The water in my bathtub sloshed as I eased into it.
“Ahhh~” I sighed with content.
After such an emotional and shocking Saturday afternoon session of Adventuria, I couldn’t help but feel fatigued. So, to wash the fatigue away, I thought I’d have a nice long soak.
I definitely wasn’t running away from my terrifying newfound growth in power. Nope, definitely not my character whose race is now a Dragon Monarch with unthinkable raid boss like qualities.
Should I tell anyone else? Wait, no. I shouldn’t. It’s too scary. The entire gaming community’s attention would fall on me. How would I explain everything that just happened to me?
“But… how would I even continue playing without telling anyone else?”
I wanna tell someone.. Badly!
I sank into the tub, feeling my body relaxing completely, and closed my eyes. I’d think about it later, it wasn’t a problem for me in the present. Future me would have to deal with it.
Just for a tad bit, I’m gonna rest my eyes.
~ ~
“Alice!”
A loud banging on the bathroom door jolted me awake causing water to cascade over the side of the tub.
“H-huh wha—?”
“Alice!” shouted my Uncle.
“Huh! What?! Uncle!? Wh-what is it?” I asked.
I could hear a big sigh from the other side of the door and a small “oh my god”.
“N-nothing,” he replied. “You weren’t answering for over a minute. I almost barged in to make sure you were okay.”
“D-d-don’t!” I exclaimed with panic. “I’m fine! I just fell asleep in the bath!”
“Well, I know that now,” he said, exasperated. “Don’t worry, I’m not coming in. Anyways, dinner’s just about ready. Come down soon.”
“Okayyy!”
Sighing, I sank back into the water.
~ ~
After soaking for a tad bit longer, I got out of the bath feeling rejuvenated.
I threw on some comfortable clothes— t-shirt and shorts —over my undergarments and stretched in satisfaction.
That was a good bath.
With a towel on my damp head, I went downstairs and made my way to the dining room.
I stopped upon looking at the ‘food’ on the table.
“Uncle..?”
“Hmm?” He was dressed up as if ready to go somewhere and brewing himself coffee. “What is it?”
My eyes narrowed as I stared at my uncle.
“That’s what I should be asking. What’s this??” I asked, pointing at the table.
“It’s mac and cheese?” he said, his eyebrow raising in confusion.
I looked back at the bowl that had not a tinge of yellow or orange.
How is this mac and cheese?
Sure, I smelled it in the air. But what I smelled and what I saw didn’t add up.
“Mac and cheese?”
“Yeah, you know. Macaroni and cheese. You’ve had it before.”
“I know what mac and cheese is,” I sighed, exasperated.
Sitting down, I picked up the fork and poked at so-called mac and cheese.
“This.. looks like charcoal.”
“You slander me,” my uncle replied, feigning hurt. “Just flip it over. That was the bottom but it got charred when I came up to get you and got distracted. I thought I’d use it as a sort of cover, to keep it warm or something.”
Speechless, I poked at it again and tried to flip it back over. Pushing at the edge of the ‘cover’, the contents of the bowl flipped and revealed dry, but normal mac and cheese.
“See?” he said, with an air of smugness.
What.
I took a bite and, well, it was mac and cheese. It was edible. Dry, but edible. Of course, I wasn’t going to touch the charred bottom at all though.
“Okay okay, thanks for the food,” I said while rolling my eyes.
“Alright, I’m heading out,” Uncle said as he finished pouring the coffee into a disposable cup and put a lid on it.
“This late?”
“Duty calls,” he said with a shrug.
“‘Kay then,” I replied. “I’m gonna be getting back on Adventuria while you’re gone then.”
“Gotcha,” he said while opening the front door. “Stay safe and lock the door behind me!”
“I should be the one telling you to stay safe,” I mumbled.
Weirdly, I started feeling an odd premonition and to my surprise, the door opened again revealing my Uncle who poked his head into the house..
“Alice?” he called out.
"H-huh?"
"Love you."
"O-oh. Love you too…" I replied.
"I don't know why, but I just got a feeling I should say it."
The premonition I’ve been feeling flared up again making my stomach flutter with butterflies.
What is this feeling?
