The Forgotten Legacy

Shaun didn’t know how he was going to win this fight, but he wasn’t going to give up without at least giving it his all. What he did know was that he wanted to find out more about the Starling Sparrow, at the very least so that when he came to fight it next he would have a better idea of what he was up against. Looking at the 15 sparrow gathered he knew he would have no hope of fighting the boss first, if he tried he would be attacked relentlessly by the other sparrows, giving him little chance to concentrate on the boss and only being able to focus on dodging attacks. The only real chance he had was to deal with the normal monsters first before trying to face the boss on its own at the end.

He had doubts on being able to see this wave through to the end, he had barely been able to fight when there was 13 of the sparrow, now they were stronger and more of them, and still, he hadn’t figured out a better way to fight them. Instead of standing in the air waiting for the sparrow to start attacking him, he went on the offensive from the very beginning, time was not on his side in this wave, if the starling was anything like the Ant Queen they would have a powerful attack that he would not be able to survive if he got hit and although it had taken the queen a while to power up and use, it would have been able to use the attack more than once if given the chance.

He chased after the birds, keeping a close eye on their attacks as well as where the starling was, making sure he would be prepared for its attack, but it seemed to just be watching him for the moment, either waiting for the perfect time to attack or simply evaluating if it would be needed in the fight at all. For 5 minutes he tried and failed to land an attack on the sparrow, they had become too quick, and smarter than the ones beforehand, whether that was due to their level or the presence of the starling he didn’t know, but it had made the entire situation much harder to get through.

In his frustration he decided to do something that he hoped would help, in the very least annoy the sparrow. He started reducing the attacks he was sending out and instead focused on dodging their spears while connecting to the air through his affinity. He still stayed in the air, running around on his compressed platforms, but he no longer tried to go close to the birds. It took a while before he thought he had enough control over the air around him, tapping into the slight breeze in the air. He had never done anything on such a large scale with his air affinity before, so he wasn’t sure if he was capable of what he planned to do. But when he was as ready as he was ever going to be he started controlling the winds, moving them in a circle all around him. It wasn’t a huge circle, only a dozen or so metres across with Shaun being in the middle, but if he succeeded, it should have one hell of an impact on the birds.

Slowly the winds fell under his control and started picking up speed around him, at first it was barely enough for him to feel the change in the winds direction, but as he continued applying his will to the winds it picked up speed, until finally, he started to feel a circuit of wind blowing around him, feeding on itself and growing stronger.

The more power he pushed into the air, the faster the winds blew, the birds picked up on the change around him when one of them sent a spear directly at him but as soon as it got close to the gale forced winds it was blown off course. Holy shit its working!

Seeing that the attack couldn’t reach him, he decided to go all in on his crazy plan, pushing as much of his will and affinity into the air as he could, slowly his natural disaster started to truly take form. A tornado a dozen feet wide started spreading down until it not only hit the ground but also spread into the air above him. The sparrow all threw everything they could at him, but not one was able to pierce through the winds. The tornado changed once it was fully formed, no longer did it try and stretch to cover more space, instead it focused on power, forcing everything close to it into the circuit of wind of which the tornado had formed. Shaun felt like a god, he had brought disaster into this world, he was nothing but pure destruction made up of the element of air.

The sparrow tried to flee from the winds, but it was for naught, as he moved closer to them, they did not have the power to resist being brought into the tornado, being sucked in by the apocalyptic winds. He moved himself and the tornado around until he had collected nearly all of the sparrow, only the starling having the power to avoid him. The birds were being battered around in the tornado, unable to gain control of their wings to steady them, feathers were being ripped from their bodies and when they collided with each other the results were broken wings and massive damage to their body. He wouldn’t be able to hold this power for long, already he felt it slipping from his grasp, but before he could think of what to do next everything changed.

The sun disappeared from the sky, everything started darkening, the only light left was that of the starling, now glowing in the dark night, surrounded by what looked like tiny stars. The power they were giving off was unlike anything he had ever felt, and he knew the attack would leave him and everything else that they hit, completely destroyed.

He needed to make a decision and quickly. Either he gave up and ran, or he turtled up, throwing everything he had left into a barrier, hoping that it would be enough to protect him. Out running the attack would have been pointless, and with the strength of the attack that the starling was going to throw at him, they would tear through his tornado without much effort. Making his decision he dropped down through the centre of the tornado, hitting the ground hard before crouching down in a defensive position. Letting go of his control of the tornado, he quickly formed a Nature’s barrier with his gauntlet, covering himself in a sphere, putting as much of his mana as he could into it, at the first sign of failing he would give up and get taken out of the dungeon, but he wanted to try and deflect it first.

