Chapter 15

Escthew (II)

The creature slowly stood up on its legs as soon as the party began closing in, stretching out its neck wildly into the air until it was looking down at them from high above. It was an eerie sight for everyone but Cain, and he noticed the hesitation in their steps immediately. However, there was little that could be done; while Rick and Emma had seen him battle the direwolf and were handling the new-found insanity a bit better, most others did not have any experience with creatures like these.

Cain remained relatively calm, however, observing Escthew’s every move. Though he didn’t know precisely what the creature’s attack patterns were, he still had over twenty years of experience in the Towers which afforded him decent deducting skills.

“... go to the flank, Justin,” he guided, charging his left arm with Water. “Emma, use Divine Shield on yourself and yell really loud; when the creature goes after, use Guardian to form a bond with her, Rick. Everyone else, fan out behind me. Go!”

With the command, a golden shower of light erupted from within Emma as she screamed on top of her lungs, running ahead. The creature's maw gaped, tepid liquid drenching around its edges, as it roared back, curving its neck and diving from the top at her. Rick immediately hollered at Emma, an almost invisible thread linking the two.

Just before the creature’s head struck at Emma who’d already raised her arms up above to shield, Cain arrayed the water within his hand and flung it out like a lasso, tying up the creature who immediately tried pulling back.

Holding it firmly, Cain charged his feet with Earth, rooting himself in place and pulling back with a roar. The creature thrashed for a moment as its head plummeted onto the ground, digging out a tiny crater and bouncing both Emma and Rick back.

“FLANK ITS LEGS, NOW!” he ordered the two who appeared stumped for a moment. “TIE THEM UP THE BEST YOU CAN! Amelia, use it now!” an avatar-like projection appeared from behind Amelia, in her likeness, its arms crossed over its chest. Right after, warm, silver light doused every member of the party, seemingly purifying them.

Cain felt his strength grow immensely as he yanked his arms back once again, preventing the creature from raising its neck. At the same time, he charged his other arm with Blood and a tiny charge of Fire, sending it 'downriver' through the arrayed link of water. The red and coral colors flickered momentarily before lodging into the creature's neck, causing it to roar out in pain.

It thrashed around violently, its legs kicking both Emma and Rick back good twenty paces.

“JUSTIN, NOW!” Cain screamed out as he felt the lasso slowly snapping. The boy suddenly appeared behind the creature’s back and flung a makeshift, wooden spar of sorts at the creature’s behind. The spear, surprisingly, easily pierced the flesh halfway through, inducing panic into the creature whose eyes flashed angrily.

It ripped its neck back, snapping the lasso, ready to thrust its head at Justin who stumbled back in horror. Cain rapidly charged both his fists with Fire, but rather than jumping at the creature, he slapped them together, forming a descending pillar that splashed over the creature's head, dragging its attention back at him.

Emma and Rick had recovered by now, rushing back, while Amelia slowly began singing ‘Tranquil Hymn’, Bard’s starting healing skill. Though it was one of the worst among the support classes, it was better than nothing.

The creature flung its head directly at Cain, forcing him to use Blink and reappear thirty feet to the creature’s left side, already charging Earth and Fire within his fists. With a roar, he kicked his hands out in concert, spinning them toward each other in a singular motion. Right after, fire blasted out of his palm in a coiling fashion, rolling around a rising boulder of dirt. Just as it was about to fall apart, Cain spun in place, charging his right leg with Wind and performing a roundhouse kick at the boulder, sending it flying with the wind’s power.

It flew like a bullet in a faint arch, startling the creature who curled its neck twice over as a form of the shield. The boulder collided directly, sending embers and sparks amidst the blazing dirt, provoking a throttling scream of pain from the creature’s now-gaping maw.

"FAN OUT!!" he screamed out but was a step too late -- Escthew's hairs stood up like needles, and as it shook its massive body, causing the stirring winds around it, it also fired them off like bullets. Most missed, whiffing off into nothingness, but quite a few found their way over, lodging into Rick, Emma, Justin, and several even reaching Amelia. They all collectively cried out in pain, pulling back as blood began rushing out.

He saw it, Cain realized, in their eyes -- the horror, the incapacity to move, the realization that had finally struck them. However... it was the right move, he knew. Decapitating the rose-colored view of the Towers that would become their death otherwise, while also showing them that the horror of it all, however supernatural it may be, is not cosmic.

“FALL BACK, EVERYONE,” Cain screamed, taking a deep breath. “Spell Creation...” he mumbled softly and latched his fingers together.

Coral flames erupted between them, standing up in a straight line like a pillar before curving at the center. Unlatching the fingers, he pulled one of his arms back while pushing the other out. Right after, the flames in front of him turned into a shape of a sword, bending further and extending until they reached over fifteen feet in length.

The sword shot forward like a blazing star, aiming directly at the creature's neck. Sensing the danger, Escthew yowled in dread, pulling his neck back and shoving the rest of its body at the front. The sword fell upon it directly, flames erupting like a tsunami on both ends of the collision, crimson blood spurting out like a geyser.

It wasn't just the Fire that Cain charged the spell with -- it was a combination of Fire, Arcane and Wind. A single, charged sphere of Arcane acted as a core of the spell, resting at the center, as it was offensively the strongest Element. Fire, then, coated it in the shape of a sword, further enhancing the damage as well as the reach. And, lastly, the Wind acted as the back-end support, wheezing at the back end of the sword, giving it extra acceleration, momentum, speed, and damage. Not enough...

Taking a deeper breath, Cain charged his feet with Wind jumped into the sky, spinning midair, charging his fists repeatedly with a combination of Arcane and Fire, shooting off bolts and bullets of plum and coral dye, forming a scene eerily similar to that of the fireworks.

