150 Felling The Witch
*Bang!*
While Zayda got right back in combat with Veron the Beast from the Abyss, Evian and the rest of the Squad were alerted to danger coming close and leaped away right before Angus' fist struck the ground mightily.
"Kakakaka! Here I thought you would take the chance to run as far away as you can but you're back here... How daring! How foolish!"
As the Baron spoke, his spatial ring flashed and a large double-bladed Axe appeared in his hold. With his muscles bulging, the Baron swung mightily causing a wave of wind compressed with mighty spiritual pressure to slam and push the Knight Squad back.
"Damn! He's still on us." Gryon said as he and the others got into battle stances.
"Keep him busy," Evian said.
"What?" Ember asked with her eyes wide at what she felt was going to be a difficult task.
When the crew had faced the Baron before, it was only to create enough disturbance to rescue Evian and while their moves had been nicely synchronized and they succeeded in their task, what Evian was asking of them now was even more difficult since the Baron now had full use of both his hands and had even equipped a weapon that, from the looks of things, was of much better quality than the ones they had.
"This won't end until Karenssa's dead and if he sees me going after her, he'll stop me. Just keep his attention until I can take the Witch down!" Evian implored earnestly.
The longer he stayed facing the Baron, the closer Zayda got to killing Karenssa with hardly a gain for him. He hoped the Crew would be safe in keeping the Baron bush but felt it was important for his grand goal of Soul-Eating Decadence-increase.
"Go, we'll cover you," Gillert said, and, exuding a commanding air, he went at the Baron first, managing to dodge an Axe swing before attempting a jab. Angus leaped back to avoid getting stabbed and he had a confident grin on his face only to have that grin slip when he felt a presence converging on him.
Gryon, again, landed a blow, and when Angus swung his Axe at him, Carleine and Ember succeeded in stabbing and slashing him respectively.
"Go!" Carleine.
"Yeah, we've got this!" Gryon said, slamming a fist into his palm. In reality, they did not 'have this' but that confidence of his words certainly fuelled them all to surpass their fears and face an enemy their combined strengths could not vanquish.
Meanwhile, Zayda made due on her promise.
Two minutes...
That was all it took for her to absolutely brutalize Veron. You see, Veron was incredibly easy to read for a Knight who had been trained in the Martial Temple like Zayda. The Beast's tactics never changed and whenever it got angry, the tactics became even more simple. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Two times she had vanquished the Beast already and not once had it learned so why should now be any different? With a pressure that appeared heightened by her superb confidence, Zayda cut the Beast down, and with a final swing, she decapitated it causing it to flake into the Eldritch mist and flake into the Abyss.
"Noooooooo!" Karenssa yelled.
The Extra 1000 is because of the Eldritch Essence she possessed. It might have been impure but it still counts towards your total tally.]
Evian actually understood why it should have been 15,000. It was the extra 1000 he actually had questions about.
'So Eldritch Essence gives bonuses.'
[Well, of course. If you manage to subdue and absorb the Souls or Essence of beings made up of Eldritch energy, you stand to gain more than you would from Spiritual practitioners of this world.
Take the Beast, Veron, for instance; Had you been the one to kill it, you would have gained a massive whopping sum of Soul Points.]
'I see,' Evian thought and then he had a lightbulb moment, 'Wait, Veron could have kept coming back. So I would just keep on killing it and sending it back to the Abyss while getting myself a great amount of Soul Points every time.
That would be massive!'
[It would also be cheating which is precisely why it doesn't work that way.]
'Damn,' Evian said, immediately brought down from his happy high.
[That Knight, Zayda, never actually killed Veron. She only kept sending him into the Abyss. Even now, Veron is back in the Abyss either already devoured or seeking another contract with a mortal to bring it back to a mortal world.
There are two ways to truly 'kill' a Beast from the Abyss;
One would be to completely obliterate its essence with Spiritual energy which will likely come naturally to an Arcanist because, as you now know, they are very happy to 'exorcise' creatures that are 'not of this world'.
The other way would be to absorb its essence like you would have had to do naturally had you been the one to defeat it.
Had any of those two things been done, Veron would have been completely erased from existence.]
'Interesting,' Evian said and then jolted when a hand was placed on his shoulder.
He looked up and was staring into Zayda's face,
"Hey, you haven't moved since," she said with concern while eyeing his many wounds, "Are you alright?"
Evian flashed her a smile, ever-charming despite the blood running down the side of his face,
"Absolutely."