Chapter 14: Battles End
POV Blaze
Location: Marcoon city, Dark-Shaded forest Hunting Grounds
As we both attacked Eric relentlessly, he was easily matching our pace of attack with ease. Each attack, every strike, was being countered, but he was slowing down, as even if he had a stamina ability like me, this would be way too much to handle, with no room to breathe.
I was spinning around him, slicing at what I could hit with my sword, as it's seen better days after the previous fight, as I made a somewhat solid 10-inch butterfly aura knife in hand as I kept fixing it every time I'd break against his weapon, throwing out multiple aura knives from the one I made in my left hand. [Aura chains] hit his chest plate and body; he was not going to be held down, at one point breaking out of the chains as soon as they wrapped around him. This was truly a troubling fight, even with Icy, as he was more than 10 levels higher than me and still stronger than Icy. He was struggling not to kill her but me, if not trying to subdue her in the fight.
We started to get the upper hand fast, but he was used to Icy's tactics: blocking or dodging arrows as he'd tank hits from me using his better armor to just eat the blow before counterattacking, my spells being blown away by some fire skill he added, or maybe it was a flame artifact? It was hard to tell.
He had a deadly combo of an axe and a halberd, having both range and close combat coverage as I dodged and weaved what I could, but I was taking major hits from him just trying to guard. Even with Icy pelting him with bolts from afar, he was keeping the pace of this fight as he launched me back into a tree. Faking out Icy, thinking he was going for me, sending a silent command to stop him as he waited till she dove in, only to render her useless, headbutting her roughly, knocking her out as her head was left bleeding.
I myself was losing steam keeping him pressed, coughing up blood; my cold iron armor was basically scraps of metal on my body. My exposed chest and upper body were bloody and had bits of my purple undershirt sticking to my skin. I looked to Icy to see she was pinned to a tree, her hands pierced with a knife keeping her there, blood dripping from her head, unconscious. Getting up was a struggle as I was low on health and mana. I needed to provoke him, get him to slip up, to either get time to get a deadly blow on him or heal with a potion.
HP:500/2200
MP:20/180
"I'm surprised ya left her alive, heh. I thought you hated werewolves, but look at you now... You don't even have it in you to kill your lover, outta pity... haha, killing me won't change her back; she'll still try to kill you for killing her master!~" I said with glee. Wanting him to give in to his rage. Clearly, he was not mindlessly trying to kill me; no, he was still calm and focused on what was giving him the edge to stay on top in this fight, even with the title. My wounds aren't healing all too fast, and with icy outta the fight, the speed boost wasn't all too helpful for attacking. Without her up and about, I lost the benefits just as soon as I had them.
I was forced to defend and get in any hits I could; my mana was basically gone, and my health was low as hell. The more aura I used, the more sluggish I felt, but it was the only thing I could do.
It looked like my words were getting to him as his body and ax erupted in those dark red flames, but honestly, this could have also been my own end; he was seething like a mad beast. Looks like this battle was taking a toll on his mental state every time the flames would come out... maybe just maybe I could win this if I got him to use them more?
I just barely blocked a powerful flaming charge with my sword; it shattered upon impact, hot flames burning my flesh constantly as he brought his ax down at my head. I used what was left of my handle and sword guard to keep the blade away as he was madly biting at my face like the so-called animals he hated, just barely missing. The flames were burning at my flesh.
-50 HP
-50 HP
-50 HP
-50 HP
Fuck! I needed to do something, or I'd die here! I struggled as it seemed useless; I did only what I could think of with my hands being pinned and burning. Despite the flames, I bit into his neck hard, ripping what flesh I could away, eating as a last-ditch effort. I mean, what else would you do in this situation if a neck was this close? He rolled off me in pain as he held his neck, regaining his sanity. Screaming, his blood was spurting from his neck.
~~User has eaten a strong flame as well as meat from a powerful opponent. The flame is suitable to the user's aura flame, and thus the [Devour] skill has unlocked the ability to eat powerful flames to increase the power of the user's flame aura and skills~~
~~Fire affinity has grown~~
~~Fire affinity has grown~~
~~Fire affinity has grown~~
~~dormant Fire affinity has been unlocked~~
~~200 HP had been recovered ~~
"You damned mutt...you tried turning me as well, didn't you?! But it won't work; I'm too strong, and my flames clearly hurt you a lot, haha, now die!" Eric screamed out; the wound on his neck, shallow enough not to bleed out, was burned closed by his crimson flames. Swinging around his ax, a powerful inferno shot at me, engulfing my being.
Unknown to him, I was completely fine. It seemed that this was what my aura was missing: a strong element to help push its growth. The flames were being eaten away by my gray and white flames; they now had red slivers dancing in them that were growing larger in a beautiful tri-colored flame, my body slowly gaining a resistance to flames, period.
I smiled in the flames, ready to end this finally, with all this new power I had. As I had a few more notifications as well I ignored for now.
I felt invigorated, all the sluggishness gone from this new source of energy; the flames blew off my injured body, and I could be seen with a large grin as Eric looked at me in utter terror, holding his singed neck as flames licked from my mouth, licking my lips. Fire had such a sweet, spicy taste, so addictive.
"Thanks for the snack; let me give you some back!~" Multiple tri-colored flaming aura knives flew at him as he desperately tried to swat them away, only to feel strong, solid clashes on his ax; many pierced through his arms and legs with little resistance. They were far less flimsy than my original Aura constructs, more refined, holding the fire's intent, my intent more.
"G-GET AWAY, STOP IT, YOU MONSTER AHH!!!" Eric screamed in terror, falling to the ground, trying to crawl away and sending more flames at me. The aura knives were still in his body, burning at him. I walked through it all as it was quickly eaten by me and my flames, walking him down. It was almost cathartic seeing someone so strong now left broken, fearing for his life.
Sending a flaming knife into his left shoulder blade made him let go of his prized axe; his only lifeline, as the arm was soon engulfed in my flames as I kicked him onto his back, as we were both under the tree, icy hung as she looked at him with pity and sadness. He summoned his halberd, thrusting it at me as I sidestepped it, grabbing it free and pulling it from his hand.
"Master, please! I beg you, turn him as you did me; don't kill him! ...please! Please..." Icy begged and pleaded to me, her cheeks stained with blood and tears. I was actually taken back by all this, grabbing his neck, it was very clear I won this fight, he glared at me fear replaced with hate spitting his blood in my face. Stopping the flames on his now useless arm, I looked at them both, only uttering one word.
"No"
Using the skill I got from the hobgoblin on my right hand, [physical reinforcement], which uses the mana in my body to strengthen only one part of my body basically a more strength-focused version of my [Mana strengthening], which was more well-rounded but to a smaller boost, a dark gray coating going over my right hand plunged into his chest, I pulled out his beating heart, plunging my teeth into it as I looked at him with a face of no remorse and bliss as the last thing on his face was terror etched deep into his dying eyes before I dropped the body to the floor.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Icy wailed, I pulling her off the tree and she scrambling to his body, crying her heart out.
~~killed an lv 25 human gained 2,500 x 2 =5,000Exp~~
~~ Gained 35,000 gold~~
~ Gained [-Starlight Halberd (Rare grade) +15 Str, +8 Agi, Int+ 20 -9,500/10,000-],
~~level up~~
~~EXP:3000/5000~~
~~Devoured an lv 25 heart, used Digestion. +7 Str, 7 Int, 4 Agi, 7 Con~~~
~~Devour has lv up to lv 3~~
~~Digestion has lv up to lv 3~~
~~Devour skill now has affinity eater ability; as this was the first element user ate, he is able to eat other flames and other elements the user has affinities to. Flames with different properties can be eaten to increase the user's flame abilities, aura, and skill-related abilities of any kind.~~
_Status_
Blaze Nights
Lv:6
Race: Hardened Werewolf
Bloodline:-----
Exp:500/5,000
Gold:36,950
_Stats_
HP:2200/2200
MP:180/180
Str:43|Int:31
Agi:39|Con:29
Def:7|Luck:9
Stat points:9
Skill points:8
~~User has selected the unique skill [Flames of Hatred lv:1 (D-)]~~
~~[Flames of Hatred] is a unique flame manipulation ability that works like most flames; however, the only limitation is one's mind, as well as the flames' concentration. Flames grow stronger with anger, hateness, or madness; unless one has great control of emotions or a great mental state the flames can cause the user to go mad and can lose rationality.~~
3 hours later, I looted the corpses and healed up. Of the two bodies, sadly, the lv 13 human was eaten to the bone by crows and other beasts that came. By the time I made it back, all that was of use was his gear, as his gold was already mine from killing him due to my system.
Next, I had Icy lead me to their stash as well as the caged slaves they had managed to get, as it was well over a dozen or two, all low levels, races from humans, werewolves, some vampires, and even an elite goblin or three. A few levels, rounding up to some being lv 15; many had their minds broken or were crippled, seeing that there was no hope for them, and I was by no means a superhero, set them all ablaze in the hottest flames I could make; they died as quickly and painlessly as their bodies were quickly burned to ashes by my flames that grew not just from my hate or rage, but even theirs.
"Y-you are just a heartless monster...." Icy said, watching them burn away, as, honestly, she had no place to say anything. Being one of the ones who caused their pain just because someone would pay top dollar for them. There were many reasons slavory was still a thing; people were a resource in many ways: labor, forced protection for the rich or strong, sex slaves, used in experimentation and rituals, even for breeding and livestock purposes.
"No, my lovely wolf, we are all monsters wanting to be on top. You took slaves with glee, and I kill with glee, but I saved them from a hell worse than death, and maybe they will live better lives next time if they get to reincarnate. They won't be the prey of slavers, but they will be my strength." I turned to her, smiling, tears running down my cheeks as I hated this, but this was sadly just a stepping stone to show I must do....I will do anything to be strong, to protect what is mine. And now I must be strong for my new pack.
~~..... calculating.... multiple amounts of Exp are being calculated and doubled.....User has leveled up 4 times~~
~~User is now level 10~~
~~+16 skill points~~
~~+8 skill points~~
~~User has completed the quest~~