NOVEL NEXT 1.47: Why
Ethan's scaly feet crunched on the charred flesh as he stepped out of one of the many craters dug up by his fireballs.
The terrain was becoming too uneven to fight comfortably, but that was alright. The water monitors were finally slowing down, though that didn't mean his work here was done. Not even close.
There was less of them coming out, but they were still coming.
Ethan raised the little bead he'd gone down in the crater to collect and examined it. The interface told him it was a tier-1 [Scales] spell, which he didn't need. In fact. It was the second [Scales] spell he'd gotten. The third was another [Breath Gland], and one water primagem, which he already assimilated.
A level 42 water monitor noticed him and hissed. A blue glow collected in the back of its throat, but Ethan just lobbed a fireball in its face while he made his way to the little spot right under the tunnel.
The creature was thrown away, having summoned its scales in time, but it was disoriented and shaken enough for his teammates to finish it up.
Ethan eyed them for a moment as he walked. Only Audrey hasn't hit thirty yet. But she's almost there, he thought to himself. Once she'd get to level thirty, they'd retreat in the tunnel for a bit. Enough to rest up and to get through the leveling process. Hopefully the path stuff won't take them too long.
Ethan stood over a tiny little groove in the wall, behind a boulder, where he hid the spellcores. He couldn't hold them in his hands. Not while he had the dagger in his hands.
"Hopefully I can trade these eventually."
He put down the new one next to the other two, then covered the little hole up with loose soil before he made his way back closer to the tree-line and waited for newcomers, and thankfully, he didn't have to wait for long.
Ethan grinned and tightened his grip on the dagger as two fire drakes ambled out of the clearing. Two high-level lizardlings rode on them, each above level 35, and their slitted eyes took in the ruined space before they found Ethan.
He was pretty sure one of them gulped. At least he'd like to imagine they did. After all, he'd just hit level 44.
Four levels for a swarm of water monitor might not seem like a lot, but he'd been at this for the last hour or so and if it hadn't been for [Mana Heart], he'd already be needing to rest from all the mana he'd burned through.
Suffice it to say, it was an hour well spent and as he eyed the newcomers, Ethan felt ready. He could still go. But a little break after dealing with the lizardlings would be very welcome and most importantly, it would allow him to really sit down and look through his loot. Be that tokens or upgrades.
The drakes rumbled as they were directed toward him, and more lizardlings on foot began spreading, trying to surround him while a couple eyed his teammates.
Ethan eyed the monsters arrayed ahead of him, then down at the dagger in his hand. It was going to be tough to tag them all before he had to seriously defend himself.
Would be cool if I could get an invisibility thingy to sneak up on them and stab them before they could react. Something like Amanda had used to sneak up on him. Unless…
Ethan looked down at the scales covering him. His whole body was covered. Even his face.
This won't work, right?
Ethan stepped toward the war party and saw a few of them shuffle uncomfortably, eyes narrowed. "Brothers!" he called out, arms raised. But he didn't get further. The highest level lizardling, a level 41 warrior, spurred his mount, and the drake roared and spat a ball of swirling flames at him in response.
Well. He had tried. It was an awful attempt, but it was worth the shot.
Seeing the orb flying at him, Ethan moved as he sent his own fireball at the clumped up lizardlings and began to circle to the left. That area was mostly even, which would allow him to run in a somewhat straight line.
The horns' special ability didn't work well if he needed to dodge craters and make detours.
A thick panel of blue light materialized in the fireball's trajectory, and the impact sent spider-webs crawling all through the barrier for an instant before it was vaporized as the spell detonated.
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Ethan began picking up speed, ignoring a couple of death notifications as he focused on the drake. He needed to down one of those creatures fast. Two were too much, especially when combined with their riders and the remaining war party.
The warrior hopped off its mount, but the other just pointed a bone-wand at Ethan and shot him with its own fireball. The small ball of concentrated fire zipped at him, and Ethan grit his teeth and raised his arms defensively as his momentum picked up.
He could probably take it. But the explosion will definitely be uncomfortable.
The spell impacted against his fire-covered forearms and detonated. A blazing wave of heat seared his scales as the impact rocked everything under them. It was painful. It felt like a sledgehammer had been slammed against his scaled forearms, but even if his arms were as durable as steel, it still sent a pulse of pain and shudder through his entire body and as for the fire, they weren't his own so they really tried to burn him. But Ethan had his own flames shielding him and most importantly, he was resistant to fire, thanks to the Arcanum's title.
