On these words I cast a glance at the 10-year-old or so Dungeon Master 09 who seemed surprised by the suggestion.
"Can you handle this?"
The creatures which I could easily tell were Frostmanes, a common type of animalistic monster that can be found in this area growled, their red eyes glowing menacingly in the mist as they spread in a half a dozen metres semi-circle. In this moment, the little level 3 wizard that Dungeon Master 09 were, stepped forward. His eyes held a glint of determination, though I could tell he wasn’t all that confident in handling so many of them at once.
"I can," he declared, before slowly chanting, "Stone Spikes," as his hands moved to form a magic circle beneath the creature.
The ground beneath the Frostmanes trembled before sharp stone spikes erupted, aiming to impale the beasts. Two of the Frostmanes yelped as they were struck, but the others managed to evade the attack, their bodies agile and swift.
The Frostmanes retaliated, their leader unleashing a chilling howl that spread frost in a wide radius.
Dungeon Master 09 shivered as the temperature dropped sharply, ice forming on the ground around him. The Frostmanes used this moment to charge.
"Stay back!" Dungeon Master 09 yelled, raising his hands. "Aerokinesis: Wind Blast!"
A powerful gust of wind burst forth, pushing back the advancing Frostmanes.
Clawing the ground, the beasts struggled against the wind, their shimmering hides glittering in the mist. One of them leaped, its claws aiming for Dungeon Master 09.
Dungeon Master 09 reacted swiftly, summoning another gust of wind to push the creature back.
The wind blast was just strong enough to halt the Frostmane's leap, causing it to land roughly a few meters away. The creature snarled, struggling to regain its footing.
The other Frostmanes circled him, the one acting as a sort of a leader preparing for another attack.
Its fur hardened with a layer of ice, most likely increasing its defense. Dungeon Master 09 gritted his teeth, knowing he had to act quickly. He summoned his wind once more, this time to strike at the Frostmanes directly.
The wind swirled around the Frostmanes, battering them and slowing their advance. The creatures, undeterred, used their superior numbers to try and overwhelm him. The leader, now fully encased in ice, charged with incredible speed.
Dungeon Master 09 most likely understood that he had to quickly decrease their numbers.
"Stone Spire!"
He chanted quickly, summoning the largest earth spike he could manage.
A massive stone spire erupted from the ground, impaling two of the Frostmanes. The remaining four hesitated, their leader growling in frustration. Seeing their hesitation, Dungeon Master 09 seized the opportunity.
"Gale Force!"
A powerful gust of wind swept through the area, knocking the remaining Frostmanes off their feet. They struggled to stand, their icy bodies battered by the relentless wind. The sight filled Dungeon Master 09 with a newfound confidence.
With a surge of energy, he directed the wind to strike down two more Frostmanes. As the last two were knocked back, one of them took advantage of his split focus and darted forward. Dungeon Master 09 spotted it from the corner of his eye.
He quickly reacted, activating using his geokinesis to erect an elevated platform beneath him.
The ground surged upward, lifting him high above, allowing him to avoid the attack. It was a smart move, but the sudden elevation caught him off guard. He wobbled, arms flailing, and lost his balance, rolling down the platform and landing hard on the ground.
The wolf-like creature circled him, its growls low and menacing. Dungeon Master 09 scrambled to his feet. As he did, the creature, seeing it as an opening, charged at him. In a desperate move, he raised his hand, summoning his aerokinesis.
The wind gusted, but the creature was too close for comfort. Just as it leaped, it for some reason tripped, tumbling and rolling to a stop just a meter away from Dungeon Master 09.
Seizing the opportunity, Dungeon Master 09 used his earth magic to erect a stalagmite that impaled the creature.
The creature let out a pained howl before falling silent. A satisfied smile tugged at the corner of my mouth, but the sight vanished when I noticed Dungeon Master 07's disapproving glance out of the corner of my eye.
"A problem?" I asked innocently, turning to face him.
"You interfered," he responded, his tone stern.
