System Change

“Ugh!” Edward grunted as a shadow protruded from his stomach and shoulders, severing both arms from his body and dropping his HP back to critical.

“Be still. Move again and I’ll end you.” The Shadow Witch said.

“End him now!” Gerald shouted.

“You…” The Shadow Witch paused her attacks on Avery and pointed at Gerald. “Do not get to tell me who to kill. I am here to provide support and help you escape. Don’t forget it.”

Edward coughed up some blood and fell back to the ground. His wounds wouldn’t be fatal if treated in time, and he could reattach or regrow his limbs. He was happy to see some dissent in the group, but sadly, it meant nothing to him in his current situation, as he was out of the fight. He would be useless for some time. He could only watch as Avery dodged and twisted, avoiding vital attacks by a hair’s width.

He couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret when the man faltered and was cut on the arm by one of the shadows. Well… he was hit on the arm. The shadow didn’t seem to leave a cut.

Even so, Alanah’s right hand seemed to begin to slow ever so slightly as the fight went on. He may have had the Stamina or even Mana to keep all his skills active, and Edward was sure he was using a plethora of skills, but doing so at such a high rate of consumption would still take a toll on the user, both physically and mentally.

Edward groaned and rolled slightly, getting a better angle of the action. All he could do now was believe in Avery and hope something changed. For now, it wasn’t looking good.

Avery bounced back and forth between opponents, not caring who he attacked, as long as he could get in some damage. The mental fatigue of keeping all of his buffs up was starting to weigh on him. It was getting pretty bad.

Fortunately, his high Endurance made for excellent defense. That, plus the armor he was wearing, which didn’t look like much because of how light it was, made it much harder for any attack that landed on him to leave more than a scratch.

He remembered the feeling and breakdown of his body when his Endurance hit 1500, and it was one of the worst things he had ever experienced. The itching, the shattering of bone, and the feeling that he was being torn apart from the inside was something he never wanted to experience again. Well, he wouldn’t mind if it came with the same upgrade in power that he received before.

Another shadow fell on his arm as he stabbed one of his daggers at the plant user. The dagger was blocked once again, but the shadow left nothing but a light scratch on Avery’s arm. From what he could tell of the fight and his opponents, he would be able to last a few more minutes as long as he wasn’t bound by the plant user’s vines. Which is why he focused most of his efforts on avoiding them.

This time, the shadow that hit him left more than a small scratch. The shadow was thicker and wasn’t transparent at all, unlike the previous attacks by the Shadow Witch. Looks like she’s finally getting serious. Avery sighed and made a mental note to avoid getting hit squarely by one of her shadows. Within seconds, his wound began closing as he dodged more incoming attacks.

During his short battle with the four enemies, Avery had already ranked them by how difficult they were for him to deal with. Coming in at number one was the Shadow Witch, of course. She was definitely one of the strongest opponents he’d ever fought, though he believed he could take her if he didn’t have to worry about anyone else.

Which led to number two on his difficulty chart-the plant user. Avery didn’t know what kind of skill the spores or pollen the plant user used were, but it was still active after all this time. It was honestly really annoying, and seemed to get stronger as time went by. After this long, even with his mental fatigue, he shouldn’t be making the small mistakes he did. Therefore, his only conclusion was that it was part of the plant user’s skill.

Surprisingly, after the short amount of time, Avery actually put Gerald’s threat level above that of Cliff’s. Not because Gerald was stronger, but he was much more cunning. Cliff was very straightforward with his attacks, and didn’t seem to have too much practical experience. Gerald, on the other hand, avoided the battle and watched, giving commands here and there.

“Enough!” Gerald shouted. “Cliff. Do it.”

Cliff nodded slowly, then reached down and placed his hand on the ground below. Suddenly, the ground began shaking. The Shadow Witch flew into the air with her shadows, and the plant user jabbed his vines into the ground, lifting himself up in the process. A small pillar of stone rose underneath Gerald and Cliff.

As for the rest of the ground, the ground Avery was standing on, it slowly turned to quicksand. Fuck! Avery inwardly cursed. I would end up fighting an entire team of people with skills that slow me down. As he flipped away, Avery took another Stamina Potion out of his ring and drained it. He was actually worried about running low, especially now that the ground was turning into quicksand.

The quicksand meant he would have to activate yet another skill, draining even more of his Stamina in the process. Currently, all the buffs he was using were already expending his Stamina like crazy. Now, he had to use Physical Repulsion, which would drain his pool even faster.

Avery sighed and activated the skill. A gray aura gathered around the soles of his feet and projected itself an inch or so outward. The skill allowed him to step close to any physical object without actually touching or disturbing it. It was a skill that, if pushed far enough, would let him even use particles in the air as stepping stones. It was his only way to fight in the air.

