Chương 166: A Blade's Edge

The demon had recovered in a single move. That was complete and utter bullshit. It was low on Mana, but Ozy and I weren't much better either. Ozy had used Alchemy to transmute the snow on the slope to some alchemical substance that was flammable. Not good for combat, but good for a trap. My runic array had ignited everything on the slope, including all ten beastkin. Unfortunately, the demon was too far back. I rushed at it the moment the attack was unleashed.

I knew the heat would mess with Cold Absorption and the light would blind it. My various spells struck the demon. Its flesh was still burnt in several places. The demon had male anatomy, but that wouldn't be a weak point. Monsters might have bodies, but they were mostly made of Mana. I had used a bow at the start to wound it and hopefully slow the monster down, but it had easily tanked the hit. Attacking with my sword, I had aimed for its neck before it could fully recover.

I had to swing upwards, but its neck was within my reach. The monster had blocked, sacrificing four fingers on its right hand to back up. Dark red blood dripped from the severed stumps as it glared heavily at me. It was getting darker, but the demon was easy to see and sense. The flames from earlier had almost died completely. The icy wind bit into me. I needed to act before the demon could fully recover. If I didn't kill it now, each fight would be more difficult, since it would know more about my skills.

Vibration Blade was active as I rushed forward. The demon retreated, but Ozy had maneuvered behind it. Space twisted and the demon stumbled." Lightning Beam!" The darkness lit up. I made sure not to stare into my spell skill. The spell hit the demon in the side, and his body locked up. I lunged forward. My sword sank into his side. I ripped it out, to the side. Blood and viscera poured out of the wound as the demon stumbled back. I swung again.

The demon didn't hesitate to bring their left arm to deflect my blade from their torso. They lost their left arm but were already running away. Ozy tried to intercept them, but the demon darted around the Toxic Breath attack. The demon disappeared into the darkness, leaving a trail of blood behind. I wanted to chase, but I could feel my very soul freezing from the chilly wind. Even if I caught the demon and won, I would likely freeze to death afterwards.

"Ozy, shelter," I said and communicated mentally. I let Vibration Blade drop. My Danger Sense let me know the demon had fled completely. We quickly built an igloo and took shelter inside.

"Flame Blade." The shelter heated as I used up the last of my Mana. I pulled out food and water for myself. Ozy was enjoying an arm and four fingers, eating the body parts the demon had left behind. He was quite happy with the meal. I was glad someone was happy with what happened. I had won the battle but lost the war. The demon had escaped despite everything I had done. What I hadn't expected was it to recover like it had, get partially burned, get gutted, lose an arm, and still escape.

Its tenacity was impressive. My mother's death at the hands of a demon made sense. It would be incredibly wary of me in the future. And while it would recover in time, it would struggle to recover quickly. A partially burnt hand and arm were nothing compared to the damage I had inflicted. I slept without worry that night. It wasn't coming back tonight, no matter what. The next day, I examined the battlefield. Ten burned corpses were on the partially melted slope, covered in a bit of snow and ice.

Melee was the strength of the beastkin, though it was their downfall against a spellblade. I surveyed the vicinity of my battle with the demon. I observed the trail of blood as it moved off. Killing the demon wasn't necessary. Nobody would give a prize or reward for its death. But it was the type of monster that had killed my mother. It deserved to die. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. It was too big a risk, and chasing it would make it desperate.

I would have pursued it if it had done something unforgivable, or if it was a future threat. A yellow and / or green core would be nice. I knew how to Alchemically preserve its body for skill extraction for a skilled Alchemist. A chance at one of the demon's skills was the biggest temptation. That, more than anything, convinced me I should pursue it instead of running away to the dungeon. When I returned with a demon's corpse, it would be a major accomplishment.

As I followed the blood trail, I had considered using Soul Strike in the fight. However, mixing that skill with my spell skills wasn't easy. Also, it risked my soul, using it as a weapon against another soul. The risk wasn't worth it when I had spell skills I could use. Who knows how a thinking monster could take advantage of such a skill? Better to stick with direct spell skills for combat. The blood trail disappeared in places, but it wasn't hard to pick it back up.

