This old giant is damn near as quick as I am?!
Wind gusts brushed against me with every wide eyed dodge and parry of Father Leonard's deceptively fast slashes flourishing from either end of his double bladed glaive. My footwork mixed with the boosts of Fluidic Fighter Stance maintained a semi-comfortable defensive integrity, however I'd grown very accustomed to leaning on my incredibly high agility stat. Now, it would seem my fighting skills would be tested versus a formidably fast fighter.
This isn't to say I struggled landing any strikes of my own. In fact, far from it, as my defensive teachings leaned almost exclusively on counter-striking your opponent. Our duel had been no different, only Father Leonard's skill proved far thicker than his leather armor. Each swipe with one side of his glaive would be followed by another, or a feign to land a front kick. Most any strike I could slip through would be grazing blow, adjusting his body to minimize damage. Clearly he was trained, well before the integration.
As our cat and mouse game ensued, a rising anxiousness for my comrades progressively welled in my chest, recognizing their dire circumstances regardless of their proven superiority in combat. There were simply too many Porphynaen Giants to handle for too long, especially with me here rather than helping even the playing field. After parrying a slash and landing a heel kick to Leonard's jaw, I darted my eyes toward the gate through the massive pylon windows, my paranoia finally getting the better of me.
My eyes locked back onto Father Leonard in time to watch his boot press against my chest launching me back through the air, my back slamming onto the wall 10 feet from where he'd front kicked me. I slid down onto my feet, trying desperately to conceal my gasps for air readying my stance. Father Leonard dashed forward, covering an insane amount of ground in a blink of an eye.
The bottom of my foot pressed off the wall, smothering into Leonard's polearm before he could finish his wide slash. I was too close to land any meaningful stabs, instead landing an uppercut to his chin under his glaive. My arm shot down for a throat slash as his head flicked up from the strike, however his neck muscles tightened, ducking his head under my slash. I quickly followed up with a Lightning Strike aimed for his lowered head, which weaved to the side as he stepped away.
"What's wrong, human? Afraid for your little band of bandits? I'm sure they'll die gloriously. Unless you surrender, of course." Father Leonard sneered, knowing full and well there would be no white flags waved today.
Launching one twinblade at Leonard through the air in retort, my other hand yanking the hilt in hand to create a whipping motion with the hurtling sword connected by the chain. Father Leonard's towering frame ducked again to avoid my strike. My shoulders continued twisting with the Flow generated with my range extending slash, spinning on the balls of my foot. The muscles in my hips exploded with forced launching my heel up into the giant Pylon leader's nose with my back turned, my leg shaped like a scorpion tail finishing the strike.
Leonard stumbled back, his eyes watering gripping at his now crooked nose. My twinblade lunged forward for another stab, his body already leaning away from the attack as he reared a counter strike. However, my stab was a feign, instead sending the Flow down my leg landing a stiff heel kick to the back of Leonard's exposed calf. His body fell under his own weight before his strike could finish, causing him to somersault on the ground. His glaive slammed into the stone floor ripping through the rooms red carpet staggering to his feet.
Leonard struggled getting his double bladed glaive up in time to parry my next slash, leaving his ribs wide open for a vicious roundhouse kick. His ribs cracked and popped against my shin, yet he managed to lock his arms firm around my leg. He flashed a bloodied grin tossing me across the room straight through the viewing window.
The ground looked entirely too far for me to comfortably fall down, instead contorting my head and body toward the window ledge above as I plummeted. My grappling hook launched out, barely snagging the edge before running out of rope. The sudden shift in momentum sent me straight toward the palace wall, my feet finding purchase as I ran up my grapple line.
Pulling my grapple line, I leapt up and over the shattered window ledge, cutting my hands on the jagged glass along the ledge. My feet barely landed onto the floor in time to dodge away from a massive cloud of scarlet flames whipping toward me. The burst of fire continued out of the viewing area before dispersing into the Leonard's glaive. His body no longer emitted the same red mana. His eyes narrowed as he stared resentfully addressing my return.
"You are about as pesky as those filthy Water Griffins. It's a shame your friends don't share your s-" Leonard's eyes bulged glancing up toward the battle at the front gate. I slid to the side, to be sure he remained in my periphery while I checked the status of the fight myself. By the looks of things, Cassi hadn't lost a single Water Druid yet, and the Porphynae army at the gate looked to be fighting an unknown force from outside the settlement as well. Leonard growled in frustration before he spoke.