The creature repeatedly yelped and yowled, screaming and thrashing out. Its neck reached out as it tried to slap Cain who Blinked back onto the ground, running perpendicularly to the creature, continuing to fire off bolts while simultaneously mixing Wind and Earth in his feet, occasionally increasing his speed and occasionally raising walls of dirt, and even rooting himself in place against the shockwave of the creature’s strike.

“Bless me again, Amelia!!” he cried out at the still-stunned woman, jolting her back to reality. She almost subconsciously mumbled something, singing out several high notes and pointing at him.

He felt himself growing revitalized again, his Mana slowly regenerating from having fallen into the two-digit territory. Sweat had slowly begun coalescing on his forehead, but he ignored it. Everyone else had frozen in place, staring at him wide-eyed. Esctchew's vitality, however, was no joke; despite the massive gash on the side of its body that was still bleeding, it continued to thrash around, occasionally firing off bullet-like needles that were wholly concentrated on Cain, often making it impossible to dodge them all.

Gritting his teeth and ignoring the prickling points of pain across his body, he Blinked once again to avoid a side-slam of its head, appearing directly above. Taking a deep breath, he used Mana Burning to increase his damage threefold and directly consumed half his remaining Mana, over a 100, and splashed his arms together, using the same spell he'd created earlier in the fight.

He charged an extra round of Wind to speed up the process of coalescence of elements and grabbed the 'handle' of the sword that was now nearly thirty feet tall before slashing directly downward, roaring in the process.

The creature sensed the danger again and screamed out back at him, trying to curve its neck out of the way, but was just a step too late. The massive sword of fire spilled over its neck and cleaved it directly in half, fire raging out into an inferno that formed a fifty-feet wide ring.

Cain splashed directly down into a consolidating pool of creature’s blood, tendons, organs, and even bones. He was immediately coated in it, nearly drowned at that, trying to run out but slipping at the slippery blood and falling ass-first down, grumbling angrily in the process.

Escthew yelped out one last time and winced, its head and the small part of the neck wiggling like a worm for a few moments before its massive eyes closed down in a bout of unwillingness, dying.

"C'!!!" Emma cried out as she watched Cain be drowned in the seething pool of fire and blood, rushing out immediately. Rick tried reaching out and grabbing her but was a step too late, and calling after her did nothing to stop her.

She jumped directly through the flames as though they weren’t even there and into the pool of dark-red and stench-filled blood. She immediately spotted him hunched over in the distance, blood dripping off of him like a waterfall. Horror filled her heart and soul as she increased her speed, vaulting over the corpse’s organs that had fallen out and reaching him within a few seconds, grabbing at him tightly.

“C’!! Are--oh my god, oh my god, no, no, no,” her finger splashed about the pooled blood, trying to clean him up. “Hold on, hold on, I’m right here, I’m--”

“Stop poking my fucking eyes--ugh, shit, fuck, I swallowed some blood, fuck, oh my fuck that’s disgusting--you insane woman, stop poking me, ugh...”

“.....” amidst he curses and the wild thrashing, Emma realized that it was not his blood, finally coming to. And she also realized that she was now covered in stench-filled blood amidst the gore that was beyond horrifying. Such a realization... was difficult to embrace. "Oh... fuck..." as the adrenaline wore off, she slumped and fell down, passing out.

“...” Cain looked down at her and sighed bitterly, reaching down and pulling her up. Oh well, his lips curled up into a mellow smile, though, if anyone was there to see it, they’d pass out in horror as his face was still smeared with blood and he appeared almost evil-incarnate-looking. To think she’d risk her life to save me... sheesh... you never changed, have you?

Grunting in annoyance, he used the last bits of his Mana to coat his feet in Earth as to not slip again, dragging Emma and himself out and into the open where they were welcomed by the party. As soon as they saw the two covered in blood, stench immediately flying off into their nostrils, all but one passed out. And the one that hadn’t, Rick, was hunched over, vomiting his guts out. Before Cain could do anything, screens rapidly began flashing in front of his eyes one by one, causing him to roll his eyes.

// You have defeated Eschthew...

You have leveled up...

You have leveled up...

...

You have leveled up...

Congratulations on reaching Level 19!

Four Achievements unlocked! (Created a Spell-- +5 to Intelligence and Wisdom--; Felled a Monster; Felled a Void Beast-- +10 to Vitality; Defeated a Monster ten or more levels up-- +10 to Stamina)

Title ‘Monster Slayer’ unlocked -- extra damage to all monster-class creatures

Title ‘Maverick’ unlocked -- damage doubled when ALL other party members are incapacitated (lasts for 2 minutes)

Title ‘Spell Creator’ unlocked -- all Created Spells receive 2000% bonus damage, but consume 500% more Mana //

Right beneath it, he also caught a glimpse of his new stats, causing his sour mood to lighten up slightly.

///Name: Cain Gregory Age: 32 Race: Human

Class: Elementalist Level: 19

Strength: 10 Vitality: 28 Agility: 12 Stamina: 23

Intelligence: 55 Wisdom: 48 Health: 280 Mana: 550

Traits: Labourer(C+), Quick-witted(A-), Tenacious(B-), Leadership(B-), Analysis(C+), Battle Awareness(C)

Skills: Fire(B-), Frost(C-), Arcane (C+), Earth (C+), Wind (B-), Blink(C+), Elemental Shield(C-), Water(C-), Blood(D-), Mana Burning (E)

Mana Burning (double the Mana consumption for three times the damage for 10 seconds; Skill improves with rank)

Items: N/A

Titles: The First Elementalist, Bandit Slayer, Direwolf Slayer, Monster Slayer, Maverick, Spell Creator

Achievements: 7 (+1 to Main Stats for each achievement)///