Spearbound Ch. 50

You have destroyed 361 Karnathis (Arcana Level 38)!

You have destroyed 273 Karnathis (Arcana Level 39)!

You have destroyed 2 Karnathi Mages (Arcana Level 38)!

You have destroyed 3 Karnathi Mages (Arcana Level 39)!

These must be the kills that contributed to my growth. The rest didn’t matter. But the mages’ low [Arcana Level] makes the curse’s effect on me more impressive.

Rapid Strike (Level 8)—>Rapid Strike (Level 10)

Elbow Smash (Level 1)—>Elbow Smash (Level 6)

Rising Knee (Level 2)—>Rising Knee (Level 5)

The minimal upgrade of his skills left Kade feeling disappointed, but unsurprised.

I hoped the low skill level mattered more than the difference between me and the karnathi army. That isn’t the case.

Level-up!

Arcana Level 43—>Arcana Level 44

Free Points: 3.5—>5

Constitution: 45—>46

Endurance: 33.5—>35.5

Strength: 49—>50.5

Wisdom: 16.5—>17

MP: XX/33—>XX/34 (Base)

Interesting. The interface doesn’t show the temporarily boosted [MP] in the level-up messages.

MP Recovery: 19.9% per minute—>20% per minute

Alert: You have reached the maximum [MP Recovery] that a [Arcane Lancer] can possess!

Kade had wondered when he would hit the limit again but was happy that he could double it from a [Warrior]’s limit.

Your skill [Rapid Strike] has reached Level 10! You have unlocked an ability. You have 3 options to choose from.

Knockback Punches (10 MP): For 5 minutes, each punch applies a small knockback effect.

This could be useful if I were ever to be in the middle of another situation like the karnathi army, and the monsters were much stronger.

Unwavering Assault (20 MP): For 10 minutes, become immune to damage from opponents within 5 [Arcana Levels] while using [Rapid Strike].

Kade’s finger twitched after he read the description and even slowed his run. It went without saying that the ability was attractive to him. The only negative was the restriction. He could only use [Rapid Strike].

Life Leech (5 MP): For 1 minute, absorb 5% of the damage dealt as health while using [Rapid Strike].

Kade didn’t make a quick choice. His rapid footsteps and the constant feeling of Hellion’s excited rage accompanied him as he thought it over.

‘Life Leech’ made things difficult. It was becoming unreliable for him to depend on a level-up to restore his health. The issue with ‘Life Leech’ was its worth.

It sounded like an excellent ability at face value, but it still depended on what he was fighting. Five percent of the damage he dealt to a low [Arcana Level] monster still meant nearly nothing.

I have to take my [Strength] into account. With it, I can deal significant damage to monsters similar to my [Arcana Level].

Kade had to choose between ‘Unwavering Assault’ and ‘Life Leech.’ In the end, it was the [MP] cost that became the decider.

You now have the ability [Life Leech].

Even though he knew [Life Leech] would be used rarely, the times when the ability would come into play would likely save him from a critical situation. There were no regrets about selecting it over ‘Unwavering Assault.’

Kade had passed over a similar ability in the past and had some regrets about it. He wouldn’t do it twice.

***

It was a tough ask to keep himself at a pace that was simultaneously quick while preserving his stamina as long as possible. It would do Hellion and Eliza no good if he had to take an extended break to recover before restarting his run.

All that flew out the window when Kade suddenly felt Hellion’s spike of fear. To him, it felt similar to the seconds before the mole titan died. Eliza’s silence exacerbated his concern.

Kade pushed his speed, the surroundings blurring as he exceeded a speed his perception could keep up with. He could feel his stamina depleting at an unsustainable rate, but he kept pushing himself to the limit.

His bond with Hellion was now completely silent. He would have thought the baby bird had died if not for the active companion bond.

Less than thirty minutes later, Kade sailed over a dune, revealing the shattered pillar and the new devastation around it.

He absorbed all the information he needed to know at the peak of his jump.

I understand why I didn’t get a response.

