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Amber | Chapter 63 & rewritten 62
🕑 Added 2024-04-13 12:21:56 +0000 UTCHeya all, I rewrote over 50% of 62 because I was unsatisfied with the chapter, so here it is. There is very important information about Ian the necromancer in the rewrite so do check out his interactions with Amber. If y'all want to skip it, there is a note at the end of 62 detailing all the changes in a short manner.
Chapter 62.
Opening scene hasn't been rewritten so not here.
*
Amber raised her brow at what the man had just said. “What do you even mean by that?”
However, he seemed to ignore her question and continued.
“You are strong, I can sense it,” the man said, smiling. “And by that I don’t mean, just from looking at your level, but your existence is strong; the feeling you give.”
Amber was simply confused, but she decided to listen to the man and hear where he was going with this. He peered at her with a serious gaze, and began to speak.
“I’ve come here to ask for your help.”
Amber nodded at that and the man spoke simply extending his hand.
“Help me put a stop to the source of the plague— help me put a stop to the thing the nation of Ofrin has unleashed into the world.”
She paused and repeated in her mind, Unleashed into the world…?
And for a moment, Amber didn’t know what to say.
*
Ian was looking at his last hope, or what he believed to be his last hope. It was a warrior, one of much lower level than him, and in spite of that, he wanted her help. She was a Cursebearer, and someone whose existence he had been aware of. Her name had spread all throughout the kingdom of Cytel; Amber. And she was heralded as a hero.
And now, he hoped that she too would be a hero in this situation. It wasn’t something he could do alone, even if he was a powerful necromancer, he just couldn’t. The powerful curse of the source of the plague would spell his end without a Cursebearer to take the brunt of it all.
So, here he was, looking at his last hope. And she was utterly befuddled.
“They made a biochemical weapon?” she asked in a whisper but with anger.
Ian nodded. “They did, no matter how it affected others.”
He closed his eyes and remembered a scene from long ago, how he had been approached by officials to help his cause and goals. And how they had brought over another necromancer to help him, and the end result was—
He could remember the screams.
— it wasn’t something he intended. Far from it.
“I was once an official inside their ranks, but that is a thing of the past after what they have done. Now, I seek to put a stop to the thing I’ve created, to the thing that was unleashed into the world by that nation.”
“That… why haven’t they killed it if they created it?” she asked, dubiousness in her voice. “They don’t seem to have a handle on it considering they are also afflicted by the plague.”
Ian shook his head. “It’s not so simple, they lost control over it and it went on a rampage…”
He trailed off and balled his hands in a fist, gritting his teeth. If he could be given the chance, he would kill all of those people for what they’ve done. Finally, after a second of silence he collected himself and looked over to the woman: Amber.
“And this is why I require your help, because I cannot put a stop to all of this alone, and because you are a Cursebearer,” he explained. “I sensed it as soon as you passed nearby, the Curse of the Dead within my body shifted.”
Amber was just staring at him, and finally, after a second of silence, she asked what was in her mind.
“But why you? Why do you want to kill it? I assume Ofrin is trying to do something about it, and given its a rampaging monster the other nations must be aware of it too.”
Everything she had just said was true, and so Ian took a deep breath.
“That is because I was the one who created the source of the plague.”
*
Amber couldn’t believe it, but soon she felt anger.
“You are the one that created a damn biochemical weapon?” she lightly raised her voice.
“I didn’t intend to create it, in fact I wasn’t planning on creating it.” The man gritted his teeth. “Ofrin offered to help me with my project, with my goals, and they fucking meddled with them. I may be a necromancer but I never intended for this.”
Amber watched the anger within the man, she had seen him react in such a way before too. But Amber still had more questions than answers.
“I’m here seeking your help because you’re a Cursebearer, you are the only one that can help me with this,” he sighed. “The monster has a deadly venom, but paired with a curse it will spell the end of any other warrior. I want to put a stop to the thing I’ve created.”
Still, even after hearing all of that, Amber didn’t know what to say— how could he trust the literal creator of the plague? Was he actually the person to create it? She didn’t know absolutely anything.
“This is my creation,” he said simply sliding what seemed to be a photograph.
