NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 145: Chapter 145
Varrus was racking his brain, trying to think about how to deal with this sudden encounter. For all intents and purposes, he was ambushed and caught with his pants down.
The Illusion skill tree was mighty, yet it was strongest when used against opponents of a weaker tier, when he was in stealth, or had other spells to use in a complimentary manner.
Strictly using Illusion magic-at least the spells he was familiar with-was difficult to say the least.
As he was beginning to form a plan, he saw that the twin headed Fel dog, Omen, was completely ignoring both himself and Rho'dan, in favor of chasing after Merithra.
The giant dog was pouncing at her, and had his tail wagging as if he were chasing after a butterfly!
Varrus wanted to laugh, Merithra had really been grinding her gears, and watching her struggle to dodge was cathartic.
However, Omen was quite the serious threat, and Varrus couldn't afford to watch this show and remain as an idle participant.
Every step he took, Omen left behind a trail of destruction. His body was so strong, he effortlessly walked through trees like a man would step over leaves. Splinters and wood shavings swept through the air as Omen jumped after the Heroic Green Dragon.
Saliva melted the ground, and the wagging of his tail conjured hurricanes. This truly was a mutt born from Hell.
The slobbering hound snapped at Merithra, but she did a barrel roll, and just barely scraped by.
When his jaws missed her by just a hair, he landed with a mighty thump. The earth shook, and Varrus had to brace himself, lest he fall over.
All the while, a continued hellstorm of green comets were pelting the surroundings thanks to Omen's howl, and the area Varrus had cleaned of corruption swiftly returned to a state of cancerous contusions.
Green radiation swept through the atmosphere, and Varrus felt as if he were inhaling radioactive debris from a nuclear warhead's explosion.
Furthermore, Omen was shooting out a beam of pure Fel energy with one head, and the other was constantly howling to summon more comets.
The sky became clouded in black smoke, and whirlwinds carrying Fel raged all around. Green lightning struck the ground, and an acid rain started to ping off Varrus's protective enchantments.
All of this took place over the course of a handful of minutes. The power and destruction of a demigod was in full force!
"Highlord, we must do something!" Rho'dan shouted to have his voice heard over the incredible noise generated by the hellstorm.
In the process he sliced a comet that was heading towards them in half, then shield bashed the pieces, causing an Arcane explosion to emit from hus shield, and turn them into ash.
Varrus didn't respond to Rho'dan immediately, as the plan he had been formulating finally came into focus.
"Rho'dan, I'll need to get close to Omen to defeat him. But he's too strong for what I have in mind to work. I have to whittle him down, and will be using a spell that limits my movement. I need you to cover me!" Varrus raised his voice, and shouted.
"With my life, Highlord!" Rho'dan shouted back.
Varrus nodded at his long-time guard, then got to work.
To open things up, he opened his mouth, and used the surprisingly useful Shout, Clear Skies.
"Lok. Var. Koor!"
(Sky. Spring. Summer!)
Upon unleashing this Dragon Shout unto the heavens, the black clouds of smoke, acid rain, lightning, and comets were all forced into retreat.
Next, Varrus cast Backlash on Omen.
Backlash: Interrupts target spellcaster. If a spell is interrupted, the target is hit by their own offensive spells, while non-offensive spells are cast on you.
While the twin headed hound was distracted, and chasing after Merithra, it wasn't in a position to try and block the silent spell, and took it in the back.
The pale blue orb the size of a fist seemed unremarkable, but the effect was extraordinary.
Omen had been firing a bright green beam of pure Fel at Merithra the size and width of a skyscraper. Everywhere that beam passed, the land became instantly vaporized!
However, that same untapped power of destruction would be Omen's downfall.
As Backlash kicked into effect, a catastrophic failure occurred on Omen's end, and that same, notoriously volatile Fel energy exploded from Omen's inside!
Superheated green cracks formed on the dog's skin, and steam began to erupt out of all his pores all at once.
The hound collapsed to the ground with a mighty thump, and struggled to get back up.
Varrus felt sort of bad for giving a dog such a big beat down, but it had to be done.
Surprisingly, Omen was made of sterner stuff, and despite tasting an internal explosion of epic proportions, stood to his feet.
