I didn’t have time for any of that. Unloading a grenade launcher, I paid thanks to Madeem’s craftsmanship. Between the shots fired and the grenade, his HP was melting, but he wasn’t out of the count just yet.
Shit, these cyber sense creatures are more of a pain in the ass in Mavriel, I groaned inwardly to myself, before I realized that these tentacle freaks might have the same physical weakness as the killer worm I met in Senterra.
The underbelly.
More of them flung themselves at me, enraged that I took out one of their own. They were quick when they swung between the trees, but the ones who were on the ground weren’t as problematic. The ones on the trees adapted to the length of my bone saw, their movement a few feet higher than that of the first creature. Too bad for them they didn’t know I had more options, pulling out my XDM long sword to the fight.
With extended depth and power behind every slash, I demobilized them just the same. I was quick, sliding across the terrain, weaving between trees, and dodging their efforts in grabbing onto me. I’d learned from the very nimble blonde fae to use the environment in battle, even if it meant throwing dirt in their eyes to even out a fight.
In Thalian, there was no such thing as dirty fighting. You do anything and everything to survive, accepting that the entire world is against you.
“Shit, I’m almost out of mana,” I whispered to myself, hiding behind a bush. I noticed one of the creatures I killed decomposed completely, leaving me precious loot. There was a mana restoration vial right there for the taking, all I had to do was maneuver between these pricks to get to it.
I leaped into action, dashing from tree to tree. Unfortunately I had my eyes up and not down, missing the very childish prank of one of the Ruktarbas. He had his leg out and I tripped, my cyber gear catching my fall. When I picked my head up, I realized that they’d baited me, their formation around the forest proof of that.
Three against one, they covered me in a triangulation. I didn’t have a way out but up, and that was when something daring crossed my mind.
I’d done it before and came out alive. I could do a Jezz and do it again, and tempt death.
A smirk found my lips as I got to my feet, the monsters advancing toward me. With my reflector shield at a higher level, I had more coverage and durability on it. Not only that, it had a faster materialization time, enough to protect me from a close range missile explosion. That was exactly what I did, waiting for them to group up over my head, exposing their soft spots. I launched my missile and immediately activated my shield, the impact from the explosion pressing my hexagon diamond dome-shaped protector down.
I covered my eyes from the flaring light and the gut mist showering over my shield. When all of the body parts dropped to the ground, I got up on my feet and my shield faded.
“Thank you Etorl for the extra cyber mana,” I heaved, dusting my knees off and took a breath of relief.
My arm wiped my brow as my eyes scanned about the mess I made. When all of my loot was available, I began to collect, realizing I’d leveled up in the process.
“This would have been even better if I had a triple exp amulet,” I said to myself, before I thought about staying here longer to buff up my stats. “Hmm, if I stayed for an hour, I could probably level up again. I do have a few mana restoration vials here, so I won’t burn myself out.
Looked like that decision would be made for me, because my cyber sense warning started to flash off again.
I smiled. “Well then, let’s keep this party alive.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Absolute exhaustion—what a day. And it wasn’t even over yet. The sky was cloudy, threatening rain. It was about time I tapped out and looked for shelter, giving myself a pat on the back for a job well done.
I had a couple of reasons for the big smile on my face. For one, I came out of that long scrap alive. While my armor took on some damage, my HP went untouched. Second, I went through that fight without spotting a single fae, which would have ruined my entire mission. Of course there was the option of killing the witness, but I wasn’t about to pull a Rufian.
I took my prizes and gave this neck of the woods a break, looking for a campsite next.
After half a mile I found a decent spot. I wasn’t opposed to bonding with mother-nature no matter how ruthless she could be. A thirty minute break was all I needed, I told myself, wiping the sweat off my brow. And as I took a spot underneath a tree, I allocated my points:
Name:
Silas Bruer
Race:
Human
Rank:
Hero
Occupation:
Overseer
Alignment:
Senterra
Age:
19
Strength:
120
Level:
26
Agility: 55 + 10% (Hero’s Blessing)
World Exp:
