Accidental Reaver

A haunting melody played from Halthina's flute, producing a sound barrier covering Kalper's back.

Sooty's attack shattered the barrier, sliced open fur, and tore into flesh. The rushed protective measure helped immensely, stopping the Talon Strike from fracturing Kalper's rib bones. Slicing music notes pressed back the Reaver's companion. She sunk back into another shadow—Kalper's retaliation fruitless. He summoned the dancing green light around him, hopping around to avoid another avian ambush.

A fatal mistake.

Unveiling his full speed, powered by multiple mobility boosts, Luke appeared behind Kalper. The Monk noticed but lacked the reflexes to dodge in time.

"You should've surrendered immediately." Luke carved Xera through the wound Sooty created, snaking up to Kalper's heart and shredding it apart at Luke's command. Frosted blood choked up Kalpher's throat.

Many of the tora were a warrior race. Normal hunters stopped moving when their heart got obliterated. Kalpher was not normal. A green vortex inlaid on the Monk's chest, forcing his chest to pulse. A lion's roar ripped through his vocal cords, frosted blood coming along for the ride. He turned, grasping Luke with a death's grip, biting onto the Reaver's neck.

An iced layer shattered sharpened beast teeth. What enamel remained scraped against Luke's skin but couldn't puncture. Kalpher did a one inch punch with his left fist. The energy traveled past Luke's usual ice and regular armor, hitting a lung. Kalpher tried to gauge his enemy's reaction. Upon witnessing the Reaver's impassive, iced-covered eyes competing with an excited smile, Kalpher shook violently.

Raging hellfire threatened to devour both Luke and Kalpher. A determination settled upon the Monk, and a green aura wrapped the Monk against the Reaver like a sewing thread. Luke would break it apart in a second, and as he set about doing so, a woman's devilish scream hit upon the Reaver's soul.

[Halthina's death wail strikes your soul, quaking it. Due to it being a sacrificial attack, it is unable to be resisted. Your body and mind lose function for three seconds, a prisoner within the soul]

Apocalyptic heat coming from behind, a Monk set on death in front, and a soul-based attack from afar. Luke saw Halthina, the Sonic Bard's summon, dissipate into black motes. The monic fell to a knee, black blood coming from his throat and ears. All the musical notes around him slowly erased themselves. Garic's wound already healed enough to function, a health potion on the gemmed ground, bandages hastily over the giant gaping chest wound, and the soothing sound waves from the Sonic Bard reversed much of Luke's handiwork.

Elemental damage could persist since frost still clung inside Garic. The Reaver must've caused some. Luke tried to implode the remnant frost, earning a head-pounding headache instead. Garic hefted his halberd. He drank an elixir, and a white aura poured from every inch of his fur. The tora grimly observed the sky behind Luke—three hellish meteors, covered in lava, trajectory posed to smash into Luke and Kalpher within a second.

"You earned an honorable death, Kalpher. Be with the great hunters of our people in the final grounds. May Zanary be on the other side to see you off."

The shrouding mists around Luke evaporated, cutting off that sensory channel. While unable to see behind him, Luke knew the Elementalist on the other side must've created the coming fiery death at great cost, its quality multiple levels higher than the attacks he balanced earlier with elemental frost, nonsensically more than he anticipated.

Realizing multiple hunters worked together in a synergistic tandem to temporarily checkmate him, Luke mentally prepared.

Well, fuck. This is going to hurt.

Frost sloughed off the Reaver. Layered ice split apart. He actually sweated from heat for once. Then, his skin began to scorch. A defiant caw rang out from a nearby shadow, and Sooty's Iron Feather rotated around the Reaver. Shadow Wing appeared, trying to protect Luke's vitals—a great help. Kalpher, the Monk plastered against him, had his fur set ablaze already, and that fire spread onto Luke.

Sooty appeared, enraged. She Essence Screeched behind Garic, disorienting the tora while it traveled into the Sonic Bard's eardrums. The bird used her Reaver Beak ability to tear into the monic's head. When he still breathed, Sooty tore out his neck with Talon Strike. Garic swung his halberd, almost blindingly fast, echelons above the usual tier 1 hunter reflex. Vorpal Touch wormed into Tisandris, rotting him from within. Sooty clicked her beak, blinking away into the void. Her target lived but wouldn't for much longer.

Three lava meteors connected with the Reaver, Shadow Wing kept them back from crushing him instantly. Some of Luke's bones fractured, while most others broke, skin peeled like an onion, and blood burst out every inch of him. Lava licked his insides; excruciating pain stilled his mind. Vampiric Regeneration and Blood Haze furiously worked to reverse death-inducing burns. Before he lost his senses, Luke overheard Xera sobbing and Wayfinder yelling.

