Bloody Conflcit

Chapter 99: Bloody Conflict

/These days, I believe I may be qualified to count myself as an expert on many things strange about our world. I have dedicated countless hours of study to history and happenstance, to the things that have plagued our world for eons, and those that have recently arisen.

But yet, most modern topics are so inconclusive. I can only really speculate on the truth of the matter. What really are rifts? Where do monsters end and people begin? Why is it, that the system pits us against each other? Is there some greater agenda at play, or is the system simply imposing the will of a tunnel itself on the monsters in it?

One day, I hope to solve these things, yet for now, it is only with small steps I can glimpse more of the truth, and I believe it is such a step I have recently taken.

A door opened in my office. Not the door to my office, but a proper door, an arch. It appeared, not randomly, not in the middle of the night, but quite fortunately, while I was there to witness it. To be fair, it did cause me to drop one of my favourite mugs and spill some tea on the floor, but that is of little matter considering how monumental a discovery this was.

Observing a rift form is already a rare privilege, though most wouldn't consider it as such. To seekers, it is as thought their work had just caught up to them, any normal people would consider it terrifying, and merchants might see the glint of gold in it. But none of these, not the mages or mercenaries, not blacksmiths, nobles, knights nor cults, know as much about the arches as us scholars.

So to have it happen in my office, was a deep shock. Yet I didn't hesitate for a moment. I noted down the ambient mana level, humidity, moisture content in the air, and watched the arch spread. It looked insidious, perhaps some would call it wrong, but it burned itself into my eyes as something I wanted to understand so desperately.

It felt like hours passed as I simply stood there. My mind worked faster than my hands ever could have, writing down every single detail in <Clipboard>. I watched as the air shimmered and glinted with iridescent colours, as the triz around me coalesced, and the moisture disappeared. I saw nearby flowers wilt a little, their stamina disappearing into the tear, as it seemed to grasp hold more firmly.

Slowly, but surely, the arch was beginning to make a sound, a dreadful howl as it sucked in anything easy enough to lift. It didn't even shy away from me, seeking to rip the mana straight from my core, yet I held steadfast.

Now, as for the tunnel? First, the air became a little opaque, translucent in a way, a sheet of iridescent glass, before it cracked. The shard fell to the floor, turned black and ashen, before growing back up and reconnecting with the shimmer that had reformed. It sprinkled those seeds onto the ground, and began to take root more solidly.

Then, when it had its roots, the cracks stopped propagating, the shimmer turning wider and more erratic, its edges blurring as it widened. The colours now looked more tangible, like an oil slick in the way the light broke, when it was pushed into the more common oval shape, its sides suddenly growing wider as if pushed by the hands of someone.

Then, it slowly settled down, the howl and hum ebbing, until only silence remained as I stood in front of an arch, every detail, every second, forever etched into my mind, leaving me forever even more curious about them./

"An Expert Witness", by Armeyus the Scholar, documenting the very foundation upon which much of modern tear-research is buildt.

- - - - - -

There was no gunshot, or signal to start the fight. In truth, it had already begun the moment the mountain lord found out Mercury even existed. That was the way titles had always been, and it was more than clear that the two would fight, so the cat was ready for when the drake attempted to bite him.

Mercury knew what he could do, and he was very aware that he couldn't use his full power for very long. But when it came to starting a fight, he was sure he wouldn't lose out in terms of explosive force. He could see it right there, after all, the arrogance in his enemy's eyes. It was already sure the fight was won, before its enemy could even attack.

But with that, Mercury really couldn't have asked for a better opportunity. As the drake stood still, he took only a moment to activate his latent ability. His stamina expanded, flooding his muscles with strength, and his mana boiled and coursed through him, making his movements sharper and more snappy. He took a deep, hard breath of air, enjoying the slight sting in his lungs for a moment, as his blood flowed through him and supplied the energy he needed.

Then, he leapt. With <Dash>, he gained more speed in the few steps he took, and as he jumped, he pushed the ground up with <Telekinesis>, to give him just a little bit of extra speed, and then beyond that, <Limitlessness> activated to add another tiny boost.

