Cloud Enhancement!
Fraser felt himself resonating with the Void, its energy beating in his meridian as arcane pushed itself out and into his body, every beat of his heart synced with the natural arcane rhythm, battle intent overflowing within him. A layer of hazy fog covered Fraser's body and garments, his image became blurry as he sped about the cave, these spiders which were unable to use investigative techniques, were finding trouble trying to pinpoint Fraser's location.
The Tidal Edge showed itself for a brief moment, slicing off two legs from one of the tier one spiders. By slicing at the ligament where the leg met the main body, Fraser could avoid the durable bits of the spider's legs, slicing at organic matter, like a hot knife through butter.
But this range made him vulnerable, the spider raised its other leg after screeching in pain, stabbing toward Fraser. Its attack met a cool fog that Fraser had left in his wake, a tier one midnight blade was helpless against him, his agility far outclassing it. However, three tier two midnight blades had caught onto him from this short vulnerability, chasing Fraser around the cave.
Red acid poured out of the midnight blade's mouth, emitting a shrill noise along with it. The acid flew toward Fraser.
He dodged, turning around and charging toward the three spiders, swinging his blade.
The midnight blades showed no fear, similarly dashing toward him, their pincers pointed at this enemy.
Fraser parried, blocked and dodged in succession, radiant white sparks flying out of the clashes between blades, before discovering a blind spot on the under belly of one of the arachnids.
He plunged the Tidal Edge deep into the underbelly of the tier two midnight blade. It growled deeply in pain and horror, Fraser twisted the blade, and sliced open its entire abdomen with skillful precision. Two razor legs from the other spiders descended upon him, he used the ripped apart spider as a meat shield, ignoring its cries.
The legs skewered the hurt midnight blade, ending its misery once and for all. Fraser then hacked at the legs that came through the abdomen of the dead spider, wounding them with much effort.
The two other arachnids were stuck with their legs inside their dead packmate.
"Haha, stupid spiders!"
Complacency was a fatal poison.
The pincer of a different spider who had caught up came upon Fraser's neck like a reaper claiming its victim. The chill of death had yet again loomed over him. He whipped around in an unusual motion, bringing up the Tidal Edge, letting go of the dead spider. The pincer narrowly missed its target, leaving a shallow gash along Fraser's neck.
He pounced toward this spider that had ambushed him, grabbing at its head after sheathing the Tidal Edge, releasing scorching smoke that incinerated the midnight blade, before unsheathing his shortsword again and finishing the spider off.
Fraser ripped open the head of the spider, green blood dripping off his blade, smoke surrounded him, his grey eyes open maniacally wide, shining like stars within the dense ash, the two tier one spiders have long since fled out of fear, leaving two wounded and two healthy tier two midnight blades to go.
"Just four more left…" Fraser's deep crackling voice drowned out the cries of injured beasts, his enhancement technique flickering his body in and out of existence.
Even the remaining spiders began to lose battle intent, they had their own survival instincts, and this sight truly struck terror into their feeble hearts.
Fraser vanished, appearing beside the injured spiders, catching their attention. He gave them no chance, releasing frosty mist toward them from his blade. The attunement of the Tidal Edge complemented this release of arcane, increasing its power to match the strength of a tier two technique despite being raw arcane energy, this was the brilliance of arcane tools. Layers of ice crystals formed on the arachnids, slowing their counter attack, grabbing this opportunity, Fraser slashed toward one of the spiders with all his might.
An inhumane scream resounded along the cave walls, but this one wasn't from the spiders as would be expected, Fraser had lost his mind, all he could feel was the pounding of the Void in his heart as his joy for violence erupted.
"Three."
Another screech echoed.
"Two."
And yet another cry.
"One."
The last midnight blade shrunk back in fear, its legs squelching in its own blood, wounds scattered upon its body as it tried to escape. These weak attempts bore no fruit, Fraser's manic gaze fell upon it.
In this scenario, the midnight blades looked more human than Fraser.
Were the pitiful arachnids before him the monsters, or was it him?
The final shrill shout left the cave, as Fraser stood over the lifeless corpses of the midnight blade pack.