Chapter 774 (1/2)

After four hours, Helen regarded the three root avatars in front of her with a furious glare. This turned out to be her limit. Three of the puppets that Randidly controlled. And even this was taxing upon her.

Immediately, Helen activated the Tides of Blood Domain. A thick wave of crimson spread across the arena, moving with the soft eddies of the air currents that Helen controlled. In response, two of the avatars rushed toward Helen. The last one straightened and held its vine spear aloft. Slowly, energy seemed to gather at the tip of its spear.

Helen’s mouth twisted into a snarl. This was the first fucking problem. These strange root people looked humanoid enough, but they simply weren’t humans. Their bodies only mimicked human movement, not actually followed it. As such, they were a hair faster than Helen expected. It was aggravating how quickly they responded.

The second problem was that they possessed images. Not full strength Skills, thank god, but close enough to be a hassle to deal with en mass.

And the third problem…

The two front avatars dashed toward her with obvious intent to block her. But the Bloodfin Reaper in her blood seemed to cackle with glee as she easily cut between them toward the third. They had prepared well, and both of the front two released the freezing, immobilizing storm move that Randidly had used to beat her in their match. But Helen had improved much since then and forced herself through.

...just in time for an overwhelming image of Sharpness to burst from the last of the three avatars as it cut across the entire arena, severing her Tides of Blood Domain. Helen’s eyes narrowed into slits.

“IT FUCKING BOOSTS MY LEARNING SPEED YOU PRICK!” Helen bellowed. But of course, there was no answer.

Immediately much of Helen’s grace and quickness was lost, but she still unleashed a vicious series of thrusts at the third avatar. As it was rather unprepared after the severing of her Domain, it to sever deep hits to the body. Which it ignored, as it wasn’t a person. Instead, it counter-attacked directly.

“That would have gutted Skarch,” Helen grumbled, but her spear slashed sideways and knocked the counter-attack out of the way. Then she followed up with a few powerful thrusts that ripped away portions of the avatar’s body, leaving the thing largely helpless before her.

But then the other two avatars arrived.

With its spear rushing forward, Helen just managed to twist out of the way of the Inevitable Phantom Arrives. The air hummed with the image’s passage. Helen’s expression was grim. How the fuck had Randidly’s images become so powerful in only a month…?

The second avatar rushed in with an overhand smashing blow, but Helen casually twisted and swatted the spear off its trajectory. Although she was no within her Domain, she was still stronger and faster than these. Or she had meant to. What she hadn’t expected was the avatar to drop its spear and rush at her with hands wreathed in emerald flame.

“SHE WON’T BE FUCKING USING SPELLS!” Helen roared. But there was nothing to do but sweep her spear back downward and hack off one of the avatar’s arms.

As if suspecting that very move, the fuckwit root sidestepped and clapped its hands together. A bolt of emerald fire flew forward and slammed Helen in the chest. All it did was knock the wind out of her, but that was more than enough for the second avatar to land a few brutal spear blows on her arm.

Growling, Helen rolled backward and looked up to find that the avatar she had brutalized earlier had rapidly regenerated its body. An Idiosyncratic Cut smashed into Helen’s temple and sent her reeling. The other two swiftly gathered around and began to slash and bludgeon her. There were a few seconds where Helen expected the blows to stop until she had a chance to recover, but they didn’t.

The avatars kept hitting her.

“RANDIDLY!!!!” Helen exploded upward with sparks flying from her eyes. Her spear cut left and right, drawing long currents of air the pushed two of the avatars backward. The third rushed forward, but Helen’s TIdes of Blood Domain descended once more in that small opening.

With infuriating predictability, the avatar in front of her shifted to a defensive posture while the two that were farther back both prepared to sever her domain.

What is he THINKING, Helen fumed. I need these Skill Levels. My domain boosts how fast I gain them. If you cut the Domain again, I will fucking kill you.

Maw of the Hellfin was a Skill that borrowed from Helen’s exposure to Randidly. Although it wasn’t a Mana based spell, it looked a lot like one. It drew from Helen’s Health and Stamina and produced a huge crimson monster that rushed toward the target and took a huge bite. When it struck the vine avatar, fueled by Helen’s furious image, it treated the think like a ragdoll. The avatar in the defensive posture was thrown helplessly into one of the back two which were preparing to sever her domain.