Draga's brain rebooted quickly enough for him to drag Xander off to the side- evading a tree that was send flying when Alagut reunited with the ground. Even then, the earth quivered and shook, as it should have earlier.
Seconds passed, with both of them unwilling and unable to rise. Then, as suddenly as the shaking began, it ended.
Alagut was still nearby- he could tell pretty easily from both his map and the ongoing music- yet the dirt was undisturbed. He was moving, too, and at speeds which he would normally term impossible.
And Caelem... Shit...
He was indisputably the strongest here, and he'd been taken just like that by something which was still stalking them.
"We need to remain still," Draga said, when Xander made to get up. "At least until we have a plan. It can probably sense our location off of movement, like actual worms, which is why it went after Caelem- the more energetic person." And by that reasoning, they should be off the radar. They'd been largely still before it attacked and had only moved while massive portions of it were airborne.
"What do you suggest?"
Him? He was fifty levels too early to be taking that thing on, let alone ordering Xander around, and he voiced his opinion rather clearly- by laughing in his face. While normally smaller than that thing, Hell did have a number of giant creatures, including worms. The funny thing is, they weren't normal- such large creatures couldn't have the soft and pliable flesh of the more common variety, but were dense and tough.
He actually lacked a reference for it Xander could get, having minimal experience with normal animals. Heck, even if he had spent a lot of time on the surface, Xander came from a different world anyway, which might not have Elementals or Dragons.
"I might be able to singe a few feet of it, which would barely make a difference in the long run. What do you suggest?"
Xander probably frowned under his mask, and he lowered his head slowly to the ground as if to listen for the monstrous creature. When that turned up nothing, he sighed into his helmet. "I can't fight something that's underground- we need to get it out for at least a few seconds before I can even damage it."
Baiting tactics, then... He could work with that.
A quick scan of the surroundings revealed nothing of particular note. While there was a hole where Alagut had erupted and landed, it had refilled the space- mostly- and left nothing of use behind. The forest lacked animals he could use, and no points were awarded for guessing why there wouldn't be any.
Okay... He needed to create vibrations at a distance to get him up, and the only really obvious answer was to throw Xander's hammer- or have him do it. He doubted he could lift the damn thing. Getting his weapon eaten by a giant worm just didn't sound very productive.
Knock a tree down, perhaps? With how massive the worm was, they'd want to already be a distance away from the tree when it fell, but moving away would just create the vibrations anyway. Knocking a tree down from a distance, then...
"Do you have any ranged skills?"
Xander gave him a rundown of his abilities, but none were what he was looking for. Well, one of them could be a backup, but he'd leave summoning a flaming motorcycle right next to them as a backup plan.
And Tet, his life must have really flipped in the last few minutes if the flaming motorcycle wasn't the part that got to him...
Impending insanity aside, that left him with his one ability- lightning. He obviously hadn't had any time to practice with it, but if he could shoot a tree a few times it should fall. Hell, feeding Alagut a flaming mass of wood might even do a little damage.
Draga raised his hand, palm outstretched towards an oak a dozen or so meters off. It was medium sized and would hopefully fall over from whatever he could muster.
Ordinarily, he'd have used the opportunity to experiment with his newest skill- Pale Lightning- but he didn't have to. Unlocking the skill seemed to give him an unconcious awareness of how to use it, which was great, but it also decribed how pointless it would be to strike the tree- it didn't damage things like electricity normally would, and even calling it lightning was more than a little deceptive. True to its name, and the link between the Pale Rider and Death, it attacked the soul of the target.
That wasn't really gonna make a difference here.
Instead, he had to draw upon his affinity for lightning. That was a bit harder, since the knowledge of exactly how a skill worked seemed to come from the skillbook eating process which he didn't do in unlocking Lightning.
Only one option really seemed available, then.
All the energy within him hummed as he drew upon it, and he could feel the warmth pass from his chest and into his arms. Once there, it collected in his hand, which began to spark as bits of it broke away.
The whole process took less than a second, but it felt like a lot longer. The actual attack, though? It was instant, with the energy escaping his arm in a burst of light before impacting its target in too brief a time for him to even percieve.
Draga stumbled backwards from the recoil, though Xander thankfully caught him before he could trip and hit the ground. It was from that position- held up by an arm across his back- that Draga got to watch his handiwork.
The oak was missing a large portion of it where he'd struck. A good chuck, about the size of a basketball, was carved out as an orange flame continued to eat away at it in his stead. That was nothing, though, in comparison to how the tree moved.
