章 12: Joining the Battle

Elemental Convergence Detected.

Do you wish for [Duskwraith(Lvl-1)] to absorb the stray soul?

Yes/No

I quickly chose Yes and moved to face another Duskwraith lunging at me.

[Duskwraith(Lvl-1)][Progress- 35%]

This is odd; the previous one increased the bar by 20%.

I parried the dusk wraith before an ice spear flew past my head into its head. Turning around, I saw Aria give me a subtle nod before resuming fighting. Behind her, I could see a floating. Tess gave me an appreciative nod as well.

Protecting their princess and shedding blood while do so had worked afterall, now only if we could quickly end this and leave the fort.

Perhaps they weren't happy seeing another human join the fray. The second dusk wraith's corpse hadn't even touched the floor when two other ravenous beasts abandoned their assault on Tess and began rushing towards my direction.

"This is going to be painful." I immediately switched my knife to my unharmed hand. My shoulder was already in a lot of pain. The last thing I wanted was for pain to slow my movements.

I stood unmoving and the moment the two beasts came into range I casted Shroud. My figure began blending into my surroundings causing the duskwraiths to momentarily pause.

One moment was all I needed as I immediately activated Static Timefall. The world around me slowed as I sprinted forward. The effect of Shroud lessened, causing the two of them to find me. Alas, it was already too late; my knife effortlessly passed through the first one's neck before cutting the second one's arm.

The second dusk wraith shrieked and took a couple of steps back; I was about to chase when something seized my arm.

"Argh." I cried in pain before turning around, only to see a duskwraith no less than three feet tall munching on my arm, its sharp teeth piercing my flesh.

Seven Hells, Deadly Intuition didn't activate? I hurriedly stabbed the small duskwraith and freed my arm, before giving it a quick inspection.

The bite had created several puncture wounds. Thankfully, the thing wasn't big enough; otherwise, it would have taken my arm.

Still, that didn't mean this was a good situation. I was only at the first stage of Body Refinement. The arm was losing too much blood, and even with my new, improved vitality, it wouldn't take too long for this to start affecting my body.

Deadly intuition suddenly activated, causing me to dodge backward. I needed to quickly stop the bleeding, but how? I couldn't do it in the center of this chaotic battlefield. I couldn't even leave the battlefield; even simple walking was enough to weaken the spell.

Racking my brain, I parried another attack, narrowly saving my chest from a slash, and lunged at the duskwraith in front of me.

[Duskwraith(Lvl-1)][Progress- 79%]

Even the spell hadn't reached level two. Damnit, should I just wait it out? The bleeding had already begun to slow down by now.

"Fall back and bandage your arm. I'll cover you." A sudden red streak of hair flashed past me. With her sword as transparent as ice, Aria impaled the Duskwraith attacking me, its body transforming into a frozen statue before shattering into nothingness.

Elemental Convergence Detected.

Do you wish for [Duskwraith (Lvl-1)] to absorb the stray soul?

Yes/No

[Duskwraith(Lvl-1)][Progress- 79%]

Do you wish to evolve Duskwraith to Level 2?

Yes/No

Congratulations! Duskwraith has levelled up to Level 2.

Duskwraith is evolving.

Evolution Complete.

[Shroud] has leveled up to Level 2.

Not needing to be told twice, I hurriedly took out some bandage from my storage and wrapped it tightly over my arm. The severity of the wounds didn't even concern me. My main priority right now was to make sure not a single drop of blood left my body.

Quickly finishing the bandaging, I rushed towards Aria's side, who was currently facing off alone against three Duskwraiths. Behind us, Tess was firing one arrow after another to make sure the number only stayed at three.

"Let's see what this is about." I used the Level 2 Shroud. The spell activated, gulping down a large volume of my mana, much larger than what it had taken previously.

This was less than ideal. I was already down to less than 30% on my mana reserves, resorting to using my spells for no more than a couple of moments. I couldn't keep using this spell for much longer; otherwise, it would suck my core dry.

At the same time, I could feel myself blending in with my surroundings at a much deeper level than before. Even while running, my stealth was no less than what it had been while being stationary at Level 1.

I sped towards one of the Duskwraiths in the corner, ending its life before it could even notice me. Then, without wasting a moment, I deactivated the spell and lunged at the dusk wraith beside it.

The thing was already distracted fighting against Aria; with me this close, it had no chance of defending itself.

Elemental Convergence Detected.

Do you wish for [Duskwraith (Lvl-2)] to absorb the stray soul?

Yes/No

Thinking for a moment, I clicked Yes. With my current mana capacity and how mana-hungry this spell was, leveling this spell to Level- 3 would only make it unusable. Currently, the best course of action was to absorb these souls, increase their leveling percentage. I would not evolve this spell until I reached the second stage of Body Refinement.