Chapter 265 (1/2)

Lucretia’s voice was warm like rotting milk, and it felt just as greasy and unwelcome as it dripped over his skin.

What was worse was that it set off a huge surge of emotions inside Randidly, causing the image of Phantom’s Embrace to waiver. Only earlier that day had Lucretia appeared, and Randidly had been too nervous to bargain much, and it had likely cost Shal. The fact that she dared show up now, offering help....

It showed how much Randidly had let her get away with. She was cocky.

And it really, really pissed him off.

With his will, Randidly reached, creating a firmer mental connection than she dared. “Anguish.”

A familiar pain crashed into him, along with a heavy weight of mental buzzing, that ground away at the edges of Randidly’s consciousness. Immediately, he could feel Lucretia’s shock, and she attempted to recoil, but he held fast, mentally gripping her, bringing her into his misery. Actually….

Randidly activated Torment then too, and thousands upon thousands of whispers sprang up around him. It was… disconcerting to say the least. This level of action from Torment was far beyond what he was used to, but he supposed it triggers for the individual. Since he had a mental connection with Lucretia at the moment, the skill affected her as well, and some of her deepest phantoms made their way to the surface.

“You are worthless, unwanted.” They said, hundreds at a time, their whispers twisting and merging into a droning buzz. “You will die. You cannot escape it. Give up.”

Lucretia’s mental struggles began to grow, but although he could feel the power of her Battle Intent, because this was a connection based on an Aether Tether, she could bring none of that to bare. She flared wildly, just aiming to crush him back with her superior Willpower. Although it definitely seemed she was much, much stronger than him, he did have some levels in the Mental Strength and Mental Fortitude Skills, and was able to endure, just barely.

Also, as she resisted him, he gained several levels in each, which was a nice bonus.

But this internal struggle was just a distraction, and Randidly quickly put his vindictive strike back at Lucretia on the backburner. Although it was incredibly insidious at weakening his will, Randidly left Torment active, at least as long as he could.

Although Torment didn’t reach the three assailants, Anguish certainly did, and they all were approaching more hesitantly, unable to understand the waves of agony that were caused by Randidly’s energy. Randidly’s mouth quirked up in a wry smile. He supposed they could just wait him out, after all, Anguish still ran off of health. He would drain himself dry like this, eventually.

At the same time, all three assailants burst back into motion, blurring to a speed even greater than their previous advance. It seemed the strange skills were increasing their sense of urgency. Which was annoying, because Randidly had to believe something would change if he bought himself enough time.

Activating Burning Footsteps, Randidly continued to flee backwards, farther down the road, towards the edge of the city. It would be better to move deeper, rather than farther out, but that would mean somehow breaking through the web of the assailants. Randidly thought he could manage it, but until he ran out of options he wouldn’t want to expend all of that Stamina.

The flames were rather weak, due to the low Burning Footsteps skill level, but Randidly had put a lot of points into Intelligence, which upped the damage and pain they inflicted. Although these three seemed to have enough Health to just charge through the fire, hopefully the continued burns would lead to a mistake.

Which they actually didn’t, in terms of giving the spear users any sort of hesitation. They stepped right onto them, stomping with such force that a shockwave blasted outwards, putting out most of the flames. Spearing Roots shot out again, but they weaved through them. A raven condensed above the head of Black Spear as he thrust forward.

Randidly threw himself to the side, cursing himself, letting Anguish and Torment drop.

“Let this be a lesson to you…” Randidly whispered mentally to Lucretia, as he loosened his grip and let her go. He could feel her fury and embarrassment, but although it was a short term feeling, it filled him with vindictive joy. Serves her right.

Unfortunately, as Randidly got himself back in fighting position, it placed him right in front of Brown Spear, who lashed out with a speed so fast that Randidly could just block and hope for the best.