Amber looked at the monochrome picture. It looked blurry, but she could see a mass of darkness with tendrils coming out, there was a miasma and dots of darkness surrounding it.
“It was level 162 then, perhaps it has leveled up more.” He shook his head. “The nations keep on trying to kill it, but I am sure they’ll use its body for nefarious means if we don’t do it first.”
Then he continued lowering his head at last.
“So, please, help me put a stop to this.”
Hearing him numerous things went through Amber’s mind. From the fact that the man was an ex-official of the crazy nation to the fact that he was asking for her help. All in all, he seemed genuine. Amber also thought about the victims of the plague she had seen, she thought about the state of the Great Desert as a whole, and she thought about the fact that she had to grow stronger.
“If we kill the monster, will the plague be cured?” she asked.
“I know it will stop spreading, as for those who are already afflicted…” He closed his eyes. “I do not know.”
Amber frowned.
“Didn’t you make it?”
“It doesn’t work that way, I wasn’t the only one to participate in the project…”
She stared at the man, all while pondering if to help. If it was going to stop the plague from spreading, that was good but still less than ideal. And while she would get levels, that wasn’t enough to convince her.
“I want information about the Primordial Spirit of the desert,” she said.
“Does this mean: yes?” he asked hopefully.
“I’ll decide after your information,” Amber said.
The necromancer paused at that, but began to explain.
Amber heard things she was already aware of, but she heard a few more things. Namely that the spirit’s oasis was a real physical place rather than an illusion, she also learned that the Primordial Spirit apparently had been spotted inside the Grand Dungeon in the past. Which further reinforced the theory of going to the bottom, but the most useful piece of information was:
“His tower has never been seen before, and some scholars believe that he may not have a tower, but rather that the oasis is his tower.”
Given it was a physical place, Amber felt a lot more hopeful about finding it— though searching the entire desert still seemed like an insurmountable task, but with the cube it was possible.
So, after he was done explaining, she nodded.
“I’ll help you.”
The man almost smiled at that, but she continued, glaring at him.
“If you so much as try to betray me, I’ll kill you.”
Still, contrary to her expectations, he smiled. “We have a deal then, Amber the Cursebearer, hero of Cytel and Demonkiller.”
Amber frowned given she hadn’t told him her name. “And your name is?”
“Ian, and I am as I already said, I am a necromancer,” he said.
Hearing those words, Amber stood up.
“Let’s go after the monster then.”
Ian grinned at that. “Indeed, we must make haste, so let us depart.”
And with those words, the two of them set off.
*
Before the hour was over, they were already on a worm-horse going in the direction the monster was— which Ian could track given he had literally made the thing. They traveled in silence given Amber was wary of the man given everything she had just learned.
“Why are you looking at me that way?” he asked, holding the reins of the worm.
Amber shook her head. She wasn’t stupid enough to declare her distrust of the man outloud, but her body language was self-explanatory. And if he didn’t know why she felt this way, then maybe he was just an idiot.
“Is this your first time meeting a necromancer?”
“It is,” Amber agreed.
“I get it, my wife was quite mortified when I first met her too.” He laughed. “But eventually, everyone gets used to it. In the end, necromancy is just magic like any other.”
Amber raised her brow at that. “You have a wife?”
“Well, she died a long time ago,” he said, his voice slightly pained. “I’m just saying that, you shouldn’t fear me because of the nature of my magic. But if it’s any consolation, we may not cross paths ever again after this.”
“Right.”
Amber just nodded, and cut the talk short, instead deciding to mentally prepare for the extremely difficult fight that she was about to have.
*
“We are here,” Ian spoke as he looked at a rock formation in the distance. “The monster is in a cave over there.”
Amber nodded and got off the worm along with the necromancer. She was ready to fight the source of the plague, and from the looks of it Ian was too as he raised his staff.
“I’ll draw it out,” he said, his staff shining. “Summon.”
At his words, a skeleton formed from the sand itself; an undead that had its signature miasma. Amber frowned at that but said nothing as the skeleton ran in the direction of the rock formation.
“By the way, why have you been burning yourself and biting your tongue for the past hour?” the man asked.
“It makes me stronger,” Amber answered simply.
“Good, then prepare yourself.” The necromancer nodded. “The end is coming.”
