At least watching what the others could do never failed to be entertaining.
Darkness spread out before them, only Xavier able to see the auras of the thousand beasts that were out there. He stood at the back of the platform, Siobhan to his right, Justin to his left. The teenager was bouncing on the balls of his feet, like a boxer in the ring before a match, all pent-up energy.
Now that he’d gotten a taste of fighting beasts, it seemed he wanted to experience it even more.
Xavier could understand that.
Siobhan gripped her staff tightly. Her body was somewhere between relaxed and tense. Her eyes were on Howard, as though at any second he might be pushed straight off the platform, and she’d be ready to Summon him back. Her posture, slightly hunched forward, chin jutting out, reminded Xavier of a gamer poised at the keyboard and mouse before a competitive match.
Howard stood in the centre of the platform. The big man looked stiff. His forehead furrowed in a deep frown, his eyes narrowed, trying to pierce through the gloom but unable to.
None of his typical twitches arose. He didn’t scratch his beard with his tower shield. Didn’t turn around and look at the others. He remained completely alert.
The first clutch was on its way, their auras burning bright in the dark. A moment before they reached the rock, Xavier sent out a Soul Strike, taking out eight of their number, the bright apparition illuminating them all.
The two remaining Dark Wyverns screeched and roared and opened their maws wide. Their leathery, bat-like black wings were hard to make out, blending with the darkness behind them. Howard slid his right leg back, holding his tower shield close. His breath was steady, chest rising and falling.
Xavier stood ready to destroy the beasts should the man get into any true danger.
~
God damned darkness, Howard thought, staring at the Dark Wyverns as they approached, now close enough to be illuminated by Siobhan’s fireball.
Howard’s jaw was set, teeth gritted. He forced his jaw to relax—if he got hit hard enough while his teeth were gritted like that, he’d be apt to lose or chip a tooth.
I wonder if it would grow back.
Howard liked to keep his feet rooted to the ground, so he was glad the others hadn’t insisted he do this the way Justin had. This floor surely hadn’t been designed for such a thing.
I can hold this position for as long as I need to. Justin was able to one-hit those things. Surely I’ll be able to do the same.
It wasn’t just taking out the Dark Wyverns that he needed to do, however. He needed them to strike his protective spell, Bulwark, if he wanted it to rank up.
It’s rank 5 right now, only 5 more to go.
As he was standing front and centre, the Dark Wyverns came straight for him. He didn’t even need a taunt spell to get their aggression.
The Dark Wyverns fell at him in a dive.
Hold your ground.
At the absolute last second, just before the first of the Dark Wyverns snapped its massive teeth at him, Howard activated Bulwark. A transparent shield materialised in front of him. As the skill had grown in ranks, so had his manipulation of the shield.
He could alter the composition of the shield in almost any way he wished. At Rank 5, he could make it cover enough area to protect those behind him, or he could make it encircle himself completely.
Eventually, he would be able to make it encircle his entire party, and even the platform they all stood upon.
One day, I might be able to make it encircle an entire city block. Maybe even an entire city…
The Dark Wyvern slammed straight into it. Howard had no idea how fast the thing had been flying. He knew birds could fly rather quickly. In a dive they could be faster than a speeding car.
And these beasts were far superior to normal birds.
Blood spluttered out from the beast’s face where it slammed into Bulwark. The blood covered the transparent shield, hanging in mid-air.
Howard smirked. God, it felt like that thing hit him hard. Bulwark had been weakened—perhaps by a quarter of its defensive power—but it hadn’t broken.
The beast crumpled forward with a great snapping of bones. Like when Xavier slammed an enemy into a wall or the ground with his Heavy Telekinesis spell.
It looked like the thing hit an invisible steel wall. It slumped to the ground, and Howard wasn’t pushed back a single inch.
Though, unfortunately, the impact hadn’t killed the beast.
Stolen novel; please report.
That would have been convenient.
The second beast came at him from the left. The damned things were too large to both come at him directly. Howard expanded Bulwark, making the barrier cover that side of him. Though the larger he made the shield, the more he stretched out its defensive capabilities.
Still, it was enough.
The second beast crumpled just as the first had, hitting Bulwark causing it a fair amount of damage.
Maybe next time I can challenge more than two, until eventually I’m taking down a whole clutch on my own… that will surely get me to level 10 faster.
He was lagging behind Justin and Siobhan, and was miles behind Xavier.
Bulwark took less damage from the second hit. The beast hadn’t been going as fast as the first, as it’d had to change direction to hit him from the side.
Howard stood there, waiting patiently for the beasts to stand. His Bulwark spell needed to take vast amounts of hits before it reached its next rank, and unfortunately it had to take those hits in true combat, not sparring.
I’m still not sure how the System discerns the difference.
The first Dark Wyvern struggled to its feet. The beast looked to be in complete agony. Though its wounds were healing, they weren’t healing fast.
The second Dark Wyvern snapped back up faster, as it had taken less damage. It slammed a wing against Bulwark. The wing glowed as it smashed into the barrier.
Some kind of spell?
A deep slash appeared in the transparent shield. Howard felt it lose another quarter of its energy.
Two more hits like that, and it’ll be down completely.
