10 - Wrath (Patreon)

Phoenix looked out over the half-frozen lake where she had battled acid spitting puffin monsters, poorly named Icespitters, with her party just the day before yesterday. Had it really only been two days? Not even that. The sun was only just beginning to rise behind her, causing the snow to sparkle. She looked down at the charred stone in her glowing palm. It had been a failure… just like her.

As she stared at it, another emotion began to rise up inside her. One that she had noticed more often since her first encounter with Murinah outside of Warrior’s temple: anger. She recognized it now. She also knew why she felt it as well as what, and who, it was directed towards.

She was angry at herself. Angry that she never seemed to be strong enough. Angry that she needed to be defended all the time. Angry that she had been too naïve, too timid, too ignorant about how the world worked. Angry that her only redeeming factor was her mobility and portability but when her life was at stake she couldn’t escape. Angry at her many many weaknesses and mistakes.

Phoenix pulled her arm back and threw the stone into the lake. Then she turned around and began to hunt. She was angry and she really really wanted to stab something.

For the first time, she found herself oddly grateful for the blood moon because it didn’t take long for her to find another pack of snolves. They were a common Crystal Caste monster on the tundra and she was glad for the outlet as she flung herself at the beasts, tearing through them with [Nyx, the Dagger of Darkness] in one hand and her new [Caustic Floe] sword in the other.

There were only six of them and when the fighting ended she found herself wishing there were more. So she continued hunting. She continued practicing moving with her [Ruler of Relativity] ability. The more comfortable she got with this method, the more ground she could cover, and the more monsters she could fight. It needed to become second nature; she couldn’t let herself be caught again.

As the Wayfarer ran through the snowy forest, she fought a pack of frobbits; which were annoyingly mobile creatures with white fur, bulging eyes, large hind legs made for jumping, long ears and long tongues that would lash out like whips. Her clothes were torn, but she didn’t care. More skin showing meant more [Starlight Qi] to regenerate her mana and stamina and help keep her going. There were still more monsters out there for her to turn into dust.

Phoenix started to get frustrated after the third pack of monsters was eradicated, which were some weaker slorrels that were small and extremely slow. She had been hoping that her book would give her another quest that would grant more Spirit Gems or some kind of cheat item but even after laying eyes on her fourth group of monsters, it remained conspicuously absent.

Hours passed but the thrill of battle energy, the consumption of potions, and Tala’s glitter bombs kept her moving. As the sun began to set and darkness settled on the forest of evergreens, more threats made themselves known as the land became blanketed in crimson light. Phoenix blasted her aura out, calling the challenges to her. Her [Moonlit Eyes] passive made the dark not a detriment to her in the slightest as she saw clearly through the shadows.

Monster after monster, she honed her skills. Her strikes became faster and her reactions became quicker as she better predicted enemy attacks and movement. When she ran out of mana, she drank a potion. When her stamina became dangerously low, she drank a potion. When her body had taken too many hits, she cast her healing spell… and drank a potion. When the potions ran out, she tore off her sleeves and pant legs and shone like the stars above her before converting that light into a combo potion.

The next day came and went, and the next, and the next; with her leaving a trail of monster ash in her wake. She began to reach the limits of what potions and her natural regen fueled by [Crystal Mana Bits] could do, as her mind and very soul became exhausted. She was starting to feel a bit better emotionally, though. Knowing she had been able to vanquish so many monsters without needing her party to protect her, or Paul to step in and save her, had boosted her morale considerably.

On the seventh day, Phoenix was about to portal herself back to finally get some sleep when she thought her aura sensed something nearby. It felt… distorted. Odd. She moved cautiously towards it but nothing seemed to be around her in the rocky area she currently found herself in.

She pushed her aura senses harder, trying to figure out what it was she was sensing, when the snow in front of her began to move. Recognizing that it had been detected, the stealthy monster burst from among the icy rocks and charged towards her.

In a poor choice of timing, her guide book appeared in front of her and she cursed it for attempting to get her killed once more with its blinding position, especially when she hadn’t needed to read it like this for weeks now.

New Quest: Lurking Threat

You have been attacked by a Sapphire Caste monster!

Objective: Defeat a Frost Lurker.

Reward: Rare Crystal Caste Spirit Gem.

