The moment Marco rushed at Gnome, she raised one arm and the mud dolls around her immediately made a shield for her, but he just charged at them and swatted them away like flies, then he immediately used Thunder Thrust at Gnome, and pierced her chest.Marco: ...Huh?
Gnome"s body was reduced to dust, and fell in the sand, then many arms appeared from the sand under Marco"s feet and blocked his movements, first they grabbed his feet, surprising him, then other mud dolls came out and blocked his chest and arms, blocking his movements.
Marco tried to struggle, but their grip was surprisingly strong.
Marco: Tsk… *Inhales* RRRRHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
He roared, creating a shockwave which made fly away some mud dolls, then Marco struggled again and successfully escaped, then he crushed nearby mud dolls before looking around.
Gnome wasn"t anywhere, so he just waited for the next attack, suddenly, he felt a vibration under him and immediately jumped, avoiding a giant hand made of mud, which closed itself without catching him.
Marco fell over the closed hand and still tried to look around, but nothing was there, Marco gritted his teeth and then extended an arm at his side, and the aura took the shape of a giant claw, which he used to sweep over the sand while using Sylph, making a sandstorm.
When the sandstorm was gone, Marco found Gnome crouching down and covering her eyes from the sudden wind, then Marco jumped to her while spinning, giving himself more speed thanks to Sylph"s wind.
When Marco reached Gnome, she opened her eyes and got frightened when she saw Marco right in front of her, attacking her.
She immediately swung an arm and Marco flew away… At his place was a earth wall which was used as a hammer against Marco.
Marco gritted his teeth from the pain, that attack took out some ribs from him, so when he touched ground again, he put an hand over his injury and started to defend, he needed 15 more seconds for the next gate, and some minutes to regenerate completely the damage.
Gnome immediately attacked with her magic, pillars made of mud sticked out from the ground and thrusted against Marco, who used his tail to crush some and dodged others, before starting to run around Gnome.
She didn"t stopped and swung her arm upwards, creating a wall in front of Marco, he just walked over the surface of the wall, not stopping, and then got beyond it, he needs 7 more seconds, so he just rushed back against Gnome, surprising her.
She, with a bit scared expression, used a spike made of mud against him when he was only some meters away, and their meeting made the sand under them raise.
When the sand lowered again, it shown Marco using his arms to stop the spike from piercing his chest, and entered the 2nd Gate.
Before Gnome could attack again, Marco"s tails took the shape of claws and clasped together, and brought them down, smashing Gnome.
But instead of her body, there was more dust, it seems that she escaped once again.
Marco turned and found a giant hand coming towards him, this time he didn"t dodged and countered with a fist of him, the bones of his hands cracked a bit but the hand of mud got destroyed.
Instead of holding his hand in pain he immediately enchanted his own body with Sylph, drastically increasing his speed, and got towards Gnome who was a bit far,
The new speed at which Marco was going scared Gnome, who raised both of her hands and used a strong spell against him.
The sand immediately surged like a tsunami against Marco, but he wasn"t that worried.
Marco: Sylph!!!
Sylph: Yes!!
Then a tornado was formed around Marco, protecting him from the sand and reflecting it back, Gnome was terrified and was engulfed from her own attack.
When the attack stopped, Marco, tired, could only see a desert in front of him, there weren"t even the stones there once were, he turned around trying to find Gnome, and found her hat popping out from the sand.
Marco: *Sigh* That was exhausting…
He walked towards the hat, and digged Gnome out from the sand, finding her unconscious. When he laid her somewhere safe, he whistled, and Gnome woke up immediately, then she looked around and found Marco with a poker face.
Marco: Yo, are you alright?
Gnome nodded and hold out her right hand, Marco understood that she accepts to give her powers to him, and he grabbed her hand. Gnome vanished and a warm light enveloped Marco"s body.
*Ding*
*Congratulations for Host to obtain the Special Enchantment: Earth Manipulation*
*Fusing with Support Feature…*
*Host will be able to fuse the Earth in the Nine Tailed Gates to increase hardness of the body*
*Ding*
*Special Quest[Successful]: Find and make a contract with Gnome*
Marco was a bit disappointed that there wasn"t any earth-related technique that he could use with the Nine Tailed Gates, but just from acquiring the Earth Manipulation gave him many ideas about how to use it, then he remembered a thing.