He’d never seen the Dark Wyverns cast spells before. Xavier hadn’t given them the chance.
Now that he’d ranked up the spell, Bulwark could technically last indefinitely, assuming it wasn’t taking too much damage. Howard could refresh the spell every minute.
That number hadn’t changed, no matter how many ranks he’d gained in the spell, or how many stats he’d gotten from levels and titles.
Howard waited for the next attack to come.
The Dark Wyvern slashed out at the shield a second time just as the first Dark Wyvern had gotten to its feet. The first Dark Wyvern didn’t slash out like the other had. The beast was shaky on its feet, barely able to stand. It reared back—Howard thought it was going to fall over—then its throat began to glow, and smoke billowed from its mouth.
Oh.
Flames launched from its large maw, pouring into Bulwark.
Bulwark has taken a step forward on the path!
Bulwark is now a Rank 6 spell.
One cannot walk backward on the path.
Though Bulwark had gained a rank, it wouldn’t take effect until he refreshed the spell.
The flames destroyed the transparent shield and didn’t stop streaming once they had. Howard raised his tower shield, facing it toward the stream of fire. He thrust out his sword, activating Power Strike, and pushed forward.
The flames kept pouring forth. They didn’t stop at his tower shield. They covered the surface of the tall metal shield then went around it, burning Howard.
Howard set his jaw, resisting the heat, the pain, the blistering of his skin beneath its armour. His injuries would heal. He’d told Siobhan not to heal him unless he was close to death. He needed to learn how to take this punishment.
He stepped forward into his thrust, stabbing the sword straight through the flames and into the Dark Wyvern’s open maw. He angled the thrust up, pushing the blade through the soft tissue in the roof of its mouth and right up to its brain.
You have defeated a Level 14 Dark Wyvern!
You have gained 1,400 Mastery Points.
You have gained 1,400 Spirit Energy.
There was no time to celebrate his small victory. A screech came from the left. A line of pain slashed down his back. He couldn’t focus on both enemies at once, and he’d paid for that dearly.
Howard planted his feet. They dug into the dirt and rock of the platform. He slid forward, then righted himself, turning around to face the second of the Dark Wyverns—the one least hurt.
It cocked its wing for another of its magical strikes. Howard raised his shield and hid behind it.
The Dark Wyvern struck at his shield five times before his Shield Defence skill ranked up, also to Rank 6. Howard gave the wyvern a dark grin as he turned the shield aside and slammed it in the head with a Power Strike, right as it was rearing up, readying its flame breath spell.
The beast went down.
Howard took a long breath.
“The next ones are on the way,” Xavier said. “You want me to deal with some of them?”
“How far away are they?”
“Maybe thirty seconds.”
Howard shook his head, still wearing that dark grin. He twirled his sword in his right hand, raised his shield, tilted his head left and right with a satisfying crack. His blistered and burnt skin beneath his armour was already healing. He could feel the raw itchiness of it.
And Bulwark would be ready again by then.
“Let me see if I can take all ten.”
~
Xavier stood back and watched in slight awe at what Howard was able to do. He hadn’t known what to expect from the man. But again, like Siobhan and Justin, just because he hadn’t gotten the same titles as Xavier, didn’t mean he wasn’t benefitting from his being the first through the Tower of Champions’ floors.
The man held his ground to an almost impossible degree. Xavier was sure he would have been knocked off the platform if he’d had to deal with what Howard was dealing with.
When the second clutch of Dark Wyverns came for him. Howard taunted them before they reached him, yelling vile obscenities into the darkness, clearly hoping that would be enough to get them to attack him and not the others.
And somehow, it worked. The man didn’t even have a taunt spell.
I wonder if he’ll gain one doing this, Xavier thought.
As Howard was the only one fighting, and the others were all just standing around, the Dark Wyverns circled him, going after only him.
They slammed into his Bulwark spell, which only seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. He hovered it around him with ease, expanding and contracting it at will, slamming Power Strikes left and right, taking the Dark Wyverns strategically, letting them hit his shield for as long as he wished.
He was far more adept at it than Xavier ever thought the man could be.
His spatial awareness, his battle sense, it’s way more developed than mine. Though I’d easily be able to defeat him in a physical fight, that’s only because my attributes make me far faster than him. If we were near in Speed and Strength, it would be a different story. No wonder he wanted to teach me.
Though Howard was able to solo an entire Dark Wyvern clutch, he couldn’t do it fast enough. So Xavier kept the next ones from reaching him at bay with Soul Strike.
He also took this opportunity—feeling that if Howard got into trouble he would need Siobhan before he needed Xavier—to push the limits of Soul Strike’s area-of-effect.
While a small battle raged in front of him, Xavier fell into a deep meditation, focusing on his Soul Strike spell, trying to gain insights into it. At first, his forehead was creased, lined in fierce concentration. As he focused and practised, his forehead began to smooth, and the sides of his lips ticked up.
His Spirit was so high that the insights came more and more easily. He could feel the current limitations of the Soul Strike spell, and he knew exactly how to break through those limits.
I know how to clear this floor faster than any Champion before me.
And the second Howard reached level 10 and his desired ranks before choosing his next class, Xavier would finally clear this floor and blast through the next.
And the next.
And so on, until he returned them to Earth.