Amber | Chapter 31. (Patreon)

Chapter 31.

Amber stared at the Voidlurker, the monster resembled one of those twisted humanoid things from horror movies. Its skin was ghastly white, its limbs were long and sickly, and its multiple eyes were staring right at her with no emotion. Whatever the fuck it was, she was certain it wasn’t natural.

Her arm snapped into place after using Recovery of Curses along with Cursed Rage Synergy. Multiple things passed through her mind, but one thing she was most curious about was what actually was the difference between both of their strengths.

Amber’s eyes narrowed and the monster took a step forward⁠—

Now!

She reached its side in a single moment with Quick Dash and cleaved with the Sword of All Mortals. The monster raised its stick and blocked⁠— it was sent stumbling three steps back. Amber grinned and used Cursed Stomp.

Cuts ruptured on the legs of the monster, purple blood burst and Amber rushed forward. She readied her sword and the monster⁠— swung. She blocked and she felt Cursed Rage Synergy immediately flare up. Then the monster swung again⁠— and again. A flurry of attacks came from the deformed figure that made Amber flinch. They were almost too fast.

I’ve never tried this, but better now than never.

She burned Cursed Rage Synergy again and used it on Cursed Momentum; in an instant she felt a surge of strength as the skill was pushed past its normal limits. She blocked another strike and Amber ducked after the next one.

Cursed Cleave⁠— Her sword blurred and hit the creature’s leg. It dug well into its bone and yet⁠— the creature slammed and the ground cracked. Amber grunted, feeling her shoulder blade pulverize before she enhanced Recovery of Curses with the rage from that.

The monster went for another swing and she managed to Quick Dash out of the way, putting a few meters of distance between the two.

Does it just not feel pain or what? It was weird to say the least.

The monster started to walk in her direction and Amber frowned. It hadn’t been affected by both of her Cursed Stomps either. Amber frowned and decided that she’d just use Curse Battery on it along with rage. Then, she’d figure out what to do after. Right now, her main priority was incapacitating it.

Amber rushed at the monster and cleaved onto its arm, receiving a blow in return. Her rib was immediately broken and a moment later she began to dance in a blocking fight with the monster. All to build up Cursed Rage Synergy. In the end, she couldn’t exchange blows. The thing had much higher strength than her, and she felt her arms trembling from each of its strikes.

But it also meant that the rage limit of her skill was hit in less than a minute. Amber dodged its strike and pushed her palm against the monster’s belly, then she used Curse Manipulation, Curse Rage Synergy and Curse Battery almost at the same time. Her mana flared and she grinned⁠.

Die⁠—

Purple blood burst as a hole was carved into the creature’s torso, blowing right through its spine. Its entrails splattered onto the ground behind. Curse Battery continued for a full second, leaving nothing remaining in that area.

Amber felt glee. It should be unable to move now⁠—

And she was slapped by the stick, her neck fractured and her jaw broke as she was sent rolling across the round. She immediately transformed the rage she built up from that into fuel for Recovery of Curses, and her neck popped into place three seconds later.

Amber stood up seeing the monster walking towards her; its movements remained the same as ever and yet cuts filled its body. It was still walking towards her, as if it had been unaffected by what it did. And yet, she was well aware the monster had gotten quite injured from all of it, which made her ponder:

I wonder who will fall first?

At first the answer was obvious; she would most definitely be the one unable to fight first, but her instincts told her to not be so sure about it. And at the same time, Amber had yet to see how much she could truly endure. Her smile deepened. It was a perfect opportunity to push herself, against the perfect enemy who did not stop fighting back.

Amber rushed at the monster and immediately began to block its attacks, but she also exchanged blows. She made sure to not let herself be hit twice in quick succession, but even then, booms of hits resounded across the room every ten seconds. Her bones cracked each time it happened.

Blood splattered, purple and red alike. The monster continued swinging, it had no technique, in fact it was almost lazy but its hits carried strength that she had hardly experienced before. Amber on the other hand, was collected and would cut at important parts of its body, where tendons would be; however as soon as she realized that it didn’t seem to do anything she aimed for the creature’s legs.

A minute in, she amputated one of the legs with Cursed Cleave causing it to begin hopping. Her left arm was completely destroyed at that point and unable to be used. She was limping, and even though Recovery of Curses was healing more than ever before, she was slowly being whittled down. The monster’s balance was perfect, and was wholly unaffected by losing its leg.

Amber continued fighting. She received deadly blows while she cleaved into the creature’s remaining leg, trying to amputate it through the knee. She felt her heart banging, rushing as she did another hit and received a strike on her already shattered ribs. Her vision blurred.

