Sonic's Growth Story (4)

The next day, we resumed our raid on Hell's Gate. We had already punched through the first two chambers, so unlike the day before, nothing came charging out to greet us the moment we stepped inside.

Crossing two portals in succession, we entered the third chamber.

Kiiiiiieeeek!

Keheheheheh!

The monsters that spotted us came thundering in a pack. Mixed among them were several mid-boss-class creatures — six-star Hell Baronets.

Hmm... we're going to need to push the line.

Each Hell Baronet gripped a massive club the color of clotted blood, humming with a low, ominous drone. In my experience, weapons like that delivered area-of-effect damage on every basic swing, no exceptions.

An AoE attack in this situation would be far too dangerous. Sonic was squishy. Oralisa, being an archer, was just as fragile.

"Kanisia! Abraham! We push forward and hold the front line! Aquaril, you're on keeper duty — nothing that slips past us gets anywhere near Oralisa or Sonic! Oralisa, prioritize anything that closes on your group!"

"Okay!"

"Understood, Master!"

"Yeah!"

The orders went out fast, and the party moved as one. Their faith in me ran deep enough that not a single one of them so much as questioned the call.

The formation split in two. Up front, Kanisia, Abraham, and I locked into a defensive line. Roughly thirty meters back, Aquaril, Oralisa, and Sonic took their positions.

"Aquaril! If their attacks start reaching you, grab the girls and fall back further!"

"Yes, Master!"

I added the extra order just in case. A mid-boss AoE could easily have more reach than I was giving it credit for.

"Please don't trouble yourself over me, Master!"

Sonic called from behind. I flicked a glance over my shoulder and found she had already, without being told, put even more distance between herself and the front. She knew exactly what I was worried about.

God, she really was gorgeous.

A Fairy who picked up on things that cleanly — how was I supposed to not find her adorable? I'd have to lavish her with love again tonight.

With that particular worry off my chest, I turned my full attention to the enemies barreling toward us.

Priority targets... yeah. Those ones.

I fired off Black Barrage without hesitation. Nine orbs of Dark-attribute magic streaked out and slammed into the Hell Baronets. They were enormous — hitting them was never going to be the hard part.

KWAANG—!

KUOOooooooh—!

The sudden magical assault seemed to piss them off; they threw their heads back and roared. The actual damage, though, was nothing more than scratches across their hides. I frowned.

That's all it did? High magic resistance, or... ah, fuck. I just pulled a real dumbass move.

I'd been wondering why the damage was so pathetic, and the answer was simply that I'd screwed up.

Black Barrage was an offensive Dark-attribute spell. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It only hit with its full weight when Dark was my primary attribute.

Right now, my primary attribute was Light. The monsters in Hell's Gate were Dark-aspected, so I had stacked the counter going in.

Casting a Dark skill while attuned to Light meant the power was cut in half. Of course it was.

"Tsk. Nothing I can do about it now."

Switching my primary attribute and recasting Black Barrage would take too long. The monsters were already in our faces.

Will-o'-the-Wisp.

I triggered the skill and swept my sword in the same motion. Eight ghost-flames spun into orbit around me and kissed every monster they touched.

Kieeeeek—!

Kyaaaaagh—!

The ones the wisps had tagged screamed. Burn had landed — a healing-reduction effect stacked on top of a steady tick of damage over time.

"Uracha!"

"Haaaaah! Die!"

"I'm right here!"

Kanisia, Abraham, and I carved through the pack one monster at a time.

Abraham — Light-attribute, master-rank Warrior, our tank. Kanisia — Light-attribute Mana Spearman, our damage dealer. And me — Light-attribute Uroboros's Avatar, the party's resident hybrid. Dark was our counter-element, and with the three of us holding the wall, the monsters could not break through.

A few of them managed to vault over us and make a run at the Fairies in the rear. Every last one of them died on Aquaril's blade.

Kuuuuuugh—!

That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠when the mid-bosses came for me.

The Hell Baronets had been hanging further back than the rest, so Abraham's taunt had never touched them. More to the point, I had opened on them first. The aggro was mine.

"Alan! Watch out!"

"Lord Alan!"

"I'm fine — just watch your own front! These ones are mine!"

With every mid-boss locking onto me, Kanisia and Abraham tried to peel off and help. I shut that down immediately. If either of them left the line to cover me, the whole formation would collapse.

"Heh heh heh. Four mid-bosses. This should be fun."

The murderous howls of Hell Baronets that fully intended to pulp me stirred something that had been sleeping in my gut — a raw, competitive hunger. As the party's leader, I would never live it down if I didn't put every last one of them in the ground myself.

My senses sharpened to a razor's edge. The desire boiling up inside me became almost impossible to hold down.

Not that I needed to hold it down. Not right now.

The only desire I was carrying was a single, clean thing: the will to slaughter every Hell Baronet in front of me.

Giving my body over to that hunger would hit harder than fighting it ever could.

"Heh... heheheheheheh!"

I laughed like a lunatic and threw myself at them. My body was already moving before any part of me had time to think about strategy.

Technically I had broken off from the line — but nothing came at me except the Baronets themselves. Their wide-area swings would have torn through their own allies just as readily as through us.

"Kyahahahahahaha!"

Which meant I could fight them with a completely clear conscience.

Sonic watched the party's battle with a face carved from concentration. Her eyes flicked from fighter to fighter, determined not to miss a single beat.

"Come on then, you monsters!"

