studiobondurri Chapter 355: Silver Bug
Chapter 355: Silver Bug
Chapter 355: Silver Bug
For every thousand of black bugs, there was one red. Unlike the black, the red bugs rarely attacked, but when they did, they inflicted a minor wound, decreasing Dallions health by five percent. Finding a red bug among the swarm was difficult, killing oneten times so. The difference was that once killed, the red bugs didnt seem to respawn. Instead, a red damage rectangle appeared, indicating the damage dealt to the entire swarm.
Dont attack it, dont attack it, Dallion said to himself as he was being stung by black bugs. In his mind, he knew that it was pointless to react to them, however the sting made it extremely difficult to ignore. It was the same as having an itchscratching usually only made things worse, yet the most people were unable to resist doing it, anyway.
Not too bad, Gleam said. The rest of the swarm is almost here, so things are going to get a bit more difficult in a few seconds.
That wasnt what Dallion wanted to hear. Already the number of black bugs blotted out most of the sun making him feel like trapped in a black cloud. That was another thing he had to focus onkilling enough black bugs so as to get a momentary crack of light.
Thats interesting, the shardfly noted. Theres a silver bug as well.
Silver bug? Dallion asked. The moment he did, the swarm around him seemed to double. That was another annoyanceeach time he expressed curiosity towards something, the distraction bugs multiplied. It was bad enough that the initial buzzing of the insects had turned into whispers, each bug repeating past things Dallion had heard: results of his college application, questions about the Eighth Moon, speculation about the nobles, fears regarding his grandfather Listening to one created a new bug, making the swarm go exponentially unless one learned how to ignore them completely.
Another series of stings made Dallion turn around and perform a series of slashes, temporarily thinning the swarm in the area. He had to focus on what was important, namely the red and silver bugs. From what he could gather the goal was to kill all red bugs in order to pass the trial. The silver bugif the fake Nil was to be believedwas a bonus was a potential prize that Dallion would receive. Ideally, it could range from an achievement to an item blueprint. A while back, the echo had said that it was in theory possible for Dallion to learn a skill in such fashion, but he strongly doubted that.
Gleam, direct me to the silver bug, Dallion said.
The familiar flashed in a bright blue light and started making her way away from Dallion. Without any prodding, Lux moved to follow her. All in all, Dallion was pleased with the degree to which the firebird had learned to anticipate his orders. The same couldnt be said about the shardfly, who remained free-willed to the extreme. It was good that she was guiding the way to Dallions prize, although he would have preferred if she had joined in the actual fight. He had seen first-hand how destructive a shardflys wings could be first hand. Instead, using them, though, Gleam had cast an illusion over herself, making the swarm believe she was one of them.
Dallion extended his whip blade, spinning it around like a whip. That had proved to be the most effective method of creating a path. Not that he managed to kill any of the bugsdistractions, it seemed, could only be hit if targetedbut it allowed Dallion to move them about so as to see better forward.
Are you curious what the prize might be? Nil asked. Maybe its a new weapon blueprint. Having that will let you practice your forging and maybe create a masterpiece. Who knows, maybe youll be able to make it in the real world as well. That would increase your chances of winning the Tournament, possibly even patch up things with your gorgon.
The swarm thickened around Dallion. Concentrating, he was able to spot another red bug in the blackness. One measured slash with the blade whip and the swarm was dealt another wound.
Gleam, any other red bugs? Dallion asked.
A few, the shardfly replied. Three I can see. Maybe two more on your other side.
Between three and five bugs. Fighting them would be easy. What mattered now was for Dallion to kill the silver bug as quickly as possible.
Soon enough, the creature became visible. It was like a grain of sugar in a pile of coffee grinds. Focusing all his attention to it, Dallion was able to see exactly where it stood in relation to the rest of the swarm. Red markers appeared, indicating the fashion in which he had to attack with his weapon. Holding his breath, Dallion lashed at his target. The whip blade spun and twisted, its tip flying towards the insect along a wide arc. Then, just before hitting it, the insect reverted to a normal bug.
What the heck?! Dallion pulled back his weapon and immediately targeted a red bug. This time, there were no surprises.
You never know which distraction could lead to a prize, Nil laughed. Sometimes what you think is valuable turns out to be just another distraction.
After some thought, Dallion decided not to increase his empathy. It was challenging enough to talk with items a few steps away to risk hearing them across the city. The best solution for the immediate future was to get his body to twenty, then work on his reaction. Slow and steady was the way he wanted to go, at least until a better option came up.
Pretty good, Gleam said, landing on Dallions shoulder. You have a desert now. It was difficult to say whether she was being sarcastic or genuinely pleased.
Gen, think you can do something with this? Dallion asked.
Nope, the echo replied. I can only decorate rooms. Youll need to rearrange things yourself.
Another thing that was impossible until Dallion passed the gate. Since it wasnt of consequence, he stopped concentrating on it, summoning the bladebows blueprint instead.
The weapon seemed just as he had imagined itsimilar to the ones he had seen Gloria use, although it had a few of its own quirks. Most notably, the blade that extended beneath the trigger mechanism was curved very much like a crescent moon.
Quite a nice catch, dear boy, the real Nil said in Dallions mind. To be expected, it being a Moons boon, of course.
A Moons boon?
That was rightDallion had received a boon from Centor. He hadnt imagined this would be what hed receive. Compared to what the Green Moon had offered, this boon seemed outright insignificant. Then again, this was undoubtedly a complex weapona good first step, and something that Dallion could eventually create. Looking at the marker instructions, however, it was going to take quite a lot of practice before he tried to tackle it. Even an iron bladebow had more markers than Dallion had even seen.
After leaving the new room, Dallion spent a while resting. The trial wasnt as difficult as most, but it had exhausted him. The good news was that he was slowly getting used to using his new vision. Once that was over with, Dallion returned back to the real world again.
Several hours remained till daybreak. The same had held true over a week ago.
Dallion stretched. All in all, this had ended up being quite a productive night.
When the time came, Dallion returned the training item to its shelf, left the Icepicker guildhall and went to the arena. With a quarter of the original participants left, the attitude of the organizers had changed completely. The further they progressed, the closer they got to local celebrity status. The third round was the first in which people started paying attention.
Leaning against the wall in one of the arenas waiting rooms, Dallion looked around. He had no idea who he was going to face, although he knew that it wasnt going to be anyone he knew. Celia had dropped off in the previous round, and there was a policy of members of the same guild not to face each other until the top eight.
Hey, kid, a mountain of a man said. Nice tricks so far. Will you show any more?
Dallion looked up. The man was a hull head taller than him, with muscles as a bodybuilder. Two things became instantly clear: the man was an awakened blacksmith, also a member of the Flameforge guild.
Are you my next opponent? Dallion asked, remaining calm.
Who knows? The man shrugged.
Thanks to his music skills, Dallion could tell that to be the case. Given that Dallion had humiliated the guild by defeating Mord in the first round, it wasnt out of the question that some of the organizers had been incentivized to let him face someone else from the Flameforge guild.