This is going to be rough, Seth thought while gritting his teeth.
Colossus charged forward, Desert Aegis's shimmering layer forming over the already damaged Quartz Armor. But even with his recently improved defenses, facing all three elementals would be suicidal. Seth and Nightmare immediately followed, knowing they would need to take some of the hits.
This was no time to hold back—Seth cast Beastmaster Rage.
His vision turned crimson, and a surge of raw power flooded him. His muscles bulged; each stride propelled him farther. The artificial rage flowed through Link, and Nightmare, now also cloaked in the red aura, cast Mantle of Terror. The first spell seemingly amplified the other, causing a suffocating wave to wash over the cavern. All three Dark Elementals froze in place as if grasped by a crippling fear.
Seth struck the closest enemy. Iron Fists materialized around his gauntlets as he buried his fist into the Elemental's head. Before the Rank-44 creature could even stumble, Nightmare sprang from the shadows and sunk his teeth into its arm with a vicious Shadow Bite. While they focused on their target, Colossus slammed into the other two Elementals, holding their attention with his sheer bulk since his taunt spell was on cooldown.
Seth and Nightmare moved as one in a barrage of fist and fang to take out their target as quickly as possible. Seth's gauntlets bashed into the Dark Elemental, then blocked the retaliating slashes of its claws with a ringing sound of shadow-forged edges on rock. Just as he prepared another attack with the direwolf, Seth realized Colossus's Quartz Armor had begun to crumble under the relentless assault of the other two Elementals, leaving the scorpion exposed beneath the aether of Desert Aegis.
Activating his Swift Eagle Bracelet and casting Huntbound Rush, Seth crossed the distance in an instant, his feet flying above the cave's floor. He then used Shadow Step to appear in the scorpion's shadow, just in time to cross his arms and block the twin, scythe-like claws about to cleave through his partner's shell.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
With the Agility boost from the artifact, Huntbound Rush, and Beastmaster Rage, Seth for the first time had the upper hand in terms of speed against the Dark Elementals.
His core pulsed and flooded his body with raw instinct as he deflected the shadowy claws once again while he countered with a ruthless flurry of jabs. Nightmare cast Chains of Darkness, black tendrils ensnaring the Rank-48 to help them from a distance while still handling his own enemy.
Seth whirled around and, as the other Dark Elemental of the duo dissolved into a streak of shadow to evade his strike, began channeling aether into Phantom Punch. The moment the creature reformed, Seth was ready for it. The skeletal fist of the Undead spell arose around his own and crashed into the Elemental's head, obliterating it in a silent explosion of teal energy and shadows.
A wave of aether-debt nausea washed over Seth, which forced him to draw on the reserves from his Fine Storing Ring immediately. The energy flooded his Well, so he turned to face the other Elemental—but then he noticed a pair of claws heading toward his torso. He attempted to activate his Protecting Belt, yet he was a fraction of a second too slow. The attack raked across his chest and tore three deep gashes. Seth grunted in pain and punched the creature. Hissing with apparent anger at Seth's injury, Colossus immediately let out a booming hum that rippled outward and drew back the beast's attention.
On the other side of the fight, Nightmare finally ripped the throat of the injured Elemental he'd been fighting. He then joined his packmates, rushing toward the final one that was now locked in combat with Colossus. The direwolf slowed it with another cast of Chains of Darkness before drawing on the aether from Seth's ring through Link to replenish his own nearly empty Well.
Colossus lunged forward to pin the Dark Elemental down, but the creature dissolved into a streak of shadow and flowed away. The moment it emerged, it slashed the air and sent a crescent of pure darkness hurtling toward the scorpion—Seth hadn't seen them use that attack before. Colossus immediately cast Sandstorm Dome, the grinding vortex of sand erupting outward to intercept the attack. The large scorpion then rushed toward the foe.
The Dark Elemental tried to retreat, but Seth used Shadow Step to block its path and drove it back with a thunderous punch.
The next instant, Colossus's massive pincers snapped shut on the creature's smoky body, while Nightmare tore into its lower section with Shadow Bite. Still fueled with Beastmaster Rage, Seth charged back in and hammered the trapped Elemental with his fists until it finally dissolved into nothingness.
"Freaking hell," Seth muttered, hands dropping to his knees—he was exhausted, and his Well was depleted. But just as he was about to let out a breath of relief, two more Dark Elementals glided out from the mine's entrance. "Oh, seriously?”
