Chapter 456 (1/2)

As Cyndra rushed forward towards him, he put the pistol back into his spatial ring, hoping that he would have a few clashes to get the measure of her before he would be forced to shoot it, in order to repel the Creature’s Aether probes. This time, the Creature was sending them staggered, so one pierced in quickly, one medium speed, and the final one just revolved around, ripping the edges off of his Aether flood, managing it.

Boom.

Crack.

When his body hit the far wall, rebounding off of its cracked surface, Randidly spat out a mouthful of blood. He was barely able to keep his footing, and Cyndra was already ripping towards him, holding her two long knives high, her eyes glowing a bright and vivid violet.

“How…?” Randidly asked, shocked, but he didn’t have time, because she was already there in front of him. His body wasn’t cooperating, so, in spite of his thoughts on wasting so much Mana so early, he activated Ash to Ash for a brief second, letting the attack reduce his body to ash, condensing quickly several meters away.

Cyndra had to skip a few times this time, slightly stunned by swinging so powerfully without hitting anything. She twisted and glared at Randidly, the fury clear, even while her expression remained strangely distant.

Pursing his lips, Randidly opened up more distance. Already, his powerful regeneration was kicking in, mending his shattered ribs and the deep bruises in his hands, that had barely maintained a grip on his spear. Cyndra began to rush towards him again, quickly gaining a huge amount of momentum.

Although in terms of instant acceleration she wasn’t impressive, her top speed… and her strength…

At the last second, Randidly hopped to the side, dancing past her, and Cyndra’s eyes flashed, her hands blurring. Throwing knives shot outward, cracking against the bones of his cloak, cracking and breaking some. In addition, she stopped, not immediately, but with two short hops, dispersing her momentum, and rushed at him again. It was a slower turn than Randidly had, but the speed was more than he could manage.

Grimacing, Randidly tried to use roots and vines springing up to slow her, but he couldn’t get a handle on her ankles, and his attempts to trip her didn’t phase her in the least; she simply ripped through them with brute force.

Gun. Lucretia’s whisper drew him back to the other threat, and Randidly had to make a difficult decision. Honestly, it wasn’t so difficult, but Randidly hesitated for a split second before making it, almost shocked he had been pushed so far, so quickly. But he did it, gritting his teeth, taking one hand off of his spear, raising and shooting the pistol.

The Creature had gotten too greedy after Randidly was struck earlier, and once more lost two of its probes. The third one was far enough back that it was able to snatch it backward at the last minute, avoiding the sharp burning of Aether, and it rushed out immediately.

Looking at the two sharp knife blows coming towards him from Cyndra, Randidly gritted his teeth. He expelled Aether from himself like a rolling back of fog and shot the pistol again. With all the strength he could muster, weakened from overextending his Aether, he swung his spear to meet Cyndra’s blow, activating Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil.

The Aether ignited once more, and the Creature’s probe was annihilated. It screeched in hatred, but then Cyndra’s blows reached Randidly, knocking aside his weakened strike and ripping two large gashes in his bone cloak, cutting deeply into his right shoulder and midsection.

There was enough force to throw him across the arena once more, and Randidly knew in a cold flash that if the Bone Cloak hadn’t been there, those blows would have cut him into three pieces, and no amount of high regeneration would have saved him. Already, he was at 60% life, just from two trades.

But Cyndra had stopped to finish her attack, and behind her was a Grasp of Lava, the fingers so hot they still glowed yellow. The thing closed on her with a satisfying thwap, and Cyndra grunted and fell to the ground.

Grinning, Randidly forced himself to stand, leveraging his body to his feet with his spear. Then, Cyndra also stood, wiping away the lava from her back, her skin red and sizzling, but seeming to be in no real danger.

“Village Dungeons,” Randidly spat out, like a curse.

The Creature licked its teeth. “Exactly. And I trained her with a bit more of a… specific target in mind. Capped her other stats at 250, and all the rest into Strength and Resistance. Be proud, she was designed to make you irrelevant. She even has about 700 fewer stats than you... But with a little focus…”

Randidly grimaced, doing some quick calculations in his head based on his memory of his stats. Then he cursed quietly. If he had basically ignored all the Mental stats and pushed it all into physical, he would likely have something like 500 Strength and Resistance. Which explained why when they crossed swords, he was smashed backward.