After just a moment, Mercury had gone from standing still to full speed and hurtling towards the drake, his eyes locked on one of its wings, ready to tear it apart with his claws. Of course, the other monster tried to fight back, the light in its eyes quickly changing to one of surprise, but this time, it was already too late.

By the time the mountain lord began turning, Mercury was only a hair's width from his target, and he slammed into the larger animal with plenty of force, his claws extended. The impact was resounding, Mercury absorbing much of it with his legs, while the drake got hit with most of the load on its shoulder, staggering backwards.

Yet, the cat clung onto it, already swiping his mana-enhanced claws through the thin membrane between bones, pulling apart the thin skin with a sound like that of scissors gliding through fabric, accompanied with screeching and shaking. For a few seconds, Mercury held on, but soon, he found himself accelerating towards the ground, so he let go of the wing and instead attempted to turn around.

Luckily for him, the grass was still very alive between patches of snow and even underneath the white blanket, so the thin blades of green reached out and softened the impact. Even with their help and the ground being soft, it still hurt, but after a quick roll that left his back and face muddied, he stood again. And almost immediately jumped back as he saw the drake snap at him once more.

Instead of fighting, this time Mercury began to quickly run away, hoping to confuse his enemy into thinking he was now scared after a single encounter. To his delight, it seemed to somewhat work, and the drake began running after him at a pace more intended to wear the mopaaw down than immediately tear him apart.

In retaliation to this silly thought, Mercury quickly jumped atop a rock and spun around, pulling his bag out of the inventory and launching two rocks at the drake's other wing. Its claws were on the ground, supporting its weight as it hunched forward when Mercury attacked. Of course, it attempted to pull its wing back when Mercury attacked, but was delayed by a bunch of greenery for maybe half a second. One of the rocks slammed through the skin of its wings, and Mercury could see that his foe was now fully enraged.

Well, it was worse than having the lord be arrogant, but not as bad as if it had decided to take him seriously properly. Maybe this was part of the limit for ordinary beasts, so much muscle, so little brain.

He hardly had time to finish the thought, when a shrill noise like that of nails dragging against a blackboard sounded out. Mercury's eyes opened wide, and he instantly ducked behind a rock as he saw icicles hurtling towards him, the mana from the drake boiling to freeze the air in a spell that blasted the mopaaw with daggers of cold.

Before the drake had a chance to shoot even more magic at him, Mercury quickly snatched the bag of ammunition back up into his inventory and dashed away, just in time as he watched a freezing mist spread from the beasts maw and instantly cover the rock in a thin sheet of ice.

As the cat dashed away, his enemy was already hot on his heels, chasing after the enraging little thing with the fury only someone who thought themselves unmatched could wield. This time, instead of clumsily chasing after him though, Mercury got a painful taste of what the difference in size could mean for agility. The drake's arms were thin, but long and full of tough muscle, no fat to be found, while its hind legs had an additional joint to absorb the impact from landing.

But this time, those long limbs weren't used to land or gain lift. Instead of that, the thing began to stretch its legs, screech loudly, and then fucking gallop at Mercury, pushing itself with the back legs, and catching itself on the floor with its claws before leaping forward with those as well.

The moment Mercury noticed, his heart skipped a beat. What the fuck kinda monster was that? Seeing a dinosaur-bird like beak full of sharp teeth hanging low to the ground and gallop after him full force was more than enough to make Mercury nervous, and he almost choked, but instead just quickly activated <Dash> again and began zig-zagging around some of the boulders.

Maybe he should have picked a tighter space to fight it, one where he could use his small size better, but even the way it was now, he had disabled its wings and was in a somewhat advantageous position, since the galloping left it with little manoeuverability. The double joints were great for absorbing shocks in one direction, but Mercury was sure that the force on those knees, if he could call them that, would be horrendous if it tried to do a quick turn.

And he was right. As he darted around a corner, he watched the drake slow down and instead hold onto the floor with its claws, before dragging its weight forward again and beginning to accelerate, only to see its prey take another turn.

Almost immediately, the lord let out an ear piercing howl, leaving Mercury stunned for a moment. His feet felt frozen to the ground, and when he came back to himself, he could only catch a glimpse of the creature's massive body coming towards him. Before he could think, the drake slammed into him, swiping its claws. Luckily, Mercury had put a bit of distance between the two, so the strike landed on his side, and while the impact was brutal, only the claw he would consider the "thumb" pierced his flank.

Still, even just that left a bloody gash, and he was sent hurtling away, rolling thrice and sliding in the mud before he got back up. He didn't even have time to spit out some of the dirt in his mouth, coughing instead as he jumped back from another bite. He barely held the drake's dagger-filled mouth back with <Telekinesis>, otherwise his head might have ended up between its teeth.

Mercury composed himself as he scurried off, the drake launching a volley of icicles after the cat, which Mercury's ystirs shook off course while commanding <Telekinesis>. This however came with a sharp sting in his head, as he could only feasibly control two instances of <Telekinesis> without overexerting himself.

What was done was done, and at least it seemed to have disoriented the creature he was fighting, giving him just a handful of seconds to catch his breath behind a rock. Quickly, Mercury spat out the filth in his mouth and pushed out the air in his lungs. He could feel his flank burning where his skin was pierced, and his ribs were aching too, but he simply focused on the few breaths he got.

In and out, then in and out once more, and the third time he deflated he realized something. He had only been focusing his breath on getting the air in and circling the "energy" around.

It was just a split second he thought of it, but it felt like he had been so goddamn stupid before. His <Breath> was low, because what the fuck else would it be, if he ignored half the process? He would've laughed if his situation wasn't so sucky.

"I'll get you now," Mercury muttered under his panting, before quickly dashing out behind the rock when <Intuition> screamed warning bells at him.

This time though, the mopaaw was calm. As he took the first couple steps, he activated <Dash> once more, avoiding the drake's claws. He took a deep breath in, feeling the cold air burn in his throat. He jumped away again, breathing out as he pushed, and the distance he flew was remarkable.

Well, at least it was to him. In truth, the distance wasn't as huge as it seemed, but in the middle of combat, where every bit mattered, it was enough. For a few more seconds, Mercury moved away from the Drake. When it moved, he slowed it down with <Telekinesis>, and held it at bay as the grasses responded to his call. His speed was increased by every bit of power he could squeeze out, even as his flank ached, his legs moved with full strength.

[<Limitlessness> is activated in full. Hp loss reduced. The individual is encouraged to weigh the risks of further engagement.]

His new perception allowed Mercury to think about it, his mind splitting for this moment, one half fighting, dodging and throwing rocks, the other considering. Was this really worth it? He could watch his vitality decrease as he overexerted himself, saw the blood trickle from his side as his health leaked, and yet he didn't retreat.

And then he smiled. His minds fused back into one, as his ystirs bore down on the drake for a moment, all instances of <Telekinesis> focused on a single arm of its, forcing the creature closer to the ground. Then, with his tail, Mercury tapped two rocks in quick succession, activating <Throw> as they shot forward and into the thing's flesh.

Once again, the beast screeched, maybe in an attempt to stun Mercury, but this time, as he breathed out, he felt the frigidness leave his body, and as the icy mist from the drake's jaw flooded the air, the mopaaw took another step back. He dodged, his eyes still on the enemy that was now approaching him again, bleeding from its wings and legs, but as he stepped back, Mercury slipped.

The ground gave way and his leg couldn't find purchase in the mud. He felt a few blades of grass trying to stabilise him, but of course, they were too late. Mercury fell, and the drake bit him.

Its fangs closed around the leyfal, piercing into his skin like daggers. He could feel some of them scrape against his bones as he screeched, his <Bloodlust> activating unconsciously. The drake hesitated for a moment, its jaw not fully pressed shut, and before it could finish biting through its prey's remaining lifeforce, Mercury pushed all the air from him and boiled what amounted to maybe half his remaining mana in a brutal stab against the thing's tongue and lower mouth.

He pushed his claws in as deep as they could go, and when the drake roared and left him free, Mercury tumbled to the ground, still stretching out his front legs one more time to stab into its eyes, holding onto that to soften the fall.

The mopaaw winced in pain as his back hit the ground, unable to turn fast enough, feeling the wet earth slide into his wounds and causing them to flare up once more. His white fur was fully dyed brown and red, his eyes bloodshot, breath leaving his mouth in white, puffy clouds. Still, the drake also wasn't very well off, bleeding from its mouth, leg, arm, and eye. He had done a number on it for sure.

"Urg, glr, gurgle," Mercury said, trying to get out a sound, but his lungs failed him. Ah, were they filling up with blood? Oh, the corners of his vision were going hazy and black, this wasn't good.

[<Limitlessness> has levelled up! <Limitlessnes lv. 8 -> 9>]

Ah, that was a little better. Hopefully this worked with his mind as well. Hey shop, if you could, is there a health potion for 250 Hp? That would be wonderful. Just summon half of it on my skin, and slowly funnel the other half in my mouth, if that's possible. Ah, ystirs, please manage it.

And then, Mercury's vision went black, but only a moment after, he felt himself being enveloped by a warm sensation, which soon turned into a burning on his skin and in his chest as the pain he didn't realize while blacking out came flooding in.

Mercury wanted to scream, but all that left his throat was a wet gurgle, as he spat out multiple mouthfuls of blood, almost vomiting it as the rapid regeneration flushed it out of his lungs. Some of the healing fluid had dripped into there from the outside, and while the feeling was agony, he could tell it was prompting his cells to knit themselves back together, in what he could only describe as somehow.

Bit by bit, the healing counteracted the blackness at the edge of his vision, and when his eyelids felt like iron weights were on then, rather than being welded shut, he forced them open. After another swallow of healing liquid, his vision was clear enough to make some things out. The drake was panting above him, enjoying its victory. In a moment, Mercury used his mind.

He drew in a breath of air, and waited. He looked and saw the bag of rocks on the floor next to him, some of them having spilled out, and he swiped his tail over towards them. It was in the creature's blind spot, given that he had taken out its eye before, and so, he activated throw, pushing against the stones with every ounce of <Breath> he could manage.

By the time his weapons flew off, Mercury's Hp had barely regenerated to 50, and was now simply sitting there. He was still cut up and bruised all over, with nasty punctures, but his wounds were covered with scabs, and at the very least he wasn't actively bleeding out, so his Hp was staying still.

... Scratch that. He was still going over his limits, and he could see his Hp slowly dropping again. But as he watched his own health bar, the rocks lodged themselves into the other eye of the drake, fully blinding it as it let out a screech. One more dug into its left thigh, on the leg that had already been hurt, and another smashed its right knee.

Almost immediately, the monster began flailing its long claws in front of it, but quite frankly, Mercury was too close. He had taken a step underneath it, and was approaching the legs he had cut up.

"Go die already," he said, spitting out some more blood as he raised his front appendages up high, and began to slice up the underbelly of his foe. Warm, red liquid drizzled down onto his fur, sliding down his arm and rapidly cooling. Some of it dripped on his nose, and Mercury shook his head, but as he did, he saw the drake's movement begin to slow. It was blind, couldn't move anymore, and now he had also sliced open its stomach.

The fight was over.

Status, how did he look?

- - -

Hp: 35/280

Mp: 14/667

Sp: 4/307

Gold: 563

- - -

Ah, shit, that potion cost him 4000 gold? Really? Well, at least he had something to look forward to.

[Your understanding of <Breath> has increased! <Breath (low) -> (medium)>]

[Killed the "Lord of the Mountain"! Get: 5000 Exp, 1000 Gold, Drake's Flesh, Ice-Affinity Core.]

[Main Quest: "Ihn'ar" has been completed.]

[Personal Quest: "Territory" has been completed.]

Time to reap the benefits, babyyyyy!

Maybe that thought was too exciting, as when making a small gesture for victory, Mercury once again winced for the pain. Maybe he could take those couple levels before to regenerate a little.