The Jade Shadows Must Die [Cultivation LitRPG]

For several moments, neither of them moved. Rix's knuckles were white around his staff, the pain in his head growing with every heartbeat, but still, the creature made no move to attack. Every other fade he'd encountered had been basically mindless, but there was an unsettling intelligence behind this creature's eyes. Was that something that came when the fades got stronger? Was this one a level again above the one he'd just faced? Whatever the circumstances, he didn't want to give the thing any longer to study him. It was a fadeborn. There was no outcome here that didn't end in a fight.

Or at least that's what Rix assumed as he raised his weapon and moved to attack.

The creature cocked its head in curiosity, and then was gone.

Rix blinked several times, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Either the fade had been faster than his senses could perceive, or it had literally disappeared. Both were equally troubling.

He scanned the area, but the trees were silent and still around him. There was little that he could do. If the thing was still lurking somewhere, he'd do his best to fight it. And if it really had run, he could ponder that puzzle later. For now, he really had to get away from the clearing.

To be safe, he took a different path, skirting around the area where he'd seen the strange fadeborn. Though he was on edge, as the effects of the debilitating field began to fade and his mind cleared, his fear diminished. His instincts told him the fade wasn't going to attack. It'd had the drop on him earlier when he'd been clearly weakened, and it didn't take advantage. Strangely, that thought made him more uncomfortable than the alternative. What could it want? Maybe he'd ask Tolson or Huan or one of the prison officials, though he wasn't sure where that would lead. There was also apparently a prison library, which might house some answers.

He continued moving west, charting his way through the woods as they became sparse and rocky once more. Here, the rocks were occasionally interspersed with large white crystals. They were thick as tree trunks and ranged in height from his waist to several taller than his head. The sudden shifts in landscape were becoming less shocking, but they were still hard to ignore.

His mind was back on the hunt. Though he saw no further sign of the strange shimmering fadeborn, it wasn't long before he heard a familiar clicking sound echoing from the surrounding stone. He was getting better at plucking sounds out of the hum now, one of the advantages of assigning points to acuity, perhaps.

Dropping low and using the trees and boulders for cover, he crept in that direction, finding a group of three of the spider-like fadeborn chittering and scratching at the canyon wall. They were familiar, yet different — larger than those he'd fought before, with carapaces that gleamed with a red, metallic sheen. That was promising. If they looked different and were this deep in the realm, they'd likely be worth more essence.

The only thing that caused him to hesitate was the number. He'd fought groups of two multiple times, but three was a step up. Then again, how much tougher could they be? Luna had fought four on her first day and survived, albeit with injuries. Rix was a rank higher than she'd been then, and he'd beaten similar fades many times before. He knew their patterns, their strengths, their weaknesses. If he could take out one quickly, he'd tip the odds in his favour.

Besides, this was what he'd come out here to do — take unreasonable fights. His mission demanded it.

Having learned from his last ambush, he didn't immediately leap into action. Instead, he took a few moments to scan the environment, searching for more fades. There were obviously no guarantees in the realm, but after about thirty seconds, he felt fairly confident there was nothing hiding in the scrub.

Then, he attacked.

The closest fade was quick to react, limbs blurring as it spun to block his swing. Rix brought his staff down, [Wind Blade] hummed to life. The mana-wrought edge struck true, biting into the carapace of one of the creature's legs.

But where he'd expected to cleave clean through, the blade met unexpected resistance. It sank in barely an inch before stopping, stuck fast in the creature's reinforced armour.

Surprise flashed across Rix's face, and he let out a curse. Not only were these fades larger, they were apparently tougher too. If he couldn't cut cleanly through their shells, the fight was going to be significantly more difficult.

His shock turned to alarm as he heard scuttling to his left. The second fade had taken advantage of his momentary immobility, moving to flank him with frightening speed. Panic flared in Rix's chest as he realised his mistake. He was about to be surrounded.

Instinct took over. Qi surged through his body as he activated Energy Surge, his muscles exploding into motion. He ended his [Wind Blade], freeing his staff so he could leap backwards, putting distance between them and narrowly avoiding the second fade's slashing limbs.

Heart pounding, Rix reassessed. The first fade still had its leg, but the wound leaked black ichor. They weren't completely impervious like the behemoth he'd fought earlier. They could bleed.

The two closer monsters engaged him in tandem, and Rix was forced onto the defence, his staff whistling through the air as he blocked and parried using both ends. As they fought, he studied them. His previous battles with their type hadn't called for precision, so he'd done little real analysis of them. But as he looked now, he could see their carapace seemed not to fully cover their bodies. There were gaps at the joints, both in the middle of the legs and where they met the body. That was something he could use.

He kept a modicum of attention on the third fade too. It seemed to be hanging back. He expected it to try and launch itself to impale him, as its weaker siblings had done in dives past, so he was momentarily confused when instead of coiling low, it reared up, its abdomen splitting open with a sickening crack to reveal a cluster of gleaming, crystalline spines.

