Chapter 677 (Patreon)

Over the next few days Ajax got the chance to push himself when practicing with [Absolute Body Enhancement], with the rest of Gryndor’s champions there to back him up should anything go wrong. 

“That’s the fourth dagger he broke.” The comment came after Ajax killed one of the large serpents who were a lot easier to find now that the water levels in the jungle were lower thanks to the presence of the Fire Mana.

“I’m not sure if knowing more about his Skill makes me feel better or worse.” Evelyn commented as she watched.

With people there to watch out for him Ajax could afford to push himself, even from full Mana and Stamina at most Ajax was able to keep [Absolute Body Enhancement] active for a full minute before he ran out of Mana and Stamina. 

“Its good that he learned to hold it back a little.” Aurexion commented. “Having to heal himself from the pressure he puts on his body really cuts into his Mana and Stamina.” 

The insane Mana cost of Life Mana was offset a little by it being merged into the Skill but whenever Ajax needed to heal his Mana and Stamina started draining at shocking speeds. Holding his Skill for one minute meant that he was pushing his body only to the limit and using [Telekinesis] to prevent any self inflicted injuries, his Style Skill took like a fish to water in adding the extra Legendary Skill making the integration work seamlessly. 

“I can tell you’re planning something.” Aurexion looked towards the prince. “What is it?” 

“A way to end the war.” the prince answered after a moment of silence where he debated sharing his thoughts with the dragon. “Looking at what Ajax can do now and the power of your breath attack I think once his training here is done we can end the war within a month.” 

The rest of the champions also perked up hearing that, with the change in war tactics all of them knew even with their power the chances they could be killed went up a lot since a lot more champions would be fighting on the same battlefield.

“You want to use him as bait?” Evelyn was the first to realize what the prince wanted to do. As a mage she was the most vulnerable to Ajax’s combat style so she would best understand the enemy’s reaction to his presence on the battlefield once he exited the dungeon. “They all think he needs time after he uses his boosting Skill, that it weakens him.” 

Ajax proved the opposite just the day before. As long as he didn’t get heavily injured his Pseudo-Mythic Skill had no backlash and no cooldown period. Ajax could turn the Skill on and off at will, the only limitation he found for it so far was the minimum boost it provided and the heavy drain on Mana and Stamina.

“Yes.” The prince nodded. “If he takes out one or two champions as soon as he returns then turns off his boost they’ll try and take advantage of that chance. When he turns the boost back on they’ll have to group up tight just to survive. And that’s where you come in, Aurexion.” 

The other day a group of monkeys had managed to put up the slightest bit of resistance against Ajax. The group of ten had three defensive casters who while working together had managed to intercept Ajax’s attack three times with barriers effectively blocking his direct attacks. Since he was using daggers the power behind the blow was lower than Ajax could really dish out with something like a hammer or an axe but the beastkin had stronger mages than the monkeys as well. It was proof that even with the boost Ajax could still be slowed or stopped.

The one thing none of them had found any way to deal with outside of getting out of the way was Aurexion’s new Skill [Dragon’s Breath]. The attack was more of a Mana hog than even Ajax’s Psedo-Mythic Skill, burning thousands of Mana in two seconds. That Aurexion had learned how to add Magma Mana to the attack over the last few days made it only that much more terrifying. 

“You want Ajax to kill any of the ones that try to split up and me to wipe out all the ones that group together.” Aurexion approved of the plan. “But won’t us doing this just cause another war?” 

The prince had to admit Aurexion’s question was the reason he was hesitant to go ahead with the plan. Using Ajax as bait wasn’t all that risky since retreating wouldn’t be all that difficult if the ambush was to fail. The bigger issue was if it all went according to plan and a single Duke and his bond wiped out ten or more champions at once. That the Duke was under level one hundred and the age of fifty only made the problem worse as his growth was not in question but a sure thing as well. It could lead to another war, this one coming from multiple sides and all of them attacking Gryndor. 

“I’ll have to talk to my brother and father about this.” The prince said. “You and Ajax will also have the decision of if you want to do this or not. There is a very real chance doing so will have a number of kingdoms try and kill you out of fear.” 

“Sorry about your dagger.” Ajax said with a wry smile as he held the ruined weapon. He had brought three daggers with him and once those ran out he started borrowing back up daggers from the other champions. 

“You getting a handle on that Skill will make me feel a lot safer than having a back-up dagger in my spacial ring.” The champion reassured him as he took the destroyed weapon and replaced it with another dagger, this one slightly weaker than the one before. “This one’s on the less durable side so think of it as a chance to get better with your Mana control.” 

WIth his Mana and Stamina down to around one thousand Ajax and the rest of the group returned back to their camp. This was the last day the rest of the champions were staying inside the dungeon. They had all spent the last few days resting and had all fully recovered, they were ready to step out on the battlefield again. 

“We’ll see you again in about a month, Ajax.” The prince told him.They ended up leaving an extra two spacial rings with Ajax to hold all of the reagents they had picked up on the previous floors to help Ajax with his alchemy. “Of course it will seem like much longer to you.” 

“Be careful.” Aurexion warned them before they exited the dungeon. “They have been delving at least one dungeon outside of humanoid lands for the last few decades at least. Possibly centuries. They did so in the other direction from dragon's lands so I am not sure what happened there but I can assure you the Ascended races that were using the dungeon as well are aware it was happening, the only question is if they made contact with them.” 

Aurexion had been thinking on that exact topic since he learned that the beastkin were delving a dungeon outside humanoid lands, he hadn’t said anything about it since he didn’t see any evidence of another Ascended race influencing the beastkin or helping them but now that he was getting along better with the humans of Gryndor he gave out a warning as he would be staying in the dungeon while they fought. 

“Do you know what race it could be?” The prince asked.

“Dungeons are usually left well enough alone since they drain the Mana around them, territory close to them however is very much contested so I don’t know.” Aurexion admitted. “Quite a few of the Ascended races are also migratory so there are a lot of options, some of them might have even noticed it happening and not cared at all, I’m just saying they might have something prepared when things don’t go their way.”

Once Gryndor’s champions exited the dungeon Ajax got settled in and started making preparations for a long alchemy crafting session. He had a lot of reagents at his disposal from seven different floors but he had little experience with as all of them were ingredients he hadn’t worked with. Over the next two days he planned on getting a good idea about their properties as well as the best way to use them.