Lazarus

  Primordial limit.

  Primordial 1.

  Paragon luck.

  Paragon strength 4.

  Presence detection 6.

  Regeneration 13.

  Centaur riding 5.

  Sex 10.

  Sword mastery 1.

  Blink 4.

  Resistance 7.

  Acid resistance 2.

  Poison resistance 1.

  Fire resistance 3.

  Centaur pleaser 11.

  Forging 1.

  Copycat 1 (-------)

  Primordial blessing 1.

  Limitless Primordial 1.

  Primordial Pantheon (presence detection 6)

  [Willows devotion] 2.

  Skill points - 14

  Did not think we would run into trouble this quickly but then again it seems to be a common occurrence for me.

  Arath didn't waste any time and had her shield in hand with her armor already on.

  Kayalett took a different approach and disappeared, unlike the new creatures I could still detect her with presence detection. That said a lot about how good these things were at hiding.

  Willow notched an arrow in the direction the one I caught had come from but she couldn't see anything.

  I simply pointed the tip of the arrow in the direction of the one who had shot me, then moved it so it was aimed at each of the other three. My Pantheon skill should have given each of the girls it but they didn't seem to be able to notice them like I could. Another thing I need to crify with Zemelly about this whole god thing. For now though.

  "I see you." I sung doing another round of pointing. Willow caught on quick and sent an arrow at one of them.

  It hit with a thud, breaking the invisibility of the creature to reveal a short humanoid with a rge pointy hat.

  "Gnomes!" Arath shouted. "Willow stay mobile don't let them on your back!"

  I could help with that.

  Moving into Willows path I grabbed her waist as she got closer swinging onto her back in a single motion.

  Centaur riding 6 acquired.

  I'll take it.

  My brown haired mount seemed to stumble slightly from my weight but righted herself quickly. I should have practiced a little with her before straight jumping on her back but we're going to have to do this with a trial by fire.

  "I'll keep them off your back. Can you shoot and run?" I yelled flicking my give to intercept a jumping gnome cutting it clean in half.

  I could feel Willow bring up her skills even without looking at her. "I can now!" She yelled back sending an arrow flying at a gnome sneaking up on Arath. A good shot but I wasn't hopeful on how many times she could do that with a level one skill.

  It seemed they were all running out of mana to hold their invisibility as more of them began to appear. I counted twenty three not including the two that were already dead.

  To me they all seemed like target practice but Araths warning seemed to have merit when I noticed a lot of them had rope instead of proper weapons. Is capturing centaurs a sport or something? Not that they were going to get any of my girls.

  Kayalett had managed to create a web trap around Araths hind quarters catching any gnomes that tried to ambush her from her blind spot. It was effective and led me to believe they had fought together before with how smoothly they fell into that position, not to mention the fact they had a lot of trust in each other.

  I wasn't going to question it too much as it allowed me to focus on just Willow, who was currently running wide circles around my red head trying to pick off some of them at range while staying fast enough that no one could catch up. They didn't seem smart enough to create a way of stopping her as she ran but I wasn't going to bank on it forever.

  One gnome with a green hat tried to jump at us but I quickly severed his head. His body didn't get the memo that it was dead, spshing both of us in blood before hitting the ground.

  Please tell me there was a ke nearby. A thought for ter.

  Refocusing back on the fight I found Willow running low on arrows from her first quiver. She seemed to favor the left side when she went for a new arrow. Something to practice on ter I hummed grabbing some arrows from her back most quiver and depositing them in her front left one just so she could keep firing. Her accuracy left something to be desired but for someone untrained she managed to bring down a target every five-ish shots.

  I threw my give at another that was trying to get close before resummoning it back to my hand in time to cut a sso that was aimed for Willow. My centaur mount seemed to take that one personally, sending three arrows into the gnomes face. He was dead in the first shot but I was just impressed with her that I couldn't bring myself to stop.

  With myself watching her back it wasn't long before each gnomes were dead. Poor bastards didn't stand a chance.

  Willow completed another circle just so I could have another look with presence detection but nothing came up, visible or invisible. Although I wasn't fully trusting it, especially with Arath not dropping her guard. She had more experience with this worlds troubles.

  "Gnomes will always follow something." She growled as we came close. "Be careful. Whatever sent them will still be close by."

  And that right there is reason one why you trust her. Reason number two is because she's hot but we don't say that out loud.

  Willow counted her arrows and I noted around a third of them were sticking out of the ground or a corpse. Not the best outcome but we were unscathed so that's something.

  I just jinxed us didn't I?

  A fsh of blue traveled up one of Kayaletts webs striking the arachnid and breaking her invisibility. She screamed so loudly I could feel blood dripping out of my ear and without thinking I blinked towards the line she was holding, severing it with my give before whatever it was could do it again.

  Static electricity shot through my arm, locking my muscles together to the point I could feel my fingers digging into the metal of my weapon. Desummoning the give broke the connection and left me gasping for breath.

  Copycat 1 (Electric bolt 4)

  Never been a fan of electricution. Please tell me there's a resistance skill.

