Chapter 104 (2/2)

Regina grimaced. “That punk. He’s more cruel than he looks. After taking out their long range damage dealers, he’s going to sit there recovering until the group reforms and attacks. Which should be soon.”

Donny quickly issued several orders, and the group split, a dozen or so of the squad members leaving the arena with guilty faces. The remainder began rushing towards the Ghosthound.

“What are they doing…?” Glendel asked, looking at the departing individuals.

“If I had to guess, those were the people that Donny considered to have been “killed” by the Ghosthound’s initial assault. He has his pride, that’s for sure. So the 6 mages, 14 of the squad members, Ptolemy and Annie, all eliminated. Only 1 healer remaining for 28 people.”

“Can they even win….?” Glendel whispered.

Sam, who overheard, rolled his eyes. “Look, if he could just wipe them, he would have done that immediately. It’s a powerful front, but he burned a lot of stamina and mana to do it. The counterattack begins now.”

*****

“My case is simple. I paid the fee to enter into the seeding lottery for Guiding Spirits. I obtained a result with the top 10, which I used to reserve the first village on a specific planet; the planet judged to have the most potential out of the medium grade planets, which refers to itself as Earth. As indicated by the rules, another Village spirit cannot steal my village from me themselves, they must use forces from their own village. A village can only be taken by another village, or by the tribulation. As she is neither, she has broken the rules. I demand my village be returned, and the Aether stripped from her.”

The Rhino nodded sagely, and turned to Kimmy. “And you? Ah wait, the Conduits beckon. Yes oh esteemed Conduit, what is your question?”

Lyra yawned, looking down at the strange robot looking thing that had its hand raised. It pointed at her. “How did she become the village spirit anyway? How was she exposed to holy Aether?”

The eyeball that was Nul shrunk slightly, seeming embarrassed. “... Ah, she…. She was my chosen Sheath.”

To Lyra’s amusement, the one with the most ridiculous reaction was Kimmy. She ballooned up in size. “You designated a Blade and Sheath without informing them? You imbecile, is that why Randidly was so strong?!?”

The eyeball wiggled. “I figured they would be drawn to each other, and his eventual weakness would force the issue. They would be assets for the village. How was I supposed to predict that he would show no signs of Aether starvation? Mr. Shrike, can you tell me how that’s possible?”

Sighing, the Rhino man brought up a menu. “He does not have a class, yes….? Hum… Oh.”

He blinked. “...he seems to have spawned inside of chaotic space, and was moved through direct interference of an Overseer… but this signature….”

After several seconds, Octavius leaned back, still frowning. “...I do understand now. According to this, he was part of a party that cleared a Lvl 35 dungeon… about 9 hours after the system arrived in his world. That certainly seems like a record, but…”

The Rhino shrugged. “The reward for that was enough Aether for him to swim in it for quite a while, it is no wonder he felt no weakness-”

The land beneath them lit up in brilliant light, as the waves of colors were sucked down into the office worker people beneath them, building to a brilliant intensity. Then the floor seemed to collapse, and everything turned dark.

A voice spoke in the dark. “It is allowed. She will remain as the Guiding Spirit for this village. The rules govern only what you cannot do. Since her situation is not covered, it is not forbidden.”

Then the light faded further, and Lyra blinked, finding herself back in the main building of Donnyton.

What…. What had just happened….?

*****

Randidly stood, sighing. It would be too much to hope for that they would allow him to recover after brutalizing them so efficiently for a minute. The Raid Team was surging forward towards him, their faces grim.

No helping it then. He absorbed stamina and mana from the rings on his fingers, 150 of the stamina, and all 300 of the mana. It would simply take too long for the mana to regenerate otherwise. Having some stamina as a buffer would be good, but it was pointless to absorb too much. After all, he wanted to be regenerating it constantly.

He had taken advantage of the fact that he had a whole list of skills that they hadn’t seen or experienced before to knock them on their back foot, and then he was able to knock out some of their more annoying members. Of course, this left the key players, who hadn’t yet played all of their cards.

Although he had enough health to tank, Dozer wasn’t good defending a single person, although he was invaluable at limiting Randidly’s movements near him.. Donny didn’t have the speed or the guile to handle an opponent who could avoid him, but when he was confronted, he was near impregnable. Decklan wasn’t willing to commit until he felt there was an opening, but when that strike descended.... And all the rest of them hadn’t yet learned how to gamble with their lives, because there was simply no other choice.

Grinning, Randidly knew that the other side was currently feeling the pressure of having only a single healer. That was the point.

The true test would be who could continue on under the weight of that pressure. And of course, the weight of facing him.

Standing slowly, Randidly once more activated Agony. Because he wasn’t using potions, he couldn’t use Agony too frequently, in case it decreased his health to the point he might actually die. That would certainly be an ironic end to this spar. But it certainly caused the assault to stall somewhat, as each individual struggled against the consciousness warping pain.

And one by one, they stepped forward, gritting their teeth. He could see it in their eyes, that they craved victory. That they craved the strength to overcome this.

Good. If they didn’t this wouldn’t be any fun at all.

Deep within his chest, that strange, frosted lava energy began to pulse, burning, freezing, and filling him with excitement.