A shimmering energy leaked from his pores, and the damaged cracks began to swiftly heal, showcasing that not only was the dog tanky af, but that he had healing capabilities as well!
"Just frickin great. I hate cockroach villains. Only I should be the one with the ability to heal endlessly." Varrus muttered to himself as he watched the mutt standing proud, and glistening under the sun as if he had never been hurt in the first place.
"Awoooo! AW-AW-AWOOOOOOOOO!!!" Omen howled into the sky, then turned his red eyes towards Varrus.
The dog wasn't stupid, and realized the attack had come from him.
Green fire lit up in its mouth, and it looked as if Omen were about to shoot the beam out once again as it ran at Varrus.
Preparing Backlash again, Varrus intended to unleash it as soon as Omen released his breath attack. Then, he would grab Rho'dan, and Blink out of the way.
Yet as Omen charged forward, it never actually released the magic, and was baiting him!
Omen, in one attack, had recognized the capability and threat of Backlash!
Varrus meanwhile, was severely limited in the ways he could halt Omen's forward progress.
"Am I to continue acting as the front line then?" Rho'dan grimly intoned, yet his voice did not waver for an instant.
The red headed muscular Elf was very clearly willing to give his life if it meant delaying the mutt.
"Let us hope it does not come to that. You can dodge if you must, I have two separate spells that allow me to dodge the undodgeable." Varrus calmly replied.
Between Become Ethereal and the Time Phase ability he obtained when he slew Murozond, he wasn't worried about getting slapped into meat paste.
As the hound drew near, Varrus tossed out his flying carpet, and took flight. He determined kiting this beast would be the best method to achieve victory.
Before he got too far, Varrus made sure to buff Rho'dan.
"Wait for it to chase after me before you engage! Do nothing more than aim to harry the beast! I shall be the one to claim victory this day!" Varrus called down to Rho'dan as he ascended into the sky.
Riding on an improved enchanted flying carpet, Varrus took to the air, and began to fly at speeds that could compete with the fastest of jet engines. He then started to pelt Omen with dozens of tiny, sinister attacks.
It dodged dozens of the pale-blue orbs that Varrus was tossing at him, but as Omen drew closer, he could not avoid them all!
In swift succession, two spells struck the hound, and one supporting spell slowed its forward progress.
They were: Seidstone, Pale Shadow, and Illusory Pyre.
Seidstone: The stone manifests illusions of nearby dead for 40 seconds. Illusions take extra damage from attacks.
Pale Shadow: Target enemy is attacked by its own image for 60 seconds. It deals the same damage but has 1 Health.
Illusory Pyre: Illusory explosion deals 25% of their current Health as temporary damage that wears off after 60 seconds. (Buff increase 15 -> 60s)
The Seidstone conjured up the entire army of dragonkin that had lain dead and slaughtered across the battlefield. Varrus once more cast Mayhem on these phantoms, and buffed their combat potential by 50%.
While the illusory figures weren't that strong, and Omen ran through them as if they were made of cardboard, they still proved to be annoying enough to distract the hound.
Limited by the threat of Backlash, Omen couldn't blast them apart with magic, and was forced to suffer through countless 'gnat-like' stings.
Even for a demigod, tanking innumerable Elite hits, and the concentrated fire of three Heroic Dragons was a serious annoyance, proving that overwhelming numbers could pose a threat to such a powerful being!
However, thanks to his healing factor, Omen could ignore most of this, and continued to bound at Varrus, almost catching up to him.
This was when Illusory Pyre struck the dog.
Pale flames struck the hound, and instantly chunked away 25% of his total HP. In reality, this percentage translated to his right front leg going up in flame, and instantly melting into nothing.
The brutal scene was accentuated by Omen crashing roughly into the ground. Seismic waves created a great crater like that of a meteor!
"Hnmm!" Omen whined in confusion, as his leg wasn't regenerating like he was accustomed to.
Varrus winced at the dog's whine, as he had a soft spot in his heart for the furry animals, yet he hardened his spirit, and finished things with the coup de grace.
He only had 60 seconds to accomplish the goal he had set out for himself, and achieve total victory.
The Pale Shadow finally connected, and a giant replica of Omen dropped on top of himself.
Four snarling heads began to snarl and bite into one another in a giant kaiju fight reminiscent of Godzilla vs Mecha Godzilla.
