Chapter 86: Elemental

Chapter 86: Elemental

The elemental loomed above him even though it was still fifty or so metres away. All around the valley the piles of ice that littered the ground were coming to life, whether it was because the reconstituting monsters had detected the being who had almost killed them and were coming alive to defend themselves or because of something else, Leif didn’t know.

The icy mist that was ever present within the valley now swirled and rolled across the ground, the mist’s presence making the already frosty landscape reflective with newly formed ice. With every step the ground cracked beneath his feet, the wooden sword hovering above his shoulder dipping and rising like a fish swimming through the sea.

Leif’s amber eyes were locked onto the elemental he had chosen as a target, golden motes of light drifted around his form and his aura fought back the rising chill that suffused the air. A series of cracks reverberated through the valley as a cluster of ice crystals the size of a house broke apart, the group of smaller elementals that emerged gliding across the icy ground and heading in Ram’s direction.

He ignored them, even if the monsters came after him instead they were unlikely to pose a threat. Unsuppressed and ready to go all out Leif only cared about the towering elemental before him. It stood as tall as the crystalline structure the smaller elementals had emerged from, unlike many of its contemporaries roaming the valley this elemental seemed to stand on two legs three times as wide as the domain tree.

Its upper body had no discernible features, the monster having no head, arms or anything that couldn’t be described as a massive collection of shifting shards of ice larger than Leif’s entire body. With every step Leif drew closer, his aura pushing against the elemental’s own. It felt as immovable as a mountain, and as unstoppable as a glacier. But its presence was unfocused, more intent on blanketing its surroundings than trying to combat him directly.

That began to change as Leif broke into a run. The spriggan wasn’t fast by any means, but calling the elemental’s anything other than ponderous and lethargic would be incorrect. As Leif charged, aura pulled tight around him, glowing amber lights cutting through the billowing mist, the elemental noticed him.

It didn’t growl, but the sound of its colossal body shifting to reorientate on him certainly sounded like it. Two points of ice blue light began to concentrate above the monster's body, the mist swirling as if agitated as the energy gathered. Leif made it five more steps before two beams of ice and light flashed down, cutting across the ground where he would be in a sweeping x.

The golden barrier of [Under my Protection] rippled into existence, the shield cracked and buckled under the twin beams but held long enough for the elemental’s attack to dissipate. Leif ran through the falling chunks of barrier and dissipating essence of the skill without slowing his stride.

A follow up attack from the elemental came only a handful of seconds later, once again Leif’s shield blocked the attack and he didn’t stop. The elemental seemed to possess the presence of mind to know its strategy wasn’t working as the spriggan drew ever closer, so it began to condense four attacks at once.

Leif didn’t stop, even as the beams of white light flickered down to freeze his body solid and shatter him into a thousand pieces he never stopped moving forward. The light cut through the place he had been without meeting the resistance of his shielding skill. But Leif wasn’t there, [Amber Steps] had carried him back over thirty metres in a blur of golden light.

The crystalline body of the ice elemental ground together and crunched as it shifted to reorientate on Leif’s new position. The spriggan hadn’t stopped running, even if his progress had been stalled. The elemental rumbled forward, its legs piercing the frozen earth as it lumbered towards him.

Five beams of light condensed above its form, then once again flashed out to exterminate the small creature who dared to challenge it. A veritable forest of conjured limbs met the five beams, frozen chunks of golden power fell to the ground and shattered as glowing hands and forearms met the elemental’s attack and were cut through, but not without bleeding away much of its energy.

Leif burst through the cloud of white and gold, ice falling away from his body and bone chilling mist surging around him. He didn’t stop, he hadn’t slowed at all. Then he blurred forward in a stream of golden light and appeared under the elemental’s towering body. Leif twisted his body and conjured another forest of golden arms. Gét latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om

Empowered by a not inconsiderable portion of his cultivated vitality and strengthened by a spell command the two dozen or so arms twisted and wove together. They conjoined into a single massive arm twice as long as Leif was tall, then a fist glowing with power smashed up into the elemental’s body causing the monster’s form to crack down the middle.

For matching a powerful foe in combat and forcing it into capitulation instead of wasting its energy fighting what it couldn’t defeat you have gained a level!

+1 [Willpower] +5 free points!

Leif couldn’t help but feel like the system seemed to have shrugged its metaphorical shoulders when granting him that level. He knew that the system only described the primary action that resulted in the level gain, not every tiny thing that had added up to enough experience to gain the level. But still, that message certainly didn’t look impressive.

But by this point he had spent several days battling and testing himself against the elementals within the valley. If Leif was being honest with himself, he somewhat doubted his ability to deal enough damage to the elemental to have destroyed it completely. It would have been a gruelling battle of attrition, one that he would have needed to play safely due to his inability to drain life-force to sustain himself.

I suppose that if I were a being capable of breaking apart and reconstituting after some time had passed, I probably wouldn’t feel like fighting an extended battle that was ultimately meaningless. He mused, stepping over a pile of now inanimate ice. He stretched and began to march towards the edge of the valley. Time to refill my cultivation pool, then find something for round two.

And so he did, and with each victory [Amber Blight Spriggan] drew closer and closer to level twenty. Leif challenged an elemental that was slightly smaller than the one he had defeated to reach level nineteen, unfortunately the battle had drawn the attention of another of the colossal monsters and Leif was forced to retreat under a hail of ice beams.

After letting himself thaw and fully recover from the failed attempt, Leif used his aura to draw an elemental to a part of the valley that he had cleared in the days of fighting prior. This one was far more aggressive than any other Leif had fought up until that point. It attacked and attacked, never letting up a near constant barrage of ice lances and crushing blows.

After a ten minute back and forth battle, Leif stood atop a trembling pile of cracked and shattered crystals. Amber arms tipped with spear points plunged down over and over, each penetrating blow driving further down into the elemental’s body. The entire time it’s aura crashed against his own, like an avalanche trying to sweep him away.

Leif resisted, though his soul ached and his mind wavered, the elemental was unable to suppress him. “Just... die... already.” He groaned, driving four spiked fists into its increasingly damaged form. Leif sent a silent thank you to the elemental that had given up only a few minutes into the battle, this slog was just tedious.

“If you can’t beat me... and you’ll just reconstitute later...” The spriggan growled. “Then...” A crack split the air as the elemental’s body fractured down the middle. “Just...” Its entire body slowed, no longer attempting to withdraw the damaged parts. “Give!”

The monster stilled, and the pressure of its aura slackened. Leif let his amber limbs disperse into essence as he sagged, breathing heavily atop his conquered foe. Then the elemental’s body began to glow, brilliant white light shining through the thousands of cracks and gaps in its body.

“Please don’t.” Leif said, feeling the creature’s intent with [Amber Sympathy] moments before it happened.

The elemental rudely ignored him and didn’t stop. The brightness grew, its entire form trembling. Leif sighed in resignation and summoned a golden barrier. Then the elemental exploded.