The Fool's Freedom

Crawling on the rock walls surrounding the valley and leading the four-armed giant around turned out harder than Alan had expected. The boosted [Void Pierce] attacks were enraging the giant, but Alan likened them to mosquito bites rather than anything significant. It was only when Alan started using his strongest charged shadow slashes, boosted by [Sacrificial Attack], that he finally did some damage to the thing.

The results were still only shallow cuts that barely allowed for blood to seep out. It was not nearly enough to threaten the jadari monstrosity, but it was something. However, Alan was very doubtful of their chances to actually win the fight, no matter how much firepower they focused on the creature. It was still questionable what else it could do too. The strange ore obviously had something to do with mana, and the fact that the jadari warriors could copy skills was worrying enough. The four-armed jadari ate the ore.

The chase continued for a while, as the giant growled and made the valley shake with each strike. A few times the wind of its large fists grazed the shadowy tendrils Alan was using to crawl on the cliff side, shattering them as if they were made of foam. It was telling that if a single one of the fists managed to land, Alan would be in a world of trouble.

Or dead. Neither [Shadow Creation] nor his passive shield were capable of surviving the force of a single strike. Thankfully, his speed was enough to keep him out of harm's way for the time being.

Each time he managed to build some distance from the boss, he surveyed the rest of the battle. Jay and the others were fighting valiantly against the four ore-clad jadari, but the time it was taking them to win was worrying. Alan saw Jay’s heavy attacks that were reminiscent of tiny but faster versions of the giant's own. However, his fists bounced off strange shields that were oddly similar to Thomas’ own barrier.

The ore armor around the jadari shone with light as they copied some of the skills and used them expertly, applying slight changes that seemed to work very well for their situations. Were they intelligent and not just monsters like the rest? Alan was glad he had warned them that could be the case, and he was also somewhat glad that he was stuck on boss duty. Skill-copying was annoying as hell.

He was once again impressed by Amir’s skillset though. A burning bonfire seemed to send wisps of heat toward each of his teammates. It was difficult to tell what the skill was doing, but everyone seemed surer in their actions. Smoother. It was a reinvigorating fire of sorts. A mass buff.

Kehlani was also quite impressive. There was a circle around her at waist height, almost in the shape of a perfect snowflake. It spun slowly, creating frosty mists that quickly became small spikes of ice which the woman shot out against her targets.

For once Thomas was fighting too. He was sending waves of force out of his shield, while simultaneously supporting the barrier protecting the casters in the back.

It was Jay and Vlad who were fighting on the very front line, with Jay doing the most and holding back two of the creatures, that while slower, seemed capable of matching him. The tier two was a force, but even his attacks seemed incapable of felling the strange panther people. Vlad, on the other hand, was constantly forced to flee. Each stray strike or attack was threatening to end him – his situation was not much dissimilar to Alan’s own, with the difference that he was not up against a giant four-armed monstrosity.

Alan sent a few more shadow slashes at the boss and kept his current pace. If the giant jadari didn’t reveal any other tricks, then their strategy was promising to work quite well. Perhaps wearing it down was a feasible strategy after all. Especially once Jay was free to go all out.

Alan dodged a particularly strong strike that broke a piece of the mountain off and once again glimpsed toward the other battlefield that had grown even more distant as he fled. He was finally pleased with what he saw. Jay’s forearms were covered in ghostly miasma. The man’s movements were slower, stranger, almost like he was practicing some form of spiritual art or dance. He hadn’t had the chance to do that against Alan earlier in their spar.

One of his hands balled into a loose fist and seemed to meld into the ore armor of the panther-man, penetrating deep as if it was the hand of a ghost. There was no damage in the moment of the strike, but the actual use of the skill became apparent seconds later.

The jadari roared, and Jay pulled back his hand, leaving behind a bloody hole in the armor. Blood shot out like water from a hose. It was the precursor to the guardian’s downfall, but it seemed to have taken quite a bit out of Jay too. However, he put some distance back and used his illusory fists to finish the job. The ore armor had become a brittle thing and it fell apart under the barrage. It took only a few more of the man’s long-ranged strikes to end the unfortunate guardian.

It was an impressive display, but Alan was not convinced those were the limits to the skill. He had no more time to think as it was then, that the boss became mad. The large palm once again aimed at Alan but he easily dodged. This time, however, the boss simply grabbed at the cave wall grabbing at a large chunk and turning.

Alan shot a few shadow slashes, trying to keep his attention, but the giant ignored him.

“Watch out!” Alan yelled.

It was too late. The rock flew through the air and Jay yelled startled as it passed him and crashed only a few meters to the side. There was an explosion of blood, a moment of silence, and a ghastly wail coming from none other than Kehlani.

The rock had turned Vlad, into a bloody splatter with no hope of salvation. The man’s spear could be seen to the side, still gripped in his palm. The rest of him was under the rocks.

Fuck! That’s bad!

