“Eldritch!” Blas shouted out like an order, the knights jumping back with halberds pointed in a circle, “Alister. Wisteria. Get back. Your minds are protected thanks to my wards, but I don’t want to risk it. We’ll handle this.”

“No can do, Father,” Alister responded, firm in his resolve about this, a chaotic light coming to life in his grey eyes, far too eager, “This is totally new to me! I can’t pass up this opportunity!”

“A-and we have to put it out of its misery,” Wisteria added, though her fingers shook on the length of the bow, “This is an affront to nature and the gods…”

The father grimaced, not even looking back toward them, “You two are going to get an earful after this. Fine. If you two get hurt, your mother is going to skin me for it, Alister. Make sure to stay back and only use ranged means. The biggest threats about an eldritch creature are its mental effects and its chaotic behavior. It is hard to tell what will come of one, as each is different from the last. The most typical common features are ooze of some sort and tentacles. This means that they often have great reach. I’ll try to make sure you get the last hit in, but no promises at this point.”

By now, all the knights had stepped in, warily watching the limbs. Skittish. Except for one of them.

Seoln, being the large-statured caracal half-beastkin he was, was the only one amongst them to have fought eldritch creatures before. Just once, when he was still in the arena circuits, but they weren't too different to this one. Maybe a similar plan would work this time…

The group of fighters circled around the creature, now looking nothing like its original body. It gave off a dreadful fear aura that made everyone reluctant to attack… but of all people, it was Wisteria that acted first.

An arrow zipped between fighters, striking at the base of a tentacle. Another thought-rending cry went out, which served as a cue for the knights to break the standoff.

What followed was a flurry of blows from all sides. Even an eldritch creature had a limit to its attention span. It did its best to fight back, and was fairly successful at pushing a few knights at a time onto the defensive, having to be careful to not get disarmed by the snagging spikes. But even when blows snuck by the defensive shields, they found only a few places that could actually take damage. The same armor as before protected most of it, and the few cracks from before were covered in thick, protective black tar. Only around the base of the swift, flexible tentacles and eyes were truly weak to attack.

Wisteria and Alister tried to continue to contribute, but in the chaotic flurry of dancing blades and smashing shields, it was almost impossible to not hit a knight, nevermind actually land such a difficult shot.

So, Alister determined, he'd simply have to take away the need for accuracy. Beginning a simple spell, he held it inside. Charging it, focusing it, shaping it.

As the fight dragged on, things became more dire. Two of them were disarmed, their halberd flying into the brush. With no defense, they had to call back out of reach and begin casting spells instead.

One knight was struck in the face by an errant blow, blinding him in one eye and leaving the other covered by black tar. Seeming to notice the effectiveness of this, the shields began to spew more dark tar, trying to cover faces.

For every knight taken out of the melee, the pressure only grew on those that remained. Soon it was only Blas himself and two others, each of them purely on the defense.

But this wouldn't last, as Seoln had disappeared early in the fight. But it wasn't out of fear… rather, it was because the caracal beastkin had done what cats do: he climbed a tree.

[Steel Cracker Skill Activated]

Leaping from the fifteen-foot height he'd reached, the man swung his halberd down as hard as he could and released it, sending it plummeting downwards.

It struck true, right on the once-fairy’s chest plate. Enhanced by the System, the blow did extra damage to armor, and the hammer side of the halberd stuck deep into the eldritch being's sternum. The armor was shorn nearly completely off with the force.

Alone, it wasn't enough. No decent hits could strike the new weakness. Except for Alister, coming in for the kill.

"Everyone back off!" He cried out, his palms three feet apart with a matching orb of ice between them. "Arctic Malice!" Alister yelled, thrusting the ball forward. It was flung from his hands with substantial force, the spell simple enough to work with his core while still using his vast mana pool.

Striking the halberd square on the shaft, the hammer head was driven even deeper. The cracking of bones could be heard as it dug into the body nearly six inches, black ooze flying. The ice ball followed, mostly shattering. This only gave it jagged edges, and the torso was nearly split in half as a result.

[Corrupted Titania Knight Class Fairy - Level 51 has been killed.]

[System unlocked.]

[Calculating contribution and bonuses.]

[No EXP has been gifted due to lack of significant contribution.]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[Calculations complete. Rendering rewards.]

[Creating status window.]

[Status]

[Alister Ordthea Severin iii]

[Full Recall: Raalin Wynnryte]

[Level: 1]

[Class: None]

[Core: Middle White]

[Mana Pool: Vast]

[Physical Condition: Child, moderate]

[Stats]

[Skills]

[Titles]

It had been about two seconds since the screens appeared in front of Alister and he was already grinning like a madman, paying absolutely no mind to anything and anyone else. He started tapping on everything on the screen and mumbling to himself questions for later.

Blas chuckled at his child and looked to Wisteria, “We’ll make sure to hunt something for you before we head back. Ok?”

She nodded, “Th… thank you, my Lord.” Her fingers were still shaking against the bow’s length, staring at the dead mass of ooze and fairy. Its muscles still twitched after death, the poor thing. Feeling compelled, Wisteria walked up to it and took out her charm to pray over its corpse. Hopefully, it would have a peaceful life next time around.

“Dad! Er, Father!” Alister called out, flapping his hand and pointing with the other at his screen, “Look at this! It’s fascinating. Each stat has its own smaller screen when I tap on it!”

“Hah! I’m glad you’re so excited,” Blas laughed, grinning at Alister, “I can’t see your screen. It’s personal. You have a few minutes to look things over but then we’re heading out again.” He looked around, “Knights, circle up. Let’s get ourselves healed, for those who need it. Before we leave we’re going to burn the body, too. We might as well give it a proper funeral rite.”

The knights gathered and tended to each other’s wounds, allowing Blas to focus on his son’s excitement. This was a big deal in someone’s life! He walked up to Alister’s side and grasped his shoulder, startling the hell out of the distracted boy.

“Fuck!”

“Heh. Watch your mouth,” Blas smirked, “So that class thing you see? It’ll say none right now. You get it at level ten. You get options based on what you spend time doing between then and now. Lots of things give you experience points…” He continued to explain, enjoying the happy moment after such a dour situation.

Wisteria knelt to her knees beside the monstrous corpse and held her token to her lips, giving her prayer in silence for the dead.