Abraham dumped nearly all of his mana into Physical Enhancement (Lv. 28 / Rare), inflating his durability stat and leaving only a sliver of power in reserve. With what little he had left, he unleashed Taunting Shout (Lv. 31 / Normal), dragging every monster that had drifted off the line straight onto himself.

That left him taking hits from behind — but Ironclad Beetle (Lv. 5 / Rare) had already hardened the rear of his body. Attacks from that angle barely registered, shield or no shield.

"Haaaaah!"

Beside him, his Master Kanisia swept her mana-wreathed spear through the Hell underlings and mowed them down like wheat. She looked like Death itself had stepped onto the field with a scythe in hand.

Even as she carved through them at close range, she was flinging ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mana Javelin (Lv. 38 / Normal) — short spears conjured from raw magic — in a relentless storm. Seventy-six of them, all in the air at once.

And those two were not fighting alone.

Whiiish— shhk!

Every so often a Hell underling punched through the front pair and came sprinting toward the rear. Each one died the instant Aquaril's Sword Aura (Lv. 25 / Advanced) found it.

Porong~ pororong~

Fist-sized creatures of living water darted around her as she fought — intermediate water spirits.

He said he was going to raise her as a Spirit Swordmaster.

Sonic had heard the plan from Alan directly. To use that class to its fullest you needed to be able to summon a spirit of the highest rank — but even the mere presence of a spirit made it a formidable path.

Heh. Looks like you've got competition, Centriel. If you don't get summoned soon, you won't be able to catch up.

Watching Aquaril pulled an old friend to the surface of Sonic's memory. A steadfast comrade who had served the same Master beside her, who had competed with her endlessly for the first-string ace seat. That friend's class had been Spirit Swordmaster. The name would change once she reached her final advancement, of course — but the foundation was the same.

"Yah! Yah! Yah! Iyaaaah~!"

On the opposite flank, Oralisa had triggered Barrage Mode (Lv. 27 / Rare) and was loosing arrows in a frenzy. Mana-forged shafts poured onto the monsters like a cloudburst.

Her field of vision was remarkably wide. Whenever a monster tried to sneak in through Kanisia or Abraham's blind spot, an arrow was already on its way. Not a single shot missed. Once an arrow left her string, it found its mark. Every time.

"Your turn, Blackie!"

Still raining mana arrows through Barrage Mode, Oralisa wove in a second skill.

The arrow that left her bow, swollen fat with her mana, darkened to the black of a starless night. The moment it flew, that stored power erupted outward — and the black mana took the shape of an Eastern dragon's head.

KUOOoooooooh—!

The black dragon bellowed and swept through the horde.

Kieeeeek—!

Keok—! Kooooh—!

Kek—! Kek—! Kekkek—!

Every monster the dragon washed over hit the floor and started rolling, clawing frantically at skin that had begun to rot at a terrifying speed. Flesh split. Blood sprayed. They kept scratching anyway.

Oralisa's ultimate: Black Dragon's Breath.

I was told she was four-star... she's stronger than any four-star I know.

Sonic knew the party's capabilities in unusual detail. Unlike other Masters, Alan could read another Master or Fairy's status window as easily as his own.

Weaker than I was at four-star, of course... but even so, they're strong. A four-star — no, even a low-end five-star — wouldn't stand a chance against them.

She measured them against the yardstick of her previous life.

They could not be compared to the Sonic of that life. Alan had thrown every resource he possessed into raising her. If Growth Stones ran short, if a skill level needed another push, he opened the coffers without a shred of hesitation.

The result had been absurd. At four-star, level 80, the Sonic of that life had carried four traits, eighty points in every stat, and skill levels sitting at forty or higher.

Obviously, no one in the current party belonged in that conversation.

But against other four-stars — or even the lower band of five-star, levels 81 to 85 — they had more than enough power to win.

...I want to get stronger. Fast.

She carried the memory of having been stronger than anyone. She had been the one who protected her allies. Not the one who needed protecting.

Master...

Sonic turned her attention to Alan.

"What... what is that?"

She could not keep the shock off her face. Alone, he was overwhelming mid-boss-class Hell Baronets.

Before any of them could even start a swing, Alan was already outside their reach. Every time his sword moved, blood sprayed from a monster's body. One of them was already a half-corpse, lying motionless — it must have happened while she had been watching the others. Looking closer, she saw that all four of its limbs had been severed.

"Kak! Krahahahahaha!"

But... why is he laughing like that?

Watching Alan carve the monsters apart with the cackle of a madman, Sonic tilted her head.

The instant the fighting stopped, I triggered Molt and stripped every status effect off myself.

Kuuuuuugh—

"Good work, everyone! And Sonic — I saved something for you!"

I dragged the still-breathing Hell Baronet over to her, its limbs already hacked off so it had no possible way to attack. I didn't let my guard down, though. There was always a chance it might try something unexpected, and if it did, I would kill it myself.

Our Sonic was so delicate a stiff breeze could knock her over.

"...?"

"Hm? What's with that look?"

"...You really are strong, Master."

"Yeah? Heheheh. Hearing that from you feels pretty damn good. More importantly — hurry up and kill it."

"...Yes. I will become as strong as you are, Master. I swear it."

"If you can manage it, get even stronger than me and protect me for a change."

"Yes. I shall. Without fail."

I didn't know what had gotten into her, but Sonic took up her sword burning with resolve and walked toward the Hell Baronet. She spent a full thirty minutes hacking away at it, and in the end, she brought the thing down.

Mid-boss-class or not, the experience was clearly a cut above what a regular monster gave. Sonic shot all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the way to level 37 in a single leap, and her Swordsman class climbed to level 8.

Her growth was coming along nicely.