Chapter 169: Dragon Damaging

It was impossible for the three H to create more dracanae ghouls.

Martha's original plan was to increase their power by a little bit by turning the dracanae ghoul into their own minions.

Fate was even prodding her in that direction, and Martha followed despite it being the illogical option.

She knew that the group could only convert one or two dracanae due to the limited amount of blood and dark energy they could absorb. She even assumed that they could only turn one as the worst-case scenario.

But this was Fate's prodding. She also found a means to delay the dracanae, but then those five appeared.

But what she didn't know was that her specific desire was already coming true when she sent the three to search for dracanae.

The pair was confused.

"Trust you? Brother... You mean?"

"I feel like I have some understanding of Fate. Please. We have no time!"

Hems and Hemsey looked at each other first and then turned back to Hunter and nodded.

The trio stood up, and the Dracanae also stood up with them.

"Controlling it feels like controlling a regular ghoul. Let's move!" Hunter said as he found that he could control the dracanae.

Hunter positioned the dracanae ghoul in front of them as they searched, and Hunter explained the plan.

"Right when we moved in Airom Logat, Kyros made us create more orc ghouls, which we used to attack and harass orc outposts, right? We sent them to have them die. Kyros used those attacks to create more fear about the Blood Calamity in Logat. But do you remember when we felt that our ghouls died?"

"We could only sense them at a distance and know if they are dead."

"Right. The problem is, there are too many of them here! Can they sense it if one dies? What if another dracanae ghoul appears? Will the rest know that it's not one of them?"

"So you plan to use this ghoul to ambush more?"

"Yeah. We can make four ghouls each. Since all our previous orc ghouls are dead as we sent them to attack, we should be able to create four dracanae ghouls! Once we have two or more ghouls, attacking and capturing more will be easy!"

"But our magic points! We don't have enough magic points!"

"I am starting to understand the Path of Foresight. I've been thinking about how Lord Kyros, Scarlet, and how Lady Martha developed then. Then I started to understand what it is. We can achieve Fate Challenger but have yet to grasps it. But When Lady Martha brought down the ceiling, I realized something. Fate doesn't show us things we are not looking for. Lord Kyros is smart, and Scarlet is a natural at it. They must see things differently. But Lady Martha isn't like them. I figured what it was she must have been concentrating on when we were escaping."

"What else? She was thinking of how to get us out of here!" Hems argued.

"No. You heard the collapse of stones going in the direction of Lady Martha. I think she caused it. She did it twice now. I think that's what she's looking for! She is concentrating and using her Path of Foresight to reveal something very, very specific."

"I see! She's using Foresight to know which part of this cave is unstable!"

"Right! For her, it's not that Fate is telling her, but she is asking Fate! When I heard Lady Martha shout. That was the first thing I thought about. Where can we get more magic points! And I felt Fate's whispers!"

The pair was surprised.

"I need you two to do the same thing. If we have the same impression, then I know I'm not crazy!" Hunter urged.

"We still have enough magic points to turn another... Why don't we test it first!" Hems asked.

"Right. Focus on that question! Where can we find one dracanae!" Hunter ordered.

The three began to concentrate. A few seconds later, Hems and Hemsey pointed in the same direction. But even before they finished pointing, the dracanae was already moving.

"It's working!"

The group began to move slower, and the dracanae was rushing forward.

Soon, another dracanae was approaching. It saw the dracanae being controlled by the three H and continued to move normally.

Knowing that the Path of Combat could be tricking them, Hunter was cautiously waiting to give the orders.

As the two were drawing closer and closer, there was no change in the dracanae movement, and the two were side to side.

Hunter immediately gave the orders, and their dracanae ghoul gave a swift kick that sent the dracanae to the wall.

"Charge!" Hunter shouted as the three ran and pounced on the startled dracanae.

"It worked!" Hems cheered.

"Let's hurry! Our Lady awaits!" Hunter urged.

Going back in time a few minutes earlier...

Martha delivered two loud shouts to warn the three H's and surrendered herself to the trap of the five. Just as Hunter theorized, Martha had been unconsciously asking certain questions at times and didn't know that it was through this that she had been sensing Fate's prompt.

She was a Level 3 Medium in the Path of Foresight and used the questions of which part of the cave is weak. But when she saw the five dracanae, she began to ask another question.

"How can I buy my knight's time?"

Interestingly, the answer to this question was Dark Maddening.

