Path of Dragons

Book 6: Chapter 48: The Grind

Sadie rammed a shoulder into a particularly large wraith, sending it stumbling backward across the ground before it hit a clump of its fellows. In the same motion, she spun, bringing her blade in a sweeping, horizontal strike that sheered through four other wraiths. That left her open to attack from another set of monsters, but even as they collapsed onto her, she ignored their efforts.

They clawed and bit at Bulwark of the Faithful, and even with the sheer volume of their onslaught, they were entirely incapable of penetrating her personal shield. Vaguely, she could feel Consecrated Shield on her companions, which gave her an idea of their positioning. It was a good thing, too, because surrounded as she was, there was no chance she could visually keep track of their locations.

An explosion of fire erupted from somewhere to the rear, telling her that Kurik had utilized another one of his traps. This one was far more destructive than the slowing traps he’d used to control the flow of wraiths, telling her that the dwarven Sapper had been forced to get serious.

Her every instinct told her to retreat to the secondary location they had prepared, but it was far too early for that. Instead, she chose to trust her group to do their respective jobs, at least until they showed themselves incapable of doing so. So far, they had done just that. Even through multiple challenges that should have killed everyone in the party, they’d kept their heads and overcome all obstacles. If anyone had earned her trust, it was them.

Still, in the back of her mind, she felt a need to protect them. After all, that drive to defend others was one of the reasons she’d chosen her initial archetype. And after that, her Crusader class. So, she desperately wanted to personally ensure their safety, rather than allow them to take responsibility for their own well-being.

Another explosion sent a shockwave across their chosen battlefield, and Sadie used that brief distraction to dislodge her attackers, throwing the comparatively light wraiths aside like they weighed nothing at all. That was her Strength at play, though after seeing Lamar, she wondered how strong she really was. The man had invested almost exclusively in Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity, and the automatic allocation that came with his class furthered that path. He’d also managed to achieve the Stone Body stage – apparently, access to powerful alchemists was one of the advantages of being in the Trial – which augmented that path of progression. He’d neglected his Mind, Soul, and Core, but when he was a physical juggernaut who relied almost entirely on his body and stamina-based skills, those facets of cultivation seemed a little less necessary.

By comparison, Sadie’s class allocated points into Ethera and Regeneration – a necessary accommodation for her reliance on spells. The result was that she could do more than him, and she was far less reliant on a team, but in his chosen role, Lamar was an absolute beast.

Unfortunately, he and his team had chosen to head back to Nexus Town to mentally recover from their ordeal before engaging the challenge of Ignis. Sadie expected that they wouldn’t seek out any more first-clears for the duration of the Trial. However, the experience would hopefully give them the power they needed to succeed when they went back to Earth. That was the point, after all. Accumulation of power without purpose wasn’t the goal. Instead, they progressed because that was what the situation required.

For her part, that meant growing strong enough to beat back the undead threat and conquer the Primal Realm. Until she did that, she couldn’t rest. She couldn’t consider a real future until she took care of her people. After that, she would worry about everything else.

But at the moment, she had to focus on the fight. Labeling the process grinding implied that it was easy, and in a lot of ways, it was. They’d long since achieved the power and skill levels necessary to deal with a horde of wraiths. After fighting them so often, her group was well-equipped to do just that. However, the four-armed creatures were savage fighters who would seize upon any opening. So, if Sadie or her companions made a mistake, the horde was more than capable of ripping them limb from limb.

Or worse, draining their ethera until they were nothing but husks.

So, Sadie narrowed her focus, pushing all superfluous thoughts out of mind as she destroyed one wraith after another. At the same time, she continuously cycled Bulwark of the Faithful, keeping it fresh so it wouldn’t burst and go into cooldown. It was ethera-intensive, but she had enough energy in her core to do that much. She also kept Consecrated Shield on her companions – paying special attention to Ron – so that they could endure the attacks of any wraiths that made it past her position.

Because they’d chosen and prepared their ground appropriately, funneling the wraiths through a small gap between two earthen berms, very few got through. And those were met with furious assaults from both Kurik and Dat. Between those few instances, the two damage-dealers aimed their attacks at the horde of wraiths confronting Sadie. She kept them bottled up, and the others cleared them out.

It was a good strategy.

And yet, the weight of their endless numbers was irresistible. After hours of steady fighting, Sadie called for a retreat. To ease that burden, Dat and Kurik stepped up. The dwarf tossed out a few clumps of power crystals – grumbling at the cost the whole time – while Dat took aim with his crossbow. When the crystals hit, they erupted into a whirlwind of frigid ice, freezing the front few lines of wraiths into place. Meanwhile, Dat unleashed a barrage of blue arrows that exploded upon impact, adding a green cloud of mist to the atmosphere.

The wraiths stopped moving.

They slumped their shoulders, looking around as if they’d forgotten what they were doing or why. Dat said his new ability was called Curse of Delirium.

“Now!” Sadie called.

Everyone knew the plan of retreat, so they didn’t need her orders. For her part, she backed away, keeping her white-glowing sword at the ready. Some of the wraiths blinked, clearly regaining their wits – such as they were. Sadie knew they wouldn’t have time to reach the secondary defensive position. The wraiths would recover more quickly than Dat had hoped – probably because they had better attributes than he had expected.

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But they had a plan for that, too.

So, even as her companions sprinted back to the fallback position, Sadie continued her methodical retreat. The wraiths recovered a little with every passing moment until, after seven seconds, the strongest among them pushed the confusion aside in favor of their characteristic savagery. They screeched, waking others from their delirium, and just like that, they surged.