"I did?" I half-denied, considering my next words carefully. But before I could continue, I saw something moving in the corner of my eye. "Well, we have a bigger problem than that."
Dungeon Master 07 and I turned toward a mist-filled corner where a pair of eyes stared at us, the sound of irregular steps growing louder. As the creature emerged from the mist, just meters away, its form became clear.
It had a sinuous body covered in turquoise scales, with a head that resembled a mix between a lizard and a serpent. Its eyes glowed with an eerie intensity, and spikes protruded from its back. Its limbs were muscular, ending in sharp claws that dug into the ground with each step. This was no common animalistic monster.
"This creature was most likely the one responsible for the state we found in the middle of the road," I said, my voice steady.
Clearly, the Frostmanes were merely lured to the scene by the smell of death. Having traveled through this forest, I had learned from handlers about the monsters to be wary of in this region. Several animalistic-type monsters were mentioned, including Frostmanes. But what I'd been mostly warned about, as these were the strongest type of creatures to be found in the region, were Drakes, or Forest Drakes as the handlers typically referred to them. Drakes were dragonoid monsters that belonged to a different category than animalistic monsters, they were Mythical Beasts. While the term sounded prestigious, it wasn’t an understatement to say that drakes, or at the very least the very special type of drakes that can be found in this region were at the bottom of this subcategory.
Earlier, when Dungeon Master 07 asked what monster I believed was responsible for the state we found the wagon in, I assumed it was the doing of a drake. Drakes were known to be present in the region, though rare to encounter, and the footprints found at the scene made me believe we were dealing with one. It was an understandable leap. However, it seems I was wrong. The creature that emerged from the fog, which I was one hundred percent sure left the footprints, was not a drake. It was a Basilisk, not a drake but a basilisk.
I glanced at Dungeon Master 07 and declared with a huge smile, "I'll deal with it unless—"
"You deal with it," he interjected, retreating to Dungeon Master 09.
"Alright," I replied, glancing at the horses.
With a mere flick of my wrist, I summoned a wall of ice around them, trapping them inside a protective prison. Having learned the hard way, I knew that desperate monsters tended to go after our horses. Losing our horses was the last thing we wanted. I didn't want to go through that struggle again.
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Horse's safety assured, just like that of Dungeon Master 09 with Dungeon Master 07, my full attention went to the Basilisk, which immediately went on the offensive.
The creature met my gaze, activating its petrifying skill.
I began inspecting my body for signs of petrification, but there were none. I could feel the effect, and in the corner of my vision, the status interface displayed a "petrified" status phasing in and out, obviously negated by my level 7 Debuff Resistance skill. Though I could still feel my HP being ground down, it was at a rather unalarming pace.
Seeing the creature making no other moves except casting its petrifying skill and appearing confused as to why it seemed ineffective, I said, "Can't deny the genius of this," as I activated my version of the skill, Eye of Petrification: Level 6.
The moment I acquired the skillset through the Eyes of Perdition ability, I had been vicariously trying to level it up. I was able to level some to at least make them above level 5. Eye of Petrification was one of those I had an easy time leveling up, able to take it to level 6 in less than a year. Casting the skill onto the basilisk, I quickly understood that while my skill was of a higher level than that of the basilisk, it didn't affect it much. No sign of petrification, not that the skill actually petrified its target; it just immobilized them instead of turning them into stone, and could be seen taking root on the basilisk.
A little annoyed, though I understood that it was due to the creature's physiology and resistance, I decided to activate a second skill, as I could only simultaneously activate two of the Eyes of Perdition skillset. The second one I activated was Eye of Syphoning, which allows me to target a particular status of the three resource statuses and absorb it. This time I targeted the creature's HP. Being someone without the appraisal skill, I couldn't gauge how effective the skill was on the monster. I could only guess. Under normal circumstances, very precisely against targets with no particular resistance, I could tell how much HP was being punctured from my target by looking at how much HP I had harvested.
How ironic it is for a Highbreed like me to finally get something healing-related, and for it to be in this form. It was so ironic I could only laugh at it.