Not a second after his barrier formed did he feel the stars that the starling had conjured into existence get sent his way, there was only 6 in total, but each one had more power behind it than any elemental strike that he had ever used. When the first star hit his barrier he felt the shield tremble, but thankfully hold, he couldn’t say the same for the ground around him though. Pieces of the earth were sent flying into the air, quickly sucked up by the tornado. Even though it was no longer under his control, it hadn’t dissipated yet, he had put enough power into it that it would hold for a time. This caused further damage to all of the birds stuck inside of its winds, getting hammered by rocks that had been torn from the ground by the starlings attack.

When the second star hit, cracks started forming in his barrier, causing him to throw even more mana into it. Before he could fully repair the damage the third start hit, and this time he felt the attack wash over his body, causing him to be pushed into the ground, his bones nearly breaking from the force, but the barrier held, if barley. He hadn’t let it completely drop yet, and instead continued to put as much mana as he could into it, making sure that it could continue holding out against the starlings attacks.

When the fourth star hit, the force on his shield was almost too much, he felt blood leaking from his nose and ears, his body trembled from the overwhelming power, but he did not give up. The fifth star hit shortly after, nearly causing him to lower the gauntlet to stabilise himself rather than being flattened into the ground, but he stopped himself at the last moment, it was the only thing between him and death, or worse, giving up on the fight.

By this point the tornado had completely dissipated, the starlings attack being too much for it to keep form without Shaun also sending his power into it, but it had done what he needed it too. When the sixth and last star came down on him, it was too much for his barrier spell and at the very end it broke, sending the remaining power of a star down onto him. He was crushed into the ground with enough force that he felt the rock beneath him crack.

When the force bearing down on him stopped, he could barely breath, his body was in tatters, pain shot through nearly every part of him. But he was alive. He had only 10% of his mana left, not enough to do any more major attacks or barriers, but just enough to give himself a bit of healing. Concentrating the last of his mana into the gauntlet he held it against his chest and focused on the spell to heal him. It didn’t do much, but just enough to take the edge of the pain. I really wish I had bought potions before coming in here.

As he got to his hand and knees he couldn’t help but vomit, blood gushed from his mouth, but this was more to do with healing the wounds in his chest than it was from being on the edge of death. He still had about 20% of his health left after the healing, so he wasn’t completely out of the fight yet. Getting to his feet he looked around for the remaining birds, but all he saw was the Starling Sparrow, the rest it seemed were killed by the tornado, thanks to the starlings own attacks pulling up the earth.

Looking at the starling it wasn’t in the best condition either, it was barely staying air born, it seemed that it had put so much of itself into the attacks and resisting the tornado that it was beyond exhausted. As he continued to watch he saw it slowly get lower and lower to the ground, unable to keep itself in the air for much longer. He also had nothing left to get in the air to attack it from up close, but he could still walk closer to its position. As he walked, not having the energy to run, the starling tried to fly away quicker which just caused it to falter and drop lower to the ground. Whatever it had done to form those stars, it was meant as a last-ditch effort, if it didn’t win it left itself completely exposed and weakened.

When he got close enough, he pushed the rest of his energy into his tired broken body and with a leap that sent pain throughout his body, he brought his sword down on the starling, knocking it the rest of the way to the ground, and without delaying the inevitable, stabbed it through its body, ending the fight.

*You have defeated a (Spear Sparrow – Lvl 34). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 2800 TE awarded*

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*You have defeated a (Spear Sparrow – Lvl 34). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 2800 TE awarded*

*You have defeated a (Starling Sparrow – Lvl 35). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 3000 TE awarded*

*Class: Elemental Blade Slinger has levelled up by +1 levels. [Advanced] Elemental Blade Slinger has reached Level 37. +3 Str, +2 Dex, +3 End, +3 Vit, +4 Soul gained*

*Wave 10 Completed – Wave 11 starting in 1 minute*

The level was nice, more than nice. He had gained three levels in just 10 waves, one of the benefits of fighting higher levelled monsters and not having to share experience. But he didn’t know if he would win this fight again, he had given absolutely everything he had in that fight and still barely come out of it alive. He looted the starling, not having any energy to run to the bodies of the other birds, not that he would make it in 1 minute anyway, but the starling was the real treasure here anyway. He received starlight feathers from the boss, something that was a bit different to everything else he had gotten and hopefully something that would give him insight into how it had been able to form stars into existence and block out the sun, turning it to night.

Before he had a chance to take them out of his inventory he got the notification that the 11th wave was starting. When the monsters appeared he identified one, wanting to know what he would need to fight the next time he came in the dungeon.

*Dire Wolf – Level 35*

Not giving any of them a chance to fight him he quickly thought the words that would get him out of the dungeon. I give up! And with that everything went black.