Chapter 103 (2/2)

As time continued, Randidly removed several rings that he had Sam made earlier in the day, and slipped them on his fingers. His talks with the potion makers here had gone well, and they were now hard at work, gathering the materials to create more potions. 10 rings an all, each with around 60 worth of storage. 300 Stamina and 300 mana, waiting for the moment where he needed it.

HIs ace in the hole, although Randidly suspected that this would swiftly become a battle of attrition. Health, Mana, and Stamina would ultimately be the limiting factors on him. But he made no effort to store health. That was never his game. His top end performance was undoubtedly what gave him the ability to battle, while the numerosity of this opponents meant that once that ran out, it would be much more difficult to continue.

He would either crush them with skill, or be worn down by numbers. With a mild gaze, Randidly looked at Donny. “Are you prepared?”

Donny nodded.

*****

Lyra felt the summons coming even as she maintained eye contact with Randidly. Smiling softly to herself, she turned away, allowing her body to slowly disperse, while her core was strangely teleported away, off the planet Earth and to a place deep within the realms of the Nexus. If the connection between Randidly and herself fell to pieces, so be it. Just because the system no longer pushed them together, didn’t mean it couldn’t happen anyway.

Her body recondensed, and Lyra found herself standing on a dais. Opposite her, also on a dias, was a grey blob that she recognized as Kimmy, and a floating eye ball. She winked at them both, and was delighted to see the blob begin to roil, and the eyeball scrunch itself up into a ball of annoyance.

A higher dias completed their triangle, and on it sat a creature with the head of a Rhinoceros. The area around them was filled with waves of color, like they were inside the aurora borealis, but none of the other 3 seemed to pay it much attention. Instead, Lyra coolly glanced around, demonstrating how unruffled she was by the whole ordeal.

Sitting below them, on a lower level, were dozens of… creatures, who appeared to be typing and writing, talking back and forth, as if they were simply working in an office. Lyra used her skill Eyes of Wonder and glanced around again.

She was amused to find that the two individuals on the dias opposite her, which were likely Nul and Kimmy, barely had a thimble’s worth of Aether between them. Meanwhile, she had about 2.5 Aether Springs within her, 1 for Donnyton, 1 for beating a Trainee level tribulation, and .5 from Turtletown being absorbed by Kimmy prior to her own subsequent absorption.

But she was chilled to find that the Rhinoman burned with Aether in her vision, on another level altogether.

“Ahem,” The Rhino spoke, with a surprisingly soft voice. “I, Octavias Shrike, do hereby call this hearing to order. The conduits are below, bearing witness, may the will of Aether be served. Err…. Mr… Nulmilima, you may begin. Please present your evidence.”

****

10 seconds crept past after the two sides both acknowledged they were ready, with no motion on either side. The tension was almost unbearable for the crowd, who were locked in agonizing stillness, not able to move, lest they miss what happened, when it happened.

Ever the profane, Annie loosed an arrow, which shot through the lines, screaming towards the Ghosthound. As it whistled past, several individuals sprang into motion, following it in a low sprint, led by Paolo and Kayle. Decklan moved like a ghost among them, not ready to attack, but wanting to use this opportunity to close the distance between them.

Dozer fell back, setting himself in from of Annie, club raised. Donny began to march forward with his squad, intent on surrounding the Ghosthound. The mages prepped themselves, waiting for the Ghosthound’s response, ready to bombard him at the slightest sign of space.

They did not have to wait long.

“Pierce the Skies, Shatter the Earth.” the Ghosthound’s form blurred upward, before falling down back behind Donny’s squad, putting himself between the tanks and the healers. His ascent was so rapid that he slipped past the arrow, and the vanguard only had time to turn before he crashed to the ground, leaving large cracks in the carefully constructed arena.

The healers and mages were close, and stunned by the blast of force and dust, but most of Dozer’s squad was around him now, and they were very quick to regain their footing, leaping forward. The Ghosthound’s eyes landed on the nearest person, a young man with short hair and brown skin, who wielded a heavy iron ball on the end of a chain.

“Agony.”

The wave of pain billowed outward, afflicting them all. The closest were the most powerfully affected, and they seemed to be frozen, unable to compute the mental strain they were abruptly placed under. In the Ghosthound’s mind, it was only an annoying buzzing at the edges of his nerves, but he remembered how the whole world seemed to warp under that wave of pain, the first time he experienced it.

Of course, these individuals might not have the stats that the Ghosthound did at the time, but they surely had more levels than he had, and the young man in front of him had gritted his teeth and forced his eyes to focus on the enemy in front of him. But of course, this was only the beginning.

“Circle of Flame.”

Fire crashed outward, knocking most of Dozer’s squad on their asses, already barely managing to handle the crushing pain. Donny’s squad was hurrying around, but the Ghosthound was much too quick, and he streaked towards the heavy mages with the middle of the formation, his agony crushing their ability to respond intelligently.

A few were able to raise their hands to cast icicles and fireballs, but they were easily dodged. However, a whistling cause the Ghosthound to still, a arrow whizzing in front of his face. Immediately, he raised a hand and pointed.

“Incendiary Bolt.”

The burning projectile ripped forward, burning Annie follow up arrow to a crisp. Dozer stepped forward, raising his club to block the magical attack. To his surprise, the spell bore a hole straight through the enchanted metal of the rare club he had obtained from a dungeon, and ripped a huge hole in his bicep.

The defense had saved Annie, but it spelled doom for the heavy mages; while Annie was prevented from firing, the Ghosthound arrived among them, breaking their legs, knocking them out, and then tossing them out of the arena.

The Ghosthound turned slowly, his eyes blazing emerald. His message clear.

Had this been real, those people would have just died. Donnyton would have suffered losses, not 20 seconds into the battle. Their damaging magics were sealed.

This was his true strength. This was the monster that could defeat a tribulation before even obtaining a class. This was the one who made Donnyton possible, who made sure it thrived.

This was the legend named Randidly Ghosthound.