I’ll have to… run. Even though she was in pain, she didn’t pay any attention to that, it was the fact that she felt her consciousness slipping that made her want to back off. Will I really lose against, this thing⁠—!?

Amber hit its leg again. She didn’t want to die from fainting in front of the monster and she wasn’t stupid enough to die to it either, but even then part of her hurt when thinking about running away. It couldn’t end like this. She had to do⁠—

More.

She gritted her teeth and pushed herself, hitting the monster’s knee once more. She received a strike to the arm that dropped her to the ground. But even then, she looked up and mustering all of her strength, she swung one last time with Cursed Cleave. Her sword blurred and with a scintillating light, it went through⁠— breaking the creature’s bone and flesh with a splatter of blood, making it topple.

The Voidlurker did not so much as make a single sound aside from the thud of its body hitting the ground.

Amber took three steps back and fell, but she pushed herself to stand up again. Feeling her injuries rapidly heal. The monster wasn’t dead yet.

She stared at the unmoving creature that was staring at the ceiling and⁠—

A notification came.

[You have defeated a [Voidlurker. Lvl. 100].]

For defeating an agent of the Supernatural you have received bonus experience.

However, Amber blinked at that.

“It’s dead…?” she asked, trembling from her injuries. “Really…?”

The darkness in the room cleared and now she could see the stairs. However, she didn’t care about any of that. Instead, her thoughts remained on the Voidlurker; It felt like an immovable force, but the monster actually dropped dead after losing both of its legs. She had no idea what the fuck she had fought, but a small smile eventually slipped onto her face.

She had actually outlasted the wretched thing.

And more importantly…

[Cursed Manipulation has ranked up. Curse Battery is now 2nd Rank level 1.]

[⁠Curse Manipulation has reached 2nd Rank ⁠— level 1.

You’ve been fighting along with curses for a very long time and have grown to proficiently control them. You can dexterously affect how a curse is applied and even the strength at which it is applied. While using this skill is active, curses are 50% stronger. Percentage scales from skill level.

2nd Rank ⁠—  This skill no longer consumes mana.]

Amber could feel it, the manipulation had changed so much that she felt excited, not only that but she could keep the skill permanently active now. It was just fucking great.

She grinned and sat down, letting her body heal, then she turned to her notifications only to find.

[You have reached 2nd Rank in all your skills. No new Core Skills will be offered until your next Class Advancement. 10 extra attribute points have been awarded.]

Amber blinked at that, she actually liked this change. Plus, to her, it signified that skills after her Class Advancement would be a lot more useful. Overall, she felt excited.

Not only that but…

[You have reached level 93. 5 stat points awarded.]

…

[You have reached level 96. 5 stat points awarded.]

I’m so close to level 100, and so close to my next advancement.

Amber took a deep breath and distributed her attribute points, before preparing herself to head over to the next floor. More than anything, she wondered what she would find on the fiftieth floor.

She didn’t know what to expect, but she felt like it would be a much greater challenge than all the previous floors, including this one.

And so, she gathered all her energies before continuing into the tower.

* * *

Amber was sure she had passed six months in the tower. These last nine floors hadn’t been tedious to her, but rather all of them were hard fought fights that pushed her Recovery of Curses to level up and left her exhausted afterward. And now, she stood on the stairs to the fiftieth floor.

Almost a lot of her 2nd Rank skills had leveled up to level 10, and her resistances had crossed into 2nd Rank.

[Quick Dash has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 9 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

[Cursed Stomp has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

[Recovery of Curses has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 6 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

[Sharp Instincts has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 9.]

[Curse Battery has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 5 to 2nd Rank level 8.]

[Cursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 3 to 2nd Rank level 6.]

[Curse Manipulation has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 1 to 2nd Rank level 4.]

[⁠Magical Resistance has reached 2nd Rank ⁠— level 1.

You’ve been attacked by dozens of different types of magic during your short life in this world. It’s like you are a magnet to danger. You are now more resistant to all magical attacks.]

2nd Rank ⁠—  You’re twice as resistant to all magical attacks.]

[⁠Physical Resistance has reached 2nd Rank ⁠— level 1.

You’ve been receiving physical damage for a long time; whether this is on purpose or not it does not matter! You are now more physically durable.

2nd Rank ⁠—  You’re twice as resistant to physical attacks.]

[⁠Elemental Resistance has reached 2nd Rank ⁠— level 1.

You are a magnet to the elements. You don’t know how to stay out of their way, and at this pace you are likely to die! Worry not, you are now physically more resistant to the elements.

2nd Rank ⁠—  You’re twice as resistant to elemental attacks.]

Amber felt glad and excited to get to test out her new resistances against the fiftieth floor’s monster. Mini-boss? She wanted to think that it was that, just like the snake, just like the worm, just like the voidlurker⁠— but she had a feeling that it was different.

