[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 134: Double Trouble

Raiko acted first. Dashing forward into the charging enemy, she slashed her katana wide from one side of her body to the other. A horizontal, flaming rift splashed against the Gargoyles’ eyes.

Howling, the monsters crashed to the ground, scrabbling at their blinded eyes.

Their hulking forms rose, one after the other, taking little time to recover. They were already ticked off when Sam first saw them, but now their demonic features were truly contorted with fury.

Raiko was already sprinting past them, trying to redirect their focus and leave them vulnerable to Sam. Sam hated that she had read his weakness so clearly.

He was even slower than he usually was.

The Ninja swiftly darted around their huge sweeping claws, flicking her blade at them, repeatedly sending off smaller Fire mana rifts to draw their ire and keep their attention on her.

Rather than Sam and Komachi.

“Good thing I have [Evasion] now!” Raiko shouted.

His cat didn’t waste any time in putting up [Haste Mazurka] again. It even felt a little more potent than their last fight.

Sam, despite hovering around a third of his total HP, didn’t shy away from battle. He had been charging [Heavy Blade] as soon as they spotted the creatures, and while it wasn’t nearly as charged as he would have liked, he didn’t have much of a choice.

Raiko, however, was already engaged with them, and had secured their full attention.

He yelled out, “Duck, Raiko!” as he ripped free his [Dullahan Greatsword] in a shower of silvery Metal mana and sparks.

His [Heavy Blade], leveled at shoulder-height, which was just at head height for her, swung out as the blade continued to lengthen in its silvery sheen.

Sam might not have much HP, but thanks to Raiko, he had over half of his MP still available.

It was hard to think that just a few days ago his max MP wasn’t much more than he had right now at half his total.

Putting all those stat points into Mind was paying off.

With the grace of a ballerina, Raiko not only ducked down, but managed to make her whole body go perpendicular to the floor. She somehow managed to turn that elegant maneuver into an attack, kicking one of the [Gargoyle Brutes] down low with an extended leg, and stabbing the other with her blade.

All eyes were on Raiko as Sam’s sweeping [Heavy Blade] caught them across the middle of their backs, digging a deep trench into their stony hide and spilling—surprisingly—a lot of purple blood onto the floor.

Sam would have figured these things, like the [Gargoyles] outside the Great Hall, were just animated stone.

Apparently not.

He was somewhat surprised that [Heavy Blade] didn’t outrightly destroy one or both of them, but Sam wasn’t one to sit and look stunned when things refused to turn out his way.

The [Gargoyle Brutes] turned to regard Sam. The first was instantly punished for turning its back on Raiko, but the second stared at him with cruel red-glowing eyes.

The monster opened its mouth and a stream of red-hot beams erupted like a thousand needles.

[Needle Burst]

Sam barely managed to roll out of the way. His knee scraped against the ground and threw up sparks as the metal and stone met. He was up on his feet a moment later, gathering Void mana into his free hand.

The creature turned its head toward him, but Sam’s additional Agility from the [Roasted Zuu], plus Komachi’s buff, gave him a surprising turn of speed.

He thrust out his hand and realized belatedly that something was very different. The silver-black flames that normally would flare from his palm were instead the purple-black of Escha.

It felt entirely different, and the surge of purple-black flames that rolled forth were unlike anything he had ever used before.

[Escha: Scour] passed harmlessly through the creature’s breath attack.

White hot needles of pain impaled Sam’s hand and forearm for a fraction of a second until the pain stopped.

At first, Sam thought that using [Scour] had done what it always did: destroy the mana used in the attack.

But as the flickering purple flames died, he saw the truth.

You defeat the [Gargoyle Brute (Boss) (Level 31 – Copper)].

You gain immense Experience for slaying a Very Tough boss monster!

Your [Void] Path has reached Level 23.

+2 Insight Talents | +1 Strength Talent

+2 Arcane Talents | +1 Vigor Talent

+1 Control Talent

Level Up!

Your [Swordsman] Job has reached Level 25.

+6 Strength | +6 Vigor | +3 Agility

+3 Dexterity

+2 Bonus Points

Level Up!

Your [Voidknight] Legend has reached Level 16.

+2 to all Stats

+1 to all Talents

Sam stared at his hand, then at the headless and very much dead, [Gargoyle Brute]. His [Escha: Scour] didn’t affect the mana, but it did disintegrate the damn thing’s head like it was nothing.

The Void Art felt far different than he expected, like something beyond just the [Essence of Escha] was affecting it, but he didn’t know enough yet to tell what that was.

Much more testing was in order, and what better way to test his new Path abilities than against monsters?

It was a good thing the Komachi could keep up more than one spell at once—considering she was beginning to cast [Regen Paeon] too—or else any Bard’s utility would be severely hampered.

The glowing notes dancing about the battlefield began to intermingle, the snowy white motes of [Regen Paeon] and the green notes of [Haste Mazurka]. Both spells were in full effect, with the Regen stacks going higher as Komachi concentrated on that.

He could barely spare the attention, but he did see a handful of them fuse together, then snap back apart. It seemed Komachi was on the verge of something more, but not quite there yet.

Sam cheered her on as best he could while he and Raiko double-teamed the remaining [Gargoyle Brute]. Though Sam had gotten accustomed to using [Heavy Blade] in a charged state, it was still a devastatingly effective ability when used on the fly.

Silvery motes of mana burst apart as his colossal greatsword cleaved a chunk off the gargoyle. Its stony flesh hit the ground like a bag of bricks and the creature let out a howling shriek that stunned the both of them.