I didn't need a tracking skill to follow the demon. I knew I was going to be losing my relative position of where I needed to go to find the dungeon entrance, but that was okay. Tracking down and killing the demon was a better prize. Reaching the side of the mountain, there was a cave the blood trail disappeared into.

"A demon home," I muttered, blade in hand." Light Orb." I advanced with confidence into the cave, checking every area, especially the ceiling. My Danger Sense wasn't giving me a warning. I reached the bottom of the cave, where were was a lot of blood, but no demon. Looking around, there was nothing else. Pulling out a stone plate, I hesitated. If the demon was hiding under the loose stone that made up the floor, then this would bury its body. I put the stone plate away.

I would try another method first, rather than give up any chance of recovering the corpse.

"Ozy," I said and focused on what I wanted him to do. Ozy began using up more Mana converting the loose stone that had been quite bloody into a mix of aluminum and rusted iron. Converting stone into metals was a slow process and incredibly Mana heavy. I pulled out ten thousand orange Mana cores and fed them to Ozy. He was able to convert that Mana into Alchemy. If the demon was hiding under the ground, this would force it to the surface. Ozy landed on my shoulder, tired. He had done a good job." Fireball."

My spell skill impacted the ground that Alchemy had changed. For a moment nothing happened, then it burst into a pillar of molten flames. The temperature rapidly skyrocketed as the pillar of flame melted into the ground, turning the surrounding stone molten. After half a minute, the jet of flame stopped, but revealed no demon. I had been sure it was hiding underground in this cave. Even using a range of sensory skills, I didn't pick up on where it might be hiding.

The only explanation was that it had laid a false blood trail into this cave to deceive me. I had no experience in tracking to tell the difference between an actual blood trail and a false one.

"Smart monster," I muttered, disappointed that I wouldn't be able to get a skill extracted from it. My first encounter with a demon went better than I had expected but was also incredibly frustrating. Leaving the cave, I followed the blood trail back, looking for any trails breaking off of it. Ozy even did a flight up in the air around the entrance of the cave, but spotted nothing.

Once I got back to the site of the original battle, I set off in the direction I hoped the mountain I had set up an orientation point on. My mind drifted back to the previous battle. The most powerful aspect in any fight was surprise. Being able to attack without your opponent being able to counter was the best option. The beastkin had thought they were clever rushing at me, but I had time to prepare for their approach. That was another lesson.

With my skills and Ozy's help, I had an immense advantage in any battle I could prepare for ahead of time. It had been tempting to use my free stat points, but I had held off. The situation was under my control enough that I wasn't in a panic. Adjusting stats mid-combat was a bad idea. It would take me time to get used to any changes they might make. Ozy had proved his worth. While he was also a weak link, that extra pool of Mana was invaluable along with his skill set.

Alchemy-based combat was incredibly versatile and unexpected. It wasn't a common fighting style. That Ozy's egg came from deep in the dungeon made him unique compared to other monsters that were higher up. The demon's shape was interesting; it looked like a larger human. It wouldn't be able to hide easily. I would have thought it would have looked like a beastkin. Something to investigate and ask about at the College or to my father when I got back.

Now that I had food, the pressure on my shoulders had been greatly reduced. I had years to work out a solution to get back to the Eldarin Continent. The risk of interacting with the beastkin had been worthwhile. It was a shame that I couldn't get much else beyond the cloak and knowledge of this continent. I wasn't upset, just a feeling of frustration that lingered from not killing the demon. But even my mother struggled to kill annoying opponents.

Xanatos escaping her clutches put into perspective how annoying escape skills were. That was something I would have to look into the future or with soul skills. I wanted a way to stop my enemies from escaping. It was annoying. Also, I needed to work on Stillness more. It wasn't good enough to use to break off from combat like my mother's instructions showed should be possible. More skills to work on. For now, I would find the dungeon entrance and work on grinding monsters and working on my skills.

The dungeon wasn't safe, but intelligent opponents were far more annoying. If I ran into Abnormal, I would look for a natural treasure. That brought a smile to my face. A bit of knowledge that was incredibly useful. Any natural treasures I could find in the dungeon were never a bad thing. Even if there were Abnormals, I had confidence in myself and my skills. Ozy booped me with his snoot. And confidence in Ozy as well.