Spearbound Ch. 56

There was chaos in the horde as they tried to adjust to the onslaught, but it wasn’t from what Kade expected.

[Inferno Burst] had disappeared seconds before, and while Kade was a killing machine, his efficiency was irrelevant against an enemy force numbering in the hundreds or thousands. Hellion was barely a factor since the small bird conserved his [MP] and chose when to pick-off the monsters at the safest moments, as was ordered.

More than once, a monster Kade was about to kill disintegrated into white powder, surprising him, and he felt Hellion’s glee as it soared back into the sky. He couldn’t even be angry since he had told him to do exactly that—kill when keeping himself safe.

He flinched when a majority of the horde disintegrated into white powder, putting the few surviving into an even more frantic state. He saw Eliza wave at him from a distance while panting heavily.

Kade still couldn’t believe she was capable of such destruction. It certainly helped that the area effect was in play, allowing for light damage to become fatal.

Eliza is unstoppable in the desert. We have to rethink our retreat. But first, I’ll clean up the leftovers.

The remaining horde quickly regrouped, deciding to make him their target, likely because of proximity. Eliza was either too exhausted to deal with them, or she was giving him the opportunity to make his own kills.

The latter was what Kade did.

He moved like a ghost through the storm of bodies, slipping between the gnashing jaws and slashing claws as if the battle bent around him.

The weight of the area effect was large—every monster, no matter how massive, how armored, how nightmarish, now nothing more than fragile glass.

Kade was hyperaware this also applied to him, which was why he always held [Ethereal Glide] at the ready. If there was even the slight possibility of a monster’s appendage getting too close, he would activate it.

The attempt to find a loophole with [Life Leech] had been pointless. It didn’t help him recover health at all. He wasn’t sure if the monsters didn’t have enough health for him to take, or if the area effect prevented [Life Leech] from being effective.

His [Soulrend] called for the death of everything it touched. A single thrust punched through a monstrous wolf’s skull, a casual flick turned a towering goliath into white powder, a serpent, its fangs dripping in venom, could never get close enough after his [Soulrend] was driven through the roof of its mouth.

Kade found it too easy. He was lucky that this rift zone didn’t have monsters excelling in speed, a glaring weakness in his attributes.

He panted as he cleared his surrounding, his fist tightening around his [Soulrend]’s shaft when monsters rushed to fill the gaps he had just created.

Kade glanced at Eliza and noticed that there was a clear line of demarcation before her, a stack of white powder glaringly visible on the golden sand. All the monsters that tried to reach her died well before she was ever in danger.

He noticed she was also tired, but not nearly as much as he was. Running out of stamina was an issue he had never really worried about before, but it might be the thing that could decide his life.

Kade couldn’t afford to spend energy killing the monsters one-by-one. He preferred it since it let him train his skills, but it was too inefficient with how low he was in stamina.

The monsters rushing towards him wouldn’t make it.

He hefted his [Soulrend] and launched it at the incoming crowd, activating [Inferno Burst] before any of them had the chance to break his precious [Soulrend].

Kade usually admired the eruption of flames that followed the activation, but he had no time for that this time. He summoned his [Soulrend] the instant [Inferno Burst] activated, wanting no delay with his follow-up throw.

The [Soulrend] flew back into another part of the incoming horde and Kade repeated the action until he was almost out of [MP]. A field of fire surrounded him. If it wasn’t for it being his own creation, it would have been a preview of hell.

Kade didn’t drop his guard as he glanced at his [MP].

MP: 10/72

That was enough for him to use [Ethereal Glide] a few times to get himself out of a deadly situation.

“Kade! Protect me!” Eliza screamed suddenly.

He moved by instinct. He wiped out most of the monsters targeting him, and the ones survived the flames joined their brethren in trying to overwhelm Eliza. The line of demarcation had been moving closer to her with every wave, and they were aware of it.

Kade shot toward Eliza and killed his way through the monsters to reach her. She was on her knees with sweat dripping down her body, though that didn’t stop her from annihilating the monsters with blade-like sand.

“Should we retreat?” Kade asked, readying himself for the moment Eliza could no longer keep up her attacks.

