Ebook 7: Chapter 47: A Brutal Brawl

As Victor’s rage grew and he pushed his acutely aware thoughts into management of his physique, he felt his Facet of Terror start to fade. He knew he may struggle the change and preserve the side, however he by no means felt good when he got here again to himself after operating amok as an incarnation of concern. He needed out of it. Flexing his wings and angling downward to swoop round a large stalagmite, he fought to push away the stomach-churning waves of guilt and paranoia that got here to him the identical manner they may a drunk after a blackout binge. No, he was completed with concern for now; he was able to embrace some good, clear, hot-burning rage.

So, as he scraped his talons on the stone, coming to relaxation behind the large stalagmite, he pushed the concern out of his pathways, flooding them with rage as an alternative. The shadows swirled round him, taking with them the unusual fur, scales, and feathers of his terror type. The recent fury boiling his blood straightened his limbs, pushed his muscle tissues to the purpose of bursting, and tinted his grey, monochrome imaginative and prescient into shades of blood. Victor solid Iron Berserk and tilted his head again to roar into the echoing cavern.

It was then that he observed a System message lurking within the nook of his imaginative and prescient:

***Congratulations! Your Impart Nightmare – Fundamental has develop into Impart Nightmare – Improved.***

***Impart Nightmare – Improved: Whereas carrying your Facet of Terror, utilizing gathered fear-attuned Power, you may corrupt the spirit of one other being with a seed of concern, sending it to dwell of their Core the place it’s going to develop and fester. This potential will fail upon these whose will can resist your intention. As you enhance your mastery of this spell, it’s going to develop into tougher to withstand and unfold its roots extra quickly. Power Value: Minimal 100, scalable. Cooldown: Depending on harvested concern.***

Victor brushed the message away; he didn’t have time to ponder the repercussions. He was conscious of what the Facet of Terror had completed whereas he’d taken a again seat. He knew solely three enemies had been left within the dungeon, and, with the simmering warmth of his rage stoking the hearth in his chest, he didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to really feel sorry for Sora or the pitiful Nature Caster he’d feasted upon.

He may really feel his swollen, fear-attuned Core and knew he’d taken a lot from them each, even with the interference of the Lifesaver charms. He gripped Lifedrinker, snug and keen in her correct, axe-shaped type, now not the talons on his nightmare alter-ego. “Let’s slay,” he rumbled, lifting her in a single titanic fist, his smoldering gaze scanning the darkness.

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Arona crept via the shadows, following behind Brontes and Valeska, pondering the sound of that nice roar because it echoed via the cavern. It was of a decidedly totally different timbre than the screeches and shrieks that had pounded on everybody’s psyche for the final a number of minutes. Had the stranger modified once more? This new sound was that of a terrific beast—a predator staking a declare, a primal problem for territory.

She’d anticipated shedding a few of her staff within the confrontation, however not two, not earlier than they’d managed to hurt their adversary within the slightest. For all she knew, he was contemporary and complete, undamaged by Sora or Elandor. She couldn’t cease the doubt from creeping into her thoughts—may he deal with them all of sudden? Was it sensible to throw her lot in with these “mates?”

That final thought stung, however she couldn’t assist herself. What would Grasp Vesavo say? He’d mock her for any sentimentality. He’d remind her that the universe is merciless and friendship mere foreign money, meant to be spent for the best revenue. Wouldn’t it’s sensible to hedge her bets? Because the so-called titan bellowed once more, a lot nearer, and Brontes started to surge with sizzling, golden glory, she rasped, “I’ll attempt to flank.” Then, she cloaked herself in chilly, darkish mists and drifted away to the northwest, the place they’d earlier mapped out the exit to the fifth ground. Let these brutes thrash about, distracting one another; she would end the dungeon.

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“Thash proper,” Lesh slurred, slamming his sack of arcanite billets on the desk. “Pure arcanite. I’ll wager it on Victor winnin’ tha’ struggle.” The bet-taker, a person who seemingly shared some widespread ancestry with Lesh’s individuals, ran a thick, pink tongue alongside the lip of his crocodilian snout.

“Might I weigh it?”

“Yesh,” Lesh peered at him via a bleary eye whereas nonetheless making an attempt to give attention to the viewing window on the middle of the massive wall. By means of one of many smaller, magical home windows, he’d seen the Demise Caster slink away, abandoning her companions, and he had confidence that Victor was about to put out a titan-sized thrashing.

“Lesh,” Valla stated, reaching throughout the desk to grip his wrist. “You’ve had a lot to drink . . .”

Lash waved her hand away, snorting. A wonderful mist of acid escaped his nostrils, recognizing the desk and scorching because it sank into the dense, closely stained wooden. “Am wonderful!” he grunted, working laborious to enunciate every phrase. “Weight it!” he growled, “However be fast earlier than my guess is simply too late!”

