Luke Everhart
patreon
Chapter 282 - Have We Met Before?
🕑 Added 2025-06-26 10:30:02 +0000 UTCMore and more beasts dropped down on them from the swarming, massive tree trunks, and despite Nar’s frenzy of [Aura Blades], he achieved close to nothing in stemming that dark tide of fur and claw.
“You guys don’t have to die for us!” the male aethermancer suddenly shouted, his voice somehow still ringing clear and free of fear of doubt in that mess. “I didn’t think it would be this bad! I release you from the Crystal’s Mercy! Please, run!”
“It doesn’t work like that!” Sej said, through gritted teeth and without stopping her shots. “And I’m not in the habit of abandoning people to their deaths!”
“But…”
“Shut it! Just tell me your status?” Sej cut him.
“Two are down for the count, one more injured but fighting, one healer with debuffs, and two of us melee still fighting!” the guy said without hesitation. “But we’re starting to run low on stamina. We’ve been hit by beasts from the moment we stepped into this dungeon and we’re nearly depleted!”
“Damn it!” Sej swore. “How much longer can you keep going?”
“A few more minutes at best… I’m sorry! That’s why you should run!”
“We’re not running!” Sej shouted. “Nar, keep it up! I can hear the others!”
Thank fuck! Nar thought as he unleashed another blade through grit teeth. The damned trees were indeed as though as metallium, and given how cramped the space in between them was, the majority of his [Aura Blade]s just crashed into the tree trunks. And given how uneven the jungle floor was, with rises and falls, massive knots of roots, rocks and other obstacles… I either fix this flaw, or I’m screwed in here!
Fortunately, the others finally arrived.
“We’re here!” Gad suddenly shouted through their party chat. “Me, Raf, Jul and Jaz. Where do you need us!”
“Oh, thank fuck!” Sej muttered.
And then, she spoke into their domain chat. “Form up on my position. Gad, can you pull the aggro away from those aethermancers? They’re almost depleted and about to become dead weight! We need them behind us!”
“I can, but my skill might react to their aether. My flows of aura are not fully under my control yet,” the tank warned.
“I’ll tell them!”
“Our people are here!” Sej shouted. “Keep your aether in check and we’ll AOE aggro them!”
“Are you sure? There’s so many of them!” the male voice said.
“Just do it!” Sej said. “Once that happens, cut your way to us! Just remember to not use any skills!”
“I… Got it! Thank you!” the guy said from the darkness. “You heard her, no more skills. Eum, when the aggro comes, cut open a path for us!”
“My pleasure!” the other male growled.
Did that guy just… Growl? Nar thought, as he held back the swarming herds.
“We’re here!” Gad shouted in the rain.
Drenched and panting they quickly joined the fray.
“Nar, we’ve got a proper line now! Get ready to go help them get across!” Sej shouted. “Gad, send them towards us! Jaz, keep us from being swarmed! They won’t die, but they get scared when they get hurt!”
“Aggro… NOW!” Gad bellowed, her voice thundering above the chaos and pounding rain.
And suddenly, there was a shift in the flow of battle, and drawn by Gad’s [Pull of the River], the cacklers growled and shrieked into their lines.
“Be careful, there are six herds here. They can get around us at any point!” Sej said, then she patted Nar in the back. “Go! Get them here safely! Quick!”
“On it!” Nar said.
That’s a lot to ask from someone she’s just met, Nar thought, as he leaped away from the safety of the hastily formed line. Unless Kur told her about me.
Regardless, he pushed such thoughts aside as he found himself surrounded.
I hope those guys do as they were told, he thought grimly, his glowing blade driving back the beasts. While the aura in his weapon was under control, his hold over it was not absolute. Far from it. Aura continuously leaked from his blade, especially whenever he cut through something. And while he didn’t know if that stray aura was enough to cause a reaction with aether, he wasn’t keen on finding out in the middle of that mess.
Cacklers snarled and reached for him, claws snagging and slicing into his jungle suit, skin and flesh, and he batted clawed hands aside with his own left hand as much as with his sword. Their eyeless faces tracked his movements with astonishing accuracy, their large ears keeping the beasts around him centered on him, and Nar had to admit it… In those tight distances, with their quantity and uncommon attributes, he was outclassed. Had he been somewhere out in the open, the story might have been different, and his [Aura Blade]s done short work of the hideous things, but here?
I better get some damned gains soon, he muttered to himself. And like Tys had told him, they had better be phenomenal.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed onwards, focused on staying alive rather than on downing the beasts, and he knew that when faced with such numbers of uncommon, had it not been for his self-healing guzzling down his aura, his HP would’ve reached zero already…
ROAR!
