Slowly but surely, the poison was starting to take its toll on Ezra’s body. His labored breaths caused him to cough violently, and he could feel a dull pain in his chest. With his fingers and legs trembling, he had no hope of shooting a running Centaur. However, the ring of fire prevented the Centaur Warriors from fleeing. “We need to put out the flames, or the whole forest will burn!” The Centaur Chief yelled between coughs. The other Centaurs started looking around for stones and pebbles which they could dump on the burning leaves to extinguish the fire. But the dense gray smoke made it extremely difficult for them as it filled their lungs and stung their eyes, bringing them to tears. Ezra peeked from cover and reloaded his Angus rifle with Flameshot Bullets. Dizzy and reeling, Ezra could not see his targets clearly as everything kept spinning around him. But he could hear the Centaurs yelling and running in panic. Even though Ezra could not aim properly, he lifted the rifl
As the forest burned, the flames danced over the treetops and dense gray smoke spiraled upward, blanketing the undergrowth. Alarmed by the wildfire, the animals scurried away and the birds flew off to seek refuge in distant trees. The Centaur tribe quickly forgot all about the intruder and focused all their efforts on averting the disaster at hand. The women rushed back and forth, carrying pails of water to dump on the flames while the Centaur Brutes started chopping down the burning trees to prevent the fire from spreading. This calamity kept the Centaurs distracted for now, but Marlin knew once they were done dealing with the forest fire they would put together a hunting party to track and kill the intruder responsible for this. “Damn it! Why do you always need to put us both in danger?” Marlin was seething with anger but there was little he could do without his body. “I swear being bound to you is a greater punishment than being eaten by ghouls!” Despite Marlin’s taunts and insu
Ezra’s head throbbed in pain as he looked around, but his chest had stopped hurting and he no longer felt dizzy. “How did I even get here?” he questioned, puzzled by it all. The last thing he remembered was plucking mushrooms near the brook. Looking at his hands he noticed they weren’t trembling anymore and he could even walk straight without stumbling. “Did the poison just wear off? But how?” “It did not wear off. I saved you, my dear Lord,” Marlin muttered. As Ezra looked at his hand, he noticed something strange. Marlin’s cursed eye had turned cloudy white and his lips looked parched and withered. “What the hell happened to you? And how did we get here?” Marlin opened his lips, but his voice sounded scarce and shaky. “I intertwined my soul with yours and took possession of your…body. I brought you here, brewed the...Dewglaze potion and saved your life. But it took a great toll…on my powers. I need to sleep…now. You can thank me…later.” With that, Marlin closed his lips and shu
Ezra felt like he simply could not avoid getting involved with the deities no matter how hard he tried. It was as if they were pulling the strings of fate from above, and he was being forced to obey like a puppet. Every choice and every secret led him to one shrine or another and there he would inevitably find himself entangled in the net of fate. Although Ezra still had his doubts about the robed one standing before him, there was no way for him to be sure he was telling the truth.“How do I know you’re not lying?” he asked. “The God of Magic does not have any physical form. Those devoted to him merely worship the elements and pray to the sacred arcane crafts.”Oferion smiled and replied in a soft voice, “You are as skeptical and inquisitive as your mother. I like that in a child. It often leads to a more thorough judgment and a more well-rounded character.”“You said you knew my mother.” Ezra paused midway before adding. “You said her name was Alantra Fien, but I think you don’t kn
The burden of truth was too heavy for Ezra to bear. He had come here hoping to seek answers and rediscover his past, but Oferion’s revelation only added to his mental trauma.“I…am not the son of a crazed murderer! I cannot be!” Ezra denounced, clenching his fist.Oferion however, remained calm and replied in a gentle voice, “Your father already paid for his crimes. And you forget that you also have the blood of one of the bravest elves running through your veins.”“I don’t believe you. If my mother was an elf, why don’t I look like her?” he asked.It was true that Ezra looked like a perfect human and had no features that could liken him to any kind of elf. But Oferion knew something that he did not.“How kind do you think fate would have been to you if you looked like a dark elf? Do you think the Romanovs would still have adopted and accepted you as one of their own?” Oferion sighed and shook his head. “No, my dear boy. They would have either left you to die out here or fed you to the
Oferion approached Ezra and tapped on his chest with the tip of his staff. The gem on top of the staff emitted a bright blue light which spread across Ezra’s skin and gently entered his body.Ezra felt a gentle warmth seeping into his chest and gradually spreading all across his body. His eyes blazed with azure fire, and the tips of his fingers started glowing as pure magic energy rippled on the surface of his palms.“I grant you the power which rightfully belongs to you. Now, you must choose whether to follow the path of shadows or seek the light at the end of the tunnel,” Oferion proclaimed aloud, his voice echoing in the ruined monastery.[Magic Talent level: D][Awakening Completed!][Magic Power maxed out!][Current Magic Power: 500%!][All shooting skills enhanced!][Enhanced shooting skills unlocked:][1. Magic Surge (level 3) (active)][2. Enchanted Hand (level 3) (active)][3. Dragon Eye (level 3) (active)][4. Reflexive Armor (level 3) (active)][5. Shadow Cannon (level 1) (a
The wooden beams supporting the roof of the monastery crackled and snapped like twigs as the flames spread across the room. As the fire bolts kept raining upon the building, it quickly turned into a pyre, with smoke billowing out the hole in its ceiling like a chimney.Ezra realized that if he stayed inside this building even a minute longer, the whole structure would collapse on his head and bury him alive. He could already feel the heat from the flames raging around him, and the smoke made it extremely difficult to see anything.Tying his silk kerchief around his mouth, Ezra took a deep breath and touched his Lunar Howl pendant. “Summon Spectral Companion!”The spectral white wolf leaped out of the pendant and howled. Hearing the ferocious predator’s hunting cry, the Centaur Warriors accompanying the Brutes scampered away in fear.However, the four Brutes attacking the monastery held their ground. Since they were high-level humanoid hybrids, they were extremely resistant to intimidat
Ezra was surprised by this unexpected notification. Silencing wards were usually deployed by mages and adventurers to block teleportation spells and prevent sneaky enemies from dashing from one location to another by using their agility skills.However, Centaurs had never been known to be magic users. If anything, they despised magic due to their past encounters with human sorcerers. “Who the hell is using a silencing ward here?” Ezra looked around him, unsure who else was trying to hunt him down.Oferion’s monastery had already burned down, and there were no other safe havens in the Starlight Forest. Ezra’s only option now was to keep moving and get back on the road as soon as possible.Keeping his Reflexive Armor active, Ezra equipped his enchanted revolvers and carefully made his way through the forest.The Centaurs lurking nearby had their eyes glued on him, but they weren’t too keen on attacking him abruptly since their arrows and bolts had already failed to get through his magic