Anyway, against this creature, I faced two obstacles: one, I was at full health, and two, the creature was, I could tell, packing some resistance, meaning that the skill was not operating at its fullest potential. Fullest potential that meant that it could literally allow me to defeat a target without the target, if not smart enough to figure out that its HP is going down, understanding what's happening, making it quite the perfect weapon against monsters. Just like its petrifying counterpart, it doesn't have any visible effect.
Frustrated more by how its petrifying stare didn't seem to affect me than by my very subtle counterattack with my Eye of Syphoning, the creature hissed like a snake before deactivating the skill it initially attacked me with to go for a debilitating roar.
The roar was a powerful blast of sound, vibrating through the air with a force that made the ground tremble. It was meant to inflict fear and reduce enemy stats. However, I was the bane of such attacks; their effects barely registered.
The creature, growing angrier, came at me with a more animalistic attack. It lunged, intending to take advantage of its large body, which could easily engulf me in one bite.
The basilisk lunged at me, and with a flick of my wrist, I activated [Unbound Sorcery], summoning a pillar of ice that violently erupted from the ground, slamming hard into its underbelly and propelling it upward. A smile spread across my face as I watched the basilisk rocket skyward, its enraged screech echoing through the clearing.
Capitalizing on its momentum, I twisted my wrist again, summoning another pillar of ice. Despite being an equally monstrous replica of the first one, the creature, no longer caught off guard, managed to handle the pillar's emergence with relative ease. It met the falling creature with a solid thud, slowing its descent, but with a slightly rough landing rather than a bone-jarring impact.
Taking a leap from the pillar, it viciously leaped toward me. I withdrew with a quick step just as the monster landed, its claws slamming into the spot where I had stood. The creature immediately followed its failed attempt to crush me by lashing out with its thick, muscular tail, aiming to slam me into oblivion. Reacting on pure instinct, I flicked my hand and erected a new structure. This one, unlike the previous two, was angled at a perfect 60 degrees, creating a smooth, icy ramp. The creature's tail screeched harmlessly across it, its momentum carrying it harmlessly past me, which only enraged it further.
The basilisk unleashed a screech and activated Debilitating Roar.
The roar did little to nothing to me. As the creature climbed up the pillar separating us, trying to reach me, I erected another pillar at a 60-degree angle, aiming it at the creature's face. The icy blow landed like a punch, sending the basilisk flying back and crashing onto the wagon's wreckage, further destroying it.
Timber and debris exploded outwards, but I stood untouched, a flicker of amusement dancing in my eyes. The basilisk, momentarily stunned, tried to regain its footing. As it did, it sent wood and metal flying in a shower of shrapnel, all aimed in my direction.
I watched as the debris hurtled toward me. Before it could reach me, a wall of ice emerged, forming a barrier that shattered the debris harmlessly. Walking around the shield, I observed as the air itself seemed to hum with the creature's frustration. It coiled its body, clearly readying itself to launch at me again.
Before it could do so, a single pillar erupted from the ground. The impact sent the basilisk tumbling sideways with a bellow of rage. It landed with a heavy thud, its momentum momentarily broken. At this point, I could have ended it right there and then. There was no better time for that. But glancing at Dungeon Master 07 and Dungeon Master 09, a playful glint in my eyes, I decided to prolong the show.
Well, to be fair, it was less of a show and more of an attempt to level a very particular skill of mine which I was positive was one of my most valuable skills, though it was far from the highest level. That skill was [Unbound Sorcery]. The skill I unlocked upon defeating the Frostfang One-Eyed Serpent allows the wielder of a magic-type skill to effectively cast magic like a sorcerer would cast a spell.
The skill allows the wielder to use magic without the use of magic circles, which are to magic what URLs are to the internet. To use the internet, you need a URL, and for the average magic-type skill user, a URL must be manually inputted to reach the desired "destination". Unbound Sorcery offers its wielder the option to bookmark this URL, making the website accessible with a mere click or thought, as it were in this instance.
