2-52 Descent II

EnroItzal

The Ashen Knight was not a simple opponent. It was without a doubt a monster but Erin sensed she should not treat this fight like she would against any other monsters. Upon further inspection with her Appraisal, she found out the Ashen Knight was not a mere product of Necromancy. The Ashen Knight was not a soul raised from its grave. It was a soul that was not meant to walk the realms of mortals. One word that stood out in the description given and in its race tab. And the word was; Demon. The Ashen Knight was a type of Demon. It was not a Familiar of the Necromancer since its status read; Enthralled. Erin surmised the Necromancer most likely enslaved a Demon and put it inside the suit of armor, or something along those lines. The origin of her opponent mattered little. She only needed to know how to defeat it.

The Ashen Knight wasn’t the only thing Erin had to worry about. There was also the Lich which was floating in the air, its empty sockets for eyes stuck to her every move. She had yet to see what the Lich was fully capable of. She understood her focus could not be dedicated to only one of them. She must split her focus evenly but that was easier said than done.

The Ashen Knight made the first move. It flew right into Erin, its sword raised and ready to swing.

Erin cast her newly learned Lightning Magic spell, Thunder Shell. Lightning shields covered her from all sides, forming a sphere around her. The moment the Ashen Knight’s sword came into contact with the sphere, a bolt of lightning was shot out from where the sphere was struck. Erin countered at this precise moment. Her sword struck the chest of the Ashen Knight. With some resistance, her blade, clad in Arcane Edge, pierced through the armor.

“Ah… that’s not good,” Erin muttered as she realized the Ashen Knight felt nothing from the blow it received. She quickly retracted her sword and dove out of the way before its sword destroyed the ground where she once stood. 

The Ashen Knight did not let Erin’s blunder slide away so easily. It latched on to her movements, voiding her of any chance to cast spells even if her casting was quicker than average. Though the Ashen Knight’s armor weighed more than the average a human could handle and its greatsword was as large as the average man, its movements were not dull. Erin did not even try to parry the Ashen Knight’s attacks. She didn’t doubt her ability to parry but she worried that her sword would be able to handle the force. All she could do was dodge the oversized blade. The Ashen Knight left itself open on many occasions but it was long enough for Erin to lay a scratch or a shallow cut. Considering the thickness of the Ashen Knight’s armor, this wasn’t a feasible tactic. 

If Erin truly couldn’t dodge an attack, she would instead parry the greatsword with her tails clad in Arcane Armor. She would also use Arcane Aegis occasionally as a conventional shield but it would break with only a single strike from the Ashen Knight. She couldn’t retaliate with a meaningful strike. The only way she could break through the Ashen Knight’s offense was to commit herself fully into the offense but if she did that, she would be leaving herself vulnerable for the Lich. The Lich’s eyes did not leave her even once. She knew it was waiting for her to make a misstep.

One peculiar thing Erin came to realize was that the Necromancer held no concerns for the pods that housed its pseudo army. The Ashen Knight did not hesitate to swing despite knowing clearly it would destroy the pods. Either the Necromancer had no further use for an army or it prioritized her death over the formation of its army. Erin didn't know which one was the reason but she didn’t care. This only saved her the trouble later.

When the battle of their blades grew dull, Erin resorted to magic. She bombarded the Ashen Knight with various kinds of spells. She was a little dumbfounded when she saw the Ashen Knight made no attempts to even try to defend itself against the spells. It was either it was confident or it didn’t understand what the spells could do. Either way, the results were the same. The armor that is its body was dented in a few places. Cracked in some. Scratches littered the entirety. Its left shoulder pauldron that joined its arm with its body was destroyed by the spells but its arm was still intact. There was no flesh underneath the armor. Only flames and smoke that seemed to be its flesh.

Erin cursed inwardly. Her opponent was immune to both physical and magical attacks. Though it didn’t mean she was at a loss, it was still a great hurdle for her to get past. 

The battle dragged on with no clear winner. Erin was on the defensive and the Ashen Knight continued with its pure offensive assault. The place was vast without many obstacles to hinder Erin’s movements. The Ashen Knight was stronger than Erin but as for its speed, it was fast but no faster than Erin. Its form didn’t possess much precision. Erin could point out the many flaws the Ashen Knight had but considering how nigh-indestructible it had proven itself to be, those flaws didn’t have many consequences to it, for now.