Rix's eyes widened. "Wha—"

The words died in his throat as the fade launched its deadly volley. Rix summoned his Energy Surge once again and threw himself to the side, feeling the rush of air as the spines whistled past. But sheer surprise had left him flat-footed. Several of the projectiles found their mark, slamming into his right arm. His mantle crackled, sending most of them glancing to the side, but one punched straight through, stabbing into the outer meat of his bicep and lodging there. White-hot pain lanced through his arm, and he hissed through clenched teeth.

Hells that hurt.

Over his weeks of diving, he'd learned a few things about the way his mantle worked. With nothing augmenting it, at his martial level it was really only good for turning aside glancing blows. Any direct strike would punch through a basic mantle. It was when you strengthened it that the nuance appeared. Whatever mana you pushed into your mantle spread evenly throughout it, bolstering its durability. If you took a blow, say to the shoulder, the mana in that immediate area would be consumed to protect you. This would leave a gap, but the rest of your allocated mana would quickly rush to fill it. Thus, the more attacks you took, the more thinly spread your mana became, and the more brittle your overall protection. Rix assumed it worked this way because it meant you were never left vulnerable in any one place for very long.

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But as he learned in that moment, it also meant that when several attacks struck the same location all at once, sometimes that redistribution wasn't fast enough.

Letting out a curse, he scrambled backwards, ducking behind a large boulder. His arm throbbed with each heartbeat, stabbing waves that threatened to overwhelm him.

A projectile attack. That was new.

One thing everybody knew about Martial Souls was that ranged techniques were few and far between, mostly because of how ineffective they were. Mana rapidly lost potency the further it got from its wielder, until whatever technique it was fuelling simply collapsed. At lower tiers, Martial Souls could effectively only use techniques within thirty or forty feet.

Fades were subject to the same rules, but that apparently didn't mean they couldn't use good old-fashioned physical attacks. Bows and thrown weapons had little value against higher-tier opponents. They lost too much momentum to cause significant damage to tougher foes. But at low tiers, a well-placed arrow — or in this case a crystalline spike — could still pose a threat.

He fumbled at his robe with his good hand, fingers closing around the Sunberry nestled in his pocket and popping it into his mouth, biting down hard. The effect was almost immediate. A cool numbness spread through his body, dulling the pain to a manageable ache. That left him with a decision. He could pull the spike free, but the wound was deep. He might bleed out. The other option was to ignore it. His temporary anaesthesia meant he could still fight, but he also wouldn't know if he was causing himself more damage.

Bad options all around. He chose the latter, since it seemed to carry less immediate risk. Damage could be healed. Death from blood loss couldn't.

Rix drew a deep breath, steadying himself. That was twice he'd underestimated these creatures, and twice he'd nearly paid with his life. He couldn't afford that mistake again.

Hefting his weapon, Rix reengaged. The two melee fades met him, a whirlwind of bladed chitin. He did his best to use his immediate opponents to block line of sight to the spine-thrower, but that was easier said than done. These fades weren't just tougher; they were faster too, their movements fluid and precise in a way that put their lesser kin to shame. He managed to land one [Wind Blade] powered strike to a middle knee, but he received a shallow gash down his leg from the other fade for his trouble. The one he'd injured hissed, stumbling as it went from four weight-bearing legs to three, but it took the injury in stride, re-engaging immediately.

Rix's mind raced as he parried and dodged. [Force Hammer] would likely end one of them quickly, but even with Energy Surge to speed up the technique, he'd be leaving himself exposed. They moved with such synchronicity, there would be no way to stop them taking advantage. As if to punctuate the point, the two fades in front of him suddenly leapt back in lockstep, allowing the spine-thrower to unleash another volley. Though the projectiles moved faster than even his enhanced acuity could perceive, he was prepared this time, and an Energy-Surge-powered dash kept him safe.

Safe, but not in control. While the Sunberry was keeping his wound manageable, a quick glance said it would need attention sooner rather than later. Despite leaving the spine in, the wound was seeping blood. Coupled with his already flagging qi reserves and a mantle that was most of the way to broken, it meant this fight had a definite clock on it.

The spine-thrower had to go. Every volley it launched taxed his resources in a way he couldn't sustain. He'd need to find a gap, a moment to slip through to the backline.

He came at the closer fades again, redoubling his efforts, forcing every ounce of strength and speed out of his body. He didn't even bother activating [Wind Blade], simply beating the creatures with the blunt force of his staff. They flagged a little under the onslaught, taking blows on their front limbs that would have broken mortal bone, but their defences held. Which was fine. Rix wasn't trying to hurt them.

He was trying to herd them.

