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Chapter 264 - Forced Retreat?
🕑 Added 2024-12-27 14:14:32 +0000 UTCThe Frost Wraiths appeared… Their bodies looked like they were made of swirling mist, with shades of pale blue and white that made them blend into the surroundings. They almost seemed alive, shimmering faintly as they moved.
Where their faces should have been, there were only two glowing, icy blue lights. These eyes made them look even more unsettling, as if they were silently watching everything. Their arms stretched into long, sharp claws, frosted and jagged, leaving trails of cold air behind with every movement. Anything they touched quickly froze, a thin layer of ice spreading out like a living thing…
They soon pointed their hands at us, but then I spammed the Great Fireball on them. Their spells were no joke, but their attacks were supposed to focus on damage over time while my Fireball simply had a shit ton of power and the following ones just changed the cold in the air to heat back again.
The wraiths could phase through most rings in the surroundings, but they were unable to do that when the Fireballs exploded and then began to vibrate the air and melt the ice on the surroundings.
You received 100 experience points.
You received 100 experience points.
You received 100 experience points.
It was a bit less than I had expected, but then I realized that the monsters were of the undead type… the aptitude of the dark paladin class didn't work on them.
“Since that is the case…”
I tested Demon’s Snare on one of the monsters and soon the creature stopped moving and then failed to phase out. I could feel my mana being restored too. I didn't have to use the Great Fireball… I just summoned my arrows and then used Demon's Bane on them. The monsters tried to phase out through the arrows, but they were still pierced and then disintegrated.
You received 100 experience points.
You received 100 experience points.
You received 100 experience points.
“Do you have some kind of skill like that to help others? I don’t have these and my knives are enchanted, so they are usually against wraiths.”
“What were you planning to do if we had reached their section, then?”
“Just take a back seat. Hahaha.”
Roswald’s blades would prove entirely ineffective against the Frost Wraiths. Each attack would pass harmlessly through their mist-like forms, leaving him unable to help. He didn’t have enchanted knives, so were unreliable against spectral foes.
For now, he had no choice but to step back, leaving me to handle the first wave of monsters alone. I could temporarily enchant his weapons to make them effective, but that would have to wait until the immediate threat was neutralized. Until then, the battlefield belonged to me and the tools I had prepared for situations like this.
‘Since I can damage them like this, I guess I can still be damaged even if I turn into mist… I need to be careful since even my vampiric skills have weaknesses.’
In any case, the wave of wraiths took a while to deal with since they could fill a floor that was five kilometers long. I didn’t have much time to recover or enchant Roswald knives… the next group quickly arrived.
“... Are you going to be fine?”
Roswald was looking at my hands. I looked at them as well and saw them a bit burned. Demon’s Bane also damaged me, since I was half undead.
“I should be fine with my current regeneration. If it gets troublesome, I will just use the Great Fireballs again.”
“Warn me before you decide that.”
“I will try to remember to do so.”
Roswald didn’t have time to complain, since the monsters soon arrived. Just like before, he charged toward the monsters, but he didn’t use Shadow Step since he couldn’t recover mana like before. I should have used Mystic Link on him, then he would have had the chance to use my extra mana.
The monsters fired blasts of cold wind at Roswald, but he jumped away to the side at high speed and easily avoided that. Before the monsters could fix their aim, he threw his knives at them, and the beasts were shocked.
I used that chance to pierce the monsters with a barrage of arrows while also avoiding using Demon’s Bane as much as possible.
Using area-of-effect attacks was out of the question; Roswald was too close, and something like the Great Fireball would hurt him as much as it would the Frost Wraiths. The battlefield was cramped, and the wraiths advanced relentlessly. My usual strategies relied on overwhelming power, but with Roswald in harm’s way and the wraiths phasing through physical attacks, I was at a loss for a moment.