"I have little time to dally with you, weakling. My sources told me your little general was formidable, though I'd assumed my men can handle ONE puny human…" Leonard snarled, shaking his head in disappointment at his soldiers. If he hadn't been regarding one of the only other warriors in this region I'd held high respect for, he'd have a point. A smile manifested across my lips at his frustration.
"Last chance, you can surrender now before your troops are decimated. Your choice." I offered sarcastically, parroting his bullshit offer from earlier in the fight. Leonard's brow furrowed as he lifted his glaive above his head. There was a second of awkward stillness before a massive beam of scarlet energy shot into his glaive. The stream ran all the way from the battlefield below to here, Father Leonard's powerful aura returning 2-fold as a result.
"You've forced my hand in this. I did not wish to kill you in such dishonorable fashion. Take pride in your demise, human. I simply have too much at stake for a test of honor." Leonard said in a remorseful tone that sounded surprisingly genuine. He began spinning his glowing double sided glaive around his body, creating stationary cyclones of red flame rippling spiraling all around him. The head waves wafted over brought an involuntary terrible sense of inexplicable dread, causing me to back away slowly.
Leonard slowly started walking forward, still twirling a fiery storm around his body as he approached. The flames continued to billow higher and wider, sweat already beading off my exposed face. His technique twirling the polearm was superb on top of being concealed well within a ring of fire, making his next lunging strike almost completely hidden. The blade glowed a dark red as it extended forward toward my chest.
My hips barely flipped in time to dodge the lunge, the thin red blade piercing cleanly through the wall behind me. Leonard twisted into the stab, turning it into a sweeping slash ripping through the stone wall toward me. My twinblade barely lifted in time to parry the slash over my head, Leonard letting out a violent roar in frustration.
"NO! Nothing can withstand the blade of Porphynae?!" Leonard screamed, extending his palm toward one of his spiraling storms of fire. The spinning fire moved out from his body in response, indicating he held direct control over it directionally as well.
Father Leonard's arm flung across his chest, the flame shooting toward me in concert forcing me to advance closer to him. Leonard unleashed a flurry of strikes with his extended glaive, now with the scarlet extensions on both sides. The fires around him rotated around his body, periodically catching my armor and cowl aflame before being instantly put out whenever I wasn't within 4 feet of him.
The heat was rapidly growing in intensity, as were Leonard's ferocious attacks. Surprisingly, they lacked the speed he'd possessed initially using his little mana boosting skill. The power was all the same insane quality however, and his extended range combined with the whirling fire storms more than made up for his slower pace. The issue for me now was managing my defenses integrity dodging his storms of fire that raged toward me periodically.
Leonard dashed forward for a stabbing strike, my feet shuffling diagonally to avoid it in response. Instead of continuing his course however, Leonard's glaive pierced into the stone floor, sending a wave of fire bursting all around him. The concussive force launched me back a couple feet before stumbling to gather my balance. Leonard's glaive danced through the air, slashing his extended red blades in rapid succession twirling the pole-arm in his hand from 10 feet away.
My body contorted awkwardly leaping over a low slash, my feet slamming down off the floor to avoid a fast approaching firestorm. The dark red mana shrieked a terrible high pitched screech as I parried with my twinblade.
It's just too much shit. Where the hell is he getting all this mana from?
Two flaming storms raged toward me from either side, causing me to advance forward avoiding their collision course. Once more, Leonard unleashed a furious barrage of slashes and stabs before I could get within my own strike range. My eyes focused heavily on every surrounded attack, fighting every urge to counter recklessly from too far of a distance.
This guys form is fucking mint as well. His Flow is incredibly consistent, how the hell am I g-
Leonard's slashes increased in volume, his circling storms' pace following suit as they spiraled toward me from all directions. His tactic was clear, keep me the fuck away from him. Every single time I got too far however, he'd send his storms of red flames converging on me. When I got closer, his long red blades pushed me back, literally every single t-…
Wait.