However, more importantly, she was close to her next Class Advancement.

Way too close.

[You have reached level 97. 5 stat points awarded.]

…

[You have reached level 99. 5 stat points awarded.]

She was one level away.

And after ascending the stairs of the fiftieth floor, she found herself standing before burning rocks, incandescent light came from beneath them accompanied by crackling sounds.

“So this is the fiftieth floor…”

It was a large floor, and she couldn’t even see the end of the room clearly due to the heat that distorted the air. The temperature was high enough to burn her and activate Cursed Momentum without even stepping on the floor. And while she could’ve waited for her skill to completely activate she didn’t.

This was meant to be a challenge, and she was going to embrace the entirety of its difficulty. That said, she was glad she had leveled all her resistances into 2nd Rank.

She began to walk into the room and⁠ three steps in the light began to dim and the temperature began to drop. A second later she was in pitch-black darkness, and two golden eyes opened in front of her, they were slitted and dangerous. The sight of them made her pause. They were looking at her as if assessing her, and she felt danger.

Amber took a step back feeling the familiar gaze, and that’s when she realized.

This was the same monster Ax’thra killed.

And it was a boss monster.

And the monster roared. The room lit up. Walls of fire erupted in her surroundings casting an arena of fire. The temperature continued to rise and Amber felt Cursed Momentum constantly increase, she also used Cursed Rage Synergy continuously, and in the span of less than a second Cursed Momentum hit its maximum normal limit, but she didn’t stop there as she continued to increase the skill along with Recovery of Curses.

She was tense, and for good reason⁠—

[Fire Velstalker. Lvl. ???]

She couldn’t see the monster’s level.

The monster resembled a drake but standing on two legs. It had an elongated tail and arms with razor-sharp claws. Not only that but it was well over three meters tall and its presence was… intimidating. Its scales sheened to the raging fires, as if the monster was part of them itself. And from everything she was seeing, she knew that this was going to be the hardest fight she’d had so far.

The Fire Velstalker roared at her and Amber felt her whole body tense up as a notification came.

[You have resisted Roar’s status effect due to Supernatural Nullification.]

Even though she resisted it, she still locked up for half a second, and when Amber blinked she saw the whipping tail of the Fire Velstalker in her vision. She raised her sword and arm to block, and the attack came; the air cracked as Amber was sent flying. Her arms trembled and the temperature of the room increased.

Amber saw the Fire Velstalker rushing at her, it was much faster than her. She landed and the monster clawed at her, but Amber in response hit the ground with her foot. Cursed Stomp activated and shattered the rocks⁠— flames surged and the Velkstalker was hit. Its claw paused for a moment as numerous lacerations exploded across the monster.

However, Amber stepped out of the way as the claw hit⁠— three slices of fire passed and slashed across the room, going past the infernal walls and cleaving into the hard walls of the room.

Unlike the Voidlurker it gets stunned but barely. Amber bit her lip and barely managed to block a hit from the Fire Velstalker. Its claw unleashed another fiery blast that cut through Amber’s shoulder before hitting the ground and rending it.

She grunted and stomped again, the Fire Velstalker was discombobulated and Amber had about enough⁠— she thrust her hand forward, all of the rage pent within her surging, and now that Curse Manipulation was always active, all she had to do was use her skill⁠—

Curse Battery⁠—

Blood burst as the monster unleashed a pained shriek, lacerations exploded upon its torso and clavicle area. The monster stumbled back, bleeding heavily as it continued to be cut by her skill and Amber used Quick Dash. She raised her sword, and used Cursed Cleave. The monster screeched and a pillar of flames burst in front of her.

Amber was engulfed and the sword was repelled. She felt her skin burn; sear as it was cooked and she stumbled back. She let out a low hiss; the pain was much different than whatever the fuck she was used to. It just felt different. Amber immediately converted all of the rage from that into Recovery of Curses, and the relief was immediate.

What the fuck even was that?

Even though her resistances had ranked up, she was still getting hurt so much. She immediately snapped to see ahead, and saw the wall of flames disappear and from within she saw the Fire Velstalker except it was covered in armor, one that was shining in a bright yellow and consumed the air itself. Amber blinked and the creature dashed right at her, blood still dripping from between the plates of its protection.

It clawed and she blocked⁠— the slashes torn well into her shoulder as blood splattered. The monster followed with another searing strike that made Amber gurgle blood.

What⁠— Her torso was torn apart in a blink, and Amber was forced to use the 2nd Rank of Recovery of Curses.

She dashed out of the way and a strike missed. Her vision was already blurring; the attacks she blocked would go right through her defenses, which made her wonder what the fuck she was supposed to do. If she couldn’t keep blocking, and couldn’t dodge then was she meant to attack?!