Sadie used her minor Miracle, Bell of Faith:

Bell of Faith

Let your Faith echo across any battlefield, stunning enemies and empowering allies. Duration based on Ethera attribute. Current: 6 seconds.

It didn’t drain her Faith as powerfully as Touch of the Divine, which she’d used to heal Elijah. That drained every ounce of Faith she’d managed to accumulate, so she barely had enough to power Bell of Faith. Even that wouldn’t have been possible without the events within the challenge of Ignis. Their actions in that volcano, saving the eggs and attempting a peaceful solution with the giants, had been quite a boon for her Faith. Otherwise, it would have taken months to collect enough to power even the relatively inexpensive Bell of Faith.

An illusory bell manifested above Sadie’s head. It swung, sending a cold, clear tone across the battlefield. It carried with it unfathomable meaning, feeling as if it was laced with the divine will of gods. When it swept over the wraiths, they looked as if they’d been physically struck by someone with the Strength of a giant. They fell, stunned and incapable of thinking, much less moving.

A little less than seven seconds.

That was all Sadie and her companions had before the wraiths would recover. And when they did, they would not be happy. There was something about Miracles – even minor ones – that tended to remind people of their place in the world. They were made to feel small and inconsequential, as if, regardless of any accumulated power, they were no more significant than insects.

Sapient beings tended to grow introspective at that, but creatures like the wraiths – or zombies – reacted with increased savagery. So, even as she sprinted past Kurik’s traps, stepping around them with all the care she could manage, she knew that the battle was far from finished.

With that in mind, she reached the fallback fortifications they’d built ahead of time. The berms were steeper and taller, and they were lined with stakes to prevent the wraiths from climbing over. Many of those makeshift spears were laced with Kurik’s abilities, which he claimed would slow down even the most powerful among the wraiths. Most that ran afoul of those fortifications would die. When Sadie had asked why he didn’t use those more often, he explained that the ability that governed those traps was incredibly resource intensive.

Once Sadie reached her position, she wheeled around and readied herself for the onslaught. She needn’t have been so hasty, because the wraiths had reached another one of Kurik’s “Killin’ Fields”. Explosions of fire and ice tore wraiths – as well as the ground – apart like the area had been subjected to artillery fire. Hundreds of the creatures died in seconds, and more followed as they surged through the trap-strewn ground, entirely unfazed by the deaths of their comrades.

Finally, a much thinner horde reached Sadie, and she resumed the fight. The opening she defended was even narrower, and behind her, Kurik and Dat had placed themselves upon a hill that gave them an unfettered view of the wraiths. They used that to their advantage, cutting the creatures apart with repeated use of their ranged skills. For her part, Sadie acted to plug the gap between the two berms, rendering the vast majority of the horde completely incapable of reaching the pair of ranged attackers.

The wraiths piled atop one another in their furor, but Sadie continuously hacked into the creatures that acted as the base, subduing their attempts to overwhelm her. After that, it was just slaughter.

Over and over, she chopped the creatures apart until the bodies were piled so high that she was forced to ram them with her shoulder just to topple the tower of dead flesh. On and on, the fight went until, at last, the battlefield went silent.

According to Elijah, there had been thousands of wraiths nearby. And those creatures, by their very natures, were incapable of retreat, so the only explanation was that she and her group had killed them all.

More importantly, Sadie had reached level one hundred. And in doing so, she’d received a new spell as well as the ability to choose a specialization.

She looked at the spell first:

Judgement

Embrace the pursuit of justice, significantly enhancing your physical attributes. All offensive spells used during Judgement’s duration will be subject to increased damage. Potency based on Core cultivation. Duration based on Ethera attribute. Current: 3.2 seconds. Cooldown: 1 Day.

The description was a bit vague, though based on the cooldown and some of the wording, she expected the effect to be incredibly potent. It was clearly meant to be a difference-maker in battle – a kind of mini-Miracle – that could turn the tide in a hurry. However, she couldn’t deny that she was eager to try it out. It also established something she’d long suspected: her class seemed prone to intense bursts of power. Between her Miracles as well as spells like Judgement, she could become a true terror. Yet, that didn’t come without a cost. Those abilities all had extremely onerous cooldowns, and what’s more, their durations were short.

It hinted at the future of her class, especially when she finally achieved her first evolution at level one-twenty-five. She knew that Elijah was still ahead of her by a few levels, but the gap seemed even larger, considering how much experience it took to surpass each level. And he’d claimed it only got worse after level one hundred. That told her that reaching that first evolution would take quite some time – or at the very least, a lot of killing. She was ready for it, though.

Because her people back in Hong Kong needed her to be as strong as possible. Otherwise, they’d all die.

So, she had high hopes for her specialization, which she knew had the potential to shift the direction of her path. Hopefully, it would do so in a direction that would make saving the people she loved a little easier.

Before she could address it, Sadie needed to ensure the safety of her group. With that in mind, she spent a few minutes making certain that all the wraiths were dead, and the thread had ended. Once that was done, she checked on the others, and after they told her they were fine, she led everyone back to their camp. It was miles away, and the anticipation of what was coming almost made her check her notification prematurely. Recognizing the distraction it represented, she resisted the urge until, at last, they reached camp.

A few minutes later, she had retreated to a secluded area so she could clean away the blood and viscera she’d accumulated during the battle. After that, she realized that she was stalling. So, without further ado, Sadie settled in next to the shallow stream she’d used during her impromptu bath and turned her attention to the notification that she could choose a specialization.

The moment she opened the notification, she heard a melodic voice. “I hope you choose wisely, young Crusader,” said Gabriel, the angel who was responsible for her elder core.