“I expected more from you,” the Lich said. “Is running all that you’re capable of?”

Erin didn’t respond to the taunt. She couldn’t afford to. Even if her opponent was slower than her, one swing of that greatsword would potentially shuffle her off her mortal coil. With time against her, she didn’t have the luxury to find out what would happen if she died now. The penalty of her resurrection doubled for every subsequent death. If she died now, it would deduct eighty percent of her experience points but she only had fifty at present. 

Then, Erin felt her Sixth Sense screamed right into her ear. She turned to her right and found the shadows on the wall were moving towards her. The shadows erupted from the wall and flew at her with pointed tips. She tried to dodge but the Ashen Knight cut off her path. 

“You’re getting...” the Lich snickered. “...sloppy.”

“No other choice,” Erin muttered to herself and jumped up high into the air. The shadows struck the ground and the Ashen Knight’s slash met the empty air.

“Fool!” the Lich mocked and sent six javelins of darkness at Erin.

“Am I?” Erin challenged. Mana gathered in her left hand and magic swirled around her palm. Lightning broke out from her palm and crackled uncontrollably. She splayed open her left hand at the Lich. A small javelin of lightning shot out from her palm.

The javelin of lightning collided with the javelins of darkness. An explosion ensued in the collision but the remaining javelins of darkness flew on. Another javelin of lightning was shot out from Erin’s palm. The same thing happened again. The javelins of darkness lost one and continued in their trajectory but Erin’s left palm continuously shot out lightning javelins. Soon after all of the darkness javelins were shot down, the javelins of lightning continued pouring out and the more it poured out, the fiercer the lightning crackled. A Lightning Magic spell called Lightning Barrage. It fires off lightning javelins without pause until the caster’s Mana was exhausted. Each javelin was half as powerful as a Lightning Bolt but the firepower compensated with its quantity. With Erin’s current amount, she could fire approximately a hundred javelins before her Mana was spent.

For the first time, the Lich was forced to move from the spot it had been floating in ever since it appeared in this large room. The javelins didn’t stop just because their target moved. As long as Erin didn’t relent, the javelins would keep coming. Though the Lich definitely had means to oppose the javelins, it didn’t have the window to conjure its spells. Spellcasting and conjuration took time. That was a spell caster’s one of many significant weaknesses but this weakness wasn’t entirely present on Erin. Her spells did take time to cast and conjure but the speed of her casting and conjuration was simply unheard of. What’s more, she was a novice to magic. Her feat could only be described as being blessed by the gods. In a way, that notion wasn’t false.

Before Erin could hit the Lich with her Lightning Barrage, the Ashen Knight put a stop to her bombardment by throwing its greatsword at the falling Fox-kin. Erin was forced to stop her barrage and deflect the greatsword thrown at her. Since she was in the air, it was hard to control how she deflected the sword. The force of the impact transmitted to her hand upon deflecting was enough to her arms for a few seconds. She regained her feeling when she landed but if this was an exchange on land, she would be vulnerable to a fatal strike.

Before the Ashen Knight could recover its sword and rushed at her, Erin used this opportunity to recover her Mana by casting Mana Harvest. The Mana in this room surged into and she stumbled from the unexpected amount. Her Magic Vigour was now at its full capacity.

“What the fuck…?” she muttered. She looked around and found the pods near her had all withered like dried-up plants. “I see… In addition to miasma, quite a lot of Mana was also injected into its thralls in order to control them.”

“What have you done!?” the Lich screamed. “What manner of trick was that!?”

Erin chuckled with a sneer.

“Answer me!”

“I’m sure a Necromancer like you could figure it out,” Erin retorted. “Eventually,” she added with a smirk.

“Fine,” the Lich said. “Take your secrets to the grave with you.”

Erin spun gracefully to the side and the Ashen Knight’s sword carved into the ground. Before it could lift its sword, Erin stepped on its blade, trapping it under her feet. She could hold it down for long since her strength didn’t amount to the Ashen Knight’s. She infused her left hand with lightning. Coiling it into a fist, she clad it with Arcane Armor. With a shout, she threw a haymaker right into the side of the Ashen Knight’s head.

“Heh?” she blurted out at the unexpected light feeling on her fist. There wasn’t much resistance. The Ashen Knight’s head— more precisely, its helmet flew off from its neck. Yet, she could still feel the Ashen Knight trying to lift its sword.

