The sudden surge of strength that accompanied the transformation came just in time, and Jade narrowly avoided the attack by rolling to the side. She caught the monster in the flank with an aura-enhanced slash sending a spray of dark blood into the air. It howled, dancing back, even as its stinger flashed towards her chest.
Fear. Icy, bone chilling fear. Memories flashed through Jade's mind: Lost and alone. A desperate escape. Being cornered. And finally, searing, white hot pain.
She was distracted for merely an instant, but it nearly cost Jade her life. The barbed stinger scraped the exposed skin on her side as she belatedly twisted away from the attack, feeling a familiar flash of burning heat erupt from the wound. Jade growled, allowing the demonic rage full reign, letting it wash away the pain and fear in a rising tide of fury. She was stronger than before. Two venomhounds had tried to kill her on the first floor, and the third was going to meet the same bloody fate as its brethren.
It came at her again, and this time she didn't hesitate. Jade blinked forward in a rush, brushing her wing against the monster's flank and channeling her Charm Creature spell into its mind. The 'C' rank effect nearly took hold, but the venomhound's high level defenses held firm. It was on her again before she could react and Jade was forced to fight defensively, warding away its swiping claws and thrusting stinger with sweeps of her aura blades. In the fury she'd allowed to take over, Jade didn't think to create distance and attack it from range. No, she didn't just want this monster dead, she wanted to tear it apart with her own claws.
A whispered incantation cloaked her in a shroud of darkness, concealing her from view. The invisibility spell caught the monster off guard and suddenly, Jade was on the offensive. One strike. Two. Three! Her aura blades had dissipated from lack of focus, but Phantom and Fang were more than up to the task of carving into the venomhound's hide. Jade's form flickered in and out of existence as she struck from all sides, targeting the vital points along its body. Her upgraded dagger and talent applied stacking slow effects with every successful hit, and it didn't take long for the monster to flag.
Now!
Jade seized her opening, blinking forward with Mirage Step and severing the monster's stinger with a heavy slash. It screeched in pain and rage, rounding on her just in time for her other dagger to slam into its neck. Jade tackled the venomhound to the jungle floor, twisting Fang before wrenching it to slash across its throat. Blood erupted from the wound, spattering her face and chest, but she didn't care. She continued to violently thrust her blades into the twitching body until finally, the notification appeared.
- You have defeated: Venomhound
- You have gained 450xp.
Jade sat atop the monster's corpse panting for breath, blood dripping from several minor injuries. Her anger drained away, the demonic bloodlust sated for the moment, and she was left feeling cold. The severed stinger lay on the ground beside her, and Jade felt her hands clench into fists at the sight of it. What was wrong with her? She had fought countless monsters over the past couple of months, but seeing a simple stinger was enough to make her freeze? Wasn't she over that?
She popped the cork off a vial and gulped down the healing elixir, then threw the empty container aside to shatter against a tree. Even after the wounds were gone, Jade could still feel the burning pain in her side. It was accompanied by a phantom twinge in her ankle, which she purposefully ignored as she looted the monster. That done, Jade took a final look around the area to make sure nothing had been attracted by the brief battle before striding back through the portal to fetch her friends.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Naomi asked, giving Jade's blood splattered body a concerned once over.
The five of them were concealed in the jungle a short distance away from the portal, as the last thing they wanted was to be discovered by any random demon that happened to be on their way out. They'd given the remaining demon outside another dose of Siora's sleeping potion, enough to leave her out cold for hours. Jade sighed, wiping her face clean with a rag.
"I'm okay, I promise." Jade reassured her truthfully. The cold feeling of dread that had manifested upon battling the venomhound had dissipated as quickly as it had appeared, and she was back to normal. Better than normal, in fact, as she still felt a bit of a glow from her temporary stat boost… or possibly the activity that had led to it.
"Really?" Naomi cocked her head. "You look a little flushed, Jade."
"Really!" Jade said emphatically, turning away so her friend wouldn't see her blush. "A-anyway, Fenrin, has Mimi found anything yet?"
"There's definitely some activity near the core." The half-elf said, eyes closed in concentration. "Getting a better look without being noticed will be tricky, it'll take a bit."
"Didn't you say you hit level 20, amiga?" Luis asked. "Does that mean you get to pick your advanced class?"
"Oh, right!" Jade pulled up her status window, searching for the notification. "Yeah… I can pick it any time."
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"We need every edge we can get." Tara added. "What're your options?"
"Time to find out."
- Advanced Class Selection
- You are eligible for two advanced classes. Please consider carefully, as the selection is permanent.
- Umbral Assassin
- A master of movement and remaining unseen, the umbral assassin excels at dealing deadly strikes when her enemies least expect it. Shadows rise to shroud and defend her, and open dimensional pathways no others can tread. While less effective in a straight fight than most advanced rogue classes, this path grants access to an array of powerful tools that confuse, misdirect, and set up foes for the killing blow.
- Focus: Conditional damage boosts, talent enhancements, stealth.