And Amber readied herself with the Cursewelder already in hand. She noticed the necromancer glance at the sword in admiration, but said nothing. And a moment later—
The rock formation exploded with a harrowing screech that shook the land. Numerous sand dunes fell as the dust from the explosion dispersed, leaving nothing but a black cloud of miasma. And— Amber dodged.
A black whip hit the position she was in, breaking through the sand. Amber frowned as she looked ahead, finally seeing the full form of the monster. It was a black mass of tentacles, one that dripped black goo and had flies swarming it. It was a foul existence whose Identify result wasn’t quite what she expected.
[Mage. Lvl. ???]
Amber frowned and called. “Is that thing human?!”
“It doesn’t matter,” the necromancer answered loudly. “Just help me put a stop to this!”
Amber nodded at that. She raised her sword and blocked a whip of darkness that made her arms tremble in severe pain.
It was strong too.
“Death!” the necromancer screamed.
And with his words, a miasma of darkness blasted the monster, making it unleash an echoing screech of pain. And Amber took her chance as she appeared behind the monster— being affected by the curse-filled miasma at the same time— and used the ability of the Firecursed sword.
“Flamethrower.”
A crimson bloom engulfed the monster and Amber was— whipped. She was sent flying as the monster cried in pain. Amber’s bones were broken at that moment, and she rolled on the sand coughing from her dented armor. It happened before she could react, Sharp Instincts had barely warned her too.
“That hurts,” she groaned.
Unfortunately, the monster was fast. She used the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash to escape an incoming whipping tendril. The spot where she had just stood exploded with dust and she frowned.
The monster was strong, incredibly so. Amber was sure that it would have no trouble tearing her apart should she fight it alone. It was hard to believe that the difference between her current advancement and the next one was that big, but as it turns out: it was.
At the same time, she couldn’t believe she had agreed to fight a level 162 monster created by the same guy that she was helping— but here she was.
Amber felt her bones snap into place; even though she breathed the miasma of the monster, her body treated it as nothing more than a curse, which made Amber glad. In fact, it even helped her heal, though not by much. Ian’s words were truthful it seemed. So, she focused on fighting instead without worrying about being contaminated by the plague, now fully knowing it wasn’t a massive danger to her.
She laced her sword with her own blood by cutting her palm and then turned to the monster that was hit by a pair of gigantic skeletal hands. Then she burned the remaining blood on her hand, increasing her strength. At the same time, the monster was swarmed by an army of skeletons, and Amber dashed forward.
I don’t know if this is the right thing to do, but it just feels right. She had a plan, or rather she felt that their main priority was weakening the monster as much as possible first.
With elegant and powerful swings she tore through the monster with the constant use of Cursed Cleaves. Curse Manipulation was also hard at work, applying things selectively as she wanted, and General Weapon Mastery was used to the fullest— all to tear apart into the monster.
Amber destroyed her surroundings as she dug deeper and deeper and once she felt she reached the core, she stabbed—
“Battery!”
An explosion of flames and black blood burst, washing all over Amber as the monster unleashed a painful scream, but of course— just like always she didn’t stop there, instead she continued to use Curse Battery.
“Battery, battery, battery!”
She used the skill until nothing remained, tearing into the monster and exacerbating the curses all over its body, tearing it apart.
And then, once nothing remained, Amber used her finisher—
Abyssal Blast.
A purple explosion engulfed the monster and she was sent flying from the blast. The sheer magnitude of the explosion made the sand burst as if something had erupted from it. It made the flames consume the surroundings turning parts of the sand into glass— all while burning the monster like never before. A wail of agony echoed through the desert, one that carried nothing but suffering. The necromancer winced at her attack with some horror from how powerful it had been.
Amber landed on all fours with her sword, sliding across the sand as black tentacles wipped into the surroundings with seemingly no target. The thrashing of pain from the monster continued as the necromancer lifted his staff and pointed at it, a great amount of energy gathering at its tip.
Then he spoke, “Destruction.”
And yet another explosion of darkness engulfed the monster as the sounds of agony turned hoarse. Ian had a deadly serious stoic expression while doing so.
“You’ve been on this rampage for long enough,” he said gravely. “It is time for you to rest.”
