MaeveMcCarthy
patreon
Chapter 74 – Slashing Boss
🕑 Added 2024-10-08 19:04:28 +0000 UTCTalia knew that this was close to the end of their lives.
When she saw the Slashing Cruster Boss bearing down on Fiora. She could already visualize how the monster would tear her friend apart.
Fiora had avoided the first attack, but there was only so much she could do since she was a caster.
Talia tried sprinting towards them, but even with [Bloodbath], [Bloody Tracks], and [Blood Fortress] fully charged, thanks to the slashing Cruster she had killed moments before, She couldn't make it on time.
Only now it had become extremely clear what it meant for Talia to be at Level 10 and the Boss to be at Level 17.
Even though Talia had dumped all her Free Attributes into Strength and despite the Agility that she had gained by killing the Slashing Cruster, she didn’t make in time.
She almost made it.
But almost wasn’t enough.
"Get away from her!" Talia roared as she closed the distance.
The Boss turned its head, its compound eyes fixing on the approaching threat.
Even empowered as she was, Talia felt a chill run down her spine at the creature's alien gaze.
With a leap at the end of her run, Talia brought her glaive down onto the Boss, aiming for the joint where one of the bladed limbs met its body.
She poured all her enhanced strength into the blow, expecting to cleave through the monster's carapace and sever the scythe.
But the attack never landed.
Perhaps powered by wind water or simply too strong for her, he sidestepped so Class.
He was a blur on the hills of Placid City.
The monster moved so fast
Talia couldn't feel couldn't help but feel the scorn of something with such a massive form moving with such impossible grace for its size. As if neither of the girl was a threat to him, with Fiora too shocked to make use of any one of her abilities, the boss simply slashed with one of his bladed limbs at Talia.
The impact sent her skidding backward, tumbling on the sand.
Talia had felt like her arms were on the verge of breaking, rattled so hard by the monster that the glaive had flown away from her hands, impaling itself onto the hilly ground.
If not for Blood Fortress enhancing her durability, she was sure the hit would have shattered her bones.
“Talia!” Fiora cried out, worried about her friend.
However, the blonde clearly had bigger fishes to fry since the boss now turned maliciously toward her.
Fiora tried to regain her composure.
Her hands trembled as she tried channeling [Zenith] and [Sunbeam Strike] in a desperate attempt at hurting the Boss.
But the Boss's Wind Water ability made it so quick it was behind the blonde in an instant.
Fiora attempted to erect another barrier, but she wasn’t nearly fast enough.
The Boss's attack came at her unimpeded.
A searing pain exploded across Fiora's side as one of the creature's blades caught her, opening a long gash from her ribs to her hip.
She cried out, stumbling backwards and clutching her wound.
Blood seeped between her fingers, staining the sand beneath her feet.
"No!" Talia screamed, rage and desperation fueling her movements as she used [Recall] and covered her blade in her Mana.
She charged at the Boss like a woman possessed.
Thankfully, the Slashing Cruster Boss seemed satisfied with the grievous injury it had inflicted on Fiora, who was rapidly passing out from the blood loss, and focused on Talia.
Talia managed to score a few hits once again.
But for every wound she inflicted, the creature seemed to retaliate twofold.
Its bladed limbs were now finally landing glancing blows and only Talia’s freakish regeneration made her capable of not bleeding out.
She could feel her enhanced abilities beginning to wane, the power boost from her earlier kills gradually fading.
As they exchanged blows, Talia realized with growing dread that they were fighting a losing battle.
The Slashing Cruster Boss seemed tireless, its Wind Water ability allowing it to move with unnatural speed and grace.
In contrast, Talia could feel exhaustion creeping in as her movements became slower and less precise with each passing moment.
Talia glanced between the looming Slashing Cruster Boss and Fiora's crumpled form.
Her friend lay motionless on the blood-stained sand, the gash in her side still oozing crimson.
Fiora's face was pale, her breathing shallow - she had completely lost consciousness from blood loss.
"No, no, no," Talia muttered, desperation clawing at her chest.
Her enhanced abilities from the earlier kills had almost completely faded.
The Boss, on the other hand, seemed tireless, its Wind Water ability crackling around it with undiminished potency.
Talia knew with sickening certainty that they were about to die.
As the Boss readied itself for another lightning-fast assault, a terrifying thought wormed its way into Talia's mind.
[Ravenous Wounds]
That was her only chance.
The skill she had unlocked with the Star Glaive, the one that had nearly drained Keanu dry.
Talia shuddered at the memory of that overwhelming hunger, the intoxicating rush of stolen vitality.
But as she looked at Fiora's still form, Talia realized she was out of options.
If she didn't do something drastic, they would both die here.
Everything would have been for nothing, and it would all be her fault.
"If I have to be a monster to win... I guess I'll be a monster."
With her hands trembling over the steel shaft of the glaive, Talia activated [Ravenous Wounds].
Immediately, she felt a change come over her.
A gnawing emptiness opened up in the pit of her stomach, an insatiable hunger.
Her vision sharpened, the world taking on a strange, pulsing quality as if she could see the life force flowing through everything around her.
The Boss paused in its advance, perhaps sensing the shift in its opponent.
