Chapter 8: You should’ve gone for the head
(Alexander POV)
As the fight with the Cryo Abyss Mage continued, I could feel a big improvement in my abilities. My moves which you could call inexperience were slowly evolving or should I say adapting every second. If I were to be called a newbie before the fight, then as of now I am a full-fledged adventurer, well my fighting skills that is.
As I continued to launch a barrage of stabs at the cryo shield, I could feel it. It's as if only lacking a little more push and the shield would lose its effect but before I reached that point to my horror I saw a huge portal opened up behind the lone hut on the camp.
The portal radiated a chilling aura which made me shiver and lose my focus. The Cryo Abyss Mage who I was fighting stopped his foolishness and blasted me away with a barrage of ice projectiles capitalizing on the fact that I froze momentarily.
As I felt my body slam on the wooden barriers of the camp the portal fully opened and a Cryo Abyss Herald came out of it. The abyss herald slowly approached the now kneeling Cryo Abyss Mage as it looked at me with disdain before speaking to the Cryo Abyss Mage in a language I did not understand.
The herald then gave the mage a reddish-black colored sphere. If I were to describe the sphere the first thing that came to mind was disgust.
The sphere whatever that is was disgusting and it gave me the creeps, I felt like I would go insane just by looking at it.
After the Cryo Abyss Herald gave the Cryo Abyss Mage a command the latter hurriedly teleported out of the camp. Then as the Abyss Herald slowly walked back to the portal, the first thing that came to my mind was 'Did it spare me? Am getting out of this alive?'.
To no one's surprise, I was not spared. The Herald was simply playing me as before the Herald entered the portal it turned its back towards the portal and looked at me with contempt he then threw a spear-sized icicle which impaled me to the ground.
Even with the helmet-like thing on its head, I could feel it smirking at me. It then entered the portal but before it fully closed a second spear-like icicle came rushing out and impaired my head.
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(Third Person POV)
As the spear-sized icicle impaired the Alexanders head his mouth let out a smile. The attack that should have taken his life turned out to be ineffective as he muttered, "You should've gone for the head on the first strike bud."
With difficulty, Alexander pulled out the icicle impairing his stomach before sitting straight and then pulling out the one on his head.
As soon as the spear-sized icicles were removed from Alexander's stomach and head his adaptive regeneration kicked out as he healed at speeds visible to the naked eye.
With a serious look on his face, he stored his spear and the Hilichurls masks hurriedly before he departed as he sprinted back towards the village.
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(Alexander POV)
As I returned to the Village I immediately went towards the adventurer's guild.
As I travel towards the village I already made up my mind to report about the abyss mage but not the herald encounter for various reasons.
First, it would be enough to report an abyss mage lurking towards the village to alert the guild and possibly the knights.
Second, I do not trust the guild that much as the Katheryne's are possibly a tool of the harbinger Sandrone.
Third, I cannot explain how I survived against an Abyss Herald. They might end up suspicious of me or worse the Fatui may take an interest in me and decide to take me to the doctor and fuck my life.
Last, while unsure what the red sphere was, I do remember that in the plot the Abyss Mage did something to Dvalin. While I do know the main reason for Dvalins rampage was the thorn-like stuff on its back I get the feeling that the sphere was going to be used on Dvalin. My instincts are telling me that.
So as I reached Katheryne, I told her the story I came up with and the concern that I have.
"Isn't this Hilichurl Subjugation too hard for a beginner?" I asked
"Hmm? Why do you say so?" With a confused tone, Katheryne answered me back.
"Well, when I got to the area I decided to scout first but I saw 4 crossbow-wielding hilichurls, 6 normal hilichurls, 2 anemo samachurl, a mitachurl, and an abyss mage."
"When I saw that line-up, I was about to back out. But before I did I saw the Abyss Mage teleport out so I decided to observe for a while. Then after a while when I saw the mage did not come back I decided to take them hilichurls out as I am somewhat confident in my skills." I explained to the pretty android lady.
While the explanation I came up with was quite suspicious I don't think they'd suspect me that hard. At most, they might claim that I was only lying with the amount of enemies I faced and I am only a braggart. But hey I did my job and informed them of the Abyss Mage. It's their fault if they don't believe me.
With a concerned tone, Katheryn said while looking at a piece of paper "There is something really wrong here. The camp was scouted last night and it should only contain 3 crossbow wielding hilichurls and 4 normal hilichruls."
So that means I just lucked out? I decided to show up at the place where the Abyss Herald and Mage were having a meeting. Is this the legendary protagonist's aura? Always getting stuck in between sticky situations. With a tired sigh, I submitted the materials and took my rewards totaling 60 primogems and 50k mora. Katheryne said the additional mora was for the information about the Abyss Mage and as an additional payment for the harder difficulty of the quest.