Chapter 21: Evolving Threat

Sint sucked in a quick breath, then flipped over in the air to land on her feet. She always did.

A quick look at her knife confirmed that it was fine. The Inscribed Glyphs were still glowing steadily. While the blow from the monster had been pretty strong, it wasn’t anything to worry about. She could do this.

With or without that crazy bastard’s help.

Said bastard was calmly leaning against a rock. He looked very happy that he was staying out of the battle, like he had made a fantastic decision and was proud of himself for doing so.

That man…

The Wolbear howled another roar. That combined noise should have sounded awkward, but if anything, it made Sint’s soul wish it could flee her body.

She took a quick, self-fortifying breath. No. No getting scared or intimidated. Certainly no letting it show on her face or her posture. She had to face down her fears, even if it took the form of a gargantuan monster that could bite her in half.

Sint could do this.

As the Wolbear charged in with blistering speed, Sint didn’t even attack. She knew how to approach this. She had trained to fight beasts of this kind on the wild plains and dense jungles of Revorel. All she had to do was pull her arm back.

Then chuck her stiletto just as the Wolbear overcommitted to its charge. Sint dashed off to one side as the monster rushed through where she had been a second ago.

With her knife buried in its eye.

It should have gone all the way through to its brain, thanks to the Glyph of Penetration she had Inscribed on it. That should have killed it. But she either hadn’t flung it hard enough, or as was more likely, its resilience was just too strong at Gold.

That fact made Sint frown. When she had first seen the monster, her Inscribed Glyph of Warning hadn’t glowed at all. Which meant it had been below her rank. But then, all of a sudden, its rank had suddenly risen. Fast. Sint couldn’t recall ever seeing a phenomenon like that. A monster’s rank rising a whole rank-tier in the span of a minute? Impossible.

But then, she was within a fake reality constructed inside a dome of Living Mana. The impossible was supposed to be eminently possible here.

Her eyes fell to Ryland.

He was focused on her opponent, though, so Sint quickly refocused as the monster got back to its feet with a pained growl. Its ruined eye was weeping blood and pus around the stiletto blade. Sint decided to put it out of its misery. Fake or real, it didn’t need to suffer.

Just as it rose to its overlong feet with a roar, Sint cast her actual spell.

“[Rupture].”

Mana surged through Sint. Her core, brimming with magic, now let it loose as her spell circle came to life, Subglyphs sizzling with ferocious red and orange light around the gleaming greenish-gold of her Soul Glyph of Distortion.

The right side of the monster’s skull exploded in a gory burst. Her stiletto clattered away on the ground as the Wolbear thumped down, more blood pooling around its corpse.

Sint retrieved her stiletto. The Inscribed Glyph of Repair was already repelling all the blood and nasty bits. Honestly, it was a small marvel how many Glyphs she had been able to fit on one relatively small weapon. The potency of Glyphs was determined by the prowess of the caster, not by their literal size. But still. It was a feat she was proud of.

A feeling that faded in the mental fray she was experiencing just then. There were too many other sensations calling for her attention.

Weren’t the Wolbears being tackled by a different team not that far from them? What in the world had happened to them? And where in the world were Alendra and Kendren? How was Alendra still too afraid of heights to proceed at a time like this?

And what in all the Realms was wrong with Ryland?

Admittedly, that last concern brought with it such a whole quagmire of thoughts, she decided the best thing to do was to momentarily discard him from her mind. She didn’t want to think about the calamitous levels of magic he had displayed. She had no wish to ruminate on what he was thinking or aiming for. She was also getting tired of being wary of him all the time.

Hmm, no achievement from the Grand Frame just yet. That was concerning.

As if to echo her concern, Ryland spoke. “Careful. It’s not over yet.”

Sint whirled around.

“Curse the Calamities,” she muttered.

Ryland tutted for some reason.

More of the Wolbears were popping up all around the area. They didn’t look happy at all. Sint wondered if they had been holding back, falsely believing that the one she had killed would have subdued her without trouble. Only, it was dead now. And Sint was still standing.

Then she called herself stupid for ascribing reasonable behavioural patterns to fake creatures constructed from Living Mana.

She tightened her grip on her stilettos. The monsters approaching her were even larger than the ones she had killed. The Glyph of Warning Inscribed on the back of her neck screamed that she was outmatched. That if these were Gold-ranked, then they had to be high Gold at that. Gold [70], Gold [80] maybe, or even higher. Way stronger than Sint herself.

Worse yet, even a single use of [Rupture] cost a decent chunk of mana. Her manasoul was already feeling the first hints of strain. She had potions to quaff on hand, but nowhere near enough to deal with that entire horde of monsters.

Her eyes inadvertently fell to Ryland, who had raised his eyebrows at her. Almost daring her to ask.

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Not for his help. Oh no, never that.

What she really wanted to ask was why not a single one of the monsters was looking at him.

Ryland shrugged, almost like she had spoken it aloud. “I’ll be here in case you need me.”

He was right. Sint really could use some help right about now. Even the other two would have been fine. Alendra might have been afraid of heights, but if she let it hold her back, then this team of theirs was done for.

Sint forgot about it all. The monsters all roared as one, rising onto their hind legs. It made her realize just how enormous the Wolbears really were. They towered over her, easily over five times as tall, wider than a dozen of her standing shoulder to shoulder.

And there were at least seven of them all prowling in her direction. Daring her to start a desperate battle to survive the monstrous onslaught.

Sint scowled. Screw that.

Her Glyphs ignited. She shot at the beasts.

The nearest one leaped at her with a vicious cry, just as the very first Wolbear had done. Sint grinned. She was ready for this. With a twist of her foot, she was able to change her momentum just enough. Her left knife rose up to the right height, her Tier [6] Glyph of Deflection shining along the blade’s length.

Sint was able to push the Wolbear’s impact off to one side, her second knife rising to the same spot as her first and stabbing in. She let the monster’s own momentum carry it past her, her Inscribed Glyphs of Penetration and Distortion carving a gory gorge along the Wolbear’s length.