Redo: Grimoire System in the Apocalypse

Filthy picked up on the conversations between Felix and the others. 

His senses had been heightened to the extreme. There was no way he couldn't.

He'd noticed the movements in the forest long ago, but he hadn't made any gestures or warned anybody. He was up on the right-hand wall alone with Sindri's Skeleton.

The two were constantly raining arrows down on the wolves below. It was monotonous to the point of being boring. 

Still, watching the occasional shift in the brush gave him something else to do.

'Something about the formation, huh?'

There had been something odd about their movements, but he hadn't understood. Each time they'd popped out of a bush, they would place an object on the ground and jump back in.

Filthy placed his hand near his back, another arrow magically appearing in his hand. He drew back the bowstring and aimed at a specific target in the distance.

TWANG

"Oowooo- yelp!"

Another Direwolf received a wound near its thigh, crippling it temporarily. The wolf turned to yank the arrow out with its maw, only to find that the projectile was already gone.

The wolf scoffed and resumed its slow pace forward. Its recovery would heal it before it had to fight anyway.

Filthy smirked at the beast. These creatures really were prideful.

The beast continued to limp forward without another thought. That was... until it realized that it wasn't recovering.

In fact, it seemed as if the wound was bleeding even more profusely than it should have been!

Before it could think about it again, a Fireball and two more arrows slammed into it!

Filthy didn't waste any time searching for the next target. He was satisfied with his new Skill upgrade.

Originally it had been an attack called Poison Arrow, a direct attack that caused damage over time.

He'd recently upgraded it to a Skill called Venomous Arrow, and it was instrumental in keeping the wolves from recovering.

***

Venomous Arrow, Uncommon (Lvl 3)-

Cost (25 MP) User coats the head of a projectile with a toxic Mana. Toxin spreads quickly into the target's bloodstream, stopping regenerative effects and causing extra bleed damage. 

Dulls target's senses and movement. This Skill can be merged with others for unique effects.

Bleed Damage = (12% of initial arrow damage) per second

Duration of Venom = (Wis x 120%) in seconds

***

Filthy would cancel their regeneration while Blaze and the Tames would pile on the damage. Most of the damage coming from Geth's Arcane Archer, obviously.

After watching the Skeleton at work, he almost regretted not choosing a different path. The damage output of the Tame was astronomical on single targets.

After watching the Tame for some time, he'd noticed that it was merging Skills. That's when Filthy had realized that he could do so as well.

The moment that realization had struck, the description of all his Skills included a line informing him of the ones that could and could not take on additional effects.

This revelation had allowed him to save tons of Mana. He merged Venomous Arrow with another Uncommon Skill called Arrow Return.

With this ability, any arrow he fired would be instantly returned to his hand when he willed it. This only worked within a 100-yard distance, however.

Re-using the same arrow consistently saved him 24 Mana per shot since Arrow Return only cost 1 Mana per arrow. 

Filthy continued picking out wolves in the crowd while keeping his eyes on the surrounding. 

The way the bushes still shook occasionally, he knew that Felix's actions hadn't warranted any suspicion.

'Well, it looks like we'll see some real action before heading back home.'

Taking on Dungeons had become rather bland for him. It may have been his own fault since he treated them more like playing a game.

The simple paths, rooms that obviously held a Sub-Boss or Boss, and even the rewards were boring.

There was simply nothing exciting about knowing what was coming next. Fighting against other Humans is what he'd grown to be fond of.

Multiple small raiding parties had attempted to attack Valhalla while Geth was away. Filthy had ended them all.

There was a thrill in hunting something that could also hunt you. Tracking, chasing, trapping, those things were exhilarating!

*Sigh*

He fired another arrow, soon recalling it back while making it look as if it came from his quiver. 

Too many eyes were staring from the outskirts. He didn't want to make his abilities too obvious.

'It may be even more exciting to escape a trap than to set one...'

Filthy's eyes shone with newfound enthusiasm. To turn someone's trap against them would be something worth his time.

****

In his own thoughts, Geth was deliberating a very similar notion. His eyes gleamed with hidden anger as he redirected another attack.

'If someone is willing to pilfer our hard work here, then it won't be long before we have more substantial problems at Valhalla.'

The thought of a small army moving towards his family angered him. He simply wouldn't allow it.

'Based on the scale of this Dungeon Formation, we can expect the enemy to number thirty or more.'

It was too vague for him. There wasn't enough information at the moment.

His knowledge of Formations allowed him to understand that they hadn't altered the Dungeon Formation. They had simply set up some type of thin barrier on the outside of it.

'We can be confident that there is at least one magic-user of at least Blaze's current Level among them. They've grossly underestimated our capabilities.'

He couldn't help but chuckle when he thought about how the enemy would react if they could see past these walls.

"Sindri, Zolis. Swap in!"

Peter and Geth stepped back while the two women took their place. It was flawless.

He patted Peter on the shoulder.

"Glad you stuck out those last few minutes."

Peter's ability had run out just after he'd reached Level 49. It had taken quite a bit of extra work to make up for the boy's lack of confidence.

"I'm sorry about that..."

Peter hung his head in shame. Even so, Geth caught a glint in his eye that he recognized.

Without another word, Geth proceeded toward his sleeping friend.. Swole had some catching up to do.