From the opposite direction, a beast roared loudly into the night. Its tone was a lot lower and heavier than the cacklers’ high-pitched shrieks and snarls, and its roar rumbled deeply within Nar’s chest.
What now? He thought, raising his weapon to face the new thread heading his way. Is that the top alpha?
Cacklers were suddenly blown apart, sent off screaming against the trees and their companions, as a sudden flash of crimson lines carved through the air. And in the sudden gap left in their wake, heaving heavily was…
A sapient? Nar thought, stunned and lowering his blade a smidge.
The delver was taller than him, and stood almost as tall as Gad did. He was built fully of corded, agile muscle, and through his simple looking, solid gear, Nar could spot what he assumed was dark fur. The guy wore a sharp-toothed grin on his face, which was more human than alfin, and his eyes shone in the dark with a pale green. A mane of long, wild hair complemented the set as far as Nar could see through the shine of his glowing sword.
“You’re the one throwing those blades of aura around!” the guy said, his voice deep. “My name is Eum! Let’s have a duel!”
Nar blinked at him. “Uh… What?”
“Fuck’s sakes!” muttered the male voice from before. “Just ignore him. Thanks for coming! We wouldn’t have lasted much longer!”
“Right… No worries!” Nar said, still reeling from Eum’s duel request.
The original male stepped into the light of Nar’s aura, and a shield and blade of matching, gleaming silver with flowing lines of gold was the first thing that caught Nar’s eyes. The sword was smaller than his own, and somewhat slender, but it looked built for heavy action.
The guy’s armor was also thick and heavy, and built of a metal that shone white under Nar’s gray, swirling aura. And finally lifting his eyes, Nar met human eyes at the same height as his, staring from the confines of a metal helmet.
Strong. Confident. Kind eyes… For a moment, Nar stared, lost for words in the chaos. The sound of battle faded away, and something tugged at him. It was almost as though…
“Have we met before?” the guy asked, similarly taken aback. “You look familiar…”
Nar frowned. “You too. But no, I don’t think so.”
“Right…”
For a moment, he held the stranger's eyes, and the dungeon seemed to fade around him as his mind searched for a memory that wasn’t there, and his core rippled in a sense of both acknowledgment and… Foreboding?
“Are we going or what?” a female voice suddenly hissed, heavy with pain and anger.
“Oh, yeah! Sorry!” the armored human suddenly said, blinking away. “Right! We’re all running low, but if you open a path for us, we’ll follow you.”
Nar nodded at him, shaking away the weird feeling.
“Whenever you're ready then?” Nar asked.
“We follow you!” the guy said, raising his shield and sword. “And don’t worry, we won’t use any skills!”
“Got it. Alright, then…”
Nar turned about and faced the cackling mass.
Gad seemed to have things well in hand for the moment, and only the occasional beast leapt their way, with Viy now covering their backs from the overflow of beasts. So Nar pushed into that crowd again, and at his side Eum moved fast and sure, seemingly tearing through those uncommon beasts with his bare clawed hands.
This guy is strong. Very strong, Nar thought, catching glimpses of Eum’s savage fighting. They probably all are, to be in here with just a small six-person party.
He cycled more aura into his blade and let it sing as he carved through the enemy. He knew well enough that the trick to fighting enemies with high HP was to target their critical points as quickly as possible in order to drain their protective HP, but in that mess, and looking after people, that was proving hard to achieve.
I either focus on keeping people alive, or I focus on killing things! Two is impossible! He thought, grunting as a cackler tore away at his left arm, coming away with a sliver of his very flesh. Again, he was slamming against the limitations imposed by his self-taking, and at some point, he was going to have to admit defeat to both the Master of Blades and Tys… He was not a tank. He may be tough like one, but he wasn’t a protector like they were.
“Shit! Are you okay?” the aethermancer asked, seeing the spray of blood coming from Nar.
“I’m fine!” Nar shouted, his nostrils flaring as he ignored the pain. “Keep going!
The cacklers were vicious, even if they were cowards. Again, and again, Nar was reminded of the cannibals in the way that a lot of times, rather than try to damage him with their claws, the beasts instead seemed much more intent on taking a hold of him and pulling him down.
The memories of what had happened underneath that endless expanse of trash made him clench his jaw, and it lent another layer of fury to his sword.
Fortunately, the way over was simple enough, and both the guy who had introduced himself as Eum and the guy who had to be a tank, followed him with ease, flanking him and covering for the two people carrying the last two injured party members.