Amber didn’t know why he spoke to the monster exactly, even if he was its creator, but she ignored it. Instead, she turned towards the abomination who— disappeared. Amber blinked as it appeared right next to her and— screeched.
Its mana burst forth as a pillar of pitch-black darkness erupted, Amber barely back-pedalled. The ground around the monster began to rot— decomposing into nothing but black sand that seemed to crumble into even finer grains. The small amount of shrubs instantly died and flies seemed to generate out of thin air.
Black liquid began to emerge from beneath the monster, one that reeked of danger to her.
The monster had used a skill.
She blocked with her sword and was sent flying— her wrist nearly snapped from the hit. Its strength had substantially increased, also its speed. However, Amber still managed to see the attack and what she saw was bad. There had been spikes at the end of the black tendril, and they were dripping with venom.
Amber dashed back as a multitude of tentacles hit where she had just been standing. The sand exploded as it melted into nothingness, turning into more black liquid—
I can’t get close at all.
She couldn’t be near the monster with everything that has happened, not only had it grown stronger, it had also grown faster and a lot more dangerous and so— it chased.
It rolled across the sand, the tentacles whipping in all directions as Amber was forced to constantly block, and she barely succeeded in doing so. Every hit made her feel like her arms were going to break, every little push made her sweat. And it wasn’t something she could keep up for long, Quick Dash didn’t help either.
Amber blocked another hit and then she saw another strike, one that she wouldn’t be able to dodge—
“Guardian,” the necromancer called.
With the command of the necromancer, a gigantic skeleton with a shield appeared in front of Amber. It bashed forward and the monster was pushed away, but it was barely enough for her to dodge that incoming strike. She breathed out.
That was close—
The monster screeched and with a whipping motion, thousands of spikes were shot towards Amber.
Her eyes widened and she forced to use the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash, landing a dozens of meters away from the spot where the spikes landed. And the monster turned— doing the same thing as she kept being forced to dodge. Amber tried to fight sending Cursed Cleaves its way, but it was to no avail. The ground next to the monster was still being corroded and eaten away, its skill — whatever it was — was still active.
And yet, it wasn’t doing anything.
Amber was sure it was planning on doing something, but she just couldn’t tell what. She quickly found herself dodging for her life, as the necromancer used all of his attacks on the monster. And the monster, didn’t move, regardless of how many injuries it sustained, something that just reaffirmed her previous thoughts.
The question was— when would it do something?
Her mana wasn’t regenerating particularly fast due to the conditions of the desert which worried her slightly. But Amber was sure that she could outlast the monster. The necromancer at least, seemed to be having no problems with his mana, luckly.
She dodged another set of spikes and then— tentacles sprouted all around her. The monster let out a roar as a dark miasma overwhelmed the surroundings, and the tentacles went for the kill—
Amber used the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash and barely dodged the skill. A black pillar exploded where she had just standing, as if the place had been destroyed out of existence.
And when she landed— her leg was grabbed, dozens of spikes dug into her flesh as she grunted in pain. Venom was injected into her leg and just when she was about to do something— she was whipped.
Her leg shattered as she was thrown into the air.
“Amber!” the necromancer called in a panic.
Amber gritted her teeth and wielded a the Cursewelder to protect herself, but dozens— no hundreds of tentacles shot at her in an instant and—
She screamed from pain— multiple bones had been broken in a single moment and deadly venom rushed into her body as she convulsed.
Her eyes trembled as she saw a multiple spike of darkness coming out of her stomach, dripping with the black venom she had been avoiding all this time.
Amber vomited a mouthful of blood as she realized the state of her now failing body.
It was a fatal injury.
And then, she was thrown across the desert.
Changes:
Ian the necromancer reveals that Ofrin is the nation that unleashed the source of the plague. He also says he was once part of Ofrin, and he was the one that made the monster and the plague. Though, he was deceived and what he wanted to make wasn't a monster or a plague, his project was meddled with by the nation ending in this result. He absolutely hates what happened and wants to put a stop to it all.
Ofrin tried to take control of the monster but failed and that's why it went on a rampage.
The conversation on the way to the monster is slightly shorter, and the rest of the chapter is updated to match the information of Ian being the creator of the monster.
The monster uses a skill to increase its speed and lethality that as well melts the ground and turns it into venom.