They rolled around, and tousled so much, that half the illusory dragonkin were destroyed in the crossfire!
Poor Rho'dan was running, jumping, and teleporting all over the place simply trying not to get rolled over and squished flat like a pancake.
Varrus wanted to laugh at his long time companion, but now, while Omen was distracted, was the time to act!
Flying towards the fight, Varrus cast a spell he had never used before. It was the Master tier calm spell, Harmony!
A green, soothing power left him, and rushed towards the weakened, distracted skyscraper sized hound.
Ordinarily, Varrus would not use the spells like fury, calm, or fear on opponents on the same tier as him, because they typically resisted it rather easily.
Anyone who had intelligence, and sufficient internal mana could break themselves out of any one of these emotional states.
However, through experimentation, Varrus learned that magic that might be resisted, was more effective against distracted or weakened foes!
And so, his plan all along was to soothe this raging hound, and defeat it through trickery, instead of overwhelming it through brute force, like he so typically did.
Once the green energy entered Omen, it very obviously struggled to break free. One head had succumbed to the soothing sensation, yet the other one was still ready to rumble.
Running out of time, with only 8 seconds left of the Pale Shadow, and the effect of the Illusory Pyre, Varrus didn't want to waste time casting another calm spell now that Omen was aware of its effects, as he would probably resist Varrus's spell!
Gritting his teeth, this next part of his plan would be a little dicey, but it had to be done.
Blinking within melee range, Varrus had to swiftly phase out of the timeline with the Aspect of Time ability so he wouldn't be crushed by the pair of dueling hounds.
Reentering reality as soon as Omen passed, and the last second ticked on Pale Shadow/Illusory Pyre, Varrus activated the perk The Reaper Comes, which could only be used on someone that was under the effect of a calm spell, and conjured up another exact copy of the target to do battle.
However, Varrus commanded this copy not to attack, because ANY Illusion spell actibatable triggered the ultimate Illusion perk at the top of the skill tree, Wraithwalker.
In short, Wraithwalker boosted every Illusion spell by 50% effectiveness, and 50% duration.
Stacking every single buff and effect right now, his Illusion spells were hitting at a mid-high demigod tier!
All that was in preparation for one Novice Illusion spell. One he could not afford to miss.
Grinning to himself, Varrus cast one of his favorite support spells: Dispel Magic.
Once the spell made contact with Omen, an incredible spectacle occurred.
The Fel energy covering the beast melted away like Spring driving frost off a mountain.
Omen, the vicious hellhound shrugged off the horrible aura, lost his second head, and became a cute pupper.
Coming in close, Varrus pet the dog on the head, and activated one more ability:
Speak With Animals.
A perk under the Speech tree, it allowed Varrus to bind one animal as his permanent animal companion, and what better target than a demigod blessed with super healing, and moon powers granted by Elune?
"Who's a good boy?" Varrus scratched under Omen's chin.
"Ruff!" Omen cheerfully wagged his tail.
"Ahh, good, good!" Varrus cheerfully patted the dog on the head.
"So this is my replacement then? What an inglorious end to a millennia of service." Rho'dan pulled up beside Varrus, and wiped some grime off his visor.
Varrus merely chuckled at the rugged, stoic man, and continued to play with his new dog.
"You may continue to protect me, but this animal will be great with the kids." Varrus ruffled the cuties big floppy ears with a childish grin on his face. With Starbottle making advancements in the fertility potion, it would only be a matter of time until Varrus became a father…
"Don't remind me, that will be a headache and a half to manage. I barely watched your back from all those assassination plots conducted by your father's enemies. How many did your wife want again?" Rho'dan stoically asked.
Varrus felt his eyelid twitch, and slumped his shoulder as he remained silent.
'Fucking 12!' Varrus side-eyed his suspiciously stoic guardian.
"I'll remember this." Varrus hissed.
"Sorry, Highlord, I don't quite recall what I said to offend you?" Rho'dan apologized in a serious tone.
Varrus rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"Whatever. Let's regroup with that suspicious Drsgon, and find that Xavius fucker. I'm so done with this Emerald Dream nonsense." Varrus declared, then once again cast Clairvoyance to search out the notorious Satyr.
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AN: Read up to chapter 178 (30+ ch ahead) at: patreon.com/KarpQQ