The Lich laughed. “You really are a fool. You don’t seem to understand your opponent.”

Erin sighed. “Well… this is unnerving.” She spun again and used her tails to batter the Ashen Knight away. She knew it was weird when the Ashen Knight didn’t even try to dodge but now she knew. Immune had not been the right word. Just like one wouldn’t say water is immune to physical harm. 

Erin was now left with only one option but even she was hesitant with it. As every time she merely thought about using it, her Sixth Sense would scream. It was a good indicator that she had overused her Mystic Blade too much. She feared if she used it now, she would be left in a very disadvantageous state. Or worse, she would die. 

As Erin was concocting a solution, the Ashen Knight had recovered and once again charged at her. She knew she could no longer be on the defensive or this fight would go on forever and she would be exhausted then. She had no choice but to switch to the offense.

“I don’t know how tough you are but please… be strong,” Erin prayed to the rusted iron sword she drew from her waist. She switched her stance, into one that befitting of a dual sword-wielding; the iron sword in her left hand, the silver-steel saber in her right hand.

The Ashen Knight did not wonder about the rusted iron sword Erin drew, nor did it have the ability to do so. It had intelligence but every bit of it was dedicated to killing Erin.

The Ashen Knight swung its sword-like an axe. In its eyes, it probably saw Erin only as an object to be cut down. Erin evaded the swing by a hair’s breadth but even then, she felt as if the winds had scratched her instead. Erin did not parry just any strike. She needed to find the one strike that she could parry with the least backlash to her.

“Not yet...” Erin told herself. “Patience… haste makes waste.” She kept repeating those words to herself to keep herself still. As much as she hated to admit it, she underestimated what a Demon was. It was in the way it fought but the dark aura it exuded. It felt a little similar to how Lust Deviant affected her. A normal individual would definitely lose all will to live if they encounter such an aura. 

“There it is!” Erin’s eyes glinted. The blow from the Ashen Knight came and Erin parried it with the iron sword. She withstood the numbing sensation with a grimace and riposted. She threw a close-range Aura Shot at the shoulder joint of its right arm. The armor plates came apart and scattered everywhere. Erin did not chain her attack. She waited patiently for the result.

Unlike the Ashen Knight’s left arm which was still intact despite missing a shoulder joint, the right arm completely fell apart. The Ashen Knight had a hand with smoke and flames as its flesh but like water without a receptacle, it lost its form and dissipated.

Erin heaved a sigh of relief. “That is reassuring.”

“Useless Demon!” the Lich cried. “Quit fooling around and finish her!”

The Ashen Knight wielded its greatsword with its remaining left arm and moved again like nothing happened. The loss of its right arm had not seemed to bother it even by a little.

Erin wanted to use the same move but her mildly trembling left hand had curtailed her ability to do so. The Ashen Knight’s strength was truly not something she could trivialize.

“Ironic...” Erin thought. By crippling one of her opponent’s arms, she ended up doing the same thing to herself but on a temporary basis. It would be quite a while before she could use her left arm again. For now, she would have to make do with her right hand.

At that parlous moment—

[Proficiency reached - Sword Art Lv. 7 increased to Lv. 8]

“Well… maybe my luck’s beginning to turn, hopefully.”

Erinthea - Faerie-kin: Five-Tailed Fox-kin

Level: 27 | Status: Mild Exhaustion, Left Arm (Numbed)

Might: 22 | Arcane: 35 | Finesse: 30

Magic Arts

Spirit Magic Lv. 8 | Arcane Edge Lv. 5 | Arcane Armor Lv. 10 | Lightning Magic Lv. 10 | Arcane Aegis Lv. 3 | Mystic Tail Arts Lv 1

Combat Arts

Sword Art Lv. 8 | Fleet Foot Lv. 5 | Brawler Lv. 5

Innate Skills

Appraisal Lv. Ex | Night Vision Lv. Ex | Sixth Sense Lv. Ex | Toxin Resistance Lv. 8 | Lust Deviant Lv. Ex | Mana Harvest Lv. 1 | Lightning Resistance Lv. 1

Unique Talent

Mystic Blade Lv. Ex | Revenant Lv. Ex

Level Progression: 50%

Remaining Skill Points: 0

Remaining Ability Points: 4