Seth Chapter 78

Chapter 78

The air thrummed with the arrows launching themselves towards Seth. He gulped before making a run for it, adrenaline coursing through his veins as the arrows chased after him.

A few of them hit the ground and an explosion shook his eardrums.

It made him run faster and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Log and Zacky ducking under the wild swings of two axes as they stood against the guardian. It looked like they were keeping their distance and waiting for an opening which was a strategy that didn't seem to be working.

Getting an idea, Seth jumped over an arrow and rolled on the ground. An explosion propelled him forward as he took a turn to move towards the axe wielding guardian.

He ducked under a swing as the guardian stumbled back, the weight of the axe making it unbalanced.

“What are you doing, Seth?” Log shouted out, looking over from a corner.

“I'm trying out something. Just don't get into the range of the arrows,” he said, turning back briefly to look at four arrows that still chased him. Arcane energy channelled around their tips, preparing them up for an explosion.

Taking a deep breath, he looked at the stumbling guardian and used Flickering Step, covering the short distance between them in an instant.

The guardian's eyes shone as it tried to swing its axe in a horizontal motion, but Seth was already prepared. He dived and escaped it before rolling under the guardian.

It turned back to swing again, but just then, the arrows arrived, hitting the guardian on its arms and back, sending jolts of waves around them as the guardian fell to the ground.

It let out a strange, mechanical shriek as the axe fell from its arms.

Seth flew away from the explosion, barely controlling his balance by the use of a stone pillar.

Taking the moment, Zacky and Log arrived. The latter held a mace in his hand and brought it down to break the injured arm of the guardian while Zacky aimed for its eyes.

The guardian let out a screech as he pulled onto the wires. Seth walked up to it and did the same, aiming for its left eye as a puff of dust burst forth, but he quickly cut through the frayed wires and took out the mechanical components.

The mechanical construct soon died an insignificant death.

You have defeated a Level 35 Stormweaver's Guardian!

You have gotten experience!

As the notifications arrived, both Log and Zacky cheered, but his attention was on the rest of the battlefield.

One guardian was down, but it hadn't ended yet.

On one side, Xarth fought against a guardian, his axe clashing against the sword. He even managed to push the guardian back just by sheer strength. His muscles bulged as his axe made a crater on the ground, making the golem stumble before he lodged his weapon into its chest.

Seth doubted the beastman needed his help.

The same couldn't be said about Zara and Rebecca who fought off against the wrath.

Zara's spells hit the wrath in its chest, but they didn't seem to be able to push it back as blasts of energy shot out from its arms. From the side of its arm, a panel opened and more arrows shot out.

Rebecca pulled up a barrier to protect them as the arrows launched towards them, but it broke just as the first arrow hit the barrier. The rest hit the ground around them and both Rebecca and Zara were flown back, hitting the ground as their legs and arms scraped against it.

A painful screech came out of their mouths as Seth made a run for it alongside Log and Zacky.

“How are we going to deal with it?” Log asked, huffing as he ran.

“We can't get too close to it or it would simply blast us to bits. And our mage is injured. Fuck these mechanical bastards!” Zacky said, holding up two daggers in each of his hands. As a rogue, he wasn't very effective against the wrath and at most, he could work to distract it.

Wait!

An idea suddenly sprung to his mind as Seth looked at the runes. They shone with a gleam and he saw the mana pulsing down to its hands, using the pathways in between the panels on the arms before the wrath shot out another blast of energy.

Understanding how it might be working, he looked at his companion.

“Can you both distract it?” he asked.

“We can try, but why?” Log looked at him.

“Just do so. I might be able to stop it.”

Both of them nodded and went around the wrath. The golem saw them coming and shot forth a blast of energy that Log took head on with his mace. He flew back, but Zacky made its way towards it, avoiding the blasts with an ease.

Seth guessed that he was probably using a skill as the mana around his legs swirled, making him slide on the ground with ease. He took out his daggers and slashed at the wrath's legs.

It chipped away at the stones as the golem let out a grunt before trying to stomp at Zacky which he dodged with a grace.

Knowing that it was his chance with the wrath being occupied, Seth vanished from his spot and covered a long distance as quickly as possible before climbing onto a stone slab that gave him the higher ground.