The other guardians seemed to take the development seriously too. A large circle formed around one of them. It was shapeless, but nevertheless, ice started pouring out of it – a copy of Kehlani’s own skill. A few seconds later spikes shot out toward the still-shocked casters like the bullets of a gatling gun. The jadari’s armor was shining like never before, and even Alan could feel the output of mana at this distance. Thoma’s barrier shimmered with light as it was besieged by the spell.

The two guardians layered barrier after barrier around themselves, almost turning a size larger from the sheer glow of the shields, before charging toward Jay. They moved similarly to how Jay himself had moments ago, although there was no trace of the miasma. It seemed that even Amir’s buffs weren’t safe as their last act was to create a ball of strange fire that spewed flaming tongues at them. Their speed noticeably increased.

None had copied Jay’s skills, apart from the movement, which was a relief.

Alan rushed toward the back of the giant who seemed to have forgotten about him. The others also saw that and under the yells of Jay started their retreat up the slope they had kept at their back as a means of escape.

Alan’s barrages of shadowy blades had left the giant’s whole back bloody, but those were surface wounds. Even [Sacrificial Attack] with a decent charge wasn’t enough to do much, but it was slowly adding up. Now that most of the thing’s skin was bloody rags, the flesh beneath was weaker. And yet… not weak enough.

The group was steadily climbing the slope when the giant reached them. Two of his fists aimed for the slope and Thomas screamed as he was hurled to the side. Another grabbed at the ridge as if trying to tear it apart, while the fourth and last one waved blindly in Alan’s direction, sending a gust of wind that was almost an attack on its own.

A shimmering cocoon wrapped around Thomas, originating from his shield, and allowed him to survive the fall unharmed.

However, it was then that one of the guardians did something that made Alan’s blood freeze. He saw the step and the world slowed down. Just a hint of emptiness, and then the jadari disappeared, only to appear next to Kehlani. She was slow to react, and Jay couldn’t reach her in time as he was occupied by the other two guardians.

A blade of ice swung and a brittle ice shield tried to stop it unsuccessfully. There was another scream, and Kehlani’s hand fell to the ground cut off. The guardian stepped on it and bared his teeth.

Just as the jadari’s blade fell again, Alan’s [Synaptic Failure] hit. It made the guardian hesitate and allowed him to cast a boosted [Void Pierce]. The skill made some of the ore of the armor fall apart like it was hit with a hammer, but it once again failed to do any significant damage.

Ultimately, it gave Alan time to reach them. He started a barrage of shadows, using [Shadow Creation] and all the tricks he had learned to overwhelm the jadari with attacks coming from all directions. His will made the shadowy blades more devastating and soon the ore started falling in large chunks and cracking apart like layered eggshells.

It took only a few seconds, during which another massive explosion rattled everyone. Fist after fist rained toward Jay’s position. The man was managing, but Alan could see the sweat covering him. The miasma was covering both forearms and legs up to the knee now, and his strange dance allowed him to dodge.

No time to waste. A ball of fire hit Alan in the back, making everything smoother. Better.

Moments later the shadow blades broke through, cutting apart limbs and finally the neck of the panther-man.

You have slain: Jadari [Skill Thief] (180)

Alan didn’t wait as he rushed toward the main scene. Thomas was at the summit of the ridge, hiding behind his shield like a turtle. Kehlani was gritting her teeth. She had enough presence of mind to freeze her wound, and she was steadily retreating toward Amir, who had smartly seen it all coming and moved to the very entrance of the cave.

The giant seemed content with playing wack-a-mole with Jay, which was just good. However, the death of his guardian seemed to empower him further. One of the reckless attacks found one of the jadari giant’s own guardians squashing him outright and lessening the danger for Alan and Jay.

That left only the boss and one ore-clad jadari.

Two arms swatted toward Alan. There was too much distance though, so he was not worried about the wind no matter how strong. It was then that [Mortal Peril] activated, making his eyes grow wide and the shadows around him churn.

Two palms met, and the resulting shockwave was like thunder from a clear sky.

Layer after layer of darkness appeared in a split second as the attack was coming. Alan stepped backward, using [Void Step] to widen the distance, since it was impossible to dodge to the side. The churning darkness kept thickening and widening as he poured more and more mana into it. It was almost as if his body was on fire from the effort, but he had done similar things a few times now.

The shock wave reached a moment later, shattering the shadows like they were thin glass against a bullet. Alan gritted his teeth and poured as much of his will and mana as he could into [Shadow Creation] and the passive shield given to him by [Shepherd’s Shroud], while simultaneously using [Sacrificial Attack] and sending out a charged attack of his own.

All of it seemed to weaken the attack, but the shockwave felt almost like hitting water with high velocity. He spat blood and crashed into the cave wall, before falling down. His clothes were torn and his flesh was all bloody, but he was whole.

Alan stood up slowly, focusing on the flow of mana and making sure it was working on his wounds. It was then that he saw Jay’s two miasma-covered hands sink into the ankle of the giant jadari, and pull.

The scream that followed made all of them clasp at their ears.