“We’re here!” Nar shouted at the top of his lungs, to be heard over the deafening clangor of battle.
“Make space!” Sej shouted. “Get them through to the back!”
Jul took a half step away from Gad, and with Nar holding that gap, the aethermancers scurried to slip through and into the relative safety of the back of the party, where Viy was even now embroiled in a frenzied battle under the protection of her [Weight of Guilt] AOE.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!” their tank said.
“Don’t thank me yet! We’re not out of this yet! And stay away from that purple aura!” Sej said, pointing at Viy. “Nar! [Aura Blade]! Doesn't matter where! Just kill until they give up!”
“On it!” Nar said, already charging his [Aura Blade].
With the aethermancers now safely behind them, he could at least fully let loose without worry of any clashes or of accidentally sending anything their way. The trees were still an issue, but at the very least, he could keep their front line clear.
“Jaz, get ready!” Sej said. “That top alpha isn’t going to let us get away with this for much longer.”
“Leave it to me,” Jaz said, mirth evident in his tone. “They won’t know what hit them!”
That same, loud cak-cak-cak-cak echoed from the trees above them, and suddenly, Nar’s [Instinct] cried out in warning.
“Watch out!” he shouted.
“Here they come!” Sej said.
Large shadows leaped down at the delvers, one of them heading straight for Nar.
A beast that was twice as tall as he was crunched apathetically on top of a couple of cacklers, and undaunted, it swiped its claws straight at Nar’s face.
Nar dodged back away from the deadly strike, and unleashed the charged [Aura Blade] within his sword at the beast’s chest, point blank. However, the beast grunted and twisted out of the way, and the blade of aura cut through the ranks of cacklers instead, before exploding against a tree trunk beyond them.
The big thing unhinged its mandibles at him, and shrieked at him loud enough to leave Nar’s eardrums trembling in its wake. The creature lowered its stance, ready to pounce, and Nar did the same, his heart thundering in his chest.
Well, you’re a big fucker, aren’t you? He thought, eying the beast as its muscles tensed for the attack. But I’m not protecting anyone anymore!
“Watch out, Nar! That’s the top alpha!” Sej warned through their party chat.
“I got this. Focus on the others,” Nar said. “I’ll pull him away from you!”
“Will do. Jaz! Get ready!”
“I’m always ready!” the human archer shouted.
Nar suppressed a snort, and suddenly the alpha was upon him.
Claws gleamed in the aura light, leaving traces of dripping darkness behind them, which warbled in Nar’s [Dark Vision].
Aether infused! A skill! Nar realized.
Mud, water, and destroyed plants splashed around them as the two took feral swipes at each other, rain drops shining as Nar’s aura blazed through his sword. The alpha cackler, for his part, didn’t seem to care what he hit in his madness driven pursuit of catching Nar, and he shredded his own beasts in what Nar recognized to be a bloodlust effect from his lectures aboard the Scimitar.
Bloodlust was in many ways, a mechanic similar to rage. However, where one was powered by inner anger, bloodlust was powered by the single-minded drive to kill one’s enemy, and it was far, far harder to control. While someone like Mul needed to actively manage their rage and make sure he differentiated between friend and foe while under its influence, those who followed a path of bloodlust only needed to worry about this second one. Bloodlust passively increased one’s fighting capabilities in exchange for slowly diminishing their capacity to tell between prey and friend as one gave themselves over to their need to slaughter.
And this guy doesn’t care, Nar thought, wincing as the beast’s attacks grew steadily faster and stronger, its red and black coated claws hammering upon his glowing blade without even a single flinch, other cacklers being caught in the maelstrom.
Besides that, the burning sizzle that his aura made whenever the alpha’s fur or claws came into contact with it reached his [Hearing], just as the stench of burned fur filled his nostrils. He knew that just the simple contact with his aura had to be doing some damage, no matter how minimal, and yet, the beast only shrieked louder, coming at him with an abandon that bordered on the insane.
So much for being a coward… Nar thought with a grimace. Then again, to be an alpha above other alphas, you need to be quite something, eh?
His [Instinct] suddenly roared at him amidst the stream of furious attacks, and brighter, red glowing claws missed his chest and neck by less than an inch.
And that was another skill, Nar thought, his heart hammering in his chest to the rhythm of his movements.
The alphas claws glowed in the night, and he rushed Nar from all angles.
“Are you alright?” Gad asked.
“All good!” Nar said.
“Can you kill it?” Sej asked him. “They are starting to fray. If you kill the top alpha, they might just disband!”
