Chapter 254: Death Behind the Mask

Night had fallen, but Luke hadn’t stepped into the fortress. No one from Bastion had come after him either, which was strange. Still, it gave him time to do what he always did before facing something new: train.

Delaying the mission meant sharpening himself and, more importantly, preparing Princess Charlie. She needed to master Force Infusion. If she was going to duel the Warden Captain, she had to be ready for it. Luke passed her on the training grounds. Charlie was hacking at rocks, cleaving through trees, her sword cutting with raw power. At her current strength she could already manage that much, but with Force Infusion flowing through her, her destructive potential was terrifying.

She charged with her blade raised and slammed into a half-collapsed structure. Stone burst apart, chunks flying in every direction. Luke analyzed the display with a cold eye. The Wardens’ ability to hurl their spears with such brutal speed and power was likely tied to a skill similar to Force Infusion. That explained why, back when he was weaker, he’d seen them carve through squads like butchered cattle. They were masters of stamina manipulation. And, ironically enough, it was that very skill he’d used to kill his first Warden.

While Charlie trained, Luke hunted. A guttural roar split the air. Charging at him was a pack of enormous crocodiles. He remembered them from his days fleeing the orc general, beasts like these had once guarded the dam he destroyed.

[Crocodile Commander – Lvl 30]

Even at level thirty, their sheer size made them dangerous. Luke sprinted across the terrain, the monsters barreling after him, and focused on what he really wanted: testing the limits of his Acid Blood Arrow.

He conjured one in his hand, drew back, and fired. The arrow hit the ground ahead of the charging crocodiles. A hiss split the air as a green mist erupted, swallowing them whole. The creatures shrieked, thrashing in agony, their armored hides bubbling and splitting open.

[You have slain a Crocodile Commander – Lvl 30]

The third one hurled itself into the river, vanishing beneath the surface.

“Smart creatures…” Luke muttered.

The river boiled with life. It was swarming with crocodiles now, likely left unchecked ever since the orcs abandoned the lowlands for the mountains. No one remained to cull the threat.

Luke conjured another arrow in his palm, studying it carefully. He’d learned his boundaries: three in quick succession. Push for a fourth, and his heart screamed in pain. Worse, he couldn’t store them. They weren’t items; they were mana given form. The arrows rejected storage, dissolved if placed in his storage item, and faded within ten minutes if left unused. He couldn’t even keep them in his quiver. There was another problem he hadn’t ignored, the cost.

Each blood arrow devoured a thousand mana. An absurd, dangerous price to pay in any real fight. For a moment, he realized just how reckless he’d been back in the Safe Zone, firing them off without even tracking his mana reserves. If he had bottomed out, things could have gone very, very badly.

His mana pool was 4500. Four arrows alone were enough to leave him with little mana left, the bar dipping close to empty. That was the curse of an epic skill: overwhelming power, paid for in blood and spirit. Each shot drained 100 HP from his own body, and his heart could only withstand conjuring three arrows in quick succession. And on top of that, there was the high mana cost.

They weren’t weapons to be used freely. They were trump cards, meant for moments that demanded a killing blow. He weighed the limitations and found himself almost grateful the price in blood wasn’t worse. A hundred HP per arrow was dangerous, sure, but if it had demanded a thousand instead of mana? He would’ve written the skill off as worthless, an epic skill wasted on something he’d never dare use.

If only the system displayed mana costs when presenting skill choices. That single detail would make every decision so much easier in the future.

Still, it wasn’t all bad. The cost was steep, yes, but the destruction those arrows unleashed more than justified it. And, as a bonus, being rare-tier meant they could also be amplified through Mana Infusion. He pulled up his system interface.

Name: Luke
Level: 47
Race: Half-Demon
Rank: F
Class: [Demonic Predator (Lvl 57)]
Profession: [Guardian Botanist of Mother Freya (Lvl 60)]
Titles: [Dark Lord]
Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Dark Demon]
Health Points (HP): 3913/4130
Mana Points (MP): 2128/4450 (4500)
Stamina: 2111/2570 (2770)
Soul Fragments: 87/1000

Stats:
Strength: 658
Agility: 478 (528)
Endurance: 257 (277)
Vitality: 413
Perception: 434 (444)
Intelligence: 445 (450)
Free Points: 12