Bonus Objective: Don’t die.

Reward: Rare Crystal Caste ring.

The Wayfarer grinned at the quest, finally getting one after days of trying to trigger it, and then she had to do a double take with her eyes to make sure her aura had read that right as she said incredulously to the book, “Wait, ‘Don’t die’?! Why is that showing up again now?! Just because I can come back doesn’t mean I want to- oh shi-” She used her gravity ability to push herself away from the absurdly faster monster as it tried to tackle her.

“Gaze into the abyss,” she incanted, attempting to curse the higher Caste creature with her new [Call of the Abyss] spell but she could feel it resist and shrug off the Bane. She lashed out with her weapons, feeling them rake against the monster with little effect but they were able to land their own debuffs, [Mana Siphon] and [Acid Burn], against the vaguely humanoid creature covered in ice and snow.

After the initial rush attack, she realized the creature was actually rather slow and that it most likely ambushed its prey once they were nearly on top of it. It had only been her over powered aura that had triggered the attack early and saved her from an instant death.

She continued to push herself backward across the terrain, trying to get some distance between them and come up with a plan. At Sapphire Caste it would most likely resist most of her direct spells and the attacks from her Crystal Caste weapons would only wound it so much. It was larger, over twice her height, and its slow speed made it more likely to have higher vitality and defenses to compensate. She noticed the ice on it was acting more like armor plating and there were points between the plates where she might be able to have a better chance of damaging it.

Phoenix focused on one of these points specifically and made her dagger fly towards it, the gravity effect acting like a homing missile as the blade slipped into her target, eliciting a roar from the monster. She heard a rumble from behind where the Frost Lurker had emerged from and saw more piles of snow start to shift in response.

She paled at the knowledge that during a blood moon the monsters that would normally spawn alone did not adhere to the normal rules. While she might have been able to handle the single slow Sapphire monster there was no way she could take on multiples. She turned and began running, the Frost Lurker trudging after her. After a few seconds though, she remembered that her quest had only told her to kill one of them. She double checked with the book following after her and sure enough, it hadn’t changed the requirements.

The young woman clenched her fists around the hilts of her blades and found the resolve to fight. Against the odds and all her doubts screaming at her to keep running, she would kill this monster. She flipped around, focused on its leg, and pulled herself towards it at a speed that rivaled the lurker’s own surprise attack.

After some trial and error over the last couple nights, she had discovered that she could use her [Ruler of Relativity] ability to focus on certain points of a target, rather than the whole, which had vastly expanded her tactics and increased her mobility. She practically flew around the giant lurker like she was using omni-directional mobility gear to fight a Titan, all the while kiting it away from the other Sapphire Caste threats.

This monster must have been some kind of Troll variant as it quickly regenerated the little damage her cuts were doing. As her heart sank, her rage rose. She moved faster, pushed herself harder, and took more risks. She tried walking on a knife’s edge and felt it was only a matter of when, not if, she would slip from it.

The Frost Lurker, also like a troll and most other monsters, was not intelligent and it focused on brute strength attacks, roaring its own frustration when she continually slipped out of its grasp. As the creature’s rage increased with her own, the fighting became more wild and frantic as she chipped away, trying to out damage its regeneration.

“Let dreams become reality,” she incanted, triggering her [Lunar Dream] ability and creating a small flock of birds to fly around the monster, distracting it in its blind anger and swiping at the annoyances.

“Gaze into the abyss,” she tried casting her curse again and this time she felt the spell take hold. With renewed hope, she realized that it was taking the retributive damage from her curse with each roar of pain it gave each time it annihilated one of her illusions with an attack.

“Tala, can you give me some cover fire?” she asked and the little bird emerged and began one of its own attacks that she hadn't really seen up close before, mainly due to her fear of the little bird getting destroyed in a single hit from being too close to melee range where she fought, but now was not the time for cautious half-measures.

Name: Tala

Species: Cosmic Phoenix (Familiar)

Mythical creatures not of this world that are attuned to Dimension, Fire, and Radiant magic.

Caste: Crystal

Can cast the breath attack [Star Fire] against nearby enemies.

Attacks dealt by the talons or beak inflict additional Dimension damage and can affect incorporeal entities.

