The Gamer's POV-Chapter 246: Heralds of Madness [6]
Just as the Heralds were almost upon the group, Cedric’s eyes darted to Celeste atop the opposite spire as something she was doing suddenly caught his attention. For some reason, she kept tapping her leg aggressively on the stone she was standing on, causing cracks to spiderweb across the surface.
She also kept clattering her teeth while her fingers twitched at her sides, as if she were vibrating with an energy she couldn’t contain.
’Is she alright?’ Cedric thought with a flicker of worry in his expression.
All of a sudden, before the creatures could even reach their position, Celeste lunged from her spire with frightening speed. She landed atop another, then another, closing the gap in a flash of movement. When she was finally in striking distance, she leapt towards the nearest creature, and the Herald, for all its speed, couldn’t even react in time to defend itself. With surprising force, she pivoted in midair and kicked the creature in its front face. The impact was so violent that the Herald’s massive head spun around entirely before it went flying off the body.
Celeste then landed on the ground, and as the headless carcass slumped forward, she leapt again and kicked its falling torso, sending it crashing into the beast behind it. The second creature was caught off guard by the weight of its dead companion, and the collision knocked it backward, tangling its many spindly legs.
In that brief moment of disorientation, the eyes on its unsettlingly human face widened as Celeste descended upon it in a blur. She then plunged her hand straight into its eye, her extended claws driving through the socket and deep into its brain with a wet, heavy thud. In the same fluid motion, she plunged her other hand into its open mouth and ripped out its massive tongue.
Blood erupted, splattering across her face and the jagged rocks below as the creature let out a silent, gurgling tremor before going limp.
’Damn...’ Cedric was stupefied at the carnage. ’How many levels has she risen?’
A notification popped up in his vision in response to the question:
[Current level: 30 —> Level Cap]
’Ah...’
That explained it. But then... Cedric noticed the level cap.
’So she climbs a level every minute, but stops at the peak of a grade above her?’
He saw her grab the dead, fallen Herald by the jagged edges of its eye socket. Then, she planted her feet and swung the entire body of the four meter creature in a violent, sweeping circle. The heavy torso became a flail of meat and bone, smashing into the other creatures that were closing in on her.
Upon seeing that impossible show of strength, Cedric grew even more stunned. Of course, he knew that the impossible strength wasn’t just a result of the increase in level. Even after reaching the peak of Grade Three, a Dominant cannot lift and fling a four meter creature in that manner. After thinking about it briefly, he concluded that when she was in her Demon Queen state, her strength was being multiplied incredibly.
The corner of Cedric’s lips involuntarily tugged up, and a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he grew even more impressed.
However, he quickly snapped out of it because, since all the creatures were now focusing on the Demon Queen, he saw an opening and decided to capitalize on it.
’Let’s go, Aika!’~ he called as he leapt off the spire before vanishing into the air. Without wasting a beat, Aika joined him and both reappeared atop creatures who were still reeling from Celeste’s brutal assault.
At the same time, they drove their blades, which were covered in the black flames of decay, into the necks of the creatures. Then, they leapt off right as the hands of the heralds reached up for them.
One Herald turned its attention from Celeste to Cedric, and as it launched at him, a massive axe the size of a battering ram descended upon it. The sheer weight of the blow split open the creature’s upper torso, sending its insides pouring out.
Aurora, still hovering above, raised her hand again, and the axe hummed as it rose back into the air. Then, as she brought her hand down a second time, all her swords descended in a coordinated rain of steel. The creatures, caught between Cedric, Aika, and Celeste, tried to avoid the falling blades, their movements becoming increasingly desperate as the ground around them was carved into pieces.
One Herald leapt to the right just as a sword slammed into the stone where it had been standing. It immediately leapt again, narrowly avoiding another blade, only for a beam of black flames to erupt from a large halo that had formed in front of Cedric’s pointed sword. The dark energy shot out with a roar, engulfing the creature’s face and surging beyond it.
Another Herald leapt onto a spire and began scrambling upward with frantic speed. Once it reached the peak, it launched itself into the air with all its arms extended, aiming straight for Aurora in a desperate attempt to take out the cause of the falling blades. However, just as it leapt off the stone, one of Celeste’s whips flew through the air, striking the underside of its jaw with the bladed tip.
The blade embedded itself deep into the roof of its mouth. Then Celeste jerked her arm backwards, and like a chain, the whip pulled the creature down, slamming it onto the rocky ground.
The chaotic battle continued in this relentless rhythm, with the four of them working together in a seamless display of violence. Before the remaining monsters could even realize they were being systematically hunted, the tide had completely turned.
And within minutes, all the Heralds had finally fallen, leaving the rocky terrain silent save for the echoes of the struggle.
Breathing heavily, Cedric leaned against a nearby spire to support his frame and catch his breath. He wiped a smear of black fluid from his forehead and quickly looked around at the bodies littering the stone floor. Then he began to mentally do the math.
Before they had entered this territory, he had checked Aurora’s stats and saw she was sitting at about eight thousand, eight hundred and something EXP.
Now, while both he and Aika combined had killed nine of the Heralds, Celeste had killed nine on her own, and Aurora had taken down five.
’Was that enough for all of us?’
He was bad at math, so to confirm, he flicked his gaze up and focused his intent. ’Gamer Privileges, pull up all three of our stats.’