'Yeah, bring more!' Nightmare growled through Link while Seth cast Intermediate Identify.
Inside Seth's Well, Beastmaster Rage began to tremble and wane; he probably had less than thirty seconds before the spell ended. After that, his Toughness would plummet. Against enemies like these, it would be a death sentence.
'We have to kill them, and we have to do it now.' Seth said.
Both Nightmare and Colossus nodded. Seth immediately drained the last of the aether from his Fine Storing Ring to distribute it between the three of them. They then charged forward as one; Nightmare and Colossus took one of the first Elementals while Seth met the other head-on.
The creature hurled a dark crescent of shadow his way, which Seth easily dodged. The moment he countered with a bone-jarring punch, fear flickered in the Elemental's hollow eyes, and the creature dissolved into a dark pool to put some distance between them.
The critical mistake gave Seth the opening he needed.
Lunging forward, he cast Phantom Punch and buried his fist into the Elemental's torso, obliterating most of its left shoulder. As it tried to retaliate with its other arm, Seth easily blocked the claws with Iron Fists, then grabbed the creature's limb and hammered its face with a brutal series of jabs. Yet just when he thought he was about to finish it, the beast shrieked and unleashed a wild slash that shattered the stone cladding his gauntlets and sent him stumbling away.
Seth immediately dashed back into the fray, pushing aether into Huntbound Rush to boost his Agility even further. He was now dodging on pure instinct, his core screaming warnings as the elemental's clawed hands sliced through the air. A sharp slash grazed his face and was just about to counterattack when he felt the weakness from Beastmaster Rage's aftermath setting in—his Toughness was plummeting.
'Shit,' he thought as the shadow-wreathed claws came straight for his face to pierce his skull.
Ducking beneath the strike, Seth felt his core thrumming. There was a new source of power behind his ribcage, and the sensation made a feral grin spread across his lips. The danger had dramatically increased, and with that danger came an undeniable thrill. To thrive and overcome any challenge. Don't worry. I'll crush it, he thought as if answering the Legacy in his chest.
The next second, Seth became a phantom. He flashed past the Dark Elemental and wove through every slash before retaliating with his own fists, exploiting the injuries on it he'd already inflicted. Even without the rage spell, he still had the speed from Huntbound Rush and the last reserves of aether from his Swift Eagle Bracelet.
Furthermore, Agility wasn't the only facet tipping the scales. Seth could read the creature—its rhythm, its fear, all of its twitches. Predators? he scoffed inwardly. No. They were prey all along.
He was the hunter, and they were just insects scrambling to survive.
The moment the next swipe came, Seth slipped past it and drove his fist into the Dark Elemental's chest. The creature's shadowy body burst apart in silence, leaving only a glimmering black beaststone to clatter onto the ground.
Quickly, he then turned to assist Colossus and Nightmare, but halted—both of them were looking at him, both seeming rather relaxed. Their opponent was already gone, and a black crystal lay on the cave's floor next to their paws.
"Why didn't you join in?" Seth asked between heavy breaths.
'You were smiling,' Nightmare answered. 'And you seemed to have it under control. Why would we deny you that joy?'
Seth opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. The direwolf wasn't wrong. Danger was the one thing he sought as a Primalist. "You're right."
His fingers brushed against the three gashes on his chest; the pain there was nothing more than a distant ache. Each fight seemed to be forging a new kind of hunger within him—and he was now craving the next one, even though he was fully out of aether.
From the corner of his vision, he noticed a river of small, gray figures scurrying away from the mine in the distance. With all seven of the nearby Dark Elementals now dead, the moles were finally free.
Before he could say anything, a wave of pure excitement surged from Colossus. 'Can we fight another one?' the scorpion asked, his eyes darting left and right as he looked for any sign of other mines.
Seth smiled. He still had a twenty-minute Toughness debuff to wait out, yet before he could voice the issue, Nightmare spoke up, 'Stay here. I'll find us a foe.'
The direwolf vanished a heartbeat later with Illusionary Emptiness and dashed into the gloom. Seth didn't need Link to know Nightmare's true motive: he didn't want to temper the eagerness of their youngest companion.
'You're such a thoughtful co-leader,' Seth said to the direwolf.
A low grumble echoed back through their bond. Yet Seth could feel beneath it a thrumming hunger—one that matched his own.
I agree. I hope the next ones will be even stronger.
(NOT UPDATED):
------
Thank you so much for reading!
------
21 24!! advanced chapters on !