“A-actually, Uncle,” I spoke out.
“Hm?”
I got up and walked over to him, opening the door wider and pulling him into a hug.
“W-woah haha,” he stuttered, surprised. “What’s this all about?”
Despite his initial surprise, his arms wrapped around me in an embrace moments later.
The outside weather was cold, very cold. But at the same time, the embrace warmed me greatly from the inside.
Feeling my face growing warm with embarrassment, I buried it in his chest so he wouldn’t notice. The odd anxiety I was feeling wasn’t going away. Is Uncle in danger?
He’s just going to work though—
“!”
I gasped as memories I wanted to keep sealed away flitted through my mind.
“It was an urgent call from work, Alice,” my Father said.
“Will you forgive us if we surprise you?”
Red everywhere.
Lifeless.
“Alice? What’s wrong?”
His tone was concerned.
My hug accidentally tightened upon the resurfacing memories, so I relaxed a bit.
“U-Uncle,” I said. “Do- do you have to.. go?”
“Ah..,” he said; his eyes full of understanding. “Don’t worry Alice. I’ll be safe.”
I hugged him tighter.
“Promise me,” I muttered.
“Hm?”
“Promise me. I won’t let you go until you do.”
“I promise I’ll be okay. I'll take the long way to avoid any traffic too. I’ll be safe Alice. I promise.”
Hearing him say so made me feel a bit better, but it wasn’t enough to soothe my premonition.
I can’t keep him here like this though. It’ll be alright, let him go Alice. It’ll be okay!
Shrugging off doubts, I let go of him and looked up at him.
“A- Alice!” he exclaimed upon seeing my teary eyes. “Maybe I should stay after all?”
I shook my head in response.
“No, just go,” I said, wiping my tears with my arm. “You promised you’d be safe right, so it’ll be okay. I was just super anxious all of a sudden. Go.”
I pushed him away lightly and he started walking to keep balance.
“I’ll be back soon, Alice,” he said reassuringly.
I nodded and watched him get in the car and leave.
“Now then!” I exclaimed to myself, trying to shrug off the anxiety that kept brewing within me.
Sniffling, I closed the door and went back to the table.
I quickly finished up the mac and cheese— dumping the bottom portion into the trash —and poured myself some water before taking it with me upstairs. On the way, I locked the front door as Uncle said to do.
It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay! He promised he’ll be extra safe. He’s going to take a roundabout route to work where there’s hardly any traffic. He’ll be okay.
I took a sip of water, and set it down on the nightstand next to me before grabbing my VR Headgear. I usually had a glass of water to drink on my nightstand for when I got off Adventuria.
Alright!
~ ~
Fully loaded into Adventuria, I opened my eyes and was greeted by the large expanse of the underground cavern once again.
“I’m back,” I said aloud to nobody in particular.
I double checked my status and skills.
Yep, it wasn’t a dream. Okay. Well, first things first.
“[Call].”
A list of people to call appeared in front of me, and I chose Artena who was currently online.
She picked up near instantaneously.
“Celia? What’s up?” she said. “Tired of Dragontain and want to grind somewhere else together?”
“H-hey Artena,” I said, growing nervous. “I actually wanna show you something.”
“New item?” Artena asked, her voice giving off hints of excitement.
I smiled at Artena’s excitement.
We were all collectors at heart that loved acquiring new and rare items after all.
“Yeah. Well. No, it’s something else combat related. I actually want your help testing it out,” I replied.
“PvP practice, then?” she said. “Alright, meet me at Aysacar Colosseum. I wonder what crazy thing you’re going to show me now.”
“Crazy is right..” I muttered. “Alright, see you there.”
Wait, Aysacar Colosseum?
“A-Artena, wai—!”
It was too late, the call was ended by Artena.
Aysacar Colosseum… there would be other people there.
Sigh.
Turning my attention to my surroundings, I realized that none of the dragons here were hostile in the slightest to me.
Alright.. [Wings of the Dragon Monarch]!
Two unexpectedly large, white wings sprouted from my back. They were large enough that I could lay down in one and completely cover myself. I could even fit another person in here comfortably.
Yep, it was quite large, but deceivingly lightweight.