- Glamourblade
- An unlikely combination of enchantment magic and martial prowess, the glamourblade defies preconceptions by deploying her bewitching charm in close combat. Seldom is an enemy prepared to confront the dazzling beauty of an opponent whose very visage captures the hearts of all who oppose her even as she cuts them down. Most known for siphoning power from her enthralled victims, the glamourblade trades traditional combat power for enhanced battlefield charm magic.
- Focus: Charm enhancements, battlefield control, conditional damage boosts.
Jade's eyes widened as she read through the options available to her. Based on her current array of spells and talents, and the way she fought, she'd expected to get at least one assassin themed and one enchantment themed option. In the lead up to finally reaching level twenty she'd given those potential paths a great deal of thought and had discussed the matter with her companions. As an assassin's toolkit would round out some of her remaining weaknesses in combat Jade had opened the system window fully expecting to make that selection, assuming the option was presented to her. The alternative offered by the Labyrinth, however, gave her pause.
Refining my charm powers into better combat tools… what would that look like?
There was no preview of what specific abilities the two different paths would provide down the line. Jade only had the brief descriptions provided by the system with which to make her decision.
"Well?" Luis prompted, plopping down next to her as she read over the text again. "What've you got?"
Jade summarized the options for her companions. Other than Fenrin, who was keeping tabs on his familiar and making sure no monsters were approaching, they'd all joined her.
"The second one fits the abilities you already have much better." Naomi pointed out, adjusting something on her guitar. "That one makes more sense to me."
"Do I want to specialize that much, though?" Jade asked. "If I focus too much on my charm powers, I'll have big weaknesses elsewhere."
"That's why people form teams." Tara reminded her. "No one can make it through the Labyrinth on their own, and you can't be good at everything. If you try, you just end up compromising what you're best at."
The two paths before Jade were thematically opposed. The Umbral Assassin class focused on stealth and deception and would likely grant enhancements to her invisibility power. Glamourblade, on the other hand, appeared to be the opposite. Attention drawing. Flashy. Her combat style had incorporated both approaches in the past. Even in her old life she'd never been able to settle on one of those paths. Part of her had been an athlete rising into the national spotlight, while the other side of her remained alone and aloof.
If she had to decide which she liked more, she knew the answer.
"Eh, I'm sure whatever you pick will work out." Luis shrugged. "It's not like your current powers will change, right? Anything else you get is just a bonus."
Her friends fell silent, waiting for her decision.
"Glamourblade it is, then." Jade said at length. She took a deep breath and then made the selection. "Time to see how far I can push these racial powers."
She may have been forced into this body, but it was past time she embraced its strengths.
The windows vanished and Jade's skin began to glow. Warmth filled her, and a sudden burst of power flowed through her body like an electric current. As the sensation faded, new notifications appeared.
- System Notice
- You have selected Glamourblade as your advanced class! You have two new soul imprinted features. Starting with level 20, you will gain additional Glamourblade options in eight level intervals.
Eight level intervals? That meant it was like her racial features, only offset from them. Between new class features every four levels, her racial features every eight, and now her advanced class options, that meant she'd be gaining new abilities every other level. That felt like a lot, but Jade had already noticed the levels were starting to come more slowly. The next windows gave insight into her new powers.
- Ability: Heartbreaker
- When you hit a target you have charmed with a melee attack you may choose to consume the charm to deal critical damage. Bonus damage scales with the strength of the charm effect. If this damage kills an enemy, all your cooldowns are reduced by thirty seconds.
"Holy shit…" Jade breathed, reading through the ability again. It seemed incredibly powerful, albeit limited by the number of creatures she could affect with her charm spells. A limitation that was greatly eased by the new spell detailed in the second window.
- Spell: Enrapture
- Rating: C level spell
- Cost: High mana
- Duration: 1 minute
- Cooldown: 1 minute
- Effect: Captivate all nearby creatures that can see you with your divine visage, rooting them in place and rendering them unable to act. This effect has a high chance to end if a target takes damage or can no longer see you. This is a charm effect.
The B rank version of the spell, which Jade currently had access to due to her succubus form, added a temporary stat penalty to creatures that resisted or shook off the charm. The two new additions to her arcane arsenal were clearly designed to complement each other, and Jade couldn't wait to test them out. Then she remembered why they were here and the urgency of their situation and felt her enthusiasm fade. The fate of her world could be hanging in the balance, and here she was getting excited about playing with some new spells.
She finished by assigning her stat points and relaying her new abilities to her companions. Normally, they trained extensively with powers before deploying them in real combat, but they didn't have the luxury of waiting any longer. She'd need to be careful with Enrapture, as its high mana cost could quickly drain her reserves if she didn't watch them. Her magic circlet could mitigate part of that issue, but without practice it was impossible to know by how much.
They were still going over potential strategies when Fenrin broke into the conversation, his lips drawn to a line.
"I found them. They're all grouped around the core crystal, with a huge ritual circle carved around it."
"Does it look finished?" Jade asked, standing up. "How long do we have?"
She was cut off by a rumbling quake that rippled through the dimensional space, causing branches and leaves to fall around them. Jade flared her wings to help keep her footing, even as the intense shaking caused her friends to stumble and fall.
"I think that's your answer." Luis said, picking himself up from the ground and helping Tara back to her feet. He flashed her a grin. "Let's see what your new class can do."