Ero Skill Tree

Chapter Fifty-Seven: To the Second Safe Zone

We had only taken a few steps when the first wave approached us. They were what seemed to be the staple of this dungeon, skeleton warriors. We breezed through this first wave with ease and within a few minutes the last of them had fallen. The short fight barely slowed us down as we headed further into the chamber.

None of us were expecting things to stay that easy for long and soon enough our suspicions were proven correct. Before they had reached the light from our torches Altria loosed an arrow, there was a thwack sound from some ways off in the distance. She had hit something. She fell back to Lillia to explain the situation.

"Lizard men, six of them." She explained.

"Serin, Theo, get upfront with Siofra, Altria you're with me." Instructed Lillia.

Serin and I both hurried to the front with Siofra, we got there just in time to see the Lizard men approach. They stood at least a head hight above me. These were unlike the beastkin races I had met here. They only resembled men in the way they stood on two feet. Other than that, they were entirely lizard like. Covered in scales, clawed hands, and a forked tongue. They very much reminded me of a bipedal Komodo dragon.

"Watch yourself Theo. You should be able to manage these, but they aren't stupid, and their bite is poisonous!" Serin cautioned as they approached.

The lizard men broke into a run as they neared our group. A well placed arrow dropped one of their group, cutting their number down to five. The shot was a direct hit to the eye of the closest lizard man. Their group would have been cut to four, but Altria's second shot glanced off the thick scales of the next creature.

As they met our group, Lillia hit the lizard men with daze. Their movements were slowed a little, but it didn't have quite the effect I had expected. They seemed to have some resistance to the stasis attack. There wasn't time to think it over as the fight had begun. Siofra and Serin had both drawn two of the Lizard men off from the group, leaving me with one to deal with alone.

The lizard man charged me without a sign of hesitation. I brought down my blade as quickly as I could, but it was intercepted by its clawed hands. The claws were strong enough to resist my blade and the lizard immediately countered. Violently swinging its tail at me as I pushed my sword against its hands. I was almost caught by the speed, luckily, I hadn't overcommitted my attack and was able to step back just in time to avoid it.

The lizard man pushed forward immediately as I stepped back, leaving me parrying strikes from its claws and constantly keeping my distance from the powerful tail that kept swinging at me after each attack. I was put on the back foot, there was no way I was going to be able to injure it with a swinging attack. It was far too fast with its hand. What I need was to stab it, but I knew that doing so would leave me open. The last thing I wanted was to be grabbed by those claws and bitten after Serin's warning.

I parried the creatures claws once more and jumped backwards anticipating the tail swipe that was to come. Its tail swung into thin air. In one quick movement I activated the mana wind blade and cut into its arm from a distance. I then charged at the creature and stepped into its blind spot just like Beth had taught me back at the dojo. I was almost surprised at how my body easily followed the movements she had drilled into me in such a small space of time. From this position I thrusted my sword under its injured arm and deep into its armpit, pulling the blade back in one go, before stepping back.

Blood poured from the wound, but I kept up my guard until the lizard man fell. It was just as I hoped, the blow had been fatal. The tada noise rang in my ears signifying the points gained and then a message reading "Level nine reached, five points awarded." After all that fighting, I had finally gained another level. It really was taking more experience points each time.