Amber has her leg caught before she is thrown into the air and stabbed by multiple tentacles, and then she is thrown across the desert. She had no way to dodge this.
Chapter 63.
Amber’s word blurred as she was thrown across the desert. She felt her organs be torn apart and things come out of her as she landed with an explosion of sand.
Her world spun as she rolled on the ground, and for a moment all she could hear was her own breathing. Amber wanted to say she had lost concentration, that she hadn’t been able to sense that attack, but no— she just couldn’t do anything against it. The monster seemed to be able to enhance her physical prowess, much like her, but the level difference was too high.
And this was the result—
Amber broke out into a coughing fit, her blood oozing out of her. Her skills were trying to heal her, but to no avail. Normally, an injury like this could be healed, but not with so much venom inside of her. Luckily, she hadn’t landed on one of the many pits of venom, but her condition was still as bad as it could get.
Amber suppressed a scream as she felt her veins threaten to pop. Her muscles were numbing and her heart was racing like never before. At the same time, her blood felt as if it was made out of sand as her entire body throbbed in pain. And then, there was the heat of the desert. It felt unbearable. It was as if her body was burning, and it hurt so damn much.
Then, Amber sensed the ground rumble with an explosion, but she could sense the rumbling approaching.
The monster was coming for her, and the necromancer was hard at work to try to prevent that. But if Amber didn’t hurry in recovering, it was clear she was going to die—
And she vomited.
Amber grabbed the golden sand with her fist and gritted her teeth from the pain. All while she used the second rank of Recovery of Curses, then she also used all of the accumulated rage into the skill— speeding her recovery even more. Amber felt her bones begin to snap back into place, all while she tightly held onto the Cursewelder.
All of the curses worked to help her heal, but Amber was still in an awful fucking condition, and a moment later the monster screeched. A gray miasma exploded. It engulfed everything in the radius of a small town in a mere instant. And yet it did nothing, or that was what she assumed was nothing.
Amber tried to use her ring only to find out it suddenly didn’t work, the flames surrounding the Cursewelder also began to extinguish, and Amber was left to— dodge.
She managed to use the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash to get out of the way, and that’s when she heard the necromancer call out.
“This miasma disables external mana output, be careful! I’ll figure something out!”
What the fuck is external mana output? Amber dodged incoming tentacles with the use of Quick Dash.
Her skill worked just like normal, but she couldn’t use her ring and from the looks of it she couldn’t use her flames either. And when she looked over the necromancer wasn’t anywhere to be found.
Figure what out?
And Amber gritted her teeth as she dashed out of the way. She wished that at least he had told her some kind of plan of action, but he pretty much had vanished in a blink. So it seemed that she would have to be on her own for some time.
The question was: how much time?
With a frown of determination, she sent a Cursed Cleave the monster’s way, but it didn’t seem t do much given the sheer size of the monster. The skill worked due to the fact that it didn’t use mana, so Amber used it as a tool to distract the tentacles, all while she dodged.
At first, it was manageable but she quickly found herself dodging for her life, even if she wasn’t hit, every second she was stepping closer to death’s door because—
She wiped her eye only to see a tear of blood.
She was still envenomed or poisoned or whatever the fuck it was. But even then, Amber did her best to survive, and a minute quickly ticked by as her condition worsened. And Amber made her decision.
She had stalled the monster long enough, but the necromancer was nowhere to be seen, so— considering she was fucked anyway.
She was going to do her damn best to kill the monster, even if it meant going into it and eating its flesh with her bare teeth. She was going to use its blood to heal herself and consume it all if she had to.
If she died, she would take it down with her.
She turned towards the monster and rushed, cutting through the tendrils that came her way.
*
Ian blinked, as he watched the warrior rush at the monster in the distance. She tore through its tentacles with a warcry, and quickly reached and stabbed the center of the monster before a crimson burst of flames engulfed everything.
For a moment he was taken aback, but then he decided that this was the best way to get rid of the miasma, and save Amber at the same time.
So, he began to cast his spell.
*
Compared to her experiences with toxins this venom was the most lethal thing that had ever hit her, and from the looks of it, it would spell her end— or not. Amber jammed her hand into the monster and burned— using its blood to heal herself as she grinned.
