CHAPTER 56: [ SPRIGGANS ]

"This is C tier?"

Alexander was at the entrance of the third room, more spriggans stood around than before.

Their forms changed as they got further into the dungeon, the way they fought was fiercer.

More leaves appeared through their bodies, making them look a lot more like trees than people.

Some of them were taller, with weapons that looked like they came straight out of a fantasy game.

One of them, at the back of the room was at least twice his size. Its arm ended in a giant green-resin hammer head, so big that it had to be dragged on the ground.

The room was as large as the previous ones, with tiled walls and floors that were gray and bland.

The only thing that stood out was the undulating floor, uneven waves spreading across the room.

Alexander glanced at Fae, she was ready to go.

They were already nearing them, they couldn’t wait much longer until the spriggans would be in melee range.

He reached in the bottomless bag. It wasn’t the easiest thing to use, its magic hard to grasp.

He felt the tip of his fingers graze a bottle, he grabbed it and threw it her way.

She easily caught it and inspected it.

"Drink it."

She lifted her mask, bringing the bottle to her lips without questioning it.

Once done she let it drop from her hands, the bottle shattering on the ground.

Her foot slid forward, her full focus ahead.

The monsters were getting closer, they were slow but as they got closer they stood nearer one another.

Alexander got his staff out of the bottomless bag after feeling through it for a few seconds.

He took a deep breath, his eyes focused on the enemies before him.

Fae dashed forward, following the wall on her left.

She dealt with one enemy at a time, slowly clearing the room while dancing in-between enemies.

She dealt with them in a single strike, the bigger ones taking at most three.

Dodging their attacks was the most important part, something she easily did.

The way she moved was as impressive as ever, the uneven floor not bothering her at all.

Still, it wasn’t enough.

We need to go faster.

Eyes bloomed through his clothes. The frenzied eyes locked-on the enemies in the room, their focus perfectly divided.

He was getting used to the feeling.

Seeing everything.

He pointed his staff forward, rifts tore the ground through the room, tendrils lashing out of each of them.

It looked as if someone had locked a kraken in a cage. Tremors shook the ground repeatedly as large tendrils whipped at the ground.

A dust cloud soon rose from the repeated hits the ground withstood.

Blocking one tendril was of little consequence, another one would hit the monster from behind.

If it wasn’t another tendril, then it was Fae.

The tendrils weren’t just randomly lashing out, hitting anything that was around.

It was calculated chaos.

Spells were hurled in Alexander’s direction, balls of green energy that were all intercepted by tendrils he rose to tank the damage.

He could feel his head burning, but he welcomed it.

He could push it further.

Roots pierced the ground underneath him, swirling around his legs and body.

He didn’t bother moving, a faint smile flickering through his face as he let them hold onto him.

More rifts tore open. The entity reached through each, obeying his every command.

Fae could read his moves perfectly, [ The Gift ] made every tendril that thrashed around easy to anticipate.

Sunder’s rune on his chest started to burn, bringing memories of past weakness with it.

He shook it off, his hand tightly clutching the staff in his hands.

More projectiles were hurled his way.

"You think just because you’ve rooted me..."

The spellcasters that ran around, trying to dodge the tendrils while throwing spells toward him and Fae had an incredible aim.

They would’ve hit dead center if it wasn’t for the tendrils intercepting them. A true feat with the fact that they were aiming while running.

Projectiles kept coming out of the dust cloud that was getting thicker. The visibility was deteriorating, Alexander needing to map out the enemies’ movements in his head with every bit of information he could get a glimpse of.

A small hole in the cloud indicating where one spriggan moved, or the resistance he felt on one tendril to tell where another one was.

Level-up messages kept popping up, but he couldn’t see them.

His attention was unbroken, his will unwavering.

The heat he felt on his chest or in his head was distant, he couldn’t even hear the whispers in his mind.

One after the other, he got rid of them like bugs.

There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Slowly, the roots that swirled around him wilted, turning gray and slowly returning to the ground.

He finally stopped, the tendrils perfectly still.

He was immobile, his eyes fixating right ahead while the frenzied eyes on his clothes all frantically looked around.

Through the holes in the cloud he looked for any movement, any enemy he might have missed.

Alexander’s eyes snapped to the right.

The tendrils converged toward the faintest movement.

Fae appeared, coming out of the cloud with both blades in hand walking toward Alexander.

They all stopped mid-way, displacing the air around Fae and creating a small wind vortex.

She didn’t flinch or look back, her pace steady.

Alexander lowered his staff, every tendril returning to the abyss they belonged to.

Every eye that opened from the [ Will Breaker ]’s gaze closed, tired.

His own eyes returned to their normal shape.

As they did, he instantly hit the ground.

"My head..."

He held onto it with both hands, curled on the floor while he gritted his teeth.

He could feel Sunder’s mark sinking into his skin, yet barely relieving the pain he felt in his head.

One of his hands reached the bottomless bag at his belt, quickly rummaging through it and getting another potion out of it.

With his thumb he popped the cork out. He got on his knees, chugging the contents of the potion.

He could feel Fae’s concerned gaze as she was now next to him.

Alexander raised his hand, she quickly got closer, allowing him to lean on her to get up.

She was his pillar, allowing him to stand and gaze upon the destruction he had caused the room.

It was in shambles, corpses of spriggans spread all around.

They hadn’t even made it close to them, in the end.

Alexander took a deep breath, his cold gaze set upon the door that slowly opened by itself across the room.

It was as tall as the wall, allowing Alexander to witness something that was just as big.

On the other side of it he could see it clearly, a giant tree with large roots that caused the undulating ground they stood on.

He could see it, the branches full of green leaves covering the ceiling.

He stumbled, quickly caught by Fae who still held onto him.

He found balance once more, and took a step forward.

Still not enough.

"We keep going."