Syl

Chapter 122: The Surprise

It didn't take long to return to the cave. The familiar jingle announced my presence, and I transformed into a harpy, hoping to catch the queen off guard with a [Sneak Attack]. But to my surprise, despite her earlier promise to prepare, the harpy queen was simply lounging and feasting, her regal demeanor contrasting with her lazy actions.

"Daughter, you've returned so soon?" The harpy queen's voice, a mix of curiosity and concern, filled the cave.

"Mother, the winged horses have retreated. The others are in hot pursuit," I hurriedly reported, my mind already strategizing for the impending battle. I began cycling through all my debuffs, preparing for the fight that was about to unfold.

She gave off a hearty, cackling laugh with the food still present in her mouth. Honestly, I wondered where her unfound confidence came from, as I would have put her far below the alicorn prince's threat level. I quickly started casting an empowered [Torrent] behind her, the spell forming and beginning to empower.

"No! Too close!" Trixie tried to warn me telepathically before the harpy queen swiveled backward to stare at the forming spell.

"What? Magic?" Her voice was filled with confusion, and her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the forming spell.

While the harpy stared at the spell, I hastily completed it with full focus and fired it off. Then I rapidly formed more [Water Orbs] to fire from behind.

The burst of water from the [Torrent] spell met a stalagmite of rock that abruptly burst from the cavern floor to intercept it, causing the stream of water to bisect. The harpy cackled another throaty laugh before the balls of water struck her, and her laughter turned into a shrill screech.

The cavern violently shook as her unending wail continued, echoing and reverberating throughout. I was immediately grateful that my slime senses didn't explode from the relentless sound barrage. The sonic-based attack seemed to penetrate my slimy form, losing some of its ferocity as it went through my highly dense slime to finally be halted against the [Arcane Armor]. The magical defense was not infallible; however, a steady trickle of damage infiltrated through, causing recurring dull pain in my core.

I wasted no time forming as many [Torrent] spells as possible, firing rapid bursts of water at her from all directions. I also shifted form, ballooning out into a fat salamander to hopefully put more distance between my outer membrane and my cores. With plenty of defensive traits and a sparkling unicorn horn, I looked ridiculous but felt powerful.

When the spells hit the harpy, she finally ended her brutal cacophony but retaliated, forming a large blade of wind that struck against my reinforced hide.

"Shapeshifting monster! You dare defile my nest and pretend to be my daughters! I'll feast on your supple flesh and feed you to my chicks!" The harpy taunted.

I fired a small barrage of [Water Orb] spells, but she raised her hand and formed a wind wall that caused the light projectiles to be blown off course. I immediately swapped back to two [Torrent] spells, one clearly visible in front of me as a distraction while the other was hidden in the corner of the cave, compressing and empowering.

I sensed a large buildup of mana below and above me, and one of my cores triggered [Tranquil Flow], but only my cores moved out of the way as a rocky maw formed from the cave to bite through my slime. The harpy had formed multiple stalagmites and stalactites to create a brutal combination, like being devoured by giant rocky fangs.

"Foolish creature attacking a shaman surrounded by rock and earth!" The harpy mocked, thinking herself the victor as fake blood oozed from the rocky penetrations.

I would have laughed if not for the strange sense of calm provided by the state. The rocky protrusions did not hit any of my cores, so I was completely unharmed despite visually looking terrible. I fired off the front [Torrent], which the harpy blocked with another impromptu rocky barrier.

"And now I've stopped your last desperate attempt at salvation. Grovel before-" She prematurely mocked as my secondary spell, with far greater compression and empowerment, went off, ripping straight through her side and taking out one of her wings entirely.

She snarled in pain, and if looks could kill, I'd be obliterated on the spot. [Life Sight] showed her at least half-life after that exchange, although without more levels in the skill, I had no idea if she had barely crossed the threshold or was near death.

She formed a makeshift compress out of rock and earth while simultaneously sending out an intense gust of wind at me to try to buy herself time. The wind was inconvenient but not nearly enough to stop me as I oozed out of the confines of the rocky fangs. The look of shock and horror on her face caused Trixie to burst out laughing, and I found myself chuckling along and accidentally prematurely ending [Tranquil Flow].

'Shit, I really need to work on that.' I scorned myself.

I cast two [Water Whip] spells behind the harpy, and I must have gotten the range right outside of her aura as she didn't immediately detect it. At the same time, I kept her distracted with some halfhearted water projectiles shot at her but were no real threat due to the ongoing gust of wind.

Either she was really a birdbrain, or my performance was beyond adequate because I could see her once grim expression slowly twisting into hope with a tinge of arrogance again. I coordinated my attack at the same time she swapped from her makeshift first-aid to fire a shrapnel shower of rocks at me, further propelled by the still ongoing gust. Despite the increased velocity, the rocky shrapnel wasn't sufficient to even scratch my stolen dragon scales.

Aided by my [Sub-Cores], I flexed my will, causing the two watery whips to burst from their magical constructs and wrap around the harpy. She squawked in sudden surprise before the watery whips surrounded her like live tentacles, the control of which was effortless on my part from a solid mental image of using my own slimy pseudopods. Before she could shriek, her mouth was bound shut, and the two whips began constricting tightly on her entire form.

