“Uh, right.”
She tore a heart out of one of the vivinsects, tucking into her satchel before moving on to another one. “Anyway,” she continued. “I’ll get the aura next level. But even once I do, you should probably let me or Frost draw enemy attention before you engage. You did really well back there holding them off, but we’re both vampires with regeneration, and he’s got a [Protection] aspect in his class. Since you strike from the shadows and everything, it’s probably a benefit if you let them pay attention to us, first.”
“Um. Yeah.”
“Seriously, Hunter,” Frost said, sounding much more annoyed than Ashtoreth. “Why did you just charge in like that? We can’t watch your back or rely on you to watch ours in a combat situation if there’s no planning or communication.”
“I was just… just trying to seize the initiative,” he said. “I have no ranged abilities, so I figured I’d get into their midst and take them by surprise.” He looked away, clearly embarassed. “I’m not used to being on a team.”
“Hey everyone,” Dazel said, coming out of some nearby bushes to clamber up onto Ashtoreth’s back. “How’d the bonding exercise go? Did that new guy die? Oh, guess not.”
“‘New guy’?” Hunter asked reproachfully.
“Yeah, what was your name again? Xx_shadoslayer_xx?
“It’s Hunter.”
“Okay, yeah, but what’s your real name?”
“I told you, it’s Hunter.”
“Oh, okay. I think I get why you’re making one up.”
Hunter sighed. “What?”
“Is your real name ‘Jaxon’ with an ‘x’? I won’t judge you for making a name up if your real one is Jaxon with an x.”
“It’s not Jaxon. I’m Hunter.’
“Oh God, it’s Jaxxon with two x’s, isn’t it?”
“Language, Dazel,” Ashtoreth. “I mean, damn. I know you’re from the Pit of Sorrows and that’s your culture, but can we keep the Authority of Heaven out of it, please?”
“My ‘culture’?” Dazel asked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know,” Ashtoreth said. “That you’re common, low, and vulgar.”
Hunter laughed a little, but Frost’s expression was totally unmoved. “We should head out,” he said.
“Uh-huh!” said Ashtoreth. “And split up these cores. There’s a really steep curve for gaining the power needed for lower levels, with the really low ones taking next to nothing, so you two should get a lot of benefit from these.”
They split the cores three ways, and Ashtoreth wound up a little under three quarters of the way to her next level—the curve was getting steeper.
“You know,” Frost said once he’d finished choosing an upgrade. “He is kind of like Drist.”
“Huh? Who’s Drist?” asked Hunter.
“He’s—oh, he’s a character from some novels based on the Dungeons and Dragons universe, or something. I read them a long time ago. He’s a dark elf with two swords. He was in Baldur’s Gate, actually.”
“Oh, he’s in Baldur’s Gate? Nice. I never ran into him.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“He’s in the first and second ones. I haven’t played the third.”
“Oh,” said Hunter, sounding disappointed. He frowned. “Didn’t those come out in like, the 90s?”
“I… late 90’s, I think?” Frost said dubiously. “It’s been a long time since I played a video game.”
“Oh, I wasn’t born then,” said Hunter. “Anyway, you should check out 3 when you get the chance. It’s really good.”
“I probably won’t do that.”
“Why not? It’s really good.”
“Because of the apocalypse.”
Realization seemed to dawn on Hunter’s face. “Oh. Right.”
He looked sad, so Ashtoreth tried to salvage the situation. “You didn’t get to finish before, Hunter. Tell us what else your build does.”
“Oh,” he said, seeming to come out of his own thoughts. “Well, when I cross the fangs together, I release my ultimate power, the [Embrace of the Shadowflame Dragon].” He paused for a second, then looked at Dazel. “Uh, he’s really struggling—are you sure he’s okay?”
Dazel was shaking uncontrollably, barely clinging to Ashtoreth’s back. “I’m great,” he wheezed. “Please continue. Please.”
“He’s fine,” she said. “Your skills just remind him of an anime he loves, I think.”
“Cool,” said Hunter. “I like anime too.”
“You do?!” Dazel asked, crooning with laughter. “No way!”
Hunter scowled, then ignored him. “Well the [Embrace of the Shadeflame Dragon] gives me the ability to fly for a limited time, and makes my other abilities cost almost nothing while increasing my [Dexterity] and [Defense]. But it’s got a heavy cooldown—an hour. And the other annoying thing about it is that the power it released when I first used it completely burned my shirt away.” He shook his head, staring off into the distance. “Destroyed it almost instantly.”
Dazel burst out into uproarious laughter.
“It’s how I killed my first boss,” Hunter said.
“The cinderwolf?”
“No, that was the second boss I killed. That one was really hard, because the flames all over it meant it was never in shadow. But it had no flames on its belly, so I teleported under it using [Shadowstride] and then slashed its throat with my high [Defense] penetration.”
“Say! That’s pretty clever,” Ashtoreth said appreciatively.
“Uh, thanks,” he said, looking away.
“By the way,” said Dazel. “Did you know that your abilities are way, way stronger if you shout out their names when you use them?”
“No,” said Hunter. “They aren’t.”
“Ignore him,” said Ashtoreth.
“Come on,” Dazel said. “Playful jokes like these are just how I show affection.”
Hunter cocked his head at the cat. “But then how do you show hate?”
“Same way.”
Hunter frowned. “So you’re just… always like this?”
“I believe among humans, it’s called ‘being an asshole’,” said Dazel.
“Quiet,” Frost said, his eyes on the sky.
Ashtoreth followed his gaze to see another flock of winged shadows passing overhead. “More shearbats.”
“Oh,” Hunter said, looking up. “I don’t have much to deal with flyers.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “They’re pretty packed together again. I’ll engage first and then Sir Frost can lay into them with his gun.”
“Right,” said Frost.
“Watch this,” she said, stepping forward. “I’m about to do these guys like Trogdor does a thatched roof cottage!”
Strangely, none of them laughed. They must not have heard her.
“I’m about to do these guys like Trogdor does a thatched roof cottage!” she said, a little louder this time.
“Why did you say that twice?” Frost asked. “Who’s Trogdor?”
“Oh,” Ashtoreth said, crestfallen. She’d sort of been hoping that humans would understand all her references, given that they were humans. But she supposed it made sense that the Burninator wouldn’t be popular with the police, given his propensity for wanton destruction of property.
She launched another hellfire bolt at one of the bats as a distraction. Then she planted her feet and launched her sword right after it, the counterforce pushing her backward hard enough that her heels tore furrows in the earth.
The sword struck one of the bats, and she burst it into flames, causing them all to shriek as the fire washed over them, coating their fur once more. Beside her, Frost opened up with his shotgun.
He killed the first bat he struck, and Ashtoreth ignited its corpse and bathed most of the flock in even more flames. The fight was over in moments. The burning carcasses of the bats fell into the forest ahead of them, some of them sticking into trees.
“Uh, wow,” Hunter said.
“See?” Ashtoreth said, moving forward to draw the flames into her palm. “That’s what I could have done back when we fought the beetles, but I’d have burned you alive. Speaking of, I think this gets me my level.”
She distributed the cores across the team, then absorbed her own. Sure enough:
{Ding! You level up and gain 11 DEX, 11 STR, 15 VIT, 13 MAG, 7 PSY, 7 DEF}
{Reaching level 7 has granted advancement. Choose one of your progression paths other than [Armament].}
Community Goal: 500 Followers!
Reward: 1 Bonus Chapter!
Progress:
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