She didn’t know how long she had been fighting, but it didn’t matter. Amber dug her sword well into the monster as it failed to strike her, and just when she was about to dig into its flesh, she heard the necromancer—
“Acceleration of Death.”
And a purple explosion engulfed everything. The miasma was wiped in an instant, and the monster was blasted and part of its body was dissolved by the purple light. Meanwhile, Amber was blasted away, all while the powerful curse regenerated her. She landed dozens of meters back, rolling numerous times, and she blinked.
Amber stood up only to see the necromancer offering her a potion.
“I thought you were going to die,” he said. “Glad that you are not, this is a Superb Quality Regeneration potion. It will continuously heal you throughout the battle.”
“I wasn’t going to die,” she replied simply.
The necromancer gave her a weird glance, but she grabbed the potion before he could say anything. She used Identify, considering she had never heard of the potion of Regeneration, considering it was Superb quality, it was most definitely incredibly rare.
And so, she chugged it.
The cold liquid entered her and relief washed over her, the venom was now a minimum in her body, and while it wasn’t completely cleansed it was enough for her to fight seriously once more.
“If you don’t have the 3rd Rank of Toxin Resistance, you should run,” he said seriously before continuing. “This venom continuously multiples through the body and the only way to get it out is to have a blood transfusion, that or with Toxin Resistance. No matter how healed you get, it will never go away.”
Amber frowned hearing that, if that wasn’t a literal menace, she didn’t know what it was.
“Luckily, I have the 3rd Rank.”
“Alright.”
The necromancer nodded.
“Do you have any plan in particular?” he asked.
And in response she nodded.
She stared at the monster that was frantically fighting. It had terrorized her this entire fight, and now, she wanted to terrorize the monster back. Given the fact that the venom would never be cleansed, it emboldened her to take more risks. After all, she had already hit rock bottom, and there was also the fact that…
Her eyes narrowed seeing how small the monster looked.
It’s quite weak now.
All they had to do was finish it off, and Amber had an idea of how to do that. While she didn’t dare to stab herself to increase Curse Battery given the circumstances, there was another way to do so. And also— curses healed her, keeping the venom at bay, all while she took risks. Also, she had a potion that was actively healing her now.
It was an insane plan, but it was what she wanted to do, and more than anything, she wanted to be the one that finished off the monster.
“I will go all in in the monster,” Amber finally said. “And you will hit the both of us with as many curses as possible.”
The necromancer looked at her and then, nodded. “Very well, then let’s finish this.”
With his words, he teleported away and the skeletons around the monster died. Causing it to shriek in anger before turning to her.
Even though it had already been quite hurt, the source of the plague still remained an imposing abomination, causing sand dunes to shift with its mass and making clouds of sand whenever it passed. And now, sand dunes were falling apart because of its mass, as it charged while rolling.
Amber pointed her sword at it.
“Flamethrower.”
A crimson conical blast engulfed everything in front of her, but it was quickly charged through. The monster caught on fire as it used its tendrils to whip at her, and Amber pulled back and looked to the necromancer in the distance who nodded, he was aiming at her.
Everything was ready.
She then turned to look at the chasing abomination and source of the plague. While Amber wanted to seriously fuck up the monster, she couldn’t exactly go toe to toe with it, but what she could do was torture it.
The monster arrived in front of her and it whipped forward with its tentacles. And Amber immediately used the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash, essentially landing on top of the black mass. And spinning the dagger at her waist, she stabbed. She used all her strength as she dug her whole arm along with the dagger into the monster, drawing an uncomfortable shriek from it. Then, she used Crimson Fuel and burned.
The monster screeched like never before as it thrashed from having its blood consumed. But things didn’t end there— no. A purple pillar of light engulfed the both of them, causing some of the tentacles of the monster to be disintegrated and for Amber to be healed. It was a similar attack to the one the necromancer had just used, but weaker.
And Amber welcomed it.
She used the fire of the Flamecursed sword, shooting it right inside of the monster as she grinned. She didn’t care that her mana was drawing low, no— all she cared about was damage.
