Chapter 158: Spare Heart

Travis Oilton

Master Decoy Level 36

42+22 Strength

108+25 Resistance

108+15 Kinesthetics

66+10 Acuity

60+25 Focus

Charges: 83/85

Free Points: 0

Primary Abilities: Center of Attention**, Taunt***,

Secondary Abilities: Mirage**

2 Primary Upgrades Available!

Non-stat Item Abilities: +55% Charm Archetype potency, Leeching Scoundrel, Luring Noise, Stinky Escape, Outflanking, Concentration.

Freakin’ skunk pants, Travis thought, growing gradually more irritated as he was forced to wait for things to kick off. Any time he wanted to, Travis could pull up Will’s stats in the Party list, and see how woefully inadequate he was in comparison.

How the fuck does he have stats above two hundred?

BOOM! The earth shook.

Probably don’t have long to wait now. Thirty…fifteen seconds? In anticipation of the fight, his heart started beating painfully hard, his breath shuddering.

Travis took a deep breath and tried to calm himself as explosions above caused a fine layer of dust to drift down above him.

Loth had decided the best way to go about handling multiple Fae who were individually raid-boss strong would be to split them up and wear them down.

People like Will, Loth, and Mason would kill their target quick while people like him were only expected to hold on long enough for the ‘winners’ to come by and pull their asses out of the fire.

Well, screw that. Travis was looking forward to when he got his Class advancement. When Master Decoy gave way to something that more accurately reflected what he could do.

Travis manifested a cantrip, creating illusionary rat in his hand, poking the creature to feel its fur. Soft, warm, and wiggling, just like a real rat.

The rat got irritated with him and bit his thumb.

Ouch.

I wouldn’t say no to Master of Reality, he thought, dismissing the scurrying rat back to strands of ether.

If Will thought his Build was suited for the Wraith Vessel, he could think again. That pale corpse-flower had allowed Travis to turn his Mirage Ability selectively real, and it was just as absolutely broken as it sounded.

There was even amazing synergy with the Ring of the Leeching Scoundrel, which gave him minor healing and stamina whenever an enemy was affected by one of his Charm Abilities. Typically he used it to stay ahead of people he was Taunting, but in this case…

With some testing, he had confirmed that it worked when one of his illusions dealt physical damage to an enemy. It had basically given his manifested illusions lifesteal.

He could make anything he could remember or imagine, living or dead, whereas Will could only make rocks and daggers and stuff.

If there was one downside compared to Will’s version, it was that Travis’s illusions weren’t stronger than the item or creature they were based on.

Wish I could fix that, but I’ll have to wait until level fifty.

BOOM!

A humanoid body tumbled through a trapdoor in the wall shortly before the opening sealed itself up.

…assuming I live.

Travis leapt forward, swinging the Dueling Blade down towards the fae’s neck.

No sense letting this fight go any longer than it has to.

The Fae flickered out of place an instant before Travis’s sword chopped into its neck, and in the next instant, the dueling blade’s echo interposed itself between Travis’s neck and a snarling maw.

Thank the gods I keep it in ‘defense’ mode, Travis thought as he made a wild swing towards the creature’s midsection, forcing it to take a step back or be disemboweled.

“Ahem.” The fae cleared his throat, the wolflike muzzle rapidly retreating back into his face. His lip was split where he’d bit into the sword.

The humanoid was wearing what appeared to be a mockery of courtly attire, with shiny pants tighter than any human could tolerate and ruffles that had to be getting in the way of his ability to eat.

He had slightly pointed ears and the creatures cheekbones gave Travis an animalistic feeling.

“Apologies, where are my manners?” The fae said in an affectation of geniality that underscored the savagery he’d displayed a moment earlier.

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“My name is Alexander Februus. A kingly name, don’t you think? And yours?”

“Travis.” Travis said. He’d been coached on certain things, like not leaving the fae hanging. Certain forms of rudeness could be taken advantage of. The Floor expected a certain give-and-take.

Strangely enough trying to kill each other wasn’t considered rude enough to penalize you, but not giving your name might be.

“Travis. Surely you understand that it is rude to attack a man while he’s down.”

“You’re not a man.” Travis said. “Not by any measure that matters.”

“Hmmph.” The Fae seemingly turned its attention away from Travis and began scanning its surroundings. The creature’s gaze lingered on the far wall which separated it from the rest of its people.

“What a bold strategy, taking pathetic Climbers we can kill effortlessly, and dividing them up in even chucks so we don’t have to worry about sharing.” The inhuman creature put a thumb to its chin, expression thoughtful. “No wait, not bold, what was the word…? Stupid, that’s it! Your leader’s grand plan is to lock you in a box WITH ME!?”

As the fae spoke it seemed to grow feral, it’s body hunching over as its muzzle elongated again.

“…I can really take my time with you, can’t I?”

Travis took a deep breath and flooded the room with illusions of himself, quickly ducking aside to hopefully confuse his opponent.

Mirage

83->68 Charge remaining.

Center of Attention

68->67 Charge remaining.

Travis used his Primary’s inverted Ability to fade from the fae’s mind, making it easier to disappear into the crowd of Travises.