Talia could see the vitality coursing through its massive form, just waiting to be devoured.
But it wasn't enough.
She needed more power to overpower the creature.
With a surge of desperate resolve, Talia focused on her Star Glaive and activated [Skill Enhance], pouring its energy into [Ravenous Wounds].
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the world exploded into chaos.
Talia's consciousness fragmented.
She felt herself falling into an abyss of hunger and need, her sense of self dissolving like sugar in water.
When her vision cleared, she found herself on her knees, gasping for breath.
The sand around her had turned black, as if scorched by some immense heat.
And then she saw them - writhing tendrils of blood that extended from her body like grotesque appendages.
They pulsed with a sickly light, reaching hungrily towards both the Boss and Fiora's prone form.
Horror and fascination warred within Talia as she watched the blood tentacles latch onto the Slashing Cruster Boss.
Where they touched, the creature's carapace began to wither and crack.
Its Wind Water aura flickered.
Talia could feel the Boss's vitality flowing into her, filling her with unimaginable strength.
Every sensation was heightened to an almost painful degree.
She could hear the creature's heartbeat, smell the acrid tang of its fear.
The rush of power was intoxicating, threatening to sweep away her humanity.
But even as she drained the Boss, Talia was acutely aware of the tendrils creeping towards Fiora.
They moved with a volition of their own, drawn to the flickering life force of her injured friend, to her blood.
In this state, Talia felt as if she could already taste the sweetness contained in Fiora’s blood, something that made her salivate.
Talia felt a surge of hunger so intense it made her gasp.
She could almost taste Fiora's power, her Affinity, even.
It was a monstrous thought, but Talia could fully feel the Sunwater Affinity and she had the absolute certainty that, unlike the tainted Affinity of the Boss, she could fully absorb Fiora’s powers.
The thought sent a flush of heat through her body, making her almost moan at the thought of how she would feel after absorbing her friend’s Skills, Affinity, vitality—everything.
The desire to consume was overwhelming, an all-encompassing need that threatened to eclipse every other thought and feeling.
It pulsated through Talia's body with an intensity that rivaled any physical urge she had ever experienced.
Her very cells seemed to cry out for more, more, more.
"No!" Talia screamed, the sound tearing from her throat with such force that it sent ripples through the sand.
Through sheer force of will, she managed to redirect the blood tendrils away from Fiora, focusing all of their terrible hunger on the Boss.
The Slashing Cruster Boss thrashed and screeched, its Wind Water ability cut out as [Ravenous Wounds] drained its vitality.
The Boss finally fell.
[You have slain Slashing Cruster (Boss) Level 17!]
Slowly, agonizingly, Talia pulled the blood tendrils back from the Boss.
As they retreated, she felt a final surge of power.
[You have absorbed the Slashing Crustel (Boss) Life Force.]
[+25.1 to your Primary Mana Channel (20/20 to Level Two)]
[Primary Mana Channel (11.72/40 to Level Three)]
[Your Primary Mana Channel has reached Level 2!]
[+50 to your Agility (9/9 to 1 Agility)]
[Agility (15/15 to 1 Agility)]
[Agility (24/24 to 1 Agility)]
[Agility (3.8/39 to 1 Agility)]
[You have gained 3 Agility]
[You have absorbed a Skill from Slashing Cruster [Boss].]
[You have learned ‘Tailwind.’]
[Lifestealer reaches Level 11!]
[Lifestealer reaches Level 12!]
[Lifestealer reaches Level 13!]
[Lifestealer reaches Level 14!]
[You gain eight Free Attributes!]
[Hemomancy reaches Level 12!]
[Hemomancy reaches Level 13!]
[Hemomancy reaches Level 14!]
[Hemomancy reaches Level 15!]
[Hemomancy reaches Level 16!]
[Hemomancy reaches Level 17!]
[You have fed Star Glaive excess Vitality!]
[Ravenous Wounds reaches Level 2!]
[Ravenous Wounds reaches Level 3!]
[Ravenous Wounds reaches Level 4!]
[Ravenous Wounds reaches Level 5!]
[Ravenous Wounds reaches Level 6!]
[Recall reaches Level 2!]
[Recall reaches Level 3!]
[Recall reaches Level 4!]
[Skill Enhance reaches 2!]
[Skill Enhance reaches 3!]
[Skill Enhance reaches 4!]
Finally, with a sound like tearing flesh, [Ravenous Wounds] deactivated.
The blood tendrils dissolved into mist, leaving Talia feeling hollow and spent.
She slumped to the ground, her body trembling with exhaustion.
Beside her, the Slashing Cruster Boss lay motionless, its carapace cracked and withered.
It was dead.
Talia tried to process what had just happened, but then she remember about her friend.
With shaking limbs, Talia crawled towards Fiora.
The blonde’s breathing had become extremely shallow and the wounds still gurgled with blood.
"I'm sorry," Talia whispered, gently brushing a strand of hair from Fiora's face. "I almost... I could have..." She trailed off.
She started channeling [Blood Siphon] to heal Fiora, sucking in the vitality of the Slashing Crusters that the blonde had herded for Talia’s sake.