So, the skill was also the perfect counter for something like Cliff’s quicksand. Like that, Avery kept battling like nothing ever happened. In fact, because of how Cliff’s skill worked, his enemies all spread out a bit, allowing Avery to focus more on individuals.

Unfortunately, Avery’s relief was short lived as Gerald ruined his plans.

“Vanessa!” Gerald yelled for the Vice Leader of the Assassin’s Guild to get her attention. “Fly me out of here.”

The Shadow Witch clicked her tongue. “Fine.”

Avery’s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach as he heard the plan. If Gerald abandoned all his colleagues and escaped, it would mean he failed the mission given to him by Alanah. That, and just the thought of letting Gerald go, left a bad taste in his mouth.

In an instant, Avery changed his target. The most mobile person in the entire area was the Shadow Witch. If she chose to escape, there was nothing he or Edward would have been able to do. Well, Avery could keep up with her, but he doubted he could do more than that.

So, if she picked Gerald up and left, Avery would have no choice but chase after them, leaving both Cliff and the unknown plant user free to escape, or even finish off the Crown Prince. Therefore, his decision was to target the Shadow Witch, and to do so in the air. Avery apologized to his Stamina as, along with Physical Repulsion, he used Burst Step back to back.

In an instant, just before the Shadow Witch’s shadow wrapped itself around Gerald, Avery was above her. With as much force as he could muster, and hopefully before she could block or turn her body intangible with her shadows, he flipped in the air and used another Burst Step to launch himself at the woman.

Sure enough, she wasn’t expecting his all out attack. Avery wasn’t messing around. He aimed to end her, the Vice Leader of the Assassin’s Guild, in one strike from above while she was distracted. Fortunately for her, she didn’t become the Vice Leader for no reason. At the last moment, she saw the attack and shifted her body.

She did a half flip backwards, just moving her head and heart out of the way of the attack. Avery’s attack landed just under her chest, on her left side. His dagger penetrated first, but that wasn’t all. With his momentum, his hand followed. Following the puncture caused by his dagger, his fist penetrated through her abdomen and out her back.

Then, along with his attack, the two shot like a cannon toward the ground-the ground covered in quicksand. Just before they hit, Avery moved his repulsion to his hands. He pulled his arm out of the Shadow Witch’s abdomen and used his repulsion to flip himself back upright before moving it back to his feet.

He looked down to see the woman halfway sunk into the sand. It was a hell of a hit to take. It would take a minute for her to recover.

Avery saw his Stamina dangerously low after the rapid uses of his skills and summoned another potion out of his storage ring. He uncorked the vial and went to drink it, but as he was moving his arm, it stopped.

He looked down to see a small, thread-sized length of shadow wrapped around his forearm. Then, the shadow began growing rapidly. He traced the shadow all the way to the half buried Shadow Witch and sighed. He quickly flicked the vial from one hand to another and drank it.

“Stop the fucking quicksand!” The Shadow Witch shouted. “I got him.”

The quicksand quickly lost its magic, and the shadow user dug herself out. She looked rough. A giant hole that everyone could see through appeared in her abdomen and blood dripped from her mouth as she spoke.

“Get him!” She shouted at the plant user.

Avery tried to escape the shadow, but a vine quickly wrapped around his foot and made its way up his leg. Soon, his entire lower body was wrapped up in vines, and his upper body was wrapped in shadows. He smiled bitterly as he was dragged to the ground.

“Fuckin… hard to kill… piece of…” The Shadow Witch muttered incoherently under her breath as she took a health potion out of her storage and drank it. The hole in her abdomen healed slowly before everyone.

Gerald hopped down from his pillar and walked close to Avery.

“That’s what you get.” He spat. “Thinking you could go up against me… and alone at that.” Gerald’s glove covered fist flew at Avery and hit him in the cheek.

It didn’t hurt at all… it wouldn’t even leave a bruise. Avery laughed. “You’re so fuckin’ weak.”

“Is that right?” Gerald slapped him. “I may be weak, but you’re going to die.”

Avery stared fiercely into the man’s eyes, then looked over his shoulder and smiled even wider. His vision, enhanced by all his buffs, including Eagle Eye, caught sight of the edge of the shadow dome, and looked somewhat through it.

There, he saw two unrecognizable figures standing just beyond the dome. “No… I don’t think I will. In fact, I think I did my job perfectly.” He said, as he saw one of the figures put a hand on the outside of the dome. Sparks of electricity began flying where the figure touched. A passage just big enough for two people opened up, and the figures stepped in. Avery smiled in recognition.