He'd hit it a few feet up from the base, which was thin enough for his attack to destroy any foundation the top would have had. After a few seconds of ominous cracking- accompanied by the quieter popping of the fire- it let out a massive snapping sound and fell to the side.
"One giant worm coming right up." Draga said with a slight bow, as though he was a waiter offering a meal. From the gleam in his visor and the way he hefted his hammer up slightly- though the former could easily have been his imagination- he was raring to dig right in.
They didn't have to wait very long. Only about three seconds passed between the tree landing and Alagut's return. As before, there was no violent shaking to announce his presence, as impossible as it was that such a monstrously large creature could be stealthy in its approach. Despite that, there was no surprise when it surged up from the ground- consuming the tree, and many others, as easily as the ground it passed through.
What was a greater surprise was the widespread discoloration of its flesh. When it had come up before, it had all been that kind of pale pink typical of a normal earthworm, just with a lot of dirt clinging to it. Now, it looked rotted, as though it were already dead and it's body simply hadn't caught up with it.
Xander didn't halt his attack because of that, though, and Draga had to marvel as the ground broke apart at his feet and a flaming motorcycle shot out. Xander landed on it with practiced ease, the machine never slowing down for a moment as he rode up to the collosal beast.
He didn't stop there. Even with only one hand on the handlebars, Xander was able to hoist the front wheel up and ride along the moving creature. It roared its displeasure at the fire left behind by the tires, but the volume absolutely paled in comparison to when he actually struck.
Attack buffs stacked atop one another, exponentially buffing the force behind the hammer as it swung down on Xander's side. Even with one hand, muscle and fat exploded outwards on impact, and the gore only increased as he dragged the weapon behind him and carved a massive gash into its side.
Despite how ridiculous all of that was, it wasn't even the most crazy thing to happen in the following few seconds. I mean, why would Tet create a game that was even slightly realistic?
A colorful swell began to appear close to its rear- a strange mixture of purple and orange which only grew brighter as time passed. Then, as it burst outward and spread yet more gore across the forest, a sphere of multicolored flames burst outward and consumed all it passed through.
It stopped quite a distance away, thankfully, and in turn revealed the source; Caelem... Stood? He had wings, and could clearly fly with them, but they weren't beating. He was just kind of hovering there.
Honestly, how one would describe his position mattered a lot less than his furious expression or the heat radiating off of him in visibly distorted waves.
His wings glowed a vibrant red and he called upon quite a few elemental abilities at once. Trying to describe the attack he blasted towards Alagut's still falling form just didn't seem possible.
Combined with the rift torn into its side, weakening it even before it's head crashed into the ground and- thanks to the damage it had already recieved- snapped large chunks of it apart, it would almost certainly be enough to end the creature; of course, Caelem was nothing if not overpowered, so no points given for predicting the meat explosion.
Draga, thankfully, had the presence of mind to take the three steps to the side required to place a tree between him and the blast in question.
It wasn't until he got more levels, confirming the death of Alagut, that he deigned to glance out towards his peer- frie- allies? Whatever else they were, both looked alive, which was honestly enough. He'd actually worried a little about Xander, who was still riding along the surface of the giant worm when Caelem struck, but he didn't look any worse for wear.
They'd all need a nice hot shower at some point, but-
Caelem flourished his power one additional time, all the blood and muscle coating his form evaporating in an instant. Xander did something similar, with the sheer air pressure of his flexing arms blowing it all off of him.
Never-fucking-mind. He had thankfully avoided being struck with anything, so outside a little sweat he was fine too.
And quite a bit stronger, to boot. He hadn't had a chance to spend the points from the bird thing either, so now was as good a time as any.
Name: Draga Konungur
Level: 18
Class: None
Title: The Fifth
HP: 877
MP: 2340
Str: 8 (15.6)
Dex: 12 (23.4)
Vit: 9 (17.55)
Int: 16 (46.8)
Wis: 14 (40.95)
Luk: 10 (15)
Points: 119
Status Effects
Huh. I don't remember there being a level bar. It was probably just a design oversight, since he hadn't actually leveled up yet when he'd originally opened it.
On that note, damn was he leveling up fast. Xander had gained two from Alagut as well, but that had nothing on the explosive growth he was having. Tet's Blessing, putting in work- twice over, since it buffed the point value of levels too.
What to spend it all on, though? Each of the stats had their own perks, which made the question far more complicated than it seemed at first.
To start, Strength and Dexterity were inherently linked. Raising one without the other wasn't exactly a terrible idea, but both speed and strength were involved in calculating the force of an impact. However, while Strength was minimally useful on its own, Dexterity did have some merit as a solo skill. If you can ever hit an opponent while they can't hit you, you pretty much just win by default.