Then an idea hit me, Decay Arrows. I hadn’t tested them against creatures like this before, but their unique properties might bypass the wraiths’ spectral nature. Without hesitation, I got one from my magic bag. These arrows were quite dangerous, but they were my best chance. Nocking the arrow, I focused on the nearest wraith as it phased through halfway through the walls, its movements swift and fluid. I fired it, watching the arrow streak through the air with its glow. This would be the test to see if my gamble had paid off, or if I’d need to find another solution quickly.
I fired a single arrow without thinking too much about it… only when the arrow was in the air, I realized that I shouldn’t have shown that to Roswald. The arrow pierced through the wraiths and immediately turned them into nothing.
You received 100 experience points.
You received 100 experience points.
You received 100 experience points.
“Oh? That didn’t seem like the other arrows, but it had the same power. What was that?”
“Focus on the enemies.”
It was weird… to think that my blood had the same effect as Demon’s Bane on the wraiths. It wasn’t my blood per se, but still… it was highly effective and I had a stock of those. With my improved health regeneration, I probably could make five of those every day.
‘No… I can’t use them here. They aren’t even the strongest monsters in this labyrinth.’
I also couldn’t let myself get overly dependent on them. They had to be secret weapons or last resorts through and through. I had the idea of making an amulet for the Demon’s Snare as well, but it made me wonder how it would work… would it restore my mana or would restore the mana of the core? I didn’t care that much as long as the skill leveled up.
Eventually, the second wave of monsters ended, but it took half an hour… as expected, dealing with them will be hard and there were seven more waves. Besides, that wasn’t the only problem…
“WAHHHH! WAHHHH! WAHHHH!”
“Oh boy… Here comes the greatest challenge yet.”
The night had passed, or perhaps not. I couldn’t tell. There was a chance that Alissandra just had to poop… Glacien tried to calm her down by moving the basket from one side to the other, but that didn’t help that much.
“We don’t have much time…”
“Trying to make me hurry up won’t do anything to help.”
Yep, Alissandra needed to be cleaned and now that she was wide awake, she wouldn’t sleep for a while. Things were starting to look up, so Roswald believed that we could do this, even though the challenge from the labyrinth was far from over, but now it was clear that we needed to retreat a bit.
I took the smallest parts of the wagon and then made Glacien pull it to the previous floor while I was cleaning Alissandra and feeding her too.
“What a fearsome baby. Not even the monsters made you think of retreating.”
It wasn’t the time for jokes, and Roswald seemed to realize it when he caught my slightly annoyed look. He furrowed his eyebrows and gave a half-hearted shrug, opting to remain quiet instead of making another quip. The tension in the area left little room for nonsense, and we all needed to focus on the task at hand.
Eventually, Alissandra managed to calm down, though her bad mood lingered. Her expression softened, but she still pouted, her irritation evident in the way she looked at me. Even though the immediate danger had passed, the strain of the situation clearly weighed on her, leaving the atmosphere charged with unspoken frustrations.
“All right, Aliss. Be a good girl and stay with Glacien, all right?”
“Uhhhhhh.”
“You behave. I will make something nice for you. How about a magical drone?”
Those naturally weren’t a thing in this world, so she definitely didn’t have an idea of what I was talking about, but she calmed down for some reason.
“What is a magical drone?”
“Something that you don’t need to worry about. The Frost Wraiths are here.”
At least the break gave me some time to think about stuff. When the beasts reached us, I didn’t hesitate in bombarding them with arrows enhanced by Demon’s Bane… I just had to use my head a little and use the skill in the last moment, that would make the damage that I received decrease by a large margin.
“I guess not even the wraiths can stop you anymore… It is only a matter of time now. The only problem is the final group of monsters.”
“I would prefer it if you didn’t jinx us. Also, you should tell me what the final enemies are here.”
“It will be better if you just see for yourself.”
“Just stop the nonsense and say it already.”
Unfortunately, the next wave of enemies had arrived, so that talk would have to wait.
