Chapter 105—To Kill a Fiend

Chapter 105: 105—To Kill a Fiend Lucen hopped over the fragmented road. The Red snapper’s huge pincer swept after him, the force of the blow made the air hiss and kicked up dust. The grass not too far from them was flattened. "That looks like it would hurt," Lucen muttered. He jumped over the swipe and used [Starfall]. His spear shot forward in a streak of white light. The snapper managed to get its claw in front before the blow landed, but the force sent it skidding backwards. While it couldn’t see him, Lucen jumped into the grass and dismissed his spear. [Stalker’s Edge] blended his internal mana with the mana of the grass around him, it also dulled the sounds of his breath and presence. The snapper moved its hand, four eyes searching for Lucen. Its laser beams still needed around forty seconds to recharge. It spread its unnaturally long arms around and skittered nervously on its four legs. It didn’t know where he was. Lucen summoned his spear again and waited for it to turn. He wasn’t the only one around. Tharic’s team, Helie, and the others were fighting the last few Fledglings a couple of meters away. The air was filled with random explosions and lights. Soaring fireballs crashed into the titanic Fiend, earth shields rising from the earth to block its bone-shattering blows. The Red snapper Stalker turned towards Tharic, who was dissecting a Fledgling, and started crawling over. Lucen jumped out of the grass. He only took two sharp steps, crossing the distance before it could react, and silently leapt into the air, landing gingerly between the spikes on the snapper’s back. The beast let out a shrill sound, but before it could buck him off, his spear came down with a flash of silver and cleanly stabbed through its soft spot, piercing the Stalker’s brain. The Red snapper fell to the ground with a dull thud. Lucen jumped off before it fell and landed some distance away, eyes instantly snapping towards the Fiend. Its colossal multi-colored body glittered with light. The shell of the Fiend looked like crimson diamonds, it had sharp protrusions on its back to ward off people from its soft spot. Lucen whispered under his breath. "What d’you reckon I’ll get from killing?" The system was quiet for a moment. [I thought we didn’t care about my feelings or opinions.] Lucen resisted the urge to roll his eyes, grunting, "I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to give Kedral a fair warning about scaring you." He was somewhat worried about the fact that the system could feel offended, but he put that aside. [Like I said, I’m a part of your soul. You die. I die. My intelligence has been improved with your Insight. Is it so unbelievable that I would be offended by you ignoring my feelings?] It felt like he was talking to someone over text message. Like he was being scolded by his computer girlfriend. [Very funny.] "Ok. I apologise again," Lucen said tightly. "I’ll keep in mind the fact that a sentient creature is growing in my soul." [We’re like conjoined twins, but I have no hands. Or mouth. Or rights.] Lucen dove into the grass and started making his way behind the Fiend. "You could answer my question soon, if you like." [Highest probability is you get their Laser skill. But your Ironbody trait might just be upgraded too.] "I can’t get both at once?" [We got lucky with the Bull wolf Fiend. Getting two skills is amazing. Anyway, I think getting a Trait is better than another spell that does point-of-attack damage. You already have the new divine spell.] That reminded him of his new skills. One from the Bull wolves and two from Kedral and another from Chester. [Before you ask, here are your skills Targeting (Minor) Reading (Minor) Song of Light (Heroic) Stalker’s Edge (High) Traveller’s Aid (Minor) Sinking Sand (Minor) Surging Flames (High) Bone Spear (Minor) Final Spark (High) Blood Rebirth (Heroic) Embolden (High) Forgotten Embers (High) Serpent’s Call (High) Tailwhip (High) Suntouch (High)] Traits have been removed for brevity, but I can display them if you like.] Lucen crawled through the grass, marvelling at his catalogue of skills. Most Squires would never be able to master more than four spells. Although he couldn’t use most of them openly. And [Final Spark] was almost suicide spell. He wanted to use [Tailwhip], the water spell he had gotten from Kedral, but its power wasn’t that great compared to its versatility. And Lucen was having a lot of trouble mastering it. [Suntouch] was a single beam of golden light, erupting from his finger to drill holes in targets. It drank up a lot of mana but its damage was undeniable; if it hit you in a vital spot, you were dead. Fiends had an uncanny sense for danger though, so if Lucen was using spells like that he needed to make sure they landed. He was crouched in the grass behind the Fiend, watching it devastate the road as it tried to kill the Knights surrounding it. Duran flashed between attacks, body changing position with each step. Some of his movements were obscured by his body enhancement spell, others by his teleportation spell. The Fiend’s pincers came down to smash Duran into a fine paste, the ground trembled and a dust cloud rolled over the stone road. When the dust settled Duran was on its back trying to carve a path through the forest of spikes. Duran’s black blade glowed with a faint blue light, anything the blade met was cut. But Duran was far too small to threaten the gigantic Red snapper. So he was trying to find a way to its soft spot, slashing through the purple and red spikes protecting it. The Fiend turned two of its four eyes on Duran and fired a laser of burning energy at him, forcing him to teleport away. The snapper turned the other two of its eyes towards Ymir, who was conjuring needles of golden light to destroy its legs. Two beams of crimson light blasted towards her. Samara ran in front of Ymir and raised her shield again. They disappeared under the onslaught of red light for a moment. When they returned, the ground was burned in a crooked circle around them, but they were unharmed. However, the Fiend’s attack destroyed her needles. Lucen shot out of his hiding spot, racing across the stone road, ignoring Lot, who was slicing a Stalker to pieces. "What the hell?!" Lot cursed. "Stop there, you fool. You’ll just make things harder for Duran." Bold of him to think Duran gave a shit about Lucen. He continued on, streaking across space in a blur. He had to get on top of the snapper in thirty seconds, just before it regained its ability to use the beam attack. The Fiend’s danger sense would be triggered soon, however. Even with a powerful Veil, Fiends had a supreme sense of what could give them trouble. They were uncannily smart. But Lucen hadn’t randomly chosen this moment to attack. Two figures were growing in the distance sky. Tenibri returning with Garin, who had been blown away by the snapper’s strange repulsion ability. Lucen needed the Fiend to use both its beams and repulsion magic. Then he would be free to strike its soft spot. Garin glared at the Fiend furiously. Tenibri had a hand on his shirt and they were both being pushed forward by the air. The Fiend also noticed the dangerous Knights returning and pointed its eyes at them to use its repulsion ability. Lucen pushed even harder, dipping into [Surging Flames’] stored energy to accelerate even more. He leapt once he was close enough, shooting off the ground towards the Fiend’s back. Then one of its four eyes turned back towards him. Lucen frowned. "Dammit."