Pressing my feet hard off the floor in front of me, I leapt back to create space quickly. Leonard sent out his group of mini fire tornadoes from all directions in response, however I was already Water Stepping right back toward him. My twinblade crackled with lightning mana in my rear arm as I approached, Leonard's rapid long ranged slashes immediately following.
Water Step activated seeing Leonard's first strike, having only generated mana through my chains to appear like I was using a Lightning Strike again. My blades glided along the ends of his glaive, holding both weapons away from me sliding around to his side. Flow instantly culminated from Leonard's hips up through his entire body, headed for his skin. Flow Strike gashed across Leonard's ribs, causing blood to shoot out from the flexed wound.
Another sweeping circle of concussive flame exploded out from Father Leonard, this time launching me back much further having been closer when it triggered than the last. I braced as my back bounced off the stone floor, rolling backward back onto my feet. Leonard bellowed angrily as he gripped his leaking wound at his side.
"I will tolerate this NO longer. In the name of Porphynae, you will burn." Leonard's arms raised into the air, the scarlet energy that rippled around his body now streaming into the storms of twirling flames spinning all around him. The storms grew in size as the mana fed into their billowing flames. His arms converged together, causing all of the storms to amalgamate into one massive fiery twister that burned straight through the stone ceiling above.
Pieces of Leonard's desk spun around the massive tornado of fire, withering into dust within its immense heat that burned at my skin from 10 feet away. Its width damn-near engulfed the entire pylon room, blocking off my route to the shattered window. The raging storm began inching its way closer to me, molten stone dropping down from the ceiling above as it melted through with ease.
Fuck, I could really use Cassi right now.
My mind raced shuffling through my memory trying to find a solution to the encroaching death storm. Cassi could manifest orbs of water around her, and she and Steve were the only beings I knew capable of anything of the sort. The only time I'd ever pulled it out was using my boosting skill. Only issue is, both my health and mana were already way too low to be activating Spirits Of The Storm right now. That was the only time I'd successfully used a water strike of much any sort during the wyvern fight at that Perunious-forsaken island.
The raging fiery twister continued creeping closer, Leonard's strained grunts barely audible under the billowing flames cycling on itself. My back was already pressed against the wall, the heat beginning to flicker sparks at the edges of my cowl. Panic crept into my thoughts before being dismissed entirely, recognizing its lack of utility.
As I stared up at the length of this incredible exhibition of power slowly nearing, I reserved myself to the only thing I knew could bring me an answer I couldn't find, sitting down crossing my legs and meditating. My thoughts honed within, searching for my answer, rather than the severe lack of solutions available outwardly. Almost instantly the sounds of the storms' roaring claims whipping furiously through the air had faded, replaced by a serene silence as I swayed in Flow.
There had to be something obvious I was missing. There was no practical reason why I couldn't utilize any Water Skills for attacking when I'd already done so in my boosted state. It wasn't that my skill gave the water affinity, after all. It just amplified it, much like I would assume whatever this Leonard guys boost is doing to even conjure such an unnatural disaster. Meaning, the capability was here, I just hadn't found it.
Korbin's voice echoed in my mind, blocking out the singing pain from the flames whipping closer to my face. It was a memory of a time I couldn't figure out the flaw in completing a punch-kick combo without losing my balance. I'd used both strikes respectively multiple times in active spars, yet I couldn't put them together no matter how hard I tried.
"Sometimes the issue isn't in your method. If the structure is sound but the building collapses, the problem is its foundation." He said, after a long frustrating training session. Afterwards, I focused on each strike individually instead of trying to combine them, eventually noticing I leaned way too far forward on my punch almost every time. Once I fixed it, the combo came to me almost instantly.
I'm trying to forcefully utilize the water mana that naturally resides in and around me…Why?
The realization lit a resolve within my mind that rippled into my chest, finding the glaring error in my philosophy approaching the use of my water affinity offensively. A tide brings great force, but you cannot simply leap into it head on hoping to utilize it.
Leaping off the wall, I Water Stepped straight toward the twirling firestorm, the heat immediately singing my eyebrows as I darted into the twister head on. My eyes narrowed trying to block out the searing pain, focusing on the Flow rippling across the flames. A stray flair of fire shot towards me without warning, every pore along my skin flexing a cold sensation as it approached, similar to dipping your toes in ice water.
