Blessed Time: The Complete Series: (A LitRPG Adventure Box Set), page 73
In the cavern, Trevor activated Flash Step at the last second to dodge a descending limb, appearing just on the other side of the Behemoth’s leg as it tried to stomp on him. Ordinarily, his brother would follow that motion up with a spear strike, but against a monster of this caliber, he knew better.
Trevor simply kept running, barely making it away from another leg sweeping through the spot where he had just stood. Technically, the Decrepit Behemoth was slow for its level, but that hardly mattered to Micah’s party. Other than him, all of their attributes were so much lower than the beast’s that they simply couldn't count on being physically superior to it.
Drekt watched on helplessly, hands opening and closing as he waited for his chance to move in. Before too long, the burning aura surrounding the dungeon boss would overwhelm Trevor’s enchantments and he would have to withdraw. Then, while Trevor’s ring tried to dispose of the excess heat, it would be Drekt’s chance to intervene.
Sarah peppered the creature with arrows, each one scoring a deep line in the massive iron plates covering it, but unable to find the softer flesh beneath. Then it reared back, chest puffing as it prepared another barrage of metal spikes.
Ravi and Jo darted in, one of the latter’s two throwing daggers sailing through the air and striking it square in the chest with a high-pitched squeal. The knife exploded, taking a dinner plate-sized chunk of iron with it.
Whether the Behemoth was surprised at suddenly taking damage or feeling the empowered paralytic sting was immaterial; for a brief second the creature froze, and that was all that temporal vortex needed.
Or it should have been. The spell sprang into being, and Micah began cursing at himself. He’d still hit the Behemoth, but the clumsy spell was centered around the upper portion of one of its legs with a small amount of its radius encompassing the dungeon boss’s lower chest.
Vortex did its work, feeding on the boss’s temporal energy in order to create a tempest of Time magic that aged and shrunk chunks of its body haphazardly.
It staggered to the side, unable to put weight on its injured limb as its armor and bones crumbled, but Micah could already tell that it wasn’t a fatal wound.
The sturgeon dove in, ripping a chunk of rotting flesh from the beast’s shoulder as it wailed in pain and agony.
Micah began casting temporal vortex again. He only had the mana to cast the spell three times while maintaining the spirit, and although the first attack had landed, it was hardly the crippling surprise strike he’d been counting on.
Then the Behemoth whipped its head, around catching Trevor just after he’d used Flash Step, and unleashed a torrent of metal spikes. Micah’s mind went blank, and time seemed to slow.
The sturgeon, pushed by a primal wave of Micah’s will, dove into the stream of flashing metal. For a second it glittered, emitting strobes of light like an aurora as the bolts of metal punctured its ephemeral hide. Each blow stressed its connection with Micah, drawing more mana from him until the invisible tether of energy snapped entirely.
With an audible “pop,” the soap-bubble body of the spirit disappeared, greatly reducing the strain on Micah’s mana stores, but leaving their entire party exposed.
Still, the brief second it had bought Trevor was enough. Not for the young man to escape, but for Drekt to intercede and activate the enhancements on his armor.
Only the tail end of the ability hit Drekt, but it was much more than anyone near his level was meant to take. The first spike froze into a block of ice as the protective ward he’d salvaged from Elaine Clancy activated. The second shattered the block containing the first. The third spike deflected off of Drekt’s magically hardened armor with a spray of sparks. The fourth punched through the exhausted enchantments like they weren’t there, pinning the warrior by his bicep to the cavern floor.
By the fickle mercy of the gods, there wasn’t a fifth.
“Fuck your spear!” Drekt screamed. “Use the cloth! Hold it for Micah… now!”
Trevor literally threw his weapon to the side, extending both arms and letting the silk streamers extend from him toward the Behemoth.
Micah kept chanting, the words to temporal vortex bitter on his tongue. He only had enough mana for two more castings. No matter how much Trevor needed him, he couldn’t abandon the spell. He just had to trust that the rest of his team could handle things.
