Chương 219: Soloing a drake

We moved away from the rescue team and prepared ourselves to fight a drake each. This time we had to lure our prey ourselves. Something that was easier than expected. The monsters were highly territorial. Just Mary, Rhea, and I were left to prepare while the others fought. Actually, Quinn was already at his second monster. He felled the first with just a stab to the head. Being an assassin class had its perks.

Rhea started creating a complex ritual using items and a rock that was already there for some reason, while Mary was accumulating her healing mana into a swirling golden-green ball over her hand. For my part, I stared at the drake I chose to be my opponent and started casting a hex. This time, instead of the usual slowing debuff, I decided to do something similar to when I took down the evil root tree.

I imprinted a strand of life force I extracted from my ring with my will even before using it to create the hex, then I activated the skill in conjunction with both Reinforced Infusion and Malignant Threshold. A loop of sorts got created. Malignant Threshold would empower my hex, and together with Reinforced Infusion the boost was substantial.

I discovered that the skills acted in very different ways, but the most incredible thing was that as soon as I was about to cross the metaphysical threshold of mutating the hex, the reinforcement from the other skill pushed the threshold farther away. In my hand I was accumulating a very powerful hex, not as powerful as if I had all my stats, but nearly there. The synergy was incredible.

The only thing stopping me from continuing indefinitely was the strain it was putting on my ability to control the energies, and my will. I pushed and pushed, using more life force, more mana, and a single intention, to sever the connection between the core and the body. I knew that the monster had a core already. I could feel it pulsing in its chest. Let's see if this worked. The sound of fighting and screaming, both from my teammates and the monsters, registered as a distant sound.

My whole being was focused on this little thing in my hands. It nearly looked like a flower. Blue and gold energies coalesced in layers just to turn into a gray and violet thing at the core. I went through the process multiple times. After nine cycles I couldn't hold it anymore. The only thing I could do was hold it as the hex went through a kind of metamorphosis. It wasn't a simple hex anymore, but not even a curse. It was a blossom. The now-dark blossom was not bigger than an apple.

It was beautiful, and dangerous. I kept it in a kind of stasis. It was nearly ready to bloom. It just needed a host. I approached the drake I chose for this little experiment and let the hex go. It flew quite slowly toward the monster. The dumb thing waited until it was right in front of its face before chomping down on it, then proceeded to step out of the swamp in my direction. I let go of the control I was keeping on the blossom, and I felt lightheaded.

I hadn't even realized how difficult it was to keep that thing steady. The effect wasn't instantaneous, but the monster twitched. Its powerful legs lost their smooth predatory gait and instead moved erratically, going here and there, then they just shut down. It tried to roar as it wriggled its body, trying to reach me even in its death throes. I stepped towards it. Damn, that was hard. It made my curse act up. I felt like shit after this little experiment, well, shittier than before...

The drake lay there, immobile. It worked really well, I thought, much better than I expected. Now I could not feel any kind of necrotic mana in the monster, as if it were just another normal carcass, but I didn't get any kind of notification, probably because I still had to remove the core... Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I created a blade made of Entropic Lance, modifying the skill into a kind of long-bladed scalpel.

I didn't have the raw power for a powerful weapon, so I went with compressing the mana as much as I could and started cutting around the scales. I was a palm deep into the monster's flank when a powerful blast of necrotic mana sent me airborne. I was so surprised that I didn't even manage to use my skills in time. I splashed into the dirty water far away from the beast, then I accelerated my perception and enveloped myself in an aura cocoon.

The sun winked out, and in its place the jaws of the drake clamped down around me, obscuring my vision. I felt a great strain on my aura. The monster's bite was strong, but not enough to pierce through my defenses. I could feel my hex was still in its core, but it was fractured, overpowered by the beast's own magical might. I started to rise from the ground, putrid water flowing down from my hair into my face. As I rose, the monster got pushed back too.

Then I poured all my will into my aura, sharpening it into a single, extremely compressed needle. I expanded my defenses a little, and with them the mouth of the beast opened farther. Its claws were uselessly trying to shred my cocoon with no success. Then, as I aligned the beast with the needle, I shot it down its throat and into the softer tissues, exactly towards its core. After a cracking sound, the drake went slack, falling down and splashing our surroundings with more dirty water.

I took a breath as I heard the chime of a System notification. I checked for good reason, and yes, it was dead.

"Are you okay?" asked Mary while running towards me. With a quick use of my ring I cleaned myself up and combed my hair back.

"I'm good, I just got caught by surprise." If that had been a real attack instead of just a release of mana, I would have been dead. Fuck. Steady, breathe, smile.

"Are you sure?" Her healing magic swept through me, and she suddenly stopped, her eyes becoming as big as saucers.

"Wh-what is... Elias..." she shout-whispered to me.

"What in the name of God is going on inside your body? Are you... dying?" Her look of concern was unnecessary. I should have anticipated this. Instead I thought myself invincible, like usual, and now Mary would be onto me. I didn't want more people to know about me, so with my Accelerated Processing I managed to think of an excuse.

"Nothing like that, Mary, but thank you. I am actually under a particular kind of training. It's related to my use of hexes and curses. I'm subjecting myself to them as a matter of study, and it's already bearing fruit. I just have to be a tad more careful while this is on." I showed her the bracelet. She studied it for a couple of seconds, then she locked eyes with me again.

"Elias, if you need help, you just have to ask. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, so please, if I can help with my magic, I will." I never even thought about it, but I did save her life in the shrine. It actually never registered in my mind. There were always more things, more problems. Maybe I should reconsider planting a Veiled Marionette on her...

"Thank you, it means a lot." And it did, but now I didn't need more eyes on my condition.

"I will be done with this thing in a matter of days. There's nothing to worry about, really." She gave me a dubious look but didn't insist, then we went together back to the group.

"Holy hell, for a moment I thought we were going to lose our fearless leader!" said Chloe.

"It would take much more than an overgrown lizard to bring me down," I joked back.

"What the hell happened anyway!? That thing looked dead and..." Ding!

"... then it sent you flying like a kite!" Quinn's excited voice faded as I focused on the new notification. What was that? If I had gained any kind of achievement I would have received it the moment after killing the drake... ──────────── Through indirect means you have killed a Frost Mage Lv. 27 Tutorial Points Earned: 13 ──────────── What the fuck? Ding! ──────────── Through indirect means you have killed a Brute Warrior Lv. 32 Tutorial Points Earned: 16 ──────────── Oh shit, this is not good, not at all...