"A ThunderFlamme Ursus?" I muttered, squinting my eyes to allow my skill, Eagle Eyes, to achieve something similar to a zoom. ThunderFlamme Ursus was a race of animalistic monsters that, from level 9 and up, Justaff had me go against to harvest experience. So it was fair to say that I was very familiar with that creature. The moment I laid eyes upon the creature towering up ahead, it reminded me of ThunderFlamme Ursus. But a closer inspection allowed me to see very easily that it was, in fact, not a ThunderFlamme Ursus.
Instead, it was a cousin of the subspecies called Stonegale Ursus, which, as the name suggested, wielded a different set of elements. Instead of a ThunderFlamme Ursus' distinctive fire and lightning, this one wielded air and earth to fight off its opponent, most likely several Verdenkinds whose attacks from beyond my line of sight only served to increasingly anger the beast. It let out yet another earth-shattering roar, a roar very familiar to me.
Back when I was training, I usually fought groups of Thunderflamme Ursus rather than usually fighting them solo. The moment they were put together, they instantly established a minion-leader dynamic toward one another, the leader being, of course, the strongest one of the group. So that call, if I guessed correctly, will summon another one or maybe more than one Stone Gale Ursus.
I looked around for any lurking StoneGale, but before I could spot any, I noticed the five people taking cover behind one of the carriages had noticed me. At first, they looked surprised, but quickly recovered, reverting to their fear of the creature they were hiding from. They made their questionable decision to rush toward me, urged on by the three men dressed as warriors, which the hiding five obviously weren’t.
I only wanted to get to the next city; I wanted nothing to do with any of these people. So the sight of them rushing to me as if I were their savior made me grimace, a grimace that turned into a frown of surprise when three bear-like creatures pounded their way out of the woods before wedging themselves between me and the desperate people.
Because there was no way they were winning against three Stonegale Ursus. Size-wise, the creatures were smaller than the one across the carriages in the middle of the road, making them closer to a normal bear than a monster, but despite that it was still a monster, with skills and abilities.
There was no way these peons could defend against that, much less three of them. Because that’s what they were, peons. Despite the warrior-like dress up of the ones guarding them, from the moment I laid eyes on them, my peon detector revealed to me that they were just that.
"Help!" one of the sword-wielding men shouted as they slowly backed away from the monsters. The creatures moved slowly toward them, almost as if they enjoyed mentally torturing their prey.
"Help!"
Once again, they shouted, begging for my help, but that prompted two of the bear-like creatures to leap onto the man shouting for help. His begging was replaced by screams.
Following this, one of the Ursus rushed at another of the sword-holding peons. In that moment, one of the men heroically wedged himself between his comrade and the charging creature. It was heroic, sure, but what followed was not so heroic-looking. Screams pierced through the air, making the mood even more chaotic than it already was.
"What a mess," I muttered with a sigh.
This chaos was the perfect opportunity for me to simply slither my way out of here and continue my journey. But as I glanced at the miserable sight ahead and the tragic mess at my feet, I heaved out another sigh. "I know I should stay out of this, but damn..."
Dismounting Veilleuse-01 and taking a few steps away, I reached out for Misfortune, my wand. With a flick of my wrist, I formed a large wall surrounding the horse.
I'd already lost a horse once, and I refused to name a new horse Veilleuse-02 anytime soon, so naturally my horse's safety came first. Turning around, I made my way toward the bear-like creatures.
While I didn't want to do this, it couldn't be helped. Clenching my wand, I prepared to unleash my Ice magic when I remembered something and stopped midway.
"This might be it," I muttered, as I advanced.
It was my chance to get this over with, not as any sorcerer, but instead as a Hexcaster, a proper Hexcaster.
Closing in on the nearest Stonegale Ursus, I waved my arm as if throwing flowers into a public below a podium, unleashing my strongest asset as a Hexcaster: my ability, Legacy of Agony.
I called forth the sub-ability of Echoing, planning on having the bear-like creature experience about dozens of final moments at once.
At least that was the plan. But things didn't quite unfold as expected. The moment I applied the ability's sub-ability onto my target, I was met with a notification:
[Warning]
Hex incompatible with target!
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"Welp, that's a surprise."
While my attempt failed, it must have still been felt by the target. The bear-like creature, now aware of me, let go of the person it was mauling to focus its attention on me.
Before it could charge, I immediately activated another ability. This time, instead of using Echoing, I activated the second subabilty.
The ability landed and took effect as expected; after all, this particular sub-ability of Legacy of Agony had no requirements that could cause a casting failure.
As the creature charged over, I promptly pointed toward it, activating Hexed Frost Dagger Conjuration. Dozens of ice-daggers materialized, hovering around me. Without wasting time, I made them rain onto the creature. However, I didn't unleash them all in one go. Instead, I released them in short intervals. The ice daggers shattered one after another against the creature's hide.
"You guys are definitely tougher than your cousins," I muttered with a grimace.
While the ice daggers couldn't pierce the creature's defenses, they slowed it down. Given enough time, they would eventually break through. But hearing the sounds of the other peons being mauled to death made it clear I couldn't prolong this fight any longer.
Pointing down at the creature, I activated [Hexed Frost Sword Conjuration], summoning eight swords that I flung toward the Stonegale. Unlike the daggers, the swords cut through the creature's defenses like a knife through butter, impaling it straight and causing it to grunt in pain and agony.