Before the monster could strike, Ravi swooped in once more and Jo threw her final enchanted dagger directly into the unarmored portion of its twisted and rotting injured leg.
The blade hummed and disintegrated, melting a massive chunk of flesh and exposing shattered bone beneath. The Behemoth froze.
Trevor’s streamers swept out, grabbing one of the creature’s ankles and pulling just hard enough that the paralyzed and unbalanced monster fell to the dungeon floor.
Temporal vortex struck it square in the chest, aging and rotting chunks of its lungs while other areas blurred backward in time until they were new and pink, unable to take in enough oxygen to power such a massive beast.
It tried to struggle to its feet, dragging Trevor forward a couple of paces as the ribbons of silk connected to him held fast around its leg. He yanked once again, pulling the foot out from under the critically injured monster.
Micah didn’t say anything; he just began casting temporal vortex for the final time.
Telivern galloped past, Sarah firing one arrow after another into the cracks in its armor at short range. Given its bulk, the damage was more a hindrance than critical, but every little bit helped.
Jo landed next to Drekt, dropped by Ravi from a pace or so in the air. Within a second, she was bracing the big man’s shoulder as he pulled the metal rod from his arm with an impossible-to-suppress grunt of pain.
Vaguely, Micah made out Jo crushing an amulet over Drekt, activating regeneration. It wouldn’t heal the warrior immediately, but it would prevent blood loss from doing what the Behemoth’s attacks couldn’t.
Trevor’s skin began to blister, the protection of his fire resistance ring exceeded as he struggled in close proximity with the monster to hold it in place.
Just as Trevor's hair began to smoke, Micah finished the spell.
This time it struck true, enveloping the Decrepit Behemoth’s head and upper chest. The monster’s body shuddered and its eyes glazed over, head dropping to the cavern floor at the same time that Micah fell to one knee, spent as the last dregs of mana left his body.
Even as the temperature in the room began to return to normal, a grim smile wove its way onto his face.
Now to just do that another twenty-four times, and he’d be ready for the Great Depths once more.
FIFTY
RESOLVE
Micah leaned back, hands on the hot rocks of the dungeon floor as he let regeneration heal the burns on his forearms. The Decrepit Behemoth’s cooling body lay in the corner of the cave, the telltale inside-out twisting of temporal vortex written all over its misshapen and tortured body.
In the distance, Jo and Sarah gushed over the dungeon’s loot—a scepter that would aid the casting of Earth magic—while Drekt looked on in bemusement. None of them could use the weapon, but that didn’t stop the girls from chattering excitedly about it while Ravi padded over to see what had sparked the interest.
Nearby, Telivern snorted at him.
“I’m just anxious, buddy,” he sighed, staring off at his friends as they tried to figure out a way to trigger the magic item. “The goddess said that Luxos is changing everything, but other than the ritualist showing up, I haven’t seen it.”
The deer walked up to him, lowering its muzzle and pushing the damp sphere of its nose against Micah’s cheek.
“I wish you were right.” Micah reached up and absently began stroking his friend’s creamy fur. “But I do think there’s something to worry about. It’s like there is a drum beat behind everything, driving my life forward. The past couple of years it’s been sedate. I’ve been allowed to grow and develop at my own pace, but now the tempo is increasing. It’s like reality itself wants to spur me onward, force me to march faster.”
Worry. Support.
Telivern cocked its head, its giant, dewy black eyes blinking at him as it chuffed out a breath before bumping its soft forehead against his, careful not to cut him with its razor-sharp antlers.
“We’re gaining levels fast.” He tried to give the stag a reassuring smile, but Micah knew that it could sense his anxiety through their physical connection. “I just don’t know if it's fast enough. Mursa warned me that Luxos’ priests would be antagonizing the Durgh in an attempt to start the war early. I’m so used to knowing ‘when’ everything is going to happen that being left in the dark is killing me.
“The worst of it is,” Micah muttered unhappily, “that as much as I don’t want to loop again, I don’t think I’ll be able to.”
