The creature grabbed another massive tree from the forest floor and hurled it through the air. The tree was on fire, as the monster had kindled it using its spells. The burning projectile, trailing smoke and embers, carved a destructive path through a tightly packed formation of Archons.
"Shit!"
[Skill Activated: Gaze of the Pariah]
A crimson eye symbol appeared over the Ignis. Its physical and magical resistances dropped by another 45% and 30%. Structural weak points glowed red on its armor, and most were cracks in the shoulders and fissures in the chest plate.
The swarm bombarded the monster again; it was just that this time; it didn't stay idle. The attacks were equivalent to a swarm of mosquitoes biting a man, but if thousands of bites accrued, it stung a lot, and the monster was not going to let them sting him. Thousands of Bolts and Spikes converged on the creature.
The Ignis avoided most of the attacks, but not all, and it shrieked as it realized it would die if things kept going that way. The feral rage gave way to survival instinct, and the monster stopped throwing rocks and turned toward the forest.
<No, you don't.>
The Ignis tried to run, but the Crushing Presence perk was active, and Reidar didn't have just fifty summons near it—he had thousands. The debuff stacked to its cap, cutting the creature's movement speed, and combined with the [Weight of the World] aura, which reduced movement speed by 80% when moving toward the caster, along with the base attribute reduction, the monster was moving through molasses.
A thousand Sky-Hunters dove. They swarmed around the fleeing Ignis, staying just out of reach of its blade arms but close enough to keep the perk active.
Despite its desperate attempt to escape, the creature could only manage an awkward, labored jog as it struggled forward; its limbs tore deep furrows into the earth beneath it with each lurching stride, but the swarm of Sky-Hunters didn't get far from it. Of course, it stayed close enough for their riders to keep attacking while maintaining the necessary distance to not get killed by the monster.
The Ignis screamed and lashed out at the Sky-Hunters around it. The Crushing Dread kept it slow, allowing it to manage throwing one more tree that killed eight summons.
"Kill that bastard!"
The Lightning Archon Rift-Lords combined their attacks. [Thunder Strike].
Hundreds of bolts merged into a single blinding flash that struck the monster, and the creature stiffened as its blood flashed white before it exploded. The shockwave flattened trees for a hundred meters in every direction, while Sky-Hunters nearest the ground were blown back, tumbling through the air.
Reidar shielded his eyes as the notification appeared.
[CRITICAL HIT]
[CRITICAL HIT]
[CRITICAL HIT]
The Elite Feral Ignis's HP bar hit zero.
[Elite Feral Ignis (Level 601) defeated.]
[You have gained 27,393,580.00 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]
[You have earned 16,162,212.20 Survival Points.]
[LEVEL UP! You have reached Level 550.]
[You have gained 0.5 attribute points to distribute.]
[LEVEL UP! You have reached Level 551.]
[You have gained 0.5 attribute points to distribute.]
…
…
…
[LEVEL UP! You have reached Level 556.]
[You have gained 0.5 attribute points to distribute.]
[LEVEL UP! You have reached Level 557 .]
[You have gained 0.5 attribute points to distribute.]
Reidar released a long, steady breath, feeling the weight in his lungs dissolve as the tension drained away from his shoulders and upper back. A moment later, a gleaming notification materialized before his eyes.
[THE FIRST KILLER title activated: Skill gained from defeated foe.]
[New Skill gained: Sentinel Armory]
<What?>
Reidar opened the skill window.
—[« Sentinel Armory »]—
Tier: T55
Proficiency: 0.0%
Type: Active (Toggle)
Casting: Instant
[ Description ]
Creates five autonomous weapon constructs that orbit the caster. The weapons defend against incoming attacks and strike at nearby enemies independently.
[ Core Attributes ]
Weapon Count: 5
Damage per Strike: 150% of Caster's Base Magical Damage
Attack Range: 15 meters
Defense: Intercepts projectiles within 10 meters of the caster
Mana Cost: 500 Mana per minute (Upkeep)
[ Secondary Effects ]
Autonomous Targeting: Weapons prioritize threats to the caster.
Adaptive Form: Weapons shift between offensive and defensive modes automatically.
[ Acquisition Data ]
Source: The First Killer title (Elite Feral Ignis)
Requirements: Level 550
—[«END»]—
Reidar stared at the skill description: five floating weapons that could defend and attack freely, which was exactly the kind of passive protection he needed for fights like this one.
What was weird was that the Ignis didn't use the spell. Monsters used magic, but this creature must have avoided it because it thought it could kill Reidar without it.
That was the most reasonable assumption, but who knew what was going on in that creature's mind?
What was more intriguing was the skill itself, because it revealed a little about how the Ignis fought, at least before it turned into a man-eating monster. Though Reidar was more shocked about the fact that he got a skill from the title. It wasn't something that activated often.
<0.5% chance, and it triggered on a Level 601 Elite. Talk about luck!>
Reidar activated the skill to see what it did and whether his perks worked on it. Five weapons materialized around him as expected.
<Maybe it's because the system does not consider them as summons. Maybe summons only refer to living beings, although I'm not even sure they could be called living.>
The weapons weren't made of steel; they looked like shards of hardened mana, like the Quadraginta was, which made the perk activation difference quite weird. They drifted in a slow orbit around his body.
His Sky-Hunter descended. Reidar dismissed most of his summons, keeping only a few thousand on patrol.
Then Reidar checked his loot notifications.
[Loot gained: Ignis Elite Core, Blade of the Molten Feral, Feral Ignis Armor Fragment.]
<These will fetch me quite an excellent price. >
But something else worried him. Reidar looked at the floating blades, then back at the crater where the Level 601 monster had died, then scanned his surroundings. The landscape was unfamiliar—rolling hills covered in grass, no buildings in sight, no signs of human civilization.
"Alright," Reidar said, dismissing the swarm until only a few of them remained. "Time to find out where I am."
Reidar climbed back onto his Sky-Hunter and took to the sky.