  Electric resistance 1: Shocking discovery, lightning hurts.

  If I find whoever made these descriptions I swear I'm going to sp them.

  With a brick.

  Electric resistance 1 acquired.

  Now where are you? It might have been a waste of a skill point especially after mentally agreeing to save up for Arath but surviving the short term is always preferable.

  Whatever had just sent that attack was being awfully quiet now and was staying out of my line of sight.

  "Arath can you heal Kayalett?" I shouted not looking at either of them. I was instead making my way around us severing all of the webbing that had previously protected my red head. Kind of disappointing it can be used so easily against us, but then again fire would do something simir I guess. Another thing to think about.

  "Working on it." My padin grunted in reply. "I've stabilized her I think but I'm all out of essence."

  Well that's not good. Our healers down and our padin can't take over. Not a good position for our first fight.

  An idea came to me. It was risky but at this point what wasn't?

  Was I going to tell the girls? No they'd probably try and stop me.

  Taking a breath I activated limitless Primordial paying more attention to what it did to my skills this time and as predicted they all briefly increased to level one hundred. The most important one being presence detection.

  It's range exploded exponentially and now that I was better prepared I could focus on everything around us. Too many creatures I didn't recognize were fed into my mind and for the most part I ignored them until a gnome with a blue hat hiding behind a tree graved my mind.

  Found you.

  There was no time to hesitate so I blinked managing to get right beside this gnome before limitless Primordial ended.

  Limitless Primordial 2 acquired.

  Neat. That only took three uses to level it up and it was ready to use again. Definitely not cheating.

  But even with that surprise attack the gnome reacted before I could stab him, becoming a small bolt of blue lightning before reappearing a couple of feet away with a ugh. That's definitely not going to get old.

  I followed, not giving it enough time to send a electric bolt in my direction. It worked and i grazed his shoulder before he could do that lightning movement thing, putting a lot more distance between us this time.

  He still ughed even with a pool of blood forming around his feet. This is not creepy at all.

  Repeating my previous strategy I charged fainting left in the hopes to confuse him. It worked but not as well as I wanted it to.

  A bolt of lightning smmed into the tree narrowly missing my side but the follow up shot found it's mark in my chest.

  Usually I can work through pain but this was something else. My body locked up stopping my movement and giving me a very quick introduction to the roots of the trees with my face. All the while that stupid creature kept ughing.

  After shocks pulsed through my body and just when I thought it was over another bolt from the gnome found my body causing another wave of static.

  Electric resistance 2 acquired.

  Going to need a lot more levels before I can actually move. Another round of attacks found me this time starting to sear my skin. I tried to grunt out a curse but my jaw remained firmly unresponsive.

  As much fun as eating dirt is I needed a way out. Blink would work but he only needs to hit me again and I'm back to square one and that's only if I could stand.

  The gnome sent another bolt this one with a little more power causing my paralyzed body to jerk violently, giving me the perfect view of his still ughing face. God he was an ugly thing. All bumps and skin tacks.

  Although. Now that I could see him.

  If I could have smiled myself I would have. Let's see if he has resistance to his own skills.

  Copy cat had already picked up his skill so all I had to do was aim. Let's see how he likes it.

  Another cackle from him gave me the opening I needed and I was gd the skill was mental as moving my body wasn't an option and with how far away from each other we were I wasn't going to miss.

  Laughter turned into a shriek and this time I wasn't the one eating dirt as the gnome was given a one way trip to the ground with a face full of electricity.

  But now another problem. Whoever recovers first will kill the other. No pressure.

  Banking on my new resistance to give me the advantage I struggled against the static still running amuck within my muscles. The first thing I regained control over was my fingers. Not a bad start but it was something.

  Giggling from the gnome got my attention to find he'd managed to get his head out of the dirt enough to smile again. Was this some kind of thing with his species because if so I'm staying well away from his kind.

  Arms came next and I tried to ignore the tightness in my chest that felt like my ribs were trying to peirce my lungs. With a grunt I was on my elbows, forcing what little movement I could get from my legs.

  The gnome was already struggling to his knees, probably because he'd only been hit by one attack not several. I tried to hit him again but Copy cat had timed out so unless he decided to hit me with another I needed to get up fast.

  Or I could get creative. A root on my right just within arm's reach would do perfectly.

  Grabbing hold of the root I waited until the gnome looked away. Was only going to get one shot at this.

  But one shot was all I would need.

  Thrusting forward I used the root to propel myself the short distance between us summoning Willows devotion just as I got within range. The satisfying look of surprise on the blue gnomes face as I tore half his throat out was priceless.

  The bolt of lightning he sent down my give as he died, less so. And for a second time today I found myself face first in the dirt. Not the most elegant of victories but it could have been a lot worse.

  I couldn't find the energy to compin or really to do anything. Every part of my body protested when I tried to move. I think I might just stay here for a bit.

  My thoughts drifted as sleep threatened to cim my mind. I wonder if the girls can find me?