He scooted backwards, maintaining contact with Telivern’s head as he freed the hand he had been leaning on. Micah reached up and ran the fingers of his newly liberated hand through the deer’s fur, both of his hands framing Telivern’s face.
“If Luxos is breaking the rules now…” Micah sighed, closing his eyes as he leaned against his friend. “Nothing is going to stop him from breaking them worse if I start over. I could just as easily wake up as a thirteen-year-old with an inquisitor looming over me. At least right now, I have enough power to fight whoever he sends after me. If I go back in time, I’d be completely helpless. My best-case scenario would be getting enslaved by the Royal Knights. They’d probably just kill me to stop me from turning back time again.”
Telivern’s warm breath rustled the shirt Micah was wearing under his armor. He closed his eyes, sinking into the comforting softness of the deer’s fur. Finally it snorted gently, pulling back its muzzle and licking his forehead.
“You’re right.” Micah smiled back at the stag as he pulled up his status. “Worrying about it won’t get me anywhere. Even if Luxos is breaking the rules, I’m a big boy with enough levels to deal with most problems head on. If I’m worried about something happening in the Great Depths, I can just head there myself to check it out.”
Age: 16 [ERROR] / 30
Class/Level: Divine Candidate 32
XP: 23,500/85,000
HP: 3492/3492
Class Specialty
Chronomancer
Attributes
Body: 36
Agility: 36
Mind: 73
Spirit: 72
Attunement
Moon: 32
Sun: 3
Night: 28
Mana
Moon: 3522/3522
Sun: 2917/3462
Night: 3211/3526
Affinities
Time: 10
Tier V - Foresight 9, Time Echoes 1, Temporal Transfer 2, Haste 11
Tier VI - Temporal Vortex 7, Temporal Stutter 5
Wood: 7
Tier I - Refresh 11, Mending 9, Plant Weave 12
Tier II - Augmented Mending 18, Root Spears 13
Tier III - Heal 11, Paralytic Sting 6, Explosive Thicket 6
Tier IV - Regeneration 9, Healing Wave 6, Poison Fog 8
Tier V - Panacea 1, Coma 1
Tier VI - Binding Vines 5,
Air: 6
Tier I - Gale 8, Air Knife 18, Air Supply 4
Tier II - Wind Shield 8, Sonic Bolt 14
Tier III - Updraft 3, Pressure Spear 9, Sonic Orb 7
Tier IV - Flight 4
Blessings
Mythic Blessing of Mursa - Blessed Return, Ageless Folio
Skills
Anatomy: 7
Arcana: 13
Enchanting: 28
Fishing: 1
Herbalism: 5
Librarian: 5
Ritual Magic: 31
Spear: 27
-Wind Spear: 13
-TITS: 10
Spellcasting: 39
More than anything, after killing the Decrepit Behemoth dozens of times, Micah’s mana was finally above where he’d ended his last loop. High enough that he could leave haste and regeneration on continuously for multiple battles.
With the right array of magical items to account for the Durgh Khan’s specific abilities, Micah could probably fight the man on equal footing. Still, level 40 would be the tipping point. Once he could evolve TI… Trevor’s spear skill, then so long as Micah’s ring of fire resistance was up to task, he’d be able to fight the Khan evenly with just haste and regeneration active.
Once he added in the strategic use of spells and the assistance of the sturgeon, Micah was fairly confident in his victory. Still, he was eight levels away, an almost insurmountable gulf as the experience points he earned from raiding dungeons began to dry up.
“How come you’re not celebrating with the girls and Drekt?” Trevor flopped down onto the cavern floor next to Micah.
“Worrying about what to do next.” He leaned back from Telivern, wiping the wet spot it had left on his forehead.
“I’m gonna be honest,” Trevor chuckled. “I don’t envy that shit. Even before everything went belly up with Baron Hurden you’ve had your work cut out for you. Me? I’ll take leveling up and stabbing monsters any day. At least that’s something I’ve been able to grow into.”
