Scorching Ascension - [Progression Litrpg Apocalypse]

Ethan grit his teeth and restlessly tapped his foot as the magic dust swirled and slowly sank into his scaled body while purposefully assigned his points. He might have been able to do this outside, but he didn't want to be interrupted by lizards. The faster he got this done, the better it would be, because soon, it was going to be a mayhem out there, and he won't have time to look into his interface or do much with it.

Still, he didn't have a lot of time, considering the ever-growing franticness of the battle he could hear. The fight was raging behind him. It hadn't even been a minute, but the shouts and orders were getting more desperate. The rings of focused water hitting metal were getting more frequent.

The monitors were showing up faster than he thought they would.

"11 stat points," he said under his breath. With the side quest done, he had gained a new trait selection and plenty of stat points, though he didn't believe he had the time for the prior. For now, he quickly opted for a somewhat even distribution. He went with three points each on Toughness, Spirit, and Might, then gave the remaining two to Mana. The latter was being directly bolstered by [Mana Heart], so it could do with one point less.

Thankfully, point assignment was a much faster process and by the time it was done, his Lesser Arcanum had also finished its upgrade.

Arcanum of the Fire Elemental: Upgrade from tier-2 to tier-3 completed.

Congratulations. Hidden quest: Upgrade an Arcanum to tier-3 completed.

One tier-3 spell token awarded.

A bark of laughter escaped his throat. He just loved how these little rewards kept being sprinkled at him whenever he pushed his abilities forward, and Ethan was about to check if he'd unlocked something new in the upgrade menu, but he quickly aborted when Amelie called his name.

Crap. I'll do that later.

Ethan jumped to his feet, then, jogging toward the exit, he slipped past the Ignisra and a roaring Audrey as she shoved a water monitor back. She glanced sideways at him and made space so he could get past her. Her lips were bloodied, but she still grinned as she took in his appearance. "Have fun out there."

The water monitor she'd been blocking lunged at him, jaw open, and Ethan's clawed hand split the air and embedded itself through the beast's skull with a soft and wet crunch.

You have defeated [Water monitor (I) - Level 36]

Ethan pushed the corpse forward and kicked another as it tried to bring itself over the edge, sending blood and teeth flying. Next, he created a ten-foot long cone of intense heat that sent he lizards hissing away from the fire before he jumped after them, leaving Gerald and the other two to finish off the dying creature he had kicked.

Reptilian eyes tracked him as he fell down through the air, a corona of fire trailing after him as he took in the forming swarm. There were at least twenty, and more kept boiling out of the brush, attracted to their comrade's calls and the sent of blood.

The clearing bordering the walls of the cave was like a kicked anthill, only the ants were cattle-sized monitors with glowing blue scales and painfully pressurized jets of water.

And they're all for me, Ethan thought as he hit the ground with a geyser of soft earth. A first jet of pressurized water came at him, but he only raised an fire-wreathed arm to block it. The water hissed, instantly vaporizing as he looked around, baring his teeth at the hungry lizards. "Hope you're ready, you little shits," he told them, the with a flick of hand, he sent the first fireball at the closest clump of monitors he could see.

The explosion was the most violent he'd seen so far. There was thunder-like crack before a bunch of monitors disappeared under a twenty-feet wide dome of fire and limbs and a breath later, three notifications rang into his mind in quick succession.

Right. Not only is my Spirit stat made it to the twenty-point mark, but everything is being boosted by the horns.

Ethan chuckled and began tearing into the creatures with gusto. That explosion would surely attract every hostile creature that could walk, but he didn't care. His [Mana Heart] made him feel like he could throw fireballs and scorching cones of fire all day and he wouldn't even break a sweat.

He tried to tag as many monitors as he could with the dagger, occasionally stopping to see if anything came off of it and to collect some of the fragments. Ethan alternated between devastating claw swipes and fire, taking in a moment here and there to think of the impact of his spells. He was growing more and more familiar with the strengths and limitations of the [Claws]. It was an amazing spellform that allowed him to tear into his opponents with terrifying might, and it made an amazing use out of his Might and Toughness, the latter of which were further bolstered by the powerful scales covering his body.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Tails hit him harmlessly and bites barely managed to leave marks on the [Reptilian Scales]. The only creatures who could cut through them were the more powerful monitors, and even then, breaking a few of the scales was nowhere enough to destabilize the spellform, allowing him to keep going for a while without needing to recast.