Flames erupted from all around the monster all while its dying sounds played like a melody in her ears, but she still continued on attacking even after that. Stabbing the Cursewelder repeatedly and burning the monster’s blood without stopping. It also had the added bonus of keeping the venom within her body fully at bay with the help of the potion she had taken.
And of course, the necromancer attacked as well, engulfing the both of them with a mutltide of curses that exacerbated the condition of the monster. She was fighting with all her capabilities, and she wanted to end it now.
Amber raised her sword and stabbed.
“Flamethrower—”
And before the flames went off, the monster exploded.
Amber was thrown away and landed with confusion as tentacles rained. There had been no notification to confirm it had died, there had been no nothing. She turned to look at the necromancer only to see him chanting under his breath, evidently he was preparing another big spell.
The monster was still alive, the question was—
And a pillar of darkness erupted in front of her. Amber turned only to see danger—
She blocked with her sword as a scintillating whip hit, and she was pushed back. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the monster, it was much smaller and its tentacles had a metallic sheen to it, but that wasn’t what made Amber surprised. No, that was its speed.
The monster blurred and attacked again, and Amber was forced to block, and then with another strike her cheek was cut and more venom went into her body. Then, she used Curse Stomp but it was completely ineffective, which just earned her a shoulder-wide scratch. It took just a few seconds for her to be overwhelmed, and even though she used Cursed Supreme Momentum to the fullest it just wasn’t enough.
Amber knew the necromancer was preparing something, and while she wanted to fight the monster while it happened, she still wasn’t stupid. Even if she had pride, she knew she would long be in a terrible state by the time the necromancer unleashed his curse, so instead she had a change of plans.
She would wait until the monster was about to get hit to counter-attack.
So, she turned tails and ran. The monster screeched in anger as it chased after her, while it wasn’t what she initially wanted to do, Amber wasn’t stupid. And pride most certainly wasn’t going to get her killed.
The monster was fast and strong, so Amber couldn’t leave it behind but she could most certainly make sure she survived until then. She Quick Dashed away from the monster, and it chased, then when it arrived Amber blocked and Quick Dashed again. It was a repeated process that quickly turned into a game of cat and mouse.
Naturally, she got a few more scratches and the venom got to the point in which she began to struggle even with the potion of Regeneration, the more she was injected with, the faster it would spread again it seemed, but Amber committed to her goal. Even as the monster couldn’t take it anymore and used its magic, engulfing the surroundings with an aura of death and manipulating its tentacles to attack as if they were salvos of projectiles. Choosing to keep its distance while it assailed her with them.
And of course, Amber panicked, in fact she had a few near escapes, but every time she looked towards the necromancer, his staff was shining brighter and brighter, and she knew the end was nearing.
She dodged for another minute, and just as she spat a mouthful of blood and almost tripped, and that’s when the monster— screeched.
Amber turned only to see the necromancer pointing his staff, and the monster began to be wrapped by a purple light. One that pressed on it and began to make it screech in agony, all while its attacks became much more aggressive, and Amber took that as her signal.
She turned around and with a cleave-laced twirl she cut through dozens of tentacles, and then, she dashed through the rain of attacks and headed towards the monster.
Its shrieks were laced with pain and anger, as it attacked her.
Perhaps it could sense the end was coming, or perhaps it was something else, but it sent all of its tentacles in an attempt to stop her.
And Amber tore through them all, she took out the Flamecursed Sword, and with the use of her strength she used the two massive blades at once to tear through all the attacks that came her way.
The closer she got, the harder it got to advance, but Amber dashed forward even if she started to get hit and scratched. And as it progressed, she began to receive cuts and broken bones, but she pushed forward.
And then— the monster screeched as the force upon it worsened, heralding the start of the attack. Hundreds of spikes were shot her way and Amber used the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash to dodge them all.
Any other person in her position would have long died, but Amber knew what she was capable of, and this was finally beginning to push her limits to the max.
Amber tore through the tentacles that she could get, but it wasn’t enough. So, she burned.
An explosion of fire engulfed all of the tentacles in front of her and with a final charge, she heard the necromancer scream his attack.
“End of it all!”
A blast of purple engulfed Amber and the monster, and Amber felt reinvigorated in a single moment as all her injuries were immediately wiped; the broken bones, the scratches— they all went away. The venom came to a screeching halt and began to be reversed back within her body, and Amber rushed.
