One of the best examples of my aforementioned need for personal skill besides levels is the fact that I no longer needed to use hand signals to cast my spells.
I swung my saber swiftly in long arcs as if I were the conductor of an orchestra while channeling mana into my summoning spells. The ground beneath me trembled as I uttered the incantation for the first of my class’ summonable creations. “[Stone Sentinel]”
The earth itself obeyed my call. The ground trembled and then outright shattered apart as massive slabs of rock rose and formed into the hulking shape of an earth golem. Its featureless face turned toward the advancing group of enemies while its massive fists clenched with a sound like grinding stones. Standing at five meters (16’4) tall, the Stone Sentinel exuded an aura of raw power. It was a walking fortress ready to crush anyone foolish enough to come close.
But I wasn’t done, for my intermediate spells included a second summonable minion. “[Flame Serpent]”
A searing trail of fire erupted from my saber’s tip. It emerged and began coiling and writhing as if it were escaping from a tight prison. The serpent hissed furiously while its crimson-red eyes fixed on the nearest targets. It didn’t take more than a second for the summoning to be complete, which was marked by the thud sound of the serpent hitting the ground.
It was much smaller than the sentinel, but it more than made up for the lost Strength with Agility.
After an ear-splitting roar, it surged forward and began weaving through the crowd. Wherever it passed, flames burst to life, engulfing weapons, shields, and flesh alike. It was a predator who hunted down the enemies of its summoner.
The Stone Sentinel fearlessly ran into the fray with its massive fists crashing down on the unfortunate souls in its path. One fighter tried to block the golem’s strike with a shield, but the sheer force of the blow sent him flying backward across the air. The arm with which he gripped the shield seemed to have broken completely.
Another attempted to flank it, only to be swatted aside like an insect by a sweeping strike of its arm. While it was much slower than the snake, every movement of the golem was precise as if it had some super core inside its body doing calculations in real-time.
The Flame Serpent, meanwhile, was pure chaos. Its movements were erratic as each twist and turn delivered searing death – or to be more precise, elimination. Before they would get burned alive, one by one, they disappeared from my sight.
One competitor, a dual-wielding rogue, tried to dodge its path, but the serpent adjusted mid-jump and ended up wrapping around his torso and igniting his leather armor in an instant. His screams echoed briefly before he vanished in a flash of light as he got himself teleported out of the arena. Others met similar fates – whether struck head-on or caught in the residual heat, they couldn’t withstand the unrelenting assault.
The crowd of enemies around me thinned rapidly as my summoned forces wreaked havoc. The few who managed to withstand their onslaught began hesitating with their resolve wavering as they watched their brief allies fall like dominoes. I took a step forward and twirled my saber lazily in one hand as I addressed them.
“I love the trembling eyes with which you all look at me. Be good boys and girls, go and cover in the corner while I farm some XP. Anyone who attacks me or the monsters will be considered my enemy. I will send Harold or Agni after your miserable asses.”
Since these two summoned creatures always looked the same, I decided to name them. The golem was Harold and the serpent was Agni.
“Harold, Agni. Protect me.” I decreed, after which they immediately moved close to me in a protective gesture. Interestingly, I could touch Agni despite his flaming exterior, which was exactly what I did as I stroked its head for a few seconds. “Miss Wrath, I would watch my back if I were you.”
With my warning stated and my summons replacing the rather lackluster bodyguard called Iris, I resumed. My aim was the monsters.
Some of them began rushing toward me with their fangs bared as they let out a war cry. I stepped into action by channeling my mana into familiar spells while orchestrating destruction as if I were a maestro of chaos.
“[Hydro Torrent]!”
A powerful jet of water surged from my pointer finger as if my hand were a firefighter’s hose on steroids.
This was the same or at least eerily similar spell to that which the Hydromancer used on me in the first round. I could defend it because I used multiple defensive spells, I had good armor and high Vitality and base HP amount.
Not only was my Magic stat likely higher than his, but my enemies were also much worse protected than I was.
The torrent began carving a path through the charging horde.
The force behind the jet attack made even the bulkiest of orcs stagger where they stood while the weaker creatures were outright killed under the pressure of my attack. Their cries would’ve been full of agony, but luckily they were drowned out by the roaring stream, so my ears didn’t have to hear their irritating screeching.
One werewolf tried to leap out of the torrent’s range, but I adjusted my aim and pinned it against an ogre who could withstand my attack without getting flown back. It gripped the canine’s head in its large hand and shattered it. I couldn’t help but look at the hideous creature with fury.
That was my kill.
‘I will get to this fucker soon enough,’ I calmed myself.
Water began dripping from my fingertips as I lowered my hand. The spell had ended, so I started surveying the carnage I caused. “Not bad…” I murmured with satisfaction just as the notifications began ringing in my head.
[You’d slain Goblin (level 5). You’d gained 1 XP.]
[You’d slain Goblin (level 2). You’d gained 0 XP.]
[You’d slain Orc (level 11). You’d gained 151 XP.]
[You’d slain Orc (level 14). You’d gained 312 XP.]
[You’d slain Werewolf (level 12). You’d gained 210 XP.]
[You’d slain Werewolf (level 16). You’d gained 689 XP.]
The XP reduction given to me by the system governing this world once again bared its horribly hideous fangs at me. Now that I was level 24, those below 15 barely gave me anything.
However, the Consortium had diligently captured higher-level monsters for me to kill, I just didn’t one-shot them with my [Hydro Torrent]. The bulkier ones like orcs, trolls, and ogres withstood it with their high Vitality, the speedy ones like werewolves dodged out of the way, and those that were not especially outstanding in these two departments still managed to survive it, just with a few injuries to their name.
They started licking their wounds while growling at me threateningly.
I chuckled at their cute sight as I prepared my next spell. I wanted to at least reach level 26 in this round, so I had my work cut out for me.
It was time I showed the audience what it meant to be the King of AoE.