Eliza’s clothes were in a miserable state. Blood dripped down her skin without pause, and her body trembled, revealing how close she was to her limit. She either didn’t notice his presence or couldn’t afford to stop whatever she contained in the opaque sandy prison before her to look at him.

Hundreds of piles of white powder littered the area around the pillar, telling of the battle she had experienced while he was sprinting back.

I can’t see Hellion.

Kade landed beside the dome, kicking a small plume of sand. Eliza’s bloodshot eyes trembled before realizing it was him. He almost felt guilty that he had rushed off to eliminate the karnathi army.

Almost. But he didn’t.

Not after he sensed the significantly increased [Arcana Level] in Eliza. He still believed that personal strength was the best way to avoid death, even if it was difficult to gain.

“Let it go.” Kade motioned at the sand dome. Eliza did so immediately, revealing a massive scorpion.

The creature flexed its pincers, and its segmented tail curled over its back. The stinger was poised to strike him in a split second.

Kade was exhausted and had near-empty stamina since he had spent everything he had to get here as fast as he could. He watched the stinger dart at his stomach with annoyance.

He drove the blunt end of his [Soulrend] down with explosive force, pinning the stinger to the ground with a resonating impact that echoed like thunder.

I’m not in a mood for this shit.

Kade stared with a blank expression and the chittering scorpion as he tried to escape its new prison. He turned to Eliza and said, “Kill it.”

She held up a finger and took a deep breath. It looked like she was waiting to recover her [MP].

Kade didn’t know how it was even possible for her to be short of [MP] when the boost was still active. He eyed the piles of white powder and wondered how close she had been to death if she was forced to expend this much effort.

It took less than a minute before Eliza acted.

She unleashed a glittering storm upon the scorpion, summoning sand from the dunes and turning them into glass shards, slicing through the air like deadly missiles. The scorpion recoiled under the relentless assault, its exoskeleton cracking as the shards pummeled it into submission.

It could barely make a sound before the brutal injuries reduced it to an unrecognizable form and finally killed it. It turned into a white powder.

In the middle of the storm, Kade was untouched by Eliza’s fury. He didn’t look away as he recognized genuine hatred on her face as she extracted maximum punishment on the beast. He almost felt sorry for it.

Almost. But not really.

Eliza’s wounds closed up, the kill giving her enough for a level-up—the only reason Kade hadn’t killed the scorpion himself.

“Where’s Hellion?” Kade asked.

Eliza waved her hand at a dune, uncovering a small pocket that held Hellion’s unconscious body within. She had kept the baby ember falcon there to protect him.

Kade picked up Hellion carefully and checked to see if there were any visible injuries. There were not.

“I’m not sure what happened. Hellion helped me corral the beasts and contain them before he suddenly fell out of the sky.”

Kade rested the bird’s body in the crook of his arm and hoped it was only exhaustion. He had come to like Hellion.

“Thanks for making sure he was safe,” Kade said, knowing she had done so despite being in danger herself.

Eliza shook her head. “I couldn’t leave him to die when he helped so much.”

Kade hummed before coming to stare at the pillar. He noticed something odd. “… Did it get repaired slightly?”

“Yes, it did, and the method was unusual. These things sacrifice themselves to repair the pillar,” Eliza paused before correcting herself. “Well, the weaker ones do. The rest tried to kill me. Did you destroy the army?”

Kade nodded, thinking of the thousand karnathi army sacrificing themselves to rebuild the pillar. The faint guilt he had from leaving disappeared.

“Good, that should give us more time before—”

Survive for 7 days (1/7)

Area Effect removed.

Kade checked his [MP] and saw it returned to normal. He exchanged glances with Eliza and saw she recognized the same issue.

“Time runs differently here,” Kade said. They looked around warily, expecting another attack to spring up out of nowhere.

“Kade?”

“What?”

“I prefer we stick together from now,” Eliza said.

Kade thought the same. It would be indirect murder if he wandered off, since she no longer had the [MP] boost, which also put him at a disadvantage. Plus, she got ahold of some new spells that were of impressive effect.

They would be better together.