My arm blasted upward, slashing my twinblade into the firestorm, the hiss of extinguished flames leaving a small gap in the storm. Slashing the other blade across the fiery twister while spinning on my toes, several consecutive slashes followed riding the Wave of Flow that carried me forward. The firestorm sizzled as my strikes evaporated enough of a gap for me to leap through.
*ding*
Leonard's tired eyes bulged from his skull holding himself up by his glaive on the other side as I continued Water Stepping straight toward him. The red energy around him had completely dispersed, his reaction entirely too slow to stop three rapid slashes to his both arms and across his chest, cutting straight through his armors like butter. My arms relaxed after kicking his steaming double-sided glaive away, finally noticing the water coated along my blades and chains dripping into a puddle below me. That, and an excruciating weakness in my gut I fought internally to hide in front of Leonard.
Speaking of, Father Leonard now crawled away on his back with one arm, holding his heavily bleeding wounds. He gagged before coughing up blood, laughing weakly looking up at me.
"You…you have…no idea what you're dealing with here." He said, shaking as he desperately inched back. I casually strolled beside him, placing my foot gently on his chest wound.
"And what exactly is that? Mythical beasts?! I've been to the island, Leonard. And I'll be back to conquer what you hid from here." A hissed through a vitriolic tone, raising both blades for the killing blow.
"No. She's coming. For all of u-" my blades pierced deep into Leonard's stomach before I could process what he was saying, his head lurching into the air as he exhaled his final breath.
*ding*
*ding*
"What? Who's 'she'?!" I asked, bending down and shaking the massive giants shoulders the best I could. His head merely jiggled as his eyes stared lifelessly back into mine.
*ding*
"Shut UP!" I yelled into the air, addressing my own notification sounds. Loud footsteps began thumping from outside the room putting me instantly back on guard. My legs nearly gave out as I relaxed seeing Cassi turn the corner with Phoebe following behind.
"Tom? You okay?" Cassi asked, looking down at Father Leonard's corpse.
"Huh? Never better, why?" I said sarcastically through heavy breaths, now dropped to a knee from exhaustion. I'd whittled myself down to 0 mana, and both my health and stamina were sub 25% at this point. The guy was good, I'll give him that. I was about to check my notifications when Phoebe asked a rather uncomfortable question.
"Hey uhh…who were you yelling at?" She asked nervously. The blood rushed to my cheeks having realized they most definitely hurt my little tantrum at my own notification bells.
"…not important. Is everyone okay? What the hell happened out there?!" I asked, initially deflecting the question entirely until growing genuinely curious as to how they would be here and not fighting th-
Turning towards the gate revealed the settlement entrance littered with the bodies of Porphynaen soldiers, with many more on their knees as captives under the watchful eye of our troops and Jaia Giants alike.
Wait, they're alive?!
"How the hell did our giants survive alone outside of the wall?!" I asked turning back toward Cassi and Phoebe.
"I sent them back into the treeline when I realized we were running late. Sorry about that by the way, there's some crazy beasts around here." Cassi said, entirely too casually for my liking.
"Oh, so they just showed up then?" I asked, now relieved to know we didn't waste any unnecessary soldiers.
"Kind of, I told them to flank their army after they got back into their settlement, and we ended up bottlenecking them at the gate entrance. I truly thought they'd be tougher, but they suck against water skills." Cassi chuckled. A hint of remnant embarrassment for not having more water affinity skills clustered in my chest. It made sense in hindsight, water being the counter to the flaming red man's booster tribe. Still, the abilities Leonard possessed was formidable in his own right. I could see how they could get away with being a warring people given their capabilities. Too bad waters simply the best affinity there is bar none…against fire.
"Good call, definitely not the one I would've made but…I mean that as a compliment." I said, realizing how sarcastic it sounded initially.
"Trust me, I know you wouldn't have." Cassi said with a sly smirk.
After Cassi claimed the Pylon orb sat on a winding metallic stand, the only structure left in the Pylon room not utterly obliterated by mine and Leonard's fight, she and Phoebe got me caught up to speed on the rest of the battle through their perspectives from the beginning. They'd run into people-sized multicolored bats with crazy venomous bites that took out a few giants before they could slay them out along their travels through the humid forest. By then, Leonard was already closing the gate during his questioning of my motives having broken in alone. So, the giants stuck around the bat corpses until the last of the giant's army was at least close to the gateway, pinching them between Cassi, Phoebe and our serpents.
