*******
[Status Window]
Name: Flame Hound
Race: Spirit Beast | Spirit Bond: N/A
Rank: Nascent-rank Spirit Beast
*****
[Attributes:]
Physique Lvl 1
Spirit Lvl 2
*****
[Abilities]
Fiery Claw, Ferocious Bite, Flaming Frenzy, Freeform Flame Manipulation]
*******
Melchior paused to take in the information wholly. It was easy since the details were nearly identical to those of normal Flame Hounds, down to the rank. The only key differences were in the levels of its stats and in the extra added ability.
That extra skill made all the difference between this beast and the Lesser Flame Hounds from before.
Its Spirit was a whole level above Mel's and the additional ability gave it the power to control flames away from its body willingly.
That was a game-changer. Most elemental abilities could not be applied far away from the body because of the Spirit energy cost. This didn't apply to the Flame Hound.
And that showed immediately.
"AOORF~!"
It thrashed around, its long tail slamming into the caves behind and causing it to crumble down everywhere. The arrow burned to cinders quickly after, as if it was never there before, but the wound didn't leave.
A bloody hole had appeared where the Hound's eye once was, leaving it completely blind there.
The creature stared around dazed for another while more, before finally locking eyes with the person that caused it that much pain. Melchior.
'Here we go!'
Melchior drew another arrow and placed it into his quiver. He drew the bow quickly but was interrupted by another loud bark from the hond. Only this time, a large red paw crashed down on him, slamming and breaking the ground around into pieces.
He dodged narrowly, and a claw grazed his arm, tearing right into it.
"Fuck-"
Another paw came down. Dozens of small fireballs materialized from the air, then followed.
With hardly enough time to prep himself for the impending doomsday, he found himself surrounded on all sides by the fiery rain of death.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Melchior fell to the side, behind some of the debris from before, in a meagre attempt to save himself from a miserable death. The good part was that it worked. The bad part was that he was already in nearly no condition to shoot any more arrows.
The Flame Hound lurked just past the debris. It stopped attacking. He quickly chalked it down to the arrow affecting its ability to do anything perception properly.
'The bow feels heavier than before. And my spirit energy reserves are being drained constantly…'
That was the oddest part about the entire situation. His usage was mostly at a minimum this entire time. He barely used it since he had barely fought in the first place. It was like something running in the background of his own body, constantly reducing his spirit energy.
After assessing for a minute or two, he discovered the answer.
'Of course. Defence. My body has been passively protecting me against the heat and flames this entire time, but at the same time reducing my reserves and the efficiency of my skills.'
Meaning, it was because of the spirit energy use that he hadn't died just yet.
No.
'That won't do.'
He issued a command, and the flow of energy within his body changed instantly. If there was a way to put it into words, it would be that the energy allocated towards defending his body had gone from 80% down to 20%, spreading the remaining 60% somewhat equally across other parameters.
The effect showed immediately.
Everything became instantly hotter. His exposed upper body had long turned red hot and seemed like it would begin charring any second from now. The pants he wore had also begun catching fire from the bottom.
But that was only one part of it.
Melchior stood with a renewed burst of energy and tossed a rock he had picked up. The Flame Hound noticed and went after it immediately.
'Good,'
He shot out immediately after, clutching the arrow and drawing the string quickly. A small blast emerged from where he stood as the arrow cut a line through the thick smog and fire around, till it hit the distracted hound's side.
A loud bark escaped its throat, and Melchior struck soon again. He sprinted up to the spirit beast and then punched out as hard as he could on that same spot.
His fist came accompanied by the same thin layer of invisible white energy that penetrated right through the hound's tough red fur.
"AOOOOOOOOORF~"
It crumpled weakly to the side, but that was for a second…
SWHIP~!
BOOM!
As soon as that happened, the Flame Hound's entire body ignited rapidly, engulfing Melchior along with it.
He was sent flying backwards several metres, crashing to the ground.
Heat. Pain. Blood. Death?
It hurt. Really bad.
Everything around him disappeared for that brief second as the flames wrapped around most of his body.
He forgot that the beasts could do that.
Most of his upper body was completely charred black, an injury past most degree burns in his past life.
He should have been dead, but he wasn't. Perhaps death would have been a better fate in this case. He couldn't move his body at all.
And from what little he could see through the black spots in his vision, the mangled beast slowly approached him.
It walked with a limp, barely hobbling over to the boy. One eye was missing, and there was a large hole torn in its side from the earlier punch.
Both of them should have been dead.
Melchior's eyes tried to search around for his bow and arrows. Those weren't gone yet, luckily. They had been blasted away in the explosion, mere metres away from him.
'What good is that when I can't even use them?'
Damjan's and Tirun's powers wouldn't work in this situation. So, there was only one conclusion.
'It's death again.'
Then…
A voice spoke.
"I'm surprised you lasted so long. You were arrogant to think you could beat this on your own," Zale said as he reached into the dark vortex by the side, and pulled a syringe out, "I will help you, but only this once. You will finish the rest by yourself."