And so she did. 

Her blade and dagger had so much dark energy from her attacks and stabs. And since she previously severed her right arm was still weak even after several rounds of Minor Vampiric Healing, she needed more magic points. And so she absorbed all the dark energy, not caring for Dark Maddening.

She used the recovering magic point to cast three spells. 

"[Minor Vampiric Healing]. [Decay]. [Death Ripple]."

Death Ripple was the soul-inflicting attack that attacked the enemies' souls, directly creating mental stress and pain.

The spells wouldn't harm the undead. But those before her were living dracanae.

The group felt a strange pain in their mind. 

"Argh!"

"What?!" The dracanae cursed as the power affected their souls, and it caused them pain. Their physique was strong, that they had an extremely powerful tolerance to pain. But the soul attack was different. These dracanae's hadn't developed the soul of a dragon, and so, the shocking sensation of pain caused them a surprise.

The Charmed Fallen developed Death Ripple to hinder the impressive instinctive abilities borne from the Path of Combat that dragons have. The Charmed Fallen's Magic was designed to inflict damage to god or fallen tiered beings with great defense.

And so, when Martha sought a means to buy her knights sometime, Fate prompted this as she had two skills that were used specifically to combat dragons during the Age of Heretics.

"If that undead dracanae can fight well with the Path of Combat... I wonder if I can?" She hoped.

As the effect of Death Ripple began, Martha's consciousness faded. All that remained was an angry, maddened state.

"What is this?!" One of the dracanae felt the decay.

"Argh!" Another felt a piercing pain in his head.

SMASH!

The devastating kick instantly arrived as Martha used her force energy to erupt and send a kick to the face of the first dracanae. The unguarded dracanae was thrown to the side as Martha ran forward. She was running not towards the three H, but towards the collapsed wreckage where several dracanae ghouls were buried in the rocks.

The dracanae managed to recover their state as Martha was moving away.

"She's getting away!" The dracanae cursed, and they chased her.

Each stomp had the power of Force Energy, throwing her swiftly. The sword and the dagger stabbed on the heads of two dracanae as she took out her bow and began to shoot.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

Martha shot several arrows with great speed. Several arrows were launched.

The dracanae didn't bother evading. Compared to the dracanae ghoul, the five have stronger defenses. The dracanae rushed angrily as they felt the rare sensation of pain. But they didn't notice that they were disregarding the flow of the Path of Combat of Destiny due to Death Ripple at that moment.

The arrows landed...

The first few arrows were knocked off and didn't even leave a mark on the dracanae. It was as if the arrowheads struck steel.

Some exploded and didn't even leave wounds to the dracanae. But then...

"GAH!"

"Ahhh!"

The last set of arrows pierced inside and damaged the dracanae.

The arrows began to dig deeper into the bodies of the dracanae, leaving shallow wounds.

The power of Decay was taking effect.

Dragons boasted great vitality and impressive regeneration. The Fanged Fallen developed the magic known as Decay to combat the dragons, which he could not sink his teeth on. 

Death Ripple and Decay were spells that Martha could barely cast with her magic points. But since she had absorbed an abundance of dark energy, she managed to cast both. This was why her Path of Foresight urged her to fall into the Dark Maddening state. It was only through this that she could afford to deal damage and distract the dracanae.

The arrows that were shot had Decay and were leaving small and unnoticeable effects on the particular part of the dragon's skin. Martha's precise bow attacks all struck the same area repeatedly. Decay was leaving its mark bit by bit. Until finally, another arrow attacked which had an even more malicious attack.

True Entropy.

Martha's maddened state was driven by the Path of Combat and the Path of Foresight. Her body began to utilize whatever was present to her to fight back.

And so, the True Entropy Core that she carried was naturally used at the guidance of Path of Combat. Martha was not an undead being. She had the wisdom and intelligence that worked alongside her Path of Combat.

The arrows sunk deeper that it didn't even fall all but was sticking out of the tough carapace skin of the dracanae. 

More arrows of True Entropy were released, and it all continued to strike the areas near where the arrow had dug deeper, and it was too fast, and the aim was too accurate that even though the five was thrashing about, the arrows still landed on the intended location.

The sword and the dagger exploded out again, and Martha caught it and began to absorb more of the dark energy.

Without hesitating, Martha rushed forward and wielded her two weapons, now being imbued with the power of Decay.