I'm going to afford so many upgrades after this, he thought as he collected some fragments into the Prime Arcanum. Ethan was trying not to kill every monster. He left a few to the others, occasionally glancing back to make sure they weren't being overrun.

"They're holding up well. Good."

Occasionally, when he saw an arrow sticking off the back of one of the monitors, or saw one being knocked away or stabbed or shot, he would quickly put it down if it was within range, guaranteeing some of the levels to the others before he moved on. He didn't mind spoon-feeding them a few kills. After all, the stronger they got, the better equipped they'd be to handle themselves.

We'll need all the strength we can get once this is over.

Still, the water monitors slowly surrounded him, and he let them. When they were close enough, Ethan spread his arms and flared as much as fire as he could, laughing while he turned everything in his immediate vicinity to chars and ash.

***

"What a little monster."

Amanda watched from a good distance away as that corner of the cave lit up once more before it went back to normal. Ethan stood in a smoking, torn crater of charred monitors and glowing rocks after having literally lit up his portion of the cave. For a couple of seconds, it was as if the sun had managed to show its face down here.

Glancing at the tree-line and everything she could see through giant-mushroom caps, she watched the creatures continue to swarm toward him from all over the cave, excited by the magic and the noise. Here and there, she saw lizardlings, watching from a safe distance, slowly sending their scouts to figure out what was happening, while others clashed were forced to clash with the excited water monitors.

This attention might have been catastrophic for most, her included, but in this scenario, Ethan was like some sort of giant crocodile, sitting there with his jaws wide open while his food just strolled down his gullet.

This would further propel him ahead of the pack. If he did not have the highest level already, he was about to get it. Amanda bit her nails and watched as the man burned through the monster and through her plans.

I won't have any leverage if this goes on, she thought, biting at her thumb.

She wanted assets like him in her camp. Not being out there doing god knows what. She didn't like wildcards. She could already picture herself having to work around him once they'll be back in the real world. If the governments were still around, that'd be different. But if they fell apart and if everything started revolving around personal power, then she would always have to plan around him and people like him.

Amanda turned to the right. She couldn't see the rift from here, but she knew there were other people past it. Would she find allies over there?

I won't really be able to get to them. Not with the number of monsters around there.

Amanda tasted blood and forced her hand away from her mouth.

Maybe she needed to change her focus. Instead of focusing on these monsters, maybe she could focus on their environment? It wasn't as if all of them were loners, anyway. If she could gain the trust of their friends and make their life easier, she might get them to fall in.

Amanda wasn't stupid enough to attempt threats and overt pressure. That could easily backfire in this new world. Though she couldn't wait to find out how the other worlds' societies functioned. If she could find that out, she could start prepping and set herself for success. But for now, she was just working blind, which was both frustrating and exciting.

Amanda smiled from her perch. This was so much more fun than dealing with greedy executives and short-sighted shareholders. This was chaos. Waiting to be molded and controlled.

She couldn't wait to see how this all turns out.

Amanda was watching the fireworks, thinking of what was happening in the wider world and was about to get up and leave when her eye caught a movement from below her.

Activating her Prime spellform, her vision sharpened, and she recognized the blue grocery-store jacket and the lurid green magic surrounding the figure. Amanda's mood sobered and, after checking her surroundings once more, she leaned forward.

This is… not good.

This outing had started as a routine check to see if any new groups had shown up, but now that Savannah was entering the picture, she found herself unable to leave. She had to see what happened. She didn't know if it was going to be a friendly meet-up or if something was going to set the poor woman off but whatever happened, she would have to take notes.

She didn't root for them to fight each other, even if that might make her life easier. The poor woman was grieving, and Amanda was many things, but she was not that monstrous.

Activating her camouflage, she began approaching to get a better view, though she kept very clear of the swarm and the roving lizardlings. Whatever happened between Ethan and Savannah might impact the rest of the trial.