Chapter 63 (2/2)

Randidly only chuckled and spun the sapling to his left hand, which he jabbed backward with, expertly knocking the spearhead harmlessly to the side.

As Randidly turned back to face forward, he found a shield bash rushing toward his head. He swayed his torso, straightening and spinning, avoiding it completely, and twisting around Devan to have a straight shot to Clarissa, who stood with her hands raised above her head, a ball of glowing blue energy held at the ready.

“Frost No-”

But Clarissa had stuttered to a stop; upon seeing her, Randidly knew what spell she was casting, and leapt back towards the 10 man squad who were hurrying back towards him out of formation, desperate to assist.

Three strikes had knocked three men to the ground, with a 4th and 5th soon following. At that point, Alana arrived before him, furious, swinging her spear.

Randidly calmly blocked it, and watched as she tried to kick him in the chest. Randidly sidestepped, and then knocked her legs out from under her. Before he could deliver a blow, knocking her out, a shout dragged his attention back to Devan.

Grimacing, Randidly rushed forward. Challenging Shout was a bitch of a move. He felt as if he could overpower the compulsion to attack the user directly, with his high Willpower, but there was also no harm in going along with it to demonstrate the difference in strength.

He simply thrust, his sapling sliding cleanly through the air towards Devan’s shield, having no other choice but to attack directly. The wooden imitation spear and the reinforced iron shield collided with a dull boom, the force large enough to throw a shock wave outward. Eyes wide, Devan stumbled backwards, his stance completely overpowered.

“Lightning Bolt!” The spell shot out, catching Randidly in the chest. He gritted his teeth slightly to withstand the weird tremors, and then rushed towards Clarissa.

“Frost Nova!”

Randidly hopped off the ground, using the moment of his earlier dash to carry him the rest of the distance towards her. A wave of cold hit him, creating a layer of frost over his skin, but his strength was more than enough to easily overpower it.

He landed and punched her shoulder casually, then looked around, nodding.

“That should be about it then, right?”

*****

Alana stared at their small campfire, her gaze clouded.

Devan sat down next to her. “You’ve never seen him fight before?”

She shook her head slowly. “No… I’ve seen… the monster he killed and brought back, but...I didn’t know…”

“Ah, that’s right. You were out on patrol the day he fought against the Kill squad.” Devan nodded.

The Kill squad was the nickname for Dozer’s personal squad. It also could include Donny, Ptolemy the healer, and the Brawler, depended on what they needed. It wasn’t ranked, both because it included people from multiple squads, and because Dozer and Donny didn’t join the squad competition, but its strength couldn’t be denied. “Who was there?”

“Everyone.” Devan’s tone was bitter.

“How… how did they do?”

Devan offered her a mug of coffee. She took it. “Better than us. They started out being brutalized, but Donny was guarding Ptolemy full time, and they managed to slowly box The Ghosthound in while getting healed, and the Brawler was able to touch him. After that….he used one of his basic skills. Phantom Thrust. It was… impossible to see. You saw him raise his arm, and then you woke up, hours later with a headache. This happened to everyone.”

They sat in silence for several minutes, Clarissa drifting over and settling down next to them, hearing what they were talking about. She leaned forward conspiratorially. “He hasn’t told anyone, but Daniel says that based on his talks with Nul, the Ghosthound’s Spear Skills should be around 30. Maybe even higher than that.”

“Is he…” Alana hesitated, then said. “Is he ever gonna take a class…?”

Devan shrugged noncommittally. “Does he need to?”