With a surge of strength I didn't even know I had, I summoned Curse Piercer and swung upwards, shearing the tentacle holding me and pulled out a Desert Eagle with the other, opening fire.
George and Gina didn't react, but Lily did, leaning out of the way of the first three shots before she lashed out with a barbed tentacle that shattered five more ribs and sent me spinning, fading in and out of consciousness.
I opened my inventory, letting all of my unpinned Grenades fly, and tugged on my technique just before I hit the ground. The impact still left me rattled and barely conscious, and the follow-up explosion flat-out knocked me out, but only for the briefest moment.
Congratulations: You've reached level 21
You've become a First Grade Sorcerer.
+10 CE +10 free points
You've reached level 22
+10CE +10 free points
The mass level-ups jolted me to my feet,flooding my body and mind with a wild strength. I swung, burying my fist into the first Curse I saw, pulping him. I ducked under a leaping wolf, driving a blade into its jaw and swinging its body into a group of others, roaring.
Class: Sorcerer – Level 22 (1st Grade)
Titles: Touched by the Sparks of Black, Julius the Immortal
Techniques: Inverse Lv 6→7
Health: 820 /1920
Cursed Energy: 1480/2900
Stamina: 900/1850
Stats:
STR: 145 AGI: 190 PER: 152 VIT: 192
END: 185 CP: 290
Skills:
Cursed Inventory Lv 8
Hand-to-Hand Combat Lv 7→8
Cursed Energy Manipulation Lv 7
Cursed Energy Reinforcement Lv 6
Stealth Lv 6→7
Curtain Lv 7
Gun Mastery Lv 6→7
Acrobatics Lv 6→7
Swordsmanship Lv 7→8
Binding Vow Lv 4→
Reversed Cursed Technique Lv 7
Mace Mastery Lv 4→5
Hammer Mastery Lv 4
Staff Mastery Lv 4
Free Points: 20
I dumped all of my free points into speed and took off like a gunshot before my body fully adjusted. I drove my blade into the jaw of a bladed warrior and ripped his head off with a growl and a twist before drop-kicking a flanking attacker, snapping his neck.
I grabbed his leg with my free hand and chucked his body at a flock of birds dive-bombing, creating a chain reaction that took out a few hundred. Leaping back, I slashed out, splitting a line of approaching snake monsters filling up the thinning ranks.
My bombs had done a real number on Lily's army. They were no longer this impossible horde of death. Some of the remaining first-grade were wounded, and if I looked hard enough, I could see spots where the battered and cracked tarmac peeked through.
And that brought a rictus grin on my face. For the first time since the fight began, I saw a way through, and I held onto that hope like my life depended on it. A dagger appeared in my left hand before I leapt into the fray, shielded by my upgraded technique.
The slashes became a blur, the movements a vigil. Instinct. Half-step. Slash. Spinning Cut. Stomp. Parry. Thrust. Side-step. Slash. Rapidly evaporating Curse-blood covered every inch of my skin. There was so much death that it was practically choking me.
I could've gone forever, but Lily put her finger on the scale.
The serated tentacle came for me again, but I was ready for it. My whip swung out with a loud crack, popping it like a balloon. It almost distracted me from the sudden acceleration of the hovering Dragon.
Pulling my shield out from my inventory, I flung myself to the side before the world exploded. The shockwave from the touchdown ripped me off my feet and flung me into the far wall of the barrier, my back grinding against the energy. The mangled bodies of the Curse Spirits hit me next, then the debris.
Inverse weathered through it all, whipping and waning, but it held strong, the newly upgraded technique finally living up to my expectations.
I shoved off the bits and the mangled bodies of wolves and snakes, then came face to face with a dragon out of the fantasy books
Two wide webbed wings stuck out from its back, and it rested on its massive hands and feet. A horn jutted from the tip of its nose, dividing its massive scaly face. Bits of the monster were shades of grey, loosely contrasting their midnight-black skin. Its eyes, though, were pure white. Massive, spine-tingling, and malevolent.
I adjusted my grip on my shield and laughed, mostly to myself.
If this isn't an Arthurian sight. I don't know what it is.
The dragon's head snapped forward impossibly fast. The wind buffeted, and my perception screamed as I rolled out of the way, its jaw crunching on stone and dead curse bodies. It whipped its head left, in my direction, and I raised my shield, tanking it. The sheer size of the beast shoved me to the side, despite the effectiveness of my technique.
