8 Ch.8

Charging Clay shoved the daggers forwards in a clumsy thrust. Immediately parrying them with his sword Garth followed up, bashing Clay with his shield sending him flying.

"Is that all runt?" Garth sneered.

"Not yet." Clay replied as a dozen spikes shot from the shadows around them.

Wrapping himself in a blanket of fire Garth just stood still.

"Really? Something so pitiful." scoffing he said, an untold look of fear seeped Into his eye. "Want to see real magic!"

A bird of pure flame kept from his hand and flew to attack Clay.

"First Form: Scorched eagle!" Garth shouted.

Throwing up a wall of shadows Clay scurried away, the bird slammed into the wall destroying both it and the wall. Getting back into his stance he got ready. 'Do I really need to shout the name? The shadows work fine without.'

Trying it out he shouted "Holy Armour!" And a thin sheet of light conformed around him shaping into a set of plate mail. 'Seems dramatic...'

"What! How is this possible? A little runt like you getting blessed with two affinities?" Garth stammered, the fear growing rather apparent.

"I am lucky aren't I, are you gonna fights me or keep gawking like an idiot?" Clay asked.

Growling Garth launched forwards thrusting with his sword. Clay lunged to the side, the blade barely missing his neck, bringing up his dagger Clay trust into the livid fire mages side.

"AHH!"

A whip of flame appeared around Clays wrist burning through the muscles down to the bone.

"Hurts don't it." Garth growled.

With a tug of the whip Clay was launched forwards into the waiting blade of the fire mage. With it piercing through his heart Clay let out a gasp.

"Good try Clay..." Garth whispered into his ear, the words dripping with a palpable venom.

You are dead- Killed by Garth-lvl.42 (fire mage)

'Ouch that hurts!' Clay thought, looking around. 'Floating in the void eh? Oh well'

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Waking up Clay looked around, ruins of a burnt down house surrounded him.

'Is this the house I slept in?' He wondered as a new message appeared.

—Lvl.20 death penalty- 20% XP reduction- 2 months. Respawn timer- doubled- Current timer: 2 weeks—-

-You are now lvl.26-

(Note: Killing weaker opponents will result in reductions XP amount)

'If that's doubled then I was gone for a week!' He thought. 'Shit! Do I still have my things?'

Opening his inventory Clay was relieved to see that both the armour and weapons he had were there. 'Got to make sure I keep these on me in case I die again.'

Equipping it all he started to trek through the ruins. Upon coming to a little campsite Clay noticed a small piece of parchment sitting on a box.

"Hi Clay,

If you're reading this it means I waited 3 days for you to come back but you didn't. If you're still alive go to the capital and find me, I will be waiting. Cya"

Throwing the note and whatever supplies Clay could find around the camp including a map into his inventory he got ready to set out.

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"Fuck everything! Why the fuck are these bugs so damn big!" Clay shouted, stomping on another ant.

Antium soldier (Antium-soldier variant) LvL. 52 37/37HP 3/3MP

Dozens of ants swarmed Clay, each the size of a small dog. Backing up Clay took wild swings with his kunai cutting dozens but more kept coming from the tunnels behind them. Using Shadow manipulation 30 spikes emerged from the surrounding shadows to stab the ants and form a small wall in front of Clay.

'I have got to teleport or I am going to be overwhelmed' Clay thought of activating Dark Teleport. Looking at the little specks of light Clay just ran up to the nearest one and tapped on it. Exiting the shadow realm Clay looked around seeing only a dark cavern.

'Guess my Dark magic grants me night vision?' He thought about looking around the massive open cavern. 'Where am I?'

Looking around he noticed writhing, white, football sized things on the ground. 'Maggots?' Clay thought taking a step forward he felt his leg enter something with a crunch then a warm sensation. "Fuck! That's gross!!!" He screamed. 'Oh shit!' He panicked 'I don't got enough mana to leave so this is really far underground...'

Hearing the chittering of ant mandibles Clay backed up to the nearest wall.

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(POV-Garth)

'That little shit! I lost 2/3rds of my forces taking that damn village, why the hell were they so high levelled?!? Whatever... he took out almost all of them that were left with that terrifyingly powerful Dark magic. Most can only summon one or two things at once but that "thing" summoned 30 or so spikes!' Garth thought angrily stomping around the ruined camp. Coming back to the corpse of the "thing" Garth noticed flakes of dust were appearing on the corpse's head.

'What?' He thought about going closer. As he got within 5 feet, the body burst into a cloud of ash then disappeared.

"What in the name of the ancient one happened?!?"

Kicking the ground where the corpse previously resided Garth was met with nothing but the scuff of dirt. Angrily stomping through the camp he rounded his remaining forces before stopping at the front of the group. As a painful burn started radiating from his stab wound he got an idea.

"We go north!" As Garths eyes turned a solid blue a solemn nod spread through the group realizing their fate was in the hands of a madman.

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(POV: Clay)

"Fucking bugs!!!" Clay screamed hacking through dozens of over-seized ants. The ground was becoming littered with bodies, the ants rushing in having to clamour over a wall of their dead brethren.

A ding went off in the corner of Clay's vision. Throwing up a wall of shadows, Clay checked what it was.

——Slayer Bonus: You have killed 1000 Antium. Receive 10% damage bonus against Antium and a random piece of equipment. Congrats Champion, Good Hunting——

—you have received Mage Hunters Bulwark-(High level)—

"A shield!" Clay shouted. "No....."