After all, wasn’t Lena’s face panicked? Of course it was! For she realized she was cornered, and had to resort to yet another lie, trying to get it to disengage from her for fear of a bomb.
"I’ve seen through you, human!" The pixie had learned from its mistakes and wouldn’t be fooled by Lena’s lies anymore. It made its decision in a fraction of a second. Although Energy Ball was indeed a real spell capable of damage, it wouldn’t kill it. It would tank the spell and finish Lena off while she was vulnerable and unable to teleport again.
The pixie’s claws neared Lena’s face...
In less than a millisecond, it broke skin, beginning its intended journey of ripping her face off. In the next millisecond...
BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted. Imdiately, two bodies went flying out from the scene. They landed on opposite sides of the ground, caught limp laying in a ss of vines and thin branches.
Both bodies had their robes in tatters, and blood soaking the floor. Any exposed skin, such as their faces, was red, charring, and leaking from countless fragnts of shrapnel impaled in them.
[EXP 590]
The notification indicating the pixie’s death appeared in her mind.
What had actually happened?
Simply put, Lena had lied once again, causing the Pixie to fall into her trap.
As she said, she had indeed used a bomb. However, there were two layers to her deceit. First off, she had already been shouting out spell nas, only for her to do sothing else. That repeated pattern created heavy doubt over the validity of anything she said. So if she said the truth for once, that ’truth’ would beco a lie in the eyes of the pixie.
The next step was that the pixie was indeed correct. She had also cast an energy ball, exactly as the pixie observed. The trick was that she’d hidden the bomb inside the energy ball. The energy ball ford the outer shell while the bomb was nestled in the core, completely concealed from visual inspection. When the pixie made contact, both detonated simultaneously.
Which naturally raised a question. How did Lena know her own magic wouldn’t trigger the bomb prematurely? Energy balls were volatile and bombs were sensitive. Combining them seed incredibly risky. The answer was surprisingly simple. She didn’t know. She had no idea if it would work or not.
But who cared? Lena certainly didn’t. Worst case scenario, the bomb went off early and she died in the explosion along with the pixie. So what? She’d just respawn in a few hours.
It was exactly the sa philosophy she had practiced earlier. She had to test the limits. It was better to learn what worked and what didn’t now, before she had to break free from the system and actually worry about permanent death.
With both pixies dead and the fight finally over, Lena imdiately collapsed. Her legs gave out completely and she dropped to her knees, then fell forward onto her hands.
How could she not collapse? Health wasn’t just an abstract HP number, though her display showed a dire situation. It was the condition of a real body she was inhabiting.
[HP: 14/514]
She was on the verge of death, and the number was still dropping. The number ticked down steadily.
[HP: 12/514]
[HP: 9/514]
She was bleeding out from multiple wounds, but it was more than that. Just because dying wouldn’t result in permanent death didn’t an her body wasn’t actually shutting down right now.
It was easy enough to tell Lena to just heal herself. She literally had a spell for it. But the issue was that her vision was blurring at the edges, her breathing ca in short desperate gasps, and her limbs felt impossibly heavy. Every heartbeat sent fresh waves of agony through her chest.
And the pain. Oh god, the pain. It was overwhelming, all-consuming, making her want to cry, to scream, to beg for it to stop.
She raised her wand with a trembling hand, trying desperately to focus enough to cast. "H... He..." She couldn’t get the words out. Her tongue felt thick and her thoughts were scattering.
A rogue pixie, so weak level 10-sothing that had been fleeing from a different fight, suddenly flew past her position. It saw her, recognized her as an enemy, and saw that she was helpless. It grinned and raised its wand. "Die, foolish human!" It cast a quick bolt of dark energy at the easy target.
The bolt shot forward. Lena couldn’t even process what was happening as her mind was fading and the world was going dark. The literal only thing she could focus on was attempting to channel her spell.
She was about to be hit when the bolt was suddenly knocked aside by a rock that intercepted it mid-flight.
Lumi glanced at the situation for a mont, before turning back to his duties. At the last second, he had thrown a rock with perfect precision from dozens of ters away.
"Heal."
She finally managed to force the spell out. A wave of warm, restorative light washed over her broken body. Over the course of less than three seconds, wounds began closing, bleeding stopped, and flesh knit back together.
[HP 128]
Just like that, Lena recovered about a quarter of her maximum health. The pain faded from unbearable agony to manageable discomfort. Her mind cleared, her vision sharpened, and her breathing steadied.
She took a deep, shaky breath and gave a small smile. Two elite pixies down, and she was still alive. She hadn’t just survived, she won in a two versus one. Though she did have so help.
"Lumi..." She gave a gentle smile at the thought of him.
Even while casting his endless barrage of lances, even while farming through hundreds of pixies, he was watching. Lena looked over at him and felt sothing in her chest that had nothing to do with her injuries. Admiration. Such skill, such awareness, such precision. To track her condition while managing everything else, to throw that rock at exactly the right mont with exactly the right force...
That was the man who would save the world, right there.
User Comments
0 comments from readers