01.13 - Elden Lord`s Great-Great-Grandchild

The large Bone Fiend in the back seemed to retreat slightly as it ordered the twentytwo smaller ones to move in on me and the party of seven I had rushed to support.

Maybe I should have focused on the boss while I still had the element of surprise?

But then the nearest enemy could have killed the wounded man next to me.

The five remaining combatants used the short breather to move their two injured men closer to the back of their formation as the three closest Bone Fiends led a new wave of attacks.

I grabbed the injured man’s sword with my left hand and pulled the blade out of the mud.

Time to see how effective my ‘Blademaster’ Class’ ‘Dual Wield Mastery’ was. System knows I spent more than enough points to level it up.

My blades slashed through my first few foes like a knife through butter.

Combining it with ‘Weak Point Analysis’ and ‘Flurry of Blades’ proved pretty effective.

The easiest way to eliminate them seemed to be a cut between the skull and the torso.

I flashed through the advancing enemies, slashing away at three Bone Fiends as I went, then focused both blades on the one coming directly at me.

While the first three crumbed to dust, the fourth one in front of me tried to stab me.

I blocked its dagger with my left blade, then targeted its weak point with my right.

That last thrust seemed like a bad move.

I had advanced quite a bit.

There were enemies all around, and no easy way to return to the party I came to aid.

Seven small Bone Fiends around me, eleven more focusing on the group, and a large one in front of me preparing some kind of spell.

I countered the first three that came for my vitals.

‘Parry’ and ‘Riposte’ did their thing, narrowing down the number of Bone Fiends around me to three.

Their boss meanwhile was still in the middle of its cast.

I used a brief window in between assaults to use ‘Know Your Enemy’:

//========================================

// Undead - Lvl.47 - Greater Bone Fiend

…

// Necromancer Lvl. 43

Animate Bone Fiend

Life Leech

…

// Pyromancer Lvl. 36

Immolate

Tiny Flame

…

// Stats:

Physical Power 75

Physical Resist 61

Special Power 85

Special Resist 73

Status Power 56

Status Resist 57

Random Power 43

Random Resist 51

//========================================

Three new Bone Fiends rose from the ashes of their fallen predecessors as the Greater Bone Fiend finished its incantation.

Not great, but better than being the target of ‘Immolate’ or ‘Life Leech’.

It continued another incantation right after that.

I could use the ‘Spellblade’s ‘Spell Parry’, but why risk another round of summons?

There were three meters and four Bone Fiends between us.

The Greater Bone Fiend would probably have finished his new spell twice over by the time it would take me to hack and slash my way toward it.

Combining ‘Weak Point Analysis’ with ‘Warp Strike’ proved quite effective.

It must have seemed as if I momentarily blinked out of existence and materialized behind the boss as it began to crumble apart.

I should really remember to put some more Skill Points into ‘Warp Strike’ to increase the range and reduce the energy cost.

Eliminating the remaining Bone Fiends was now just a matter of time.

The girl who had introduced herself as the Pupil of the Elden Lord had already dealt with most of them by the time I eliminated the boss.

I assisted in the slaying of the seven remaining Bone Fiends, taking off into the air just as the last one crumbled to dust.

“There is a campground to the south,” I called down as I took flight. “My party and I will be there later, you can use it to take care of your wounded.”

By the time I met up with Tia and Isabella again, it was already way past noon. The flower I had found had almost closed again when we reached it.

Tia and Isabella had found and harvested the nectar of another three flowers while I was stuck in combat.

We met the rescued party of seven back at the camp not too long after, as we prepared for the night.

We still had more than enough of our supplies and additional meat to share, thanks to the encounter with the Horned Rabbits the day before.

“You're not really a Bronze rank, are you?” asked one of the inquired men.

Straight to the point.

I showed him my Bronze dog tags for confirmation.

“I am, as you can see,” I said. “Actually, it’s a long story, but...”

Time to improvise. Add a bit of truth to make the lie seem more plausible.

Tia, as she read my mind, presented her Steel rank tag to the group.

“...I am sure we could sum it up if you want,” said Tia.

And the trap had closed.

“So you are an irregular?” the self proclaimed pupil of the Elden Lord asked.

“Irregular?” I asked as I took a closer look at her. She seemed in her mid teens, with blue eyes, long, slightly platinum hair. She seemed to be at least a mixed, or more likely an Elden pure blood, going by the golden ornaments on her sword, the silver armor she wore, and her stated position.

“Sometimes the spheres fail to gauge people's potential,” she said. “Happens more often than you might think.”

“I never heard of any other instance,” I said truthfully.

“Have you ever been off-world?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“It’s a big galaxy,” she said. “But there should have been another prominent case on this land not too long ago, it was actually my aunt and… wait a second.”

She paused for a long moment.

“What was your name again?”

“Grey,” I said. “Grey Morgenlicht. Well, it’s actually ‘Gry Steward Morgenlicht’ but I’ve been going by ‘Grey’ for most of my life.”

“Oh? Oh!” She suddenly started laughing.

“Is something wrong?” I was puzzled.

“Nothing, nothing,” she said as she calmed herself. “Let me introduce myself again: I am Lucy Morgenstern. Pupil of and great-great-granddaughter to the Elden Lord. And your great-grandniece. Nice to meet you, aunty.”

“You mean…” I was dumbfounded for a moment.

“Sorry, uncle Grey,” she said.