Underground battle (5)

Meanwhile, Jorg and Orianna were fighting the Ice Countess Sheila.

[Icicle]

[Icicle]

[Icicle]

*CLANG*

Despite sending waves of long-range spells, Jorg and Orianna could easily parry the impact. Jorg could simply ignore the impact with his enchanted ice shield and skillful mastery of the defensive equipment, while Orianna possessed scales that allowed her to deflect the spells. Though she was not totally unaffected by the spells, she had grown much stronger over the past few months.

Be it an acolyte from the bloodline or elemental path, or any path in general, the higher the spirit attribute of the spell caster, the higher the strength and effect of a spell became. A rank 0 spell cast by an average beginner rank acolyte with four points of spirit would only be half as destructive as a rank 0 spell cast by an elite beginner rank acolyte who had 7.9 points of spirit.

In battle, it was not as simple as dealing twice more damage. In a life and death battle like the current skirmish, even 10% of spell efficiency could make the difference between life and death. 

Unable to process the fact that her opponents that she had single-handedly rendered powerless a month and a half ago were now maintaining distance from her to avoid getting trapped in her [Ice Nova] spell, and seeing her strongest offensive spell rendered useless by their own perks, Ice Countess could not believe her situation.

Unlike Orianna or Lewis, she had grown to become an elite beginner rank acolytes after decades on a battlefield, alternating between meditation and combat in territory wars, using every ounce of resource she could find to grow stronger.

She could understand it if it was just Jorg who had reached her level of strength. However, Orianna was displaying strategy and tactics that were rarely seen in a bloodline type acolyte, seemingly having been trained to handle her fighting instincts. They possessed a numerical advantage, and they were taking care of it.

*SPLASH*

[Acidic Breath]

Cornering Sheila onto a dead entrance, Orianna revealed a demonic grin as she casted her most powerful spell. Unable to do anything, Jorg and Orianna contemplated their progress and Sheila looked at horror at the incoming cloud that had killed her subordinate in seconds in their previous encounter. Her arm still remembered the vivid pain that it caused her.

"ARRRRGH"

Soon enough, with nowhere to go, Sheila could only watch as she got corroded from the acidic cloud.

In a single failed ambush, the Blue Wolf Mercenary Group had lot three out of their four remaining elite beginner rank acolytes, including the rune master that allowed them to barely survive the assault of the intermediate rank mutant kobold.

After the acidic breath was dispelled, Orianna cursed.

"Maybe I should have let you killed her. It looks like my spell corroded part of her belongings", she said as she seperated the loot.

A dozen magic crystals, erroded scrolls that probably contained valuable information once decrypted as well as a couple of rare stones. Though it did not look much, it probably was worth more than months of escorting missions in the underground.

Jorg shook his head, as if to tell her that they had done good not to underestimate her.

Lewis' party had gotten extremely strong, much stronger than anyone could have anticipated in such a short timeframe. It was not just a matter of Vanessa underestimating them. She was a skilled assassin who had been trained in the Shadow Guild, one of the seven major factions, and could even be qualified as an heir with her talent. Her ambush was almost perfect, but a series of mistakes befell her. 

First of all, she brought acolytes who were not used to combat powerful enemies against elite beginner rank acolytes like Lewis and Jorg, veterans who had decades of experience. Of course, she did not have this information, but instead of ambushing them to shift the tides of war, she should have run a proper investigation.

It was not like her source of information was wrong. Lewis had never revealed his true strength until today, and Sheila at the time gave a fair evaluation of Orianna. However, the woman, too, had progressed a lot thanks to their repetitive hunts in the underground, providing her with a growth rate that was totally defying her low talent grade. After all, absorbing blood essence had the same effect as absorbing spirit. Talent grade only affected meditation and speed of learning spells, both of which she could ignore by using such shortcuts as a bloodline type acolyte.

As for Jorg, repetitive spars with a sword expert like Lewis, whose Dalian empire swordsmanship exceeded that of regular grand knights, proved to be of incredible help to Jorg, who could not seem to progress much over the past years. His skills with a shield and hammer were strong, but they were ultimately very basic and easily predictable. 

Over thousands of spars, Jorg managed to get a better sense of how to use his overwhelming physical attributes better, taking more risks and exposing himself to injuries more often. However, his vitality allowed him to endure them with ease, while the benefits of doing so opened holes in his enemies' defences. Surprised acolytes who never fought in close combat, like Edwin, were now easy prey to Jorg, despit the both of them qualifying as elite beginner rank acolytes.

This underground battle had shifted the issue and tides of war.