“No,” Eliza said through clenched teeth. Another wave of monsters disappeared in a swirl of sand. However, the line of demarcation moved closer again. “Give me some time. I’ll be able to get rid of all of them.”

Kade’s eyebrows rose, but all he did was nod. He was jealous of how efficiently she could use her spells. His [Inferno Burst] was grand, but that came with a significant [MP] cost.

I need to get another long-range ability.

His eyes flickered across the approaching monster waves and estimated that there were several hundred in the entire horde. It took him activating [Inferno Burst] six times to get rid of the same number, and he didn’t have minutes to recover his [MP].

Kade knew he couldn’t dive into the horde and skewer them with his [Soulrend]. He would deplete his stamina long before making a dent.

That left him with one option.

“Prepare yourself,” Kade said, keeping Eliza behind him. She murmured an acknowledgement, but he concentrated on making Hellion obey his orders.

“Now!” Kade yelled as he rocketed towards the horde. The sand no longer destroyed the monsters, shocking them for a moment before they roared in victory.

That was premature.

Kade let out a roar of his own as he reached their vanguard, preparing himself for what was to come. His [Soulrend] was about to contact a bear-like monster when everything turned red.

The intense heat prickled at his skin as his parts of his clothes burned away. The strength of Hellion’s attack impressed him, but he lacked time to express it.

Kade threw himself into the middle of a crowd that escaped destruction and fed his [Soulrend] as many lives as he could. He jumped just in time to avoid being bisected and impaled his [Soulrend] to get rid of the threat, all the while monitoring Eliza.

Hellion’s surprise attack and his constant irritation successfully drew all the attention away from her. It was a risk for the baby bird to use that sort of attack since it required Hellion to be at a lower-than-usual altitude, but he threw himself at the vanguard to distract them, and it worked.

He needed to make that possible again so the monsters would stay on him.

Kade went through the motions to keep himself alive while occasionally killing some monsters near him. He already saw several keeping an eye out for Hellion, preventing his companion from helping. More worryingly, some were looking at Eliza.

It would be long before they tried to attack her. Their fear of death if they approached her kept them away. If that expectation was broken, they would turn into an unstoppable tide.

Kade burst through a monster that tried to block him into an unfavorable spot and checked his [MP].

MP: 19/72

That was more than enough.

He leapt into the air and had his [Soulrend] pointed down. He activated [Inferno Burst] and ordered Hellion to use that as cover to dive lower.

Kade landed in the newly cleared spot with white powder floating down around him and felt a shockwave. Hellion shot another fireball that dwarfed his [Inferno Burst], throwing everything into chaos.

Over half of the remaining horde had been destroyed, but Kade knew this was something he could do nothing against.

Hellion was exhausted, and another fireball would put the bird into another coma. In this situation, that was certain death. And Kade could probably last long enough to use [Inferno Burst] a few times, but it would be enough to prevent his own death from a lack of stamina.

He glanced at Eliza and saw that she was on her feet. He hoped it meant she was almost ready to finish whatever spell she was readying.

Kade took steady steps towards the horde without showing his weakness. He ordered Hellion to stay high and out of reach before he ran.

I’ll put myself between the horde—

The desert surged as if it was ravenous. Sand surrounded everything in the area, Eliza, Kade, the monsters. Everything. It collapsed inward, and he instinctively activated [Ethereal Glide].

The horde disappeared without a trace; the desert claiming them for itself. Kade turned in a panic that only disappeared when he saw Eliza still there. She was back on her knees, but alive, and with a wide smile on her lips.

He ran to her and helped her up, one thing sticking out in his mind. “Did you stop yourself from doing that at the start to give me some monsters to kill?”

“Please, I’m not that eager to put my life in your hands. I unlocked that spell in the middle of the massacre. If you can’t tell, it’s still unpolished.”

“Checking the interface in the middle of a fight,” Kade laughed lightly. “You have some balls, Eliza.”

“Anyone who dares to come with you to a rift zone needs some,” Eliza muttered, shuffling along with his support.

Kade’s smile grew wider as he checked his own interface. After that, they could decide on the next step.