But I wasn't done yet. One by one, I flung the remaining seven swords, each strike causing it to scream even more.
The creature's roars of pain echoed through the forest as I continued my assault. Each sword I unleashed pierced its tough hide, driving deeper into its flesh. Frost spread from the wounds, causing the pain to become unbearable. The Stonegale Ursus staggered and went down, but it didn't die. Not yet, but it was only a matter of time.
I wanted to prolong this a little longer, savoring the creature's suffering. However, the sight of the two other bears letting go of their mauling targets to come to their brethren's rescue made me abandon that idea. With my final hexed sword, I flung it toward the creature's head which thus far I’d been avoiding to hit.
The final sword struck true, embedding itself deeply into the Stonegale Ursus's skull. The creature's body convulsed, and with a final, guttural roar, it collapsed, lifeless, frost spreading completely enveloping it.
At the sight of the interface appearing in the corner, a smile appeared on my face. The smile widened as the two other bears closed in fast. Clenching my wand, I first activated [Frost Shard], which brought the charging creatures to an instantaneous stop. This allowed me to cast my [Ice Magic] not once, but twice.
With the first incantation, I erected a pillar-like stalagmite from the ground, which slammed against one Stonegale, sending it crashing against the carriage. With the second one, a magic circle emerged beneath the other Stonegale, out of which a pillar emerged, landing what could be interpreted as a punch from below, causing it to roll over miserably to the side.
Without allowing the creature to recover, I jumped in and once again activated my ability, Legacy of Agony. First, I used the sub-ability which would allow me to hoard a target's final moments,
Then the sub-ability Echo, which allows me to temporarily impart previously harvested moments onto a target.
Earlier, the latter did what worked on the Stonegale Ursus, and for a reason I could easily understand. This was one of those things I figured out by myself since it wasn't mentioned by my identification skill interface.
While my ability allows me to record the final moments of nearly any creature, be it a human or an insect, I've always sensed that these memories wouldn't be universally compatible with all targets. If they were, it would be the ultimate power. One could simply harvest the final memories of easily killable creatures, like a rabbit, or even an ant. Imagine exterminating an entire colony and gaining thousands of memories to use.
It makes sense that there are limits; otherwise, the ability would be overwhelmingly powerful. From what I've discovered, the key limitation is compatibility. For the ability to function, the final memory must be compatible with the target. For example, a peon's last memory wouldn't work on a bunny. Yes, I did try that ability on a rabbit. I was on the road and I was bored, very bored. And thanks to that I figured it would also be the case here, peons' final memories are ineffective on Stonegales.
But now, since I had already harvested a final memory from a Stonegale Ursus, there was no reason for Echoing to fail again. That’s exactly what happened.
Much like the bandits did back then, the Stonegale’s eyes widened in sudden, profound terror, and it released a guttural roar that reverberated through the forest. The effect was as immediate and devastating as ever. In less than a couple of seconds, the Stonegale stumbled, its mighty legs trembling as if experiencing agony and horror akin to its kin’s final moments, but without the damaged dealt with either Hexed Frost Dagger Conjuration or Hexed Frost Sword Conjuration.
Overwhelmed as it was, it presented the perfect opportunity for me to unleash a killing blow. However, instead of doing that, I chose to let the creature shrivel in its misery, making my way toward the one that was sent crashing against the carriage.
Closing in, I casted Harvest onto it. Then with a flick of my wrist, I erected a wall of ice surrounding me and the Stonegale, prompting the confused creature to only find more confusion. In its predicament, it roared and charged, a predictable move.
Summoning a ball of ice, I activated the detonation effect of my skill Frost Burst Conjuration, pushing the charging creature to be sent reeling backward, slamming heavily against the wall I had erected.
The Stonegale roared in pain, but that didn't stop me. I first cast [Winter Clutch], followed by [Inflict Frostbite], and to heighten the effect of both skills, I cast my debuff-enhancer, [Debilitating Surge], before activating Frost Burst once again as an overwhelming wall of defense and offense. My goal was simple: make the creature suffer as much as possible. The more it suffered, the more powerful the memories I would harvest. So I didn't hold back on anything.
As the battle, or rather, torture session, went on, the Stonegale's roars grew more desperate and guttural as the frostbite took hold, its flesh cracking and splitting under my relentless but mostly passive assault. Pretty quickly, its movements became sluggish, its strength sapped by the combination of my debilitating assault and the knockback it received from [Frost Burst Detonation] each time it tried to attack me. Every grunt was quieter compared to the previous, every swing of its massive paws slower, every charge weaker, and soon it wasn't even able to stand anymore, its roars turning into pitiful whimpers.
Seeing the creature at death's door, I didn't do anything to let it suffer any longer.
I allowed it to die, harvesting another memory before melting the ice wall around me to settle the matter with the last Stonegale. The one I imparted the memories to was still there, seemingly trying to recover from the mental experience it had been hexed with. At first, I considered making the creature also taste my newly acquired memories, but the sight of the larger Stonegale crashing heavily on top of a carriage, followed by a man with a lance jumping high up in the air then coming down with unrepressed rage, driving his spear downward into the monster's chest, made me decide to wrap things up.
Calling forth Hexed Frost Lance Conjuration, I fired it at the writhing Stonegale, killing it with one blow.
As I sensed a glare from behind, I turned around to face the man with the spear, standing atop the large Stonegale. He was covered in blood from head to toe, staring at me intently, asking, "Who are you?"