The Lone Wanderer-Chapter 336: Chaotic battle

Percy was more than happy with his new Refined spell. There was still some room for improvement, but he doubted it would register another upgrade during his stay on Melodia. It wouldn’t be until he merged it with his Replicating Soul Harvester back home that he expected it to hit Masterful.

In any case, neither he nor his companions got much time to relax, their fight against the jigreets only marking the beginning of their trouble.

It wasn’t an accident the trio had avoided fighting during their first week by the lake. They’d remained silent, trying not to draw much attention, taking advantage of the swarm of spectral fiends cloaking the whole area. Sadly, their peaceful days were already over.

The infuriated roars and the pained cries of the elephant-sized sheep had raised quite the commotion. It wasn’t long until a second pack of beasts attacked, and another after that. Luckily, few packs truly posed a threat by themselves. Most of them barely contained a handful of Greens and a couple dozen Yellows. The Melodians had already grown powerful enough to fend them off without issue.

The problem was that the invading beasts never stopped coming. The hunters were forced to take turns to keep them at bay. When their numbers grew too much to resist, they had to leave.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have many places to go. They still didn’t want to delve deeper into the lake. It was supposedly shallow from end to end, but they all understood how disadvantaged they’d be against the aquatic denizens living closer to its centre. They couldn’t exactly travel away from the Elemental Source either, otherwise they’d lose access to its beneficial effects: which Percy and Sol very much still needed, to perfect their boosting art.

Thus, their only options were to hold their ground, or to circle along the coast, much like the jigreets themselves had done.

Like that, a couple more weeks passed.

Percy had already been on Melodia for more than two-and-a-half months, while the hunters had been on their expedition for longer still.

The good news was that the trip had born fruit for everyone involved. Doh and Latt had yet to make much progress with the Dance, and even Sol and Percy were still stuck at the final step, having no clue how they were meant to efficiently absorb the silver flames into their soul.

However, they all had more spells to work on besides their boosting art. Percy and Sol had honed their Vengeful Weapons spell even further, slaughtering hordes upon hordes of beasts in the process. The others also practiced with their attacks, enhancing their accuracy and lethality in a similar manner.

Everyone got more accustomed to fighting in the area too, getting used to peering through the mist of fiends surrounding them. The creatures still obscured most of their senses, but there were cues they could pick up on that allowed them to keep track of their opponents’ movements from a greater distance. Even Percy learned a thing or two that he could bring back home, despite already having access to his mutated eyes and Greater Foresight with his main body.

Would this be enough? Any of it? Would he be able to defeat Acton and rescue his familiar? Would Sol and the others make it home without him?

He didn’t know. None of them did. But their chances had never been better. Besides, they didn’t have a choice but to do their best and hope they succeeded, as the time of his departure was swiftly approaching.

By now, several years must have passed inside the Thirsty Valley, and it was possible his estimates were a little off, so he didn’t want to cut it too close. He’d have to leave around a week from now at the latest, Dance or no Dance. The Melodians might be able to stay at the lake a little longer than that, but they’d have to go at some point too, before the area got even more crowded.

It sucked that he might fail to perfect his boosting art in the end, but maybe he’d figure the final step out once he rejoined his main body. After all, the guy was also working on precisely that: most likely. He might not have an Elemental Source to help him, but he’d been at it for even longer, and he should be close to his advancement too, which should make things easier.

That said, Percy didn’t have the time today to ruminate about his future plans.

The group got attacked again, and it was a rather nasty pack once more: the first to pressure them this much since the jigreets. The creatures resembled jackals, though their saliva sizzled whenever a droplet landed on the ground. Curiously, there wasn’t a single Green leading them, but that didn’t make them any less dangerous. There were hundreds of them in the pack: more than even the group that had killed Rei and the others.

Sol and her two remaining teammates had grown a lot stronger since then, but also more tired. And the environment didn’t exactly work in their favour either. Thus, for the first time in two weeks, the group was forced to escape to the lake once more, hoping its treacherous waters would bog their pursuers down.

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No such luck.

Unlike the jigreets, the jackals appeared both light and nimble enough to skid along the surface, not slowing down in the slightest.

Gritting their teeth, the Melodians ran deeper into the lake: against their better judgement: while flinging spell after spell at the creatures, doing everything they could to thin their numbers. Dozens fell, but more kept coming. If there was an end to the horde, it was too far for Percy and the others to make out with their limited vision.

They kept delving deeper and deeper, soon losing track of where the shore was, even. Well, okay. It was a lake, so the shore was technically in every direction. But still several hours away in most of them. Yet, their priority right now was to not get surrounded by the beasts. If they did, holding them at bay would only grow harder.