At first I was worried about how I should use them. But it was similar to the flight spell other than the fact that I had wings flapping behind me. I also bobbed with the wings when staying in one spot mid-air.
Sweet!
I soared into the air for a better vantage point, but looking all around, not a single dragon minded my presence or even looked at me. Even on my mini-map or through my [Hostility Detection] skill, none of them showed up as a foe.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
It’s definitely the effects of my new race as a Dragon Monarch and that passive, Aura of a Dragon Monarch.
Regardless, I glanced around for a way out but couldn’t find any obvious exits. The tunnel I came from was nowhere to be seen as well.
Guess I have no choice.
I wanted to test out the wings more and soar through the open sky, but the fastest way out would be by teleporting. I landed back on the ground and canceled [Wings of the Dragon Monarch]. My wings retracted and vanished.
As much of a gold mine this cavern was for me—
Dragons are so adorbs *sniff* I love ‘em so much..
—I had to see Artena and test out my raid boss capabilities.
“[Teleport: Aysacar Colosseum]!”
Different from the teleport skill used in combat that was for short distance teleportation, this one was for instant traversal over much longer distances. It was crazy useful, but you had to set up a teleportation point by getting there by yourself first. One could tell the difference between the teleports by the cast time and animation. The long distance teleport took about 5 seconds to cast while the short distance teleport was dependent on how fast you could pick a location; it had no cast time.
After activating my long distance teleportation skill, the air beneath me swirled as wind picked up around me.
Simultaneously, embers began appearing as the air popped with fire that sputtered in and out of existence. The effects intensified until a swirling pillar of red, orange, and gold fire wrapped around me, teleporting me once it covered the entirety of my body.
There were numerous effects one could acquire for their teleportation skill, but this was my favorite.
~ ~
The pillar of fire around me dispersed, revealing a large ancient colosseum that was similar to the roman colosseum but even larger with added grandeur.
It was a massive safe zone despite its purpose of being an open battle arena designated for PvP combat. The arena itself was often referred to as training grounds or the ‘Aysacar Training Grounds’, as people came here to train and practice PvP with each other all the time.
It was spacious enough for hundreds of people to have PvP battles without worrying about collateral damage or interfering with each other. So yeah, it was quite an enormous place.
I was in the main entrance to the colosseum which was a giant archway decorated with murals depicting fictitious wars. Actually, the fictitious wars were some of the first Kingdom Wars.
A group of guilds could rule over a kingdom, with one guild as their leader, and kingdoms could fight each other for resources and territorial disputes. It was the first of the massive kingdom wars that were depicted here.
But I digress.
My teleport point was set here in front of a certain statue.
There were statues lined up on either side showing winners of past PvP tournaments. They were ordered from oldest to newest, with the newest being further back and oldest in front.
Statues of some people I knew, including Igny, were erected here and there but there were many more statues of people I didn’t recognize.
Incidentally, I had a statue erected of my character from way back then, near the front of the entrance.
That was the statue my teleport point was set in front of for the Aysacar Colosseum.
My statue was totally embarrassing to me as the statues only depicted your character with the gear you had on at the time, which in and of itself wasn’t an issue.
However, I foolishly had a cute bunny undergarment equipped because I forgot. I forgot! I really forgot! It was an event item from easter!
It wasn’t visible— as it’s an undergarment clothing —except for the small fluffy ball for the tail that was at my tailbone.
The pose I had chosen for the statue to be made in was a battle pose which led to the robes fluttering and.. Well. You catch my drift.
Unless you presented yourself as a creep and looked at it from a certain angle, it wouldn’t be visible due to the robe I had equipped, but the fact it was visible embarrassed me to no end.
I’ve long since stored the bunny undergarment into the depths of my wizard tower, never to see the light of day again.
Anyways...
I managed to win that tournament because we were all still noobs, and I had found a cheap— err, effective, combination of magic spells that effectively guaranteed victory every time. Basically, I combined the usage of three spells to debuff the enemy, buff myself, and apply damage over time to win without actually fighting them.