"LAD! BY ME NEEDLE AND CLASP, PULL THROUGH."

The Spectral Heart pumped so hard that Luke's body vibrated. Or perhaps it came from the lava trying to scorch him to death, the Reaver no longer knew. The threads tying his soul came undone, and he activated Patch Work Ring, the item working to preserve his vital organs.

For a hopeful moment, the world witnessed sin's eyes close—a progenitor observed with interest. A world spirit despaired in a faraway corner. A gallant elf raged with her waters, a monic Archer and Astralist battling alongside her. A companion flew into a hysteric frenzy.

Most of all, Luke Wallace refused to die. Like a certain red haired archer once said before—he wasn't allowed to yet.

Not until the Reaver found him. When greed opened its eyes once more, the world would discover its vessel changed. Some would celebrate.

But most would despair.

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Vathen's confident smile froze once a critical announcement rang across the Interface.

[A nascent Ice Soul fused with its host to preserve itself against a natural enemy—hellfire. A true Elemental is born due to one of the possible hidden conditions being met. The ether welcomes a higher life form]

"A novice Defier developed an Elemental Soul? Already? Over half of them still don't have one, and he does? Impossible," Vathen clutched at his head, "Impossible…"

The Soulus regretted his actions earlier. He ordered Iralyn, his Elementalist that specialized in flame, to consume a temporary flame talent boost elixir and another blood flame talent elixir to overwhelm the foolish resistance, than to create the current situation—things were spiraling fast, with the Defier's interference and he made the executive decision to cut off any hope for Halen. About to overwhelm the Water Mage, the Elementalist saw an opening and took it, overdrawing on herself. She sent hellfire down on the real threat—the Defier. Elyssra tried to mend Iralyn's mind to no avail. The dual consumption and Adept-level Overspell technique came at a steep price for power tiers above her norm. Vathen knew Iralyn would slip into a coma any second now—with a slim chance of her ever coming out of it for months at the minimum.

She did her job perfectly. The Defier defeated, Halen subdued, the Astralist cursed into barely breathing, and to top it off, their Guardian had been out of the fight since before it began. Only Ludris—the wind using Archer monic rat—survived up until now, pinning him away from helping Garic with the Ninth. That should've been the end of it, this glorious sight, the capstone to completing the mission. Infernal hell bubbled around a newly created crater, massive portions of the central lake evaporated, and the whirlpool hogged the surviving water.

Embers and ash rained down upon the zone. Black smoke buffeted up from weak flames and lava pools. A thick, heated mist covered over the entire Shimmering Expanse. Vathen wouldn't be surprised if the strike killed Garic as well. His Monk team member was dead, without a doubt.

And so should the thing staring back at him through the thickening grey mists, blue eyes emanating glacial power—pupils missing. Ludris fired an arrow at Vathen. He deflected it with a glave, jumping back toward the Bloodmancer healer, Elyssra. Vathen's heart tightened when the creature started to rip itself out of the piled-on gemstone dirt.

White aura blasted apart the crater's edge, and a black furred tora beat on his chest with a different halberd. Garic growled as the visible power swirled around him, "Ninth, for the murder of all my closest pack mates, I'll feast upon your flesh if it's the last thing I do."

The walking mix of muscle and ice turned its attention from Vathen to Garic, confusion evident in its movements. Flesh wriggled around the living ice, showing signs of healing. Vathen couldn't help but wonder how its limbs worked, ice replacing critical bone points. By all means, it shouldn't be able to move at all. Lava stains around it extinguished, frosted over, and then slid off like shed skin. Glacial winter formed a dense sphere around it, hypothermia-inducing temperatures blasting all the way up to where Vathen stood. The mists coming from it ate up the Shimmering Expanse, blanketing the entire zone.

Shivering, Vathen realized all of the Shimmering Expanse became that walking ice being's territory. Finally, the Elemental took a tentative step toward Garic.

"Yes, Ninth, the Ichor will bring you to death with me." He gestured with a hand, "Come." Garic began to twist his halberd around his body in a skillful display, holy aura flowing around it like gel. A small amount of the ice and frost around the black furred tora cleansed away, creating a tiny safe territory.

Sucking in air, Vathen couldn't believe his luck. He internally celebrated, That beast-brained idiot. I need to take this chance. Vathen pinpointed Ludris' position, boldly defending his defeated party, shimmering wind around each fired arrow. Halen weakly struggled on the ground next to him, water forming then sinking back into the frosty rocky ground. The element continued to spread, crackling along, smothering over the smoking lava and burning embers.