“I think… there aren’t… many left.” Latt spat amidst pants at some point, taking another two jackals out with a couple of well-placed shots.

The man had lasted a lot longer than against the jigreets, partly because he’d grown more accustomed to keeping Circulation active, and partly because the merciless crucible of the lake had tempered everyone’s endurance above all else. But he was still obviously close to his limits.

Percy scanned the attackers, confirming his companion was right. The herd still stretched as far as the eye could see, but their ranks were a little scarcer than before. The creatures had clearly also grown tired. They might have an easier time skidding above the water than the elephant-sized sheep, but they were still heavier than the Melodians. Hungrier too.

Perhaps Latt shouldn’t have been so quick to jinx things though.

Sol was about to bisect a jackal’s soul. The foolish creature had been dumb: or impatient: enough to lunge at her, falling squarely in range of the sickles held tightly in her hands.

That was when Percy intervened, having caught a shadow leaping at them by the corner of their eyes. He barely moved his host’s torso an inch back, narrowly avoiding the eel-like creature darting just in front of their sternum like an arrow. Its long fangs still carved a shallow wound on Sol’s right shoulder, before sinking into the jackal’s throat. Clasping around the unsuspecting creature’s neck, it dragged it beneath the surface in an instant.

Percy couldn’t tell if the two beasts were fighting beneath his feet, or if their battle had already ended. The mirror-like surface remained eerily still, undisturbed by the chaos, and unmarred by the jackal’s blood.

“Watch out! Belo–” he tried to warn the others, but he was a moment too late.

Doh faced a similar situation. Right as he was about to finish two beasts, a second eel exploded in motion from right under him, shooting up like a treacherous spear. Luckily, the Green-born’s reflexes didn’t betray him, allowing him to take out all three of the creatures with some expertly placed bolts of silver.

Latt, however, wouldn’t easily survive an ambush. He was already close to falling in the water, at which point there would be no saving him. And that was assuming he even managed to protect himself that long from the invaders.

‘Take care of things here!’ Percy told his host, giving her full control of their body.

At the same time, he allowed his senses to sink beneath the surface, trying to track the eels down. His regular sight couldn’t penetrate even an inch into the water, but his Soul Vision and Mana Sense were a little better. The area was still painted in the intense colours of mana and souls, but some shades shone just a touch brighter. A mixture of Yellow and silver traced the creatures’ serpentine frames as they snaked all around them, looking for an opening.

‘There!’

Hurling one of the flying sickles, he barely managed to intercept an eel that was about to attack Latt, buying his teammate a few more breaths. Sadly, that was just the start, as more eels soon gathered around them.

The good news was that they were all at Yellow, much like the jackals. If there were any Green variants, they had yet to appear. The even better news, was that the Melodians weren’t their only targets. Most of them seemed happy to devour the sunken carcasses of the jackals the hunters had already slain. Even the few that appeared to prefer their food fresh, were more willing to attack the surviving beasts running above the surface, probably finding them easier prey.

Suffice to say, the battle devolved into complete chaos.

Coming to terms with the new threat lurking below, the jackals panicked, some of them abandoning their hunt in a desperate attempt to escape. Meanwhile, the hunters fought against everything daring enough to attack, trying to survive the relentless onslaught of the monsters.

At some point, Latt stopped fighting entirely, clearly focusing his efforts on merely staying afloat. Each breath looked like a laborious task, as the man’s feet wobbled. Even Sol and Doh weren’t exactly doing great.

That said, not many beasts remained. Most of the jackals were either dead or had run off. The eels hadn’t suffered nearly as many casualties, but the survivors seemed to have had their fill, many of them opting to quit while they were ahead rather than continue risking their lives.

“Let’s try making our way to shore. Latt won’t last much longer.” Doh said.

Sol nodded. She looked around, presumably trying to recall which way they’d come from. But Percy wasn’t paying them much attention, something else bothering him.

‘Is it me, or is the swarm a little thinner than before?’ he wondered, causing his host to raise an eyebrow.

‘You’re right…’ Sol replied, noticing the same thing.

The density of the creatures did fluctuate every now and then, but not this much. Percy and Sol could see dozens of metres away now. Even stranger was the timing. If anything, more fiends should have swarmed their location, considering how many dying souls they could feast on.

Lifting his head up, Percy’s eyes widened at the sight before him.

Countless fiends had gathered above, forming an even denser cloud of wriggling limbs and otherworldly features, spreading like a blanket, covering up every inch of the sky. And the creatures seemed to flow in an orderly manner, like hundreds of silver rivers, forming a colossal bulge in the blanket. There, they condensed into a massive ball, larger than a house.

“Shit! Dodge!” Percy shouted, right as dozens of torrents shot down at the battlefield like meteors, aimed at every living thing in the area.

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