All of Sam’s muscles locked up at once, and it felt like his bones were going to snap from the pressure. On the other side of the gargoyle, he saw Raiko having the same problem as him.

The music halted abruptly. Even Komachi was stunned.

The gargoyle raised its clawed hand and slashed down at Raiko with all its might, leaving streaks of mana in the air.

A haze of red misted from Raiko’s armor and blade, it seemed that her element shifted from Fire mana to something else.

Sam saw her struggle to lift her blade, now covered in that scarlet energy.

The gargoyle carved into her armor, spraying blood into the air.

The [Gargoyle Brute] lifted its head and peeled back its stony lips, drinking the cloud of blood from the air.

Sam struggled against the paralysis, fighting to get through. There was so much blood.

Kai bellowed and roots leapt up from the stone floor—quite the feat, considering they were far away from the ground floor—and wound their way around the gargoyle’s wrists and neck.

Matt’s thrown improvised daggers hit the monster in one of its many bleeding wounds, turning the area an unsettling hue as the wounds began to pump out blood faster than the creature could drink it from the air.

Freed from paralysis, Sam slapped his free palm against the creature’s lower back and used [Escha: Scour]. Flares of purple and black mana rolled out, creating a sizeable hole in the thing’s middle and nearly hitting Raiko as a result of the unfettered power rolling through the Art.

You defeat the [Duo Gargoyle (Boss) (Level 31 – Copper)].

You gain immense Experience for slaying a Very Tough boss monster!

Your [Void] Path has reached Level 24.

+2 Insight Talents | +1 Strength Talent

+2 Arcane Talents | +1 Vigor Talent

+1 Control Talent

Your [Void] Path has reached Level 25.

+2 Insight Talents | +1 Strength Talent

+2 Arcane Talents | +1 Vigor Talent

+1 Control Talent

Level Up!

Your [Swordsman] Job has reached Level 26.

+6 Strength | +6 Vigor | +3 Agility

+3 Dexterity

+2 Bonus Points

Level Up!

Your [Voidknight] Legend has reached Level 17.

+2 to all Stats

+1 to all Talents

Your [Void: Scour] Art has reached (★ Common III).

Your [Armored Aura] Trait has reached (☆ Primitive II).

Raiko stood on the other side of the monster, her sword halfway through her reprisal, staring at Sam through the hole in the creature’s middle.

The cloud of blood drawn to her weapon fell off the blade, no longer charged with mana. It pooled on the ground.

“Hm.” She sounded vaguely impressed, and considerably woozy. She swayed on her feet.

The gargoyle stayed upright for a few moments before it toppled to the ground, helped there by Sam shoving it aside to get to Raiko. Once there, he didn’t know what to do.

Sam turned to call for Komachi and Kai, but they were already speeding toward the wounded woman. “Hold on Raiko,” he said, reaching out and steadying her, then gently lowering her to the ground.

“You look so worried, that’s new,” she whispered.

Kai dropped a [Cure] on her the moment he was within range. Sam couldn’t see any wounds for all the blood, but he hoped her wounds weren’t as frustrating to heal as his own.

Komachi’s [Regen Paeon] was still going, but Komachi started casting it again since she was no longer stunned, rebuilding those vital stacks.

Raiko shut her eyes, which didn’t ease Sam’s concern any. Pale and splattered with red, she practically looked like a corpse. The claws had carved through her armor, leaving vicious rents in it.

Those monsters had been that dangerous. Uncommon Rarity equipment barely stood up to them.

Kai put his hand on her middle, right over the largest wound, and furrowed his brow. “She… does not appear to be in any danger. Her wounds are minor now, and with Komachi’s songs, should recover swiftly. I do not know why she is unresponsive.”

Sam gave Raiko a little shake, trying hard not to get frantic at what looked like the sight of her lifeless corpse. It was an odd pairing that the gargoyles had been so obscenely powerful, and yet were killed with less effort than he had expended fighting the Stellar Warden.

It highlighted just how much damage Sam and Raiko could put out together. And with the change to his Path, he went that much farther past his previous capabilities.

And it made him wonder just what changes [Escha: Scour] had over his standard, [Void: Scour]. One seemed to affect the physical the same way that the other destroyed mana. But that wasn’t how Void mana was supposed to work, was it?

All those thoughts and worries were put on the side for now. For some reason, he needed Raiko to be okay. She was a fixture in his life. For better or worse, he had expected her to be by his side, fighting, arguing, laughing.

Now, to see her so weakened was a strangely cruel twist of fate. “I swear to whatever gods that are listening, Raiko,” Sam said sternly. “If you are fucking with me, I am going to be obscenely mad.”

When she didn’t respond, Sam became truly worried. Even Chompers whimpered like a scared puppy.

“Hey!” Matt said in his deepest baritone. “Leave her alone.”

Sam whipped his head around. “What the fuck are you going on about, Matt?”

The once-time store manager scuttled over to them. “Sorry, couldn’t resist. She’s poisoned, which just happens to be my specialty. Honestly, it’s astounding neither of our healers have attained any means of dealing with poison yet.”

“I’m a cat,” Komachi hissed. “What do ya expect? I don’t even know what apples taste like, man! Physiology is some next level stuff.”

“I figured Cleric would have something. You know, Poisona or something.”

“Wuh?”

“That just sounds like poison with an ‘a’ on the end,” Kai said. “If you’re so skilled, show us how it is done.”

“Fine, fine,” Matt said, shaking out his hands. “Prepare to be amazed!”