They hadn’t faced much in terms of strong beasts in their third assessment dungeon, and the beasts they had trained against in the sea and beach themed dungeon cluster had been little more than glorified punch bags for them to practice against. But these beasts in the Brightnight were proving to be an entirely different reality altogether. Even the common beasts! As it were, they were all just barely surviving against that disorganized mass of cacklers thanks to Sej’s ceaseless shooting, though she was bound to run out of aura at some point.
It was time to get serious, to let go of that part of him that was still concerned for the others, entrusting it to his [Awareness] to keep track of, as well as to ensure that he didn’t cause any friendly DPS.
Trust yourself, Nar told himself.
And he took a deep breath as a stillness settled across his core. Like his teachers warned time and time again, one had to keep its cool in battle. Clear minds won fights.
The alpha’s red and black glowing claws gave him no respite, but at the same time, in his bloodlust, the beast seemed to have abandoned all sense of self-preservation.
Exactly what Mul is training to avoid, he realized. And why that suppressor is so important.
That creature was too agile and fast for him to plan out any sort of fancy strikes or to maim it with one blow, or to expertly drain its HP with well-aimed, critical attacks. There was nothing to it but a good ol’fashioned beatdown at the beast’s HP was at zero. At the same time, at the rate it was going, it was bound to tire itself at some point.
And so, Nar dodged under a rather extended attack, and a grin took his features.
My turn! [Aura Quickening]! [Sword Aura], 300 aura points!
There was no point in holding back now! Time to put Sej’s theory and hope to the test.
He blurred, letting the full capacity of his current 57% attribute utilization course through his body, and his blinding sword slashed so fast at the beast that it didn’t have time to even react.
THUMP!
Blood splattered Nar’s face as he managed to overwhelm the creature's HP, even if the cut didn’t penetrate, and the beast went flying into its underlings.
Not wanting to let the advantage slip through his finger, Nar leaped after it, [Aura Blade] readying as he jumped into the thick of the mass of beasts.
Common, uncommon, rare or whatever, he thought, as the skill whispered to him, ready to be unleashed, his heart singing with the rhythm of devastation. None of you are going to stop us.
The cacklers looked up with their eyeless faces brightening from the aura just barely contained within Nar’s sword, and Nar slashed downwards on the top alpha, just as the beast raised his glowing claws to block him.
Red and black met gray aura, and though Nar’s slash was interrupted, half of his [Aura Blade] still burst forward, shredding anything in its path. The other half met the darkness and crimson aether head on, and the two energies snarled and snapped at each other.
Even though their rage was absolutely ravaging through the ranks of beasts, Nar disengaged from the top alpha and canceled out his [Aura Blade]. A match like that was sure to blow them both to pieces when the two energies eventually reacted.
But the beast was slowing down, panting hard through its four unhinged mandibles, and Nar grinned at the sight of victory. Even the cacklers surrounding them had left a clear circle around Nar and top alpha, seemingly too fearful to join in their duel.
“Jaz, now!” Sej ordered.
“Hold on everyone, it’s about to get loud!” the jokester said.
The night was suddenly filled with bright bangs and explosions of deafening might.
What in the Pile? Nar thought, half-dropping his jaw.
Burst of dots of color, voices, roars, the sound of machinery, shifting glowing orbs, and many, many other such strange apparitions burst into being all over the battleground.
The cacklers stopped dead in their tracks, hands covering their large ears, and even the top alpha stumbled at the visual and auditory assault, and Nar decided that it was time to end it all.
With his blade humming and even slightly vibrating in his hands, he pushed all 526 points of aura that his [Mastery] allowed him, and unleashed the biggest [Aura Blade] he had used so so far outside of training.
His [Aura Blade] pushed aside the air and the vacuum in its awake being instantly filled deafened even the sounds of whatever Jaz was doing. The edge of aura sliced right through the top alpha, shredding through whatever HP it had left, and kept going, cutting through anything in its path. At those levels and ranks, none of the beasts’ HP was strong enough to deny such an [Aura Blade], and if not for the trees blocking the skill, he expected that death toll would’ve been far higher.
As it was, when Nar allowed the skill to explode out of control, the roaring explosions rose over 20-feet tall, and the jungle disappeared under the thundering brilliance of Nar’s aura. When Nar could hear and see again, he found the cacklers beating a hasty retreat at last.
He tutted.
That damned HP! So many of them survived that! He thought in shock, eyeing wounds and burn marks across the fleeing, uncommon ranked cacklers. I really need those gains…
The almost purple ranked jungle domain was flat out refusing to be tamed.