I made it so the enemy’s movement decreased greatly, and buffed my own agility to keep distance while constantly applying poison that stacked. The poison’s damage grew exponentially for each stack which meant that after a minute of applying the poison and dancing around the enemy, they’d die within seconds due to the poison accumulating so much damage per tick. Even if they chugged healing potions, they would inevitably meet their end to the poison.
Afterwards, the poison spell was nerfed so that it couldn’t stack indefinitely. The damage also changed to scale linearly rather than exponentially.
Fun times.. Oops, I got distracted while looking at my statue.
As I looked around for Artena— she should have arrived by now —I realized a hushed murmur washed over the people in the entrance.
What now?
“Hey.. Celia?” I heard a female voice say. It was Artena.
We gave each other a hug as I replied.
“Oh, hey Artena, you’re finally here… WITH EVERYONE?!”
Alongside Artena was Thenaraz, Igny, and Kenta.
“Yeah, I thought we’d have a fun PvP gathering.”
“Yo shorty.”
“Hey Celia, it’s nice to see you again.”
“Celia! Whatcha got for us this time?”
Everyone’s attention is on us… well, of course it would be. There’s 5 ascended gathered in one spot!
Internally facepalming, I gave up. Whatever, I’ll just show them all my new abilities. Whatever happens isn’t my responsibility. Well, it is, but I refused to take sole responsibility.
“Alright, all of you can help me test out my new abilities,” I said, exasperated.
Before I could turn and head further in towards the actual training grounds, Artena spoke up.
“By the way, you look pretty different now.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
I stared at her in confusion. In this game, you couldn’t change your character’s appearance once it was made. However, you could rarely experience slight changes, like my nails growing sharper and ever so slightly longer from certain events.
I mean, I guess I would look different. But I’m surprised she noticed.
“Look, you have antennae on your head,” Artena said while pointing above me.
Huh? Antennae?
“Your skin is fairer, your hair changed colors, your eyes changed colors, and.. you even have a tail. Not to mention, you look a bit more mature, if only slightly.”
“What are you talking about..?” I asked while pulling out an item. It was actually used for something else, but it could function as a portable mirror.
A “Huh?” quietly escaped me as I stared blankly at my reflection.
I thought Artena was pulling my leg, but.. she wasn’t.
I have the antennae the Dragon Monarchs did.. my skin color is lighter, my hair is also a platinum blonde with instead of the brown it was before. My eye color is golden. And..! Oh, okay whew. No tail.
I looked down to see if there was a tail, but there was nothing.
“Just kidding about the tail haha,” Artena said with a grin. “Still, what brought about such a drastic appearance change? If you weren’t wearing the same outfit, I wouldn’t have recognized you.”
“Yeah I don’t think I’ve seen anyone’s appearance change this much before,” Igny added.
Kenta and Thenaraz each nodded in agreement.
Considering how crowded it was, I decided to tell Artena privately.
“[Call],” I said, calling Artena.
“Oi, really?” Igny scoffed.
Artena picked up instantly with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, what is so important that you need to tell me privately?” Artena asked, one hand resting on her hip.
“It’s a race change.” I stated.
“What?!” Artena exclaimed before covering her mouth.
“A race change?!” she repeated.
“A race evolution, to be more accurate. I think.. It’s a second ascension.”
Artena’s shocked expression didn’t go away as she stared at me in disbelief. Her bow dropped from her hand and clattered on the ground before warping into her inventory.
“A.. a race evolution.. That.. That’s BIG news!”
“You know how I was a Dragonkin before right?” I asked.
“Yeah, of course.”
“My race evolved from Dragonkin to a Dragon Monarch, which I found to be a new raid boss in Dragontain.”
Artena gulped.
“What.. What did you get from your race evolving, your second ascension?”
“To put it simply.. I’m kinda strong now.”
“Oi oi oi! Hey! You guys!? We’re still here?” Igny shouted in annoyance. “What are you saying to each other for Artena to have such a reaction? We deserve to know, right boys?”
Kenta and Thenaraz simply shrugged.
“Ah, I see. It must be that." Igny suddenly exclaimed with an impish grin. "Are you confessing to Artena?!”
“No!” I shouted at him, ending my call with Artena.
“W-well.. This is going to shake up all of Adventuria that's for sure,” Artena muttered.