From there, he jumped and landed right at the wrath's back.

It tried to stomp again, but failed to hit anything other than the ground before realising something was holding on its shoulders. It tried to squat at him, but Seth held on, slowly moving towards the runes that were carved around the neck area.

As it reached, he held out the Dark Blade. The tip shone with abyssal mana as he gazed at the runes which seem to pulse with different types of mana sewn together. He felt a chaotic wave coming off it and without hesitating, he slammed his blade deep into the runes.

A magical barrier seemed to be around them, blocking his blade, but Seth simply put more pressure, abyssal mana flying out as he pierced through the barrier.

His blade cut through the runes, making a mark in the middle of it as the wrath let out a scream and fell on one knee. Mechanical sounds, like bolts and screws flying out came out from under it as Seth worked swiftly.

His blade cut through all the runes as the pulsing mana broke.

One thing he knew about runes was that even if a little scratch mark could render them useless. He knew it because during their travel, he had kept on asking Noah questions on different things and the topic of different languages had come up, one of them being runes.

As he kept scratching the runes, the wrath kept trying to get him off its back, but Seth held on. Its arms were too short to pull him and there was nothing the wrath could do.

So, he was—

A jerk made him hold onto the golem's neck as he saw the panel on the back opening up.

Out of there, several arrows poked out, a few brushing up against his back. Realising he might become burnt jerky, he let go and made an attempt to escape.

As he was just a few paces away, the arrows launched and hit the ground right beside him. A barrier enveloped him just at the moment as an explosion rocked his world, smashing him into the far wall as he let out a painful groan.

He heard the sounds of his bones crunching inside of him and he almost lost his senses.

Blood poured out of his head as his world shook and vision blurred.

Through his blurry vision, he was able to make out a few things. The wrath launching more arrows, a glowing and rageful ball of flames hitting it right into the chest. Log striking it down with his mace and Xarth jumping on top of it with his axe, a black aura around it.

It became too hard to focus, so he simply closed his eyes, trying to fight off the searing pain that overcame his body.

Am I going to die like this?

It felt like a pathetic way of dying to Seth, but he didn't have any health potions left that could potentially help him recover. He didn't knew whether his supernatural rate of healing would come into play here, but he sure hoped so.

As he was thinking of opening his eyes again, he heard footsteps before something entered his mouth.

A familiar liquid that reminded him of the medicines his mother used to give him when he would be down with a fever.

It warmed up his insides and gave him strength. His parched throat finally felt better and he slowly opened his eyes.

Rebecca stood there, holding up a health potion with a frown on her face.

“How are you now?” she asked.

“Feels like I have broken a few bones. Injury on my head, but I'm alive.”

“You will be fine. Just rest.”

“What happened to the wrath?”

Rebecca simply gave way for him to look at the area where Xarth and Zara were fighting off the wrath. It looked miserable with one of its hands on the ground and he was barely able to move, stumbling through the chamber.

Finally, Xarth's axe hit it right in the chest, making a huge dent on it and flames covered its upper body as it shrieked and fell to the ground.

It was then that notifications popped up.

You have defeated a Level 40 Stormweaver's Wrath!

You have gotten experience!

You have reached Level 35! You have received +5 points in Agility, +2 points in Strength, and 1 free stat point to assign.

Your skill "Flickering Step” has levelled up to Level 3!

He waved them away and closed his eyes again. Although winning the battle and levelling up was good, he needed rest at the moment. Relief swept up on it and the battles in the last two days flashed before his eyes.

He had gotten rest at the Guild, but it hadn't been enough.

Now, he felt at peace.

***

When he woke up, he realised they were still in the room they had fought the golems in. The fallen bodies of the guardians and the wrath was at one corner and Zacky seemed to be looking over them, staring at the wires and broken out mechanical components.

In the centre of the room, stone slabs seemed to have been dragged to be sat on and Rebecca and the rest of The Divers were talking around it.

He looked around, bleary and rubbed his eyes together before stretching his body. His body felt better than before and someone had bandaged his head. It seemed like the potions and his regenerative abilities had done their job.

As he got up, he saw Rebecca noticing him and gesturing up to him. “Seth, you are finally up! Come and sit here.”