The previously suffocating smoke and burning stench quickly became overwhelmed by the walking winter, thankfully going toward Garic instead of Vathen. The Soulus continued to deflect Ludris' arrows—the Archer too fatigued to reveal any true strength. Vathen regrouped with the Bloodmancer, Elyssra. Her blood barriers repelled Ludris' attacks. Behind a modicum of safety, Vathen spoke to Teryndor, who still flung black miasma at Kelly and now Ludris, "We're leaving, Teryndor, Elyssra. Use a Return Scroll." After a moment's hesitation, Teryndor used a Return Scroll, a purple portal softly hummed. Picking up Iralyn to leave, Vathen felt pure fury lock onto him.

A black bird appeared underneath his shadow, a blue glow mixed with wisping shadows covering the avian. Its beak aimed to impale Iralyn, Vathen blocked the attempt with a glaive. Soul flames came into contact with elemental shadows, struggling against one another. Increasing three times in size, the beast snaked out a talon, about to reach Iralyn's throat.

Vathen formed a soul barrier around himself and therefore Iralyn, consuming part of his soul pool. The bird's displayed power jumped from the first attack. It pierced the barrier— momentum halved. Vathen veered back, trying to save Iralyn. The strike cut her neck, causing crimson liquid to flow and brown rot to appear. Vathen's quick thinking prevented the worst. He flung Iralyn in an arc to Elyssra, who caught her. The bird returned to its standard size.

Purple flame warded away blistering cold. Vathen fought against the strange bird, recognizing it as the Defier's companion. The beast moved quickly, and its spells were far stronger than he anticipated. Brands blazed upon his skin; he summoned sigils to chain the creature, failing when it returned to the shadows. Vathen forced the bird out of hiding by Conjuring a bright, shining purple flame. It soared for Irayln once more; a blood shield stopped it, and Vathen swung down his glaive, managing to cut into a wing.

The bird screeched in pain, and with power, a spell of some sort, its sound waves slammed into Vathen's team. He noticed himself grow a modicum weaker. Brushing it off as his mind playing tricks on him, the Soulus buffeted purple flame at it. Soaring away, the bird observed overhead. Vathen backed away into the now complete return portal. He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the spatial power begin to whisk him away to safety.

Pure ice—grey runes upon its surface—pierced into the portal and fragmented it into large frosty shards. The promise of safety revoked, blood barrier frozen into stagnation, and the curses flowing from Teryndor's hands petrified. The faint warmth provided by Vathen's purple flames turned cold. Whipping his head around, Vathen searched for answers. The bird from before flapped beside Ludris, and the Defier battled Garic.

A disembodied voice reached Vathen's ears as ice cracked over the Defier's mouth, creating a freezing maw, "Stay."

[The Shimmering Expanse has undergone an Elemental Lock. Spatial spells are now incredibly unstable. Must remove the source to use spatial based spells or scrolls again]

Cursing his luck, Vathen looked to the whirlpool—hoping to escape to the next dungeon floor.

That hope quickly became crushed, courtesy of the frozen whirlpool. Its formation revealed the previously rushing water encased in glacial white ice. The entire lake resembled a frosted graveyard. Interrupting him, a cyclonic arrow ripped through Elyssra's blood barrier, plunging deeply into Teryndor's chest. The black bird renewed its assault upon Iralyn. To live, the ninth Defier must die. Gritting his teeth, Vathen made a decision.

He prayed to the World Spirit for the last time that he wouldn't regret this one too.

Appearing from the air, a clear vial lay in his left palm, a single drop of holy Ichor resting inside.

[Succoria's Diluted Ichor]

Quality: Divine

Effect: Temporarily raises one's abilities by multiple qualities, more effective at lower tiers. Constantly heals you, nullifies other's will, regenerates all but the heart and head, boosts resistances, and permanently elevates your combat talent. Gifts bodily resilience comparable to a lower Envoy. When the effect ends, your body will lose all power for seven days—Succoria's mark will appear on your tongue afterward.

Requirements: Tier 1 or Higher.

A product produced by the Sacrament's captive alchemists, those who consume it will never escape Succoria's influence for as long as they live.

Seeing Teryndor's being ripped apart, trying to protect Iralyn, and Elyssra's struggle to reverse the damage caused by the Defier's companion, Vathen sealed his fate. Opening the vial, Vathen drank the Ichor. His insides felt like they steamed, and a white holy aura arose from within. The sanctimonious power reversed the frost nearby, battered back the black feathered terror, and drew him to the Elemental.

When the Ichor within him stirred, instead of fear, Vathen experienced outrage, like whatever the Defier was, affronted the Ichor. A single desire dominated his mind.

Crush those who defy his new god.

His will no longer entirely his own, the Soulus dashed to the crater, aiming to join Garic, sensing a new connection to the tora. He, too, consumed Ichor. Together, they'd survive and crush all who defied the Throned Blood God.