The lizardling's fireball hurt. But it didn't slow him down.
Ethan burst out of the fire at full speed, slightly burnt and pissed off as he sent clumps of disturbed soil geysering up in his wake. The lizardling warrior hissed, holding a dangerous-looking gem-tipped spear while the mage behind it cast another barrier to try and slow him down.
Prime armament, probably.
The warrior readied its spear, and the two drakes' throats glowed. Ethan would impact in less than two seconds. He readied himself to leap over the spear or try to dodge it, but before he could decide, a green-hued dagger flew out of the brush and embedded itself into the throat of the right-drake.
The creature roared just as Ethan crashed through the barrier, popping it like a soap bubble. But the spear was still pointed at him, so he jumped into a fully horizontal flying kick that made the spearhead pass just above his face, almost grazing his nose for a second before it was jerked away as his scaled feet made contact with the warrior's shocked face.
The lizardling was thrown back like a ragdoll, rolling head over heels a couple of times against the soft ground as Ethan continued past it before his scaled feet hit the ground and slid, digging another groove into the soil, but before he could come to a full stop, the drake swiped its giant claws down. In response Ethan stabbed upward with the dagger. The knife punched through the scales and the creature shrieked, but it still drove Ethan a little deeper into the soil just by the sheer weight difference. Uprooting himself out, Ethan quickly took stock of his immediate surroundings. A couple of feet away, the lizardling he'd fly-kicked rolled over and tried to push itself up, and even though Ethan was surprised it survived the impact, he had no time to waste on it, so he sent it a fireball to finish it off while he took a quick glance around to understand what was going on.
The drake he'd stabbed was still focused on him, but the second had turned away along with its rider. From the other direction, someone was lobbing some powerful spells that were making the giant creature roar with pain and back away, but Ethan couldn't make them out from this angle. To his right, his team was dealing with a water monitor and a couple of lizardlings, but they were fine, and Ember was helping.
But all five of them were there, so whomever this was that was keeping the second drake busy, it was someone new. Or something new.
Ethan had to finish off his side of the battle fast. Just in case.
His own drake leapt at him, and Ethan jumped back before he threw the dagger behind him. With that done, he resummoned [Claws] on his right hand and rushed forward, while the creature growled and pounced once more to meet him. With how well his high Toughness and his own protective scales had handled the monitors, he wasn't as worried from the creatures's physical attacks so as he saw it come at him, Ethan let himself drop and skid under it and when he was right under its guts, he stabbed.
Even though the scales covering the creature's underbelly were thinner than those on top, they were still difficult to cut through, but Ethan managed to dig his two talons pretty deep before the creature roared with pain and jumped back, though Ethan wasn't done. He dug his claws deeper and grabbed on, while the creature tried to swipe at him and throw him off. Next, Ethan began pumping fire straight into its flesh and its screech grew sharper.
Yeah. Fire's not effective against this thing. I need to get to the neck. Or a bit lower.
The rib-cage was proving difficult to punch through, but as Ethan worked his way a bit lower, wincing and groaning as a few kicks and soil-slams threatened to tear him off the monster, he found an angle where he could push his arm through the tough defenses, and where he really began doing damage.
It took a couple of minutes to finally bring the drake to its knees, and even though it was a bit of a challenge, Ethan managed to push the drake off of him, just enough to roll it away and drag himself out.
You have defeated [Water Monitor (I) - Level 41]
…
You have defeated [Lizardling (I) - Level 37]
You have defeated [Fire Drake (I) - Level 47]
You have reached Level 45. 1 stat point awarded.
Ethan painfully got up to his feet and dismissed the two notifications. Panting, he took in the scene quickly. The team were doing well, but they were inching toward the tunnel. Below him, the dagger-mark on the drake was pulsing, but he couldn't focus on it just yet, because right in front of him was a frowning, haggard woman with a green glowing crystal embedded in her chest. She had a wand pointed at him and a dagger hovered next to her.
"Why…does it say you're human," she asked, in a reedy quiet voice that sent chills down his spine.
[Human (I) - Level 47]