Class Skills: [Advanced Blade Handling (Uncommon)], [Profane Knife Throwing (Uncommon)], [Twin Blade (Common)], [Basic Dark Dash (Rare)], [Basic Blood Regeneration (Rare)], [Predator’s Mark (Rare)], [Demonic Blade Dance (Rare)], [Wraith Form (Ultra-Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Advanced Stealth (Rare)], [Assassin’s Tracking (Rare)], [Mana Infusion (Rare)], [Basic Archery (Common)]

Profession Skills: [Herbology of Mother Freya (Ancient)], [Precise Extraction (Common)], [Basic Potion Crafting (Common)], [Corrupted Plant Growth (Rare)], [Plant Sensor (Uncommon)], [Botanical Bond of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Seed Conversion (Rare)], [Plant Manipulation of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Corrupted Blood of Mother Freya (Ultra-Rare)], [Thorn Mutation (Uncommon)], [Soil Analysis (Uncommon)], [Botanical Purification (Uncommon)], [Acid Blood Arrow (Epic)]

Race Skills: [Identify (Common)], [Demonic Perception (Uncommon)], [Dark Blood (Uncommon)], [Meditation (Common)], [Demonic Endurance (Uncommon)]

Bloodline Skill: [Servant of the Dark Lord (Unique)]
Servants: [Princess Charlie (Skeleton) – Lvl 27], [Servant Slot Available]

Luke had never cared this much about his mana pool. Not until now. One Acid Blood Arrow cost a full thousand mana, which meant he could only conjure four of them. Four. The skill was far too powerful to be shackled by such a limit. He had wiped out ten assassins with only three arrows. And if he could conjure twenty? The thought made him reevaluate the true worth of mana.

He had twelve free points left and didn’t hesitate to funnel them all into Intelligence.

Stats Updated:
Intelligence: 445 (450) -> 457 (462)
Free Points: 12 -> 0
[Mana Points (MP): 2248/4570 (4620)]

Satisfied with the allocation, he let the menu fade and tightened his grip on the Acid Blood Arrow in his hand. His new goal was simple: become a factory for these devastating arrows.

“Come on, Charlie.”

He loosed the arrow skyward. It arced and landed among the trees, detonating in a cloud of hissing green. Crocodiles burst from hiding, fleeing the spreading acid fog. Some stumbled, others collapsed mid-run, their hides peeling as the corrosive mist ate through their flesh.

[You have slain a Crocodile Commander – Lvl 30]

A guttural roar snapped his attention to the side. Another crocodile barreled from the brush, tail lashing like a whip. Charlie sprinted straight at it, vaulting high with her blade. She spun midair, cleaving off one of the beast’s legs before it could react. The creature snapped its jaws, lunging to swallow her whole, but Charlie met it with a brutal punch across the snout. The crocodile rolled, belly exposed. She drove her sword deep and pummeled it again and again until the thrashing stopped.

[Princess Charlie has slain a Crocodile Commander Lvl 30]

*The [Pugilist] 2nd Class of Princess Charlie has reached Level 32! (+3 Strength, +2 Endurance, +2 Agility, +2 Vitality, +2 Perception, +2 Intelligence, +2 Free Points.)*

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

**[Princess Charlie has reached Level 28! Skeleton (Rank F)] (+1 bonus point to all attributes, +1 free point)**

The monster lay dead. Luke pulled a potion from his pocket dimension.

[Healing Potion (Common): Restores 150 HP]

He drank it down, the bitter liquid spreading warmth as torn flesh stitched itself back together.

[Health Points (HP): 4063/4130]

That had been his last stockpile potion scavenged from Safe Zone chests. He had drained them all during the siege. Now, he had only three left, ones he’d brewed himself.

[Healing Potion (Common): Restores 503 HP]

“Better than nothing,” he muttered.

Those three would be reserved for emergencies. Once the second fortress was cleared, weekly chest rewards would solve that problem. Charlie strutted over, beaming, pointing at the crocodile’s corpse and then at her fist, raising it like a trophy.

“Yes, you took that thing down cleanly,” he admitted.

She was glowing with pride, but he could tell she was also remembering the dungeon in the temple, how close they’d come to dying to a crocodile half that size. Luke pulled up her system interface, ready to allocate her new stat points. By nightfall, once he meditated, they would step into the fortress.

Name: Princess Charlie
Level: 28
Race: Skeleton
Rank: F
Class: Death Knight (Lvl 35)
2nd Class: Pugilist (Lvl 32)
Title: [Servant of the Dark Lord]
Health Points (HP): 2030/2030
Mana Points (MP): 1570/1570
Stamina: 1920/1920 (2320)