Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

Once he was out of the tunnel, Ethan quickly had eyes on his first target.

He was still reviewing the encounter with Amanda in the back his mind as he stalked around the level 37 water monitor. He was going to have to watch his back—just in case Amanda had any ideas—but her words still reminded him of the outside world and what was to come after this tutorial was done. There were going to be a lot of questions and issues to figure out, but now was not the time for such.

Now was the time to finish activating the Prime Arcanum and unlock whatever Ember had alluded to.

Ethan eyed the level and summoned his horns before he looked down at his claws. He hadn't ignited them yet, but they did feel thicker. Tougher. There was a thrum running through them, and even though they were mostly unchanged, Ethan still felt that they seemed a bit more… dangerous.

The horns might not affect the spellform that much, but he believed they still had an influence.

He turned his attention to the monitor as it tore through a lizardling's corpse, and wondered if the horns could also affect the lance's explosion.

Ethan exhaled and focused back on his current hunt.

No fireballs unless I want everything in the area to hear us.

That left the lance, close-range flames, and the claws as his main weapons. And he wanted to test the latter two, right now. So he'd have to get close.

With that settled, Ethan surged from cover and rushed the large reptile. He was halfway to his prey when the large yellow eye turned to him just as he ignited his arms, but while Ethan expected it to shoot him with water, it raised its head, opened its jaw, and let out a loud, ululating hiss.

As he ate through the distance separating them, Ethan had a worrying thought. He didn't remember them calling for reinforcement at the first sign of trouble.

What changed?

Boots skidding, he drove his claws at the monster's throat. The talons met the tough, thick blue scales and tore through them like a hot poker through wax. Blood sprayed as the lizard's call was cut off, but it had managed to whip its neck away in a haphazard dodge, rearing back on its hind legs before it bit down, jaw snapping on empty air.

Ethan landed a couple of feet back and looked down at his claws. His assumption about the horns' effect on the other might be wrong. The monitors' scales had never felt so flimsy. Looking back at the monitor, he considered dismissing the horns to test, but the damn lizard had called for reinforcement and even more, deep-blue scales had shimmered into existence, temporarily closing the wound and empowering the creature's defenses further, so unless he wanted this battle to turn into a slog, he needed to finish quickly.

Wait, I can just break the summoned scales and test it then.

Without wasting any more time, Ethan pumping his legs, closing the distance between him and the hissing monitor, and when he saw the tell-tale blue glow coming out of the creature's mouth, he lunged to the side. Water flew past him as he rolled and got to his knees before he pointed a hand out and shot his own elemental attack.

Red and yellow flames billowed out in a mighty gout of fire that instantly made the surrounding vegetation wilt, bathing the clearing in an ominous orange glow, and within a couple of seconds, Ethan cut it off before started a forest fire.

Then he took in the monitor's state.

The summoned scales were gone. The natural scales were discolored, burnt and still smoking as the creature rolled on the ground in pain. Ethan pulled the dagger and sprinted forward as more calls began resounding all around him and jumped on the creature's back, stabbing before he rolled away. The monitor twisted to bite him, his fist met the lunging maw, delivering a burst of intense fire that made the creature shriek right before he dismissed the horns and ran his talons into its throat again, and as he felt the increased resistance against his sharp claws, he nodded to himself, a grin on his lips.

There was just nothing as satisfying as getting clear answers.

He still cut through them. The penetrative power of the talons was a bit weaker without the horns, but the increased Might and Spirit seemed to have empowered him a bit more since the last encounter with the reptiles.

***

Perched on the lip of a nearby tunnel, Amanda watched the young man exit his tunnel and climb down the soft cliff before he started creeping forward into the blue-lit brushes.

Any other time, tracking the small figure would have been difficult, but her new eyes made it trivial. She could see him clearly. See the mana rushing into his hands. See the haze of power around his horns.

It was definitely a striking manifestation for a spellform, and she knew it was a Prime one. The rippling magic around them matched every other Prime spellform she'd seen. Not the color, of course. No, the colors and look seemed to match the theme of the Prime Arcanum, and so they varied. But what they all had in common was a certain ripple in the air about them. She couldn't tell exactly what it was or why, as she was still new to this ability and she was still learning how to interpret the flood of visual cues these new eyes provided, but she could recognize the pattern. She'd seen it in the summoned scales of water monitors. In the throats of mystic toads. In Ethan's horns. And even in her own eyes, though that was harder to catch.

Amanda wondered what her new eyes looked like as she tracked Ethan's movement, hidden behind her camouflaging wings. She'd give anything for a mirror. She'd tried seeing her reflection in her dagger, but it was too foggy and wavy to see much aside from the purple.

Leaning forward, she watched the quick fight and within the minute, the creature lay dead. From what she could see, Ethan's Harvester's dagger gave him nothing for the encounter.

What a ripoff.

She'd yet to get anything out of hers. Well, there was one primagem, she'd gotten. But what the hell was she supposed to do with a primagem of water? What were primagem even used for?

Amanda sighed and focused back on the scene below her. The first handful or monitors had already arrived, teeth bared as they crawled out of the brush, and it seemed Ethan intended on facing them. For now.

"He can't see the others," she mumbled. "There's way more than those three, buddy."

That was the only explanation that made sense to her. He couldn't see the swarm approaching. Otherwise she'd bet he'd be running by now.

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Amanda refrained from biting her nail as she watched and considered her options. He was now fighting the newcomers, but he clearly underestimated the reptiles' numbers. From her discussion with him as well as from observations, it didn't seem like he was aware of the portal that kept spawning the damn things.

Should she give a hand? Go warn him?