- Star Fire (elemental, magical, dimension, fire): A wide-area attack that inflicts a combination of Dimension and Fire damage and inflict [Burning] and [Vulnerable].

- Burning (bane, elemental, fire): Inflicts ongoing Fire damage.

- Vulnerable (bane, elemental, stacking): All Elemental resistances are slightly reduced.

When merged within the summoner:

- The summoner shines and slowly stores [Starlight Qi] generated from absorbed starlight. [Starlight Qi] can be completely drained to unleash a burst of mana and stamina regeneration to allies in the area. The amount replenished is determined by how much [Starlight Qi] was spent.

Both Phoenix and Tala flew out of the range of the enraged lurker and it was quickly engulfed in searing blue flames. The Wayfarer gave a feral grin as she saw her chance, her blades tore into the creature's joints as she moved her way up to its neck, cutting into it.

Her luck seemed to run out as it finally managed to get its grip around her body but she had almost managed to shred her way through the thick muscles of its neck, she ignored the giant hand and triggered [Pull] to drag herself back in range of her goal and continued hacking away as [Star Fire] washed over both of them.

She grimaced at the pain of the creature slowly crushing her as the Sun Shell around her shattered but she ignored it in the desperate attempt to finish the monster while it was blinded. She felt her ribs break and clenched her teeth so hard she feared breaking her jaw as well. The creature screamed in fury as it recovered from the blinding debuff but was still covered in flames and it threw her at the ground.

The Frost Lurker was a ragged burnt mess and its head was half decapitated. The monster was hanging on by a thread and with her last bit of mana she aimed her sword at its remaining neck and used [Push]. The sword sped through the air and starlight flames to bury itself deep into her target, but it wasn’t enough as the creature brought its large foot down on top of her and crushed the remaining bones in her body.

You have died.

All equipment has been returned to your collection.

[Waypoint] has guided your soul back to your designated location.

You have been reconstituted to a state of full integrity.

24 hours remain until this effect can be triggered again.

Quest: Lurking Threat

Objective complete: Defeated a Frost Lurker.

[Wrath Spirit Gem] has been added to your collection.

Bonus objective failed: You died.

Quest completed.

10 [Sapphire Mana Bits] have been added to your collection.

Phoenix stared at the message for a moment and began laughing. Apparently, the retributive damage of crushing her into powder was enough to finish killing the monster. She was already in her bed, so she conjured her sleeping clothes and glanced out the large window to gauge what time it was. She really needed a watch or something, the Wayfarer thought idly as she saw the sky lightening in preparation for a new day.

She almost jumped out of her skin as she flung herself from the bed when the door to her room slammed open. It took her a second to recognize the looming figure of Paul standing in the doorway, glaring at her with his golden eyes.

“What happened? Where have you been?” he asked gruffly and she could tell he was angry.

She returned the glare, still mentally on edge from the battle she just left, as the anger from her failure to not die flared up, “You know it’s rude to just barge into someone’s room without permission?”

His presence seemed to fill the room as he growled, “You’ve been missing for a whole week! Why were you gone? Where did you go?”

She grit her teeth and said evasively, “Hunting.”

He blinked in surprise and asked incredulously, “Hunting? In the wilds? Alone? During the worst blood moon in recorded history?”

Phoenix shrugged and started moving back towards the bed, “Yes. Now, I haven’t slept since the last time you saw me so I’m going to bed now. If you’re satisfied with your interrogation, I’ll come find you once I’ve rested, like I told you before.”

The warrior was next to her side before she could process he had moved as he said angrily, “I am not satisfied. Why would you do something so incredibly stupid and reckless?”

She glared up at the taller man and tried to put more space between them by shoving her way past him, “I needed to stab something, okay. I needed to prove to myself that I don’t always need you there to protect me!”

“It is my duty to keep you safe,” he began firmly but she cut him off.

“You’re not actually my father, Paul, so stop it!” She moved towards the door to her room in a subconscious effort to escape the confrontation.

“Listen here, young one,” the Wrath Blade said sternly as he grabbed her shoulder to halt her retreat.

In an instinctive reaction, Phoenix flinched at the contact and spun around, out of the threat’s grasp, and conjured her dagger in a fluid motion as she brought it down at her perceived attacker’s chest.

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