Marco: "System… Are the techniques I use from Wind Manipulation and Earth Manipulation be able to seal monsters…?"
*Ding*
*Yes*
Marco: … "I could just use wind blades… Even if they require a bit of power…"
*Ding*
*To be able to use wind blades you need to be at the 3rd Gate, and have enough strength to create one with air pressure and Wind Manipulation*
Marco: "Oh…"
While he was thinking about his things, in his mind Gnome and Sylph were talking.
Sylph: Yaay! Gnomey"s with me now!
Gnome: …
Sylph: Hya!
Gnome just slapped Sylph since she was annoying. Meanwhile, Alice came back near Marco and said.
Alice: Hmm… It looks like you got Gnome"s power.
Marco: Well, now I can do more things…
Marco smiled and raised one hand forward, the hand was immediately covered from a wall of earth, and the wall suddenly got back in the sand, leaving a gauntlet made of earth in Marco"s forearm. It was quite heavy, but he was still be able to use it.
With another thought, the gauntlet broke, revealing a clean arm, Marco smirked in satisfaction.
Sylph: Woah… You can use already the power of the Earth like you used mine!
Alice: The power of the Earth is a lot more difficult to use than the wind. If you do it half-a.s.sed, you may get crushed under your own power, but if it is for things like these then it"s still alright…
Marco: I want to try it…
Then Marco concentrated, and with caution he filled his body with the power of the earth, his weight increased, and his body got stronger, but at the same time it became hard to breathe so he stopped.
It seems that the more power of the earth he uses the harder it is to breathe, so he needs to get used to the lower levels before using things like "Wild Lands".
Marco: Alright, now we need to pick Undine and Salamander…
Alice: Sylph and Gnome have powerful magic, but no combat experience. However, it won"t be the same with Undine and Salamander. Undine is quite skilled, and Salamander is…
Marco: ...She is? "...Granberia"s master…"
Alice: ...Well, I think there"s no problem with telling you now… She is Granberia"s master, so Salamander is really skilled on the use of fire.
Marco: Alright. Let"s head to Undine, at east… If I don"t get it wrong, there should be Noah, we will go to Grand Noah to know better the place then we will decide where to go… "Then there is the Kitsune Village… I will go with the Nine Tailed Cub System… It will be hilarious."
*Ding*
*Special Quest: Visit Kitsune Village using the Nine Tailed Cub System*
Alice: Nn… Noah is still fairly undeveloped, so they should have some unique regional foods. I can"t wait… Hahahahahaha!
Marco: Jesus, your laugh is creepy like my dark humor…
Alice: ...Dark humor? What is that?
Marco: Read my mind…
Then Marco started to think about something while smiling and Alice shrugged, this was the first time she is using a spell on him… Her orange eyes glowed a bit and made eye contact with Marco, some seconds pa.s.sed and she let out a scream.
Alice: WHAT THE h.e.l.l MARCO!!! WHAT THE f.u.c.k WAS THAT?!
…
…
There were many images going inside his head… Many disturbing images… Fortunately Sylph and Gnome were in another side of his mind otherwise they would be traumatized…
Marco: Well then, let"s go!
Alice: YOU ARE f.u.c.kING SICK!!! WHAT THE h.e.l.l WERE THOSE THINGS?!
While Alice was scared s.h.i.tless from Marco"s dark humor, she was still following Marco, who was smiling the entire time.
[BONUS DARK HUMOR]
Paul had 5 cookies, Jamal steals 3 cookies.
What color is Jamal"s skin?
[SPECIAL QUESTS]
1st. Kick Gabriel"s a.s.s
2nd. Achieve coexistence between Monsters and Humans
3rd. Kill Illias
4th. Return to Lucifina"s grave
5th. Visit every places in Illias Continent, Sentora and h.e.l.lgondo
6th. Turn back to Sabasa Kingdom
7th. Visit Kitsune Village using the Nine Tailed Cub Syste