“Is it that big of a deal?” Kenta asked, curious.
I nodded.
“I’ll let you guys experience it firsthand.”
~ ~
We were out on the arena with the four of them lined up and me facing them.
One vs. Four
Normally this was an absurdly unbalanced fight, especially among ascended. It might still be unbalanced even now.
It was common sense after all, that’s why Kenta, Thenaraz, and Igny all had looks of doubt.
Artena was the only one whose expression was conflicted, as if she had some doubt, but also thought it wasn’t impossible with what I told her.
A crowd formed at the presence of us ascended, most of them gathered in the audience seats near us while others stopped their own dueling and backed up to watch us.
They all shared Kenta, Thenaraz, and Igny’s doubtful expressions and murmured amongst each other. Though we could hear everything.
“That’s so unbalanced.”
“What kind of challenge is this?”
“Ridiculous haha.”
“That white-haired girl is crazy.”
“Wait, isn't that the cosmic witch?"
"No it's the Ascended Witch."
"They're the same person you dimwit!"
"She looks kinda different..? Or is it just me?"
"Just you."
“One vs. Four among ascended?”
“They’re on a different level after all I guess.”
"Look at their Fabled-grade equipment.. I'm so envious."
“I guess they’re doing some hardcore practice?”
And so on.
I zoned them out and turned my attention back to the rest of my party.
“Are you guys ready?” I asked.
“Ready.”
“I don’t know what you’re up to shorty, but be prepared to get wrecked.”
“We’re ready when you are, Celia.”
“Yep. Can’t wait to see what makes you think you can beat four of us at once!”
I opened the menu and selected ‘PvP’.
{Please select duel type: }
{One vs. One}
{Party vs. Party}
There wasn’t actually an official way to have a duel with one person against a group, but the workaround was that you could form a one person party and use the ‘Party vs. Party’ function. That’s what we were doing right now with the four of them in a party and me in my own party.
I tapped ‘Party vs. Party’ and sent them the duel invitation with a wave of my hand.
“Let’s do this,” I said with a grin. The anticipation of just how far I could take this newfound power welled up within me.
They accepted the duel invite, enabling all of our PvP flags.
“That’s not intimidating at all...”
“Lookin’ good Celia!”
“Impressive, Celia.”
"Wow, intimidating!”
Once you reach a certain level and enable your PvP flag, your killing intent or bloodlust would become visible to let other players know.
According to the lore, it was because you amassed so much experience and grew so strong, that your killing intent was thick enough to be visible.
A lot of new players that unlocked it for the first time hated it as you couldn't be sneaky or surprise people, but anyone who shared such thoughts were ostracized and name-called various things like vermin, trash, and so on.
It became the popular opinion that if you didn't or couldn't fight without underhanded tricks like that, you shouldn't enable your PvP flag in the first place. A lot of players loved this effect due to thoughts like chivalry, but I think most people liked it simply because it looked cool.
Who wouldn't think approaching someone out in the wild with your killing intent visible and either scaring them away or inviting them to a fight wasn't cool?
Though, there were pieces of equipment that could suppress your aura, they were few and far between. Incidentally, I had a ring that had such an effect. But it hardly offered any other stats so I never used it.
Killing intent usually appeared in the form of a red and black outline around your character that moved as if flowing to the wind. It would seep from the character like smoke. The stronger you were, the more the air itself would be distorted, the thicker the effect would be and the more pressure you'd supposedly exert.
However, mine was white and gold where it should have been red.
To be honest, I was surprised by the color change as well. I could only assume it’s the byproduct of my race evolution.
“Also.. what is this insane debuff?” Igny exclaimed.
They all got into their battle stances, and I responded in kind.
My Aura of the Dragon Monarch must be affecting them now that they’re recognized as enemies.
“Heh, that’s only a fraction of my new power!” I shouted, excited for combat.
Since this battle was for me to test out my new abilities, I would only use my Dragon Monarch skill set. Offensively, it only came with the claws and breath attack, but that’d be enough. My defensive capabilities were now out of this world after all.
I leapt back activating Claws of the Dragon Monarch. Not only did translucent claws extend from each finger, but a scaled, armored gauntlet formed around my hands upon activation.
