The Drogen's Law

Killing the Epic-Level Wendigo (Chris-Edwin)

Chris looked above the ash of the two wendigos—a thin layer of golden mist was swirling there. She took in the power of the golden mist into herself as she had done with the red mist. She turned towards the last surviving ordinary-level wendigo and released the power that was churning within her at it—her hands upraised. The ball of fire erupting from her hands struck it and incinerated the monster. She had expected the fire as gold was the colour of fire affinity—thankfully she wasn't wrong.

She turned, looking at Edwin, who was engaged in combat with an elementary-level wendigo. She squinted her eyes as she saw the battle between them. Something was wrong. It was just an elementary-level Wendigo. She knew Edwin's skill with his sword—why could it parry Edwin's sword so easily? She looked closer at Windigo and, to her horror; it had red markings along its black fur. It was an epic-level Wendigo.

Sparks flew everywhere as Edwin Struck at the beast who blocked every one of his attacks with its metallic claws. The two of them circled each other, dancing in the music of death—each strike igniting blue and red sparks. Edwin lost a step and a single swipe of wendigo sent him flying. He crashed into a tree with a painful grunt. Blood seeped from five long gashes in his chest. He looked at Chris and mouthed a single word. "Run."

Edwin wasn't a person who would throw his life so easily. She looked at Edwin for a second and, understanding his intentions, she picked up the unconscious Jimmy and ran until she reached a boulder. She hid behind it.

Chris carefully placed Jimmy on the ground and peeked around the boulder—towards the unfolding fight. Edwin was on his feet and already locked in combat with it. Edwin dodged another swipe from the monster with a swift sidestep. He was clenching his jaw hard. Edwin was forcing himself to fight the thing in his condition. Chris felt like crying, however, she didn't have time for it. She had to help Edwin.

Edwin slashed his sword to hack off the murderous hand of the monster. The sword stopped halfway through the flesh.

The creature flailed its arms wildly, roaring, sending Edwin crashing to the boulder. With a last roar of triumph, the creature pounced at Edwin.

Seeing the opportunity she was waiting for, Chris connected with her gauntlet. Connecting with her gauntlet and activating it gave her a splitting headache. Her gauntlet was an elementary-level weapon that was one level above her. Headache was the consequence of using a weapon above your realm.

Chris hadn't been doing nothing either—all this time she was taking in all the red mist she could, released by the monster that was fighting with Edwin.

The red mist gave her another boost of strength. It was like wearing two different sets of Spirit armour. Using all the strength in her legs, Chris shot forward. Her body glowed ethereal red, the armour glowed ethereal green; the gauntlet glowed ethereal gold. She reached Wendigo before it could reach Edwin. Chris punched the windigo's stomach with all her might, releasing the power of red mist at once. The wendigo slumped backwards, a gaping hole in its stomach. A pool of blood painted the ground red beneath the lifeless creature. The red glow behind its eye sockets flickered for a few seconds before winking out.

Chris hastily deactivated her gauntlets, that was making her head throb. The headache slowly faded away as the Spirit armour healed her.

Chris approached Edwin, who was groaning loudly in front of the boulder. Edwin was looking at her with disbelieving eyes. Those eyes made her want to squirm inside her own skin.

"You are a Dweller too?" Edwin had a disbelieving tone in his voice.

"No. I'm not a Dweller. I'm something else."

Chris looked at Edwin's manhandled body, which looked like all the bones in his body had been reduced to dust. "If father knew what I was, he would publicly flog me, before torturing me to death. From what I can do, from what I know—I can think of only one name from the legends. I think I am a collector, Edwin."

Edwin made a choking noise in his throat.

"Oh, put your eyes back in your sockets, Edwin. And close your mouth—you don't want to swallow a fly."

The two of them stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before laughing, tears in their eyes.

Edwin coughed several times. "Argh! Look what you did by making me laugh," Edwin groaned. "I feel like a butchered chicken."

'Butchered chicken? Couldn't he at least have said butchered pig?' Chris thought.

With another groan, Edwin looked at her and said, "I can't believe we actually survived seven wendigos, and one of them was at Epic-Level of advancement."

"I can't believe it either."

Chris noticed Edwin was fidgeting slightly. If she was anyone else, she wouldn't have noticed. "What?" Chris said.

"Are you sure you are a collector, Chris? I mean, they were supposed to have gone extinct more than a thousand years ago."

"It's the only thing that explains what I can do," Chris said.

They agreed to keep her nature a secret. The legends told of how much people hated a collector. The two of them didn't want to find out if they still did. It was better safe than sorry.

Chris thought about removing the armor and it removed itself from her body.

***

Before Edwin's eyes, the spirit armour shimmered, turning into a liquid-like state. All the liquid armour flowed out of her body and coalesced above Chris's palm. The green liquid morphed into an emerald sphere the size of a person's head. She handed the Spirit armour to him.

"Put this on. It will bring you back to full health."

Edwin took it in his hands.

A familiar sound of the system rang in his head.

[Information: An ordinary-level Spirit Morphious Armor detected. Do you want to equip?]

'Yes.'

The green liquid flowed, covering his body, and morphed into a set of armour. The only part of the body the armour didn't cover was his head.

[Information: An Epic-level Spirit Morphious Armor equipped.]

[Information: Your stats have been increased.]

Edwin opened the info about the armour.

[Name: Spirit Morphious Armour ]

[Class: Armor]

[Greater Realm: Foundation]

[Lesser Realm: Epic (Suppressed to the level of the user.)]

[Realm Stage: None]

[Strength: +10]

[Agility: +10]

[Stamina: +10]

[Drogen: +10]

[Heal: 0.02HP recovery per ten seconds.]

So the armour was at an Epic level but suppressed to the level of the user. If that were true, wouldn't the power of the armour increase as they continued to break through? He told Chris about the armour and her eyes lit up.

"You stay here and recover. I'll go and help Jimmy," Chris said.

She turned, walking away. It took Armour about half an hour to bring him back to full health. Once he was back to full health, he returned the armour.