Once we'd reached the open area in front of the settlement entrance, everyone was already settled in either camps of prisoners or body looters. The captains' glaives were no more than dust, however their swords could serve newer giant recruits. Worst case, their materials would not go to waste in Lonni's hands back at Savants Elysium. Cassi sighed loudly surveying the area.
"I have a lot of Korbin contracts to pass on, along with some emergency funds to request from the man himself to get this place fortified enough for wave defenses. I advise you to get some rest though, Tom. We need to prepare this place for autonomous wave defenses as soon as we get our new recruits and exiles sorted, if we want to get moving anytime soon." Cassi said, looking at both me and Phoebe. I'd already begun feeling a little better after, the passive regeneration of my resource pools kicking in and compounding with each upgrade Cassi purchased when she claimed the pylon. Still, I wasn't against finding somewhere quiet to check my notifications list that annoyed me so after killing Father Leonard.
Jeez, that would've sounded a whole lot worse before the integration.
Our soldiers and Jaia giants had their hands full joking with each other around the Porphynaen prisoners, while both serpents were coiled beside one another at a corner close to the settlement entranceway. I'd yet to see Derrick anywhere, though I imagined he had himself a time dealing with so many giants at once. His lower class level had certainly proven a hindrance during the wave defense he'd arrive at, however he was bound to be considerably stronger afterwards. Defeating enemies so high above you in levels was practically a cheat code for quick leveling, albeit mortally dangerous.
Taking a play out of my snake friends' book, I settled in the opposite corner of the settlement, tucking myself behind a pair of buildings. My heart fluttered with glee as I settled down into mediation and opened my notifications.
*Skill unlocked!*
Tidal Flurry (uncommon) - You've accepted not to seek quelling the storm raging within, but rather to assimilate and utilize its inevitable crashing tides. Its powerful wave of energy will carry you as far as you can maintain in concert with its will.
+5 agility when activated
+2% Water Affinity potency when activated
20 second cooldown
Finally, I earned myself a fucking water affinity attacking skill. It's my first one with an official cooldown timer in its description as well, implying it carries great power that needs mediating via a delay. Of course, my typical routine of u locking an uncommon variant of my affinity before its base skill persists. I'd truly imagined the title to be something simple, like water slash or wave of strikes based on the basic nature of uncovering the skill itself.
All I really did was let myself finally do what felt natural, only with intent. My entire fighting style revolved around my continuous motion, maintaining Flow. But, Flow types differed based on one's style, meaning mine in particular was centered around essentially surfing constant momentum because of my affinity to water. Other fighting forms like stone fighters could generate Flow from a stationary position, a concept I've never truly wrapped my head around.
My pride only magnified as I continued down my list of notifications.
*Congratulations!* You've leveled up your class level!
[Storm Strider (level 9)]
->
(Storm Strider (level 10)]
+3 agility +3 endurance
+1 free point
*Congratulations!* You've leveled up your profession level!
[Beast-Tamer (Level 8)]
->
[Beast-Tamer (Level 9)]
+1 Wisdom +1 Willpower
…
->
[Beast-Tamer (Level 10)]
+1 Wisdom +1 Willpower
*Congratulations!* You've leveled up your race level!
[Human (Level 8)]
->
[Human (Level 9)]
+1 Vitality, +1 Endurance
…
->
[Human (Level 10)]
+1 Vitality, +1 Endurance
Holy shit?!
An overwhelming surge of power flooded my body, the combination of so many increased stats all at once making my muscles lock up as I stood like a statue for several seconds. The final expanded sense of self given by my Willpower stat reaching 20 finally dispersed my catatonic state with a labored exhale. Clearly, Steve had gotten busy enough to level up during our siege on the Porphynaen tribe's Pylon. Thanks to our contract orchestrated by Perunious and Korbin, Steve's leveling up made my profession go up. Of course, if mine increases, and my class level is higher than his, then he gets to level as well. I have to admit, for as little as I give a shit about how these infernal contracts function, I certainly enjoy reaping their benefits.
Especially having read the following three notifications just below the prior.
*Class Skill available!*
*Profession Skill available!*
*Race Skill available!*
Wait…you can get race skills?