God, I hated being stuck with making these quick on-the-spot decisions!
I snapped open my safety box and pulled out the crystal shard. With two fingers between his lips, Rufian whistled and beckoned his flame bird to his side. Then he reached one hand over the shard in my palm and the other over his phoenix. He mumbled something under his breath, energy sparking between our hands. Suddenly, the shard began to glow with a bright, white light, and I felt my entire body vibrating with raw energy.
A celestial power grip that was similar from the first time, only this one was three times as overwhelming. I could see the veins along Rufian’s fingertips burn bright blue, threads like electricity crawling up his hand and to his head. It coursed through his whole body, Rufian’s eyes glowing to the goddess’ power now permeating around him.
“Close your eyes…”
“What?”
“Do it.”
I pivoted my head to the growing legion of ice gargoyles charging down our path with mouths opened wide bearing rows of razor-sharp teeth. Some of them took to the skies with ice wings twice their size, their icy blue skin in scales unfazed by the cold. They were closing in fast, but Alzera-Kar’s crystal had done miracles before, so I pressed my eyes shut and ignored the sound of a stampede and roaring beasts and trusted her power.
When I snapped my head away from them, Rufian unleashed a shroud of fire that whipped the frontlines, its intensity so great that I could feel the heat from behind my closed eyelids. The ice gargoyles let out a deafening screech as I heard a shower of rain drops, and when I opened my eyes and turned around again, I saw that they had melted away, their bodies turning into nothing but puddles of water on the ground.
The misty fog was dense, and Rufian’s familiar was gone. Rufian pulled back, his hand still pulsating with the goddess’ energy.
“What the hell did you do?” I asked, still in awe of what I had just witnessed.
Rufian nodded, a small smile playing on his lips. “I used my flame bird as a medium to channel the dungeon core’s power, and magnify my flames.
That answer left me both exhilarated and terrified at the same time.
Eight giant beasts gone like that. Dude didn’t even break a sweat.
I tucked the shard away fast, noticing how Rufian was still glowing with power. Concerned, I asked, “Does that thing turn off?”
“Hmm? What thing?”
“The energy you syphoned.”
He chuckled. “In due time, I suppose.”
“I didn’t know that you could steal her power.”
“Not stealing, borrowing. After all, I did protect her precious hero, didn’t I?”
“And took all of the exp as compensation.”
“Relax, this is nothing compared to the loot they are offering. You can have half. You did help.” He winked.
“Don’t wink at me.”
Rufian snickered, a sly grin spreading across his face. “This should give us the edge we need to take the Grimoire.”
“And the fae’s crystal shard shield.”
Luckily, the accelerants came with the allocation points. Jumping 8 levels, I allocated my 48 points and updated my stats:
Name:
Silas Bruer
Race:
Human
Rank:
Hero
Occupation:
Overseer
Alignment:
Senterra
Age:
19
Strength:
140
Level:
