Chapter 151 - Ballroom Bash

I dodged and weaved through the rusted axes and swords that waved through the air. I was light on my feet, making sure I never got hit.

We were dangerously outnumbered but even if all of the monsters weren't too many levels above us, getting hit too many times would have meant danger for us.

I rolled under the troll's legs, it stomped around me repeatedly as it tried to fight off my blades. They flew around its head and soared through the air like birds.

They're not doing much damage this way, but at least that keeps him off of me…oh shit!

I used my armour vambrace to block off a sword, the ice walker was strong and knocked me off balance. I rolled back and jumped to my feet, only to feel the air separating around an axe headed my way.

{Shadow Step has been activated}

I used the chance to escape and rushed towards Arga. The moment I appeared out of the shadows, three arrows shot my way.

{Second Step has been activated}

{Third Step has been activated}

In a desperate attempt, I leapt out of the darkness and ran towards her. Another troll appeared and buried its fist in the floor behind me. The tiles and ground beneath it were smashed to bits.

My health slowly chipped down into the yellow and panic arose on my face.

I looked out at the room with dismay.

The ballroom was filled with undead icy warriors, the clear blue tiles were mostly cracked and whatever wasn't smashed was occupied by giant trolls.

Remembering Vye's teachings I placed my hand over my chest and gripped it tightly. Each beat sounded like war drums that smashed against my ribs as if my heart was trying to escape from my body.

I took a deep breath and focused on nothing but my heartbeat. The roars of the trolls, the metal clashing off of each other, all of it faded out.

"I am calm…I am calm. I won't be consumed by my emotions."

My heartbeat settled.

"We can still win," I reassured myself confidently.

"Uriel, open my skills tree."

My eyes scanned through the seemingly infinite bubbles that connected but only one caught my attention.

The Scron Chaser's skill tree appeared and skills I hadn't seen before were listed under it. I cocked my eyebrow as I read over the skills in front of me.

"This must be the effect I got from consuming Eshner. Beast skills that didn't exist before suddenly appeared in the skill tree." 

I gripped my hand into a fist. "It's risky but…with this, we can win!" 

{Danger sense has been activated}

A horde of skeletons ran at me but I avoided them, I ran along the wall and hopped off onto the troll's shoulder. Using it as a springboard, I jumped to the centre of the room and navigated through the mess of monsters.

I aimed out my hand into the air and a light blue mana filled my palm. The head of a dragon formed from the magic hue and towered over me. Its scaly neck curled forward and the terrifying beast widened its jaws.

The next moment, a mouthful of mist poured out from between its fangs and filled the room in an instant. The figures around me quickly faded out of sight and morphed into hazy shadows. They continued to thin out of sight until…completely gone.

Danger sense gave me the ability of heightened senses, I felt everything around me. From the slightest sounds to the smallest details in things from far away. All that became useless though with all that mist around us.

The biggest drawback to this skill is that it works on us too. Arga, Veldor and even I can't see through it.

I grinned.

"So why don't I tip the scales back in our favour a bit." 

I kept my hand suspended out in front of me and from a swish of wind, my blades flew back into my grasp.

"It's now or never…Predator's Gaze!"

{Predator's Gaze has been activated}

{Predators Gaze: Allows the user increased sight over far distances and through clouded terrain}

My eyes sharpened and red silhouettes appeared across the room. Within moments, I knew where everyone and everything was.

The air was distorted, bluish white mist floated throughout the room. Moments before I couldn't see a thing and with one skill, I was the only one who could see. With the blessing of my skill, I was able to see through it, perfectly!

The skeleton warriors aimlessly struck open air, I dodged around their attacks and struck them at their blind spots. With them not able to see me, it wasn't even considered a fight.

An attack from the right. 

I stepped back and effortlessly avoided the blade. The Ice Walker took a powerful swing but with nothing in its path, the blade kept going. Its body spun back and hit the jaw of the skeletal warrior behind it. 

I moved in and drove my foot into the bone right above its pelvis. The flow of white mana surrounded my leg and delivered a powerful burst of force.

Clack! Clack! Tang!!

Loose bones dropped to the ground, followed by its rusted axe.

{250 Exp gained}

I rushed forward and still felt the effects of Rush kick circle my foot, I used the momentum and struck the already damaged skeleton in its jaw. The crack under the eye socket split open further until the entire skull snapped in half.

{Second Kick Activated}

{250 Exp gained}

It was a free buffet of experience. I went in and dealt damage effortlessly without the risk of getting hit at all. The trolls were a little harder to bring down thanks to their tough skin but I managed to cut one up after a bit of back-and-forth running.

{Level Up}

{Level Up}

This veil of mist is a game changer, how long can I keep this up?

{Misty Veil consumes 10 mana every 5 seconds}

Damn it, that might be a problem…I've raised my mana stat quite a bit but a drawn-out battle would deplete it in no time. Especially if I keep using skills one after another.

My chakram cleared through an Ice Walker's shoulders and the skull fell to the ground. I was rushing towards the end of the room and held out my hand as I ran. 

Corpses and fallen bones were sucked up by my skill as I passed the room. My health slowly rose until the bar had filled back to a healthy amount. I stopped and reached out for my inventory screen, I pulled out a health potion and poured it down in one go.

I'll have to remember to stop and replenish as I go if I want to keep this skill going. It's really difficult to stop when I'm in a fight. That would be a problem if I was alone but luckily for me, I'm not.

I rushed up to the green dots on my map and stood between them. There was quite some distance between Arga and me, but Veldor was essentially beside me. 

I turned to him and saw through the mist. He was locked into a corner by a large group of Ice Walkers.

They swung their weapons wildly through the air but only every other shot would hit. He kept his shield raised through it all, he gave them no chance to take him down but in the process, he had been cornered.

I heard Veldor's tired pants from where I stood. He was in rough shape.

Veldor had seriously strong defence but there was only so much he could do when blind and against an army of monsters. I wasn't able to share my Predator's Gaze's effects with anyone else, so I was left with no other options.

"Let's clear this mess up quickly." I widened the stance of my legs and leaned my body forward slightly.

"Activate, Rush."