Amber shifted and blocked⁠— the cuts went through her forearm as she grunted. Cursed Rage Synergy was constantly building up, and she was constantly pumping it into Recovery of Curses; the only way she could survive. Her seared and cauterized flesh constantly regenerated, but she knew that if she engaged she’d probably lose the battle quite quickly.

What am I meant to do?

She was starting to panic, but her thoughts still told her that she should try attacking; make use of an opening from Cursed Stomp if needed, and more importantly see how the monster dealt with her own attacks⁠—

Amber stomped and used Cursed Cleave upon the monster; lacerations burst on the Fire Velkstalker’s legs but its attack didn’t stop this time. Both of the hits collided and Amber blinked⁠ having a realization— the fire splashed, lightly cutting and singing her. Meanwhile, the monster’s armor cracked with lacerations⁠⁠—

I can do it. She could attack it and take minimal damage⁠—

Amber was forced to block, even though she had almost no cooldown on Cursed Cleave the monster was much faster than her⁠— cuts spread across her ribs, her armor being torn apart, however this time, she didn’t panic; already having devised a plan in her mind.

She used Quick Dash and got out of the way, however there was no mana put into it. Instead, she used the small distance to slash with the use of Cursed Cleave⁠— the creature clawed and both attacks collided once more. Amber was hurt and felt some rage built up, but this time she put it into Cursed Momentum, expanding its limits once again.

Then, she dashed out of the way and swiped again⁠— the same thing happened, except the monster’s claws were cut, even though Amber received damage as well, and that’s when she grinned.

I can win this.

Amber engaged in a constant trading of blows, using dashes in between for a small respite. It was a meticulous and arduous task that required more precision than she initially thought⁠— Amber grunted, feeling her thigh be cut by a stray attack⁠. However, aside from another slip up she perfectly carried on.

The armor around the monster’s arms began to fall apart, and Amber was about to celebrate victory but with a single roar the monster regenerated it. All the progress she had made was wiped, and Amber scowled⁠ she found it fucking stupid⁠—

Am I fighting myself or what?!

She tried other things but found herself at a stalemate, and all Amber could do was keep fighting. She used Cursed Cleave more times than she could count, she used Cursed Stomp and even tried to poison it with health potions but all and every single one of her strategies fell short.

And just as Amber began to despair, a notification that she never expected came:

[Cursed Cleave has ranked up. Cursed Cleave is now 3rd Rank level 1.]

[⁠Cursed Cleave has reached 3rd Rank ⁠— level 1.

You’ve swung your sword so many times that perhaps you treat it more like a cleaver. This is an upgraded version of Heavy Swing. If you are bearing a curse it will apply when using the skill.

2nd Rank ⁠— Cooldown is halved and the swing strikes 30% harder, the curse is 50% stronger.

3rd Rank ⁠— Your cleaves are projected; sending a scintillating curse-laced slash forward. Your cleaves are now two times stronger.]

Amber’s eyes widened as she leaned to the side, part of her torso was taken apart as she began to lose. Or would’ve began to lose.

Reading the notification she couldn’t help but grin as she cleanly dodged another attack, and then she slashed using Cursed Cleave. A purple flash came and clashed with the claw⁠— and blood from the Fire Velstalker exploded as its armor was immediately torn. Amber received no damage as the monster reeled.

It was time for victory.

She stepped forward and slashed again, the monster attacked in retaliation but the same thing occurred. Its other arm was torn apart, and the monster for the first time in the battle showed some level of fear in its eyes. Amber swung again and the armor was cleanly cut⁠— one of its arms went flying.

The monster growled and attacked with its remaining arm, more flames than ever bursting forward and Amber retaliated in kind⁠— using rage on this attack; orange and purple burst at the same time, but a pained shriek accompanied it.

The monster’s second arm went flying and Amber regripped⁠— slashing for the creature’s neck.

She stared at the boss’ beady eyes, and then she noticed it was looking at her in defiance. The blade sliced into its neck and the monster screeched⁠— screamed in primal anger and red flames exploded in all directions⁠—

And a blast of flames engulfed her. She was sent flying and hit the walls of the room, going past the infernal wall. Her bones fractured and the stone cracked. Amber hit the ground panting, as blood pooled into the ground. She couldn’t move.

Am I going to die…?

She looked ahead with blurry vision and the flames of the wall cleared, in the distance she could see the Velstalker. it was much larger, more dangerous, flames embraced its body— and a white blast of superheated flames was already coming her way. Seeing Identify, Amber couldn’t believe it.

Its Identify result changed.

[Fireblessed Velkstalker. Lvl. ???]

And seeing the incoming flames, Amber screamed at herself to move.