Chapter 179 (1/2)

Helen felt her eyes drifting closed as she fought, even as the two men had their expressions change from lust to something much more serious. Helen’s grin was wicked.

“Fucking perverts,” She said, laughing inwardly, as she swayed between their admittedly powerful, but rough attacks. Although they were both fine spear users, they had no concept of teamwork between them, so their overall utility was heavily inhibited by each other. Their skills and methods were not complimentary at all. Soon, their serious gazes turned into annoyance as they were as much foiled by each other as Helen.

The large man rushed towards her, slashing diagonally towards her with her spear. Helen pretty easily swayed under the blow, and the pudgy man sprung forward, executing a fearsome thrust.

She pirouetted to the side, the thrust ripping a small gash in her leather armor, but the attack also made the large man, who was rushing towards Helen’s exposed back, hastily jump to the side to avoid the blow. The two men glared at each other for a second, then grudgingly turned back to Helen, their eyes once more regaining a lustful tint as they traced Helen’s curves.

Normally Helen would be infuriated by the flagrant disregard of her skill as a spear user, and even now that was annoying, but the dodging, the flowing moves… something was coming alive inside of Helen. It was a cool, icy electricity, a lump of spinning stardust in her chest that seemed to be animating her whole body. Tingling streams flowed outward, and she felt strangely alive.

Several small bits of information came together in her head. The energy released by Randidly in the past. The way her mother always recommended that Helen find a man who could complete dungeons, and sleep with him immediately after he returned from a victorious dungeon. It was pretty common knowledge that a man’s seed contained some fraction of the Aether that he had in his body, and a woman could take from for herself with her body.

Which, at the time, disgusted Helen. Not that she had any interest in sex, especially with the leatherworkers she had grown up around, but it was repugnant to her that she would effectively trade her body for a night in exchange for a bit of Aether. She already obtained some from her class, what was the point in having more?

But now, with this wondrous energy coursing through her, practically sculpting itself according to her will… Helen’s heart rate was skyrocketing, but at the same time, her vision became strangely bright and pristine. It was like the two men in front of her were slow moving monkeys, trying to catch her.

The huge man rushed forward, smashing downward with a powerful blow. Helen flowed around it, her spear flicking out to hit him in the side, sending him stumbling. The pudgy man blanched, seeing Helen approach like a swift death, but he was still a spear user. He raised his spear in a defensive posture, and thrust forward to meet her advance.

Helen breathed very deeply, the stardust in her chest now exploding outward, like a levy bursting and unleashing a flood. She had to hold that breath, because the strange feeling made it impossible for her to contract her lungs. It was a strange stasis, but to her surprise, her senses continued to sharpen to a point, every detail of the pudgy man appearing before her eyes.

Congratulations! Your Skillset: The River’s Three Bends (Un) can undergo a change. Would you like to allow this to happen?

Warning, this will require a large quantity of energy. If you possess insufficient fuel, weakness or death may result. Do you wish to proceed?

Of course, Helen didn’t even think about it. She didn’t know of anyone who truly was willing to pass up the opportunity to have their own created skill set, or to expand it. Because it was a path to a future that you forged for yourself. Helen thought yes, and she was filled with a rush of inspiration.

Congratulations! Your Skillset has become The River’s Four Bends ®. You have learned the skill The Fourth Bend: Surging Rapids (Un) Lvl 1.

With blazing eyes, Helen surged forward, passing the thrust of the pudgy man, and her spear ripped upward, knocking his weapon upwards, so it was pointing towards the sky, and the pudgy man’s body was completely unprotected. His eyes widened in horror.

The huge man launched an attack towards Helen’s back, but she was already bursting forward, filled with the strange ferocity of her Fourth Movement: Surging Rapids. She brought her spear across and smashed the pudgy man so far that he hit the railing of the boat and tumbled over.

“Fucking perverts.” Helen said gleefully, turning to face the larger man, whose expression was quite ugly.

****

Wincing Randidly once more dodged to the side. His spear flicked out and ripped a small gash in Jacktat’s cheek, but the man was a furious god of war now, ignoring the damage and smashing forward with his spear once more. It was appropriate that this man had a thunder related style. He definitely had the power and delivery to back it up.

Also, Randidly’s earlier statement that he had the strength to stand up against an Artisan was slowly becoming more and more hollow. Sure, he had survived, and he had inflicted quite a few small wounds, but… It was becoming increasingly clear that he couldn’t stand up to the power of Jacktat’s strikes, and the opposing spear user had enough rhythm to make it very difficult to land any hits that would inflict real damage.

Roaring, Jacktat advanced, smashing back and forth with his spear. Randidly retreated, using Phantom Half Step and Footwork of the Spear Phantom to maintain a pretty solid grip on the distance between them. Once more, Randidly slashed outward, hitting a few glancing blows on Jacktat’s arms, but that didn’t slow him down at all; in fact, it seemed to incense him further, and he rushed forward, his heavy spear raised.