If ten was the human average, which was common in RPGs but still something he didn't have evidence for, then he could theoretically drop himself to a hundred right now and hit 195 with all his other bonuses. Depending on what games this was based off of, he might even get some skills from the increase, potentially raising his speed even more.
But then, he could do that for anything, right? Vitality wasn't going to be a priority, and he could pretty much guarentee it would be left abandoned for the meantime, but the others still held merit. Intelligence and Wisdom were linked in the same manner as Strength and Dexterity, but leaning into magic. Raising them should affect his thought process as well, and with Mathematicians Answer expanding the general value of any Intelligence points...
Luk was considerably less useful, especially with Intelligence replacing it for critical strikes, but altering his fortune didn't sound like a terrible idea either. The problem was reliability, there, not to mention what Tet decided was lucky and what wasn't. Was encountering a super broken boss with epic rewards for its defeat considered?
Long story short, he had to choose between speccing as a fighter or mage...
Ordinarily, he'd have just gone as a mage since magic was fun and more widely applicable than swinging a sword, but these stats were his reality now. If he was stronger and faster, then he was literally stronger and faster. Until such a time as he unlocked telekineses or the like, the utter convience of magic might not compare.
Oddly enough, it was the game that finally answered the question for him, and not even in a direct pointed way, but rather a mathematical coincidence.
For wisely considering your circumstances and future, your Wis has increased by one!
It was nice, but not game changing- it was the numbers that mattered. He had 119 points, and with that increase, he had 31 total spread across his Intelligence and Wisdom.
150, perfectly, and with most games that granted skills from stats working on metrics of fifty...
His Intelligence found itself 34 points higher, just to test the system, and he did not go unrewarded. While the effect on his mind itself was hard to define, there were physical changes accompanied by the awakening of a few skills.
Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:1 MP:0
Magic is as much a science as the study of the movement of atoms, yet so few truly understand its inner workings. It must be practiced to be understood, and thus efficiency can be reached.
Increases max MP by 100% per stack.
Increases MP regen by 50% per stack.
Mana Tapping (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:0
Different energy sources have existed from the dawn of creation, and magic is no exception. All throughout the multiverse, tons of systems of magic and their requisite sources have been incarnated, yet there is little stopping someone from acquiring more than one.
Allows the user to actively absorb unique magic energies and unlock skills to manipulate them.
Currently unlocked: Enerkinesis
Besides the skills themselves, raising his Intelligence also brought about an increase of his total MP, supporting the link between the two.
His Wisdom rose next.
Elemental Manipulation (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:Variable
While not as strictly understood as many magics, there is no denying the clear mastery many have over the elements. Even while limited, commanding nature is a powerful thing.
Allows for the movement and control over the raw materials for elements the user has an affinity with.
Cost decreases with Wisdom, Affinity, and skill level and increases with complexity and scale.
Elemental Awareness (Passive) LVLMAX MP:0
Many deign to consider themselves among the higher powers that control the world, and most of them are wrong. Still, it isn't that hard to know of them, or even encroach on their thrones.
Reduces the cost of elemental abilities by 10%.
User is assumed to have an affinity of 1 in all affinities they haven't unlocked.
Draga whistled as he read through those. Honestly, they were far more useful on their own than the Intelligence skills had been. If not for the value of the stat, he'd probably have put the remaining fifty there instead- perhaps get more elemental skills.
Twas not to be, however, as his new skills were more than willing to say.
Magic Mastery (Passive) LVLMAX Stack:2 MP:0
Mage Armor (Active) LVL1 EXP: 0.00% MP:1000
Defending oneself has always been a difficult thing. So long as there are two people in existence, someone is going to want someone else dead, and the ability to use your skills- whatever they are- to survive is integral.
Actively replaces Vitality with Intelligence for the next 100 incoming damage.
Scales (Active) LVLMAX MP:0
The value of all physical things is merely a measurement of energy. Energy put into it, time lost, and, yes, the sheer mass-energy of the substance.
Allows for the conversion of HP and MP at a ratio of 7/10ths.
Three skills, huh? Well, technically one of them was a second copy of a skill he already had- hence why he didn't bother reading through the rest of it- but it was still an increase. Would 150 grant four skills?
Overall, not bad for slightly participating in the killing of two monsters.
Still, it was time they moved on, and in honor of Kirase, he'd even steal his catchphrase- Onwards and forwards.
Now if only he actually knew where they were going.