As he pushed them to the right, further from the spine-thrower, his back was now exposed. The ranged fade reared up to fire once more, but this was the moment Rix had been waiting for. He pivoted sharply, pushing everything he had into his Energy Surge and dashing towards it. He didn't know if it would be enough. The fade was thirty feet away, and his qi was low.

Spines whizzed through the air, and he threw himself into a roll, attempting to pass under the barrage, but the spread was wider than he'd expected and he felt a moment of spiritual backlash as his mantle shattered and one spine tore a furrow out of his back. He bit back a cry. The pain was distant, his body still under the effect of the sunberry, but he could tell the wound was at least as bad as his other.

He forced himself to focus, coming up out of his roll and shooting towards the spine-thrower. The fade was still recovering from its attack when he arrived and Rix's [Wind Blade] sang as he drove it forward, stabbing deep into the creature's exposed underbelly, disembowelling it. The fade let out a keening wail, its legs flailing uselessly as huge gouts of black blood spilled onto the ground.

But Rix didn't have time to celebrate. From the corner of his eye, he saw a blur of movement. Before he even realised what he was doing, he spun, using the staff to heft the still-impaled body of the spine-thrower like a shield. He wasn't a moment too soon as one of the other fades crashed into it, its front legs raised in that familiar ambush attack, punching through its brother as if it was made of paper.

The spine-thrower's essence flowed into Rix, even as the attack sent him sprawling. He hit the ground hard, sand filling his mouth, but even so he allowed himself a moment of grim satisfaction. One down, two to go.

He dragged himself to his feet to find the leaping fade righting itself as well. Though it looked a little shaky, it appeared mostly unscathed. He hoped perhaps it might give him a moment to breathe, but it let out a screech as its companion joined it, then they rushed him in tandem. Like previous fights, the loss of one of their own seemed to enrage them. Their attacks came wild and relentless, and Rix was immediately put on the back foot.

Without the threat from afar, the fight took on the quality of a duel. Having watched two weeks of fights in the arena, the spider-fades put him in mind of swordsmen, their spike-like limbs defence and offence in one. Their coordination was impeccable. He tried again to use [Wind Blade] to exploit the gaps in their carapace, but his wounds were beginning to take their toll now and his body was failing him. He was a step too slow, an inch off target. Every opening presented was gone before he could exploit it. Sweat beaded his brow as he fought to keep up with their relentless assault, his muscles growing heavier with every parry. Desperation clawed at him, threatening to overwhelm his senses.

This was it. He was going to die. He was going to prove everybody right and become another statistic, part of the ninety-nine percent who didn't cut it.

Worst of all, Xu Han and the others were going to go unpunished.

His family would go unavenged.

That thought broke something in him. His mind went blank. He stopped thinking, stopped trying to outmanoeuvre his opponents, stopped struggling altogether. In that void, his instincts took over, reaching for anything they could use. And something snapped into place.

His combat style.

An instinct rushed to the front of his consciousness, and he swung again. Though similar to the sort of blow he'd unleashed a thousand times before, the sensation felt foreign to his muscles, whiplike and explosive. There was a sickening crunch, and the fade let out a hiss, darting backwards, one front limb hanging useless by its side. Rix let out a gasp. He hadn't even used [Wind Blade]. Just the blunt force, when delivered properly, had been enough to shatter its shell.

[Foundational Quarterstaff Basics has improved to Low Rank]

His mind began to churn once more, almost disrupting the flow he'd found himself in, but he shoved any kind of logic to the side and let instinct reign. As he relaxed into the style, he found himself moving with a fluidity he'd never experienced before. The battle was still a deadly dance of strikes, parries, and counterattacks, but his body moved through it differently now. He flowed around the fades' attacks, his staff an unnatural blur as his mind suddenly knew what to do. Everything felt unfamiliar, yet comfortable, his body twisting in ways it never had before.

The part of him that maintained awareness was dimly conscious that in many ways, he was butchering what the style wanted of him. He was a child taking his first awkward swings attempting to mimic an older, better fighter. But for the first time, he felt a sense of rightness there too. He was now capable of what the style demanded of him, and with work, he could make it sing.

More importantly, even at its most basic level, it was more than a match for the fades.

With the style adding potency to his strikes, it was now he who wore his enemies down. While he couldn't shear their parts free with impunity like he had against their weaker cousins, every blow now threatened to crack and maim. Systematically, he found openings, breaking one limb, then two more, until his opponents were barely able to remain upright. Sweeping the legs out from under one, he delivered a crushing blow to its back. Carapace shattered, and essence flowed into him once more as he pivoted to the final fade.

For a beat, they stared at one another. It opened its mouth to hiss, and Rix caved in its skull with a single sharp thrust.

He stood there, chest heaving, mind seeming to drop back into itself. His entire body ached, and he could feel blood trickling from numerous cuts and gashes. But he was alive. He'd won.