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The gust ceased, and she was squirming in her tight restraints; rocky protrusions burst around her to stab at the watery bindings but, other than penetrating them, did nothing to hamper the ongoing spells. I was shocked at the effectiveness of the spells, even though I had hardly ever empowered them, and only then did I recall that part of the unicorn horn made spells more real.

Completely at my mercy, I began finishing her off with a battery of water spells. I even made an impromptu water sword twice to stab at her, which was enough to finally push my [Water Magic] to the next level.

I was really glad that the water weapon spells weren't contaminated with "Create," but I was a little disappointed in my brief glance at my new spell. It created a cloud... That rained. I couldn't see a use for it on its own unless I wanted to help some plants or farmers or perhaps prevent a Dewi situation, but it likely had some good modification prospects.

The harpy didn't last much longer. She eventually gave up on trying to free herself and swapped to trying to kill me or disrupt me, but the situation was far too much in my favor now. I had already secured my [Water Magic], so I wasted no time speeding up the process by utilizing some [Icicle] spells to finish the job.

Your attacks have a chance to apply [Vulnerability] to the target, increasing all damage sources by 5% per stack. Maximum [Vulnerability] stacks are limited to this skill's level.

The base chance to apply [Vulnerability] is 10%+1% per skill level. Each debuff or affliction on the target increases the chance of success by 5%. Targeting a weakness or a triggering [Sneak Attack] doubles the application chance.

Exploit any advantage to secure your victory.>

"Oh, is this your surprise?" I asked Trixie, as I figured she could likely hear me reading the skill in my head. "Cause this sounds fantastic."

"Nope, but that sounds like a milestone skill. Most classes give at least one skill every five levels and a big skill every ten levels. Assuming you meet their requirements, of course. Keep reading."

Seeing more notifications meant that Trixie's surprise probably meant a new class, which, admittedly, I had expected since she was being rather precise in the requirements I had to meet. Regardless, I was happy that Shadowcaster was giving me one last skill that sounded amazing.

I bought it and continued reading.

Would you like to swap classes?>

"I'm assuming Hydromancer isn't your special surprise?" I asked Trixie.

"Not at all." She replied, appearing again and taking her usual spot seated on my head.

'No.'

Would you like to swap classes?>

"Cryomancer?"

"Better, but nope."

'No.'

Would you like to swap classes?>

"Oh. This sounds good. Elementalist?"

"Bingo!" Trixie said excitedly, giving a big thumbs-up.

'Yes.'

.

Shift your elemental alignment to gain bonuses for your chosen element to the detriment of your others.

The chosen element receives the following benefits per skill level: 10% spell power, 5% reduced mana usage, 10% spellcasting speed, and 5% resistance penetration.

Other elements lose the equivalent gains while opposing elements lose double. Derived elements receive halved bonuses when aligned.

Unaligning or shifting to a different element triggers a 5-minute cooldown, which can be circumvented once per skill level and refreshed with a 10-minute rest.>

"Trixie, what is this skill?" I asked, bewildered by how much better it was than anything I had seen before.

"Welcome to the advanced classes, Syl," Trixie said with a grin. "And yeah... Some of the advanced skills are just giant walls of text."

I wasted no time purchasing the skill, but then I read the description a few more times, trying to wrap my head around it. Most of it was self-explanatory, and I could assume that if I aligned to Water, I'd get a penalty to Ice and double deficit for Fire. I was only unsure what a derived element was and what this meant for my non-elemental affinities like Arcane and Corrosion. I asked Trixie in hopes of an explanation.

"Your Arcane and Corrosion spells will completely ignore anything to do with this; they are not elements. As for derived elements, well... You'll find out soon enough; I'd hate to ruin the surprise." Trixie said with a cheeky wink. "Also, I think you're wrong about Water giving a penalty to Ice, but that's for you to figure out."

I thanked her for the clarification and was glad to know if I could still fall back on Arcane and Corrosion if I found myself in the wrong elemental alignment for a foe. Also, while some part of me screamed not to, I bought one upgrade level for [Elemental Shift], as I was concerned about only having a single cooldown-free shift.

'Yes.'

I felt a little safer having two emergency shifts per combat. Also, I still had another skill to look over, so I brought it up.

Adds elemental affinity to the [Identify] menu, providing information on what to avoid and exploit.

Information might be unavailable if [Identify] level is insufficient, but it can be unlocked through practical application.>

This skill was a perfect complement to my new class's identity. With it, I could determine a monster's element, try to directly oppose it with bonuses from [Elemental Shift], and then pile on even further with my weakness debuffs. Purchasing it was a no-brainer.

I tried it out on Trixie, but there was no change, so I tried it on the dead harpy queen and saw both wind and earth.

"Well, eat up, and then let's go home for now. I'm sure you have new toys to play with, and you still promised to show me all your transformations." Trixie said with a pleased nod, slowly taking out her makeshift earplugs.

I nodded happily in agreement.

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