The person’s scaled, clawed fingers hefted the bag, and he grinned. “Very properly. Given that it’s confirmed to be pure arcanite, I’ll worth this sack at 200,000 beads.” He turned to look on the varied viewing home windows. “Seeing as your boy is now solely dealing with two enemies, and contemplating his earlier victories, I’m solely keen to present one-point-three to at least one odds. That be just right for you?”

Lesh nodded, waving him away. “Yesh.” The bet-taker scribbled one thing in his pocket book, hefted the sack, and wandered over to a different desk the place patrons shouted for his consideration. In the meantime, Lesh turned a bleary eye on Valla. “Ought to’ve guess earlier. Don-shu assume he’ll win?”

Valla sighed and shifted on the laborious, picket bench. He knew how she felt; his arse felt sore, too. “I’ve to consider he’ll. Nonetheless, Lesh, these are highly effective individuals, they usually don’t appear to be the delicate, untested type. The one factor protecting me sane proper now’s that I don’t consider anybody in there can kill Victor so rapidly that the Lifesaver gained’t perform.”

Brontes was sturdy, his girth giving him what it took to soak up Lifedrinker’s hacks, soaking them up as she bit into his huge cudgel. The weapon was sturdier nonetheless; every deep, smoking groove Lifedrinker tore into the wooden closed earlier than Victor’s eyes as he pulled her out. Even so, Victor maintained the offensive, pushing Brontes round and forcing him to expend his Power talents simply to maintain from being dismembered. He grunted and groaned, nice gouts of golden Power surging via him, bolstering his actions, distracting Victor, and drawing issues out.

In fact, the fixed rebuttals to his masterful strokes started to put on on Victor’s frame of mind. An increasing number of rage seeped into his pathways, turning his imaginative and prescient darker and darker shades of crimson. He’d forgotten Valeska and his bear, their contest nothing however a token afterthought within the focus he dedicated to breaking via the large’s resolute defenses. Simply because he’d set her apart mentally, although, didn’t imply the axe girl had forgotten him.

If Victor had been paying consideration, he would have identified his bear had been vanquished. He would have in all probability backed off on his livid assault and tried to get eyes on the girl. He didn’t, although, and he or she caught him mid-attack, utilizing a cost of her personal to streak via the air and bury her two hatchets into the meaty areas beside his higher backbone. They snipped via his armor prefer it wasn’t there, and he knew they’d buried themselves to the picket hafts. To a person Victor’s dimension, the injuries had been an inconvenience, however he’d taken a lot worse.

Roaring in fury, he backed off his assault on Brontes, bunched his legs, and launched himself into the air, utilizing Titanic Leap. Valeska was nonetheless clinging to her axe hafts, hanging from his again, and Victor aimed to impale her on a stalactite. He was so dedicated that he totally anticipated to do the identical factor to himself within the course of, however he was banking on with the ability to get well sooner than she may. Valeska was no slouch; she grunted with shock as they exploded into the air however braced her shoulder towards Victor’s again, holding onto one among her hatchets for buy. On the identical time, she one way or the other created a silvery protect of Power together with her free arm.

The glowing protect shattered the stalactite, sending a rain of rubble down towards Brontes. Victor careened sideways from the affect, tumbling in sluggish movement as he fell towards the bottom. On the final minute, he jerked his shoulder, rolling, making an attempt to smash Valeska into the stone ground beneath him. She, too, jerked, pulling on the hatchet she nonetheless held, sliding it out of Victor’s flesh, and rolling over his facet, bouncing off as he hit the bottom. Victor roared in ache and fury because the remaining hatchet was pushed additional into his again, and he bounced with a cavern-shaking crash.

He’d barely managed to rise up to a knee earlier than Valeska was on him, hacking her single hatchet like a mad girl, left and proper, then downward and reversing the blade to hack it up towards his chin. Victor bobbed and weaved, obtained an arm in the best way, after which, as he bled from three or 4 deep gashes, lastly introduced Lifedrinker round in a horrible chop that caught the girl on the facet of her helmet, sending her a lot smaller body tumbling and bouncing over the stony floor. Victor couldn’t savor the right hit—Brontes smashed into him. The fur-covered large had bounded throughout the cavern on floating discs of glowing golden Power, constructing momentum every time he pushed off.

Victor grunted as hundreds of kilos of meat, bone, and large membership barreled into him, driving him again into one other stalagmite, shattering it. The 2 giants tumbled via the stone fragments, buying cuts of their flesh wherever they weren’t armored. Victor was almost blind with rage by then; every thing was crimson, and he moved by contact, grabbing Brontes underneath one arm, then over his neck with the opposite. He arched his again and pulled with all his would possibly, flinging the big man over him, sending him flying over the rubble-strewn cavern ground. Grunting with fury, Victor lurched to his ft, dimly conscious that Lifedrinker had slipped from his grasp.

He turned, scanning the ground, making an attempt to identify her gleaming, burning axe head within the crumbled stone. Struggling to focus with the fad clouding his sight, he simply caught a glimpse of flickering silvery mild coming towards him. Realizing it was Valeska charging him once more, Victor growled, lowered his helm-covered head towards her incoming type, and solid Roots of the Mountain.