“I have noticed you whining a lot less.” Micah flashed a quick smile at his brother. “Given everything else that’s gone wrong, I have to say I appreciate the decrease in the problems I have to deal with.”
“I credit Drekt, honestly,” Trevor responded, glancing off toward where the rest of the party was experimenting with the scepter. “I’ll readily admit that I was a brat. Drekt explained exactly how dangerous your plan was, and he made sure I understood it. That as much as I wanted to go back to the Lancers and just goof around, that was the impulse of a child that wanted to turn his back on reality.”
“Gods, I wish I could just turn my back on it,” Micah remarked sadly. “As soon as I think I finally have things under control, something new and awful rears its head. It’s like I’m rolling down a hillside and trying to stop myself, but I just keep moving faster and faster.”
“Drekt thinks you can do it.” His brother turned back to him with a smile. “I mean, I clearly do too. You’re my kid brother, but you’ve pulled miracle after miracle out of your pocket, but with Drekt it’s different. He isn’t family.
“He might not bring it up, Micah,” Trevor continued, his voice slightly somber, “but he respects you a lot. As much as he loves a good fight, Drekt’s not an idiot. If he didn’t think that what you were doing was important or possible, he’d have walked away a long time ago.”
“I think I could tell,” Micah replied, turning his gaze as well to the rest of the party, “but it’s good to have the confirmation. He’s been pretty good at supporting me when I need support and calling me out when I’m doing something stupid like relying on a daemon.”
“He tends to do that.” Trevor smiled, his face blossoming with warmth as he watched Drekt shaking his head while Jo shook the scepter, shouting random command words. “It really helped me shape up as a person. He has a way of not judging you. He just explains how you’re wrong and lets you figure it out on your own. Then, when you realize you’ve screwed up, he’s there with advice rather than an ‘I told you so.’”
They watched the rest of the party, Ravi sprinting by and playfully grabbing the scepter from Jo with her teeth before leaping into the air and flapping away. Jo shouted something indecipherable and leapt after the fleeing panther.
“I stopped drinking, Micah,” Trevor said suddenly, uncomfortable as he filled the silence. “Drekt said it was becoming a problem and he stopped drinking around me. I thought he was just being a jerk until the thing with Esther happened. I found myself looking back on my actions and wincing. I was impulsive, selfish, and self-centered from the moment you started training me in magic, and alcohol was at least a third of that.”
Telivern snorted, leaning down to nuzzle Trevor.
“That’s great.” Micah leaned over, smiling, and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “I’m really glad that you’re taking this step.”
“Yeah, well,” Trevor mumbled, embarrassed. “How are things with Jo and you going anyway? You’re sixteen now, so that rule she made about ‘not dating a kid’ is out of the picture.”
Micah paused. The last couple of months had been a whirlwind. Frantically setting up the defenses needed to defeat the daemon, followed by leveling up frantically as he tried to figure out Luxos’ master plan.
Between fighting monsters and setting up rituals, Micah just hadn’t gotten a proper chance to sit down with Jo to relax, let alone define their relationship. A slight frown worked its way onto his face.
They’d trained and talked together, but their relationship hadn’t developed further. Rather, their interactions were either playful or frustrating. It was more a matter of Jo teasing him the same way she did Drekt or Ravi, rather than any sort of flirtation between the two of them.
As for himself? Micah wasn’t actually sure how he felt about Jo. He didn’t dislike her, but most of their interactions involved him as her supervisor, explaining a new ability or how to fight an enemy. There was certainly tension when he was with her, but more often than not it was the familiar tension before a tough challenge rather than anything romantic.
He still had feelings for Jo, but at the same time, Micah wasn’t sure whether they were genuine, or some sort of misguided nostalgia from the last time things were going right in his life. Almost fifteen years ago.
“I honestly don’t know,” he responded finally with a sigh. “I need to scout out Westmarch and the Great Depths, and that means heading out with her and Ravi. I guess I’ll have to talk with Jo about it then.”
