Spearbound Ch. 42

Kade watched from afar as Hellion continued to taunt the karnathis that split off from the army. They followed the group, but didn’t even think of showing themselves until the army was well out of sight.

He might have asked Eliza if she wanted to go after the army, but most of that was just bluster. While his previous experience taught him so many close bodies were highly conducive to speeding through level-ups, it only lasted until his stamina ran out.

At that point, he would just be waiting for his slaughter.

The presence of Eliza and Hellion would help. Still, with all of them combined, they wouldn’t be able to last long enough to eliminate every karnathi in that army.

“We need to separate the army after we take care of the mages,” Kade whispered to Eliza. Hellion was still playing with the karnathis in the distance.

Eliza looked at him. “They’re dull, aren’t they? Once they find something that interests them, they run after it to fight without regard for anything else. This isn’t the only time I saw this.”

Kade thought about the karnathis regarding the last statues. “That’s not always the case, but you’re mostly right. However, if they see their brethren severely over-matched, they will rush in to provide help.”

Eliza tilted her head before nodding in acceptance. She looked back at Hellion playing high in the sky and said, “Maybe we should try with Hellion on the ground so more karnathis would try to go after him. Only mages split off from the army this time, and I think it’s because Hellion was flying.”

Kade wondered how well that would work. Ember falcons were placed in the underground chambers for a reason. The birds must be a favorite hunting target.

After all, the army initially looked for Hellion in unison before the mages split off in the group.

“There’s not much else we can do. Anyway, we should focus on these mages. The way I would handle it is usually to rush into the middle and try to kill them before they can kill me. I imagine there’s a better way to go about it since you’re here, so tell me, how would you take on these karnathis?”

Eliza looked like she had a comment to make on his boast of rushing in, but decided against it. “I don’t have any advantage in the surroundings, so I would avoid them altogether if I were alone. The warriors I could handle, the mages not so much.”

Kade felt he should be insulted, but he was no longer simply a [Warrior]. He was an [Arcane Lancer], a [Warrior] [Mage] hybrid.

“… So, are you telling me I must just do my usual thing?“ Kade didn’t mind that. He wanted to test himself and see how he could deal with five mages.

“I’ll try to keep you protected as you rampage through them. I’m sure my presence will distract some of these mages.”

Kade recalled she knew spells that dealt with earth. He considered asking specifics, but knew that would lessen the fun. It would be more exciting to find out in the middle of the heated battle.

“Can you duplicate this spear?” Kade shifted his [Soulrend] to bring it to her attention.

Eliza narrowed her eyes before touching the shaft lightly. She snatched her hand away as if the [Soulrend] burned her. “No. There’s something strange about it that refuses to be multiplied. What is it made of?”

He had assumed that would be the result. Multiplying the fragments of his soul in the [Soulrend] would be a near miracle. Still, he had to know for sure.

“Nothing to worry about for now,” Kade waved her question away. “Last question before we exterminate these karnathis. What’s your Constitution?”

Eliza was much more hesitant to answer this time, which he understood. Kade wouldn’t have been happy to answer how much health he possessed, either. However, he needed to know to estimate how resilient these mages were.

Until now, Kade’s opponents were mostly close-contact fighters. The only ones that were not were the ember falcons, which were highly fragile to his attacks.

“It’s currently at twelve.”

Kade couldn’t stop his shock from showing. That was less than a third of what he currently had.

No wonder the ember falcons died so easily once I got my hands on them.

Eliza defended herself. “It takes a lot of stamina to cast spells. I have to prioritize that over health. There’s no point in being able to take more damage when I’m too exhausted to defend myself. It’s better not to allow anybody to get close in the first place.”

Kade nodded slowly, thinking of what that meant regarding the mages he was about to fight. They were glass cannons like Eliza or terrible mages who quickly got exhausted.

He knew there would be differences since karnathis looked naturally robust compared to humans, but the same principles had to apply. During the class selection, the System said that the base classes were universal.

“You’re confident you can improvise without putting me in the line of fire?” Kade asked.

“There will be no issues on that end.”

Kade nodded and sent Hellion another signal to the bond. He gripped his [Soulrend] and prepared to launch it. It would be risky and put it in danger of being shattered, but he could take out at least one mage before they could do anything about it.

Hellion screeched, drawing all the tension, and Kade got on his feet and hurled the [Soulrend] with all the strength he possessed.

His target was the mage that possessed water magic, and his [Soulrend] didn’t miss. The mage’s head disappeared in a splatter of purple blood before he summoned it back as quickly as possible.

Kade hadn’t been standing still. He had rushed after the [Soulrend] after he threw it like a javelin. The four remaining mages realized that Kade had killed one of them just as he regained his [Soulrend].

He wasn’t too far away from them, but still nowhere close for them to be in his attacking range. And he refused to throw his [Soulrend] again, knowing that the possibility of it being shattered was extremely high without the element of surprise.

Kade heard Hellion screech again, but didn’t have attention to spare since he was laser-focused on the mages. He had to avoid four spells; honestly, he didn’t know if that was possible.

The karnathis roared before a burst of attacks left their strange weapons. Three were lightning bolts, and one was ice. The latter almost made him flinch in surprise, since he hadn’t known the water mage could cast that.

Kade jumped as high as he could to avoid as many of the spells as possible. That was where he learned two mages were better than the rest.

They canceled their lightning spells and recast them while he was at the peak of his jump, where he was most helpless. One spell targeted his head, while the other aimed for his side.

Kade’s eyes widened in shock before he frantically tried to use his [Soulrend]’s bladed tip to redirect the lightning spell directed at his head. It still left the other free to strike his body. He accepted the trade-off.

[Ethereal Glide] was an option, but it would reveal the ability to the mages far too early in a spot that wasn’t life threatening.

His [Soulrend] shook dangerously as it absorbed the power behind the lightning spell. However, it successfully redirected the lightning bolt with far less power. He would’ve aimed it at a karnathi, but he was more focused on making his effort successful than any effects after it.

Kade gritted his teeth, prepared to be blown back by the lightning bolt about to strike his body, but suddenly saw a wall of earth before him. He heard the lightning bolt impact the wall on the other side as he sailed over the group of mages.

He wasn’t the only one surprised by the appearance of the wall, and he used that opportunity to get rid of another mage.

His [Soulrend] pierced through the skull of the karnathi that tried to blow his head off with a lightning bolt. He yanked [Soulrend] back as he landed on his feet, poised to wreak havoc, but a powerful blow to his back launched him several feet into the air.

Kade twisted around to face the mages again and saw the lone water mage extending its hand at him. That explained the sudden cold he felt on his back when he was pushed away.

Three mages remained, and he could see Eliza in the distance with her hand extended at them. She was the one who erected the earth wall and protected him from the second lightning bolt.

Kade felt much more confident throwing himself into the fight if she could defend him in such a sudden situation.

Hellion screeched again, but none of the karnathi mages bothered to look at the baby ember falcon. That was a mistake.

He could feel through the bond that Hellion was about to attack. He directed the ember falcon at the water mage before rushing back in.

Kade was confident that this would be the last bout. The mages were at a severe disadvantage.