Since they knew I’m a mage, they’d quickly close the gap and get in close proximity to give me a hard time. However, that's what I wanted.
Igny and Kenta charged in with Thenaraz supporting and Artena providing ranged fire. I dodged two arrows from Artena before intercepting Igny’s blade with my claws.
“Huh?! What kind of sorcery..?" Igny exclaimed. "Aren’t you a mage? How’d you straight up block my attack without a barrier!”
Wasting no time, I pulled on his blade to close the gap between us and lunged forward with my right claws.
However, my claws only grazed him as he quickly recovered and avoided a head on hit.
As expected of Igny! But that's no problem!
"Huh!?" Igny exclaimed once again. "Oi oi oi! What's with that ridiculous damage? A graze did a tenth of my health?"
"Don't lose your focus Celia!" Kenta shouted as he swung his sword.
Whoa!
I leaned back just in time to dodge it, but got struck in the side by empowered arrows.
Artena!!
Although I hardly took any damage, the force of Artena’s attack caused me to stumble as Kenta swiftly followed up.
I can’t dodge because of Artena’s attack!
Kenta bashed me with his shield, knocking me back. Despite raising my guard, it was jarring.
Igny didn’t let this opportunity slip and activated a skill, blinking close enough to attack.
His sword glimmered and buzzed with purple energy as it sliced towards me at lightning fast speeds.
That’s [Lightning Rend]!
Unable to react in time, I took the brunt of Igny’s attack and tumbled backwards.
Luckily, [Lightning Rend], one of his most powerful attacks only took about a fifth of my health.
[Resilience of a Dragon Monarch] is overpowered after all.
Or rather, it could be said that it goes to show how powerful Igny's [Lightning Rend] was to be able to take a fifth of my health while being weakened by both my aura and resilience.
“[Ninefold Celestial Blessing: Power]!” Thenaraz shouted.
"Great," I groaned.
A golden radiance emanated from Thenaraz before congregating around him. Then, like a ripple in a lake, the radiance shot out in a circular pulse with Thenaraz at the origin.
A golden shimmer similar to Thenaraz’s golden radiance washed over Artena, Kenta, and Igny as they continued their offensive.
Thenaraz buffed their offensive power quite a bit with that spell. I couldn't help but shift my focus to surviving.
To put it simply, they were overwhelming me quite handily. Though, any other person would have fallen by now.
I’m completely on the defensive! I need to do something, quick!
While I could barely dance around Igny and Kenta, Artena’s backup was making things difficult. I needed to deal with her quickly. And to do that, I’d use—
[Wings of the Dragon Monarch]!
—I’d utilize the increased agility from the wings to get to Artena and take her out!
Hopefully I'll be fast enough.
I couldn’t start the fight with my wings and use my breath attack on them while flying because Artena would simply shoot me down. However, if I took Artena out of the equation, I’d be able to abuse that strategy and secure victory.
The wings sprouted from my back in an instant, and I dashed towards Artena, catching everyone by surprise.
Thenaraz rushed to block my path, befitting his duty to protect the backline and support the party. However, he was too slow. I dashed past him and lunged at Artena.
"Eh!?" Artena yelped.
Despite this, she pivoted on her foot and swung to the side to avoid my lunge.
As I went for the followup, she somersaulted backwards to gain distance.
That's not good..! I missed my chance, I have no choice but to commit!
Since I was here, I would have to all in on taking Artena down before the rest of them surrounded me.
However, as expected of Artena, she wasn't making it easy for me.
She was on the defensive, narrowly avoiding my attacks, but it wouldn't be long before she'd start counterattacking as I chased to land a blow.
In that case!
It was finally time to use my breath.
The silver lining is the fact that my breath cancels any normal healing capabilities they have.
Thenaraz had strong heals, but he wasn't specifically a healer. So I doubt he could do anything about my breath's heal-culling effects.
I took a deep breath— way more than I normally could —and felt energy gather within me.
Reaching my limit, I leaned forward and blew fire out of my mouth with all my might. With enough force to knock trees down, it truly was a dragon monarch’s breath.
