The Path of Ascension 4: A LitRPG Adventure

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Even though the attacks were fast and nearly undetectable, they didn’t have a ton of power behind them. Not to say that they were weak; the monster was still a peak Tier 9 enemy, after all. But its attack power was slightly lacking when compared to the fire and water bosses.

When they had fought through what they expected was half the island, they encountered a base set into a ridge of the mountain that ran to the bay. The stone was ravaged and had claw marks scratched into the face on the side that they could see from where they stood, mouths agape.

On top of the fortress stood a lone figure with an unusual polearm at his side. The weapon looked like a curved shortsword with a spear shaft for a handle. After a moment of consideration, Matt recognized it from his studies as a traditional naginata. A portion of the blade was dyed a deep red, as if it had been recently dipped in fresh blood. The orc gestured with the naginata, and the gates slammed shut with a rumble. Beside him, the tiger stepped out of the breeze.

Matt cursed as a dozen orcs took to the walls with bows.

Together, they retreated behind the tree line, but he could feel that they were being watched, with arrows likely trained on their locations.

Knowing what they had to do, Matt said, “We’ll need to go through the wall.”

Liz looked to his back and asked, “Do you have something for this type of situation?”

Unable to help himself, he smirked despite knowing neither could see through his armor.

“Why, yes. Yes, I do.”

Grin still affixed to his face, Matt dug out rolls of parchment and started handing them out.

With Aster in Liz’s backpack, they darted out of the forest and toward the wall.

As arrows rained down on them, Matt activated the first of their scrolls. A barrier of blue mana blossomed out in an explosive pulse that knocked the arrows out of the air as they smashed against the expanding energy wave.

When a second volley came, Liz activated her talisman as well. A second pulse of mana rippled out and intercepted the arrows again.

The talisman was one of his earliest works and a bit crude, but it didn’t need to be any better than that. A whopping 5,000 mana was packed into the enchantment, and the entirety would be unleashed outwards in a sphere, knocking anything back that wasn’t inside the safe zone.

Normally, a mage would need days to fill a single scroll like this, but he had done so in minutes.

Matt slapped a second talisman on the wall as they reached it.

He had sought out Vinnie’s help to get this scroll to work properly, and they had managed after multiple failed attempts. A few nearby mountain sides had paid the price while testing their progress. Their sacrifice was a noble contribution to the glory to come.

As he pushed a thread of mana into the scroll, the wall started to shake.

The stone resisted for a second, but the front portion cracked and fell to the ground, causing the entire structure to destabilize. Matt couldn’t get the enchantment to work deeply, but he didn’t need to bring down the entire wall. Instead, he had intended to use these to kill the chicken, by bringing its building down around its feathery ears.

Still, they worked well enough for this particular purpose, considering the situation at hand.

The normal assassin orcs managed to land safely, along with the sub-boss and naginata wielding orc next to it. The pair drifted to the ground on a swirl of wind, belaying their relationship of warrior and mount.

Matt shouted, “I’ll hold them off while you finish off the rest!”

With that, he threw himself forward and swung at the orc, while moving to keep the tiger on his far side. The orc, as he discovered, was also peak Tier 9, but was not as strong as the tiger it battled alongside.

The pole of the naginata blocked his first attack, but he was ready for that. He was also prepared for the tiger’s lunge, and preemptively activated the talisman that he had on his wrist.

A massive mana bolt raced out, forcing the monster to drift away in a sudden gust. That opening was more than enough for Matt to cast a [Fireball] at the orcs face. He expected the orc to dodge the attack, but the monster took the hit to its face so it could drive a dagger into his ribs.

The pain told him that it had managed to pierce through both layers of armor, but Matt didn’t let that slow him down, throwing himself onto the orc.

He was lighter than the monster, but with the essence boost he was getting from the kills in the forest and [Mage’s Retreat], he was just barely stronger than the orc.

Knowing that he was about to be attacked, he let the orc roll them and get into a full mount without struggling against it.

Seeing the tiger once again drift away, Matt took a move out of the orc’s playbook and drove a spiked fist into its gut.

The thin cloth armor failed under the power of his blow, turning the orc’s internal organs to mush, and he felt a rush of essence flow into him. The victory was short lived, as he had to deflect counterattacks from both above and behind, courtesy of the wind Tiger. Thankfully, the second layer of [Cracked Phantom Armor] lasted long enough that a spike of ice pierced the tiger’s flank.

The sub-boss screamed with rage at the loss of its partner, and launched a burst of wind, kicking up a gale and sending all of them tumbling. Matt was entwined with the remains of the orc, but managed to free himself and recover his footing, then raced forward to meet the enraged monster.

Liz was lashing the tiger sub-boss with tendrils made of blood, but the monster seemed to be able to predict where the blows would land and shifted those parts of his body into air.

Matt joined the attack as Aster let loose a rain of [Hail]. It actually seemed to disrupt the tiger’s movements long enough for Liz to get the first wound in.

A gash ran down its side and dripped thick, viscous blood to the ground. Finally confirming that they could hurt it, Matt led the attack with his sword.

It took them nearly half an hour and two more burst talismans, but they finally caught the tiger sub-boss between transitions, and Matt drove his sword into its side.

With his sword inside of the beast, he unleashed the mana he had stored in [Mana Charge], and the sub-boss exploded.