Amanda would rather he stayed alive. Sure, he rejected her offer, but sooner or later he'd see the value in what she was creating. If this tutorial was preparing them for the world outside, then they would need people like him. Warriors to point at a warrior-requiring problems and have them deal with them.

He might become a pain in my ass, though, she thought. And well, she was the one who'd proposed they stay out of each other's way. She would come off as soft if she helped him now. Which would give him the upper hand in any negotiation they might have.

"Well, if he dies, then he wasn't that promising. And if he lives, I'll figure out a way to convince him."

There was a flare of dust and fire. Chunks of monitor lizard went flying, and she paused. What if she couldn't convince him? What if their relationship grew more… turbulent?

Amanda grimaced. It shouldn't get to that point. As long as she steered clear of him and his people, they should be able to coexist. He didn't seem the sort that'd be interested in leading or in politics, and she'd rather not have him gunning for her. Though if things went sideways, she had a couple of half-baked ideas for suitable responses that didn't require her fighting.

Because she was very much aware she couldn't fight someone like him directly and going after his people, even if they were weaker, would see her head end on pike.

"Plus, they have that damn cat. How is there a level 50 monster watching over them?"

Amanda was pretty sure that thing had noticed her, which is why she'd made herself scarce and resolved to stay away from them.

She watched the battle, going over possible future scenarios as she re-tied her hair. She needed contingencies for people like him. She needed a loyal team that could face people like him. Intelligent people. Not like the absolute numb-skulls that took over the camp she established.

"Fucking morons," she cursed under her breath.

She hadn't known of the little racket the security guard had been running. She'd been too busy scouting and leveling. Planning ahead and trying to find worthwhile allies. If she'd known she'd left morons who'd jeopardize everything for such short-sighted goals, she would have killed them herself.

Amanda continued watching the fight as it slowly turning into a running battle, with Ethan slowly being swarmed as he ran toward one of the exits. Glancing back at her new spellform, she flapped the wings and looked longingly at them while the fight raged ahead.

Maybe at tier-3 I'll be able to more than just glide with them? It would make so many things easier if I could just fly past the swarm and past the portal. The exit might be past it. Unless that's the exit?

No that didn't sound right. Especially considering the monitors that kept coming out of it. It was leading somewhere else, and unless Earth's already overrun with monster, it must be some other place.

Amanda watched Ethan being slowly pushed deeper and deeper into the cave. Slowly approaching Diego's hunting grounds.

Another problematic variable that just kept leveling…

As Ethan filled the space around him with bright fire, Amanda's eyes widened. Not because of the bright flames, but because of a potential solution to some of her problems.

Yeah… That could work. They could maybe keep each other busy. Focus on their own rivalries while I start the rebuilding efforts.

Still, counting and planning with outside variable could only get her so far. She had to get powerful herself. But after a short break. She was suffering from mana-exhaustion and needed the rest, so she might as well watch one of the strongest individuals of this group and learn what she could about him.

At least he's a loner. He might get along with Diego. But definitely not Savannah.

Amanda felt a twinge at the woman's memory, but she didn't let it distract her. She had to focus on herself. She couldn't let them get too far ahead, and she needed allies.

She had to prepare the field. Create her own opportunities and not just wait for luck and windfalls.

Amanda glanced toward the deepest part of the cave. She couldn't see the jagged tear in reality from up here. It was much deeper in the cave. Past the corner. But the sheer amount of monsters it was releasing…

If those portals are common in the new world, then they are a resource that will be fought over. Finding and controlling them will be key, she thought as she continued watching the young man run.

***

Ethan pumped his arm and ran as the wall of hissing reptiles chased after him.

Fuck fuck fuck. Where do they keep coming from?!

He was all for rushing into the fray and living up to his Arcanum's theme, but there were way too many water monitors for that. He'd be ripped to shreds in no time if this kept on.

Ethan extended an arm back and shot a fireball without looking. He heard the crack of the explosion, quickly followed by the angry hissing as he jumped over a wood log and ignored the ache from all the fragments he was missing out on. Above him, water-jets of pressurized water flew past, adding to the humidity of the space and bathing his surroundings in the bright blue lights of the mushroom trees.

The problem was, he was cut off from his exit. He either had to find another way up, or he was going to be forced deeper into the cave.

Where the hell are the exits?

Ethan scanned the walls, but he couldn't see any. If he could just find one, he could lure the dumb lizards within and roast them. He continued running, zig-zagging between the giant fungi as his eyes scanned the cliff side, until he found what he was looking for.

There!

Ethan finally saw one of familiarly carved tunnel and swerved toward it. He was out of breath, but a wide grin stretched across his lips that quickly turned to pain as a jet of water hit him in the back of the shoulder and forced him down. Ethan rolled and jumped back to his feet, surging toward the tunnel while the cacophony of broken trees, hisses, and missed water-jets filled the air.

Tearing his way up the stones and after taking two more water jets to the back, he clambered into the tunnel and laid there, panting for a second before he dragged himself up to his feet. It wasn't over. Standing at the entrance of the tunnel, he looked back and cursed under his breath. Dozens of reptiles gnashed their teeth and chased. Shooting water at him while the first of them began climbing.

Ethan raised a brow at that, then looked around him.

"Huh. I could work with this."

The first monitor's head peeked through the entrance, and Ethan shoved the dagger into its eye, and felt it crack through the bones as the monitor hissed in pain.

Ethan stepped back, a crazed look in his eyes as he bared his teeth at the monsters. This was the perfect spot to fill his pockets some more.

"Come on in, then, you bastards. Let's continue," he taunted, then lunged forward to stab another intruding monitor.