones and he struggled to lift his blade to fight back. But his dwindling air supply left the sword too heavy to wield and his vision began to darken. He vainly tried to swap to Senka’s vessel, but even that was disrupted by whatever the blood red aura was doing to him.

“Get your hands off my son!” Brenda’s voice, full of motherly wrath, cut through the haze of John’s mind and he could just make out his mother charging at Bill, the Staff of Invigoration held like a baseball bat.

She swung with what had to be all her might, striking Bill in the face. The grip on John’s neck loosened slightly as their attacker turned his head towards Brenda, letting John take in enough air to stave off asphyxiation.

“Should have stayed put, bitch,” Bill growled, his fingers retightening around John’s neck before he threw him as effortlessly as a piece of garbage before he began to stalk towards Brenda, who began to quickly step back from the rage-filled man.

-10 HP

John hit the ground and took in a raspy gasp of air. He tried to focus his mana once more, but found it still beyond his reach. He kept trying as he shakily began to regain his footing, Senka’s voice steadily growing more discernible with each frantic heartbeat.

‘Summon me!’ Her voice was loud and raw as if she had been shouting at the top of her lungs for some time. Her plea was answered with a surge of John’s mana, drawing her back into the physical world.

The shadowy spirit manifested between Brenda and Bill, her hands held out before her. Black vines appeared around Bill’s limbs, but the fluctuating aura caused them to wither before they could do much to hinder the man and Senka’s remaining mana was unable to power through the anti-magic properties of the aura.

But it did slow him just enough for John to regain his feet and charge at him from behind, Rushing Winds activated once more. He repeated his earlier tactic and drove his blade into Bill’s damaged arm.

Lacking the boost from Verdant Surge, John wasn’t able to knock Bill to the ground like before, but the blow did cause him to stumble away from them, blood spurting from his crushed arm. Bill staggered a few steps further and leveled a hate filled glare at John.

John stepped in front of Senka and brought the Greatwood Sword into a guard position.

“Stay away from my mom!” he growled.

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