Inside of the purple light she saw the monster screeching, and it tried to send tentacles her way that disintegrated before they could reach her. It was fruitless. She stared at the burning monster and she dashed up to it and kicked. Then, with a follow up swing she tore apart a multitude of her tentacles.
“You really did almost kill me!” she laughed.
She could almost see the monster staring at her in fear, even though it was a burning mass of tentacles, but it didn’t matter.
Amber stabbed and pushed all of the accumulated rage from the attacks she sustained forward and called—
“Battery, battery, battery!”
Her words blurred together from how fast she spoke them, and a another purple blast engulfed the monster. One that sent it flying with a loud boom. Chunks of tentacles streaked through the air as the mass of flesh landed dozens of meters away. And Amber didn’t stop there, she teleported with the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash and raised her sword at the now person-sized mass of tentacles.
It was wiggling on the sand, rotting it away and Amber grinned.
“Die!”
And she brought it down, stabbing deep into the carcass as the necromancer closed his eyes.
“It has been done.”
With his words, a notification came and Amber picked up her dagger from the core of the monster, as well as put the Firecursed Sword in its place. And that’s when she noticed that the potion of regeneration ran out.
[You have defeated a [Mage. Lvl. 164].]
For defeating an enemy 35 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!
Less experience for defeating an enemy as a group.
And the notifications didn’t stop there.
[Cursed Cleave has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 8 to 3rd Rank level 9.]
[Quick Dash has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 8 to 3rd Rank level 9.]
[General Weapon Mastery has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 9 to 3rd Rank level 10.]
[Cursed Supreme Momentum has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 7 to 3rd Rank level 8.]
[Cursed Supreme Berserker’s Body has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 7 to 3rd Rank level 8.]
[Recovery of Curses has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 5 to 3rd Rank level 7.]
[Curse Battery has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 6 to 3rd Rank level 7.]
[Cursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 6 to 3rd Rank level 8.]
[Curse Manipulation has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 5 to 3rd Rank level 7.]
[Crimson Fervor has leveled up from level 8 to 9.]
[Crimson Fuel has leveled up from level 8 to 9.]
[Crimson Venom has leveled up from level 7 to 8.]
[Toxin Resistance has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 2 to 3rd Rank level 5.]
[Sharp Instincts has leveled up from 3rd Rank level 6 to 3rd Rank level 7.]
[Quick Recovery has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 1 to 2nd Rank level 2.]
And finally her level ups.
[You have reached level 127. 5 stat points awarded.]
+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]
…
[You have reached level 131. 5 stat points awarded.]
+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]
But in spite of everything that she had leveled, Amber frowned. Her Toxin Resistance had leveled up three whole times, and while she had recovering from her injuries already, the same couldn’t be said from the venom—
Amber vomited blood as she hurriedly took out a Rare Quality health potion that she quickly chugged. The effect was immediate, keeping the venom at bay but she had been injected with so much of it that the venom was more aggressive than ever. Or rather, she had been injected with it so many times that it would spread like a virus as soon as she stopped healing it. Even though the battle had ended, she remained in an in-battle state due to it.
This is bad… she looked at her trembling hand and then, turned noticing the necromancer.
“You should rush back to Torl to get the venom extracted, otherwise you will die,” he said as he stood next to her. “If I’m being honest, I’m surprised you are still alive after receiving so much of it.”
She frowned at his words, but given she was wobbling on her spot, it was quite accurate. She had thought that the curse attack from the necromancer would be enough to heal her— and while that was the case. She didn’t contemplate that the venom would just spread once more, this time at an increased rate.
“Before I leave, what will you do?”
The necromancer seemingly ignored her question as he raised his staff. Then, with a twirl all of the tentacles across the desert flew to the dead monster, creating a pile of rot and death.
“We just killed my wife.” he finally said.
Then he turned to Amber, a tear coming out of his eye.
“And now that she won’t rampage, I shall revive her.”
Comments
phantom
I imagine they might have a few questions about the sheer lethality of the venom in her. but hey time to grind up toxin resistance to 4th rank. Wonder system's message there since this time it wasn't on purpose.
Emily Gurnavage
The changes make 62 soooo much better. Good call.