“We got them!” Sej shouted in triumph. “We…”
A piercing cry cut her short.
With sudden panic driving his heartbeat out of sync, Nar looked up in search of its source, and found one of the aethermancers being taken up one of the trees.
“Era!” the aethermancer tank shouted.
The woman screamed again as the creatures tossed her roughly amidst themselves, pulling at her hair and clothes and cackling all the while they did so. Nar leaped forward.
“Shoot them! Shoot them!” Sej shouted, firing her gun at the beasts. “It’s better if you hit her than to let them take her!”
Nar’s blood ran cold.
Arrows whistled through the rain as Jaz took aim and frantically shot at the beasts alongside Sej, and while cacklers tumbled down from above, they kept passing the woman amongst themselves as they continued their retreat.
Nar bared his teeth as dark images filled his mind. He was not going to let them take her after all they had gone through to save these people!
[Aura Quickening!] he thought, and pushed through the fleeing beasts.
His blade shone once more, an [Aura Blade] charging.
“I’ll stop them!” he shouted.
He didn’t waste time charging up the blade to its full, and stopping to take careful aim, he just let it fly.
This time, he kept a much tighter control over its flight, a part of his consciousness flying out with the skill in its full [Aura Blade Control] version. It was a short flight, and thankfully, he had aimed it well, and the resulting explosion of aura as he hit the tree forced the beasts to come to a shrieking halt, and in that instant, a dark shadow darted past him.
Eum leaped up the tree, roaring at the top of his lungs, and cacklers fled from him as he threw himself right at the cluster of beasts holding the aethermancer hostage. There was a short, but violent scuffle, and then she was screaming on her way down.
Nar was already on the move, and cycling to his legs, he leaped the last few feet, his arms outstretched, blade disappearing into his ring. The woman grunted as she landed on his arms, and he held her tight as they went tumbling, doing his best to keep her from coming to harm.
And suddenly, there was only the pounding rain and the distant sound of the retreating beasts.
It’s over! Nar thought, breathing in relief.
“Are you alright?” Eum asked, landing beside them.
He had a dead cackler’s head crushed within his mighty clawed hand, and he had leaped unceremoniously from almost 50-feet high.
Definitely very strong… Nar thought, eyeing the sapient.
“I’m okay,” the female aethermancer said, in a surprisingly dreamy and serene tone despite her heavy panting.
“Thank fuck!” Eum grunted, dropping heavily on his ass. Then he grinned at Nar. “You and me, we need to spar! It’s going to be fun!”
“Sure. Why not?” Nar said, his thoughts carrying unfiltered with adrenaline.
“What’s your name?” Eum asked.
“Nar.”
“Nice to meet you, Nar! I’m Eum!”
And Eum reached a clawed hand to him, which Nar took without hesitation. They crushed each other's hands with a [Strength] enhanced shake, testing each other as matching grins spread across their features.
“I’m Era,” the woman said, looking up at Nar with a smile. “Thanks for catching me.”
And Nar was suddenly very aware of the woman he still held in his arms.
“Oh… Uhm. My pleasure,” he said, his cheeks flushing.
Eum burst out laughing, and not even sure why, Nar quickly joined in, as did Era, albeit in a much lower tone.
“This place is wild,” Nar muttered, shaking his head.
“It is! Isn’t it awesome?” Eum asked, beaming with a sharp toothed grin.
Nar didn’t have an answer for that. But given the smile that still took his features, at least a part of him seemed to be in agreement with Eum.
Comments
Ben Heggem
interesting reaction to their leader, relative or some type of fated meeting?
Lucas Onderwater
Thank you! Fixed!
Pierre-jean Samaran
Nar has been asked (by his mentors) to not use it since it could accelerate the crystalisation of his affinity. Henceforth tie it to a emotion aspect (anger, revenge, or grief for the loss of his father) and this affinity would not be suited for his path We can expect Nar to use it and be damned with it if everything goes sideways during the dungeon as it should be and hope for the best
Reodude
Tyftc! None of you *are* going to stop us.
AL
Nice battle! Looking forward to the gains! One question: can Nar control his Presence and can it be used for battle at this stage?
Lucas Onderwater
Time to leverage all of that ridiculous aura! That said, it's not infinite :D (Plus, hopefully, I ran the math correctly here, haha!)
Lucas Onderwater
I'm really glad you liked it! 🤩
Lucas Onderwater
Thanks for reading!
CentaureHeart
Cool battle!
Pierre-jean Samaran
Thanks for the chapter !
Doubledoor
Damn, that was a lot of aura blades. I was sure he would run out with the 526 one at least.
