The Amber Sword

Chapter 25 – Expansion (6)

========== Tagiv’s POV =============

The ball of lightning exploded in the darkness like fireworks, and the combination of electricity and fire immediately penetrated past the first three Subterrane Dwellers and expanded out like a fan.

A group of Subterrane Dwellers collapsed.

Tagiv jumped up in fright. It was not because Scarlett’s terrifying attack pressured him. He already knew that power at a Slavelord’s level could increase many times with a concentrated blow. But what shook him was the fact that the Subterrane Dwellers’ formations started to crumble.

[What’s happening?!]

The Underworld creature’s eyes darted around the battlefield and suddenly realized the sounds that commanded the battlefield had stopped.

[I lost six Camlu. These two humans seemed to know our ways of commanding the battlefield—]

Tagiv’s heart suddenly pulsed faster, but he did not even have the time to mourn because the two humans had started to intersect each other and were killing a path towards him.

Their speed was exceedingly fast, and the disorganized Subterrane Dwellers could not stop them, and they closed in more than half the distance between them.

Tagiv naturally did not wait there for them to kill him and attempted to organize a defense by screaming at the nearest Camlu. The elite warriors tried to follow his orders, but the two humans accurately removed them. After several tries, the Witch Doctor gave up this meaningless attempt and furthermore it did not have that many Camlu to spend.

Tagiv was finally starting to become anxious after losing half his elite warriors. Time did not allow it to overthink. It glanced around; the Earth Spirit Bears were guarding him.

[It’s time for these giants to be useful here. Even though they are the most powerful forces in our tribe, I don’t want to die meaninglessly to the two humans nearing me with every step.]

It made a gesture. It was a magic blessing that enhanced creatures to gain even more combat prowess, with the price of temporarily stealing their sight. This spell raised the Earth Bear Spirits, which had the peak strength of an Iron-ranked fighter, to gain the abilities of a Silver-ranked fighter.

In truth, it was a subtype of Black Magic which did significant damage to the receiver. But Tagiv had no idea what it was exactly, as the shamanic abilities it had were derived from bloodlines. It was the blessing of the Cave Witch, and every Witch Doctor learned this as their first magic spell, without any regards to its fairness.

Tagiv raised its three bony fingers, poured out ashes onto the ground, and cast the Blind Blessing spell. This made the Earth Spirit Bears blind, but it did not affect their abilities because they had been trained to fight without any sight, and they were mostly unaffected.

Every Underworld citizen understood that eyesight was unnecessary.

Finally, Tagiv pointed out to the humans and uttered a guttural scream. Its orders were simple; they were to intercept the humans or at least block them, while it personally organized the Subterrane Dwellers.

The chieftain knew that the humans had limited stamina and had heard the woman’s breaths becoming gradually heavier. It knew that they were fighting to see who could outlast each other. However, it believed that victory would belong to the Subterrane Dwellers.

The experience that was gained from hundreds and perhaps reaching a thousand-odd battles, made the Witch Doctor certain.

Tagiv listened to the Earth Spirit Bears’ lumbering footsteps as they set off, and ordered its other guards to protect it while retreating. The level of its guards defending was almost laughable.

“These two accursed humans.” Tagiv spat out its words vehemently.

============ Brendel & Scarlett’s POV ==============

Scarlett felt she was exhausted and could no longer continue. She had never tried attacking an army all by herself, and while the idea of a Gold-ranked fighter unleashing havoc in a group of Iron-ranked fighters sounded girl, she realized that her stamina was dipping at an incredible rate.

She recalled that she had killed nearly a hundred or even more. At first, she broke through the creatures like they were made out of paper, but as her stamina was slowly drained, she found that she was experiencing a sliver of dull pain in her body.

The lightning arc that reached meters wide from her halberd was already reduced to the extent where it merely reached her weapon length. She did not know how long she was going to last, and could only observe the enemies that were coming from everywhere. She took in large gulps of air, glanced at Brendel, and was impressed.

He was still taking on a nonchalant expression; his Element Power caused the ground to freeze with a layer of ice dust because of the low temperature. It still maintained its range ever since he used it, and the Subterrane Dwellers that approached him were forced back after a moment in its field.

Scarlett gritted her teeth, unwilling to lose, and followed after him.

