Duskbound-Chapter 145 - Book 2, 66

Then he threw himself at Emberson in a blitz of thrusts, slashes, and looping strikes. The tip of his spear shifted rapidly, sometimes thick and edged, sometimes needle-thin and pointed. All the while, the shaft bent and flexed like fresh yew, curving unnaturally around Emberson's diamond-edged sword when he tried to parry Velik's strikes.

The platinum was driven back several steps until he was out of the cave. Smiling casually the whole while, he let Velik push him, but once he was out in the open, a second sword appeared in his hands and a pair of fiery golden wings unfurled from his back. "Ah, good. A proper fight needs a bit of room to move, don't you think?" he asked.

Velik halted at the mouth of the cave, unwilling to advance any further just in case Emberson tried to slip past him. It was an untenable position, he knew. Worse, it forced him to block any sort of skill-empowered attacks that might destroy the interior of the cave and kill Velik's companions. In a fight like this, he needed to be able to dodge if he was going to survive.

I've got to drag him away. Giller's going to have to protect them. Or maybe Jensen has some fancy toy that's perfect for this situation. Too bad I never got a chance to ask.

"Come on out," Emberson ordered as he leaped up into the air. Each beat of his wings sent waves of heat down into the ground, strong enough to blacken leaves and yellow the grass. "I want to see how you managed to defeat three hunters all on your own. Show me, or I'll just destroy your little camp now."

No choice, Velik thought grimly. He leaped forward, his spear leading the way. [Aspect of the Wind Tamer] hadn't had a chance to grow since he'd folded [Spear Warden] and [Savage Rhythm] together. Though he'd practiced since the change, things were still a bit off. That was common when skills merged together, with parts too contradictory to fit with each other being discarded in exchange for freeing up the skill slot.

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Normally, it was worth it. In this case, he'd found that his skill with spears and his skill that turned him into a wolf had no overlap or synergy at all. He'd gained a powerful new form to fight in, but it had cost him a bit of his combat effectiveness to do so. Velik was hoping that his increased stats would help compensate for the handicap.

[Aspect of the Wind Tamer] guided his spear to dance in the open space between himself and Emberson, who descended upon Velik like an avenging angel. Diamond blades swung left and then right, pushing the spear aside so that Emberson didn't impale himself. Waves of heat radiated off his flaming wings, both of which arced around off Emberson's back to lash at Velik.

Emberson was fast, and his combat style was unusual enough that Velik had to think carefully about how he wanted to counter the platinum ranker's strikes. Emberson used every part of his body as a weapon, even going so far as to kick at Velik's face and arms as he spun through the air. His twin swords were a blur of slashing lines, so fast that it was all Velik could do to keep up.

He dipped and wove, deflected kicks and slashes with his spear, and tried to counter when he saw openings, but Emberson was gone before the spear could touch him. That combined with the scorching heat rolling off the man's wings made Velik's defensive stance a losing proposition. He needed to win an exchange, and he had a good idea how to accomplish that.

His cloak flared just as Emberson's sword descended for his face. Velik stepped once, then twice, leaping into the air at an angle that saw the blade slipping through empty space. The experienced platinum recovered instantly, but his free sword was on the wrong side of his body, and Velik leaping up to his level drastically reduced the effectiveness of the vicious kicks he's been aiming for Velik's face.

The spear jabbed out, skittering off Emberson's chest where it struck the man's breastplate. That was fine, though; it was close enough for [Dread Lance]. Power arced outwards, scouring Emberson's body and sending him flipping through the air to smash into a pine tree. The tree itself exploded, showering the whole area with pine needles and wood splinters.

Emberson regained control of himself within moments, but not before Velik had chased him down and leaped after him. Another two steps, courtesy of [Air Walk], got him level to attack again, and a second [Dread Lance] rocked Emberson's body. This time, he was hurled into the ground, where he cracked stone before bouncing away.

A beam of pure, brilliant white fire lanced through the air, its origin point Emberson's outstretched hand. He swept his arm around, and the beam chased after Velik when he dodged out of the way. There was no way Velik could keep ahead of it, but he had another trick to play. His cloak's [Shadow Step] enchantment could get him out of the way, but not with a bar of flames chasing away all the shadows around him. To combat that, Velik called on his second ring, one he'd never really needed to use before.

[Darkness] swamped the area, blinding all of them and giving Velik a much-needed entry into the shadow world. He slipped away from danger and stalked toward where Emberson had crash-landed. The platinum was already back on his feet before Velik had even gotten close and was rising out of the misty cloud of darkness the ring had created.

If it hadn't already been night, [Darkness] would have been strong enough to trigger [Duskbound] for about a minute, as long as Velik stayed inside the magic. That effect wasn't needed this time, but that was fine. It had served its purpose. Velik approached Emberson quickly, this time holding his dagger in his hand. He leaped up, let himself slide back into the real world, and drove the blade into Emberson's hip.

Emberson growled in pain, but he didn't slow down or hesitate for even an instant. His diamond-edged sword slashed down, biting deep into Velik's shoulder. It must have been enchanted with some debilitating effect just like the Sixth Plague, because his vision immediately started to blur and go white around the edges.

The pair broke apart, Velik blinking rapidly to try to clear his eyes of the dazzling white spots that flickered across them, and Emberson clasping a hand to the stab wound in his hip. Fire blazed between his fingers, and when he pulled his hand away, a curl of smoke rose from the freshly cauterized hole.

So much for the [Bleeding] enchantment.

The whole fight had taken less than fifteen seconds, with the pair of them moving so fast that a casual observer might think the forest had spontaneously exploded from their traded skills. They'd gotten some good hits in on both sides, and while Velik wasn't as outmatched as he'd initially feared, he could already tell that even fighting at night wasn't enough to fully bridge the gap.

Then Sildra walked to the mouth of the cave, her lips pressed into a tight frown. She looked up at Emberson, still held aloft on flaming wings, and raised a hand. Silver moon fire burst out of Emberson's mouth, along with a long, pain-filled howl.

Unwilling to let such an opportunity pass him by, Velik rushed forward. His spear was aimed straight at Emberson's gut, right where Sildra said the parasitic monster liked to nest inside its host. Emberson, too distracted by the sudden attack, couldn't react in time, and the spearhead punched through his armor.

Got you, Velik thought with a satisfied smirk.