The fire engulfed Artena, and I continued to spew fire in a full circle around me. The flames blanketed a large area, blocking everyone’s line of sight.
[Dragon Monarch’s Sense]!
I spotted Artena running through the sea of fire, trying to escape and recollect herself.
With a grin, I bolted towards her and reached her in no time.
“Hey Artena!~” I shouted as I struck her with my claws, taking a quarter of her health and healing myself.
“My health—!”
I kept up a relentless onslaught as Artena struggled to avoid my hits, she couldn’t dodge them all and my strikes landed more and more frequently, cutting down her health considerably each time.
One, two, three, four hits.. Artena’s health pool was nearly exhausted and while she retaliated, the damage dealt to me was minimal compared to the damage I did to her. Not to mention, I healed up any damage taken when we traded hits.
“[Fairies:—!” Artena started. “Immobil—]!”
I tackled her to the ground as she tried to activate a skill to immobilize me. Her health below ten percent, I gave a victorious smile as our eyes met and I poked her with a claw.
“Ahaha geez, you got me,” she admitted in defeat.
With her HP depleted, Artena’s body went limp and I lay her gently onto the ground.
Plants sprouted from the floor and wrapped around her dead body before slowly pulling her into the earth. Within moments, both the plants that sprouted and Artena’s body were nowhere to be seen, in their place was a small flower that began to bloom.
“Now then,” I muttered, glancing in the direction of the remaining three. The sea of fire dispersed and they were finally on my tail again.
“Artena got done in huh,” Kenta said. “Good job Celia, but don’t think it’ll be that easy for the rest of us!”
“We’ll see about that,” I replied.
Kenta approached me directly while Igny dashed off to the side to look for a flank. Thenaraz was in the back as usual.
“[Ninefold Celestial Protection: Seraphim],” Thenaraz chanted.
A holy barrier of light with six faint wings appeared around each of them. Seraphim’s protection was a troublesome shield, but it was no matter.
“Did you know?” I asked. “My wings aren’t just for show.”
My wings extended to their full lengths, and I leapt into the air, letting my wings carry me high up above them. I grinned as I heard surprised exclamations.
This'll be a cinch!
However, after a few minutes of unleashing my breath attack, I realized we were getting nowhere.
It turns out, taking 3 ascended down with just a breath attack was a hard task. Even if it couldn’t be blocked and it reduced healing capabilities greatly, landing it against enemies that were quick on their feet— as all ascended were —was pretty difficult.
Ascended players are strong and can’t be cheesed, who would’ve thought?
They’re used to raid boss attacks after all.
My breath would only be something akin to a basic ranged attack from an easy raid boss. The fact that I couldn’t finish them off with my breath only couldn’t be helped.
The default fifteen minute timer cut our battle short. I couldn't manage anything more than a draw, but at the same time it was incredible that I even got a draw.
I descended to the ground where a revived Artena, Kenta, Igny, and Thenaraz surrounded me.
“How can you fly for so long?!” Artena exclaimed. “Is it those wings?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “These wings give unlimited flight.”
"Wow.. I want wings too," Artena sighed wistfully.
“Makes it hard to stand next to you though,” Igny noted. “If you turn, we all get struck by them.”
Kenta laughed at Igny’s comment. “That’s true!”
I frowned at the truth of it.
I’ll have to be mindful of that I guess.
“So, what happened, Celia? Your incredible durability, the wings, the claws, your breath attack… You’re a mage, but you didn’t cast a single spell that fight and yet you fended against 4 ascended at once,” said Thenaraz.
"I'll tell the rest of you what's going on, but let's go somewhere more.. private?" I asked.
nearly as good as it could've, or should've, been. Perhaps it was way too dialogue heavy? I've always been reliant on dialogue, but maybe it was too much this chapter? I'm mostly ambivalent about the duel with Celia and the rest though. The chapter would've actually been longer, but I didn't have a good choreograph for the fight and ended up rushing it. Not to mention I was struggling to come up with a way to transition from the fight to what I had planned next. Thus, this chapter ended here and a new chapter 5 was born (or rather, will be born)!
What should I focus on improving right now? (I'll need to improve everything of course, but what should I try working on first?)