But she did not know that Brendel was just as exhausted. No matter how much stats one was able to accumulate in the game, as long as that person did not attain a Perfect body, then he would never be able to avoid fatigue. It was still true even one had mastered the usage of Element powers completely.

(TL: Gold-ranked, lvl 41-60. The rank above it is called “Realm of Extremes” 极之境界 lvl 80 or “Realm of Elements” 要素之境 lvl 61-80. Perfect Body is level 81 and above.)

His expressions that he took on like he was unaffected and able to use his Element freely, was because of a particular ability. With the increase of his level, the Unyielding talent had also increased in giving out additional traits. When he inspected his Stats Windows to find out the cause, he discovered with surprising delight—

‘As long as your stamina has not reached the Critical Exhaustion level, you would be able to use your abilities as though you are at peak conditions.’

[This ability isn’t included in the Overall Power Rating, but the practical usage is beyond imagination. If I don’t have this, then I will have to pace my stamina like the battles in my past…… But even though it sounds good, once I complete the Perfect Body stage, it will become quite useless.]

He felt a little helpless when he thought about it.

Still, the fact that he was able to maintain his strength was truly advantageous. The only exception to the rule of losing stamina was the races who possessed the Golden Lineage. Anyone else who battled continuously would have their Overall Power Rating diminished slowly.

He casually cleaved through the air once again along with his Element Power, and it sent him one step closer to the Critical Exhaustion line. When the dust finally settled, he had reached Tagiv’s large group of Earth Spirit Bears.

[They’re clad in a dark red aura? Hmmm, that’s a blessing spell most commonly used by their Witch Doctors. It looks like Tagiv’s pretty desperate, given that their Mana Pool isn’t a lot.]

His victory was practically sealed.

He could not help but sigh with relief, and he turned back his head slightly towards Scarlett.

“Can you still go on?” He asked.

Scarlett smacked away a random Subterrane Dweller which had charged in blindly. She gasped for air and could not even muster the thought to answer the question.

“We…… I…… How much longer must we advance, my lord?”

Her answer showed that she had reached her limits. When she looked up, she was shocked to find a whole row Earth Spirit Bears marching towards them. They were like giant walls that blocked their path. Her face paled, and she took a moment before she clenched her teeth. She took a deep breath: “My lord, I believe you have an ability to accelerate?”

“Charge?” Brendel blinked blankly.

“Yes……”

“Why do you ask?”

“I, I’m just too tired. I’m afraid I have no more strength to continue moving forward……” Scarlett’s head bobbed up and down as she breathed heavily, but when she looked up at Brendel, her eyes said that she did not wish to lose. She clenched her teeth and said: “I’ll use the Seventh Chord to create an opening, and my lord, you can accelerate past the Earth Spirit Bears……. They are called Earth Spirit Bears right?”

“What are you talking about, I wanted to ask you if you can give me a bit of time.” He shook his head.

“What?”

“I need thirty seconds.”

Her eyes were perplexed, but she ultimately nodded with resolution: “Of course I can.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you!” Brendel glanced at the ‘Wall of Earth Spirit Bears’, while Tagiv’s goat skull flag was moving further away. But success was right before his eyes……

============ Tagiv’s POV ============

Tagiv was able to sense that Brendel and Scarlett had completely stopped, and thought that victory was almost in his hands. Even if there were two ‘Slavelords’, they had to be careful in handling twenty Earth Spirit Bears that had been enhanced with Blind Blessing.

Once the humans stopped moving, it would have enough time to command the frightened Subterrane Dwellers to surround them. In that way, their efforts would be wasted.

The Witch Doctor felt a little proud of his brilliance, but before he could order his Camlu to create a new defense line, there was something that surprised him through his hearing senses.

Instinct honed from the countless wars it had was warning him. His mind worked quickly, and it raised its head as it sensed sound waves coming from above. There were unwelcomed beings in the air.

[The sound of…… wings? But they are much bigger than the birds in the Surface. Wait, I suddenly remember…… There’s a legend about Giant Eagles which served the Elves?]

It now knew something was causing the unique distortion by flying. The sound was soft and a hint of chaotic beating, as though it was drumming the air and creating a whirlpool of wind.

Right at that moment, only Brendel and Scarlett and a few other creatures in Tagiv’s army could see that two glowing angels with two radiant wings on their backs.

The Pristine Angels were descending from the sky and targeted Tagiv!