Curse Piercer lashed out, drawing a thick line of blood, opening its throat. It pulled back with a roar, swinging its massive hand at me. I twisted over the attack, switching Curse Piercer for my whip mid-air, and striking out. It cracked against the wounded neck, pressing my advantage and sending my Draconian foe stumbling.
I pulled the whip back, looping it around and above me before I struck again with an air-splitting crack, targeting the same bloody spot. The Dragon hissed, belching a wave of white flame that sent me rolling and crabwalking, all the while I pulled my whip back and chambered the third shot.
With a flash of Overdrive, the whip ate up the distance and split open the dragon's neck with a deafening crack, drawing a thick spray of blood that drenched me. It leapt into the air with a beat of its massive wings that sent me stumbling and unleashed a tide of fiery destruction that threatened to swallow up half of the arena with me in it.
That was when I remembered Ernest's Cloak. That absurd-looking thing that kept him afloat and allowed him to keep up with me pre-transformation. With a mental tug, it manifested above my shoulders, and I latched it on with my Shield hand after sending it into my Cursed Inventory.
With an explosive leap of Overdrive, I cleared the ground, the cloak whipping around me, and the Dragon noticed, concentrating its breath and whipping it at me like a blade.
I pumped Cursed Energy into the cloak as I banked left and wrapped the clothing in my extension technique. The heat licked me ravenously, but the dragon missed by inches, and I went on the offensive the moment I had a clear shot at the beast, lobbing a shot from my grenade launcher into its chest.
It screamed, head whipping side to side as it clawed at the air. The white fire flowed in uncontrollable bursts, creating pockets of heat that screaming towards me. I tried tugging harder on the cloak, adjusting my descent, and I succeeded partially, only to get swatted by its massive club of a tail, punting me into the hell of white-fire it'd generated below.
I landed with a dull thud and was on my feet nearly instantly, but the heat was like a club to the brain. It was sharp, nearly all encompassing, and my technique, the soldier that it was, was barely holding on. I tried darting out of the fire, but not before the Dragon unleashed another breath attack, bathing me in pain, and collapsing my recently upgraded technique. I nearly collapsed from the shock, flashes of colors entering my vision, but sheer, fucking stubbornness kept me fucking going.
I wasn't going to die here. Not after everything. Not to Lily of all people.
I banished what was left of my cloak and grabbed Curse-Piercer, holding the hilt like it was the haft of a spear and lining up the blade before whipping it forward. It flew through and sank deep into the chest of the beast, plucking it from the sky. It dropped like the world's largest sack of potatoes and knocked me off my feet, fetching my back against the barrier once again.
The top layer of my skin had melted off at this point, and I heard a notification in the back of my mind, but I couldn't afford to give it my attention, not for one moment.
I shot out of the flame and produced a metal Boar Spear I'd taken to practicing with, and hurled it at the recovering Dragon. It hit like a gunshot, slamming into its shoulder, and then I pulled by 50.Cal out and let loose.
Bullets barked out, each packed with Curse Energy. I got two off before it reacted with another roar. Its jaw unhinged, and white light limned its mouth. I donned on was left of Ernest's Cloak and leapt into the air again, avoiding a beam of flame and coming down with a brutal downward slash with a katana coated with Overdrive and propelled by Batto Sword Drawing from its sheathe.
It swept through one of the eyes of the beast and blasted out of the side of its socket. It jerked to the side, screeching. I leaned against his horn to steady myself before I pulled out my Desert Eagle, filled it with Curse Energy, and popped its other eye.
It snapped its head around so fast I was in the air before I even realized it, a claw clipping me into the dirt. I grunted, muttering under my breath about how fighting a dragon was bullshit, before the claws of the beast came crashing down. I spun out of the way in time and shot my gun again. The mighty beast reared up, prepping to bring its massive weight down on me. I summoned another solid-metal boar spear and lined it up with the beast's heart before its bulk descended.
"Come on. Come on."
I poured so much Curse Energy into the weapon that it was humming by the time the Dragon hit. The spear went straight through, piercing deep into the beast. Its body hit me so hard, my augmented technique buckled under the pressure, but it didn't break.
"Mufffgh."
And then the notification came, and the relief.
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