Possibly it was intelligent, or possibly it was silly; he didn’t know but, however he was happy by his fast response, regardless. Valeska’s single hatchet led her cost, very similar to Lifedrinker normally led Victor’s. The blade hit him sq. on the crown of his Kethian Juggernaut helmet, and Victor’s head and physique didn’t even flinch. His spell had made him unmovable. As a substitute, 100% of the affect was absorbed by Valeska’s hatchet, Victor’s helmet, and Valeska’s physique as she crumpled towards him.

With a horrible screeching explosion, the magic that sure the extremely dense metallic of Victor’s helmet failed, and he felt it loosen on his cranium because it break up. The hatchet should have been made of fantastic stuff as a result of its vibrant blade survived the damaging forces, however the deal with turned to splinters and dirt in Valeska’s hand. Her fingers twisted and snapped as they hit Victor between the eyes. Then, as her physique crumpled towards him, he heard a number of extra sickening, moist snaps as bigger bones broke. Your complete collision lasted a break up second, after which Victor was left reeling, blood dripping into his eyes, his ears ringing. Valeska writhed in agony at his ft.

Growling, Victor reached up and pulled off his broken helmet, shaking his head, making an attempt to get his ears to work correctly once more. The mighty helmet was break up from the nose-guard to the crown the place the axe had hit. Worse, it didn’t really feel as heavy because it as soon as did. Victor frowned and despatched it into his storage pouch. Then, blinking and swiping on the blood in his eyes, he canceled the Roots of the Mountain spell earlier than it drained his Core of Power. He noticed a glimmer within the mud to his left and stomped towards it, hoping it was Lifedrinker.

His foot touched one thing delicate, and he remembered Valeska. She was nonetheless alive, grunting and gasping, struggling to show from her twisted again onto her facet, away from him. Her damaged arm was pitiful, curled up and bleeding with fragments of bone protruding of the flesh. Victor couldn’t discover the fad in him to stomp on her, to interrupt her neck, or shatter her cranium—no matter it would take for the System to acknowledge she was completed and activate her Lifesaver. As a substitute, he growled, “You might have till I decide up my axe to make use of your allure.”

As he stalked over to the shiny glint of metallic, he was properly conscious that he’d overlooked Brontes. His ears nonetheless rang, however he glanced left and proper, grateful for his banner’s mild, as he glared via the blood in his eyes. The enormous didn’t make an look earlier than he stooped to choose up Lifedrinker, however as quickly as his fingers closed on her haft, the System introduced Valeska’s elimination:

***Valeska Thornrend has been rescued from sure dying and faraway from the dungeon. Three entrants stay. Put together for an Power infusion.***

The message was a splash of chilly water on Victor’s muddled ideas—he’d but to see the Demise Caster, and several other of his Power swimming pools had been operating perilously low. Because of the System’s unusual, hidden guidelines, he couldn’t depend on that Power infusion till the preventing was completed. Tumbling stones and rubble obtained his consideration, and he turned in time to see Brontes lifting himself from the damaged rubble of a stalagmite; he’d, apparently, tumbled into one other when Victor had thrown him.

The enormous lifted his nice gnarled membership, after which, shocking Victor however sparking one thing like respect in his coronary heart, the large started to flicker with an odd, hazy, yellow-green aura as he strode towards him. He felt that bizarre spirit Power instantly; it was one thing that pulled at him, digging up haunting moments of failure and secret remorse—his lack of ability to return to his abuela, his rejection of Chandri and her easy, peaceable life, and, most damning, his option to be with Valla quite than wait and see if he may ever measure as much as Tes. A dozen extra shame-inducing ideas fought for consideration in his thoughts, and Victor felt his grip on Lifedrinker loosening.

“I didna’ wan’ ta use this,” the stout, bloody, dust-covered large rumbled as he drew close to. “Makes issues too straightforward.” He lifted his huge membership and, with a belly-shaking grunt, jerked it down towards Victor’s unprotected head.

Now, Victor may need been troubled, shamed, and even dazed from the onslaught of the large’s disagreeable spirit Power—Disgrace? Remorse?—however his will was like a mountain fortress, and he noticed the large coming his manner, noticed him raise his membership, and totally acknowledged the risk. As the huge cudgel fell towards his head, he lifted his left hand and caught it, the fury in his eyes flickering purple like twin torches within the face of that sickly yellow-green aura.

Brontes grunted, jerking along with his two arms, however Victor didn’t let go; he squeezed his iron fingers into that onerous, uncaring wooden and felt it give. He felt his mighty grip discover buy, and his mad grin returned as he stoked the fires of rage in his pathways with one thing further—the livid fireplace of his magma coronary heart. Flames started to flicker between his tooth, licking upward, as black smoke drifted out of his nostrils. He didn’t communicate. He merely continued to squeeze that cudgel, wanting down on the huge fighter because the magma unfold via his pathways, and he activated Volcanic Fury.