Sworded Affair

Chapter 46: Cool Runnings

The moment Sir Bearington passed the sign, his claws digging faint furrows into the ice, a loud rumbling could be heard in the distance behind them. Treating it as a warning, Emma directed her mount to continue onward without pause, whilst she pivoted on his back to take a look. The warning sign was no longer visible, buried beneath a pile of rapidly freezing snow, advancing far slower than Sir Bearington, admittedly, but advancing all the same.

"We're on a timer then," Emma assessed. "Not a particularly tight one, but it's there."

Five minutes passed by quickly on bear-back, with Emma having nothing better to do than watching their backs whilst her mount made good speed on the slightly downhill path. The peace was never going to last forever, she knew, but the more distance they put between themselves and the snowfall, the more leeway they would have when trouble arrived. Sure enough, it didn't take much longer for the first red dot to fill her minimap up ahead. Wanting to take a methodical approach, Emma nudged her mount to a stop and dropped to the floor, only to frown as a layer of ice instantly began to form on both her armor and Sir Bearington's fur.

A thin, brittle layer, easily shattered by beginning to move at walking speed, but it's mere existence added a sinister edge to the signpost's warning; 'never stop moving' was a requirement in the literal sense, entirely separate from the relaxed timer imposed by the distant snowfall behind them. More worrying in the immediate term, there was no sign of any enemies ahead, even Emma's system showing no name tags, only an endless vista of ice stretching beyond the horizon. Nudging Sir Bearington to a trot, Emma scanned the horizon for any sign of attack, but there was nothing forthcoming.

"Return," Emma decided after a few more moments, calling Sir Bearington back for later use; this was preferable given that a voluntary recall didn't trigger a cooldown for re-summoning, unlike if he were forcefully dispelled by an ambush ahead.

Continuing alone at a jog, Emma managed to walk an entire ten feet before falling over, her armor's smooth sollerets - lacking claws of their own - struggled to find traction on the unnaturally slippery ice. Every attempt to stand back up was foiled, until Emma decided that instead of fighting a losing battle against balance, she would go with the flow instead. Calling the Earthbound Immortal behind her, Emma commanded it to push her as hard as it could. The strength of Scholomance's boss shot her forward like a rocket, the friction-less floor doing nothing to halt her momentum as she slid down the ravine at a blinding pace. It wasn't the most dignified form of travel, to be sure, but Emma hardly cared about that when the results were what mattered, and she was making excellent time to boot.

"Return," Emma repeated, storing the boss back inside her steadily expanding soul.

Despite having travelled a considerable distance, Emma wasn't slowing in the slightest. Quite the opposite, she was accelerating as the incline of her descent sharpened, which was not without its issues.

[Ice Elemental - Level 8 defeated!

+20 EXP.

-200 Anima.]

The first elemental to emerge died instantly; as it turned out, sixty pounds of armored Revenant colliding at a hundred miles an hour was rather painful for everyone involved. It did, however, finally bring Emma to a halt, immediately triggering the freeze effect once more as five of its fellows emerged above ground.

"Coat me in acid," Emma ordered, as The Leech King emerged, vomiting all over her.

[-5 Anima

-5 Anima

-5 Anima]

Whilst disgusting, there was no denying the effectiveness as the ice covering her melted beneath the corrosive mixture; the same applied to her footing as her sollerets sank into the weakened ice of the floor. Five icy spears plunged into The Leech King, pinning him in place; not down for the count by any means but temporarily disabled as he rolled in place, seeking to dislodge his bindings.

"Just like Pokemon, only one status effect applies at a time," Emma laughed, finally able to stand unimpeded and ecstatic despite her dwindling Anima.

Keeping in mind the fate of the first elemental, Emma eschewed her blade in favor of blunt force; punching straight through the nearest's head and shattering it like glass.

[Ice Elemental - Level 8 defeated!

+20 EXP

Anima restored to full.

-5 Anima]

"I'm a lot stronger than I was before," She remarked idly, as the remaining four wisely retreated out of reach, hovering at each ordinal to surround her. "No strength stat to break it down, but I could've never done that at Level 1."

[Anima is more than just a health bar; it's a representation of your soul's accumulated strength, the sum total of all that an Undead is.

-5 Anima

Anima grows slowly with the passage of time, and explosively as you acquire knowledge and experiences to expand your horizons; the higher the total, the greater your weight upon the scales of fate.

-5 Anima

As an example, the oldest Lich I know can recall a time before the Pyramids. He wouldn't even need to cast a spell to erase your current self, merely exert his anima and order the world to obey.

-5 Anima]

"Fascinating," Emma murmured, ordering the system to stop displaying health changes to end the constant interruptions from her acid bath. "The things he must have seen; I'd like to meet him one day."

[No you wouldn't.]

Laughing at the immediate rebuttal, Emma charged toward elemental northeast of her, only for it to continue retreating, spraying a cloud of mist to conceal its movements. Shards of ice impacted her back, denting the armor but unable to pierce through her, as they had her minion. Speaking of which, The Leech King finally wriggled free with attention off of him, slithering behind the nearest distracted target and swallowing the elemental whole.

[Ice Elemental - Level 8 defeated!

+20 EXP.

Anima restored to full!]

"Levels and effects from my summons go to me," Emma noted dutifully between punches, swinging blindly into the dispersing mist. "Great right now, but I'll need to find a way to share the goods later."

As her sight returned, she found the three remaining enemies floating maybe twenty yards ahead, directing beams of ice into the ground and raising the beginnings of a wall. A distant rumble from behind reminded her that there was another timer at play; if she let herself be delayed for too long, it was all over.

"Alright then, enough playing around." Emma declared, climbing onto The Leech King's back and pointing imperiously ahead. "Grab what kills we can on the way, but don't stop for stragglers."