Though it can be argued that I was already very swift at casting ice magic, mainly because of how vicariously I leveled up my charisma and wisdom attributes and how familiar I was with using Ice Magic in the first place and how uniformly I use my [Ice Magic] usually using it to summon icicle that I hurl forward, that casting speed couldn't compare to my current speed with [Unbound Sorcery].
Should I manage to level that skill on par with my other skills, I, as an ice-wielder, would be unstoppable. But with the skill being only at level three, I could only bookmark a limited number of three-layered magic circle effects, in other words, a tier 3 magical effect.
When that skill reaches level 4, I understand I should be able to bookmark 4 four-layered magic circle effects, 6 three-layered magic circle effects, 4 two-layered magic circle effects, and 2 one-layered magic circle effects, and I couldn't wait for it.
While admittedly the skill was, for the time being, something that couldn't stand on par with my other skills, which were much more potent, ice magic had always been a part of me. Though it wasn't a skill that I, as a sorcerer, was meant to level up, the unique advantage of this skill was that it allowed me to do things I couldn't conventionally do with my other spell-like types that tended to be uniform and geared for combat. Ice magic granted me edges to use it in unique ways, something my spell-type skills couldn't.
Its only disadvantage was that it was painfully slow to cast compared to my spell-type skills, but that problem could be fixed by [Unbound Sorcery]. Sure, the limited number of bookmarkable effects was somewhat annoying, but all things considered, I only needed to bookmark a limited number of effects, the ones I couldn't conventionally cast using my spell-type skills. Effects like the ice barrier I just summoned to protect myself from the debris hurled by the basilisk or the pillar of ice I instantly erected. The rest I could cast using the conventional magic circle method. It was slower, but it still worked fine.
Considering my level, defeating this basilisk, which I could imagine granting me as much experience as a level 17 human, the fight was never about harvesting experience; it wouldn't grant me much at my current level. It was about using it to level up my [Unbound Sorcery] as much as I possibly could.
Casting the same effect again and again, I continuously thrashed the basilisk, erecting a frosty maze of ice pillars in the process. After some time, finally considering ending the creature's misery as it was at death's door, I pointed at the creature, summoning, once again using Unbound Sorcery, a large ice harpoon. But at that moment, the bloodied creature let out a low roar, if one could still call that a roar, activating an ability that made me frown at the sight of the notification in the corner of my eyes.
"Mh?"
At that sight, I turned around to look at my surroundings.
"A problem?" asked Dungeon Master 07, who had been, along with Dungeon Master 09, silently observing. "I don't think this thing was alone."
Dungeon Master 07 also looked around as I did. It was then, as we all looked around, that I felt movement from beyond the ever-thicker mist.
Like with the basilisk, a pair of eyes pierced from beyond the mist, coming from the direction the first one came from. Then another pair could be seen from the opposite side of the forest, where the wolf-like monsters came from. Then another, then another again, then another.
"This bastard..." I cursed, effectively unleashing the harpoon I had summoned, killing the basilisk with one last blow.
"For not being alone, it sure wasn't," Dungeon Master 07 calmly remarked.
---
[Notification]
Congratulations! Your Title [Dread Seer] has Evolved!Title Name: Cursed Visionary
Description [Identification Lvl. 9]:
Title’s Bestowed Enhancement:
- Superior Curse Potency: The Cursed Visionary title exponentially increases the effectiveness of emotion-targeting curses, making them nearly impossible to resist.
- Unique Curse Ability: Grants you access to the Blood Oath ability.
[Notification]
Congratulations! You've Acquired a New Ability.Ability Name: Blood Oath
Effect: Allows the user to tie their fate with a target, sharing lifeforce seamlessly between them.
Description [Identification Lvl. 9]:
---
"Yeah...it was so peaceful when I last passed by," I said, smiling at the sight of the notification, erecting a second layer of wall around the horses.
As most of the basilisks came into view, Dungeon Master 07, after briefly glancing at Dungeon Master 09, whom he was holding onto the shoulder of, asked with a calm voice, "So, do you want to deal with this alone? Or do you want this old man to interfere?"